taken to market. As butter is always readily salable, and as nearly every farmer's wife can make butter, and does usually without calling in the aid of the men, the churn has been depended upon to supply a considerable part, if not all, of the groceries needed by the family. In 1850 the output of butter for each person in the State was 17.77 pounds; in 1860 it was 20.7 pounds; in 1870 it had fallen to 20.61 pounds, and by 1880 it had risen to 23.74 pounds per capita. The cheese made in 1850 would have furnished 2.54 pounds; in 1860 there were 2.2 pounds; in 1870 only 1.96 pounds, and in 1880 there were 2.42 pounds for each inhabitant in the State.

The subjoined table exhibits the growth of the butter and the cheese production of the State, and shows the relative importance of the output of the farms and of the factories:

It will be observed that in the year 1870 the total production of cheese reported was 2,321,801 pounds. In 1880 the production had risen to 3,953,585 pounds, which was equal to 10.3 pounds for each milch cow in the State. This was one pound per cow more than the cheese output of 1870. The influence of the establishment of factories upon the making of cheese on the farms was most marked, the quantity made on farms having fallen from 1,641,897 pounds in 1860 to 670,804 pounds in 1870, between which dates the cheese factories began operations in Michigan. The decrease in the home production of cheese was 971,098 pounds.

While the establishment of the factories drew from the farms. some 1,925,000 gallons, or 16,940,000 pounds, of milk, in 1870, and 35,161,812 pounds in 1880, yet the quantity of butter made by farmers in the last-mentioned year was nearly 39,000,000 pounds. This was equal to 31.4 pounds for each of the population of the State at that time, and to 161.6 pounds per capita for each person engaged in farming in Michigan. The increase in the quantity of butter made on farms in 1880 over that thus produced in 1870 was 14,421,705 pounds.

The average quantity of milk sold and of butter and of cheese produced per cow, and the supply of each for each one of the population of the State at various dates, are shown below:

Milk, butter, and cheese made in Michigan.

No statistics showing the quantity of milk sold in 1850 and in 1860 are at hand. In the year ended with June 30, 1860, it was estimated that the total quantity of milk produced in the whole United States was equal to an average of 3,960 pounds per cow. This would have given 710,990,280 pounds as the total milk yield at that time per year. The relation in which the butter and cheese production of Michigan stood, at the several periods named, to the entire yield of those articles in the United States is shown by comparison of the above with the subjoined statement:

Butter and cheese produced in the United States.

In addition to the above dairy products, 13,033,267 pounds of condensed milk, valued at $1,547,588, were made by the factories during the year ended with June 30, 1880. Michigan is not credited with having produced any of that supply of condensed milk.

The figures given above serve to show that the butter made in Michigan would have furnished 1.4 ounces per diem for each of the population of that State, whereas the entire supply of butter produced in the United States in 1879-'80, would have furnished only 0.07 of an ounce per diem for each inhabitant of the whole country. The smallness of the supply reported by the United States census is, in part, accounted for by the fact that the butter and cheese used by persons engaged in farming did not enter into the account from which the figures above given are quoted. Assuming that this was invariably the case, there would have been an average supply of 22.5 pounds per annum for every person in the land, not on farms, likely to use an appreciable quantity of butter. This would have been very nearly 1 ounce per day for each. That quantity would have been scarcely more than would be consumed by moderate users of the article; but great quantities were exported from this State, therefore many people must have gone with a much smaller supply. Consideration of the facts stated in the foregoing pages leads to the conclusion that, while Michigan already heads many of the States in the development of her dairy interests, there are good reasons for the opinion that far greater development will be seen within a few years. The climate is by no means unfavorable to dairying; for, while the snows may be deep, the temperature in winter is so modified by the great watery reservoirs of heat on three sides that the winters are mild and equable as compared with regions farther west where the snowfall is less. All cultivated forage plants common to the Northern States thrive in Michigan, clover being an especially good crop in many places. The water supply is good in most parts of the State, and in many places is of a purity unsurpassed if not unequaled by the natural water supply of any other region of like area in the Middle States. Market for all the products of the farm is within easy reach of almost any part of Michigan, and a large number of com

peting lines of transportation afford the competition needed to keep rates of freight within reasonable limits, while the rapidly growing towns, the lumbering camps, and other domestic establishments ab sorb a very important part of the output of farming products, especially of butter.

