MORE OF THAT FAKMKR WHO MILKS HIS OWN COWS. 455 



MORE OF THAT FARMER WHO MILKS HIS OWN COWS. 



In the Jiuiuaiy immhcr of the .Tounial of Agriculture, we {jave a ninning sketch of a 

 " Breakfast-table Conversation " with a practical farmer, near Lebanon Springs, N. Y., who, 

 when we made him a visit last summer, prompted by the common report of his good man- 

 agement, was just about to take his station on the right flank of a " full-uildered " cow, that 

 stood patiently chewing the cud, waiting her turn to be relieved of her milky treasures. 

 The short notes of liis numagement made at the time having become almost illegible, wo 

 wrote for some explanation on particular points, and now, for certain coasiderations, we 

 have concluded that the publication of his letter, just as it was written, may not be without 

 its usefulness, and will best conduce to the end we have in view, wliich is, to make tha 

 South and the North, the East and the West, better acquainted with each other's habits, 

 character and products respectively. We give the answer of Mr. Hall then, precisely as it 

 was written, without alteration of word or letter. It will show that it by uo means follows 

 that those who every day follow the plow, cannot also use the pen well enough for the best 

 use that can be made of it — that is, to make one's self clearly and plainly understood. We 

 even venture to ask whether it would not be safer to take such men as he, who are bound 

 l)y an abiding sympathy to the landed interest, from draining aiid plowing their fields, to 

 frame our laws and take charge of our public affairs, than to be governed by all the petti- 

 foggers, and mere party demagogues, tliis side of I'assamaquoddy ! 



Mr. Skinner: New-Lebanon, Dec. 15, 1847. 



Dear Sir: Yours of the 13th was duly received, as Avas also the December 

 number of The Farmers' Library, for which please accept my thanks. 



Please allow me, Sir, to ask you to correct one mistake into Avhich one of us 

 has inadvertently fallen : that is, by the addition of one too many cyphers (0) to 

 the number of pigs I sold. 



I hasten to answer your inquiries in a desultory manner, hoping they will be 

 intelligible and interesting, but would remark tliat I am altogether more accus- 

 tomed to plowing and feeding pigs than 1 am to writing. 



My apparatus for cooking feed is simply a steamer made of plank 7 feet long 

 by 2| wide and 2 feet 4 inches deep, with a Russia sheet-iron bottom, (copper 

 would be better,) nailed on to the plank, with a false bottom of boards (filled 

 with small holes) 4 inches above the iron one. A cover completes the steamer. 

 The whole is placed upon a brick area so constructed that the plank or sides and 

 ends reach on to the brick work 4| or 5 inches, wiiich protects it from the fire. 

 The space between the two bottums is filled with water, and that above with 

 the vegetables. The vats to contain the food when i)repared for feeding run on 

 rails the length of the piggery, and pass near the steamer, for the convenience of 

 removing tiie food after it is cooked. 



The method of making butter we practice is as follows: Room used, kept as 

 near a temperature of 60'^ as may be ; milk strained into a large can, placed in 

 the milking-yard, whicli adjoins the milk-room, inside of wiiich it is drawn by 

 means of a conductor and faucet into tin pans, usually about S quarts in each 

 pan ; it is drawn over and jjlaced in the can whenever the temperature requires 

 it ; consequently tlie cream rises in much less time than when cooled in the or- 

 dinary way ; it ought to stand 36 hours before being skimmed, but this time must 

 be varied according as the weather changes ; it should be skimmed when it is 

 slightly ciianged, and before it is coagulated. The cream is put into stone jars 

 and placed in a refrigerator in contact with ice until it is churned, which is done 

 every two or three days, in a circular churn with revolving arms or paddles 

 framed into a shaft of wood (cream should never come in contact with iron). 

 The motive power is a platform wheel turned by a pony. The butter is salted 

 with ground rock-salt passed through a fine sieve, that there may be no lumps 

 193:.) 



