510 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ December 2, 188(T, 
much cream to the surface as possible while the milk remains 
sweet. In winter deep setting in earthenware pans is better, 
because they retain the heat in the milk longer, and the 
gradual cooling of the milk to the temperature of the air 
assists the rising of the cream, the fatty portions retaining 
the heat longer than the milk or watery portions. Milk 
should always be skimmed before it gets sour, as after that 
any cream that rises is only of the poorest description, and 
the slight addition in quantity will not compensate for the 
inferior quality of the butter. The perforated tin skimmer is 
much the best, as it allows any milk that may be taken up 
with the cream to run through. 
Dairies must be kept perfectly sweet and well ventilated, 
and be separated by a partition wall from the dwelling house. 
No door or window of any kind should look out in any yard 
where there are offensive smells. The floor should be flagged, 
tiled, or cemented. The windows must admit no streaks of 
light or sunshine upon the milk, as they produce flecks in the 
cream which always show in the butter. The temperature 
of the dairy is most important; it should never be allowed to 
go under 50° or over 55°. Keeping a dairy heated to the 
proper temperature will largely increase the return, and will 
well repay the trifling expense of a stove. 
The cream for churning must not be kept too long. 
Slight ripening is good for the butter, but it should never be 
allowed to become very sour, and in winter should be churned 
at least twice a week, and in summer more frequently ; it 
should be kept covered with muslin, both to exclude particles 
of dust and also to prevent the air acting too much on the 
surface of the cream and produce unequal ripening. In 
addition a fresh skimming of the crock should be well stirred, 
so as to mix all well together, and no fresh cream should be 
added for twelve hours before churning, as it would not have 
time to equally ripen, and would take longer than the other 
cream to churn, so that the churning would be stopped before 
the butter came on the fresh cream. The temperature of 
cream before churning should always be carefully tested with 
the thermometer. It has been proved that 57° is the best 
temperature to churn at; and the cream in cold weather 
should be warmed to this by placing it before a fire or in a 
tub of warm water, or in hot weather cooled by placing it in 
cold water. The churn also should be rinsed out before 
churning in winter with hot water, in summer with cold. 
The churn must be turned slowly at first, so as not to 
break up the butter globules too much, and the churning 
should be most carefully listened to and stopped the moment 
the butter comes, so as not to allow it to collect in lumps. 
The grain and firmness of the butter are thus preserved, and 
the buttermilk can be easily removed. After removing the 
buttermilk the butter should be washed in the churn, three 
times in fresh spring water and twice in pickle, made by 
placing some salt in a piece of muslin on top of a can, and 
pouring cold water over it. If the butter is at all soft it 
should be allowed to stand for a couple of hours in the churn 
in very cold water. In making the butter handling should 
be most carefully avoided. By the use of a butter-worker 
and butter-slices, butter can be made without even touching 
with the hands, and this is the plan adopted in the best 
dairies in England and on the Continent. 
Cleanliness and care, close attention to every detail, will 
ensure good butter being made at all seasons of the year. 
No link in the chain of detail must be missing, however; 
everything is important, and both cowman and dairywoman 
must be alike zealous in their efforts in cowyard and dairy. 
If either of them are at all careless or negligent of their duties 
the efforts of the other will fail of success in some degree. 
Perhaps the most important point for the cowman is sweet, 
wholesome, nourishing dietary for the cows ] throughout the 
year; and for the dairywoman before all things scrupulous 
cleanliness. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
Mild open weather has enabled us to push on ploughing and draining, 
for the surface of the soil has been so firm and dry that all such work has 
been done quickly and well. We have had a little difficulty in getting 
our orders for ridge-ploughing carried out as we wished, two of our bailiffs- 
having had the work badly done. In autumn ridge-ploughing the whole, 
of the surface soil must be moved, and this is managed easily enough by 
first of all throwing it up into ridges and then splitting the ridges with a 
second plough, and so making other ridges, beneath which no unmoved 
soil is left. The entire process is begun and finished as we proceed, and 
there is no further disturbance of the soil till spring cultivation begins. 
The advantages of ridging are obvious. We expose the soil to the action 
of frost, snow, rain, and wind, so that when we go to it in spring we find 
a seed bed sweet, mellow, and crumbling so freely that a few turns of the- 
ducks-foot harrow leaves it fine as a bed of ashes. It enables us to sow 
spring corn early, and if any of the land could not be cleaned in autumn 
the work can be done readily enough in spring. The workmen draining 
some fields on one of our heavy land farms find the clay subsoil so 
adhesive that each man has a bucket ot water beside him to dip his tool 
in each time it is withdrawn from the clay. It is upon this particular 
farm that we have burnt a large quantity of clay for ploughing into the 
soil to ensure porosity. We mention this important matter here because a 
misprint in our “ Work ” note last week makes “ burn ” read “ turn,” and 
beginners may fail to make sense of the sentence in which the error 
occurs. The fine weather has also been so favourable for corn-threshing 
that we have had much c f it done ; we have reason to be glad we have 
done so, for we have been able to sell a large quantity of Red Wheat at 
35s. a quarter, which is 5s. more than we got last season. The recent 
upward tendency of the price of Wheat is not, we fear, of a permanent 
character, snd the grain is so dry and hard in the ricks that we have no 
reason to hesitate to thresh. Good Barley has found a ready sale at pro¬ 
fitable rates, but spriDg Oats are so low in p ice that we find it answer 
best to use as many as possible for sheep-feeding, and so avoid heavy bills 
for oilcake. With the Oats we mix crushed Beans, and the condition of 
sheep is entirely satisfactory. 
