“combination” or under the same management. This tends to improve the quality and secure greater uniformity in the product, and often reduces cost of manufacture. More than nine-tenths of all the cheese made is of the familiar standard type, copied after the English Cheddar, but new kinds and imitations of foreign varieties are increasing. The annual export of cheese from the United States ranges between 30,000,000 and 50,000,000 ℔. The consumption per capita does not exceed 3½ ℔ per annum, which is much less than in most European countries.
Butter differs from cheese in that it is still made much more largely on farms in the United States than in creameries. Creamery butter controls all the large markets, but this represents little more than one-third of the entire business. Estimating the annual butter product of the entire country at 1,400,000,000 ℔ not much over 500,000,000 ℔ of this is made at the 7500 or 8000 creameries in operation. Iowa is the greatest butter-producing state, and the one in which the greater proportion is made on the factory plan. The total output of butter in this state is one-tenth of all made in the Union. The average quality of butter has materially improved since the introduction of the creamery system and the use of modern appliances. Nevertheless, a vast quantity of poor butter is made—enough to afford a large and profitable business in collecting it at country stores at grease prices or a little more, and then rendering or renovating it by patent processes. This renovated butter has been fraudulently sold to a considerable extent as the true creamery article, of which it is a fair imitation while fresh, and several states have made laws for the identification of the product and to prevent buyers from being imposed upon. No butter is imported, and the quantity exported is insignificant, although there is beginning to be a foreign demand for American butter. The home consumption is estimated at the yearly rate of 20 ℔ per person, which, if correct, would indicate Americans to be the greatest butter-eating people in the world. The people of the United States also consume millions of pounds every year of butter substitutes and imitations, such as oleomargarine and butterine. Most of this is believed to be butter by those who use it, and the state dairy commissioners are busily employed in carrying out the laws intended to protect purchasers from these butter frauds.
The by-products of dairying have, within recent years, been put to economical uses, in an increasing degree. For every pound of butter made there are 15 to 20 ℔ of skim-milk and about 3 ℔ of butter-milk, and for every pound of cheese nearly 9 ℔ of whey. Up to 1889 or 1890 enormous quantities of skim-milk and butter-milk from the creameries and of whey from the cheese factories were entirely wasted. At farm dairies these by-products are generally used to advantage in feeding animals, but at the factories—especially at the seasons of greatest milk supply—this most desirable method of utilization is to a great extent impracticable. In many places new branches have been instituted for the making of sugar-of-milk and other commercial products from whey, and for the utilization of skim-milk in various ways. The albumin of the latter is extracted for use with food products and in the arts. The casein is desiccated and prepared as a substitute for eggs in baking, as the basis of an enamel paint, and as a substitute for glue in paper-sizing. It has also been proposed to solidify it to make buttons, combs, brush-backs, electrical insulators and similar articles.
No census of cows in the United States was taken until the year 1840, but they have been enumerated in each subsequent decennial census. From 23 to 27 cows to every 100 of the population were required to keep the country supplied with milk, butter and cheese, and provide for the export of dairy products. The export trade, though it has fluctuated considerably, has never exceeded the produce of 500,000 cows. At the close of the 19th century it was estimated that there was one milch cow in the United States for every four persons, making the number of cows about 17,500,000. They are, however, very unevenly distributed, being largely concentrated in the great dairy states, Iowa leading with 1,500,000 cows, and being followed closely by New York. In the middle and eastern states the milk product goes very largely to the supply of the numerous large towns and cities. In the central, west and north-west butter is the leading dairy product.
Table XVIII.—Estimated Number of Cows and Quantity and Value of Dairy
Products in the United States in 1899.
| Cows. | Product. | Rate of Product per Cow. | Total Product. | Rate of Value. | Total Value. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cents. | Dollars. | ||||
| 11,000,000 | Butter | 130 ℔ | 1,430,000,000 ℔ | 18 | 257,400,000 |
| 1,000,000 | Cheese | 300 ℔ | 300,000,000 ℔ | 9 | 27,000,000 |
| 5,500,000 | Milk | 380 gals. | 2,090,000,000 gals. | 8 | 167,200,000 |
Table XVIII. shows approximately the quantity and value of the
dairy products of the United States for a typical year, the grand total
representing a value of $451,600,000. Adding to this the skim-milk,
butter-milk and whey, at their proper feeding value, and the calves
dropped yearly, the annual aggregate value of the produce of the
dairy cows exceeds $500,000,000, or is more than one hundred
million pounds sterling. Accepting these estimates as conservative,
they show that the commercial importance of the dairy industry
of the United States is such as to justify all reasonable provisions
for guarding its interests. (W. Fr.)
DAIS (Fr. dais, estrade, Ital. predella), originally a part of the
floor at the end of a medieval hall, raised a step above the rest of
the building. On this the lord of the mansion dined with his
friends at the high table, apart from the retainers and servants.
In medieval halls there was generally a deep recessed bay window
at one or at each end of the dais, supposed to be for retirement,
or greater privacy than the open hall could afford. In France the
word is understood as a canopy or hanging over a seat; probably
the name was given from the fact that the seats of great men were
then surmounted by such a feature. In ordinary use, the term
means any raised platform in a room, for dignified occupancy.
DAISY (A.S. daeges eage, day’s eye), the name applied to the
plants constituting the genus Bellis, of the natural order Compositae.
The genus contains ten species found in Europe and the
Mediterranean region. The common daisy, B. perennis, is the
only representative of the genus in the British Isles. It is a
perennial, abundant everywhere in pastures and on banks in
Europe, except in the most northerly regions, and in Asia Minor,
and occurs as an introduced plant in North America. The stem
of the daisy is short; the leaves, which are numerous and form
a rosette, are slightly hairy, obovate-spathulate in shape, with
rounded teeth on the margin in the upper part; and the root-stock
is creeping, and of a brownish colour. The flowers are to be
found from March to November, and occasionally in the winter
months. The heads of flowers are solitary, the outer or ray-florets
pink or white, the disk-florets bright yellow. The size and
luxuriance of the plant are much affected by the nature of the
soil in which it grows. The cultivated varieties, which are
numerous, bear finely-coloured flowers, and make very effective
borders for walks. What is known as the “hen-and-chicken”
daisy has the main head surrounded by a brood of sometimes as
many as ten or twelve small heads, formed in the axils of the
scales of the involucre. The ray-florets curve inwards and
“close” the flower-head in dull weather and towards evening.
Chaucer writes—
|
“The daisie, or els the eye of the daie, |
and again—
|
“To seen this floure agenst the sunne sprede |
and the flower is often alluded to with admiration by the other poets of nature. To the farmer, however, the daisy is a weed, and a most wasteful one, as it exhausts the soil and is not eaten by any kind of stock.
In French the daisy is termed la marguerite (μαργαρίτης, a pearl), and “herb margaret” is stated to be an old English appellation for it. In Scotland it is popularly called the gowan, and in Yorkshire it is the bairn wort, or flower beloved by children. The Christmas and Michaelmas daisies are species of Aster; the ox-eye daisy is Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum, a common weed in meadows and waste places. B. perennis flore-pleno, the
