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DAIRYING For PROFIT:

OR,

THe Poor Man’s Cow.

BY
MRS, E. M. JONEs.
JUDGE OF DAIRY PRODUCTS

-AT—

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION, CHICAGO, 1893

BALDWIN, ROSS & CO.
PUBLISHERS
MASONIC TEMPLE
CHICAGO

Entered according to Act of Pariiament of Canada, in the year one thonsand
eight hundred and ninety three, by Mrs. EK. M. Jones, in the office of

the Minister of Agriculture.

Copyright, 1893, by Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C.

29

Crh vig ; at , : )
by 0 1x Cov COW) In. Co

INDEX.

CHAPTER I.

On Choosing a Cow...csee sce cee seseeeeene

CHAPTER II.

On Feeding and Caring for the Cow......... ec aes

CHAPTER III,

One Year’s Yield of a Grade Jersey. ....00 seen sccce cece
CHAPTER IV.

What is the Best Butter Breed ?..4. «+ .-200 atecacee

CHAPTER V.

Choose tue Breed which you are sure suits you b2st..e.
CHAPTER VI.

Milking and Skimming—Setting the Milk ... ..-+eeseee.eee

CHAPTER VII.

Churning—Salting........--++----

CHAPTER VIII.

Printing—Preparing for Markct........+. 200 -.seeees 2aG

CHAPTER IX.

Method of Marketing Print Butter in Gilt Edge Dairies......

CHAPTER X.

On urnisess css cssycciee eeeeee - ere sees seoe rere 2880

PAGE

eveveres

15

19

25

27

31

34

32

41

+

CHAPTER XI.
On Batter-workers—The old Bowl and Ladle........---.ceeeceeescee 44

CHAPTER XII.

Ease and Comfort in Churning—“ Big little things” in the Dairy—
The Man who follows his Grandmother. ..... ove wS.6o:s wieloren onto 47

CHAPTER XIII.

An answer to Mr. Doherty.—Practical Experience....... sececccsccce 50
CHAPTER XIV.
On:the Careiof Dairy Utensils, 04.00 '.:..:0louceevceat: ss sslasnnloeemane

CHAPTER XV.
How I Keep my Cattle <0) %s *saiie! Xiele key Arai envela iptate lees. ele e002eee cece e008 58

CHAPTER XVL

Farm Accounts—-Odds and Ends—Some Mistakes....... oou-eenanemannnens

PREFACE.

To the farmers’ wives of America this little book is dedicated—to
my sisters in toil, the tired and over-tasked women, who are wearing their
lives away in work which has little hope and less profit, and to whom
the cares of the dairy form the “last straw” which breaks their
already aching backs,

For many years I have been receiving letters from these weary sis-
ters, in every State in the Union, in every Province of Canada, and
their burden is always the same.

“We are so tired, cannot you help us? You are a woman like us,
but your cattle have won a great reputation, your dairy has been a
success, and your butter sells at a fine price. How did you do it?”

Replying to all these letters has grown intoa task beyond any one
person’s time and strength; and to give all the information asked for
I would have to write a little book to each one,

Therefore, | have resolved that I will write the little book, and have
it printed, and sold at so low a price as to be within the reach of every
one who keeps one cow or a hundred.

If I could go into every farmer’s house in America, and say, ‘‘I can
show you:

“ 1st. How to make 4 more and far better butter than you do now;

“ 2nd. At aless cost for keeping cattle ;

“ 3rd. With less labor on cattle and dairy utensils ;

“ 4th. And howto sell your butter for 4 more money than you are
getting for it now,” I would, indeed, be a welcome guest.

All this I can do, not in person, but by this little book, and so I
send it out to my fellow-women, with earnest wishes for thcir approval,

If I can lighten the labors of even a few tired women and cheer their
lives and put some moncy in their pockets, then I shall not have written
in vain,

Exiza M. Jonzs.
Brockville, Ont., Can., 1893.

DAIRYING FOR PROFIT;
OR,

THE Poor Man’s Cow.

A
LECTURE

ON GO-OPERATIVE DAIRVING AND ON WINTER DAIRYINE.

Copyright 1893, by Mus. E. M, Jones,

[All rights reserved. j
By Mrs. HE. M. Jones, oF Brockvitur, Onrario, CANADA,

As read before the first Congress of Farmers, in the City of Quebec,
by the Secretary of the Convention.

Mr. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN:

I have been asked to prepare a paper on Dairy matters, to be read
before this, the first Congress of Farmers in the Province of Quebec.

Tecan hardly tell which feeling predominates in my mind,—intense
pleasure ut the ‘honor donc me, or a deep sense of the importance of
this occasion. Ineed not enlarge upon my own diffidence—such re-
marks are an old story, but I will tell you why I respond so cheerfully
to the call.

When I was a child I often went, with my companions, to gather
wild strawberries, but the berries were scarce, and the search was tire-
some.

If a passing farmer said, “Children, I hear there are good berries
in such a field over yonder,” we gave him doub:ful belief, and did
not always go.

But if one of our number who was actually picking berries called
out, ‘‘ Come on, girls, here is a splendid spot,” we just tumbled over
one another in our anxiety to get there, and all shared in the good
luck.

Now, I have found ‘a good spot” in Dairying, a great spot, and
I want you all to come on, just as fast as you can, and share in my
luck. My whole life has been spent in Dairying, and after strugeling
through untold difficulties, and proving each step as I went, by dearly-
bought experience [ have at last attained a brilliant success, and J want
others to share it,

‘IT Jook at it in this way:

The average cow of the country makes 150 lbs, butter a year, which
sclls at an average price of 20 cts. Indeed, I doubt if they do as well
as this:

My cows produce from 250 lbs, all the way to 500 lbs, butter a year,
and sometimes far more. All my butter sells at 35 cts. per Ib. all the
year round, right at my own place. I have no express or freight
charges to pay, and I do not even have to print it.

My Dairy has become famous all through the States and Canada,
and I have now lying on my desk letters from Dairy Associations in
Michig:n, in Indiana, in Connecticut, Vermont, New York State, and
the grand old Province of Quebec, all urging me to come to their Dairy
Conventions and lecture on Dairy cows and butter-making. All these
Societies offer to pay my expenses, and most of them offer a handsome
sum in addition.

While deeply sensible of the honor these gentlemen do me, and proud
to tell you of it, I yet ask you to believe that I mention it in no spirit
of boasting—far from it, indeed. I mention it only to cheer on others,
so that they too may succced and make money.

Do you realize what it means ? Let us consider it.

if we could actually double the Dairy product of our country, and
also get a higher price than we now do, and if to do this we need not
keep more, but fewer, cattle, at less cost for feed, for attendance and
barn room, would it not alter the whole aspect of Dairy matters in
America ?

Just thick of it—of all that it means to us!

Why, England pays annually thousands and thousands of dollars

« to Irish and Danish farmers, every cent of which ought to go into the
pockets of the farmers of this country. )

Let us change all this, and bring this trade to our own farmers,

We wust increase our product and increase our profits too,

And one great way of making more profit is, to follow the teachings

of all our great Dairy Schools and Colieges. They continually tell us

to ‘‘ Lessen the cost of production.”

How is this to be done? By starving our cows? Far from it.

But by keeping a better class of cows, feeding and caring for them
better, and using more skill and care in making our butter, We thus
increase our output, and, at the same time, we lessen the cost of
production.

Do not think I advocate too high feeding, for that is almost as great
an error as starving your cattle. Feed generously, and of suitable
material, but find out each cow’s capacity, and feed her up to the highest
point at which she pays for the feed, and not one bit beyond.

In my own herd, the usual grain ration for each animal in ful milk
varies from 7 to 10 lbs. per cow, each day. This is composed of ground
oats, ground peas, wheat, bran, and, occasionally, a very little oil meal.
The ration is divided into two fecds, and given night and morning,
upon the ensilage. Should the silo be empty, the grain is always fed
upon hay that has been cut and moistened.

The quantity of ensilage fed is 30 to 40 Ibs. a day.

At noon, my cattle get a very small feed of cut carrots or mangels,
and any further supply of food required consists of bright, early cured
long hay, put in their mangers. They get all the salt they need, all
the water they want twice a day, and each cow is well carded and
brushed over every day. Whenever weather permits, they are turned
out fora short time, about noon, but are never left out till cold and
tired. And the barns are thoroughly cleaned cut, twice a day.

With this feed and care, I have two-year-old heifers making from
12 to 14 lbs. butter a week, and mature cows making from 16 to 19
Ibs. a week. .

To a very uncommon cow I feed a larger ration. My famous old
“ Massena” ate more than the quantity I have just mentioned, but
what was her yield ?

Being in her sixteenth year, when I tested her, she gave in 11
months and 9 days 8,2903 lbs. milk, which churned 654 Ibs.’ three-
fourths oz. of magnificent butter, and then dropped a fine heifer calf,
With her previous owner when she was younger she is credited with 900
Ibs. butter in a year, and her record is accepted by everyone,

Some people say that this large butter yield wears a cow out. Well,
it has not worn “ Massena” out, for she is hale and hearty and as
bright as a dollar, and due to calf again next April, when 17 years old.

Some cows will respond far more readily than others. In my little
book, ‘‘ Dairying for Profit,” I have given a year’s feeding of a cow I
once owned. The ration was very large, but then she was an excep-
tional cow, and her yield was very Jarge, so that she gave me an actual
cash profit for buttcr alone of $49.70 in the year, over and above her |
keep. As you will sce by reference to my book, I made no charge
against her for actual attendance or barn room. But, on the other
hand, I gave her no credit for the quantity of skim milk and butter-
milk, for the large pile of manure, and for the fine heifer calf she gave
me. So you will see that the profit I mention is, if anything, under-
estimated.

It has been said to me this was an exceptional animal, and that few
cows would respond to feeding as she did.

Precisely ; that just hits the nail on the head.

Now, what we want to do is, to GET RID OF those poor cows that
will not respond to fecding.

eef them, bury them, but do GET RID OF THEM, for they are
mortgaging your farm, and making slaves of your wives and families
and sinking you deeper into debt every year they exist.

And fill the country with cows that WILL RESPOND to good
feeding, that will pull you out of debt, and leave you a good balance
in the bank,

Lct me here say that anyone who tries can do far better than I have
donc, because tew have such difficulties to contend against.

The man of great wealth has the “sinews of war” with which to
carry on his enterprise, and we all know what plenty of capital means
in business. If united with brains and perseverance, it means assured
success.

The plain farmer, on the other hand, may not have the capital, but
he generally has a good farm out in the country, where land value is
less aud taxes are less, and he has comparatively little outlay for labor,
because he himself, and all his family, work as few hirelings will do.

But I live just on the edge of town, where the rent of land is enor-
mous, and yet the land itsclf is rocky and poor, and [ have to hire all
my labor, On the one hand, I have not the advantage of getting the

work done like the farmer within ourselves, and, on the other hand,
starting with very limited means, I had rot the advantage of the capi-
tal possessed by my wealthier friends.

In fact, to use a homely saying, I have been all the time “ between
the devil and the deep sea.”

Yet I have proved that a Canadian Dairy may be made a great
business and a paying business, even under adverse circumstances and
with the very plainest surroundings.

You can all do as well, and most of you can do better.

It makes me heartsick to hear those of my own sex wishing they
could earn some money, to sce them peddling books and corsets, work-
ing in factories, or writing trashy novels, for only enough to keep soul
and body together, and all the time they have right at hand an indus-
try more noble, more profitable and far more independent.

One that will elevate themselves and the whole community, and
enable them to confer a lasting benefit upon the country in which they
live and die,

If there is one thing more than another in waich the farmer is blind
to his own intcrest as well as to his own comfort and conveuience, it is
in the matter of winter Dairying.

Hiscows are made to calve in spring, because then nature furnishes
enough food to keep up an uncertain supply of milk without the farmer
‘bothering with them,” as he expresses it.

But someone must bother with it!

The milking of 5, 10 or 20 fresh cows, in summer, takes a long
time, just when time is most valuable and men are working the hardest ;
and then the milk has to be hauled to the factory, either by taking
time and horses that can ill be spared, or else by paying a neighbor to
do it, and so lessening the profit.

Still worse is it if the work is done at home, and falls upon the females
of the family.

Seldom, indeed, has the former’s wife all the appliances for dairying
in hot weather. There is no ice, the milk sours before the cream rises ;
the ercam itsclf, for want of a suitable place to keep it in, absorbs bad
odors, ard is se\dom at a uniform temperature. Churning this cream,
which is often in an actually fermenting state, is a burden to a hot and
tired woman, and when the butter comes, it is, as she herself expresses
it, ‘‘ just like oil.”

Not only that, it “‘ comes ” in a lump, and so the great thing in mak-
ing good butter,—that is, washing it when in little grains like wheat, —
is impossible.

Instead of that it is mashed, and worked, and re-worked in water
ee is not cold enough, then salted, and then the poor woman

‘“ouesses she will leave it over night, to harden.” Next morning,
when she pees to finish. working, and put it in rolls, or tubs, it is either
so uneven'y worked, that it is all streaked, when cut for use, or else,
what is still more common, what little grain it did have is broken and
spoiled, and the butter is like lard or salve—it won't taste sprightly
and fresh, and it won't keep.

And then we wonder that our butter docs not bring higher prices!
Now, I hold that it is

ABSOLUTE CRUELTY

to burden a farmer’s wife with the care of a large dairy insummer. She
has more, far more than she can do properly without that. Heat, flies,
dust and mosquitoes to fight against, meals to cook and bread to bake,
washing, ironing and mending, and often hired men to board.

Besides the regular work, there are always extra duties, such ag
pickling, canning, preserving and soap-making. Then, what fruit and
vegetables are used are generally left to the “ woman folks” not ouly
to prepare, butto gather.

What sight more common than to see a woman out digging a fork-
full of potatoes because the men didn’t bring any in, coming from the
orchard with an apron full of apples, or cutting kindling in the wood-
shed ?

