1882.] 
AMERICAS' AGRICULTURIST. 
15 
branes filled with water instead of fat. It 
may be remarked, however, in this connec¬ 
tion, that persons who have had but slight 
experience in the use of the microscope are 
often misled in what they see. Such observa¬ 
tions, therefore, may need confirmation from 
the trained scientist before being accepted. 
Now, on the other hand, without referring 
to the arguments of those who have from 
time to time taken exception to the “mem¬ 
brane theory,” it will suffice to quote briefly 
from Prof. Storer’s article. He says, “Du- 
brunfaut found, in fact, that almost any kind 
of fat taken in the fluid state, could be emul¬ 
sified in water that had been made slightly 
alkaline with Carbonate of Soda, so as to 
imitate the serum of fresh milk. When 
viewed under the microscope, the globules of 
fat suspended in this way had the same gen¬ 
eral appearance as the fat globules in normal 
milk, and they were of variable size like the 
latter. On using a somewhat stronger alka¬ 
line liquid, the result was still more striking, 
and the emulsified fat behaved veiy much 
like milk. On allowing the liquid to stand at 
rest, a creamy layer rose on its surface.” 
This principle, as opposed to the “mem¬ 
brane theory,” has been somewhat exempli¬ 
fied in the recent introduction of machinery 
for manipulating lard, so it can be used as 
a substitute for butter in skim-milk cheese. 
The melted lard and warm skimmed milk 
are passed together through a machine having 
a cylinder set with iron pegs, and revolving 
with great rapidity. By this means the lard 
is divided up into minute particles, which ap¬ 
pear to be held firmly in suspension by the 
adhesion of the milk, similar to the original 
butter globules. The mixture is discharged 
in the form of thin cream, and is then mingled 
through the mass of skimmed milk in the 
vats, and then made into cheese. Before the 
invention of this machine, it was found diffi¬ 
cult to distribute the fat evenly and minutely 
throughout the skim-milk, the larger granules 
of fat being liable to be discovered in the 
matured cheese. 
Again, in the churning of oleomargarine 
with milk, or buttermilk, to give a more pro¬ 
nounced butter flavor, the particles of fat 
coalesce. There is no abrasion or breaking 
of “cell-skins,” and yet an artificial butter is 
evolved, often so nearly resembling genuine 
butter as to be scarcely distinguishable from 
it by good judges. 
Is there not reasonable ground, then, for 
suspecting that the older chemists may have 
been mistaken in regard to the “membrane 
theory ” of the butter globule, and is not the 
simple emulsion of fat in the milk more in 
accordance with the simplicity of nature’s 
laws than a complicated covering of the fat 
globule with a substance, the composition of 
which the chemists have been unable to de¬ 
fine? May not the simple adhesion of the 
liquid to the fat globules havo been mistaken 
for the investing membrane ? This is the 
question which yet remains to be settled. 
Pecan Sprouts.—“J. L. W.,” Kobert- 
son Co., Texas, is greatly annoyed by the 
springing up of Pecan sprouts in an old valley 
field. Though he cuts them every year, they 
increase rather than diminish, sometimes 
growing as large as one’s wrist in one year. 
Can any one suggest anything better than 
to cut the sprouts while still green and grow¬ 
ing? Please let us hear from some of our 
Texan friends who have had experience. 
A Large Feed Rack. 
Mr. P. W. Fuller, Brown Co., Kansas, has 
a large rack which he finds convenient for 
feeding hay or straw to stock. The width of 
the rack is 7 feet, but it can be any length 
desired (Mr. F.’s is 14 feet); hight, 10 feet; 
hight of manger, 2'/ a feet; width, l'/ a foot. 
Cattle can eat from both sides. The advan¬ 
A LARGE, YARD FODDER RACK. 
tage of such a rack, shown in the accompany¬ 
ing engraving, is that it will hold a large 
quantity of feed, and so securely that very 
little can be wasted by the feeding animals. 
An Improved Field. 
BY ,T. M. HUBBARD, MIDDLETOWN, CONN. 
