^M^jiin^i , ^ ■-•,.n'- UC-NRLF B M Sn EMb !#' "^^'x CO Q THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID ABOUT THE FARM AN ILLUSTRATED DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW BOSTON DAIRY AND OTHER IN- DUSTRIES AT VALLEY VIEW, MIZZEY, AND HUTCHINSON FARMS, WHICH ARE A PART OF THE SUPPLY DEPARTMENT OF YOUNG'S HOTEL, PARKER HOUSE, AND HOTEL TOURAINE PRINTED FOR J. R. WHIPPLE COMPANY BOSTON, MASS. Copyright, 1910, By J. R. Whipple Company A II rights reserved PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN, BOOK WRITTEN, ARRANGED, AND PRINTED UNDER DIRECTION OF WALTON ADVERTISING AND PRINTING CO., BOSTON, MASS. /VSW5" HIS BOOK is presented to you witli tlie compliments of J. R. \Yliipj)le Company, proprietor of Young's Hotel, Parker House, and Hotel Touraine, Boston, and owner of the New Boston Dairy, Valley View, Muzzey, and Hutchinson Farms, New Boston, New Hampshire. iw363177 ABOUT THE FARM HE GUEST at the Hotel Touraine, Parker House, or Young's Hotel, Boston, who calls for an order of milk, receives it in a glass bottle sealed with a metal cap, and upon the cap as well as upon the bottle is stamped "J. R. Whipple Co. Dairy, New Boston, X.H." Were the guest to follow the empty bottle back to the place whence it came, he would arrive at the little village of New Boston among the hills of lower New Hampshire, and there, stretched over the slopes and val- leys about the town and along the foaming Piscataquog River, he would see the broad, fertile pastures and trim, substantial buildings of Valley View Farm. This, the Muzzey, Hutchinson, and several adjoining farms are the property of J. R. Whipple Company, which manages the Parker House, Young's Hotel, and Hotel Touraine. The sole purpose of the Farms is to supply these hotels with the best table milk, cream, butter, eggs, poultry, pork, hams, and sausages. It has always been the en- deavor of the hotel management to secure the most delicious food products that the markets of Boston and New York afford. Not content, however, with the best the market could furnish, Mr. Whipple determined some years ago to have his own dairy farm, and the enterprise was established, which now comprises twenty-five hun- dred or more acres. It is described and illustrated in this book. [ 5 ] HE FARM is divided into three departments: the Dairy, the Piggery, and the Hennery, of which the first is most important, although each of the other two receives the same scru- pulous care. While there are these three main depart- ments, there should be included, perhaps, a fourth, the Farming Department. The Dairy has to do with milking the cows, with the care of the milk, and with the making of butter; the Piggery, with the breeding and care of the pigs, and with their slaughter and preparation for ship- ment to the Hotels; the Hennery, wath raising chickens and eggs. The Farming Department caters to all three. Its function is to produce feed for stock and to provide horses and wagons for the many requirements of the dairy business. Thirty horses and thirty-five wagons and hay- racks, to say nothing of mowing machines, horse-rakes, machinery for ice-cutting, and two portable gasoline en- gines, are required. [ 6 ] VALLEY VIEW FARM-HOUSE AND BARN FOR HORSES. A SLIGtIT DLSAGREEMENT. Y VIEW FARM, FROM A xNEAR-BV HILL. TIK CIIII^I' producis of []\v Farm are liay, foclclcr corn, and a})plcs. Tl;c j)rocc.ss of mak- ing hay re(iuires no descrij)tion, altliougli it is one of tJie most allraelive aspects of farm work, at least to the oidooker. A word of explanation as to the treatment of the corn nuiy not be out of j)lace. The Western corn that is planted grows wonderfully in the cultivated soil of the various fields, often times reach- ing a height of twelve feet. The corn is cut while green and full of juice, preferably before the first frost, by means of a horse reaper, which not only cuts the corn- stalks off close to the ground, but also binds them into bundles, which are easily loaded into wagons and readily handled later. This reaper is a great tinie-sa\'er over the old method of cutting the stalks by hand with a sickle. The corn-stalks are