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THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



209 



THE DAIHY. 



The great cause of the neglect of the 

 Dairy in oar own region of the State, is the 

 want of female help acqaainted mth the 

 process of making butter and cheese. The 

 ordinary female help upon our farms does 

 not enable families to give attention to this 

 very profitable part of farming business. 

 There is a great lack of good butter and 

 cheese in our markets; — so much so, indeed, 

 that if we desire to supply the demand, we 

 must go into some other State to procure 

 the batter and cheese demanded by con- 

 sumers here. * ■ - ; 



We repeat the poor supply of butter and 

 cheese in our market, arises from the want 

 of suitable help in farmers families. Our 

 foreign born young women, who go out to 

 worl^ will not go into the country. They 

 prefer to Utc in the cities; and indeed, but 

 few of them have sufficient knowledge of 

 the art of making butter and cheese, to get 

 up a good article. Milk can be had. Our 

 prairies and our pastures furnish feed for 

 cows in summer, and we usually have an 

 abundance of food for them in winter. 



What we want is a supply of young 

 women from the butter regions of the East- 

 ern States to come here and also from the 

 Dairy Districts of England, Scotland, Ire- 

 land and Germany. Such women,accuBtomed 

 to country life, would find full and profit- 

 able employment in the families of our farm- 

 ers — should they choose to accept such 

 situations — and emigrants, with sonoie means, 

 who are acquainted with the Dairy business, 

 and who would locate in the neighborhood 

 of our cities and towns, could also find profit- 

 able employment in turning their attention 

 to this branch of farming. Butter has been 

 worth since January lasc until this time 

 (close of August) from fifteen to thirty 

 cents a pound — generally twenty and twenty- 

 five cents. These would be deemed great 

 prices in the dairy districts of New York 

 and New England. Cheese brought to 

 market, in a green state, has sold here at 

 eleven and twelve cents per pound. Can- 

 not the Dairy business here be made profit- 



able? We think so. Let families provide 

 themselves with competent butter and 

 cheese-makers, and we think they can make 

 it a profitable business. We are sure it 

 would be of great benefit to the country. 



?m: 



THE POULTRY Y ARD. 



What are the most profitable variety of 

 fowls for keeping? This depends on cir- 

 cumstances. If you live on a farm, where 

 fowls have plenty of corn and grain for 

 feed, and which if not used by them, would 

 be wasted, I believe a cross of the Shang- 

 hai, Brama or Cochin China, would pay as 

 well as any other- These fowls crossed on 

 the common dunghill, make chickens which 

 will weigh five or six pounds. Their fiesh 

 is not as fine for eating as the common 

 dunghill, being coarser and less juicy; still, 

 they are good eating, have substance, and 

 are good layers. The large race of chickens, 

 however interesting in their appearance, 

 however musical in their crow, are mon- 

 strous feeders, and a half dozen of them, 

 kept in the city, will cost as much to keep 

 them as it would to keep a good sized hog. 

 They are a nuisance in the cities — at least 

 they have been to me. What we want is a 

 race of small fowls which are good layers, 

 and will give us eggs pretty much the year 

 round with liberal keeping. In the towns, 

 there is no use in trying to raise chickens. 

 They are very annoying and a* great deal of 

 trouble. 



Can you tell, me, Mr, Editor, what kind 

 of fowls are best for my purpose, and where 

 I can get the fowls I desire? A. 



[They books say if you want fowls to 

 lay, the Bolton Greys or Creoles, Black 

 Spanish and Poland, are best. . These have 

 little disposition to set; but where you can 

 get these fowls, is more than we can say. 

 Probably you can supply yourself at the 

 State fair, if you should be there.] 



The crop of corn is ripening slowly. 

 The probability is that a good deal will be in- 

 jured by frost, unless we have hot weather and 

 the frosts keep off later than usual. _ _ _ 



