NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



471 



One season, if the tree is thrifty, will he all that 

 is required. If, however, it be obstinate, repeat the 

 trial, another year. The remedy is sure. Even 

 large trees, which have acquired a permanent lean, 

 may be thrown into an erect posture, by loosening 

 the earth at the root, and occasionally cutting off 

 an obstinate, large root, without injury to its growth, 

 and thus be made sightly. An erect tree will be 

 longer lived and more fruitful than a leaning one, 

 and not half so subject to casualty as if left to its 

 own guidance. 



For the New England Farmer. 



COWS, MILK AND BUTTER. 



Mr. Editor:— I found carelessly thrown into 

 my drawer the enclosed note on the making of but- 

 ter, addressed to me three years since, by a young 

 farmer of Danvers. If you think it worthy of use, 

 it is at your service. It is a genuine paper — no fic- 

 tion. Truly yours, J. W. Proctor. 



^ug. 12, 1857. • 



J. W. Proctor, Esq.: — Sir — In answer to yours 

 of Jan. 17, 1 would say that the milk sold as stated 

 by me was measured in the milk measure generally 

 used by milkmen in our vicinity, and I think there 

 is no standard for the measure of milk, at least in 

 the vicinity of Salem market. The measure used 

 here is, I think, considerably larger than that used 

 in any other market that I know of. I cannot say 

 that I have by experiment determined how many 

 quarts of milk are required to produce a pound of 

 butter, neither do I think that any result can be ar- 

 rived at by experimenting upon one yard of cows 

 which will apply to the same number of cows upon 

 another farm. It will depend, also, as you are 

 aware, somewhat upon the season of the year at 

 which the trial is made, as to the amount of milk 

 necessary to produce a given quantity of butter. I 

 have for some years past when I have bought one 

 or more cows, made a trial of their milk for one 

 week each, to test its butter-making qualities — 

 When I have found one making but a small quan- 

 tity, or a poor quality of butter, I have sold her. 

 I have known of numbers that have given large 

 quantites of milk which would mike but a very 

 small quantity of butter ; such a cow, you are aware, 

 will sell for a large price to the milkmen, while she 

 is worth nothing to the butter- farmer. By these 

 experiments upon cows, although I have not de- 

 termined with accuracy the quantity of milk from 

 each cow required for a pound of butter, yet have 

 got the result necessary to determine what cows 1 

 had better keep and what reject. By this process 

 I have a lot of cows that will produce a considera- 

 ble quantity of butter, and that, if properly manu- 

 factured, of the very best quality. The milk of 

 these cows must be of a better quality, and of course 

 worth more per quart in the market, than that 

 produced by cows, many of which have been re- 

 jected on account of the quality of their milk, and 

 none selected by reason of producing rich milk. 

 Upon trial of the cows I now have, I judge the 

 produce of milk from them the season through will 

 yield one pound of butter to eight quarts of milk, 

 and 1 have rejected some that would probably pro- 

 duce not over one pound of poor butter from twelve 

 or fifteen quarts of milk. I judge also that it 

 vdll require two quarts more of milk to yield a 



pound of butter in May than in September from 

 the same cow. I cannot conceive how a standard 

 can be established, by the trial of a given number 

 of cows, which can be applied to another lot in an- 

 other place, that have possibly the advantage of 

 better pasturage and care. If the statements of 

 certain gentlemen can be relied on, that there is 

 in this State a breed of cows whose butter-producing 

 qualities, are such that four quarts of milk yield a 

 pound of butter, it would be worth thousands of 

 dollars to the butter-producing farmers in this 

 State, could they be generally distributed at a 

 reasonable price. 



As I now intend to sell milk rather than make 

 butter the next season, I shall be unable to put in 

 a claim for the liberal premiums offered by the 

 State Society, which I would do if practicable, al- 

 though I have no doubt others in the county have 

 better butter-producing cows. 

 Yours truly, 



Charles P. Preston. 



JV. Danvers, Jan., 1855. 



For the Nets England Farmer, 



THE PEARL FISHERY. 



. Pearl fishing is now creating some excitement in 

 Essex County. It is supposed by many to be a new 

 enterprise, but it had its origin in the early histo- 

 ry of our country. The first adventurers in North 

 America were intent upon examining its mineral 

 productions, and particularly such localities as in- 

 dicated the presence of gold and silver. They ap- 

 pear also to have searched our fresh water rivers 

 for pearls, and to have experienced disappointment. 

 Probably many of our brooks and rivers furnish a 

 muscle, in which is to be found something that 

 might be called a pearl, but possessing but little 

 value. I have noticed a considerable degree of dif- 

 ference, both in regard to the quantity and color, 

 in the enamel of our fresh water muscles. The 

 pearl is but the secretion of this enamel, produced 

 by disease, accident, or other causes. I think I may 

 say this much to our farmers, that pearl fishing as 

 now practised in our brooks and rivers, is an old, 

 unprofitable and discarded business, and as far as I 

 have been able to discover, was not pursued for any 

 length of time. And I suspect in its juvenile days, 

 it was classed by our ancestors in the great order 

 of humbugs, and thus it quietly passed into its pupa 

 state, to be transformed in our day. The present 

 history of the pearl fishery of course is not writ- 

 ten, but its past history may be known by consult- 

 ing that lively Frenchman, the Baron Lahoutan. 

 He says in his " New Voyages to North America," 

 Vol. 1st, page 245, when speaking of one of our 

 rivets in 1689,— "The Muscles of this River 

 are prodigious large, and taste very well ; but 'tis 

 next to impossible to eat 'em, without breaking 

 one's teeth, by reason of their being stuff" 'd with 

 Pearl ; I call it Pearl, tho' the name Gravel or 

 Sand may be more proper, with respect to it's Val- 

 ue, for I brought to Paris, fifty or sixty of the 

 largest and finest, which were rated only at t Pen- 

 ny a piece ; notwithstanding that we had bi i,ke 

 above two thousand muscles to make up that Num- 

 ber." 



So much for the profit of pearl fishing, in the 

 year 1689. It would be proper, however, to say to 

 the readers of the Farmer, that antiquarians do not 



