512 



NEW ENGLAND FAEI^IER. 



Nov. 



this mixture is sufficient for one hundred 

 pounds of curd in summer. 



In coloring cheese, the best way is to fix 

 upon the desired shade by trial, marking the 

 quantity of liquid used, and after that is known 

 the same proportion will give color that is 

 uniform. 



HOW^ TO BUILD A COBW CSIB. 



How to have a rat-proof corn-crib, is a 

 great question among farmers. A correspon- 

 dent of the New York Farmers' Club gives 

 the following experience : — 



"I have a corn-crib that has stood for twenty 

 years, and has never had a lat, and but one 

 mouse in it, to my knowledge. Posts ten or 

 eleven feet long and eight inches square; mor- 

 tise two feet from one end ; for end-sills, two- 

 inch mortise with tusk. Taper post from sill 

 to the end, by hewing off inside until the end 

 is reduced to four inches diameter; make 

 smooth with draw-knife, and nail on tin smooth 

 half way to the end, below the sill. Let sills 

 be eight inches square ; also, end tie them and 

 the rafter plates strong with moderate inter- 

 ties. Brace well, and lath up and down with 

 three-quarter inch lath ; dovetail or counter- 

 sink joists crosswise ; lay the floor, and board 

 up the ends with ungrooved boards ; let each 

 bent be twelve feet long, six feet wide at the 

 sill, and seven and a half feet at plate ; and 

 if full to peak, it will hold 250 bushels. 1 

 never had an ear to hurt on account of the 

 great width. If preferred, lay the floor with 

 lath or narrow boards, with room for ventila- 

 tion. Each post should stand on stone, about 

 three inches from the ground, and each stone 

 have a foundation two feet square and below 

 the frost. 



Good Milk. — The following rules were 

 unanimously adopted by the Illinois and Wis- 

 consin Dairymen's Association, "to insure the 

 delivery of pure, sweet milk :" 



1. That no milk is good, which is made 

 from filthy, stinking water, of sloughs and 

 frog ponds. 



2. That no milk is good that comes from 

 cows dogged, or over-driven in hot weather, 

 from the pastures to the stable. 



3. That no milk is good, that comes from 

 cows pounded or kicked or cruelly treated, 

 by b"utal men. 



4. No milk is good that comes from dis- 

 eased cows — cows that have sores filled with 

 puss, or that have udders broken and running 

 with corruption. 



Potato . Growing under Straw. — Mr. 

 Geo. Clark, of Ecorse, Mich., recently sent us 

 an account of an experiment by him in potato 

 culture. The potatoes were cut and dropped 

 in trenches which were four feet apart 



and six inches deep. These trenches were 

 then filled with rye straw and cornstalks, so 

 that, when stepped on, the straw and stalka 

 were about six inches deep. The potatoes 

 were then cultivated and hoed as Is usually 

 done with this crop, and the result was a good 

 yield of medium sized and good eating pota- 

 toes, very few being rotten or hollow. Pota- 

 toes planted at same time and on similar land, 

 but without mulching, gave a poor jield of 

 small potatoes. Mr. C'lark estimates his gain, 

 from mulching this half acre, at $100. — We,'>t- 

 ern Bural. 



Are Bees Injurious to Fruit? — In an 

 swer to this question Dr. A. S. Packard, edi- 

 tor of the American Naturalist, in vol. 2, page 

 52, observes : — 



"I would reply that all the evidence given by 

 botanists and zoologists who have specially studied 

 the subject shows that bees improve the quality 

 and tend to increase the quantity of fruit. Thej' 

 aid in the fertilization of flowers, thus preventins; 

 the occurrence of sterile flowers, and by more 

 thoroughly fertilizing flowers already perfect, ren- 

 der the production of sound and well-developed 

 fruit more sure. Many botanists think if it were 

 not for bees and other insects, many 2}lcints xoould 

 not fruit at all. 



A Sheep Medicine. — Mr. Ephraim Noyes 

 of Jefferson, while on a cull at our office last 

 week, alluded to the great number of sheep 

 that died the last spring, and said he did not 

 in all cases attribute it to worm in the head. 

 He lost nine from his flock, all from a disease 

 known in his locality as "swelled neck" — a 

 sort of enlargement of the thyroid glands, 

 which are situated on each side of the upper 

 portion of the windpipe. He saved three by 

 giving them a single dose of a medicine com- 

 posed of equal parts of sp rits of turpentine 

 and saltpetre, using four tablespoonsful as a 

 dose. The swelling began to subside very 

 soon after the medicine was administered. 

 The youngest sheep of the flock were gener- 

 ally attacked first. — Maine Farmer. 



Steel Watch Chains. — The small steel 

 chain which winds round the fusee of a watch 

 is about eight inches In length, and contains 

 upward of five hundred links, riveted together. 

 It Is not thicker than a horse hair, and the 

 separate links can but just be perceived with 

 the naked eye. Modern invention has as yet 

 discovered no substitute for this chain equal 

 to It in slenderness, strength, and flexibility. 

 Most of these watch chains are manufactured 

 at Christchurch, In Hants. The links are 

 punched out by girls from plates of steel, and 

 very young girls pick up the link, and rivet 

 one to the Oi.her. Watch-chain manufacture 

 has been the staple of Christchurch for nearly 

 a centuiy — In fact, ever since pocket watches 

 began to be generally carried. — Exchange. 



