The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1873-04-08
agricultural department.
BY ALBERT CHAPMAN.
Butter-Making.

1t is very encouraging feature Of our
civilization that it tends to excite Il spirit
Of inquiry and investigation. Few sub
jects of thought are so uninportant as to
escape the scrutiny Of the present age
none so abstruse that some philosopher oil
the nineteenth century cannot be found
peering with undaunted mental vision in
to its mysteries, In no age or nation has
this spirit taken so practical direction
as in our own. In none has it resulted
in such rapid improvement, or in such a
degree ofpcrfection in all those arts which
contribute to the comfort and happiness
of mankind. But much still remains to
be accomplished, even in the most com.
mon affairs Of everyday life. The field
for investigation and research is still un.
bounded. Thoughtful minds find in cv-
cry 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 dis
coveries made by their fellows in the nat.
sral sciences, and the improvements in
the mechanic arts they have failed to rec.
ognize the fact that their own callings al
most without exception, furnish a field
for like honorable research, if they do not
give promise Of like important discover
les.
There is, perhaps, no class in this coun-
try to which these remarks apply more
perfectly than to our agriculturists. We
have, indeed, improved our implements
Of husbandry more rapidly than any 9th.
or nation in the world but this is due
rather to our mechanical than agricultur-
al 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 leading agricultural
nation, have scarcely begun the work Of
improvement in this direction.
What is true of our general agricultu-
raj attainments and practice, is emphati.
cally true of that branch of it of which
propose to speak upon this occasion.
IMPROVEMENTS IN WITHDRAWING.
The art of butter-making is yet but
very imperfectly understood among US,
even by the great mass of those who have
made it the leading business of their
lives. The mode now commonly prac.
ticed is the same as that Of hundred
years ago. We have, as in our farm i'm.
plements, improved in the means used,
but the mode remains the same.
The light and easily clcansed tin pan
has taken the place of the foul and heavy
earthen one. Tin milk pals have also
been substituted for wooden ones in MANY
diaries, Notwithstanding the often repeat.
ed warning on the part of some wise ones
that the change would result in the dry.
ing up of the cows. The butter.worker
has also made its appearance in most dali
~ rooms, and the thermometer, scales
and refrigerator in some.
Yankee ingenuity has also been taxed
to the utmost to devise some new fan
gled" churn, by which time and labor
may be annhilated from the process Of
ohurning. These inventors have succeed.
Cd wonderfully in making dairymen be.
lieve that they have discovered something
better than the barrel churn used by our
Gathers fifty years ago.
MORE IMPROVEMENTS WANTED.
But these changes have brought nc
improved system Of manufacture with
them into general use. We plod on still
in the steps of our ancestors without sys.
tenn, and consequently without reaching
.olerable degree Of perfection in this
most important art. While the world
about us is perfecting every other art,
shall this alone remain unimproved Did
our grandmothers reach such degree Of
perfection in this that we cannot reasona.
bly, hope to excel them?
The organization of Dairymen's Asso-
Citations, Boards of Agriculture and Far.
mers' Clubs in various parts of the coun.
try, proves conclusively that the spirit Of
inquiry, Of which l have spoken, is now
earnestly at work among the members Of
our own calling, end gives promise of
great improvements in this branch of our
productive industry.
1t must be apparent to every one who
will give this matter an intelligent and
unprejudiced investigation, that much
better modes for the manufacture of but
ter may be introduced than those com.
monty practiced; that the art of butter
making may, and should, be systematized
and improved that uniformity of pro.
duct may take the place of the present
wide extremes in quality, and that an in.
creased quantity may also be produced
from the same amount Of milk, end at q
less expenditure of labor.
Systematic methods of manufacture are
more indispensable to success in this than
u most other calliDgs. He who adopts
no intelligent system, and has not the
proper means and appliances with which
to perform his labor, will be at the mer-
cy of the weather. the sport of circum.
stances and accidental surroundings.
1t is the province of mind to devise
means to overcome all surmountable OBJ.
stacles in the way Of success in this as in
any other pursuit.
DE SYSTEMATIC.
Perfect results can no more he attain.
ed in the art Of butter-making without Il
correct system, and close attention to,
and rational execution of, every step
of the process from the production of the
milk to the marketing OF the the butter,
than a correct result can be reached in
the working of a mathematical problem
by earelessness aud inattention to the va
rious steps of the process.
But unlike the working of undemon-
strated problems,--the application OF il
system when once understood is easily ac-
oomplished,-it becomes a constant re-
potion Of known process, in which sue
cess depends upon the exactness of the
repetition. Like causes produce like ef-
iects, and if the repetition is perfect, per-
fec. uniformity in product will result