ed, 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, .