Our Farm of Four Acres and the Money we Made by it Part 2

This, in the winter, was effected by bringing the cream-pot into the kitchen over night, and if the weather was very cold, placing it on a chair a moderate distance from the fire for about a quarter of an hour in the morning: boiling water was likewise put into the churn for half an hour before it was used.

Now, no doubt, a regular dairymaid would "turn up her nose" at all these details; but I do not write for those who know their business, but for the benefit of those ladies who, as is now so much the custom, reside a few miles from the city or town in which the business or profession their husbands may be situated. In many cases they take with them town-bred servants to a country residence; and then, like ourselves, find they know nothing whatever of the duties required of them. To those who have several acres of pasture land, of course this little book is all "bosh." They employ servants who know their work and perform it properly; but most "suburbans" require the cook to undertake the duties of the dairy, and unless they are regular country servants they neither do their work well nor willingly. If any lady who has one or two cows will instruct her servant to follow our directions, she will always be sure of good b.u.t.ter, with very little trouble. All that is required is a churn, milk-pans (at the rate of three to each cow), a milk-pail, a board (or, better still, a piece of marble), to make the b.u.t.ter up on, a couple of b.u.t.ter-boards, such as are used in the shops to roll it into form, and a crock for the cream.

In the next chapter we will give, as concisely as we can, the whole process that we ourselves used in our dairy.

CHAPTER IV.

HOW TO MAKE b.u.t.tER.

Let the cream be at the temperature of 55' to 60'; if the weather is cold, put boiling water into the churn for half an hour before you want to use it: when that is poured off, strain in the cream through a b.u.t.ter-cloth. When the b.u.t.ter is coming, which is easily ascertained by the sound, take off the lid, and with one of the flat boards sc.r.a.pe down the sides of the churn; and do the same to the lid: this prevents waste. When the b.u.t.ter is come, the b.u.t.termilk is to be poured off and spring-water put in the churn, and turned for two or three minutes: this is to be then poured away, and fresh added, and again the handle turned for a minute or two. Should there be the least appearance of milkiness when this is poured from the churn, more is to be put. This we found was a much better mode of extracting all the b.u.t.termilk than placing it in a pan under the pump, as we did when we commenced our labors. The b.u.t.ter is then to be placed on the board or marble, and salted to taste; then, with a cream-cloth, wrung out of spring-water, press all the moisture from it. When it appears quite dry and firm, make it up into rolls with the flat boards. The whole process should be completed in three-quarters of an hour.

We always used a large tub which was made for the purpose, and every article we were going to use was soaked in it for half an hour in boiling water; then that removed, and cold spring-water subst.i.tuted; and the things we required remained in it till they were wanted. This prevents the b.u.t.ter form adhering to the boards, cloth, &c., which would render the task of "making it up" both difficult and disagreeable.

In hot weather, instead of bringing the cream-crock into the kitchen it must be kept as cool as possible; for as it is essential in the winter to raise the temperature of the cream to the degree I have stated, so in the summer it must be lowered to it. Should your dairy not be cool enough for the purpose, it is best effected by keeping the cream-pot in water as cold as you can procure it, and by making the b.u.t.ter early in the morning, and placing cold water in the churn some time before it is used. By following these directions you will have good b.u.t.ter throughout the year.

The cows should be milked as near the diary as possible, as it prevents the cream from rising well if the milk is carried any distance.* [In very cold weather the milk-pans must be placed by the fire some time before the milk is strained into them, or the cream will not rise.] It should be at once strained into the milk-pans, and not disturbed for forty-eight hours in winter, and twenty-four in summer. In hot weather it is highly important that the cream should be perfectly strained from the milk, or it will make it very rank. Half a dozen moderate-sized lumps of sugar to every two quarts of cream tend to keep it sweet. In summer always churn twice a week. Some persons imagine that cream cannot be "too sweet," but that is a mistake; it must have a certain degree of acidity, or it will not produce b.u.t.ter, and if put into the churn without it, must be beaten with the paddles till it acquires it. The cream should, in the summer, be s.h.i.+fted each morning into a clean crock, that has first been well scalded and then soaked in cold water; and the same rule applies to all the utensils used in a dairy. The best things to scrub the churn and all wooden articles with, are wood ashes and plenty of soap.

