412 



NEW E N G L A ^M) FARMER 



JiNEao, in -J 



From Culmati s Foiirlli Ueport. 



DAIllIKS IN MIDDLESKX COUNTV. 



Midillesex county is nut a dairy county. Prop- 

 erly speaking, tliero are no lar<je lorni diiirios. No 

 cheese is made unless in very small iiuaiitities lor 

 faniily use; and tlio butler rniida, of wliicti in llie 

 afisrejati; there is a consideruble amount, finds a 

 quick and weekly market in the capital and the 

 other lar(;e towns in the county. A very large 

 proportion of the population of the county are en- 

 gaged in commercial, nmnulacturinj and prol'es- 

 sion.il pursuits, who, ol course, iiiusl have their 

 bread buttered for them as they have no time to do 

 it for themselves. 'I'he farmers of Middlesex 

 therefore find a ready and a cash market for every 

 thinj which their farms or gardens produce. 



I Irive many returns of the average yield of 

 cows in butter, some of which 1 will give. From 

 the nature of the case, so various are the animals, 

 so diir-rent their feed and condition, so great or so 

 little the skill employed in their management, that 

 it becomes dilticull to infer any general rule as to 

 their product. I can only present the ditTerent 

 statements and leave to my readers to draw their 

 own conclusions. 



In Waltham, the cows in June average six lbs. 

 of but'cr each per week ; this upon grass only. 

 One fanner in this town states the average yield 

 in June at seven lbs. butter per week, and from 

 June I to November 1, at five lbs. per week. In 

 South Reading, in the best of the sensim, the ave- 

 rage is from seven to ten lbs. In Reading, in the 

 best of the season, one pound of butter per day. 

 In Billcrica, for throe months, six lbs. butter per 

 week. In VVilmingltm and Billerica, the yi''ld of 

 a cow for the season is rated at one hundred lbs. 

 of butter. In IJ(Mlli)rd, the yield is rated at four 

 lbs. per week, or oho hundred lbs. per season. 

 The above aro similar to returns given me in other 

 parts of the county, which need not therefore be 

 referred to. 



I will subjoin a few results: 



1. In Franiingham, the farmer had twelve cows. 

 The calves were fatted and gold to the butcher. 



Kroiii April 1 to January 1 ensuing, there were 

 sold, as the produce of these cows, l(ii!7 lbs. The 

 cash received in the same time is for butter sold, 

 $328 •!:} ; and for milk sold in the same lime he 

 received .$4(j 48— -total, $.174 91. 



The cows were wintered upon coarse feed; in 

 the spring they received English hay. The ex- 

 pense of pasturage in the summer was fifty cents 

 par week for each cow. The commission for sell- 

 ing the butler in the market was two cents per lb. 



This is the statement of a farmer distinguished 

 for Ins general exactness, and yet the amount of 

 butter and milk consumed in his own family, from 

 these same cows, is not reckoned ; nor what 

 amount of pork ought in justice to be carried to 

 their credit. 



2. Ill VVnltham, at a dairy to which I referred 

 in my second report, the owner made a trial of his 

 cows for lliirtccn weeks. Me had two cows in 

 milk the whole lime and two heifers, two years old. 

 Till' whole of the milk of one of those heifers was 

 lakeji by a calf during six weeks out of the thir- 

 lecn, and besides this, milk was used for the fami- 

 ly, but the amount not ascertained. In fairness, 

 therefore, the slock cannot bo considered ae more 

 than three cows for the thirteen weeks. Th^' 

 cows were soiled in the barn-yard upon green food 

 cut for them, and wore never out of the yard in 



the time. 'I'liey had likewise three pints o' meal 

 each per day. From them were made in that time 

 389 lbs. biilter — one adilitional pound would have 

 made it 30 lbs. each week. One of the cows was 

 one quarter Denton improved shorl-liorn blood ; the 

 rest native stock. 



.'}. Another farmer in VVallhnm, distinguished 

 fiir the excellent butler which he brings to market, 

 deems the average yield of a cow through the year 

 as four lbs. per week. Eleven of his cows in milk 

 in the best of the season, have produced 75 lbs. of 

 butter per week. Thirteen cows 'produced in the 

 year, 1500 lbs. butter and ICOO lbs. cheese, partly 

 skimmed or three meals milk. He obtains a se- 

 cond rising of cream from his milk; the butter is 

 not so good as the first mado, but of tolerable qual- 

 ity. The cream is salted and the churning takes 

 place onco a week. He is of opinion that butter 

 should be made soon from the milk, as the fresher 

 the cream the better the butter. Tin pans are 

 preferred to any other. He considers clover as 

 the best feed for butter, and as much better in win- 

 ter as in summer. One pint of salt is used to 

 twenty lbs. of butter. I am thus particular in this 

 account of his management as his butter is greatly 

 esteemed in the city; and either by good butter, 

 good customers, or good address, he gets f irtyfive 

 cents u pound for all his fresh butter in winter — 

 c'ertainly a very unusual price in our niarhet. 



On another farm in this town one cow and two 

 heifers, besides furnishing two gallons of milk per 

 day for sale, and exclusive of some inilk used in 

 the family, produced 27 lbs. butter in the month of 

 •September. This farmer's three cows had pro- 

 duced .'iO lbs. of butter per week. It is his opinion 

 that vegetables given to cows are injurious to the 

 butler. 



