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62 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Ma 





to be that corn resists the winds better, extends 

 without intcrrnptioii its innumerable fibrous roots all 

 tlirou^lh the earth so near the s\irface that they de- 

 rive every benefit from heat and moisture. I have 

 often dug between the liilis when the corn had at- 

 tained nearly its growth and set for ears, without 

 finding any space that the roots did not occupy. I 

 had designed to have written more but my article 

 would be too long. Orangk H. Wait. — Willough- 

 bi/,ItL, Jan., 1851. 



BUTTER AND CHEESE MAKING. 



Messrs. Editors: — I saw, in the October number 

 of the Farmer, certain questions from the Commis- 

 sioner of Patents, and a request tliat farmers would 

 answer tlifm. Living, as I do, on a farm almost 

 new, and under rather a poor state of cultivation at 

 that, I can not expect to furnish much information 

 of importance ; but such information as I am able to 

 give, is at your service. My business is dairying, 

 and what I have to say is connected with that branch 

 of farming. 



I find that my cows, thirty-six in number, have 

 averaged of cheese for market, 280 pounds ; and of 

 butter, 48 lbs. each ; besides what the family have 

 used, which I estimate for the whole year at 600 lbs. 

 of cheese and 500 lbs. of butter. Average price of 

 cheese, 4 cts. 6 mills per pound ; and my butter I 

 contracted in the spring, at 12^ cts. the season through, 

 which has been the highest price until within a few 

 weeks. My cows have had nothing but grass, and 

 short picking at that most of the time, owing to 

 drouth and grasshoppers. 



With regard to the comparative difference of 

 making butter or cheese, I am not able to state ; but 

 theditiierence between making hatier and cheese will 

 appear by comparing the results of the following ex- 

 periments : 



Exp. 1. Milk skimmed and churned while sweet, 

 and the butter-milk worked into the cheese. Milk, 

 720 lbs.; butter produced, 25 lbs.; curd, 79 lbs.; 

 cheese from press, 60 lbs.; cheese ready for market, 

 65J lbs. 



Exp. 2. All the cream worked into the cheese. 

 Milk, 822 lbs.; curd. 111 lbs.; cheese from the press, 

 92 lbs.; cheese ready for market, 86 lbs. 



Exp. 3. Night's milk set in vat, skimmed in the 

 morning, churned, and bntter-milk worked into the 

 cheese. IMilk, 771 lbs.; curd, 100 lbs.; cheese from 

 press, 79 lbs.; cheese ready for market, 74 lbs.; 

 butter, 11 lbs. 



Uy the above you will perceive that I get more 

 p*uuds of butter and cheese tlian of cheese alone, 

 from the same quantity of milk. In each experiment, 

 the milk was weighed as soon as milked. 



]\Iy melhod of making butter has been this : In 

 warm weather I put ice in the cream until it is cooled 

 to a proper temperature — say, when tiieair is 70^ or 

 80^, I cool the cream to 45*^ ; when the atmosphere 

 is from 55'^ to 70^, I cool the cream to 50'^; and when 

 the atmosphere is below 50^, I warm the cream — 

 more as the weather is cooler ; but in no case should 

 it be warmer than 55'^ when the butter comes. In 

 spring and fall I scald the milk whcu it first comes 

 from the cow; ?. e., hent it to 125*^ or 130^: this 

 makes it keep longer before souring, I get more 

 cream, and it churns much easier, besides it removes 

 all bad flavor caused by the cows eating vegetables 

 such as leeks, ruta baga, kc. 



After butter is churned I work all the milk out 

 that I can, with a paddle, and then work in about 1 

 !b. of good salt to every 20 lbs. of butter. I then 

 put it in a coul place — if the weather is warm, I put 

 it in a tin pan and set it on the ice in the ice-house 

 until the next day, when I work it thorouglily with 

 the hand, being careful not to warm it so as to make 

 it oily, and then pack it down solid in air tight pack- 

 ages, and keep it in a cool place. Butter made in this 

 way has the reputation of being the best in market. 



My method of making cheese is to warm the milk 

 to 88°, and then add sufficient rennet to "fetch it" 

 (as the old dairy women say,) in about 40 niinutes, 

 I then cut up with an instrument made with a steel 

 frame and strung across with fine brass wire. I then 

 commence heating it slowly, stirring it all the time 

 to prevent its sticking together, until I heat it to 108^, 

 when I turn the heat off, cool it a little, and let it 

 stand about half an hour. I then drain off the whey 

 and put in 1 lb. of salt to every 20 lbs. of cheese 

 from the press, and then put in the press. 



Perhaps some of my remarks may be rather unin- 

 telligible without a description of my apparatus for 

 making cheese. I hardly know how to describe it 

 without a drawing. I will give you a vertical sec- 

 tion, and by that means describe it as well as I can. 



A, vat of wood, with metalic vat inside. B, heater, 

 7 inches in diameter inside, 12 inches at bottom, 8 

 inches at the top on the outside, and 14 inches high. 

 i, i, space between outside and inside, which, by 

 means of pipes, E, E, E, E, bolted to tub and vat (C, 

 A,) at m, m, m, m, is kept filled with water which is 

 heated by fire inside the heater B. As the heated water 

 rises, it passes off in the upper pipe, and its place is 

 supplied by cold water through the lower pipe, k, 

 stove-pipe with door, /, to supply heater with fuel. 

 d, d, d, d, connecting cocks, by means of which the 

 heat may be thrown either way. J", f, rods of iron 

 to support the heater, g-, g, posts to vat. h, h, posts 

 under tub. A. Bartlktt. — Fowler s Mills, O., 

 Dec, 1850. 



Experimknt O.N Potatoes. — In the spring of 1847 

 I planted potato seed in drills, it grew, and 1 trans- 

 planted one plant, hoed it often, and the produce was 

 about half a pint. In the spring of 1848 I planted 

 the produce of the one plant, and in the fall I dug 

 one bushel of beautifid potatoes, the largest two 

 weighing 19 and 20 ounces. I have planted seed 

 from the ball four years in succession, and have pro- 

 duced some new and excellent kinds that I never 

 saw before. I have experimented on potatoes more 

 or less for twenty years past, in Warren countj', Pa., 

 and think that they do best of late years, when plant- 

 ed very early, on quick, warm soil. I have some 

 old potatoes raised in 1849, which I intend keeping 

 to experiment upon in 1851. Samuul BartOiN. — 

 Pillsjield, Pa., Dec, 1850. 



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