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diff --git a/11555-0.txt b/11555-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..807c787 --- /dev/null +++ b/11555-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2498 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11555 *** + +This etext was produced by Jared Fuller. + + + + + + +OUR FARM OF FOUR ACRES AND THE MONEY WE MADE BY IT. + +Miss Coulton + +_From the Twelfth London Edition._ + +WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY +PETER B. MEAD, +EDITOR OF THE HORTICULTURIST. + +1860 + + + + +Preface to the Twelfth London Edition. + +This little volume has been received with so much favor, both by the +public and the press, that I cannot refrain from expressing my +gratitude for the kind treatment I have experienced. From many of the +criticisms which have appeared respecting "Our Farm of Four Acres," I +have received not only complimentary remarks, but likewise some useful +hints on the subjects of which I have written. With the praise comes +some little censure; and I am charged by more than one friendly critic +with stupidity for not ordering the legs of our first cow to be +strapped, which would, they consider, have prevented both milk and +milker from being knocked over. Now this was done, but the animal had +a way of knocking the man and pail down with her side; every means was +tried, but nothing succeeded till her calf was parted with. We have +been asked whether we had to keep gates, hedges, &c., in repair, or +whether it was done at the expense of the landlord. As far as regarded +the gates and buildings, that gentleman was bound by agreement to keep +them in order, and as for hedges we have none. A stream runs round the +meadows, and forms the boundary of our small domain. Since our little +work was written we have had nearly eighteen months' further +experience, and have as much reason now as then to be satisfied with +the profits we receive from our four acres. I must add a few words +concerning our butter-making. Some doubts have been expressed relative +to our power of churning for four hours at a time. Now it certainly +was not pleasant, but it was not the hard work that some people +imagine: fatiguing certainly; but then H. and myself took it, as +children say, "turn and turn about." We did not entrust the churn to +Tom, because he was liable to be called away to perform some of his +many duties. Had we not had the toil, we should not have acquired the +knowledge which now enables us to complete our work in three-quarters +of an hour. We have been pitied for being always employed, and told +that we can never know the luxury of leisure. We answer this remark +with the words of "Poor Richard," that "leisure is the time for doing +something useful." + +INTRODUCTION +TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. + +This little volume will possess rare interest for all who own a +"four-acre farm," or, indeed, a farm of any number of acres. Its chief +value to the American reader does not consist in its details of +practice, but in the enunciation and demonstration of certain +principles of domestic economy of universal application. The practice +of terra-culture must be varied to meet the different conditions of +soil and climate under which it is pursued; but sound general +principles hold good everywhere, and only need the exercise of +ordinary judgment and common sense for their application to our own +wants. This is now better understood than heretofore, and hence we are +better prepared to profit by draughts from the fount of universal +knowledge. We would not be understood as intimating, however, that +only the general principles set forth in this little book are of value +to us; the details of making butter and bread, feeding stock, etc., +are just as useful to us as to the English reader. The two chapters on +making butter and bread are admirable in their way, and alone are +worth the price of the book. So, too, of domestics and their +management; we have to go through pretty much the same vexations, +probably a little intensified, as there is among us a more rampant +spirit of independence on the part of servants; but many of these +vexations may be avoided, we have no doubt, by following the +suggestion of our author, of procuring "country help" for the country. +Domestics accustomed to city life not only lack the requisite +knowledge, but are unwilling to learn, and will not readily adapt +themselves to the circumstances in which they are placed; in fact, the +majority of them "know too much," and are altogether too impatient of +control. A woman, however, must be mistress in her own house; this is +indispensable to economy and comfort; and the plan adopted by our +author will often secure this when all others fail. + +We have not deemed it advisable to add anything in the way of notes; +we have made a few alterations in the text to adapt it better to the +wants of the American reader, and for the same reason we have altered +the English currency to our own. In other respects the work remains +intact. In some works of this kind notes would have been +indispensable, but in the present case we have thought we could safely +trust to the judgment of the reader to appropriate and adapt the +general principles set forth, leaving the application of details to +the shrewdness and strong common sense characteristic of the American +mind. The object of the work is rather to demonstrate a general +principle than to furnish all the minutiae of practice, though enough +of these are given to serve the purpose of illustration. The American +reader will not fail, of course, to make due allowance for the +difference of rent, prices, etc., between this country and England, +and the matter of adaptation then becomes a very simple affair. + +In conclusion we present the work as a model in style. It is written +with a degree of simplicity which makes it readily understood, and is +a fine specimen of good old Anglo-Saxon. Portions of it are fully as +interesting as a romance. It is written by a lady, which fact gives it +an additional interest and value as a contribution to the economy of +country life, in which it may be admitted that women are our masters. +The incidents connected that women are our masters. The incidents +connected with hiring "our farm of four acres" are related in a +life-like manner, and will be appreciated by our own May-day hunting +country-women, who, we trust, will also appreciate the many important +facts set forth in this little volume, which we heartily commend to +them and to all others, with the wish that it may be as useful and +popular as it has been at home. + + P.B.M. + + +CHAP. +I.--WHERE SHALL WE LIVE? +II.--OUR FIRST DIFFICULTY. +III.--OUR SECOND COW. +IV--HOW TO MAKE BUTTER. +V.--WHAT WE MADE BY OUR COWS. +VI.--OUR PIGS. +VII.--OUR POULTRY. +VIII.--OUR LOSSES. +IX.--OUR PIGEONS. +X.--HOW WE CURED OUR HAMS. +XI.--OUR BREAD. +XII.--OUR KITCHEN-GARDEN. +XIII--THE MONEY WE MADE. +XIV.--THE NEXT SIX MONTHS. +XV.--OUR PONY. +XVL.--CONCLUSION. + + + + +OUR FARM OF FOUR ACRES. + + +CHAPTER I. + +WHERE SHALL WE LIVE? + +"Where shall we live?" That was a question asked by the sister of the +writer, when it became necessary to leave London, and break up a once +happy home, rendered desolate sudden bereavement. + +"Ah! Where, indeed?" was the answer. "Where can we hope to find a +house which will be suitable for ourselves, six children, and a small +income?" + +"Oh," answered H., "there can be no difficulty about that. Send for +the 'Times' and we shall find dozens of places that will do for us." +So that mighty organ of information was procured, and its columns +eagerly searched. + +"But," said I, "what sort of place do we really mean to take?" + +"That," replied H., "is soon settled. We must have a good-sized +dining-room, small drawing-room, and a breakfast-room, which may be +converted into a school-room. It must have a nursery and five good +bed-chambers, a chaise-house, and stable for the pony and carriage, a +large garden, and three or four acres of land, for we must keep a cow. +It must not be more than eight miles from 'town,' or two from a +station; it must be in a good neighborhood, and it must--" + +"Stop! Stop!" cried I; "how much do you intend to give a-year for all +these conveniences:" + +"How much?" Why, I should say we ought not to give more than $250." + +"We ought not," said I, gravely, "but I greatly fear we shall for that +amount have to put up with a far inferior home to the one you +contemplate. But come, let us answer a few of these advertisements; +some of them depict the very place you wish for." + +So after selecting those which, when they had described in bright +colors the houses to be let, added, "Terms very moderate," we +"presented compliments" to Messrs. A., B., C., D., and in due time +received cards to view the "desirable country residences" we had +written about. But our hopes of becoming the fortunate occupants of +any one of those charming abodes were soon dashed to the ground; for +with the cards came the terms; and we found that a "very moderate +rental" meant from $600 to $750 per annum. We looked at each other +rather ruefully; and the ungenerous remark of "I told you so" rose to +my lips. However, I did not give it utterance, but substituted the +words, "Never mind, let us send for another 'Times,' and only answer +those advertisements which state plainly the rent required." This time +we enlarged our ideas on the subjects of rent and distance, and +resolved that if that beautiful place _near_ Esher would suit us, we +would not mind giving $300 a-year for it. + +In a few days arrived answers to our last inquiries. We fixed on the +one which appeared the most eligible, but were a little dismayed to +find that "near Esher" meant six miles from the station. + +"Never mind," said H., resolutely, "the pony can take us to it in fine +weather, and in winter we must not want to go to London." + +We started the next morning by rail, and found the "Cottage" almost as +pretty as it had appeared on paper. But, alas! it been let the day +previous to our arrival, and we had to return to town minus five +dollars for our expenses. + +The next day, nothing daunted,--indeed, rather encouraged by finding +the house we had seen really equal to our expectations,--we set off to +view another "villa," which, from the particulars we had received from +the agent, appeared quite as attractive. This time we found the place +tenantless; and, as far as we were concerned, it would certainly +remain so. It had been represented as a "highly-desirable country +residence, and quite ready for the reception of a family of +respectability." It was dignified with the appellation of "Middlesex +Hall," and we were rather surprised when we found that this +high-sounding name signified a mean-looking place close to the road; +and when the door was opened for our admission, that we stepped at +once from the small front court into the drawing-room, from which a +door opened into a stone kitchen. The rest of the accommodation +corresponded with this primitive mode of entrance; the whole place was +in what is commonly called a "tumble-down" condition: there was +certainly plenty of garden, and two large meadows, but, like the rest +of the place, they were sadly out of order. When we said it was not at +all the house we had expected to find from reading the advertisement, +we asked what sort of house we expected to get for $300 with five +acres of land. Now that was a question we could not have answered had +we not seen the pretty cottage with nearly as much ground at Esher; +however, we did not give the owner the benefit of our experience, but +merely said that the house would not suit us, and drove back four +miles to the station, rather out of spirits with the result of our +day's work. + +For more than a fortnight did we daily set forth on this voyage of +discovery. One day we started with a card to view "a delightful +Cottage Ornee, situated four miles from Weybridge;" this time the rent +was still higher than any we had previously seen. When we arrived at +the village in which the house was represented to be, we asked for +"Heathfield House," and were told that no one knew of any residence +bearing that name; we were a little perplexed, and consulted the card +of admittance to see whether we had brought the wrong one--but no; +there it was, "Heathfield House," four miles from Weybridge, +surrounded by its own grounds of four acres, tastefully laid out in +lawn, flower and kitchen-gardens, &c, &c. Rent only $350. We began to +imagine that we were the victims of some hoax, and were just on the +point of telling the driver to return to the station, when a +dirty-looking man came to the carriage, and said, "Are you looking for +Heathfield House?" + +"Yes," said we. + +"Well, I'll show it to you." + +"Is it far?" we asked; as no sign of a decent habitation was to be +seen near us. + +"No; just over the way," was the answer. + +We looked in the direction he indicated, and saw a "brick carcase: +standing on a bare, heath piece of ground, without enclosure of any +kind. + +"That!" cried we; "it is impossible that can be the place we came to +see!" + +"Have you got a card from Mr.--?" was the query addressed to us. + +"Yes," was the reply. + +"Very well; then if you will get out I'll show it to you." + +As we had come so far we thought we might as well finish the +adventure, and accordingly followed our guide over the piece of rough +muddy ground which led to the brick walls before us. We found them on +a neared inspection quite as empty as they appeared from the road; +neither doors nor windows were placed in them, and the staircases were +not properly fixed. It was with much trouble we succeeded in reaching +the floor where the bed-chambers were to be, and found that not even +the boards were laid down. We told our conductor, that the place would +not suit us, as we were compelled to remove from our present residence +in three weeks. + +"Well, if that's all that hinders your taking it, I'll engage to get +it all ready in that time." + +"What! get the staircases fixed, the doors and windows put in, the +walls papered and painted?" + +"Yes," was answered, in a confident tone, which expressed indignation +at the doubt we had implied. + +We then ventured to say, that, "Allowing he could get the house ready +by the time we required to move, we saw no sign of the coach-house and +stable, lawn or flower-garden, kitchen or meadow." + +"As for the coach-house and stable," said the showman, "I can get your +horses put up in the village." + +We hastened to disclaim the _horses_, and humbly confessed that our +stud consisted of one pony only. + +"The less reason to be in a hurry for the stable, for you can put one +pony anywhere; and as for the lawn and gardens, they will be laid out +when the house is let; and the heath will be levelled and sown for a +meadow, and anything else done for a good tenant that is in reason." + +We were likewise assured that wonders had been done already, for that +four months ago the ground was covered with furze. We got rid of our +talkative friend with the promise that we would "think of it;" and +indeed, we _did_ think, that Mr.