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and sugar, do not in my opinion improve the flavor, nor assist the 

 keeping, of the butter. What is greatly wanted in Berkshire county 

 is a spring house for keeping the milk. 1 do not recollect the oc- 

 currence of one ; but on account of the numerous streams with which 

 the country is watered, and the chrystal springs which burst from the 

 sides of all their beautiful mountains, no part of the country is more 

 favorable to such establishments ; and in those parts of the county 

 where the proximity to the Hudson furnishes immediate and ready 

 access to the city market, the great consumer which is ready to ab- 

 sorb every thing that comes within its reach, a good butter dairy, 

 where by means of a spring house for the milk, and plenty of ice for 

 its transportation, the article might be sent to market in its best 

 state, a good butter dairy would yield a handsome profit. For swine 

 the buttermilk is probably worth twice as much as the whey of 

 cheese. Of the cheese of Berkshire county it would be improper 

 for me to speak ; as with me cheese is always contraband, and can 

 under no pretence be admitted to the port of entry. Those who 

 profess themselves judges, and men of taste in this matter, speak 

 well of it ; and perhaps a better test of its goodness is to be found in 

 the fact that it bears a good price in the market. It is sent to mar- 

 ket in a very green slate ; oftentimes when but three weeks old. 

 The best English cheeses are not considered as ripe and marketable 

 until two years old. The general rule of yankee thrift is, we believe, 

 " to turn the penny quick ;" and to sell what you have to sell when- 

 ever there are to be found those, who are ready to buy it. This rule 

 may produce the most money, but perhaps is not as likely to pro- 

 duce the best cheese. It is not however worth while in this world 

 to dispute about tastes. Constitution, education, and habit make 

 strange differences among us ; and when I found, as I did find, 

 among the farmers in the neighborhood of Lowell, that by a class 

 of customers in the city, their calves were spoken for as soon as 

 dropt from the cow and the skin taken off; and that by another class 

 of customers, the beastmgs., that is the first drawings of the milk from 

 the udder after parturition, were always bargained for beforehand, 

 I was obliged to remember, without I hope a sacrilegious perversion, 

 that "all flesh is grass;" and have recourse to the old chemical 

 philosophy, which resolves every thing into the four great elements, 

 «arth, air, fire, and water, only variously combined. 



