134 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ September, 



inches), i thick. The steariue, after the re- 

 moval of the cloths, is ready for sale. 



The oil collected is removed to the churning 

 room, which is at 70° Fahrenheit. To 100 

 pounds of oil, 15 to 20 pounds of sour milk are 

 added iu the churn ; solution of annatto, to 

 which is added A to J of an oimce of bicarbo- 

 nate of soda, and the whole agitated for 10 or 

 15 mmutes, till thoroughly mixed ; when it is 

 withdrawn from the churn at one end into a 

 tub containing poimded ice ; when kept in 

 motion until solidified ; worked on a table and 

 salted about | to 1 ounce of salt to the pound 

 of butter. This butter is preferred by some — 

 the milk used is not sufficient to make it 

 rancid, but quite sufficient to give to this 

 butter the so much prized flavor and odor. 

 Hon. X. A. Willard, the President of the New 

 York State Dairymen's Association, who is 

 deemed good authority, as well as other ex- 

 perts who have tested it, pronounce it equal 

 to the genuine butter in flavor and quality.— 

 J. Stauffer. 



For The Lancaster Fabmkb. 

 NEBRASKA NOTES. 



Schuyler, Nebraska, ) 

 August 13, 1877. I 



Editor. — About five miles south of this 

 place, near the confluence of Skull Creek with 

 the Platte river, are the crumbling ruins of 

 an ancient town, the houses of which must 

 have been circular in form, as the remains are 

 similar in appearance to the common circus 

 ring, though not generally quite as large. By 

 digging here, bone fragments, pieces of pot- 

 tery, pebbles, beads, sharp stone arrows and 

 lance points, etc. , are foimd. The doorways 

 in each case are plainly marked, and were 

 evidently covered entrances or projecting 

 hallways. The streets and play-grounds are 

 beaten deep into the earth, and the streets 

 wind around irregularly through the town, 

 so there was no street here that could proper- 

 ly have been called "straight." In the cen- 

 tral portion of the town is a large rock, having 

 a smooth depression in its upper surface, and 

 which must have been brought from a distance, 

 as there are no similar rocks in the vicinity. 

 This rock was the corn-grinder or "City 

 MUl," over which many a woman may have 

 turned her melancholy song years ago. No- 

 thing more is known of the inhabitants of this 

 place tlian may be inferred from the above- 

 named remains, and Pawnee legends. 



Notwithstanding the obliterating effects of 

 the perpetually recurring autumn fires and 

 spring rains, the bufl'alo "wallows," bleach- 

 ing bones, and their ancient trails remain on 

 the prairies and hillsides throughout this 

 region. Twenty years ago this portion of the 

 great Platte Valley was lonely, silent, grass- 

 covered hills, valleys and plains with unbroken 

 solitude save the whistling winds, the buffalo 

 tramp, or the twang of the red man's bow- 

 string; no white man dwelt here, but now 

 Butler county alone has about five thousand 

 live, intelligent, prosperous and hajipy people, 

 a majority of whom are from New York, New 

 England, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois. 



This country is well watered by the Platte 

 river flowing entirely across tlie north side, 

 and receiving Wilson, Elm, Deer, Bone and 

 Skull Creeks from about the middle of the 

 county south, near where the Big and Little 

 Blue Rivers and Oak Creeks, with their 

 numerous affluents, rise and flow south and 

 east into the Republican and Missouri Rivers, 

 altogether giving this region a very large area 

 of wonderfully rich valley land, the produc- 

 tiveness of which may be inferred from the 

 fact that last year there were eight hundred 

 and seventy-eight car loads of wheat and other 

 farm products shipped from Schuyler over the 

 Union Pacific Railroad. The altitude of this 

 place is about one thousand five hundred feet, 

 and the healthfulness is remarkable. Natural 

 forests are not extensive iu Butler county, but 

 there are fifteen or twenty thousand acres of 

 forest trees being successfully cultivated, in- 

 cluding black walnut, ash, maple, elm, cotton- 

 wood and box-elder. The cotton wood grows 

 most rapidly, often reaching a height of from 



twenty to thirty feet during the first four 

 years. As fencing material is not yet plenti- 

 ful in this plains coimtry, a peculiar system 

 of caring for live stock is adopted. Work 

 animals and milk cows are " picketed" with 

 ropes long enough for them to secure sufficient 

 grass by changing tlie i)icket-pin once or twice 

 a day ; but all others are herded, generally by 

 a boy, pony and dog, at a cost of about thirty 

 dollars per month, for a herd of from fifty to 

 five hundred cattle. 



