Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 July 1879 — What of the Situation? [ARTICLE]

What of the Situation?

Dairymen are blue. They do not see the dawn ot better times which some of the pspera are prating about; nor with Cheese at five to six cents a pound in this country, and thirty-three shillings and sixpence a cwt. in England, do they see a promising future. Their only hopo for better prices for a long time has been in a lessened production —an alternative out of which it is difficult to derive much consolation. But even this cause for an advance in prices has been removed by the which are continued into July, and have brought the tardy grass crop forward so luxuriantly that not only the pastures are in good condition, and the How of milk abundant for the season, but a line hay crop is assured, if there should be pleasant weather enough between the rain 3 to permit of its being gathered in good condition. If there is to be any advance in prices, ,it must come from other causes than a short crop, though the yield of butter and cheese this year cannot possibly equal that of last. It may come from a short crop on the other side of the Atlantic, but we have no intimation as yet of any such calamity there. It may come from increased consumption; but though prices are low, and favorable to this, wages are also low in both countries, and the laboring classes, who are the principal consumers, were never so poor, Which is decidedly unfavorable to consumption. Beside, here in America, retailers continue to cut inferior cheese* at hi&h prices, which disoourages consumption by disgusting the oonsumer. They do not seem to be generally aware that prices have fallen amazingly, even ruinously, to the producer. Cheese retailed at eight cents a pound will afford a remunerative profit to the dealer. *+ Dairymen should carefully and judiciously engage in' Ihe weefflng-ouf process, ana hand their poor cows over to the butcher before the winter sets in. They will have abundance of hay whioh can be devoted to feeding young stock,

for either beef or future dsiry use. Beef is so dear that it will pay better to grow it than to produce butter and cheese. This will enable dairymen to dispose of their hay to the best possible advantage, and aid them in turning their attention to raising more grain, and producing what they need for their own consumption. The less they have to buy, the better for them. With high prioes, it may be policy to engage in special lines of farming, and buy most of what the family needs for consumption. But with low prices, such as prevail now, it will be found far safer, more economical and profitable, to engage in mixed farming, and depend as ntue as possible on the markets for the necessaries of life. There is a somewhat divided expression of opinion in regard to the quality of tho cheese product this season. Some say it is better than last, others that it is as good as last season’s make, while others still pronounce it rather inferior, there being a disposition to make as much as possible out of tho material worked up. This shows to us that each buyer forms his judgment by tho class of dairymen with whom ho comes in contact. Fewer, it is said, however, are making both butter and cheeso, so that thore is less partlyskimmed cheese thrown on the market, making the proportion of whole milk choose larger. But it is quite apparent that we shall not lack for j.oor cheese, until the discrimination in price between it and good is broad enough to make it decidedly preferable pecuniarily to manufacture only first-class cheese. There is only one consolation that we can see in all this depression of tho dairy business—it will probably drive out all who have not the proper facilities for really successful dairying, and never ought to have engaged in tho business; while it will most certainly have a tendency to turn the attention of incompetents into other branches of farming, in which they should have remained! So let all good dairymen who understand the business, and whose farms and surroundings are adapted to it, take courage, improve their dairy herds, adopt the best methods, study the greatest economy, and trust to futnre developments to restore dairying to a fairly paying basis, if not to its old position. We are to witness the survival of the fittest.— American Dairyman.