Add to this that there is generally a baby in the housc, to occupy
every spare minute, and that this baby often keeps the mother awake
half the night, while the farmer has enjoyed a long, sound sleep, and
then say whether it is not the bounden duty of every man worthy the
name to dighten when he can, and to lifé when he can, the burdens
that must, in the course of nature, rest upon the weuk shoulders of
women? Almost every farmer in the land can now do this. He can
save almost all the time and worry the cows now cost him in summer ;
he can ease his wife so she will be bright and cheerful and fully able for
the work left, when relieved of that which is unnecessary ; he can have

the pride and p'easure of having his butter bring the top price, instead
of taking ‘“‘ store pay’ for it, and mighty poor pay at that; and he °
can look at his cows the year round, not as ‘“ necessary evils,” but as
the source of good solid cash profit, which they really are, if they are
good ones of their kind and get a fair chance. You all know the
causes of this happy change.

T allude to the large number of well equipped butter and cheese
factories, to the presence of the travelling Dairy among you, and to
the excellent schemes now on fcot for ar winter Dairying as
the rule and not the exception.

One can hardly over -cstimate the immense advantages of the co-
operative system in making both checse and butter.

Fifty years ago we wll made butter and cheese a‘ home, for the
same reascn that we travelled by stage coach, simply because we had
to—there was no other way.

But the march of Progress has brought us many good things, many
labor-saving things, and I do assure you that one of the greatest of
these is Co-operative Dairying.

Why is not every man a blacksmith to shoe nis own horses, or a
manufacturer to make his own binding and reaping machines ?

Ju-t because those things can be done better, quicker and con-
sequently chcaper by those who make it their life-long business, and
whom constant practice makes perfect, while the farmer, on the other
hand, can use the time to better advantage.

The factories can give you the benefit of such skill, such uniformity,
and such market facilities as can only be found occasionally in private
Dairics.

Also Jet me mention another point that often escapes observation.
After a long life of study I have come to the conclusion that the
oftener one churns the better. Take a cow’s ercam for a weck before
churning it, and in spite of all your care, some wiil be too ripe, some
not ripe enough, and so on, till Iam convinced you get a better result
if you churn that cow’s cream three times a week, still better if you
churn it every day, and, best of all, if you could every milking by
itself.

We all know this to be practically impossible in private houses, but
here is where the factory steps in and carries out this idea to perfec-
tion.

There is, however, one lion in the path of these factorics, one mill-
stone round their necks, which cripples their usefulness, and which
even, in an indirect way, is ruinous to the best stock interests of the
country,

We are now fighting this difficulty, and will soon win the battle.

T allude tothe WANT OF DISCRIMINATION in receiving the
products from the patrons.

Hundreds of times I have heard farmers say: ‘‘ There ain’t no use
keeping good butter cows, for their milk brings no more in the fac-
tory.” So far, this has been generally true, but we are now awaking
to the fact, that it has been the crying evil of the system, that it has
depreciated the market value of rich milk—in fact, that it has been
vir‘ually offering a premium for quantity at the expense of quality.

But we are gradually working to our point, and soon every man will
be paid according to the yield of his milk in butter and cheese,
and, still better, all milk not: up to a certain standard will be rejected
entircly.

Of the Travelling Dairy it is impossible to speak too highly.

We all know the value of illustrating what we say. It isa great
point to sce exactly how a thing is really done; it is just the whole
difference between only hearing about it and actually seeing it with your
own eyes,

Lastly, the idea of winter Dairying is one of the greatest scope and
the highest importance, and is destined to work a revolution in farm
life. Make the bulk of your butter in winter if you wish to averagea
larger quantity, a better price, and a higher profit, also better cows and
more and better manure.

You will also secure a more even distribution of your labor, so it
won’t be all a feast or a famine. Sometimes, for half the winter, the
teams are comparatively idle, and the men have time to sit around the
village store.

Now, I like their having a little leisure and sitting around the store,
and exchanging ideas, but do not carry it too far.

You can milk the cows and take the milk to the factory in winter,
and still have time for reading, recreation and social intercourse.

The cow that calves in September will yield well all winter ; then
when grass comes, it will send her along again for a while, and when
she does fail, it will be in July and August, just when you are heated

and tired with haying and harvest, and don’t want to be bothered
with her—just when the cow is tired and hot, and worried with flies,
and only wants to “stand in the shade and switch her tail,” and just
when butter brings the lowest price tn the whole year.

I hold that the same cow is worth ten dollars more a year if she
calves in September than if she calves in April.

Now, when butter has to be made at home in winter, see that there
is every reasonable convenience for doing it properly, and then winter
cows will no longer be what they have been for ycars,—a perfect bug-
bear.

Indoors, have no kitchen cupboard, no shelf with a curtain before it,
where milk deteriorates every hour it stands.

If you can’t havea little dairy, take a cellar, or part of a cellar, par-
titioned off and whitewashed. Have it with double windows, well
protected from cold, and as light as day, and as sweet as June, and let
nothing else be kept there but milk and butter,

Have a good deep-setting creamer and ice to run it (if you don’t use
a separator) ; have abutter worker, which you can’t do without, a
thermometer and a good churn, and, my word for it, you will be well
repaid. Your land will grow fat and your purse will grow fat, too.
Now, one reason I have written my book, Dairying for Profit ; or, The
Poor Man’s Cow,is this: when lectures are over and the Travelling
Dairy has moved on, my book goes right into the farmcr’s houses and
stays there, to be a continual reminder of what they have been taught.

Taught through the noble efforts of men whose one aim in life has been
to raise the standing and better the position of the agricultural com-
munity.

Men who are indeed philanthropists in the truest and broadest sense
of the word—men whose names should be handed down to posterity in
letters of gold.

If I can supplement their efforts by my little book, I shall be a proud
and happy woman.

It has, at least, one merit—it is my actual life experience, so that
many a poor soul, on reading it, takes heart of grace, and says: ‘ She
has actually done all this with her own hands ; and if she has done it,
we can do it too.”

CHAPTER I.

ON CHOOSING A COW.

In no branch of farming is there such deplorable waste and short-
sightedness as in dairying—such a large amount of labor for so sma)|
a result, and that result, too, of a very indifferent quality.

Farmers of to. day are barely existing who ought to be in comfortable
circumstances; while those are barely comfortable who ought to be

“rich, and this with only the same facilities as they now enjoy.

The cause of this trouble is, mainly, misapplied labor, going the
wrong way to work, toiling over things that don’t pay.

The object in writing this book is to offer to hard-working, practical
farmers some suggestions by which they may increase their incomes,
multiply their comforts, and better their position; to present to them
facts and figures that will bear the closest scrutiny, and to give them a
brief sketch of a life spent in dairying; a life marked by many mistakes
and occasional failures, but also crowned with success beyond my ex-
pectations, and cheered by such kindly appreciation and such compli
mentary notices as are far beyond my deserts.

Some may ask why I wish to record my failures.

In reply, I would quote to them an old Scotch story :—

An auld wife remarked that she ‘ didna think the Scriptures were
aye a safe guide, for David washeldup as an exawmple to us a’, when
he was a sinfu’ mon.’

“Hoots, woman,” said her neighbor, ‘“ David wasna pit there as an
exawmple at a’; he was just meant for a light-house, to warn us aff the
mocks? "ae

And 60, if the record of my failures and mistakes will only serve
the same purpose, I shall not have written in vain, and I may be of
as much practical use as those who quote only their successes and bury
their failures out of sight, making no sign to others to “ warn them aff
the rocks,”

Now, I don’t mean to divide my lecture into as many ‘“‘heads and
particulars ’’ as one old Scotch minister used to do in Glasgow, for I

10

invariably went to sleep under them, and I am afraid my readers might
do the same.

But some divisions of the subject are necessary, and they are chiefly
three :—

1. The choice of a good cow

2. The keeping and feeding of her, to the best advantage ;

3. The most profitable way of caring for and marketing her product.

On the choice of your dairy cow, whether you breed her or buy her,
depends the whole success of your dairy. You wouldn’t wish to use
the old-fashioned wooden plough of our forefathers, nor to go back to
the flail, for ‘‘ it’s ill working with poor tools.”

And the poorest tool on the face of the earth is a poor cow.

It is not only that she is no profit, it is worse than that—she rung
you in debt.

Still worse is the case if the poor cow be one of a herd, and for this
reason: Ifa person keeps but one cow he very soon knows if she be
good or bad, but if he keeps a good many, the worthless cow is not so
readily detected. She may be a smooth-looking animal, and may even
give a fair flow of milk, and yet she may not only fall short of paying
for her keep, but be eating up all the profit made by her neighkor, and
so the farmer has not a cent of gain on the pair.

And the useless cow is not only deteriorating as years go by, but is
perpetuating her worthless kind, to the loss of hcr owner and to the detri-
ment of all the country around.

The form and features of a good dairy cow have been sv often de-
scribed that only a brief mention is needed here, but some points are so
essential that they can hardly be too strongly impressed.

A good cow must be long, level, and loose-jointed, with a capacious
body, short, fine legs, long, light neck, clean cut and intelligent head,
thin withers, deep flank, thin, flat thighs, and rich, soft, mellow skin,
showing a deep orange color under any white markings, and inside
of ear.

As viewed from the side, she must present a perfect wedge shape,
exceedingly deep behind and very light in front, and, as viewed from
behind, she must show ample room to carry a large, full udder with ease
and without chafing. No cow can do this that is of a beefy conforma-
tion and that has not a good ‘‘arch.”

The udder itself must be soft and silky, free from warts and from

11

long, coarse hair, It must extend wed/ forward and reach well up behind,
having nothing of a globularshape. It must be square, level beneath,
and not too deeply quartered, with teats of good size, evenly placed,
very fur apart both ways, and of uniform size, The udder must be
very large and handsome when full, and when empty must be loose and
soft, the rear part lying in folds—in fact, as the saying goes, it should
almost ‘‘milk out to nothing.” Such an udder is capable of great
distension without discomfort to the animal, and adds wonderfully, not
ouly to the appearance, but to the intrinsic value of the dairy cow.

The milk veins should be exceedingly large and crooked, and the
milk yielded easily and evenly all round.

Avoid a cow very hard and tough to milk, Sheisa continual nuisance,

Still worse is the one that Icaks her milk.

Avoid a very thick-skinned cow, whose hide is inclined to stick to
ker ribs, or, on the other hand, one whose hide is too thin and paper-
like, indicating delicacy of constitution.

In an animal that “handles well” there is a peculiar soft, loose, vel-
vety touch, that is quickly learnt by experience, and without which no
avimal can be really thrifty,

If, with all these good qualities, you get a cow that is young,
healthy, with a soft, silky coat of hair, and one with a gentle, placid tem-
per, you may be assured that you have made the first step on the road
to success, even if she has cost you a little more than your neighbor
has paid for an indifferent cow.

Taking the common cattle of the country as a basis, if you pay $30
for a cow that runs you $10 in debt by the end of the year, and that
gives you a calf no better than she is herself, it is a poor speculation.

But if, on the other hand, you pay $50 for a cow that shows you $30
profit at the year’s end, assuch a cow should do, that is a pleasure to
look at and a satisfaction to own, and that gives you a calf still better
than herself, you have made the best and safest investment in a farmer’s
power.

In putting money at interest, you would think yourself very lucky to
get $5 a year on $50. From one cow you should get $30 a year on
$50, and not only have the cow herselfin good order, but a valuable
calf besides. And as you spend no more time in milking and feeding
the good cow than the poor one, it is easy to see on which side your
bread is buttered, :

12

CHAPTER II,
ON FEEDING AND CARING FOR THE COW.

Having bought your cow, the next thing is, what to do with her.

On no account make any sudden change from her previous food, but
let such things be done gradually. Ifit be summer, turn the new cow
into a fair pasture where there is water ; treat gently and m‘lk regularly,
and she will soon be contented and happy in her new home. I? it be
winter, put her in a warm, comfortable stable, with plenty of clean
dry straw for bedding, water her and feed her a warm bran mash and
plenty of good hay.

Then make up your mind what to feed your cow, and gradually work
up to that quantity,

For a fresh calved cow, giving 16 to 20 quarts of milk a day, I have
found nothing better than the following treatment :—

At half-past 5 a.m. the stall is cleaned out, and cow cleaned off,
rubbing the udder witha large, coarse but soft cloth. If necessary to
wash the udder, do it with tepid water, and be careful to dry it thoroughly
or it will soon gct rough and sore. Give the cowa large armful of hay,
and then milk her as quickly and as quietly as you can, taking every
drop you can possibly gct from her. Of the manner of milking and
the care of the milk we will speak hereafter,

The next thing is to feed your cow.

I will here give the ration we use as a basis, but it is varied accord-
ing to circumstances and prices of feed. I also give prices in our local-
ity, and these will be found to average much the same everywhere,
and to maintain the same value, in proportion to the prices of dairy
products :—

cts.

5. lbs. ground oats’at $20 per tons... s0..crice - oes seaieeeeneneens - 5
4 lbs. bran at $12.50 per ton........ eo cece ae Prarie c ee
2 Ibs. cornmeal at $25 per ton. ......00 cseese coves soos osusniaise Senet oe
2 Ibs. pea meal at $25 per ton....0. .scecccce cone cocccs coos cere sseans 23
16 lbs. hay at $10 per ton.... 2.2... cccere cove 3 0 ieee 5) ole at a/n'b salvia
Cost of feed per day ..c00s sccave seccse covcem cconcnis oeccccecese ag

13

Some of the hay isrun through a cutter, and mixed with the grain
which has all been thoroughly mixed together, This is then divided
into three feeds, and given at morning, noon and night. The mixture
is put in a large stable bucket, with a very little salt, and enough boil-
ing water is poured on to wet it all through. It is then covered with
an old bag, or rug, and left to steep for an hour, Then add enough
water (either cold or tepid, as required) to make a nice, large, warm,
comfortable mash, rather thin, and sce how grecdily the cow will eat it,
and how contented she will look afterwards.

Now, the cow should be thoroughly cleaned with a card and a good
brush, and not one speck of dirt or any stain left on her.

Some people boast that they kcep the cow’s udder clean, and perhaps
they do, but all the rest of the animal is left in a filthy condition.

This dirt dries into the hair, and then the act of milking shakes it
down, like dust, into the pail, rendering the milk unfit fur human food,

You may now, with a clear conscience, leave your cow to rest and
digest her food, and if you have shaken up her bed and removed every-
thing that is wet or soiled, you cannot help feeling pretty well satisfied,
as you take a parting look at her ; especially is this the case if it be
mid-winter.

