60 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
broken up for corn, in the spring. After the ground 
was plowed, and harrowed, and the rows marked, 
the large heaps were distributed in small piles, by 
the curt, and then were dropped by the hod, or 
basket, in the hill. This made three handlings of the 
manure before the crops could use it, and added 
very largely to the cost of the fertilizers. Whether 
we use manure as a top-dressing, or for cultivated 
crops, it makes a large saving to handle it but once. 
For top-dressing grass lands, it is clear enough, that 
manure is most evenly, and economically, distribut¬ 
ed from the cart tail. So far as hoed crops are 
concerned, and the oats, and grass, that follow, it 
is probably better that the manure should be 
spread broadcast than that it should be dropped in 
the hill. The saving of the two handlings of the 
manure is clear gain. It is the common practice 
in some districts to spread fertilizers late in the 
summer or fall upon the sod that is to be broken 
up for hoed crops the next season. They claim 
that the manure is more equally distributed, and 
that by increasing the grow'th of grass the sod 
is made richer, and better crops are secured the 
following season. We need to carefully study 
the shortest and best methods of getting the fer¬ 
tilizers into the soil where they can do their work. 
Will it Pay to Raise Ducks? 
Two years’ experience with a flock of Pekin 
ducks has convinced the writer that there is a satis¬ 
factory profit in raising these birds. But the con¬ 
ditions must be favorable, and these include a 
water-run, either a stream or pond, in which the 
ducks can gather food, and a house conveniently 
arranged for securing the eggs. The first year a 
beginning was made with a trio of the birds, and 
these were conveniently accommodated in an orna¬ 
mental rock-work house among some evergreens 
on a side lawn. A neighboring stream of water 
Fig. 2.— GROUND PLAN OF THE HOUSE. 
kept the ducks out of mischief in the day-time, and 
they came home regularly at night; they were not 
let out in the morning until the eggs had been 
secured. The two ducks laid 202 eggs the first 
season; of these, some were sold, some eaten, and 
the remainder set under hens. “Bad luck,” in 
which may be included the destruction of three- 
fourths of the eggs when under the hens, and the 
killing of several of the sitters by a stroke of light¬ 
ning, which went through the poultry-house, re¬ 
duced the produce of young ducks to between 30 
and 40. But one of those died after leaving the 
nests, which goes to prove the hardiness of this 
variety. The young ducks thrived well, and when 
six to eight months old weighed five to six pounds 
on the average. A large portion were killed and 
eaten; the flesh was found to be remarkably juicy 
and tender. The retail market price of such ducks 
was about 25 cents a pound, so that each would be 
worth at least $1.25. The second year it was neces¬ 
sary to provide larger accommodations, and a house 
was made for them on the bank of a pond adjoin¬ 
ing a brook in which there are abundance of water- 
cresses and other food, both vegetable and animal. 
The water-cress is eaten with avidity by ducks, and 
has myriads of snails 
and other water ani¬ 
mals upon it. A plan 
of this house is shown 
at figures 1 and 2. For 
50 to 100 ducks it 
should be 30 feet long, 
12 feet wide, and from 
4 feet high at the front 
to 6 or 8 feet in the 
rear. Entrance doom 
are made in the front, 
which should have a 
few small windows. At 
the rear are the nests ; 
these are boxes open 
at the front. Behind 
each nest is a small 
door through which 
the eggs may be taken. 
It is necessary to keep 
the ducks shut up in 
the morning until they 
have laid their eggs, and a strip of wire netting 
will be required to enclose a narrow yard in front 
of the house. Twine netting should not be used, 
as the ducks put their heads through the meshes 
and twist the twine about their necks, often so 
effectively as to strangle themselves. To avoid all 
danger, the wire fence should have a 3 or 4-ineh 
mesh. The Pekin ducks are prolific layers ; a fair 
yearly product for a duck in its second year is 120 
eggs, and 60 to 80 for a yearling. Their feathers 
are of the best quality, white, with a creamy shade, 
and 5 ducks weighing 5 pounds each, have yielded, 
killed in the winter-time when fully feathered, 
more than one pound in all. It will be right to 
pick the ducks when moulting is beginning; the 
feathers are then loose and are picked easily, and 
without injury. This will considerably increase 
the yield of feathers, and will prevent a useless 
loss; otherwise the loose feathers from 20 ducks 
will be found spread over their whole range. 
Separating Cream by Centrifugal Force. 
The Swedes have long been known as most ex¬ 
pert dairymen, and for many years past those of the 
craft in other countries, have been borrowing ideas 
and practices from them. Our cold setting of milk 
for cream is an old Swedish practice, and the deep 
cans now in use, were originally Swedish, and some 
of our newer chums have a similar origin. A most 
important innovation, and, perhaps, a grand im 
provement in dairying,, which has been recently in 
trodueed into this country, is the invention of a 
Swede. It is known as the “ Centrifugal Creamer,” 
and is intended to remove the cream by mechanical 
means—centrifugal force, in fact—to take the cream 
from the new milk, and thus avoid the necessity of 
setting the milk at all, whether in pans or in deep 
cans, with all the trouble, time, and cost, incident 
to that so far necessary and risky process. Here 
with we giVe engravings of this new dairy machine, 
which promises to make a revolution in our dairy 
practice. It was first exhibited at the great 
English dairy fair, at Kilburn, where it obtained a 
silver medal, and at Haarlem the Agricultural 
Society awarded it a silver-gilt medal. Its inventor 
claims for it the following advantages The cream 
can be separated from the milk as soon as it is 
drawn from tjie cow and aired ; the use of ice is 
unnecessary; there is no setting of milk for the 
cream to rise ; all the cream, is taken from the milk, 
and the production of butter is consequently in¬ 
creased ; the skimmed milk is perfectly fresh, and 
may be used at once for any desired purpose, with 
out loss of sweetness; the quality of the butter is 
improved, as the cream is separated in a perlectly 
pure condition ; the process is easy and simple ; 
the machine is easily cleaned; lastly, the separation 
of cream may go on continuously so long as fresh 
milk is poured in and the skimmed drawn out. 
The operation depends upon the principle, that in 
a rapidly revolving vessel, the heavier contents are 
forced, by the action of their weight, to the outside, 
while the lighter gather in the center. The work 
is done as follows : The receiver, which is made of 
steel, and is supported by a vertical axis turned by 
a pulley 6,000 id a minute, is filled with milk, 
by means of a funnel, which passes into the cham¬ 
ber, through the central column, a, fig 2 The rapid 
rotary action immediately begins to separate the 
heavy milk from the light cream, and in a short 
time the outer layers of milk are completely separ¬ 
ated. As the fresh milk is poured in, this separated 
milk is forced by it into the tube, b, and arrives 
through it into the chamber, B, from which it 
escapes by a pipe. The cream in the center being 
continually augmented by the process of separation 
is raised by the entering milk into the tube, c, and 
passing by the tube,/, into the chamber, C, escapes 
by another pipe into proper receptacles ; thus the 
process continues, so long as any milk is introduced. 
It should follow that as water is heavier than the 
cream, if a quantity of it should be introduced 
when the milk is all in, the cream remaining may be 
separated to the last drop, until the milk, too, is 
exhausted, when a stream of water passed through 
for a time, would cleanse the machine perfectly. 
Fig. 1 — VIEW OF A CONVENIENT DUCK-HOUSE. 
