228 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



been able to make a good product out of such 

 milk, they have been blamed. With all our 

 knowledge and experience in New York we 

 have not been able the past year to obviate 

 having some bad-flavored cheese during the 

 hot weather, especially the July cheese. I took 

 some pains to study this question, and I found 

 by examining farms in numerous instances that 

 stagnant putrid water was one of the leading 

 causes. There were other causes, but this one 

 was invariable. In one instance the cau>*e was 

 attributed to the milk of one of the patrons 

 whose cows had been drinking from fiOg ponds. 

 This man changed his fences so as to get good 

 water, and so the trouble ceased. In the 

 private dairies of New Yoik and England, 

 particular attention is paid to this matter. 

 On firms where springs are deficient, the de- 

 fect is to be overcome by digging a well and 

 applying wind-power f jr pumping, which can 

 be inexpensively erected and are durable. It is 

 the best planto have the water pumped up into 

 a tank, and to arranged that it can run back 

 into the vPell after it has stood a short time, as 

 this will prevent its becoming contaminated by 

 foul gases. 



Another point on which the old dairy far- 

 mers are in error, in which is the cause of 

 great impurities in milk, is the bad construc- 

 tion of milking stables, most of them liitie 

 better th:in pest houses, owing to bad ventila- 

 tion, ^o bad are some of them that I have 

 seen delicate women fiint away in them in hot 

 weather. Follow the milk which comes from 

 these places to the factory, afcer having been 

 confined in the can under a close fitting cover 

 and you will find it most offensive in odor and 

 putrid. If there is any manuficti>rer present 

 who can make clean flavored goods from such 

 milk I should like to see him and hear his pro- 

 cess. In this respect the English farms are 

 ahead of ours. Their milking stables are 

 open on one side, cool and well ventilated and 

 milking made a pleasure to animal and milk- 

 maid. But I must say the new dairy districts 

 are in advance of the old in this respect. The 

 West may get ahead of the East yet, as every 

 th'ng is new Lere, there are no prejudices 

 to counteract. 



I have said dairy farming promised to be re- 

 munerative and enduring. The statement 

 needs modification. It does not promise to be 

 remunerative to those who make a poor or in- 

 ferior product. It is also ruinous to the deal- 

 er. 1 have watched the history of failures 

 among provision merchants, and it is the poor 

 stulf iii the end that breaks the camel's back. 

 Afcer you have provided a clean, well venti- 

 lated milkin;; stable, let each milker take a 

 pail of water and towel into the stable, wash 

 the cow's udder and wipe it dry with the towel, 

 and then proceed to milk ; you will then have 

 no filth dropping into the pail, and water is so 

 cooling and grateful to the animal, that she is . 

 quieted, gives down the milk at once, and will 

 yield enough more during the season to pay 



the whole cost of milking. It is an inhuman 

 practice to cut the cow's tail to get it out of 

 the way of the milker ; by means of a rubber 

 band it may be fastened to and unloosed from 

 the cow's leg. 



SHERIDAN'S RIDE. 

 In his Essay on Horses, read before the Vermont 

 StUe Agricultural Socie'y, Mr. L. T. Tucker repeated 

 the following very appropriate lines : — 



Dp from the south at breaK of day, 

 Biinging tj V\ inchest' r ficsh dismay, 

 'I he aUriifhtel air iviih ahhudder bore, 

 Lite a htrald in hitt , to the chief^aiu's door 

 I'lie terrible grumble and rumble and roar, 

 Tellirg ihc( b.ittle wa^ on once more 

 And Bheridau ttventy miles away. 



.And louder sti 1 those bil'ows of war 

 Ih'in Jered alof<g the hoiizon's bar, 

 Ai d louder yet into WiccheBter rolled 

 Th'3 roar of ihut red sea nncontrolkd. 

 Making the blooil of the listetjer cold, 

 As ht- th jught of the ttike in that fiery fray 

 And SheriddU twenty miles away. 



But there is a road from Winchef ter town, 



A good broad highway leading d.jwn, 



And there ihrough ihe flash of the morning's light 



A stjed ai blaeli us the steec's of night 



Was eeei to pasis as w th eaglu's flight. 



As if he knew the terrible need. 



He stretched a^ ay with his utmost speed; 



Dills rose a-d f 11, but Lis he irt wiS gay 



With Sheridan fifteen miles away. 



Still sprung from those swift hoofs thundering south, 



The du t like t'lLoke fiom the cannon's mouth, 



Or the trail of ii comet swcepii g faster and fatter, 



ForebDding tu traitors the duoai of disaster. 



The heart of the steed a ;d the heart of the master 



Were btating lilie prisoners a Siulting their Vails, 



Impatient to bj whtro the battie field cnlls, 



Evi ry nt rve of the charger was strained to full play 



With Soeridan only ttn miles away. 



Under h's spurning feet the road 



Like an arrowy Alpi e rivir fljwed. 



And the landsjape fled aw.iy behind 



Like an o.:-ean (lying bffore tht wind. 



And the stet d, like a bark fe 1 with furnace ire, 



Swept on with his wild eye full of fire. 



Bat lo I ho is neariiig his h' art's desire, 



He is enbfflng the smoke of the roaring fray 



With Sheridan only five miles away. 



The first that the General saw were the groups 



Of stragglers and then the rdrenling troops. 



What was done I What to do,— a glance told him both 



Then striking his spurs, with a terrible oath 



He dashed down the lines 'mid a storm oi huzzas. 



And the wave ot retreat wa^ checked there, because 



The sitht of th.; master compelled it to pause. 



With foam ard with dust the black charger was gray 



By the flash of hU eye an 1 the re I n jstrils play 



Ho seemed to the whole gre.it army to say, — 



I have brought you Sheridan all the way 



From Winchester down to save the day; 



Hurrah! Hurrah 1 fjr Shi-ridaa, 



Hurrah 1 Hurrah I for horse and man. 



And when their statues arc placed on high 

 Un er the dome of the Union sky, 

 The American soldier's ti mple ( f faVne, 

 There with ihe gloriou-" General's name 

 Be it said in lett. rs b )ih hold and bright. 

 Here is the steed th .t saved the day 

 By carrjing dheridaii inio ihi' fii!ht 

 From Winchi-Ster, twenty miles away. 



— Chicago shipped seventy-eight bushels of 

 wlioat in 18.38. The amount shipped in 1868 was 

 upward of 40,000,000 bushels. 



