AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
1 4 , 
long and small, pointing outwards, and set wide 
apart, from each other ; milk-vein large and promi¬ 
nent ; skin loose, thin, and yellow in color; hair 
soft, ime, and well covering the skin ; the figure, 
when m good condition, handsome and well pro¬ 
portioned, with no aptitude to take on flesh or fat, 
and finally the disposition should be gentle, docile, 
fearless, and not easily disturbed. An animal with 
such a structure must be a good feeder, and pos¬ 
sess an excellent digestive capacity, with no waste 
places upon which her food will be expended, and 
all the animal functions will be exercised in the di¬ 
rection of profitable production of milk. The Ayr¬ 
shire possesses all these good points in a remarka¬ 
ble degree. While she is of a very quiet disposi¬ 
tion, she is, like all high bred animals, nervous 
when ill-used or under restraint, and resents such 
treatment by withholding her milk, or by manifesta¬ 
tions of anger. Kind and gentle treatment is there¬ 
fore necessary with the Ayrshire cow, and the pet¬ 
ting and fondling which the kind owner of a beau¬ 
tiful animal is always ready to bestow upon her, 
will render her very easy to manage, and perfectly 
docile. The portrait' here given is taken from life, 
from “Maggie Stewart,” an imported Ayrshire 
cow, owned by Mr. Wm. Crozier, of Northport, L. 
I., N. T. When standing for her portrait, she had 
her week old calf by her side, and was milking 23 
quarts in the day. Mr. Crozier writes of the cow 
“ she is the handsomest Ayrshire I ever saw, and the 
calf is a perfect gem. The cow is perfect in every 
way, and her milk, by actual trial in the glass, pro¬ 
duced on 8 in. in depth, li-in. of cream. This is 
nearly 25 per cent. When she was at the Centennial, 
I refused many offers for her, and even declined 
to name a price to a prominent Canadian breeder, 
who wished to purchase her. I want the best, and 
therefore could not dispose of her.”—Mr. Crozier 
is well known as one of the first and most success¬ 
ful breeders of Ayrshires in the United States, and 
while he may be pardoned for being somewhat en¬ 
thusiastic regarding a favorite cow, nevertheless, 
from our own knowledge of the animal, we would 
not attempt to reduce his estimate of her excellence. 
Among the Farmers—No. 12. 
BY ONE OF THEM. 
Pastures. 
We have no such pastures here as I was brought 
up among; at least I encounter no such clayey 
loams, in which a score of nutritious pasture 
grasses dispute the possession of every inch with 
white clover and daisies, often fairly crowding out 
the latter, in fact always doing so, if helped by a 
little manure. Among our sands and gravels, and 
light loams, if it were not for the brambles, huckle¬ 
berry bushes, and straggling cedars, which are 
mowed off and burnt every few years, I doubt if 
the grass would not run out altogether, and give 
place to moss and weeds. Among the shrubs 
named, the grass gets growth enough during the 
spring to form an excellent mulch to the soil, if the 
weather is very dry, thus enabling it to weather the 
drouth. And from these centers it extends itself 
rapidly on all sides, both by seeds and by “ stool- 
ing,” so long as favorable seasons last. Occasion¬ 
ally we find land so good, through water in the 
subsoil, or from some other reason, that it does 
not need tillage, but gives good return in pastur¬ 
age year after year. As a rule, however, we have 
no objection to plowing our pasture land. I have 
seen farmers in this valley plow in July, sow buck¬ 
wheat, and, after taking off a good crop, leave the 
land to grow up to grass and weeds. The pasture 
is improved by the practice, and fairly reestablishes 
itself in a year or two. 
After a clay soil is once filled with clover roots, 
it will hold a sward for years, provided only it be 
closely cropped in the growing season, not fed too 
early in the spring, nor too late in autumu. Rolling 
in April or May, and a top-dressing of plaster in 
July, encourage, stimulate, and fix it in the way 
of well-doing wonderfully. Leachy soils require 
very different treatment. The best thing for our 
gravelly and sandy soils that I know of, is swamp- 
muck, composted with lime and ashes. It is hard 
to spare the ashes for pasture lands, but we can 
easily get the lime, and gas-house lime answers 
very well. The application is best made in autumn. 
