1847. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



283 



Bloody Milk, &c. 



Mr. Editor : — Two years ago this fall, I had 

 four very fine milch cows. To keep them in 

 good heart late in the fall, I fed them for several 

 days with the loose ca:bbage from the garden. — 

 They soon after commenced giving bloody milk, 

 so bad that the whole was given to the pigs. I 

 used various medicines and anointed theiV bags 

 with the garget ointment, but with no benefit ; 

 and thus they went on, to my great alarm, until 

 all of my cabbage was fed out, when they imme- 

 diately recovered their usual state. 



And what, Mr. Editor, do you think was the 

 cause of this appearance of their milk. Why, 

 sir, it was as simple " as the road to parish 

 church," when once found out. Among my 

 cabbage was a considerable quantity of the red 

 variety which had headed badly, as they usualy 

 do, and this was the sole and only cause of my 

 bloody milk — to my great discomfiture and joy 

 of the pigs. 



It is a well ascertained fact that cattle that eat 

 the madder root have their entire horns dyed a 

 bright red, and so perfectly, that they retain the 

 color after being worked into toys, &c. 



In a town in which I once resided, the village 

 butcher killed a very fat young steer, which not 

 being an every day occurrence, the whole popu- 

 lation was agog for a steak, or a roast ; and in a 

 very short time the whole town sent up the odor 

 of beef steak and onions — houses were scented 

 from the kitchen to the garret, where the beef 

 was cooking. It was an effluvia compounded of 

 garlic, or leeks and assafcetida, at once nauseous 

 and disagreeable, and before noon every pound 

 was returned on the butcher's hands. He pros- 

 ecuted the farmer from whom he purchased the 

 creature, for selling unwholesome meat, and it 

 ended in a tedious law suit ; but before it was 

 through with, the facts came out, that the animal, 

 on the night before the day on which it was 

 killed, broke into a yard where a quantity of 

 onions had been topped and ate a large amount 

 of the green tops. The butcher of course recov- 

 ered damages. 



These statements are true and may add a mite 

 to our general stock of knowledge, and prove 

 interesting to your readers. N. R. Y. 



Monroe County, Nov., 1847. 



How TO Toast Cheese. — Toasted cheese is 

 much relished by some persons, but it is seldom 

 well prepared. The following directions are 

 said to come from a gentleman who prides him- 

 self on his "goostful" appetite. Cut the cheese 

 into slices of moderate thickness and put them 

 into a tinned saucepan, with a little butter and 

 cream. Simmer very gently until quite dis- 

 solved. Remove it from the fire, allow it to cool 

 a little, and add some yolk of egg, well beaten ; 

 and then make it into convenient shape, brown 

 it before the fire, and eat while^it is warm. — Ex, 



Curing Haras and Pork. 



After dressing, the carcass should be allowed 

 to hang till perfectly drained and cool, when it 

 may be cut up and salted. The usual way is to 

 pack the pork in clean salt, adding brine to the 

 barrel when filled. But it may be dry salted, 

 by rubbing it in thoroughly on every side of each 

 piece, with a strong leather rubber, firmly se- 

 cured in the palm of the right hand. The pieces 

 are then thrown into heaps and sprinkled with 

 salt, and occasionally turned till cured ; or it 

 may at once be packed in dry casks, which are 

 occasionally rolled to bring the salt into contact 

 with every part. Hams and shoulders may be 

 cured in the same manner, either dry or in pick- 

 le, but with differently arranged materials. The 

 following is a good pickle for 200 lbs. Take 14 

 lbs. of Turk Island salt ; h lb. of salt petre ; 2 

 qts. of molasses, or 4 lbs. of brown sugar, with 

 water enough to dissolve them. Bring the liquor 

 to the scalding point, and skim off all the impu- 

 rities which rise to the top. When cold, pour 

 it upon the ham, which should be perfectly cool 

 but not frozen, and closely packed ; and if not 

 sufficient to cover it, add enough pure water for 

 this purpose. Some extensive packers in Cin- 

 cinnati and elsewhere, who send choice hams to 

 market, add pepper, allspice, cinnamon, nutmegs 

 or mace and cloves. The hams may remain six 

 to eight weeks in the pickle, then hung up in 

 the smoke-house, with the small end down, and 

 smoked from 10 to 20 days, according to the 

 quantity of smoke. The fire should not be near 

 enough to heat the hams. In Holland and West- 

 phalia, the fire is made in the cellar, and the 

 smoke carried by a flue into a cool dry chamber. 

 This is undoubtedly the best method of smoking. 

 The hams should at all times be dry and cool, or 

 their flavor will suffer. Green sugar-maple chips 

 are best for smoke ; next to them are hickory, 

 sweet birch, corn cobs, white ash, or beech. — 

 The smoke house is the best place to keep hams 

 till wanted. If removed, they should be kept 

 cool, dry, and free from flies. A canvass cover 

 for each, saturated with lime, which may be put 

 on with a white-wash brush, is a perfect protec- 

 tion against flies. When not to be kept long, 

 they may be packed in dry salt, or even in sweet 

 brine without injury. A common method is to 

 pack in dry oats, baked saw-dust, &c. — Allen^s 

 Agriculture. 



Vinegar. — A correspondent in the Ohio Cul- 

 tivator asks how to transform old cider into vin- 

 egar ? Make it run through a barrel of clean 

 wood shavings by a small stream trickling over 

 a large surface. Cider, or whiskey diluted, can 

 be made into good vinegar in 48 hours. 



The Chinese call going to law, "losing a cow 

 to win a cat." With us it is often losing of the 

 cow without a winning of the cat. 



