Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-03-28
OBJ 9airp.
BUTTER MAKING.

by Hon. r. ID. Douglass, of whiting, Mem
bsr OF the Vermont Board OF Agriculture.
1t isa very encouraging feature Of our civil
iZation that it tends to excite spirit of inquiry
and investigation. Few subjects of thought
are so unimportsnt as to escape the scrutiny
Of the present age; none 80 abstruse that
some philosopher of the nineteenth century
cannot be found peering with undaunted
mental vision into its mysteries. In no age
or nation has this spirit taken so practical a
direction as in our own. In none has it re-
suited in such rapid improvement, or in such
a degree OF perfection in all those arts which
contribute to the comfort and happiness of
mankind. But much still remains to be ac-
compshed, even in the most common affairs
of everyday life. The field for nvestiga-
tIon and research is still unbounded.
Thoughtful minds 6ud in every department
of business practical questions which are yet
to be solved.
While the mass of our people have hailed
with Joy and pride the great discoveries
made by their fellows in the natural sciences,
and the improvements in the mechanic arts,
they have failed to recognize the fact that
their own calings almost without exception,
furnish field for like honorable reseach, il
they do not give promise Of like important
discoveries.
There is, perhaps, no class in this country
to which these remarks apply more perfectly
than to our agriculturists. We have, in.
deed, improved our implements Of husbandry
more rapidly than any other nation in the
world but this is due rather to our mechan.
ical than agricultural enterprise.
While we excel our English cousins in
these, they far excel us in the knowledge
and practice Of agricultural science. In
fact, we, though a leading agricultural na.
tion, have scarcely begun the work Of i'm.
provement in this direction.
What is true OF our general agricultural
attainments aud practice, is emphatically true
Of that branch, Of it of which | propose "a
speak upon this occasion.
improvements In Butter-MskInE.
The art of butter-making is yet but very
imperfecty understood among us, even by th,
great mass of those who have made it the lead
ing business of their lives. The mode now con
monty practiced is the same as that Of hun
dred years ago. We have, as in our farm imple
ments, improved in the means used, but tn,
mode remains the same.
The light and easily cleansed tin pan ha
taken the place of the foul and heavy earth
en- one. Tin milk pals have also been sub
stituted for wooden ones in many dairies
notwithstanding the often repeated warning
on the part of some wise ones, that tn
change would result in the drying up OF tn,
COWS. The butter.worker has also made il
appearance in most dairy rooms and tn
Thermometer, scales and refrigerator in some
Yankee ingenuity has also been taxed Il
the utmost TO devise some new tangled
churn, by which time and labor may be an
initiated from the process of churning Thes
inventors have succeeded wonderfully il
making dairymen believe that they have dis
covered something better than the barre
churn used by our fathers fifty years ago,
More Improvement Wanted.
But these changes have brought no i'm
proved system of manufacture with them in
to general use. We plod on still in the step
of our ancestors without system, and conse
quenty without reaching tolerable degre
of perfection in this most important art
While the world about US is periecting ever,
other art, shall this alone remain unimprov
ed ? Did our grandmothers reach such a de
gree Of perfection in this that we cannot rea
sOnably hope to excel them2
The organization Of Dairymen's Associa
tions, Boards of Agriculture aud Farmers
Clubs in various parts of the country, prove
conclusively that the spirit of inquiry, 0
which | have spoken, is now earnestly a
work among the members of our own calling
aud gives promise Of great improvements /
} this branch of our productive industry,