The New Student's Reference Work/Dairy-Factory

Dairy-Factory. Dairying as a special business has been widely developed in America, during the latter half of the 19th century, through the use of the factory-system. The first factory was organized in New York in 1860; soon many others were started; and in 1866 in New York there were nearly 500 of them in operation, with a stock of cows worth over $10,000,000 and with farms covering about 1,000,000 acres. This industry soon spread over the country and into Canada, and was adopted in European countries as the American system of dairying. At first cheese alone was made, but soon butter was added; moreover, special factories for butter were introduced, called creameries. In the creamery the cream gathered from hundreds of cows is worked by one skillful butter-maker and commands a higher price than homemade butter. It is sent to great distances in cold-storage or refrigerator cars. Foreign buyers may have it on their tables within two weeks of churning. The dairy-interest has reached vast proportions in the United States and Canada; at least 1,500,000 farms, with 17,000,000 cows and 100,000,000 acres of land, are devoted to the various branches of the industry. In 1909 the milk-yield of the United States was 9,888 million pounds, while 311 million pounds of cheese and 627 million pounds of butter were produced.