THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



more than two minutes churning before the butter 

 comes, as we say. To show that this was not 

 a solitary instance, I have ever since placed my 

 cold, and frozen cream, in a vessel, and so placed 

 it as that it should slowly become as warm as 

 above named, when, not once only, but uniformly 

 the same result has taken place. Let any one 

 who is desirous, try this mode, and my word for 

 it, they will find the above verified, which does 

 away the fatigue of a long and sometimes doubt- 

 ful churning. If the cream is moderately warmed 

 to the extent named, I will warrant the result to 

 be as above. — Indiana Farmer. 



There is nothing so important in the process 

 of churning as the temperature of the cream. 

 The cream ought to be cooled in summer and 

 warmed in winter. There is no difficulty about 

 the butter coming if the cream is kept at a tem- 

 perature of about seventy degrees. They have 

 a churn at the North so constructed that a 

 smaller cylinder containing the cream is placed 

 within a larger one so that the space between 

 them may be filled with hot or cold water, at 

 pleasure. To this churn a thermometer is at- 

 tached for the better regulating the temperature. 



TO CURE SHEEP SKINS WITH THE WOOL 

 ON. 



Take a spoonful of alum and two of saltpetre ; 

 pulverize and mix well together, then sprinkle 

 the powder on the flesh side of the skin, and lay 

 the two flesh sides together, leaving the wool 

 outside. Then fold up the skin as tight as you 

 can, and hang it in a dry place. In two or three 

 days, as soon as it is dry, take it down and 

 scrape it with a blunt knife, till clean and supple. 

 This completes the process, and makes you a 

 most excellent saddle cover. If, when you kill 

 your mutton, you treat the skins this way, you 

 can get more for them from the saddler, than 

 you can get for the wool and skin separately 

 disposed of otherwise. 



Other skins which you desire to cure with 

 the fur or hair on, may be treated in the same 

 way. — Selected. 



For the Southern Planter. 



MR. GOWAN'S LETTER. 



JVfr, Editor, — I need not observe to those of 

 your subscribers who have read JVIr. Gowan's 

 letter to me (published in the October number 

 of the Planter) that our worthy friend Mr. Mil- 

 ler, so far from having reviewed it, as he pro- 

 fesses to do in the January number, has not ap- 

 proached within cannon shot distance even, of 

 comprehending it in its true spirit and scope. — 

 Of those, however, who have not read Mr. 



Gowan's letter, I will merely request, as an act 

 of justice to that most enlightened, public spirited 

 and successful agriculturist, that they will read 

 and compare it with Mr. Miller's "review." 



One remark of Mr. Miller is particularly 

 amusing, to wit : that Mr. Gowan is " not qua- 

 lified to do justice to grain crops." Possibly it 

 may be so — but as Mr. G. has raised crops of 

 rye averaging over forty-five bushels to the acre ; 

 of wheat, averaging over fifty — and of Indian 

 corn, averaging over one hundred bushels — (see 

 the Farmers' Cabinet, Vol. 8, page 272) — the 

 remark of Mr. Miller would have come with a 

 better grace if he had given us the average of 

 his own crops. 

 . Very respectfully, yours, 



William H. Richardson. 



Richmond, February, 1846. 



CONTINUANCE OF MILK IN COWS. 



A correspondent of the Albany Cultivator 

 says : " It certainly would be a very great ad- 

 vantage to those who wish to keep a cow or 

 cows, solely for their milk, if any feasible method 

 could be adopted by which cows could be made 

 permanent milkers, or their owners, particularly 

 those who live in cities, be saved the trouble and 

 inconvenience of their breeding. There are two 

 ways in which this seems practicable. The 

 first method is to keep the cow in milk, from the 

 bull by constantly stabling her, after her first 

 and second calf, and in this state, milked regu- 

 larly, and well fed, she will continue to give 

 milk for two or more years. She usually ends, 

 however, by becoming too fat for profit, as a 

 milker, her milk gradually failing, and she then 

 goes to the butcher. The large dairies of Lon- 

 don have their cows treated in this manner, and 

 in practice it is found far preferable to the old 

 one, of having them { come in! annually. 



" There is another method of obtaining con- 

 stant milkers which has been extensively prac- 

 ticed in France, and known, to some extent, in 

 this country. This is by spaying the cow some 

 four or six weeks after calving, and thus by pre- 

 venting impregnation, securing the cow in milk 

 for several years. In the London Veterinarian 

 may be found a paper by M. Rogere, of Bor- 

 deaux, in France, who had for many years been 

 engaged in a series of experiments on this sub- 

 ject, that had been eminently successful. The 

 cows operated upon were of various ages, some 

 quite old. The operation of spaying was fol- 

 lowed with a restricted diet to prevent the ten- 

 dency to inflammation. This had the effect of 

 reducing the quantity of milk for a few days, 

 but the flow soon returnued, and continued unaf- 

 fected for a long time. No danger was incurred 

 by the operation when skilfully performed, and 

 when from age or failure of milk, it became de- 



