134 



T II E N E W GENESEE FA R MER, 



Vol.1. 



Agricniturc of Upper Canada. 



(eT the HOK. ADAM FERCl'SOK.) 



(ContiuMcJ from page 117 

 Obsenations on the Making, Curing, an<l 

 Caskuigof Uiitter. 



1. The milk house or dairy, should have no internal 

 cominimication wiib any other building. It must be 

 ke))t I'ree from eniokc, be well ventilated, and clean, 

 and no potatoes, fish, or such articles, kept in it. The 

 dairy utensils must be its only furniture, and these 

 must 1)6 kept scnipuluusbj sweet and clean. 



2. The milk when brought in, is to be strained 

 through a fine hair sieve or strainer ; then put into the 

 dishes or pans. A tin skimmer, with holes, is best 

 for taking off the cream, tchich sliould always l/e churn- 

 ed Khite the cream U fresh, 



3. The churns, whether plunge or barrel, should be 

 made of the best well-seasoned wiiite oak, and the vt- 

 most attention paid to scouring, drying, and airing the 

 chums immediately after use. If this is not done, a 

 sour and unwholesome flavor will be communicated 

 to the butter next made. 



4. Immcdiatcltj, when taken from the churn, the 

 butter is to be steeped, foi one hour, in cold spring wa- 

 ter, to grow firm, and after being three or four times 

 washed, some fine salt is to be thrown into the water, 

 which will improve the color, and purge out all the re- 

 maining portion of milk. This is an important point. 



5. When thus prepared, the butter is to be imme- 

 diately salted; the allowance of salt to be one and a 

 half ouncea of common salt to each pound of butter. — 

 If intended for immediate use, less salt will sufiice. 

 In Ireland, a small portion of saltpetre is added. 



G. It is a bad practice to keep on the product of one 

 churning, nncurcd, to be mi.xed up with the next. — 

 The flavor of the whole is invariably injured, and 

 •where a sufficient quantity is not procured in one day 

 to fill a cask or keg, a partial salting, with a linen rag 

 steeped in brine, may be applied. 



7. The butter is to be packed firm into the firkin, 

 with a round tramp stick of sufiicient thickness and 

 weight. When filled, a little of the purest salt is to 

 be strewed over thosurface, and the head fitted on, ac- 

 curately close. 



8. Liverpool stoved salt, or that called Bay, from 

 Portugal, ere most effective. Salt must be kept dry, 

 and a little unslacked lime below the cask will be 

 found useful. 



9. Mixing the salt with the butter should be done 

 in wooden dishes, after the water and milk are com- 

 pletely got out, and then immediately packed firm in- 

 to the firkin, which will keep it smooth and firm. 



10. The milk of new calved cows must be rejected 

 for four days after calving. A very small quantity of 

 each would spoil a whole firkin. Scalding cream in 

 cold weather is a bad practice. 



11. Casks must be steeped in pure or running wat- 

 er and very carefully dried. They are to be made of 

 the best oak or ash, and ought not to contain' more 

 than 84lbs., at least that size is best liked in the Lon- 

 don Market. 



N. B. — The calculations and quantities here stated, 

 relate to the Aberdeen pound of 28 ounces, avoirdu- 

 •1018, and the salt is reckoned at JG ounces to thepomid, 

 Avoirdupois. 



Management of Cattle. 



The general management of our cattle, with a few 

 Vaggestions upon winter feeding, will now demand 

 ime attention. 



It is impossible to visit any settled parts of Canada, 



jpecially at those seasons where care is particularly 



•quired, without having to lament the neglected cou- 



tion of the cows and other stock. No doubt our 



', -tensive forests afford food aud shelter to a considera- 



ble extent; but yet it is too vitible in the stinted 

 grov.'ih of the young, and in the sunken eye and at- 

 tenuated carcase of the older cattle, that a reasonable 

 provision is denied them, while too often, icatcr, that 

 prime necessary of existence, is wanting, or scarce. 



IIolluw horn, with a host of other evil?, naturally 

 follow this starvation and undue e.\pbsure to extremes 

 of heat and cold. Where common paslurage prevails, 

 animals must be abandoned to their own resources; 

 but where a farmer can command enclosed pastures, 

 something may be effected. 



Pastures should always be provided with shades and 

 shelters, and where Nature docs not afford them, a 

 substitute must be found in a commodious shed. One 

 erected in the form cfa capitalX will be found to answer 

 well; and, with the addition of a rack, may frequent- 

 ly serve in open winter as a stable for the store stock. 

 As there is hardly any thing of greater consequence 

 for cattle than abundance of water, the prudent farm- 

 er will make every effort to sacure a supply. Where 

 running water is wanting, tanks or ponds may be 

 formed, or a well with a pump and troughs, judicious- 

 ly placed, may be made to serve several fields, at one 

 central point. 



Whatever trouble or expense may be required, no 

 humane or sensible man, will permit his stock to be in 

 want of this necessary; and he may rest assured they 

 will repay him a hundred fold. Dr. Coventry, the able 

 Professor of Agriculture in the University of Edin- 

 burgh, was wont, when treating this subject, to re- 

 count the small mortahly, and superior condition of 

 a farmer's stock, where an abundant supply of water 

 was furnished, compared with the loss and deteriora- 

 tion of his adjoining neighbor, where that article was 

 scanty, in a season of fearful scarcity of fodder, and 

 where the two stocks, in regard to quality and quantity 

 of food, were altogether on a par. 



