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THE GENESEE FAKMEE. 211 



never to return, in each bushel of wheat. In this way, 288 bu., or nearly ten good crops 

 of wheat, do not impoverish the soil of more mineral matter than is contained in one 

 crop of 30 bu. to the acre. 



Again, a crop of clover that will make a ton of dry hay, contains, we have shown, 

 198 lbs. of inorganic matter. If the hay is sold off the ffirra, this large quantity of ash 

 is lost to the soil ; if it is plowed in for wheat, &c., none of it is lost. If consumed by 

 animals on the farm, not more than 5 lbs. of mineral matter need be lost to the farm. 

 A lean sheep was found to contain 3^ per cent, of ash, and as it takes somewhere 

 approximating a ton of clover hay to produce 100 lbs. increase of animal, we may safely 

 conclude that not more than 5 lbs. of mineral matter is removed from a ton of clover 

 hay by passing through the body of an animal. In this way we can grow and consume 

 forty crops of clover and not export from the farm more inorganic matter than is 

 contained in one crop. The same reasoning applies to maize, barley, oats, timothy, 

 potatoes, and in fact to all farm products. 



Is it not evident from these facts, that while it is easy to impoverish (not exhaust) the 

 soil of the inorganic constituents of plants, yet on a farm, as managed by intelligent 

 agriculturists, the removal of inorganic matter is very small and in no way proportionate 

 to the great destruction of organic matter by the growth of cereals ? — J. H, 



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MILK, BUTTER, AND CHEESE. 



Milk consists of sugar, casein (curd), salts, globules of fat (butter), and water. It often, 

 in addition, contains some aromatic principle, derived from the food of the cow. After 

 milk is drawn from the cow, the vital affinity which kept the carbon, oxygen, and 

 hydrogen so combined as to form sugar, ceases, and the sugar is gradually converted 

 into another compound of the elements named, lactic acid. In popular language, this 

 change is called the souring of milk. 



The fat or butter is in globules mixed with the water of the milk. These globules? 

 when tike milk is at rest, gradually ascend to the surface, taking with them a little 

 casein, sugar, and water, or lactic acid in place of sugar, if the milk is sour. This com- 

 po^md may be skimmed from the surface, and is called cream. If this cream be heated, 

 the globules of fat burst and unite together. Being lighter than the other constituents 

 of cream, they ascend to the surface, forming an oily fluid. This may be taken off, and 

 if put into a cool place, it solidifies, and is in fact pure butter. Butter so obtained will 

 keep a long time without becoming rancid, but it has not the taste of common churned 

 butter, and is not used as an article of diet. To obtain butter for food, the heat required 

 to burst the globules of tat, is generated by agitating the cream or milk in churning. 

 To have the particles of fat coalesce as solid butter, the cream must be neither too cold 

 nor too hot. Churning raises the temperature from four to ten degrees, according to 

 the degree of agitation and friction to which the cream is subjected. FAm 60 to 65 

 degrees is the proper range for milk and cream about to be churned. Butter so obtained 

 contains a little sugar and Ciisein (curd), and any aromotic principle the cream may 

 possess ; and it is better suited to our taste than pure butter obtained by the direct 

 application of heat. 



Butter made in this way will not keep fresh long. Its sugar is converted into lactic 

 acid ; and after this change has taken place, the butter is said to be rancid. If an 

 excess of sugar be artificially added, then this change does not take place. Pure com- 

 mon salt and saltpetre have also the power of retarding rancidity. Many dairymen 

 j^ keep butter after the casein is all worked out, by adding a mixture of pure salt, sugar, . , 



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