162 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



DECEMBER 5, 1832. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



For the Niw England Farmer. 

 AGKICd-TXTRAI. ESSATS, NO. VII. 



KEEPING A DAY BOOK. ^ 



Both inerchauts and mechanics are greatly in- 

 debted to their books of accounts, for information 

 and success in the several branches of their 

 business, by regular and correct entries. The 

 transaction of every day should be correctly noted. 

 The time when you plough, sow, plant, mow, 

 pidl flax, cut fuel, gather corn, potatoes, &c. aiul 

 the quantity and quality of manure laid on each 

 field, should be carefully noticed. You will then 

 Icnow the season when labor must be done the 

 next year, in those fields, and the kinds and pro- 

 portions of manure required to dress them. 

 Farmers should weigh all their pork, beef, butter 

 and cheese ; and measure all their grain, corn, 

 potatoes, &c. and indeed, everj' article they lay up 

 for winter ; and also the time when they kill their 

 creatures and the food on which they were f;;tted. 

 This will show the quantity they consume, what, 

 and how much of each article, and how much they 

 may have to dispose of. Days on which they hire 

 laborers ; the labor jierforraed on those days, and 

 tlie price paid for tliat labor, should be entered. 

 This will show what time and labor nnist be per- 

 formed the next year, the price of it, and the 

 money wliich maybe wanted to carry oiftlie busi- 

 ness of the farm. Every farmer sliould mark the 

 day on which his cows, marcs, &c. associate with 

 the males of their several kiruls ; he will then be 

 able to ])iovide proper room, &c. for the reception 

 of their yomig and to attend to their kee|iing in 

 due season, and which ought to be a little better 

 than common, at those periods. For want of this 

 attention, multhudes of calves, lambs, pigs, &.C.. 

 are annually lost. The ages of land)s, calves, colts, 

 &c. should be carfully noted, and the weight of 

 theui when killed ; as this will point out those 

 ewes, cows, &c. which are best for breeders ; 

 which is a very material branch of knowledge, in 

 regard to the growth and value of a stock of cattle. 

 In short, the Farmer should note the business of 

 every day, how and where he past it, and what 

 tlic weather was ; and he should not forget, that 

 so much of the goodness of his crops depend 

 upon early and seasonable cultivation, that he had 

 better give any price for labor than be belated 

 more depends on this than farmers hi general 

 seem to be sensible of. Flax, sowed early, will 

 have a better coat, and more seed than when sowed 

 late. Barley sowed early will not be liable to 

 blast and mildew; ard Indian corn ])lanted and 

 hoed in good season, will not be so liable to sutler 

 from drought, and from frosts, and will be fuller 

 and heavier, than when planted late, poorly 

 ploughed, and indiflerently hoed. Grass land on 

 which manure is spread early, will yield a ranch 

 better crop, than if spread late, and one load of 

 grass, cut when ripe, and before it withers and 

 turns white in the field, will be of more value than 

 two loads of the same kind, cut after it is ripe, 

 dried away and weather-beaten : it has lost its 

 juices in this state, which is all that is valuable. 

 Our summers arc so short, that every possible ad- 

 vantage should bo taken for early cultivation : for 

 negligence and inattention in the spring, will cer- 

 tanly be followed by cold and hunger of the fol- 

 lowing winter. 



But to return. A Farmer should keep a carc- 

 fiil entry of all his fodder ; the quantity and quality 



of each kind : for he may wish to purchase and 

 winter a cow or two extraordinaiy — and an ac- 

 count of the manure made by his swine, by scrap- 

 ing of the roads, his yards, by mud, barn dung, 

 Sec. for, this will show him at once, how much 

 laud to break U)), and the strength he will have for 

 the next year's cultivation : if he neglects this 

 branch of good husbandly, he cannot expect to 

 form a just estimate, either of the labor or profits 

 of the next year. To avail himself of the advan- 

 tages which stand connected with his situation and 

 farm, he nmst attend to these things, many of 

 which may appear of little or of no consequence 

 in the eyes of the mass of farmers ; but they cer- 

 tainly deserve their very serious attention. Labor- 

 ers, unless upon some urgent occasions, should 

 never be hired by the month, nor even for a single 

 day, in the winter season ; when the days are short, 

 coltl and stormy, an<l when an industrious man 

 can hardly earn his living. The quantity of pork, 

 beef, cider and other ])rovisioiis expended, in 

 other words, almost thrown away, by this iuijiru- 

 dent jiractice, will certainly be missed, and severe- 

 ly felt in the following spring and sununcr; unless 

 an additional stock of each be laid up to support 

 it in the fall proceeding. The farmer may hire 

 labor in the spring, to get a good crop in due sea- 

 son ; in the .summer, to .secure his grass ; and 

 the fall of the year, to gather in his harvest ; but 

 not in the winter, when nothing can be raised, 

 either for the use of man or beast. 



And here I observe, that every Farmer should 

 endeavour to cultivate and take care of his ovmi 

 lands ; and not let the jirofits of them depend on 

 hirelings more than he cannot possibly avoid 

 And he should never work within doors, while any 

 thing can be done to advantage without ; nor set 

 himself, or bis laborers to that work iii fair, which 

 can be done in foul weather. 



