Year: 1873


A Paper read before the Farmers Meeting OF


the Board OF Agriculture, at Worthwhile,


Jan. Al, by G.. +. Small, ESQ. :, of M orristown.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen


In accepting an invitation to write short
paper to read before this meeting, | beg
leave to say, in the outset, that | do not
expect to be able to instruct this honorable
Board, or these intelligen: farmers, in any
branch of farming, nevertheless l will, for
the sake Of eliciting discussion, offer a few
thoughts and suggestions on the subject of
" Butter Making"


As butter is one of the great staples of
the State of Vermont, and in the mauufac-
ture of which the larger portion of the farm
ers Of the State are engaged, it cannot be
amiss for us to discuss this subject in a
meeting like this My object in offering
these remarks will not be to point out any
particular form Of munipulations to 90
through with in making butter, but to try
and show my brother farmers the necessity
and utility Of raising the standard Of butter
in our State. Vermont, as state, is espe-
cially adapted to butter making Her green
hills, her fertile valleys, her pure water and
her moderate temperature, are advantages of
which no other state can boast. We cannot to
any great extent compete with the Western
States in raising beef, pork, wool or any kind
of grain, and we are not going to be able to
compete with those states much longer in
making butter, unless we succeed in making
and sending to market an article far superior
to what we are now sending,-I mean the
great mass of it. We find, on examining the
market reports from week to week, that
the best western butter is quoted at but
Iour cents on pound less than fine Vermont
and New York butter. The western farmer
can as well afford to sell his butter at 20
cents a pound, as the eastern farmer can for
thirty or thirty-fve cents. Now we can
readily see that we must raise the standard
Of our butter so high that the western dair-
rymen cannot attain to it, and the question
is how shall we do it? Let every person who
makes butter to sell inform himself on the
best modes Of butter making and try exper-
iments and note the results. Let him adopt
the system which those dairymen have who
obtained the highest prices for their dairy
products, aud we soon shall see a very great
improvement in the butter of our State. In
the first place we should obtain the very best
dairy stock, and keep no more COWS than we
can afford to keep we'll. Many farmers are
in the habit Of keeping twenty cows for in
stance, when, in fact, they could make more
butter from twelve COWS on the same feed.
1t takes about so much feed to keep the COW
in thriving condition, and all beyond this
goes TO produce milk, and | contend that the
milk of the COW in good condition, is richer
in quality than the milk Of the COW in poor
condition, Many persons think that COW
is COW any way. We will suppose that
there are two COWS for sale the one is an
ordinary COW and is offered for $40, and the
other, an extra cow is offered for $40, both
of same age, and the first one will make on
an average 1876 pounds butter in one year,
aud at the price of thirty cents per pound
would amount TO the sum of S37 80, and the
other COW will make $50 pounds in the same
time, which at 30 cents per pound would be
$40, double the amount of the first. Now
suppose it costs $50 year to keep COW,
(which think is fair estimate,) it will
leave only $3.50 for making aud taking care
of the butter, &C., of the first named COW,
whereas you will have S45 left of the income
of the last named COW after deducting keep
ing, leaving balance in favor of the good
COW Of $3.50 Now which of these COWS
is the cheapest for any one to buy, the or