160 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



April 



ing that portion of the crop which is easily dam- 

 aged by getting wet while being harvested,) at 

 more than nine hundred and fifty 7niUions of dol- 

 lars ! It is supposed to be a fair estimate, by 

 good judges, that there is an average loss of Jive 

 per cent, on all the crops harvested in the coun- 

 try, because most crops that are injured by storms 

 or by a succession of damp and cloudy days, are 

 injured much more than five per cent., so that the 

 average on the whole may be fairly set down at 

 that sum. If the value of the barometer, in the 

 hands of observing and intelligent farmers is not 

 over-estimated by the most scientific men of this 

 and other countries — such men as Dr. Arnot, 

 Prof. SiLLiMAN, Dr. DiCK, Prof. Henry, Prof. 

 Maury, and others — it is fair to suppose that a 

 large proportion of this loss might be prevented, 

 and thus a gain made to the farming community 

 of about Ji ft 1/ 7nil lions of dollars annually I An- 

 other item worthy of consideration is, the in- 

 creased cost of harvesting a damaged crop. If by 

 the general use of the barometer this could be 

 prevented, another sum, of startling magnitude 

 in the aggregate, might be saved. 



The little, unpretending barometer, hanging in 

 the saloon of one of our splendid ocean steamers, 

 warns the watchful pilot of the approach of an im- 

 pending iceberg, even amid the gloom of the dark- 

 est night ! Why may not its admonitions be of 

 equal value to as much property exposed to the 

 elements on the land, and teach us to shun the 

 losses which annually depreciate the profits of the 

 fai'm? 



For the New England Farmer. 



■WINTER BUTTER AGAIN". 



Mr. Editor : — To ascertain the best mode of 

 making winter butter is of a good deal of impor- 

 tance, for there are many tons made in the State 

 every winter. You must have patience with us, 

 as we correspond with each other to find the best 

 "?/40C?MS operandi'" of its manufacture. In the 

 Farmer of January 28, your "South Danvers" 

 correspondent, in allusion to my article, stating 

 my method of butter-making in the winter, ex- 

 presses sui'prise that any one who feels competent 

 to instruct others in this matter, should think it 

 necessary to use the juice of carrots to color it. 

 Let "South Danvers" try it, ancf he will lose his 

 surprise. He is not the only one that has been 

 surprised in lessons of improvement. Worcester 

 county is not behind any other, to say the least, 

 in butter-making, and I know that some of the best 

 dairy-women in this town and county use the car- 

 rot in butter some six or eight months in the 

 year. Let me surprise "South Danvers" again by 

 telling him that one of the best dairies in Prince- 

 ton, and one that has taken more premiums with- 

 in the last fifteen years than any other in Wor- 

 cester county, and probably in the State, never 

 make9>,a single pound of butter after September, 

 till the next summer, without carrots. Yes, more 

 high premiums have been given to WiLX RoPER, 



of Princeton, (and justly awarded, too, I do«bt not,) 

 at county shows in Worcester and Barr«, than to 

 any man in the county, and those premiums were 

 awarded by the best judges of butter that could 

 be selected. Further, Mr. Roper took the first 

 premium at the State show (in 1858, I think,) on 

 tuh butter, and would have taken the first also on 

 lump butter* had the laws of the society permit- 

 ted both to be given to the same dairy, Mr. Ro- 

 per has often told me that he never makes butter 

 in fall or winter without carrots. I know it will 

 surprise "South Danvers" greatly to know that 

 the best premium butter in Worcester county, or 

 the old Bay State, is colored with carrot juice. 

 But it is a fact, and facts are stubborn things. 



Let "South Danvers," or any one else that 

 doubts this improvement, try it, and he will be 

 suri)riscd to find that his stock of v/isdom, in 

 making winter butter, may still be improved. 

 Yours still for improvement, 



Princeton, Feb. 13, 1860. J. T. Everett, 



* The first State premium on lump butter waa given to anoth- 

 er dairy in Princeton by the same committee. 



NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Statistical and Historical Account op the Couttt op Akdj- 

 sox, Vt. Written at the request of the Historical Society of 

 Uriildlebury. Bv Samuel Swift. Middlebury : A. H. Copeland. 

 1859. 1 vol., pp. 132. 



The acknowledgment of the receipt of this 

 work gives us an opportunity of calling attention 

 to a section of country which we have long re- 

 garded as naturally the best agricultural portion 

 of New England — we mean the Champlain valley, 

 of which Addison County, Vermont, is, at least, a 

 favorable specimen. The county extends from 

 Lake Champlain into the Green Mountains. The 

 soil of the eastern portion is generally loam of 

 variable compactness, and some is rocky, gravel- 

 ly, or sandy ; on the streams alluvial ; and on the 

 lake are extensive flat lands, "composed of clay, 

 with a mixture of vegetable substances, which 

 were obviously once the bottom of the lake." 

 When first cultivated, this section was as cele- 

 bi-ated for the production of wheat, as it now is 

 for its fat cattle, fast horses and fine sheep. Sev- 

 eral years ago the editor of the Albany Cultiva- 

 tor, after visiting Addison county, said, "We have 

 never seen any other land which is capable of 

 sustaining as much stock to the acre." It is 

 claimed by observing farmers there, that the finest 

 imported sheep sensibly improve in this eountv, 

 and that "there are better flocks in the county of 

 Addison than in atiy other part of the world." 



Those of our readers, however, who have any 

 particular interest in this county — and we think it 

 would be AvcU for many who are dreaming of prai- 

 rie-land to share that interest — will wish to pro- 

 cure a copy of this well written and full statisti- 

 cal and historical account, to a single feature of 

 which we have alluded. The publisher will for- 

 ward a copy by mail, pre-paid, on receipt of the 

 price — fifty cents. 



