666 
THE  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
Oct.  15 
engine  with  a  300-  horse  boiler  back  of  it.  The  barn 
will  be  lighted  by  electricity — no  lanterns  being 
wanted  in  it. 
Buckley’s  watering  device  will  be  used  for  the 
cattle,  keeping  them  constantly  furnished  with  a 
fresh  supply.  Watter’s  device  enabling  the  cattle 
to  be  all  released  at  once,  in  case  of  danger,  will  be 
used.  In  the  machine  department  will  be  grinding 
machinery  capable  of  grinding  from  30  to  50  bushels 
of  corn  and  oats  per  hour.  Elevators  will  carry  the 
grain  to  overhead  bins,  where  it  will  run  directly  to 
the  grinders  and  again  be  elevated  to  the  feed  bins. 
The  manure  will  be  shoveled  from  the  drop  into  an 
overhead  car,  which  will  carry  it  directly  to  the  man¬ 
ure  shed  outside,  where  it  will  be  dumped  into  a 
Kemp  manure  spreader  and  at  once  go  to  the  fields, 
thus  handling  it  but  once.  Overhead  carriers  will 
also  carry  feed,  ensilage,  etc.,  to  every  stall.  The 
barn  will  be  roofed  with  slate  and  finished  in  the  best 
nossible  manner. 
Picking  Out  the  Winning  Cows. 
“  How  many  head  have  you  now  in  the  herd  ?  ”  said 
The  Rural  to  Mr.  Cottrell. 
“  We  have  now  125,  and  21  will  be  dropped  during 
the  coming  week.” 
“Do  you  propose  to  largely  increase  the  herd — to 
fill  up  your  new  barn  ?  ” 
“  We  shall  increase  the  herd  to  about  400  head  in 
all,  with  a  working  dairy  of  300  cows.” 
“What  records  do  you  keep 
of  your  cows’  performances?” 
“  We  always  weigh  all  the 
milk,  and  so  have  a  com¬ 
plete  record  of  the  produc¬ 
tion  in  pounds  of  each  indi¬ 
vidual  in  the  herd.  In  addi¬ 
tion  to  this,  we  make  what 
we  call  a  composite  test  of 
eight  milkings  of  each  cow, 
on  the  first  and  15th  of 
each  month,  with  the  Bab¬ 
cock  tester,  in  order  to  know 
as  to  their  butter  making 
abilities.” 
“  Will  you  explain  whut 
you  mean  by  a  composite 
test  ? 
“Certainly.  To  take  the 
number  of  tests  required  to 
keep  thoroughly  posted  as 
to  their  fat  products,  in  the 
old  way,  took  too  much  time. 
So,  to  save  time,  I  have  ar¬ 
ranged  the  following  plan  : 
I  have  had  special  pipettes 
made,  holding  just  one- 
eighth  as  much  milk  as  is 
required  for  the  regular 
Babcock  test.  I  fill  one  of 
these  pipettes  with  milk 
from  the  cow  being  tested, 
and  empty  it  into  the  regu¬ 
lar-sized  pipette  of  the  test. 
This  I  do  for  eight  con¬ 
secutive  milkings,  when  the 
test  is  completed.  This  gives 
me  the  average  percentage  of  fat  for  eight  milkings, 
or  four  days,  and  this  is  done,  as  I  said  before,  twice 
a  month  with  each  cow\  It  saves  us  much  labor  and 
is,  in  every  respect,  entirely  satisfactory.” 
“  What  is  your  idea  in  having  so  many  box  stalls  in 
your  new  barn  ?  ” 
“  I  want  them  for  the  purpose  of  having  plenty  of 
room  for  all  the  cows  that  are  under  special  study, 
with  a  view  to  their  development.  To  accomplish  the 
best  results  in  breeding,  the  comfort  of  the  animals 
cannot  be  too  carefully  looked  after.  The  cow  is  a 
peculiarly  nervous  creature  and  anything  like  discom¬ 
fort  or  excitement  always  reacts  on  her  productive¬ 
ness.  This  was  very  notable  after  our  fire.  None  of 
the  animals  were  injured,  but  the  excitement,  the 
change  in  their  surroundings  and  the  irregularities  in 
their  feed  for  a  few  days  following,  reduced  their  but¬ 
ter  yield  more  than  25  per  cent.  They  have  about 
recovered  from  it,  but  it  has  been  a  damper  on  the 
record  for  this  season.  They  will  soon  be  in  their 
new  quarters  and  all  right.” 
“  Are  you  selling  much  young  stock  nowadays  ?  ” 
“  Just  as  much  as  we  have  to  sell — we  have  been 
selling  only  bulls.  We  shall  have  our  herd  up  to  our 
standard  ere  long  and  then  we  shall  have  plenty  of 
heifers  as  well.” 
A  Startling  Innovation  in  Cream  Management. 
