lOO 
February 17 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
manur?, mostly, which, as all know, is not so good as 
horse manure for gardening. It has been cheapened 
because farmers found that fertilizer would, in large 
part, take its place in their system of farming. Mr. 
Ham cultivates 15 acres and does it so well that he 
sells a large amount of tq lashes, cabbage, sweet corn, 
celery, etc , besides keeping 19 head of cattle and sell¬ 
ing some of his hay. Ha does all the work too with 
the help of his son. 
“ Do you use much manure ?” I asked Mr. Ham. 
“ Yes, more or less on all crops except potatoes— 
unless I plant on sod. I use about 50 cords a year. I 
never put manure on potatoes; as I have demonstrated 
that I can get a larger crop of finer potatoes by us’ng 
fertiiiztrs. For cabbage I generally use five cords of 
manure per acre and add 700 pounds of fertilizer 
strewn in the drill.” 
“ Have you ever grown cabbage without manure ?” 
” Yes, I once sowed rye after a crop of squash, cut 
the rye for feed and plotved in the stubble with a ton 
of fertilizer per acre and set out late cabbage. Every 
plant made a good head and it beat the manure. I 
have also grown cabbage on fertilizer alone, but would 
prefer, on my soil, some manure or a sod.” 
“ Do you find any difference between cow and horse 
manure ?” 
” Yee, indeed, a big difference ; the former is not so 
good. It is slower and colder in its action, and that 
is just why the fertilizer does us so much gcol in this 
dairy section, and why it is used so larg.^ly with the 
manure—because it q iickens up the effect.” 
do be continued.) 
TEMPERATURE AND TIME OF CHURNING 
CREAM. 
LESSONS FBOM THE WORLD’S FAIR DAIRY CONTEST. 
(Concluded.) 
It is now quite generally known that three breeds 
of cattle were represented in the World’s Columbian 
Exposition Dairy Test. The cows were all thorough¬ 
breds. There was no mixing of the milk or cream of 
the different breeds. Esc?pting a few days in Sep¬ 
tember, the milk of each breed was creamed and 
churned in the same way and by the same persons, 
but the products of each breed were kept by them¬ 
selves. The records of the time and temperature of 
every churning made, show that there are breed char¬ 
acteristics that infiuence the churning of cream, and 
that the proper thickness of cream is not the only fac¬ 
tor to be considered (although it is a very large one) 
when we want a thorough churning in a reasonable 
length of time. 
The cream churning records of the three breeds 
show that the Guernsey and Short-horn cream was 
churned at the lowest temperature. There was not 
much difference in the churning records of these two 
breeds. The temperature at the end of 191 churnings 
of cream, including 93 Guernsey and 101 Short-horn 
churnings, was as follows : 
15 time* between 45 ard 48 degrree* F. 
95 Uaes between 48 and 51 dtgrree* F. 
71 tlmts oetween 52 ana 56 degiees F. 
7 ila.ea between 56 and 62 degtees F. 
All but two of the 90 churnings of Guernsey cream 
were at 56 degrees or lower when completed. One of 
these two was at 57 and the other at 58 degrees, so 
that taken as a whole, the Guernsey cream churned at 
a little the lowest temperature, though there was not 
much difference between it and the Short-horn cream 
in this respect. 
The temperature of churning the Jersey cream was 
considerably higher than that of the Guernsey and 
Short-horn cream. The temperature at the end of 
every one of 117 churnings of Jersey cream was above 
50 degrees F. O ily eight churnings were completed 
between 50 and 54 degrees F.; 79 churnings ended at 
54 to 58 degrees F., and 30 churnings at 58 to 63 de¬ 
grees F. There was a difference of about eight de¬ 
grees F. between the temperature of churning the 
Jersey cream and that of the other two breeds. 
The temperature of the cream at the beginning of 
these 308 churnings varied from 12 ti 19 degrees in 
extreme cases, but the average temperature of the 
Guernsey and Short-horn cream when the churn was 
started was 45 degrees F., and the Jersey cream 53 
degrees. 