not fed whole to the cattle, but are cut up while green — stalks, juicy cobs, and leaves — into small pieces by a machine run by a gasoline engine. By means of a strong blower connected with the cutting machine these pieces of corn-stalks are blown through a movable metal tube to the top of the receptacle built to receive and store them. These receptacles are either square or round, about thirty feet high and fifty feet in perimeter. They are built adjoining each barn, so that the fodder may be easily reached the whole winter. This fodder keeps green and moist all winter. It is much relished by the cows and young stock. Corn fodder thus cut and stored is called ensilage; the receptacle in which it is stored, a silo. [ 11 ] MOWING MACHINES AT WORK. HAYING SCENE. A GOOD LOAD. ^^^ HORSE RAKES AT WORK. REAPING CORN BY HAND. .(fi »w»^- ■^fiV'Qi-.V ■ '^.z.^.^^-'^^l^ LOADING BUNDLES OF STALKS INTO WAGONS. £ X 1 <» z 2 o O 2 2> o ^ rt- ?3 2 =■ Z 3 » — 3 3- ^ HERE is one other product of the Farm of con- siderable importance. This is vinegar. Each year enough cider is made to supply the hotels with pure cider vinegar. This cider is made in a mill of modern construction. The power used is a gasoline engine. The room in which it is made is of concrete. The men while at w ork wear clean white suits, and every care is taken to have a product free from any impurity. The cider is stored in barrels in a concrete cellar for about two years. It is then turned into large vats, and in three years from the time of making is clear pure vinegar. SACKS OF CIDER APPLES IN THE LOP'T OVER THE CIDER-PRESS. The apples are turned tlirough a hole in the floor into a grinder, and the ground apples then drop to the cider-press. HE DAIRY BUSINESS, of course, is largely dependent on an ample supply of ice. It is the duty of the Farm Superintendent to sup- ply this ice. An artificial pond, fed by a brook from the hills, is the source of the supply. Three ice- houses furnish the storage. A gasoline portable engine and fifty men on the pond supply the power, so that, after the ice is cut into cakes by the horse ploughs, a continuous stream of cakes is delivered to the houses, and all are filled in about two days. MARKING ICE INTO SgLARKS WITH HORSP: PLOLGHS. SEPARATING LONG SLABS OF ICE WHICH HAVE BEEN MARKED INTO SQUARES BY PLOUGHS. / I .-n. I \ ^i HE main business of a dairy farm, however, is not to make cider and harvest ice, but to sup- ply milk. The general farm work is either dependent on this main purpose or else sub- ordinate to it. Only finely bred Holsteins, noted for their vigor and milk-producing qualities, and the best-blooded Guern- seys compose the herd of three hundred and fifty cattle that is the source of the milk supply. The man- agement of the Farm is constantly on the lookout for the best cows, and much time and expense are given to the locating and securing of fine stock. All of the cows, therefore, are the choicest of their breed, and the care and nourishment they receive is that laid down by the most scientific dairy farming. BARN FOR HOLSTEIN CATTLE. One hundred are kept here. o H "51 O o Q 5 a = Z o ai .2 HOLSTEIN BULL, MERCEDP:S DE KOL PRINCE, NO. 36562. GRADE HOL.STEIN COW. GRADE HOLSTEIN COW WITH CALF. GRADE HOLSTEIN COW. IMPORTED GL'KRXSEV COW, IMP. OISTAXA II., NO. 21338. Bred by T. M. LePelley. Island of Guernsey. IMPORTKD GUERNSEY COW, IMP. GOLDEN MAY V. DU GROX, Bred by Jolin Bourgaise, Island of Guernsey. NO. ili69. sx^ll T, in ()r(l(>r to ])ro(luce pure milk, it is neces- sary lo care for these cows in the proper manner and lo draw their milk in a sanitary way. The herds are inspected monthly by a reliable veterinary suri^eon. The cows are carefully groomed before each milking, and their heads are then tied, so that they cannot lie down and soil themselves again. The udders of the cows are wiped with a clean damp cloth before each milking. The men who milk wear white duck suits, which they put on especially for milk- ing and wear at no other time. They are required to wash their hands after each cow that they milk. Each man is given a clean towel. A locker-room furnished with wash-basins and