By jtroper planting and cultivating, good 

 osage orange hedge fences may be grown in 

 four years, and the settlers are fencing in this 

 way very rapidly tlu-oughout this great plains 

 country, and they unanimously claim that 

 they could make farms here much easier and 

 cheaper even if they had to buy lumber for 

 fencing, than in a tuuber country where so 

 many stumps and stones are to be removed 

 before cultivating. The wheat harvest is past 

 with a large yield, and grain of good quality. 

 The corn and other crop prospects are very 

 promising, and the people general)^ are much 

 encouraged. 



Land may be bought in Butler county, of 

 the Union Pacific Railroad company, at from 

 two to six dollars per acre, on long credit, 

 giving the purchaser ample time to make the 

 money to pay for the farm from its products. 

 The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern, 

 Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and Union 

 Pacific raih-oads, form the best route to this 

 portion of the great Platte Valley, because 

 the shortest, and from Chicago the C. B. & Q. 

 and U. P. make special greatly reduced rates 

 of both fares and freights. — Examiner. 

 ^ 



For The Lanoabtkb Fabmeb. 

 AROUND THE FARM. No. i. 



"What! Yoti write for the "Lancaster 

 Farmer ?" It takes an abler pen than yours 

 to WTite for that paper, as it is one of the 

 ablest of my farm journals;" thus remarked 

 the "friend at my elbow." I confess my 

 spirit was considerably dampened at being 

 thus addressed, but when I remembered that 

 the lesss able have sometimes contributed 

 facts and items that benefited others, I was 

 again enconraged to write for our home jour- 

 nal, believing it is the duty of every farmer 

 to give his experience and practical knowl- 

 edge for the benefit of others. We shall try 

 to give om- own views and experiences 

 "Around the farm," from time to time, but 

 if we fail to benefit others, we are at least 

 conscious that we shall do no great harm. 



There is a matter to which I wish to call 

 your attention, that is, the proper manage- 

 ment of stable floors in summer. I have been 

 experimenting in regard to keeping them 

 sweet and clean, and find the following meth- 

 od excellent : Stables with earth floors are 

 considered best, but soon become foul from 

 neglect. My plan is to have them slope to 

 the rear, so as to carry off all liquid manure, 

 and then clean them at least twice a week, 

 taking a rake and stiff broom to go over, after 

 manure is removed, pushing and sweeping 

 very clean. Have a box containing ashes and 

 dry earth mixed in equal proportions in some 

 convenient place; dust a shovelfull or two 

 over each stall as an absorbent, and drop four 

 or five drops of carbolic acid over that, and 

 you will have no trouble to keep your stable 

 clean. Horses should be turned out at night, 

 if practicable. 



Machinery. 



Now is the time to clean and put away ag- 

 ricultural implements; overhaul your reapers 

 and mowers to ascertain what parts are worn 

 and need replacing, and put them in repair 

 for next year's haying. JPeople too often neg- 

 lect this important work till a day or so before 

 haying, when they find they must order from 

 the factory, often losing three or four days, 

 which they can ill aflbrd. Take your ma- 

 chines apart and clean with a sharp piece of 

 steel, scraping all oil, gum, and dirt off cogs 

 and bearings; finish off the bearings with 

 benzine, wipe dry, replace, and your ftiachine 

 will mow 20 per cent, easier. 



People make a great mistake in oiling or 



greasing cog wheels at reapers. Unless cased 

 very tight, the drive wheels wiU throw dirt on 

 the greased cogs, which sticks, and they will 

 wear faster than if they are not greased at all. 

