14 



Milk and Rail-roads. — Potatoes. 



Vol. VIII. 



JMilk and Rail-roads. 



There is scarcely an article that can be 

 named, so essential to the health and com- 

 fort of families as milk, and it is believed 

 there is no one in which more gross imposi- 

 tions have, in many cases, been practined on 

 the consumer. The account given by Mr. 

 Colman, of the milk used in New- York, can- 

 not be pronounced an exaggeration ; and we 

 know no good reason why that account should 

 be applicable to that city alone. But a briglit- 

 er day is dawning on the dwellers in cities, 

 so far as milk is concerned; and the venders 

 of swill slop, cold water, and artificial milks, 

 are finding their occupations seriously en- 

 dangered. This is being brought about in 

 a great degree, by the influence of rail-roads, 

 which, spreading a net-work over the coun- 

 try, and centering in the cities, bring the 

 farmer or dairyman, residing 50 miles from 

 the city, within a few hours ride, and enable 

 him to offer his products in the best possible 

 condition for competition. This effect was 

 first extensively felt in Boston, in the reduc- 

 tion of the price and bettering the quality of 

 milk, though that city had never been con- 

 demned to use such scandalous stuff as was 

 sold in some other places for milk. At the 

 present time, a large portion of the milk 

 used in that city is received by the rail-road 

 from country dairies. The same beneficial 

 results are beginning to be felt in New York, 

 much to the annoyance, as we gather from 

 the newspapers, of the amateurs of artificial 

 milk in the metropolis. By the New York 

 and Erie rail-road, the milk of the cows fed 

 on the sweet pastures of Orange, and the 

 rich dairies of Ulster, are brought within 

 four or five hours of New York, and the 

 milk business is becoming extensive and 

 profitable. As was expected, a spirit of ri- 

 valry has been called out among the old 

 milk-men against their new competitors, 

 and some insinuated tliat the Orange milk 

 could not be kept sweet so long, unless some 

 deleterious chemical preparation was added. 

 The following account given by an Orange 

 county farmer, of the manner in which their 

 milk is sent to market, satisfactorily accounts 

 for its keeping so well, since pure milk, quick- 

 ly cooled and kept at a low temperature, will 

 be sweet for a long time, even in warm wea- 

 ther. 



The cows are milked early in the morn- 

 ing at Goshen and its vicinity, the milk put 

 into cans containing from 60 to 75 quarts, 

 into which a tin tube filled with ice is in- 

 serted, and stirred until the animal heat is 

 expelled from the milk. It is then sent by 

 the rail-road, and arrives, a distance of 80 

 miles, at the milk depots, which are nume- 



rous in the city, in four and a half hours. 

 The tube filled with ice is again inserted, 

 and the milk thus kept cool and sweet until 

 sold. It can be afiibrded to the public at 

 four cents per quart, of which the farmer 

 gets two cents per quart, and is well satis- 

 fied, as it yields more than butter at 25 cents 

 per pound. 



When we recollect the vast influence 

 which this method of supplying milk to 

 cities has on th.eir health and expenditures, 

 and the advantages it affords farmers of an 

 easy and profitable mode of disposing of this 

 part of their produce, the mutual benefits of 

 quick and certain modes of communication 

 between the city and country, become strik- 

 ingly apparent. — Cultivator. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Potatoes. — The mercer potato seems to 

 have become more and more defective of 

 latter years; is this owing to its becoming 

 aged and of a broken down constitution, or 

 from some other unexplained cause 1 Would 

 it not be well to search at\er some other va- 

 riety possessing good qualities and a sound 

 constitution, to substitute for it] 



The foxite is a sound, good potato, which 

 possesses very desirable qualities, and is 

 preferred by many to the mercer. 



The forty-fold, which was introduced a 

 few years since from Europe, by Robert Buist, 

 a celebrated gardener, of Philadelphia, cer- 

 tainly has no superior in quality, and it is 

 very productive; it has a light red skin, is 

 of medium size, and good shape. It is 

 white and mealy when boiled, and has a 

 delightful taste. Its cultivation is not yet 

 widely extended, but where it has been 

 tried, it maintains its ground against all 

 others. 



J. Cowperthw-ait, on the Delaware, ten 

 miles above Philadelphia, raised a large crop 

 of them last season, from whom they were 

 obtained for family use, and for planting last 

 season, when they were distributed to three 

 persons in different sections of country, and 

 they succeeded admirably. A. B. 



Rules worth being observed by farm- 

 ers. — 1. Perform every operation in the 

 proper season. 2. Perform every operation 

 in the best manner. 3. Always keep your 

 implements and tools in the best order. 4. 

 Finish one job before you begin another. 

 .5. After finishing a job always return your 

 tools to their proper places. 6. Don't put 

 in a crop too large to cultivate well. 7. 

 Personally attend to every operation, and 

 see that it be effectually done. — Baltimore 

 Farmer. 