a shower-bath is provided for the milkers. The pails into which the milk is received were espe- cially designed and made for the New Boston Dairy. Two false rims fit in the top, and placed between these rims, so that they perfectly cover the mouth of the pail, are two sheets of antiseptic gauze between which are layers of sterilized absorbent cotton. As the milk can be received into the pails only through the gauze and absorb- ent cotton, it is impossible for any impurities to contam- inate the milk. These precautions alone supply milk of above the average quality, as shown by careful tests carried on for us. In order, however, to furnish the very best possible milk for drinking purposes, a special barn of concrete has been constructed. All hay is kept in a separate building, the grain in a room by itself, the cows in a stable of their own. The building is very carefully ventilated and is heated by steam. The bedding used is fine, dry sawdust, which absorbs all moisture and pre- vents the slightest odor. [ 29 ] FTER the milk is drawn into one of the pails that have been described, it is immediately carried into the milk-room, which is separated by self-closing doors from the cow stable. Here it is weighed, and a careful record is kept of the amount of milk given by each cow and also of the richness of the milk. Twice each morning and twice each evening the milk is sent to the Creamery, where it is immediately cooled and bottled. All of the milk shipped to the Hotels for drinking or for table milk comes from the Guernsey cows housed in this new cement stable; but not all of the milk produced at the various farms forming a part of the New Boston Dairy is bottled for table use. A large part goes to the Creamery, to be sent to the Hotels as cooking milk and as cream and butter. [ 30 ] a .- r- C r ^ > 0) MILK-ROOM. Men are weigliing tlie milk just drawn, recording the weiglit, and pouring from a pail into a cooler. This milk is sent in a wagon twice during each milking to the Creamery. The room connects witli the cow stable, but is shut olf by a self-closing door. The door is shown in the picture. LOCKEK ROOM FOR MK.N. SHOWKK 15.\1H IN THF CORNER. OWEVER, the farms owned by the Company, even with their hirge herds, are insufficient to supply all the milk necessary for furnish- ing cream and butter for the Hotels. Much is bought from the neighboring farmers. This milk is ac- cepted only from such farmers as comply in every respect with the rules of the Boston Board of Health. Their herds are inspected, and no milk is taken of them if there is any illness in the family of the owner. The farmers who sup- ply milk and cream to the Dairy are required to use the special pails and to milk through sterilized gauze and cotton. In order to be surethat this rule is complied with, they must return each day, when they deliver their milk, the gauze and cotton used for milking. This is immedi- ately destroyed. FARMERS DELIVERING MILK AT THE CREAMERY. HE C^RKA^rERY is (luile delaclicd from the other huil(hn.i;s, and stands in a httle })ark of ehns, shrubs, and grass on tlie bank of the Piscataquog River. Tlie interior is entirely of concrete, white ghized tile, and iron. An expert dairyman with trained assistants is in charge of the Creamery. The utmost cleanliness is re(iuired from every one. All wear spotless white suits, which they put on daily before be- ginning their work. Uj)on arrival at the Creamery the milk is at once car- ried into the receiving-room, whence it is poured into the mixing vats that mingle the different cows' milk, so as to produce a uniform grade of milk. There are three vats, one for the milk from which the cream is to be separated. These vats are in an enclosed room made of white glazed tile. The milk is poured into the vats through a spout which goes through the wall. Before mixing, however, a sample of each delivery of milk is taken, and this sample is tested for the amount of butter fat it contains. From its mixing vat the milk from the Guernsey cows runs to a special cooler, and is immediately bottled. Thecoolerand bottling machine is in a room below the mixing vats. This room