388 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
is not so disagreeable as to us Americans. 
Will some of our readers—who are now feeding 
these or any other variety which renders the 
milk or butter at all disagreeable—try the Cth 
remedy below and send us the result. Salt¬ 
petre good enough for the purpose, can be ob¬ 
tained any where for a trifle. The article is as 
follows: 
The too free use of swede turnips for milking 
cows, either when in full profit, or whilst car¬ 
rying their calves, cannot be too freely censured. 
Some of our most experienced dairymen are 
now beginning to be aware of this, and prefer 
mixing the turnip feed with some dry fodder, or 
else changing it every fortnight for an equal 
quantity of mangel wurtzel. This latter system 
is found to be the best, both as regards the 
health of the animals, and the increased quan¬ 
tity of milk they will yield if in profit, the change 
of food being very agreeable to-them. As re¬ 
gards the health of the animals, an important 
consideration to every dairy farmer; it is, we 
believe, very generally admitted that, whilst in 
calf, too much of either mangel wurtzel or tur¬ 
nip, is decidedly hurtful; many of our friends 
having complained to us of losses at calving 
time, produced most conclusively by the prac¬ 
tice of keeping up the condition of their cows, 
by the forcing process of swede turnips; and 
we see no reason to doubt that similar ill effects 
will follow from a similar use of mangolds. 
Whilst in milk, we much prefer the use of the 
latter root. We believe that more butter is to 
be obtained from them than from swedes, if but¬ 
ter be the dairyman’s object, and certainly more 
milk; but as we before observed, a change from 
one root to the other is now preferable. The 
pail will soon show how this part of the case 
really stands; and by changing, an estimate 
may be arrived at of the relative milk-giving 
value of each root. Apart from this mere ques¬ 
tion of quantity , comes the very important one 
of quality; not merely the butter qualitjq but 
as milk, that which comes home to all, we mean 
the quality in taste and smell. The swede, we 
all know, gives its peculiar flavor very strongly 
to the milk of cows fed upon that root, whilst 
mangolds do not. And this objection, if w r e 
are to judge by the number of inquiries ad¬ 
dressed to ourselves, and indeed to all the agri¬ 
cultural papers, begging for a specific remedy 
for this nauseous taste and smell. Our cotem- 
porary the Gardner's Chronicle , in a late num¬ 
ber, gives the following list of recipes, which 
he says he has repeatedly published : 
1. Dissolve half an ounce of chloride of lime 
in a gallon of water, and add a table-spoonful of 
that solution to every gallon of the milk just as 
it comes from the cow. Authority, Rev. A. 
Huxtable, SiUton Waldron, Shaftesbury. 
2. Put the milk in a can, and place the can 
in the boiler, and stir the milk rapidly while it 
is getting hot, and while it is hot, until the 
Turnip smell goes. Authority, Ellen Jackson, 
Beech-hill. 
3. If you collect so many gallons of cream 
before churning, then put that number of half¬ 
pints of vinegar into the jar to begin with, and 
churn when the usual quantity is collected. 
“ Quercus” is the authority for this. He “ had 
it from a friend of his who supplies a large 
quantity of butter of the best quality to one of 
the crack shops at the west end.” 
4. Do not feed the cows until they have been 
milked, by which means the flavor of the vege¬ 
table may be to some extent got rid of in the 
process of digestion. Walthamstow. 
5. Make a strong solution of nitre, and add a 
dessert-spoonful of it to every two gallons of 
milk as it is brought in from the cow. Author¬ 
ity, A Wrasleydale Dairyman. 
6. We beg to add a sixth, which is quite as 
simple as any of the foregoing. Let each pail 
have as much saltpetre as will lie upon a dime', or 
say a moderate pinch between the first finger and 
thumb, thrown into it before the milk is drawn 
from the cow into it. It is dissolved by the time 
the first quart of milk is added to it, and no¬ 
thing further is necessary. All taste and smell 
of turnips, whether in the milk or butter, is 
removed. This simple remedy certainly goes 
far to remove the objection to swede turnips; 
but if a dairyman can secure for his cattle a 
supply of mangolds, at an outlay no greater 
than for swede turnips, our advice to him cer¬ 
tainly is to stick by the latter, giving of course 
change of dry food of various kinds, as without 
change, good health cannot be maintained in 
his stock. 
—.—- 
A CHAPTER ON SQUASHES. 
From a long article on Squashes, in the Nor¬ 
wich Examiner, by W. Clift, of Stonington, 
Conn., we make the following extracts : 
In none of the small items of farming is 
there more room for improvement than in the 
cultivation of Squashes. I know of many a 
farm where this vegetable is not found at all, 
even in the garden ; and many more where the 
only approximation to it is the field pumpkin, 
which Tom is ordered to plant in every other 
hill of every other row, among the corn and po¬ 
tatoes. Others, still, have a patch for summer 
squashes and crooknccks in the garden; but 
have not heard of the improved varieties which 
are now common in every good village or city 
market. It costs but little more to raise the 
best varieties, and to perpetuate them in their 
purity than to raise the insipid things that now 
cumber many a field and garden. Some, per¬ 
haps, have made efforts to improve their varie¬ 
ties, but have found them very strangely “ run¬ 
ning out.” They have become discouraged, and 
gone back to the field pumpkin, which being at 
the bottom of this class of vegetables, cannot 
very well degenerate. 
