556 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



■warm water heated by steam. A thermometer 

 was immersed in each of these water baths, that, 

 by frequent inspection, the temperature miglit 

 not rise above the jwint which years of experience 

 have shown advisable. 



To fiioilitate the evaporation, by means of l)low- 

 ers and other ingenious apparatus, a current of 

 air is established between the covers of the pans, 

 and the solidifying milk. Connected with the 

 steam engine is an an*angement for stirrers, for 

 agitating the milk slightly while evaporating, and 

 so gently as not to churn it. In about three hours 

 the milk and sugar assumed a past}' consistency, 

 and delighted the palates of all present. By con- 

 stant manipulating and warming, it was reduced 

 to a rich, creamy-looking powder; then exposed 

 to the air to cool, weighed into parcels of a pound 

 each, and by a press, with the force of a ton or 

 two, made to assume the compact form of a tablet, 

 (the size of a small brick) in which shape, cov- 

 ered with tin foil, it is presented to the public. 



Some of the solidified milk, which had been 

 grated and dissolved in water the evening previous, 

 was found covered with a rich cream. This, 

 skimmed off, was soon converted into excellent 

 butter. Another solution was speedily converted 

 into wine whey, by a treatment precisely similar 

 to that employed in using ordinary milk. It fully 

 equalled the expectation of all ; so that solified 

 milk will hereafter rank among the necessary ap- 

 pendages of the sick room. In fine, this article 

 makes paps, custards, puddings and cakes, equal 

 to the best milk ; and one may be sure it is an un- 

 adulterated article, obtained from well-pastured 

 cattle, and not the produce of distillery slops ; 

 neither can it be watered. 



For our steamships, our packets, for those trav- 

 elling by land oi" by sea, for hotel purposes, or 

 use in private families, for young or old, we rec- 

 ommend it cordially, as a substitute for fresh 

 milk. 



We look with interest for the scientific I'eport 

 of the Committee of the Academy of Medicine, in 

 which we hope for an exposition of the domestic, 

 culinary and hygenic properties of solidified milk. 



Hog's Lard — It is stated that one establish- 

 ment in Cincinnati last year tried out thirty thou- 

 sand hogs. To carry on thi« ^.^—^use Dusineas, 

 they havf °"- — ^""-n^ Circular tanks, of suflScient 

 capacity to hold fifteen thousand gallons each. 

 They receive the entire carcass, with the exception 

 of the hams, and the whole is subjected to steam 

 process, under a pressure of seventy pounds to 

 the square inch, the effect of which operation is 

 to reduce the whole to one consistence, and every 

 bone to powder. The effect is drawn off by cocks, 

 and .the residuum, a mass of earthy substance, as 

 far as made use of, is taken away for manure. 

 Besides the hogs which reach the factory in en- 

 tire carcasses, the great mass of heads, ribs, back- 

 bones, trail pieces, feet, and other trimmings of 

 the hogs cut up at different pork houses, are sub- 

 jected to the same process, in order to extract 

 every particle of grease. This concern will turn 

 out this season three million six thousand pounds 

 of lard, five-sixths of which is No 1. Nothing 

 can surpass the purity and beauty of this lard, 

 which is refined as well as made under steam pro- 

 cesses. Six hundred hogs per day pass through 

 these tanks one with another. 



WHEAT TRADE. 



The estimated extra breadtli sown in the United 

 Kingdom last season is one-tenth above the average, 

 equal to 1,600,000 quarters. On the other hand, 

 there is an excess of produce above the average, 

 of from one-sixth to one-eighth. Taking the 

 mean of one-seventh, our account of the present 

 crop and stock stands as follows : — 



Quarters. 



Average produce 16.000,000 



Excess in breadth oue-tenth 1 ,600,000 



17,600,000 

 Excess of produce one-seventh 2,514,285 



Quarters — 20,114,285 



If to this we add one million and a half of 

 foreign grain, we have an aggregate of 21,614,- 

 285 quarters to meet the consumption of the 

 year, which is estimated at 21,000,000. There 

 will still, however, be the usual stock of the 

 country — now minus 5,000,000 quarters — to be 

 made up. For it would be monstrous to sup- 

 pose that in a country like this, there should be 

 no stock on hand to fall back upon in an emer- 

 gency. We shall, therefore, require an importa- 

 tion this year of from four to live million quar- 

 ters, to place us in the average condition we have 

 hitherto found ourselves in, in regard to the stock 

 of wheat. 



We shall next take a look round, and see how 

 this supply is to be obtained. As we have just 

 stated, any calculations for the future, founded 

 upon the experience of the past, are not to be 

 depended on. With present appearances, it is 

 not at all likely that we shall obtain the usual 

 supply from the Black Sea ports, even if the 

 Danube is free to navigation, and the Crimea and 

 Odessa were in the possession of the allies — as I 

 hope will soon be the case. The consumption 

 and waste of such large armaments, and the dis- 

 arrangement of commerce and agriculture under 

 the iron rule of war, to say nothing of the 

 probable prohibition of the Czar to his subjects 

 from supplying the allies, or conducting com- 

 merce with them from the interier — all these cir- 

 cumstances lead me to think that the quantity 

 of wheat we shall r>1itai« A-om Southern Russia 

 this se^ns^^i ■will be very small. And with re- 

 spect to the Danubian Principalities, they have 

 been for twelve months the seat of war, and are 

 still occupied with vast armaments. Under the 

 Russian coercive domination, neither agriculture 

 nor commerce could be conducted with any regu- 

 larity ; and it is probable that not only Avas a 

 large portion of the land left unsown last autumn, 

 but that much of the growing crop has been 

 destroyed by the military operations, and in fur- 

 nishing the Russian cavalry with green food ; for 

 no _ economic considerations would, by any possi- 

 bility, enter the mind of a Russian officer. We 

 shall, therefore, have much less grain than usual 

 from the Danubian and other Turkish Black Sea 

 ports, if we get any at all, which is very doubtful. 

 From the Mediterranean ports, with the ex- 

 ception of Egypt and Syria, we shall obtain but 

 little wlieat. France and Italy are, for the 

 present, closed against exportation by prohibitory 

 laws. The former country, and the United King- 

 dom, has exhausted her stocks of old native 

 wheat, and is compelled to fall at once upon the 

 new crop, which, however good, will not be 

 euougli to meet the consumption, and provide the 



