304 



Dialogue — Dairying — The Hog. 



Vol. IV. 



which we use for 25 or 30 pounds of butter, 

 is of the Welsh pattern, with swelling, not 

 straight, sides ; this gives the cream more 

 space, and the agitation is greater and more 

 easily communicated ; and when the cream 

 thickens, still there is room for the plunger 

 to work, and consequently the labour is much 

 lessened. 



In putting the cream into the churn, it is 

 very customary to wash the cream pans with 

 water, and add it to the cream in the churn ; 

 this should be avoided, as you wotdd avoid 

 poison — not a drop of water must come in con- 

 tad with the cream or butter, frorn first to last. 

 And when the butter is " come," it is cus- 

 tomary to pour off a part of the butter-milk, 

 add water, and churn again, to beat the but- 

 ter together, and in part to wash it ; this is 

 worse still, for it carries away with it the fra- 

 grance of the butter, and gives it a propen- 

 sity to early rancidity. If the butter requires 

 to be beaten together in the churn, no water 

 should be added on any account, after letting 

 off the butter-milk. On taking the butter out 

 of the churn, it should be beaten, in lumps 

 about two pounds each, on a thick piece of 

 hard and smooth board, with the edges round- 

 ed off, held in the left hand, by a knob on the 

 under side, with a flat and thick piece of very 

 smooth, hard wood, with a handle; and on a 

 single trial every one will be convinced that 

 every particle of the milk can be driven out 

 without washing with water. After this, it 

 is to be spread on a smooth board or table, 

 and salted, then rolled together and divided 

 into lumps about a pound each, and beaten 

 again ; and it is then fit for the print. 



And now, if those who think that the but- 

 termilk cannot be extracted without washing 

 with water, will try the above mode of man- 

 agement and working, and put a portion of 

 the butter away for a month or two, and ex- 

 amine it at the end of that time, they will be 

 quite convinced of a good many things. 



Frank. — Is not the island of Jersey famed 

 for good butter] our friend, William I. told 

 us, you remember, that while he resided in 

 Rio Janeiro, they ate Jersey butter, as fresh 

 as though it had been made but the day 

 before : now, how could it be conveyed to 

 such a distance, and into such a hot climate, 

 without becoming rancid and oily ] 



Father. — I was told of a captain of a vessel 

 who engaged to take butter from the island 

 of Jersey to Rio Janeiro, and that it might 

 be as much as possible out of tlie influence 

 of the heat of the climate, especially on 

 crossing the line, he placed the barrels con- 

 taining it at the bottom of the hold of the 

 ship. On arriving at his port, and looking 

 for his butter, he found that not a drop of it 

 remained in the barrels ! it had all escaped, 

 and was found amongst the ballast, from 



whence it was removed by means of shovels. 

 The way they now transport it is, to press 

 it, with very little salt, into light barrels, 

 well headed up, and these are then placed in 

 larger barrels, with a coating of salt well 

 rammed in ;* they are then carefully headed, 

 and it is found that no heat will penetrate 

 through a covering of salt, even during the 

 longest voyage. 



The quality of the Jersey butter arises 

 rather from the delicacy of the breed of cows, 

 than from the food which they eat, for on 

 some of their very small farms the supply 

 is so short, that at certain seasons they are 

 compelled to put up with very coarse fare. 

 The high-bred Durhams show their origin 

 and aptitude for milk and butter, which they 

 inherit from the Jilderneys, as they are called ; 

 although the handsomest and most valuable 

 animals of this breed come from Jersey, an 

 island within sight of those of Guernsey 

 and Alderney, bat the breed of its cattle is 

 very different from that of either of them. 



The Hog. 



Considering his extraordinary fecundity 

 and adaptation to all climates, the ease and. 

 cheapness with which he is reared, (thriving 

 almost equally well on animal and vegetable 

 food,) and the facility with which he is con- 

 veyed from one place to another, it is indeed 

 surprising that so little is known in this 

 country of his history and habits, and such 

 slight attention paid to the improvement of 

 so valuable an animal as the domestic Hog. 

 To a great extent, among many of our farmers, 

 has the hog been considered as a subordinate 

 species of live stock — a mere consumer of 

 the refuse of the kitchen, whose presence 

 must be tolerated as a necessary evil. The 

 vast improvement to be effected by the im- 

 portation of new varieties, or judicious crosses 

 among those easily procured, seems to have 

 almost culpably escaped the attention of 

 those with whom the improvement of all 

 other kinds of stock has been a subject of 

 intense and constant reflection. Natural 

 History abounds with singularly minute de- 

 tails of the habits of many rare, and in an 

 agricultural point of view, apparently useless 

 animals. Volumes have been written on the 

 breeds, the treatment, and the diseases of 

 sheep. Treatise after treatise on cattle has 

 been multiplied, exhibiting in detail the 

 change effected by judicious and continued 

 crossings, to so great an extent that the dis- 

 tinguishing characteristics of the parent 

 stock are scarcely to be recognized in their 



♦Smoked hams may thus bo preserved during the 

 siimtiirr, if they are packed q-uilc dry in boxes of dry 

 salt, takiii!; care that they ilo not come into contact 

 witlieacli other, or with the sides of the box. 