Last season those who had, or could hire 
Bog Meadows, 
considered themselves fortunate. I have one of a 
few acres, through which a brook flows, or rather, 
in which a brook originates from sundry springs, 
which never fail. We pasture this in early spring, 
and when the coarser grasses begin to grow, re¬ 
move the cows, and let the grass grow for bedding. 
By the time that haying is over, the swamp-grass 
is fit to cut. On account of the roughness of the 
ground, much will, of course, remain uncut, and 
much grass that cows will eat, grows around the 
edges and in the shrubby clumps which have never 
been banished. When the cows spend a few days 
in this meadow, they always worry, try the fences 
at every weak spot, seem to spend half the day in 
restless meanderings, but inyariably give more 
milk. Why it is, I can only guess, in fact am at a 
loss, for they have water enough in every pasture, 
they fill themselves equally well elsewhere, and 
certainly relish their food much better. The past 
season the swamp-grass has been unusually green 
and sweet, as well as more abundant, than com¬ 
mon, which is owing to the fact that there has been 
much less water in the swamp than usual. 
Throughout this region the dry weather has en¬ 
abled farmers to get at the swamps, both for clear¬ 
ing off brush and bogs, preparatory to making use 
of the land, and for the sake of getting out the 
peat or muck for manurial purposes. 
I almost dread to reclaim my swamp-meadows, 
since they have proved so exceptionally valuable, 
but I think that after they are fairly brought under 
plow, and laid down to grass, I can still, by some 
simple system of irrigation, secure grass in the 
driest seasons. 
Benefits of tlie Drouth. 
One of the manifest benefits of the drouth was the 
excellent condition of the fall pasturage, and the 
timothy meadows. The grass looked dry and brown 
enough all summer—but it lived, and the autumn 
rains brought it forward bouncingly. The ex¬ 
treme dryness of the surface of the soil is said to 
cause-the water, as it is evaporated off, to bring up 
from their retreat in the subsoil, soluble salts of 
various kinds, and leave them where the roots can 
get at them. This accounts for the vigorous 
growth, but so does also the fact that at the gradu¬ 
al coming on of a period of drouth, it affects plants 
much as the winter does. They retire as into win¬ 
ter-quarters in July, and rouse themselves in Octo¬ 
ber much as they are used to doing in May. So 
far, however, I observe no tendency on the part of 
Timothy, Orchard, June grass, and their kindred, 
to throw up flowering stems, but only leaves. 
“ Apple-wine ”—Cider Making. 
I fell in with Dr. Hexamer, the other day, not 
having seen him since he told me the story of his 
cider at “the Centennial.” He had seen the ac¬ 
count in my letter, but having narrated his experi¬ 
ence to sundry persons, did not suspect me of the 
authorship. It was just in the middle of the apple 
harvest, so I drew him out to speak of his cider¬ 
making, and the facts elicited will, I am sure, be 
read with profit. I have known, first and last, quite a 
number of famous cider-makers—men who, in their 
little circles, were oracles upon the subject of cider, 
who sold their crop of red-streak cider bottled, or 
whose russet or pippin cider was the ne-plus-ultra 
in the opinion of the wiseacres of Hartford or Nor¬ 
wich or Newark—and without exception the old fel¬ 
lows each made a profound secret of some part of 
his process. One “ fined ” with eggs, and one with 
isinglass, one hung a piece of beef tied to a string 
to regulate the fermentation, and, as said before, 
each one had his pet mystery which was to die with 
him, to be bequeathed to his heirs, or perhaps sold. 
—Well, Dr. Hexamer’s success depends upon no 
secret; he seemed delighted to tell me his processes, 
and hopes that I will succeed as well as he does. 
Grinding .—Only sound ripe apples are used, de¬ 
cayed and green ones are thrown out—and so are 
very wormy ones. They are crushed, not grated. 
