VOL. XIII. NO. 49. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL 



389 



and although its products are a component part in 

 so many of tlie comforts and hixuries of the table, 

 there are some farmers of our acquaintance wlio 

 have been obliged to abandon it altogether, or to 

 conduct it on a smaller scale, on account of the dif- 

 ficulty of obtaining skilful and experienced dair}' 

 women. And here we have 0| portmiity of pro- 

 posing to fathers and mothers the question, wheth- 

 er in the varied and refined education of their 

 daughters, some of the most useful and important 

 branches have not been neglected ? Whether the 

 more fanciful and ornamental attainments have 

 not been substituted for the lessons of tlie kitchen 

 and the dairy ? Whether some delicate hands 

 have not been so long occupied with the pencil, 

 the embroidering needle and the piano, that they 

 have forgotten, or never learned, the cunning of 

 the skimmer, the cheese tub and churn ? Whether 

 specious elegance has not been more studied than 

 substantial usefulness ? The former, indeed, 

 should not be wholly neglected, but the latter are 

 indispensable to the comfort and happiness of the 

 community. An English writer, more noted than 

 esteemed, but who, on some subjects is good 

 authority, in his Cottage Economy, observes: — "I 

 must hear a great deal more than I ever have heard 

 to convince me that teaching children polite ac- 

 complishments tends so much to their happiness, 

 their independence of spirit, their manliness of 

 character, as teaching tliem to labor. The person 

 that is in want, must be a slave : and to be habitua- 

 ted to labor cheerfully, is the only means of pre- 

 venting nineteen-twentieths of mankind from 

 being in want." 



It was the benevolent wish of a kind hearted 

 monarch of France, that every peasant in his do- 

 minions might have a fowl forliis Sunday dinner; 

 how much more substantial the boon if every 

 family might be blessed with the possession, 

 of that most useful animal, the cow, which 

 supplies not food for Sundays only, but for 

 every day and every meal. And this possession 

 is within the reach of almost every family of al- 

 most every town in this county. If the practice of 

 keeping cows were adopted by all those who have 

 the ability, much might be added to domestic com- 

 fort, and there would soon be no farther complaint 

 of the difficulty of obtaining competent managers 

 of the dairy. Besides the generous contributions 

 of the cow to supply the wants of the family, the 

 children may all learn to milk and the females will 

 learn to take care of it : they will know the value 

 of such animals, will feed them carefully and treat 

 them gently. 



ON CHEESE. 



The Committee award the first premium 

 to Samuel Bailey of West Nevvburj', of $10,00 



The second premium to Jacob Osgood of 

 Andover, of 8,00 



A sample of very good cheese was exhibited 

 by Mrs Jane Tenuy, of Byfield, (Rowley) nearly 

 as good as that for which the second premium is 

 awarded. 



ON BUTTER. 



The first premium on butter made in June, to 

 Mrs Jane Tenny, of Byfield, $7,00 



The second premium on butter made in 

 June, to Gardner B. Perry, of Bradford, 6,00 



For the best produce of butter made on any 

 farm in the county, a sample of not less than fifty 

 pounds, there was no claim coming within the 

 rules of the Society, which deserved the liberal 

 premium of twenty dollars, which the Society offers. 



The statements were not so explicit as desi- 

 rable, and as the rules of the Society require. 



Very good butter was offered, for exhibition 

 only, by Ca])tain Hector Coffin. Mrs Carter of 

 Byfield, exhibited good Butter, but not of suflic- 

 ient quantity. Mary M. Merrill, of Newbury, of- 

 fered very fair butter, but not enough to entitle her 

 to prcmiimi. Her statement was deficient. Sam- 

 uel Bailey, of West Newbury, offered butter of 

 good appearance, but it was not thought to come 

 within the rules of the Society. 



The butter and cheese were of good quality, 

 and this part of the exhibition was creditable to 

 the Society. For the Committee, 



Daniel P. King. 



JVeu) Rowky, Sept. 25, 1834. 



ABSTRACT OF STATEMENTS. 



Samuel Bailey states that he began to make 

 cheese June 10, with six cows : July 1, two 

 heifers came in milk : between June 10 and Sep- 

 tember 10, Mr B. made 1302 lbs. cheese of similar 

 quality to that exhibited. 



The milk is made into cheese as soon as milked 

 and the curd of two messes of milk is made into 

 one cheese ; the curd of the night's milk is warmed 

 before putting it with the morning's. 



Jacob Osgood states that he began to make new 

 milk cheese, July 7th, and he continued till Aug. 

 23, from the milk of five cows, he made 334 lbs. 

 For his process of making cheese he refers to the 

 statement submitted by him in 1830. 



Mrs Jane Tenny states that she churns the 

 cream of her seven cows when four days old : 

 that the butter is salted in the usual way, and put 

 into a stone pot, covered with a cloth, and then 

 with melted butter. 



