86 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



gets trusted for the whole, and our laws tax them 

 alike ! Now these arc not solitai-y cases, but they 

 abound in every village and neighborhood in the 

 Comnnonwealth. Is this right ? Is it just ? Does 

 i^ot the law bear oppressively on those least able 

 to sustain the burden ? I think you will answer, 

 yes. 



But this is not all. Our laws are not only un- 

 just and oppressive, but their tendency is to dis- 

 courage young men from having a home of their 

 own, and especially from engaging in agricultu- 

 ral pursuits. P'arms and stock, cannot like cash 

 and notes of hand, be concealed. The assessors 

 will find them, and they cannot escape the tax, 

 though they owe for the whole. The result is, of 

 two evils, they choose the least ; rent a house or 

 farm, move from year to year, till furniture is 

 spoiled, wife discouraged, habits of negligence ac- 

 quired, local improvements disregarded, and the 

 end is poverty and ruin ! 



Many more reasons might be added, but I will 

 now merely suggest the remedy. And first, let 

 the assessor be required to take a true and perfect 

 invoice of all personal property, notes secured by 

 mortgage excepted, deduct debts and tax the bal- 

 ance ; or in other words, apply the same principle 

 to all personal property, that is, by law, now ap- 

 plied to cash and notes of hand. 



Secondly, let all taxes on mortgaged real estate 

 be set to the mortgagee in proportion to the notes 

 thus secured. 



Let this be done at the next session of the 

 Legislature, and the young men of the Common- 

 wealth will remember you with gratitude, and you 

 will be welcome to your $4 per day for all actual 

 attendance. r. m. 



Westboro', Dec, 29, 1859. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 

 MAKING WINTER BUTTER. 



In reply to Mr. Leonard, of New Bedford, I 

 would say : 



Immediately after milking, strain your milk in- 

 to tin pans, and put it into or on your cooking 

 stove until the milk is quite scalding hot, then 

 remove it to a shelf or cupboard adjoining your 

 kitchen with a temperature of from 60° to 70°. 

 Skim it within three days. You may keep the 

 cream, if necessary, two weeks or more. To a 

 quantity of cream sufficient for ten pounds of but- 

 ter, put in the juice of two or three fair sized 

 orange carrots. Then churn from ten to twenty 

 minutes, with your cream at a temperature of 55° 

 to G0°, and if you do not succeed in making good, 

 sweet, yellow butter, worth 25 to 30 cents per 

 pound, I wHl pay for your copy of the Neio Eng- 

 land Farmer for the year 1860. 



For rnany years I have made butter through the 

 entire winter, of as rich fragrance and aroma as 

 can well be made in June or September. Try it, 

 brother Leonard. Joshua T. Everett. 



Everettvillc, Princeton, Mass., Dec. 28, 1859. 



warts on sheep. 



Will some one of your readers inform me what 

 the cause is of sores on the sides of the mouth of 

 my sheep ? They look like clusters of warts. The 

 shee'^) are othei'wise in good condition. 



East New Sharon, 1860. A. R. Hall. 



winter butter. 



Friend Leonard inquires through the Farmer 

 how he can be relieved from the wear of fourteen 

 hours' churning ? I will give him the benefit of 

 my experience, as that is what we have a farmers' 

 paper for, and inquiries, "Extracts and Replies," 

 stand prominent in its good features. 



Strain the milk and set it over a kettle of hot 

 water until it skims freely, or is as hot as you can 

 bear the finger in it ; then set it in a pantry or 

 cupboard near the kitchen where the temperature 

 is not below 60° through the day, and does not go 

 down to freezing in the night ; let it remain forty- 

 eight hours, then skim with as little milk as pos- 

 sible. Do not keep the cream more than from five 

 to seven days, if you want good sweet butter. Be 

 careful not to commence churning when your 

 cream is too cold, as in that case it becomes 

 frothy, and the butter-making is retarded. I have 

 made good, firm, sweet bvittcr up to the present 

 weelc, with from fifteen to thirty minutes churn- 

 ing. I think very favorably of the plan of giving 

 a few carrots daily to milch cows, as it improves 

 both quantity and quality of the butter. 



The thermometer this morning at 2 o'clock was 

 at 21° below zero, and now, 2 P. M., it is 6° below. 



Roijahton, Vt., Dec. 28, 1859. A. P. F. 



FOWLS FOR COLD WEATHER. 



Will any of your correspondents inform me 

 through the paper which breed of fowls stand cold 

 weather best ? I have kept the Spanish, which 

 are good layers, but are not very hardy. I wish 

 to get the hardiest kind, and at the same time get 

 good layers. P. 



Woburn, Dec. 2, 1859. 



HOW TO FEED FOWLS. 



When my chickens are quite young I give them 

 Indian meal five times a day, and when old enough 

 to lay, about a table spoonful of cayenne pepper 

 with their meal once a week, for twelve hens. This, 

 with plenty of lime and gravel, enables them to 

 give near twenty dollars a year for their products. 

 A. R. H. 



RED-TOP. 



I would inquire through your paper hoAV much 

 red-top seed I should sow per acre, and what 

 ground is the l)est to sow it on ? Also, if it does 

 well mixed with other seed, and if so, what kind is 

 best? w. H. 



Remarks. — Red-top is one of the best grasses 

 we have, and its seed is usually mingled with one 

 or more other varieties in seeding our lands. The 

 quantity usually employed per acre is one peck of 

 herdsgrass, three or four pecks of red-top, and six 

 to ten pounds of clover ; the latter being sowed in 

 April. 



PROFITS IN AGRICULTURE. 



To learn Avhcther there are profits in farming or 

 not, the true way seems to me to be as follows : 

 reckon the interest on the stock, tools and farm, 

 and add to the labor ; then get the value of the 

 proceeds, and strike the dift'erence, and you will 

 see at once the true result. 



JericJw Centre, 1860. Harrison Webster. . 



