238 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



THE DAI RY. 



PLYMOUfH. 



The number of entries of butter was eleven, of cheese thir- 

 teen ; in addition to which there were two small parcels of 

 butter, for exhibition only. The butter was generally of excel- 

 lent quality, the cheese universally so. We doubt whether a 

 finer exhibition of the latter article was ever witnessed in this 

 county. Those unsuccessful competitors, whose comments 

 upon our errors of judgment were made in the spirit of that 

 charity which " sufifereth long and is kind," are entitled to our 

 acknowledgments for their courtesy. Those of a different 

 class, who could find no justification for conclusions at variance 

 with their own, are respectfully referred to our successors, who 

 will doubtless be men of more mature judgment and more 

 correct tastes than your present committee, and men who will 

 better understand on " which side their bread is buttered." 



Old Plymouth cannot claim preeminence as a dairy county. 

 Our drift formation is deficient in organic matter and in the 

 phosphates. The herbage is scant and wiry on our lean up- 

 lands, and sedgy and sour on our undrained lowlands. One 

 may travel for miles along our sandy roads without seeing a 

 vigorous growth of white clover, which, more than any other 

 grass, perhaps, indicates the preseiice in the soil of those ele- 

 ments essential to the perfection of dairy products. The farmer 

 who does most to improve his pastures, by supplying those 

 ingredients which are wanting and removing those which are 

 in excess, will most effectually aid his "better half" in her 

 attempts to excel as a dairy woman. To furnish good cows 

 and good pastures should be his care, to make the most and 

 best of their products, hers. 



Our dairies are generally too small to insure the highest 

 degree of excellence. The greater the quantity of cream the 

 greater is the probability that it will be churned while fresh 

 and sweet, and that its care will be made a principal and not a 

 secondary matter ; while the larger the cheese the less is its 

 exposure to atmospheric influences. In these respects, at 

 least, quantity has a direct relation to quality. 



