THE CULTIVATOR. 
27 
VERMONT BUTTER. 
The county of Caledonia in Vermont, has long been 
celebrated for its dairies, and its butter and cheese has 
frequently carried off the prizes from places where the 
competition is open to the whole union. Caledonia, as 
-its name imports, was chiefly settled by Scotch families • 
and the thrift of the country is strongly observable in 
that agricultural district. The editor of the Farmer’s 
Visitor spent a few days in that county not long since, 
and has given some interesting notes of his visit connect¬ 
ed with the agriculture of the place. In the best dairies, 
those from which the butter that took the high premi¬ 
ums of the Massachusetts Society came, the milk is al¬ 
lowed to stand about 48 hours before the cream is ta¬ 
ken from it. It is then churned in the old fashioned 
wooden hand-churn, worked in cold water, which is re¬ 
peatedly drained off until the milk entirely disappears, 
and the less the butter is worked, the better it is deem¬ 
ed. Working, in the manner commonly practiced to 
free it from the milk, is condemned in these dairies as 
injurious to the quality of the butter, leaving it tough 
or stringy, and causing it to adhere to the knife. In the 
dairy of Mr. W. Bachop who has obtained five premi¬ 
ums at Boston for butter—two of $100 each, and three 
of f,50 caeL; the milk in warm weather stands thirty 
hours, and in cold, forty-eight hours. In the hot sea¬ 
son in this dairy, 6 pounds of salt is allowed to 100 lbs. 
of butter, and in cold weather, 4 puuuds. No saltpetre 
is used, hut about a pound of finely powdered loaf su¬ 
gar is sprinkled into each hundred pounds of butter. 
The butter in these dairies, when made, is packed in 
firkins which hold from thirty to fifty pounds. It is 
packed so as to be very solid, and the surface of the but¬ 
ter in the firkin is covered with a thin white cloth, over 
which fine salt is spread. Some cover the surface with a 
pure brine and clean cloth. Caledonia butter always com¬ 
mands a high priee in market; and that from the pre¬ 
mium dairies ranges from twenty-three to thirty cents 
per lb. The summer yield of butter from a cow, varies 
from 100 to 125 lbs. each, taking the whole dairy, heif¬ 
ers and cows. That the dairy business, even at such a 
distance from market is profitable, is shown by the fact 
that nearly all the principal families engaged in it for 
any time, have, from small beginnings, risen to opulence. 
The agricultural products of Caledonia, independent of 
the dairy, are described as ample ; and from every part 
of the country proofs are accumulating of the excellence 
of the crops, and the rich reward which has waited on 
the labors of the husbandman. 
Comparative Profits of Small and Barge Farms. 
We have received from D. W. Grant, Esq., of 
Bloomfield, (Conn.) an estimate of the comparative 
expense, crops and profits of two farms, one of 20, and 
the other of 100 acres ; the most material points of 
which will be found below. In the note which accom¬ 
panied the estimate, Mr. G. remarks : 
“ I commenced farmer 12 years ago, with 500 acres 
of improved land, on the old system of farming:. As I 
have been unable to personally labor, I have been under 
the necessity of hiring all my labor done, and I found 
by cultivating middling lands, and sending men to a con¬ 
siderable distance to work, that the expenses absorbed 
the income. I began to change my mode of practice 
some years since, and sold one half of my acres, and by 
improving the remaining half, I have now the pleasure 
of seeing them produce more than the whole formerly 
did ; and I have no doubt but that I could sell the one 
half I now have, and in time, with labor judiciously ap¬ 
plied, make the remaining half produce as much as the 
whole does, and with greatly increased profits. If you 
wish, Messrs. Editors, to stop our young men from go¬ 
ing from the old States to the West, advocate the system 
of small farms. On this depends in my opinion, the fu¬ 
ture wealth of the old States. There is no necessity 
for emigration from the east to the west for one hun¬ 
dred years, and I have no doubt by diminishing the size 
of our farms, and giving them a more thorough and bet¬ 
ter cultivation, our wealth and population can be dou¬ 
bled in twenty years. Our Agricultural Society of 
Hartford County, have offered a premium for the best 
farm containing not less than twenty acres. If you will 
examine the statements 1 send you, I think you will 
agree with me they are about right.” 
