USA > New York > Herkimer County > History of Herkimer county, New York > Part 11
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' From a paper written by the late X. A. Willard, in 1. 78.
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HISTORY OF CHEESE DAIRYING.
(according to Emmons, more than ten parts in one hundred), is charged with sulphur and contains lime, and when near the surface forms a soil rich in fertilizing elements, and not easily exhaustible. Instances can be pointed out where fields of this black slate land have been plowed and cultivated for more than twenty years in succession without the application of manures, and yielding good returns each year ; and there are pastures and meadows that have lain in grass for thirty or forty years, and which are still yielding abundant crops.
In the towns south of the Mohawk River the Utica slate is found only to a limited extent, the Frankfort slate, limestone and Marcellus shales being the characteristic underlying rocks.
It is the modifying influence which these rocks are supposed to exert on the grasses, and the comparatively large surface over which they ex- tend, together with the abundant supply of never- failing streams and springs of pure water, that render Herkimer county peculiarly adapted to grazing, giving a richness and flavor to her cheese product not easily obtained in less favored localities.
The fall of rain and snow during the year is considerably more here than in many other parts of the State, and this is supposed to act favor- ably on the grasses and in the preservation of meadows. The grasses usually grown and considered most productive are timothy, June or Kentucky blue-grass, red top and orchard grass, with the clovers, red and white. These grow on the same sward and are well adapted to the soil and climate. White clover and June grass are indigenous, and are deemed of great value for pasturage. Gypsum has for a long time been in general use throughout the county. It is sown in early spring on pastures and meadows, and adds greatly to the productiveness of grasses and clovers. No other mineral or foreign fertilizer is in general use.
Stock .- Reliance has been placed for the most part on the native or common cow for supplying the dairies of the county. At first, and for many years after dairying had become established, farmers raised their own stock by selecting calves from their best cows, and in this way the milking stock was greatly improved. The early settlers along the Mo . hawk came mostly from Germany and Holland, and they brought with them and reared here what was known as the " Dutch cow." She was
118
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
medium in size, black and white, often red and white, very hardy, a good feeder and of deep milking habit. The early dairymen got their best cows from this breed, specimens of which are now rarely seen, for as the price of cheese advanced, the practice of filling up the herds with stock driven from other counties, often from remote localities, ob- tained ; and although this means of keeping good the herd was more or less deprecated by farmers as unsatisfactory, still the practice grew and became pretty general.
About the year 1830 Christian Sharer, of the town of Little Falls, introduced the pure-blooded Short-Horn Durhams, and subsequently Mr. Wakeman, of Herkimer, and others brought into the county the same breed. Mr. Sharer, we believe, made a voyage to England, bring- ing back with him some of this breed. This st ck had the reputation of being good milkers, and they were crossed to some extent through the county on the native or common cow, the offspring proving to be superior milkers Mr. Sharer, it is believed, was the first to introduce thoroughbred milk stock into the county. He owned at the time a large and excellent dairy farm about two and a half miles north of the village of Little Falls, where he kept a herd of forty cows or more, and was considered a thrifty and prosperous farmer.
As years went on other pure-blooded animals of different breeds were introduced, namely, the Devon, the Ayrshire, and more recently the Jersey and Dutch or Holstein breeds. Mr. A. L. Fish, of Winfield, was among the first to try Ayrshires ; General P. F. Bellinger, of Her- kimer, Jerseys ; and Hon. W. I. Skinner, of Little Falls, Ayrshires and Holsteins.
Within the last ten or a dozen years the attention of farmers has been turned to the improvement of dairy stock, and many dairymen are now crossing the thoroughbred Ayrshire, the Jersey or the Holstein on the common cows of the country ; and the result has been quite satisfactory in obtaining deep milking stock.
Cheese-dairying-Herkimer county may justly claim the honor of giving birth to cheese-dairying as a specialty in America. It was from Herkimer county that the business began to spread to the adjoining counties, and from thence to the different States and to Canada. In many instances Herkimer county dairymen, removing to distant lo-
119
HISTORY OF CHEESE DAIRYING.
calities, were the first to plant the business in their new homes ; while in many sections cheese-dairying was commenced by drawing upon Herkimer for cheese makers to manage the dairies. Often, too, par- ties were sent into the county to obtain a knowledge of cheese - making, and returning home carried the art into new districts. Thus for many years Herkimer was the great center from which the new districts drew the necessary information and skill for prosecuting the business of cheese dairying with profit and success.
