P2 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



important drawback upon their fertility, and no 

 effort should be spared to render them at once 

 and thoroughly frpe from the pollution. Hay, 

 fouled by thistles, is never marketable, and is, in- 

 deed, nearly worthless as feed, unless when the 

 animals are compelled to eat it by the impulse of 

 hunger. 



ASSOCIATED DAIRIES. 

 A correspondent of the Prairie Farmer gives 

 the following as the usual way of organizing asso- 

 ciations for the establishment of "cheese facto- 

 ries," in neighborhoods of ten or a dozen farmers : 



When it is proposed to start a factory, several 

 persons who are neighbors to each other get to- 

 gether and talk over the matter among them- 

 selves. If enough are found willing to turn in 

 their dairies together, so as to make a fair start, 

 (say 300 cows,) a committee is appointed to look 

 further into the matter, to visit factories, and get 

 all the information on the subject that can be had. 

 A favorable report from the committee being had, 

 they organize, choose directors, and adopt some 

 general rules or plan for the guidance of the asso- 

 ciation. The next step will be the selection of 

 some experienced cheese maker as superintendent, 

 and the place for the erection of the factory build- 

 ing. 



Generally some person proposes to put up the 

 buildings on his own account, and to manufacture 

 and take care of the cheese at a fixed price per 

 pound, demanding a contract of the farmers to 

 furnish the milk of the requisite number of cpws, 

 for a certain number of years. 



The milk of about 400 cows, it is believed, is 

 the smallest quantity that can bo employed by the 

 manufacturer, (when cheese making is his sole 

 business,) in order to obtain a fair living compen- 

 sation for services, while the milk of a thousand 

 cows can be manufactured at but little extra ex- 

 pense comparatively. 



Against this factory system, several objections 

 are urged by the same writer, the most obvious 

 of which are : difficulty of detecting adulterated 

 milk ; the labor and expense of carrying the milk 

 to the factory ; the liability of souring, and of disa- 

 greement between the farmer and the agent at 

 factory as to whether the milk is "changed ;" dif- 

 ference in quality of milk arising from the manner 

 in which the cows are fed and managed ; the loss 

 of the whey, so important an item in the way of 

 pork making ; and the necessity, after all, of man- 

 ufacturing "the early and late made cheese" in the 

 family, as for a time in fall and spring, the sup- 

 ply is too small to run the factory, and too large 

 to be wasted. 



Live and Dead Weight of Sheep. — The 

 English rule is to weigh sheep when fasted, and 

 divide the weight by 7 and call it quarters. Thus, 

 a sheep weighing 140 pounds, would give 20 

 pounds a quarter as the dead weight. If the sheep 

 are in good condition this rule is sufficiently accu- 

 rate for all purposes. Poor sheep will fall below 

 the mark, and extra fat ones go over it. 



NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



Through the polite attention of its Secretary, 

 the Hon. B. P. Johnson, we have received the 

 Transactions of the New York State Agricultural 

 Society, for the year 1862. It is the twoily-sec- 

 ond annual volume of the society, and like many 

 of its predecessors, is crowded with valuable in- 

 formation to most farmers. In the great number 

 of articles and numerous topics which it embraces, 

 it would be strange if there were not some spe- 

 cially adapted to the wants of every reader. Its 

 articles are eminently practical. They seem to 

 have grown out of the actual manipulations, per- 

 sonal observations and scrutiny of the writers 

 and frequently elucidate in clear and terse lan- 

 guage some of the more scientific bearings of the 

 great art. 



By attentively reading these Transactions, any 

 young farmer of the State may find sufficient di- 

 rection for the structure of his farm buildings, the 

 cultivation of any of the crops that are adapted to 

 the soil of the State, or for rearing any breed of 

 farm stock. In the ample pages of these Tran- 

 sactions, the agricultural resources of the State 

 are developed, the outlet and demand made clear, 

 and the progress of the art recorded from year to 

 year, — so that all who are really desirous to be 

 informed of the actual condition of the leading 

 industrial pursuit of the people, have access to it 

 in these volumes. The work is especially val- 

 uable because it grows up, like the crops of the 

 field, day by day, under the hands of those who 

 are directly engaged in the things of which it 

 treats. It is, therefore, practical, fresh, and in- 

 structive. Not that every opinion advanced must 

 be received as a dictum, but that, generally, the 

 practices recommended grow out of actual expe- 

 riences, and whether they are failures or successes, 

 may safely be shunned or adopted. 



We congratulate the society upon its prosper- 

 ous condition. It has many able and ardent co- 

 workers, and we wish for them the widest influ- 

 ences and perpetual prosperity in the noble labor 

 before them. 



Pisciculture in England. — The London 

 Times says the attempts to create an interest in 

 the cultivation offish in England have completely 

 failed, except in the matter of salmon, which is 

 now furnished in comparative abundance. The 

 Times attributes this failure to the popular dislike 

 to fresh water fish as an article of diet. There is 

 scarcely a fish in the streams which any man 

 would care to eat who had the means of purchas- 

 ing a bit of meat. Trout are but little eaten and 

 eels are getting scarce; chub, roach, dace, &c, 

 are considered worthless, and the finer varieties, 

 such as pike, perch, tench, and gudgeon, are 

 treated merely as accessories to a dinner and not 

 as a substantial article of food. 



