462 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
eorn having three ears upon it. This was surpassed 
by W. H. Van Sickle, of Hill’s Branch, who sent 
three stalks with altogether thirteen ears, most of 
which had good com upon them. It is doubtful 
how far we may go in improving the yield of corn, 
hut it does not seem at all impossible or improba¬ 
ble that we might, by continued selection, produce 
a variety that would bear two good ears at least, to 
a stalk. With such corn, planted in hills 3 feet 
apart, and with three stalks to a hill, we could pro¬ 
duce 290 bushels of ears per acre. 
Profit from Good Stock. 
Mr. Warnoek, a well known breeder of Short¬ 
horns, reports the produce from “Easter Day,” a 
cow nine years old, and costing 8350 in 1868, as fol¬ 
lows : “Airdrie Belle” sold for 81,700; “Airdrie 
Belle 2nd,” $900 ; “ Airdrie Belle 3rd,” $940 ; “ Ro¬ 
sette, ” 8750; “Cambridge Rose,” §800; “ C. Rose 
2nd,” §1,000; “ C. Rose 4th,” §350; and three 
bulls sold for §1,150. Another cow, “Miss Jack- 
son,” purchased with her calf “Rosa Jackson,” 
for $600, in about the same length of time pro¬ 
duced stock which sold for §6,488. The total 
profit on the two cows amounted to §13,470, from 
which the cost of their food, ?are,and the interest on 
the money, would have to be deducted. Although 
this stock is what is called fancy stock, yet the 
result in the ease of ordinary good stock would 
be the same, but in a less degree. There are cows, 
sheep, and pigs, which are worth for actual mar¬ 
ketable material, many times as much as common 
poor animals would be. Yet they cost no more to 
keep. It is this fact which makes the basis of the 
value of the better class of pure bred stock. There 
will always be a demand for good breeding ani¬ 
mals, at a price far above their value as dead meat, 
because the value of the produce increases in such 
an enlarged ratio. If we double §20 and the pro¬ 
duct, four times, we have §320. But if wc take 
$100 and do the same, we have §3,200. The differ¬ 
ence is §2,880, or 36 times the first difference, 
instead of 4 times. This gain in the value of the 
produce, is the secret of the high value set on im¬ 
proved stock, which costs no more to keep—often 
in fact it costs less—but which makes a vastly 
greater profit in proportion to its first cost, than 
ordinary stock. And the demand for good stock 
can not be supplied in our day. 
How Some “ Butter ” is Made.—W hile we do 
not believe all that is said about the great quanti¬ 
ties of spurious butter that is made from fat or 
u oleo-margarine,” and know that the statement, 
that it can not be distinguished from real butter by 
the eye or taste, is untrue, from our own personal 
investigations and knowledge ; yet we are satisfied 
that there is too much of this adulteration earned 
on. As an opponent of all frauds, we can not 
icfrain from telling what we know of this so-called 
Fig-1 .—mr. crozier’s smoke-house. 
■Sutter, now and then, to put both honest dairymen 
and unsuspecting consumers on their guard. The 
fraudulent butter may be known by a want of the 
smooth melting taste of real butter. It feels granu¬ 
lar in the mouth, just as candied honey, before it 
melts, and it melts more slowly than butter. If 
honestly made there can be no objection to it, if it 
comes openly, beariug its own brand upon it, be¬ 
fore the public. There is a place for it no doubt 
upon the tables of a class of poor consumers, who 
can afford nothing better. But in the interest of 
these poor people even, it is to be protested against. 
For a thing that begins as an adulteration, will 
always surely end in being adulterated itself. This 
is as absolute a certainty as that the road to de¬ 
struction is down hill and easy. We learn from an 
English paper that this “butter” is there made to 
be sold to poor people, in large quantities—as 
indeed it has been for many years—but now from 
the vilest materials. Ground bones, waste from 
slaughter houses and “ knacker’s ” (horse slaugh¬ 
ters and renderer’s) yards, the contents of old bone 
gatherer’s bags, and other rubbish, are boiled down 
and the fat skimmed off and made into this oleo¬ 
margarine butter. As the first process was learned 
from Europe, of course all its modern improve¬ 
ments can not fail to be adopted in time. 
Improved Smoke Houses. 
