374r 
AMERICAN AG-KICULTURIST. 
[October, 
rather, its nitrogen—into the proper condition for 
plant-food. The operation, as successfully prac¬ 
tised by the writer, and others, is to take all the 
bones obtainable, or it is thought best to use— 
either whole or ground—and place them in layers 
with three or four times as much stable-manure— 
first a layer of manure, then one of bone, and so 
on. The whole is thoroughly mixed by shoveling, 
covered with a few inches of flue loam to absorb any 
ammonia that may possibly be set free, and moist¬ 
ened occasionally with water, or best with liquid 
manure. In from six weeks to six months an excel¬ 
lent fertilizer will result, similar in all essential 
particulars to commercial superphosphate, with 
the addition of the dung, and may be used with like 
effect, and on the same crops—reckoning, of course, 
on the quantity of bone put into the combination, 
n*t on the amount of the compost itself. The 
time occupied by the operation depends on the 
fineness of the material used—ranging from 
“ground bone,” to a whole skeleton of an ox or 
horse—and on the care taken in its management. 
The heap should be forked over often enough to 
prevent undue heating or “ firefanging,” while the 
moistening keeps up a rapid decomposition. The 
cost of this will be the price paid for the bones, 
if anything, added to the labor—in all, not more 
than one-half to two-thirds the cost of the pur¬ 
chased superphosphates. And in the home-made 
product we have the surety of a pure article. 
Of course this method can not replace entirely 
the use of the phosphate of the market; but 
for the saving of the waste bones, dead animals, 
etc., about the farm, is worthy of trial by the 
economical husbandman. As it is usually desirable 
to have this bone compost in a condition to apply 
to the land as soon as possible, if the bones can 
be cheaply broken into small pieces, they are to be 
preferred to whole ones. Many farmers know 
how difficult a job it is by the ordinary means of 
mall and stone. The device illustrated herewith is 
suggested as an easy means for pounding up bones. 
A large flat stone is sunk about a foot or so in the 
ground, and a half-barrel, with the head knocked 
out, inverted upon it, and the earth is then solidly 
packed around the barrel. This will serve as a 
mortar; the pestle may be any convenient heavy 
piece of iron, fastened to a stout rod, the upper 
end of which is to be attached by a strap to a 
spring-pole, which is secured to two posts at the 
proper height. By this simple contrivance, which 
is a modification of the druggist’s mortar and 
pestle, the labor is greatly facilitated, as the spring 
helps to lift the weight, and is but a slight obstruc¬ 
tion to its descent. This will serve to effectually 
smash up the bones, and prevent waste from the 
pieces flying about. 
-- 
Tlie market for Wheat. —Though hard on 
the people of that country, the great famine in 
China has created a large demand for the cereals of 
the other Pacific Coast States. Owing to the 
drouth of last year, the area in wheat is less than 
usual this season in that section, but the product 
brings a better price by reason of this demand from 
across the Pacific. Steamers from San Francisco 
are carrying considerable freight of flour and wheat 
to supply the Asiatic demand. The increased acer- 
age of wheat in Great Britain and Ireland is esti¬ 
mated at over fifty thousand acres ; but to supply 
the home demand there, about thirteen million 
quarters (104,000,000 bushels) will be needed from 
abroad. In France the crop is somewhat below the 
average, so that country will this year bo a buyer 
instead of seller. Altogether, the prospects of a 
market for the American wheat arc excellent, if 
prices are not held so high as to prevent free ex¬ 
ports. The aggregate crop here is so large that 
moderate prices only can be looked for. 
Among the Farmers—No. 33. 
BY ONB or THEM. 
Butter. 
The cheaper butter becomes, the more interest 
people seem to take in its production. Nevertheless, 
butter is not really cheaper than in war time when 
prices were nominally the highest. It ranged then 
from 38 to 50 cts. at retail, and now it is sold in New 
York at 20 to 30 cts. Then greenbacks were 
worth 50 cents on the dollar, now they are at par. 
The West is vieing with the best Eastern dairies in 
the quality of its butter, while the quantity produced 
is annually increasing with great rapidity. 
Churning: and Working: Butter. 
Do we make butter or—what ? If the grain is lost 
and the microscope shows chiefly a mass of ruins 
of butter globules, caused by too long churning, 
churning at too high a temperature, or working 
unskilfully, rubbing and smearing it, instead of 
simply pressing out the buttermilk, then surely we 
make grease and not butter, though it come from 
milk and cream of the purest kind, and be treated 
in the most cleanly manner. My theory of the 
action of churning, is, that it is not the break¬ 
ing of all these cells, thus allowing their fatty con¬ 
tents to run together, that makes butter of 
the highest quality, but when best done it re¬ 
sults in the breaking of just few enough of the 
globules for the outsides of the others to become 
smeared with their contents and so adhere to each 
other. Butter thus produced may be washed with¬ 
out loss of flavor, worked, salted, and put into form 
without becoming greasy. Waxiness is not alto¬ 
gether dependent upon butter globules being un¬ 
broken, for at a low temperature almost any butter 
may be said to be waxy; but the granular character 
which the best butter possesses is never observed 
in greasy butter; the “ grain ” is gone. 
