£l)c .farmer's iltontljln lltsttor. 



£i 



much, which makes it sticky and oily. On tlie 

 sonirary, cream lak«D from the milk at a proper 

 fiuie, kept and churned at 57 or 8 deg., will re- 

 piire more time in churning, hut the butter 

 v'ui present a high and rich color, will he firm 

 •in! hard — will not stick, and will readily hreak 

 vhen heing separated." 



Many good butter-makers wash the butter in 

 lure cold water when first taken from the churn. 

 (Mr. Hall's method of freeing the butter from the 

 uilk, is to work it with a hreak attached to one 

 Rite of an inclined table, handling it with a coin- 

 Hon butler ladle. It is not so well to work but- 

 er with the hands, the heat of which lias a len- 

 iency to injure the butter. After the butter- 

 • iiilk is thoroughly worked out, the butter is to 

 Jpa salted ; and for Jhis purpose pure ground 

 jock salt is considered the best, and less than one 



iDiince of salt is sufficient for a pound of butter, 



i ' 



Unless the butter is to be shipped or kept lor a 



Long time, when an ounce of salt may he used. 



\ i/ie quantity, however, is best regulated by the 



1 Juste. Saltpetre is useless in butter, if it is not 



JJiosiiively injurious. If any tiling beside* salt is 



Allowed, is a very Utile refined sugar. It is well 



ilo pass the salt through a fine seive, in order to 



,eep out all lumps or particles that will not dis- 



;olve. The salt should be well worked in, and 



" it lias had lime to dissolve, the butter may 



again worked a very little, when nothing will 



>e expelled but a Mule brine slightly discolored. 



Well-seasoned oak firkins are considered the 



»st for packing butter. The Irish butter-dealer 



tses no timber for his fiikius that has not been 



[seasoned at least two years, and even then he 



6\ke-i the precaution of having his staves baked 



ID an oven before they are set up. Pots of stone 



•vare with a vitreous and durable inside coating 



^ie frequently used. Mr. Hall, we are informed, 



ises firkins made of well-seasoned spruce, 



Rlear of sap, firmly put together, and neatly 

 lined in the manner of what are called Shaker 

 Jails. Before the butter is packed, the firkins 

 uould be well saturated with brine. 



BWlieit butter is properly made and packed, 

 othing more seems required to preserve it for 

 ;lmost any length of time, than to keep it from 

 Ine air in a cool place. For the purpose of 

 ceping it from the air, we know of nothing 

 ter than to place a cloth which has been dip- 

 fed ininelted butter over the butter in the fir- 

 lins," and cover it with brine. — Maine Farmer. 



Protect your Vines. — We are informed by a 



enlleuiaii of this town, (says ihe Lynn News,) 



f an experiment made by him, last year, upon 



us squash vines, which proved successful in 



'fearing ntl ihe hugs He strewed on llie vines 



le 6ra» of pepper, which may he obtained at any 



" ilje spice mills where pepper is ground. Ev- 



rv one who has a garden will appreciate the 



Liue of a remedy so cheap and simple, and }iive 



a trial. We should like to have those who try 



e experiment give us the result if they find it 



UCCessful. 



An Eagle shot by a woman. — A correspondent 

 lates that a few days since, in a newly settled 

 ar'.'of Milo, in Piscataquis county, a large grey 

 rt le, measuring seven feet across his exiended 

 injis, was shot by Airs. Bagley, under the fol- 

 iwiug circumstances: Her husband was away 

 him home, and while her child was at play 

 one in the garden with a hoe, she saw this Ba- 

 le pouncing dowii upon her child, ami iuimedi- 

 ely seized a gun and ran to his rescue. The 

 n!e fellow raised his hoe and screamed to keep 

 ihe eagle, and he alighted in a tree. Mrs. 

 ajjley fired, and brought the " proud Rod of ihe 

 ountuiu"to the ground.— Bangor (Me.) Whig. 



From Ihe Albany Cultivator. 

 Shall we make Composts 1 



In The Cultivator for January, 1849, I read a 

 notice of a work entitled "Scientific Agriculture" 

 &.<.:, by Dr. M. M. Rodgers. 1 have since pro- 

 cured ihe hook, and in glancing over ils pages, I 

 came to the following, under the head of " Com- 

 posts :" 



" It was formerly supposed, that great advan- 

 lage was derived from the combination of seve- 

 ral different substances together, and forming 

 what are called composts. The recipes lor these 

 compounds are numerous, and go to prove that 

 Ihe discovery of a good compost requires but 

 little scientific or practical skill. When a com- 

 post heap is made up of several materials, which 

 are all separately good manures, it follows of 

 necessity, that the resulting compound must be 

 a good fertilizer. Rut it is impossible to supply 

 any more in this way, than if these several in- 

 gredients were applied to the soil separately. 

 And a litile knowledge of chemistry will show 

 lhat by this means no new elements can he gen- 

 erated. Neither c hi any new property he develop- 

 ed which could not he done hy their separate ac- 

 tion. We see that whenever a substance which 

 has little or no fertilizing power, is in this way 

 manufactured into good manure, it is done at the 

 expense of some powerful fertilizer which is 

 distributed by the mixture, and consequently, 

 loses just as much of its efficacy as the other 

 gains. Thus, although this process serves to 

 dilute and extend manures which are too pow- 

 erlul or too expensive, it absolutely supplies 

 none." 



