1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



621 



doing, if web-wonns or caterpillars are mani- 

 fested from tent or web, I go and destroy 

 them forthwith ; in brief, I comply with all the 

 conditions, so far as I know them, of a good 

 apple crop, and I get one annually, while my 

 neighbors, failing to do so, have become dis- 

 couraged and are and have been digging up 

 their trees." Is he not right, reader? Js it 

 not just as impossible for apple trees to make 

 fruit without suitable culture and plant food, 

 as it is for a cow to make a good mess of milk 

 without plenty of good and suitable feed ? — 

 Boston Cultivator, abr. 



HINTS ON" MAKING GOOD BUTTER. 

 Mrs. N. Noman, of Adrian, Michigan, fur- 

 nishes the following sensible directions and 

 cautions in respect to the management of milk, 

 cream and butter, in a letter addressed to the 

 New York Farmers' Club : — 



Set your milk where the wind will not blow 

 on it, lor the wind dries the cream, and dried 

 cream will not make butter. In warm weather 

 keep your cream still, for if you want your 

 cream to become sour stir it often. Very sour 

 cream will not produce a good quality of but- 

 ter. In cool or cold weather, don't think that 

 you must let your milk set until it is sour be- 

 fore you take off the cream. Forty-eight 

 hours is sufficient time for milk to produce all 

 the cream it is capable of producing. In a 

 right temperature it will rise in less time. 

 Much poor butter is the result of bad manage- 

 ment of the cream. It is a good plan in warm 

 weather to save strippings, about a quart night 

 and morning from each cow, and churn every 

 day. Churn your cream as cool as possible in 

 warm weather. Much butter is spoiled by 

 churning the cream too warm. If your butter 

 comes rather warm, put in twice the salt you 

 usually do, work your butter just enough to 

 mix the salt well through it, and set it away in 

 a cool place for twenty-four hours, then take 

 it up and work i*^ over. Much of the salt will 

 bie dissolved and will work out. Thoroughly 

 cleanse your butter with salt. Use no cold 

 water about your butter, for you cannot 

 cleanse butter or any other lump of grease 

 with water. Some women talk as though but- 

 ter was not fit to eat unless it is first washed 

 with cold water. If butter is not fit to eat 

 without being washed with water, it is not by 

 being washed. Water always damages butter. 

 Butter that is washed with water is not fit to 

 pack, for it will not keep. When the brine 

 that oozes from your butter as you work it is 

 clear, that is, clear from milk — it is worked 

 enough — don't give it another stroke, except 

 to get it into shape. Pack your butter in per- 

 fectly clean vessels, and keep it well covered 

 with strong brine. When you use your but- 

 ter set it on the table just as you cut it cut of 

 the tub, for it is injured if worked after it has 

 been packed. 



THE PIBE ON THE HEAKTH. 



BY MRS. FRANCES DANA GAOE. 



There is a luxury rare in the carpet of Brussels, 



And splendor in pictures that hang on tne wall, 

 And grace in the curtain, with rainbow-hucd tassels, 



And brilliance in gas-light, that flashes o'er all; 

 But give me the glow of the bright-blazing fire, 



That sparkles and snaps as it echoes j oui mirth, 

 And leaps, In its joy, up the chimney still nigher, 

 When the cold winds without make us draw near the 

 hearth ; 

 The old-fashioned fire, the cheerful wood fire, 

 The maple-wood fire, that burns ou the hearth. 



As I feel its warm glow, I remember my childhood, 

 And the circle of loved ones that drew round our 

 board ; 

 The winter eve sports, with the nuts from the wild- 

 wood, 

 The apples and cider from cellars well stored ; 

 I hear in its roar the wild hhout of my brothc^ra, 



And the laugh of my sisters, in innocent mirth, 

 And the voice of mv sire, as he reads to my moiher, 

 Who knits by the firelight that glows from the hearth; 

 The old open fire, the health-giving fire, 

 The home-cheering tire that glows on the hearth. 



Like the strong and true-hearted, it warms its etrr- 

 roundings, 

 The jamb and the mantle, the hearth-stone and wall, 

 And over the household gives out its aboundings, 



Till a rose-tinti d radianci' is spread over all. 

 If you lay on the fuel, it never burns brightly, 



Till the day's work is done, and we lay by our mirth; 

 Then we gather the embers and bury them lightly, 

 At morn to renew the fresh Wn^ on the henrth — 

 The old fafchioned tire, he life-giving fire, 

 The broad-glowing fire that burns on tbe hearth. 



It reminds us of friends that we draw to the nearer, 



When winds of misfortune blow heavy and chill. 

 And feel with each blast, they are warmer and dearer, 



And ready to help us and comfort us still — 

 Friends that never grov/ cold till the long day is ended, 



And the ashes are laid to their rest in the earth, 

 And the spirit, still glowinsr, to God hath ascended, 



To rekindle new fires, like the coal on the hearth; 

 Then give me the fire, the fresh-glowing fire, 

 The bright open fire, that burns on the hearth. 



You will tell me a stove heats a room in a minute, 



Expels the cold air, and 1 know it is so ; 

 But open a door, is there anjthing in it ? — 



Your warmth is all gone — there's not even a glow; 

 Just like modern friends, one is every day meeting, 



All professions and smiles, as the impulse gives birth, 

 But as black and as cold, at the next hour of greeting, 

 As your stove that has banished the fire from the 

 hearth ; 

 Then give me the fire, the old-fashioned fire, 

 The bright-glowing fire, that burns on the hearth. 



EXTRACTS AND REPLIES. 



GARGET IN COWS. 



It is about fifteen years since I commenced using 

 saltpetre in case of garget, or swelled creaked bag. 

 As soon as the disease shows itself, take one table- 

 spoonful of saltpetre for a dose, which is to be ad- 

 ministered three davs in succession, and then wait 

 a day or two, and if tlie cow is not relieved repeat 

 the doses. In extreme cases the doses may re- 

 quire to be repeated three times. If this does not 

 cure, you may as well turn the cow out to fat. If 

 the cow will not diink it in slop nor eat it in meal 

 or other mess, take a common sized potato, cut it 

 in the middle, take out the inside, so that it will 

 hold the dose, put the saltpetre into the cavity, put 

 the halves together, and put it down among the 

 cow's gi-inders and she will eat it readily. I have 

 received four times the benefit from the above 

 treatment than I ever did from any other. I have 

 also dissolved the saltpetre in cold water, and rub- 

 bed the ulder thoroughly with it. In ordinary 



