114 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



There is sold in Boston every week a thousand pounds of 

 this fancy butter, and it brings seventy-five to eighty cents a 

 pound ; and there is a steady demand for twice as much as 

 can be obtained. There is sold in New York two thousand 

 pounds a week of this fancy butter, at from fifty cents to one 

 dollar a pound, and the demand is three time as great as the 

 supply. And in every city and every village of fair size in 

 New England, there is a large and increasing demand for this 

 fancy or " gilt-edged " butter. 



What is this butter? It is the product, made in special 

 and careful methods, of the milk of the Jersey cow. It is 

 made in the first place from clean cows, fed on certain kinds 

 of clean food, stabled in clean air, and provided with an 

 abundance of clean water. The milk is set in clean utensils 

 and in clean air. The cream is granulated and washed in the 

 churn, worked thoroughly but carefully, salted very h'ghtly, 

 and delivered to the customers twice a week the year round. 

 This butter is ready to be used when delivered, and it is not 

 expected to remain good over three or four days. 



I see some of my hearers shake the head and say, " butter 

 that will not keep a week can't be good for much." Well, 

 my friends, it is good for fifty to eighty cents a pound, and 

 just as much of it as you can put upon the market ! A roast 

 of beef, a leg of mutton, a strawberry — each of these is to 

 be eaten within two or three days after it is " ripe." The 

 same is true of the best butter. Fresh meat is one thiug, 

 corned or " put down" meat is another thing. Fresh apples 

 are one kind of food ; dried apples become another. Grapes 

 are one thing ; raisins another. Some people prefer corned 

 beef and cabbage boiled together in a strong, greasy mass ; 

 others prefer juicy roast beef and dry, mealy, snowy, boiled 

 potatoes ; and though the latter is a much more expensive 

 dish than the former, no one nowadays will deny that the 

 fresh-meat business is a vast and profitable and stable trade. 

 The same statement may be made of fresh fruits, like the- 

 strawberry, for example. 



Let us not forget that in the past forty years enormous 

 changes in habits of life have taken place, and farmers should 

 remember that luxurious habits of life have crept into almost 

 all other classes of society more rapidly and more fully 



