1853. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



157 



ment, to take such forms, as to impose upon the 

 other sex an undue share of life's burdens and 

 cares. We have, in this part of New England, 

 neither hunger, nor nakedness, nor ignorance, nor 

 slavery. We regard labor as respectable for all, 

 both men and women, and I have yet to learn that 

 the latter, whatever cause may exist, have com- 

 plained that their lines have not "fallen in pleas- 

 ant places;" or that they envy the condition of 

 the ladies of the South. 



Should they do so, it is hoped they may find a 

 more courteous champion than the ladies of Vir- 

 ginia seem, so fruitlessly, to have selected. 



Henry F. French. 



Exeter, N. H., March 14, 1853. 



RYE. 



According to some writers, rye was derived 

 originally froui Crete. It is, however, no doubt, 

 a Hictitious grain, like wheat, and other similar 

 pi'oductions. The tradition of the Egyptians as- 

 signed its introduction among their ancestors to 

 the beneficence of one of their principal deities, 

 believing that before, both wheat and rye were 

 found only in the woods. In its nutritive proper- 

 ties, this grain probably comes nearer to wheat 

 than either corn or barley. In Pennsylvania and 

 most of the New England States, rye is extensive- 

 ly cultivated, and where the soil is well adapted to 

 it the crop is generally found to be lucrative. It 

 requires a light, porous soil, with a sandy subsoil. 

 In Russia and the German States, rye is the prin- 

 cipal bread corn, and in about every country on 

 the continent, it is cultivated much more exten- 

 sively than wheat. It is there contemplated not 

 only as a much more certain crop than the latter, 

 but as demanding far less labor and manure. In 

 Great Britain and Wales, where this gi'ain was 

 formerly grown in large quantities, its cultivation 

 has of late years almost wholly ceased, and in Ire- 

 land and Scotland it at present engrosses much 

 less attention than formerly, and can scarcely be 

 enumerated among the bread grains of either coun- 

 try. On the pine plains land of Maine and New 

 York, it is unquestionably the most certain and 

 lucrative crop that can be grown. Both the sum- 

 mer and winter kinds do well on such soil. 



cumstances, be cultivated with far more success 

 and profit, generally speaking, than any other 



MILLET. 



This grain, where the seed is the principal ob- 

 ject, may be got in any time before July. We 

 have known affluent crops from seed sown as late 

 as the fourth of this month ; but as a general rule, 

 the sowing ought not, perhaps, to be deferred be- 

 yond the last week in June. When hay is the 

 main object of the cultivator, it must be sowed ear- 

 lier. May is probably the best time. Convinced 

 as we are of the great value of millet as a field 

 crop, we are strongly desirous of seeing it more 

 generally introduced— and especially in those sec- 

 tions where there is a large proportion of light, 

 warm, soil, and on which it can, from various cir- 



For the. New England Farmer. 

 THE CHURN. 



Mr. Editor :— In looking over the Feb. No. of 

 your valuable journal, I find an inquiry in relation 

 to the most available churn for large dairies. As 

 you have not definitely answered your correspond- 

 ent, J. R., perhaps through motives of prudence, 

 many SLilesmen Iiaving a direct interest in the 

 final deeisiim of this question, I respectfully sub- 

 mit the result of my experience in using two 

 churns nov,- in my possession. I have used a com- 

 mon crank or flat churn nine years in my dairy of 

 forty cows. It is an upright bos, the arms or 

 floats occupying the lower portico, with a flat lid 

 on the top. By using this churn, which has much 

 space within, above the floats which never break 

 all of the cream, I have lost nearly one pound of 

 butter in every twenty produced in it during the 

 nine years I have used it. Feeling most sensibly, 

 the loss I was sustaining in this way, a little over 

 a year ago I caused a barrel rotary churn to be 

 built for my dairy. It is a small cask fourteen 

 inches by twenty-two, turns or rotates around a 

 stationary bar placed in the upper portion of the 

 interior space ; and is provided with an apparatus 

 for tempering the fluid by cold or warm water 

 when necessary, which can be passed throughout 

 the centre of the barrel before and during the 

 operation of churning. This size will produce 

 from twenty to thirty-five pounds of butter, and 

 is sufficient for my dairy of under sixty cows. — 

 One hundred pounds of butter can be produced in 

 it from thick sour cream at three churnings in 

 less than one hour. 



The Excelsior Churn appears to fill a place in 

 large dairies, which the old dash churn, to say no- 

 thing of the various patent churns, many of which 

 are great fiivorites in the dairy, have not occupied. 

 A practical test has demonstrated to all persons 

 who have witnessed its operation that it works ea- 

 sily, makes no ivasie, and produces the finest qual- 

 ity of butter. Its cheap and effective tempering 

 apparaus enables the dairyman to apply the wa- 

 ter of his well or fountain to the centre of the bar- 

 rel, which desideratum could never be attained in 

 the old dash churn. The illustration and descrip- 

 tion recently published in the Farmer, is designed 

 to awaken inquiry, and to shew dairyman at a glance 

 the result of my humble efforts to avoid or save the 

 waste of the churn. Wide fields, rich feed, and the 

 best selected cows, fail to shew an increase in the 

 ordinary product of the dairy, where an imperfect 

 churn is daily wasting or turning small portions of 

 rich cream to the '■'■barrel,'''' instead of the firkin. 

 Query — which is the most profitable, to churn 

 new milk, or milk and cream together when sour ; 

 or cream only taken from sour milk ? 



Geo. B. Clarke. 



Leonardsville, Madison Co.,N. Y. March, 1853. 



To Prevent ^Iildew. — Mildew is one of the 

 greatest pests of green-houses and all sorts of plant 

 structures. The following remedy has been tried 

 in the houses of the London Horticultural Society, 

 and it is thought will prove efficacious : "Sulphur 

 and unslaked" lime put into a tub of water, in 