Color remains essentially unchanged in the un¬ 
broken butter globules ; the delicate flavor, which, 
by the way, multitudes of butter consumers have 
never perceived, is here, so to speak, confined ; that 
is, it is confined to the cells—I cannot say in them, 
for mashed and broken butter globules lose odor 
and flavor, and color too, on short exposure to the 
air or water. And every butter maker knows that 
the good butter guius color by standing a few 
hours after being worked. The air absorbed during 
the working gradually influences the entire mass. 
Changes of Flavor. 
It would be interesting to know whether this ac¬ 
tion of the air has any effect in improving the fla¬ 
vor of the best butter. The flavor certainly changes 
from hour to hour after churning, with consider¬ 
able rapidity. Some people are exceedingly fond of 
the flavor of very recently churned butter; others 
prefer it twenty-four hours old, and it is fair to sup¬ 
pose that after this time if it does not improve ; 
good butter does not deteriorate for at least ten 
days. A change, however, gradually comes over the 
best of butter. At first it loses that peculiar creamy 
flavor, and is even said to grow sweeter; then there 
is a sort of reminder of clover and sweet vernal 
grass; of “fresh fields and pastures new,” called 
the nutty flavor, which gradually passes away. 
So good butter is best when not far removed in 
point of time from the churn and the pastures. 
Tastes differ. I have a friend bred in one of the 
best daily districts of Massachusetts, who prefers 
firkin butter packed in autumn, or even the pre¬ 
vious June, to the best May butter he can be served 
with within a week from the churning. And 
another, I almost blush to say it—yet he is a most 
estimable gentleman and a recognized scientific 
authority, who, if he has not changed since we were 
at school together, actually prefers his butter de¬ 
cidedly “strong.” Well, I dont know that I can 
say anything against the peculiarity of his taste, for 
after a very short schooling I cultivated a liking for 
some of the most powerfully odorous Dutch and 
German cheeses, so as to take great satisfaction in 
eating that which was promptly nauseating at first 
acquaintance. I am led to this discussion, to en¬ 
force the fact that it is for us butter producers to 
take all possible pains to cultivate a taste and 
fashion among consumers of butter which shall 
neither be satisfied with the article manufactured 
from beef suet, salted, flavored, and dyed to suit 
the market, nor with common butter of the stores. 
Halter-breaking- Heifers. 
An occurrence which fell forcibly under my ob¬ 
servance a few days ago, enforces the importance 
of handling young stock more or less, almost con¬ 
stantly. A gentleman bought a yearling and sent 
two “ smart ” boys with a dog or two for her. She 
had never been handled, yet was delivered to the 
boys, who were lads of 16, or thereabouts, led by a 
rope upon her horns. It was not long, between 
the worrying of the boys and fear of the dogs, 
before she lost her peace of mind. Taking the road 
at a speed of her own, and not minding much the 
boy at the end of the rope, she went gaily on her 
way. Such a heifer knows that a dash through a 
clump of bushes will free her from flies, and she 
found it an equally effective way to get rid of boys. 
So left to herself and her own wild will, she came 
to grief, and was found after a day or two back in 
the wood pasture, with one horn off, hipped, cut, 
bitten, and bruised, and wild as a deer. The ruin 
of a fair animal like this is no small matter ; some¬ 
body has to bear the loss, and that clearly can not 
in this case fall where it ought—that is, about three- 
quarters on the breeder and the rest on the buyer, 
who could send such a pack of boys and dogs to 
bring his purchase home.—No animal is more easily 
tamed than a heifer, and none will sooner reward 
kindness with affectionate confidence, not only 
towards her handler, but towards all mankind. 
Familiarity of Cattle with Children. 
We do not hear of all the children who are in¬ 
jured or killed by vicious cattle. It is a terrible 
thing to see a young half-broken cow chase a child 
out of a pasture if the escape be a narrow one ; but 
how infinitely worse it is to have her overtake the 
little one and toss or gore it. The child’s fright 
oAen causes it to faint, which is a great relief and 
often a matter of safety, for the animal quickly 
sees that there is no danger to her from such an 
one. Cows and young stock in this country are 
usually familiar with men-folks, while they see 
little of women and children—hence they fear and 
defend themselves from them just as they would 
from dogs. In the same way many a horse has 
been fatally gored by a cow or heifer, simply be¬ 
cause the latter had never been made familiar with 
horses. My horses are grazed more or less in the 
calf pasture, and so the calves know the horses, old 
and young, and as cows, are perfectly quiet with 
them. If this is important, and I think it is, it is 
ten times more important that the heifers should 
grow up in familiarity with women and children 
—be driven and fed by them more or less, and 
at calving time see that children may play with 
their calves without any harm coming to them. If 
heifers pass their first calving without getting 
frightened and distrustful of men aud of children, 
they will always thereafter be quiet and tractable. 
The practice of turning heifers and young stock 
out in the mountain pastures for the summer, in¬ 
terferes with this training, but it she ul i be followed 
all the more diligently in the winter. We can sell 
our trained heifers and deliver them on board cars, 
steamboat, or anywhere else, with whole skins, 
good horns, and unruffled tempers, with a very 
little attention to their education at the proper time. 
Tethering- Horses and Cows. 
It is a good while since I have made any modifi¬ 
cation in my ways of tethering. Horses are tethered 