The author goes on siill further to explain, 

 that the principal advantages of composts, are 

 the dilution of manures which are too strong 

 when used by themselves. Thus, among other 

 substances, he mentions "caustic lime," the ob- 

 ject in using which, he thinks can he much bet- 

 ter attained by mixing and diffusing it through 

 some other substance, "such as saw-dust, sand 

 barn manure" &c. 



Now the inference from the above remarks is, 

 that ordinary composts are unprofitable — that no 

 effect is produced that would not take place if 

 the substances were applied separately, and that, 

 consequently, the labor of forming the com- 

 pound is lost. 



It strikes me that Dr. R's reasoning is not en- 

 tirely sound, and that his conclusions are not 

 wholly reconcilable with lacls. It is not strictly 

 true that the same effect is always produced hy 

 the use of substances applied separately, that 

 would follow from their combination. For in- 

 stance, peat, iu ils natural state, frequently con- 

 tains an acid which is prejudicial to. vegetation, 

 and its fertilizing properties are locked up, as it 

 were, until they are liberated by the action of 

 some substance which causes a decomposition. 

 Hence it has been found highly useful to mix 

 with peat, alkalies of some kind, by which the 

 acid is destroyed, and the peat brought into a 

 soluble condition. Potash and ashes are used 

 for this purpose; the ammonia of animal ma- 

 nure, urine, and all animal mailers produce a 

 similar effect. Thus, Doctor Dana, in his Muck 

 Manual, states that — " the power of alkaline ac- 

 tion is alone wanting, to make peat good cow 

 dung," and that — "by the addition of alkali to 

 peat, it is put into the same state which ammo 

 nia fiives to dung." 



Here, then, is one example of the advantage 

 of combining or mixing substances to be used 

 as manure. Rut it may be asked — " Why will 

 not the same effect be produced, if the peat and 

 ihe alkalies are both spread, separately, on the 

 same land ?" For the obvious reason that they 

 are not brought sufficiently, and for a proper 

 length of lime, into contact. The alkalies being 



spread over a larger surface, and exposed to the 

 air and rains, are soon dissolved and carried into 

 the soil below the peat. 



Rut there are other advantages, in mixing dif- 

 ferent substances in a manure heap. The farm- 

 er should endeavor to save all the excrements of 

 his animals, both solid and fluid, us well as all 

 other substances which are capable of enriching 

 his land. The readiest way of saving urine, is 

 to retain it by means of some absorbent— such 

 as charcoal dust, peat, loam, straw or other veg- 

 etable rubbish. 



Again, if it were true lhat substances ultimate- 

 ly produced the same effect when applied to the 

 soil by themselves, as when combined, there is 

 still, iu many cases, a convenience in composting. 

 It is inconvenient to use corn-stalks and other lit- 

 ter in their crude state. If applied to the sur- 

 face, they do not readily rot, and [hey interfeie 

 with cultivation by obstructing the operation of 

 ihe implements used. If buried beneath the 

 surface, — which is not always readily effected, — 

 Ihey sometimes cause the soil to be dry and 

 h".ffy- There is no way lhat these mailers can 

 be used lo so good advantage as hy mixing them 

 with animal manure, and saturating them with 

 urine. Hy this means, the ammonia soon brings on 

 a decomposition, by which ihe fibrous structure is 

 cut down and they are brought into a comminu- 

 ted state, fit to be used as circumstances require. 

 Rut we may cite other authority iu favor of com- 

 posts. J. PrideaUx, an agricultural chemist of 

 considerable distinction, advises to mix in the 

 manure heap — " peat, sods, turf-parings, ditch 

 and pond scourings, way-soil, humus soil in 

 whatever form, and ashes of all kinds. All /i- 

 uuids iu which vegetable or animal matters have 

 been soaked or boiled; and all that contain fer- 

 tilizing materials, as soap-suds, dish-washings, 

 pot-liquor," &c. " We must remember," he 

 adds, "that vegetable matters work sour, and 

 lhat animal substances generate ammonia, which 

 neutralizes the acid, and is fixed by it, so that in 

 due proportion they correct each other. Urine 

 gives most ammonia." 



One word, before closing, iu regard to mixing 

 " causlic lime " with " barn manure," recommen- 

 ded by Dr. Rodgers, as one of ihe means of " di- 

 luting" the lime. This is a kind of compost 

 that I am not in favor of. I had supposed, if any 

 thing has been established hy chemical investi- 

 gation, that caustic lime should not be mixed 

 with animal manures. Thus Prof. Johnston 

 says, guano should not be mixed with quick 

 lime — "because the quick lime sets free the am- 

 monia contained in the guano, and causes it to 

 escape into the air." He observes, also, that 

 "quick lime will, in the same way, drive off tho 

 ammonia contained in liquid manure, and in 

 horse or farm-yard dung." Farmers who have 

 bought poudrelte that has been compounded 

 with fresh lime, have often complained of its in- 

 efficacy. 



T. Sedgwick, a writer in the English Agi\- 

 cullurat Gazette, says — "The employment of lime 

 with dung, is a most baneful practice, as it ren- 

 ders the ammonia caustic and volatile, to the 

 greatest degree, and causes the loss of the most 

 energetic portion of the dung. When lands re- 

 quire lime, it should he applied separately, and 

 avoid as much as possible ils contact with the 

 dung." 



The effect of mixing lime with animal ma- 

 nure, may be explained as follows ; — Lime-stone 

 contains nearly half its weight of carbonic acid. 

 In the process of burning, the carbonic acid is 