--, who was a very respectable +house-agent, ought to ascertain what sort of places were place in his +hands before he sent people on such profitless journeys. The expense +attending this one amounted to nearly eight dollars. + +Another week as passed in a similar manner, in going distances varying +from ten to twenty-five miles daily in pursuit of houses which we were +induced to think must suit us, but when seen proved as deceptive a +those I have mentioned. We gained nothing by our travels but the loss +of time, money, and hope. At last the idea entered our heads of going +to some of the house-agents, and looking over their books. + +Our first essay was at the office of Mr. A. B., in Bond street. "Have +you any houses to let at such a distance from town, with such a +quantity of land, such a number of rooms?" &c. + +"Oh, yes madam," said the smiling clerk, and immediately opened a +large ledger; "what rent do you propose giving?" + +"From $250 to $350 yearly," answered we, and felt how respectable we +must appear in the opinion of the smart gentleman whom we addressed; +how great then was our surprise when he closed his large volume with a +crash, and with a look of supreme contempt said, "_We_ have nothing of +that kind in _our_ books." To use one of Fanny Kemble's expressions, +"we felt mean," and left the office of this aristocratical house-agent +half ashamed of our humble fortunes. + +I fear I should tire the patience of the reader, did I detail all our +"adventures in search of a house," but we must entreat indulgence for +our last journey. We once more started on the South-Western line, to +see a house which, from the assurances we had received from the owner, +resident in London, must a last be _the_ house, and for which the rent +asked was $350; but once more were we doomed to disappointment by +finding that the "handsome dining and drawing-rooms" were two small +parlors, with doors opening into each other; and that "five excellent +bed-chambers" were three small rooms and two wretched attics. + +From the station to this place was four miles; and, as weary and +hopeless we were returning to it, it occurred to H. to ask the driver +if he knew of any houses to let in the vicinity. He considered, then +said he only knew of one, which had been vacant some time, and that +parties who had been to see it would not take it because it was +situated in a bad neighborhood. + +At the commencement of our search that would have been quite +sufficient to have deterred us from looking at it, but we could not +now afford to be fastidious. Our own house was let, and move from it +we must in less than a fortnight; so we desired the driver to take us +into this bad neighborhood, and were rewarded for the additional +distance we travelled by finding an old-fashioned, but very convenient +house, with plenty of good-sized rooms in excellent repair, a very +pretty flower-garden, with greenhouse, good kitchen-garden of on acre, +an orchard of the same extent well stocked with fine fruit-trees, +three acres of good meadow-land, an excellent coach-house and +stabling, with houses for cows, pigs, and poultry, all in good order. + +The "bad neighborhood" was not so very bad. The cottages just outside +the gates were small, new buildings; and once inside, you saw nothing +but your own grounds. It possessed the advantage of being less than +two miles from a station, and not more than twelve from London. + +"This will do," we both exclaimed, "if the rent is not too high." + +We had been asked $600 for much inferior places; so that it was with +great anxiety we directed our civil driver to take us to the party who +had the disposal of the house. When there, we met with the welcome +intelligence, that house, gardens, orchard, meadows, and buildings, +were all included in a rental of $370 per annum. We concluded the +bargain there and then, and on that day fortnight took possession of +"Our Farm of Four Acres." + +Before we close this chapter, we will address a few words to such of +our readers as may entertain the idea that houses in the country may +be had "for next to nothing." We had repeatedly heard this asserted, +and when we resolved to give $300 a year, we thought that we should +have no difficulty in meeting with a respectable habitation for that +sum, large enough for our family and with the quantity of land we +required, as well as within a moderate distance of London. We have +already told the reader how fallacious we found this hope to be. +Houses within forty or fifty miles of London, in what are called "good +situations," are nearly, if not quite as high rented, as those in the +suburbs, and land worth quite as much. If at any time a "cheap place" +is to be met with, be quite sure that there is some drawback to +compensate for the low price. + +In our pilgrimages to empty houses, we frequently found some which +were low-rented, that is from $200 $250 per annum; but either they +were much smaller than we required, or dreadfully out of repair, or +else they were built "Cockney fashion," semi-detached, or, as was +frequently the case, situated in a locality which for some reason or +other was highly objectionable. We always found rents lower in +proportion to the distance from a station. + +We one day went to Beaconsfield to view a house, and had a fly from +Slough, a drive of several miles. The house was in the middle of the +town, large and convenient, with good garden and paddock; the whole +was offered us for $200 yearly; and we should have taken it, had it +not been in such a dismantled condition that the agent in whose hands +it was placed informed us that though he had orders to put it in +complete repair, he would not promise it would be fit for occupation +under several months. The office of this gentleman was next door to +Mr. A. B.'s, in Bond street; and we are bound to state, that though we +said that we did not wish to give more than $300, we were treated with +respect; and several offered us under these terms, though attended +with circumstances which prevented our availing ourselves of them. + +The house we at last found was not, as regarded situation, what we +liked; not because of the cottages close to the entrance, but for the +reason that there was no "view," but from the top windows; as far as +the lower part of the house was concerned, we might as well have been +in the Clapham Road. It is true we looked into gardens, front and +back, but that was all; and we had to go through two or three streets +of the little town in which we were located whenever we left the house +for a walk. Still we were, on the whole, well pleased with our new +home, and in the next chapter will tell the reader how we commenced a +life so different to that we had been accustomed to lead. + + +CHAPTER II. + +OUR FIRST DIFFICULTY. + +Once fairly settled in our new habitation, and all the important +affairs attending the necessary alterations of carpets, curtains, +etc., being nearly finished, we began to wonder what we were to do +with "Our Farm of Four Acres." That we must keep a cow was +acknowledged by both; and the first step to be taken was to buy one. +The small town in which our house was situated boasted of a market +weekly, and there we resolved to make the important purchase. +Accordingly, we sent our man-of-all-work to inspect those offered for +sale. Shortly he returned, accompanied by a small black cow, with a +calf a week old. We purchase these animals for $50; and it was very +amusing to see all the half-dozen children running into the +stable-yards, with their little cups to enjoy the first-fruits of +their country life. But what proved far more of a treat than the new +milk was the trouble of procuring it, for the cow proved a very +spiteful one, and knocked the unfortunate milker, with his pail, +"heels-over-head." AS he was not in the least hurt, the juveniles were +allowed to laugh as long as they pleased; but H. and myself looked +rather grave at the idea having the milk knocked down as soon as there +was about a quart in the pail. We were, therefore, greatly reassured +when told that "Madam Sukey" would be quiet and tractable as soon as +her calf was taken away. "Then why not take it at one?" said I; but +was informed that we must not deprive her of it for a week. However, I +am bound to confess that our first week's farming turned out badly, +for the cow would not be milked, quietly, and every morning we were +informed that two men were obliged to be called in to hold her while +she was milked. At the end of the week we sold the calf for five +dollars, and after a month the cow became on quite friendly terms with +her milker, and has proved ever since very profitable to our small +diary. + +We did not contemplate making butter with one cow, as we thought so +large a household would consume all the milk. Very soon, however, +"nurse" complained that "the milk was 'too rich' for the children; it +was not in the least like London milk; it must either be watered or +skimmed for the little ones: but she would rather have it skimmed." +That was done, and for a whole fortnight H. and myself used nothing +but cream in our tea and coffee. At first this was a great luxury, and +we said continually to each other, how delightful it was to have such +a dainty in profusion. Soon, like the children, we began to discover +it was "too good for us," and found that we liked plenty of new milk +much better for general use; besides, consume as much as we would, we +had still more than was wanted: so we invested fifteen dollars in a +churn and other requisites, and thought with great satisfaction of the +saving we should effect in our expenses by making our own butter. But +now arose a difficulty which had not previously occurred to us: Who +was to make it? Our domestic servants both declared that they could +not do so; and the elder one, who had been many years in the family, +was born and bred in London, and detested the country and everything +connected with it, gave her opinion in the most decided manner, that +there was quite enough "muck" in the house already, without making +more work with butter-making, which she said confidently, would only +be fit for the pig when it was made. Here was a pretty state of +things! What were we to do? must we give up all hope of eating our own +butter, and regard the money as lost which we had just expended for +the churn, etc.? After a few minutes' bewilderment, the idea occurred +to both of us at the same moment: "Cannot we make the butter, and be +independent of these household rebels?" + +"But," said I, dolefully, "we don't in the least know how to set about +it." + +"What of that?" replied H.: "where was the use of expending so much +money in books relative to a country life as you did before we left +town, if they are not to enlighten our ignorance on country matters? +But one thing is certain, we cannot make butter till we have learnt +_how_; so let us endeavor to obtain the requisite knowledge to do so +to-morrow." + +We accordingly devoted the remainder of the day to consulting the +various books on domestic and rural economy we had collected together +previous to leaving London. Greatly puzzled we were by them. On +referring to the subject ob butter-making, one authority said, "you +must never was the butter, but only knock it on a board, in order to +get the buttermilk from it." Another only told us to "well cleanse the +buttermilk from it," without giving us an idea how the process was to +be accomplished; while the far-famed Mrs. Rundle, in an article headed +"Dairy," tells the dairy-maid to "keep a book in which to enter the +amount of butter she makes," and gives butt little idea how the said +butter is to be procured. Another authority said, "after the butter is +come, cut it in pieces to take out cow-hairs;" this appeared to us the +oddest direction of all, for surely it was possible to remove them +from the cream before it was put into the churn. We were very much +dissatisfied with the amount of practical knowledge we gleaned from +our books; they seemed to us written for the benefit of those who +already were well acquainted with the management of a dairy, and +consequently of very little service to those who wished to acquire the +rudiments of the art of butter-making. + +The next morning we proceeded to make a trial, and the first thing we +did was to strain the cream through a loose fine cloth into the churn, +then taking the handle we began to turn it vigorously;* [Ninety times +in a minute is the proper speed with which the handle should be +turned.] the weather was hot, and after churning for more than an +hour, there seemed as little prospect of butter as when we commenced. +We stared at each other in blank amazement. Must we give it up? No; +that was not to be thought of. H. suddenly remembered, that somewhere +she had heard that in warm weather you should put the churn in cold +water. As ours was a box one, we did not see how we could manage this; +but the bright idea entered her head, that if we could not put the +water outside the churn we might _in_: so we pumped a quart of +spring-water into it and churned away with fresh hopes: nor were we +disappointed; in about a quarter of an hour we heard quite a different +sound as we turned the handle, which assured us that the cream had +undergone a change, and taking off the lid--(how many times had we +taken it off before!)