1870. 



XEW ENGLAND FARAfRT?. 



279 



MUiK, BUTTEB, CHE£SS. 



8 the season for 

 dairy operations 

 is at hand, we 

 gather up and 

 give below some 

 of the most im- 

 portant facts 

 stated during 

 the late winter 

 meetings. Some 

 of them will 

 tend to encour- 

 '^^"^ age these oper- 

 ations, while others 

 may afford valuable 

 suggestions. 



According to Mr. 

 Willard, of Herkimer 

 County, N. Y., Amer- 

 ican dairying now in- 

 volves a capital of more 

 than $700,000,000. The cheese product sold 

 last year for more than $30,000,000, and the 

 butter product for at least $150,000,000 ! In 

 1865, the butter product of New York alone 

 was estimated at $60,000,000. That year 

 there were thirty millions of gallons of milk 

 sold in the State, which, at four cents per 

 quart, amounts to nearly $5,000,000. The 

 cheese product of 1869, 240,000,000 pounds, 

 and the butter, 700,000,000 pounds, both to- 

 gether, representing a value of $215,000,000. 

 These totals will be greatly increased, when 

 one-half of the butter made is fit to eat, and 

 our people have learned that cheese is a cheap 

 and healthful article of diet ; cheaper than 

 meat, and decidedly better as food in warm 

 weather. 



The American system of butter-making, the 

 same writer states, is based upon five main 

 principles : — 



1. Obtaining rich, pure milk. 



2. Setting the milk aside for the cream to 

 rise. 



3. Proper management in churning. 



4. Expelling the buttermilk. 



5. Thoroughly salting and packing the but- 

 ter in oaken tubs, tight and clean. 



What really distinguishes the American sys- 

 tem is in the manner of setting the milk so as 

 to secure an even temperature. 



A successful Pennsylvania dairyman gave as | 



the rules by which he manufactured his well- 

 known butter, these three : — 



1. Attention to the food of his cows. 



2. The temperature. 



3. Neatness and refinement at every step of 

 the process. 



The remarks of Dr. Middleton Gold- 

 smith, at the Dairymen's Association at St. 

 Albans, in January last, evinced much re- 

 search, and abounded with valuable statements 

 and suggestions. He regarded the cow as a 

 factor, a mere machine, whose proper func- 

 tion is to convert food into butter and cheese, 

 and in her perfect development she is adapted 

 to one and not to both. Cows differ. Some 

 are butter cows, some cheese. Which ever 

 product the farmer desires to make, he should 

 inquire carefully and scientifically which breed 

 [or, which cow of any breed — Ed.] is best 

 adapted to the purpose. 



Other things being equal, cattle consume 

 food in exact proportion to their live weight. 

 He detailed a method of testing the product of 

 cows by a glass tube which, we believe, is a 

 common practice in New England. These 

 tubes may be procured in Boston for a few 

 cents each. 



Having decided what breeds are the best for 

 certain purposes, the next vital question is that 

 of food. The real question is not the nutritive 

 value of the different kinds, but the money 

 value of the product. This, however, is com- 

 plicated with varying values in different local- 

 ities and with climate. He believed the ques- 

 tion of 



Feeding Boots, 

 the most vital at the present time in the State 

 of Vermont, and in settling it the cost of pro- 

 duction and their market value should be con- 

 sidered. He would have it tested practically, 

 by feeding hay alone for a time and then hay and 

 roots conjointly, carefully testing the product 

 of each experiment. The next question of 

 importance is, 



How to Preserve Butter. 

 It can be preserved. There is no doubt of 

 this. In 1839, the Doctor said he ate good 

 butter in Canton, China, that was made in Ire- 

 land two year's before. Hassal says that the 

 best butter has three per cent, of curd, and 

 bad butter much more, and that rancidity is 

 owing to changes in the curd. 

 The leading point in the Doctor's remarks 