You think of other unfortunate cattle, out in the barn-yard, or even
in the field, knce deep in snow or mud, with a bitter wind whistling
around their gaunt frames,

You see them devouring part of the manure pile, or trying to drink
from a frozen puddle, and a filthy one at that.

You see the rough, shaggy coat, the arched back, the withered up
udder and tle gencral look of wretchedness, and you cannot help wish-
ing that death would end the sufferings of the poor brute.

Then, with such a satisfied pleasure, you thivk of your own cow.

After a comfortable nicht’s rest in a warm and dry but airy stable,
she has had her good hot breakfast and her feed of hay. Her large,
beautiful udder has made it a pleasure to milk her, and the fine pail of
rich milk has testified to a good cow and a generous owner.

As day advances, and the sun shines into your barn through large
windows, you see your cow lying down, chewing her cud, her bedding
abundant, dry and clean, her coat spotless, smooth and soft, her nose
moist, her large, gentle eyes full and bright, and her whole looks full of
placid content,

14

And you have the comfort of feeling that it is not a costly pleasure
to see her so, for that your cow not only pays you back every ceut you
lay out on her, but is putting a good profit into your pocket in hard
cash every week of her life. Ihave often thought that over every
cow’s stall should be written three lines:

“ A good man is merciful to his beast.”
** Cleanliness is next to Godliness.”

“PMT PAYS, TE PAYS, 1? PAYS

And write the last line in capital letters, for on it hang all the law
and the doctrines in tlie farmer’s mind..

At noon your cow gets as much water as she likes to drink, and in
very co.d weather, if the chill be taken off it, and a handful of bran
stirred in, it will be so much more money in your pocket. Then she
gets her mash and a small feed of hay. In the evening she gcts watered
and fed, and is milked; any dirt on her skin is removed, the ‘stall
cleaned out, fresh bedding added, and, with a good feed of sweet hay
before her, she is left for the night, and her owner may go to bed
and sleep the sleep of the just,

15

CHAPTER III.

ONE YEAR’S YIELD OF A GRADE JERSEY.

In my last chapter I gave a generous feed ration for a cow in flush of
milk, said ration costing 20} cents per day.

“ Over 20 cents a day to feed a cow,” I hear some hard-fisted

-farmer exclaim; “that ends the business. Only rich people can go in
for tom-foolery like that, we poor farmers can’t afford it.”

Neighbor farmers and friends, you can afford it, as I will prove
to you.

The money is not spent, sunk out of sight; it is only invested, put
out at interest, and it speedily comes back to you, doubled.

This book is not written for rich people, who can afford to overfeed,
or to underfeed, a cow, and never ask or care whether their faacy
farm pays.

It is written for people who, like you and me, have got to make it
pay, or else give it up.

Lt is the poor man who can’t afford to keep a poor cow.

And it is the poor man, above all others, who can’t afford to be slip-
shod in this matter, but who has got to know exactly just what every
cow on his place consumes, and what it costs.

Also, just what every cow produces and whatit sells for. Then the
profit or loss is at once apparent.

The profits can be steadily increased to their utmost limit, and the
losses promptly and effectually stopped, showing a satisfactory balance
sheet at the end of the year.

But in order to do this an account must be kept. You don’t want
@ gilt-edged note-book, ncr an intricate system of bookkcepiny, nor much
extra labor, after a long hard day’s work.

But you do want to know what you are doing, and how you stand.

What on earth is the good of slaving and toiling, from daylight to
dark, if you don’t make anything by it?

Aud how can you stop a leak if you don’t know where it is ?

16

Of course every farmer will tell you that he has a “ sort of” idea, he
“kinder keeps the run of it ;” but that won’t do. It reminds me of a
story I read not long ago:

A newly married couple started housckeeping, and the husband
urged the wife to keep an account, She gladly consented, and he
gave her a little book, telling her to put down on one side what cash
she reccived, and on the opposite page to enter what she spent.

Long afterwards he asked her how the book balanced, and she
promptly replied that ‘‘it balanced exactly.”

Somewhat surprised, as the little wife was neither experienced nor
accurate in money matters, he asked to see the book.

On one side, under the correct date, appeared this entry: “ Ree’d.
from Larry—$500.” :

On the opposite side was simply one entry, in good big letters,
‘Spent it all!”

Now, we can’t afford to balance our books in that way.

On one side we must enter every cent received from our cows, in
any way, and must also put down, as closely as we can estimate it, all
milk, cream and butter consumed in the family, and put it at market
prices,

On the other side appears every bit of feed consumed, whether pur-
chased or raised on the place.

And, just here, let me caution you against one error. You will
often hear a farmer say, when accused of keeping a poor cow that
doesn’t pay for her keep, ‘ Oh well, she don’t cost me much to keep;
we grow all the stuff ourselves.”

My friends, that is one of the biggest mistakes we make,

It is not the question, ‘‘ What did it cost us to grow this load of
hay?” but “ What cash price can I get for this hay in the market ?”
And whatever is its market value (less the cost of drawing it there),
that is the value of the hay you are feeding to your cow, that is what
it costs to keep her.

Now, figure on that basis, and sce if she pays, Sometimes she does,
and sometimes she does not, but it is mostly not.

What are the reasons ?

Poor cows, poor kcep, poor butter.

I have endeavored to meet the first difficulty, by showing the impor
tance of choosing a really good cow,

17

. And in this book I shall try to prove to you the economy and wisdom
of feeding her well, and shall try to prove that it pays.

I cannot do better than to give the actual figures, taken from my
own books, A splendid cow was put in my stable, just fresh in milk,
the 1st of October. She was in grand condition, and had always been
well fed and cared for. Consequently she was able to go on to a splendid
piece of after-grass, and to take a goodly ration of grain as well,

Now, in making out my estimate, I am leaving out fractions as being
easier for me to write and for others to follow me, and yet sufficiently
accurate for all practical purposes,

During October I fed my cow besides grass :

Gilia/sround Gals per Gay... <5 <a,ccce sicceisoenad 5 cts.
Pee CY OR ee alten ln dae wowed ges -- 5 cts.
Hibs, .“ peas “ _seaseo sess Cececccscnee Oo Ct,
POP gam tascmmeaae Tass an naiaeslee se .e-. 15 cts. per day.

She needed no hay, as the grass was so good. During November,
December and January I fed her daily :

T Ibs. ground Oats... 2. ccc sce secede cece ccvecs 7 cts.
BIDS. DEAN ss w0cs sce ceesce oe Cade ercvcescccenee 5 cts.
A lbs. ground COrnm...... ceccvecescrsesvccevecs 8 Cts.
4 lbs. promt peas. Sithaiete|sidiis ie ei iwjeielsie Uw dia wie eisie's 5 cts.
16 lbs. hay.. e@eeraeeets e888 e@eveeeeceeeee 8 cts.
MG staid a 93-ctsieeeaiata sia, svei<in) afd ois'(a.stviks male’ a'a ee 30 cts.a day.
During February, March and gunk I fed her:
4 lbs. ground oats. ...... wesc ceca ees cece ceeees 4 cts.
al Serer tse Pe COMMicsicicic ce 0a oc Sieiwigu nisi stant ocetels i cts.
Se ee) IEG. ciaacie cies G.elseeiele'ne «exis ais sca’ « 23 cts.
SOREN ated atcha ie las, ci pieic\ «alin. s>¥ a clase Ain «8.0 aa elaw's x cts
MUAY sais ala tisle'n wie’ oie. 0 e090 stadia s's sia wees dese 8 cts.
Total ces eae ii stniats, wididisicclst ane asia hutdis wie'e)ase 193 cts. per day.

During May and June she was on grass, requiring no hay, but she
had daily:

Be PONG COME cece cv decane cove sciences seve 23 cts.
Meee PERS gc cc cies s ceca cucnscen vepe eens 23 cts.
(TRL SC eds Gin ARE Ae i OP eae arnt 5 cts. per day.

As she was now only three months from calving, all grain was taken
from her, but as grass was good, and the cow in splendid order, she
gave a good yield of milk and butter (as will be scen in next table)
through July and half of August, when she was just dry, and had
six weeks’ rest, and then calycd again.

18

It need hardly be said that the butter from this cow was exception-
ally fine. During seveu months, from 1st October to end of April, I.
sold it for 30 cents a pound, and the rest of the time for 25 cents,
(This was before I kept registered Jerseys.)

Now, we can soon see how my cow and [I stood at the end of the
year, by referring to the annexed table, giving her monthly yield and
cost of her keep:

Cost of keep in addition to Pasture. pong 4 Price,
Octobereeae eves ce vese as $4.50 60 at 30 cts. $18.00
INovemberi-iclert)aiseetes seis 9.00 50 oe 15.00
TDGCEMIDERS oisie'wieince mene oFeratele 9.00 40 Ke 12.00
JANUATY «2000 0s00 cece cece 9.00 40 “ 12.00
PGHEMATY woop cs!eieamae seme 6.00 7 9.60
Mise livre alsin ctavsielotelers csiereroye > 6-00 32 & 9.60
ARIEL ies gtens ainie ula arersiaie! weve 2 00 30 ae 9.00
May sivais smal e sinataewaecele ae 1.50 30 at 25 cts 7.50
JiWter ee lsiescieoateererets se lea 30 G 7.50
Vialiv gos oa aise cts mie sae slcicla 20 as 5.00
UINOMISE ins citsicie: sys ekveiaianita ss teateiete Bret 2.00
September...ccesscccccce cece wialaie

$52.50 372 lbs. $107.20
12h HbA qn ossDOds O00 00C aO.0 57.50
$57.50 Profit..sces $49.70

I considered this a good showing, but I assure you it was not my
first attempt at dairying, I had worked up to it by degrees, acquiring
experience as I went. And I could have made no such record with a
pocr cow, but I will speak of this point in my next chapter.

19

CHAPTER IY.

WHAT IS THE BEST. BUTTER BREED ?

I think I hear many of my readers ask this question, and I will
answer it as honestly as I can. I experimented for years with many
different breeds, having no prejudice in any way, either for or against
any of them, except in one case,

Hailing, as I do, “ frae the land o’ caikes,” or, as I like better to put
it, from “ the Land o’ the Leal,” I must confess to a life-long fond-
ness for a good Ayrshire cow.

Their beauty and docility, their great yicld of milk, and their hardy
constitutions place them almost the first on the list of dairy cattle, in
my opinion,

With all my heart, I wish I could write them first, but it would be
false to my convictions.

They are a truly magnificent breed, but there is one cow in the world
that I think is still better in the dairy, and that is the little Channel
Island cow, be she Jersey, Guernsey, or Alderney. They are all, vir-
tually, the same breed, raised under the same rules and restrictions,
and by reason not only of their marvellous yield of butter, but from
the wonderful quality of that butter, the Jersey cow stands to-day in
the proud position of queen of the dairy. .

If I didn’t keep Jerseys I would keep Ayrshires, but I have got to
confess that the Jerseys are ahead, for one situated as I am.

I don’t mean to detract one bit from the merits of my favorites, the
_ Ayrshires,—no, indeed, ‘It’s not that I love Jemima less, but [ love
doughnuts more,” and now I will give my reasons for it: I faithfully
tried Ayrshires, Shorthorns (of good milking strains), native cows, and
different grades, and, while attaining good results, I found there was
still much to be desired, a good deal in quantity, but more, very much
more, in quality.

And so, after many years’ labor and testing, I at last got a grade
Jersey, which is the cow referred to in my last chapter, and every one,

20

I think, will admit that the butter yield is grand, especially in view of
the food consumed. But she had a large share of Ayrshire blood in
her, besides being half Jersey.

I plainiy state, that for every one who makes butter, I think the
Channel Island cattle the most paying, not only on account of quantity,
but much more on account of quality, which is, certainly, superlative.

But everyone must be their own judge in this matter.

Now, as to my preference for Jerseys, I will give a few reasons, so
that the public may know why I like them.

Some people object, that the Jersey gives so little milk as compared
with other cows.

This is entirely different from my experience. Not only does a good
Jersey give a fine mess of milk, when fresh, but she holds to it through-
out the year in a way totally unknown to other breeds, and some Jerseys
never go dry for years.

It is this persistent milking of such rich milk, and this large and
continuous yicld of butter of most exquisite quality, that renders
the Jersey, gar excellence, the family cow. Perhaps I can better con-
vince my readers by giving a few figures.

The grade cow referred to in the previous chapter was not only
tested for butter, but every milking was weighed, all through the year,
and she gave exactly 7,756 lbs. of milk in eleven months. This sold
at the usual average price would bring in $200 a year, less the cost of
keeping the cow.

Being so pleased with grades, I resolved to purchase some pure
Jerseys, which I did, seventeen years ago, and every succeeding year
since then has only confirmed and strengthened my opinion, that the
Jersey, for both milk and butter, is the most profitable cow in all the
world.

A two-year old heifer, well cared for with me, will make more butter
than those of same age of any breed I ever knew. For instance, here
are some tests in my herd :

Orange Delia, 2 years, 94 Ibs, per week; Miss Daisy Delle, 2 years,
103 lbs. per week; Charlotte Hertedy, 2 years, 84 lbs, per week ;
Topsey of Malone, 2 years, 144 lbs, per week ; Bessie of Malone, 21
months, 103 lbs. per week; Jetsam’s May, first prize 3-year old
at Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, also sweepstakes, as best of any age,

21

at Montreal, and in my first prize herd at the Montreal Exhibition
last September, made me, the year before, at only 2 years old, 14 lbs,
5 oz, a week, thus pretty well endorsing the judge’s opinion; Belle
Temple 2nd, 2 years, 14 lbs. a week; Charming of St. Lambert, 2
years, 15} lbs. a week; Liiium Excelsium 2nd, 2 years, 104 lbs. a
week.

These are only a very few of the two-year-old tests I have made,

and most of these heifers, after milking for nine months, were still
making 1 lb. per day of splendid butter. In older cows a few of
the tests are :
_ Eugenie 2nd, 14 lbs. a week ; Imported Mulberry, 14} lbs. a week ;
Brown Mulberry, 14 lbs. a week ; Silver Delle, 17} lbs. a week; Belle
Stenben, 17 lbs. a week ; Lilium Excelsium, 17% lbs. a weck; Princess
Clothilde, 17} lbs. a week ; Sibyl’s Lass, 14 lbs. a week; Rioter’s
Queen, 174 lbs. a week; Lisgar’s Ella, 17} ]bs. a week ; Diana of St.
Lambert, 16 lbs. a week; Bertha Black (at rate of ), 23 lbs. 10 oz. a
week; Maggie Rex (at rate of), 21 Ibs. 7 oz. a week; Miss Satanella,
20 lbs. 6 oz. a week on second calf only,

Now, these are all sworn tests, made either under my direct super-
vision, or made entirely by myself, in person, and they are only a very
few of those I could report. Is it any wonder, then, that I should
prefer the Jersey cow ?

