SILK MANUAL, AND 



butter being melted on the cream or milk applied 

 to tea or coffee. There is said to be a remedy 

 for this taste, by using a rery small quantity of 

 saltpetre and water, in the milk as it comes from 

 the cow ; but I cannot in this case speak from ex- 

 perience. 



Mr Harley continues his account by saying, that 

 instead of attempting the ill-judged economy, 

 which pinches the cattle of their food, every at- 

 tention was paid to make each cow eat as much 

 as possible, without running into the opposite ex- 

 treme of over-feedins,'; and for that purpose the 

 mixture was occasionally varied ; and sometimes 

 a few raw [)otatoes or turnips were given by them- 

 selves, which tended to whet their appetite. There 

 is a Scotch proverb which says, " the cow milks 

 by the mow," aud as the object of th^ Harleian 

 Dairy was to fatten as well as to yield, the more 

 care and good management were exercised in their 

 feeding, the sooner these objects were accom- 

 plished. 



Young grass and green barley, but particularly 

 young clover, contain a great quantity of juice, 

 and fixed air, which has often proved injurious to 

 cuttle. The irrigation with urine made these 

 crojts luxuriant and rich ; the first cutting was 

 therefore mixed with a large proportion of old hay 

 or straw, to which was superadded a good quan- 

 tity of salt, to prevent the cows from swelling or 

 blowing. When wet, a greater proportion of these 

 ingredients was used ; this mixture was allowed 

 to stand from twelve to twentyfour hours, and was 

 frequently turned and shaken to prevent heating. 

 Young or wet clover was never given vvithout a 

 mixture of dry provender. By this means the 

 rich juices of the green food were absorbed by the 

 dry fodder, which enabled the cattle to feed free- 

 ly, without the risk of injury. 



In proportion as grass decreased in the autumna 

 turnips became a substitute. As the season ad- 

 vanced when grain and distillers' wash were plen- 

 tiful and cheap, which was generally the case in 

 winter, a large proportion of these were given 

 with the more succulent food ; but they were apt 

 to make the cattle grain sick, and to prove injuri- 

 ous to the stomach of the animal. It has been as- 

 certained, if cows are fed long upon grains of dis- 

 tillers' wasih, their constitution will be quickly de- 

 stroyed ; cattle thus fed should not be kept longer 

 than eight or ten months. One effect of this co- 

 pious feeding upon distillers' wash, as we have 

 learned at the New York city establishment, is, 

 that after a while the teeth of the cows thus kept 

 become loosened, and they are unable to masticate 

 any hard or long food. It seems to be a pretty 

 fair inference, that where the constitution of the 

 animal becomes thus affected or diseased, the 

 quality of the milk is likely in a correspondent 

 measure to be injured. Of this, however, the 



buyer is not able to know anything, and it is nog 

 for the interest of the seller to inquire too partic- 

 ularly. — JVeiv York Farmer. 



A LiE \F FROM THE NOTE BOOK OF A FARMER, 



Some experience, and more observation, has 

 convinced me that one of the most common er- 

 rors into which farmers fall, is undertaking more 

 work than they can perform ; hence I insert the 

 following Mem. Never to lay out more work 

 than there is a reasonable probability of my fin- 

 ishing in good time, and in good order. Labor is 

 capital, and time is capita', and a man should know 

 how much of both he can bestow on any given 

 part of his farm before he undertakes its cultiva- 

 tion. Serious losses result from a neglect of this 

 rule, for there are many farms, and many opera- 

 tions in farming, in which a failure in time or la- 

 bor is fatal to the hope of profit. There are ma- 

 ny farms so situated that the crops will not pay 

 the expense of cultivation, unless manure is used 

 to a considerable extent ; now if the farmer plans 

 his business on so extensive a scale that he has 

 no time to collect and apply this essential article, 

 his inferior crojss will prove a source of loss in- 

 stead of gain. If he plants a field of corn, but has 

 80 much other work to do that he can hoe it but 

 once, and that slightingly, when two thorough 

 ones are required, he must not complain if his 

 neighbor, who employs a capital of both time and 

 labor on his corn, should gather a harvest far ex- 

 ceeding his own. If he allows his manure to lie 

 in the barn yard through the summer, washing in 

 the rains, and wasting in the sun, because he had 

 not time to apply it to his corn or barley grounds 

 in the spring, he may be sure that he is not in the 

 way to get the most profit from his farm, or the 

 most benefit from his barn-yard. The man who 

 has no time to clean his seed wheat, because he 

 is so driven "with work, will most likely find some 

 five or ten per cent of his crop will be chess and 

 cockle at harvesting. But there is no end to the 

 inconveniences that result from attempting loo 

 much on the farm ; from beginning to end it is 

 evil; it makes the whole process of farming up- 

 hill work ; it allows not a moment for relaxation 

 or improvement of the mind; it places the farmer 

 and his work in wrong positions, the latter always 

 driving the former ; and he who does not correct 

 the error in time, will find himself driven out of 

 house and home. 



Mem. Never to willingly subject myself to a 

 charge of ignorance on any subject of permanent 

 utility or general knowledge, not of a kind strictly 

 technical or professional. The notion so preva- 

 lent, that the farmer, from the very nature of his 

 avocations, must necessarily be ignorant of every- 

 thing that does not relate to his employment, should 

 be exploded, and none are more interested in the 



