22 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



of an ounce to one and a half ounces to the pound. 

 "Wo arc aware that there may be differences in the 

 quality of the salt, and that the condition in which 

 the butter c;)?nes, may at some times require more 

 salt than at others, and, consequently, that the judg- 

 ment of the persons xporking it is to be exercised ; but 

 still, wc think it is in their power to define how this 

 judgment is to be applied; and this is the very thing 

 we want to be informed about. These little peculiar- 

 ities wliich enable good dairy-maids to present the 

 nicest of butter. 



On looking over the statements presented, several 

 diihculties occur in instituting a comparison. Some 

 speak of cues onlij ; others of cows and heifers. Some 

 speak of old cows ; others of youtig coios. What the fair 

 proportion is which a heifer bears to a cow, we have 

 no certain means of determining; but, for con- 

 venience sake, we assume that three heifers, the first 

 season in milk, may be reckoned equal to two cows. We 

 are also embarrassed by the fact, that different fami- 

 lies m-iy consume very different quantities of milk 

 and cream in the family. Ordinarilj', we expect to 

 find on a well-regulated New England farm, a man 

 and wife, five children, a man servant, a maid ser- 

 vant, and a boy to drive the cows, &c., — ten in Clum- 

 ber, — for whose use the milk of one cow, at least, 

 should be appropriated. There may be variances 



from this. There may be bachelors, who take care of 

 their own dairies ; but such care will never be con- 

 sidered as a recommendation for premium. Although 

 their butter may be sweet in the churn, ten chances to 

 one it will be rancid before it comes to the table. 



Another embarrassment, and one that should be 

 remedied by the trustees themselves, is in the vari- 

 ances of time for which the statements are made. 

 Some we notice from May 20 to July 5 ; some from 

 June I to July 9 ; some from May 20 to September 

 25 ; some for fourteen days only in June — periods 

 that cannot accurately be compared with each other. 

 Such statements not only vary from the rule pre- 

 scribed, but they present also insuperable difHculties 

 in the way of just estimates. AVe have been thus 

 particular in enumerating these, that claimants may 

 understand, if they would expect others to judge 

 rightly of their claims, they must begin right in their 

 statements. It is not enough for them to say, that 

 the offer of the premium is not made exactly as it 

 should be : when they present their claims, they as- 

 sent to the propriety of the offer. 



We present, in a tabular form, an abstract of the 

 several statements, supplying deficiencies by the best 

 guesses (exercising our privilege as Yankees) in our 

 power to make. 



Names. 



Residence. 



Cows. 



June 

 Average to a Cow. 



Four Months' 

 Average to a Cow. 



Total in Four 

 Montlis. 



John Stone, Jr 



Daniel Putnam, 



Elijah Pope, , 



Charles P. Preston, . 

 George Pearson, . . . . . 



Nathaniel Felton 



Jonathan Eerry, 



Duncan M"Xaughton, 



John Preston, 



Nathan D. Hawks, . . 



Marblehead, 



Danvers, 



Danvers, 



Danvers, 



Saiigus, 



Danvers, 



Middleton, 



Byficld, 



Danvers, 



Lvnnfield, 



45 lbs. 



30 " 



28 " 



30 " 



30 " 



32 " 



30 " 



25 " 



23 " 



25 " 



155 lbs. 

 120 " 



111 " 



112 " 

 109 " 

 llOi " 



97| " 

 94^ " 

 9U " 

 85 " 



620 lbs. 



720 " 



444 " 



784 " 



654 «' 



884 " 



790 " 



490 " 



366 " 



340 " 



Tliis shows an average product of one pound to a 

 cow, daily, through the month of June, and seven 

 eighths of a pound, daily, to a cow, for the four months 

 from May 24 to September 24. 



When the extraordinary drought of the months of 

 August and September are taken into view, as also 

 the family consumption of milk before adverted to, 

 it is but fair to say, that the statements presented the 

 present season give evidence of a production of one 

 pound of buftcr, dnihj, for each cow, for the four best 

 months of the season. 



How this Avill compare -with former years, is not 

 distinctly in mind. We remember, when the Society 

 first commenced their offer of premiums, Colonel Jesse 

 Putnam was successful in obtaining the first premi- 

 um, and that his cows averaged a produce of two 

 hundred pounds e;ich, in a period of six months. 

 This was thought a large product, and was accounted 

 for by the extraordinary feed of the cows ; the colonel 

 being a man not accustomed to leave any thing he 

 undertook half finished. We have known some of 

 the present claimants, with whom we have been ac- 

 quainted as such for nearly thirty years, to present 

 statements of a produce of eight pounds of butter a 

 week, to each cow, for a number of successive weeks. 

 These were among the best products, in the natural 

 xpay, that we have known. Wc have often heard of 

 cows that yielded two pounds of butter a day, and 

 more ; but wc have never known a herd of such cows, 

 or any considerable number together, that would do 

 it, without using a feed for them that would "cost 

 more than it came to." If such can be found, we 



should consider attention to such a stock one of the 

 best modes of u.sing a farm. 



There is so much time misspent, and labor lost, in 

 the making of poor butter, that wo feel it to be an 

 imperative duty to endeavor to impress the minds of 

 farmers, and of their wives and daughters, with the 

 importance of giving heed to this subject. There 

 are some things in relation to it so well settled, as to 

 be universally known by all those who have any 

 knowledge in the matter. There arc others, on which 

 there remain great differences of opinion and vari- 

 ance of practice ; as, for instance, in the statements 

 before us, we find some of the makers of butter apply 

 cold water freely to the butter, both before it is taken 

 from the churn and afterwards ; "to aid in extract- 

 ing the buttermilk, and to harden the Initter," as they 

 say. Others bring it into form without the use of 

 water, and say that its iise impairs the flavor, and 

 essentially injures the quality of the butter. How 

 shall it be determined which of these is right ? This 

 is a practical question, applicable to every churning ; 

 quite too important, therefore, to be left in doubt. 

 Probably most persons do as their mothers used to 

 do, without inquiry whether there is any better mode 

 of proceeding. In an intelligent article upon this 

 subject, from one of the most successful makers of 

 butter in this county, (see Transactions for 1840, p. 

 72,) we find this sentence: "More depends on this 

 than any part of the process, in making good butter. 

 If our dairy women would apply double the labor 

 to half the quantity of butter, and thereby thorough- 

 ly remove aU particles of buttermilk, this one half 