In some parts of the country, the b.u.t.ter made by the farmers' wives for sale is not washed at all; they say, "It washes all the taste away." They remove it from the churn, and then taking it in their hands, dash it repeatedly on the board; that is what they call "smiting" it. The b.u.t.ter so made is always strong, and of two colors, as a portion of the b.u.t.termilk remains in it: if any of it were put into a cup, and that placed in hot water, for the purpose clarifying, there would, when it was melted, be found a large deposit of b.u.t.termilk at the bottom of the cup. We have tried the b.u.t.ter made our way, and there was scarcely any residuum.

Besides, this "smiting" is a most disgusting process to witness. In warm weather the b.u.t.ter adheres to the hands of the "smiter," who puffs and blows over it as if it were very hard work. Indeed, I once heard a strong-looking girl; daughter of a small farmer in Kent, say she was never well, for "smiting" the b.u.t.ter was such dreadful hard work it gave her a pain in her side. After this "smiting" is over, it is put on a b.u.t.ter-print, and pressed with the hands till it is considered to have received the impression. It is then, through a small hole in the handle, blown off the print with the _mouth_.

I don't think I shall ever again eat b.u.t.ter which appears at table with the figures of cows, flowers, &c., stamped on it. I should always think of the process it has gone through for the sake of looking pretty. Nearly all the fresh b.u.t.ter which is sold in London is made up in large rolls, and, like that we make ourselves, need not be touched by the fingers of the maker.

CHAPTER V.

WHAT WE MADE BY OUR COWS.

Every week we kept an account of the milk and b.u.t.ter we consumed, and entered it in our housekeeping-book at the price we should have paid for it, supposing we had purchased the articles. We did not put down London prices, but country ones: thus, we charged ourselves with milk at 6 cents the quart, and b.u.t.ter 27 cents the pound; at the end of six months we made up our accounts, and found we should have paid for milk from the 14th to the 24th of January, $44, and $66 for b.u.t.ter. The food for the cows during this period cost us but $4 50, which we paid for oil-cake, of which, when the weather became cold, they had two pounds each daily. We do not reckon the value of the hay they consumed during winter, because we included the land in our rent. We mowed three acres, which produced rather more than six loads of hay.* [We always had good crops, as the land had been always well kept. It was not "upland" hay, but our man said it had good "heart" in it for the cows.] Getting in the crop and thatching it cost, as nearly as possible, $15, and this quant.i.ty was quite sufficient to supply the two cows--with the calf of the Strawberry, which we reared--and the pony.

An acre of gra.s.s is usually considered sufficient to support a cow during the year. If that had to be rented apart from the house, the average price would be about $25. Supposing we place that value on our land, the accounts for six months would stand thus:

EXPENSES.

Land at $25 the acre, for half a year, . . . . . . . . . $25 00 Oil-cake, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 50 Half the expense of getting the hay, . . . . . . . . . . 7 50 $37 00 PRODUCE.

Value of milk and b.u.t.ter, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $116 50 Leaving a balance in our favor, at the end of six months of $79 50.

At the commencement of the winter, a cow-keeper in the neighborhood told our man that we should give our cows a little mangel-wurzel. We inquired, Why? and were told that we should "keep our cows better together;" so we paid a guinea for a ton of that vegetable. The first time we made b.u.t.ter after they had been fed with it, we found it had a very strong, bitter taste. Still, we did not condemn the mangel-wurzel, but tried it another week. The b.u.t.ter was again bad, so we abandoned the roots, and resolved to give the animals nothing but hay.

When they were quite deprived of green food the milk began to decrease; and as we had heard that oil-cake was given to cattle, we thought we would try some. We did so, and with complete success; we had plenty of milk, and the b.u.t.ter was as good as in the middle of summer, and nearly as fine a color. We did not make so much as when the cows had plenty of gra.s.s,--besides, it was now several months since the black cow had calved,--but we had sufficient for the consumption of the family. The children, it is true, did not have so many tarts as when the fruit and b.u.t.ter were more plentiful.

We hope that we have made all our statements clearly, and that the reader will have no difficulty in following us through this narrative of "b.u.t.termaking."

