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I. Of dairy husbandry, I shall say little. The art of making 

 cheese is well understood among us ; and its quality in gen- 

 eral good ; but in regard to butter, great improvement is as de- 

 sirable as it is practicable. Much of that manufactured here 

 is scarcely tolerable. Any person, accustomed to eat the but- 

 ter brought into the Philadelphia market, must have observed 

 its extraordinary superiority in flavor and richness to the arti- 

 cle generally produced among us. What occasions this su- 

 periority ? There is an advantage in the spring houses of the 

 Pennsylvanians, built of stone over some running water, where 

 the milk is always kept, and which is devoted exclusively to 

 dairy purposes. This and the cultivation of white clover in their 

 pastures, the frequent churning, so that the cream is never old, 

 the entire expression of the butter-milk, and the most particu- 

 lar attention to cleanliness in every part of the process, are the 

 probable means of their success. But in these respects there 

 is not a single circumstance in which we might not equal them ; 

 and since the difference in the prices of butter between that of 

 an exquisite quality and that of an ordinary kind is more than 

 a hundred per cent, our dairy farmers have sufficient induce- 

 ments to endeavor to excel. The premiums bestowed for this 

 purpose under the direction of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society have had a highly beneficial effect ; and have proved 

 that we are capable of producing as good butter as can be 

 made. Some exhibited on the present occasion fully estab- 

 lishes this assertion. I may remark in this connexion that 

 little attention is paid to our pastures. Plaster and ashes are 

 seldom applied to them, though in most cases without a doubt 

 the application would be highly beneficial ; and they are suf- 

 fered without concern to be overrun with brakes, briers, and 

 that increasing pest the Canada thistle. There is reason to 

 believe too that our dairy farmers pay little attention to ascer* 

 tain the comparative quality of the milk of their different cows, 

 which in respect to its yield of cream, and of course the 

 amount of butter which may be made from it, must differ very 



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