ALL IS NOT BUTTER

by Robert Banning ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 10, 1954

There's a lot of horse play in this account of a family's making its way as dairy farmers in a Wisconsin town (pop. 705) where the German-descended inhabitants took a lot of persuading before they accepted the newcomers. The author inherited a dairy farm of Guernseys, gave up his newspaper job and transported his Southern wife, Virginia, and two young sons to take over his father's property. The tiff with the tenant farmer was settled when one of the cows had her dose of Stilbestrol (and made love to the tenant); the long winter saw the remodeling of the farm house, the installation of pigs after a dicker with the bank, Virginia's initiation to the dirty side of farming and their first experiences with the clannish German social life. Spring brought planting, a liberal education for the boys, and later came the wallops -- accidents, Bang's disease among the cows and undulant fever for Bob. The run around in governmental agencies about a new herd when he was forced to sell the diseased cows was followed by a price war and the neighbors found him a fighting friend when they went to court -- and won. There's no calm pattern here, either agricultural or social, the humor is crude and heavy but the Bannings' struggle does have its quota of interest and unusual mishaps. The Egg and I audience is a possibility for this.

Pub Date: May 10, 1954

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1954

Categories: NONFICTION