RURAL LIFE IN LITCHFIELD COUNTY 



Helen Evertson Smith says that in 1672 the bequest 

 of a cow and heifer was esteemed of more than ordi- 

 nary value. Trumbull gives the value of a good milch 

 cow about 1640 as thirty pounds. The work of a 

 "paire of Oxen with tacklin" was held to be worth two 

 shillings and five pence for '*six howers" in winter and 

 "eight howers" the rest of the year, eight hours making 

 the full day's work for cattle except in heavy upland 

 plowing, when "six howers" were considered enough. 

 "A man's working hours were reckoned from sun to 

 sun in summer and from six to six in winter; but the 

 cattle were more precious than men." 



For a long time there seems to have been little at- 

 tempt at butter making, and in the early days so much 

 salt was put into it as to make it scarcely palatable as 

 an article of diet. In one of Mrs. Austin's books of 

 early New England life, she makes the house-mother 

 put a pound ball of butter on a spit, and, deftly turning 

 it at exactly the right distance from the fire, constantly 

 sprinkle it with flour until it is a great brown crackling 

 toothsome mass, which she serves as a hearty treat for 

 her goodman's supper. 



When the supply of stock was increased enough to 

 warrant, butter and cheese were made in the summer to 

 supply the family for the year. Cattle kept for dairy 

 purposes were at first limited to the needs of the family. 

 The family cows were not expected to produce milk 



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