58 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[April, 



doubted remedy in the Iiands of every one 

 who choses to avail himself of it. The para- 

 site can exist only in the living animal or in 

 pork while in its raw condition. The flesh of 

 of an infected animal will, of course, convey 

 the disease to all who eat it unless the para- 

 site is destroyed. This can be easily and ef- 

 fectually done by first thoroughly boiling it. 

 If this precaution was observed, the disease 

 among the human family would be unknown. 

 It is only when ignorant or thoughtless people 

 indulge in eating raw pork that the insidious 

 enemy finds a lodgment in the human system. 

 Kuraerous undoubted cases of this terrible 

 disease have occurred in this country. The 

 investigation of Dr. Belfield and Mr. Atwood 

 show that eight per cent, of all the hogs 

 slaughtered in Chicago were infected with 

 this parasite. This fact shows how important 

 it is that every one should know how to avoid 

 infection. The parasite is exceedingly tena- 

 cious of life, often resisting the effects of 

 powerful chemical agents, and the influence 

 of putrefaction. Ordinary smoking or salting 

 of infected meat does not destroy them. 

 Thorough boiUng is the only remedy that has 

 been found at once easy and efl'ectual. Pork 

 may be boiled sufficient to kill those nearest 

 the surface, while those in the interior may 

 escape unharmed. If ordinary precautions 

 are adopted there is no danger, but without 

 them the danger is constant and great. It 

 would be well if some feasible remedy could 

 be discovered for its prevention in the animals 

 themselves, but as this can only be done by a 

 series of precautions which are impossible 

 under ordinary circumstances, our main reli- 

 ance against contagion must be by thoroughly 

 disinfecting the meat. Most persons are well 

 aware that tliorough boiling will prevent any 

 serious results, and cases of trichnosis ought 

 to be e.xcessively rare instead of numerous. 

 There is really bo excuse for people eating 

 raw pork. It is a barbarous habit, and we 

 are almost tempted to say the person who is 

 guilty of it hardly deserves a better fate.— 

 Ifexo Era. 



TESTING CREAM. 

 The test adopted by creamery men to find 

 the butter value of cream collected from the 

 dairy farms, consists in churning each batch 

 of cream separately, and if it does not pro- 

 duce one pound of butter from two inches, 

 from an eight inch can, it is said to "fall 

 short" and the patron is liable to the imputa- 

 tion of dishonesty in skimming. That there 

 are dishonest practices resorted to on some 

 farms, is undoubtedly true, but it is also true 

 that the test adopted by the creamery is not 

 always a sure indication that cream has been 

 tampered with to the detriment of the cream- 

 ery. Where the patron does a share of the 

 skimming himself, he may stir in a quantity 

 of milk to increase the measure, or stir in 

 soda to cause an efliervesence and thus in- 

 crease the bulk of the cream. Besides these 

 there are other devices resorted to for the 

 purpose of defrauding the creamery. But in 

 justice to those who do not resort to such 

 practices, it should appear to the candid mind 

 that there are certainly other causes than dis- 

 honesty from which a shortage may occur. 

 On many farms it is entirely necessary that 

 some of the milk shall be skimmed daily. 



There are young calves to be fed, and young 

 pigs that ought to have milk, from which only 

 a portion of the cream has been removed. 

 This necessity implies the skimming at a 

 stage when the cream is as yet unripened, or 

 has not had time to concentrate it.self to 

 the thick mass of butter glubules. Cream 

 thus prematurely skimmed is watery and will 

 not yield the amount of butter to the inch 

 tliat can be obtained from thoroughly ripened 

 cream. This is also measurably true of cream 

 raised during the Spring months when the 

 young grass is yet watery; it will not produce 

 the rich cream that milk will raise at a later 

 season, when the grass has perfected its 

 growth. Much of the "falling short" is also 

 due to carelessness in skimming by the per- 

 son who collects the cream, or carelessness in 

 handling. It should also be noted that in 

 taking a can out of the bank to be skimmed 

 and setting it down on the floor (especially if 

 it has stood a long time) that a layer of ga? 

 has formed between the cream and the milk, 

 which by the jar of setting the can on the 

 floor, starts this gas upward through the 

 cream, puffing it up so that it will measure 

 more than if allowed to rest a few moments 

 to allow the gas to escape and the cream to 

 gain its normal condition. We might detail 

 many other conditions that interfere with a 

 true measurement did space permit. What is 

 needed is that all milk should be allowed to 

 stand till it acquires a ripeness. Then it 

 should be measured by a careful hand who has 

 that rare faculty to do even handed justice 

 between the patron and the party who em- 

 ploys him to collect the cream. 



APPLICATION OF LIQUID MANURE. 



