66 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



in a flat tub, there being about two pouuds of 

 this salt allowed for fotrteen pounds of butter ; 

 the butter is then hard packed, by thin layers 

 into casks, which casks are previously seasoned 

 and cleaned. They are always of oak, well 

 smoothed inside. Before being used they are 

 allowed to stand three or four days, filled with 

 sour whey, and thereafter carefully washed out 

 and dried. Each cow, after being sometime at 

 grass, yield about one Dutch pound (17i oz.) of 

 butter per day. 



" We beg our dairy- women to mark two points 

 in the preceding process. No salt is used but 

 what is incorporated with and dissolved in the 

 butter, and which is necessary to give it flavor ; 

 and 2d. The butter intended for keeping is 

 worked from six to ten times, to incorporate the 

 salt, and to seperate from, it every particle of li- 

 quid, which if left in it, would induce rancidity. 



" Hay Butter, undergoes a like process. 



"Whey Butter. — The whey is allowed to 

 stand three days or a week, after being separated 

 from the curd, when the cream is skimmed 

 off, or the whey itself put into the churn, and 

 the butter is formed in about an hour. By this 

 process, in winter one pound of butter is obtained 

 from each cow in a week, and in summer one 

 pound and a half. The relative prices of, are 

 generally — 



"Grass butter 8£ stiver — 17 cents. 



" Hay butter 7 stiver — 13 cents. 



" Whey butter 6 stiver — 12 cents. 



T. 3 Editor." 



For the Southern Planter. 



POUDRETTE. 



Mr. Editor, — In the last number of the Planter, 

 page 12, you remark that "Mr. Minor himself 

 must by this time be convinced that he was 

 grossly imposed upon in the article he sent us." 

 No, sir, he is by no means convinced of any 

 such thing — he is only convinced that from some 

 cause, either from drought or some peculiarity of 

 soil or season, the poudrette did not produce its 

 ordinary effect in Virginia, last year, and he 

 does not hesitate to say that if the ground where 

 it was applied last j^ear is planted with corn 

 this year, and carefully observed, its effects will 

 be seen. 



It was a common remark, in July and Au- 

 gust, or during the very dry time last summer, 

 by those who had used poudrette, that they were 

 apprehensive it would not answer their expecta- 

 tions — yet thus far we have had but a single 

 unfavorable report in this vicinity, and that was 

 on the light dry soil of New Jersey, where the 

 corn did not come up at all — of course it was the 

 "humbug" poudrette, and nothing else, which 

 prevented the corn from growing. 



I have called, in the Cultivator and American 

 Agriculturist, upon all who have used it to give 



me full reports — the kind of soil, crops, and 

 quantity used, and how applied, in reply to 

 which I have received, and send you the copy 

 of a letter from Hon. R. M. Sherman, of Fair- 

 field, Connecticut, and also a copy of the " Far- 

 mers' Cabinet" for January, in which you will 

 find three short letters — the one from Dr. Emer- 

 son I never saw until I read it in the Cabinet — 

 and you will oblige me by giving them all, to- 

 gether with this, a place in the next number of 

 the Planter ; I desire more to stand fairly before 

 your readeis, as an upright business man, than 

 to sell them poudrette. I travelled extensively 

 through Virginia in 1823 and 1824, and became 

 partially known to many persons whose good 

 opinion, though I may not now be recollected 

 by them, I value more highly than any amount 

 of money I can possibly expect to derive from 

 the State by the sale of poudrette, or otherwise, 

 and therefore 1 may make larger calls, from time 

 to time, upon your columns than may be conve- 

 nient to you — yet / am sure you will give me 

 fair play, and that is all I ask, as I know I am 

 right and shall prevail ; and I say to you in all 

 confidence that in less than ten years the mate- 

 rial of which poudrette is made will be gathered 

 and preserved with as much care, throughout 

 this country, as oats or potatoes, when ready to 

 harvest, and mainly through my instrumentali- 

 ty, as, when in 1837 I undertook the preparation 

 of poudrette and its introduction among the far- 

 mers, it was " a by-word and a reproach," and 

 no other man in this vicinity could be induced to 

 undertake it; yet, against prejudice, ridicule, op- 

 position, detraction, and lack of means to work to 

 advantage, I have persevered for six years, yield- 

 ing for several years other more agreeable pur- 

 suits, until the difficulties are mainly overcome ; 

 and the demand was last spring, and will be next, 

 greater than the supply, notwithstanding I have 

 commenced the manufacture in Philadelphia 

 also, under much more favorable circumstances 

 than here. 



I am, sir, respectfully yours, 



D. K. Minor, 



January 18, 1844. 



Nothing but a strict sense of justice to our 

 subscribers, would ever induce us to express an 

 opinion unfavorable to an article, in the value of 

 which the interest or reputation of any particu- 

 lar individual is involved. Not the least of the 

 difficulties arising from such a course, is the loss 

 of the command of our own columns, of which 

 to a certain extent it deprives us. It is very 

 difficult to resist the appeal to our sense of jus- 

 tice with which the above was accompanied ; 

 yet we believe a large majority of our readers 

 think we have already devoted more space to 

 the consideration of this subject than it is entitled 