Cheese was made in small quantities in the county as early as 1800. In 1785 a number of persons emigrating from New England settled in the town of Fairfield ; among them may be named Cornelius Chatfield, Benjamin Bowen, Nathan Arnold, John Bucklin, Daniel Fenner, Nathan Smith, the Eatons and Neelys, Peter and Bela Ward, Nathaniel and William Brown and others. Some of these families, coming from Cheshire, Mass., brought with them a practical knowledge of the method by which cheese was made in a small way in Cheshire. But notable among these families were Nathan Arnold, Daniel Fen- ner and the Browns, who settled in the southern part of the town of Fairfield and near each other. Arnold's wife was a cheese-maker, and he is the first, it is believed, who began cheese dairying in the county. He came into the county poor, but he was rich in health and strength.
Except along the Mohawk nearly the whole county was then a dense forest. Brant, the famous Mohawk chief, and his bloody warriors had been gone several years, but traces of their pillage and murders were fresh among the early settlers in the valley and along the river. The old Dutch heroine, Mrs. Shell, whose part in the defense of the family fort has been related, was then living a few miles east of Fort Dayton. The house stood on the black slate hills rising near the Mohawk to the north, overlooking a long line of charming scenery. Beyond was a valley and a still higher elevation. Here the sturdy young New Englander picked his land. His strong arms felled the timber over many acres. He built his log house and established his herd upon the soil.
From such a beginning sprung the mighty giant that is now stalking over the continent, dotting the land with countless herds.
From 1800 to 1826 cheese-dairying had become pretty general in Herkimer county, but the herds were mostly small. As early as 1812-
120
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
16, the largest herds, numbering about forty cows each, were those be- longing to William Ferris, Samuel Carpenter, Nathan Salisbury and Isaac Smith, in the northern part of the county, and they were regarded as extraordinary for their size.
About 1826 the business began to be established in the adjoining counties, in single dairies, here and there, and generally by persons emigrating from Herkimer county. The implements and appurtenances of the dairy were then very rude. The milking was done in open yards, and milking barns were unknown. The milk was curded in wooden tubs, the curd cut with a long wooden knife and broken with the hands ; the cheeses were pressed in log presses standing exposed to the weather. The cheeses were generally thin and small. They were held through the season, and in the fall, when ready for market, they were packed in rough casks made for the purpose and shipped to different localities for home consumption Prices in these days were low, ranging from 4 cents to 6 cents per pound. The leading buyers previous to 1826 were W. Ferris & Robert Nesbith, from Massachusetts. Nesbith was a Quaker and is remembered as having a sober, sedate countenance. Ferris, his partner, was of a more gay and festive turn.
Their manner of conducting operations was often shrewd. Nesbith, it is said, generally went his rounds first, visiting every dairy, and we are told that he knew how to impress dairymen in regard to the inferior- ity of their goods, and to raise serious doubts in the minds of many as to whether cheese could be marketed at anything like living rates. He spoke of the difficultics of trade and the pressure of the money market, and was not exactly prepared to purchase, though sometimes in excep- tional cases he was prevailed upon to buy certain small lots at low fig- ures. By the time he got through his visitation the dairymen were feel- ing somewhat discouraged, and were ready to make easy terms with any buyer. Then Ferris made his appearance, and his off hand, generous way of doing business somehow carried the conviction that he was an operator willing to pay to the last cent the value of the goods. His prices were considerably better than those offered by his partner Nes- bith, and as this partnership was not known to the dairymen, the latter eagerly closed their sales, with the impression that good bargains had been made.
121
HISTORY OF CHEESE DAIRYING.
In 1826 Harry Burrell, of Salisbury, Herkimer county, then a young man full of enterprise and courage, having learned something of the markets and the sly methods of Ferris & Nesbith, resolved to enter the field as their competitor. He pushed his operations with great vigor, and bought a large share of the cheese at a price above that figured by the Massachusetts firm. He afterwards became the chief dealer in dairy goods in Central New York, often purchasing the entire product of cheese made in the United States.
