198 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



[Jan. 13, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. '•''"<' Uiereforc it belmves every person who wish- 1 



I es to conduct liiis husiness with a [iroper de- 



FRIUAY, JAiNUARY 13, Mi'iO. 



TO THE EDITOR OF THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Miljord, {K //.) Jan. C, 1825. 



Mr Editor — One of the great advantages of Agricul- 

 tural Societies and Agricultuial papers, is, that a valu- 

 able discovery possessed by a single farmer, or a small 

 neighborhood, may be disseminated throiigli a large 

 gectioa of the country. 



One of my present dilTiciiUies ia tliis, that two churn- 



grce of attention and economy always, to ascer-; 

 tain the qualities of every cow individually as ' 

 soon as she is turned into the dairy ; otherwise 

 he may, like the person to whom this cow or- 

 iginally belonged, he going on for years togeth- 

 er, and never know that he is sulijecling him- 

 self to a great expense daily, without deriving 

 any return from it. Innumerable other benefits 

 will be found to result from the practice of 

 keeping each cow's milk as separate as possible, 

 and examining it individually very ol'ten ; for 



ingaof cream,, tlie produce of cows, all forward witli ^^, „^,^, ^^^, ,|,g ^ijik of one cow be. upon the 



whole, of a much inferior quality to that of an- 

 other, and yield a much poorer return, which 

 might thus be discoverci! ; but it may also hap- 

 pen that from casual disease, or other circum- 



calf, (except one that is fallow) cannot be converted 



into butter. The cream was put into what is called a 



barrel churn, of at least twe.-ity years' service in the 



family, and was turned as usual, for a number of days, 



except at necessary intervals for rest and sltep. I then [ st.mces the milk of one cow, may become taint- 

 ed at a |)arlicular lime with a peculiar taste or 

 other quality, which may greatly injure the 

 whole stock if it he mixed with it, and occasion 

 los=, and other unaccountable inconvenience to 

 the owner, which by this caution might be 

 avoided: besides he will thus avoid the danger 

 of being induce(l, with that hasty decisiveness 

 so common in rural atTairs, to attribute the el- 

 fccts which arise from this unsuspecled source 

 to other circumstances, that have had no influ- 

 ence whatever upon it. From these consider- 

 alion<, I should recommend it as an invariable 

 practice in every dairy, to keep each cow's 

 milk separate on the first day of every month at 

 least throughout (he year, for the purpose of 

 ascertaining the quantity and quality of the mill* 

 yielded by every one of them individually 

 Were this practice strictly adhered to, it would 

 advance the practical know ledge of the dairy 

 more in tlie f|)ace ol' one year, than can be done 

 in the ramlorn mode of procedure usually adopt- 

 ed in a century."' 



Vve give ibis extract as an -article of iripor- 

 tance, though it may not apply to the case men- 

 tioned by our correspondent. It appears t.'iat the 

 cream, which he could not convert lo buiter, by 



borrowed an old lashioned dash churn and tried the 

 experiment thorouglily in that. But all our exertions 

 were fruitless. This kind of disappointment from win- 

 ter cream has before occasionally happened in my fam- 

 ily ; and is not, I believe, a strange occurrence in dai- 

 ries. [ am aware that a cow Ibrward with calf and 

 kept on hay, does ant yield milk abounding so fully in 

 that quality which goes to butter, as a cow at grass. — 

 Still there can be no doubt, I think, but that there is 

 the butter quality in the milk and cream in a good de- 

 gree. So that the principal difficulty lies in the art of 

 separating the butter from the buttermilk. 



I wish to be informed through your paper, which 1 

 take, of a sovereign remedy in this case. 



One question now. Does the bag of a heifer become 

 more capacious, so as to be capable of holding more 

 milk, thereby rendering the cow more valuable, by 

 having her first c.Uf late in the season, and after a long 

 um in fresh feed? .NEW HAWrSHIRE. 



By the Editor. Dr. .\nderson, a famous wri- 

 ter on agricultural and economical topics, re- 

 lates the iollovving circumstance, which with 

 liis judicious reileclions thereon may bo useful 

 to all who wish to derive the greatest possible 

 prolit Orun the most useful ofdomestic animals, j,,^^ common melhods,was the produce olseveral 



''A Inend ol mine, who kept only a single „,^,^^,„,, j, ;, ,,„^ probable that all tho'c cows, 

 cow for the use o his own tami.lv, bought in one j ^^g ,,,„ ^^^ mentioned bv Dr. Anderson, was 

 (from a person who kept trom hiteen to twenty j ^^^ ,.,,,, ^ of yielding milk,which could he con- 

 cows, chiefly tor the purpose of rearing calves, | ^,^^,^,1 ■^^^ ^^„^^' ^V^ ^^.^ j^^,,,,,,,, ,„ i,,;,,). 