Rev. Gardner B. Perry states that " the butter 

 exhibited for premium was manufactured between 

 the 1st of June and the 9th of July, and an;ounts 

 to something more than 25 lbs. It is a jiart of 

 83i lbs. made during that time, of which the 

 greater part is now in keeping : the product of 

 three cows. 



1st 12 years old, came in first of April. 

 2nd 7 " " middle of April. 



Her calf was raised and took full one half the 

 milk till the middle of June. 



3d. 4 years old, came in the last of September, 

 all kept on what is called old pasture, but in the 

 early part of June, occasionally, not habitually, 

 fed at night with hay and a few potatoes. 200 

 quarts of milk were otherwise disposed of, being 

 a little over five quarts a day. 



The butter was made in the usual way^d has 

 been kept in the pot on the bottom of tlwcellar. 

 It is seasoned with one ounce of composition to a 

 pound of butter, made of one part of saltpetre, 

 one jiart of white sugar and two parts of salt. 



(The conunittee thought a larger proportion of 

 salt would have been better.) 



Through the whole process, it has received no 

 attention but such as might easily be given in any 

 family with conveniences usually possessed. 



It was churned in a close churn, which I am, 

 upon the whole, apprehensive is not as good as one 

 open, where the latter can be conveniently used. 



[From Rev. Mr Colman's Agricultural Excursion. ) 

 SHEEP IN FO'WNAI/, VT. 

 The yearly expense of keeping a sheep is esti- 

 mated at one dollar. This must in general be 



mere matter of conjecture. It can only be ac- 

 curately determined by a careful estimate of the 

 actual value of hay and grain ; and not their mar- 

 ket value, but their value consumed on the place, 

 making due allowance for the valuable returns of 

 manure ; and there must enter into the estimate 

 of the labor of attendance, the value of pasture- 

 land and fencing ; — and then too, a careful ascer- 

 tainment of the amount of pasture required for and 

 the amount of hay and grain consumed by a sheep, 

 and necessary to his profitable condition. Now 

 these are calculations into which few farmers have 

 the patience to enter; and $1 per head is there- 

 fore only a conjectural estimate of the cost of 

 keeping a sheep, formed from no accurate standard; 

 and you can only infer from this statement, that 

 they find their husbandry profitable or yielding a 

 satisfactory return at the close of the year, when 

 they can receive for the pasture occupied and the 

 hay and grain consumed, by a healthy sheep, the 

 value of one dollar. It has been found by actual 

 experiment that 7 healthy sheep will consume one 

 ton of hay in 135 days, the average of our winter 

 foddering, or a little more than 2 lbs. each per day. 

 If we value this hay at 6 dollars per ton, and this is 

 certainly, considering the cost of labor, a low price, 

 the cost of the hay consumed by each sheep 

 would be 85 cts. We have then about 33 weeks 

 of pasturing to provide, which cannot be rated at 

 less than one and a half cent per week — or say 50 

 cents — which would make the keeping of a sheep, 

 even at low rates, equal to one dollar and thirtyfive 

 cents per year. 



I make these calculations to show how careless 

 almost all conjectural estimates are in matters of 

 this kind. Whether, however, his ])ecuniary esti- 

 mates are critically exact or not, if the farmer at 

 the close of the year is satisfied with the balance 

 of his receijJts over his expenditures, if he is go 

 fortunate as to find the balance on that side, he 

 may be well contented with his numerous privileges 

 and blessings, though his gains in arithmetical 

 amount may seem small compared with those of 

 other trades and professions. 



The amount of wool obtained from their sheep 

 averaged about three pounds of fine, their sheep 

 being principally of the Merino and Saxony race: 

 and sold this year at 42 cents per pound. A Mr 

 Wright has a flock of 700. His annual loss by 

 disease or accident is a very small per centage, 

 which he attributes to the circumstance of his 

 never housing his sheep at any season, as he was 

 accustomed to do. His opinions and experience in 

 this matter are entirely at variance with the opin- 

 ions and experience of many distinguished and 

 successful sheep farmers, and especially of one 

 whose authority on this and various agricultural 

 subjects, from his experience, education and intel- 

 ligence, is entitled to great respect ; I mean Mr H. 

 Grove, of Hoosic. He says, " shelter against the 

 inclemency of the weather is almost as necessary 

 to the health and good condition of the sheep as 

 food itself; and for this reason stables built for 

 that purpose are of great benefit. Not only do 

 sheep do much better, but it is also a great saving 

 of fodder and manure." 



Mr Wright's lambs are yeaned in May. His 

 wool is sold on the farm. The general ajiijearance 

 of this farmer's grounds and crops attracted my 

 particular attention as highly creditable. The in- 

 tervals furnish abundant crops of hay and grain, 

 and the neighboring hills afford pasturage in plenty 

 of the best quality. — .V. Y. Farmer. 



