1875 .] 
AMERICAN AGrRICULTURIST. 
339 
stronger in the ram, the more will the lambs take 
after the ram. 
What we want in this section is combing wool, 
good lambs for the butcher, and choice mutton. 
It is an easy thing to get all three. Select a flock 
of common Merinq^, or part Merino ewes. Feed 
them well. Buy a full-blooded long-wooled ram— 
either Cotswold, Lincoln, or Leicester. Have the 
lambs come in February or March. Feed ewes and 
lambs as well as you know how. Sell the ram 
lambs to the butcher at four months old. Save 
the ewe lambs, and when eighteen months old, 
breed them to a full-blooded long-wooled ram, and 
continue this process until you think it desirable 
to resort to some other cross—such as Shropshire 
Down. Mark you, I am not recommending a 
breeder of choice Merinos to abandon that breed, 
or resort to crossing. Neither would I recommend 
a breeder of South Downs to cross them with long 
wools. But to a farmer who is not a breeder of 
thoroughbreds, and who wishes to keep a flock of 
sheep merely for wool, mutton, and lambs, the 
plan I have suggested can be adopted with little 
expense, and with every prospect of success. But 
let no one think he can raise this class of sheep 
unless he is prepared to feed them better than most 
farmers feed common Merinos. 
“ I thought you could not get through without 
bringing that remark in again,” said the Deacon, 
“ you have said that a dozen times, and yet you 
keep your common Merino ewes running with the 
Cotswolds and grades. They all have the same 
feed, and yet your Merinos are no better than the 
average.”—This is true. My Merinos have pre¬ 
cisely the same food as the Cotswolds and grades, 
but they probably do not eat so much. Of 100 lbs. 
of food eaten by a common Merino, probably 90 
pounds is needed to support the vital functions, 
and 10 pounds is used to produce wool, bones, 
flesh, etc. But the same weight of Cotswold and 
grades will consume in the same time, say 120 lbs. 
of food. If 90 lbs. is used to support the vital 
functions, there will be 30 lbs. left to produce wool, 
bone, flesh, and fat, and if the Merinos gain 50 lbs. 
in a year, the Cotswolds ought to gain 150 lbs.— 
and they will do it. One-fifth more food trebles 
the growth. 
The Deacon tells me I misunderstood the Insur¬ 
ance Agent in regard to the charge for a permit to 
use a steam-engine. When he said “ one per cent” 
he meant one dollar on a thousand. Be this as it 
may, I have decided to meet the difficulty by thrash¬ 
ing in the field. I usually thrash as we draw in 
from the field, building the straw stack in the barn¬ 
yard. The only difference lt will make will be that 
the straw stacks will be in the fields instead of in 
the yards. But this in my case is of little conse¬ 
quence, because we cut all our straw both for feed 
and for bedding, and of course have to draw it to 
the bam. This work is done principally in winter, 
and it will make very little difference whether we 
draw from the field to the bam, or from the yard 
to the bam. It has to be put on a wagon in either 
ease. The only difference is in the distance we 
have to drive. And what we lose in the winter we 
gain now during the busy time of harvest. 
The “ Model Bam ” has yet to be built. It must 
embrace the idea of thrashing more or less of our 
grain as we draw it from the field at harvest, and of 
furnishing ample room for holding cut or chopped 
straw, cut corn-fodder and cut hay. If I was to 
build one, I would have it two stories high and a 
basement. The upper story should be for cut feed, 
and the lower story for sheep and horses, and the 
basement for cows, pigs, root-cellar, etc. The 
straw, com-stalks, and hay should be cut with a 
large feed-cutter, with a “carrier” attached for 
conveying the cut stuff to the upper story, where 
it should be placed in large bins or compartments. 
From these spouts, 21 x 2i feet, would let it fall as 
fast as wanted to the stories below. I tried the plan 
last winter, and found it a great saving of both food 
and labor. I should use the straw quite freely as 
food for sheep, and after they had picked it over, 
use it first for bedding for the sheep and horses* 
and afterwards throw it down to the basement to be 
again used for bedding the cows and pigs. The 
horse litter 1 would also use for the latter purpose. 
I use all my horse litter in this way now—and does 
not this “ double-worked ” manure make the corn 
and grass grow! 
In this section our peas are more or less affected 
with the pea-beetle. I have occasionally sown 
these home-grown “buggy peas,” but Iusuallyget 
seed peas for my field crop from Canada. They 
are a small white pea, called I believe the Canada 
Creeper. Mr. T. C. Maxon showed at the State 
Fair last year several varieties of peas. Among 
them was a barrel of Black-eyed Marrowfats. I 
never saw a handsomer sample. They received the 
first prize. After the Fair was over, and when we 
were taking home our stock, Mr. Maxon said, “ I 
am going to leave this barrel of peas, and I want 
your men to put it in the wagon and take it home.” 
I do not know what I have ever done to merit such 
a present, but I took the peas and this spring drilled 
them in. 
I have always had a sort of easy conviction that 
it was well to sow clean, pure, and well grown seed; 
but the conviction was not strong enough to enable 
me to resist the temptation to sow such seed as we 
happened to have, or such as was easy to get. But 
now I think I am converted—and I hope to stay 
converted. This crop of peas has taught me a les¬ 
son I hope never to forget. There is as much dif¬ 
ference in the growth, vigor, and luxuriance of these 
peas as between a grade Cotswold and a common 
Merino. 
