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Caledonia County, Vermont. 
The county of Caledonia contains an area of 700 
square miles. In agricultural products it is one of 
the best in Vermont. The soil is naturally fertile, 
easy of cultivation, and under good management 
returns the most ample harvests. Her intelligent 
and enterprising farmers are not at all ignorant of 
their profession. Many of them know full well 
the capabilities of their farms, and are not slow in 
improving the knowledge they possess, and apply¬ 
ing it to the very best advantage. The most impor¬ 
tant and profitable branch of husbandry carried on 
by the farmers of this county, is the dairy. It 
will compare favorably with the best counties in 
New-York. The Scotch farmers in the towns of 
Ryegate and Barnet, are renowned for their suc¬ 
cess in the manufacture of butter. For a num¬ 
ber of years they have been awarded the highest 
premiums in Boston market, for the best article 
produced in New-England. I will notice a few 
dairies which I visited, and the method usually 
practiced in making and preserving their buttyr. 
Mr. Hugh S. Gibson, of Ryegate, has a dairy 
of 20 cows. He sold the past year 3,000 pounds 
of butter, for 27 cents per pound. He reserved 
200 pounds for family use, making 3,200 pounds, 
worth $864, or $43.20 per cow. He raised eleven 
calves entirely on skim milk, worth $6.00 a piece. 
Mr. John Gibson, from three cows,, made in 
1852*, 630 pounds, or 210 pounds per cow. Many 
other Scotch dairies produce from 150 to 200 
pounds per cow.' The Scotch dairy women are 
very particular and nice in their operations. They 
do not suffer the milk to sou.r before taking off the 
cream.' It usually stands from 36 to 48 hours, 
according to the state of the weather. After this 
time, they say a sort of 11 cheesy substance” rises, 
which makes the butter stringy and tongh. The 
cream is churned at a temperatue of 62"—the 
thermometer churn being used. The butter is 
considered best when the process of churning is 
continued one hour. When churned too rapidly, 
it is apt to be salvey. After the buttermilk is 
drawn off, it is thoroughly washed in cold water, 
(in summer ice water is used.) constantly drawing 
it off. till it becomes perfectly clear, and every 
particle of buttermilk is separated. It is then 
taken out and salted, with one ounce to a pound 
of butter; five or six tea-spoons full of loaf sugar 
are added to every 30 pounds. It is packed very 
solid, in 50 pound tubs, room being left on top in 
each tub, to spread fine salt, on thin cotton or lin¬ 
en cloth. Afterwards a pure brine is put on suf¬ 
ficient to cover the butter, and it is set away in a 
dry, cool cellar. The less the butter is handled, 
the nicer it will be. 
The Scotch dairy cows are of the native breed, 
improved by selecting the very best, and keeping 
in high condition. In the spring, a few weeks be¬ 
fore calving, they are liberally fed with turneps, 
carrots, and a little oat meal, and are not turned 
to grass till a full bite is afforded. The pastures 
all over Caledonia county are covered with a lux¬ 
uriant growth of white clover. It grows sponta- 
taneously, and for grazing purposes its superiority 
is unequaled. It seems to be the object of the 
Scotch dairymen to gain the greatest possible pro¬ 
fits from their # cowsand this is accomplished by 
keeping well. “ It is the first thing requisite,” 
said an old Scotchman —“ Keep your cows well , 
and they’ll make amends for it.” 
The vankee farmers in the vicinity, are success¬ 
fully competing with their scotch neighbors.— 
Wherever profits are concerned, they are sure to 
get a full share of them. The town of Hardwick 
annually produces between 80 and 100 tons of 
butter. 
Mr. Jeremiah B. Philbrook, of thaf town, made 
from three cows, in 1851,900 pounds., 8.C0 of which 
sold for 18 cents per pound. He fed his cows upon 
oat-meal and potatoes—liberally of course; bis 
object being to see what could be done by high 
feeding. 
Bliss N. Davis, Esq., of Danville, whose farm 
is in Hardwick, sold from 13 cows 1800 pounds of 
butter—-1600 for 25 cents, and 200 for 20 cents per 
pound. Besides this, he supplied a large family. 
His accomplished daughter deserves all praise, 
for the success which attended her efforts last 
summer, in this department, and her example is 
worthy of imitation by all the daughters of the 
land. Too many now-a-days consider it beneath 
their dignity, to take hold and manage the dairy. 
They aspire to higher honors. It is a sufficient 
recommendation for them to know how to sing and 
apply the piano admirably, talk French, and 
possess a taste for the fashionable literature of the 
day. But the idea of obtaining a practical knowl¬ 
edge of household business, of knowing how to 
make butter and cheese, is preposterous I am 
wandering from my subject; however, it is quite 
refreshing to find an occasional instance, where the 
daughter places a practical acquaintance with mat¬ 
ters of the. dairy, on the list of her accomplish¬ 
ments. 
In my next,*1 will give you an account of the 
stock and crops of Caledonia county. W. A. W. 
Churning in Winter. —Many a housewife has 
been disappointed and' disheartened by an entire 
failure, after three or four hours churning in win¬ 
ter, and at a time when the scarcity of milk and 
the high price of butter, has rendered success par¬ 
ticularly desirable. We believe this failure is in 
nearly every instance owing to the eoldnesss of the 
room in which the milk is kept during the rising 
of the cream. Let the milk stand in a warm place, 
and the difficulty will he, in most cases, obviated. 
A still more effectual remedy is to scald the milk 
before placing it in vessels. 
Accurate experiments were made some years 
since, by Prof. Traill, of Scotland, which throw 
some light on winter churning, of which the fol¬ 
lowing is a condensed statement—three - quarts of 
milk being used in each experiment, the cream 
rising for 39 hours.- 
Experiment 1. Cream sweet, with half a pint of 
cold water, churned 27 minutes, temperature rising 
from 62° to 70°. producing 1.886 grains of good 
butter. Ex. 2. Cream and milk together, sweet; 
churned three hours, cold water occasionally add¬ 
ed, no butter. Ex. 8. Cream kept two days, half 
a pint of cold water, churned 20 minutes, temper¬ 
ature rising from 54® to 63°, and producing 1,756 
grains of good butter. Ex. 4. Cream and milk, 
sour, kept, two days, half a pint of cold water, 
churned 1 hour and 50 minutes, producing 1,968 
T 