Mr. Grant, in his estimate supposes the capital invest¬ 
ed in the two farms to be the same, viz. 100 acres at 
$40 per acre, and 20 acres at $200 per acre, in both ca¬ 
ses $4,000. His estimate of the crops and their value 
on the 100 acres, is as follows : 
Twenty acres in mowing, (1 ton to the acre, 
average produce of the land in Bloomfield,) 
worth to feed stock $7 per ton, 20 tons,... $140 00 
Ten acres corn, 30 bushels to the acre, at 50 cts. 150 00 
Ten loads of corn stalks at $3 per load,. 30 00 
Three acres potatoes, 150 bu. per acre, at 16 cts., 72 00 
Seven acres of rye, 12 bu. per acre at 75 cts., 63 00 
Ten acres of oats, 20 bu. to the acre, at 30 cts.. 60 00 
The mowing and cultivated crops take up 50 
acres of the farm, leaving 50 acres for pas¬ 
turing, which will keep, and keep well, 1 
yoke of cattle, 7 cows and a horse, 10 head 
at $6 each,. 60 00 
Produce worth to feed to stock,...$575 00 
Mr. Grant’s estimate of the expense of cul¬ 
tivating each of these crops is drawn up with 
great minuteness, and a careful examination 
has convinced us with a close approximation to 
the truth; but our limits oblige us to omit the 
items, and we only give the aggregate of the 
expenses, which, on the whole 100 acres, 
amounts to.$454 80 
Leaving a nett profit on the large farm of.... $120 20 
Statement of the produce and expenses of 20 acres of 
rich land : 
Four acres of mowing, 5 tons to the acre, at 2 
cuttings ; 20 tons of hay, worth to feed to 
stock $7 per ton,. $140 00 
Two acres of wheat, 30 bu. to the acre, $1 per bu. 60 00 
One acre of corn, 90 bushels, at 50 cts. per bu. 45 00 
Four loads of corn stalks, $3 per load,.. 12 00 
One acre of sugar beets, 800 bushels at 1 shil¬ 
ling per bushel,. 134 00 
One acre of potatoes, 400 bu. at 1 shilling per bu. 67 00 
Half an acre of ruta baga, 450 bushels, at 12J 
cents per bushel,. 56 00 
Half an acre of carrots, 440 bushels, at 1 shil¬ 
ling per bushel,. 73 67 
The mowing and cultivated crops take up 10 
acres, leaving 10 acres for pasturage, 
which will keep, and keep well, 7 cows, a 
yoke of cattle, and a horse, 10 head, at $6 
each,. 60 00 
Produce, worth to feed the stock,...$647 67 
As before, Mr. Grant’s estimate of the ex¬ 
penses is made for each crop, but we omit them, 
with the exception of the corn, which we give 
as a specimen, and to show that he has not 
omitted or underrated any important point. 
