Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1860-06-21

who can write, as we'll as make butter
Mr.. President, SIR, Ladies and Gentle.
men Tile task, which your Hon. Commit
tee assigned me at the last meeting Of the
& Farmer Club, that of producing an essay
on making putter, is no easy one, cleaning as
necessarily must, the materials for compo-
sing it from my own limited stock OF cxpe-
rience, and comparatively limited circle of
observation, and my humble effort comes be-
Gore you this evening not a. an able cTposi-
ton of new and important truths--tased
upon facts. relating to the theory and prac.
tice, Of butter making, but simply as an
assay to write an essay. And should the at
tempt prove a lure or appear TO you clad
in habllimcnts dusty, rusty and oId-fashion-
ed, it is the best we can afford.
In the first place we will assume that our first
object is to gather together the experiences
OF others, and in the exercise Of our best
judgment, CLEAN facts, and draw conclusions,
in order to inform ourselves of the best modes
Of making the very best of butter, to the
end Of securing to ourselves the greatest
amount of profit and consequently the great
est amount Of satisfaction and enjoyment.-
What connojssour or lover of good butter,
let me ask, whether producer or purchaser,
ourselves or cur friends, who would not
greatly pre- er firm, golden looking, sweet
y tasting lump OF butter, to Il greasy, oily,
iaTdy ooking mass, that loo as if it wouldn't
pay for a journey from the plate to the
mouth? And the dairy. woman should well
und rstand the theory, ard have in her pos.
sessing the beau ideal Of the the modus op
elandi, or i'll plain English, the most excel
ie4t mode OF making the very best Of butter,
and al says aim in her practice to approach
as near that standard Of excellence as her
circumstances will allow. But here we must
remark that the grand desidcratum Of pro-
ducing good butter is consequent upon such
variety of circumstances outside the sphere
Of the dairy woman, that it is difficult to
prescribe any given limit or course Of rules,
by which to direct US, unless we commence
and take the COW in the field,
We design to draw our inferences by illus
tration. In the first place, on the one hand,
we will suppose an extreme case, that of Il
young man, (tor instance) who has by some
meaus or other, come in possession of farm,
or it might be supposed to be some mercan.
tile city friend, who, tired of the noise bus
tic and strife of city life, has sighed for green
fields, singing birds, and good butter, until his
dreamy visions are so far realized that he
finds himself at last on farm, in the coua-
try. Well, either of these two, or both we
may suppose have been made to understand
that the dairy business, is most excellent
and profitable business, now days, and wish
ing to realize the profits, as well as the pleas
aures, Of farming, they each, Of course, are lin
for it, and without sufficient knowledge OF
the right kind of COW most profitable for the
dairy, only consulting the price, and buying
such as command the smallest, most likely
the chances are against the buyer to start
with, and part of his cows at least, had
better be fat ened straight-way, and sent to
market, but he drives his COWS home,-per-
haps he has not thought Of mik-room, and
there may not be even an apology for one on
the premises, BUT that is his wives look
out. he has got the cows, wife will see to the
rett, and she, perhaps, (poor thing and in
experleneed) does do the best she can (quite
likely she is beginning to think that farming
is not SO very pleasant after ALL Out Of
doors things are going heller skelter,' fences
down, Gait breechy, running here and there.
one day helping themselves to stuffinr, the
next GU short allowance, often teased and
worried by dogs. Poor wife, meanwhile is
stoiing and frctting away, scolding husband
and children, mo wonder) washing, ironing,
mending, baking, tending badly, feeding pigs,
.churning and milking COWS, when they are
up so that she can get at them,) why dear
me | couldn't pretend to hold candle to
the handling of so many irons, well, if they
make more than butter enough for their own
use, it is doubtful whether it will bring the
highest market price. Do you call this a
oneslded, overdrawn view 1t is indeed a
partial portrayal of the extreme Of bad hus-
bandry, still we know there are approxima-
tions to it, either nearer or more remote
What we wish to show is, that the most pru-
dent thrift and management indoors, cannot
counteract and overcome bad management
out of doors, and that the product of good
butter depends equally as much on the right
kind of outdoor, as the right kind of in
door management, and UiSa 0erSa. Such
farming, If farming it may be callod) instead
of enriching, only impoVerisbes-amounting