1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



47 



Saturday, about seven o'clock A. M., I uncovered 

 the house, and went to see that all was right, when 

 to my surprise I saw my pet companion, a fine toad, 

 apparently in the agonies of death. It was seated 

 at the end of the ridge, or hill of soil; its mouth, 

 or rather under jaw opening every few seconds (the 

 top jaw did not move), the eyes shut, and the body 

 violently convulsed each time the jaw opened, and 

 with each convulsion of the body the right fore foot 

 was raised to the head. I placed myself in front of 

 it, and perceived that it was dra^nng something into 

 its mouth each time the jaw moved; at that instant 

 the right eye opened, it then inflated the body on 

 the left side, and drew in the right, placing at the 

 same time the left fore foot on the head behind the 

 eye and drawing it down to the mouth ; it then ap- 

 peared to hold its fore foot in the mouth for about 

 a second, when it drew it out, and I distinctly saw 

 the three points of the skin that came off its toes, 

 outside its lips till the next opening of the jaw, when 

 they were drawn into the mouth. When it drew 

 its foot over its left eye (which before was shut), it 

 broke out as bright as ever. Some folds of the 

 skin adhered to the left eg, but by two or three 

 motions of the jaw they were gone, and in about 

 a minute the skin was drawn off the lips — the toad 

 had eaten its own skin, and there it stood with its 

 new covering as bright as if it had been fresh varn- 

 ished. I endeavored to touch it, to feel if it was 

 clammy, but the creature gave a vigorous jump, and 

 the soil adhered to its legs. I looked at it an hour 

 afterwards; it had then begun to resume its dingy 

 brown color. The time it took to get off its head- 

 dress was only a few minutes. It appeared to ir e 

 that each time its jaw opened it drew the skin for- 

 ward, while it distended the body on the side to be 

 uncovered. — W. Turner. 



chusetts." At any rate, it will well pay any lover 

 of trees the expense of a few miles ride, to see it. 

 It stands on a farm formerly knowTi as the "Perley 

 Morse" farm, 3^ or 4 mlies south-westerly from 

 Lawrence, and a mile or two more than that dis- 

 tance from Lowell, in a north-easterly direction, or 

 less than a mile from the Bartlett farm. It is one 

 of the greatest natural curiosities that I ever saw in 

 the shape or form of a tree. B. F. Cutter. 



Pelham, Oct., 1855. 



For the New England Farmer. 



MILK. 



The component parts of milk are the same in 

 all animals. The only difference in the milk of dif- 

 I ferent animals, is in the different proportions of its 

 i component elements. These elements are caseine 

 I or cheese, butter, sugar, saline matter and water. 

 Sometimes, however, substances are found in milk, 

 ; derived from the food, which render it medicinal 

 j and even poisonous. The following table exhibits 

 the composition of the milk of different animals, ac- 

 cording to Professors Henry and Chevalier: 



IVoman, Coiv. Ass. Gnat. 



Caseine 1.52 4.58 1.82 1.08 



Butter 3.55 3.13 0.11 3.32 



Sugar 6.50 4.77 6.U8 5.28 



Saline matter 0.45 0.60 0.34 0.58 



Water 87.98 87.02 91.65 86.80 



For the New England Farmer. 



A SINGULAR TREE. 



Mr. Editor : — Several times within two years I 

 have been asked whether I had ever seen or heard 

 of a certain curious or singular evergreen tree in 

 the to\vn of Methuen, in Essex County, Mass., and 

 being engaged in raising forest or ornamental trees, 

 I this day took the trouble to go a short distance 

 out of my way to see it, and propose to give you a 

 short, but not ])otanical, description of it, viz.; — 



I should describe it as a white pine tree, 35 feet 

 in height, 18 inches diameter, 3 feet from the 

 gi-ound, straight and smooth like an old growth 

 swamp pine up to about 14 feet high ; it then 

 branches out very thick, forming a head 25 feet in 

 diameter, of verj' regular cone shape, so thick as to 

 be entirely impenetrable for the entrance of birds 

 on the wing. The limbs are so thick that it would 

 be almost impossible for a man to climb through it. 

 Ten seed-cones that I found under it measured less 

 than three inches in length, (the common pine aver- 

 aging over six,) the leaves being very much thicker 

 than the common pine, and the joints on whorls of 

 limbs. The tree stands in open, cultivated ground, 

 and is perfectly thrifty. Several young trees that 

 have been transplanted and cultivated by Mr. Jer- 

 emiah B.\rkkr, are 2h feet high, and the diameter 

 or spread of limbs from 2 ft. 9 in. to 4 ft., in all 

 cases showing a greater diameter than height. 

 From its general appearance, seed-cones, &c., I sup- 

 pose it may be a new variety of the white pine not 

 described by Mr. Emerson in his "Trees of Massa- 



100.00 100.00 100.00 100.00 



The proportion of butter and cheese in the milk 

 of the cow is well known to depend upon her food, 

 and the distance of time from the birth of the calf. 

 The milk, several months after this period, contains 

 much more butter,than soon after the calf is dropped. 

 Milk, M'hen viewed by the naked eye, appears to be 

 a homogeneous white fluid; but when viewed through 

 a microscope, it exhibits an infinite number of min- 

 ute globules. These consist of an oily substance, 

 and when collected together, they constitute butter. 

 When milk is set at rest, in a cool place, these oily 

 particles being lighter than the other parts, gradu- 

 ally rise to the surface, and form cream. When 

 milk is exposed to the atmosphere the sugar it con- 

 tains is converted into an acid called lactic acid. 

 The warmer the atmosphere to which it is exposed, 

 the more rapidly does this change occur. This acid 

 causes the caseine to coagulate, and thus forms 

 curds and prevents the separation of the cream. 

 Hence when milk is set to allow the cream to rise, 

 it should be kept as cool as possible, in order to re- 

 tard the formation of this acid, and thus allow all 

 the particles of butter to rise to the surface. As 

 this acid is usually formed before all the butter has 

 separated, the curd retains a portion of it, some- 

 times nearly or quite half of the butter is retained 

 in the curd. The longer we can keep milk sweet, 

 the more cream rises. The milk of different cows 

 differs in this respect. From some, the cream sepa- 

 rates more rapidly than from that of others. Perhaps 

 this is owing to the different proportions of caseine 

 they contain. From forty-eight to seventy-two 

 hours are required to separate the cream. When 

 this separation is completed, the milk loses its 

 white color, and assumes the bluish hue, by which 

 skimmed milk is readily distinguished from milk 

 containing the cream. 



When criam is taken from mill<, a portion of 

 milk still adheres to the cream. The lactic acid 

 contained in this adhering portion causes the cream 



