160 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[October, 1879. 



DAIRY. 



Dairy products. 



The importance of the ilairy interest has long been 

 recognized in tiie older States, and many large farms 

 are conducted almost entirely with the object of pro- 

 ducing mainly butter and cheese. 



The Western States are of late awakenmg to the 

 knowledge of the value of these products, and their 

 farmers are now making much more of it than they 

 formerly did. A few years ago, the Middle .States 

 were almost alone in this industry ; not only did 

 they supply themselves and export to Europe, but 

 they actually supplied the western cities, St. Louis, 

 for instance, with butter, »fcc. 



But as we have said, this condition of things has 

 changed, and now the West and Northwest send 

 away an enormous amount of butter and cheese, 

 amounting in 1S76 to 12,7s9,000 pounds of butter, 

 and lH,7(iG,000 pounds of cheese, the value of which 

 was $16,000,000, and this trade is increasing every 

 year, 



To show the great strides our country has made in 

 cheese making, we give the following figures : In the 

 year 1800, we exported 913,84S pounds ; in 1850, 

 13,000,000 pounds ; in 1870, 57,000,000 pounds ; and 

 in 1876, 97,000,000, in round numbers. 



An assortment of crops and varied interests have 

 always paid best in the long run, and it is never wise 

 to be seduced by the high price of this or tliat pro- 

 duct, and leave all else for it. Small but steady 

 gains is the safest rule. 



But there is a practical side to this butter and 

 cheese interest which does not appear to everyone. 

 There are profitable agricultural products in any part 

 of the country, but, where transportation is high, as 

 it usually is in the Western States, it is much better 

 to turn grass and grain into butter and cheese as 

 less costly to transport. 



It is freight rates that take off a large portion of 

 the farmer's profits. But railroads they must have ; 

 indeed, without them to transport, it would be prac- 

 tically useless to raise any more than enough for 

 themselves, but their own interests will be served by 

 sending the various products from their farms in the 

 smallest space possible. 



The system recommended is also more beBCficial to 

 the land, adding greatly to its fertility. 



A thousand pounds of butter or cheese is about the 

 product of ten thousand pounds of grain or grass. 

 Fifteen car loads of corn are but equal in vahie to 

 one of cheese, and thirty car loads to one of butler, so 

 that in the matter of transportation costs, the differ- 

 ence can be seen at once. 



In Europe, a good cow will produce from seventy 

 to one hundred and eighty pounds of butter a year, 

 varying according to the country, being the former 

 figures in Holland, and the latter in England. As 

 every farmer knows the grazing capacity of his farm, 

 the amount of butter he annually produces, can be 

 readily known. 



" American Cheese " is now so much sought for in 

 Europe, that it forms part of the weekly cargo taken 

 out by the American Line Steamers from Philadel- 

 phia to Liverpool, and the active demand seems 

 likely to continue. 



It thus seems that the interest in this subject 

 observed io the Northeastern and Western States is 

 well timed, and will be likely to add materially to 

 their prosperity. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL. 



Packing Butter. 



Those who pack butter should be careful to choose 

 vessels made of sound, sweet wood. The scalding 

 and soaking before use should be very thoroughly 

 attended to. The wood should be completely satu- 

 rated with brine ; then sprinkle a thin layer of salt 

 on the bottom, and spread a cloth over it. Pack 

 full, carefully pressing the butter in, beginning the 

 pressure at the centre and extending outward at the 

 sides, so as to expel all the air. Leave room at the 

 top for a thin layer of salt. Cover with pure brine, 

 put on the cover of the tub, or put in the head of the 

 firkin, as the case may be, and set the package aw.ay 

 in a cool, dry, dark place, free from all offensive 

 odors. Examine, at intervals, to see that the brine 

 has not soaked away or evaporated, and be sure and 

 keep the butter covered with it. Butter properly 

 made, and so kept, will remain sweet a long time. — 

 Aniericaji Dairyman. 



Another bad season for the dairy farmer is re- 

 ported trom Scotland. The staple product of the 

 dairy districts of Scotland is cheese, and that has 

 fallen even lower than at any period since the Crimean 

 war. From 4.5s. to 52s. has been the common price, and 

 only lately has 56 per cwt. been noted. The first prize 

 lot at the Dumfries meeting of the Highland Society 

 has been sold at an exceptionally high rate, 6^'6. 

 Butter has not sold so badly, while the large towns 

 have, to use the language of a contemporary, " been 

 literally deluged witb milk." 



The Hessian Fly in Wheat. 



The farmers of New York were seriously alarmed 

 last autnmn at the appearance of the fly in their 

 wheat. A correspondent of one of our exchanges 

 wrote : "Winterwlieat here is turning yellow, and on 

 examin.ation, about the first of October, we found an 

 insect about an eighth of an inch long near tlie root 

 (Hessian fly, I presume). Now the insect is brown 

 and looks like a seed of some kind. Will it do any 

 more damage this year ? Will it turn to a fly and do 

 damage in the spring ? Will wheat that was sowed 

 late this fall and has none in it be troubled with them 

 in spring? Please give its manner of operating from 

 September first till next year, and oblige." The editor 

 answered : *'The insect described is the Hessian fly, 

 now in what is called its flaxseed condition. Much of 

 the damaged wheat will die this fall, and more will 

 break down when in the straw about earing time. 

