184 



THE LANCASTER FARMER 



[December, 



which are tightened at each manipulation, or 

 as occasion requires. 



It is believed tliat the first country in which 

 associate dairies were formed was in Switzei'- 

 land, more than thirty years ago. It is gen- 

 erally known, however, as tlie American sys- 

 tem, since here it first became popular, and 

 from here it was introduced into England. 

 The first cheese factory in America was estab- 

 lished in 1S51. The origin of the co-operative 

 factory system of cheese-making in England 

 dates from 1869, although iu l,s76 there were 

 but nine in full working order, with an aver- 

 age total annual production of about 400 tons 

 of cheese. Other factories are in the course 

 of erection and more in contemplation in var- 

 ious parts of tlie country. It may be added 

 that the factory system has already extended, 

 on the Continent to Russia, Holland, Den- 

 mark, Sweden, and other countries. The con- 

 sumption of cheese in the United Kingdom 

 far exceeds the home production, some au- 

 thorities estimating that fully one-half the 

 cheese sold in England is derived from abroad, 

 and that the total amount now consumed per 

 annum equals fully 200,000 tons. The imports 

 of clieese into Great Britain nearlv double 

 every ten years. In 1855 the total imports were 

 38,213,504 pounds ; in 1865, 95,567,004 pounds; 

 In 1875, 182,158,256 pounds; while during 

 the first seven months of 1878, 108,533,728 

 pounds have been imported. 



Tlie duty on all foreign cheese imported in- 

 to Britain previous to 1842 was about $2.62 

 per 112 pounds. Iu that year the duty on im- 

 ports from British possessions was reduced to 

 fifty-six cents per 112 pounds ; in 1853 the 

 duty was reduced to sixty-two cents per 100 

 weight on all foreign cheese, while in 1859 tlie 

 duty was entirely abolished. The principal 

 foreign supply comes from America, and as 

 early as 1874, out of a total import of 166,- 

 349,680 pounds, the United States supplied 

 95,522,496 pounds, Holland 44,675,456, Cana- 

 da 24,756,810, France 614,514, and Germany, 

 Sweden and Belgium small aggregates. Since 

 that date the American imports have exceeded 

 all others in proportion to the total receipts. 

 The growth of the cheese industry ia the 

 United States is something wonderful, and 

 especially in the marked increase in the for- 

 eign demand for our cheese. For the twelve 

 months ending June 30, 1877, our exports of 

 cheese were 107,364,666 pounds, valued at 

 812,700,627 ; wliile for tlie corresponding 

 period of 1878 the total shows 123,783,736 

 pounds, of a value of $14,103,529, the largest 

 part of which was marketed in Great 

 Britian. English people probably consume 

 more clieese than any other nation on the 

 globe, or in the proportion of about ten pounds 

 yearly to each inliabitant, wliile in this coun- 

 try the consumption is less than half that 

 quantity. — Cultivator. 



TIMELY HINTS FOR HOUSEHOLDERS. 



As the season has arrived when curing 

 meat is in order, we republish, as of old, our 

 famous receipt for curing beef, pork, mutton, 

 hams, &c., as follows : 



To one gallon of water take IJ lbs. of salt, 

 ^ lb. sugar, | oz. salpetre, i oz. potash. 



In this ratio the pickle can be increased to 

 any quantity desired. Let these be boiled to- 

 gether until all the dirt from the sugar rises 



to the top and is skimmed off. Then throw it 

 into a tub to cool, and when cold, pour it over 

 your beef or pork. The meat must be well 

 covered witli pickle, and should not be put 

 down fov at least two days after killing, dur- 

 ing which time it should be slightly sprinkled 

 with powdered saltpetre, which removes all 

 the surface blood, &c., leaving the meat fresh 

 and clean. Some omit boiling the pickle, and 

 find it to answer well, though the operation 

 of boiling purifies the pickle by tlirowing off 

 the dirt always to be found in salt and sugar. 

 If this respect Is strictly followed, it will re- 

 quire only a single trial to prove its superior- 

 ity over the common way, or most ways, of 

 putting down meat, and will not soon be aban- 

 doned for any other. Tlie meat is unsur- 

 passed for sweetness, delicacy and freshness 

 of color. 



There is some difference of opinion as to 

 protecting manure against rain, wind and the 

 exhausting effects of the sun. Doubtless all 

 these have an injurious influence upon the 

 manure heap, and it is certainly true that 

 without any moisture at all from rain, it will 

 not be improved. However this may be, we 

 are very certain that unlimited exposure to 

 the weather will prove highly injurious to the 

 quality of the manure. A leading farmer 

 told us some time ago that he regarded the 

 complete exposure of the manure heap through 

 the winter and until it can be used in the 

 spring, to damage at 50 per cent. In other 

 words, one load of well protected manure was 

 worth two of the exposed. This seems to be 

 almost incredible, but it may not be far from 

 the truth. There is no question that a sub- 

 ject which so vitally concerns the farmer as 

 this one of manure, and causes hioa to give so 

 much attention to it, possesses great merit. 

