THE GENESEE FARMER. 



239 



fouad preying upon the plants in Belgium, and 

 which was a species new to all of them, in every 

 case preceded tlie work of destruction. It attack- 

 ed the leaves when green, or yellowish green, and 

 caused tliem to decay. Tlie attack on the leaves 

 preceded the putrefaction of the stems. The par- 

 tial decay of the stems preceded the decay of the 

 tubers, and those tubers nearest to the stem or 

 surface of the soil were generally first tainted ; and 

 the same mould which springs from the substance 

 of the leaves, uniformly bursts forth from the tubers 

 exactly at the very spot where the decay originates 

 That the mould proceeds from within, Mr. Berke- 

 MY can state from personal observation, and he ' 

 believes it to be a fact that it could not establish 

 Itself on a decayed substance. The parasitical 

 lungus Botrytis mfestam is, therefore, most un- 

 questionably, the immediate cause of the potato 

 blight. It IS, moreover, well known to be a power 

 perfectly adequate to accomplish the effect under 

 certain conditions ; therefore, before any man at- 

 tempts to supersede the fungal theory by any other 

 explanation, it appears to me to be essentially re- 

 quisite that he should, in the first place, satisfacto- 

 rily prove that these statements of Mr. Berkeley 

 and other distinguished observers, are not facts but ' 

 factions.' " 



We have read Mr. Townley's pamphlet* with 

 great pleasure. We were well aware that many 

 scientific men had years ago adopted the fungus 

 theory, but were under the impression that the 

 pi-oof was not so strong as the recent experiments 

 of the German botanists have made it. We thiak 

 Prof. Berkeley and Mr. Townley are entitled to 

 the credit of having discovered " the true cause of 

 the potato blight eighteen years ago." 



HOW TO MILK THE COWS. 



Ameeioan Poek.— a correspondent of the/mA 

 Farmers' Gazette writes to the editor of that paper 

 as follows : 



Sir, I want your opinion on the inundation of 

 the country with American bacon, hams, «fec., as to 

 whether it is better for the community at large to 

 get their meat at the present low prices, and, as 

 must be the case if this deluge continues, the 

 breeding and keeping of pigs at home given up as 

 a thing that won't pay, or whether something in 

 the way of an import tax on salted provisions 

 ehould not be tried, to give poor Irish piggv a 

 chance. It would be a pity, I think, to see the 

 .cabins without their friendly grunters, and to 

 iJcnow that the means of putting a few shillin-s into 

 a laboring man's pocket is to be taken away from 

 him because American speculators can furnish the 

 markets at a much cheaper rate ; yet I think there 

 is no doubt such must be the case, if things eo on 

 as they are at present. 

 The editor makes no reply. 



Dr. Dadd, the well known Veterinary Surgeon, 

 writes as follows on this subject : 



The first process in the operation of milking is 

 to make the cow'a acquaintance, and give her to 

 understand that the milker approaches her wi h 

 none other than friendly intentions; lor i7 1 e 

 swears, scolds or kicks her, she is likel^ to prove 



In lTn?JT- ^'''\,T^\ Pf^^il'ly, give tlie uncouth 

 and unfeeling milker the benefit of her heels, which 

 m my opinion, he is justly entitled to ' 



should be fed, or have some kind of fodder- in the 

 enjoyment of the mastication of the same her at- 

 tention IS withdrawn from the milker's operations 

 and the milk IS not " held up," as the saying J 

 but IS yielded freely. («) ^^ ' 



The milker should not sit off at a distance like 



wfthTb'"''! b^V'?/^'^'"^™ ^'^^"^'^ come in con e 

 with the leg of the cow, so that she can not kick. 



If she makes the attempt when the milker is in 



close proximity with the cow's body, the former 



merely gets a kick instead of a blow (h) 



Before commencing to milk, the teats are to be 



washed with cold water, in warm weather ml 



warm water in winter. The object is to remove 



accumulated dirt, wliich otherwise would fldl inio 



the mdk pail, to the disgust of persons who love 



pure niilk and hate uncleanliness. Here is a- 



chance for improvement. 



«nrwf^/'* ""'?•' u? "* ^^''•ciful man. The udder- 

 and teats are highly organized and very sensitive- 

 and these facts should be taken into considerat on' ' 

 especially when milking a young animal, forthe" ' 

 har?f,T-''""^*r^' excessively tender, and the. 

 hard tugging and squeezing which many poor sea-. 

 sitive creatures have to endure, at the hands rf 

 some thoughtless, hard-fisted man, are really dis- 

 tressing to witness. ^ ^ 



TJT \ J V^ P'-'«c'Pal part of the milking, in pri^ 

 vate establishments in foreign countries, is done by 



s^.'n^ ^""^ Z *^''' ^'"^^^^ ^^""^'^ there are thoij 

 sands of capable women out of employment who- 

 might be advantageously errmloyed, in priv" eind 

 dairv establishrriAnta ^c ^ai^^^J.-:!.^ r^} -^^^^ »"" 



jontaining an Exainina ion of tlip Uovni A<rrir.iiii„,a a • 7 ," 

 Prize Essays on the ''Blight-'- A Rp \ fr. it r ' Society's 



Shearing out of Plants: and sl.owin.' IVu rMhrPrJT^"" '^" 



dairy establishm^^^^^^SS' tK^^^^, 

 view of improvement in the art of milking, L 'ad- 

 vise farmers to learn their wives, daughters and fe- 

 male dome3tics,how to strip the cows. (c> 



An indolent person-slow coach— should never 

 be suffered to touch a cow's teat; the process fa 

 say tne least of it, is painful ; thWef^Thelest 

 "uick^rtiml"' "'" '''' ''''''''' '''' '""k'-n the. 



Finally, milk the cow dry. The last of the milk 

 IS the most valuable, yet Mr. Hurry-„n can not 

 spare time to attend to this matter, consequently 



rui sThecl^''' "'•/•'' stoppings, and a^ctmally 

 ruins the cow as a milter. 



EEMARKs.-(a) This is true so far as it. goes, but 

 we doubt the general policy of feeding cows while 

 milking. If they are accustomed to it for a short 

 time, and it should afterwards be desirable, as it 

 frequently will be, to forego the practice, the oow 

 will not give down her milk freely. We know a 

 case in point: A farmer had been in the habit of 