 L.ate sown wheat will escape. In the spring the wheat 

 plant is too far grown to be injured. We would sug- 

 gest that atop-dressing of two hundred pounds per 

 acre of sulphate of soda (glauber salts), ground very 

 tine, or eommon salt, be sown on the wheat in dry 

 weather. The maggot is driven away by soot ; the 

 bitter taste of that substance is the active agent ; the 

 soda salts is bitter enough and m.ay be as effective as 

 the soot. If our wheat were affected we should try 

 it." The subject was also before the Elmira Farmers' 

 Club. It was remarked that appearances indicated 

 serious loss in the next wheat crop, through the rav- 

 ages of this pest, against which there seemed to be 

 no certain means of prevention. President Hoffman 

 said: "The Hessian By deposits its eggs on the leaf 

 soon afterthc wheat comes up, and later if the opera- 

 tions are not checked by frost. When tlie plants are 

 strong, as they should be on good ground and in a 

 growing season, such as this, the injury effected by 

 the larv.T? is less, I suppose, than it would be to weak 

 plants. I find in my wheat the injury is greater in 

 plants that came up early than in later ones. I be- 

 lieve we cannot prevent the mischief this fall ; and I 

 think it is not of so much consequence as that which 

 will be inflicted next spring. The habit of the 

 fly is to hay tlie eggs in the fall, from which the 

 present trouble has come. In the spring these larvie 

 will develop into the perfect fly, and there will be a 

 new crop of eggs to hatch and work greater mischief. 

 How that can be prevented I do not know. It is cer- 

 tain th.at the wheat is endangered. In looking over 

 my field a short time ago I found on pulling up stools 

 that some stalks were untouched and others were 

 already nearly destroyed. I pulled one stool with 

 three tillers, one of which was dead; another had 

 fourteen of the larva^ imbedded in it, and the remain- 

 ing one was uninjured. Another stool had two stalks, 

 and I believe there were fifty of the pests in them, al- 

 though I did not count. On this field, where wheat 

 was sowed after wheat, I thought the plants infested 

 worse were those which had come from the seed drop- 

 ped from the last crop. The land was ploughed just 

 after the harvest and cultivated well afterward, but 

 it is probable that the scatteriug seed from the crop 

 had not all grown until the final sowing, and that it 

 was then in condition to appear earlier and to be at- 

 tacked first by the fly. It is said that late sowing is 

 better than early in seasons when the fly is trouble- 

 some, but in such a season as this even late sowed 

 wheat makes enough top to take damage. I found 

 eggs deposited on the leaves while the larvae were at 

 work below." 



He I FBRS intended for the dairy should not have 

 meal mtil after their second calf, and not then until 

 the calf is at least ten days old, and in small quanti- 

 ties at first, 



LITERARY AND PERSONAL. 



R.W. Mercer's Natural History. Store, 292}^ 

 Wade street, Cincinnati, Ohio. 



Naturalist's Leisure Hour and Monthly Bulle- 

 tin for September, 1878 ; 50 cents a year. A. E. 

 Foote, V12-i Belmont avenue, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Hemple's Improved Patent Steel Quoins. J. A. 

 Isaacs, general agent, 176 Chamber street, N. Y. 



Peerless Railway Threshng MAOHiNE9.-"Be8t 

 ever made," manufactured by Minard Harder, Coble- 

 skill, New York. 



RornESTER Commercial Nurseries, established 

 in 18:i0 ; twenty years under the present, proprietor. 

 Wm. S. Little's semi-annual circular of wholesale 

 prices for the autumn of 1878. 



Semi-annual wholes.ale trade list of Niagara 

 Nurseries for the fall of 1878. E. Moody & Sons, 

 proprietors, Lockport, New York. Established in 

 1839. 



West Jersey Nurseries, established in 1851. De- 

 scriptive circular and price list of small fruits, plants, 

 Ac, &c. Gibson cS; Bennett, nurserymen and fruit- 

 growers, Woodbury, New Jersey ; for fall of }878. 



The Illustrated Almanac for 1879. — A royal 

 octavo of 36 pages in substantial paper covers, with 

 14 superb illustration*, 12 of which are full page, 

 containing all the usual almanac matter, together 

 with choice literary selections. The material and 

 execution is A, No. 1. Issued by the Case, Lockwood 

 &, Brainard Co., Hartford, Conn., and designed as a 

 holiday gift advertising medium, 



Wholesale price list of grapevines, evergreens, 

 cherry stocks, tree seedlings, high grade apple seeds, 

 miignolia, tulip poplar and other tree seeds in quan- 

 tity, &c., for 1878 and 1879. J. Jenkins, Winona, 

 Ohio. 



