112 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



March 



of the plants above ground, that insects do 

 not attack them. Any appearance of insects 

 should be followed at once with a sprinkling 

 of ashes and plaster. Gregory recommends 

 Dwarf Erfurt Caulillower as the best for forc- 

 ing, and for general purposes as an early 

 variety. He sa)s the Early Blue Savoy Cab- 

 bage is very sweet and tender, and earlier 

 than the Early York, and a much better 

 cabbage. 



Compost and Manure. — Compost heaps 

 should be turned over as soon as possible after 

 thawing out. Have all the lumps broken, rub- 

 bish thrown out and made as uniform as pos- 

 sible. If not sufBciently decomposed add a 

 slight sprinkling of fi.-h guano, stable manure, 

 or even liquid manure, Icom soaking human 

 excrement in water, to start and encourage 

 fermentation. Manure may be carted to 

 where it is to be used, packed neatly and be 

 covered with soil. Hen and pigeon manure 

 makes excellent guano, and should be saved 

 under cover. 



Horse Radish. — This is an excellent con- 

 diment in spring. Dig for use and for mar- 

 ket. The old practice for starting new beds 

 was to plant the crowns after using the root ; 

 but later practice is to use short pieces of the 

 smaller roots, planting ten to twelve inches 

 deep and a foot aj)art, in two foot rows, in a 

 rich, moist soil. 



Hot Beds for early plants, &c., may be 

 started during the month, but for the general 

 farm garden April is soon enough. Manure 

 and heating material should be accumulating, 

 and be gotten in readiness against the time of 

 need. 



Seeds. — If you are lacking in any, lose no 

 time in supplying yourself with all needed. 

 Remember thai last spring your onion, carrot, 

 parsnips or salsify seed did not grow, and you 

 were obliged to get new seed and plant late, 

 and thereby you failed to get a good crop. 

 Your seed was more than one year old and 

 failed. Some seeds retain their vitality only a 

 single year, while others will germinate when 

 ten or more years of age. Much also de- 

 pends upon the manner of saving and caring 

 for seed, in preserving their vitality. Test 

 all seeds before risking a crop from any seed 

 of doubtful vitality, and then it would be 

 cheaper to purchase those of undoubted sound- 

 ness, even at two or three prices. 



Tools. — Are they all in good repair? and 

 have you all that you need for economical use 

 in the garden? (jood, bright, clean steel 

 tools, for digging, hoeing, raking, &c., are 

 the cheapest and best ; and will prove the 

 rankest of poison to weeds, as well as great 

 inducers to rapid growth of plants, often 

 equalling the best of fertilizt^rs. Try them 

 one season — but be careful that they do not 

 get rusty. W. H. White. 



South Windsor, Conn., 1870. 



For the New England Farmer, 



BUTTER MAKING. 

 Theimometers and their Uee— Temperature of Cream 

 for Churniug — Composition of Butter — Preparation of 

 Cream for Churning— Winter and Summer Butter. 



In the Farmer of January 22d, Mr. "A." 

 of Bradford, N. H., makes inquiry in regard 

 to the best thermometer for dairy use. and 

 the proper temperature of cream at churning. 



In buying a thermometer for use in the 

 dairy, see that the scale is graded as high as 

 212°, and also that it will slide from the case 

 easily. Mine cost seventy-five cents. I slip 

 the scale containing the tube up from the tin 

 case, plunge the bulb into the cream while it 

 is warming over a stove, — stirring constantly 

 to prevent scorching at the bottom, — and 

 when the desired temperature is obtained I 

 plunge the thermometer into boiling water, 

 which instantly cleans off all the cream ; then 

 wipe the scale dry and replace in the case. I 

 have never broken one by changing it from 

 cold to hot water if it would allow the mer- 

 cury to rise to 212° without filling the tube. 

 I should as soon think of keeping house with- 

 out a clock, as without a thermometer. I 

 have used one every churning day for eight 

 years, and never trust anything else when pre- 

 paring water for scalding hogs. 



J have found by experience that it is usually 

 safe to churn cream in winter at a considera- 

 ble higher temperature than would be well in 

 summer. 



As an experiment, I churned to-day twenty- 

 five pounds with the cream at 68°, which is one 

 or two degrees higher than I ever tried before. 

 It came a little quicker and the butter was a 

 little softer than usual, but not any too soft 

 to work well. 



Butter is composed of fat or oil, caseine or 

 curd, and water. Good butter should contain 

 at least 82 per cent, of fat or oil. The oil or 

 fat of butter, like lard and other fat, is com- 

 posed of solid or margarine fat, and liquid or 

 oleine fat. Winter butter contains, according 

 to Prof. Thompson, of solid fat, 65 parts in 

 100, while summer butter contains only 40 

 parts. [See Flint's Milch Cows and Dairy 

 Farming, page 240] . 



This fact explains the reason why cream 

 should be churned at different temperatures 

 in different seasons of the year. 



It should always be churned at such a tem- 

 perature, that when it does come it will gatlur 

 well. Not so cold that the butter will be in 

 crumbs that will not stick together, nor so 

 warm as to be greas)\ 



Fresh, sweet cream will not churn as quick 

 as that which is sour, • In winter I prepare 

 my cream for churning the day previous. 

 The cream is kept in large tin pails. The 

 day before churning it is all mixed together 

 as evenly as possible, so that no fresh cream 

 will be in a pail by itself, and warmed over a 

 stove (stirring constantly) to a temperature 