In pasturing stock, it is of much importance to as- 

 sociate different kinds of animals, as the horse will 

 eat what the cow will reject, and sheep \t'ill nibble at 

 something perhaps passed over by both. 



The Canadian farmer, when grain fetches a fair val- 

 ue, will find one of his greatest difficulties to consist 

 in substituting something as winter food, to produce 

 prime fat. — That admirable root, the turnip, the key 

 stone of slock farming in Britain, is of more doubtful 

 attainment here. Not that very weighty crops of tur- 

 nips are unknown in Canada, nor that they may not 

 be rendered available, by care, through our winters; 

 but it would still seem extremely dttbious whether we 

 can venture to assign them a steady and permanent 

 place, upon any large scale, in Canadian husbandry. 

 The mintite degree of manual labor indispensable for 

 the successful culture of turnips, and still more per- 

 haps, the necessity of applying that labor, l,i) large 

 hmdi of laborers, at certain critical stages of thur 

 growth, seems, incur present sparse population, nearly 

 to preclude a reliance upon turnips to any useful ex- 

 tent. It may further be doubted whether the scorch- 

 ing sun of Canada, at the tender point, when the 

 plants are not yet in the rough leaf, or somewhat Inter, 

 when the bulbs begin to form, with the ravages of in- 

 sects, which that heat so powerfully fosters, may not, 

 all together, combine to throw insuperable obstacles in 

 the farmer's path. The same remarks too, will apply 

 to mangel wurtzel, carrot, &c. Happily however, we 

 are not left altogether without resource. A great deal 

 may be done with the potatoe, which yields abundant- 

 ly, and rarely fails. In its culture, we escape from 

 much of the hand culture, and altogether from the 

 delicate constitution of the turnip in its early growth. 

 Careful, well-timed horse-hoeing, will go a great way 

 with potatoes in rows, and even where they are culti- 

 ted in bills, considerably less hand labor will suffice, 

 than turnips in rows will require, whUe a broad-cast 



crop is generally defective and slovenly. We must al- 

 so remember that if a sufficiency of manure is supplied, 

 and a jiretty early variety is selected for seed, the far- 

 mer will find his land in excellent trim for a crop of 

 wheat. 



Another useful article of farm produce, and well 

 calculated to unite with steamed potatoes in feeding 

 slock, is the seed of Flax, either entire, or after yield- 

 ing a portion of its oil at the mill. It is also a most 

 economical and nutritive substitute for a portion of 

 the milk required in rearing calves. 



In regard to our horses, the breed in Upper Canada 

 seems sufficiently well adapted for ordinary purposes, 

 while in the Lower Province, the hardy and active lit- 

 tle Norman has been long and justly in favor. Our 

 heaviest work is so generally performed by oxen, that 

 farmers have perhaps coveted smartness and speed 

 more than is wise. A little attention however, would 

 soon introduce more substance and bone. Good pre- 

 miums will soon bring forward powerful stallions from 

 the States, and should any one contemplate their in- 

 troduction from Britain, we would commend the Suf- 

 folk Punch, the Cleveland Boy, and the Clydcrsdale 

 breeds to their attention. 



Sheep. 



Sheep husbandry forms an important branch of rural 



economy. In Canada we are yet but partially prepa- 

 red for its introduction; but as our clearances extend, 

 and facilities for the sale or manufacture of wool, shall 

 increase, sheep will become valued, as they deserve. 



In selecting a breed, we must give due attention to 

 the object in view. With some farmers the carcase, 

 and with others the wool, will be mainly regarded.— 

 Besides wool and carcase, we have another distinction 

 to attend to, in the long wooled and short wooled 

 breeds. Of the latter, the Saxon and Merino bear the 

 finest quality and fetch the highest price per pound; 

 Yet it is quite possible, taking all things into conside- 

 ration, that more homely varieties will pay the farmer 

 best. The Cheroit is a hardy short wooled breed, 

 and has received much attention from the CuUeys and 

 other distinguished breeders in the North of England. 

 The mutton is of excellent quality and grain, — The 

 South Down is a sheep with valuable short wool, and 

 good carcase, and would seem to be a sb&ep well suit- 

 ed for Canada, in many respects. The largest portion 

 of the 700,000 sheep, annually consumed in London, 

 consists of South Downs. 



0{ the long wooled breed's, none can stand a com- 

 parison with Imjnoxed Leicesters, for yielding a quick 

 return in mutton, with a valuable fleece of good comb- 

 ing wool. This variety will ever be associated with 

 the name of Bakewell, to whose discernment and per- 

 severance they owe their rise. Mr. Bakewell, as is 

 well known, was the first man in England, or in the 

 icorld, who, upon scientific and fi.xcd principles, diiec- 

 ted his attention to the improvement of live stock. In 

 borscsand cattle, whom both of which he bestowed infi- 

 nite labor and much expense, his success has not been 

 so brilliant, because he was unfortunate in his selection 

 of the breeds which he proposed to improve. The 

 huge black Leicestershire cart horse is now rarely to 

 be met with out of his native bounds, or in the pon- 

 derous drays of London. 



The Lancashire long horns, notwithstanding many 

 desirable qualities, has been fairly beat out of the field 

 by improved short horns. 



The Improved Leicester, named also the Dishley, 

 after Mr. Bakewell's farm, is a sheep of the highest 

 value, where a market is found for fat mutton, and 

 where a fleece of the finest carding quality is not re- 

 quired Shearling wedders of this breed, will average 

 from 18 to 20 jiounds per quarter. Taking wool and 

 carcase together, no vaiiety will probably make the 