Monthly Reports of the Kansas State Board of 

 Agriculture for May, June, July and August, 1878. 

 A royal octavo of 58 pages, with two full page maps 

 and other illustrative diagrams. Full of statistical 

 details. The developm»nt of this young State is 

 wonderful and might be imitated by older communi- 

 ties with credit. 



Quarterly Report of the Pennsylvania State 

 Board of Agriculture for June, July and August, 

 1878. A royal octavo of 48 pages in paper covers ; 

 material and execution first quality, and of general, 

 local and statistical matter on subjects relating to 

 the agricultural, commereial and domestic interest 

 of the great State of Pennsylvania, in which the en- 

 tire country is concerned. The State Board appears 

 to be the "livest" institution within our borders, and 

 is worthy of the fostering care of our Legislators. 



We call the special attention of our scientific 

 readers — and all others who take any interest in ob- 

 jects of vcrtu — to the card of Dr. A. E. Foote, in our 

 advertising columns. His establishment is at No. 

 1223 Belmont avenue, Philadelphia. The Dr. is, per- 

 haps, doing more to popularize science and impress 

 its facts upon the minds of men, through the estab- 

 lishment of a great retail depot of minerals, shells, 

 fossils, ifcc, than any other man in the country. His 

 specimens are accurately labelled, and his prices very 

 reasonable and worthy of patronage. 



Life and Health, "Physical, mental, moral." 

 Edited and published by Thos. F. Hicks, A.M.M.D. 

 One volume (six numbers) for 30 cents. Werners- 

 ville, near Reading, Pa. This is an exceedingly well- 

 executed 8 page royal 4to, and full of matter on sub- 

 jects relating to its specialty. No. 1, Vol. 1, is be- 

 fore us, which indicates that it is a new enterprise. 

 If a "vacancy" for it exists we opine this publication 

 will amply fill it if the first number is an average of 

 those which are to follow it. Of course physical 

 health is the basis of a true human development, but 

 this journal recognizes the fact that "man cannot 

 live by bread alone, but by every word that proeeed- 

 eth out of the mouth of God," and that there is a 

 moral and spiritual nature that needs a physician, 

 as well as a physical one. 



Harper's Magazine for November beautifully 

 concludes a beautiful volume. 



The number opens with a bright little paper de- 

 scribing a " Free Kindergarten " in New York city, 

 with exquisite pictures by Miss Curtis, of real chil- 

 dren involved in the enchantments of Froebel's won- 

 derful system. 



As if to contrast the children of barbarism with 

 those of civilization, the same number contains a ; 

 very interesting and attractively illustrated paper by j 

 Henry W. Elliott on " Wild Babies," from Alaska to j 

 the Gulf. 



The quaint style of Abbey's Illustration has had no j 

 better illustration than in " The Fire-Wizard," which | 

 Mrs. Helen S. Conant has happily rendered from an] 

 old German ballad. The typography of the poem isj 

 a part of the illustration itself. 



To show the versatility of Abbey's pencil, ahlyl 

 supplemented by engraving of the highest order, wei 

 need only to turn from the German ballad to the J 

 three illustrations of "Melanie,"an excellent story j 

 by Clara F. Morse. 



William Gibson's poem, "The Valley of thej 

 Yomouri," is finely illustrated by Moran. 



With the single exception of the paper on David j 

 Teniers — fifth in the series of " Old Flemish Mas- 

 ters" — the illustrated articles in this number are all J 

 American. Mr. Benjamin's description of theSeaj 

 Islands off our South Atlantic coast is full of inter- 

 esting legend and romance, associated with this] 

 unique congeries of islands, and is accompanied by! 

 twenty-four beautiful illustrations. 1 



John Muir, who has often enriched the pages ofl 

 Harper with his admirable studies of ths Sierras,! 

 contributes to this number an exceedingly interesting J 

 and well-illustrated paper on the New Sequoia For- 

 ests of California. ■ ^ 



Edwin P. Whipple's paper, "Some Recollections of! 

 Rufus Choate," will not disappoint the large number T 

 of readers who have been looking forward to its pub-| 

 lication. It is full of characteristic anecdotes, giv- 

 ing also a critical estimate of this eminent lawyer| 

 and statesman. 



Black's ".Macleod of Dare" and Hardy's "The Re- 

 turn of the Native" — the two best serials of thej 

 year — are continued; and there are two excellent,! 

 short stories besides "Melanie," already mentioned. 

 These are, "Angelique's Novitiate," by Kate P. Os- 

 good, and "The Thousand and Third Night," by G. 

 D. Carrow. , 



Prof. Tayler Lewis's "The Power and Pathos Ofl 

 Euripides "—a posthumous paper — will prove of es- j 

 pecial interest to all readers who admire the strongl 

 examples furnished by ancient classical literature. 1 



The Editorial Departments are as interesting anij j 

 entertaining as usual. 



