FARMERS' REGISTER. 



67 



MILK THAT AVII>L NOT PRODUCE BUTTER. 



'To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Can you or any of your subscribers inform me 

 why milk will not sometimes turn lo butter after 

 the necessary care and attention to cleanliness, &c. 

 iiave been bestowed upon it, and the operation of 

 churning continued in some inslances nearly a 

 day? For the last six weeks my wile has not 

 been able to make any butter, although we get a 

 very good quantity of milk, which has the appear- 

 ance of considerable richness. Our milch rows 

 are fed on mangel wurlzel, beet, cabbage leaver, 

 wheat chaff, and wheat bran or corn meal. W'ft 

 have recently been more than unusually attentive 

 to neatness in the management of our milk, and 

 yet, when it comes to be churned, we yet no butler. 

 We have been advised by some to throw in a little 

 salt in the churn; by others, soda or a small quan- 

 tity of buttermilk. We have tried all these reme- 

 dies, but with no good effect. The milk in some 

 instances as soon as it cools after being taken from 

 <he cow, lias a bitter twang, which is altogether 

 different from any thing which has occurred lo us 

 in that department of house-keepin<r, after 14 

 years' experience. I have been informed by a 

 lady who is a native of New England, that such 

 things are not uncommon there, aller the cows 

 have grazed on newly-mown meadows. Any in- 

 formation lo remedy this evil will very much oblige 

 yours, &c. 



[This dilHcuIty is new to us, and we shall be 

 obliged, as well as our correspondent, for satisfac- 

 tory information on the subject. — En. F, R.] 



BEE MOTH. 



From the Cultivator. 



Mr. James Thatcher, author of the 'American 

 Orchardist,' &c. &c. in a communication to the 

 New England Farmer, says : " I will embrace 

 (his opportunity to communicate for thp benefit of 

 the cultivator, what I believe to be an infallible 

 remedy against the bee moth, which has proved 

 so destructive to bees throughout our country of 

 late years. The remedy is simple and easily ap- 

 plied. It consists merely in covering the floor 

 board on which the hive stands, with common 

 earth about an inch thick. A hive set on earth 

 will never be infested with worms; for the bee moth 

 will not deposile her eggs where the earth will 

 come in contact. She naturally resoris to a dry 

 board as her element. The remedy has been em- 

 ployed by a number of persons in this vicinity for 

 several years, with the most complete success. 



and the cutting so formed is planted, leaving one 

 of the leaves above the ground, the greater part 

 of the petiole being buried. Shading and the 

 usual routine being attended to, the plants root 

 immediately, and flower the same year. 



PROPAGATIXG DAHLIAS BY BUDS OR JOINTS. 



From the Annates d'AgricnIturc of Lyons. 



In the nursery of M. G. Luezel, at Ecully, it is 

 stated, in a report made to the horticultural society 

 of Lyons, that the dahlias are propagated by buds 

 or joints, in the following manner. After a stem 

 has attained the length of from one foot to three 

 feet, according to the variety, it is cut into as many 

 pieces as there are joints. Each piece is then 

 reduced so as to leave a very small space above 

 .and below the joint ; one of the leaves is cut off, 



yoL. viii-8 



MANURES. 



From tlie Carolina Planter. 



Mr. Editor : — The attention of planters hag 

 been much more directed towards manuring with- 

 in the few past years than formerly — and in some 

 portions of the country the effects are very visi- 

 ble. As lo manuring a whole plantation so as to 

 improve every portion of it, that is entirely out of 

 the question for a cotton planter; but it is asto- 

 nishing how much may be effected in that way. 



On all plantations there are some rich and fresh 

 spots, and some poor and old ones. While the 

 former are to be kept up by resting and rotation of 

 crops, the latter, unless there be two great a dis- 

 proportion, may in time be brought up by manur- 

 ing to as to establish all on an equality; and 

 even if this cannot be accomplished, a judicious 

 planter may always reap an immediate profit of a 

 very large per cent, on manure procured as 

 cheaply as it may be done. It is surprising how 

 the manured spots tell in the aggregate of a crop. 

 There are innumerable varieties of manure, all of 

 u'hich are found safe and beneficial to corn and 

 cotton ; but most of them are entirely out of the 

 question with our planters. Lime, plaster of Pa- 

 ris, marl, and even mud, are attainable but by 

 very lew, at a rate that will permit their use be- 

 yond a mere experiment, — cotton seed, stable 

 and cow-pen manure, and vegetable compost are, 

 how cwev, within the rcac/t q/" a/7, and, by proper 

 management, every planter may j)rocure as much 

 of these as he can find time to apply properly. 

 Everyone who has cotton seed of course makes 

 use of them for manure, unless, indeed, he permits 

 his hogs and cattle to destroy themselves by feeding 

 on them. This is a most pernicious custom: nothing 

 can be more indigestible than cotton seed, covered, 

 as they usually are, with lint, and sticking together 

 in large lumps in the stomach — besides, they pro- 

 duce an oil, which, though harmless in itself, while 

 in conjunction with the pulp, is as poisonous as 

 the Palma Christi seed is known to be, before 

 the castor oil is extracted. Cotton seed, as an 

 article of food, does much more harm than good 

 — as a manure it is more valuable than any 

 other within our reach — I have more to say on 

 this point which I will defer to another time. 



On every plantation, no matter what the size, 

 there should be one of our carts. It is very easy 

 lo fit on to them large ligiit bodies, made of slats, 

 which may be removed when necessary. In this 

 slat body, as many oak leaves, and where they 

 cannot be had, as much pine straw, may be packed 

 as a mule can carry. At slated times — at least 

 once a month, and ofiener, should there come a 

 wet time, during wliich the land, as is ofien the 

 case, is not in condition lo be worked, yet the 

 weather good enough to allow hands to go out, 

 the stables and stable-yard — the cow-pen — the 

 liog-pen and the lots on various parts of the plan- 

 tation, where, if it is a large one, the mules and 

 horses are frequently led, should be filled with 



