AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
14 
Holstein, nor Schleswig, nor from any other 
part of Denmark or Germany. They have been 
largely imported of late years—are becoming 
every year more widely known and valued. 
We present with this article typical forms 
of both sexes of these cattle, from one of the 
best herds in the country—that of Messrs. 
Smiths & Powell, of Syracuse, N. Y. The fact 
that the bull, “ Uncle Tom,” has won the first 
prize at the New York State Show four con¬ 
secutive years, is evidence of his excellence 
which can hardly be gainsaid, for at no 
show in this country could he meet so large or 
so worthy competition. He was bred in this 
country besides, which we hold is greatly to 
his credit, as well as to that of both his 
breeder and owners, but it is a still greater 
merit to stand, as he did this year, in the 
midst of Ins prize-winning offspring. 
The cow, “ Netherland Queen,” was im¬ 
ported as a yearling, selected in Holland by 
her present owners. Her dam, as a four-year- 
old, gave 74 lbs. of milk a day on grass alone. 
As a yearling, “Netherland Queen” won 1st 
at Elmira, at the State Show, in 1879; the 
next year first at Utica; then in the Mature 
Class, 2d at Albany, and this year, at Elmira, 
she took again the queenly position, winning 
1st in a strong ring. Her milk record is cer¬ 
tainly worthy that of her achievements in the 
prize ring, namely : As a two-year-old she 
gave 58 lbs. 12 oz. in a day; 1,670 lbs. 9 oz. in 
a month; and 13,574 lbs. 3 oz. in a year—a 
record said to be unequalled. As a four-year- 
old she has given 76 lbs. in a day, and 2,132 
lbs. 6 oz. in a month ; and from May 19th to 
September 19th this year she gave 7,271 lbs. 
6 oz., and this record will doubtless be in¬ 
creased yearly until she is seven years old. 
A Texan Road Scraper. 
BY C. C. GEORGE SOX, PROFESSOR OP AGRICULTURE, COL¬ 
LEGE STATION, TEXAS. 
I have found the home-made road scraper 
here represented very efficient. If it has not 
been illustrated in your excellent paper, it 
may perhaps prove of value to some of your 
readers. It consists simply of a piece of 4 by 
8 -inch scantling, 10 feet long, or longer if de¬ 
sired. On the lower side of the face is firmly 
bolted a bar of iron, two inches wide by i / i - 
inch thick. It is sunk into the scantling, 
and should project y 4 inch below the wood. 
The tongue is fastened in the middle of the 
scraper, on the upper side, by a bolt, about 
which it can revolve so as to be placed at 
any desired angle, where it is held by a 
stout semi-circular iron bar, with a radius of 
about a foot, bolted to the scraper, as indi¬ 
cated in the engraving. In this, half a dozen 
or more holes are made. A bolt is passed 
A HOME-MADE HOAD SCRAPEK. 
through a corresponding hole in the tongue 
into the holes in the bar, and thus holds the 
tongue firmly in position. The driver stands 
on the scraper when used, and by balancing 
Lis weight from place to place, as needed by 
the inequalities of the ground, the imple¬ 
ment will do good work. On very hard and 
gravelly roads the bar on the face should be 
of steel instead of iron. The scraper complete 
can be made here, in Texas, for about $2.50. 
A Double Spring Latch Gate. 
Mr. F. B. Lindsay, Nicholas Co., Ky., sends 
sketches and description of a gate latch, and 
writes as follows : “ A latch lever, a, fig. 1, 
is fastened to the gate by a bolt at g. By 
pressing back this lever the latch, b, is with¬ 
drawn from the post at e. A spring of hicko¬ 
ry or locust is so adjusted that when the hand 
Fig. 1. —A GATE WITH A DOUBLE SPRING LATCH 
is removed from the lever it will return to 
its former position. At the same time that 
the lever a is drawn back, its lower end 
moves forward, and in doing this the latter 
presses against the upper end, h, of a similar 
lever g, which causes the lower latch to be 
withdrawn from the socket in the post. The 
inner face of the post is shown in figure 2. 
The latches are pieces of 
iron 6 or 8 inches in length, 
having a small hole in one 
end through which a wire 
passes to fasten it to the 
lever. The sockets in the 
post (fig. 2), are iron plates 
with holes the size of the 
end of the catches, screwed 
to the post; the outer edges 
protruding slightly, are 
bent back like the catch of 
a door lock. This gate is 
difficult for any farm Fig. 2. — post with 
. ...... SOCKETS. 
stock to open ; in fact, it 
cannot be opened unless the upper end of 
the lever a is struck in the right direction. 
