36 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ January 10. 1:89. 
THE DAIRY IN WINTER. 
Midwinter i3 a time of trial to many an anxious dairy 
manager, and churning day is but too often a time of anxiety 
brought about by a common want of knowledge about a matter 
concerning which there need be very little anxiety or doubt at all. 
Science has been defined as exact knowledge, and that is precisely 
what is required by the dairymaid to ensure uniform success in the 
business of her calling. In the recognition of this want and an 
endeavour to supply it, our leading agricultural societies are cer¬ 
tainly doing well, for they are striving to prove to farmers the 
importance of giving full attention to the minor details of their 
business. High prices and easy going times are, and will continue 
to be, a thing of the past. The farmer of the present and future 
time must descend to details, he must work out every branch of 
his business thoroughly ; and depend upon it the man who grasps 
this position fully, and acts upon it, is just he who will hold his 
own in the stern battle* with competition now going on, and will 
make the lessons of adversity a stepping stone to success now and 
in the immediate future. 
In our struggle with the difficulties—monetary difficulties— 
arising out of the agricultural depression, all sensible men have 
very naturally looked around them for all or anything that could 
be turned to as a remedy for straitened means, and if not a 
positive panacea for our difficulties, at least something that should 
afford us some relief under them. In doing so the fact that we 
are in competition with the markets of the world was pressed upon 
our notice, and inquiry at once followed. In what are we beaten 
by importers ? Among other things it was found that the trade 
for dairy produce was .slipping through our fingers simply because 
the foreign producer found it worth while, that is to say profitable, 
to send us a better article than we were producing, and so wrest 
thousands, aye hundreds of thousands, of pounds from us, simply 
because we would not take enough care to place the best butter, 
cheese, and condensed milk upon the market. Protection from 
foreign competition may be a good thing, but not in the sense of keep¬ 
ing out of the country a better article than is to be obtained in it. 
Protection in such a guise would prove a curse and not a blessing. 
Well, we know now that inferior dairy produce is simply an 
outcome of ignorance or carelessness ; a knowledge of this fact has 
led to a combined effort of reform, and a slow but sure improve¬ 
ment in dairy work is going on steadily, to the profit of farmers 
and the general good of all. In this matter mechanical precision 
does command success, and therefore the publication of simple 
rules for general guidance must do good. The Dairy Committee 
have published the following 
SIMPLE EULE3 FOR BUTTER-MAKING. 
Wash in cold water all dairy utensils to be used, such as churn, 
butter-worker, wooden butter hands, &c. 
Now scald with hot water, wash again with cold. 
Always use a thermometer. 
The churn and cream to be at a temperature of 56° to 58° in 
summer, and 60° in winter. 
Yentilate the churn freely and frequently during churning 
until no air rushes out when vent peg is taken out. 
Churn at forty to forty-five revolutions per minute. 
Stop churning immediately the butter comes. This can be 
ascertained by the sound ; if in doubt, look. 
The butter should now be like grains of Mustard seed. 
Dra w off the butter milk, using a piece of straining cloth, so as 
to prevent the loss of any butter, and wash the butter in the churn 
with plenty of cold water. Turn the churn two or three times 
very gently, then draw off the water, and repeat the process until 
the water drawn off is quite clear and free from butter milk. 
Make a strong brine and pour into the churn through a hair 
sieve. Wash the butter thoroughly and draw off the brine ; take 
the butter out of the churn and put it on the butter-worker, which 
use until every drop of butter milk is pressed out of the butter. 
N.B.—Never touch the butter with your hands. 
We have before now given plain rules, and we give these of the 
Royal Agricultural Society of England for the guidance and assist¬ 
ance of our readers, as they embody sound practical hints, which, if 
followed, must lead to success. One thing we must add, and that 
is the importance of careful feeding of the cows, and strict atten¬ 
tion to cleanliness both in cowhouse and dairy. 
WORK ON THE HOME FARM. 
The new year came in with such sharp frost that ploughing has been 
brought to a stand, and the carting of manure on to land for root crops 
is being done. Where the land has been ploughed into ridges ready for 
the manure the temptation to place it in the ridges now is very great, 
both because of the ease with which cartinr can be done, and to save 
time in spring when we shall be so busy. But this must not be done, 
for to expose farmyard manure in small heaps or scattered along ridges 
for two or three weeks, as is so often done at this season of the year, is. 