I don’t say that no other breed will make the same quantity of
butter on same quantity of feed.

But Ido s»y, that I never could get them to do it, or neatly to
do it, and I think I understand the matter pretty well.

In conclusion, it has been urged that Jerseys are deiucate and son
wear out. I can offer no better refutation than to submit the test
of my grand old cow, Massena, after she had entered her sixteenth
year, and then leave farmers to draw their own conclusions.

In her sixteenth year Massena has yielded, in six months only,
54134 pounds milk, from which has been actually churned 416 lbs
10 oz. splendid butter,

22

Mix. Bourrer. Mixx. Buiter.
Ibs. Ibs. oz. Ibs. Ibs. 02.
nil 2b... 22
- March ae 3G rea Bo ah A
Mee 87130 April BY .-20 26 isis
ee ae April 28..26
March oe April 29.263 wre
Merch iic3o, 3 April 30..263
March 11..303 ae Hee
March 12..30 ae Pd ay son 4°%¢
March 13..32} y y - a
March 14..32 Boog ee eee le
March 15..33 Me = a
March 16..33 ont 7 6.9 4 8h
March 17..333 May on
March 18..34 5 3 ey an 4 9h
March 19..334 Atay a
March 20.333 5 oR td ae gee
March 21. .32$ yey ee
March 22..33 el May tment rea
March 23..324 ey oe
March 24..313 24 rd 14/304 i
March 25..334 ay Te
March 26..34 up Bey ee 4 6}
March 27..33 May ee
March 28. .33 5 Oh al oe a
March 29..33 Me oe
March 30..323 5 1} May 20..303 re.
rete wey May 21.29) 4 gy
rediae ee e ay .22..293
Ron 330 May “23.304 4 14
Abril acaze 8h May 24..30
(a meee May 25.30 4 gy
April. 5. .323 eae Ren
April 6..324 og)
eet scape May 28..31
Abril 9.31 May 29.301 4 49
Abril 100293 4 1 May 30..30}
April 10..293 Mar 3a me .
LB et oe aed
ert 130 ne© 52229
ea 1499 aes pace 3..30 : “ae
ADU 1535 June 4..30 A 3
roar: Ie June 5..30
Abril 172.29 June 6.30 4 gy
ra 18128 4 June 7..364
Aer 19.2 June 8..294 4
Abr 20.293 4 15 June _9..30
Meee sane June 10.30 4 gy
Abr 92099 # «12 June 11..30
Abed 23.98 i June 12.298 4 ¢
April 24..23} 8 June 13..30

23

Mitx. Borrer. Mixx. Burrer.
Ibs. Ibs. 02. Ibs. Ibs. oz.

Tune 1529 4 7 July dror 4 OF
June 1730 9% July 29:28 4 6
June 18..30 4 8} July 30..28 4 x
June 19..30 July 31..284
June 21..383 4 6 Seay, #7
June 22..30 Augy 3:80
aut apa a ae eee ky
une 4.. WSs | 20s
a 5..29 4 62 roe pace ae
une _ 26..28% ug ie

4 7 S 4 6
ee ae ee
aure a a ae eae
| Sees ae Aus 12..27h 4 Th
July 31.285 4 6 Aue laar + OF
ee an
July 6..29 4 2 Aug. 17..28 4 4
oe coe
Suly 9304 ks Aug, 20..39 * §
Pee on oy de Ea a
See es
u 2 ee ug. :
Maly Ad 594 Aug. 25..28
July 15..293 * 84 Mewes 96.99 007.
Cota ae ae are
July 18..28% Aug. 29.28 ,
July 19..29 4 7% Agee) Seve. = >
July 21029 + 8 Sea Late fick
July 3329 4 7 Se, gas 4
uly : e aS
July 24..28 Sept. 4..273
July 25..27} 4 63 Sept. 5..274 a

Total Ibs.

aie 5413} 416 10

For 6 consecutive months Massena thus averaged over 29 Ibs,
of milk a day, and for 6 consecutive months she has averaged 16 lbs.
of butter every week. If any cow but a Jersey will do this, 1 have
never scen it. But this is why I keep Jarseys.

24

The next month her yield was estimated only, as she was away at
the Fairs,

We took the average yield of August, the month before she went
away, and of Oruien the month after she rcturned, to arrive at her
yield when away.

On this basis her whole year’s record was as follows:

Mix. BvuTrer
Ibs. lbs. oz.
March 7th to Sept. 6th, inclusive, just 6 mos., the cow

actuaily yielded...... ccscceccs O00 vecenr cccorsece 5,4133 416 10
Sept. 7th to Oct. 6th, tated Bfnia'sia\a'elasfedetsisspa ti aee 7513 61 43
Oct. 7th to Nov. 6th, actual....... a niosiaiclen teteeatente 629. - 548
Nov.\(th'to Dee: Sth; actualicanweenasminee note ome 5§903- 61 £5
Dec. 7th to Jan. 6th, ‘actual. ..see vcessee cee coseee 505 43 1h
Jan- tthito Feb. 6th, netual:. istics cos hiceks decker Soa ak 4}
Feb. 7th to 15th, 9 days, actual. ......:.00+cessesess 673 5 «6

Total for:1]. anos. and Oidays.sisea5 sees veces ses 82903 654

From February 15th her milk was thrown out, till the morning of
the 28th, when she dropped a fine heifer calf sired by her own son,
Massena’s son, that had such a glorious success at our exhibitions last
fall.

To return to Massena’s test. It was made during her sixteenth year ;
she had dropped two mature calves inside of a year.

She had traveled over 1,100 miles by rail, within the year, and stood
three weeks on Fair grounds, She had been in no way forced, as being
far too valuable; for nearly two months before caiving she had no grain
whatever. During the nineteen weeks previous to calving she averaged
over 9} Ibs, butter a week, and for the whole period, until the last seven
weeks (when she was only eating thin bran) it took but 114]bs,. of her
milk to make 1 |b. of butter. What cow of her age can beat the
record ?

25

CHAPTER V.

OHOOSE THE BREED WHICH YOU ARE SURE SUITS YOUR WANTS BEST.
IMPROVING OUR DAIRY STANDING.

Do not, however, think that I am blind to the merits of any cow but
a Jersey.
Far from it.

“A GOOD cow IS A GOOD COW, ALL THE
WORLD OVER. BE SHE WHAT BREED SHE MAY.”

Tt is not the object of this book to advertise my Jerseys, I have no
need and no wish to do so in this way; it is better done in the proper
channel.

My sole aim in writing this is to induce people to select and to keep
only the very best cattle of thcir kinds ; to show them (as far as I
know mysclf) how to make more butter and far better butter than
ever before, and also how to market it to better advantage, so as to net
them more money; to awaken American farmers to the fact that they
are not keeping up with the procession, and to show them that every
year thousands of dollars which ought to go into their own pockets
are paid cut by England to Irish and Danish dairymen.

We don’t make half enouzh butter, in view of the number of cows
in this country, and what we do make is not nearly as good as it ought
to be.

And there is no excuse for this state of affairs, There is more
thoroughbred stock in the country than ever before, and at lower
prices. .

The economy and advantages of the silo are now so well understood,
that farms can carry at lcast one-third more stock, and at less
expense, $

Experimental Farms and Travelling Dairies prevail, diffusing sound,
practical teachiny, and illustrating every step.

If, with all these advantages, Americans, cannot put the dairy
product of their country on the footing that really belongs to it, they
have no one but themselves to blame.

26

However, I want no one to pin their faith to mine.

Look about you, make tests and experiments, and then bring com-
mon sense to bear on the matter.

Only, let me warn you about one thing, carry your experiments far
enough to be perfectly sure of your ground, otherwise you may be
greatly misled.

“ One swallow doesn’t make a summer,” neither does one experiment
prove a thing. In fact, the second experiment often contradicts the
first.

Why is this, you ask ?

Because experiments are so largely affected by circumstances, some
of which we know nothing about, and others that we know all about
but cannot control.

A great many experiments, however, will soon determine a point
beyond a shadow of doubt.

I will now give you this advice:

Having carefully determined which is the best breed of cattle for
you, and which will best suit your surroundings and best pay for their
keep, then get the very best specimens of that breed that you can pos-
sibly procure.

Don’t waste your money, but don’t haggle about the price of a really
first-class animal.

One dollar saved by purchasing an inferior animal is generally one
hundred dollars Jost before the year is out.

If you can start with a small but choice herd of thoroughbreds you
are fortunate, and are on the high road to success.

If you can only buy two, buy a pair, the very best you can get, and
your thoroughbreds will gradually increase, while the rest of your herd
will be graded up by degrees till your pleasure and your profit will
surprise you.

If you can only buy one animal, let it be a thoroughbred male, and
then you will soon be able to afford a choice female of the same sort,
and will bave made a good beginning.

rf

CHAPTER VI.

MILKING AND SKIMMING.—SETTING MILK.—SHALLOW PANS.—
CREAMERS,—SEPARATORS,

Having got the very best cow possible, and fed her in the best man-
ner, the next step is to make the finest quality of butter, and then to
market it in the most advantageous manner,

I have often been asked how I made such good butter, and my
answer is, I don’t go too much by any given rule.

It is not possible to have full control over atmosphere and other sur-
roundings, therefore we must bring judgment and common sense to bear
upon the matter.

On a bench in the barn should be placed large tin cans, with covers,
one of them having a large round tin shaped like a steamer fitted to the
top, and then the cover placcd on that. Of course the bottom of this
isa wire strainer. Milking is done as quickly and quietly as possible,
care being taken to do it thoroughly and in a most cleanly manner.
Such a thing as wetting the hands or the teats of the cows is never
permitted; it is a filthy habit, and iz most unnecessary,

Each cow’s milk is strained into the can immediatcly, and covered at
once, and as quickly as one can is filled it is taken to the dairy, and
there strained again. In some placcs shallow setting is still practised,
in which case the pans should be set in a cool dairy, or in a cellar that
is used for nothing but milk. Keep this place as pure and sweet as
possible ; in hot weather, keep the windows open at night and closed
during the day, and have wire screens over them constantly.

Now, some people will tell you to skim at the end of 24 or 36 hours,
or to skim regularly, night and morning,

Do nothing of the kind if you want to work to the best advan-
tage, but skim exactly when the milk is fit.

I know it is a little hard to go to your dairy, prepared to skim the
milk and get the pans washed up and out of the way, and find the milk
not ready for skimming, but it can’t be helped. Leave it alone, and go
back at noon, when it will probably be ready,

28

The best time to skim shallow pans is when the milk is JUST BEGIN-
NING to lopper or thicken in the bottom of the pan—has just com-
menced to sour. A little experience will soon teach when this is the
case. Then, with aspoon, loosen it all round te edge (never, never do
this with your finger, as is the disgusting habit of some people), set the
pan on the edge of your deep cream can, tip it a little, and the whole
thick shect of cream, guided a little with your spoon, will slip off, quick
and clean, taking hardly any milk withit. This is by far the best and
quickest way of skimming shallow pans, and time is money in a large
dairy.

Never skim two milkings at the same time. If one is ready to skim
the other is not, or else one is too ripe.

In decp setting, things are different. With plenty of ice, the cream
is supposed to be all up in 12 hours in any of the good ercamers now in
usc, and no doubt it gencrally is. As the milk, by this method, is
almost entirely protected from atmospheric influences, and is held at a
steady temperature, the process is much more uniform, and it is possible
to have regular hours for drawing off the cream, without any fear of mis-
take or loss, This is worth knowing,

I cannot imagine any one who has a bit of feeling for the females
of his household doing without a creamer, for the labor it saves is truly
surprising, and, to put it on no higher grounds, itis generally cheaper
to take care of one’s wife than it is to bury her,

And, besides, itis money in the farmer’s own pocket, for more butter
and very much better butter can be made from a creamer than from
shallow setting.

I confess to a love of the old way—the rows of shining pans in the
cool, quiet dairy, the rich hue of the golden cream, and most decidedly
to the thick cream that will hardly pour out on my porridge or my
strawberries, cream that can be got in no other way than by shallow
setting, and I have made just as much and just as good butter from
shallow setting, when temperature and everything else was exactly
right. But that “when” tells the whole story. It is simply impossi-
ble to control these surroundings, and they are not just right more than
one-fourth of the time, and, therefore, we wisely tale to the creamer,
which does all this for us and gives us a uniform product. Still better
is the centrifugal machine, or separator, as it is called, which separates

29

the cream and milk as soon as milking is done, and more thoroughly,
-all the year round, than can be done in any other way.

This mode saves the washing of many tins, and saves all the ice used
for deep setting, The only disadvantage seems to be in the hand labor
of turning the machine, where no steam power is used, but even this
cannot outweigh the many advantages of the separator.

When the cream is drawn off you are again at the mercy of tne
atmosphere, and now you must keep your wits about you, for here is
where much trouble erceps in.

Stir your can thoroughly down to the bottom, twice a day, or every
time fresh cream is added, and keep it as cool as you possibly can (but
on no account freeze it) till you have sufficient for a churning.

Now, you must raise it in summer to 60 degrees, in winter to 62 to
65, according to the temperature of the room you churn in,

Some people do this by putting the can near the kitchen stove, and
then the butter is ruined before it goes intothe churn. The side next
the stove will be ever so much too hot, oily and greasy, while the other
side is toocool, and the cream will absorb every odor of cooking and
kitchen, to re-appear in the butter and tell the tale of ignorance or care-
lessness,

There is but one way to temper cream properly, and that is ina hot
water bath,

Have a larger can than the cream can, and have ready a long wooden
paddle, a common thermometer and a clean towel, Fill the larger can
about half full of hot water (but not boiling), then set in the cream can,
and instantly begin stirring constantly with the paddle, so none of the
cream next the tin will gct over-heated. The water must raise as high
as the cream does, so all will be equally heated.

