296 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



some farms which cannot produce good butter. I knew an in- 

 stance in our county where a shrewd farmer, finding he could 

 not make good butter at home, bought the farm of a man who 

 was noted for good butter, and there he was successful ; — but 

 the man who had always made good butter, moved his stock 

 and his wife to another farm, and he could not produce good but- 

 ter — butter that would be satisfactory to Mr. Hyde or any one 

 else. So there is a great difference in farms as to their capabil- 

 ity to produce good butter. 



Mr. Ellsworth gave a pretty large quantity of milk to a pound 

 of butter, but I believe the Barre cows have not been bred for 

 butter-making purposes, but for beef-producing and cheese-pro- 

 ducing cows. 



Mr. Converse. I would like to ask if there is any gentleman 

 present who has ever practised churning milk. I have known 

 persons in Vermont who churned their milk immediately after 

 milking, and they said they produced sweeter and better butter, 

 and got more of it, than by churning cream. 



Maj. Phinney. That applies to persons who make their but- 

 ter from a pint of milk. 



The Chairman. A neighbor of mine churned his milk for a 

 long time by an English machine, introduced for the purpose. 

 He had some butter churned before a party of people who were 

 invited to see it, and the butter was delicious. But he had to 

 give it up for some reason — I do not know what. 



Question. Were the cows Jerseys ? 



The Chairman. No, sir ; grade cows. 



Mr. Hyde. It was my fortune or misfortune to sell a herd of 

 pure-bred Jerseys for Mr. Converse, at Southborough. Mr. Con- 

 verse had bred for a definite purpose, and I think had succeeded 

 well. The reason I speak of it is, that a great objection has 

 been made to the Jersey cattle, because of their small size and 

 their poor quality for beef. Now, Mr. Converse had bred with 

 two or three things in view. First, for the best butter-making 

 qualities, in which I think he had succeeded. And my reasons 

 for saying that are these : first, I have eaten his butter, and I 

 know it was good butter ; second, I ne^er saw better skins on 

 animals in my life. Then he had bred with a view to size and 

 roundness, and plumpness of form, which are not usually found 

 in the Jersey. He had some bulls there, one of which, in par- 



