152 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



I consider the following near the cost of keeping a cow for 

 the year with me : — 



Pasture, 28 weeks, at 75 cents per week, $21 00 



1| tons hay, at $20 per ton, 35 00 



20 bushels coi-n, at 60 cents per bushel, 12 00 



Total, $68 00 



DAIKY PRODUCTS. 



WORCESTER. 



From the Report of the Committee. 



In making prime butter or cheese, it is absolutely neces- 

 sary to have good milk. Cows fed on cold, sour grass, noxious 

 weeds, or coarse bog hay, and having impure or stagnant water 

 to drink, will produce a quality of milk that will make a very 

 poor quality of butter or cheese ; therefore, the cows should 

 have sweet, nutritious food, pure water to drink, and pure 

 air ; where there are bad odors in pastures, such as carrion, it 

 has been known to affect the milk, so that it very essentially 

 affected the cheese that was made from it. Therefore, it is 

 requisite to have perfect cleanliness in butter and cheese 

 making. There should be cleanliness in the pasture, in the 

 stable, and in milking ; and all utensils used about the dairy 

 should receive great care, as I have known a small can of sour 

 or decomposed milk to taint a large vat of milk so that it 

 would nearly spoil the cheese. The situation of the milk- 

 room for making butter, when milk is set in pans, is of 

 importance ; a northerly aspect, where the air is pure and not 

 exposed to the odors of stagnant waters, cow-yards, pig- 

 sties, or any impurity from vegetables, cellars, or drains 

 about the house, is very desirable. The milk-room should be 

 kept at a temperature of about 55 or 60° F., and equalized by 

 steam-pipes, hot-air, or stoves, with ventilation to give an 

 equal circulation of air. The warm part of the season the 