The field is shown with sufficiant accuracy 
in the accompanying diagram. It contains 
between five and six acres, is bounded on the 
north and east by highways, on the south by 
land of a neighbor, and on the west by land 
within the same enclosure, but differently 
conditioned and requiring different treat¬ 
ment. The surface descends slightly from 
south to north, and more considerably—per¬ 
haps one foot in twenty—from east to west. 
This field is, in fact, a section of the bench or 
second bottom lying between the low level 
land on the west and a range of hills which 
rise immediately across the highway on the 
east. It is favorably situated for cultivation, 
and the quality of the soil is naturally good. 
The irregular line within the drained field 
one, but the location of each and all was not 
determined without considerable study. 
After establishing the outlet the main drain 
was placed as far up the slope as possible, and 
still cut the water bearing strata at the lowest 
point of its undulations, so that no water 
should pass underneath and find its way to 
the surface of the field lower down. Then 
by means of branches, located wherever neces¬ 
sary, it was sought to gather all 
the water which would naturally 
come to the surface higher up. 
These branches were placed just 
where they were thought to be 
needed, with no care to make 
them parallel or equidistant. Both 
the main drain and branches have 
done their work well. A crop of 
com and one of tobacco have since 
been taken from this portion of 
the field, and in only one pointy 
and that easily remedied, has the 
drainage proved insufficient. 
I am led by observation to 
think that the condition of this 
field before draining illustrates 
fairly that of many fields now in need 
of like improvement The trouble with such 
fields is not merely that the wet spot is itself 
unfitted for cultivation, but that its presence 
obstructs the operations of culture upon all 
other portions of the field, and it thus depre¬ 
ciates the value of every acre the field con¬ 
tains. In years gone by when the hand hoe 
was, after the plow and harrow, the principal 
implement of tillage, such an obstruction was 
of less consequence. But now that horse-power 
and the implements adapted thereto have al¬ 
most wholly superseded handwork in field cul¬ 
ture, we can no longer tolerate, as we once did, 
obstructed, irregular, or diminutive, fields. 
So it comes about that the question of drain¬ 
ing that wet spot presses with a new urgency. 
The man who feels this pressure is the one 
whom I hope to help in some degree by the 
suggestions of this article. Underdraining 
may be new to him, and may seem to be dif¬ 
ficult and almost mysterious; but if he has 
fairly good powers of observation and reflec¬ 
tion, and will apply them to the case in hand, 
its difficulties will vanish before him. The 
encloses a tract where the water which oozes 
from under the hill on the east finds its way 
to the surface. This tract was not so wet 
that it could not be mowed with a machine 
in an ordinary season, and sometimes its bor¬ 
ders might be encroached upon by the opera¬ 
tions of tillage. The dotted straight lines 
show, in connection with the outlines of the 
field, those portions of it which were from 
time to time cultivated previous to the im¬ 
provement. Each one of them, as will be seen, 
included some portion of the wet land. The 
other alternative was to make them consider¬ 
ably smaller, and this was chosen as the least 
of two evils. Nevertheless it was an evil, 
and sometimes a serious one. The operations 
of seeding and culture were not unfrequently 
delayed and thrown out of season thereby to 
the injury of the crop and the enhancement 
of its cost. But I need not enlarge upon the 
disadvantages of such fields. Most farmers 
know the story only too well. The straight 
continuous lines within the field show ap¬ 
proximately the location of the tile drains 
laid a year ago last spring to carry off the 
surplus water from this tract. The arrange¬ 
ment of mains and branches is a very simple 
initial point of such a work is the outlet, and 
generally the lowest point from which the 
water can escape freely is the best. The next 
question is one of grade, and unless the sur¬ 
face is very nearly level, the action of surface 
water will indicate this with sufficient accu¬ 
racy. Water will not rim up hill, but it will 
run down, though the descent be but slight. 
For a guide in grading the bottom of the 
ditch there is nothing better than running 
water, and if necessaiy I would do the work 
in the wettest season of the year in order to 
make use of it. When it runs with steady 
uniform current in the bottom of the ditch, 
the tile may be put down fearlessly. In ail 