The accompanying illustrations are descriptive 
of two kinds of smoke houses, which have some 
Fig. 2.— INTERIOR OF SMOKE-HOUSE. 
advantages not possessed by any we have hereto¬ 
fore seen or described. Fig. 1 is an engraving of a 
brick smoke house recently built by Mr. William 
Crozier, at Beacon Farm, Long Island. It is built 
over an ash-pit or cellar about six feet deep, the 
entrance to which is by way of the door shown at 
the side of the building. The roof is arched, and 
there is no wood about it, except the doors. The 
floor of the house is made of narrow iron bars, 
3 inches wide, and a quarter of an inch thick, set 
on edge about two inches apart, so as to form a grat¬ 
ing. The ends of these bars are seen set in the 
brick at the lower part of the house. These bars, 
or the grating' which they form, are used to lay 
side pieces of bacon upon during the smoking. 
The hams are hung upon round iron bars, stretched 
across the upper part of the house ; the ends of 
these bars bent down, and thus forming stays 
or braces to the building, are seen in the engra¬ 
ving. A few spaces are left in the front of the 
house, over the door, for ventilation. 
The interior of the house is shown at 
figure 2. The hams are hung upon wire 
hooks, (figure 3,) which slide upon the 
rods. This house required 2,000 bricks, 
and the labor of two masons for one day 
and a half. Figure 4 represents a sec¬ 
tion of a smoke house of wood, which 
is very cleanly in use, there being 
no fire, and consequently no ashes upon the floor. 
The floor is made of cement, or of hard brick laid 
in cement or mortar. Either of these floors will 
exclude rats, and may be washed when necessary. 
The fire ovens, made of brick, arc built on each 
side of the house, or two of them may be built at 
the rear end. They are built upon the outside, but 
spaces are left between the bricks on the inside, [ 
Fig. 3. 
through which the smoke escapes. The outer part 
of the oven is open at the front, but may be closed 
by an iron door, or a piece of flat stone or slab of 
Fig. 4. —WOODEN SMOKE-HOUSE WITH OVENS. 
cement. When the fire is kindled in the ovens, 
the doors are closed and fastened, and the smoke 
has no means of escape except through the inside 
spaces. From being so confined, the fire can not 
burn up briskly, and smoulders slowly, making a 
cool and pungent smoke. In any smoke house, 
the less brisk the fire is kept, the more effective is 
the smoke, as the slow combustion of the wood 
permits the escape of most of the wood acids, 
which give their flavor and their antiseptic proper¬ 
ties to the meat. When the fire is brisk, these are 
consumed and destroyed, and the meat is injured 
by the excess of heat. Wc have met with no con¬ 
trivance which better effects this required cool 
smoking than this of outside ovens. They may be 
fitted to any kind of a smoke house, by simply cut¬ 
ting the necessary openings at the bottom of the 
walls, and protecting the wood work by strips of 
sheet-iron around the bricks. 
How to Improve a Butter Herd. 
In a large part of the older states, within easy 
reach of the large towns aad cities, the making of 
butter is the most profitable use of milk. A few 
within an hour’s ride of customers, or of the rail¬ 
road depot, can sell milk to advantage. Farmers 
more remote from market can best dispose of their 
milk at the cheese factory. These are now so nu¬ 
merous, and so well managed, and the cheese is of 
60 good quality, that there is very little fluctuation 
in the price, and the business is fairly remunerative. 
The importation to England and other European 
countries is so steadily increasing that cheese 
farmers are likely to be well rewarded for their 
labors for many ycai s to come. The butter farms 
lie in the belt between the cheese and the milk 
producers. They have a good home market, and 
have the advantage of a personal acquaintance 
with the families they supply with butter. All the 
butter they can make is readily taken at the market 
price, or a few cents per pound above. These fam¬ 
ilies are of the most thrifty and cultivated class, 
have nice tastes, and are willing to pay for the 
esthetic quality of butter. They like the high 
color, the waxy texture, and the delicate boquet of 
butter fresh from the dairy. They do not like the 
name or odor of store butter, and will have that 
which is fresh from the farm if they can get it. 
These are a very desirable class of customers for 
any farmer to have. They are able to pay for what 
they want, and will patronize the butter maker that 
caters to their tastes. Skilled labor here comes to 
a good market. It is a good thing for the dairy 
woman to know that her products are going to a 
home market where her skill will be appreciated. 
A sense of responsibility for the utmost cleanli¬ 
ness and skill in the whole process of manufactur¬ 
ing is kept up that it is difficult to maintain where 
butter goes to a distant market. Farmers who 
keep butter herds arc in a condition to profit im¬ 
mediately by the improvement of their cows. 
Every thing they can produce in the line of “ gilt- 
edged” butter comes to a hungry market. The 