 His straw is not to be sold because it is to be 

 converted into manure. Stock is fed through 

 the winter for the express purpose of accumu- 

 lating manure. Articles that scarcely pay to 

 send to the city are nevertheless hauled there 

 in order that manure may be brought back as 

 a return load ; and yet the whole of the man- 

 ure gathered is frequently all the season ex- 

 posed to the sun, wind and rain until it is 

 greatly diminished in value — one-half accord- 

 ing to the opinion of our agricultural inform- 

 ant. The trouble is that few really believe 

 that exposed manure undergoes any serious 

 loss. Hence, in arranging farm buildings — 

 and we know many that are so arranged — it 

 will pay well to look almost as much to the 

 preservations of the manure as of the hay 

 or grass ; and tliose whose buildings have no 

 provision for this purpose, cannot spend twen- 

 ty-five to fifty dollars better than in putting up 

 a shed under which the manure heap may be 



protected against these adverse influences. 



— Oerniantown Tel. 



METHODS OF MILKING. 



Anyone wlio is familiar with the workings 

 of the dai»y knows how important it is to 

 have the milking well done. The difference 

 between the herd's yield iu the hands of a 

 good and a poor milker will often determine 

 the question of loss or profit, and it does not 

 require extreme instances to mark this differ- 

 ence, either. With this general knowledge of 

 its importance, yet how rare is it we find any 

 intelligent instruction upon the subject, either 



upon the farm or in the dairy school. The 

 great difficulty in teaching any one to be a 

 good milker lies in the fact that there are two 

 distinct branches to the art of milking, and it 

 is hard to find the two qualities combiued iu 

 one person. First and of most importance is 

 that of disposition. Nervous, impatient and 

 high-tempered men rarely make good milkers 

 while lazy aud indifferent natures are equally 

 unfitted for the work. 



The great point is to find a man who is fond 

 of the work and in sympathy with the cow. 

 Such a man can get enough more milk from a 

 herd to warrant far better wages than he 

 usually receives. The second re(|uisite of a 

 good milker is skill in manipulating the teats. 

 This, unfortunately, is a matter upon which 

 there is a great diversity of opinion. Each 

 community of dairymen thinks its method the 

 best, while those who set up to be authori- 

 ties are equally at odds. There being no ab- 

 solute evidence for settling this question, I 

 will simply describe the usual methods and 

 give my own ideas as to the best plan for dairy- 

 men to adopt. 



First, there is the old poetic way, where the 

 milkmaid saunters into the field with her 

 mind upon a lover in the distance, jilaying a 

 lute or Jew's harp. To her musical call the 

 herd comes winding slowly o'er the lea, etc. 

 She sits upon her heels or rests on her knees 

 and milks deliberately with a simple grasp, by 

 which the ends of the fingers squeeze the milk 

 from the teats. Her mechanical work is p;o- 

 bably the poorest in the market, but her kind 

 nature and love for her cows induces them to 

 forgive her awkwardness and do all iu their 

 their power to make up for her deficiencies, 

 and this is nearly half the game. The next 

 character that we meet with in everyday life 

 is the father, son and liiied man of the com- 

 mercial dairy. You will find him in all the 

 dairies from the backwoods of Iowa to the 

 suViurbs of Boston. 



He sits on a three-legged stool, wears a 

 broad-brimmed straw h.it, holds the tin or 

 wooden pail, as the case may be, between his 

 knees, and talks politics to his companion 

 milker, and gets up from his stool as soon as 

 a decent sense of duty performed will admit. 

 His thoughts, like the milkmaid's, are usually 

 far away, but unlike thf said maid the cow is 

 as glad to get rid of him as he is of her, and 

 the yield is rarely as satisfactory as it should 

 be. The grasp and manipulation of the teat 

 is the old style, and both udder and teat are 

 perfectly dry when the milking is ended. 

 There is rarely, if ever, any attempt on the 

 part of the owner of the herd to instruct the 

 hired man or even his own son in the best and 

 most thorough method of milking. Just as 

 each one happens to take it up he continues 

 the operation all his life. The result is that 

 some men milk slowly, some rapidly, some 

 roughly and others gently. Some pull the 

 teat and end each stroke with a jerk, while 

 others scarcely disturb the udder at all. Some 

 milkers are constantly wetting the I eats by 

 dipping their fingers in the milk, but this is a 

 foreign trick and rarely seen in a Yankee 

 dairy. 



The art of dairying is of much more mod- 

 ern growth in this country than it is in 

 Europe, and it is seldom the business is fol- 

 lowed by father aud son to more than two or 



