890 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JUNE ir, 1835. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 17, 1835. 



RURAI, ECONOMY. 



Hints relative to Dairy Management. — Dr 

 James Anderson has published the following observa- 

 tions on this subject, which though they may not be 

 new to many of our readers, may be original to some, 

 and useful to most others by putting them in mind of 

 processes and practices, which otherwise might escape 

 from memory. 



1. The first milk drawn from a cow is always thinner, 

 and of an inferior quality to that which is afterwards 

 obtained; and this richness increases progressively to 

 the very last drop that can be drawn from the udder. 

 2. The portion of the cream rising first to the surface is 

 richer in quality and greater in quantity, than what 

 rises in the second equal spaces of time, and so forth ; 

 the cream continually decreasing and growing worse 

 than the preceding. 3. Thick milk produces a small- 

 er proportion of cream than that which is thinner, 

 though the creanj of the former is of a richer quality. 

 If, therefore, the thick milk be diluted with water, it 

 will afford more cream than it would have done in its 

 pure state ; but its quality will at the same time be in- 

 ferior. 4. Milk carried about in pails, or other vessels, 

 agitated and partly cooled, before it be put into the milk 

 pans, never throws up such a good and plentiful cream 

 as if it had been put into proper vessels immediately 

 after it came from the cow. 



" Cows should, tliereforc, always be milked as near 

 the dairy as possible, to prevent the necessity of carry- 

 ing and cooling the milk before it be put into the dishes, 

 and as cows are much hurt by far driving, it must be a 

 great advantage in a dairy farm to have the p.incipal 

 grass fields as near the dairy or homestead as possible. 

 It is injudicious to put the milk of all the cows of a 

 large dairy into one vessel as il is milked, because it 

 prevents the owner of the dairy from distinguishing the 

 good from the bad cows milk, so as to enlighten liis 

 judgment respecting the profit that he may derive from 

 each. Without this precaution he may have the -.vhole 

 produce of his dairy greatly debased by the milk of a 

 bad cow, for years together. A better practice, therefore, 

 would be, to have the milk drawn from each cow sepa- 

 rately, put into th." creaming pans as soon as they are 

 milked, without being mi.\ed with each other; and if 

 these pans were always made of such a size as to be able 

 to contain the whole of one cow's milk, each in a sepa- 

 rate pan, so that the person who manages the dairy , 

 could thus remark the quality and quantity of each 

 cow's milk, and the same cow's milk were always to be 

 placed on the same part of the shelf, having the cow's 

 name written beneath, there could never be the smallest 

 difficulty in ascertaining which of the cows it would be 

 the owners interest to dispose of, and which lie ought 

 to keep and breed from. If it be intended to make but- 

 ter of a very fine quality, it will be advisable, not only 

 to reject entirely the milk of all those cows which yield 

 cream of a bad quality ; but also in every case, to keep 

 the milk that is fir-t drawn from the cow at each milk- 

 ing, entirely separated from tliat which is drawn la-t; 

 as it is obvious, if this be not done, the quality of the 

 butter must be greatly debased, without much augment- 

 ing its quantity. It is also obvious that the quality of 

 the butter will be improved in proportion to the small- 

 ness of tlie quantity of the last drawn milk which is 

 used, as it increases in richness to the very last drop 

 that can be drawn from the udder at that time ; so that 

 those who wish to be singularly nice, keep for their 



very best butter a very ^mall proportion only of their 

 last draicn milk.'' 



We do not know that any of those who have made 

 or attempted to make butter for premiums have pro- 

 ceeded in conformity to the above directions by Dr 

 Anderson, in their full extent. Mr Luther Chamber- 

 lain, who in December last, obtained a premium of .oO 

 dollars from the Massachusetts Society for promot- 

 ing; Agriculture, made use of cream of the first 

 rising only, and observes in specifying his mode of 

 making said butter that " the dairymen want to get rich 

 too fast ; this is a great reason why you do not have 

 better butter. At this season of the year the cream 

 ought not to stand on the milk more than 12 hours in 

 order to make good butter, of course we do not get more 

 than half the cream. TThere will rise another coat of 

 cream, which may be applied to other uses except 

 butter."* 



Here we have one of Dr Anderson's precepts put in 

 practice, viz. that of using, for making the best butter, 

 that portion only of the cream, which rises first to the 

 surface ; and perhaps Mr Chamberlain's success may be 

 mostly owing to his observation of this rule. We wish 

 that Dr Anderson's other rules might be observed by 

 those who are striving to excel in that branch of econo- 

 my, viz. that of keeping the milk, which is first drawn 

 from a cow separate from that which is drawn last, and 

 use the last drawn only for butter of the first quality. 

 The cow keeper, would also derive great advantage 

 from keeping the milk drawn from each cow in a sepa- 

 rate pan, and thus he would have not only an accurate 

 criterion for estimating the character and value of each 

 of his cows, but by using only the first risen cream, of 

 the last drawn milk of such cows as give milk of the 

 richest quality, he might hope to manufacture better 

 that would excel even the best premium butter which 

 has ever won a prize at our exhibitions. 



