178 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Some Hints on Butter making. — We extract 

 the following from the letter of a lady correspond- 

 ent: "It is impossible to make good butter from 

 poor cream. Milk should never stand more than 

 sixty hours without skimming. No cream will rise 

 after the milk becomes thickened. If a pan of 

 milk is disturbed, the cream on it will spoil sooner 

 than otherwise, and should be removed at least 

 twelve hours earlier. If the cream of one pan that 

 has stood too long is mixed with the rest in the 

 cream jar, it will spoil the whole churning. The 

 cream jar should be washed out clean every churn- 

 ing time before being again used. The cream in 

 the jar should be thoroughly stirred every time 

 fresh cream is added, and care taken not to spatter 

 the sides of the jar with cream. It is important 

 that the temperature of the cream should not be 

 too high before churning, and in warm weather it 

 is a good plan to keep the- cream jar standing to 

 half its depth, or more, in cold water. It is better 

 tx) occupy one hour in churning than only fiifteen 

 minutes. A cellar may be kept cool by closing the 

 doors and windows during the day and opening 

 them at night. 



"A cloth put over butter when packed spoils its 

 flavor. The great requisites in making butter are 

 cleanliness of all vessels used, thoroughness in work- 

 ing the butter, and the use of fine salt* of the purest 

 and best quality." 



Affaius in Iowa — B. H. W., Brighton, Iowa, 

 writes: "It will be no news to say that hard 

 times are here in the most chronic form. Tliree 

 poor crop years in successson have not helped us 

 any. Two or tliree good years, with remunerative 

 prices, would relieve us. Three poor corn crops 

 have nearly exterminated hogs in Iowa, and it will 

 be some time before ,we again become stocked with 

 them. Our farmers are at work, with coats olf and 

 ■sleeves rolled up, determined to retrieve if possible. 

 So far, we have had the finest March I ever saw : 

 not one stormy day, and the thermometer has been 

 as high as 70° more than once, and but once below 

 20°. Hardly a day passes," he says, " but some 

 eastern man comes along, offering some patent in- 

 vention in fencing, draining, etc., which he would 

 have us believe would make our fortunes, if we 

 purchased. Please advise all such to stay at home 

 tall we can get our debts paid." 



Wn>E Tire. — J. C. Adams, of Allegany Co., F. 

 Y., says the truck wagon, with tires five inches 

 wide and three-eighths thick, is rapidly coming into 

 use on the farm. It is low und handy to load, and 

 does not cut in on soft land. 



Stacking Wheat in the Field. — One of our 

 Long Island correspondents alludes to a method, 

 common, he says, in his neighborhood, of tempo- 

 rarily stacking wheat in the field, putting seventy- 

 five sheaves in a stack. Last year his wheat stood 

 in these large shocks, or stacks, as he calls them, 

 from the 12th of July to the 11th of August, "and 

 then was carted to the barn in excellent order, 

 without any previous airing or drying — not a sheaf 

 having been moved for that purpose." We should 

 be glad of a more detailed description of the meth- 

 od of placing the sheaves, etc. 



Farmers should Produce their own Fertilizers. 



B. F. B., of Pughtowu, Pa., says: "Every farm, 

 however small, can with the aid of lime and plas- 

 ter, and proper care and management, produce 

 manure enough to keep up its fertility and improve its 

 soil. By careful farming, many of the old worn-out 

 farms in Eastern Pennsylvania have been restored 

 to productiveness, without the aid of any of the nu- 

 merous patent fertilizers, which, when tried, have 

 proved a failure. Bones are often ground and used in 

 a raw state, particularly to grapes, with advantage." 



How TO GET Early Wheat. — W. E. Antry, of 

 Campbell Co., Ky., says he selected from his grow- 

 ing wheat the earliest and largest heads, sowed thisn 

 seed separately, and the produce the next harvestii 

 was "three weeks earlier than any other wheat ofH 

 the same kind sown at the same time " He thinkgn 

 by continuing this process he shall be able to get a- 

 very early variety. He is of opinion that seed 

 wheat should be brought from the North rather 

 than the South. 



Dwarf Pear Treks that have been Neglected, 



C. C. Wilson says : " If the trees were set oul 

 where the ground cannot be plowed, they should 

 be spaded around as far as the roots extend, and 

 manured with chip or other fine man n re, and wa- 

 tered as often as can be done with the soap-sudft 

 and other waste water of the kitchen, which should 

 be all saved for this purpose. Be sure to keep the 

 weeds and grass down by hoeing around them OO' 

 casionally; as these, instead of sli:i<liiig tlie ground 

 and keeping it moist, as some think, rob the groundi 

 of moisture that the tree would otherwise apprch 

 priate to its own use. A few years ago, by follow 

 ing this course, I obtained a growth of two feet in 

 a single season, upon a tree that had been set oat 

 in a by-place, and been neglected." 



" Farmers must Raise more Roots;" says a cor- 

 respondent, "and then they will need less hay; their* 

 stock will be fatter, their manure richer, their farmei 

 i more productive, and themselves more wealthy." 