--we saw what at that moment appeared the most +welcome sight in the world--some lumps of rich yellow butter. It was +but a small quantity, but there it was: the difficulty was overcome so +far. But now there arose the question of what we were to do with it in +order to clean if from the butter milk, for all our authorities +insisted on the necessity of this being done, though they did not +agree in the mode of doing it. One said, that "if it was washed, it +would not keep good, because water soon became putrid, and so would +the butter." We were told by another book, "that if it was _not_ +washed it would be of two colors, and dreadfully rank." We thought +that it would be easier not to wash it, and it was bad enough to +justify the term "muck," which was applied to it by the kitchen +oracles, who rejoiced exceedingly in our discomfiture. We left the +dairy half inclined to abjure butter-making for the future. In a day +or two we began to reflect, that as we had a "Farm of Four Acres," we +must mange to do something with it, and what so profitable to a large +family as making butter? So, when we had collected sufficient cream, +we tried again, and this time with great success. We commenced as +before, by straining the cream, and then taking the handle of the +churn we turned it more equally than we had done before; in half an +our we heard the welcome sound which proclaimed that the "butter was +come." This time we washed it well; it was placed in a pan under the +pump, and the water suffered to run on it till not the least milkiness +appeared in it; we then removed it to a board that had been soaking +for some time in cold water, salted it to our taste, and afterwards, +with two flat boards, such as butter-men use in London shops, made it +up into rolls. It was as good as it could be, and we were delighted to +think that we had conquered all the difficulties attending its +manufacture: but we had yet to discover the truth of the proverb, that +"one swallow does not make a summer." + + +CHAPTER III. + +OUR SECOND COW. + +We soon found that we could not expect to supply our family with +butter from one cow, and we thought that, as we had to perform the +duties of dairy-women, we might as well have the full benefit of our +labor. We, therefore, purchased another cow; but before doing so, were +advised not this time to have Welsh one, but to give more money and +have a larger animal. This we did, and bought a very handsome +strawberry-colored one, for which, with the calf, we gave $75; and +here it will be as well to say that we think it was $25 thrown away, +for in respect did she prove more valuable than the black one, for +which we had given but $50. For a small dairy, we think the black +Welsh cow answers as well, or better, than any other. The price is +very small, and, judging from our own, they are very profitable. They +are also much hardier than those of a larger breed, and may be kept +out all winter, excepting when snow is on the ground. + +After our new cow had been in our possession just a week, we received +one morning the unwelcome intelligence that the "new cow" was very +bad. We went into the meadow, and saw the poor creature looking +certainly as we had been told, "very bad." We asked our factotum what +was the matter with her. To this he replied, that he did not know, but +that he had sent for a man who was "very clever in cows." + +In a short time this clever man arrived, bringing with him a friend, +likewise learned in cattle. He went to see the patient, and returned +to us looking very profound. + +"A bad job!" said he, with a shake of the head worthy of Sheridan's +Lord Burleigh. "A sad job, indeed! and you only bought her last +market-day. Well, it can't be helped." + +"But what ails her?" said I. + +"What ails her! why, she's got the lung disease." + +"But what it is that? said I. + +"What's that! why, it's what kills lots of cows; takes 'em off in two +or three days. You must sell her for what she'll fetch. Perhaps you +may get $10 for her. I'll get rid of her for you." + +"But," said H., "if she has the 'lung disease' you talk of, you tell +us she must die." + +"Yes; she'll die, sure enough." + +"Well, then, who will buy a cow that is sure to be dead to-morrow or +next day?" + +"Oh, that's no concern of yours! _You_ get rid of her, that's all." + +To this dictum we rather demurred, and resolved to send for a +cow-doctor, and see if she could be cured; if not, to take care she +was not converted after her death into "country sausages," for the +benefit of London consumers of those dainties. Our friendly counsellor +was very indignant at our perversity in not getting rid of a cow with +"the lung disease," and stumped out of the yard in a fit of virtuous +indignation. With proper treatment the cow soon got well. + +We still had occasional trouble with our butter-making; sometimes it +would come in half an hour, sometimes we were hard at work with the +churn for two or three hours, and then the butter was invariably bad. +We tried to procure information on the subject, and asked several +farmer's wives in the neighborhood "how long butter ought to be in +coming." We always received the same answer:-- + +"Why, you see, ma'am, that depends." + +"Well," we asked, "what does it depend on?" + +"Oh, on lots of things." + +"Well, tell us some of the things on which it depends." + +"Why, you see it's longer coming in hot weather, and it's longer +coming in cold weather; and it depends on how long the cow has calved, +and how you churn, and on lots beside." + +We found we must endeavor to discover for ourselves the reason why we +were half an hour in getting it one day, and the next, perhaps, two or +three hours. + +As the weather became colder we found it more troublesome, and one +frosty day we churned four hours without success. We put in cold +water, we put in hot we put in salt, we talked of adding vinegar, but +did not; we churned as fast as we could turn the handle, and then as +slowly as possible, but still no butter. At the end of more than four +hours our labors were rewarded. The butter came; strong, rank stuff it +was. + +We determined before the next churning day to try and find out the +reason of all this trouble. We once more took to our books, but were +none the wiser, for none of them told us anything about the particular +thing we searched for. After many experiments we tried the effect of +bringing the cream into the kitchen over night, and see if warmth +would make any difference. It was guess-work for two or three +churnings, but the discovery was made at last, that we were always +sure of our butter in half an hour, provided the cream was, when put +into the churn, at a temperature of from 50' to 60'.* [We kept a small +thermometer for the purpose of plunging into the cream-pot. If it was +lower than 55' we waited till it reached that degree: if the weather +was very warm, and it rose higher than we have specified, we did not +attempt to churn till by some means we had lowered it to the proper +temperature.] No matter how long the cow had calved, how hot or how +cold the weather, if we put the cream into the churn at that degree of +heat the butter was sure to come, in as near as possible the time we +have specified. + +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 butter, 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 butter up on, a couple of butter-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 BUTTER. + +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 +butter-cloth. When the butter is coming, which is easily ascertained +by the sound, take off the lid, and with one of the flat boards scrape +down the sides of the churn; and do the same to the lid: this prevents +waste. When the butter is come, the buttermilk 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 buttermilk than +placing it in a pan under the pump, as we did when we commenced our +labors. The butter 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 substituted; +and the things we required remained in it till they were wanted. This +prevents the butter 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 +butter 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 butter 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 butter, +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 shifted 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 butter 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 butter so made is always strong, and of two colors, +as a portion of the buttermilk 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 +buttermilk at the bottom of the cup. We have tried the butter made our +way, and there was scarcely any residuum. + +Besides, this "smiting" is a most disgusting process to witness. In +warm weather the butter 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 butter was such dreadful hard +work it gave her a pain in her side. After this "smiting" is over, it +is put on a butter-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 butter 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 butter 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 butter 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 butter 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 butter. 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 quantity was quite sufficient to supply the +two cows--with the calf of the Strawberry, which we reared--and the +pony. + +An acre of grass 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 butter, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $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 butter 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 butter 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 butter 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 grass,--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 butter 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 "buttermaking." + +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 butter. + +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 butter. 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 quantity 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 37½ the stone, which made the value of the meat $17 87½; we +had, therefore, a clear profit of $7 87½. 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 assert +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 +37½ 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 amusement, 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 butter, 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 cock, 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 quantity +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 37½ 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 amusement 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 grass 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 "scraps;" 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 "scraps," and in +the evening they had just as much barley thrown to them as they cared +to pick up eagerly. + +We have heard some persons complain of the great expense attending a +poultry-yard, but this arises from the person who has the charge of +them throwing down just as much again grain as the fowls can consume. +We have ourselves often seen barley trodden into the ground, if +occasionally we left the task of feeding to the lad. + +It must, of course, be impossible at all times for a lady to go into +the fields for the purpose of feeding her chickens; the only plan to +prevent waste is to have a meal-room in the house, and as much given +out daily as is considered necessary for the consumption of the +poultry. This is some little trouble, but will be well repaid by +having at all times cheap and wholesome fowls, etc. + +We have hitherto only spoken of the profit which may be obtained from +a fowl-yard, when the stock is purchased. The farmer's wife, from whom +we bought _ours_, of course gained some money by their sale. When we +reared our own chickens from our own eggs, we received much more +emolument from our yard; but in this little volume it is my purpose to +show how a person should _commence_, who leaves London or any other +large town for a suburban residence. + +It must always be borne in mind, that nothing will prosper if left +wholly to servants; the country proverb of "the master's eye fattens +the steed," is a very true one, and another is quite as good: "the +best manure you can put on the ground is the foot of the master." As a +proof of our assertion we will, in the next chapter, detail the +disasters we experienced when we left the charge of rabbits to the +superintendence of a servant. