228 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



May 



I would like to hear from other dairymen 

 who keep twenty-five cows or more, in regard 

 to their average products in pounds, — the price 

 may vary according to the style of market- 

 ing. 



Since the purchase of Mr. Carlos Pierce's 

 herd of Dutch cattle, Mr. Baker has had fif- 

 teen head of full bloods, four of which are 

 bulls. He has also twenty half bloods, all 

 black or black and white. These will be one and 

 two years old this spring — they are fine thrifty 

 animals, superior in size to the average cattle of 

 the county. They eat coarse fodder and bear 

 common keeping well. 



Dutch cows are usually considered best for 

 a cheese dairy, but on this farm they will be 

 tried quite thoroughly for butter. It will be 

 several years before all the cattle on this 700- 

 acre farm are of this kind, and of sufficient 

 maturity to show fully their merits. 



One of his cows. Lady Billows, has a half 

 blood Jersey calf, and gave thirty-five pounds of 

 milk a day in January. Lady Bellows, 2d, was 

 tested while at Mr. Pierce's, and made fifteen 

 pounds of butter in a week. Lady Bellows, 

 3d, calved November 17, 1869 and gives a 

 fine mess of milk. These cows are all larger 

 than the best dairy cows average. All are 

 black and white ; the white color in some 

 forming a belt around the middle of the body. 



Mr. Baker's Sheep. 



After Mr. B. sends off a lot of fat wethers, 

 he will still have about 200 Merino sheep well, 

 bred and good shearers, but alas, their glory 

 is departed ! no one boasts of Merino sheep 

 now. At the Vermont Dairyman's Associa- 

 tion, an old wool grower mourned that since 

 there was less tariff on coarse wool it has be- 

 come fashionable for gentlemen to have suits 

 of coarse cloth. Even Gen. Burnside, when 

 he last saw him, was dressed thus fashionably. 

 He expressed the hope that the fashion to wear 

 fine cloth would soon return again. Mr. Ba- 

 ker has this year used with part of his fiock a 

 well bred Southdown buck. Very good mut- 

 ton lambs are sometimes the result of such a 

 cross. 



The Buildings. 



The fine new residence recently erected on 

 this farm is worthy of description, especially 

 the dairy department, including rooms for set- 

 ting milk, making butter and cheese and cur- 

 ing cheese ; all of which are large and well 

 adapted to the purposes for which they were 

 designed. 



The cellar extends, on the same level, under 

 the house, sheds, carriage and horae barns. 

 The part under the barns is finished off into 

 eix pens for hogs, each pen being 9x30 feet 

 with a walk in front, five feet wide. From the 

 walk in front of the pens a door opens to the 

 cooking room, where a boiler in a brick arch 

 is in use A bushel of potatoes, a bushel of 

 cut turnips and half a bushel of ears of corn are 

 cooked together. A pipe from the cover of the 



boiler to the chimney conveys thither all the 

 steam and odor that arises in cooking. 



Here are seven store hogs, five White Cbes- 

 ters and two Berk&hires. This stock of White 

 Chesters are regarded with much favor by the 

 farmers, and several have attained a dressed 

 weight of 600 pounds. I believe the preju- 

 dice against the black Berkshires is breaking 

 away, as they prove a thrifty breed and crossed 

 upon common hogs give grades that fatten 

 easily and early. Z. E. Jameson. 



Irashurg, Vt., March, 1870. 



Remarks. — Our cattle market reporter re- 

 quests us to say that he saw at the Medford 

 market a few weeks since a fine Dutch calf 

 from Mr. Baker's herd on its way to some 

 gentleman in Rhode Island, whose name has 

 escaped his memory. A carload of Mr. Ba- 

 ker's sheep were marketed the same week, but 

 he did not learn the particulars of the sale. 



PBEPAEINQ EENWET. 



In preparing rennet for use, the veils or 

 skins may be either soaked in water or whey. 

 Sour whey is best, and it should be properly 

 purified before using. This is done by tak- 

 ing a quantity of sweet whey and heating it 

 to near boiling heat, when the butter and 

 albuminous matters in the whey will rise on 

 the surface and should be removed with a 

 skimmer. The whey may then be set aside to 

 sour, and when it has acquired a sharp acid 

 taste it is fit for use. Rennet should be 

 steeped in stone jars. Wooden vessels are 

 liable to become tainted, and therefore should 

 never be used. To do the work in the best 

 manner, two jars, say of fifteen to twenty 

 gallons each, should be required. The old 

 rule is to use one rennet to the gallon of 

 liquid, but for fifteen gallons we should add 

 two or three rennets more. 



Select, then, say eighteen good sweet ren- 

 nets and put them to soak in fifteen gallons of 

 the prepared whey. A small quantity of salt 

 may be added. In order to keep the veils 

 from rising on the top, a large stone crock- 

 cover may be immersed in the liquid covering 

 the veils, which will hold them under the sur- 

 face. After the veils have been in soak for a 

 day or so, they should be thoroughly rubbed 

 up in the whey, in order to extract their 

 strength. They may then be allowed to soak 

 for a day or two longer, when they should be 

 rubbed out again, and the soaking and rub- 

 bing continued from time to time for several 

 days. 



At the end of a week's time the strength of 

 the veils will be pretty well exhausted, when 

 the liquid should be strained through a cloth 

 and placed in the second jar, and is ready for 

 us^e. More whey may now be added to the 

 veils in the first jar, where they may be soaked 