Cost of cultivating an acre of corn : 
Carting and spreading 30 buck loads 
of manure,. $6 00 
Plowing turf once,. 2 00 
Harrowing thoroughly,. 1 00 
Planting, . 2 50 
Hoeing three times,. 10 00 
Gathering, husking and shelling,. 8 00 
Labor in cultivating one acre of corn, $29 50 
The aggregate of the expenses on the 20 acre 
farm, including labor, seed, repair of fen¬ 
ces, &c., is. $206 14 
Nett profit on small farm,. $441 53 
To our tvestern friends it may seem somewhat strange 
to see the product of 20 acres of grass put at 20 tons of 
hay, and that as well as the other crops on the 100 acres 
may appear to them underrated. To us, however, who 
remember the average crops of common farms in the 
New-England States, Mr. Grant will seem very near the 
mark, and his estimate of crops under the old system, a 
liberal one ; and we have seen no estimate which pla¬ 
ces the results of good and bad farming, of applying 
capital to land, instead of drawing it away from it, in a 
more forcible, and as a whole, indisputable manner 
than Mr. Grant’s. Those of our readers who have the 
Genesee Farmer, or the last volume of the Cultivator, 
will see that we have always been the strenuous advo¬ 
cates of small farms, not so much for the reason that it 
would keep our young men from going west, but be¬ 
cause we belie e it would add most essentially to the pro¬ 
fits of agriculture. The most profitable part of every 
man’s farm is his garden, and Mr. Grant’s 20 acres is 
but a garden on a large scale. 
“ American Society of Agriculture.” 
The attention of the readerwill doubtless be arrested 
by the communication in another column, from that able 
writer and unwavering friend of agriculture, Solon 
Robinson, on the subject named above. The same sub¬ 
ject has by others been pressed upon our notice, and it 
is one to which we have, both before and since receiv¬ 
ing the commission of Mr. Robinson, given much atten¬ 
tion and consideration. To show what the opinions of 
others, as well as Mr. R. are on this matter of national 
interest, we give the following extract of a letter, from 
a distinguished farmer near Boston. After alluding to 
the error into which he thinks, Judge Buel and Mr. 
Garnett have fallen, in expecting Legislative aid, he 
adds : “ Now let us be sober and rely on ourselves, and 
our own resources. If we are to have a National, or 
American Agricultural Society, it must be got up by the 
Farmers themselves, and if it becomes popular by 
their agency, then, sir, mark, you will see the Legislature 
creeping from their dark retreat, and aiding it with all 
the posts of honor and their speeches, to the death. * * 
Please, gentlemen, move in the cause, and you will 
soon be seconded. Mr. Robinson and Mr. Garnett, 
will be at the place appointed for the meeting, without 
doubt, and if I am alive, and in the country, I will be 
there with some of my friends.” 
We are perfectly aware there are some such men as 
those we have named, men of public spirit, friends to 
agriculture, and alive to the prosperity and honor of 
the country, but we have not sufficient evidence that 
there are enough of such men to be found to render such 
an enterprise certain of success ; and all must admit 
that a failure would be a most serious calamity to the 
cause of Agriculture in the United States. In declining 
to act as individuals, or to assume the responsibility 
which our friends have been pleased to assign us, we 
must be permitted to give a few of the reasons which 
have brought us to this conclusion. 
In the first place, the whole experience of this coun¬ 
try is against the probability that such an association, 
would, at the present time, be worthy of its name and 
object. With the exception of Massachusetts and Rhode- 
Island, where state societies are supported by the state, 
there is not we believe, a state society in the union in act¬ 
ive, vigorous, effective existence, although many have 
been organized, and are perhaps, still, legally existing. 
Such results prove to our mind, that the farmers them¬ 
selves, are not ready for the undertaking, and we fully 
concur in the opinion expressed, that for such purposes, 
they can rely on none but themselves. 
In the second place, the wide spread nature of cur 
country opposes serious obstacles to such associations, 
obstacles which, though they must always remain in 
part, are yearly diminishing. Of fifty or a hundred in¬ 
dividuals, who would be willing to move in the matter, 
some are to be found in Maine, Massachusetts, New- 
York, Indiana, Tennessee, or Georgia ; not as in Great 
Britain, which some have named as an example, where 
the whole are crowded into a space about the size of 
New-York or Virginia. 
Again, we think the public mind has not been suffi¬ 
ciently instructed, and does not sufficiently appreciate 
the advantage of such an association, to render it suc¬ 
cessful. There are many who read, but there are ma¬ 
ny who do not, and this last class must be diminished, 
before in such a country as ours such societies can pros¬ 
per. Men in this country are not so much influenced 
by example as in others ; considerations of self interest 
have more weight; and when farmers can feel that their 
individual interests would be advanced by combined ef¬ 
fort, (as we certainly believe they would) then such as¬ 
sociations would spring up and flourish. 