Have a light wire attached to your thermometer, and lower it to the
middle of the cream can occasionally, Hold it there a few moments,
then take out and wipe quickly, so as to clear the glass,

The moment the cream is of right temperature, lift out the can, stir
for a few moments longer, cover with a clean towel, and put where it
will remain at exactly the same temperature till fit to churn.

Of this fitness or ripeness much has been said or written, while the
truth is that only experience can decide. Twenty-four hours has been
fixed as the right time. but it is often more and often less, Stir two

30

or three times a day, and watch closely, and you will hardly fail in hit-
ting the right degree of sourness or ripeness, But before you put it
into the churn, try it again with the thermometer to insure its being
just right, for nothing is a greater source of vexation and trouble than’
churning ata wrong temperature. If the cream is too hot, the butter
is spoiled; if too cold, you may churn in vain for hours, and lose your
temper and your time.

31

CHAPTER VII.
CHURNING.—SALTING.

Having got your cream into the best possible condition for churning,
proceed to scald your churn with water that is actually boiling. Then
cool it with fresh water, put in your cream, and churn with a steady,
regular movement, and not too fast.

In spite of all our care, it will be found that this business is easier
in summer than in winter weather, partly because grass butter comes
easier, and partly because of the higher and more uniform tempera-
ture. Fifteen to thirty minutes in summer, and thirty to forty-five
minutes in winter, will generally bring the butter in fine order.

An experienced ear can tell when the butter has come, by the peculiar
washing sound in the churn, quite different from the dull, heavy thud
of the thick cream when it is first put in, Our grandmothers could
tell fast enough by the look of the dasher as it worked up and down,
but the dash churn is now a thing of the past, and we are well rid of it,
because it brought the butter in huge lumps—in fact, one of the old-
time rules was to “gather the butter’ in the churn before it was lifted
out.

It was then put into a wooden bowl, washed and re-washed, spread
out, and rolled up again, and beaten and mashed with a ladle till nine-
tenths of the butter was spoiled before it ever went on the table.

This is all wrong. I don’t mean to say that good butter was never
made in the old times, for we all know better, but it was made only by
a few,and made under difficulties. It was made by those who fed
their cattle so well, those who were so intelligent in their ideas and so
cleanly in their habits, and they succeeded in spite of many draw-
backs,

They used the greatest judgment in creaming and ripening and the
greatest care in working the butter. They never slid the ladle over it,
leaving a shiny, greasy surface behind and breaking the grain, but they
pressed it carefully, and worked it no more than was absolutely neces-
gary.

32

But they were the exception and not the rule, and good butter was
the exception also and not the rule ; while if the system of to-day be
followed, as set forth in our leading papers, and taught in our dairy
schools, good butter will be therule, and poor butter the exception,

Having irreverently demolished the system of our grandmothers,
what are we todo? I answer, churn till the butter isin a granular
form, till it is only as big as grains of wheat, and then stop; it is
done.

Now, you have two objects in view: First, to keep it in that form,
to keep all those little grains entirely apart, till the butter is thoroughly
washed, and next, to bring it together after it is properly washed.

Now, there is only one thing that will kecp the grains from adhering,
and that is cold. Have the coldest water you can get, ice water in
summer, and a handful or two of salt in it, Having drawn off your
buttermilk, pour on enough of this cold brine to well cover the butter
and then work the churn very slowly and gently for a minute, draw
off the water, and put on some more, and, if necessary, repeat again,
till the water runs off the butter as clear as when it was put on.

If properly managed, the butter will have been washed as if it were
so much gravel or so much shot, and will not have adhered at all, but
will lie in the churn, looking exactly like yellow wheat,—a bonny sight,
and a profitable one'as well.

In warm weather you may lift it out in that state, but in very cold
weather it is better to pour on some more water at 62° to 65°, and let
stand a few moments, then drain and take out on the worker, It will
still be in grains, but not too hard to gather into a mass whenever you
begin to work it.

Use only the very best salt, too much stress can hardly be laid upon
that, and also don’t over-salt. It won’t keep the butter a bit better,
but especially if the salt be the common poor stuff gencrally used, the
butter will be actually bitter to the taste, and rough and gritty to the
tongue, Thisis the poorest economy, and I think as much butter has
been spoiled by this practice as by all other causes put together.

Use Ashton salt, or Higgins, or the nearest to those that you can get,
and don’t grudge the small extra cost, for it will pay you over and over
again. If not as fine as it possibly can be made, sift it, and then stir
it lightly and evenly into your granular butter, at the rate of halfan

33

ounce, three-quarters, or even a whole ounce to the pound, according
to taste. But let me assure you that too much salt overpowers all the
swect and delicate flavor of your butter, and it is no longer the popular
taste.

For packed butter (which, however, I never have to make) I
would use an ounce to the pound; but for fresh or print butter, only
half an ounce to the pound is my rule. I know this will surprise
many, but try it and sce how it works. The reputation my butter
has got is a sufficient guarantee of its goodness, and lest anyone should
think that I supply only a few people of peculiar taste, I may here
state that, last year, the output of my dairy was seven thousand
pounds,

Having thoroughly incorporated the salt, proceed to use the butter
worker, but no more than is absolutely necessary to get the butter into
a solid lump of even texture and color throughout. If it is not
worked enough it will be streaky, but this isa thing that very seldom
happens. One rarely sees butter hurt by too little working, while it
is almost invariably spoiled by too much working.

Now, ifthe temperature of your dairy is just right, and can be kept
that way, so the butter will neither get soft and oily, nor get hard and
crumbly, you may, with advantage, leave it a couple of hours, to let the
salt dissolve, and then make it up. But if you are not quite sure of
this, finish it while you are about it, for you would lose more than you
would gain by letting it stand.

Above all things, avoid the practice of some people of Ictting it stand
allnight. It is impossible to re-work it then without breaking the
grain and greasing the butter.

If you print it, use a handsome print, with a good impression on top;
not an elaborate device, which is seldom stamped perfectly, but one as
simple as possible—a star, an acorn, or a sheaf of wheat. The best
print I ever had I got in New York for forty cents, andit had a Scotch
thistle on it; so deeply and clearly was the thistle cut in the wood,
that the impression was just grand, as though carved in gold, anda
hundred of those prints in rows, in an immense flat tin, filled with cold
clear water before being packed, was a “ sight for sair ecn’”’ I can tell
you.

34

CHAPTER VIII.

PRINTING.—PREPARING FOR MARKET,

I have said that I got my print in New York, and so I did, and it
only cost me 40 cents, and lasted me for many years,

Its advantages were these : the clear, dcep impression it made, the
beautiful finish and smoothness of the wood, and above all the straight
sides. If you want to succced, look well to these small things.

I found the prints I got here were made of poor wood, and soon split;
that the impression on top was cut in such a shallow way, and so
roughly, that one could hardly tell what it was meant for; and also that
the sides of print sloped out, towards the bottom, which looks very
badly. On my New York print, the Scotch thistle on top stood up
half an inch and more, and was the handsomest I ever saw ; everyone
exclaimed that they had never seen butter so beautifully printed.
Besides which, straight sided prints pack better and closer, and don’t
bruise so much.

Better prints can now be had here, but there is still much to be
desired in them. Square prints were once much in vogue, and I have
used them a great deal, but 1 confess that I don’t like their appearance
so well.

The only advantages I can see are these, and they certainly coun’
for a good deal: 1st.—You can pack these bricks of butter in a solid
mass, and in much smaller space than any other form of print ; 2nd.—
A good square print is so constructed that you can turn out exactly
the weight required, 1 lb. or 4 lb. to each print, while with the round
mould this is hardly possible.

Notwithstanding, I prefer the round one. You have got to please the
people’s eye, and if you are as expert at printing as you should be, you
can soon come 60 close to the weight required as to surprise yourself.

And now let me caution you about one thing, be sure and give full
weight. Whatever your prints are represented to weigh, see that they
do so.

35

But, on the other hand, you must not rob yourself—this is more
easily done than you would suppose, and these small leaks make a
woeful difference in your balance sheet.

Perhaps I can best explain by relating my own actual experience :

I was working in my dairy, and I put on the scales a print which
weighed halfan ounce too much. A friend, who was watching me, said,
“Oh, lect it go at that, you won’t lose much by it.” I told her that the
year before I had sent out 10,000 prints of butter. Had each one been
half an ounce over weight that would mean at the end of the year
5000 ounces, or, in plain figures, a loss of 3124 Ibs. butter.

There is nothing like facts and figures in cases like this, and eternal
vigilance is the price of success. Ask any milkman who sells milk out
of cans, what proportion of loss there is in re-measuring, and I think
you will be surprised.

Now, there must be some loss, but it is our own fault if that loss be
excessive. We have no right to defraud ourselves to the extent that my
friend suggestcd to me, for then liberality becomes wastefulness and
justice degenerates into folly

Yet, on the other hand, we must give good measure—we must give
down-weight, so that the scale will sink promptly, and no mistake
about it. Some loss there will certainly be, but if we are careful it
will not be very great, and it will be amply covered by the entire satis-
faction of our customers and the good price they are willing to pay, in
consequence,

Now, as to wrapping up each printseparately, itis most desirable, —
in fact, it is really necessary, if you want to market your product in
first-class shape. Unless in excecdingly cold weather, when it may be
omitted, but I would not advise this even then.

I have not used any of the preparations of paper, though some are
excellent and very cheap; still, I prefer the cheese-cloth, not the un-
bleached, woolly stuff, that would not do atall, but the pure white cotton
cheese bandage ; it is a yard wide, is free from dressing, and only costs
about 6 cents a yard by the piece. Use this for all purposcs about
butter. Cut a number of squarcs, in evenings or odd times, and
keep in a clean, dry place, and wrap each print in one, first wetting
the cloth in cold water, lay the square on top of your print, and fold
the four corners under the bottom, Then the tops of your prints will

36

present a uniform and pleasing appearance, the yellow butter shining
through the thin white cloth—and, besides, there is no danger of break-
ing the impression on top in detaching the corners of the cloth, when
they are underneath,

Don’t have your squares too big—they cost more, and look untidy..

Tn whatever case you lay your prints, be it basket, or wooden case
or drawer, let it be spotlessly clean and sweet and as new as possible.
Have a square yard of the white checse-cloth wrung out of ice water.
Lay half of it smoothly in the bottom of basket or box. Arrange your
prints neatly on it, each in its own white wrapping. Then fold the
other half of your cloth over them, and over all lay a clean towel,
fresh out of the folds.

And now, do not be anery if I give you one piece of advice :

Avoid, as you would poison, the bedroom towel, so often used for
this purpose. You may say the towel is clean, and no doubt it is, but
the ideas it suggests are not cleanly, and its use is enough to condemn
the best basket of butter that ever went into market.

Still worse is the old picce of white cotton that has evidently seen
years of service, and has then been torn off from something, one doesn’t —
know what, and it is better not to enquire!

It will pay you over and again to have half a dozen or more large
coarse, white linen towels, each marked “ dairy ”’ in large letters, and
use them for nothing else, So much for preparing butter in prints,

Tf you can sell the whole lot to one person you suffer less loss than
by sclling in small lots, Ifyou put it in rolls, there is less trouble and
less joss, but, as a rule, it brings less money. If you prefer, however,
to have it in rolls, whether of 5 lbs., 2lbs., or 1 1b., see that they are all
down-weight, and all so exactly alike that you can hardly tell one
from the other, Let cach one be neatly wrapped in a piece of wet
white chcese-cloth, and laid evenly side by side.

Have your nae plainly marked on all boxes, baskets and towels,
and if you have strictly followed all my directions you will Eardly be
able to meet the demand for your butter. Your name will be a suffi-
cient guarantee,

But don’t expect this result all at once ; that is an impossibility. Be
paticnt and persevering, and you will succeed.

People who are regularly served with sweet, delicious yellow butter,

37

all year round, in dainty and spotless packages, will not willingly do
without it, They soon get to know that the full weight is always there,
that the quality is always superlative, that the appearance is pleasing,
and that the exquisite cleanliness is self-evident, and they will gladly
pay more than the market price forit. But you must educate them
up to this by degrees,

I have often heard visitors say: ‘Is this the famous Jersey butter ?
It is very fine, but not so very wonderful after all.’’? But, soon after,
meeting these same people, they invariably exclaim: ‘ You have spoiled
us for any other butter! We simply can’t eat it now with any relish.”

This is emphatically true.

Jersey butter steals into one’s good graces before one knows it, and
when it gets there it stays there. The same is true, to a certain extent,
ofall really good butter; but once market an inferior lot, and your
whole labor is undone, you have got to begin at the very beginning
again, and handicapped with a damaged name at that,

38

CHAPTER IX.

METHOD OF MARKETING PRINT BUTTER IN GILT EDGE DAIRIES,—
BEST BUTTER BOXES FOR SMALL LOTS, NOT PRINTED,

Print butter certainly brings a higher price than any other, and, if
money alone be the object, it is well worth while to put it up in that
form. But it often happens that there is not time for this, and the
question arises, if I have to put up my butter in bulk, how shall I
do it?

T have tried little crocks, and they are very nice, but they cost too
much, and, besides, they are heavy to handle and liable to break.

[have tried neat white tubs lined with tin. These are a pretty
package, but the tin soon rusts and corrodes from the salt. And, be-
sides, no one who wants a fancy price for fancy butter wants to put it up
in as large packages as these. It will, if of best quality, rank as A 1
tub butter, but it wil/ be “tub butter,” and this is not what we want.

We are now speaking of strictly fresh choice table butter—that which
is most appropriately called, in the States, 10 days butter—meaning,
that to be eaten in its prime it should all be consumed within 10 days
of the time it is churned. And I will tell you how they manage this
in the States.

The most delicious print butter is sent into the cities once a week
packed in Philadelphia ice tubs. In these the ice does not touch the
butter, but is in a compartment by itself. This butter sells at from
fifty cents to a dollar a pound, all through the week.

But (and here is the secret) at the end of the week, every print
remaining unsold is returned to the dairy from whence it came ;
the dealer is credited with the amount returned, while a fresh made
supply goes forward for the ensuing week.

The returned butter is sold in the neighborhood of the dairy for a
fair price, but for nuthing like city prices.

