1869. 



NEW ENGLAND EARTHIER. 



411 



pounds of cheese from a given quantity of millt ; 

 so that it is not always the case that the whey is 

 fully expressed. Such cheeses prematurely sour 

 and become unfit for the tahle. Private dairies 

 may yet, therefore, bear off the palm. 



Mr. Willard while in England visited an annotto 

 manufacturer, whose preparation is regarded as 

 the bef^t in that country. After convcriing with 

 him and with some London chemists, he concluded 

 that, all preparations of the article depend rather 

 on its purity than on the preparation. All the 

 best Eiigli.-h annotto is cut with potash. To obtain 

 a pure article he advises that it be purchased of a 

 reliaV)le person who is a good judge of it. 



The American Cyclopaidia says that annotto, a 

 word which is variously spelled, is the name of a 

 "red coloring matter extracted from the outer 

 part of the seeds of an evergreen plant called the 

 bixa orellana. Dissolved in an alkali, as a crude 

 pearlash, its color changes to orange. It is more 

 adulterated than almost any other article of com- 

 merce. It has been purchased containing over 

 sixty per cent of chalk, and is often contaminated 

 with red lead, so that cheese colored with it has 

 been made poisonous." 



At the late convention of cheese-makers at Elgin, 

 111., the subject of coloring cheese was discus^sed. 

 Mr. C. H. Wilder, of Evansville, Wis., said, "the 

 practice of coloring milk or cheese, which is done 

 by most cheese-makers East and West, is not only 

 nselei-s, as it adds no improvement to the cheese 

 in richness or flavor, but is a waste of money, 

 more so than is generally calculated, for in addi- 

 tion to the cost of the coloring matter, which is 

 now no small item, the alkali necessarily used to 

 dissolve the annotto in its preparation for the milk, 

 neutralizes a considerable part of the rennet, so 

 that more must be used to coagulate the milk than 

 would otherwise be necessary." 



Others followed with similar remarks; and the 

 only defence of its use was based on the demands 

 of the consumer, who requires that his cheese 

 shall have a rich dandelion-butter appearance. 



CfLTIVATION OF CRANBERRIES. 



Can you or some of the readers of the Farmer 

 inform me whether it is profitable growing cran- 

 berries ? I have a number of acres of swamp land 

 that can be flowed. Some say it is very profitable 

 on land so situated. If so, I intend to try an acre 

 next season, and would like to be informed through 

 the Farmer about the mode of preparing the 

 ground for the vines and the setting of them out 

 and where I can get them, he. C. P. Luther. 



North Dorset, Vt., June 23, 1869. 



Remarks. — We mail to your address copies of 

 the New England Farmer containing Mr. Her- 

 sey's articles on cranberries, thinking that you 

 may be one of the many new subscribers that 

 have been added to our list recently. If you are 

 entirely inexperienced in the cultivation of cran- 

 berries, would it not be better to begin with a 

 small patch at first ? Cranberry vines are sold 



every year by those who make a business of sell- 

 ing them, but might not enough be learned and 

 enough be saved by diggms' your own vines, to 

 pay the expenses of a journey to the nearest cran- 

 berry patch from which you can contract for a 

 supply ? Cranberry raising, like all other kinds 

 of business, is a trade, and whoever goes at it must 

 serve an apprenticeship. There is no royal road 

 to success in any thing. 



cheap paint for barns. — COAL tar for roofs. 



I would Kke to inquire through the Farmer 

 how to make a cheap kind of paint to piiii;t barns 

 and outbuildings, that will be durable and look 

 well, so that a poor man that happen^ to have a 

 good barn can have it painted. In this vicinity 

 they use mostly the Brandon paint; but it soon 

 looks old, and in order to keep a buildin? looking 

 well it must he put on often, which makes it about 

 as expensive in the end as white lead. 



Is it profitable to put coal tar on the shingles to 

 preserve tiiem, and how often mjst it be applied to 

 Ion? shingles to keep them from wejring out ? 



Cabot, Vt., June 22, 1869. C. M. Fisher. 



Remarks. — No paint, we believe, withstands 

 "the tooth of time" better than Venetian red. 

 There are houses in some country towns painted 

 red so long a time ago that the memory of 

 man runneth not to the contrary, and they look 

 fresh to this day. The wood is admirably pre- 

 served, and appears as though it would not need 

 another coat of paint for a quarter of a century 

 to come. But, then, who would have sitck a color, 

 on house or barn, some people would say ? To 

 our eye it does not look badly when the trimmings 

 receive a shade somewhat different from the body 

 of the building. In point of economy, there is 

 probably nothing better. We would not shock the 

 taste of any one by advising the use of red paint 

 on a house or barn, but think we could live com- 

 fortably in a house so painted, all other things be- 

 ing agreeable. 



For a cheap, white, silver or pearl gray "paint," 

 a correspondent of the New England Farmer 

 gave, a few years ago, the following receipt for mak- 

 ing a composition which he had used and found 

 to be durable, cheap, and economical : — Skim milk, 

 two quarts ; fresh slacked lime, eight ounces ; lin- 

 seed oil, six ounces ; white Burgundy pitch, two 

 ounces; Spanish white, three pounds. The lime 

 to be slacked in water, exposed to the air, and 

 mixed in about one-fourth of the milk. The oil in 

 which the pitch is previously dissolved to be add- 

 ed a little at a time; then the rest of the milk, 

 and afterwards the Spanish white. This quantity 

 is sufiBcient for twenty-seven square yards, two 

 coats. If a particle of blue be added, or if this 

 blue be combined with a slight portion of black, a 

 silver or pearl gray will be obtained. The addi- 

 tion of raw umber will make a brown. It will be 

 necessary to keep it stirred in the bucket while 

 using. 



Petroleum, benzine, &c., have been tried, for 

 dark paints with various success. Some complain 

 that it does not harden properly. The editor of 



