1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARI^IER. 



467 



be taken fiom the milk before it is sour, the 

 cream, on the contrary, is allowed to have a 

 pleasant acid taste before churning. 



It appears to be the general opinion of but- 

 ter makers, both in this country and in Europe, 

 that better results are obtained by allowing 

 the cream to acquire a slightly acid taste than 

 to churn it sweet ; but this acid condition of 

 the cream must not be confounded, however, 

 with sourness, which is altogether different, 

 and arises from different causes, such as 

 standing too long, or from a close atmosphere, 

 or from badly cleansed utensils, or from a 

 general want of care and cleanliness. — X. A. 

 Willard, in Rural New Yorker. 



■WHY" WE GROW HEAVY W^OOL. 



Wool growers are very generally blamed 

 for making heavy fleeces. The burden of the 

 song of speculators and commission men, is 

 "heavy fleeces,'" "too much grease," — and 

 the refrain is accompanied by the one-strin<Ted 

 instrument that is played upon by all Wool 

 Buyers' Associations. The well-posted wool- 

 grower has never attempted to conceal the 

 fact that he makes his wool heavy because it 

 pays him best to do so. That this is so is no 

 fault of his. Incompetent men are sent out 

 through the country to buy wool at an arbi- 

 trary price. They can't pay above such a 

 price ; but will take anything that is offered 

 below or within their limit. Isn't here a pre- 

 mium upon heavy wool .'' 



But suppose the grower concludes not to 

 sell to this man, but ships his clip to Chicago, 

 hoping to have it sold upon its merits, how 

 does he fare ? I have before me the circular 

 of one of the largest commission houses in 

 Chicago, (dated July 6,) in which I find these 

 figures : — 



Fleece XX, good condition, light 40igt3c 



Fierce XX, bad conntion, htavy SHa-iOc 



Fleece X, good coiidtion, light Wai'la 



Fleece X, bad condition, heavy 36@ -Tc 



Fleece mt>diuni, good condition, light 40(a)43c 



Fleece medium, bid condition, heavy 36(S!3Sc 



Here we find two cents per pound difference 

 in price between "good condition, light," and 

 "bad condition, heavy." Now, a well grown 

 Merino fleece of four pounds weight, would 

 be in good condition ; and one of five pounds 

 would not be very heavy. But take the two 

 for an example, i send to the commission 

 house my four pound fleece, in "good condi- 

 tion, light" — sheared as soon after washing as 

 dry, and it is sold for 40a43c — say41.ic. My 

 neighbor allows his sheep to run two weeks 

 after washing ; then shears, and sends to the 

 same house his five pound fleece, in "bad con- 

 dition, heavy." Good condition means some- 

 thing more than light. It is free from tags, 

 and surplus strings, and is every way sightly. 

 Bad condition, of course, is the reverse of 

 this. My neighbor's wool is sold for 38a40 — 

 say 39c per pound — I get for my light fleece 

 $1.66, while he gets for his heavy fleece 



$1.95; in fact 29c per fleece premium for 

 making his wool heavy, and in bad condition 

 generally. Wool growers will put up their 

 wools light, and good conditioned, when it is 

 made their interest to do so. If two cents or 

 two and a half cents per pound is all the value 

 light, good conditioned wool has over bad 

 conditioned heavy, to the manufacturer, he 

 must content himself with the heavy — for the 

 grower can't afford a loss of 25c to 30c on 

 each fleece, just to tickle the pocket of his 

 customer. JSuch liberality is not found in any 

 other class of producers, and need not be 

 looked for among wool growers, until manu- 

 facturers are ready to furnish a No. 1 doeskin 

 at the same price per yard as an ordinary sat- 

 inet. — A. M. Garland, Chatham, ML, in 

 Western Rural. 



Insect Life. — All the higher animals, such 

 as mammals or what are commonly called 

 "quadrupeds," birds, reptiles and fishes, 

 breed an indefinite number of times in the 

 course of their lives. For example, nobody 

 expects that, because a heifer has raised one 

 calf, sie is going to die as a matter of course ; 

 neither does a hen necessarily die, because 

 she has alreauy reared one brood of chickens. 

 But with insects the case is quite different. 

 Every female insect, with the single exception 

 of a few social species, such as honey-bees 

 and perhaps ants and white ants (^Termites) 

 perish in the course of the same season, after 

 laying their first and only batch of eggs. 

 Their race is then run — the goal is then 

 reached — and they retire from the course, to 

 give place to that new generation of the same 

 species, which, although it proceeds from their 

 loins, they are yet in ;he great majority of 

 cases destined never to behold. — American 

 Entomologist. 



Grass for Breeding Hogs. — A writer in 

 the Western Rural says .• — "A good supply of 

 grass for breeders is of untold value. They 

 should be put on pasture two or three weeks 

 before breeding time, as it increases the milk 

 greatly. Breeders, on a good supply of grass, 

 with some corn, will not only retain their flesh, 

 but grow continually, and be easily fattened 

 in the fall or winter, while the pigs will be 

 large and healthy, and their growth will not 

 be checked during the winter. If breeders, 

 with their pigs, are confined in small yards 

 during the summer, and fed on grain alone, it 

 will take two of the former to make a shadow 

 in the fall, while the latter will be small and 

 poor, and go into winter quarters good sub- 

 jects for disease." 



— One swallow does not make a summer, and 

 the result of a single trial should not be taken as 

 a rule. Writers for agricultural papers, and far- 

 mers generally, have much need to remember this. 