 I have run a combined reaper and mower for 

 3 years, without a particle of grease on the 

 cogs, and they are not injured perceptibly. 

 Tobacco Moths. 



Most of our farmers are also tobacco raisers, ' 

 and I would appeal to every one to try poison- i 

 ing the flowers of the Jimson weed {Datura 

 stramonium) next season. A neighbor of 

 mine has succeeded in killing upwards of 

 150,000 tobacco worms by this means, and as 

 a consequence, he has one of the cleanest lots 

 he ever raised. Few things are more tedious J 

 than hunting tobacco worms, and by this I 

 means they can be destroyed in the night. 



The following is the best receipe we know 

 of; Take of the best arsenic, dissolve in 

 sweetened water, and drop a few drops into 

 each flower every evening during the warm 

 season, and you will have no trouble with 

 worms. Every moth killed is as good as 

 hunting 300 tobacco worms, as each one lays 

 about that many eggs. 



Mr. Walk, the neighbor referred to, had 

 very few worms, while patches but a few 

 hundred yards away were full. So try this 

 method next year, every one, and we will get 

 rid of that troublesome pest— the tobacco 

 worm. Of course, one man or a few men can- 

 not do it, but in union there is strength, and 

 by a combined effort we can do it. — Buralist, 

 Cresswell, Septemher 3, 1877. 



DESCRIPTION OF A ROMAN COIN. 



LiciNius, Senior, a. d. 307-321. 



The coin which I have the honor of present- 

 ing to the Linnsean Society is an excellent 

 specimen of the Roman third bronze. Though 

 not very rare it is exceedingly well preserved; 

 and as the planchet is more nearly circular 

 than is usual in ancient coins, we have the 

 whole legend without the loss of a single letter. 



The obverse of the coin bears, as usual, a 

 bust of the reigning monarch, with an inscrip- 

 tion (impcvrllicinlicinivsffavg), which 

 I translate, " T/ie -Emperor Qalerius Vahrivs 

 Licinianus Licinius, High Priest, Augusttcs.'" 



The reverse represents Jupiter standing, 

 with an eagle at his side, and iu his right hand 

 a figure of Victory, holding a chaplet, with 

 the legend "Joviconsekvatori," i. c, "3b 

 Jove the Preserver.^'' In the exergue are the 

 letters smn, i. e., Sctcra Moneta Narhonensis, 

 which indicates that the piece was struck at 

 the branch mint of the city of Narbonne, in 

 Southern Gaul. 



The "image and superscription" is that of 

 a Roman Emperor who reigned from A. D. 

 .307 to .324. His full name was Publius Fla- 

 vius Galertus Valerius Liclnianus Li- 

 cinius ; but he is generally known in history 

 as Licinius, Senior. He was by birth a Da- 

 cian peasant, and the early friend and com- 

 panion-in-arms of the Emperor Galerius, who 

 raised him to the rank of Augustus and in- 

 vested him with Ihe command of the Illyrian 

 Provinces on the 11th of November, A. D. 

 307. About the same time GonUantine, after- 

 wards called the Great, assumed the govern- 

 ment of IJritain, Gaul, and Spain, though the 

 Emperor could be persuaded to give him only 

 the inferior title of CVsar. 



A full account of the career of Licinius may 

 be found in Gibbon and elsewhere, so that we 

 ueed not enlarge. It will be remembered 

 tliat after the death of Galerius an attempt 

 was made to divide the empire between Max- 

 iminus and Licinius, by which the Bosphorus 

 was to be the lioundary of the two empires. 

 In 313 Maximinus invaded the dominions of 

 Licinius, and was utterly defeated and crush- 

 ed. In the previous year Constantino, who 

 continued to hold western Europe, had de- 

 feated Maxentius, who had seized the imper- 

 ial power at Rome. It was on this occasion 

 that Constantine is said to have had his cele- 

 brated vision of a cross in the heavens with 

 the inscription iu xnvria uika, by tuis con- 

 quer. 



