20 



Sandy Point. — Butter. 



Vol. VII. 



remind us, that it is worth while to inquire 

 if any other routine may advantageously be 

 substituted for the one just mentioned. 



"To complete the junction of the horse 

 teams on the estate, since the new arrange- 

 ment, Mr. Boiling has had a stable recently 

 fitted up," with accommodations for forty 

 horses. It is under the care of an old man 

 and boy, whose business is to keep it tho- 

 roughly cleaned out and littered, as well as 

 to have the horses fed, so that when the 

 drivers come in at night, they have only to 

 unharness, and clean down their respective 

 teams. Materials were in preparation in 

 the spring of 1841, for the erection of sta- 

 bling for the accommodation of the working 

 oxen ; they bavins; been heretofore kept after 

 the general mode adopted, as the writer says, 

 " in lower Virginia;" and might he not with 

 too much correctness, have added, " in Penn- 

 sylvania and Jersey!" That is, after their 

 day's work was done, they were turned into 

 the yard, where their provender was scat- 

 tered, for them to gather up, as best they 

 might, or trample under foot, as a great deal 

 of it, they ever must. The patience, the 

 endurance, and the hard toil of the ox, de- 

 serve the kindness of his master ; whose in- 

 terests, we are persuaded, would be consulted 

 by affording him the protection to which he 

 is fairly entitled. There would be a saving 

 of food, as well as a thrift and healthfulness 

 in the beast, that would amply compensate, 

 for the small extra expense and care, neces- 

 sary to give him merely his due. When 

 the yoke is replaced on his neck in the 

 morning, how can the owner look in the 

 quiet face of his ox, and recollect that last 

 night, w hen fre was released, he was turned 

 into the barn-yard, unprotected from the 

 snow, the hail and the wind, from the effects 

 of which, he is now shivering all over, while 

 the " tender merries" of the master, are di- 

 recting the gad that knocks the suspended 

 icicles from his body ? On the estate in 

 question, it is anticipated that by increased 

 attention to the housing, and keep of the 

 working oxen, their efficiency will lie mate- 

 rially promoted, and thereby a considerable 

 reduction in the number necessary, may be 

 effected. 



By the new arrangements in relation to 

 the "former divisions of the estate, ten miles 

 of fencing, with pine rails, will be spared, 

 at an annual saving of more than $700. 



Should ihis passing notice of the active 

 and intelligent correspondent of the Regis- 

 ter, .-.TV to interest tlie readers of the Cabi- 

 net, I may probably recur again to some of 

 his subsequent communications. 



In the neighbourhood of Philadelphia, our 

 farming establishments are on so small a 



scale, that I have partly concluded it might 

 not be entirely a mal-appropriation of the 

 Cabinet's pages, to occupy a little space, in 

 showing how they do things in the " Old 

 Dominion." Z. Y. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Butter. 



I live in the good city of Philadelphia, 

 and have been surprised as well as chagrined, 

 at the small quantity of good firkin, or tub 

 butter, that comes to this market in the win- 

 ter. Every house-wife must nauseate the 

 grease, that herself can hardly find it in her 

 conscience to use, and which makes her hus- 

 band turn up his nose at the table as if his 

 good lady had been eating snvff! And yet 

 this miserable stuff was almost exclusively, 

 in our market last winter: it was, as every 

 one knows, exceedingly difficult to procure a 

 keg of good butter. And why should it be 

 so? Can the boasted green fields of Penn- 

 sylvania, Jersey and Ohio, afford no nutri- 

 ment, that the cow can prepare for good 

 butter? Or is the fault in the management 

 of the dairy ? My judgment awards the 

 fault to the latter, though my choice would 

 give it to the former; for I have believed 

 my countrywomen capable of doing well, 

 anything they undertake. And why should 

 the farmer be contented to lose so much in 

 the price of his butter ? It takes no more 

 milk to make a pound of good, than of bad 

 butter — and it requires no more horse flesh, 

 or steam power, to bring a keg of the real 

 article to market, than one that can barely 

 be sold for cart grease! Last winter, good 

 keg butter, when such a thing happened to 

 be in the market, readily brought 22 cents, 

 while thousands of kegs, would hardly find 

 sale at 12! Now here is a difference of 10 

 cents per pound, which it seems to me, might 

 just as well be put in the farmer's pocket, if 

 his "better half" could be persuaded to study 

 her "art." And what a deal of ill humour, 

 we in this city of brotherly love, would be 

 spared: — of all things I dislike to feel sour. 



I once had a great, aunt, of whom it might 

 almost be said, she "knew to wield the sic- 

 kle, scythe and plough;" and I have many 

 times heard her say, that if butter is not well 

 worked after it is taken from the churn, it is 

 impossible that it should keep well. When 

 the operation of the ladle ceases to bring' out 

 the buttermilk, it should be properly salted, 

 and set away till next morning, when it 

 should be again thoroughly — aye thoroughly 

 — thoroughly worked with the pressure of 

 the ladle, till no milk is to be seen. Now, 

 Mr. Editor, you need not smile that I, who 

 know so much more about using, than 



