The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1896-11-17
CLINGING TO OLD BITS.

90 entirely die. Relics Of habits which
are supposed to have disappeared are
to be Ound here and there just below
the surface or in some out of, the way
place, and-if anywhere in this coun
try-it is in rural districts that this
sort of thing holds true. IT there is one
characteristic more obvious than others
in the typical British farmer, it is
tenacity Of habit and Of purpose. In
this he is sublime! And herein may
be sought and found the reason why
old customs die slowly, and why it is
that there is some d fficulty in finding
much fault with them. And, after all,
this very t9nacity Of purpose is one of
the finest principles which the mind is
capable Of exercising in times of diff
Guilty and depression. such as these
through which We are passing now.
The stay ing power" OF our farmers is
phencmsnally great, as everybody vii;
admit who is in a position to form al
opinion on the subject, and therefore i
occurs that they cling to old customs
with all the tenacity of people whose
vocabulary does not contain the word
capitulate. Take, for instance, the in
dustries Of cheese making and butter
making. Here We find marked and
important departments of work in
which old customs die slowly. In
stances are not at all difficult to find
where individual dairy farmers have
adopted modern ideas of reform, whilst
the bulk have made no ch8ng9. The
cream separator has been q revelation
to dairy ers; and many OF the young
ones-a few of the older ones too-have
not hesitated to secure to themselves
whatever advantages this benefcent
| instrument in the dairy was calculated
to confer. In course of time, no doubt,
the separator will become universal,
and the old customs which preceded it
will only be found as relics here and
there. But the use OF the separator in
private or individual dairies, great i'm
provement, as it undoubtedly is over
the old time skimming dish, does not
/ A41A A&A bAO "4AOAO R4Cso4 VI 4OAO4 IA
in the domain of butter making, so far,
at all events as the rank and file of but
ter, making dairyers are concerned.
There are plenty Of people who still
cling to the idea of home dairying, and
strongly advocate it, in reference to
cheese IS well as to butter, and, go far
as the tip top private dairies are con
cerned, we may freely confess TO a cor
responding preference indeed, as
we would prefer the grand homo brewed
ale that was occasionally met with in
Olden times, to any other kind we have
ever since tasted. But it must be ad
mitted IN the case of home made butter,
as in that Of home brewed beer, that
first cIess examples Of the latter were
and of the former are, merely repre-
sentative Of small minOrities, and can
not for q moment be admitted to an
important numerical position. All the
same, however, we shall all be reluct
ant to witness the extinction Of all
private dairy ing-that is to say, such
portion Of it as may be conside cred tip
| top.
Bat a great transformation in dairy
! ing practices is now we'll under way,
and may be said to have already &C
c0mplianed very considerable results
In other countries, notably in Denmark
and Germany, it has made greater prog,
ress than with us, and, indeed, has been
forwarded all the time since the reform
Of dairying began in real earnest and
on comprehensive lines. The whole
sum and substance Of this modern
stream of tendency may be said to be
inclined in the formula of associated
dairying;" and although the reforms,
which are part and parcel Of the ten
dency are not by any means necessar
lily incompatible with private or indi
vidual dairying, they still fad their
most effective expression in collective
efforts. This Ias5, indeed, is the dairy
revelation Of the period in which we
live, and nothing like unto it has ever
before transpired, or was ever before
feasible. We can well afford to give
all countenauce to the highest examples
of private dairying, though at the same
time we cannot abate any part of our
claim that associated dairying is the
true policy for almost all others in
which cheese or butter, one or both,
are made. But these ''others" any
case, large proportion of them in this
country-cling to the old customs with