450 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



[Chap. IV. 



it will be seen tliat the cows which have come to maturity will make 300 

 pounds of butter per year under favorable circumstances. Alderney butter 

 sells in the different markets of the country for from forty to fiftj- cents per 

 pound. The best dairies of New York and l^ew England do not average 

 over 200 pounds per cow (native and Durham). The average price of their 

 butter is not over twenty-live cents per pound. 



"One of the most important peculiarities of the Alderney cow is her xm\- 

 formity of quautit}'. making nearly as mucli butter at the end of eight 

 months after calving as at four. The objections urged against the Alderney 

 cow are, that she is a voracious feeder, lean, awkward in appearance, and 

 will make but little beef when old. 



" Admitting the Alderney cow to be a pretty sharp feeder, it can hardly 

 be expected that a cow \vill make from ten to fourteen pounds of first-rate 

 butter by simply standing in a cold stable, and looking at a haymow, or by 

 shirking round a stack of swamp hay. That she is inclined to be lean is an 

 evidence that she is a good milker ; for a cow that secretes fatty matter can 

 not secrete good milk at the same time, without being fed too high for the 

 permanent good of the cow. If she is ugly to look at she is a good one to 

 go, for she will be worth $100 when six mouths, especially if a heifer. And 

 after being milked twelve or thirteen years, producing over 3,000 pounds of 

 l)utter, it is of no great consequence whether she makes 600 or 900 pounds 

 of beef." 



505. llealiag New Milki — The Dairyman^ Record gives the opinion that 

 the heating of new milk to near the boiling-point just after it is drawn from 

 the cow, is preferable to allowing it to stand for a time before heating, and 

 thinks both butter and cheese arc improved in flavor by so doing, " because 

 the animal odors which are objectionable would be expelled," and goes on 

 to say that " tasteless and leathery" cheese is caused by manufacturing 

 under too high a temperature rather than from high heating before manu- 

 facturing. 



506. Dust aud Fly Covers for 3Iilk-Pans. — To keep dust out of milk-pans, 

 make hoops of ratans, or ash wood, a little larger than the tops of the pans, 

 and stretch over and sew on them some thin cotton stuff that will not stop 

 the circulation of the air, but will keep out the flies and mites, and when the 

 milk is cool, la}' these covers over the pans. To keep out flies, use mosquito 

 netting or wire gauze instead of cloth 

 cover all windows in fly-time. 



Some inventive Connecticut genius has contrived a portable, ventilated 

 milk-closet, which, from the description, we should think a very good thing, 

 but presume that any ingenious wood-worker could get up one a little dif- 

 ferent in form to answer the same purpose; and we recommend all fami- 

 lies who keep but one cow, to provide themselves with such a convenient 

 ventilated milk-closet ; or one that will let fresh air in and foul air out, and 

 keep the milk safe from pestiferous insects and vermin. 



The following item shows the benefit of keeping milk cool : " In sending 



The wire gauze is a fine thing to 



