1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



199 



and turn into the churn four quarts of cold well 

 water, turn the crank three times to rinse off 

 the buttermilk, then take it from the churn and 

 salt it, allowing to every pound of butter two 

 ounces of sifted salt. I put half the salt in 

 when taken from the churn, set it into the cel- 

 lar four hours, then work over by hand in a 

 tray, working out the buttermilk, then put in 

 the remainder of the salt and let it set three 

 hours. I then work it over and beat with 

 wooden butter-beaters until the butter is dry. 

 Butter made in this way will always have a 

 grain to it, and will keep perfectly sweet 

 through the winter." 



Butter made as above received a premium 

 at an agricultural exhibition. The quantity of 

 salt used, is unusually large, but some of it 

 would, of course, be thrown out in working 

 over the butter, the first time. In the best 

 dairies, the butter is never salted at once, but a 

 portion of the salt required is applied at the 

 last working, just before it is to be packed. 



For the Xew England Farmer. 

 NEW POTATOES.— A "WINDOW FABM. 



Sometime ago I sent you a few of my new 

 varieties of potatoes which I raised from po- 

 tato ball seeds. They were not fair speci- 

 mens as to size. I am away from home much 

 of the time, laying cement water pipe to bring 

 water to the houses and barns of the farmers, 

 during the spring, summer and fall ; and in 

 my absence, my folks got a taste of these 

 varieties of potatoes and eat all of the best of 

 them. We raise the best kinds of the old va- 

 rieties of potatoes that we can get, but they 

 preferred these to any we raise. 



The potatoes I sent you which resemble the 

 Jackson Whites in shape, but have a yellow- 

 ish purple cast to the outside, are quite early. 

 I call them the «'Early Golden." Those with 

 the pink streaks and eyes, that are shaped like 

 the Oronos are late. I call them the Pink-eyed 

 Queen of the Sod. They have the most hardy 

 vine I ever saw, and are the most free from 

 blight and rust. The balls which grow on 

 them are the hardest and greenest I ever saw. 

 I have a lot of balls from many varieties which 

 I put into the cellar last fall ; but while the 

 bulls of every other variety are dried and de- 

 cayed, these remain green and hard. I think 

 this potato will not be likely to rot. 

 My Window Farm. 



I have begun to raise seedling potatoes. I 

 have about fifty plants which have been up for 

 over a month. From these I hope to get po- 

 totoes in season to plant this spring. I have 

 another lot planted. 



I have a way of arranging the boxes in which 

 I raise potatoes, tomatoes and other plants, 



which I think the most convenient of any I 

 have ever seen. It is not patented, so any of 

 your readers, who choose, may use it. 



To make the boxes I get a round stick of 

 wood as large as I want the boxes. I saw off 

 sections from this stick about one-half an inch 

 thick. These I use for the bottom of the 

 boxes. I then wind a piece of birch bark 

 around and tack it to this bottom with small 

 tacks, and take a thin stick and put on the in- 

 side where the bark comes together and drive 

 a tack or two through the bark and stick, and 

 the box is made. 



I now tack these boxes 

 on to sticks, say strips of 

 lath, or the like, one above 

 another, and attach a loop 

 at the top of this stick to 

 hang it up by. This figure 

 represents a stick and box- 

 es with plants in them. I 

 think you will understand 

 It, and see how readily it 

 can be hung before the 

 window on pleasant days, 

 and taken down and re- 

 moved and hung in a warm 

 place on cold nights. To 

 take care of a hundred 

 boxes of plants arranged 

 in this way is not one-tenth 

 as much as it is to take 

 care of as many separate 

 boxes, and the liability of 

 the boxes falling, and 

 spilling the contents is 

 much lessened. I tack 

 about a dozen boxes on a 

 stick, and seventy-five or 

 one hundred boxes can be placed at a com- 

 mon window. 



If any one has a better way of arranging 

 plant boxes I would like to adopt it. I have 

 begun another letter in which I give directions 

 how to make a cistern. I think a common 

 farmer by following these directions can make 

 a good cistern. There are hundreds of the 

 readers of your paper who are in need of cis- 

 terns, and are losing more, every few years, 

 by doing without them, than their cost. 



B. LiVERMORE. 



Eartland, Vt., Feb. 8, 1870. 



Salt in Cooking Vegetablks. — If one 

 portion of a dish of vegetables be boiled in 

 pure water, and the other in water to which a 

 little salt has been added, a decided difference 

 may be observed in the tenderness, llavor, 

 and, if potatoes, mealiness of the two. On- 

 ions are probably more improved by being 

 cooked in salt water, than any other vegeta- 

 ble. Much of their unpleasant smell is taken 

 away, and a peculiar sweet-ness and improved 

 aroma are decidedly apparent. Salt hinders 

 the evaporation of the soluble and flavoring 

 principles of vegetables. 