Mr. Burrell was the first to open a cheese trade with England, com- mencing shipping as a venture about the year 1830 or 1832 at the sug- gestion of the late Erastus Corning, of Albany. The first shipment was about 10,000 pounds. He was the first, also, to send cheese to Phila- delphia, shipping to B. & B. Cooper in 1828 and to Jonathan Palmer in 1830 and 1832. Mr. Burrell is still in the trade,1 though over eighty years of age, and has shipped cheese abroad every year during the past fifty years, his shipments in the summer of 1878 being about a thousand boxes a week. He is among the few American dealers who have amassed a large fortune in the trade, and by his strict integrity and hon- est dealing has ever retained the confidence of dairymen. He has in- vested his means largely in real estate from time to time, and has many excellent dairy farms in Herkimer and in other counties of the State. He has for the past twenty years or more resided at Little Falls.
From 1836 to 1860 several Herkimer county merchants had entered the field as cheese buyers, the most notable of whom were Samuel Perry, of Newport, V. S. Kenyon, of Middleville, A. H. Buel, of Fairfield, Perry & Sweezy, of Newport, Benjamin Silliman, of Salisbury, Lorenzo Carryl, then of Salisbury, Frederick and James H. Ives, Roger Bamber, of Stark, Simeon Osborne, of Herkimer, and several others. Cheese, during this time, was usually bought on long credits, the dealers going through the country and purchasing the entire lot of cheese made or to be made during the season, advancing a small part of the money, and agreeing to pay the balance on the first of January following. Failures would occur from time to time, and the farmers selling to these unfortunate speculators not unfrequently lost the bulk of their labor for the season.
1 Mr. Burrell died several years since, and his business is still carried on by his sons, D.H. and E. S. Burrell.
16
122
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
Up to 1840 the dairymen of Herkimer had made but little improve- ment in farm buildings or in the appliances for the dairy. Lands were comparatively cheap, and it was no unusual thing for men with little or no means to buy farms and pay for them by dairying. About this time or a little earlier the smaller farms of the county began to be absorbed by well-to-do dairymen, and the plan of renting farms, on what is known as the " two- fifths system," began to be adopted. We think Mr. Burrell was the first to regulate this system of leasing in all its details, and, having quite a number of farms to rent, he established a uniform rate which soon became a standard all over the county where dairy farms were to be rented.
By 1840 farmers had become so prosperous from dairying that they began to pay more attention to the care and management of stock. They not only looked more closely to the comfort of the herds, but " milking barns " for their own convenience and confort began to be pretty generally substituted for the open yard in milking. About this time, also, the first dairy steamer for making cheese was brought out by Mr. G. Farmer, of Herkimer. It consisted of a boiler for the genera- tion of steam, attached to a stove or furnace, with a pipe for conveying steam from the boiler to the milk-vat, which was of tin, surrounded by a wooden vat, on the same principle as the " milk-vats" now in use. A branch of the steam pipe was connected with a tub for heating water, for washing utensils, etc., used in the dairy. This apparatus, of course, was a crude affair compared with the modern, highly-improved cheese vat and steam boiler, but it was the first invention of the kind, and led to grand results in labor-saving appliances in the dairy In about ten years after Farmer's invention, which was extensively introduced in Herkimer and other counties, William G. Young, of Cedarville, brought out the steel curd-knife, which was a great improvement over the wire and tin cutters that Mr. Truman Cole, of Fairfield, had invented, and had got into general use. The log presses were also fast going out of use-their places being supplied by the Kendal press. The Taylor and Oysten presses, both invented by Herkimer county men, were further improvements brought out between 1850 and 1860.
From 1850 to 1860 dairying began to assume formidable proportions. Prices had gradually risen from 5 cents to 7 cents, ftom 7 cents to 9
123
HISTORY OF CHEESE DAIRYING.
cents, and the business was considered more prosperous than any other farm industry. During this period the farmers of Herkimer county had generally acquired wealth or a substantial competence, and this was shown in their improved buildings and premises.
