236 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



thought farmers should be more careful in speci- 

 fying facts rather than in dealing in general terms, 

 as to manuring, crops, and other matters of farm 

 operations. He made allusion to the State Board 

 of Agriculture, and spoke in its praise. 



Mr. Howard, of the Boston Cultivator, said 

 the exhibitions of Great Britain were very difler- 

 ent from ours, as they were not intended as ob- 

 jects of amusement. And ours should be no less 

 so, and more for utility. He spoke of the origin 

 of the old Agricultural Society of Scotland. In 

 1760, a few gentlemen held meetings in clubs, 

 though under adverse circumstances, when each 

 member was requii-ed at the next meeting to pro- 

 duce a plan for its enlargement and encourage- 

 ment, and that influential association Avas the re- 

 sult. 



Owing to the Legislature holding its session 

 late in the Representatives' Hall, and the necessity 

 of holding the agricultural meeting in a smaller 

 room, and being late in its organization, the dis- 

 cussion was necessarily cut short. Some remai'ks 

 were made in regard to holding another meeting, 

 but it was finally voted to present the subject of 

 Under draining for another meeting, in case the 

 Legislature should not adjourn, and there was no 

 announcement to the contrary-. 



Correction. — Mr. Wetherell in stating ob- 

 jections to steaming feed, did not say that Mr. 

 Peters is "abandoning the practice," as some have 

 inferred from reading the report in the Farmer of 

 the 29th ult. 



RELATIVE HEAT OF COAL AND COKE. 



Independently of this competition, there are a 

 great many well-meaning people in this country, 

 who labor under the impression that inasmuch as 

 coke has ah-eady been partly burned, and deprived 

 of its gas, it follows that it cannot produce so in- 

 tense a heat as coal ; but that the reverse of this 

 is the fact has been proved by the best chemists. 

 Dr. Henry, of Edinburgh, informs us that he has 

 "learned that the heat produced by coke, when 

 compared to that produced by coal, is at least 

 three to two." Mr. Winsor, having made experi- 

 ments with the same view, found that it required 

 three bushels of coal to distil a given quantity of 

 water, and only two bushels of coke. Being rath- 

 er surprised than satisfied with this, he tried the 

 same substances by combustion, with a certain 

 measure of oxygen gas, but with a similar result. 

 This set the matter at rest in England, so far as 

 the relative heat was concerned ; but then it was 

 said that if coke made as hot a fire as coal, or hot- 

 ter, at least the former was not as wholesome as 

 the latter. This, too, the most learned chemists 

 and physicians pronounced a gross error. Ever 

 since, the demand for coke has been so great in 

 all the large cities of England, that the gas man- 

 afacturers cannot produce suflficient gas to supply 

 it. But in this country it is difl'erent. In spite of 

 •ur innumerable free schools and armies of teach- 

 ers, the old prejudice still prevails against coke ; 



whereas, in point of fact, it is superior to coal in 

 every property that ougnt to recommend it for 

 family use, except the rapidity with which it 

 burns. In other words, coal lasts longer than 

 coke ; and this is the only sense in which the for- 

 mer can be said to be superior to the latter. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 MILKXNG. 



Milking is the most disagreeable work on the 

 farm ; at least so think a large majority of the 

 farmers in this vicinity. Before a person engages 

 work for the season, he is very particular to in- 

 quire how many cows are kept ? There is nothing, 

 to be sure, very hard about it, but it is a kind of 

 work that any one, however much he may be 

 pleased with it at fii'st, dislikes to do after a little 

 experience. 



Your city clerks like very much to come here in 

 the country on vacation, and rusticate, and often 

 the first thing that attracts their attention, is the 

 cows, and they seem to think it must be very nice 

 fun to milk. Upon making the acquaintance of a 

 kicking cow, however, they soon change their tune, 

 and it is not strange if you hear them denouncing, 

 in the most emphatic terms, the whole farming 

 business. 



Some of your city people, and I doubt not some 

 country people, too, would laugh at the idea of 

 calling milking cows a trade, and yet it comes to 

 very much the same thing, as every one must thor- 

 oughly learn the business before he can become a 

 proficient. 



We often speak of a person as being a good 

 workman, and this might with just as much pro- 

 priety, be said of one milking cows. There is as 

 much difference between one person and another 

 in this business as in any other. I have seen boys 

 — yes, and men too — who had not a doubt that 

 they knew as much about their work as anybody, 

 bnt whom I would not employ under any circum- 

 stances, if I could possibly get along without. I 

 am speaking now more particularly of those who 

 might be appropriately termed the wasteful class. 

 It makes a great difference in a cow's "holding 

 out," whether she is "stripped" perfectly dry at 

 each milking, or a little is allowed to be left in the 

 bag. One of my neighbors told me that when he 

 milked his cows himself, they each gave nearly a 

 quart of milk a day more than they gave when he 

 trusted it to his hired man. Great care should be 

 taken to get every drop of milk ; strip as long as 

 any milk can be obtained. 



Another important item is neatness. If people 

 who buy their milk, should sometimes see it before 

 it is strained, I fancy they would not quite as M'ell 

 relish their morning cup of coff"ee. At this time 

 of year, when cows are mostly kept in the barn, 

 they are very liable to get dirty, and the slovenly 

 milker will be pretty sure to get something in his 

 milk-pail which belongs in the barn-cellar. If a 

 little pains be taken, this can all be avoided. Al- 

 ways keep an old brush or broom in the barn to 

 brush the cows, and have a dish of water to wash 

 their teats, and there will not be much danger of 

 having dirty milk. 



Kicking cows are very bad to manage. Not 

 unfrcqucntly the best cows for milk are very fond 

 of exercising their legs while a person is milldng, 



