No. 1. 



Smut in Wheat. — Durham Cattle. 



21 



making butter, should undertake to advise ! 

 but indeed its a grave subject. 



A writer in the Central New York Farmer, 

 gives the following directions, which may 

 possibly be of some use. 



" In packing butter, the firkin should be 

 seasoned for at least a week previous to 

 using it, by filling it frequently with butter- 

 milk, and afterwards properly cleansed and 

 scalded. The butter should be put down as 

 soon as the second working is finished, while 

 it is yet soft and pliable, pressing it together 

 in such a manner as to leave no vacancies 

 between the churnings. If the butter is in- 

 tended to be kept for any length of time, the 

 following treatment will answer the double 

 purpose of excluding the air, and supplying 

 the proper pickle, which are botli neces>ary. 

 Cover the butter neatly with a linen cloth, 

 over which lay a quantity of fine salt, and 

 add half a pint or so of clear water — repeat 

 either or both when necessary, and set it in 

 a cool, dry cellar." 



I want some of your readers, who are com- 

 petent, to take hold of this subject and treat 

 it as it deserves. If this shall draw some 

 thing from those who are qualified to direct 

 in the premises, the end will be answered of 



Sarah F. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Smut in Wheat.— Durham Cattle. 



"An old fashioned farmer of some expe- 

 rience, far advanced in years," and who dates 

 from " Roxburgh, in Scotland," in a letter to 

 the " Cultivator," says, " it should be borne 

 in mind that smut is a very infectious dis- 

 ease; and wheat seed, even after it is pickled, 

 should not be spread out to dry upon a floor, 

 upon which smutted wheat had previously 

 been threshed. Neither should it be put 

 into smut tainted sacks, for the purpose of 

 carrying to the field." 



He says he has " several times tried the 

 experiment of inoculating seed-wheat with 

 smut, after the seed had been pickled, limed, 

 and dried for sowing, by taking a sample of 

 it in his hand, and rubbing it with the pow- 

 der of smut balls, then sowing it apart from 

 the other. The result was, in every in- 

 stance, smut in the produce of the inocu- 

 lated samples, and none in the produce of 

 the bulk from which they were taken. Smut 

 is also sometimes taken to the field in un- 

 fermented dung, made from the straw of 

 smutted wheat, of the former year's growth." 



The same writer further says, " Some of 

 your correspondents affirm, that cows of the 

 improved Durham breed, here called ' high 

 bred,' or ' well bred,' are great milkers 

 They are not so esteemed in this country 



There, no doubt, are exceptions to the gene- 

 ral rule. We consider the superior excel- 

 lence of high bred Durhams, to rest upon 

 their fine shape, great size, early maturity, 

 and aptitude, to fatten. In these points, 

 there is no other known breed equal to them. 

 It is too much to claim for them also, the 

 palm in milking. Their character stands 

 justly high, independent of that desirable 

 qualification. But I must say, I think the 

 quality of beef of the Hereford breed, is su- 

 perior to the Durhams ; and the beef of the 

 polled Galloway Scots, superior to either, as 

 is proved by the London market, where Gal- 

 loways sell from a halfpenny, to a penny per 

 pound, higher than any other breed. 



Cows of the old Yorkshire breed of short 

 horns, are generally good milkers. They, 

 as well as high bred Durhams, require rich 

 pasture in summer, and to be well fed in 

 winter. Crosses between well bred Dur- 

 ham bulls and coarse short horn cows, gene- 

 rally produce useful animals, and will go on 

 for several generations without deteriorating. 

 Crosses between cattle of distinctly different 

 characters, is not commendable. They soon 

 degenerate. 



The Ayreshires are a diminutive variety 

 of short horns. They are in great repute as 

 milkers, and are fast spreading over these 

 islands. They are in every sense, "the 

 poor man's cow." They thrive and give a 

 <jood portion of milk, upon very short com- 

 mons, where larger breeds would starve. 



Lard Oil. — This is a new item in the 

 domestic manufactures of the West. At 

 Cincinnati, there are now in operation three 

 factories, which consume daily from twelve 

 to twenty barrels of lard. The oil, it is 

 stated in the Cincinnati Republican, has 

 already attained a high degree of excellence 

 and popularity, and is not only used exten- 

 sively there, but it is shipped to the East 

 every week : thus completely changing the 

 course of the oil trade. It is used for ma- 

 chinery on the Little Miami rail-road, in all 

 the city works, at the hospital and asylum, 

 in several of the churches, and in numerous 

 stores and dwellings. It is very obvious 

 that this new manufacture will be of the 

 greatest importance to Cincinnati, and to 

 the West generally. — From a Western 

 paper. 



"Ignorance and apathy are no longer the 

 characteristics of the guardians of the soil — 

 the lamps of science shed their light over the 

 once dreary waste, and in it the statesman 

 sows the seeds of national independence and 

 prosperity, and the philosopher finds food for 

 the mind." 