Leaving  the  barn,  we  walked  into  the  dairy  house, 
a  neat  building,  with  every  facility  for  the  work.  A 
small  steam  engine  furnishes  the  power,  it  has  a 
DeLaval  separator,  revolving  churn,  apparatus  for 
cooling  and  aerating,  butter  workers,  etc.,  with  an 
abundant  supply  of  water,  hot  and  cold,  and  a  cooling 
room  with  abundance  of  ice. 
“  Are  you  using  the  accumulator  now  ?  ”  said  The 
Rural  ? 
“  No.  We  do  not  think  that  the  accumulator  is 
perfect  yet.  We  gave  it  a  trial,  as  you  remember, 
being  present,  and  on  that  occasion  it  did  its  work 
well,  taking  out  all  the  fat.  But  we  could  not  rely  on 
it — sometimes  it  would  leave  seven  per  cent  of  the  fat 
in  the  milk,  so  we  gave  it  up.  But  we  make  sweet 
cream  butter  all  the  same — our  patrons  like  it  best.” 
“  What  methods  do  you  pursue  ?  ” 
“That  makes  quite  an  interesting  story.  We  had 
quite  a  hard  time  in  getting  down  to  our  present  suc¬ 
cessful  plan,  and  very  much  of  our  success  is  due  to 
the  skill  and  patience  of  our  butter-maker,  Mr.  L.  E. 
Benedict.  He  has  a  decided  taste  for  investigation, 
which  was  given  full  scope  in  the  matter,  and  we 
finally  came  out  all  right.  When  the  evening  milking 
is  about  one  quarter  done,  the  separator  is  started, 
and  the  milk,  warm  from  the  cows,  is  run  through  it. 
In  a  few  minutes  after  the  milking  is  dnne,  the  cream 
is  all  separated.  It  is  at  once  aerated,  and  cooled  with 
an  Evans  &  Heuling  machine  (cooler  and  aerator), 
getting  it  down  to  about  40.  It  is  then  put  into  the 
cooling  room,  and  held  at  that  temperature  until  the 
next  morning.  The  morning  milk  goes  through  the 
same  process,  and  as  soon  as  it  is  cooled,  the  night 
and  morning  creams  are  mixed  together  and  churned.  ’ 
“  At  what  temperature  do  you  churn  ?” 
Midas  2003:  Chief  of  the  Ellersi.ie  Herd.  Fig.  203. 
“  At  from  36  to  39  degrees.” 
“  Thirty-six  to  thirty-nine  ! — why  that  is  revolution¬ 
ary.  How  long,  pray,  does  it  take  to  complete  the 
churning  process  with  the  cream  at  that  low  tem¬ 
perature  ?  ” 
“  You  will  be  surprised  when  I  tell  you  that  it  takes 
only  from  20  to  30  minutes.  When  we  began  to  churn 
sweet  cream,  we  started  in  with  the  cream  at  a  tem¬ 
perature  of  62  degrees.  But  that  was  not  satisfactory. 
In  spite  of  our  most  careful  and  painstaking  work, 
the  Babcock  tester  applied  to  the  buttermilk,  showed 
that  we  were  losing  about  two  per  cent  of  our  butter 
fat.  We  then  began  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  tem¬ 
perature,  testing  the  buttermilk  carefully  all  the  time. 
The  indications  were  favorable — we  were  on  the  right 
track.  When  we  had  got  down  to  36  to  39  degrees,  we 
found  we  were  practically  getting  all  the  fat,  the  but¬ 
termilk  showing  only  about  one-twentieth  of  one  per 
cent.  As  you  say,  this  low  temperature  churning 
seems  to  set  aside  many  preconceived  opinions  and 
theories,  but  it  works  perfectly  with  us.” 
“  I  see  you  have  a  new  pattern  of  revolving  churn. 
What  do  you  call  it  ?  ” 
“  It  is  the  Diamond  Balance  churn.  It  has  some 
notable  advantages — we  like  it  better  than  any  other 
churn  we  have  used.  We  shall  use  one  at  the  Pure 
Food  Exhibit  at  Madison  Square  Garden,  where  those 
interested  may  have  an  opportunity  of  seeing  it  at 
work.” 
“  How  long  have  you  been  working  in  this  line  ?  ” 
“Since  about  May  1.  Our  patrons  prefer  sweet 
cream  butter  and  what  they  want,  we  must  make. 
The  old  methods  would  no  longer  answer  and  we  are 
now  well  satisfied  with  the  results  we  are  accomplish¬ 
ing.” 
Feeding  the  Cows  and  the  Fields. 
“  What  grain  feed  do  you  give  your  cows  ?  ” 
“  Our  staple  is  equal  quantities  by  weight  of  corn, 
oats  and  wheat  bran.  We  use  but  little  oil  meal — I 
should  like  to  use  some  cotton-seed  meal,  as  I  value  it 
highly,  but  we  have  such  a  very  susceptible,  sensitive 
trade  that  I  have  avoided  it,  fearing  that  it  might 
produce  changes  in  the  butter  that  would  be  notable 
to  them.” 
