12 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Facts and observations relatixg to 

 AGRICLLTl RE k DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



SORREL. 

 "Ovf;r croppin:^ and shallow plough)ii<^, with 

 exhaastiri!^ crops in succession frequently canst- 

 overwhelming (growths of MrreZ to infest ill maii- 

 aged lields. Lime is the only-remedy: and yon 

 will see in Lord Dundoiiald\ " Connexion^'' iic. 

 the good effects of lime ; which destroys the 

 sorrel, and produces the sorrcline nciW, highly 

 friendly lu wholesome and profitahle vegetation. 

 Green sorrel grows on fertile soils ; but the rcil 

 sorrel is a certain mark of sterility." 



A'oliccs for a Yuung Farmer, i:c. from .Mfmoirs 

 of Ike Philadtlphia Jl^ricullural Socie.lij. 



All dung should be covered cither with earth 

 or a roof, to prevent evaporation and waste of 

 its mo.it valuable ingredients. Mix no hot lime 

 with 3'our muck, dung, or compost heap, before 

 fermentation h:is ceased, or sulliciently advanc- 

 ed, as it injures moderate fermentation, and of- 

 ten consumes the muck. Instances of even con- 

 flagration of strawy muck by hot lime, to a great 

 extent Cim be given. — ibid. 



Cut or chaff your hay, straw, corn tops or 

 blades, and even your stalks, with a powerful 

 straw cutter and you will save a great propor- 

 tion, which is otherwise wasted, or passed thro" 

 the animal without contributing to its nourish- 

 ment. One bushel of chaffed hay at a mess, 

 given in a trough, three times in twenty-four 

 hours, is sufficient for an horse, ox, or cow. A 

 bushel of chaffed hay, lightly pressed, weighs 

 from 5 to 5 1-2 pounds. An horse, or horneil 

 beast, thrives more on 15 lbs. thus given, than 

 on 24 or 25 ibs. as commonly expended, (includ- 

 ing waste) in the usual mode of feeding in racks ; 

 to which troughs properly constructed, are tar 

 preferable. Salt your clover and other succu- 

 lent as well as coarse hay. But ovejr salting 

 diminishes the nutriment. More than a peck 

 to a ton is supertluous. Half that quantity is of- 

 ten sufficient. Ten or fifteen pounds is usually 

 an ample allowance. Feeding your stock by 

 weight and measure of food will not only save 

 your provender, by its orderly distribution, but 

 frequently, the lives of animals, too often starv- 

 ed by niggardliness or neglect, or gorged and 

 destroyed by profusion. If it be true, as it is 

 that " the master's eye makes the hoi-se fat ;" 

 it is equally so, that the master's eye prevents the 

 borsc trom being pampered, wanton, purslve, 

 bloated, foundered and linaliy wind-broken and 

 blind.— i6:t/. 



Do not commence Airming with erecting cost- 

 ly (niildings ; but apply your time, efforts, and 

 pecuniary means, to your farm ; and shit't on 

 with tolerable accommodations, until your fields 

 will warrant your providing better. Let your 

 dwelling hmcse and its a]»pendages be to leeward 

 as it respects commonly prevailing winds, (those 

 in winter especially when (ires are constant,) 

 of your barn and stack-yard ; and sulliciently 

 distant from them to avoid accidents by Jire. 



Stables for /ioraei- should not be too close. Dis- 

 eases arc generated by confined air; and horses 

 kept too warm cannot fcafely encounter cold and 

 wet. Swine kept in too warm, and more so in 

 filthy pens, are ever subject to diseases and un- 

 profitable feeding. There is no greater mis- 

 take than that oi' gorging swine, when first pen- 

 ned for fatting. They should on the contrary, 

 be moderately and frequently fed ; so that they 



be kept full, but do not loathe, or reject their 

 food ; and in the end contract fevers and dan- 

 gerous maladies, originating in a hot and cor- 

 rupted mass of blood ; against some of which, 

 dnj rotten wood is an absorbent, and, some al- 

 lege, smith's cinders, thrown in their pens are 

 preventives. In airy and roomy, yet moder- 

 ately warm pens, paved or boarded, and often 

 cleaned, they are healthy and thriving. They 

 show a disposition to he cleanly, however oth- 

 erwise it is supposed ; and they always drop their 

 ejections in a part of the pen different from that 

 in which they lie down. No animal will thrive 

 unless it be kept clean. — ibid. 



RYE. 



A writer in the American Farmer says " The 

 great and the only secret with regard to insur- 

 ing a good crop of Rye is early sowing. Frons 

 the middle of /bigust to the middle of Septem- 

 ber, I have always found to be the best time for 

 sowing Rye. From three pecks to a bushel per 

 acre, is amply sufficient for seed. Early sown 

 rye is much more heavy than the later ; and 

 further, it affords excellent pasture both in the 

 fall and spring, nor does pasturing injure the 

 crop ; in many cases it is a real benefit — par- 

 ticularly when eaten down by sheep. Clover 

 also succeeds much better after rye than after 

 wheat." 



BUTTER— HOW made. 