The wisdom of this policy must be apparent to every one. These
dairymen hold their reputation above everything else, and jealously
guard it. Nothing would induce them to allow one print of their butter

39

to go on tho market that was not churned within the week, and that
was not strictly up to their usual standard. They would not sell a
print of butter that had begun to “go off” even if they were offered
ten dollars a pound for it, because the ten dollars in their pocket to-day
would be many hundreds of dollars out of it in the future, and they are
keenly alive to this fact.

As a result, a customer once gotis never lost, and even a fall in
prices does not affect them. People know that the name of such a firm
islike the Hall mark on silver, or the stamp on a guinea, that itisa
warranty of absolute perfection in that line, and then the public have
got to have these goods, and won’t be satisfied with any other.

If people could only be brought to realize this, and to act upon it,
what a revolution it would make in business! ‘‘ Honesty is the best
policy,” is quoted glibly enough, and often by those who don’t even
know what honesty means ; but let me tell you that under that trite old
saying there is a meaning as deep as the sea and as wide as the world,
if people would only see it.

You will say, ‘“‘ what of the loss involved by butter returned to the
dairy and sold at a reduced price? ”

There is no loss.

In the first place, there is but little returned, so great is the demand.
Often, for weeks together, there is none at all returned, as supply has
been short.

In the second place, even this returned butter is sold at a price that
would seem wonderful to many a farmer, and at a price that pays well
for its making. . Neighbors all round know exactly what it is, and are
only too glad to get it. Thcy use it immediately, as they are supposed
to do, and are well pleased. The dairies make a good profit on this
returned butter, and what they make on the higher-priced city butter ig
just so much more clear profit over and above that again.

This is a most satisfactory state of things, but it can only be attained
by adhering rigidly to the fixed rules laid down. Once yield to temp-
tation for the sake of present gain, and your reputation is gone, and
can never be regaincd.

A great trouble with us is that we are short-sighted, narrow, greedy
and grasping.

We are not content to build up a reputation by slow degrees, knowing

40

that people will soon awake to the fact that they can’t do without us, and
must pay our price. We want tocharge the price right away, and then
convince the people afterwards how superior our goods are.

Now, this is all wrong—it is the cart before the horse,

If you want to succeed, convince people first and then charge them
afterwards,

I will tell you how T put up a great deal of my butter. I get small
round boxes, hooped with tin, and paraffined inside, These come in
“nests,” if desired, are exceedingly neat and attractive, clean, strong
enough for all practical purposes, and wonderfully light tohandle. The
most desirable sizes hold 3 Ibs., 5 Ibs., 7 lbs., and 10 Ibs. each,

They are also in general “ee in the States,

Filla few of these boxes with sweet, yellow, fragrant butter, and pack
with dainty care, not smearing theedges, Lay a round of white “ cheese-
cloth”? wrung out of cold water on top, sprinkle on a little fine salt,
cover tightly, and stencil your name on it, and then see if your work
does not do you credit.

These little boxes are to be packed in outer cases of any size desired,
buteven these I prefer to have of dressed stuff, neat and tidy. Of course,
these boxes are not returned, but you do not expect it, as the cost is
trifling. A 10]b. box costs 10 cents, and an outer case holding six of
these boxes (60 lbs.) costs 10 cents more.

And I dont know of any other way in which 60 lbs. of fresh table
butter can be put up, in faultless and most attractive style, at a cost of
70 cents,

41

CHAPTER X,
ON CHURNS.

I have often been asked what kind of churn, butterworker, ete., T
usc. I use a box churn, made in the States.

I do not say that itis the besé churn inthe world, because I don’t
think so, but I do say that there is no better.

I got it in this way: My husband was visiting one of the greatest
Jersey breeders in the States, many yearsago, and was so delighted with
the butter there that he took note of all the dairy fixtures and got me
duplicates, whenever he could.

This churn is simply an oblong box (straight sides and ends)
with a cover on the top, about a foot square. This cover, when fitted
on, is secured by two buttons. From a stout, oblong frame, on the
floor, rise two uprights, or legs, about 2 by 10 and 3 ft. high. These
stand cross-ways of the frame, about three feet apart, and on them rests
a stout board, 3 feet long and 10 incheswide. These legs, or uprights,
are pinned to this platform, as well as to the frame below, so that they -
can be pushed to and fro,

On the bottom of the churn are four cleats, along the four edges, so
when the churn is lifted on the platform it just fits down upon it and
does not slide off. By around woodenroller, reaching across one end of
the churn box, it is firmly held by a man, and pushed from him and
drawn towards him at any spced desired.

There are wheels with the churn, so that it may be attached to steam
or any other power, but, of late years, we work it by hand.

Formerly, I tried a power, but either we were not a success or the
power was not. Objecting to have any animal ona tread power, I got
a small sweep, but it was made by one of those geniuses found in most
country neighborhoods, whoare cheap to begin with but ruinous in the
end.

And what a time we did have with it, to be sure !

There was no horse on the place that was always at our disposal but
the children’s pony, and how she did hate and despise that churning

3

42

power! Ifleft to herself, she would walk slower and slower, till at last
she would actually stop, and I do believe she was asleep half the time.
Then, when she was vigorously awakened, she would start with a jump,
tillthe churn nearly flew through the dairy roof.

As a result, it took two people,—one to mind the pony, and one to
mind the churn.

We then tried a large gray mare, that went rather better ; but one day
a little boy who was visiting at our house threw a stone at gray Lucy
as she was going around, and nearly frightened her to death. She
bolted and jumped over a fence, taking part of the power with her, and
as it was pretty well worn out we never got it repaired.

We churn 30 lbs. ata time. The foreman can do it alone, and some-
times does, but it is a heavy business, and so, asa rule, when all is
ready to begin, his assistant comes in and helps at the other end of the
churn, till the butter comes, and hardly misses the time.

In my churn are no dashers of any kind whatever—simply the
box, and nothing more. There is a ventilator at the top, and a
place at one end for drawing off the buttermilk. It is simple, durable,
and easily cleaned. I don’t see how it could be improved upon,

But there are great numbers of capital churns in our American
markcets,—in fact, the difficulty is to find a poor one.

Thave also used, with much satisfaction, the common Swing churn.
I think it works easier than any I know. Especially is this true of
a ¢in churn that has a round body while the ends are conical. This
is, in a minute, hooked on to two chains, which hang from the ceiling,
and a delicate woman, by having the chains long enough, can sit down
in her chair, and work the churn with the greatest ease and comfort,
pushing it from her and then pulling on the string attached to the
end.

I know this may sound absurd to some who find it difficult to get
out of the old rut, but just let them try itand they will be surprised
and delighted. At any rate, anything is worth trying that will lighten
the labor of the over-tasked wife and mother.

Isay plainly, and without hesitation, that a heavy churning in an
old-fashioned dash churn is not fit work for any woman, be she ever
so strong.

Of course, I don’t allude to the 3 or 4]bs. of butter sometimes
churned for table use by the thrifty housewife, with pride and pleasure,

43

but to extensive dairy work, which is not only far too heavy, but, from
the peculiar motion involved, is most injurious to all females,

These tin churns are easier kept clean and sweet than wooden ones, and
are far lighter to lift andcarry. For those whose churnings are not too
large, I cordially recommend them.

The new dash churn is also a good one. All those I have seen
have revolving dashers, but they make capital butter. However,
turning the crank is, to me, more laborious than any other way of
churning, while some people think it easier. But ifan able-bodied
man does that part of the work (as he should do) I don’t think he
-will be found particular as to the motion. Ifall be ready when he
comcs in, and cream properly tempered, so he is not kept churning for
hours, he will generally be pretty good-natured over it, and soon bring
the butter.

Barrel churns I don’t like quite so well, because if they do leak,
they make a slop on the floor, And nothing makes such a mess as
milk, unless it is quickly and thoroughly cleaned up. In factories or
large dairies where the floor is often of cement, and there is every
conyenience for flushing it with lots of water, it is all very well, and
the barrel churn has the advantage of holding more than any other.
But in a dairy like mine, being only one of my house cellars, I prefer
my own churn, or one similar to it, because I find it the most con-
venient,

A good churn is a good thing, and it is highly important to hav- one
that is easily cleaned. But it doesn’t do to pin your faith entirely to
the churn, for good and bad butter can be made in the same one,

But not by the same person.

I may now state that I never have made better butter than I did 16
years ago, when I first got my Jersey cows. I had been in the habit of
churning, or having churned, enough butter for table use, many ycars
before that, and had learned all I could about the best methods. And
when I first got Jerseys I kept an accurate account of everything,
and have done so ever since, I found that, at the end of 12 months,
I made 2500 lbs. of as fine butter as I ever saw or tasted, and it was
all churned in an old-fashioned dash churn, and worked with a wooden
bowl and ladle.

I do not recommend this, as it is too laborious, but I only mention
it to show what can be done, even under adverse circumstances,

CHAPTER XI.

ON BUTTER-WORKERS.—THE OLD BOWL AND LADLE.

As for butter-workers, I am sorry I can’t recommend those of Cana-
dian make asI do the churns. I have never seen but one that, to
my mind, is thoroughly satisfactory, and that is one made in the
States (sometimes called the Philadelphia).

It is an oblong wooden tray, over which a corrugated roller passes to
and fro, being worked by a crank. Mine cost eight dollars, besides
duty and freight, and I would not take $100 for it if L could not get
another, The tray is made of the best well scasoned white wood, and
the cogs and travellers are of galvanized iron. I never saw anything
that, in my opinion, worked butter so thoroughly and easily, and yet
preserved the grain so well, and they are so splendidly made as to last
for many years, I have only had two in 16 years, and, as I work now
about 7000 Ibs. of butter a year, the durability of these articles is
apparent.

Lest I may be accused of injustice to my own country (although I
sincerely hope not), I may state that I was greatly delighted, some
years ago, to find that a company in a town near us were making
this butter-worker, As I was then in want of a new one, I was
only too glad to give them the order, and when the article came home,
it looked precisely like the one I had got from Philadelphia years be-
fore.

But when I came to use it, I soon saw the difference.

In spite of everyday use, the seams opened and the wood warped.
The castings also were poor, and in a short time the whole thing went
to pieces, and was broken up for kindling.

It does secm a pity that some firms cannot be found enterprising
enough to make a first-class article of this pattern; they would sell by
thousands.

If I had not a Reid, I should use the common three-cornered one
standing on three legs, and worked by a roller, one end of which fits
into a sockct in the angle, while the other is held in the hand, and
pressed down upon the butter. But this is more tiresome to me.

45

Some people have asked me if I use sugar or saltpetre in my but-
ter. I answer no, nothing whatever but a very small allowance of the
very best salt that money can buy.

Next to dirt poor salt spoils more butter than anything else. I
have eaten butter, and so have we all, in which hard crystals of undis-
solved salt gritted between the tecth, and the taste was nearly as bitter
as though Lpsom salts had been used.

As to sugar, etc., the very largest quantity you could dare to use is
too small, by far, to be any help towards keeping the butter, while if
your churning is good, these things won’t improve it, and if it is poor,
_they won’t redeem it.

Many people believe in putting as much foreign stuff as they can
into butter, and also in leaving as much water as they dare in it, be-
cause it then weighs heavier, and salt, sugar and water all cost less
by the pound than good butter. But rest assured that this is the wrong
way to work.

I am not speaking in the interest of the purchaser, but in your own
interest. If you want an extra price you have got to make an extra
article, and to stick to it.

Ifa man says “there is a roll of butter, and I want 15 cents a lb.
for it,” a purchaser can take it or leave it, just as he chooses, and if he
finds it oozing with water and bitter with bad salt, he cannot reason-
ably complain. The farmer did not profess to make extra butter, nor
did he ask the price of a prime article,

But let a man offer good looking butter, and claim that it is as nearly
perfect as butter ever gets to be, and let him ask and get 35 cents per
Ib, for it, and then see how quickly he will hear from his customers if
it is not up to the mark, and how they will stcer clear of him another
time.

If, through any misfortune or accident, you have a poor churning,
don’t put it upon your customers or upon the market at all as good but-
ter. Sell it, representing itexactly as what it is—an off-churning—to
some confectioner, who habitually uses that class of butter.

If you can’t do that and can’t eat it at home (and of course you
can't if you have been in the habit of eating good butter), then use it
for axle grease, as unfit for food. This will be no loss, but money in
your pocket in the end.

The loss was in making the bad butter, and not in throwing it

46

away. If you have had the ill luck, or rather the carelessness, to make
poor butter, don’t throw good money after bad by trying to sell it, and
spoiling your name; that is only making a bad business worse.

To return to working butter. There are thousands of women to-day
in Canada, who, to the shame of their husbands be it spoken, have no
sort of butter-worker at all, but use the bowl and ladle.

I fancy I can see them, especially when the weather is getting cold
and butter hardens almost immediately.

The butter breaks into small crumbs the minute the cold water
touches it, till the whole thing looks like barley broth more than any-
thing else, and the poor woman chases these particles around the bowl,
pressing and patting and coaxing them together, and just as she gets
one portion of it solid, or thinks she does, another part breaks away,
and she is in as bad a mess as ever, and strength and patience both
give out,

Oh yes, I know all about it, for I’ve been there myself many a time
and know how it feels.

But there is no need for this, if we only go the right way to work.
And in my next chapter J will tell what [ found to be the best way
_ out of the scrape,

47

CHAPTER XII,

EASE AND COMFORT IN CHURNING.—“ BIG LITTLE THINGS” IN THE
DAIRY,—THE MAN WHO FOLLOWS HIS GRANDMOTHER,

The best way out of the scrape referred to in my last chapter is to
"wy a thermometer, and to see that it is used.

Then there will be no more weary churning for hours and hours, no
more frothing cream or hard, white crumbly butter, no aching back
or arms over a wretched, greasy little lump that 1s not fit to be called
butter.

