AMERICAN AGrRTCULTURIST 
303 
1879.] 
Beatty, Pa., sends a description of a fastening for a 
feed-box by which a trespassing animal is prevented 
from getting access to the meal, as is sometimes 
done accidentally, even in the best arranged barns 
or stables. It consists of a bar of wood pivoted 
across the top of a feed-box (figure 3), which may 
be turned over the lid when the box is closed and 
pushed aside when it is to be opened. There are 
cows and horses which have sufficient sagacity to 
lift the lid of a feed-box to steal the meal; but this 
fastening will be beyond the ingenuity of the most 
sagacious and intelligent of our four-legged thieves. 
Supplying Milk to the Consumer. 
The production and selling of milk, while it should 
be profitable to the farmer, is, as ordinarily con¬ 
ducted, one of the poorest kinds of business in 
which he can engage. He is not only miserably paid 
for his product, but he is rob¬ 
bed by dishonest persons, some 
of whom skim his milk in 
transit, and by others who wa¬ 
ter it; thus they not only rob 
the producer of his property, 
but “filch from him his good 
name” and leave him “poor 
indeed” in both ways. The 
milk producer consequently 
lives under a cloud of suspicion, 
but fortunately, he is, as a gen¬ 
eral thing, undeserving of it. 
As a rule, the milk farmer is 
honest, and sends pure milk to 
market; the milk may not be 
remarkably rich, because ordi¬ 
nary cows, fed upon grass, will 
It is quite unreasonable to ex¬ 
pect,that a farmer who receives the miserable sum of 
a cent and a fourth per quart for his product from 
the city dealers, will be, or can be, philanthropic 
enough to feed costly cotton-seed, or palm-nut 
meal, or even corn-meal, for the purpose of enrich¬ 
ing it and making it rich in cream. The milk farm¬ 
er knows that while he gets li cent for a quart of 
milk, the railroad charges 14 cent, and that the 
dealer and peddler, between them, get 5 or 6 cents 
per quart. This does hot seem to him to be a fair 
division, and yet the farmer is helpless, both against 
this oppressive division and the exasperating dilu¬ 
tion of the milk, which adds still more to the pro- 
Fig.l. —MILK CAN. 
not give rich milk. 
fits of those who distribute it to the consumers. 
There are some honorable and upright milk deal¬ 
ers in the cities, but there are also those whose ne¬ 
farious ways are occasionally discovered. But the 
truth is, that the milk business is rarely satisfac¬ 
tory to either producer or consumer, and the trouble 
lies somewhere between the two. As there are 
means of surmounting all difficulties, this one is 
not beyond the reach of the enterprising milk farm¬ 
er. There is a market always open for something 
that is really better thau 
the ordinary quality. 
Butter, cheese, meat, 
bread, fruit, milk, and 
every other product 
that is of extra good 
quality, and is put up 
in a better shape than 
usual, will find a ready 
and profitable market. 
Just now there has 
been favorably intro¬ 
duced into the market 
pure, good milk, put 
up in sealed bottles 
holding one or two 
quarts, by which the 
consumer may be cer¬ 
tain that the milk 
will reach him just 
as it came from the 
cow. Some time ago 
Fig. 2.— MILK CAN AND 
SKIMMER. 
we illustrated a French 
method of distributing milk in bottles ; but like 
most French affairs it was not well adapted for our 
more off-hand business ways. We here illustrate a 
practicable method of packing milk, in use in a 
Connecticut and a New Jersey dairy. The former 
uses the bottle with glass covers, and sealed with a 
ring of cork and metal clasps, shown at figure 1; 
the second dairy uses this same bottle, and also 
that shown at figure 2, which has a glass cover 
screwed down upon a rubber ring, and has also 
a convenient handle for carrying it. The bot¬ 
tles are expected to be washed clean by the pur¬ 
chasers of the milk, as soon as emptied, and before 
being returned to be refilled. The extra labor and 
the use of the bottles cost something to the dairy¬ 
man, which he, however, gladly shares with the 
consumers, who are supplied with pure milk with 
considerable unusual cream upon it, arriving sweet, 
fresh, and clean, and in excellent condition for 
keeping. They also have the use of a bottle in whicli 
the milk can be kept protected from the air until 
needed; and all these for no more, or for very little 
more, than they have been paying for the poor milk 
usually served to them from the peddler’s cans. 