So long as we can have the nicer varieties of 
squashes, I see no good reasons why field pump¬ 
kins should continue to be cultivated at all; 
for the squash yields as abundantly, and if the 
palate of man is any test of what is valuable in 
food for beasts, it must be worth much more 
for feeding purposes. I saw last fall, in the 
suburbs of Providence, R. I., a field of Valpa¬ 
raiso squashes, cultivated by Josiah Chapin, 
President of the Rhode Island Agricultural So¬ 
ciety, which far surpassed any show of pump¬ 
kins I ever met with. It was a goodly sight, 
and when I learned that the whole crop, of 
which there were several tons to the acre, was 
marketed at two cents per pound, I thought it 
poor policy to raise pumpkins, which are not 
worth a quarter of the price. Even to the 
farmer who is remote from market, and raises 
for feeding, the squash would prove better than 
the pumpkin. Subjected to the analysis of the 
human mouth, it shows a much larger amount 
of sugar, and the laboratory would probably 
confirm the decision of the palate. 
The Varieties of the squash are very numer¬ 
ous. No plant hybridizes with more facility, 
and it is probably owing to chance that we 
have our best varieties. None of the early 
squashes are equal to the winter, at the head 
of which is placed the autumnal Marrow. I 
have cultivated this and the Valparaiso for the 
last three seasons, and the Acorn last summer. 
Though there is not much difference in the fine¬ 
ness of grain and in their richness, yet the 
Marrow is preferable to the others both for 
shape and size. The Valparaiso is probably the 
original of the other two. 
The Boston Marrow is worthy, of its reputa¬ 
tion. In a visit to the Boston markets last win¬ 
ter hardly any other squash was visible, but 
these were piled up by the cart load. They are 
just the right shape and size for family use. 
They grow of more uniform size than other 
squashes. Mr. Ives, of Salem, Mass., has the 
credit of first introducing it to general notice, 
and the Massachusetts’ Horticultural Society 
awarded him a premium of fifty dollars. 
Though so generally cultivated in that region, 
it is not yet very abundant in other large mar¬ 
kets. It is comparatively a new thing in New-1 
York; and Valpariso and Cheese pumpkins are 
much the most numerous in the stalls of Wash¬ 
ington or Fulton Markets. It is worthy the 
special attention of all farmers who raise vege¬ 
tables for the city markets, as it is sure to drive 
out every thing with which it comes in compe¬ 
tition. Until such markets are adequately sup¬ 
plied, it will command a high price. While in 
Boston and Providence it retailed, last fall, at 
about two cents a pound, in New-York it was 
four cents and upwards. Reliable seeds can 
now be had from most of the agricultural stores 
in the large cities. 
-® © *- 
CRUEL TREATMENT OE THE GUANO COOLIES. 
Tiie guano is dug by Chinese coolies or la¬ 
borers, who are brought here by English ships 
from the free ports of their native coasts. The 
poor fellows are made to believe they are going 
to do well, by engaging to serve as laborers for 
five years at a “ real” (York shilling) a day, and 
a scanty allowance of rice. They fancy, it is 
said, they are coming to labor in the mines of 
California. However this may be, it is certain 
that they are shipped here in English vessels, 
and transferred or assigned, (or whatever the 
word for such a transaction should be,) to the 
Peruvian Government. I have known English¬ 
men who spoke of having been engaged in the 
traffic. The Government places them on these 
islands, avowedly under their original contract, 
to labor for- five years; but who is to know how 
far this contract, if such it can be called, is ad¬ 
hered to? The truth is, the poor Chinamen are 
sold into absolute slavery— sold by Englishmen 
into slavery —the worst and most cruel perhaps 
in the world. Here are about eight hundred of 
the unfortunate creatures at work on these is¬ 
lands at a time; as fast as death thins them out 
the number is increased by new importations. 
The labor is severe—much more so than that of 
the negroes on our Southern plantations. Thej r 
are kept at hard work in the hot sun through¬ 
out the day. On the middle island they are 
“stented,” each one, strong and weak alike, to 
dig from the hill and wheel to the mangueras 
five tons of guano each per diem. The guano is 
compact, like hard, clay-like loam, and as dusty, 
when dug, as ashes. On the north island, it has 
to be blasted for the steam paddies. It has to 
be wheeled from a hundred yards to a quarter 
of a mile—the nature of the labor may be con¬ 
ceived. The Chinese work almost naked, under 
a tropical sun where it never -rains. They are 
slender figures, and do not look strong. Negro 
drivers—the most ugly-loolcing blacks I ever saio 
—are stationed among them, with heavy thongs, 
which I have often seen them use. The poor 
coolies have no hope of reward—-no days of 
rest. The smoke of their torment goes up on 
Sundays as well as on week days. It blows 
away in a yellow cloud miles to leeward, and T 
never see it without thinking what a hell on 
earth these islands must be. That I do not ex¬ 
aggerate in this account, any one who has been 
here will readily bear witness. The fact that 
some of the Chinese almost every week commit 
suicide to escape their fate, shows the true state 
of their case. Kossuth told me that more than 
sixty had killed themselves during the year, 
since he has been stationed here, chiefly by 
throwing themselves from the cliffs. They are 
buried, as they live, like so many dogs. I saw 
one who had been drowned—it was not known 
whether accidentally or not—lying on the gu¬ 
ano, when I first went ashore. All the morning 
his dead body lay in the sun; in the afternoon 
they had covered it a few inches, and there it 
lies, along with many similar heaps, within a 
few yards of where they are digging. On the 
north island, the Chinese carry heavy water- 
casks, slung on poles between two, up the steep 
hill; they can, in this Way, as well as in bar- 
rows, take weights altogether disproportionate 
to their slender forms. They look unhappy, as 
well they may. We know that the Chinese are 
strongly attached to their native soil. Wretched 
and half-barbarous as they may be, dark as may 