TZMPBRATURB OP THE CREAM AT TUB BEGIXXTKG OF CHUKXINO. 
G. 
S. 
J. 
Hle>ie 8 t temperature. 
58 
57 
S9 
Averase temperature. 
45.8 
52.8 
There was a slight rise in temperature between the 
beginning and end of each churning. The cream was 
almost invariably churned in a room where the tem¬ 
perature was higher than that of the cream. The dif¬ 
ference in temperature bet ween the beginning and end 
cf these churnings was, in a few extreme cases, 13 de¬ 
grees, and in some only two degrees, but the average 
difference was six degrees in the Guernsey and Short- 
hern and 4.4 degrees in the Jersey cream churnings. 
Time of Churning. 
The record of 308 churnings shows that the average 
time per churning of 90 lots of Guernsey crean was 
50 minutes; 101 lots of Short-horn cream, 58 minutjs ; 
117 lots of Jersey cream, 59 minutes ; also the follow¬ 
ing comparisons: 
IT. n. j. 
The lonsrest time per chnrnlnff (tt)lnnt<! 8 >. IHO 120 1.50 
Th“ ghorle-t lime p^r churnlns: (miniit***). . 2.5 18 17 
Number of ch r Imrs chat requlreu orpr O a.Inutes. 3 9 It 
Number ol churnings that requUed less than 30 mlnuies.. 3 6 5 
This shows that in 308 churnings, only 26 of them 
required over IJ^ hour per churning, and 14 were 
churned in a little less than half an hour each. The 
longest time of churning any one lot of cream was 2}i 
hours and the shortest time 17 minutes. There was no 
uniform relation between the time required to churn 
cream and the temperature at which the butter came. 
The lot of cream that was churned 2}^ hours was 
started at 51 degrees F. and ended at 63 degrees. There 
were other churnings of similar cream that were 
started at 51 degrees and the butter came in one hour, 
and several of the lots of this cream that were 63 de¬ 
grees at the end of the churning had been churned 
only half an hour. 
The buttermilk from all these churnings contained 
about 0.2 per cent fat. e. h. farrinoton. 
Chemist Illinois Experiment Station. 
m 
[Every query must be aooompanled by the name aod addre** of the 
writer to Insure attention. Before asking a question please see If It is 
not answered In our advertising oolumns Ask only a few questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.] 
To Q-et Started with Hens. 
II- D H., Williamsbridge, N. Y. —Which is the best 
poultry paper relating to producing eggs for the mar¬ 
ket, and where is it published ? WaatisTHK R N.-Y.’s 
opinion of a young man and his wife starling to raise 
poultry for eggs ? About how much money would it 
take, and what are the prospects for success, presum¬ 
ing that they had had some experience in raising 
chickens and, of course, made a study of the business ? 
Are the profits (presuming the business to be properly 
conducted) more than in the lumber business (about 
15 per cent on one’s investment) ? What would be the 
best plan for starting, and about how long would it 
take to put the business on a paying basis ? 
Ans—F rom my experience, I would prefer the 
Poultry Keeper, published at Parkesburg, Pa. The 
firm also pablishes three or four cheap books relating 
to poultry and eggs. It is a difficult matter to advise 
any person as to his prospects of success in the poultry 
business. It all depends on the energy given to it and 
the facilities fir disposing of the eggs at the high¬ 
est market value for strictly fresh, which should be 
from five to ten cents per dozen higher than the highest 
market quotations for f-esh eggs. If eggs are sold 
through commission houses, the profit is decreased to 
such an extent that there is but little left unless the 
chickens have considerable range, and the necessary 
feed is grown on the farm. The buildings required 
to keep 503 hens would cost $500, besides about $100 
more for wire fence, and 50 or so hens to start with.. 
It would take two years to raise the required number 
of hens. The profits from 500 hens should be from 
$500 to $600, sometimes more, per year, but I would 
caution the beginner to go slow, be particular to guard 
against disease and lice, and read and study every¬ 
thing psrtaining to the suVjict previous to starting. 
