218 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
a friable condition, by the increased facility of 
gathering crops from aa even surface. 
The lack of knowledge as to how this object 
can be easily and cheaply accomplished, 
prompts me to offer a simple and very effective 
device for this purpose. I have used it several 
years, and with such satisfactory results, that I 
deem it an almost indispensable implement. 
For lawns, meadows, ball-grounds, or race¬ 
courses, when carefully managed, it has no su¬ 
perior : the only requirements being mellow 
ground, free from stones or other obstructions. 
A sod, well turned under, does not interfere 
with its operation. The advantage of the ad¬ 
justment of the scraper between two runners, or 
straight edges must be obvious. The removal 
of scraper leaves a good sled for the winter 
use. For rural improvements it is no less val- 
able than is the jack-plane to the carpenter. 
- to-t I -- 
Butter from Devonshire Cream. 
There is a custom of scalding cream prevail¬ 
ing in Devonshire, England, which is worthy of 
a wider extension. The product, “clouted” 
cream, also called “ Devonshire ” cream, is ex¬ 
ceedingly rich, thick, and palatable, and is ac¬ 
counted a luxury wherever obtainable. The 
process is the following : the milk is allowed to 
stand in the dairy, which must be too cool to 
allow it to sour, from twelve to twenty-four 
hours—that is, the milk of one day is attended 
to oil the following morning. It is set in tin 
pans about seven inches deep; these have a 
good handle at each side as a help to careful 
moving. Most of the cream will have risen at 
the time of the preparation, which consists in 
scalding simply, care being taken not to allow 
the milk to reach the boiling point. The best 
way would be to set the pan in gently boiling 
water. The heat must be kept up until the 
milk becomes very hot, and the cream thor¬ 
oughly “ crinkled ” or clotted; the pan should 
then be removed carefully to a cool place, and 
allowed to stand undisturbed for twenty-four 
hours. The cream may then be removed, and, 
cither fresh or salted, it is an excellent substi¬ 
tute for, many think a great improvement upon, 
butter. It is especially important that there 
should be no smoke in the apartment where the 
scalding is done. 
This is Devonshire cream, a delicious article 
for home consumption, but one for which there 
exists no market demand in this country. The 
chief value of the process, for American farmers, 
lies in the fact that it is an excellent preparatory 
step in the making of butter. It secures all 
the cream, gives it such a consistency, that 
skimming is much easier and much cleaner—that 
is, there is less milk taken, which enables it to 
give up its butter with remarkable ease. In¬ 
deed, it is only necessary to rub the cream with 
the hand for a few minutes in a smooth wooden 
bowl to separate the butter entirely, ready for 
washing. For each pound of butter there re¬ 
mains not to exceed a half-pint of buttermilk. 
This does away, almost entirely, with the labor 
of churning, and with the handling of an im¬ 
mense bulk of buttermilk, and its difficult re¬ 
moval from the butter by washing or otherwise. 
When properly made, the quality of the butter 
is excellent; and there is the advantage, that 
the skimmed milk remains sweet and fit for 
use, or for the manufacture of “lean” cheese. 
We do not pretend that the foregoing is a 
complete description of this mode of making 
butter; and wc warn all readers not to blame 
as if they fail to get good results from their 
first experiments. AYe have merely sketched 
out a process that is in successful use in many 
parts of England and Scotland, and that prom¬ 
ises advantages for us, and we must leave the 
details of manipulation to be learned by ex¬ 
perience. It is an exceedingly simple system, 
but it needs practice to teach the exact point to 
which the milk should be scalded, and to settle 
the question of temperature, frequency of 
churning, etc. 
Since the above was written, we have had a 
talk with an English lady who has had ex¬ 
perience in the matter. She says the two great 
things to be guarded against are (1), agitation 
of the milk in handling the pans; and (2), too 
rapid heating, or heating for too long a time. 
