66 



NEV/ ENGLAND FARMER, 



EEFT. 7, 1F36. 



Youn«r, Ks(].) will iiiiilei" the sifjiiatiire of "Agri- 

 cola " nrniis li the Agrifiiiltuial apathy of tlie peo- 

 jile, aideil by the pationa^re of Lord Dalhoiisie for 

 our present prosperity ; Afrrii'iiltiiral Societies 

 were established, but they are iinvv nearly e.xtinet, 

 and we may note the niareh of improvement from 

 that period, and from that cause. Twenty years 

 ago we had scarcely tlie semblance of a green 

 market here, — one or two stalls were all that 

 couKI lie seen once a week. — A s^ood head of 

 Lettuce, or an early Cabbage were considered 

 great rarities, and the Dame «l Cauliflower was 

 almost unknown ; but no-w, ITalifax CMti lioast of 

 markets (ilentifully and [irofnsely supplied with 

 all Jsinds of culinary vegetables daily. 

 • There is great room for the Horticulturist to 

 exercise the science in this Province ; esculent 

 plants all generally thrive well here, but I have 

 iiiy doubts f the cMmate wi I admit of our raising 

 some of the seeds to perfection. A Horticultural 

 Society has just been formed, and about 40 names 

 are U|ion the list — a committee has been apjioiiit- 

 cd to form Rules and Regulations and the second 

 niceting takes place ibis day. 



(For lite New lOii^tand Farmrr ) 



Ogde.vsborg, Aiig. 15 183G 

 Mr Editor: — I drop you a linf for the purpose 

 ofr coniniending to the (kvovable iiotice of Trav- 

 ellers genera ly, " The Eochester^House " and its 

 worthy propriefor of Northamj) f^fn, Mass. It is 

 delightful y nnil ' conveniently sitUMtejl, within a 

 step of the landing of tJie Pat-fcet -Boats and Sta- 

 ges. 



To those fond of real coirjfort, and <iiat great 

 essentia', e'ea ' Iness, I can with crmfidenoe rec- 

 . ommend the Rochester House, as possessing su- 

 perior attractimis. It is sufHciently hirge--md yet 

 not too large, to prevent its proprietor froij-attend- 

 ing to the larlicidar coiid'oit of each 4>f bis guests 

 in style. The Biir lendias ure, pleasant and oblig- 

 ing and willing at all reasonable hours to wait up- 

 on you;; I was a boarder three ilays, mid was the 

 bestsuiteil with the tjiaiKigement, of any Hotel in 

 the city of Rochester Jn writing this communi- 

 cation, ! am indiice<l solely by the wish to make 

 others comfortable when frotn home, which com- 

 igrt J have in vain KoujiJit in inost of the other 

 Hotels, at son.e of which, I have been in the 

 Jiai it of putting ii|) fqr^eitiis. 



THE HAKLEIAN DAIRY. 



BY H. C. 



Kilk, next to bread, is undoubtedly ofie of the 

 xnost general and iin, ortant articles of human diet. 

 None is more universaliy -alutaiy, and tmne more 

 nutritious. .p chi !dri n it is next to indispensa- 

 ble ; ag> il persons who are acciisloiued to it, nd 

 it extreme y conducive to their comfort ; and re- 

 turn to its use with evi-n a slrtuiger relish than they 

 had for it in cbildbood. It is an important co idi- 

 inent with nmcli of our food ; iiiid it is ca able of 

 being used in almost countless variety of delicious 

 nnd nutritious Ibrms. 



Of the various anima's whose milk is employed 

 for human food, the cow, both in respect to qual- 

 ity and quantity, is most generallv preferred. Goats, 

 asses and mare's milk are u.sed ; but for conveni- 

 ence, nutritiousness, and quantity, the cow is above 

 nil others to be chosen ; and, as far as food is con- 

 cerned, inny be C(uisidereil among the greatest 

 blessings which Divine Providence has bestowed 



upon mankind. As matter of iliel, there is noth- 

 ing which in proportion to its weight contains so 

 much nutritiiei t ; and as a beverage, to a simple 

 and unadulterated taste, none can he more grate- 

 ful. In the coimtry, where it can be had pure 

 and in abundance, it ought to constif te a great ar- 

 ticle of fo d for chi'dren and young persmis ; and 

 the miserable and pernicious and perfectly innu- 

 tritions substitutes of tea and coffee, ought to be 

 kept entirely out of their reach. In cities, how- 

 ever, pure milk is almost as difficult to be procur- 

 ed as pure water. In New York city, for exam- 

 ple, the milk is first deteriorated, if we may be al- 

 lowed to state, in the cow's udder ; that is, where 

 cows are fed upon distillers' swill, with scarcely 

 any meal, and with hardly hay enough to form a 

 cud, the milk produced is of a very inferior qual- 

 ity ; besides, with a large proportii n of the milk- 

 dealers, though not all, it undergoes the ruleable 

 and established dilution of one quart of water to 

 four of mi k ; in addition to this, if it goes into the 

 hands of tue grocers, as in general they are too 

 modest and humane to sell anything like slron^r 

 drink, it commonly undergoes another application 

 froii the town pump. Ind ed, we state from the 

 best information, that there are grocers in this city, 

 who, without any aid from the cow, or at least the 

 slightest possibility, have offered the milk-men, 

 when the supplies of the milk-men for their cus- 

 tomers fall short, to f'uriiish them from their own 

 (the grocers) resources, what they may need to 

 m:ike their supplies sufficient : that is, they liter- 

 ally manufacture the milk, as we sometimes say, 

 " out of the whole c'otli." The process, we un- 

 ilerstand is this : to take some Indian meal of the 

 white groud seed variety, nnd pass .some scalding 

 water through it ; and this water, dashed with a 

 slight touch of milk, as Brooinfield calls it, " three 

 times skimmed sky-blue," can be offered at five cts. 