Of one thing we are quite sure, that it is false economy to feed cows during the winter on anything but what we have mentioned. Grains from the brewer and distiller are extensively used by cow-keepers in large towns, but they cannot be procured in the country; and we have been told that cows fed with grains, though they may yield plenty of milk, will not make much b.u.t.ter.

One winter, when hay was scarce, we found that they did very well with carrots occasionally, and that they did not impart any unpleasant taste to the b.u.t.ter. They are likewise found of potatoes unboiled; but these things are only required when you keep more stock than your land can support,--a fault very common to inexperienced farmers on a small scale.

CHAPTER VI.

OUR PIGS.

We had every reason to be satisfied with the profit we had derived from our dairy, and next proceeded to examine the accounts we had kept of our pigs for six months.

We commenced by purchasing, on the 14th of July, one for which we paid $7 50. For the first month it had nothing but the wash from the house, the skim-milk from the dairy, and greens from the garden. When we began to dig the potatoes, we found we could not hope to save the whole crop from the disease; we had, therefore, a quant.i.ty boiled and put in the pig-tub, and upon these it was fed another month. At the end of that time we began to give it a little meal and a few peas. It was killed three months after we had purchased it, and the cost for meal and peas was just $250. Thus, altogether, we paid for it $10, and when killed it weighed thirteen stone (182 pounds). This we reckoned worth $1 37 the stone, which made the value of the meat $17 87; we had, therefore, a clear profit of $7 87. Of course, it would have been very different had we bought all the food for it; but the skim-milk, and vegetables from the garden would have been wasted, had we been without a pig to consume them: as it was, the profit arose from our "farm of four acres."

These particulars are given for the reason that the writer has frequently heard her friends in the country say, "Oh, I never keep either pigs or poultry: the pork and the fowls always cost twice the price they can be purchased for." This we could never understand, when the despisers of home-cured hams and home-fed poultry used to a.s.sert it. Supposing there was no actual profit, still it seemed strange that those who had the option of eating pork fed on milk and vegetables, and fowls which were running about the meadows a few hours before they were killed, should prefer those which are kept in close confinement and crammed with candle-graves and other abominations, till they are considered what dealers call "ripe" enough to kill; and as for pork, much of that which is sold in towns is fed on the offal from the butchers' shops, and other filth. It is well known that pigs will eat anything in the shape of animal food; and for myself, I would much rather, like the Jew and the Turk, abjure it altogether, than partake of meat fed as pork too commonly is. How few people can eat this meat with impunity! but they might do so if the animal had been properly fed.

It is a great mistake to make pork so fat as it usually is: it is not only great waste, but deters many persons from partaking of it.

Servants will not eat it, and those who purchase it, as well as those who kill their own pigs, may be certain that the surplus fat finds its way into the "wash-tub," for the benefit of a future generation of "piggies."

Our next venture proved equally fortunate. We bought three small pigs, for which we gave $3 each; and as we wished to have pickled pork and small hams, they were killed off as we required them. The first cost $2 for barley-meal and peas, and weighed six stone, which, at $1 37 a stone, was worth $8 25. As the cost of the pig and the food came to just $5, we had a profit of $3 25; but we considered we had no right to complain: the meat was delicious, and partaken of by the children as freely as if it had been mutton.

We kept the other pigs somewhat longer, and they cost us no more for food; for, as I have already stated, they were entirely kept with the produce of our "four-acre farm," till about three weeks before they were killed. About a bushel and a half of barley meal and a peck of peas was all that was purchased for them.

The best way to ensure the healthy condition of the animals is to let them have the range of a small meadow; they should likewise be occasionally well scrubbed with soap and water. If they are thus treated, how much more wholesome must the meat be than when the poor creatures are shut up in dirty styes, and suffered to eat any garbage which is thrown to them! We always had all their food boiled. At first there was a great deal of opposition to the "muck" being introduced into the scullery; but in a little time that was overcome, and a "batch" of potatoes used to be boiled in the copper about once a month. When the skim-milk was removed from the dairy, it was taken to the "trough," and some of it mixed with a portion of the boiled potatoes, and with this food they were fed three times daily.

We have been told by a practical farmer on a larger scale, that when potatoes are not to be procured, a pig of thirty-five stone may be fattened in ten days on something less than two hundred weight of carrots. We intend to try if this is the case, and have half an acre of our orchard (which is arable) sown with carrot-seed, and feed our "stock" in the winter with the produce. With the surplus milk of two cows we find we can always keep three pigs with very little expense.