“ Prizes for grain,” said the Deacon, “ are won 
by those who know how to clean it most thorough¬ 
ly. I guess if I had run my wheat as many times 
through the fanning mill as you did, I could have 
beat you.”—I won’t argue that point. The extra 
quality of these prize peas may have been due in a 
good degree to the skill with which they were 
cleaned. No matter about that. If so, it shows 
the importance of having a good fanning mill, and 
using it until we have got out the largest and heav¬ 
iest grains for seed. If a farmer has 500 bushels of 
wheat, and wants 50 bushels for seed, it will pay 
him to run the whole lot through the fanning mill, 
until he has got out 50 bushels of the best kernels. 
We should clean our grain for seed as carefully as 
an experienced exhibitor cleans his grain for a fair. 
1 have an idea that we shall see higher prices for 
wheat, and lower prices for barley for the next few 
years. Last year barley paid better than wheat. 
Next year it would not be surprising if wheat paid 
better than barley. I think the prospects for farm¬ 
ers are quite encouraging. The present and pros¬ 
pective good prices for pork will add largely to the 
aggregate profits of farmers, and do much to en¬ 
hance our general prosperity. Many financiers are 
looking to political action to set the wheels of trade 
and commerce in motion. I am lookingto the pork 
barrel and the com crop. The pig is master of the 
situation. He is the most potent agent for keep¬ 
ing down railroad freights and for increasing agri¬ 
cultural profits. We can, by his aid, pack a dozen 
bushels of corn in a barrel, and transport it around 
the world. What we have to do now is to look to 
the quality of our pork, bacon, hams and lard. 
English Cheese Making. 
The literature of cheese-making has received a 
valuable addition in a paper recently published by 
Mr. I. C. Morton, the well known English Agricul¬ 
tural writer and editor. This paper, written for 
the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England, and re-published in pamphlet form, gives 
that which no other work upon dairying, that we 
know of, contains, but which is most valuable and 
eagerly looked for, viz : accurate and exact infor¬ 
mation as to the details of cheese-making; such 
as : the temperatures at which the various opera¬ 
tions should be performed ; the manner of making 
rennet, and the exact proportion of rennet to be 
used with a certain quantity of milk. The detail 
of the methods of making the famous Cheddar and 
Cheshire cheese, are given as follows. 
Cheddak Cheese. —In the Cheddar system, by 
which the best cheese in the world is made, milk 
of the morning and evening is brought to a tem¬ 
perature of from 78 to 84 degrees, according to the 
condition of the weather; if that has been warm, 
the rennet will be as effective with the lower tem¬ 
perature, as with the higher 
after a cold night. The 
evening’s milk is placed in 
vessels to cool during the 
night, being stirred at inter¬ 
vals during the evening, is 
skimmed in the morning, 
and the cream with a por¬ 
tion of the milk is heated 
up to 100 degrees, "by float¬ 
ing it in tin pails in a boiler. 
The whole is poured into 
the vat or tub, into which 
the morning’s milk is being 
strained, so that the whole 
is brought to the proper temperature. The rennet, 
half-a-pint to 100 gallons of milk, is then poured 
in. The rennet is made from small stomachs of 
calves killed at a week old, cured, and kept 18 
months before being used. The stomachs are 
steeped in salt water—one quart to each—for three 
weeks. This rennet is strong enough to form the 
curd in one hour at the above temperature. The 
curd is cut in the usual manner with curd-knives, 
but with great care lest the cream should escape 
with the whey, and with several interruptions of 
the process, which in all takes half an hour. It is 
thus broken into pieces no larger than peas. The 
whole mass is then gradually and carefully heated 
by means of hot water let into a space around the 
cheese tub, up to 100 degrees. This takes half an 
hour. The hot water is then drawn off, and the 
curd is stirred for half an hour in the hot whey, 
being then reduced to still smaller fragments. 
Another half hour is allowed for the curd to settle, 
when the whey is drawn off into a vat 6 inches 
deep, where it is cooled, skimmed, and the cream 
made into butter. This is equal to about half a 
pound per cow per week. After standing another 
half hour, the curd is cut into pieces, turned over, 
left for half an hour longer, and again cut and left 
for a quarter of an hour. It is then slightly acid 
to the taste. If the acid becomes too much devel¬ 
oped, the cheese will not press solidly, but will 
sink and become misshapen. It is then torn to 
pieces by hand and cooled, packed in thin layers in 
the vat, and after being pressed for half a day, it is 
again broken up by band. When cool, sour, dry, 
and tough enough, it is ground in the curd mill; 
2 lbs. of salt are added to 112 lbs. of curd, and when 
quite cold, it is placed in the hoop with the cloth, 
and taken to the press. The pressure is about 
1,800 to 2,000 pounds. The cloth is changed 
the next day, and again on the second day. On 
the third day the cheese is taken from the press to 
the cheese room, bandaged, and turned daily for 
some time. The temperature of the cheese room 
is kept at 65 degrees. The cheese is ready for sale 
at the end of three mouths. The weights of these 
cheeses are from 75 to 120 pounds, this being de¬ 
pendent upon the size of the dairy, the object be- 
