90 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



curd as the milk-maid considers necessary, and 

 treated as other cheese. To make the richest 

 cream-cheeses, the thickest cream must be taken, 

 and put, with a little salt, into a straining-cloth, 

 which is hung twelve hours, in order that the 

 whey may drop from it. When it is taken from 

 the cloth, it is put between two pewter-plates, with 

 a weight on the upper one, and turned daily du 

 ring five or six days. These cheeses can only be 

 made in this manner in warm weather The 

 milk that the cows give when they are first turn- 

 ed into the fields in the spring, and when they are 

 afterwards j)astured in fields that have been newly 

 mown, yields nearly as much curd again as at any 

 other period ; and it is also much richer. The 

 principal season for making the thin cheese is 

 from April to November ; and that for making the 

 thick. May, June, and the beginning of July. 



In different districts, the produce of cows differs 

 very much ; but in the vale of Gloucester, from 

 3 1-2 to 4 1-2 cvvt. per cow is considered a fair 

 annual average return. The same cow, on dif- 

 ferent ])astures, will yield milk of very different 

 qualities ; from one will be made rank and un- 

 pleasant cheese, while the other will be fine and 

 rich. An estimate of the profit and expenses of 

 a farm for twenty cows can be, from the contin- 

 ual variation in the state of the times and local 

 circumstances, of course only an approximation 

 towards the truth. But the following, made in the 

 vale of Gloucester in 1835, vvhere the land is rich 

 and excellent, is as accurate an annual average 

 as the nature of the subject will admit : — 



Rent of 40 acres, at 50s. for pasture, 



" 20 acres for hay, 



" 2 acres of arable, for potatoes, 

 Making hay, 12s. an acre. 

 Carrying and ricking, 

 Expenses of raising potatoes and seed. 

 Tithes, 3s. 6d. in the pound. 

 Poor and other rates, 3s. 9d. in the pound, 

 Dairymaid, 7/. a year (besides hoard) 

 Dairyman, at 7l. a year (besides hoard) 

 Wear and tsar of dairy utensils, 

 Salt, 



Annatto, 4s. a-pound. 

 Rennet and paint. 

 Interest of money laid out in stock and implements, 



reckoning eacli cow at from 8/. to \Ql. and the 



chance of loss, 



Profit, 



20 



87 11 7 







£366 



Cheese 4 tons, at 4 cwt. each cow, and at 49s. 



per cwt. 176 



Value of whey, 20 



Pasture of colts and sheep, 

 Profit of calves. 

 Butter, 

 Pigs, 

 Potatoes, 



£366 



The capita! necessary for tlie purchase of stock 

 for such a farm would, according to present pri- 

 ces, be about 300Z. ; but as it is not prudent that 



the whole of the capital should be expended, a 

 man who had only that sum should take a smaller 

 farm, and reserve a part for the payment of work- 

 people, and other incidental expenses which would 

 be required before much profit was derived from 

 the farm. From the depressed state of agricul- 

 ture, the present time is not by any means auspi- 

 cious for the commencement of business as a dairy 

 fanner. The requisite dairy utensils will cost 

 about 25/. — London Penny Magazine. 



Fruit. Why are some fruits improved in 

 svveetness by drying or half withering on the 

 trees ? 



Because their watery parts thus exiiale, and the 

 sugar is virtually increased in quantity. 



Why should grafjes hang on the vine until they 

 are pei'fectly ripe ? 



Because unripe bunches never get any riper 

 after they are gathered. 



Why should grapes be eaten soon after they are 

 gathered ? 



Because, unlike other fruits, grapes do not im- 

 prove in flavor after gathering. 



Why should the crowns be removed from ripe 

 pine-apples '? 



Because, when suffered to remain, they live 

 upon the fruit till they have sucked out all the 

 goodness. 



Why does an apple, when cut, first appear white, 

 and after a time brownish ? 



Because a fermentation arises from the rest of 

 the fruit absorbing the oxygen of the atmosphere ; 

 the ajiple having previously been, by its tough 

 skin, protected from the contact of the air. — Don- 

 ovan. 



Why are certain a])ples called russetings ? 



Because of their russet or reddish brown color. 



Why should raspberries be eaten from the 

 bush 7 



Because their flavor is the most fleeting of all 

 fruit. Even a few hours will diminish it, and on 

 the bush the flavor does not continue above two 

 or three days after the fruit is ripe. If kept for 

 two or three days when gathered, the flavor is 

 almost entirely gone. 



Why are chestnuts best preserved through win- 

 ter in sand ? 



\ ecause if there be any maggots in the chest- 

 nuts, they will come out, and work up through 

 the sand to get air. 



Why is fern preferable to straw for the bed 

 between the layers of fruit.' 



Because it does not impart that inusty flavor 

 which is so often produced by the straw. 



Why are the autumnal fruits, as plums, pears, 

 &c., more crude and indigestible than those of 

 summer ? 



Because, in part, of the state of the constitu- 