The dairy house should be kept neat, should 

 never front the south, southeast or southwest. 

 It should be situated near a good spring or cur- 

 rent of water. The proper receptacles for 

 milk are earthen pans not lined or glazed with 

 lead, or wooden trays. In warm weather milk 

 should remain in the pail till nearly cool before 

 it is strained, but in frosty weather it should be 

 strained immediately, and a small quantity of 

 boiling water may be mixed with it, which will 

 cause it to produce cream in great abundance, 

 and the more so if the pans or vats have a large 

 surface. 



In hot weather the cream should be skimmed 

 from the milk at or before sunrise, before the 

 dairy gets warm, nor should the milk, in hot 

 weather, stand in its receptacles longer than 

 twenty-four hours. Id winter milk may remain 

 unskimmed thirty-six or forty-eight hours. The 

 cream should be deposited in a deep pan, kept 

 in summer in a cool place, where a free air is 

 admitted. Unless churning is performed every 

 othej- day the cream shoukl be shifted daily in- 

 to clean pans, but churning should be perform- 

 ed at least twice a .week, in hot weather ; and 

 this should be done in the morning before sun- 

 rise, taking care to fix the churn whore there is 

 a good draught of air. If a pump churn is used 

 it may be plunged a foot deep in cold water, and 

 remain in that situation during the whole time 

 of churning, which will much harden the butter. 

 A strong rancid flavor will be given the butter 

 if we churn so near the fire as to heat the wood 

 in the winter season. 



After the butter is churned if should immedi- 

 ately be washed in many (liflerent waters, Jill it 

 is perfectly cleansed from the milk ; and if 

 should \)e worked by two pieces of wood, for a 

 warm hand will soften it, and make it appear 

 greasy. 



Butter will require and endure more working 

 in winter than in summer. 



Those who use a pomp churn must keep a 

 regular stroke : nor should thty permit any per- 



son to a-'^ist them unless they keep nearly the 



I same stroke ; for if they churn more slowly, the 



I butter will go back^ as it is called ; and if the 



I stroke be more quick, it will cause a fermentation 



by which means the butter will acquire a very 



disagreeable flavor. 



Cows should never be suffered to drink im- 

 proper water ; stagnated pools, water wherein 

 frogs spawn, common sewers, and ponds that 

 receive tlie drainings of stal)les are improper. 



The operation of chui'ning may be very much • 

 shortened by mixing a little distilled vinegar 

 with the cream in the churn. The butter be- 

 ing afterwards well washed in two or three 

 changes of water. The whole of the acid will 

 be carried off; or if any remain it will not be 

 perceived by the taste. A table spoonful of 

 two of the vinegar to a gallon of cream. 

 To take the rancid taste from Butter. 



When fresh butter has not been salted in prop- 

 er time, or when salt butter has become rancid 

 or musty, after melting and simmering it, dip in 

 it a crust of bread well toasted on both sides ; 

 and in a few minutes the butter will loose its 

 disagreeable taste. 



Butter made from scalded Cream. 



As soon as the milk is taken from the cow let 

 it be placed on a steady wood fire, free as pos- 

 sible from smoke, and scalded for thirty minutes 

 — particular care must be taken not to let it boil. 

 It mu^it then be placed in a cool situation, and on 

 the following day a thick rich cream will ap- 

 pear on the surface of the milk (which is ex- 

 cellent also for dessert purposes) this may be 

 taken off and made into butter in the common 

 way. This method is practiced in England, and 

 it is said that a greater quantify of butter, and 

 of a better quality can be made by this than b^ 

 the common mode. 



Receipt for curing Butter. 



Take two parts of the best common salt, one 

 part of sugar, and one part salt petre; put them 

 up together so as to blend the whole complete- 

 ly : take one ounce of this composition for eve- 

 ry sixteen ounces of butter, work it well into 

 tlie nia.ss and close it up for use. 



BEER. 

 To fine and clarify Beer. 

 Pot into a barrel a piece of soft chalk, burnt, 

 about the bigness of two hen''s eggs, which will 

 disturb the liquor and cause it afterwards to be 

 fine, and draw off brisk to the last, though it 

 were flat before. — iimer. Farmer. 



PUDDINGS. 

 To make a Rnta Ba^a Pudding. 



One and a half pints of pulped Ruta Baga, 

 two spoonfuls of wheat flour, four eggs, half 

 pint of milk, and one table spoonful of butter. 

 The pan greased and flowered, and balied with 

 a quick tire. 



Another Way. — One pint and a half of pulped 

 Ruta Baga, a half pint of wheat flour, four eggs, 

 a lialf pint of suet, and a pint of milk. The 

 pan as before. 



.'hiother. — One pint and a half of pulped Ruta 

 Baga, five spoonfuls of flour, a tea cup full aiid 

 an half of beef marrow, three egg'', two tea 

 spoonfuls of mace, and one pint and aii half of 

 milk. The pan greased as above. 



Il is saUl there lias been a °;ood crop of Hay in Main<i, 

 and that persons in Portland have offired to coutiaot 

 for the delivery of Eotatots at Od yer busliel. 



