1874.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
339 
dahy dwindles, and the meadows yield di- 
minished hay crops. Less and less manure is 
made, grain is not cultivated, no beef or pork, 
sheep or lambs, are reared or sold, and nothing 
of importance is sold but tobacco. Fertilizers 
are purchased— stable manure from the cities, 
and fish-scrap from the oil factories upon the 
coast, but nothing receives the benefit of the 
manure but the tobacco field. There may be 
exceptions to this rule, but there can be no 
doubt that this is the general tendency. This 
appropriation of capital and labor to a crop 
that has no alimentary value, of course affects 
the household markets in all the cities and 
towns in the region. Food is unreasonably 
dear. The acres that ought to bo growing fruit 
and vegetables for human sustenance, are 
grazing the tobacco worm, and farmers are 
laboring to check its depredations. The 
meadows where cows should graze, are grow- 
ing barren for want of manure, and those who 
live in the villages of this valley are paying an 
average of about eight cents a quart for milk. 
The pastures that might be kept in good heart 
perpetually with sheep, run up to brush and 
briars, and the dwellers there pay twenty-five 
cents a pound for lamb, and go without mut- 
ton six months of the year. The orchards are 
running out, and they import apples by the car- 
load every year into a region entirely congenial 
to this fruit. With every facility for market 
gardening and truck farming, they empty long 
trains from New York, burdened with the pro- 
ducts of Delaware and New Jersey soil, and 
pay big prices for the privilege. This may be 
economy, but we are not able to see it. "We 
want well cultivated farms, as a means of giv- 
ing the towns and villages cheap and whole- 
some food in great variety, and any special 
crop that defeats these ends is to be deprecated. 
; m-i -■» i ■ 
Wooden Hangings for Barn-Doors. 
■ 
M. O. Barton sends us drawings and a de- 
scription of the wooden hangings of his barn- 
doors, which have been in use for three years, 
and which, he thinks, are greatly preferable to 
iron ones. The rollers are turned out of a 
piece of seasoned hard 
maple, 4 inches thick ; 
they are 4 inches in 
diameter, f of an inch 
thick, and the axles are 
an inch thick, and f of 
an inch long. They are 
shown at a in fig. 1. 
The track b upon which 
they run, is of hard 
timber, dressed perfect- 
ly smooth and straight, 
2J inches wide and 2 
inches thick, and is bolt- 
ed to the girt, c ; d is the 
edge of the boarding of 
the barn, upon which 
the track is made to rest. 
Ribs, c, a, are nailed 
firmly to the track, mak- 
ing a groove, in which 
the wheels run. These 
ribs are f of an inch wide and % of an inch 
thick. The top cleat of the door is 1| inch 
thick and 3 inches wide, with grooves cut the 
thickness of the wheels, or half the thickness 
of the cleat, and inch-holes are bored through 
the rest of the thickness of the cleat, to receive 
. the axles of the wheels. This cleat, in which 
the holes and grooves are cut, is shown at/,/. 
Fig. 1. — SECTIOX. 
A strip, f of an inch thick, is then bored with 
one-inch holes, to receive the other ends of the 
axles, and is nailed firmly to the cleat of the 
door. This is seen at g, g. The door itself 
is shown at h. Thus the wheels or rollers 
are inclosed in the upper cleat of the door, 
and when well 
soaked in oil, and 
covered with tal- 
low, as well as 
FlST. 2.— CLEAT AND WHEEL. ., , 
holes, in which they run, they travel hack and 
forth smoothly and noiselessly. Fig. 2 shows 
the section of the wheel from above ; a the 
cleat of the door, in which the groove and hole 
are seen, and, ft, the strip nailed to it; e the 
wheel. The door is covered with a cap to pro- 
tect the hangings from the weather, as in fig. 1. 
Inspection of Butter. 