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +OUR LOSSES. + +Our young people were very anxious to add some rabbits to their +playthings, and as we always like to encourage a love of animals in +children, we consented that they should become the fortunate +share-holders in a doe and six young ones. These were bought early in +September, and, as long as the weather would allow, the children used +to take them food; by and by, however, one died, and then came the +complaint that Master Harry had killed it by giving it too much green +meat. The young gentleman was thereupon commanded not to meddle with +them for the future, but the rabbits did not derive any benefit from +his obedience; two or three times weekly we heard of deaths taking +place in the hutch, till at last the whole half-dozen, with their +mamma, reposed under the large walnut-tree. + +One day the lad who had attended to them knocked at the drawing-room +door, and on entering with a large basket, drew from it a most +beautiful black-and-white doe, and held it up before our admiring +eyes; this was followed by the display of seven young ones, as pretty +as the mother. + +"Please, ma'am," said Tom, "these are the kind of rabbits you ought to +have bought. My brother keeps rabbits, and these are some of his; I'll +warrant they won't die!" + +Willing once more to gratify the children, as well as to solve the +enigma of whether it must be inevitable to lose by keeping these +animal, we became the possessors of these superior creatures, with the +understanding that no one was to have anything to do with them but +Tom, the said Tom saying, with perfect confidence, that "he would +'warrant' they should weigh five pounds each in six weeks." + +Not being learned in rabbits, we trusted to his experience and +promises that we should always from that have a brace for the table +whenever we wished for them. What was our disappointment, then, when a +week after we heard of the death of one of them! This was soon +followed by another, and another, till the whole seven little +"bunnies" shared the grave under the walnut-tree, and in a day or two +the doe likewise departed: I concluded she died of grief for the loss +of her offspring. + +In vain did we endeavor to discover the reason of this mortality; it +could not have been for want of food, for they consumed nearly as many +oats as the pony. At last Tom thought of the hutch, or "locker," as he +called it. "It must," said he, gravely, "have had _the_ disease." So +what that fatal complaint among rabbits is, remains a profound mystery +to us. + +Now this hutch was made of new wood, in a carpenter's shop, at a cost +of nearly $10, and how it could have become infected with this fearful +complaint we could not comprehend. However, from that time we +abandoned rabbit-keeping, and resolved not, for the future, to keep +any live stock which we could not look after ourselves. We did not +attempt to do so in this case, because we were frightened at the +responsibility Tom threw on our shoulders, if we looked at them the +doe always eating her young ones was one of the evils to be dreaded by +our interference. + +I suppose profit is to be made by keeping them, or tame rabbits would +not be placed in the poulterers' shops by the side of ducks and +chickens, but we are quite at a loss to know how it is accomplished. +It did not much matter in a pecuniary point of view, as it was very +doubtful if the children's pets would ever have died for the benefit +of the dinner-table, and I only insert this chapter for the purpose of +proving what I stated, viz.; that if a lady wishes her stock of any +kind to prosper, she must look after it herself. When I say prosper, I +mean without the expense being double the value of the produce she +would receive from her "four-acre farm." + +We did not enter these disasters in our housekeeping book, it went +under the title of children's expenses. For my own part, I am disposed +to think that it must always be expensive to keep live stock of any +kind for which all the food has to be purchased. Had we continued to +keep our fowls in the yard, I am convinced they would have brought us +little or no profit; but the grass, worms, and other things they found +for themselves in the field, half supplied them in food, as well as +keeping them healthy. We had not one death among our poultry from +disease in the six months of which I have been relating this +experience of our farming. + +Our next venture proved more prosperous than the rabbits, and will be +related in the following chapter. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +OUR PIGEONS. + +After we had been a few months in the country, a friend, who was a +great pigeon-fancier, wished to add some new varieties to his cote, +and offered to send us, as a present, seven or eight pairs of those he +wished to part with. We were greatly pleased with his offer, and at +once set the carpenter at work to prepare a house for them. As soon as +it was ready we received sixteen beautiful pigeons. + +For the first fortnight the pigeon-holes were covered with net, that +the birds might be enabled to survey at a distance their new abode, +and become accustomed to the sight of the persons about the yard. When +the net was removed, they eagerly availed themselves of their freedom +to take flights round and round the house. One couple, of less +contented disposition than the others, never came back, nor did we +ever hear that they had returned to their old home. Our number was +not, however, lessened by their desertion, for we received, at nearly +the same time, from another friend, a pair of beautiful "pouters." + +As we resolved to keep a debtor-and-creditor account of all the things +we kept, we found that our eighteen pigeons consumed in every seven +weeks. + + Two pecks of peas . . . . . . . . . . . $0 75 + One peck of tares . . . . . . . . . . . 37 + Ditto maize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 + $1 45 + +In the first fourteen weeks we kept them, we received but two pairs of +young ones, which were most mercilessly slaughtered for a pie. The +price of these in the market would have been 37 cents per pair, so +that we were losers on our stock; but we must say that we did not +receive them till nearly the end of September, and we were agreeably +surprised at finding we had young ones fit the table at Christmas. + +From that time we have been well recompensed for our peas, tares, and +maize, as each couple produces on an average a pair every six weeks; +thus the produce was worth $3 00, while the cost was something less +than $1 50. Even had there been no profit derived, we should still +have kept them, as we consider no place in the country complete +without these beautiful and graceful little creatures. It was a +subject of never-failing delight to the children, watching them as +they wheeled round and round the house of an evening, and it was +always considered a great privilege to be allowed to feed them. + +At first the food was kept in the stable, and Tom was the feeder; but +we were soon obliged to alter this, as we never went into the yard +without treading on the corn. It was afterwards removed to the back +kitchen, round the door of which they used to assemble in a flock, +till one of the servants threw them out their allowance. They were +considered "pets," by all the household, and were so tame that they +would allow themselves to be taken in the hand and stroked. + +As for the young ones, who were doomed to the _steak_, we never saw +them till they made their appearance in the pie. They were taken from +the nest as soon as they were fledged. + +I mention this, because we were sometimes accused by our visitors (for +whose especial benefit the young ones were sometimes slain) of +cruelty, in eating the "pretty creatures;" but we never found that +they had any scruples in partaking of them at dinner. It was usually +as they were watching of a summer evening the flight of the parent +birds that we were taxed with our barbarity. + +We were one day much amused by a clergyman of our acquaintance, who +kept a great number of these birds in a room, and who, in default of +children to pet, made pets of his pigeons. At dinner, a pigeon-pie +made part of the repast. This was placed opposite a visitor, who was +requested to carve the dainty. He did so, and sent a portion of it to +his host. The reverend gentleman looked at the plateful sent him +attentively, and then said with a sigh, "I will trouble you to +exchange this for part of the other bird. _This_ was a peculiar +favorite, and I always fed it myself. I put a mark on the breast after +it was picked, for I could not bear to eat the little darling!" + +We always thought that this sentimental divine had better either not +have had the "little darling" put into the pie, or have swallowed his +feelings and his favorite at the same time. + +This dish seems to occasion wit as well as sentiment, for we were once +asked by a facetious friend, "Why is a pigeon in a pie like +Shakspeare's Richard III?" We "gave it up," and were told, "Because it +was bound unto the steak (stake), and could not fly." This may perhaps +be a worn-out jest, but it was fresh to the writer, and so perhaps it +may be to some of her readers. + +We will say a few words on the management of pigeons before we +conclude this chapter. + +It is necessary that a pan of water should be place in their house +each day for them to wash in, and that a large lump of bay-salt should +likewise be kept there. It should be occasionally cleaned out, and +this is all the trouble attending keeping them. Feed them three times +a day; and never throw more down than they pick up at a meal. + +As I have said nothing of the profit derived from chickens when they +are _reared_ by the owner, so I now say nothing of the saving in +keeping pigeons, when we came to sow a large patch of Indian corn, as +well as some tares. We did so successfully in the acre of ground +called the Orchard; and though we had abundance of fine fruit from it, +the trees were not planted so thickly as to prevent any kind of crop +from flourishing. But we repeat, this little book is a manual for the +use of the beginner; and to such we hope it may prove both useful and +encouraging. + + +CHAPTER X. + +HOW WE CURED OUR HAMS. + +I have now recounted our experience in keeping cows, pigs, chickens, +ducks, rabbits, and pigeons; and with everything but the rabbits we +were amply satisfied with the return we received for our labor. We had +a constant supply of milk, butter, eggs, ducks, chickens, and pork, +not only fresh, but in the shape of good hams and bacon. + +I do not know whether it is not presumptuous, in the face of Miss +Acton, Mrs. Rundle, and so many other authorities, not forgetting the +great Alexis Soyer, to give "our method of curing" the last-mentioned +dainties; but we think we may as well follow up the history of our +pigs, from the sty to the kitchen. I always found that the recipes +usually given for salting pork contained too much saltpetre, which not +only renders the meat hard, but causes it to be very indigestible. The +following is the manner in which they were cured by ourselves: + + For each ham of twelve pounds weight: + Two pounds of common salt. + Two ounces of saltpetre. + ¼ pound of bay salt. + ¼ pound of coarse sugar. + +The hams to be well rubbed with this mixture, which must be in the +finest powder. It is always the best plan to get your butcher to rub +the meat, as a female hand is hardly heavy enough to do it +effectually; they are then placed in a deep pan, and a wine-glass of +vinegar is added. They should be turned each day; and for the first +three or four should be well rubbed with brine. After that time it +will be sufficient, with a wooden or iron spoon, to well ladle it over +the meat. They should remain three weeks in the pickle. When removed +from it, they must be well wiped, put in brown-paper bags, and then +smoked the _wood_ smoke for three weeks. + +We once had nearly a whole pig spoiled by its being taken to a +baker's, where it was _dried_, but not smoked. When it came back it +resembled very strong tallow. + +In villages it is usual to send bacon and hams to be dried in the +chimneys of farm-houses where wood is burnt, in the old-fashioned +manner, on dogs; but if resident in or near a small town, there is +always a drying-house to be met with, where we believe sawdust is used +for fuel. We have had our own dried in this manner, and always found +them excellent. + +We used the same pickle for twenty-four pounds' weight of bacon, with +the exception that we allow two pounds more of common salt, and when +it is turned the second time the same quantity of salt is rubbed into +it. + +Some persons make a pickle of water, salt, sugar, and saltpetre, +boiled together, and when cold put in the hams, etc., without any +rubbing. We have never tried that way for meats that are to be dried, +but can strongly recommend it for salt beef, pork, or mutton. The +following is the pickle always used in our kitchen: + + Three gallons of _soft_ water. + One pound of coarse sugar. + Two ounces of saltpetre. + Three pounds of common salt. + +Boil together, and let it be well skimmed; then, when cold, the meat +to be well wiped and put into it. It will be fit to cook in ten days, +but may be kept without injury for two months, when the pickle should +be reboiled and well skimmed. The meat should be covered with brine +and the pan have a cover. + +We have put legs of mutton into this pickle, and can assure the reader +it is an excellent mode of cooking this joint; and as it is one which +frequently makes its appearance at table where the family is large, it +is sometimes a pleasant method of varying the dish. It is the best way +of any we know of, for curing tongues; it has the great advantage of +being always ready for use, and you are not fearful of the +carelessness of servants, who not unfrequently forget to look to the +salting-pans. + +We can recommend a dish not often seen at table, and that is a sirloin +of beef put into this pickle for about a fortnight. It is infinitely +superior either to the round or edgebone, and certainly not so +extravagant as the last-named joint. + +A friend has told us that we should procure some juniper-berries to +put into our ham-pickle, but there were none to be purchased in our +neighborhood, and as we were quite ignorant of the flavor they might +impart, we did not trouble ourselves to get them. I am fond of old +proverbs, and as our hams and bacon were always good, we determined to +"let well alone." + + +CHAPTER X1. + +OUR BREAD. + +Any lady who thinks of trying a country residence, should see that it +possess a small brick oven, for "home-made" bread ought always to be +considered indispensable in the country. We did not discover that our +new home was without one till after we entered it. We were laughed at +by our landlord when we mentioned our want of this convenience. + +"Why!" cried he, "there is a baker's shop not five minutes walk from +the house." + +"Never mind," said I, "how near the baker's shop may be; we mean to +have all our bread made at home. It will be, we are sure, better to do +so, both on the score of health and economy." + +"But I really," said the gentleman, "cannot afford to build you an +oven; it would cost me $100 at the least." + +At this, H., who had resided for a short time in a house where the +bread was made at home, laughed, and said, "Really, Mr. L., you need +not fear that we wish to put you to so much expense, and it is perhaps +but fair that we should meet you half-way in the matter; so if you +will find labor we will find materials: or reverse it, if you please." + +Mr. L. remembered that he had in some outhouse a quantity of "fire +bricks," and it was arranged that we should pay for the labor of +constructing a three-peck oven. This occasioned on our part an outlay +of $10, and this small sum was the source of considerable saving to us +yearly. + +We were more fortunate with our bread than with our butter-making, for +Mary was a capital baker; our bread was always made from the best +flour. We all liked it much better than bakers' bread, and it was much +more nourishing. Indeed, when I was once in Kent during "hopping," and +saw that the women who resided in the neighborhood always gave up half +a day's work weekly for the purpose of going home to bake, I used to +wonder why they did not purchase their bread from a baker in the +village. I was informed by one of them to whom I put the question, +"Lord, ma'am, we could not work on bakers' bread, we should be +half-starved; it's got no _heart_ in it." + +To a small family, perhaps, the saving might not be considered an +object, but any one who has for a few months been accustomed to eat +home-made bread, would be sorry to have recourse to the baker's; the +loaves purchased are usually spongy the first day, and dry and harsh +the second. It is not only that other ingredients than flour, yeast, +and water are mixed in the dough, but it is seldom sufficiently baked; +bread well made at home and baked in a brick oven for a proper time, +is as good at the end of a week as it is the second day. + +I have heard several persons say, "I should like home-made bread if it +were baked every day, but I don't like eating stale bread four or five +days out of the seven." If they stayed with us a day or two, they +became convinced that bread which had been made three or four days did +not deserve the epithet of "stale." + +I will now proceed to show the reader how much flour was consumed in +our household, consisting of thirteen persons. + +We used to bake weekly twenty-eight pounds of flour, of the best +quality; this produced _forty-two_ pounds of bread. I will give in the +most explicit manner I can directions for making it, which I imagine +any servant will be able to comprehend: + +Place in a large pan twenty-eight pounds of flour; make a hole with +the hand in the centre of it like a large basin, into which strain a +pint of yeast from the brewer's; this must be tasted, and if too +bitter a little flour sprinkled in it, and then strained directly; +then pour in two quarts of water, of the temperature of 100', that is, +what is called blood-heat, and stir the flour round from the bottom of +the hole you have formed with the hand, till that part of the flour is +quite thick and well mixed, though all the rest must remain unwetted; +then sprinkle a little flour over the moist part, and cover with a +cloth: this is called "sponge," and must be left half an hour to rise. + +During this time the fire must be lighted in the oven with fagots, and +the heat well maintained till the bread is ready to enter it. At the +end of the half-hour add four quarts of water, of the same heat as the +previous two quarts, and well knead the whole mass into a smooth +dough. This is hard work, and requires strength to do it properly. + +It must be again covered and left for one hour. In cold weather both +sponge and dough must be placed on the kitchen-hearth, or it will not +rise well. + +Before the last water is put in, two table-spoonfuls of salt must be +sprinkled over the flour. + +Sometimes the flour will absorb another pint of water. + +When the dough has risen, it must be made up into loaves as quickly as +possible; if much handled then, the bread will be heavy. + +It will require an hour and an half to bake it, if made into +four-pound loaves. + +While the dough is rising the oven must be emptied of the fire, the +ashes swept from it, and then well wiped with a damp mop kept for the +purpose. To ascertain if it is sufficiently heated, throw a little +flour into it, and if it brown _directly_, it will do. + + +I think I have stated every particular necessary to enable a novice to +make a "batch" of good bread. I will sum up the articles requisite to +produce forty-two pounds of the best quality: + + Flour, 28 pounds. + Water at 100', 12 or 13 pints. + Two table-spoonfuls of salt. + Yeast, 1 pint. + Bake one hour and a half. + +The quantity made was ten and a half quarterns, or four-pound loaves; +and, as I have said, supplied our family of thirteen persons for the +week. For the same number, when we were residing in town, the baker +used to leave _thirteen_ quarterns weekly. + +One day, in the country, when, from the accidental absence of the +bread-maker, we had to be supplied from the baker, we were surprised +to hear that at the nursery-breakfast the children (six) and nurse +consumed more than a two-pound loaf, and then were complaining of +being "so hungry" two hours after. I thought of the words of the +Kentish hopper, "that there was no heart in bakers' bread." + +The servant who has the management of the oven should be instructed to +take care that the wood-ashes are not thrown into the dust-hole with +the ashes from the grates. They are always valuable in the country; +and, as I have mentioned, the wooden articles used in the dairy should +always be scrubbed with them. Should the water which is used in the +house be hard, and any washing done at home, they should be place in a +coarse cloth over a tub, and water poured over them several times to +make lye, which softens the water, and saves soap much more than soda, +and is likewise better for the linen. + +The brick oven will often prove a source of great convenience, +independent of bread-making. It is just the size to bake hams or +roasting pigs, and will, when dinner-parties are given, frequently +prove much more useful to the cook than an extra fire. + +The fagots are sold by the hundred, and the price is usually $6 25 for +that quantity. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +OUR KITCHEN-GARDEN. + +As I wish to make this little work a complete manual to the "farm of +four acres," I must insert a few remarks on the management of the +kitchen-garden. Ours consisted of an acre; and, large as our family +was, we did not require more than half of it to supply us with +vegetables, independent of potatoes. + +We strongly advise any one who may have more garden than they may want +for vegetables, to plant the surplus with potatoes. Even if the +"disease" does affect part of the crop, the gain will still be great, +providing you keep animals to consume them; for they must indeed be +bad if the pigs will not thrive on them when boiled. Poultry, +likewise, will eat them in preference to any other food. + +We had something more than half an acre planted one year when the +disease was very prevalent; the crop suffered from it to a +considerable extent, but the yield was so large that we stored +sufficient to supply the family from September till the end of April, +and had enough of those but slightly affected to fatten four pigs, +beside having a large bowlful boiled daily for the poultry. The worst +parts were always cut out before they were boiled, and neither pigs +nor poultry were allowed to touch them raw. + +It is much the best plan to consume all the potatoes you may grow, +rather than save any of them for seed. It will be but a slight +additional expense to have fresh kinds sent from quite a different +locality, and they will thrive better, and not be so liable to the +disease. + +They should always be dug before the slightest appearance of frost, +and place on straw in a dry place, where they can be conveniently +looked over once a fortnight, when any that show symptoms of decay +should be removed and boiled at once for the pigs. By this method very +few will be wholly wasted; instead of eating potatoes you will eat +pork, that is, if you have plenty of skim-milk. I do not at all know +how pigs would like them without they were mixed up with that fluid. + +We have tried, with great success, planting them in rows alternately +with other vegetables. When they are all together, the haulms in wet +seasons grow so rankly that they become matted together; and then, as +the air is excluded from the roots, it renders them liable to disease. +We have tried cutting the haulm off to within a few inches of the +ground; but this, the gardener said, proved detrimental to the roots. +We afterwards tried a row of potatoes, then cabbages, then carrots, +and then again came the potatoes. We once planted them between the +currant and gooseberry bushes, but it was as bad, or worse, than when +a quantity of them were by themselves; for when the trees made their +midsummer shoots the leaves quite shut out air and light from the +potatoes, and when dug they proved worse than any other portions of +the crop. + +We always found that the deeper the sets were placed in the ground the +sounder were the roots: We tried every experiment with them; and as +our gardener was both skilful and industrious, we were usually much +more fortunate with our produce than our neighbors. + +Carrots rank to the "small farmer" next in value to the potatoes; not +only pigs and cows are fond of them, but likewise horses. The pony +always improved in condition when he was allowed to have a few daily. + +Our arable acre was a model farm on a very small scale. We grow in it +maize for the poultry, tares for the pigeons, lucerne for the cows, +and talked of oats for the pony. This our gardener objected to, so the +surplus bit of ground was sown with parsnips, which turned out very +profitable, as both pigs and cows liked them. + +We have told the reader that we reared the calf of the Strawberry cow, +and it cost us hardly anything to do so, for it was fed in the winter +with the roots we had to spare. The first winter it had to consume the +greater part of the ton of mangel-wurzel we had bought "to keep our +cows together." Some we had boiled with potatoes for the pigs, and +they liked it very well. + +An acre of land may appear a laughably small piece of ground to +produce such a variety of articles, but if well attended to the yield +will astonish those who are ignorant of gardening. The one important +thing to be attended to is, to see that all seed-crops are well +thinned out as soon as they are an inch above the surface. In very few +kitchen-gardens is this attended to, and for want of this care a dozen +carrots, parsnips, or turnips, are allowed to stand where one would be +sufficient. The one would prove a fine root; the dozen are not worth +the trouble of pulling, as they can get neither air nor room to grow. +To be well done they should be thinned by hand, and that being a +tedious "job," gardeners seldom can be induced to perform the work +properly. + +As our ground became productive we added another cow, and more pigs +and poultry, but I shall not now say with what success. This little +book in only intended for the novice in farming, and details only the +results of the first six months of our "farm of four acres." + +Perhaps I should have called it _five_ acres, as nearly the whole of +the acre of kitchen-garden was devoted to the cultivation of food for +our "stock." + +We had a very broad sunny border at the back of the flower-garden, +which grew nearly all the spring and summer vegetables we required: +such as seakale, early potatoes, peas cauliflowers, and salads. + +We have not yet said anything of the money we saved by our +kitchen-garden, but we must add to the profits of our six months' +farming the average amount we should have paid to a green-grocer for +fruit and vegetables. + +Twenty-five cents a day to supply thirteen persons with these +necessary articles is certainly not more than must have been expended. +Still, $90 per annum is a considerable item of household expenditure, +and scanty would have been the supply it would have furnished; as it +was we had a profusion of fruit of all kinds, from the humble +gooseberry and currant to the finest peaches, nectarines, and hothouse +grapes, as well as an abundant supply of walnuts and filberts. + +Had we bought all the produce of our garden, the value would have more +than paid our gardener's wages. + +Nor must I omit the luxury of having beautiful flowers from the +greenhouse throughout the winter; these superfluous items did not +figure in our accounts. We should have purchased but bare necessaries, +and therefore entered but twenty-five cents a day for "garden stuff" +in our housekeeping book. + +Those only who have lived in the country can appreciate the luxury of +not only having fruit and vegetables in abundance, but of having them +fresh. Early potatoes fresh dug, peas fresh gathered, salad fresh cut, +and fruit plucked just before it makes its appearance at table, are +things which cannot be purchased by the wealthiest residents in a +great city. + +Not far from our residence there were large grounds, which were +cultivated with fruit and vegetables for the London market. I have +frequently seen the wagons packed for Covent Garden. The freshest that +can be procured there would be considered "stale" in the neighborhood +in which they were grown. Any fruit or vegetables in that far-famed +market must have been gathered twenty-four hours before they could +find their way into the kitchen of the consumer; and it is not only +the time which has elapsed, but the manner in which they are packed, +which so much deteriorates their quality. + +Have any of our readers ever seen the densely-loaded wagons which +enter that market? The vegetables are wedged as closely together as +they can be pressed, which very soon causes, in warm weather, +cabbages, greens, &c., to ferment and become unwholesome. I have often +seen them so loaded in the middle of the day before they reached +London. They are left in the hot sun till the time arrives, when the +horses are placed in them, and they begin their slow journey towards +town. This is seldom till late at night when the distance does not +exceed a dozen miles. + +The finer kinds of fruit such as peaches, grapes, etc., do not injure +so much by being kept a few days before the are eaten; indeed, _ripe_ +peaches and nectarines are seldom gathered for sale: they would spoil +too quickly to enable the fruiterer to realize much profit. They are +plucked when quite hard, and then placed in boxes till they gradually +_soften_; but the flavor of fruit thus treated is very inferior to +that of a peach or nectarine ripened by the sun. Seed-fruits, such as +strawberries, come very vapid in four or five hours after they have +been picked, if they were then quite ripe. + +I know that the last few pages have nothing to do with "the money we +made" by our farm, but I wish to show the reader all the advantages +which a country residence possess over a town one. Some persons, who +cannot live without excitement, think that nothing can compensate for +the want of amusement and society. + +I