1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



183 



rate or combined ; common opodeldoc ; com- 

 mon volatile liniment ; diluted creosote, or 

 carbolic acid ; cold, shallow foot-baths, &c. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 \ SENDING MILK TO THE CITY. 



At the request of several farmers in Berk- 

 shire County, Mass., I send ycu the following 

 suggestions from my experience in Eastern 

 Massachusetts in relation to the transportation 

 of milk from the country to the city. 



The city peddlers or distributors should 

 furnish ample security for the monthly pay- 

 ments (or the amount of milk they receive of 

 farmers or the car agents during the month, 

 and provide three sets of cans, so that they 

 shall leave as many empty, as they take of full 

 ones each day. 



The railroads must furnish box milk cars of 

 suitable size, on springs, say thirty-four feet 

 long, lined inside and top, and filled in with 

 about six inches of charcoal, fitted up with 

 shelves and racks for the milk, double doors, 

 with windows in them, on each side. 



The car agent must see that ice houses are 

 erected and filled near the track, at the start- 

 ing point; receive, examine and account for 

 all milk left at the stations, set out the cans 

 for each farmer, and see that they are not in- 

 jured by handling ; collect bills promptly of 

 the city peddlers and pay over the same to 

 each farmer monthly. He must make all con- 

 tracts as to price and quantity by the six 

 months ; provide either in the city or else- 

 where a butter or cheese factory to use up 

 any surplus not required by the consumers, so 

 that farmers may always dispose of all the 

 milk they make. 



With such arrangements, and with trust- 

 worthy and responsible agents on the route 

 and in the city, farmers may have confidence 

 in the business and keep as many cows and 

 feed them as well as their means will justify. 

 Notwithstanding Dr. Loring's caution, they 

 will provide a supply of sweet or southern 

 corn fodder to supplement their pasture feed, 

 always wilting it two days before using it; also 

 a supply of roots, which should be fed imme- 

 diately after milking in the morning, or cut 

 up with fodder, all of which, including hay 

 and straw, should be cut and steamed, or hot 

 water put upon it. The cans should be rinsed 

 in cold water first, then scalded with hot wa- 

 ter, and again rinsed in cold water, then 

 placed bottom up on pins or a rack. The 

 milk should be cooled and protected from 

 heat, by water from a spring or well, and cov- 

 ered. In milking, be very careful to brush 

 and clean the cow so that no dirt will get into 

 the milk, — strain it carefully through linen 

 strainers, and while cooling stir it two or three 

 times with a dipper or paddle, and when cool 

 close up the cans. While on the way to, or 

 while at the station, allow no sun or heat to 

 come in contact with the cans. No water, 



barn-yard manure or other substance is wanted 

 in milk, but it must be kept cool by a plenty 

 of ice around the cans when in the car, which 

 should be shut up as soon as loaded. With 

 such precautions the milk will be transported 

 in good order, and if the city peddlers com- 

 plain of its being bad, hold the car agent re- 

 sponsible for not examining it when it left the 

 cars. 



If farmers find that these agents take any 

 advantage in regard to price, «fec., they must 

 combine and manage their own business as 

 those of Eastern Massachusetts and New 

 Hampshire have done. If the farmers of 

 Berkshire County will enter into such arrange- 

 ments I am confident they will succeed. But 

 if this cannot be done a butter and cheese 

 factory should be established, the cost and 

 plan of which may be the subject of another 

 article. Eastern Massachusetts. 



February, 16, 1870. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 PBBPAKINQ SHINGLES FOB KOOFS. 



An editorial in the Farmer of the 12th inst., 

 upon this subject, deserves the careful atten- 

 tion of every owner of buildings. Whatever 

 may be the cause, it is certain that shingles do 

 not last as long as they did fifty years ago. 

 The "gravel and tar" covering for flat roofs 

 is used to some extent here, and, so far, I 

 tbink it proves satisfactory. The "■Plastic 

 Slate Roofing'''' has not been much used in this 

 vicinity. Cedar and pine are plenty, yet shin- 

 gles are dear, and farmers and others find it 

 expensive keeping their roofs in repair. 



Two or three years ago I was traveling on a 

 steamboat, and a gentleman in the course of 

 conversation informed me that his business for 

 several years had been roofing buildings. He 

 was then engaged in putting on gravel and tar 

 roofs. He thought it a good material, but 

 said he thought shingles might be prepared so 

 as to do better. He had experimented con- 

 siderably, and said he thought the following 

 preparation would preserve shingles so that 

 they would last sixty years. 



Thinking the receipt worth remembering, I 

 copied it, and now send it for publication. 



Take a potash kettle, or a large tub, and 

 put into it : — 



One barrel of lye of wood aahes; five pounds of 

 white vitriol ; five pounds alum, and as much salt as 

 will dissolve in the mixture. 



Make the liquor quite warm, and put as 

 many shingles in it as can be conveniently wet 

 at once. Stir them up with a fork, and when 

 well soaked, take them out, and put in more, 

 renewing the liquor as necessary. Then lay 

 the shingles as usual. 



After they are laid, take the li(iuor that was 

 left, put lime enough into it to make white- 

 wash, and if any coloring is desirable, add 

 ochre, Spanish brown, lampblack, &c., and 

 apply to the roof with a brush or an old broom. 

 This wash may be renewed from time to time. 



