142 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



June 



MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE. 



The following article is from the pen of Mr. A. 

 L. Fish, one of the most experienced Cheese Dairy- 

 men of Herkimer county. It will be interesting to 

 that portion of our hundred thousand readers who are 

 engaged in the dairy business — a large number of 

 whom take but one agricultural journal. We copy 

 from the May number of The Cultivator: 



Having been so frequently addressed by different persons 

 in this and other States upon the subject of dairying, that to 

 reply to each individually, would be quite inconvenient and 

 hurlhensome, I propose answering some of the most impor- 

 tant questions generally asked by new beginners, through 

 the columns of your widely circulated paper, — hoping they 

 will reach every person who deems book farming of suffi- 

 cient importance to take an agricultural paper. At the low 

 rate that such papers are now afforded, those who do not 

 take one, have a poor excuse for begging information of their 

 neighbors, to keep pace with the present tide of improve- 

 ment. 



" What kind of cows are most profitable in a dairy ?" 



It depends much upon location. If a dairyman is remote 

 from a good grain market, where the coarser grains would 

 bear a better profit fed to milch cows than to market other- 

 wise, his selectien should be of deep milkers, that will bear 

 grain feed without accumulating too much flesh. If near a 

 good beef market, where beef is worth nearly as much per 

 hundred as cheese, look well to the size and thrift of a cow, 

 so that if she is not a deep milker, she will turn well for 

 beef. As a general rule, those are most profitable that are 

 deep milkers, and will hold out a good flow of milk through 

 the season, keep in good condition, and are quiet and gentle. 

 He who cannot furnish plenty of good feed, should beware 

 of such cows as have been highly fed, or his profits will be 

 small. 



" What is the best age of a cow V' 



From five to ten years old. I have no objection to a cow 

 ten years old for a season. She will consume more feed 

 than a younger one, but her milk is richer till she begins to 

 decline in condition, and lose strength and vigor. 



" What is the most congenial feed lor cows immediately 

 before and after calving?" 



Plenty of good tender hay or grass, and a small quantity, 

 daily, of such other food as is best calculated to loosen the 

 bowels and nourish the system, without creating a fever in 

 the secretive organs. Wheat bran, oat meal, potatoes, or oth- 

 er roots, are deemed best for that purpose. If a cow is in 

 high tlesh, a mild bleeding from the neck, with half a pound 

 of salts, fed in a mash, previous to calving, is good. 



" What quantity of grain will a cow bear feeding, profita- 

 bly, and should the kind be varied, at different periods, du- 

 ring the milking season?" 



All cows will not bear feeding alike. Some not being 

 deep milkers, would acquire too much flesh and shrink in 

 milk, with the same amount of feed that others would turn 

 to profit in milk. Hence the necessity of feeding separately, 

 with close observation in regard to the constitution and ca- 

 pacity of different cows. A man's observation in his own 

 practice, is generally the best test in this matter. I have 

 long since abandoned the practice of heavy feeding before 

 and immediately after calving. Two quarts of corn or bar- 

 ley meal, or four of oat meal, or six quarts of wheat bran, 

 may he safely fed. daily, to each cow. While kept to hay. 

 grain feed should be made into slop, and fermented before 

 feeding. The profit of feeding grain more, or longer than 

 tn bring cows to grass healthy and strung, would depend up- 

 on the comparative value of the feed with that of the pro- 

 duct. Nothing can be fed to a cow that will increase the 

 quantity of her milk from plenty of good grass. The only 

 gain in feeding slop and grain during Hush of feed, i* by en- 

 riching the milk ami retaining the cows' appetite for it when 

 gr tss fails. When first turned to grass, cows are apt to scour, 

 and shrink in milk. Dry wheat bran, or cob meal, will then 

 he better than slop feed. Barley ami corn meal are too ca- 

 thartic to feed in large quantities while the cows are;". 



" < 'an all dairymen m >k" it profitable to grow com, sow n 

 brodcast or otherwise, to feed to milch cows !" 