was once speaking of the pleasure I experienced from residing in the +country, and placed _health_ among its many advantages, when I was +answered, "It is better to die in London than live in the country!" + +I think I have said enough to cause my lady readers to wish that the +time may not be far distant when they may, like ourselves,--for we did +all sorts of "odd jobs" in our garden,--cut their own asparagus, and +assist in gathering their own peas. + +It is indeed impossible to over-estimate the value of a kitchen-garden +in a large family which numbers many children among its members. + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE MONEY WE MADE. + +Some time ago we showed our first six months' accounts to a friend, +who was very sceptical as to the profit we always told him we made by +our farming. After he had looked over our figures, he said,-- + +"Well! And after all, what have you made by your butter-making, +pig-killing, and fowl-slaughtering?" + +"What have we made?" said I, indignantly. "Why, don't you see that, +from July to January, we realized a profit of $9 50 from our cows, $11 +12 from our pigs, $9 67 from our poultry-yard, and $45 at the least +from our kitchen-garden, which, altogether, amounts to no less a sum +than $145 29; and all this in our 'salad-days, when we were green in +judgment?' What shall we not make now that we have more stock, our +ground well cropped, and, better still, have gained so much +experience?" + +"Well," said our friend, "the more 'stock,' as you call it, you have, +the more money you will lose." + +At this rejoinder, H. looked at the speaker as if she thought he had +"eaten of the insane root, which takes the reason prisoner." + +"_Lose more money_!" when you can yourself see, by looking at this +book, that in our first six months we have cleared $145 29! And, +indeed, it was absurd of A. to put down so little, for she has allowed +$25 for the land; and if she take that off the rent, she ought to +enter it as profit from the "farm." Besides, think of only putting +down a shilling a day for fruit and vegetables! Very few puddings +would the children get at that rate, supposing we were in London." + +"If we were in London," interrupted I, "you know that $90 yearly would +be as much as we could afford to expend for that item in our family. I +have made out all our farming accounts as fairly as I can. I am as +well aware as you can be that a shilling a day would not give us the +luxuries of the garden as we now have them; and though that plenty may +form one of the advantages of residing in the country, we have no +right to put down as a saving of money the value of articles we should +never have thought of purchasing." + +"I must allow," said Mr. N., "that you appear to have been strictly +honest in your entries as regards the value of the produce you have +received, but you do not appear to have put down your losses. You keep +a one-sided ledger. You have the credit, but not the debit entry. You +say nothing of the money you have lost by pigeons and rabbit-keeping." + +Now the utmost we had lost by our pigeons in the six months was $2 25, +and he knew perfectly well how profitable they had since been to us. +He used jokingly to say, that we fed our guest with them in every mode +of cookery so frequently, that they would alter the old grace of "for +rabbits hot," &c., and substitute the word "pigeon" in its place; so +we thought it was ungenerous to reproach the poor birds with the +scanty number they gave us the first few weeks they were in our +dove-cote. + +Silenced on that point, he returned to our unfortunate rabbit +speculation, and complained that we had kept no account of the money +we had lost by them. + +Here H. stopped him saying, + +"Pray, Mr. N., did you not purchase your children a pony, and did it +not catch cold and die in a month afterwards? I suppose Mrs. N. did +not enter that in her housekeeper's book as meat at so much a pound, +and why should we put down the cost of the rabbits in our farming +accounts? No; of course it was entered among the 'sundries.'" + +"But you must allow," said Mr. N., "that if you had done as I advised +you, and taken a house in a street leading into one of the squares, +you would have lived more cheaply than here. Why, your gardener's +wages must more than swallow up any profit which you may _think_ you +make from your farm. You must acknowledge you would have saved that +expense." + +"Granted," said I; "but we should most likely have paid quite as much +to a doctor. We never got through a year in town without a heavy bill +to one; and we must have had all the expense and trouble of taking the +children out of town during the hot weather, while the have had +excellent health ever since they have been here; and with the +exception, when some kind friend like yourself has asked one of them +on a visit, neither of them has left home since we came here. Of one +thing I am quite sure, that we are much happier than we should have +been in London; and that in every point of view, as regards +expenditure, we are gainers. I have not entered any profit arising +from baking at home, though the difference is just three four-pound +loaves weekly; and Mrs. N. will tell you what must be the saving by +our having our own laundry." + +"Enough! enough!" said Mr. N., laughingly; "your evidence is +overwhelming. You almost force me to believe that I could live in the +country, feed my own pork, and drink my own milk, without paying half +a crown a pound for the one or a shilling a quart for the other, and +this was what I never before believed possible; and I am quite sure, +that if I were to put the assertion in a book, no one would believe +me." + +"Then," exclaimed I, "it shall be asserted in a book whenever I can +find time to transcribe all the particulars from my diary; and I hope +that I may be able to convince my readers--should I be fortunate +enough to obtain any--not only that they may keep cows, pigs, and +poultry without loss, but that they may derive health, recreation, and +profit from doing so. None know better than yourself how worn-out in +health and spirits we were when we came to this place; how oppressed +with cares and anxieties. Without occupation, we should most likely +have become habitual invalids, real or fancied; without some +inducement to be out of doors, we should seldom have exerted ourselves +to take the exercise necessary to restore us to health and strength. +But you will lose your train, if I keep you longer listening to the +benefits we have experienced by our residence in this place. Give the +fruit and flowers to Mrs. N. with our love; and tell her, that with +God's blessing we have improved in 'mind, body, and estate,' by +occupying ourselves with 'our farm of four acres.'" + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE NEXT SIX MONTHS. + +It was not my intention when I commenced this little work to do more +than give our first six months' experience in farming our four acres +of land; but as perhaps the reader may think that time hardly +sufficient to form a correct opinion of the advantages to be derived +from a residence in the country, I think it as well to add some +particulars relating to the following six months. + +In the spring came a new source of profit and amusement. We commenced +our labors in the poultry-yard in February, by setting a hen on +thirteen eggs, which, early in March, produced the same number of +chickens: these were all ready for the table in the middle of May. At +that time we could not have purchased them under $1 50 the couple. + +The cost of thirty-eight chickens till ready to kill was $4 37. We +always knew exactly the expense attending the poultry, because we had +a separate book from the miller, in which every article was entered as +it came into the house; and as the chickens were kept distinct from +the other fowls, I could tell the exact sum they had cost us when they +made their appearance at table. + +The first thing that was given them to eat was egg, boiled quite hard, +chopped very fine, and mixed with bread-crumbs. After that they had +groats. I find they consumed: + + Three quarts of whole groats . . . . . $ 37 + Two bushels of barley . . . . . . . . 2 25 + One bushel of middlings . . . . . . . 1 12 + Twenty-five lbs. of chicken-rice . . . 63 + Making altogether . . . . $4 37 + +The reader must be told that those thirty-eight chickens had other +things to eat than those I have put down; they had nearly all the +scraps from the house, consisting of cold potatoes, bits of meat, +pudding, &c., and any pieces of bread which were left at table were +soaked in skim-milk; and the rice was also boiled in it. O course, in +a smaller family there would not have been so many "scraps" for them; +but, however strict you may be with children, you cannot prevent their +leaving remnants on their plates, all of which would have been wasted +had it not been for the chickens and pig-tub. + +We were not so fortunate with the ducks. We did not keep any through +the winter, consequently we had to purchase the eggs, which were +placed under hens; for those eggs we paid four cents each, and out of +thirteen, which was the number given to each hen, we never reared more +than eight ducks. + +Thus, in the first instance, they cost us six cents each; and they +were likewise more expensive to feed than the chickens. They were +never fit for the table till they had cost us sixty-three cents the +couple. One reason of this was, that as the chickens had all the waste +bids, they had nothing but what was bought for them; but then they +were such ducks as could not have been purchased at the poulterers'. + +We never killed one unless it weighed four pounds; they used to be +brought in at night, and placed in the scale: if it was the weight I +have mentioned it was killed, if not it was respited till it did so. + +At first we tried cooping them to fatten, but found it did not answer, +as they moped and refused to eat by themselves; so we abandoned that +plan, and were content to let them run in the meadows till fit to +kill, which was not till they were three months old. They were never +"fat," but very meaty, and fine flavored,--not in the least like those +which are bought, which, however fat they may appear before they are +cooked, come to table half the size they were when put down to the +fire. + +I remember being rather puzzled once when resident in London. I +wanted a particularly fine couple of ducks for a "company dinner," and +went myself to the shop where I dealt to order them. + +"Now, Mrs. Todd," said I, "the ducks I require are not fat ducks, but +meaty ones; the last I had from you had nothing on them when they came +to table, though they looked so plump when you sent them." + +"Oh, yes, ma'am," was the rejoinder. "I know just what you want; but +they are very difficult to get: you want _running_ ducks." + +I was obliged to ask what she meant by the term _running_, and was +then informed that the ducks for the London market were put up to +fatten, and as they were crammed with grease to hasten the process, +the fat all went into the dripping-pan. Now a _running_ duck was one +well fed, and allowed to roam or _run_ till it was killed. I am now +able from experience to say, that they are incomparably superior to +their fattened brethren. + +The novice in poultry-rearing must be told that it is almost useless +to set a hen in very hot weather. As we had more eggs than were +required, we did so during part of June, July, and August, but had +very bad fortune with them; the hen seldom hatching more than three or +four, and those puny little creatures. + +There is an old Kentish proverb which says, + + "Between the sickle and the scythe, + Whatever's born will never thrive;" + +and as it was just between the hay and corn-harvest that we tried to +rear our ducks and chickens, I am induced to believe that, like many +other old saws, it was founded on experience. They may be reared in +September, though they require great care, and must not be allowed to +run on the grass, which at that season is seldom dry. + +A friend once told me she reared a brood of seventeen chickens, which +were hatched the last week in September; they were placed in an empty +greenhouse, and were consequently kept warm and dry. March is _the_ +month for poultry; the hatches are better, and they grow much more +rapidly than at any other time. + +I am quite sure that a poultry-yard may be made very profitable to any +one who will bestow a little trouble on it. Great care must be taken +with the young chickens at night; the hen should be securely cooped +with them: for want of this precaution we in one night lost eight, +when they were a few days old, being, as we supposed, carried off by +the cats. + +The best food for ducks when first hatched is bread and milk; in a few +days barley-meal, wetted with water into balls about as big as peas, +should be given to them. It is usual, as soon as both ducks and +chickens come out of the shell, to put a pepper-corn down their +throats. I don't know that it is really of service to them, but it is +a time-honored custom, and so perhaps it is as well to follow it. + +As for our butter-making, it continued to prosper; we had some little +trouble with it in the spring, when the weather set in suddenly very +hot. It was certainly much more difficult to reduce the temperature of +the cream to 55' than it was to raise it to that degree. + +I often thought with vain longing of the shop in the Strand, where we +used to purchase Wenham Lake Ice: how firm would the butter have come, +could we have had a few lumps to put in the churn half and hour before +we required to use it! + +Farmers' wives tell us, that to get firm butter in very hot weather +they get up at three o'clock in the morning, in order that it may be +made before the sun becomes powerful. Now this is a thing that would +not have suited H. or myself at all, and therefore we never mustered +up courage to attempt it. + +One day in March--and this is the last disaster I have to record +concerning our butter--we were particularly anxious to have it good, +as we expected visitors, to whom we had frequently boasted of our +skill as dairywomen: the day was very warm, and the cream appeared +much thicker than usual; we churned for more than an hour without its +appearing to undergo any change; we frequently removed the lid to see +if there was any sign of butter coming, but each time we were +disheartened when we discovered it looked just the same as when placed +in the churn. At last the handle went round as easily as if no cream +were in it, and presently it began to run over the top of the churn. +When we looked in a curious sight presented itself: the cream had +risen to the top, just as milk does when it boils! We were greatly +astonished. In nine months' butter-making we had seen nothing like it. + +Tom, who milked the cows was supposed to know something of the art of +churning; he was, therefore, called into the dairy: as soon as he saw +the state of the matter he exclaimed, "Why, the cream's gone to +sleep!" + +"The cream gone to sleep!" What in the world could that mean? Such a +propensity we had never discovered in cream before; we could gain no +solution of the mystery from Tom; all he said was, that we must go on +churning till it "waked up." + +H. and myself had been hard at work for two hours, so willingly +yielded to his request that he might be allowed to rouse the cream +from its slumber. He, the cook, and housemaid, churned away by turns +till seven in the evening, but the sleep of the cream remained +unbroken, and as it was then considered a hopeless affair, the +slothful fluid was consigned to the pig-tub. + +Now we have never felt quite sure of our butter since. Every time we +churn there is a lurking fear that the cream may choose to take a nap; +however, it is as yet the first and last time in our experience. + +I can give no advice to my readers on the subject, because I am wholly +ignorant on the subject, though I have consulted every farmer's wife +in the neighborhood on the matter. They all say that cream will go to +sleep sometimes, though it usually wakes up after a few hours.