PROGRESS AND IMPROVEMENT, 
TWO DOLLARS A YEAR.] 
larger the audience the greater the difficulty,) pre¬ 
cluding the great mass of spectators from de¬ 
riving either pleasure or instruction from the 
discussion of any subject* however important. It 
is certainly complimentary to the speaker at a 
Pair to have an audience of from five to ten 
thousand—as we have had on some occasions—but 
if he has not the voice and lungs to talk to over 
one or two thousand in the open air, the great 
majority can only see him go through the motions, 
which is Bimply an aggravation. Now, while we 
would not entirely condemn the practice of having 
addresses at Fairs- 
AN ORIGINAL WEEKLY 
Agricultural, Literary and Family Newspaper. 
•for they are no doubt promi¬ 
nent attractions in maiiy instances, and therefore 
beneficial to the Societies pecuniarily—we Bubmit 
whether it would not be better to reserve the ad¬ 
dress, or have another, at the Annual meeting, 
which is usually held in Winter, and to secure a 
commodious hall or other building where an au¬ 
dience could comfortably hear and comprehend the 
snhject discussed. This course has been adopted 
successfully by several Town Ag. Associations in 
Western New York, and wo think is worthy the 
attention of County Societies also, both here and 
in other States. 
— In our opinion every Town Ag. Society or 
Farmers’ Club, should hold meetings as often as 
once a month during the winter, (and if fortnightly 
or weekly the better,) for lectures, discussions, 
&c.,— and many County Associations could do so 
advantageously. There is home talent enough gene¬ 
rally, and wherfc there is not, it will be easy to pro¬ 
cure foreign aid of the right stamp. 
GROUP OF SPANISH MERINO BUCKS 
Above we give a tine representation of a group as to bring him many 
of five Spanish Merino bucks, bred and owned by the country. He wri 
Geo. Campbell, of Vermont. These animals are 21.) that he has just 
of the old Spanish stock, introduced by Col. Hum- Buenos Ayres, (beiDg 
phreys and Hod. Wm. Jarvis. Mr. Campbell is parties,) and fifty hue! 
favorably known as a successful breeder of Merinos, Merino breed, to Yir 
and also as an importer of Silesian sheep, and bis oently sold and forv. 
flock has attained such excellence and celebrity French Merinos to pa 
FARMERS’ OUT-BUILDINGS, 
and in acquiring useful knowledge. In Western 
New York, and many other sections, tho great 
mass of our readers can avail themselves of the 
advantages of associated effort—are so situated 
that they can easily form Societies and Clubs for 
lectures, discussions, &c., on practical and scien¬ 
tific subjects. The great trouble is that Ruralhts 
do not do enough of their oicn thinking, talking, and 
! writing —but leave such things to their ministers, 
II teachers and editors. They should think, talk and 
| write more for themselves, and in behalf of their 
own interests—and, next to early education and 
training, the best way to qualify themselves to do 
this, is to practice these arts, for each is an art, 
j individually and collectively, at every opportunity, 
and especially during the long evenings and 
j I leisure days of the season of Nature’s hibernation. 
In almost every school district there are men who 
j I possess sufficient mind and talent to take the lead 
in delivering brief lectures, writing esssys and 
j discussing useful questions; all that is lacking is 
the necessary energy to perfect an organization 
j and make a commencement The start must be 
made by voluntary effort, and one, two or three 
I persons can secure this, in almost any locality, by 
proper and timely action. 
Farmers live too much within themselves at all 
times, and are prone to imitate Nature, by going 
into a torpid or hibernating state during winter, 
j instead of employing it as a season of mental, 
I moral and social improvement for themselves and 
their families. Rural friends and brethren, you 
necessary, and we think they are not used in any 
of our lare ice-houses, though in most cases it 
would ho best to lay down a loose floor a few 
inches from tho surface of the ground. If a 
quantity of brush waB first laid down sud covered 
with straw, and the floor put over this, it would 
make the work complete. If a board floor is not 
used there should be at least a foot or eighteen 
inches of straw, hut a few inches on the hoards 
will be sufficient The ice made in the early part 
of the winter, and that which has been subjected 
to no change from freezing to thawing, is the best 
It should be sawed out in squaie cakes as uniform 
in size and thickness as possible. All snow, and 
ice formed from half-melted snow, should be re¬ 
jected, as it will not keep. After one layer is put 
down, the crevices should he filled with pounded 
ice, and this should he continued until the house 
is filled, when the whole will freeze into a solid 
mass. A few inches of straw should be placed be¬ 
tween the walls of tbe house and the ice, and this 
should he done while the bouse is being filled. 
