104 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Just how many different kinds of churns have been invented, 

 I have no means of knowing; but, some years ago, there had 

 been granted patents on over eight thousand in our own coun- 

 try alone, and there have been many others invented since. 

 Nearly all of these patent churns have been made, more or 

 less, upon the paint-mill principle, and are intended to force 

 or grind the butter from the cream, whether it is in the proper 

 condition or not. 



Among the earliest churns were the goat-skin sacks for 

 carrying milk from place to place, and by the agitation of the 

 fluid in transportation, little particles of butter were gathered 

 together, which floated on the surface. This would only hap- 

 pen when the conditions were all right. Milkmen sometimes 

 find little lumps of butter floating on the milk in their cans, 

 which have been filled with milk warm from the cow, and 

 carried several miles to market. This shows us that cream, 

 or milk, may be churned without grinding the butter out of it ; 

 and, latterly, the tendency of butter-makers has been to study 

 conditions more, and patent churns a great deal less ; and the 

 churns which now give the best satisfaction to many of the 

 most successful dairymen, are those which act on precisely 

 the same principle which operated on the milk in the goat- 

 skins some centuries ago. 



Both the science and the practice of dairying have made 

 rapid advances within the past ten years. Meetings like this, 

 where formers can come together and exchange opiriions even, 

 accomplish a great amount of good, by stimulating thought, 

 and by inducing both practical farmers and scientific investi- 

 gators to commence and to carry on experiments which shall 

 determine the whys and the wherefores of our usual dairy 

 practices. 



However important the dairy industry of our State may be 

 to people of our cities and large manufacturing towns, who 

 annually consume more than fifteen million gallons of milk, at 

 a cost but little below four millions of dollars, yet, to the 

 farmer himself, it is of no less importance, so long as he is 

 dependent upon stock-feeding for the purpose of maintaining 

 the fertility of his farm. 



Dairy farming allows all the hay and grain grown on the 

 farm to be consumed at home, and it must be poor land, 