* [I +have since been told by an old woman conversant with sleepy cream, +that a quart of milk nearly boiling hot will wake it up.] Perhaps, +after all, we were too impatient, and should not have given in after +_only_ nine hours' churning. With this solitary exception our +butter-making progressed as favorably as we could desire. + +I do not quite know how to believe the stories I am told of wonderful +cows which my friends are fortunate enough to possess. One gentleman +has informed me that he has one which gives fifteen pounds of butter +weekly. Now we have had several, but never made more on the average +than eight pounds per week. I believe that a great deal depends on the +manner in which they are milked, and once in the hands of a beginner +in that art the cows decreased in milk so rapidly, that we did not get +more than a gallon daily from both animals; after they had been three +weeks under his management we changed the milker, but did not get +anything like the proper quantity again till after they had calved. + +I believe the usual average is one pound of butter from every ten +quarts of milk. Ours used to give us thirteen or fourteen quarts each +daily, and yet we never made more than eight pounds. We used about two +quarts of new milk, so that if ten quarts will give a pound of butter, +we did not get so much as we ought. Still we were very well satisfied +with the produce we received. + +There requires management with two cows, in order that one may always +be in full milk when the other calves. If you rear a calf for the +butcher, it will require the whole of the milk for six or seven weeks, +which is about the age they are killed for fine veal. We once--it was +in the winter--received $26 for one. With two cows this may usually be +done, and its is more profitable than making butter. Where only one is +kept, it is better to part with the calf when a few days old, and then +the price is $5. + +If a lady wishes her dairy to be very nicely finished, she should have +all the articles she requires of glass, instead of wood and +earthenware. Everything for the diary of that material can be +purchased in Leicester Square, and certainly, if expense had been no +object to us, we should much have preferred a glass churn, pans, &c. +They have the great advantage of being kept beautifully clean with +very little labor; but they are so liable to be broken, that they +should never be used unless servants are very careful. A marble table +is, however, in every respect better than a board to make the butter +upon. It is expensive at first, but will, with ordinary care, last +several generations of butter-makers. + +Whilst on the subject of the dairy, I must say a few words respecting +the great care required in washing the articles used in it. As soon as +the butter was taken from the churn I was in the habit of half filling +it with boiling water, into which I had put some lumps of soda, and +then turning the handle a few times, in order that it might be well +washed round. It was then left till it was convenient for "cook" to +cleanse all the utensils we had used. + +From some cause or other I neglected for two or three weeks to do +this, and one day, when the freshmade butter was brought to table, +there were complaints that it was _cheesy_; it certainly had a +peculiar and very unpleasant taste, for which we could not account. + +The next time it was made it had the same fault; and it then occurred +to me that it might be the churn. I accordingly returned to my old +mode of washing it, and never after was there a complaint of any +unpleasant flavor in the butter. + +I mention this to show the amateur dairywoman how very essential is +cleanliness in every article she uses. A regular dairymaid would have +known this, but a town-servant thinks that if she washes a thing it is +sufficient: but more than mere washing is required; every article must +be _scrubbed_ with soap, wood-ashes, and soda, and then placed for +hours in the open air. + +Now glass is much easier kept sweet and clean, and for that reason is +greatly to be preferred; but I am writing for those who may wish to +reap profit from their "farm of four acres," and I fear little would +be gained if nothing but glass were used in the dairy. + +Our land turned out better the second summer than the first. We made +nearly two tons and a half of hay from each acre. We were enabled to +mow the whole three acres, as we had "common rights" in our +neighborhood, where the cows could pasture during the spring. Had we +been without this privilege we could have mown only two acres, and as +hay was $21 the load, the additional acre was worth $50 to us, with +the exception of $3 75 for making it. We were advised to have an +after-crop, but did not; it would have made the land very poor for the +next year, so that what we gained in hay we must have expended in +manure. + +We were well satisfied with the profit we derived from our pigs during +this second six months. All the summer we kept four, at an expense of +fifty-eight cents weekly, which was expended for two bushels of fine +pollard (bran and meal). + +We had such an abundance of vegetables from the garden and orchard, +that we must have wasted cartloads, if we had not kept pigs to consume +them. As soon as the hay was carried they were turned into the +meadows, and suffered to remain there till they were put up to fatten; +a process which pigs must go through, though ducks can dispense with +it. I have already stated the expense of fattening them, and we never +found it vary more than a shilling or two in a pig. + +We always found for our family that a bacon pig of sixteen stone (244 +pounds) was the best size, and for porkers about eight (112 pounds). + +Our fruit was as plentiful as our vegetables,--indeed we might have +sold the surplus for many dollars; but we soon found that to do so was +to lose _caste_ in the neighborhood. One piece of extravagance we were +guilty of the first winter and spring we passed at A. The gardener had +a little fire in the grapery during the severe weather, because he had +placed some plants in it. We were told we could continue it till the +grapes ripened for a "mere nothing." Now "mere nothings" mount up to a +"considerable something." The coal and coke consumed before they were +ripe cost $20. It is true we had them in July instead of September, +but we should have liked them quite as well in that month. + +It was a bad grape year, too,--at least with us. I don't think we cut +more than twenty pounds weight. Hothouse grapes are not dear at $1 the +pound; but we should have had them equally good by waiting two months +later, when they would have cost us nothing. + +Had we purchased the produce we received from our garden during the +year, it would have been worth two guineas weekly. Our peaches, +apricots, and nectarines, were abundant, and very fine. We had two +splendid walnut-trees, and a mulberry-tree of immense size, which was +an object of special abhorrence to "nurse," as for more than two +months in the summer the children's frocks, pinners, &c., were dyed +with the juice of the fruit. They could hardly pass near it in the +season without some of the ripe berries falling on their heads, and it +was hardly possible to prevent them escaping from her to pick them up. +Mulberry-pudding made its appearance often on the nursery-table, and +jars of mulberry-jam were provided to secure the same dainty through +the winter. + +The luxury of a good garden can hardly be appreciated till you have +been in possession of one, more especially where there are many +children. The way we used to preserve currants, gooseberries, plums, +damsons, and, indeed, almost every description of fruit, was this: The +wide-mouth bottles which are sold for the purpose were filled with +fruit, six ounces of powdered loaf-sugar was shaken in among it; the +bottles were then tied down as closely as possible with bladder, and +placed up to the neck in a copper, or large saucepan, of cold water, +which was allowed to come slowly to the boil. They remained in it till +the water was quite cold, when they were taken from the water and +wiped quite dry. Before placing them in the store-room the bottle was +turned upside down, in order to see that they were perfectly +air-tight, for on this depends the fruit keeping good. The fruit will +sink down to about the middle of the bottle, and we once tried to fill +them up with some from another, but opening them admitted the air, and +the contents did not keep well. If properly done, they will be good at +the end of a year. + +If any lady undertake the management of a four-acre farm, she must +expect it to occupy a great deal of her time; if she leaves it to +servants, however honest, she will lose by it. It is not that things +are stolen, but that they are wasted, unless the mistress herself +knows what quantities of barley, oats, etc., her poultry and pigs +consume; and unless she look daily into her dairy and see that the +mild is well skimmed, half the cream will be thrown into the wash-tub. + +A six-months' longer experience of the country only confirmed my +sister and myself in the conviction that we had in every way made a +most desirable change when we quitted London for our small farm; but +if we had been too fine or too indolent to look after our dairy and +poultry-yard, I believe that our milk, butter, eggs, poultry, and +pork, would have cost us quite as much as we could have purchased them +for in town. + +All the good things we were daily consuming in the country would have +come to us in London, + +"Like angels' visits, few and far between." + +I know that many of our old friends were really shocked when we told +them, laughingly, of our new pursuits, and that the butter they so +much praised, and the apricot-cheese they ate with so much gust, were +manufactured by our own hands. We were "poor-thinged" to our faces in +a very pitying manner, but we always laughed at these compassionate +people, and endeavored to convince them we spoke the truth in sober +earnest, when we assured them we found great amusement in our new +pursuits. They shook their heads and sighed in such a manner, that we +knew perfectly well that, as soon as we were out of ear-shot, they +would say, "Poor things! It is very sad, but they are quite right to +try and make the best of it." I believe some of them thought that it +was impossible we could have "souls above butter;" for a lady who +called one day, taking up one of Mudie's volumes from the table, +said,-- + +"It is possible you care to subscribe to Mudies's?" + +"And why should we not care to do so?" replied H. + +"Why," was the answer, "I do not see any connection between a love of +reading and a love of butter-making." + +Now I do not think that either of us had any love of butter-making; +and if we could have afforded to give $100 a year to a dairymaid, no +doubt we should have left all to her management; but as it was we were +obliged to buy it--and very bad it was in our town--or make it +ourselves: nor do either my sister or myself regret our resolution to +do so. + +At first we were quite proud of our skill, and told every one of our +success with great triumph. Now--for womanhood is weak--we are content +to hear our dairymaid praised for her beautiful butter by our +acquaintance, and Tom extolled for his care of the chickens. It is +only our friends, among whom I reckon my readers, who know that the +butter is made, and the chickens fed, by the mistresses of "the +four-acre farm." + + +CHAPTER XV. + +OUR PONY. + +I have been told by several friends that, in order to render this +little book complete, I should add a chapter detailing the expenses we +incurred by keeping a pony and carriage. Some persons imagine that +this is an article of luxury which may well be dispensed with; but, +though it may not be and absolute necessary, the expense attending one +is so slight, in comparison with the comfort and pleasure derived from +its possession, that I believe such of my readers as may contemplate +residing in the country will readily agree with me, when I have told +them the amount it will cost them to keep it,--that if it is a luxury, +it is one of the very cheapest in which they can indulge. + +Without such a convenience a carriage must be hired every time any +member of the family has occasion to go to the railway station; and +besides that, it is useful for bringing home a variety of articles +which in the country are frequently purchased at places five or six +miles from home. Then it is a great pleasure to be able to meet your +friends at the