82 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar. 



SPIRIT OF THE AGRICULTURAL PRESS. 



Cheese Making— /v«otc«<^ How. — The advantage of 

 skill and exactness in cheese making are well set forth in 

 an address by Col. A. Petrie, before the Herkimer (N. Y.) 

 Agricultural Society : 



"Some farmers make less than 300 pounds of cheese per 

 cow in a season, while others exceed 600. Perhaps some 

 of this ditTerence may be accounted for by the inequality 

 of advantages, but I am .assured by gentlemen in whose 

 skill in the art we have the highest confidence, that there 

 is a great ditTerence in the product per cow, when all 

 advantages are equal. One case I will mention ; A gentle- 

 man who had for four years made more than 600 pounds 

 per cow in a season, from a dairy of 25 cows, let out his 

 dairy to a tenant, whose reputation as a common cheese 

 maker was of the highest order. He observed that the 

 tenant's cheese was smaller and lighter than they should 

 be, and suspecting the cause, watched the mode of making 

 them, and found it to be like that of nearly all the cheese 

 makers in the county — by guess. The milk was tempered, 

 and set, the curd scalded without a thermometer, and less 

 care was taken in other parts of the process than he was 

 accustomed to. He attempted to teach the tenant, who was 

 rather prejudiced to " book farming" — reminded him of his 

 reputation: the landlord, however made a few cheese him- 

 self and the tenant looked on. These were found to be 

 larger and heavier than the cheese made by tenant. The 

 tenant then adopted the improved mode, and he could 

 make as large a cheese as his freind. Both gentlemen now 

 agree, that the improved mode increase the amount 10 per 

 cent. Now the tenant was evidently more than an ordi- 

 nary cheese maker, for he would have made over four hun- 

 dred pounds per cow during the season, but by the impro- 

 ved mode he made over six hundred." 



Milch Cows. — Those who may desire their milch cows 

 to furnish them supplies of milk, cream, and butter, must 

 provide them with nourishing slops, fodder, and hay, as dry 

 provender alone, and that of the coarsest kind, is but an in- 

 different substance to excite the milk vessels into action. — 

 The secretion of this delicious fluid cannot be carried ad- 

 vantageously on unless the cows be generously fed. In 

 the latter case they never fail to repay their provender in a 

 grateful measure. Warm, dry lodging and clean bedding 

 are great helpers to the cow in her efforts to fill the udder. 



Corn Cobs. — A friend who had read an article in some 

 paper recommending corn cobs, ground or unground, as 

 constituting a valuable feed for stock, undertook to test the 

 truth of the statement for himself He had a large quantity 

 on hand, and after providing himself with a proper vessel — 

 (half hogshead tub.) he filled it with cobs, and then with a 

 solution of salt in water. In this steep tlie cobs were suf- 

 fered to remain till they had imbibed a sufficiency of the 

 fluid to render them soft. In this condition they were fed 

 out to his stock — half a peck to a full grown cow or ox in 

 the morning, and the same quantity at night. He remarks 

 that all his^ animals are extremely fond of them, and that 

 they consume a much less quantity of hay and grain than 

 before he commenced giving them cob feed. Neither do 

 they require salt in its natural state. He has also ground 

 several bushels of cobs, and finds the meal an excellent ar- 

 ticle for making " mush." The most economical mode, 

 however, of appropriating corn cobs, is to grind them with 

 the corn. The corn should be first crushed in a mill con- 

 structed expressly for the purpose, and then ground into 

 meal, the same as corn when shelled. — Maine Farm'^r. 



A Ready Rule for Farmers. — A " quarter of wheat" 

 is an English measure of eight standard bushels — so if you 

 see wheat quoted at 56 shillings, it is 7 shillings a bushel. 

 A shilling is 24 cents— multiply by 7, and you have $1.68 

 per bushel. 



In Kentucky corn is measured by the barrel, which is 

 five bushels of shelled corn. At New Orleans a barrel of 

 corn is a flour barrel full of ears. At Chicago, lime is sold 

 by the barrel, and, measured in the smallest sized cask of 

 that name, will pass muster. A barrel of flour is seven 

 quarters of a gross hundred, (112 lbs ,) which is the reason 

 of its being the odd measure of 196 lbs. A barrel of tar is 

 20 gallons, while a barrel of gunpowder is only a small keg 

 holding 25 pounds, and this reminds me of cotton, a bale of 

 which is 400 lbs,, no matter in what sized bundles it was 

 sent to market. 