Messes. Webb & Sons’ Stand at the Birmingham Cattle 
Show. —This popular Show would not be considered complete without the 
magnificent display annually made by that eminent firm, Messrs. Webb 
and Sons, seedsmen, Wordsley, Stourbridge, and London, who, as usual, 
occupy the centre bay of the gallery, and with a stand that is more attrac¬ 
tive than ever. Webb’s Imperial Swede are of monstrous size and 
splendid quality. Champion honours at this Show have been gained by 
it for fifteen years in succession. The quality of the Mangolds and 
common Turnips is equal to that of the Swedes, the specimens on view 
being of beautiful shape and wonderful size. Webb’s new Invincible- 
Turnip and new Excelsior Kohl Rabi are exceedingly fine. The new 
field Cabbage, Flockmaster, is also an acquisition of great merit. A 
splendid collection of Potatoes is another attractive exhibit, comprising 
all the popular kinds ; and Webb’s new varieties, Kinver Hill, Discovery,. 
Benefactor, &c., also new seedlings to be sent out next season Specimens 
of Grasses, Cereals, &c., adapted for ensilage crops are also exhibited. 
We learn that Tobacco has been cultivated by Messrs. Webb &. Sons at 
their celebrated Kinver Seed Farms in the past season, sufficiently to 
embody two distinct experiments : first, to ascertain whether the growth 
of Tobacco can be made remunerative to farmers in this country, and, 
secondly, to show what kinds of the Tobacco Plant are likely to promote 
that object best. About twenty kinds have been grown, including Big 
Frederick, Can’s Seed Leaf, Virginia, Yellow Prior, Broad Leaf, Yellow 
Orinoca, &c. Grand specimens of vegetables, as well as boxes of home¬ 
grown vegetable seeds, call attention to this branch of their business, 
whilst fine samples of Wheats, Barleys, and Oats show the quality of their 
popular kinds. 
OUR LETTER BOX. 
Milking Cows (J. B .).—You will find full information respecting the 
amount of milk yielded by cows in our Home Farm article this week. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden Square, London. 
Lat. 51° 32' 40" N.; Long. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. 
9 A.M. 
IN THE DAY. 
| Rain 
I * 
1886. 
November. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 328 
and Sea 
Level 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
P . 
o-cJ 
S P 
f? 
So 
| Temp, of 
1 Soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max 
Min. 
In 
BOD- 
On 
gras* 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
dee. 
d«*e 
dee 
deg 
IQ. 
Sunday . 
21 
30.356 
49.1 
47.8 
N.W. 
45.7 
51 2 
46.9 
55.7 
39.0 
— 
Monday . 
22 
30.489 
39.7 
38.3 
N.E. 
4 7.4 
45.8 
34.4 
60 2 
36.7 
— 
Tuesday. 
23 
30.585 
34 1 
34.1 
N.E. 
43.6 
45.5 
30.0 
62.4 
22.2 
— 
Wednesday .. 
24 
30.728 
37.5 
46.8 
N.E. 
42.3 
45.7 
33.1 
66 8 
27.2 
— 
Thursday .... 
25 
30.308 
40.8 
40.8 
N. 
41 8 
50.8 
33 3 
68.2 
26.6 
— 
Friday. 
26 
30.519 
46.3 
45.1 
E. 
42.4 
47 6 
40.5 
£0.2 
34.2 
— 
Saturday .... 
27 
30.478 
42.2 
42.2 
N.E. 
43.3 
46.8 
42.2 
50.5 
41.1 
— 
30.495 
41.5 
40.7 
43.5 
47.6 
37-2 
59.1 
32.4 
— 
REMARKS. 
21 st.—No sun, no rain, no wind; cloud decreasing till night. 
22 nd.-Fine and pleasant, with the sun struggling through light clouds. 
23rd— Fine and bright, but with slight haze most of day. 
24 th.—Fine and bright, slight fog at sunset. 
25th.—Bright day, much warmer. 
26th.—Cloudy and dull. 
27th —Generally cloudy and calm. 
A rainless week, with very high barometer and dense fog in London and the southern.- 
and western suburbs. As shown by the temperatures “ in sun ” it was frequently sunny 
here—G. J. SYMONS. 