If your cream has been properly kept all along, and properly ripened,
and if it has been brought to a proper temperature, 24 hours before
churning, and held at that, you should have no more trouble than you
would with June butter,

Next, as to washing. Don’t dash icy water on to your butter in
winter, and then wonder that, at the last, it won’t adhere,

I may have said this before, but I can’t say it too often ; wash with
water just cold enough to keep the particles from adhering, till every
trace of milk is removed, and water runs off as clear as crystal, and
then submerge in water a little bit warmer, according to the season,
and gently churn for a few seconds—not enough to unite the butter,
you don’t want that just yet, but enough forit to take, from the tem-
pered water, the waxy, yet yiclding consistency of summer butter. Lift
it out, stillin granules or grains, or, if preferred, stir the salt into it, in
the churn, but thoroughly and evenly mix it through the wheatlike
mass, and do it quickly for fear the butter gets too hard again, and
then pass your roller over it, or work with ladle (if you have to do
that), and you will find it unite quickly and easily into a compact,
yellow mass, that it is a pleasure to handle.

And this is why I advocate working butter only once. So few have
the facilities for keeping it at just the right temperature during the
interval, and so few have judgment enough to avoid over-working it
the second time.

But, to return tu our churning.

If, from any cause, the lump of butter has to be left in the bowl till
it is as hard as a stone, don’t set it near the stove, as is commonly
done, or you will certainly spoil it, The side next the fire will become

48

so soft und oily as to spoil the whole churning, while the inside of the
lump will remain as hard as a rock.

Cut your butter into pieces, not bigger than your fist, and drop into
a pail of water tempered to from 62° to 65°, and kcep the water at that
heat, putting a plate or some such thing over the butter to keep it down.
After a while you will find it more evenly softened throughout than in
any other way, and you can work it with comparative ease.

If you have a large quantity to print, and have to do it in a very
cold cellar, it is a good plan to immerse the bulk of the butter in this
way, and only take off a pound or two at a time.

Lots of people will tell you that they can do just as well without a
thermometer, and that they can tell the exact temperature of water
with their hand.

They can’t do it at all times, or with any degree of ecrtainty at all.
If you have been out doors, and come in with hands half frozen, even
a very cold pail of water will seem warm to them, and vice versa, And
even if, by dint of skill and guess-work, they do manage the churning
fairly well five or six times, they will be ecrtain to miss it before long,
and then, as I said before, hours of weary work in the dairy follow,
heaps of other work left undone in the meantime, weary limbs, angry
temper, poor butter at last, and discomfort and misery all through,

And all this can be avoided by the use of a thermometer, which
costs 30 cents, and the use of a little common sense, which costs noth-
ing at all.

It is worth remembering, however, that thick, rich cream from well-
fed cows is more quickly and easily churned than the thin, white stuff
half milk, from half-starved cattle.

A word about your thermometer, Don’t tie a string to it to sink
it in the cream, for it soon becomes foul and ill-smelling. Fasten a
slender flexible wire to it. This is better than a string, and is easily
kept clean and sweet.

When I had to work butter in a bowl, and, indecd, very often since
then, I will tell you what I found a great help and comfort. A large,
clean, common sponge, tied up like a dumpling, in a square of white
checse cloth. Wring this dumpling tightly out of clean, cool water
and with it dab over the surface of your butter and take up the water
that accumulates in bottom of bowl, This convenience costs but a few
cents, and you have no idea what a help and comfort it is till you try
it! Of course, you dip the sponge in the water, or squeeze dry again

49

every few minutes, but you do your work in half the time, and twice
as well. It is one of the “big little things” of the dairy.

Do not think it tedious to attend to all these things. One bad day
in the dairy is far more tedious than attending to all the rules that
ever were written, It is true that, under some circumstances, and at
certain seasons of the year, butter will almost make itself, but these
are the exceptions,

At such times the ignorant and obstinate crow loudly and long.
They need no thermometer, and no book learning; they don’t work by
rule of thumb, but just guess at it, like their mothers and grandmothers
did before them,

Forgetting that, in those old times (which seem at a distance so
much better than they really were), winter dairying was a thing almost
unknown.

Forgetting, too, that our worthy ancestors were, like ourselves, more
prone to proclaim from the housetops their successes than their failures,
and so, when they came to grief, we were not very apt to hear about it,
or to remember it if we did hear,

Just wait till the weather gets frosty and changeable, till the cows
shrink in their milk, and get too much frozen grass, and too little grain
and warm mashes, and then call on these good “ guessers,” and see how
things are going with them.

If it is a woman who is struggling in the dairy, where everything is
going wrong from beginuing to end, you will feel so sorry for her you
won’t know what to say, and can only wonder at her patience, and feel
that it is worthy of a better cause.

But if it is a man that is working there, better not go in, for you can
see enough of the circus without.

From the dairy door issues the steam of the boiling tea-kettle and
sounds of profanity, together with calls upon every female on the place
to wait upon him, and to bring him lots more hot water, and not to stand
there guping like fools, and he tells them that “churning is woman’s
work, anyhow.”

But not one word about his grandmother!

Oh no, not to-day.

And when, at last, the bitter and unprofitable end is reached, he
slams the churn, and kicks a pail over, and leaving the dairy in a
hopeless mess goes out and kicks the cow, and then goes round that
place like a comet for the rest of the day.

50

CHAPTER XIII.
AN ANSWER TO MR. DOHERTY.—PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE,

Thad got thus far in my Jabors when I was very ably criticized by
a gentleman who writes :—‘‘ In my previous investigations I was led to
believe that an animal of 1000 lbs. weight required 21 Ibs. of digestible
dry matter per day, consisting of 2.50 albuminoids, 12.50 carbo-hy-
drates and 40 fat. Now, Mrs, Jones, during the months of November,
December and January, fed her cow 31.35 lbs, of digestible dry matter
made up of 3.13 albuminoids, 19.06 car’ o-hydrates and .94 fat, which,
according to my previous teaching, should be sufficient for a cow
weighing 1635 lbs., or about enough for two medium-sized cows of 800
lbs. each. Without giving us seckers after truth any reason for the
same, Mrs. Jones, during the months of February, March and April,
drops the ration one half to the same cow, and fecds 17.62 lbs. digesti-
ble dry matter, composed of 1.61 albuminoids, 9.76 carbo-hydrates and
51 fat, which, with the exception of .19 fat in excessand a deficiency
of .39 in albuminoids, appcars to be a pretty well balanced ration for a
cow of 800 lbs. The fact of her cow giving four-fifths as much butter
during these last months (although progressing toward time of calving)
as during the previous oncs, leads me to suspect that about one-hal? of
the food eaten during the earlier months was not assimilated, but thrown
off with the other excretions, or else the cow was an excessively large
Holstein, weighing at least 1635 Ibs. Sul, the fact remains unexplained
why the change of feed was made in February. I, like Mrs
Jones, believe in generous feeding; at the same time I should like to be
rational in my method. I would not consider it reasonable to feed a cow
more than she would digest and assimilate, nor would I think of
cutting down her ration one-half without a sufficient cause.”

(Signed), J. H. DOHERTY.

Now, my whole aim and object is to elicit just such remarks, to
invite criticism, to compare notes with my neighbors, and by our united
efforts to find out what we are all striving to learn, viz., what isthe
truth.

51

And we will never arrive at the truth, tili we aiscard all ignorance
and prejudice, all conceit and self-sufficiency, and all narrow-minded-
ness ; till we are ready and willing to learn, open to conviction, and
quick to acknowledge our mistakes,

And we will never achieve a national success in dairying, or in any-
thing else, till we unite in making a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull
all together. °

To return to our cow. She was not a Holst.in, but a cross between
Jersey and Ayrshire, a remarkably large animal of her kind, with a
wonderful appetite and a great constitution, but she did not weigh
1000 lbs.

Mr. Doherty thinks that at one time I ovecr-fed this cow, thereby
incurring loss and waste, while later on she was getting less than he
thinks ncedful of digestible, dry matter, I will try to explain why I
disagree with him. Ist. Mr. Doherty was misled by a misprint which
a, neared in the paper that published the test of the cow referred to in
Chap. 3. It gave quantity of hay as only 8 lbs. ada_, just half of
the cow’s previous ration, whereas, had Mr. D. tookcd at the price
as carried out, he would have at once detected the misprint, and
would have seen that the cow was getting 16 lbs. hay a day, the same
as before. It was only her grain ration that was cut down nearly half,
and as to that, I would say it is absolutely impossible to lay down any
exact ration that will apply equally well to all milk cows, just as it
is impossible to portion out an exact quantity of food, and have it
exactly the right thing for all human beings. What would be insuffi-
cient for one person would satiate another, and vice versa, and it is
iust the same with animals. Consequently, when we give a ration,
we simply give it as a basis, upon which the intelligent farmer works
with considcrable variation, according to circumstances.

Take the accounts of many of the first milk and butter dairies, poth
in Europe and America and read the quantity of food given, in equal
measure, to all cows.

But what follows?

These authorities say: “‘If any cow then looks for more, give her
more, and if any cow has left a portion of her feed, take it at once
away from her,”

No words could show more plainly the wide variation in the appetite
and requirements of different animals of the same species,

52

These large establishments, it is safe to assume, are, for the most
part, run in the most economical manner and so as to obtain the very
best results, and they feed most liberally.

T have one fixed belief which nothing can alter, and that is that so
long as the food is not too rich or concentrated, a milking cow should
have all she will eat, except for the 3 months previous to calving,
(And, even then, it is quite possible that I err in reducing the fecd too
much, but I am so afraid of milk fever that I prefer to err, if at all, on
the safe side.)

Take a lot of cows in pasture. Some are soon satisfied and lie
down, while others continue eating, as though they could never get
enough,

We don’t go out to the pasture with a scientific book in one hand,
and stop those cows from eating, and tell them they have had enough
—so much digestible matter, so much starch, and so much fat, etce., and
that, if they are not satisfied, they ought to be, and have got to quit.

Not at all. We recognize that the cow is the best judge in the pas-
ture, and, to a great extent, I think she should be the best judge in the
stable, too, if we are reasonably careful as to what her ration is com-
posed of,

2. Immediate results are not obtained from any one mode of feeding,
Mr, Doherty wonders that my cow continued to make so large a quan-
tity of buiter upon so much less food than she had previously been
getting.

In answer, I would say, the cow could not have done so had she not
been so well fed for months before. She was drawing on the reserve
she had in store, and which every cow should have,

The best authorities, and those who have made the largest yearly
tests, claim that we should feed a cow to her highest working capacity
for a whole year before expecting a great test, and they prove that the
effects of good food are far more Jasting than most people are at all
aware of.

3. When I give the alterations in my rations, I don’t wish to be
understood as making those changes suddenly—that would be a crazy
thing todo. If I say that during 3 months I feed a cow 15 lbs. of
grain a day, I-don’t mean that she eats exactly that quantity every day
of the 3 months; not at all, I mean that she averages that quantity,
eating more than that at first and less than that at the last, and so,

53

Teducing her feed gradually, avoiding sudden changes as in the case of
this cow.

No one is infallible, and few, indeed, can hit the happy medium
exactly. But I honestly think that I fed the cow to good advantage,
and that her yield proved it, If we over feed a cow we are seldom
left long in the dark about it, for in most cases the animal soon shows
it, either by a fit of indigestion or by getting too fat. Then the care-
ful owner will be warned at once and change his ways.

My cattle have been extensively exhibited through the province, and I
have never yet heard them called too fat or over-fed.

4, Although, as I say, I used my best judgment in feeding my cow—
although she was as sleek and fine as silk, the very pink of health, not
the least too fat, and yielded immensely and no waste inher droppings
that I could detect, yet in spite of all this I may be wrong; there may
have been waste, although I did not and still do not think so.

Far be it from me to set up as infallible, If Iam mistaken I am
heartily glad to have it pointed out, and, as I said previously, it is quite
possible that the public may learn far more from my many failures
than they willever learn from my modest successes,

I don’t ask people to follow me, I ask them to come with me. Iam
eager to ask all that they know, and eager, also, to tell them all that I
know, so we may help each other.

With every regard for science, I may yct say that there is danger of
carrying it to extremes, and that many able articles on dairying are
away above the people’s heads. Anyway, they are above my head,
that much I am sure of,

If I want to try a cow, I don’t send her milk to be analyzed ; though,
no doubt, that is good, But I set her milk and churn it, and then I
work the butter properly till it is as firm nearly as wax and as sweet
asa rose, so that I may claim quality as well as quantity.

Give me the scales and weights and good common sense every
time.

And if it is not too egotistical, let me here say that I have never been
able to devote myself exclusively to dairying ; far from it.

The care and nursing and teaching of my children, the sewing,
housekeeping and social calls, and all the many duties of a house
mother have claimed my time as well, so I have not been able to make

54

exhaustive scientific experiments, but I have kept my eyes open and
have done my best.

All my methods have been essentially those of the farmers around
me—no costly devices, but all for utility and economy.

I am not talking down from a height (which farmers hate), I am
standing on the same level with them, right side by side,

While I do not habitually work in my dairy now, yet I have done
so to a great extent, and there is not one single process from milking
and feeding my cow to churning the butter and making it up and
washing the pails that I have not often done myself.

Why, in one year I churned, worked, printed and shipped to New
York ten thousand prints of butter all with my own hands; no one
else touched it.

I may not be able to analyze a pail of milk or a bucket of feed, but I
can make a pound of good butter. I may not be able to feed a cow in the
most correct scientific way, but there is one thing that I most certainly
can do, I can feed her so she will pay.

ee

55

CHAPTER XIV.

ON THE CARE OF DAIRY UTENSILS,

So much has been said and written on the subject of cleanliness in
the Dairy, that anything from me may be thought superfluous—yet, a
very few words may not be out of place in reference to some of my
own mistakes, .

When I first had the care of milk pans and pails, I prided myself
upon the thorough scaldings I gave them, and thought no one could be
cleaner than I was.

Imagine my mortification when my tins soon lost their brightness,
and did not even look clean! Worse stili, a thick yellow coating came over
them that I thought I would never get off, especially if there was a
dinge or bruise in the pail, making an uneven surface.

I was in despair. I knew I spent more time and trouble upon my
tins than most people, and yet I was ashamed to have them scen.

At last I unburdened my mind to a dear old lady, and how she did
laugh at me, to be sure!

“ Why, child,” she said, ‘‘ you have cooked the milk on to the sides
of your tins by pouring in boiling water, and you will find it harder
to get off than the bark off a tree,”

And it certainly was.

But I did gct it off at last, and then was most careful to do as my
friend told me—only to use lukewarm suds, at first, till all milk
and butter were thoroughly removed from pans, pails, churn and but-
ter-worker, etc. ; then to rinse in clean warm water, and then to bring
on my cherished tea-kettle, and scald all I wanted to, and the more the
better.