Then cover the whole with a foot or so of straw, 
and the work is done. An opening must be made 
in the roof for ventilation. 
An apartment can he made in the ice-house for 
storing meat, batter, &c., during the warm season, 
and this will he found no small convenience to 
For the sake of the family, who often 
in morning's milk; pms in rennet to bring the j 
curd in tbrec-fourdis of an hour; cut3 the curd ! 
with a brass wire curd-cutter; scalds from 100° to 
110° about one hour; separates the whey with a 
tin strainer; uses common salt, one-half ounce to 
three pounds; presses twenty-four hours; bandages 
when tbe cheese is turned; rennet preserved in 
atone jars in pioklo; turns cheese once a day and 
rubs thoroughly. The average product of each 
cow the present season was 223 pounds. Last 
year made seven and one-half tuns of cheese 
from twenty-nine rennets. 
II. C. Normander, Rutland, gives the process 
pursued in his dairy as follows:—Has forty cows; 
sixty acres of meadow, each seeded with timothy 
and clover; feeds no roots or grain; usual yield 
450 pounds per cow, 280 thus far this season; 
night’s milk set in tin vat, cream not returned; 
uses no thermometer 
all require cellar-room. Most of these may be 
buried, but then they are not always accessible 
when wanted, and when a pit is opened a cellar is 
then required for storing until they are fed out 
To tho question asked, whether a farmer who 
raises roots and feeds them in part to all his stock 
can get along without a root-cellar, we answer that 
he can get along without one, though not well. 
He would find the money and labor expended in 
making a cellar the beat investment he has made 
for many a year. 
A sanffiji hillside is the very best place for 
making a cfcllar-as In this situation good drainage 
is secured and easy access. There is, however, no 
diffiulty in making a cellar in any place where the 
water will not lie within four or five feet of the 
surface. Dig down as far as drainage will allow, 
throwing the earth hack, to he used in banking 
up. If stone is plenty, they are best for the walls, 
if not plank and posts will answer. A strong 
ridge-pole is necessary, which may be supported 
on posts. Plank the roof, and bank up the sides 
with earth. Cover the roof with straw or leaves, 
over which place boards or earth to keep it in 
place. Perhaps some of our readers who have 
good out-door cellars will give us, in detail, the 
manner of construction. If not, before long we 
will describe one made in this vicinity three 
years ago, and which has been proof against 
the severe frosts of the last three winters, and 
every way convenient and useful. 
A Farmers’ Ice-House. 
Ice has long been a luxury enjoyed by the 
residents of villages and cities, but of late years 
it has become almost a necessity even to tbe 
dwellers in the country, who are compelled to 
provide the necessary means for saving it over the 
The farmer must erect his own ice- 
concisely explained as follows:—The soil is pul- || 
verized only as deep as the plow runs—some six 
or eight inches. Below this is a stratum ot clay I | 
or hard pan, nearly impervious to water. The 
surface soil becomes saturated, like a sponge, by j 
the autumn rains or melting snows of spring. 
When tbe ground is suddenly frozen, the water 
contained in it crystallizes into ice, the soil is 
thrown up into spicules or honey combs; and the Ij 
poor clover roots or wheat plants are thrown 
from their beds; and, by a few repetitions of the 
process, left dead upon the field in the spring. 
The root of the evil is a saturated soil. Full of 11 
water, the irost exerts a tremendous lifting or ex¬ 
pansive power upon it, adequate to lift tuns of 11 
rocks, and totally destructive to tbe slender roots 
of grain or grass. It the subsoil is impervious to 
water, or nearly so, it matters little what tbe snr- 11 
face may be—we have seen sandy land heave crops 
almost as bad as clay, but in all cases tbe upper 
stratum was filled with water, and the under soil 11 
too compact to allow its passage. 
The remedy is to remove, by drainage, the water 
of saturation. Thorough draining with tile does 
this most perfectly, but surface draining can aid 
considerably in the work of prevention. Any pro- 11 
cess keeping the soil porous, so that all surplus 11 
moisture readily passes off, will prevent winter kill II 
of grain and clover. 