Beef, flour, and pork are inspected, and the 
inspector's brand gives each a standing and 
character in the market, that is a guarantee of 
value to the purchaser, and a surety to the 
packer that he is getting whatever price the 
grade of his product deserves. But the dairy- 
man labors under a disadvantage. If he makes 
a most excellent article, it is classed in the 
market according to its locality, and if the 
reputation of the locality is not equal to the 
intrinsic worth of the article, he gains nothing 
for his extra care and skill, and gets only the 
current price for the class of butter to which 
his shipment belongs. Thus if Western butter 
.las an unsavory reputation in the Eastern 
market, a shipment from a Western dairyman, 
unless he has already made a reputation for 
himself, is sold as Western butter at the regular 
quotations, which, as we write, are 10c. a pound 
below those for the product of New York 
State. Yet the best butter we ever tasted was 
from a Western dairy. Indeed we ourselves 
have had the mortification of having butter 
sold in the New York market, at several cents 
a pound less than we could readily get at home 
for it, because it was not from the State of New 
York, although when afterward put up in 
" Orange County pails," it could be as easily 
sold, when its quality became known, as 
Orange County, at the highest rates going for 
that class of butter. A large dealer once told 
us, that he would touch nothing that was not 
from Orange County, N. Y. Now all this is an 
injustice to other dairymen, and really amounts 
to a premium upon carelessness and poor 
quality. Why should not butter be inspected 
and sold upon its merits, as first, second, or 
third quality, and why should not a Western 
dairyman, who may have equal facilities and 
skill with at Eastern dairyman, be as well paid 
for his product ? In short, why should not the 
dealers in the New York market, sell all good 
butter for the same price, irrespective of the 
locality in which it is made? It is well known 
that they do not, and that an unwarrantable 
and unjust discrimination is made against 
Western butter, simply because it is Western. 
There is now a Produce Exchange in New 
York, hi whose power it is to remove this ban 
upon butter that is foreign to Orange County, 
or those chosen places, which it is the custom 
to include in that elastic appellation, and to 
put it squarely upon its merits. We bring this 
matter to the notice -*of the Granges, that 
through them such a pressure may be brought 
to bear upon the dealers, as shall force them to 
do equal justice to all their clients, whether 
they happen to live in New York, Ohio, Indi- 
ana or Michigan. As good butter may be made 
in any one of these States, as in another, and 
while we point out this fact, we would impress 
upon our Western readers the necessity of 
bringing up the quality of their product, go 
that when it comes to be graded upon its 
merits, by competent and disinterested inspec- 
tors, it shall rise far above its present low estate. 
Cider and Cider- Vinegar. 
To procure either cider or cider vinegar of 
the best quality, care and skill are required in 
the manufacture. Some too economical per- 
sons, thinking that nothing should be wasted, 
are now engaged in gathering all the wormy 
and defective apples that fall from the trees, 
and consigning them to the cider-press. As 
new cider this questionable liquid is sold to the 
unsuspecting consumer for fifty cents a gallon. 
It however bears no comparison with cider 
that is carefully made from sound apples, and 
can not be made to produce a well-flavored 
vinegar. It would be better economy to feed 
all such apples to the pigs, for the first requisite 
for good cider or vinegar is sound fruit. All 
bruised, wormy, or defective apples must be 
discarded, if perfection is desired in the product. 
The next consideration is the mill and press, 
and the method of using them. In districts 
where timber is plentiful, and the necessary 
mechanical skill can be had, an improvement 
upon the old-fashioned mill and press is prob- 
ably the best machine that can be procured. 
It is made wholly of wood, and no iron comes 
into contact with the crushed fruit. The tim- 
ber should be sugar-maple or birch. These are 
free from the tannic acid, which renders oak 
objectionable, and stand wear and tear suf- 
ficiently well. The crushers are made of solid 
blocks, carefully seasoned under cover, so that 
they are free from cracks. They should be 
about 18 inches in diameter, and about two feet 
long. They should be turned perfectly cylin- 
drical in a lathe, and deep, broad grooves cut 
lengthwise in them, so that the teeth of each, 
which are left projecting, fit accurately into the 
grooves of the opposite one. Four inches wide 
and three deep is a proper size for the grooves. 
This work should be done by a millwright, or 
a carpenter used to doing mill-work, as it is a 
somewhat difficult job. Upon the perfection 
of the rollers or crushers, the yield of cider 
greatly depends, as the apples must be reduced 
to a pulp, before all the juice can be pressed 
from them. The rollers are furnished with 
axles, also accurately turned, and are fitted in- 
to a frame, which is shown in fig. 1. This 
frame consists of a strong bottom of plank, 
four inches thick, preferably of maple, closely 
jointed and matched together. This is raised 
about 20 inches from the ground, upon a stout 
frame, and is pinned fast to heavy posts, set a 
few inches in the ground, so as to be immov- 
able. A raised border is placed around the 
bottom planks. A cross-frame is built across 
the center of the bottom, into which the axle3 
of the rollers are fitted, and to which they are 
secured by short blocks, pinned or bolted to 
the frame-work. The lower axles of the rollers 
fit into holes made in the bottom planks. The 
axle of one roller is lengthened, and attached to 
a horizontal arm, to which the horse may be 
hitched. A hopper is built at the rear of the 
crushers, to receive the apples, and feed them 
to the crushers. Fig. 1 sufficiently explains all 
other details. The press is shown in fig. 3. 
