466 



NEW ENGLAND FAPaiER, 



Oct. 



There was no smoke, no mould, no dust. The 

 stock fed on it did first rate. It was not fed 

 to teams, as we tbouoht it would be too much 

 like grass. I presume that a great gain is to 

 be relied upon in feeding such hay to milch 

 cows, over the hay that is more thoroughly 

 dried. 



I am acquainted with a gentleman who has 

 for many years put all his hay into the barn 

 the day it is cut, and 1 am sure he has the 

 sweetest and best looking hay of any I see 

 elsewhere. I am satisfied that it would be 

 economy any way for hay to be cut when dry 

 and housed as soon as possible after it wilts. 



A method of dealing with clover tliat I have 

 practiced with much satisfaction, is to get it 

 thoroughly dry from water, and stack or mow 

 it with straw or old hay. It will come out 

 very nice and the stock will eat the straw in 

 some cases as well as the clover. k. o. 



July 20, 18G9. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 BUCKWHEAT STBAW. 



A correspondent in your issue of July 3d. 

 asks what shall be done with buckwheat straw? 

 This is a question worthy of consideration, as 

 many acres are devoted to this crop, or to one 

 very similar, that is, India wheat. In 0/ leans 

 county, from reports of 718 farms, in 1867, 

 we learn that 600 acres were in these grains, 

 and I venture to say that one-half of the straw 

 was thrown into a pile outside the barn door, 

 after threshing, to rot. Such piles sometimes 

 remain year after year, and are not applied as 

 manure to the fields until rotted to a small 

 bulk. There are several reasons for this 

 method : — 



1. The stalks are very juicy, like potato 

 vines, and will heat and mould if piled away in 

 large quantities in the barn. 2. Then the 

 leaves all break off in threshing, so only stalks 

 are left to save, which make the poorest fod- 

 der. 3. The farmers keep the straw separate 

 from their manure )ards, because the scatter- 

 ing grains will live through the winter and 

 come up wherever the manure is applied, and 

 in this way get mixed with every crop 

 4. There is a belief that for bedding it is 

 very injurious, causing sores upon the animals 

 that lay on it, especially hogs. 



In answer to the question. What shall be 

 done with it? I would state that in 1867 and 

 1868, 1 scattered each year two or three tons 

 of India wheat straw upon the grass in the 

 field, in the fall, and I know it increased the 

 yield of grass for hay the following season. 

 It is a good mulch, protecting the plants in 

 winter and retaining moisture in summer. 

 The seeds do ot grow on sod ; the straw is 

 not in the way of the scathe or hind rake after 

 being pressed by snow all winter, but a horse 

 rake would gather some ot it. 



This year, as soon as haying is done, I in- 

 tend to cart out all old straw, and the manure 



made at the stable through the summer, and 

 spread it on the mown fields. I consider it 

 better to let the straw rot on the fields than 

 about the barns as it usually lays, yet I ac- 

 knowledge that ttie better way might be to rofe 

 it in a well-built compost heap. z. e. j, 



Irashurg, Vt., July 6, 1869. 



WHEN TO SKIM MILK. 



When milk is allowed to sour before it is 

 skimmed, the layer of cream appears more 

 bulky and of greater consistency, but it does 

 not produce so much nor so good a quality of 

 butter as cream properly rai.^ed and skimmed 

 from milk before it sours. On this point we 

 possess some interesting experiments by San- 

 net, who put aside two equal quantities of 

 milk, of which the first, skimmed after thirty 

 hours, }ielded thirty pounds of butter; and 

 the second, skimmed after a lapse of sixty 

 hours, only twenty-seven pounds of butter. 



In another experiment, two equal quaniities 

 of milk yielded — the one, when skimmed after 

 thirty hours, tliirty-one pounds of butter ; and 

 the other, after sixty hours, twenty-nine 

 pounds of butter. In both experiments, in 

 which the milk was skimmed after thirty hours 

 standing, the skimmed milk was still sweet, 

 and the cream not so thick and less in bulk 

 than that which was thrown up after sixty 

 hours standing. 



The cream which rises first is always richer 

 in butter than that which is thrown up later, 

 and it also possesses more of that peculiar 

 aroma which givvs to butter that rich, nutty 

 flavor and smell which imparts so high a de- 

 gree of pleasure in eating it. When proper 

 regard has been had to keeping the milk at 

 the right temperature while the cream is ris- 

 ing, and the proper appliances are had in the 

 dairy, all the cream that will rise at all will 

 have to come to the surface in about twenty- 

 four hours. Some claim that they can get it 

 all up in less time. Of one thing we may be 

 assured — the quicker cream can be made to 

 rise the better its quality ; for cream, like all 

 perishable substancs, does not preserve its 

 original properties for any great length of 

 time. 



The best as well as the highest priced but- 

 ter that now goes into the London market 

 comes from the continent of Europe, where 

 the greatest attention is paid to butter making. 

 In Holstein, one ot the points consideied most 

 essential in butter making is to skim the milk 

 just at the proper moment; and this must al- 

 ways take place bt fore the milk can become 

 sour. Choice, keepable butter can only result 

 when the mi.lk has been kept sweet, as the 

 souring develops curds. The Orange county 

 butter makers observe this principle ; and the 

 experience of the best butter makers, both in 

 this country and in Europe, appears to have 

 settled down upon this prin iple a.sthe correct 

 one to practice. But while the cream should 