The pan should be set over a slow fire, or over, 
or in, boiling water, and watched until the 
cream begins to contract so as to leave the 
sides of the pan; then the center of the cream 
should be punctured by a sharpened stick 
(wood is better than metal for this purpose); if 
the hole made becomes larger, showing a con¬ 
traction of the cream in the center as well as at 
the sides, then it is time to remove the pan from 
the fire. She also says the knack of the thing 
is easily learned by a careful person, but that it 
should not be left to ordinary hired help. 
Mineral fertilizers — Why they are 
Needed—Analysis of Wheat. 
BY W. S. WARD. 
So much has been written in defense of a 
regular and judicious system of fertilizing, that 
it is not the intention of the writer to attempt 
any further support of claims, which are doubt¬ 
less recognized as sound and just by all intelli¬ 
gent farmers; and yet careful personal observa¬ 
tions have but strengthened the conviction, that 
the recognition of these claims would be more 
general and hearty did there exist a better un¬ 
derstanding between the agricultural chemist 
and the practical farmer. It is with a view to 
promote this mutual respect and confidence that 
we ask you to join us in our laboratory—the 
chemist’s workshop—that we may pursue to¬ 
gether a few of the investigations on the results 
of which the chemist founds his theory of min¬ 
eral fertilizers, while we on our part stand ready 
to accept any suggestions which your experi¬ 
ence as practical farmers may render worthy of 
consideration. 
AYe have, for instance, propounded to us 
the question, “ AVliat mineral substances are 
most needed to increase the yield of wheat on 
any given soil ? ” Were a farmer to be shown 
a well-fattened and finely-developed steer, his 
first inquiry might naturally be respecting the 
kind of food upon which the animal had been 
fed. Let us, then, take in hand a few full and 
well-rounded wheat-grains. 
And since he upon whose lands they were 
grown can give little information beyond that 
which relates to the season in which the seed 
was planted, the general character of the soil, 
etc., we must therefore propound any questions 
respecting the quality and quantity of the food 
they consume to the grains themselves, and how 
clear and satisfactory will be the reply, let the 
chemist’s crucible and balance determine. 
Since it is not our intention to discuss in full 
the nature or authority for the present system 
of chemical analysis, our readers must take for 
granted that certain results arc sure to follow 
when we comply with all the conditions named. 
As the head of wheat is formed at the top of 
a long, slender stalk, each kernel inclosed in a 
leafy shield, which afterward becomes the chaff, 
and as previous investigations have taught us 
that the leaves of plants, like the lungs of ani- 
mals, have the power of drawing from the air 
Fig. 1. —DRYING APPARATUS. 
such food as their growth requires, when that 
food exists in a gaseous state, it is therefore 
proper that we first determine what proportion 
of the grain is capable of assuming this gaseous 
form, which is done by burning it in a low, open 
platinum dish, called a capsule. Having, there¬ 
fore, weighed our dish carefully on a balance so 
delicate that it will easily weigh the finest hair, 
we will fill it with the well-cleaned grains and 
weigh again; the difference will represent the 
weight of the grains to be analyzed. 
In order to remove the moisture from any 
animal or vegetable substance, it is only needful 
to heat it for some time at a temperature of 212° 
Fahrenheit, since at that point water, as we 
know, becomes steam, and passes off. This 
heating is done in a sheet-iron box, and lest we 
burn the grains before the time, a thermometer 
is inserted into the top; the lamp used is that 
known as a Bunsen burner, in which common 
air is combined with gas in such a way as to 
Fig. 2.— BURNING IN PLATINUM CAPSULE. 
produce intense heat. The form of this “ dry¬ 
ing apparatus" is shown by fig. 1. 
After heating for about six hours, we remove 
the capsule and weigh again ; the loss in weight 
will not vary far from 12 per cent of the whole. 
Let us now place the capsule on a platinum tri¬ 
angle, supported upon a movable ring, as shown 
in fig. 2, and heat by means of the same lamp, 
applying the heat slowly at first. 
To enumerate all the changes which take 
place when animal or vegetable matter is 
burned, would introduce us into the department 