Thorough drainage is a perfect remedy. After 
applying it to his clayey farm, Mr. Johnston, of I 
Seneca °Co., says:—“ Heretofore many acres of 
; after cheese has come so as 
to cut sinoo'h, curd is broken with wire cutter; 
when it settles the whey is drawn off with tin 
strainer; scald by heating tbe wliey and returning 
it; salt, four ounces to ten pounds curd; press 
twenty-four hours; bandage at twelve hours; wbey 
fed to hogs; rennet is dried, packed in salt—when 
wanted for use is soaked in a pickle of salt, cinna¬ 
mon and cloves. 
The Committee next vi-ited D. F>. Gibbs, Pamel'a, 
and ascertained that Mr. G. keeps thirty-one cows; 
fifty-five actes in pasture, timothy and white clover; 
forty acres meadow, timothy; feeds grain in spring; 
average for tho present season 400 pounds per 
cow; set 3 in tin vats, returns the cream; warms 
by healing part of the milk; sets at 85°; keeps 
rennet in pickle; scalds one hour at 110°; two 
ounces of sa’t to ten pounds curd; bandages at 
twelve hours; average weight of cheese eighty five 
pounds; colors rind with annatto; feeds whey to 
hogs; soil clay loam. Mr. Gibbs keeps a “Dairy 
Account” and find9 therefrom that the average in¬ 
come last year was $47 92 per cow. 
Another dairyman in Pamelia, D. C. Eddy, re¬ 
ports twenty-six cows; pasture and meadow, the 
farmers. 
have to procure ice when no men are around, the 
ice house should he as near the residence as 
possible. It may be made ef rough boards, and 
will cost but very little except the labor, or a little 
taste may he exercised in its construction, so as 
to give it a very becoming appearance. 
CHEESE AND CHEESE - MAZING. 
During the present volume of the Rural we 
have given publicity to several queries, relative to 
the manufacture of cheese, together with the re¬ 
sponses these inquiries called forth from dairy¬ 
men, and as there seems to be a desire exhibited 
by many for all the light obtainable on the subject, 
we condense tbe following from tbe report of the 
“Examining Committee” appointed by the Jeffer¬ 
son Co. A g. Society. The “ platform ” of the Com¬ 
mittee is thus laid down:—“Rind firm, smooth, im¬ 
pervious; texture compact, like butter, and salted 
to preserve.” 
The first dairy visited —and voted “best”—be¬ 
longed to Mr. C. A. Benjamin. Mr. B. has thirty 
cows; sets the night’s milk in a tin vat, inside of a 
wooden vat; takes off the cream and does not re¬ 
turn it; sets at 84 c ; cats the curd fine with a curd 
knife; separates whey by dipping through a linen 
strainer; scalds (by putting heated water between 
the vats) gradually to 108° for one and a half 
hours; amount of salt used is five ounces to ten 
pounds of curd; puts in press cold; presses twenty- 
four hours; bandages often eight or nine hours; 
applies to surface, in curing, weak lyes soon after 
removing from the press; the second day afeer ap¬ 
plications of lye, uses a little grease and rubs once 
a day after turning. 
The second dairy reported is that of Stephen 
Hodges, Watertown. Mr. H. gives his modus oper- 
andi thus:—Has fifty cows; sets night’s milk in a 
zinc vat; skims in morning and strains the cream 
summer. 
house, and though this is a very simple matter, 
some little knowledge is necessary, or experience 
may teach what might have been much more 
cheaply learned. That there is considerable desire 
for information on this subject, just now, we have 
abundant evidence in the inquiries before us, and 
as this is the time when such information is 
needed, we offer no apology for occupying a brief 
space in our columns with this matter. 
Damp and heat are the two great agents of 
thawing, and the first endeavor must be to coun¬ 
teract these by every meanB in our power. For 
the first ventilation is necessary, and for the latter 
the most non-conduoting material available must 
be used for the house. The old plan of building 
ice-houses under ground was bad, as it was almost 
impossible to secure good drainage and sufficient 
ventilation to arrest the dampness which is sure to 
exist in all underground rooms or bouses. Then 
tbe ground is too good a conductor of beat, and 