is also made of white glazed tile. The milk does not have to be handled by any one except to pour it into the vats, and, as the milk-rooms are enclosed and kept per- fectly clean, there is no possibility of any impurity reach- ing the milk after it comes to the Creamery. [ 39 ] HE GENERAL supply of milk goes through the spouts to another vat in the milking- room. A part of it is cooled immediately, and drawn into large cans for use as cooking milk. A part is warmed by discs heated by steam, and runs through a spout to the separators where the cream is separated. The cream goes from the separator through a spout in the wall to a special cooler in the enclosed bot- tling-room. Part of this cream is shipped to the Hotels as cream: another part is carried to the upper floor of the Creamery, and is turned into the cream-tempering vats, which are kept in an enclosed room of white tile. When the cream is sufficiently old, it is drawn through a spout to the churns in a room below, where it is made into butter. The butter is pressed into blocks, which are moulded into cubes of fours. It then goes to the refrigerating rooms to await shipment in a special refrigerator car which daily carries the milk and other farm products to the Hotels in Boston. The skim milk is conveyed in a tank wagon to the Piggery at the other end of the Farm. x411 the bottles and cans which are used to hold milk are scalded, scoured, scrubbed, and sterilized by specially constructed machinery after they have been emptied and before they are again used. [ 40 ] ■'•V POURING MILK INTO THE VATS. The cans of milk are taken from the wagons, as shown in a previous picture. The milk is then poured through a spout into the vats in an enclosed room. Samples of each farmer's milk are taken to be tested. INTERIOR OF THE MILK-ROOM. The men in the previous picture are pouring: the milk which is seen running vats. This room is of glazed white tile. into the EXTERIOR OF THE MILK-ROOM FROM THE SIDE OPPOSITE TO THAT WHERE THE MILK IS RECEIVED. HOTTLINC-ROOM. Tlie bottliriK-rooni is iiikIit that in which the vats are located. The milk for tal)ie use runs through spouts from tlie vats to a special c(M)ler and is immediately bottled. This holtliiis^ and cooling room is of glazed white tile. SOME OF THK MILK FROM THE VATS IS NOT USED FOR BOTTLING, BUT RUNS TO SEPARATORS WHERE THE CREAM IS EXTRACTED. COOLINCi MILK FOR CANS. The cream from the separators ^oes tlu()ii;rli a spout to a cooler in tlic hottliiiK-romn and is drawn into cans. This is sliown on the riu^lit liand. On tlie left, milk from tlie vats in the room above is beins cooled and drawn into cans fur shipment as cookinfr milk. fUK.VM TKMl'EKING ROOM. That part of the cream not shipped to the hotels is taken from the cooliny-room to vats for temperinsT the cream to be made into butler. This room is on the floor above the coolinir-room. It is made of white trlazcd tile. O S ii ^ B B z E -3, THE BLTTEll BEING WORKED AND PRINTED. WASHING AND STEAMING BOTTLES. WASHING CANS AND STOPPERS WITH HOT WATKR AND STEAM JET. SHIPPING PRODUCTS FROM THE CREAMERY. r > > i ^ s C - C ■■'-' R EXT to the Dairy the Piggery is the most in- teresting feature of Valley View Farm. Vsith its l)uildings and its pastures the Piggery takes up al )out forty acres. During the spring, sum- mer, and early fall all except the very 3'oung pigs roam at large over the hills and through the woods of their pasture land. Twice a day, summoned by the call of their keeper, they rush down the hillside, pushing, strug- gling, and squealing, to the feeding-trough of their par- ticular pasture. The entire number of pigs on the Farm runs often as high as eighteen hundred Yorkshires. Each pasture contains but sixty or seventy. A strange and amusingspectacle, indeed, is this of the sixty or more pigs of each pasture tearing down the hillside and crowding to their stalls, squealing and grunting lest one or another may get there first. And quite as ludicrous is the sight of the pigs at the trough, struggling for food as if there were not enough for all. The sheds in which the pigs are housed are sanitary, well ventilated, and thoroughly