Of course, if we did not plant plenty of potatoes, we must purchase more meal for them; but as we have an acre of kitchen-garden, we can very well spare half of it to grow roots for the cows and pigs. We do not reckon labor in our expenses, as we must have had a gardener, even if we had not so much spare ground, for our flower-garden and greenhouse require daily work.

We hope we have convinced those who may think of having a "little place" a few miles from town, that it may be made a source of profit as well as of amus.e.m.e.nt, and that any trouble which may be experienced by the lady superintending her own dairy and farm will be repaid by having her table well supplied with good b.u.t.ter, plenty of fresh eggs, (of the poultry-yard we shall speak presently,) well-cured hams, bacon, delicate and fresh pork, well-fed ducks, and chickens. All those country dainties are easily to be procured on a "farm of four acres."

Nor must another item be omitted--health; for if you wish to be fortunate in your farming, you must look after things yourself, and that will necessitate constant exercise in the open air. We think that we have given full particulars for the management of the cow and pig.

In the next chapter we will relate our experience of the poultry-yard.

CHAPTER VII.

OUR POULTRY.

We commenced stocking our poultry-yard in July, by purchasing twenty-eight chickens and twenty ducks, for which we paid $16 58 in the market. Some of them were too young for the table at the time we purchased them, but were all consumed at the end of four months, with the exception of seven hens and a c.o.c.k, which we saved for "stock."

Thus in the time I have mentioned we killed ten couple of ducks, and the same of fowls. These we entered in our housekeeping expenses at $1 37 a couple, though they were larger and better than could have been purchased in a London shop for $1 75.

We must now proceed to reckon what they cost for food, and then see if any balance remained in our favor. They consumed during the time they were getting in order for the table, three bushels of barley, at $1 25 the bushel, one bushel of meal at the same price, and one hundred weight of what is called "chicken rice," at $3 00.

The cost of the barley and meal was, . . . . $5 00 Rice, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 00 Cost of poultry, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 58

Making the total price, $24 58 Ten couple of ducks, and the same number of chickens, would amount to, $27 50

Thus, at the first sight, it would appear that we gained but $2 92 by four months' trouble in attending to our fowl-yard; but we have now to take from the purchase money the value of the eight we saved for stock, and likewise to deduct from the barley and rice the quant.i.ty consumed by them in the four months. Now these eight were large fowls when bought, and well worth 50 cents each. We must allow for their food at least a fourth part of that consumed. We have then to take off $4 00 from the first cost of the poultry, and $2 00 from the value of the food, which will add $6 00 to the $2 92, leaving on the whole transaction a profit of $8 92.

We have still another small item to add. One of the hens we saved began to lay in the middle of September, and by the time the four months were expired had given us two dozen eggs, which at that time of year, even in the country, were not to be procured under 37 cents the dozen; so that we have to add 75 cents to $8 92, making a clear profit in four months of $9 67.

It was a source of great amus.e.m.e.nt to ourselves, as well as to the children, by whom it was always considered a treat to run in the meadows, with barley in their little baskets, to the "coobiddies."

When we first had the poultry we kept them in the stable-yard; but we soon found they did not thrive: they had been taken from a farm where they had the free range of the fields, and drooped in confinement, and from want of the gra.s.s and worms which they had been accustomed to feed on. We had a house constructed for them in the meadow nearest the house, and soon found that they throve much better, and did not require so much food. We had no trouble with them, except in seeing that the house was cleaned out daily. Through the fields flowed a stream of clean water, consequently our ducks throve well. The bushel of meal which figures in our accounts was for them; they used to have a little mixed in hot water once a day. We soon left it off, for we found the rice boiled in skim-milk was equally good for them, and much cheaper.

Poultry of all kinds are very fond of "sc.r.a.ps;" the children were always told to cut up pieces of potatoes, greens, or meat, which they might leave on their plates at the nursery dinner; and when they were removed to the kitchen, they were collected together and put into the rice-bowl for the chickens. We always fed them three times daily: in the morning with rice, in the middle of the day with "sc.r.a.ps," and in the evening they had just as much barley thrown to them as they cared to pick up eagerly.