'284 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



Except upon the mountains there are few, 

 if any, fields for grazing. They cannot 

 afford to grow grass upon land that will 

 produce rice or sugar-cane." 



Land in China, owing to its being in 

 the latitude of Key West, can be culti- 

 vated all the year round. The greatest 

 economy in space is used, enabling a 

 dense population to live on a compar- 

 atively small tract. They consider a 

 half an acre a large field, and it is so well 

 tilled that weeds have no chance to grow. 

 While this economy is well enough in one 

 way it is wasteful in another as the roads 

 are too narrow to admit of anything but 

 foot passengers, necessitating the carrying 

 of all produce to market on the farmers' 

 backs, 



In conclusion Mr. Brewster contrasts 

 the lot of American farmers and says : 

 1 ' The American farmer is not always con- 

 tented with his lot. Too often the com- 

 plaint is of short crops or nothing for 

 good crops. Life's joys and sorrows are 

 largely in contrasts. What is hardship 

 to the rich is luxury to the poor. One 

 season's experience of the Chinese farmer 

 for the most discontented American king 

 of the soil would send him back to his 

 native land thanking God for the easy 

 life of abundance given him in a Christian 

 land, more favored of Providence than 

 any other under heaven. If the Amer- 

 ican farmer had to keep his live stock, 

 chickens, cattle and pigs, under his own 

 roof in order to keep them from being 

 stolen ; if he had to watch his fields everv 

 night as soon as the grain began to turn, 

 or the fruit to ripen, or the potatoes larg* 

 enough to eat; if he had to harvest it 

 with a little grass-hook, and thresh it 

 with a flail, and carry it to market upon 

 his shoulders ; if the price of land were so 

 high that to buy even an acre of it was a 

 hopeless task; unless he had inherited 

 wealth, or made a happy stroke in bus- 

 iness; if he had to pay twenty-four per 

 cent, interest if he was so unfortunate as 

 to have to mortgage his land; a few 

 months of such experience would send 



him back to "God's country" contented 

 with his lot. It is the difference between 

 Christianity and heathenism." 



RULES FOR DAIRYMEN. 

 The Illinois agricultural experiment 

 station bulletin of recent date, discusses 

 the very important scbject of milk and its 

 impurities, bacteria, etc. The lesson to 

 be learned may be summed up in the 

 eleven rules that it gives for dairymen, 

 and though many a farmer will laugh at 

 some of them as evidence of "over 

 niceuess," if he lived in the city where 

 milk often sours in less than six hours 

 after the milk man brings it, in the 

 summer weather, anything that tended 

 to keep it sweeter and purer would be 

 welcome. The rules are as follows : 



1. Keep the cows clean and Avash the 

 udders before milking. 



2. Keep the barn clean, with walls 

 and ceilings whitewashed; have it well 

 lighted, ventilated, and free from dust at 

 milking time. 



3. Always make a clean toilet before 

 commencing to milk. 



4. Keep utensils clean and bright. 



5. Kemove the milk from the stable 

 as soom as drawn and strain and cool at 

 once. 



6. Never expose milk to bad odors. 



7. Do not mix fresh warm milk with 

 that which has been cooled. 



8. Give the cow only good, wholesome 

 food and pure water. 



9. Never add anything to milk to pre- 

 vent its souring. Cleanliness and cold 

 are the only preventatives needed. 



10. Milk regularly, quick, quietly, and 

 thoroughly. 



11. Always treat the cows kinkly and 

 never excite them by loud talking, hard 

 driying, or abuse of any kind. 



England pays Denmark more than 

 $20,000,000 annually for butter. Having 

 educated her people to become expert 

 butrer makers through her experiment 

 station and dairy school, Denmark next 