painted or whitewashed. These one-story barns are almost one thousand feet long, and contain hundreds of pens, each ten feet square, eight on each side of the centre aisle, and as many more down the side aisle. The feeding-troughs are iron, and over each runs a pipe which conveys the skim milk from the tank which receives it from the Dairy. As only clean, dry sawdust, that is changed daily, is used for bedding, and as the pens are kept carefully whitewashed and cleaned daily, the pigs, which by nature are more cleanly even than dogs, cows, or horses, are kept in an extremely clean condition. [ 50 ] HEN a pig reaches one luindred and seventy- five pounds, its best condition, it is dressed at the shuighter-hoLise, which is a part of the I Piggery, a certificate is forwarded to Wash- ington to meet the requirements of the new inspection law, and then the dressed pig, carefully j)acked in the Farm refrigerator car, is shipped to the Parker House, Boston, where it is cut up and distributed to the three Hotels in the form of either sausage, bacon, fresh pork, salt pork, or ham. EXTERIOR OF THE riGGERY. INTERIOR OF THE PIGGERY. A PEN IN THE PIGGERY, THE FRONT UK WHICH HAS BEEN TAKEN OUT. A SOW AND VOUNG PIGS. A BOAR. riGS CROWDING TO THE GATE LEADING TO THE FEEDING-TROUGHS. FIGS RUSHING THROUGH THE GATE JUST OPENED I3V AN ATTENDANT. DRESSED PIGS READY FOR SHIPMENT. MAKING SAUSAGE AT THE PARKER HOUSE, BOSTON. TRETCHING over the hillsides at the side of the Farm are the fields and hen-houses where the hundreds of fowls of all sorts are kept. An expert is also in charge of this department of the Farm, and here, too, the same care is used to have only the best stock. Sometimes as many as two thousand chickens are roaming about the Hennery. Each day the eggs are collected, and are shipped with the other Dairy products to the Hotels, and to the same tables go many juicy spring chickens. A PEN OF WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. ANOTHER PEN OF WHITE PLYMOUTH ROCKS. CHICKENS FEEDING. HE New Boston Dairy, while an interesting and important department of the J. R. Whipple Company, supplies the Hotels with only a il few of the necessary products. The manage- ment has not been content with the surety that its patrons were receiving the very best butter, milk, cream, pork, eggs, and vinegar, but has attempted to supply the very best of everything, and to know as far as pos- sible the conditions under which the supplies are pro- duced and the manner in which they are stored and cared for. To carry out this purpose, a Supply Department has been organized to buy supplies for all three Hotels and to provide proper storerooms for groceries and refrigeration for meats, fish, and all kinds of perishable goods. A new building has been built, connected with the Hotel Tou- raine and equipped with a modern cold storage plant. Here is kept all the beef used at the three Hotels, selected by experts and stored under a careful supervision until just the right age for use at the Hotels. Trout fresh from the brooks near Wareham ; scallops and oysters from the fishermen on Cape Cod; cheese made under special con- ditions in New York State, for exacting patrons; flour in car-load lots received direct from the best mills; turtles; terrapin; wines especially selected; ash -cans; electric fans; blankets; Irish linen made especially for the Hotels; lace curtains; silverware; china from France, — form a small part of the supplies furnished from this depart- ment. But they all exist — Farm, Creamery, Piggery, Supply Department — only to furnish the guests of Parker's, Young's, and the Touraine with the best that can be obtained. [ 62 ] REFRIGERATING PLANT OF THE SUPPLY DEPARTMENT. SUPPLY DEPARTMENT MAKING ARTIFICIAL ICE. REFRIGKRATOR CONTAINING ABOUT FOUR HUNDRED LOINS OF BEEF. PART OF LINEN ROOM CONTAINING SUPPLIES FOR THE THREE HOTELS. HOTEL TOUHAINE, BOYLSTON AND TKKMONT STREETS. LIBRAKY, HOTEL TOURAINE. OVAL DRAWING-ROOM. HOTEL TOURAINE. LIBRARY, PARKER HOUSE. DRAWING-ROOM, PARKER HOUSE. EXTERIOR OF YOUNGS HOTEL, COURT SQUARE AND COURT STREET. DRAWING-ROOM. YOUNGS HOTEL. B.\N(H'ET-ROOM. YOLNGS H0TP:L YD HO 75