424 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Sept. 



persons paying their membership for next 

 year previous to the annual meeting in Octo- 

 ber, can have this year's volume free. Terms 

 of membership $2, per annum. Life mem- 

 bership $5. Secretary's address, Georgia, 

 Vt. 



Now a word in regard to your comments. 

 The time was when it was believed that a 

 large number of cows was necessary to make 

 the factory system profitable, and milk was 

 hauled several miles to some of the earlier es- 

 tablishments, but it was soon found that there 

 are more elements of expense than was at first 

 recognized, and not the least of these is get- 

 ting the milk to the factories. As a result, 

 smaller establishments are becoming more 

 popular, and in the old districts, factories for 

 200 cows are becoming more common than 

 for more ; indeed, several of the large estab- 

 lishments have adopted the system of making 

 up their cheese in branch factories and haul- 

 ing them together to the main house for curing 

 and sale. Expert cheese makers are much 

 more numerous than formerly and persons 

 may be employed to run a small factory at 

 more reasonable rates, and it is questionable 

 •whether it is not better economy to run a fac- 

 tory for 100 cows than to haul the milk more 

 than a mile and a half. 



But there is still another view to be taken 

 of this subject. The universal trait of the 

 American character, that of all adopting the 

 same specialty at a time, which has so often 

 brought our farming population to grief, is to 

 be guarded against. It is true that there is a 

 large increase in the consumption of cheese, 

 and we hope to see it go on, believing it to be 

 one of the most desirable articles of food for 

 most persons ; yet the increase in the consump- 

 tion of butter more than keeps pace with it, 

 and it will be a long time before cheese will 

 come to be considered the absolute necessity 

 that butter is. Cheese will sustain and build 

 up the animal system and butter will not ; but 

 butter has so large a place in our system of 

 cooking and eating that very few persons stop 

 to ask about the absolute economy of using it 

 as compared with cheese or anything else. It 

 does not follow because a party has invested 

 his money in a cheese factory that he is 

 obliged to make cheese when he can make 

 butter more profitably ; but a cheese factory 

 that has cost some $4000, standing idle is a 

 sort of an eye-sore in a neighborhood, and we 

 happen to know of some such even now ; and, 

 although we make no pretensions to prophetic 

 visions, we venture the prophecy that there 

 will be more such, unless they are so recon- 

 structed as to tit them for making butter. 



Were we situated just as Mr. Fales and his 

 neighbors are, we would, without delay, erect 

 a butter factory, and make such an article as 

 would enable us to command the very top fig- 

 ures in Boston Market. With such market 

 facilities as they can command and a well es- 

 tablished reputation, which they can soon ac- 



quire, for making the very best article, they 

 may depend upon much better returns than 

 from cheese. 



If it is deemed desirable to work up the 

 skimmed milk instead of feeding it to pigs, 

 they may rely on finding a ready sale for 

 "skimmed cheese" at remunerative rates, al- 

 though of course at not quite the full price of 

 whole-milk cheese. More information on the 

 subject of butter factories may bs found in 

 the Vermont Transactions, heretofore alluded 

 to, than in any other publication extant. 



O. S. Bliss. 



Georgia, Vt., July 12, 1870. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MOWING, AND THINGS. 



Since a portion of the grass must ever be 

 cut with the hand-scythe, I will give such in- 

 structions as have been found to be valuable 

 by one born sometime during the last century, 

 and who can still grind, whet and swing a 

 scythe to a charm. 



In Grinding, bring the scythe as near to 

 an edge as possible, but be careful not to 

 turn the edge, for this not only wears the 

 scythe rapidly, but renders it impossible to se- 

 cure a firotrate edge until another grinding. 



Whetting. — Dj not strike, nor bear on 

 hard, for in that way you will draw the end of 

 the whetstone directly across the edge, and 

 wear a notch in the stone where it strikes the 

 scythe. I can always tell whether a mower 

 keeps bis scythe in good order, by looking at 

 his whetstone. Whet only sufficient to bring 

 a keen edge, which must be determined by 

 frequently feeling with the fingers. The whet- 

 stone should be of fine, sharp grit, and one 

 that will not glaze ; kept in good shape by 

 frequent grinding. The Talcose stone is fii-st- 

 rate for an occasional whetting. 



Hanging. — For my own stature, which is 

 five feet eight inches, I find that two feet six 

 inches from the heel to the lower thole, just 

 right, and the tholes should be eighteen inches 

 apart. For smooth land, the scythe should be 

 three feet nine inches ; shorter for lodged clo- 

 ver and rough ground. The point should be 

 set three feet five inches from the upper thole. 

 A long scythe, with the point brought pretty 

 well in, strikes the grass with more of a draw- 

 ing cut, and consequently cuts it off easier. 

 Let the poi?it of the scythe be twisted down a 

 little ; this will tend to make it hug the ground 

 better than it will when the heel hangs equally 

 low. 



The Mower. — A tall man, other things 

 equal, has an advantage in mowing, as height 

 gives him power in the swing of the body. 

 Let him straighten up at every clip, carry his 

 right foot a little forward of the other, with 

 the feet well spread apart, and shod with shoes 

 without heels, to prevent sore toes ; or, what 

 is better, if he can, go barefoot. Do not mow 

 much before breakfast, and be careful and not 