In the year 1880 there wore in Michigan 74 cheese factories. In these 88 men and boys sixteen years old or older, and 23 women and girls fifteen years old or older, were employed at an average of $16 per month. The value of materials used in the cheese factories was $200,152, and in the butter factories it was $1,114, making a total of $201,266, which, added to the wages paid, made an expenditure of $222,369. The products of the cheese factories were valued at $292,971, and those of the butter factories at $1,994, making a total of $294,964, the difference being $72,596, or an average of $981 for each. It is not easy to arrive exactly at the cost of the production of butter and cheese on farms, as in those instances where accurate account is kept of the items that go to make up the total cost, there is almost invariably much more intelligent management of all details, including care of stock, land, and milk, than is commonly seen on farms, consequently the result obtained by such observers serve to show not what the average is, but what may be done by the aid of better management. In a general way it is stated by correspondents that the average cost of keeping a milch cow in fair condition throughout the year is between $30 and $35. It is at once evident that if the average yield of butter per cow was 101.05 pounds, the whole yield should sell for 29.7 cents per pound to barely meet the cost at $30. With the cost at $35 the butter should sell at 34.7 cents per pound to pay expenses. This would leave the buttermilk, the manure, and the calves to pay for the labor involved, interest on the capital invested in the stock, and for deterioration in value of the cows. As the latter are fattened when they become too old for further milking, and are then sold to the butcher, the item of deterioration in milking value is less than it would be if no use could be made of the cows other than for butter-making.

Of the actual profitableness of butter-making in Michigan, when carried on under the conditions necessary for the production of a really good article and for putting it into the possession of the consumer, there is no apparent reason for doubt. Where the land has been clear from weeds, sour grasses, sedges, and other noxious forage plants, and cultivated plants have been introduced in their stead, Michigan is admirably fitted for dairying. It is known that a number of farmers in the State find ready sale at 30 to 35 cents a pound for all the butter they can make during the whole year. By taking advantage of the influence of good breeding they have greatly improved the yield of milk by their cows, both in quality and quantity, and by care over their pastures and water supply, by painstaking watchfulness over the operations of butter-making, and by dealing directly with consumers, they have established a reputation which is sufficient warranty for the excellence of their butter, and have got a return which has made them rich. If there is any reason why all the farmers of Michigan can not do as well as these have done it has not been discovered

BEEF PRODUCTION.

With the exception of those herds of highly-bred animals kept for the purpose of supplying pure blood for the improvement of

