VOL. L. NO. 2i67. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST 8, i89i. 
PRICE, FIVE CENTS. 
$a.oo PER YEAR. 
AERATION OF MILK. 
Its Effect and Value. 
JAMES CHESSMAN. 
Aeration of milk on the farm by a special machine adapted 
to the work is a new idea in American dairying. Less 
than 10 years ago cheese-makers struggled with the prob¬ 
lem until one machine after another grappled with it, and 
each in turn retired from practical work. In most Euro¬ 
pean countries ice is too expensive at $16 to $20 a ton to be 
of much use in agriculture, and so, instead of using ice, 
nearly every farmer uses a combined aerator and water 
chiller. This mode of doing the work is not satisfactory, 
and hence it is that cheese-makers who strive to keep in 
the front rank find themselves unable to produce fine 
goods, except from milk which has been aerated before 
cooling. It is extremely difficult to convince the ordinary 
dairyman that this is so, without an appeal to direct ex¬ 
periment. Every farmer and dairyman knows the dif¬ 
ference in the odor of milk 12 hours after milking in June 
and in December. One is passably sweet and the other 
smells strong. In summer more care is given to milk, in 
is stirred and chilled. In winter it is milked in the barn, 
Is rarely stirred, but transfer¬ 
red to a tank to cool. 
This treatment involves the 
application of a great prin¬ 
ciple of chemical physics. 
Sanitary engineers and 
physicians will show us that 
In winter drainage and sew¬ 
age waters being at a low 
temperature, are more effi¬ 
cient in sewer traps and 
house drains as absorbents 
and solvents of sewer gases. 
In summer excessive heat 
renders proximity to ponds, 
and sewers dangerous, and 
extra warm weather compels 
the water to yield up its 
deadly odors; hence the prev¬ 
alence of epidemics, such as 
typhoid fever and kindred 
ills. 
Similarly milk is never in 
so good a condition for treat¬ 
ment as when it is warm and 
fresh from the cow. An 
aerator applied then, to blow 
through air by a powerful 
machine, will remove the 
animal taints, and leave the 
milk inodorous and agree¬ 
able to the taste. Milk deal¬ 
ers have discovered this, and 
finding their customers ap¬ 
preciative of the change of 
flavor and generally improved 
condition of the milk, it was not wonderful that their 
trade should increase, and the consumption of milk also. 
Milk so treated is vastly more digestible by delicate 
stomachs and by children, and will keep nearly two days 
longer than milk not so treated. Every manufacturer 
who has bought large quantities of milk knows quite well 
the misery of having to care for that which was not prop¬ 
erly treated at the farm. The aeration of milk is of im¬ 
mense value to the physician in the sultry July and 
August days when elderly people and children under five 
years die so painfully from summer complaints. 
The careful cheese-maker who has studied to produce 
fine goods, tells us over and over again that he cannot by 
any process of factory manipulation entirely remedy de¬ 
fective milk at the factory. All experienced milk dealers 
know that this must be done at the farm. In this particu¬ 
lar lies the main difference between an American factory 
made cheese, and a first class Cheddar made in England or 
Scotland. In the first case the cheese is wrongly started 
at the farm. In the last case, the maker is the farmer 
himself who has complete control of the cows and all 
subsequent stages of manufacture. 
In butter-making the absorption of air by the cream is a 
feature which every butter-maker appreciates. The satur¬ 
ation of cream with pure air greatly facilitates churning, 
and gives a finer granulation. The difference between 
cream raised in submerged cans and that obtained from 
separators is well known to a butter maker who has had 
experience with both systems. Submerged cream must be 
ripened or aired before it is churned. Absorption of air is 
necessary to yield the best results. 
In the cream trade the same principle of action Is illus¬ 
trated all through. Caterers often complain that separa¬ 
tor or machine cream will not whip, or make good ice 
cream. This is a half ti uth, and therefore a deception and 
a snare. In the progress of separation nearly all the 
albumen of milk is taken out of the cream, and cream 
used too fresh is frequently found to be unsuitable for con¬ 
fectionery. Absorption of air and after treatment, as chill¬ 
ing, overcome the difficulty. Indeed, aiiration and chill¬ 
ing will thicken separated cream, and make it a good 
article to use when 24 hours to four days old if properly 
cared for. This fact has proved to be very economical to 
every confectioner who has tried the plan. 