butina subsidiary view lor the dairy) "•hich j „,^; .^me other cause operated in this case, 

 was recommended as an excellent cow. that 



gave a large quantity of milk for her size, and I' is asserted by those, who appear to be best 

 that of a most excellent quality. This last was } nf-'l"''""'?'' *vith the philosophy of butter-making 

 a circum'.tance of great convenience to tny j "i'" ''>f! '*''rip<''''<''"'e of a dairy should if pnssi- 

 friend, who look care to taste the milk anil j ''Ip^ l^e kept between .'iO and 55 of Fahrenheit, 

 found it excellent, I believe boloro the baigain Indeed we doubt whether it is not as dilhcult to 

 was finally completed. But, although that milk I m'''^P butter at a low temperature, as it is ice 

 was thick and rich to the taste, it never could ■'' '"> h'S'* temperature. When milk or cream 



be made to yield one bit of buiter, though lliov 

 tried every method that could be devised for 

 that purpose ; on which account he was oblitjeil 

 very soon to part with the cow. Now it chanc- 

 ed that this cow had given milk for three sea- 

 sons bel'ore sliO was sold without its having been 

 discovered or suspected that her milk did not 



is nearly at the freezing point, the oily or (as 

 chemists call them) biilyrous or butyracenns par- 

 ticles cannot be maile to adhere to each other. 

 They must be brought up to the slickiiii; jioinl, 

 by some adequate means. I'he agitation on 

 such occasions, creates no new product in ihe 

 milk. The ciiscmis or cheese making particles. 



give as much butler as that of any other cow ''"^ Imtijrnus, or buiter making [larlicles, and Ihe 

 in the dairv. \serous or more watery particles, winch consti 



" The experiment proves in the first place Si"le whey or buttermilk, exist in cream or milk 

 Uiat there may be indivbliial cows among a ■'•* "ell before as after churning. IJuKer is matle 

 great number, which vield milk thai possesses i ''V agitating oily or biittermaklng particles and 

 qualities, extremely dilYerent Irom those in gen- 1 forcing them against other particles of the same 

 eral of that breed, "aliboogh lo the eye and the i oaliiro. But if these particles are as cold as 

 Usle it appears not to differ trom tliose at ali; icicles they will not unite with each other any 



more than would drops or globules of tallow in 

 icecold water. 



On the other hand if the temperature of the 

 cream or milk is loo high, the butter-making 

 particles will not cohere. You may make " ihc 

 butter come,'' but you cannot '■'•gather j7" into u 

 mass of any solidity. Hence the use of ice houses 

 and spring houses in Ihc summer se.ison for 

 keeping cream and milk cool. Indeed our 

 butter-m ikers in general seem to be sensible 

 that cream should be warmed in winter, before 

 it can be converted into butter. But they com- 

 monly use awkward and inadequate means to 

 produce this eflect ; such as seating a wooden 

 churn near the fire. The wood being an im- 

 perfect conductor of beat, the cream remains 

 about as cold as ever. Another melliod of 

 warming the cream is to pour as much boiling 

 water into it as will bring it lo the temperature 

 of milk just from the cow. Another mode is lo 

 irix with your cold cream four or live times its 

 quantity of milk warm fiom Ihe cow. But the 

 Dnincstic Encyclopedia says that "Decisive ex- 

 periments have been made, in order to ascer- 

 tain whether it be more profitable to churn the 

 whole milk, or only Ihe cream which the milk 

 produces ; it was found that one day's milk of a 

 particubir cow, churned by itself, yielded only 

 l2oz. of butler ; and the cream of two day's 

 milk produced 3ibs. 2oz. Hence it ap[)ears In 

 be more profitable to collect the cream, and 

 churn it, than te churn the whole milk. Cream 

 butter is likewise the richer of the two." 



This, however, should seem to apply only to 

 churning ?ic:c- i/iilk, for we learn from the same 

 work that " The following melhod of jirejiaring 

 butter is advantageously pr.ictised in Holland, 

 When the cows are milked, the fluid is poured 

 into pans, till it becomes perfectly cold; it is 

 then stirred two cr three times in the day, so 

 that ihe cream and milk may more intiiuately 

 combine, and if it be agitated till a spoon will 

 nearly stand ujirigbt, the butler thus obtained is 

 held in high esteem. As soon as Ihe milk ac- 

 (piires a projier consistence, it is poured into a 

 churn, worked for an hour, and vvhcn the but- 

 ter begins to term, one or two pints of cold wa- 

 ter are added, in proportion to Ihe capacity of 

 the vessel ; with a view to separate tlie milk, 

 with greater facility. 



"■ Al'ler the butter is taken out of llie churn 

 it is repeatedly washed and kneaded in pure 

 water, till the last allusion be clear and tree 

 from milk. In this simple manner a large por- 

 tion of butler is gained from an equal |>ropoi lion 

 of milk, and which is not only more firm and 

 sneel, but also remains Iresh for a longer time 

 than that usually made in England, w bile the 

 bnllerinilk is more (lalalable," 



Where buttermilk can be disposed of to good 

 advant.ige, it is probably good economy to churn 

 the niglii's and morning's milk every <lay, which 

 we are told is the practice of some dairy men in 

 the vicinity ol Boston. In other cases the meth- 

 od last above described, or setting Ihe milk for 

 cream, will be advisable. But in all cases the 

 temperature of ihe cream, at the time of churn- 

 ing, is an object ot prime importance. 



Proceedings of Congress. 



S33 27jft.T5<. DLC '.JD. Mr Holmes reported a 

 bill to I roviii. k.i liie security of public money in the 

 hands of ( krks, .Utormys, Marshals, and their depu- 

 ties, which was read twice. 



I 