4. A dairy farmer in Weston, from fifteen cows, 

 produced in the season 1500 lbs. butter. I could 

 not ascertain how long the season was understood 

 to be, nor what amount of milk was used in the 

 family ; but this is a specimen of the returns with 

 which one is compelled to put up. They are very 

 indefinite, but they are worth something. The 

 butter of this farmer commands the best price ; 

 and he urges strongly the importance of churning 

 cream while it is fresh. The butler in the French 

 market, he says from personal observation, is al- 

 ways churned from fresh cream, and commonly 

 churned daily. 



Of the amount of milk required to make a pound 

 of butter, quite various accounts are given. The 

 milk of some cows is much richer than that of 

 others. The milk of a cow in general increases in 

 richness from the time of her calving. The rich- 

 ness of a Cow's milk is in some measure dependent 

 on the food she receives. The milk first drawn is 

 ipiite inferior in richness to that last drawn from 

 the cow, known as the strippings. All these cir- 

 cumstances will of consequence afiect the amount 

 of milk necessary to make a pound of butter. Il 

 may be well however in this cose to give the state- 

 ments of ilifTerenl fanners. In one case 7 quarts, 

 in another 8, in another !>; in another case, 12 

 quarts aro required for a pound of butter. In S. 

 Jaqiies's slock, which ho designates as tha Cream 

 Pot breed, two <piarts of the strippings, by his ac- 

 count, have produced one pound of butter. I liavc 

 already refirred to this fact in my Second Report. 



Middlesex county, in the vicinity of the capital 

 and the large towns, abounds in milk establish- 

 nienls, at s(!voral of which as many as forty cows 

 arc kept — in some cases more — and iheir produce 



is daily carried to the market. It used lo be tl 

 practice to milk the cows before the dep.irlure 



1 the cart in the morning. This obliged the farmr 



! in some cases at considerable distance from tow 

 to begin their milking between one and t»ii, . 

 two and three o'clock in the morainu-, and wiis oti 



: orwise objectionable. A difi'erent course is no 

 in many cases adopted. The milk of this momin, 



.for example, is not carried until tomorrow mornin 

 and the milk of tonight will go at the same tini 

 The milk after being drawn is ihoroiighly cook 

 off, anil kept in the cans in iced ivater, until it 

 tak«n in the morning l.o the market. After th 



^ thorough cooling, the customers find, especially i 

 the warm season, that the milk retains its swee 

 ncss longer than when put into the cans an 



j brought lo the market warm from the cow 



I believe there is no city supplied with betfi 



: milk, or in a more cleanly condition, than Bnsto 



'The milkmen are in general a respectable class 



V 



men, and pride themselves on supplying their cu 

 toiiiers with good milk ; and the Bo.stonians are i 

 general equally particular in requiring pure mil 

 for their money. Several of the milkmen wh 

 come daily to town, are substantial farmers wh 

 have attciidod the market for forty years. A milk 

 man who, in his visits to the city, should be foun 

 taking improper liberties with any pump or well o 

 the road, would soon be likely to have some inc ui 

 venient questions put to him as to the breed of hi 

 cows anil his mode of feeding them. In New Vor 

 city it is not so. With the exception of a fci 

 milk establishments, where a sacred pledge of por 

 milk is given, a system of fraud is almost unaer 

 sally practiced. The milk is twice watered ; firs 

 in the udder of the cow, who is fed upon disIlller^ 

 swill, of which she has two or three barrels pe 

 day, with only hay enough to form a cud for mini 

 nation ; and ne.Nt, after it is d.'awn, it is a ver; 

 generol rule to add one quart of water to ever; 

 four qunrts of milk. Il is not easy to prevent this 

 as, where the proprietor is himself honest, the car 

 rier, who may be otherwise, may be tempted to in 

 I crease his quantity, that he may appropriate lo hi 

 1 own use the proceeds of the amount sold beynm 

 that for which he has to account. In the arrange 

 ments at ihe celebrated llarleiaii dairy, in Glasgow 

 I Scotland, the most remarkable establishment of thi 

 kind ever known, the cans were so cnnstriiclei 

 and fastened with a lock, (ihe key of which wai 

 retained at home,) that there was no possibility o: 

 introducing any thing into them after they wert 

 I taken from the milk linuse ; and there such variouc 

 j checks were apjilied, that il could hardly be done 

 j without detection. Indeed I have been let into 

 j the secret, at New York, of the actual mamifac- 

 : lure of milk at a grocery store, where hardly real 

 milk enough was used to " swear by," and this 

 compound was sold lo the poor and miserable fur 

 three cents a quart. The grocer, though he kept 

 no cow, oflored to supply the milkman wilh what 

 he required whenever his quantity was insuflicienl 

 to meet the demands oi" the day. 

 I There is no such thing to be had in Boston, 

 within my knowledge, as distillers' swill — ihe re- 

 fuse grain after the whiskey has been extracted 

 I from it ; but some use is made of brewers' grains, 

 the malted barley, where they can he had. 'I'hey 

 increase the quantity of the milk, but injure the 

 quality. English hay and corn fodder are the gen- 

 eral feed, with Kometimes carrots, rula b;iga or 

 mangel wurtzel. The rula baga and all the tur- 

 ' nip fomily, arc apt to give a turnip taste to the 



