Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-02-22
TIE WLLMLNGToN EARMERs.
WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT BUTTER MAKING At
GRANGE MEETING HELD LAST SATURDAY EVEN
ING.

held on the 10th Of February, tho subject Of
buttor making was talked about. The wor-
thy lecturer, l.. A. Fitch, opened the discus
sion in a very able and interesting manner
He said that the question Of butter making
Is great subject there are many things
about butter making and they run together ;
like the sciences, they are hard to separate
To be successful in making butter we must
understand a great many things. We must
be taught many things that we think We al
ready know he thought that this town is ad-
vancod as far or farther in the art than any
town In the vicinity, but still there is a chance
for improvement Go TO any farmers wife
and she will tell you how TO make good but.
ter, but when that butter is sent to market
and examined by an expert he may call ii
poor. We do not get as much for our butter
as we ought to. Mr.. Fitch said there are at
least 80 tons Of butter made in Wilmington ;
he thought we ought to get 3 cents per pound
more for it than we do that would amount
to $4,000, which we lose by not making as
good an article as wo ought. Almost every
one thinks he makes good butter, but the
price the butter sells for in market tells the
story. Mr.. Fitch did not suppose he could
tell how to make good butter, but some ofthe
points are very plain and first, he would
have good cows; If your cows are poor you
are sure Of poor butter. We have not bred
our COWh WuOly IOT DulleF uhkluB II We
bred wholly for butter, the Jerseys, or some
of the Channel Island COWS are the best, al.
though some others are good. When we get
our good COWS we must give them good food.
The very best butter is made by feeding meal.
Grass makes good butter, but in winter we
must feed something beside poor hay If we
would make good butter il our feed is poor
our butter will be poor.
We don't take pains enough Good butter
making depends upon little things. In the
first place we must milk in a very clearly
manner, as a little froth in the milk will spoil
q whole churning of butter. Mr.. Fitch spoke
of the different ways Of setting the milk ;
has had little experience with deep setting,
but has become satisfied that when the tenn
perature can DO kept right, ho makes more
butter by the old way than by the deep set
ting but in very warm weather, when IL is
impossible to keep the milk cool enough in
the open pans there is an advantage in using
the cans that can be submerged in ice water
and it is less work for the women, which ID q
point gained. He had found by inquirng
that others had had the same experience He
would take of the cream before the milk
sours and churn as often rs once in three or
| four days, especially in warm weather. He
uses the Blanchard churn, which gives good
satisfaction thinks there is more humbug in
churns than any other ono thing. Would
| have tho temperature about G2' in summer
and ca in winter. After churning, the but
ter must be handled with care some women
can handle it with their hands without inju.
! ry, while others hands will spoil it. He
thinks the handling of butter is as much of
| an art and requires as much skill as to play
the piano, though q different kind Of skill
| Some will handle it and rub tho top in the
| package until il will be oily and look greasy
and the butter will be spoilt. When the but
! ter is made and packed ready for market it
should go there and not stand around until il
| is spoiled. Would send it to market as Of
ten as every two weeks. Would find q mar
ket if possible with the consumer, and in that
way can get good price for it and the con-
sumner will get a good article. Thought we
ought not to keep COW that will not make
| $50 lbs, of butter in year. He related an
experiment in feeding meal had five COWS
that he fed 20 cents worth Of meal per day
and sold $l.5O of butter per day besides
what was used in the family thought we got
profit from the meal aside from the butter,
as we have much better cows in the spring.
Mr.. Fitch thought we ought to get at least 2,
cts. per Id. for our butter at the door through
the year.
j. II. Stowe thought the Channel Island
cows could not make any more, il as much
butter as the grade Durhams. He spoke OF
a relative that kept a very large dairy and
sold his butter for a fancy price at one time
be kept all Jerseys but has changed to grade
Durhams and gets as much for his butter a.
before; we must feed meal to make good but
ter in winter; can make good in summer
without meal the grade Durhams will make
more butter than Jerseys, but perhaps not
quite as good quality by keeping Jerseys
we lose more in quality of stock than we gair
in quality of butter. Mr.. Stowe is not very
much in favor of the deep setting. It may b,
less work for the women but it is more fol
the men. There is about so much work tC
be done by somebody.
E. c. Boyd thought that a COW that woulC
not mako 200 pounds of butter in yea
ought to go to the butcher; said we offer
read of COWS that made 500, 600 and even a
high as 500 pounds in u year, and he know
no reason why herd could not be made Il
do as we'll Grass and hay must be the bas
Of our feed was not sure we can afford tc
feed meal did not think that we ought Il
make butter that is worth from 40 to I,
cents and sell it for % cents. That doesn'
pay. He raises corn fodder for his COWS il
fall and fore part of winter has had good
success raising corn for fodder by selecting
good corn ground, spreading on a good Goa
OF manure snd turning it under, then puttin
on another coat and narrowing, then putting
a spoonful of phosphate in the hill. II
makes his hills S to 20 inches apart, s to Il
kernels in the hill wants it to have room 81
the ears will form perfectly and get larg
enough to boil prefers the sweet corn t,
any other kind plants an early and a lat
variety so as to have it last as long as posi-
BILE. Mr.. Boyd thinks it pays him best t.
make butter in winter and let his COWS q
dry in the hottest weather when il is almos
impossible to make good butter; would hav
his cows como in about the first of Septen
Der. About Wilmington making poor butter
he said he knows that some of the diaries il
the town have sold in market for the past tw
years for from 50 to 30 cents por pound, 81
he thinks that it passes for very good butter
j. M. Bassett said that the quality of tn
butter depends very much on the feed.
we feed poor hay we can't expect very goo
results can't make good butter from poo
feed thought We could afford to feed meG
to our COWS even at the prices We have to pa
for it here. He bought some cows this wiz
ter that had been fed nothing but hay tn
cream was very thin and white thought
had got badly cheated but he commence
to feed meal and in one week he had yer
thick and yellow cream on the milk
thought not all the pay ia got in the milk
cows are better and the calves are better.
pays in many ways; pays we'll to feed well
woman gets credit for making poor butter
Has not had much experience with the JeI
seys, but thought the Durhams we're best fc
us to keep; thought they would make nearl
as much butter; the calves are better and tn
cattle worth much more.
G.. W. Convey said that to make good butte
we must have good grade of cows and goo
feed prefers the grade Durhams to the Jel
. seys with the same feed thought they woul
makj more pounds of butter prefers tn
open pans for setting milk in preference
the deep setting.
N. D. Mann thought it very necessary thl
we have good pastures, and also that tn
: cows have warm water in winter. Cows d
! much better when they can drink from
warm spring than they will when obliged
Z drink ice water. They will not give dow
their milk after drinking very cold water VI
til they have stood and got thoroughly warm
cd, and they will not drink as much as whe
a they can have it warm, but will cat more la
and not do as WELL
There was much more said on the subje
than your correspondent has written, but "
. have endeavorod to give the principal point,
a 1t was a very interesting and instructive di
a cussion, and one which every farmer in tow
a ought to have heard, and we think there
no one so far advanced In the art but
L. Il