In 1857 Mr. Jesse Williams, of Rome, Oneida county (a dairyman who had learned cheese- making in Herkimer), conceived the idea of the factory system, but it did not begin to attract much attention until 1860, when plans were inaugurated for testing the system in Herkimer. The first factories were erected by Avery & Ives, of Salisbury, and by Mr. Shell, of Russia, and were located in the respective towns of the builders, who were also the proprietors of these establishments. The system did not spread so rapidly at first in Herkimer as it has in some new sections, because cheese-making was better understood by the mass of farmers here than elsewhere; and the cheese of Herkimer having a high repu - tation in many of the large dairies, the dairymen were at first a little doubtful as to the success of the factories. They, however, soon wheeled into line, and now the last State census gives the number of factories in the county in 1874 at eighty-eight, aggregating a capital of $235,070, and paying out annually in wages the sum of $48, 181.
The number of cows in the county whose milk was sent to the facto- ries that year was 32,372, and in 1875 34,070. The number of patrons was 1,303.
In 1860 Samuel Perry, of New York, formerly of Herkimer county, attempted to control the entire export product of American dairies. He sent his agents early in the season throughout the whole dairy sections of New York and Ohio, then the only two States from which cheese was exported, and they contracted for him the bulk of the farm-dairies at an average price of from 8 cents to 10 cents per pound.
The cheese was bought in the usual way, on credit, a small sum being paid during the summer, while the final settlement and payment were to be made in January.
Mr. Perry, by offering a penny or so per pound more than other deal- ers believed the market would warrant, was enabled to secure almost the entire make of the season. A great disaster, as is well known, fol- lowed this purchase. Much of the cheese was badly made and badly cured, and it became worthless in his hands. Sales could not be made
124
HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
in England to cover cost. The approaching war caused troublous times, and cut off our Southern trade. Financial difficulties at the opening of 1861 were frequent and pressing, and the great merchant in a large number of cases could not meet his engagements, and many dairymen remained unpaid. The lesson was a severe one to all concerned, but it was useful in this-that ever afterwards dairymen in Herkimer have been cautious in selling on long credits, while no one dealer, single handed, has since that time attempted to control a product which from its mag- nitude is beyond the grasp of one man's means and resources.
It is perhaps justice to Mr. Perry to say that he battled manfully against the adverse turn in trade, and had it not been for the breaking out of the war would doubtless have met all his liabilities, though of course at a fearful loss.
The Cheese Market at Little Falls .- The following year, 1861, dairy- men and dealers began to meet at Little Falls on certain days of the week for the purpose of making transactions in cheese. There was a large number of home dealers, some of them acting as agents for New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore houses, while others were seeking transactions on their own account. The fact, I think, that so many dairymen had lost money the previous year, and the desire on their part to sell for cash or on short credits, helped to start " sales day," or a public market at Little Falls. Dairymen commenced in the spring to bring small parcels of cheese into town on Mondays, offering it for sale to resident dealers, and transactions were readily made. The buy- ers soon learned that it was easier to test samples from the different dairies as they were brought to market than to make a special journey over bad country roads to look at cheese which they were not certain could be bought at market rates. It is quite different, they argued, whether the cheese is brought to town or lies on the shelf. When a dairyman brings his goods to market he is ready to sell. If the cheese is on the shelf in his curing room he may not be ready until he has in- quired as to the market, or seen some particular buyer. The seller, on the other hand, found an advantage in bringing his goods to town, be- cause he could show them to different buyers, and thus get a greater number of bids than he would be likely to obtain if his product remained in his dairy house. So, by mutual consent, cach party, seeing an ad-
125
HISTORY OF CHEESE DAIRYING.
vantage in it, embraced the plan, and "market days" for the sale of dairy products at Little Falls were inaugurated. At first two days in the week, Mondays and Wednesdays, were agreed upon, and the plan worked well and was satisfactory to all concerned. Soon dealers from New York and other cities began to visit the market, making such se- lections as desired, while the dairymen, selling for cash and meeting with buyers who were ready to compete for their goods, were so pleased with the arrangement that they did not care to dispose of their cheese in any other way.