For thr Xeie England Farmer. 

 THE SEASONS, CROPS, &c. Hi VERMONT. 



Extract from a letter from a Correspo7ide7if, in 

 I'ermotit, to the Editor of the .Yeio England 

 Farmer. 



" I WISH, Sir, that your paper could circulate 

 more extensively in the northern part of Vermont. 

 It is really painful to travel through this conntni-, 

 and witness our mode of farming — to see large 

 farm yards full of manure lying year after year, 

 exposed to the rains, atniosiiherc, and sun ; our 

 wet land* uriditched, and our dry lands but half 

 cultivated. The present season has not been so 

 imfavorable as was anticipated in the early part 

 of it ; the wheat crop is abundant for this country, 

 perhaps not more than half our usual crop of corn, 

 hut oats and jiotatoes are good ; the latter of very 

 superior (juality : the hay crop rather light, but of 

 good quality ; our dairies have not done as well 

 as usual, and but little butter has been made the 

 latter part of the season." 



From the VennotU Chronicle. 

 WINTER BVTTEIR. 



Messrs. Richards and Tracy, — With this, I hand 

 each of you three samples of butter, made within 

 two miles from your oflice, on the days following, 

 viz. No. 1 on the 3d, No. 2 on the 9th, and No. 3 

 on the 17th of Nov. 1832. 



Though I do not think I have ever chanced to 

 see so good butter made at this season of the year 

 it is no vain or boastful desire that prompts me to 

 exliibit tliese samples. My only object is to com- 



municate, with your leave, and through your 

 columns, to the public, what I consider as a 

 discovery in the art of making butter, and to verify 

 in part what I communicate, by an exhibition of 

 the results of the experiments already made. 



Without furtber introduction, I will state the 

 process ; and I hope it is not the worse for being 

 suiijile. It is this. — Place the cream in an iron 

 kettle, over a clear fire, and bring it near but not 

 quite to a boiling heat. In doing this, observe 

 two things. 1. To stir the cream fretpiently, but 

 not while over the fire. It more readily imbibes 

 smoke when stirred than when at rest. 2. To 

 skim off all the froth* that may rise while heating. 

 After thus heating, stiring and skimming, remove 

 the cream and put it into a stone churn, and set it 

 away where it will not freeze, and let it remain 

 till the next day. Then bring it towards the fire, 

 and gradually and slightly warm it, — tuniiug the 

 churn around occasionally. It is then churned 

 with a uniform and rather animated motion, but 

 with no violence. The butter will ajipear iu about 

 25 minutes after the churning conuuenccs. That 

 was the time occupied, as we conjecture, in churn- 

 ing, on the said 3d and 9th of November. On the 

 I7th, the time, we know, was only 23 minutes. 



You will observe tliat samples No. 2 and 3, are 

 as yellow as June butter ; and that though the pe- 

 culiar rich flavor of June butter may be wanting, 

 still there is no bitter or uiqdeasant taste in either 

 sample. Please to observe also, that Nos. 2 and 3 

 have a waxy quality and appearance, peculiar to 

 good butter. 



The reason why No. 1, though made earliest 

 in the season, is not as yellow and waxy as Nos. 

 2 and 3, we conjecture to be this — that No. 1 wa» 

 wanned rather too miu-li at the time of churning.. 



I milked but two cows during the time men- 

 tioned, and was only able, after suiiplying other 

 demands for milk, to set about 7 1-2 quarts of 

 milk each day for cream. I did not weigh the 

 butter, but have no reason to sujipose that the 

 quantity was materially altered by tlie new mode 

 of making. The cows were fed on frostbitten 

 grass, hay, and top stalks, with a small allowance 

 of pumpkins or potatoes night and morning. 



The cream churned on the 3d, had not been 

 frozen, but tlie grass on which the cow fed had 

 been frozen. That churned on the 9tli, had been 

 liartially frozen, and that churned on the 17th had 

 been all frozen. A. B. 



P. S. Nov. 23, 1832. Since writing the above, 

 the experiment of making butter by heating the 

 cream as above mentioned, has been this day 

 again repeated, with entire success. It is per- 

 ha])s unnececsiiary to observe that, probably, many 

 things in tlic jirocess described might be varied 

 without injury, and perhaps with advantage. I 

 conjecture that the senet lies in removing the frotli. 



" It may be that it is tliis froth which occasions all the 

 trouble in the usual way of making butter in winter. If 

 mi.ved with skimmed milk, this froth is said to make 

 good "shortening." 



IVaate Lands. From an estimate lately laid be- 

 fore the English Parliament, it appears that above 

 15,000,090 acres of land are now lying waste and 

 uncult'vated i.i the United Kingdom, yet capable 

 of cultivation ; and also that there are millions of 

 acres v/hich now produce very little, from want 

 of proper cultivation, but which by judicious 

 management, might be rendered abimdantly fertile. 

 — Gtnestt Fanner. 



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