THE CHAMPION BUTTER HERD. 
A SCORE OF FAT EXTRACTORS. THE SKIM-MII.K 
BUYS THE GRAIN? 
The Early Bird Sees This Farm. 
The charming' home of N. D. Potter is but three miles 
from the borough of Willimantic, Ct., and his cows 
are selected Jerseys, most of them thoroughbreds. 
His butter is made at home and is the best, command¬ 
ing a ready sale the year 
round at 30 cents per 
pound. Mr. Potter is a 
young man of thorough 
business ideas, and his 
farm is run with as much 
system and tact as if he 
were managing a line of 
steamships or a railroad. 
While attending the State 
Dairymen’s meeting in 
January, I had the privi¬ 
lege of spending one night 
at his house. He has a 
rule that if a cow does 
not pay, she must go, no 
matter what her color, 
shape or pedigree may be. 
ilia f-ystematic ideas ap¬ 
plied to the farm and 
everything 1 connected 
with it, have resulted in 
bringing it to its present 
high degree of fertility 
and consequent profit. 
Only a few years ago he 
returned from the West 
convinced of the superior advantages afforded Eastern 
farmers by the nearness of good markets as well as 
by the presence of hard roads and convenient trans¬ 
portation facilities. He bought the place which he 
has made his home and has proved his conclusions to 
have been correct. Anybody who sees all that is done 
on Riverside Farm, as it is beautifully named, must 
not lie abed until 5 o’clock in the morning. He must 
tell us that the other food solids in milk are rarely or 
never less in proportion than the fat it contains. 
“ But,” said my host, “ if you want to see the entire 
process of turning the farm’s fodder into hard cash, 
you should rise with me to-morrow and spend the day 
on the farm.” 
“Good morning ! ” was the salutation next day not 
long after 3 A. m., and a bright light and a brighter 
smile greeted my sight. The boys were already at the 
Assistant Butter Producers on a Connecticut Farm. Fig. Ill 
barn, feeding and milking—not Mr. Potter’s boys, 
however, but his hired men, for, although he has sev¬ 
eral sons, they are wisely kept hard at work over their 
books. 
Some Fixtures and Some Facts. 
We went first into the dairy room, where the 
milk is set in submerged cans. Although the mercury 
out-of doors was 10 degrees below zero, this room was 
churning is done daily and always under Mrs. Potter’s 
direct supervision. A uniform and high-grade article 
is thus turned out, with salt at the rate of one ounce 
per pound. Careful records show the amount sold to 
have averaged a trifle over 20 pounds per day. This 
does not include the liberal use of butter upon the 
home table, or the unstinted enjoyment of milk and 
cream. 
“ Do you mean to assert that 20 cows have made this 
prodigious average yield 
through the entire year ?” 
I inquired. 
“We keep accurate book 
accounts, and 20 cows in 
milk on an average have 
given this result I own 
27.” 
A four-days’ official test 
of 18 of these cows gives 
them the following record 
by disinterested persons : 
Lbs. fi ct. 
Total milk. 1,441 
AvVe per cow per day 20 
Average butter fat.... 6 
Maximum butter fat.. 7 
Minimum butter fat.. 3.4 
The three cows shown 
have averaged upwards of 
ti YjPjZrr' J>4rw?e£: in\fheBes < t r of 
•• — season. 
A Talk About the Business. 
-*• •;> >.,*£♦ * '*• “How is your butter de¬ 
livered ?” I asked. 
“In pound prints, neatly 
wrapped and stamped and 
it is always carried in a carrier. This is one of the 
best ways. No dairyman can hope for top prices who 
does not carry his product to consumers in the best 
possible manner, no matter how good it may be.” 
“ I suppose your expenses for stoek food are enorm¬ 
ous, as well as the outlay for labor ?” 
“ I buy between $600 and $700 worth of grain per 
annum, and my help costs $300 on an average. I 
Dishorned Jerseys that Help Bring Up the Butter Yield to 20 Pounds a Day. Fig. 112. 
rise betimes and be lively to keep pace with the jolly 
owner and overseer. 
“What is your first move in the morning ?” I asked. 
“I get dressed,” he replied while his eyes twinkled, 
“and then draw off the skim milk and put it into the 
wagon.” 
“ Wagon !” exclaimed I; “do you have so much 
of it from 20 Jerseys that it has to be hauled to the 
pigs with a team ? ” « 
“ I never feed my skim-milk to pigs,” he replied. 
“It is all peddled at 2% cents per quart, and the 
buyers get a good thing for their money.” 
This is unquestionably the truth. The chemists 
very comfortable, made so by a stove in one corner, 
which also heats drinking water for the cows and sup¬ 
plies warm water for washing dairy utensils, wagons, 
etc. Here, at the first step in looking over the farm, 
was disclosed the fact that much of Mr. Potter’s suc¬ 
cess is due to his Yankee ingenuity and originality. A 
little petroleum engine which furnishes power for 
churning, sawing wood, cutting fodder, etc., stands at 
one side with its belts adjustable to the dairy imple¬ 
ments in the room, or to machinery in the story above. 
A heavy double door gives entrance to a gigantic cold 
box just off this room and next to the ice-house, where 
meats, fruits and butter are stored in summer. The 
calculate to get enough out of the skim-milk to pay 
the bills for both of these and usually succeed. If I 
were not so near my market I could not dispose of the 
milk in this way. The cream is drawn off after the 
milk has stood 12 hours, and the milk is but one day 
old when sold. It is perfectly sweet.” 
“ Do you find a market for buttermilk?” 
“ We do not try. This is given to the pigs.” 
“ How many are you feeding at present ?” 
“ We have 10 shotes and usually raise 20 in the course 
of the year. It is done chiefly on buttermilk, clover 
and bran slop.” 
“ At what age or weight have you found it most 
