1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



239 



that he could not agree with the statement in 

 regard to the poor quality of the butter brought 

 to the Boston market, as his observation both in 

 the market and at the exhibitions of the various 

 agricultural societies had led him to think that 

 the butter was improving. He could not believe 

 the great principles of butter-making were in 

 any patent churn, as his opinion was that they 

 lay behind this. He thought a great deal de- 

 pended on the temperature, but he was satisfied 

 there was a great amount of ignorance in making 

 butter, and among those so ignorant, salt was con- 

 sidered a remedy for most bad butter, but this 

 was not so, and in many parts of England butter 

 that had been salted was not allowed to be sold, 

 and there, butter was made so well, that it would 

 keep well for months without a particle of salt. 



Mr. Wilson described the method of making 

 cheese on the Western Reserve in Ohio. In the 

 large dairies he said they invariably churn their 

 whey and sell it in the New York market, where 

 it is used for pastry. In some places farmers 

 make butter from their fresh milk, and then from 

 the refuse make cheese, which of course is of an 

 inferior quality, but brings a fair price in the 

 market. 



Mr. BucKMiNSTER, editor of the Ploughman, 

 said that cows in New England averaged 5 lbs. 

 of butter per week, while some produced as much 

 as 10, 15, 17, 19 and 21 pounds. He thought much 

 depended, in the quality of the butter, on the breed 

 of cows, and the food given them. He thought 

 the reason that there was so little good butter 

 in the market was that the more wealthy classes 

 contracted for their butter before it went irito 

 the market. He did not know how the air-pres- 

 sure would operate, but he was satisfied that 

 a churn would yet be introduced, together with 

 other improvements, that would render unneces- 

 sary the working of butter by hand. 



Mr. Walker, of North Brook field, said that 

 •whatever might be said of butter, cheese had not 

 deteriorated in quality. He had been, for many 

 years, on the committee on cheese at their county 

 agricultural show, and when he first held the of- 

 fice he was astonished to find so many flavors and 

 different smells, but now there was a greater 

 similarity in the quality and smell ; yet there was 

 still much to learn. There was one trouble in 

 the want of uniformity in the quality of cheese 

 and that was that a man who made cheese worth 

 fourteen cents per pound, cannot get more than 

 twelve and a half cents for it, because it is in bad 

 company. He thought that either the quantity or 

 quality of the rennet caused the trouble in cheese. 



Feed Bones to the Hens. — If you take fresh 

 bones from the kitchen, and with a sledge, on a 

 rock, or any natural or artificial anvil, pound them 



up into small pieces, hens will eat them raven- 

 ously and not only will they digest the bones and 

 make a better manure of them than can be made 

 in any other way, but they will be themselves 

 greatly benefited by them ; they will lay through- 

 out the season with much greater regularity than 

 otherwise, and will fatten on the marrow within, 

 and the fat and muscle will adhere to the bones. — 

 The Homestead. 



For the New England Farmer. 



FARMING OPERATIONS MADE PROFI- 

 TABLE— No. II. 



To . 



Dear Sir : — Having in a former communica- 

 tion answered your first and second interrogato- 

 ries, I now proceed to those in your third section, 

 which, with the prefatory statements, are as fol- 

 lows : 



"I always had a fondness for farming, but circum- 

 stances in early life turned me into other pursuits. At 

 Icnfftli I have resumed my favorite occupation, and 

 desire to malvc a pleasant rural home. I have means 

 to farm it as I please, liut still, as a business man, 

 and on principle too, I wish to so manage as to farm 

 for a profit and set a useful example to otliers. I am 

 willing to make any judicious investment in the im- 

 provement of the soil Itself that will as a practical 

 luisiness operation pay a fair return. With this hrief 

 preface, I would say that the tillage land of my farm 

 has been rather superficially cultivated, and the sur- 

 face soil is a good deal worn. I have not mucli prac- 

 tical experience in regard to soils, hut it has seemed 

 to me that the subsoil should be taken into account in 

 judging of the character and capacity of land. I have 

 "examined the subsoil in various places, and find it to 

 be mostly a stiff and close brown or yellowish loam, 

 and usually packed down hard. How shall I proceed 

 with this land, what kinds of plowing do I want, how 

 deep shall I plow, how cultivate af^terwards, and in 

 short, what plan of improving husbandry shall I pur- 

 sue to make it productive ?" 



I am pleased to learn that "at length you have 

 resumed your favorite occupation ; and I certain- 

 ly wish yo<i much enjoyment in its pursuit, and 

 every success in making for yourself "a pleasant 

 rural home." How much deep meaning those 

 sweet words convey ! What can be more charm- 

 ing, or refining to character, than "a pleasant ru- 

 ral home," amid the lovely and grand and im- 

 proving scenes and influences of nature, and with 

 the peculiar means and incitements it afl'ords for 

 the cultivation of the intellect and affections. 

 What earthly influences more potent than these 

 to promote that virtue and intelligence which 

 emphatically fit one to be a worthy citizen of the 

 Republic, and a lover and firm defender of his 

 country. 



The ends which you propose to yourself in 

 farming are certainly most commendable. There 

 is much sound sense in the wish you express to 

 make your farming a judicious business opera- 

 tion, and in this respect a good example for oth- 

 ers to imitate ; and when a man has arrived at 

 the conclusion that he is willing, as you express 

 it, "to make any judicious investments in the 

 improvement of the soil itself that will, us a prac- 

 tical business operation, pay a fair return," he 

 has struck the very key-note of successful farm- 

 ing. This is a much wiser course to pursue than 

 that which demands the uttermost farthing that 

 can be wrung from the farm, to be sequestered 

 from it and invested at interest or in matters 



