1859. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



391 



damp and supple, then apply neats-foot oil in 

 small quantity, and with so much elbow-grease 

 as will insure its disseminating itself throughout 

 the leather. A soft, pliant harness is easy to 

 handle, and lasts longer than a neglected one. 

 Never use vegetable oils on leather, and among 

 the animal oils, neats-foot is the best. — ]Vorki7ig 

 Fanner. 



TIMES GO BY TURN'S, 



An English Jesuit, Robert Southwell, wrote the following lines 

 of much merit, two centuries and a lialf ago. The philosophic 

 Strain pervading the piece is worthy of admiration. 



The lopped tree in time may grow again, 

 Most naked plants renew both fruit and flower ; 



The sorriest wight may find relief from pain, 

 The dryest soil sucic in some moistening shower. 



Times go by turns and chances change by course. 



From foul to fair, from better hap to worse. 



The sea of fortune doth forever flow. 

 She draws her favors to the lowest ebb ; 



Her tides have equal limes to come and go, 

 Her loom doth weave the fine and coarsest web 



No joy so great but runneth to an end, 



No hap so hard but may in time amend. 



Not always fall of leaf, nor even spring; 



No endless night, nor j'et eternal day ; 

 The saddest birds a season find to sing, 



The roughest storm a calm may soon ally. 

 Thus with succeeding turns God tempereth all, 

 That man may hope to rise, yet fear to fall. 



A chance may win that by mischance was lost ; 



That net that holds no great, takes little fish ; 

 In some things all, in all things none are crossed , 



Few all thy need, but none have all they wish. 

 Unmingled joys here to no man befall; 

 Who least have some ; who most, hath never all. 



For the i\'iiic En/^land Farmer. 

 MOWING MACHINES. 



Mr. Editor : — 1 noticed in a recent number 

 of the Farmer a communication describing a re 

 cent trial of mowers on the farm of Mr. Lamson, 

 in Boylston ; the writer signs himself "Truth and 

 Justice." His comparison of the relative condi- 

 tion of the horses does not prove the inferiority 

 of Manny's mower, for every teamster knows 

 that a horse in high condition works better after 

 half a day's exercise, than a fresh horse, especial- 

 ly if the latter is unused to the work, which was 

 the case in this instance. 



"Truth and Justice" says that in cutting the 

 double swath the superior e.xcellence of the 

 Ketchum machine was still more apparent. The 

 truth is, all the machines performed their work 

 admirably, nor could any unbiased spectator de- 

 cide which cut the closest, smoothest, orevenest. 

 '•Even "Truth and Justice," himself, could not 

 have selected, on the next day, the swath cut by 

 the Ketchum, except by measurement, and this 

 boasted length of cutting- bar is no merit in a 

 mower, unless there is a commensurate gain in 

 the power applied. For instance, if the six feet 

 cutting bar, which made such an "awful gap in 

 the tottering grass," requires one-third more 

 power than Manny's, cutting four feet, then give 

 us the latter ; for horse-flesh is too expensive to 

 waste for raerp display, unless we can have the 

 profits of mowing machines for compensation. 



But the real question with our farmers — most 

 of whom have but one horse — is this : can we 

 have a mowing machine which will work in all 

 kinds of grass and grain, which will adapt itself 

 to uneven land, which will keep in repair, and 

 which can be worked by an ordinary farm-horse ? 

 The trial on the field of Mr, Lamson did not de- 

 cide any of these points. The draft was through 

 a half-grown crop, and down a smooth inclined 

 plane. "Truth and Justice" says the decision of 

 those who witnessed the trial was in favor of 

 Ketchum's. In reply, I answer, that several of 

 Manny's patent were sold on the spot ; while I 

 know of none of Ketchum's that were disposed 

 of. Honesty. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 BTHIPE3 AHD SPECKS IN BUTTEB. 



Mr, Editor : — With an experience of twenty- 

 five years in butter, I believe Mr. Holmes to be 

 wholly mistaken as to the true cause of stripes 

 and white specks in making it, as I always prac- 

 tised scraping down the cream that is thrown 

 about the churn in churning, as soon as the but- 

 ter began to come, and never have striped but- 

 ter. If the butter is thoroughly churned, and well 

 worked after churning, it will never- be striped. 

 I believe the cream that is scraped down from 

 the sides and lid of the churn, most, if not all of 

 it, comes to butter ; if not, it goes in with the 

 butter-milk, which only makes it the better for 

 biscuit. 



The white specks in butter are caused by get- 

 ting milk in with the cream when skimming, 

 which is suff"ered to lie still until it becomes hard 

 like cheese ; to prevent this, stir the cream thor- 

 oughly after skimming it off the milk ; this will 

 generally prevent there being specks in the but- 

 ter. If the cream is strained after skimming it 

 off, there will never be specks. If my theory be 

 correct, it will be seen that the idea of cream 

 making stripes or specks in butter is incorrect. 



N. B, — Good butter-makers rarely have stripes 

 or specks in their butter ; if they do, they attrib- 

 ute the cause to the neglect of duty in not tak- 

 ing proper care of the cream, and properly work- 

 ing the butter. H. 



Ludlow, Vt., June 25, 18-59. 



SUMMER PRUNING. 



A Mr. Sweet, of Triftonburgh, Mass., writes to 

 \^\el^ofi\.QXi Cultivator : "Trees should never be 

 pruned in the fall, for the reason that the stock 

 (hies up, the bark curls from the stock, lets in 

 water, and injures the tree, and it never heals so 

 well as when removed at the proper time. To 

 prune in early spring is belter, but not the best 

 time. Limbs removed at this season of the 

 year, when the sap first begins to start, also in- 

 jures the trees, for the sap rushes v.-ith great 

 power to every part of the tree, which will cause 

 the wound to bleed. The tree, or limb, will turn 

 black, and often the tree will die. I am satisfied 

 that the best time to prune apple trees is from 

 the last of June to the last of July. At this sea- 

 son of the year, that strong flow of sap begins to 

 subside, the tree is covered with foliage, which 

 is a great help to the wound in preventing its 

 drying and cracking." 