The comparative advantages of applying 

 fertilizers to land, in liquid form, or after the 

 liquid has been taken up and made solid by 

 absorbents, have not been fully settled by in- 

 telligent farmers generally. Liquids have the 

 advantage of immediate action when applied ; 

 while, on the contrary the soluble portions of 

 solids must be first dissolved or washed out, 

 requiring a considerable length of time. On 

 the other hand, liquid manure can only be 

 secured by more perfect and expensive build- 

 ings, and the facilities for conveying it to the 

 fields include pumps, tanks and sprinklers. In 

 addition to these, care must be taken to 

 prevent the inconvenience of freezing in 

 winter. 



On a large scale, and with complete tanks 

 and appliances, the use of liquids may be at- 

 tended with less labor in applying than if they 

 were all first absorbed and then drawn out in 

 solid form. With a good pump, and with the 

 tank or tub not much higher than the cistern, 

 a laborer will load a liquid ton, ready for 

 drawing, with less labor than he can throw a 

 solid ton on a wagon with a fork. Through 

 tlie sprinkler he spreads it with no other labor 

 than driving the wagon across the field, and 

 it is more evenly distributed and finely dif- 

 fused than by any spreading with the fork 

 and breaking with the harrow— in which it is 

 scarcely equaled by Kemp's spreading cart, 

 which pulverizes and scatters the manure 

 with no labor to the driver. This manure 

 si)reader is the most perfect contrivance yet 

 brought into use for making manure available 

 by fine pulverization ; and next to this is the 



fall spreading of manure and breaking it fine 

 by suitable harrowing — the autumn and win- 

 ter rains washing out the soluble parts into 

 the soil. 



Very few farmers have barns, stables, 

 drains, cisterns, pumps and tubs for drawing, 

 to enable thein to use and spread liquid 

 manure advantageously. Most of the stable 

 floors are not water tight, and the liquids 

 leak through and are absorbed by the earth 

 beneath, or are lost. On grain farms, where 

 there is an abundance of straw, enough may 

 be used as litter to hold all or nearly all the 

 liquid, and largo quantities of this coarse or 

 straw manure, thrown into a heap and ex- 

 posed to weather and rains, will rot down and 

 may be drawn out in the following autumn. 

 A question here occurs, which we suggest for 

 investigation — namely, how much gain in the 

 labor of drawing out solid manure is obtained 

 by the spontaneous evaporation of the water 

 of the liquid manure as it lies in such a heap ? 

 When absorbents cannot be had the liquid 

 may be saved by excavating a shallow cistern 

 beneath the stable, making the sides so slop- 

 ing that the water- lime mortar may bespread 

 on the smooth face of the earth. In this way 

 the expense will be moderate. The contents 

 of this cistern are pumped out as needed and 

 drawn to the fields in the watercart. There 

 are two difficulties with this method. If the 

 cement is not made with the sharpest and 

 purest saud, and the best water-lime, the frost 

 of cold winters will crumble it. Tlie fcjetid 

 odor from the liquid may interfere with the 

 maintenance of the pure air which should al- 

 ways exist about every good farmer's build- 

 ings. To prevent these two difficulties is a 

 subject for careful investigation, which will 

 be differently answered according to circum- 

 stances. A large use of absorbents in the 

 cistern would defeat the attempt to carry off 

 its contents by pumping. 



The object of these remarks is to open the 

 question for examination, ana to invite the 

 statements of those who have tried the differ- 

 ent modes for securing and applying liquid 

 manure under the most favorable circum- 

 stances. The three points to be taken spe- 

 cially into consideration are the comparative 

 advantages of— 1. Using the clear liquid with 

 good and suitable appliances ; 2. Employing 

 an abundance of straw and other absorbents 

 in the stable ; .3. -Conveying the liquids by 

 means of light floors and gutters to compost 

 heaps of earth, peat or turf, placed under or 

 near the barn. — Country Gentleman. 



EARLY PRICE OF PENNSYLVANIA 

 LANDS, 



It is interesting to note the prices at which 

 lands are selling in Pennsylvania to-day, com- 

 pared with the prices that prevailed at the 

 time of its settlement, and for a century 

 thereafter. From the transfer of the colony 

 to Penn down to 1702, the price was $41.33 

 per hundred acres, except in the lower 

 counties, where it was only $9..33 per hundred. 

 From 17G2 until 17G3 it was $24 per hundred. 

 From 1763 to 1765 it was put up to the earlier 

 figure, $41.33. From 176.5 until 1784 it stood 

 at $22.22. Under the Commonwealth the 

 changes were as follows : From 1784 to 1792 

 it was $26.66j per hundred acres. In the new 

 purchase, made in 1784, including the north- 



