112 



NTi:W ENGLAND FARMER. 



IVIa ucu 



the corn where the muck and lime was put, 

 was about ccjiial to that upon which was placed 

 the manure drawn from tlie barn ; and the clear 

 nmck gave only a little less yield than the 

 other. 



Ui)on another piece we spread a good coat- 

 ing of muck, harrowed it in, and planted with 

 potatoes. Jn this case the crop was about as 

 good as that whicli received a dressing of bai'n 

 yard manure. Tliis was a wet season. The 

 next year was very dry, and similar experi- 

 ments being made, the result was not so suc- 

 cessful in favor of the muck. On the driest 

 portion of the field, the corn was considerably 

 smaller tlian where the manure was applied. 



I would like to know the experience of 

 others in this matter. Is a dry season un- 

 favorable for muck ? I would much prefer 

 carrying nuick to the yard and mixing it with 

 manure, lime and ashes ; but in these cases, 

 it was too far away to make it profitable to do 

 so. C. H. Faknswokth. 



Montpelier, Vt., Jan. 20, 1871. 



PREMIUM BUTTER — DUTCH STOCK. 

 JSIr. Thomas Baker of Barton, Vt., who 

 received premiums on butter at the Orleans 

 country fair, last fall, submitted the following 

 statement : — 



"This butter is made in all respects as I 

 make butter all through the season. My cows 

 are ])astured upon land that was never 

 ploughed, but has been in gi-ass ever since the 

 hardwood forest has been cleared from it. 

 The cows have salt twice a week. Milking is 

 counnenced at five o'clock m the morning and 

 at five in the afternoon. As soon as possible 

 after milking, the milk is taken to the milk 

 room and strained into conunon tin pans set 

 in racks. The room is used entirely for milk 

 and is well ventilated in summer, and is 

 warmed by a stove in fall and winter. The 

 milk is skimmed when it has set thirty-six 

 hours, so that some is skimmed in the morn- 

 ing and some at night. At each skimming 

 about an ounce of salt is put in the can and 

 the cream stirred. I churiv through the sum- 

 mer every other day. The butter comes iii 

 about twenty minutes. The butter-milk is 

 then drawn oft", cold water poured in and 

 the floats turned round a few times. Then 

 the water is drawn out and more cold water 

 turned in and agitated with the butter. When 

 the second water is drawn oil" most of the 

 buttermilk is washed out of the butter. 

 About two-thirds the necessary (quantity of 

 salt is then i)ut upon the butter in the chm-n. 

 By turning the crank a few times it becomes 

 pretty well worked in. The butter is then 

 put upon the worker and more salt added, so 

 that an ounce of salt is used to each pound of 

 butter. I do not try to make my butter dry by 

 working it, but to salt evenly. I then pack the 

 butter for market in spruce tubs holding fifty 



pounds each. The tubs prepared by either 

 burning some brimstone in a dish, in the tub, 

 aii<l tlien scalding it out, or Ijy filling the tub 

 with hot water in which a tablespoonful of 

 saleratus is dissolved. Either of these meth- 

 ods takes about an hour's time to prepare the 

 tub. That is, it soaks an hour or smokes an 

 hour. Either method is satisfactory. I con- 

 sign my butter to a dealer in Boston as soon 

 as it is made. 



Among my herd this summer I have milked 

 nine full blood Holstein (sometimes called 

 Dutch) cows and heifers, and am well satis- 

 fied of their gi-eat value as dairy cows. My 

 average yield of butter has never been better 

 than this year ; and the color, flavor and text- 

 ure of tlie butter has never been more satis- 

 factory." 



The Grafton Fertilizer. — As some of our 

 New Hampshh'c correspondents have conmiended 

 this article very confidently, both as a fertilizer and 

 destroyer of insects, wc think our readers ought 

 to Ivnow what scientitic men think and say of it. In 

 his address at tlie kite Farmers' Convention at 

 Manchester, Dr. Nichols said : — 



A heavj' powder called the Grafton mineral fer- 

 tilizer has come into the market within a j'ear or 

 two, and, it is claimed, has secured a large sale at 

 the usual price of concentrated fertilizers. What 

 is the nature of this powder ? Let us judge of it 

 by the analj'sis which is presented in connection 

 with its sale. Here it is ; 



Silica 30.30 



Protoxide of iron 6.27 



Lime 20.60 



Magnesia 11.17 



Carbonic acid 32.11 



This statement gives 30 per cent, sand, a small 

 quantity of iron, and the reniaiiuler is carbonate 

 of lime and magnesia. One-third (the sand,) it is 

 plain to sec, is worthless ; the iron is of no account, 

 as every soil in New England furnishes from the 

 decomposition of the sulphurets an abandant sup- 

 ply ; the carbonates of lime and magnesia are 

 worth something, but how much ? But little more 

 than ground oystcror clamshells. I would hardlj' 

 give five dollars at on for this insoluble, unassimi- 

 lable dolomite, delivered at my farm. In fact, I 

 should not want it at any price. I make these re- 

 marks in the interests of agriculture solely. I do 

 not know the names of the parties who grind the 

 rock or vend the powder. In justice to them it 

 should 1)0 said that they do not a|)])ear to sell it 

 under any false statements as to its chemical com- 

 position ;" the evil consists in holding it as a fertil- 

 izing substance of large commercial value. 



How LONG A Hog can Fast. — The Farm- 

 ers' Home Journal of Lexington, Ky., says : 

 Mr. Wm. Hardin, of this country, missed 

 about four weeks ago one of his fat hogs. 

 He supposed it had been stolen. A few days 

 ago he was hunting in one of his fields, his 

 dogs were attracted to a sink-hole, and on ex- 

 amination the hog was discovered at the bot- 

 tom in wlilch there was a quantity of mud and 

 water. The hog was drawn out and afterward 

 well fed and is now doing well, though it laid 

 for twenty-eight days without food. 



