AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
lO 
A Further Talk on Farmer Clubs. 
[Scarcely had our article on this topic, in the Dec. No., 
gone to the stereotypers, when the following came in 
Irom a distant contributing Editor. This subject is an 
important one, and can not be too often referred to.] 
Now is the time to establish one in your town. 
Perhaps you can make up one from two adjoining 
school districts. Hold the meetings at the most 
central school-house, or alternately at each oth¬ 
er’s private houses. Agree on a few simple rulee, 
appoint officers, fix on some subject for discus¬ 
sion at tne nrst regular meeting, and your “ Club ” 
is in existence. Now is just the time for moving 
in this matler, before the Winter has progressed 
any further, and while the results of last year’s 
observations are fresh in your recollection. 
The social benefits of such Clubs are consider¬ 
able. Most farmers, from the necessities of their 
position, lead solitary lives. They spend nearly 
all their time in the field, or about the premises at 
home, finding little leisure for visiting. Their 
familcs, also, are much isolated from the world; 
they make few acquaintances out of a very nar¬ 
row circle, and acquire few of the graces of culti¬ 
vated society. The associations we now plead 
for, will bring the fanners of a town together oft¬ 
en, and their families will follow the example. 
The result will be the forming of many friend¬ 
ships, more general intelligence, and more polish¬ 
ed manners. 
2. Consider, too, the information acquired at 
such Clubs. There is much agricultural knowl¬ 
edge to be gained outside of books. Young farm¬ 
ers, especially, and new residents, need to learn 
from the older settlers the particular wants and 
capacities of the soil they are just beginning to 
till, and the peculiar influences of the climate on 
the crops and fruits of the neighborhood. If any 
one has tried a useful experiment, he can here 
leport the results for the benefit of others. There 
»s much, also, to be learned from books. Let the 
subject for discussion be previously fixed upon, 
then all the members can employ their leisure in 
reading upon that subject. When they have read 
and thought, and talked upon that topic, they will 
find they have acquired definite and valuable in¬ 
formation concerning it, which they will never 
forget. There is a certain best way of perform¬ 
ing every agricultural operation, and there is a 
good and sufficient reason at the bottom of it, and 
every farmer should be thoroughly “posted” in 
regard to both. 
3. These Clubs awaken in neighborhoods a 
healthy spirit of emulation. The tendency with 
most farmers, as indeed with men in other callings, 
is to fall into a slip-shod mode of doing things, 
satisfied with only acquiring a comfortable living. 
But let them meet together frequently and com¬ 
pare notes, and at once they begin to feel a new 
interest in tiieir chosen pursuit. Learning of 
improved methods of farming they feel desirous 
to adopt them. They see there is room for 
improvement, and they feel ambitious to make 
commendable progress. We believe it will be 
found true that where Clubs have been annually 
well sustained, there a general spirit of improve¬ 
ment has manifested itself, in better crops, fences, 
buildings, utensils, and even roads. 
We s.ay again, now is the time to organize 
Farmers’ Clubs. While you are resting from 
the severer physical toil of the year, let your 
thoughts be active in this good work. Store your 
minds with valuable information, as bountifully 
as your granaries are stored with the products of 
the field. Supply your book shelves with stand¬ 
ard treatises on the management of horses, cattle, 
cheep, swine, poultry, grains, grasses and fruits. 
The Transactions of the Agricultural Society of 
your own State will not come amiss, and some¬ 
thing can be gleaned from those portions of the 
Patent Office Reports which pertain to agricul¬ 
ture. It might be well to tax your Club $1 a 
head to purchase a small library for the use of all 
the members. If not this, it would be well to sub¬ 
scribe for a number of the leading agricultural 
and horticultural journals of the day. But by all 
means organize a Club forthwith, and we warrant 
that you will reap substantial improvement from it. 
Boys upon the Farm. 
HINTS TO PARENTS. 
D. L. W., of Beacon Falls, Conn., sends us a 
lengthy communication, from which we glean the 
following : 
Which shall he the farmer ?—An example is given, 
where a farmer having but little land, put one of 
his two sons to a trade, much against the lad’s 
own wishes, while the other, against his inclina¬ 
tion, was retained upon the homestead to take care 
of the parents in their old age. The result was, 
the elder son served his apprenticeship and 
worked at his trade twelve years, when he se¬ 
cured a farm and returned to his coveted pursuit. 
The younger son remained at home until twenty- 
one, and being then free to act for himself, he 
quit the farm in disgust, and went to a favorite 
trade, which he still pursues. The parents re¬ 
main alone upon the homestead. The argument 
drawn from this example is, that fathers should 
exercise great care in studying the natural tastes 
and propensities of their sons, and not attempt 
to arbitrarily force them into pursuits which are 
uncongenial. 
