1871. 



NEW ENGLAXl) FAKMER. 



71 



several times, as it is no new thing here for far- 

 mers to "pull up stakes," and move on toward the 

 setting sun, leaving a happy, comfortable home 

 which they have worked, and striven, and plodded 

 hard to make, to go and begin the world afresh, as 

 it were, and build another home for the next dis- 

 sati-fied successor. I shall be happy to see other 

 remarks about "The Sharp Sticks under Muck." 

 Joi£N Whatmoue. 

 Bride/north Farm, Dunleith, III., Dec. 5, 1870. 



Remarks. — Evidently our correspondent i^ after 

 somebody, '-with a sharp stick." But to see the 

 "point" we must remember that fresh manure is 

 called "muck" in England, and that in Illinois, far- 

 mers move barns instead of the huge piles of 

 "muck" and straw which accumulate about them. 

 His description of thatching hay and grain in Eng- 

 land may be interesting to those who must either 

 make stacks or "pull down their barns and build 

 greater." 



TOB.VCCO MARKET. 



Owing to the dry weather the farmers have been 

 unable to take down their tobacco, and buyers 

 have not commenced to buy much. We may be 

 able to give more sales soon. We are informed 

 that the Southern and Western tobacco is very 

 good, and that purchasers have invested more 

 money in tobacco from thosp sections than usual^t 

 this time. Throughout the Valley and even among 

 the mountain towns, the area planted with tobacco 

 is yearly extending, and it is good this season. 

 The farmer wants all he can gc't for it. If they 

 combine as a whole aud insist on a fair price and 

 stick to it, they may obtain it, thoui^h buyers or 

 middle men, as in all other kinds of bosiaess, are 

 bound to have the largest share of the profits, 

 though the farmer has the largest share of the 

 taxes to pay, and needs all he can get to pay the 

 expenses of raising his crops, to support his 

 family, &c. We otten hear it said that a nimble 

 sixpence is better than a slow shilling, and if 

 farmers can sell for cash now and get a good fair 

 price, we should advise them to let the tobacco 

 go; if not, all hold on to it, sort it well and pack 

 it down, and it will sell before the year comes 

 round. 



SORTING TOBACCO. 



Take down your tobacco on a moist day, and 

 pack it. As you strip it, let one man strip, one 

 make a cartful selection, dividing it into three 

 grades; have a table before you, a good fire in 

 your room, and do it up nice and it will sell for 

 better prices. When well sorted, pack each grade 

 closely in boxes and await the buyers' time. 



Tobacco Gkower. 



East Longmeadow, Mass., Dec. 20, 1870. 



coloring BUTTER, 



Please inform us if there is anything we can 

 color oar butter with. If so, how mu<.-ti to the 

 pound, &c. We are new beginners at butter milk- 

 ing, and some of our customers object to the color 

 of our butter. A Subscriber. 



Harmony, R. 1., Dec. 2, 1870. 



Ri;makk8.— In the height of grass feed butter is 

 yellow enough ; hence the most natural way to 

 color butter is to feed early cut and carefully cured 

 Lay, V/iih messes of carrots and Indian meal. 

 Bai oach fodder is not always at hand, and the 

 butisr ofcows kept on fair hay is often too light 

 colored for the fashion, and some harmless ^lor- 

 i::g material is sometimes mingled with the cream, 



j-8t to please the eye. If carrots are used, clean 

 them nicely, then scrape cfFwith a knife the yel- 

 low outside only, soak it in boiling milk about 

 fifteen minutes, then strain through a fine cloth, 

 end eid the liquid to the cream before churning, 

 instead of injuring the butter, some think that a 

 little carrot gives it a sweet, June taste. 



Aunotto Is used extensively by cheese makers, 

 and if pure, will answer as well for butter, but the 

 comnon article in the market is said to be mnch 

 adulterated. Mr. Willard recommends "Nichols* 

 EngLsb LiQaid" as the best. 



Mr. Willard gives the following directions for 

 preparing the common article for factory use. 

 SidHar proportions for small quantities. Take 

 four ponndo of best annotto, two pounds concen- 

 trated potaob, five ounces saltpetre, one and a half 

 ponnds sal-soda, and five gallons boiling water. 

 Put the ingredients into a tub, pour on the boiling 

 watar. The annatto should be enclosed in a cloth, 

 and £.3 it dissolves squeeze it through the cloth in 

 £03 liquid. About two ounces of this mixture is 

 sr'.Soient for one hundred pounds of curd in sum- 

 ni>3i:. At first use too liftle rather than too much 

 3cl::ri3g matter of either kind. 



Mr. A. R. Bailey of Elmore, Vt, makes the 

 following statement in the Vermont Watchman, 

 which was received since the foregoing was writ- 

 ten: — 



I have until recently used carrots for giving 

 butter color, but when at the Dairymen's Associa- 

 tion at St. Albans last winter, I learned from prac- 

 tical dairymen that annotto was by far the best 

 agent for coloring butter. I was advised not to 

 get it at the drug stores, but to ga it all prepared 

 in liquid form. It can be obtained of Jones & 

 Faulkner, dealers in butter and cheese, 141 Gen- 

 esee street, Utica, N. Y. I obtained some from 

 the above named parties last spring and find it 

 perfectly satisfacfory. 



AMERICAN IMPROVED SUGAR BEET. 



Last spring you wrote an Inquiry about the 

 "American Improved Imperial Sugar Beet" — its 

 charac'.erittics. and wherein it dilTv-red from other 

 sugar beets. Without giving you a very full de- 

 scription, I promised to sena you a few specimens 

 of tDis year's crop of this variety of beet. In ac- 

 cordance with that promise, I have this day di- 

 rected to your address, by express, a box contain- 

 ing four bects4^ These are not selected on a?.connt 

 of size, but to show you the shape and form of 

 growth. You will notice how free they arc from 

 small Inzzy roots, so common on other varieties. 

 I have raised this variety for ten successive years 

 without a failure. Thus far, no insect has injured 

 them. Since I have raised them as a field crop, 

 doing nearly all the labor after thinning and {first 

 hoeing with horseandcultiv.ator, my crop has been 

 larger, and at an expense of l)ut little more than is 

 usual with corn and potatoes by the acre. The 

 produce has often reached forty tons per acre. 

 The tour beets I send you weigh 8^ each, or thirty- 

 four pounds. I could show you one thousand 

 bushels grown on one piece of land, that without 

 any sorting would average eight pounds per beet. 

 One of my neighbors drew a load three miles, to 

 Middlebury, that was taken from a field of 1300 

 bushels; ilie load being made up of betts just as 

 they grew, without any sorting. The load weighed 

 2350 pounds, and by actual count there were only 