The Butter Globule. 
BY HON. X. A. WILLARD, LITTLE PALLS, N. Y. 
The interesting article on “Artificial Milk,” 
by Prof. Storer, in the American Agricultur¬ 
ist for November, touches a long disputed, 
and as yet unsettled question, in regard to 
the Butter Globule. The composition of fresh 
milk of average quality from common cows 
may be given as follows : Water, 87.40 ; But¬ 
ter, 3.43; Caseine, 3.12; Milk-Sugar, 5.12; 
Mineral Matter (ash), .93—in 100 parts. On 
microscopic examination it appears as a clear 
fluid in which fat globules, the so-called milk 
globules, are suspended as in an emulsion. 
These fat globules are of different sizes in the 
milk of different animals, and even of ani¬ 
mals of the same kind ; they vary in diame¬ 
ter from V 2000 to J / 4 000 part of an inch. The 
question concerning which there has been a 
difference of opinion among chemists, is, 
whether these small globules of fat are en¬ 
closed in cells, with an investing membrane 
of either Caseine or some albuminous sub¬ 
stance, the composition of which has not yet 
been defined. Or, on the other hand, whether 
this fatty matter is in a free condition, as in 
a simple emulsion ? The former, which may 
be designated here as the “membrane the- 
ory,” has been generally accepted by "writers 
on the dairy, and upon this theory the phi¬ 
losophy of churning has been built up—that 
is to say, the albuminous covering of the 
globule must be broken for the fat to escape 
before butter can be formed. Lehman held 
that the nitrogenous substance, which wo call 
Caseine, occurs in milk for the most part in a 
state of solution, but a not inconsiderable 
portion forms the free investing mem¬ 
brane or wall of the milk globules. 
Simon believed he had detected frag¬ 
ments of these membranes in milk 
which had been evaporated and treat¬ 
ed with ether. Henle was the first to 
demonstrate its existence. On examin¬ 
ing, under the microscope, the gradual 
action of Acetic Acid on the milk glo¬ 
bules, he noticed a decided distortion 
of this membrane. Mitscherlich, on 
shaking perfectly fresh milk with 
Ether, found it scarcely at all changed,, 
the Ether merely taking up a little fat.. 
It was argued, therefore, if the milk 
were a simple emulsion, it would yield all its 
fat to the Ether, and would be converted into 
a transparent, tolerably clear fluid. As this is 
not the case, the separate fat vesicles must be 
surrounded by an insoluble substance. If 
now we add a substance capable of dissolving 
these membranes, Ether, when shaken with 
milk, will act on it precisely as on an emul¬ 
sion—that is to say, it will take up the fatty 
matters ; and, indeed, this is the case if a lit¬ 
tle Caustic or Carbonated Alkali be added to 
the milk before it is shaken with Ether. Leh¬ 
man observed the following facts : On plac¬ 
ing under the microscope milk shaken with 
Ether, but to which no Potash had been 
added, the surface of the milk globules ap¬ 
peared of diminished transparency, opaque, 
and fissured—the wall presenting the appear¬ 
ance of being coagulated. When Phosphate 
of Soda and Sulphate of Soda were used in 
place of Potash, milk treated with the former 
yielded almost all its fat to Ether; but did 
not become so clear as when treated with 
Potash. Under the microscope the aqueous 
fluid exhibited only a few fat globules, which 
were no longer round, but corrugated of a 
caudate form. Sulphate of Soda has the 
property of causing the capsules of the milk 
globules to burst, after which the fat can be 
extracted from the milk by Ether. The watery 
fluid, however, remains veiy turbid, but no 
longer exhibits under the microscope either 
milk globules or shreds of destroyed capsules, 
but only extremely minute, scarcely insolu¬ 
ble granules, which are unquestionably, he 
thinks, fragments of the destroyed capsules,, 
and do not consist of finely comminuted fat; 
for on addition of a little Potash they do not 
disappear under the microscope, but the fluid 
which had previously retained its milky color 
becomes perfectly clear and limpid. The 
above is Lehman’s chief argument in favor 
of the membrane theory. 
Again, an American dairy writer pretends 
to have seen, under the microscope, these fat 
globules with the membrane tom, and the 
jagged, broken, part hanging down like a 
flap on one side of the globule; he also claims 
to have seen globules with investing mem- 