Later  we  took  a  stroll  into  a  pasture  field  where  the 
young  bulls  were  grazing,  for  the  special  purpose  of 
taking  a  look  at  Bank  Bill,  the  young  patrician  who  is 
to  be  given  to  some  patron  of  The  Rural  New- 
Yorker.  He  was  as  pretty  as  a  picture.  The  lining 
of  his  ears  fairly  shone  with  a  brilliant  yellow,  and  he 
looked  as  if  he  were  proud  of  his  blood.  He  will  some 
day,  no  doubt,  do  credit  to  his  breeding,  and  found  a 
herd  that  will  put  some  farmer  on  the  highway  to 
success. 
In  another  field  the  milch  cows  were  quietly  grazing, 
and  looking  very  comfortable,  despite  their  scare  of 
an  earlier  date.  They  are  a  beautiful  herd  in  all 
respects.  Some  of  them  are  shown  at  Fig.  262. 
“How  many  acres  does  Ellerslie  contain?”  asked 
The  Rural. 
“About  1,000  Of  this,  perhaps  half  is  arable,  the 
remainder  being  in  woods,  lawns,  etc.  There  is  a  very 
large  meadow,  or  what  was  once  a  meadow.  It  has 
been  mowed  or  pastured  for 
years,  and  is  not  in  good 
shape,  being  weedy.  I  should 
like  to  break  it  up,  and  plant 
it  to  ensilage  corn,  following 
this  with  oats  and  seeding  it 
down  with  rye.  But  I  can¬ 
not  do  this — it  is  too  far  from 
the  barn,  and  it  will  not 
pay  to  cart  ensilage  corn  so 
far.  Our  barns,  unfortu¬ 
nately  for  us,  are  on  the 
river  front  of  the  farm — at 
one  side.  A  team  could  not 
draw  over  five  or  six  loads 
per  day  from  this  field  to  the 
barn,  and  that,  you  see, 
would  make  the  ensilage  cost 
too  much.  I  must  grow  my 
ensilage  nearer  the  barn — it 
is  the  labor  of  handling 
which  enters  largely  into  its 
cost.” 
“  Well,  what  will  you  do 
in  such  a  case  ?  ” 
“  I  have  not  yet  decided  ; 
but  I  am  evolving  a  plan, 
something  like  this  :  I  can¬ 
not  afford  to  draw  stable 
manure  this  distance — I 
could  not  if  it  were  given  to 
us.  so  I  must  use  commercial 
fertilizers.  I  think  this  is 
what  I  shall  do.  I  will  put 
a  heavily  weighted  harrow 
on  the  field,  with  plenty  of 
horse  power,  and  give  the 
surface  a  thorough  scratching.  Then  I’ll  give  it 
a  liberal  dressing  of  such  fertilizers  as  I  think  it 
needs,  a  liberal  application  of  grass  seed,  then  another 
harrowing  and  then  roll  it  down.  I  am  in  hopes  of 
bringing  it  up  in  this  way.  What  do  you  think  of  it  ?” 
“  I  have  no  doubt  you  will  succeed,  but  you  should 
have  one  harrowing  between  sowing  the  fertilizer  and 
the  seed.  There  is  a  special  tool — of  French  origin — 
made  for  this  work,  which  might  help  you  out.  It 
cuts  through  the  sod  in  strips  about  five  inches  apart, 
and  loosens  it  up  for  subsequent  operations.  It  might 
pay  you  to  look  it  up.  Have  you  your  ensilage  all  cut 
and  stored  ?  ” 
“  Oh,  yes  ;  and  I  think  we  have  the  finest  lot  I  ever 
saw  in  a  silo.  I  planted  the  Rural  Thoroughbred  corn, 
and  it  made  a  splendid  growth — every  stalk  had  its 
ear,  and  many  had  two  or  three.  The  corn  was  just 
in  the  glazing  stage,  and  went  into  the  silo  in  perfect 
condition.  Our  new  cutter  works  like  a  charm —we 
cannot  feed  it  fast  enough  to  clog  it.” 
“  How  many  tons  per  acre  did  you  secure  ?  ” 
“  I  do  not  know  exactly — between  10  and  15;  I  have 
not  yet  made  up  the  totals.” 
Into  the  Chicken  Business  Too. 
“What  is  that  long  building  being  erected  for?” 
said  The  Rural,  pointing  to  one  in  course  of  con¬ 
struction,  adjoining  the  old  broiler  house. 
“  That  is  our  new  broiler  house.  We  have  been  very 
fortunate  in  securing  the  services  of  Mr.  Jas.  H.  Seely, 
formerly  of  Hammonton,  N.  J. — one  of  the  best  poultry- 
men  in  the  country.” 
From  Mr.  Seely,  we  learned  that  'the  new.  broiler 