This method of distributing is both convenient 
and economical, as it saves much of the waste made 
by frequent measurements, and loss of quality by 
constant repeated stirrings anc I disturbance of the 
milk in the cans and consequent exposure to injuri¬ 
ous atmospheric influences. The bottle shown at 
figure 1 has a comparatively narrow neck, which 
to some extent prevents much movement of the 
milk ; while that at figure 2 has a wide mouth, 
that renders the removal of the cream easy, by 
means of the dipper, shown in the engraving. The 
cream may also be separated by inverting the glass 
cover, and holding it close to the mouth of the jar ; 
by inverting the jar, the cream may be floated to 
the top of the milk, which, by careful management 
t Fig. 3.— ICE-BOX FOR MILK. 
of the cover, may be all drawn off, leaving the 
cream by itself, so that it may be saved for use sep¬ 
arately. The bottles here illustrated are of beau¬ 
tifully clear glass ; and are engraved from samples 
furnished by the “ Dairy Supply Company ” of this 
city, who have taken great pains to hit upon a ves¬ 
sel which shall be equally acceptable to both pro¬ 
ducer and consumer. A hint may here be given in 
regard to the delivery of milk in cans of the kind 
used by milkmen. In hot weather it is difficult to 
keep the milk sweet without ice. A method of 
using ice for this purpose is shown at figure 3. It 
cousists of a box made of pine or ash, with rabbetted 
joints, tightened with white lead and fastened by 
screws, so as to hold water. It is divided into par¬ 
titions, as shown, and thoroughly painted or oiled, 
or the divisions may be made of zinc. These are 
large enough to admit some pounded ice around 
the cans. The delivery cans are placed in these di¬ 
visions and packed with broken ice ; a piece of 
thick woollen blanket is put over the tops of the cans 
and the cover shut down. With a box of this kind 
thus furnished and used, the milk may be kept at 
a temperature of 50 degrees at the end of a route of 
several miles, if it is cooled to 40 degrees at the 
start. To cool the milk to this temperature, a 
Cooley Creamery, with 50 to 70 lbs. of ice daily for 
300 quarts of milk, will be found convenient and 
effective ; and it may also be used economically to 
keep over milk from one day to another in the best 
condition, a matter with which many dairymen ex- 
l erience much trouble. The above quantity of ice is 
sufficient after the creamery has been cooled down. 
Carriages for Moving Milk. 
A correspondent sends a plan for moving milk 
from the stable to the dairy house. This work is 
usually done by carrying the pails in the hands, and 
Fig. 1. —MILK CART. 
is slow and troublesome, requiring several trips be¬ 
fore it is completed. In this proposed method, a 
carriage is provided, of which a plan is given at 
figure 1. This shows a frame mounted on wheels, 
having a box to receive a 
large can of milk, and a 
foot-rest which supports 
the handle. At figure 2 is 
a strainer used to strain 
the milk the second time, 
as it goes into the large 
can ; this has a wire gauze, 
and a fine muslin cloth 
tied below this, serves to 
further remove any im¬ 
purity. Another plan used 
in a dairy known to us, is 
shown at fig. 3. This is a 
light carriage having sev¬ 
eral divisions in each of 
which a deep can can be placed, and the whole 
quickly and easily moved to the dairy and pool. 
Woodland Pastures. 
The clearing of woodland for a pasture, may be 
cheaply done without burning. “ Time is money ” 
in agriculture; and by taking time, the expends 
ture of money may be saved ; just as by spending 
money freely, an immediate result may be gained. 
When the money can well be spared, and it is 
spent judiciously, it can be made to return a 
larger interest in agriculture, than in almost 
any other industry. A hundred per cent is 
often returned in one year, or even less, by skillful 
management. But farmers must often learn “ to 
labor and to wait,” for want of sufficient capital to 
do as they might wish. In clearing rough wood¬ 
land to be seeded to grass, the fine brush may be 
spread about, all else having been cut and removed 
for use or for sale, and the seed sown directly. 
The fact should not be overlooked, that much 
small wood may be profitably cut up for do¬ 
mestic use, that would otherwise be burned 
on the land, and comparatively wasted. The 
first shower will take the seed down into the 
soil or among the decayed leaves, where it will find 
Fig. 3.— MILK CART NO. 2. 
a congenial seed-bed, and spring up readily. The 
cattle may be turned into the field forthwith, where 
they will find some agreeable food among the 
sprouting shoots and young growth. By the tramp¬ 
ling over the ground by the animals, the dry litter 
will be broken into small fragments and trodden 
down, forming a useful mulch, and this will after¬ 
wards furnish much fertilizing matter. An excel¬ 
lent pasture may thus be formed, which can be used 
Fig. 2. —MILK STRAINER. 