While we admit that D. L. W. may be partially 
right, especially in suggesting the exercise of much 
careful discretion in this respect, we would by no 
means encourage parents to yield to the whims or 
caprices of boys while having yet too little know¬ 
ledge of the world and of themselves, to know 
what they really wish to do. There is not a lad 
in twenty that does not take a fancy to at least 
half a dozen different pursuits, before he reaches 
the age of sixteen or eighteen. 
HOW TO ATTACH BOYS TO THE FARM. 
We endorse more freely the closing part of the 
letter before us, in which it is recommended to 
parents to endeavor to create a real taste and 
love for farming on the part of each of their sons. 
To do this we agree with D. L. W., that it is 
usually good policy to allow to each boy a small 
plot of ground, which he shall cultivate as his 
own, and of which lie shall have the whole care 
and management. We conceive that this would 
develope a special interest in the soil and its 
products. It is all very well in theory, that all 
things upon the farm should be held in common, 
and that the boys should feel that this and that is 
ours. But the interest will he quickened if, at 
the same time, the boy has the smallest plot, 
in the culture of which he feels an individual re¬ 
sponsibility. He will thus he led to study the best 
means of promoting its production. He will rea¬ 
son upon the subject of manures, the best modes 
of tillage, &c. He will consult with others upon 
these topics, and acquire an interest in soil cul¬ 
ture. which would never be developed by mere 
mechanical toil while others do all the thinking 
and planning for him. A similar effect will be 
produced by having the special care of an animal 
or an implement, in which a personal interest is 
felt. 
Another good result from such a course is, that 
many hours usually devoted to play, or associating 
with evil company, would be diverted to useful ex¬ 
ercises. As bad as some hypochondriac people 
are disposed to consider the boy« or the present 
generation, there are few of them who would not 
cheerfully save many hours, now worse than 
wasted, if they had a plot of ground of their own, 
from which they were to have the whole proceeds. 
It must be evident to every one, that a plan, 
like the one here recommended, will have a de¬ 
cided tendency to develope habits of thrift and 
economy. With proper oversight the lad may 
also learn much in reference to the course of 
trade, the laws of supply and demand, &c. If he 
have but half a bushel of potatoes to dispose of, 
he will very naturally watch the movements of 
the market, with reference to the best time to 
sell. Instead of losing an interest in the general 
business of the farm, he will study this all the 
more carefully, in order to draw conclusions as to 
his own course. 
----, 
Milk Can be Concentrated. 
After many failures in the attempts to concen¬ 
trate milk, so that it may be conveniently carried 
any distance to market, and preserved in this 
state for a long time, we are inclined to think 
success has at last been obtained by Mr. Gail Bor¬ 
den, Jr. We have tried the milk prepared by the 
new method, and are much pleased with it. But 
first of the process. 
The milk, fresh from the cows, is deprived of 
its animal heat by putting it in large cans of six 
or eight gallons each, immersed in ice-cold water. 
It is then subjected to a heat of 160® to 190°, that 
is a little below the boiling point and next trans¬ 
ferred from the cans to a large closed cast iron 
vessel, where it is heated by steam no higher 
than 120 to 160 degrees. The air is pumped off 
from the surface, wdiich of course produces very 
rapid evaporation, even at the low heat of 120°, 
and avoids cooking the milk. The vapors, con¬ 
sisting of water from the milk, are removed as 
fast as they rise, by means of the air pumps. The 
constant removal of the pressure of the air and 
vapors produces so rapid an evaporation that 500 
quarts of milk in a boiler are reduced to one- 
fourth, or 125 quarts in the short space of one 
and-a-half hours. The liquid thrown off by evap¬ 
oration is clear, like water, but has a sickish un¬ 
pleasant taste, and disagreeable smell. It is 
thought the separation of this from the milk ren¬ 
ders it purer and more pleasant. 
The concentrated milk is a viscid mass, thicker 
than cream. This is put into cans, sealed up and 
sent to market. To use it, it is only necessary to 
restore the water removed by the condensation. 
During the Summer we made trials of the milk, 
brought from Winsted, Conn., the location of the 
manufactory, and found it every way equal to new 
milk when stirred with four times its bulk of w r a- 
ter. It has the taste of boiled milk, but this is no 
detriment to those accustomed to using boiled 
milk. We may here remark that milk should al¬ 
ways be boiled before use. For our own part, we 
should about as soon eat raw' flesh as raw or un¬ 
boiled milk, and we think this will be the experi¬ 
ence of any one w'ho will adopt the practice of 
boiling all milk designed for food. 
The inilk concentrated by Mr. Borden’s pro 
cess, and sealed, can be kept for a long period, 
but after opening to the air it spoils in a few days. 
During the hottest Summer weather we kept a 
can of it open for four days, in a common ico 
chest, and found it still good. It must be invalu¬ 
able for carrying to sera. 
This matter is an important one to farmers. 
We see no reason why a factory may not be lo¬ 
cated in any good grazing regions, even at the far 
West, and the milk concentrated there be sent 
to the New-York or other markets, and sold at a? 
