1854. 



NE\y ENGLAND FARMER. 



n 



If the object of a Dairy be to make Cheese, 

 cows pliould be bred and selected that give milk 

 rich with curd ; if the object be Butter, those that 

 give a light milk will produce most ; but if the 

 object being the greatest profit in selling milk, 

 such cows should be selected as will give the most 

 milk and from which the least butter and cheese 

 can be made from a given quantity. 



It is a remark often made, and with truth, by 

 those who have the care of dairies, that there are 

 individuals among their cows, whose milk 3-ields 

 little or no cream, butaliounds in curd ; while the 

 milk of others is very deficient in curd, but is not 

 lacking in cream. The perfection of milk is the 

 union of these two desiralde properties, and its 

 greatest defect in the absence of both. 



A cubic foot of pure water weighs 1000 ounces 

 avoirdujxds very nearly. 



The weight of all sulx^tancos, except the gases, 

 (all being brought to one temperature,) is, m re- 

 lation to that of pure Avater, whose specific gravi- 

 ty (weight) is represented by unity, or one, thus: 



1.000 

 Butter is lighter 0.942 



Cream " 0.980 



New milk average is he.ivier 1.02S 



Skim milk " " 1.038 



In a former communication on the subject of 

 Butter making, we disapproved of the practice of 

 adding water to the cream, and of washing the 

 butter, to rid it of its butter-milk. The carbonate 

 of lime, found in water, causes the incrustation, 

 which forms on the inside of utensils in which it 

 is boiled. Butter absorbs the lime and magnesia, 

 present in salt and in water, when it comes in con- 

 tact with them ; it has an injurious effect on its 

 quality and preservation. It is therefore in all 

 cases safest not to wash it, even if the water be 

 pure, it will in a measure destroy its fine fragrance 

 and flavor. 



The use of pure salt cannot be too often recom- 

 mended to those who have dairies in charge. !More 

 than a millicm of dollars can be annually saved to 

 our farmers in this country by attention to this 

 point. No one denies that good pure salt is made 

 at our salt springs liy solar evaporation, if taken 

 from the first pan where all the crystals are per- 

 fectly square ; but this s;ilt comes to the consumer 

 with various degrees of adulteration ; and is there- 

 fore cheaj), as to the first cost. After the square 

 crystiils of pure salt have ceased to form ; then, by 

 further evaporation the salts of magnesia and 

 glaubers s;ilts begin to show long needle-shaped 

 crystals very 1)itt«r to the taste ; easily dissolved 

 and always found moist in damp weather. It will 

 not preserve fish or meat, and when used for l)ut- 

 tcr, will dissolve and run from it like water. — 

 Whereas rock salt gives it firmness, which facili- 

 tates the extraction of butter-milk and preserves it 

 sweet. Many bags marked rock salt, have been 

 filled more than once ; and many others never came 

 in contact with it. Let the farmers club together, 

 and send to a sea-port and get the best of Rock 

 salt, sift out the fine, wash and dry the lumps, 

 and have it ground at any gristmill in the neigh- 

 borhood, as our fathers did, before the introduction 

 of the very improved fine Liverpool bag or blown 

 salt. 



For the Committee, Steven H. Smith. 



they have discovered the rot in potatoes to be 

 caused by an insect or maggot which eats into the 

 potato, near the root or 8t«m andapoisons it. They 

 made this discovery last fall, while digging their 

 potatoes, and have since frequently found the mag- 

 got in those which were diseased. They recom- 

 mend as an effi'ctual remedy the application of a 

 spoonful of sulphur to the vines of each hill when 

 the potatoes arc hoed. Our correspondents are good 

 practical farmers and may be right, but tlie expe- 

 rience of more than one season will be necessary to 

 establish the fact. — Dover {N. H.) Inquirer. 



TuE Potato Rot. — Eli Demeritt, of Strafford, 

 and Aaron Bridge, of Nottingliam, write us that 



E'jr the yew England Fanner. 



POOR LAND MADE RICH WITHOUT 

 ADDING MANURE. 



As this is rather a new theory, some may ask 

 ^w is it possible to make poor land i-ich without 

 putting on manure! I answer, by shading it. But 

 my opposer may say if shade' makes land rich, why 

 does not the soil under large trees become extreme- 

 ly fertile ! To this I answer as follows : the growth 

 of the tree is constantly exhausting the soil, and 

 if the shade did not tend to fertilize, the soil would 

 soon become so impoverished that unless manure 

 were artificially added the tree would die. If any 

 one wishes to be convinced of the truth of this 

 theory, let him try a piece of poor land in the fol- 

 lowing manner ; cover it all over with In-ush three 

 feet deep, let it remain covered four years, then 

 remove the brush, and he will find that the soil 

 lias become rich although no manure has been ad- 

 ded ; at the same time let him leave a piece uncov- 

 ered by the side of it, so as to see the difference. 



Every intelligent farmer in the New England 

 States knows that if he crops a field for twelve or 

 fifteen years in succession without adding manure, 

 the land will l)ecome so impoverished as to be al- 

 most worthless ; Ijut he may enter the forest and 

 examine the soil which has been exhausted l)y the 

 growth of tim1)er for hundreds of years, and he 

 will find it is still very rich. Now I ask, how the 

 fertility has thus been kept up, if the shade does 

 not tend to fertilize ? My opposer may s;iy it is 

 kept up by manure made from the leaves of the 

 trees. I will admit that the foliage tends to fer- 

 tilize, but as the quantity of matter returned to 

 the soil in this way is so small compared with what 

 is taken up by the growth of the timber, it is 

 very evident to every wise hus])andman, that there 

 must be another great source of fertilization, or 

 the soil would soon become exhausted. I have 

 about come to the conclusion, that of all th© 

 ehanges which vegetable and animal substances 

 undergo during their decomposition, the product 

 of the one only which has proved to be the ali- 

 ment of plants, is the residue of putrefaction. I 

 also think that a close, cool, dark and damp loca- 

 tion, with a contact of air, is indisjxiusable to the 

 generation of tlio putrefaetive pi-ocess. Putrefac- 

 tion may be ci)nsidered the ultnuate result of veg- 

 etable! and animal decompositions, because it forms 

 the only product incapable of any other change. 

 The surface of the earth will readily undergo the 

 putrefiictive process, if favorably located, that is, 

 if densely shaded. Dr. Baldwin s;vys that the 

 fertility imparted to the earth by shade, that is 

 manure made of tlie earth itself, is more durable 

 and therefore more valuable, tlian tliat made of any 

 other sul»8tance whatever, lie wiys no animal or 