to cause a loss of very much of its goodness in the air. We have several 
yards to clear, and all the manure will be placed in heaps, at once 
covered by soil, and so left till it can be carted upon the land and at 
once be ploughed in. Pigs, horses, and cows are kept upon most home 
farms, and there should be enough of them to provide what farmyard 
manure is required for root crops, including Potatoes. No crops aiforrl 
a more profitable return for a liberal use of manure than Potatoes. We 
have found it answer best to spread the muck over the surface to plough 
1 it in at any convenient time during winter, and to make the furruws 
with the double-breasted plough at planting time in March. The 
chemical manure is then scattered along the furrows, the Potatoes 
placed along the bottom, and the soil turned over them by splitting the 
ridges with the doub e-breasted plough! By this method very little of 
the muck comes into direct contact with the tubers, and the plant 
derives full benefit from it without any of the tubers being disfigured, 
as they are so liable to be when muck is placed in the furrows. The 
risk of losses from disease has always to be taken into account in Potato 
culture, but such risk is reduced to a minimum by frequent changes of 
seed of old sorts for new varieties, as it has been proved that new sorts 
are better able to resist attacks of disease than old ones. All sorts of 
Potatoes, however excel ent in quality, appear to deteriorate in vigour 
after a few years, and this fact doubtless accounts for the ever increasing 
quantity of new varieties. At best, however, the crop is somewhat 
speculative, and farmers generally only cultivate it extensively when 
they are certain of a ready market and prompt sale near home, yet con¬ 
tinental growers continue to send large quantities to us. 
METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 
CAMDEN SQUARE, LONDON. 
Lat. 51° 82' 40" N.; Lang. 0° 8'0" W.; Altitude, 111 feet. 
DATE. I 9 A.M. | IN THE DAY. 
1888 and 1889. 
December 
and January. 
Barome¬ 
ter at 32° 
and Sea 
Level. 
Hygrome¬ 
ter. 
Direction 
of Wind. 
Temp, of 
soil at 
1 foot. 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Temperature 
P 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
sun. 
On 
grass 
Inches. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
Sunday . 
30 
30.060 
34.1 
33.2 
N.E. 
41.0 
40.1 
334 
60.9 
28.4 
Monday. 
31 
30.160 
30.5 
3G.5 
N.E. 
f>9 2 
33 9 
25.9 
33.9 
2- .0 
Tuesday .... 
1 
30 2LL 
30 0 
30 0 
H.E. 
38.1 
37.0 
28 4 
38. L 
26.6 
Wednesday.. 
2 
30.460 
29 8 
29 6 
N.E. 
37 4 
37.7 
28.9 
389 
24.0 
Thursday.... 
3 
30.716 
32.5 
32 3 
N.E. 
37-1 
36 4 
30.1 
37.0 
25.9 
Friday . 
4 
30.707 
3L.1 
31.0 
N.E. 
36 8 
33 8 
25 3 
33.6 
20.3 
Saturday .... 
5 
30.458 
27.1 
27.1 
JN. 
33.2 
30 2 
26.1 
30.4 
16 9 
- 
30.39 i 
30.7 
30.5 
38.0 
35.6 
28.3 
39.0 
2l6 
- 
REMARKS. 
30th— B ight throughout. 
3I.-t. - i^nse fog till 11 A.M, and again at night; fog all day. 
January 1-t.—Dense fog early, cleared gradually, and bright after 11.30 AM. 
2i.d.- White frost; line and generally bright clay. 
3rd.—F.ne, with some sunshine in the m »rning. 
4th.—Fog till 11 A.M., then fair but slighily foggy. 
6th.-Slight fog all clay, denser in morning and evening, 
A diy, foggy, and very cold week. Going backwards for a few years, I thint 
following are the only colder ones K 111 
Week ending Feb. 25th, 1883 
Mean 
max. 
3t.7 
Mean 
max. 
.. 27.2 
Mea'i 
3!/) 
„ ,, Jan. 8th, 1887 
37.4 
.. 25.9 
31.7 
„ „ Feb. 13l h, 18-0 
87.4 
.. 25.3 
81.6 
„ „ Jan. 29th, 1881 
37 8 
24.2 
81 jy 
„ „ ,. 22 nd, 1881 
3.2 
15.9 
23.) 
„ „ „ 151 h, 1881 
3 .7 
.. 25.2 
28.9- 
,, „ it olst, 1880 
3K3 
2 IJ5 
28.9 
,. ,, „ 24 th, 1830 
35.2 
2.1 
80.2 
„ , Dec. 23rd 1879 
35.6 
26.6 
81.1 
„ „ .. 9th, 187a 
335 
.. 2.5 
27.5 
„ „ Jan. 28 h, 1879 
31.6 
.. 29.) 
81.3 
,, ,. „ 14th, 1879 
85.7 
2.1 
30.4 
This brings out in a very marked way the severity of Januiry, 1881, whea it may be 
remembered a fall of between one and two feet of snow completely disorganised otw 
railways and telegraphs.—G. J. Symons. 
