Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-11-13
WON ALL THE PRIZES.

We have space here to mention only instance out
many The butter saled with Higgins salt took all the pre-
miams at the fair of the Northwestern Darymen's As
socinon held in Chicago last year These the "wood
Creamery" of Huntley, Ill.,, first premium Of sOO the
Booth Creamery of Salem, wis., second premium of s75i
the Houston Creamery of Pleasant Prairie. wis.,. third
premium s5O and the Booth Dairy" first premium for
dairy butter, s5O-leavng only the inferior premiums Of
s25, SIS and $40 for dairy butter to be taken by all the
other brands of salt combined.
II may interesting dairymen to know how the two
leading brands Higgins and Ashton'sare made and what
the difference between them. We wish had the SPACE
to reprint entire the letter OF Mr. f. b. Thurbe member
Of the firm Of II. X, 4 Is. =. Thurber Co., New Yors-
to the Aecdn Grocer but must be content to give few
extracts from it, After describing the scenery the salt
works, he says
Before proceeding to describe the usual process Of salt
making perhaps ought 70 state what q salt mine IS In
strata of solid salt rock and is supposed that these eN-
tend under great part Of the county Of Cheshire The
low the surface and 30 feet thick. Then
sL 9r rSeE SsO to iC iegs H. when % e sfco M OF strata
the upper strata and OF better quality being cleaner and
reer from impurities, The quality Of the salt rock In the
same strata also varies much, and rule the best is
found at the bottom Of the strata In opening salt mine
reached and then it Is worked the same as coal mine.
The salt rock about as hard anthracite coal and is
worked by being blasted the same wayregular pillars
of salt considerably larger than Lots wife fancy are left
gnecs that there less danger than with coal and these
Visited The air IN Ills sa nine @ was also much better,
being pure dry and cool Ascending again the surface
Witnessed the treatment Of the salt rock. Much of this
shipped as ia when raised from the mine direct 70 Den
mark, Norway and Sweden twhOsc customs tariffs dis
crmnatr against refined sal where Is refined for
Some Is crushed raised from the mine and used
In Its natural state for agricultural ana manufacturing
purposes and refined and used for various purposes
Tie best and by far the greater quantity OF salt manuiac
ture In the Cheshire salt district, however, made by
pumping up the water which has come in contact with the
salt strata inmauy places sulvng the rock and becoming
strongly mpregnated with saline matter In this most
OF the earthly and nsouble matter remains below ground
and the salt manufactured turns out pure and white As
he inferred from the above description of differences
In the quality of the rock salt the quality of the brine also
differs, that from the lower strata being generally the best
II IL pumped by steam into reservoirs for the double
purpose of allowing TO settle and to have supply in
case of the pump breaking down From thence i run
Hight under these furnace ue, and in about three
hours II begins to boil; In u hours much salt has pre-
pan. This ia done with sieve spade" shovel with per-
forated bottom. The wet salt Is thrown into conica
moud left TO dain one hour and then taken to the drying
where II five six days temperature
ls0 to 1870 degrees thence the breaking ROOM broken up
fine, and packed for shipment. In witnessing this ap-
parenty simple process was tempted TO say, Well any
some of the processes required as much skill and ex
perence almost any other branch of business and that
quality of production depended st the quality Of the
brtne End, on improved appliances and utensils and 3D.
the experience skill and devoted TO the business For
instance, the Ashton and lggin Works the only
using iron floors for drying rooms which, although more
pensive than brick, dry quickly uniformly and
ceanly They also dife ent form of mould from the
Others, and Higgins Works stand preeminen in one i'm
brine preliminary heating and treatment which precip
taes all sediment and impurities before running 1t into the
evnpoang pans Indeed, every part of the lggn Works
bears evidence of the aud cleanliness bestowed
their product mould Of salt Is carefully scaped be-
fore breaking, SCOT dirt which may have
settled IT. the sacks the best that he procured
selves, carefully looked after and doubtless In the
gregate have something TO do with the popularity OF this