station, whenever they are kind enough to leave London +for the purpose of passing a few days with you in the country. + +My sister and myself contrived to extract profit as well as pleasure +from our little equipage. During the summer months we frequently drove +up to London; the short journey was very pleasant, and this mode of +making it possessed the great advantage of costing nothing but 63 +cents for the pony, and 12 cents for turnpikes. Not that we had the +temerity to drive through London. We always left the pony two miles +before we reached town, with strict orders to the civil ostler to +whose care we confided him to great care of him, and be sure and give +him a "good feed." We then proceeded on our way in a cab, which cost +us no more than we should have paid for one from the station. + +Where there is a gentleman in the family, a dogcart is the most +convenient vehicle which can be kept; but as that would not be +suitable for a lady, we contrived to make the back seat of the +carriage do duty for the well of the dog-cart, and it was astonishing +how many light packages we managed to "stow away" in it. I will not +dilate on the pleasant drives through quiet lanes, of the delight +afforded to the children when allowed to have a ride on "Bobby," nor +of the great facility it gave us of being out of doors in winter, +when, as was very frequently the case, the state of the roads was such +as to render walking an impossibility; still, I hope I have stated +sufficient to give my readers a good idea of the great pleasure they +will derive from keeping a pony; and I will now, with the bills of the +miller and farrier before me, proceed to show the sum for which it may +be kept. Our pony cost for food, from the 4th of January to the 24th +of December in the same year, $46.66. He consumed during that period +five quarters of oats, at $8 the quarter, and five bushels of beans, +which cost $6.66. The farrier's bill for the same time amounted to +$5.91. Perhaps it will be as well to copy this account, as it will +clearly show how often it is requisite to change the shoes of a horse. +Of course a great deal must depend on the quantity of work he does; +ours was certainly not spared, though we do not deserve the character +so usually given to ladies, of being unmerciful to horses: "running +them off their legs," "thinking they can never get enough out of the +poor beasts," "driving them as if they thought they could go for +ever," are accusations brought against the ladies of a family where +horses are kept. + +The following is a copy of the bill for our pony's shoes for twelve +months:-- + + Feb. 24. Four removes $0.33 + March 22. Four shoes .75 + April 20. Four removes .33 + May 5. Two shoes .37 1/2 + June 9. Four shoes .75 + July 8. Four shoes .75 + Aug. 9 Four shoes .75 + Sept. 1. Four shoes .75 + Oct. 11. Two shoes .37 1/2 + Oct. 25. Two shoes .37 1/2 + Dec. 24. Two shoes .37 1/2 + $5.91 + + Add to this the miller's bill $46.66 + $52.57 + +and we have the whole expense of keeping a pony for one year. "Oh! +but," some one may exclaim, "you have put down nothing for straw and +hay, and horses require a great deal of both." Quite true; but then in +the country, if you do not keep a horse, you must buy manure for your +garden, and that will cost you quite as much as if you purchased +straw; and as for the hay, did it not come off the "four-acre farm?" + +It is one of the great advantages of the country that nothing is lost, +and thus the straw which figures so largely in the bill of a London +corn-chandler, and which, when converted into manure, is the +perquisite of your groom, becomes in the country the means of +rendering your garden productive. + +Before I resided in the country the pony cost me more than four times +the sum I have mentioned; the stable was apart from the house, and I +knew nothing for months of the bills run up on his account. I had once +a bill sent in for sugar! "Why, George, what can the pony want with +sugar?" + +"Why, ma'am, you said some time ago that the pony looked thin, so +lately I have always mixed sugar with his corn; nothing fattens a +horse like sugar." + +Now what could I complain of? This man had been recommended to me as +a "treasure," and one who would do his duty by the pony, which, I may +mention, was a very beautiful one, and a great pet; so if George +considered sugar good for him, what could I do but pay the bill, and +say, "Let him have sugar, by all means?" Not that "Bobby" was a bit the +fatter or better for having his corn sweetened. An intimate friend of +mine, who always kept three or four horses, laughed outright when I +told him that the pony had consumed such a quantity of sugar, and +expressed his opinion that very little of that article had ever been +in his manger. Under the same superintendence "Bobby" wore out four +times the number of shoes; and as at that time I had to purchase hay +and straw as well as corn, all on the same scale of magnitude, the +expense of keeping the little carriage really did cost more than the +convenience attending it was worth; and had not the pony been the gift +of a beloved friend, we should have parted with it when we quitted +London, as at that time we were ignorant how cheaply it could be +maintained in the country. There we had a servant who was content with +his wages, and did not seek to make them greater by combining with +tradesmen to defraud his employers. If any of my readers commence +keeping a pony in the country, they may rely that it need not cost +them a penny more than I have put down. Of course they must have the +hay from their own grounds, and neither reckon the cost of the straw +nor the labor of the man who attends to the pony. Ours did all the +"jobs" about the place--cleaned the knives and shoes, milked the cows, +fed the pigs and poultry, helped in the gardens, and, in short, made +himself "generally useful." Now, a servant who is able and willing to +do all this, besides properly attending to a pony and carriage, is +very difficult to be met with, but he is absolutely necessary for a +place in the country where economy has to be studied. + +Something must be allowed yearly for the wear and tear of carriage, +harness, etc., but it need not be much. Any gentleman can easily +calculate the sum which may fairly be allowed for these items; I only +think it my part to show the expense attending a pony in the country; +and though those who have been in the habit of keeping horses in +London, either in a livery or private stable, may think it impossible +to maintain one for $52.57 yearly, let them leave town for a four-acre +farm, and they will find that I have spoken the truth on this point, +as well as on all the other subjects of which I have given my +experience in this little volume. + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +CONCLUSION. + +It is with considerable diffidence the writer ventures to give the +public this slight sketch of her experience in farming four acres of +land. + +When she finally resolved to fix her residence in the country, she was +wholly ignorant how she ought to manage, so that the small quantity of +land she rented might, if not a source of profit, be at least no loss. + +She was told by a friend, who for a short time had tried "a little +place" at Chiselhurst, that it was very possible to lose a +considerable sum yearly by under taking to farm a very small quantity +of land. "Be quite sure," said the friendly adviser--"and remember, I +speak from experience--that whatever animals you may keep, the expense +attending them will be treble the value of the produce you receive. +Your cows will die, or, for want of being properly looked after, will +soon cease to give any milk; your pigs will cost you more for food +than will buy the pork four times over; your chickens and ducks will +stray away, or be stolen; your garden-produce will, if worth anything, +find its way to Covent Garden; and each quarter your bills from the +seedsman and miller will amount to as much as would supply you with +meat, bread, milk, butter, eggs, and poultry, in London." + +Certainly this was rather a black state of things to look forward to; +but the conviction was formed, after mature reflection, that a +residence some miles from town was the one best suited to the writer's +family. She was compelled to acknowledge to those friends who advised +her to the contrary, her ignorance on most things appertaining to the +mode of life she proposed to commence, but trusted to that +often-talked-of commodity, common sense, to prevent her being ruined +by farming four acres of land. + +She thought, if she could not herself discover how to manage, she +might acquire the requisite knowledge from some of the little books +she had purchased on subjects connected with "rural economy." They +proved, however, quite useless. They appeared to the writer to be +merely compilations from larger works; and, like the actors in the +barn, who played the tragedy of "Hamlet," and omitted the character of +the hero, so did these books leave out the very things which, from the +title-pages, the purchaser expected to find in them. + +Some time after experience had shown how butter could be made +successfully, a lady, who had been for years resident in the country, +said, during a morning call, "My dairy-maid is gone away ill, and the +cook makes the butter; but it is so bad we cannot eat it: and besides +that nuisance, she has this morning given me notice to leave. She says +she did not 'engage' to 'mess' about in the dairy." + +"Well," said the writer, "why not make the butter yourself, till you +can suit yourself with a new servant?" + +"I have tried," said the visitor, "but cannot do it. My husband is +very particular about the butter being good, so I was determined to +see if I could not have some that he could eat; therefore I _pored_ +over Mrs. Rundle, and other books, for a whole day, but could not find +how to begin. None of them told me how to _make_ the butter, though +several gave directions for potting it down when it was made. I made +the boy churn for more than three hours yesterday morning, but got no +butter after all. _It would not come!_ The weather was very cold, and +it occurred to the listener to ask the lady _where_ the boy churned, +and where the cream had been kept during the previous night. + +"Why, in the dairy, to be sure," was the answer; "and my feet became +so chilled by standing there, that I can hardly put them to the ground +since. Cook could not succeed more than I did, and said, the last time +she made it, it was between four and five hours before the butter +came; and then, as I have told you, it was not eatable." + +The writer explained to her friend that the reason why she could not +get the butter, as well as why cook's was so bad, was on account of +the low temperature of the cream when it was put into the churn. She +then gave her plain directions how to proceed for the future, and was +gratified by receiving a note from her friend, in a couple of days, +containing her thanks for the "very plain directions;" and adding, "I +could not have thought it was so little trouble to procure _good_ +butter, and shall for the future be independent of a saucy dairymaid." + +I believe that a really clever servant will never give any one +particulars respecting her work. She wraps them up in an impenetrable +mystery. Like the farmers' wives, who, to our queries, gave no other +answer than, "Why, that depends," they take care that no one shall be +any the wiser for the questions asked. + +The reader may safely follow the directions given in these pages; not +one has been inserted that has not been tested by the writer. To those +who are already conversant with bread-making, churning, etc., they may +appear needlessly minute; but we hope the novice may, with very little +trouble, become mistress of the subjects to which they refer. + +Even if a lady does keep a sufficient number of servants to perform +every domestic duty efficiently, still it may prove useful to be able +to give instructions to one who may, from some accidental +circumstance, be called on to undertake a work to which she has been +unaccustomed. + +A friend of the writer's, a lady of large fortune, and mistress of a +very handsome establishment, said, when speaking of her dairy, "My +neighborhood has the character of making very bad butter; mine is +invariably good, and I always get a penny a pound more for it at the +'shop' than my neighbors. If I have occasion to change the dairymaid, +and the new one sends me up bad butter, I tell her of it. If it occurs +the second time, I make no more complaints; I go down the next +butter-day, and make it entirely myself, having her at my side the +whole time. I find I never have to complain again. She sees how it is +made, and she is compelled to own it is good. I believe that a servant +who is worth keeping will follow any directions, and take any amount +of trouble, rather than see 'missus' a second time enter the kitchen +or dairy to do her work." + +Perhaps the allusion this lady made to the "shop" may puzzle the +London reader, but in country places, where more butter is made in a +gentleman's family than is required for the consumption of the +household, it is sent to--what is frequently--_the_ "shop" of the +place, and sold for a penny per pound less than the price for which it +is retailed by the shopkeeper. The value of the butter is set off +against tea, sugar, cheese, and various other articles required in the +family in which the butter is made. + +When the writer purchased a third cow, it was in anticipation of +sending any surplus butter to "shop," and receiving groceries in +exchange, nor has she been disappointed. + +Every month's additional experience strengthens her conviction of the +advantages to be derived from living in the country; and she takes +farewell of her readers, in the hope that she has succeeded in conving +them that a "farm of four acres" may be made a source of health, +profit, and amusement, though many of their "town" friends may +threaten them with ruin, should they be rash enough to disregard their +advice to take a house in a "nice quiet street," leading into one of +the squares. + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Our Farm of Four Acres and the Money +we Made by it, by Miss Coulton + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11555 *** |