American Butter Factories. 
3 
The Grasses. 
Before entering upon the question of butter manufacture and 
factory management, it will be proper to say a word concerning 
the food of stock. The excellence of " fancy butter " does not 
depend altogether upon its manufacture, for, in the first place, 
good milk must be secured. 
" Fancy butter," that will sell for a dollar per pound,* cannot 
be made from bad material, from milk produced on weedy 
pastures, or upon the rank sour herbage of swamps, or upon 
land newly seeded with red clover. The experienced butter 
dairymen, therefore, pay much attention to the feed of their cows, 
and prefer old pastures. 
On the old pastures of the butter district there are several 
varieties of grasses that spring up spontaneously, and are much 
esteemed as affording sweet and nutritious feed, from which 
the best qualities of milk and butter are produced. These 
grasses form a dense solid turf, leaving no intervening spaces. 
They embrace the June, or blue grass (Poa pratensis), the fowl 
meadow-grass {Poa serotina\ meadow fescue {Festuca pratensis), 
red top [Agrostis vulgaris), the wire grass [Poa compressa), the 
sweet scented vernal and vanilla grass, together with timothy 
(P/deum pratense), orchard grass (Dactglis glomerata), clover, 
and other forage plants. 
The June grass {Poa pratensis) is regarded as very valuable : 
it throws out a dense mass of leaves, is highly relished by cattle, 
and produces milk from which a superior quality of butter is 
made. It is found growing throughout the butter districts of 
the country. The wire -grass (Poa compressa) is deemed one 
of the most nutritive of the grasses, is very hardy, eagerly sought 
after by cattle, and is one of the best grasses for fattening. Cows 
feeding upon it yield milk of the richest quality, from which the 
nicest butter is made. It flourishes well upon gravelly knolls 
and in shaded places, and its stem is green after the seed has 
ripened. It is found growing in all parts of the country. 
The meadow fescue is common in old grass lands where the 
sod is thick, and grasses of different varieties are mingled toge- 
ther. It starts up early in the spring, is relished by stock, and 
furnishes good early feed. The milk farmers hold it in high esti- 
mation as a reliable grass, tenacious of life, and not running out 
like timothy (Phleum pratense) or clover. The white clover 
{Trifolium repens) springs up spontaneously in the old pastures, 
and is highly esteemed, as giving flavour and quality to butter. 
* A dollar (4s.) per pound seems an incredibly high price for butter, but it must 
be remembered that everything for which there is a home demand is very much 
dearer in America than in England.— Edit. 
B 2 
