294 PRODUCTION or butter and cheese. 



as otherwise the season will be too short for the plant to mature. The plant has two enemies, 

 the tobacco fly and the tobacco worm. The former attacks the young plant, while in the bed ; 

 the latter after it is transplanted into the field : the former has been driven from the young 

 plant by sprinkling them with ashes charged with fish-oil. Turkeys are sometimes allowed to 

 ramble in the tobacco field, for the purpose of feeding upon the worm. 



It appears that this crop is very liable to fail, from other causes than the fly and worm. If 

 the weather is cold and dry in May and June the plants do not reach the size required for 

 transplanting. There are, too, some contingencies attendant upon curing the tobacco, as drying, 

 which must acquire a certain yellowness for market. The drying is performed in a building 

 which is traversed interiorly by poles, upon which the leaves are suspended, and a fire is kindled 

 below, or upon the hearth in the centre. In Connecticut, the drying is effected by currents of 

 wind like the mode employed for drying the teasel : this is the safest mode. When fire is 

 employed the temperature must be regulated with great exactitude, or the leaf will acquire an 

 injurious tint. 



PRODUCTION OF BUTTER AND CHEESE. 



The dairying business differs essentially from the industrial pursuits, which have formed the 

 subject of the foregoing pages. It is beset with more difficulties, as it involves complex ques- 

 tions relating to matters touching the animal economy. The soil, its condition, and the time 

 when it should be broken, are questions which take the lead in the kinds of husbandry which 

 occupy the mind of the farmer. In the business of the dairy, in addition to these, there are 

 those relating to stock or cattle, in all their breeds or varieties ; their feed ; the effect of food 

 upon their milk, etc. ; and also, those questions which relate to the modes of making butter 

 and cheese. I may, I think, safely say, that there are few, comparatively, good cheese and 

 butter manufacturers ; or those who are thoroughly acquainted with the principles of their 

 business, or who conduct it acccording to rules upon which it is based, and not really upon 

 certain empirical formula, which are blindly followed without knowing the reasons therefor. 



The profits of the dairy are of course drawn mainly from the milk ; this is the article first 

 produced : this is subseqently converted into butter and cheese. What remains, after obtaining 

 the concrete fat, termed butter, and the casein, called cheese when manufactured, is given to the 

 swine for conversion into meat. The whole product of the cow, in this form, then, is turned 

 to some account. There are several matters here, which may very properly come up for con- 

 »deration. The great object is to increase the product of the cow, and preserve its qualities. 

 The first subject will be but briefly stated. The animal should be milked at certain stated 

 hours ; it should be milked speedily j it should be milked clean, all of it should be obtained 

 from the bag. If either of these points are neglected the milk will diminish in quantity ; 

 the animal will dry up. The milking can not be performed by any machinery, except the 

 mouth of the calf or the human hand, let others think and say what they please. There is a 

 peculiar influence exerted upon the lacteal system of the cow by the hmnan hand, which pro- 



