560 



FARMERS' REGISTER— BUTTER AND CHEESE. 



cosily. If such cannot be procured, and wood- 

 must be used, I prefer an implement made in the 

 following manner: JN'Iake a box, resembling the 

 frame of a small table or wash-stand, without 

 plank on its top, eighteen inches, or two I'eet across. 

 Cover its sides two leetdeep with thin light plank, 

 to protect the plumb from the wind. The f)!an\b 

 should hang from the centre of intersection of 

 two diagonal cross-pieces in the top of the box, 

 and over a like centre of similar pieces in its bot- 

 tom. This table or box may be supported by its 

 own legs terminating in sharp iron spikes, to stick 

 in the ground — or the legs may be fastened on with 

 strong hinges, to be opened out in adjusting the 

 level on uneven ground — or it may rest on a board 

 supported by a three-legged stalF(the legs move- 

 able.) Whatever be its support, it should be tall 

 enough to save the operator Irom the drudgery of 

 stooping, while talUng sight over its top, which 

 should be exactly level and at right angles to its 

 sides. 



The mode of cutting the ditches can best be de- 

 termined by each proprietor, who will be guided 

 much by the nature of his land and his quantum 

 of force. I have used a four-horse plough, but 

 found after the ditches began to get deep, that so 

 many horses encumbered each other. 1 jjrefer af- 

 ter marking off the track, with one steady horse, 

 to complete the work with two, repeatedly running 

 along the same furrows, until the ditch be wide 

 and deep enough. The loose dirt should be drawn 

 out of the first ditch cut, with hoes, while the 

 plough is cutting others. This work maybe per- 

 formed by small hands. 



It remains to be remarked, that the ditches, af- 

 ter they are made, should be used as guides in 

 ploughing the beds next above and below each 

 one of them, and that the ground left in the mid- 

 dle, after the heis parallel to the ditches, shall 

 ha\'e, in some places,' come together, should be 

 thrown into short beds. This plan affords, as re- 

 ceptacles for the water, both the level ditches and 

 furrows belonging to the beds. If the ploughman 

 be skilful, he will need no assistance in forming 

 beds jjarallel to the ditches. If unskilful, his horse 

 must be guided by a stick, corresponding in 

 length to Ihe width of a bed, the other end of 

 which is held before the breast of a boj', Avho walks 

 in the guide-ditch or furrow. In this manner, the 

 first furrow of each bed may be laid off, and the 

 remainder of the ground ploughed by other plough- 

 men, or by the same one afterwards. 



The foregoing minute details would doubtless 

 appear very tedious, to the adept in levelling — for 

 whom tliey Avere by no meaiis written. The no- 

 vice will probably not com|)lain of j)articularity. 

 They are submitted to the will of the editor. 



From the Froceetllugs of" tho Massnchusptts Agricultural Society 

 (Dcceiubor, laJ'l.) 



BUTTER AND CHEESE. 



To the Committee on Butter and Cheese of the Mass. 

 Society for promoting Agriculture: — 



My cows subsist entirely on grass in summer. 

 1 salt them tiirec times per week. A Httle time 

 before I turn tiiem out to grass in the spring, I give 

 one (juart of cob meal to each per day. I give my 



rowen* to them when I first put them up to hay in 

 autumn — think my rowen worth more at that sea- 

 son than in the spring. 



Respecting the treatment of milk and cream. 

 My milk is set in my cellar at a little distance from 

 the cellar bottom. The cream should be separated 

 from the milk when sweet and should be ke])t cool. 

 I have a cellar 10 feet square and 9 feet deep in my 

 cellar, where I put ice in hot weather, and there I 

 can make my cream of a right temperature. I 

 have a stove in my upper cellar, so that in cold 

 weather my cream is also of a right temperature. 

 I churn in summer three days in a week. The 

 butter is taken from the churn as free from butter- 

 milk as possible, then worked with the hand and 

 salted. There can be no ladle to supply the place 

 of the hand. The butter then stands an hour or 

 an hour and a half, when the butter is worked 

 until the buttermilk is entirely expressed; then it is 

 ready to lump. Respecting salt, I always send 

 for the best quality of butter salt; I do not know 

 the name of it. If I get a lot that proves not to 

 be of the best quality,'! take it for other purjjoses, 

 and send again for the best kind; for I think it a 

 very essential thing to have the salt fine, white, 

 and of a good flavor. The butter should be salt- 

 ed according to the taste of those who are to use it. 

 There are a variety of tastes respecting the quan- 

 tity of salt. I use no other substance in butter but 

 salt. I think saltpetre a dangerous article in 

 cheese, and should think it would have a bad ef- 

 fect on butter, though I do not know as I ever saw 

 it tried. Respecting preserving butter in summer, 

 the vessel should be thoroughly cleansed; and a 

 little salt sprinkled over the inside of the vessel. 

 It should be kept perfectly tight to prevent the air 

 getting to the butter. When I have kept butter 

 through the summer, I have put it down in white 

 oak casks, and head them up until they were 

 wanted for use; then unhead the casks and put on 

 a lid. From my own experience I think white 

 oak vessels the best for preserving butter, yet I 

 wish fbr information from the committee and other 

 gentlemen concerning this thing. Those who buy 

 our butter can best judge what vessels are the best, 

 and if the committee or the trustees of the Mass. 

 Agricultural Society will take the trouble to satisfy 

 themselves as to what vessels are best, and recom- 

 mend them to the dairymen, it will be an advan- 

 tage. Had I known of your exhibition soon 

 enough I would have put up some in pots at the 

 same time I put down in firkins, that you might 

 have a chance to ascertain which is the better. 



Gentlemen, I know you love good butter and 

 clieese by your exertions in offering those liberal 

 premiums, and as you have bestowed a good share 

 of them on me, I feel myself under obligation to 

 give all the information that I can to j^ou. The 

 dairymen Avant to get ricli too fast; this is a great 

 reason why you do not have better butter. At 

 this season of the year the cream ought not to 

 stand on the milk more titan 12 hours in order to 

 make good butter: of course we do not get but one 

 half of' the cream. There will rise another coat 

 of cream, which may be applied to other uses 



*This name is given in England, and it is therefore 

 supposed, also in Massachusetts, to the second growth 

 of meadows, left to stand for grazing in tlie succeeding 

 vvniter or spring. — Ep. Farm. Rkq, 