Where the soil is strong enough to bear a large burthen 

 without m inuring too highly, it will bear a profit, as it i< the 

 best feed that can be given to keep up the liow of milk be- 

 tween early and fall feed. Hut where the soil needs much 

 manure, it is not good policy to manure highly a small piece 



of ground to obtain a large crop of any kind, to the neglect 

 of other important crops. In other 'words, the dairyman 

 would receive a greater benefit, in a long run, from distribu- 

 ting one hundred loads of manure on ten acres of meadow 

 land, after harvest, or putting on that amount with the seed 

 when stocking down for meadow, than by putting it on one 

 or two acres to grow corn, to feed cows in summer. A small 

 feeding of corn daily, will take the appetite from grass with 

 little or no benefit. I have found it best to feed plentifully 

 at evening only. 



"What is the best mode of heating milk and scalding 

 curd ?" 



That which will produce the most perfect equilibrium of 

 heat through the whole mas.?, with the least exposure to ex- 

 cess of heat. A smaller vessel containing the milk or curd 

 with whey, set into a larger vessel which contains water, 

 through which heat is conveyed to the vessel containing the 

 milk or whey, is the safest mode, and is now generally prac- 

 ticed here. The more water there is in the larger vessel, the 

 more uniform heat is conveyed to the milk. If a large tin 

 vat is used, set into a wooden box or vat, the tube attached 

 to one end of the tin vat, and extending down through the 

 bottom of the wood vat, to discharge the whey when the 

 curd is sufficiently scalded, should be large enough to let off 

 the whey at once, or the curd will settle or pack together, 

 and require much hard labor, and will waste, by friction, in 

 separating it and making it fine enough to drain and salt 

 properly. A vat for thirty or more cows, should have a tube 

 at least two inches in diameter, and the tin cylinder, with a 

 tube at one end, to fit snug into the tube carrying off the 

 whey, should be as high as the vat. and four or five inches 

 in diameter ; with as many very small holes punched in it 

 as can be and hold together, in order to strain the whey from 

 the curd as fast as it will pass off through the tube. 



" Why would it not answer as well to pass steam directly 

 into the milk or whey and curd, as it would save expense in 

 fixtures ?" 



Because that portion coming in contact with steam, would 

 be exposed to an excess of heat, and would not be affected 

 by rennet like other portions which were not overheated. — 

 Consequently, a strict affinity would not be maintained, 

 which is necessary for a perfect coherence ; and more or less 

 would float off with the whey, or make trouble in curing the 

 cheese. 



" Is a thermometer a sufficient guide in making cheese ?" 



A thermometer that is correct, is an indispensable guide in 

 measuring the amount of heat to be used ; but the time of 

 raising the heat and continuing its effect, must be varied to 

 meet contingent circumstances. [To he continued.] 



A New Species of Cotton, called the Prolific Pome- 

 granate, surpassing any of the gossypium family has been 

 grown in Mississippi, by Gen. Mitchell, of Warren county. 

 The tops and side branches are all thickly studded with bolls. 

 The stalk does not attain a height usually of more than four 

 or five feet, but every portion of the plant is literally covered 

 with bolls, which are sustained in nn upright position by the 

 strength and vigor of the stem and branches. The chief pe- 

 culiarity of this plant is that the stem and branches have no 

 joints as in other kinds ; and although the bolls are so nu- 

 merous, there can be no inconvenience in picking. The sta- 

 ple is beautiful, and far more silky than the best Petit Gulf. 

 From one-third of an acre (measured) he gathered and 

 weighed the past season '2,142 lbs. of superior cotton. One 

 hundred pounds of the seed cotton yielded 32j lbs. lint, and 

 by an accurate test he found that sixty-live bolls made one 

 pound of lint. 



Old Apples. — The Worcester Spy gives an account of 

 an apple more than 5(i years old. It lias been presented to 

 the American Antiquarian Society, by < 'ol. JACQUES, who 

 received it from a young lady, a birth-day gift, in 1792. 

 There is also, in the family of the hit" Mr. MoRRIS Doisiis. 

 at Northampton, N. II.. an apple which grew in the year 

 1776, which is still in a good state of preservation. An 

 interesting child ae ir the hour of its death, craved the then 

 fresh apple, and alter attempting to bite it. it was thrown 

 aside. We have recently seen i!. and the marks of its teeth 

 are still visible. It is a little romarknhle that it blossomed 

 under British government, was growing when our indepen- 

 dence was declared, and was gathered as one of the first 

 I'm it* of American independence. It is preserved as an 

 interesting family relic. 