On some market days previous to 1864 hundreds of farmers have been in the streets near the railway depot, each with his wagon loaded with cheese boxed and marked with his name; while some twenty or more buyers were scattered among them and passsing from wagon to wagon. Some from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Baltimore and other cities, with an occasional shipper from England, could be seen ex- amining, boring, tasting, smelling and making bids for the loads.
In 1864 the first weekly reports of the Little Falls market, then and now the largest interior dairy market in the world, began to be made by the writer in the Utica Morning Herald. Previous to 1864 farmers relied on city quotations, which were sometimes thought to be in the merchants' favor. Indeed so sharp was the competition at Little Falls that the prices paid at this market every week were not unfrequently above New York quotations, and dairymen from other sections sought eagerly for these reports before selling. The factories also were sending their salesmen on the market not only from Herkimer, but from the adjoining counties, the " sales day " now being on Monday only of each week. From 1864 to 1870 the Little Falls cheese market had acquired so high a reputation that it was considered the center of the trade in America, and its weekly transactions had a controlling influence in establishing prices at the seaboard. Reports of the market at its close were telegraphed not only to parties engaged in the trade in our lead- ing cities, but to the great cheese centers of Liverpool and London. During this time, besides a great number of farm-dairymen attending the market weekly, salesmen from three hundred factories have some- times been present, while the regular list of factories doing business in the market numbered about two hundred. The quantity of cheese an-
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HISTORY OF HERKIMER COUNTY.
nually sold on the market has been estimated at 25,000,000 to 30,000,- 000 pounds, but the actual shipment of dairy produce from the county was considerably less, as the factories, after selling their goods by sam- ple, shipped them at the railroad depots nearest the factory.
The following table, made up from records kept at the railroad and canal freight depots within the limits of Herkimer county, will show the surplus make of butter and cheese in Herkimer county during the time referred to. The quantity consumed in the county is not known, but if added would make the product much larger :
CHEESE, POUNDS.
BUTTER, POUNDS.
1864
16,767,999
492,673
1865
16,808,352
313,756
186G
18,172,913
232.961
1867
16,772,031
204,385
1868
15,734,920
341,632
1869
15,570,487
204,634
Up to 1871 the cheese and butter market at Little Falls had been held for the most part in the open street, but early in January of that year steps were taken to organize a Dairy Board of Trade for the State, with headquarters at Little Falls,-that being then the chief and only interior dairy market in the country. In pursuance of this resolution a call for a public meeting at Little Falls in February was made, and widely circulated through the newspapers of the State. The meeting was largely attended by leading dairymen and others from different parts of the State, and Judge George A. Hardin was called to the chair, when an association was formed under the name of "The New York State Dairymen's Association and Board of Trade."
This was the first " Dairymen's Board of Trade " organized on the continent, and soon after publishing and sending out circulars giving the plan for organizing such boards, other parts of the country started similar associations, Elgin, Ill., being first to follow, and then Utica, N. Y. The plan spread rapidly through the dairy sections of this State and in other States, and now many dairy centers in different States and Canada have their dairy boards of trade at which merchants and sel- lers meet on regular market days for the transaction of business in dairy goods. The telegraph is here brought into requisition, and sellers go upon the market knowing something of the demand and the price
127
HISTORY OF CHEESE DAIRYING.
on both sides of the Atlantic. At the interior markets competition always runs high, and merchants sometimes complain that margins are narrow and money not so easily made as when the goods were bought at the factory on city quotations. Be this as it may, the dairymen now have a sort of commercial education. They study the markets, home and foreign, and they judge when it is best to realize on their goods.
The first officers chosen by "The New York State Dairymen's Asso- ciation and Board of Trade " were : X. A. Willard, president ; Watts T. Loomis, recording secretary ; Josiah Shull, corresponding secretary ; David H. Burrell, treasurer ; with six directors, all of whom the consti- tution provides shall be elected annually. The annual meetings of the society occur in February of each year at Little Falls, though conven- tions are held during the winter in different parts of the State ; they have been held at Little Falls ; Sinclairville, Chautauqua county ; at Binghamton, Broome county; at Norwich, Chenango county ; at Elmira, Chemung county ; two or more at Utica, Oneida county ; and others elsewhere. These conventions have been very largely attended, and have done an important work in aiding the progress of dairy- husbandry in the State.
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