Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-04-05


The farm of Mr.. Edward Burnett, who
married a daughter of James Russell Lowell,
is one of the finest in the State of Massachu-
SETS Mr.. Burnett is the son of DIR. Joseph
Burnett of Boston, and was graduated from
Harvard in the class of 1871. It is delight
fully located in one of the valleys of South
boro and is a 3OO-acre homestead. This farm
produces gilt-edged butter, pork Jersey stock
and skim-milk, all of which are carefully pre-
pared and handled and they have a savory
reputation among the connoisseurs and elite
of Boston. The soil of this farm is mostly of
a clayey loam and about 100 acres of it are
tillable. Some 40 cows are kept on the farm.
more than half of which are Jerseys. These
cows averaged in December last 800 quarts of
milk per day from which PSI pounds of but
ter were made. Every herd has its good. bet
ter and best cows and so has this. The bet
ter cows yield IL to ~ quarts of milk per day,
when three and four years old and at their
best. The best COW yielded last year Sj32
pounds of milk and about 100 pounds of but
ter; an amount very rarely equaled in this
land of cows. Mr.. Burnett is not above the
local farmers club, for according to the Sci
entifc Farmer he gave them recently his
methods of feeding stock and making butter
ITO produce the best results. good cows
good feed regularity, cleanliness and ther-
mometer are necessary. Our finest butter is
obtained in early summer, when the pastures
are sending forth their early, sweet, succulent
grasses, and we depend entirely upon them,
but when these begin to fail, about midsum-
I 1p1n
of grain, increasing MS the season advances
cut all my grass early, beginning about the
9TH of June, and this generally gives me a
second crop of good rowen. When in winter
quarters l begin feeding, about $50 in the
morning. with hay, little wisp at a time
but not so much but what the cows will eat
it up clean. After milking the grain is Civ
en-, consisting of two parts corn-meal to one
of bran, from three to six quarts each accord
ing to the COW, or feed entirely on ordinary
cabbage. This is followed by hay, which
lasts till A. NJ. At p. NJ. l begin again
with a little hay, followed by roots cut fine
(maDgolds), a bushel being divided among
three COWS, and then more hay till G:3O p. NJ
l maintain if more bran is fed than is neces-
sary to counteract the heating qualities and
condensed richness of corn-meal, the effect is
seen in the deterioration of the butter and the
loss of its fine, nutty flavor" The fresh
warm milk is strained into cylindrical pals
20 inches deep and s inches WIDE which hold
II quarts and these pals are placed in cold
water about inches deep, the temperature
of the water being held at about AZ degrees
by broken ice. A rapid circulation is the re-
suit, the cool milk descending and the warm
rising, and mis- theory is that this rapid mo-
ton tends to hasten the separation of the
cream globules from the milk The best but
ter COWS have largest globules, and the larger
they are the more rapidly they rise to the sur
face, and of course the more easily broken
The first cream is much richer and of better
quality than that that rises later I'm ten
hours after setting we skim carefully, and let
the cream stand over night at a temperature
of about 60 degrees. The churning occupies
about 30 minutes, and is done by steam pow
er i'll barrel churn. When the butter comes
which is known by small Jumps forming, the
buttermilk is drawn off and the butter is rim
sed three or four times with pure water, and
gathered as much as possible in the churn
1t is then placed on the butter worker and
rolled out several times to free it from mois-
ture. Then it is salted 3 ounces of salt to
10 pounds of butter is the rule the salt sprin-
kled on through fine sieve, when the but
ter is rolled and worked again thoroughly
After this it is set aside for four or five hours
Just long enough to allow the salt to dissolve
and disseminate itself, when it is worked the
second and last time. Butter may stand too
long for its quality, between the first and sec
ond workings, and it may be overworked
1t is mistaken idea to suppose that labor
makes good butter Fancy butter color" is
sometimes the result of overworking. Mr.
Burnett gets 60 to g. cents for his butter and
cents quart for his skim-milk, when new
milk sells for ~ cents His pork also brings
the highest market price, on account of its
quality.