The tests applied by business men and the officers of ex¬ 
periment stations to Mr. E. L. Hill’s aiirator satisfy me 
that it is the most practical and efficient machine yet de¬ 
vised for the purpose. The time cannot be far distant 
when every farmer will find it necessary to use such a 
machine. The milk supply of large cities is greatly in 
need of reform. It is hardly possible to reduce the time 
between milking and consumption, but we may so treat 
the milk at the farm that it will keep sound and be health¬ 
ful for food from one to two days longer than now. In 
that happy day contractors may be less cursed than now, 
and farmers may find it best to care for milk as well as 
they know how. _ 
THE MISTAKES OF A SUCCESSFUL GARDENER. 
Lessening a Big Berry Crop. 
J. M. SMITH. 
For a number of years my beds averaged over 200 bush¬ 
els of berries per acre. Many acres within the last 10 
years have yielded not less than 10,000 boxes per acre. 
This year the average yield has been about 6,000 boxes or 
quarts per acre. An account of my mistakes may be 
worth more to the readers of The Rural than one of my 
success. 
In the spring of 1890 we set our plants for this season’s 
crop. After they had been set, early peas, beans, onions, 
etc., were planted between the rows. In this way a crop 
can be obtained from the land the first season, and be out 
of the way by the time the runners need it. Our plants 
between the rows yielded well. The vines and refuse were 
taken off and added to the compost heap. But the weeds 
—how they did grow! We were driven with work until 
we hardly knew what to do first. It seemed very difficult 
to get help, still It could have been obtained by driving 
out into the country for it. I kept thinking that by “ to¬ 
morrow ” we would be able to finish cleaning out the 
strawberry beds, and so matters went on day after day 
until something like half an acre was completely over¬ 
grown with weeds. Finally it actually cost me more to 
clear away the weeds when at last I did it, than it 
would had I done it before they had caused any dam¬ 
age. 1 cannot tell just what that neglect has cost me; 
but Nature charged it up against me, and has taken full 
pay out of the crop. It was certainly more than $100, and, 
I believe, it was nearer $150. 
One more mistake: We are passing through the driest 
season I have known for 30 years. The strawberry crop 
about here was almost an entire failure, except where 
it was carried through by artificial watering, and we are 
almost the only growers in the county, who have facilities 
for so doing. The drought commenced early in the spring, 
and I noticed that my strawberry plants scarcely started 
even after the growing weather had come. I knew that 
they were in need of water, but kept thinking that rain 
would surely come within a day or two, and then they 
would soon catch up. Rain did not come, and after wait¬ 
ing too long I started the water pipes upon them. They 
were kept well watered from 
this time on to the close of 
the season, but they had been 
damaged in a way I had not 
anticipated. They came out 
with about as fine and as 
great an amount of bloom as 
I had ever seen; but the 
foliage to carry such a crop as 
that promised to be through 
the season, was not there. The 
result was that the berries 
were not of their usual size, 
neither did the late sets fill 
out as they should have done. 
This Is mistake No. 2 and is 
sufficient for one crop. 
I wish I could impress it 
upon the minds of The R. 
N.-Y. readers, that Nature 
accepts no excuses for our 
mistakes. It makes no dif¬ 
ference whether they are 
caused by Ignorance, care¬ 
lessness, laziness, poor land, 
poor cultivation, or any other 
cause, the law is precisely 
the same, and says to us: 
Do your work when 11 
should be done and as it 
should be done, putting in 
each crop in Its proper time, 
and upon the soil best fitted 
for it to do Its best; cultivate 
It in the best manner, fertilize 
It according to its needs, and t 
in short, do your parts well, and I will do mine.” 
For a good many years my crops have been uniformly 
large, and large ones are almost always profitable, but 
when I have made a partial failure I can invariably look 
back and see where I have made one or more mistakes, 
the avoidance of which would have resulted in large and 
profitable yields, instead of moderate yields and profits. 
I do not know what these mistakes have cost me ; but 
they will surely run into some hundreds of dollars. They 
were the results of only a few days’ carelessness in both 
cases. Men could have been found to do the work when it 
should have been done. I had plenty of water conveniently 
arranged for watering the plants, but neglected to have it 
put on as early in the season as it should have been done, 
and the result was as I have mentioned above. 
Brown Co., Wis. 
Agricultural College Education.— A great many 
people who never went near an agricultural college, and 
others who have spent perhaps a day at one, devote much 
time and ink trying to prove that these colleges are “ edu¬ 
cating boys away from the farm I” The following extract 
is from a letter written by one of our Michigan subscribers: 
“ Ever since I attended the State Agricultural College I 
can be satisfied with nothing unscientific on the farm. 
Conducted on practical business principles, farming will 
pay far better than the majority of professional or mercan¬ 
tile undertakings,” 
Good skim milk and linseed meal never will fail, 
That’s what we’re made of—we're “raised on the pail!” 
