) 



272 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



For the Southern Planter. 



WHITE BUTTER. 



Being 1 asked the cause why butter is white 

 in winter, I have reflected and noticed until 1 

 can with certainty give the cause. For years 

 it has been ascribed to the change of food, while 

 if the food influenced the color, it should cer- 

 tainly be white in summer and yellow in winter. 

 What is there in the nature of shucks, corn, 

 fodder or hay, of a bleaching nature % Nothing. 

 And what in green grass, save a short time 

 during the flowering season, to make it yellow ? 

 Nothing. The cause, therefore, must be of an- 

 other kind, which any one can test who desires 

 to be convinced. Take a pot of cream and let 

 it stand and turn naturally, and the butter will 

 be yellow. Bring it into a room heated with 

 fire and it will be not so yellow. Bring it to 

 the hearth, and the color will be a pale yellow ; 

 let it feel the heat some, and there turn, and the 

 butter will be almost white; let it set on the 

 hearth while collecting, and heated smartly, to 

 finish off the turning, and it will be as white as 

 lard. Thus it is clear that it is bleached by arti- 

 ficial heat, and not at all affected by food. But, 

 says your fair readers, if artificial heat bleaches 

 butter, and it cannot be made to turn without, 

 how will it be remedied? That, dear ladies, is 

 another question, and one I did not promise to 

 solve. But do not cook your cream and you 

 will not have lard certainly. A notion prevails 

 that there is butter in milk ; it is all in the cream. 

 Some add the milk and cream of the day it is 

 churned ; it does not turn well, and consequently 

 the butter cannot come. 



J. H. D. Lownes. 



SWINEY. 



BY J. BURTON. 



is perfectly safe and sure, and leaves no mark 

 other than to take the hair off, which comes on 

 again directly. — Prairie Fanner. 



I have a recipe for curing the swiney that I 

 got hold of the other day, accidently, just in 

 time to cure a horse of mine that was taken 

 very lame. And by-the-by, I got it for the tri- 

 fling sum of six bits. I look upon it as being 

 ahead of any thing of the kind that is going ; 

 two or three applications baing sufficient for my 

 horse, and he was apparently well in two days. 



Take the proportion of one pint of spirits of 

 turpentine, one ounce of Spanish flies, half a 

 pound of lard, half a pound of rosin. Melt the 

 lard and rosin together ; when partly cool, put 

 the other two ingredients in, and shake till tho- 

 roughly mixed. 



I suppose that it is always well to bleed for 

 the swiney the first thing. To apply the mix- 

 ture, shake it well, and rub it in well with the 

 hand, so as to get it into the hair thoroughly. 

 Apply it freely to the part affected once in two 

 days. In hot weather let the animal stand in 

 the sun ; in cold, heat it in with a hot iron. It 



TENDENCY OF LIME TO SINK BELOW 

 THE SURFACE OF THE SOIL. 



It is remarked by Dundonald, in his " Trea- 

 tise showing the intimate connexion that subsists 

 between Agriculture and Chemistry," that lime 

 is known to have a tendency to sink below the 

 upper surface, and to form itself into a regular 

 stratum between the fertile and the unfertile 

 mould. After breaking up pasture ground that 

 formerly had been limed on the sward, it is fre- 

 quently observed in this situation. This has 

 been generally ascribed to its specific gravity, 

 and to its acting in a mechanical manner. In 

 gravelly, or sandy soils, there can be no doubt 

 but the diffusibility and smallness of the parti- 

 cles of lime will induce it mechanically to sink 

 through the larger particles of the sand or gra- 

 vel, and to remain at rest on the more compact 

 stratum which may resist its passage. 



When lands of this description . have been 

 limed, and kept constantly under annual crops, 

 the greater mechanical process of the plough 

 will operate against the lesser one of subsidence, 

 and keep the lime diffused through the soil ; but 

 in clayey or loamy soils, which are equally dif- 

 fusible with lime, and nearly of the same spe- 

 cific gravity, the tendency which lime has to 

 sink downward cannot be accounted for simply 

 on mechanical principles. 



In lands of this description, under the plough, 

 the lime is dispersed or mixed with the soil, un- 

 der such time as these lands are laid down with 

 grass seeds. After remaining in this situation 

 at rest for a certain number of years, on breaking 

 up, a floor of calcareous matter will be found 

 lying immediately beneath the roots of the grass* 

 This effect, contrary to the general opinion of 

 its being disserviceable, is of great utility, as the 

 staple or depth of the soil is always increased 

 and rendered less retentive of water in proportion 

 to the distance which the lime penetrates down- 

 wards and thus by increasing the depth of the 

 sod a greater scope is afforded for the expansion 

 of the roots and nourishment of vegetables. — 

 These effects of lime in soils, except in those 

 that are gravelly or sandy, cannot be accounted 

 for simply on mechanical principles, but may 

 probably be explained on such as are chemical. 



COPYING LETTERS. 



A correspondent of somebody's paper, gives 

 a very simple process for taking copies of letters 



* Has this fact generally been observed by Ameri- 

 can farmers, who have given their land heavy dress- 

 ings of lime'? If so, to what cause do they attribute 

 if? Have they derived any advantages thereby in 

 clayey soils 1 