stock, the cattle of Michigan are, as a general rule, kept for milk and butter production. All these animals eventually find their way to the butcher, for when they cease breeding, or fail in their yield of milk, so far that they are no longer profitable in the dairy, they are fattened and sent to market, or slaughtered for home consumption. As losses from accident or from disease are very few, it may be said that very nearly all of the supply of cattle in the State are in the end used for beef. Considerable numbers are shipped from the State to eastern markets, although it will be seen that even if the entire supply of cattle in the State last year had been slaughtered, and had averaged 900 pounds in gross weight, or 500 pounds of dressed beef, there would have been only 231 pounds of beef per capita for all of the inhabitants of the State. That would have afforded 10.2 ounces of beef per day for each inhabitant; but as the annual calf crop in the State will certainly not exceed 348,400 in number, and as 25 per cent. of those calves are killed before they reach the age of one year, it follows that there are not more than 261,300 beeves each year to slaughter. If it be assumed that beeves will dress an average of 540 pounds of beef each, there will be 86.2 pounds per capita of population. This would give to each person less than half an ounce of beef per day. It is one of the curious facts of the cattle traffic that while Michigan does not produce beef enough to furnish half an ounce per day to each of her inhabitants, and while that supply is lessened by the shipment of cattle to other States, large quantities of beef and other meats are imported from the large beef-packing centers of the West, to supply the demand for local consumption. This is accounted for by the fact that the dealers in meats in the railroad towns in Michigan can obtain from those beef-packing centers such steaks, roasts, and other cuts as will best supply the wants of their customers. Such cuts are taken from the carcasses of cattle in the beef-canning establishments, usually from those in Chicago, and are packed in boxes, which are in turn put into refrigerators and sent by express to their destinations. By this plan a dealer in a town in the extreme eastern part of Michigan can order by telegraph in the afternoon of one day the meats required for the trade of the next day. The order will be filled and the meats shipped by express, perhaps at 10 o'clock in the night, and at 7 o'clock the next morning, or 14 hours after the order was given, the meats will have reached the shop of the dealer. They will have been cut into the sizes and shapes most suitable to the wants of the customers of that particular dealer, and will be of such quality as his experience has taught him will be wanted. The advantage of this system is, to the dealer, that he is relieved of the necessity of making journeys in the country for the purpose of buying stock; that he is saved the expense, care, and loss attending the operation of a slaughter-house; he is saved the necessity for selling at low prices rough pieces and the less desirable parts of the beeves, and has little or no tallow or bones to cut off and sell, or to throw away. As he can carry on his business with less assistance than he could if he slaughtered his own cattle, and with much greater ease with his reduced force, the saving is great. This enables him to sell meats of good quality at lower prices than he would find it necessary to charge if he bought stock near his town and dressed them himself. The consumer finds his advantage in the fact that he gets meat that has been handled under the most favorable conditions practicable in the present state of knowledge of the business; he is benefited by

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the fact that he can have a choice from as great a range of quality as can be found in the great markets, and by a reduction of prices of such meats as he may select. Thus the consumer gets meats of better quality than local slaughterers can afford at like prices.

A large quantity of dressed beef is sent in the form of quarters to local dealers in Michigan as to those in other States. From these the dealer cuts such meat as his customers want. Using beef thus obtained from the great markets the local dealer saves the expenses of maintenance of a separate slaughter-house, and of men who would be needed for the operations of buying stock and driving them to the slaughter-house, and for killing and dressing the animals when there; he also has some benefit from the saving effected in the great slaughtering establishments, where nothing is permitted to go to waste, and where skilled labor constantly employed and machinery combine to reduce the cost of every operation to the lowest possible point.

At a first thought it appears that one effect of this system of supplying people with beef must be a reduction of prices of living beeves in the country, and that farmers who raise cattle must be losers to that extent; but there is a doubt as to whether this does. result. The general supply of beeves in the country can not be directly affected by the change in the method of furnishing consumers, while the greater economy in the operations of converting the animals into cuts suited to their wants and the consequent reduction of cost serve to increase the consumption of beef. The larger demand is at once felt in the greater markets, and through them is instantly communicated by telegraph to buyers of cattle in the interior. As there is a keen rivalry between buyers in almost every part of the land, prices advance immediately even in remote districts. In the end the demand for beef must be increased by anything which will lower its cost, and with a stronger demand there should be an advance in prices, and will be sooner or later.

In the lower tiers of counties of Michigan there has been, in the opinion of correspondents who are in position which enables them to judge correctly, an improvement of from 10 to 75 per cent. of the cattle by the introduction of the blood of purely-bred stock. The number thus improved appears to be equal to nearly or quite 39 per cent. of the whole supply. This indicates a rapid progress during the last five years, and is some 3 per cent. more than was shown by investigations made by the United States Department of Agriculture two years ago. It is more than likely that the additional 3 per cent. has been improved by the influence indicated since those investigations were made. Probably there are now in the State 250,000 cattle having some of the blood of pure stock in their veins; of these it is likely that 180,000 may be described as high grades of some milking breed. As the Holstein-Friesians have been introduced in many localities, it may be assumed the increase in number of improved cattle will result in a corresponding increase in the production of beef, for while the purpose of using bulls of that race is primarily to add to the yield of milk, the result is a development in size that makes the grades much more valuable for beef than the native or scrub stock. In those counties where good bulls have not been used the general average weights of the beeves is given as ranging from 700 to 900 pounds. In districts where good blood has had an influence, the weights are quoted as being 1 000 to 1,300 pounds each, with