Since then I have had no trouble when doing it myself, but the
difficulty is to get hired girls into the right way and to keep them
there.

I remember one that I had who wanted two dozen more kitchen
towels. I thought I had a large enough supply, till I found that she
was faithfully washing and drying every pan and pail used in our large
dairy, as though they were so many cups and saucers,

56

She was quite surprised when I told her that tins would dry them-
selves if scalded with water that was actually boiling.

I showed her my method when I had 30 or 40 shallow pans to scald.
After they were well cleaned, I turned one upside down on the platform
of sink, and scalded the bottom, and then turned it up again, and put
about two quarts boiling water in it, and then put another pan inside
that, and two quarts water in it, andso on, till I had a pile as high as
convenient, As each pan settled down with weight of the others above
it, the water rose and flowed over the edges of the under ones, so every
part of every pan got well scalded, and the whole pile was smoking
and steaming, The top ore I filled to overflowing, and then, after a
few minutes, I took them all down, and Jaid them in rows on the benches,

Some people just put them in piles, but I never do this, as they don’t
dry, but just sweat, and get cold and clammy.

I turn the first pan upside down on the bench, taking care to let it
project over the end a litile, so tle air can get inside, Then lean the
next pan on it, resting partly on the first pan and partly on the bench,
so it is on a slant, and then another and another, till all are done,

In this way they dry at once, and are thoroughly aired, and as sweet
and clean as new tins,

Nor do I ever turn a pail or can upside down, so the air cannot
entcr, or cover a churn or any similar vesscl,

Abundanec of scalding hot water and then lots of air and sunshine,
will tell the tale in the butter beyond mistake.

Of course, wooden things must not be left out in the sun too much
till they warp and crack ; a little care will prevent this.

Butter will stick like tar to woodenware that is not properly taken
care of, and I know of few things more annoying,

There is no remedy but to begin again. Thoroughly wash your print,
or butter-worker, or whatever it is, being careful to get every particle
of grease away. Then thoroughly scald, using plenty of water, and
rub well with salt. Next, plunge into cold water and leave to soak for
a while, and you will find all go well.

If you have a print not in frequent use, it is a good plan to wash and
scald it every few days, just as though you were going to uscit, This
will keep the wood from cracking and leave the print in nice order,

The churn and everything in and about the Dairy should be
cleansed at once after they are used.

Se

57

It is nearly impossible to get things sweet and clean if they are left
for hours, or perhaps all night, with sour cream or buttermilk or
melting butter on them, to be absorbed by the wood, so it will never
scem the same again.

The floor should be often an well washed, for milk, so sweet and
wholesome when fresh, soon becomes one of the foulest things in crea-
tion, so quickly does it decompose.

I once went to a picnic when I was young, and took a stone jar of
milk just drawn from the cow, corking the jar tightly.

We were delayed in reaching the island, and did not nave tea till
eight o’clock, but, on uncorking my jar of milk the odor was so strong
that I threw it «all away.

Fortunately, some one else had brought milk, so mine was not
missed, but it taught me a lesson.

To many of my readers this is only the old, o.d story, but thcre arc
always beginners who are glad of such hints.

I know that in my young days I would have been pleased indeed to
bare had instruction from some one who really knew how—who had
actually done the work themselves.

But nearly everything I know has been .earnt by hard experience,
and often by repeated and discouraging failures.

There are no truer words than those written by Marion Harland, in
her Cookery Book. She says the most important thing is “to learn
how noé to do it.”

And in no place is that more true than in the Dairy.

58

CHAPTER XV,
HOW I KEEP MY CATTLE,

I keep them under such difficultics as I hope few peop.e have to
contend with.

We own our house, with a few acres of land, just barely outside
the limits of a very large and thriving town.

Our own land is poor enough, but that around us is still worse,
being sometimes underlaid with rock for whole acres together, and all
of it badly run down.

Not wishing to part with our home, we had just to do the best we
could, and have rented two small farms, in rear of us, of 45 and 65
acres respectively.

Not only have we to go nearly half a mile to get to these farms, but
we have also to cross the railway track to do so, and what with poor
land and poor fences, or rather no fenccs at all, it is uphill work.

The walk is too far for both the cows and the men who drive them,
nor is it possible for me to be out there as much as I ought,

Were the land under my own eye, things would do better, but with
conflicting duties and heavy household cares, I have just got to get
along as best I can, The cattle barns, however, are on our own
place, just adjoining the horse stable, so that everything about them is
under my own supervision.

We have a very large barn or stable, capable of holding 30 milking
cows, and having two roomy loose boxes,

The cows stand facing each other, and have a 6-foot alley between
their heads, this alley being of cement.

Each cow has a stall to herself, so there is no crowding or fighting.
In rear of each row of cows is the gutter, and behind that againa
board walk about 3 feet wide.

Just in the middle of the stable a broad cement passage runs across,
intersecting the rows of cows, so there are, really, four rows of stalls.

There are large doors at the end of this cross alley, where the cows

59

Come in and turn to right or left, as the case may be, each cow know-
ing her own place.

After trying many fastenings, and finding most of them good, but
needing a deal of bedding, and then not keeping the cows clean with-
out more labor than I could afford, I adopted one.of the new stan-
chions which are not stationary, but give great liberty,

These I put in last fall, and the longer I have them the more I like
them. Ihave never secn anything that gives as much freedom and
comfort to the animals consistent with cleanliness, and have pleasure
in cordially recommending them.

In the cross alley is the bench for setting the milk pails on. To
me it has always seemed a disgusting practice to set the milk pails on
the floor behind the cows, aud I have never allowed it.

Beside the bench is a high but small desk, the lid of which lifts up,
and here the foreman can write and keep his. papers. Under the
desk is a small cupboard where many useful things are kept, a jar
of linseed oil, a bottle of castor oil, one of laudanum, one of aromatic
ammonia, one of turpentine, and one of carbolic oil. Some ginger and
some epsom salts complete the list of simple remedies kept on hand,
and with them and that blessed ‘‘ ounce of prevention ” that means s0
much, the herd is kept in splendid health. In one end of this barn
are the root house and the silo. Above the root house is the feed
room, reached by a short flight of steps, and furnished with great bins;
and back of this is the engine room, with a good steamengine. <At
one time we kept the cngine running all winter to cut and steam feed,
pulp roots, grind oats, ete., but for many reasons I discontinucd this,
and we now use the engine only in fall to cut the corn for the silo.

Another barn is used for the bulls, of which we keep three, each in
a large, loose Lox.

There is also a place for two yearling bulls (when we have them),
and all the south side of the building is divided into little calf pens.

I find this a much better arrangement for the little creatures than
being in the cow burn, as it is more easily kept at an even tempera-
ture.

In the large barn when the doors are opened and thirty cows let out,
to drink or exercise, the temperature falls so much as to chill young
calves, besides which the cows are quieter and more content when the
little ones are entirely away from them.

60

In athird and smaller barn there is room for 6 or 7 cows or heifers
besides two more loose boxes,

Everything is of the very plainest description. I have nothing that
the poorest farmer cannot have, unless it be the steam engino, and
many of them have got that.

Also, the gas that lights the large barn and engine room. We make
this ourselves to light the house, and as a matter of safety and con-
venience had it put in the barn,

These buildings form thrce sides of a yard, that has a good well in
the centre and a long water trough.

Adjoining the yard are two or three paddocks, where calves can be
kept, also cows that are near calving.

In winter the stalls are cleaned out at 5 a.m., and cows brushed off,
and cach one receives a feed of ensilage with the proper quantity of
mcal and bran mixed with it, according to the milk they are giv-
ing. They are then milked, each gets an armful of hay, and the
hands go to breakfast. Next, all animals are we'l carded and cleaned
all manure wheeled out of ite stable, and calf pens and loose boxes
thoroughly cleaned out.

Towards noon cattle are let out to water. If it be mild and fine
they remain out fiom one to threé hours, according to the weather, but
never till they gct chilled. On returning to the stable each animal
finds a feed of sliced roots in the box with a handful of meal or bran
sprinkled on.

At four o’clock they are all offered water in pails, then they receive
their second feed of ensilage and meal.

At five p.m. milking begins, after which each cow receives a liberal
feed of hay and fresh beddene and is then left for the night.

In summer, cows are milked at same time in morning, and cleaned.
Each milking animal receives a quart of bran and of ground oats, as
the pasture happens to be good or poor.

If the grass is very poor, all reccive a good allowance of green fodder,
either lucerne, green oats, peas, or corn fodder, They are then driven
to pasture, returning before five o’clock, when they gct the same feed
(if any be necessary), and, after milking, are taken back to the pasture
for the night.

Salt is given them as they wish, and blows, kicks, or rough words
are unknown to them.

61

A couple of grade Ayrshires are generally kept to feed the calves,
their milk is not so rich, and calves seem to do better on it.

Much of our land being in pasture, we do not grow all the feed we
need, but buy largely.

We generally have 15 to 18 acres of corn, which gives us green feed
for summer, fills the silo, and leaves us quite an amount of dry corn
fodder, stooked, which lasts till near Christmas.

We also grow two to three thousand bushels of roots (mange and
carrots), 800 to 1000 bushels of oats, — potatoes cnough for family
usc, besides 20 to 40 tons of hay.

We have always a patch of lucerne and one of peas and oats to feed
green.

Fortunately, there is an 8 acre field adjoining our property which we
rent, and here abide the lucerne patch and potato patch ; here also
grow the roots, the sweet corn for the house, and all the green fodder
used for summer, as well as some to dry.

The men kept are: the foreman, who is a thorough proficient at his
business, as the healthy condition of the herd, the honors won in show
rings, and the excellent quality of the butter can testify.

He assists with the milking, feeds the calves, strains and skims all
the milk, makes and ships all the butter (thousands of pounds yearly),
makes out the invoices, and keeps a set of books the duplicates of
which are kept by me.

He has, to assist him, an intelligent and industrious young man, who
is a capital milker,

On one of the small farms lives the farmer, who is busy on farm all
summer, and has extra help in hvying and harvest.

In winter the farmer helps to milk, night and morning, In the
forenoon he helps grooming the cattle, and cleans out the barns; and in
the afternoon draws out manure, or goes for sawdust, of which we use
a good deal for bedding.

The number of cattle kept averages 54, and a pair of strong farm
horses and a few pigs complete the list of farm animals.

A great deal of cream is sold to confectioners who send to the Dairy
for it, paying 35 cents a quart in summer and 40 cents in winter.
People who take but a single quart pay 50 cents for it, and sometimes
we cannot meet the demand,

62

CHAPTER XVI.
FARM ACCOUNTS.—ODDS AND ENDS.—SOME MISTAKES,

Of course it goes without saying that a strict account is kept of all
money paid out, or taken in, on the farm.

Everything is entered in the General Cash Book, and then all items
are posted out into the Ledger, each under its appropriate heading,

The two principal headings are, “ Farm account” and “Stock
account.”

in farm account, on one side appears all money spent for rent,
wages, feed, extra help, seed, ete. ; on the other side, all cash received
for sales of milk, cream, butter, or pork, also a fair market value for
whatever amount of these things has been consumed in the family.

In the stock account, on one side, is entered every animal bought,
under its own name and number; the name and address of the person
from whom it was bought, date, and price paid, On the other side is
entered, in a similar manner, every animal sold, name and address of
purchaser, and price paid.

A farm book is also kept, giving date when each calf is dropped, also
name of sire and of dam.

A Dairy book is also kept, in which are the daily entries of milk,
cream, or butter sold, to whom, and what price received.

These are all that are really necessary to show how one stands at the
end of each year, and they are all I have time for.

One thing is very laborious, and that is the large correspondence
about cattle. I tried keeping a catalogue of my herd, but 1000 went
off in a short time, and, besides, so many changes take place in a herd,
as animals grow up, are sold, or replaced by others, that it is dificult
to keep a catalogue in shape.

I have, however, extended pedigrees, printed, of my chief animals,
so it is always easy to send pedigree of sire and dam of a calf,

And if you keep thoroughbred stock, you must make up your mind
to answer all business letters promptly, fully, and cheerfully.

It is a courtesy which your customers have a right to expect, and
which you would expect were you buying valuable cattle from them.

And, in describing an animal, be sure to represent it exactly as it is,
I know of few greater pleasures than to get a letter saying a customer

63

is perfectly and entirely satisfied, and finds the animal he has received
to be even better than represented.

If you have a worthless animal, send it to the butcher, without
hesitation, it will be a saving in the end.

Keep only the very best. With all your care and skill in breeding
you will still find a difference in your herd.

If you are fortunate enough to have no bad ones, you will still have
good, better, and best ; therefore, in selling, state exactly what each
animal is, and if purchase is made by a party who does not see the
eattle, but who leaves it to you to choose for him, make it a point of
honor to give him even better value for his money than if he were
present.

In looking back over the past few years, I am sometimes ashamed
and sometimes amused at the mistakes I have made, especially in the
beginning of my dairy experience.

Working without a thermometer was one, and a very bad one it
was. Overworking my butter was another, Still another was buying
stock without seeing it, from an unreliable party. This only happened
to me twice, but it will never happen again. One animal had been
good, but her udder was completely destroyed by garget, and I sold
her for less than a fourth of what I paid for her.

Another had a long pedigree and a still longer price, but I sold her
to a butcher for $22.50, and was well rid of her!

So I bought my experience dearly.

In fact, there is hardly anything against which I have cautioned you
that has not been a rock ahead of me at one time or another.

Sometimes I saw the danger in time, and steered clear of it.

But sometimes I didn’t, and then the result was disastrous,

In conclusion, J wish I could have written this little book without
talking so much abovi myself, but it is in answer to hundreds of
questions as to ‘‘ how I do it,” and so I can’t help the egotism,

Nor is that the only fault of my work—of this, I am painfully con-
scious, but I can only ask my readers to lose sight of me (if I have
left them any chance to do so), to look at the actual facts in my book
and not at the imperfect manner of telling them, and to work on
steadily to that high standard ‘towards which I am still struggling
myself.

THE END.

To THE HouseWwire:

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We have ani or riginal idea'i in ‘cooking for you. It

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$1.00, postage prepaid.
Baxpwin, Ross & Co., Publishers,
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