No grating mills make good cider. That is—really 
good cider can not be made from grated or pulped 
apples. The best cider-mill the Doctor has ever 
used is Daniell’s, a mill, excellent in principle, but- 
which, like too many other first rate things was not 
well made, and so proved a failure except in a few 
hands. The Doctor’s mill was useless half the 
time the first season. The cogs broke out, and 
other evidences of insufficient strength interfered 
with its use until a good part of the machine was 
re-cast, heavier and of better iron. With one horse, 
using this mill, he has crushed a barrel of apples a 
minute, and made 10,000 gallons in a season. The 
usual product is niue gallons from a barrel of com¬ 
mon apples—but the Roxbury Russets, from which 
his choicest cider is produced, do not yield over 
five or six gallons to the barrel. 
He insisted also on absolute cleanliness; and 
though he did not enlarge, I am satisfied that the 
chickens do not run over his apple heaps, nor do 
men tramp across them ; that mill and press are not 
stuck up with decaying souring particles of fruit, 
nor is oil dripped about in greasing the screws, etc. 
Pressing .—With crushed apples there is no need 
of press-cloths, but the cheese is laid up with very 
little straw on the outside next the frames, and 
when all the juice has run out by the first pressure, 
he finds it so solid that, the frames being removed, 
the edges, six inches in width, can be cut off with 
a hay-knife and piled on the top, and the cheese 
given another pressing, by which several gallons 
more of cider will be gained. This of course with¬ 
out replacing the frames. The last and severest 
pressure gives the clearest and best juice. 
Barreling and Backing— As fast as it runs off the 
juice is placed in thoroughly cleaned, once used ci¬ 
der barrels. These are preferable to spirit barrels, 
for there is always a perceptible flavor of the spirits 
remaining. Sherry or Cognac casks are less objec¬ 
tionable. The first fermentation soon commences, 
and in a week or ten days is sufficiently over for the 
cider to be racked off into other barrels, with which 
still greater pains are taken, and these being filled 
full are closed up, and in them the cider remains 
until spring. Once a fortnight the barrels are 
opened and filled up full. There is a constant evap¬ 
oration through the pores of the wood, and in some 
cases several quarts of cider will be required. This 
is a very important matter, for not only might the 
air find access, and thus start the formation of vin¬ 
egar, but mold would soon form upon that portion 
of the barrel not covered with cider, and a musty 
or stale flavor would be perceptible. The object of 
racking is to remove the cider from the lees which, 
in time, impart their own bitter taste to it, and this 
first time, especially, to withdraw it from the influ¬ 
ence of those particles of apple which may have 
escaped the strainer, as these soon undergo a pu¬ 
trefactive fermentation which destroys, or effectu¬ 
ally conceals any pleasant flavors. 
Shrinkage .—This amounts, in a good dry cool cel¬ 
lar, to about three per cent per annum; in amoist cel¬ 
lar of course it would be less—but the cellar should 
be quite dry. The rule for a wine-cellar is, that 
there must be.no part of the wall so moist that you 
cannot light a match upon it, and dryness is quite 
as important for cider as for wine. The shrinkage 
must constantly be made good, for the reasons al¬ 
ready stated; to this end certain barrels of cider 
are set aside, and all the barrels and casks exam¬ 
ined and filled up from these once in two weeks. 
Cider-years .—The quality of the cider of different 
years varies greatly, perhaps as decidedly as do the 
different vintages. Dr. Hexamer’s experience is of 
course limited. His first cider of extraordinary 
excellence was that of 1870; then that of 1872 was 
very good, but not equal to it. The next two years 
produced cider of poor quality, but that of 1875 
promises very well, and this year there has been an 
unusual amount of sunshine and good ripening 
weather, so that it would seem as if the cider could 
hardly fail to be first rate. It cannot be told, how¬ 
ever, until a year from this time, and even then im¬ 
perfectly. There has been no year equal to 1870 
for a long time, five or six years at least. If there¬ 
fore we have three good cider-years in a decade we 