New IIemp-Brakb — Important Invention. —The last 

 number of the Maysvillo Herald gives a long and most 

 interesting account of a new hemp-hrake invented and put 

 in operation in that place by Dr. O. S. Leavitt, recently of 

 this city. The machine breaks unrotted hemp, and, in the 

 opinion of the editor of the Herald, who has seen it in 

 operation, it is destined to bring about at once a great and 

 most important revolution in the hemp business of the 

 west. He has seen it at work for hours, and, by his 

 description of it, it is certainly a wonderful machine, break- 

 ing and cleaning at the rate of 2,800 pounds of hemp in 24 

 hours. 



Dr. Leavitt, who is a gentleman of great inventive and 

 mechanical genius, has devoted all his thoughts and all his 

 labors for the last three years to the subject of the breaking 

 and spinning of hemp. In the prosecution of his investi- 

 gations he visited England, Scotland, and Ireland, and we 

 think we do not speak too strongly when we express the 

 opinion, that, in thorough knowledge of the whole subject, 

 he is not surpassed by any man living. His labors have 

 been unwearied, and we are rejoiced to hear that they are 

 at last crowned with triumphant success. No man was 

 ever more worthy of success. 



Feeling a warm interest in Dr. Leavitt personally and 

 in the result of his important enterprise at Maysville, we 

 shall visit that city in a few days, and we will then endeavor 

 to gi\e our readers a full description of the machine and 

 its achievements. — Louisville Journal. 



Getting on the Right Track. — Mr. Magruder, a plant- 

 er of Columbia county, Ga., communicated to us, verbally, 

 the following interesting facts : 



First, That his plantation is badly worn under the old 

 system of cropping or planting alone. 



Secondly, That by manuring, subsoiling, and planting 

 corn in rows three feet apart, and allowing one stalk a space 

 of IS inches in the row, he has grown the past season 845 

 bushels of shelled corn on an acre, and 79 bushels the year 

 before on the same ground. 



Thirdly, He sells all his butter in Augusta at 25 cents a 

 pound, and finds that by keeping up his cows and cooking 

 their food, he gets twice as much milk and butter as he 

 formerly did. We say, from our own experience, that one 

 half of his milk will pay all the expense, leaving him a net 

 profit of 100 per cent., while the annual improvement of his 

 neat stock, by their superior keep, will, should he have 50 

 cows, amount to a handsome sum. — Southern Cultivator. 



Curing Beef. — By most of the modes now in use, the 

 beef becomes too much impregnated with salt, and is not as 

 a consequence so fine for eating. By the following process 

 this difficulty is prevented and the beef will keep till the 

 following summer : To 8 gallons of water add 3 lbs. of brown 

 sugar, 1 quart of molasses, 4 oz. of nitre, and fine suit till it 

 will float an egg. This is enough for 2 common quarters of 

 beef. It has been repeatedly tried and found very fine ; a 

 famous beefeater says it is the only good way. — Ih. 



Artificial Stone. — It is said that a process has been 

 patented in England for making artificial stone of every qual- 

 ity, from artificial granite to statuary marble. 'l"ho inven- 

 tion is stated to be founded on a chemical analysis of the 

 natural varieties of stone. It is made of flinty and siliceous 

 grit, rendered fluid by heat, and poured into moulds till 

 cooled and hardened. The artificial stone has, as is stated, 

 already been used for coping stone for variegated pavements 

 for halls and rooms, stone ornaments — such as mouldings 

 for friezes ; also for grind-stones and hones. The inven- 

 tion is thought to be particularly applicable to the lining of 

 cisterns and water-pipes — its vitreous qualities insuring 

 cleanliness. The process of manufacture is said to be easy 

 and c\iea.p. — Cultivator. 



Scientific Liberality. — The Massachnsetts Agricultu- 

 ral Society has ordered from Paris, at a cost of about $800. 

 the figure of a horse of full size, so constructed as to admit 

 of all the pieces being taken apart. These pieces represent 

 the muscles, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and other organs, 

 of their natural size and appearance. Such objects would 

 be admirably adapted to agricultural schools, and would 

 afford the pupils accurate and useful information, scarcely 

 to be obtained in any other way. — lb. 



Poultry. — 'F'here was received at Albany during the 

 month ending the 31st December, per Albany and Schenec- 

 tady Railroad, 254,089 pounds of poultry, as follows : du- 

 ring the first two weeks, 81.809 pounds ; third week, 73,- 

 156 lbs.; and fourth week, 99,124 lbs. 