We are further of the opinion, that in the present 
condition of the country, with its scattered population, 
and the distance that necessarily intervenes between the 
most efficient friends of agriculture, well conducted Ag¬ 
ricultural Periodicals are in a great measure perform¬ 
ing the part here, that Farmer’s Clubs, Associations 
and Societies, do in the more densely populated farming 
districts of Europe. We believe there are but about half 
a dozen agricultural papers in Great Britian ; and the 
price of periodicals generally there is so great, that 
they are inaccessible to millions. The mass therefore, 
if they wish to improve, must rely on the few that are 
rich, and are informed, and Clubs and Societies are the 
natural result. Here every farmer can receive his 
weekly or monthly journal, and by his own fireside 
avail himself of the experience and the experiments, 
which the European farmer must spend hours, and walk 
miles to obtain, if he is to be benefited by them at all. 
The result of the whole matter is, that we must, for 
the present at least, decline the duties our friends have 
so kindly assigned us. When the time arrives in which 
such an association can be organized, with a reasona¬ 
ble certainty of success, we trust we shall not be found 
backward in aiding the enterprise to the extent of our 
abilities. 
Agricultural Journals. 
One of the most conclusive proofs of the greater at¬ 
tention paid to farming in the United States, and the 
greater estimation in which husbandry is held, is to be 
found in the increase of Journals devoted to the use of 
the Husbandman, the tiller of the soil, or the breeder 
of animals. Only a few short years since the estab¬ 
lishment of a single Agricultural Journal was deemed 
a hazardous experiment ; now nearly thirty are in ex¬ 
istence, and those of the most limited circulation pro¬ 
bably have one greater than the pioneer publications 
received for years ; then few men could be found in the 
country who would condescend to pen an article on agri¬ 
culture ; now the most able, talented, and influential 
are among the contributors to agricultral papers. Of these 
our own journal, The Cultivator, numbers some three 
hundred in the last volume ; then men of standing were 
ashamed of being farmers, and the one who ventured, 
in mixed society, to speak of agriculture, was set down 
as an ignoramus or a bore ; now it is a theme fit to be 
introduced in palaces ; and to understand the science or 
to be practically acquainted with its processes, is a sure 
passport to consideration ; then to promulgate the idea 
that farmers could be benefited by reading'on the topic, 
or that agriculture could be taught in books, was con¬ 
sidered a mark of mental aberration, and a disgrace 
that few were willing to encounter ; then book farming 
was a term of reproach ; now the book farmer is look¬ 
ed up to with respect, and prejudice itself, through the 
compelling power of self-interest, is constrained to ac¬ 
knowledge that a good thing may come out of Galilee ; 
then to read an agricultural newspaper was the acme of 
absurdity ; now not to read one marks the man of igno¬ 
rance and prejudice, the man behind the spirit of the age. 
Whatever may be a man’s business or his occupation 
he will feel an interest in that, and if he is a man of 
sense, will endeavor to make himself master of the 
pursuit. The merchant reads on the subject of trade ; 
the friend of education on subjects connected with the 
interests of learning; the mechanic or manufactur¬ 
er on their respective avocations ; the divine on ques¬ 
tions connected with theology; and the farmer will 
naturally feel an interest in matters connected with agri¬ 
culture. All these classes, and many others, have jour¬ 
nals devoted to their own pursuits, and that the farmer 
should so long have been an exception, is now, when 
the benefits arising from such papers have been so fully 
developed, a matter of astonishment. It may in truth 
be said that a well conducted agricultural paper is at 
this time as necessary to a successful prosecution of farm¬ 
ing, as the political journal is to the statesman, or the 
publications devoted to science, to the astronomer. 