DOCTORINU SILK WORMS. 



We found the following among some scraps, cut out 

 of a newspaper, but the head was wanting and we have 

 no means of judging of the accuracy of the article. If 

 correct the information it contains must be valuable, if 

 not, it can do but little harm, for if the worms do not 

 like their medicine they will not take it. But if they 

 do take their doses, they will no doubt be benefitted by 

 the prescription. 



Mr Editor— The culture of the Silk worm having 

 lately been agitated to a considerable degree, and being 

 likely soon to become an important branch of industry 

 in this country, I consider it the duty of everyone 

 possessing information in any way relating to it, to lay 

 it immediately before the public. Under this impres- 

 sion, I lake the liberty of sending you the following ex- 

 tract from a Philadelphia paper, hoping it may be found 

 useful to those interested in raising the worm. 



At the same time I would remark, that at the date of 

 the publication of this extract, the culture of silk had 

 become so extensive, that a company was instituted, 

 under the title of " The Filature," which purchased 

 cocoons at from three to five shillings currency per 

 poundi The subsequent troubles with England, in all 

 probability put a stop to the proceedings of the concern, 

 Philadelphia, June P, 1772. 



'' Il may be woith the attention of the raisers of Si7/i: 

 worms that there were two instances in Bucks county, 

 last year, where the worms throve well till after the 

 third moulting, and when they were almost ready to 

 spin, they left off feeding, crawled about, their tails be- 



became smaM and turned yellow, the deadly symptoms 

 among us, and they began to die fast ; but merely by 

 accident in one of the instances, and from design in the 

 other, oak leaves were laid in their way, which they de- 

 voured greedily, gained health and vigor, and spun as 

 well as any worms could do." 



It is to be regretted that the hind of oak leaves is not 

 mentioned. Perhaps, however, this is not material as 

 all the varieties of the oak possess more or less astrin- 

 gency, which is probably the operating principle in this 

 case. At any rate it would be easy to give the wornis 

 their choice from several varieties of oaks, and as in- 

 stinct is unerring the little patients would select the 

 medicine best adapted to their case. 



Remarkable Asparagus. — Mr Samuel Pond, of 

 Cambridgeport, exhibited at the Horticultural Rooms 

 specimens of this vegetable of an uncommon magni- 

 tude, and deserving honorable mention in the annals of 

 Horticulture, viz. 



May 30. 12 shoots, common length, weight 2 lbs. 



June 6. 12 do. do. 2J 



This was raised by the common mode of cultivation ; 

 but the kind is far better than the Dutch, or aijy other 

 sort now in use. I had it under the name of the Giant, 

 and it has proved as it was recommended to me. 



S. Pond. 



This was the largest and best it is believed ever ex- 

 hibited, or brought to Market in Boston. 



* SCO p. aoCof the current volume oflhe New England Farmer. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAI- SOCIETY. 



flowers exhibited. 



Saturday, June 13, 1835. 



Samuel Walker, Roxbury. Hesperus matronalis alba 

 pi.; iris Siberica; do. var. yellow and brown ; do. var. 

 purple and violet; Spirea filipendula ; Robinialiespida; 

 Saxifraga (London Pride) .' Phlox paniculata ; do. alba; 

 Scotch Roses, &c. And in addition to these a new 

 Dianthus var. ; Walker's No. 5, beautiful, and superior 

 to ainy of the kind before exhibited. 



S. Sweetser, Cambridgeport. Variety of fine Ge- 

 raniums. 



John A. Kenrick, Newtown. Pteonias paradoxa frimj 

 briata ; do. officinalis rosea; do. albi flora rubescens ; 

 Azalia's calendulacea incarnata; do. exuberens; do. 

 chrysolecthra; do. var.; Rose acacia ; new do.; aris- 

 tolachia sipho ; Roses, Irene ; do. single yellow ; do. 

 Scotch Dutchess of Gloucester ; do. single red do. 

 do. Ferox ; Crastagus, double white ; Syringo fragrant ; 

 Honeysuckles; Scarlet Trumpet; do. white Italian; 

 do. early Dutch ; do. Douglassi. 



James Kavenaugh, Cambridge. Variety fine Ra- 

 nunculus. 



William Kenrick, Newtown. Pasonias ; Syringes ; 

 var. purple Beech; Scotch Roses, &c. 



Samuel Pond, Cambridgeport. Roses, yellow ; Rub- 

 ra ; Bauvsauth and Pinks. 



Amos Atkinson, Esq. also favored the Society with 

 a superior specimen of Papaver orientalis. 



Edward Augustus Story, from Winship's establish- 

 ment, a verj' large variety of flowers. 



For the .Committee, Jona. Winship. 



FRUITS EXHIBITED. 



Strawberries. Fine specimens of large size fromJJ. 

 L. L. F. Warren of Brighton. Handsome specimens 

 from Richard Ward of Roxbury. 



Alpines. Handsome specimens from Joseph Warren, 

 Brighton. 



For the Committee, William Kenrick. 