 per quart ; and at this rate is actually vended to 

 the poor wretches, who want their cent or their 

 two cents worth for their tea and coffee. Now 

 whether this be or not be a real Yankee trick we 

 shall not ventine to surmise, hut the ingenuity of 

 its performance belongs to the veritable city of 

 .Manhattan. It is, however, all of a piece with 

 many of the London tricks, wbieh London cre.im 

 is ri adily nuumlacturiil out of flour or magnesia 

 and milk to a consistence to suit the most fastid- 

 iiuis. i he adulterations of hunuin food, howev- 

 er, whern it is susceptible of being adulterated to 

 a profit, are most obvious and enormous, and it 

 vvoii d be quite fortunate if all of them were as in- 

 nocent as the .'ibove. 



'i he .adulteration of milk, the price obtained for 

 it, and the frauds ju-actised in its disposal, induc- 

 ed William Harley oj Glasgow, an active iiiul en- 

 terprising citizen, a few years since, to form a 

 milk eslablishmenl, of considerable extent, in the 

 neighborhood of that <'ity, for the siijiply of the 

 market with this article, in u | ure and < leanly 

 condition ; and, indeed, so far as depended on hu- 

 man skill, of the yrry best quality. 'J his dairy at- 

 tracted very extraordinary attention from its novel 

 and convenient arrangements, and the admirable 

 manner in which the whole business was conduct- 

 ed, It was visited as a matter of great cmiosity 

 by vast numbeis of people, including many of the 

 Uidiility, and several of the princes and sovereigns 

 of Europe ; and as fur as concerned the object of 

 liirnishiug an article of the best quality, and in the 

 best condition, and with scarcely the possibi ity 

 of adulteration, until it left the hands of the vender. 



its purposes were adtnirably accomjilished. It 

 was not, we believe, equally profitable to the en. 

 terprising pro|irietor ; the establishment was evi- 

 dently conducted on too expensive a scale to be 

 expected to yield large returns. Harley has given 

 a detailed account of the establishment, and of his 

 own experience in the dairy busines.s. It is a 

 book containing much va'uable information ; and 

 i have thought it would be both interesting and 

 useful to the readers of the New York Farmer to 

 have an account of it. 



I shall not undertake a particular description of 

 the building. The largest amount of cows kept at 

 any one time was two hundred and sixty. The 

 largest building contain-^d stalls for one hundred 

 cows. There was an appendage which eserves 

 particular attention. At ihe end of the house wa.s 

 a l.irjre tank or reservoir, as a depository for the 

 cows' urine ; it was fifty feet long, six feet wide, 

 nnd six feet deep. The surface of the tank was 

 on a level with the bottom of the cellar; it was 

 covered with flat brii k work, arched, leaving a 

 space in the centre of the arch four feet square, 

 for taking out the sediment. Ibis aperture was 

 surrounded by a wall suffii-iently high to prevent 

 the dung from going ii to the tank. This was an 

 admirable provision for saving a substance of ex- 

 iraorilinary value to the farmer, where he can 

 avail himself of it. In Flanders it is saved with 

 the greatest care, and mixeil with a rape of oil 

 cake, as the \pry best manure they can apply to 

 their lands. The only provision in this country, 

 on an extensive scale, for saving it, which we have 

 met with, was at the farm of Robert Smith, Esq. 

 near Baltimore, where a liuiidred cows were 

 ke|,t ; a large reservoir was made in the yard, and 

 covered drains were formed for the purpose of 

 conveying the urine to this deposite ; from which 

 it was taken, and by a machine like that used for 

 sprinkling the streets of cities, was distributed 

 over the fields. '1 he value ol ibis manure is very 

 great, and is not yet appreciated among us. No 

 provision is made for saving it in any of the cow- 

 houses of New York city, where some of the milk 

 establishments exceed three hundred cow.s, and 

 the feed to which they are accustomed produce.l 

 the most abundant secretions of urine. 



The grand building in the Harleian dairy, wliich 

 had stalls for one hundred cow.s, was iiinetyfive 

 feet long by sixtytliree feet wide withi7i the walls. 

 It had vaults under the whole, divided for the pnr- 

 I ose of receiving the dung, of storing potatoes and 

 roots, and for an apartment for keeping ihe cows 

 that wer • dry and prepared for falteniiig. This 

 apartment being quiet, and having little light, was 

 deemed better adapted for carrying on the i rocess 

 of fattening than the other cow-houses; daikness 

 and quiet generally contributing to assist the pro- 

 gress and making the cattle much sooner lit for 

 slaughtering. 



It was deemed highly inqiorlant, and it was so 

 contrived, that the house should be perlicily ven- 

 tilateil, and at the same time preserve an equal 

 temperature — both which points were conducive 

 to their milking and (iittening, and the cattle were 

 in this way kept in the best health and conilition. 

 The heat was generally kept at the temperature 

 from rOto 64 degrees of Fahrenheit's scale: and 

 as the walls were plastered carefully, the ivittle 

 never experienced any injury from cold, even in 

 winter. A direct current of cold air sudden y ad- 

 mitted, was found to be exceedingly injurious and 

 much pains was taken to avoid this. 



