1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



421 



tioned, vary, as I have explained in the preceding 

 chapter, with the breed of the cow — with the food 

 on which it is supported — with the time that has 

 elapsed since the 2:)eriod of calving — Avith its age, 

 its state of health, and with the warmth of the 

 weather ;* hut in all cases this fluid contains the 

 same substances, though in different quantities 

 and proportions. 



Milk of the quality above analysed contains, in 

 every 10 gallons, 4^ lbs. of casein, equal to the for- 

 mation of 18 lbs. of ordinary muscle, — and 3^ 

 ounces of phosphate of lime, (bone-earth,) equal 

 to the production of 7 ounces of dry bone. But 

 from tlio casein have to be formed the skin, the 

 hair, the horn, the hoof, &c., as well as the muscle; 

 and in all these is contained also a minute quanti- 

 ty of the bone-earth. A portion of all the ingre- 

 dients of the milk likewisa pas.ses off in the ordi- 

 nary excretions, and yet every one knows how i*a- 

 pidly young animals thrive, when allowed to con- 

 sume the whole of the milk which nature has pro- 

 vided as their most suitable nourishment. 



* In warm weather the milk contains more butter, iu cold 

 cheese and sugar. 



Johnston'' s Ag. Chimistry and Geology. 



For the New England Farmer. 



ICE HOUSES. 



Messrs. Editors : — Sirs, — Having been a sub- 

 scriber to your valuable paper since its first start. 

 I wish to inquire through you or your numerous 

 contributors the best mode of constructing ice 

 houses — such as will keep ice through the season. 

 I have a good winter house, that will keep ice 

 nicely, 2H"0viding we don't have too many January 

 thaws. 



I wish to describe mine, and ask for the defects. 

 It is inside about 8 feet square, and six feet higli 

 to the roof, and plastered inside with cement; it is 

 situated about one-half out, the other under a 

 building used as a provision or store room and 

 milk room. The foundation is built of thick stone 

 wall laid in mortar, about three feet high. Then 

 brick two thicknesses outside, then a space of four 

 or five inclies, and one thickness bricks inside, the 

 space is filled with sawdust or planing shavings. 

 Thus you will see the wall is about 18 inches thick, 

 the roof and under the building isalso double and 

 filled with sawdust. I built this three years ago. 

 The first year I packed my ice in straw ; it lasted 

 till June, latter part ; second year it lasted till 

 the middle of July, with sawdust thrown over it. 

 This year it failed the 20th inst. So you perceive 

 my ice house is useless, or nearly so. 



The first year it was evidently too close ; it 

 formed a dampness so that the water stood on tlie 

 roof and wet the straw and dissolved the ice im- 

 mediately. Last year I ventilated it, and reme- 

 died the fault in a measure, but the principle is 

 not right yet, as the sequel shows. Now I wish 

 through your paper the faults in my building may 

 be pointed out, that I may correct them, or build 

 one that will answer the purpose, as I esteem ice a 

 great luxury these intensely hot days. 



Leander B. Hunt. 

 East Douglass, July 26, 1854. 



Remarks. — It is often the fault that too much 

 labor and expense arc put upon the ice house. 



Set a building 12 or 18 inches from the ground, 

 with strong sills and sleepers ; lay a double floor. 

 Make the outside of the building tight, and line 

 the inside from bottom to plate, and fill wjth shav- 

 ings, tan, or sawdust. Then, in an intcru^r house, 

 in the centre, deposit the ice, well packed in shav- 

 ings or other non-conductors. This ^interior 

 building should also be lined, if only small quan- 

 tities of ice are to be kept. Hero, then; you have 

 a walk, or passage, all round the ice, uifording 

 every convenience for storing or removing it. 

 Much depends upon the amount to be preserved. 

 Where large quantities are together, the inside 

 building, or pen, may be dispensed with. The 

 building should be firmly supported, but not un- 

 derpinned — let the air have full sweep under it. 

 We shall be glad of suggestions,on this topic, from 

 our correspondents. 



For the New England Farmer. 



CHEMISTEY AND FARMIKG. 



The remarks of Mr. Jouxson, copied in your 

 last number from the Country Gentleman on the 

 analysis of soils, expresses the exact truth. We 

 had a statement by a chemist, a member of the 

 Lawrence scientific school a year or two since, 

 that he had examined specimens from the rich 

 Ohio bottoms, and that the soil did not diifer in 

 comparison from our N. E. soil. It was only fin- 

 er. But the farmer sees corn grow on tliat, ten 

 feet high, while on the low N. E. soil, it will hard- 

 ly grow at all without manure. Enough of this 

 will make it grow here. Now which shall the 

 sensible man Ijelieve, the chemist or the corn? 

 A very small per cent, of phosphoric acid in com- 

 bination with a very little lime scattered through 

 300 cubic feet of earth will be found and taken 

 up by the corn. The chemist might utterly fail 

 to detect it. The vital power of the plant forms 

 combinations that the chemist cannot imitate. 

 The different states in which the elements may 

 exist, and their powers upon each other, and the 

 vital powers of the living organic action, are yet 

 little known; but the plant knows it all. Prac- 

 tically, therefore, for the mass of farmers, if not 

 for all, a conclave of cabbage beds, potatoes and 

 corn stalks, can impart more valuable informa- 

 tion, if we but leai-n their language, than all the 

 Savans of Europe. We study German to read 

 Liebig, why not some o'lier language to read the 

 cabbage ! Mr. Cabbage Head will give him no 

 jaw-breaking terms, l>ut if he remembers what 

 manure he put there, the phunp head of the cab- 

 bage will be as full of information for him, when 

 compared with its spindlc-sliankcd, verdant-topped 

 neighbor who happened to get no manure, as is 

 the practical, good-sensed farmer compared with 

 his dandy-theoretical neighbor farmer. Two heads 

 are better than one, if one is a cabbage-head, and 

 the two heads should be put togeclier. The learned 

 head of the man of science ready to give the the- 

 ory, and the cabbage, potato or corn, just as 

 ready to give tlie practice ; and tho farmer must 

 add his own to both, if lie would succeed. The 

 plant will take what it wants from tho soil, 

 and the chemist can analyze that better than the 

 soil itself. But without the name for each elo- 