After one has been at the business two or three years, 
he will be surprised at the little he previously knew 
of the business. a. Johnson. 
Talcott Talks About the Silo. 
O. S, S., Middleburg, Pa .—1. Does Mr. Henry Tal¬ 
cott tramp ensilage as he fills his silos ? 2 Would 
he plant the B and W. ensilage corn alone or part 
big horse tooth corn, to see which would yield the 
most per acre ? 3 H jw deep should I plow soi ground 
for corn ? 4. H ow can I get out of debt faster than 
by raising wheat at 60 c mts per bushel ? I made the 
first silo in S lyder County and am a crank oa the silo 
question. I can sell good butter the year around. 
Ans.— 1. I always tramp the ensilage while filling 
the silo, that 1 may know for cirtain that it is being 
evenly filled and that when cooked into ensilage it 
will settle evenly and be nearly level on top. 2. I 
would plant the B. and W. corn (that is the large 
white Southern corn) in any part of Pennsylvania 
every time, because hundreds of men have already 
demonstrated that it will produce the largest amount 
of ensilage. 3. Plow as deep as it has ever been be¬ 
fore—six inches anyhow—and go deeper gradually as 
you can make good soil. I plow from six to eight 
inches. The deep plowing gives me a better reservoir 
for moisture when the hard pinch of drought comes. 
The corn roots touch bottom every time and find all 
the moisture and plant food there is left in soft ground. 
4. Science, so-called, has interposed fearful barriers 
against the universal adoption of the silo. The more 
exper'ence I have, the less attention I pay to such 
teachers. I want practical information to-day on what 
has been done. Any kind of a silo will preserve ensil¬ 
age, providing it is packed in the silo in a proper man¬ 
ner and is maturely grown corn with its largest 
possib’e yield of ear corn. The ir ain conditjon is that 
it must be wet when it goes into the pit, either from 
the natural juices of the corn, or else water must be 
added. Let science howl—sprinkle on lots of water 
and these practical demonstrations will save the 
ensilage. 
The light, board silo, a single thickness of one-inch 
narrow ceiling, none of it over four inches wide, makes 
the cheapest and best silo on earth ; because it will 
not absorb heat and moisture from the ensilage, as a 
solid masonry or concrete silo always will. When the 
silo is emptied, the lumber will then dry out quickly 
and perfectly, and will last for years longer than one 
of two boards’ thickness either with or without paper 
between them. The latter retains moisture a long 
time and must occasion rot. A man yvith a small 
amount of brains can easily comprehend this fact— 
but science with her abundance of wisdom is very 
slow to catch on to simple, practical facts. Whenever 
there is any difference between science and practice, 
science is the one in every instance that requires re¬ 
adjustment. Science informs us of the wonderful 
food value of old, hard, dry corn stalks as compired 
with ensilage ; but of what earthly use is this infor¬ 
mation to us if the old cows can’t be made to eat 
them ? It is folly to starve them down to eating such 
fodder; it neither makes milk nor beef very fast. 
Practice says, make ensilage of them and cat le can 
then save every particle of food value in them without 
effort or compulsion. H. talcott. 
The Most Popular Pop Corn, 
L. A. TF., Sl'iut. N. Y. —What is the best pop corn ; 
the most productive, and the best for popping ? 
Ans. —The best pop corn for market in New York is 
the rice corn ; next comes the White Pearl. These 
sell for higher prices than any ether because the 
poppers who do a large business consider that they pop 
better and give a product of better quality. For the 
past two or three years it has been almost impossible 
to sell any other variety. In fact, the pop-corn market 
has been glutted, and prices have been very low for 
all varieties. It is poor policy for any one to engage 
in the business of growing popcorn for market on any 
extended scale. It is a very particular crop to handle, 
and requires special facilities. Besides, there are cer- 
• tain localities where it succeeds better than in others 
and where, from some condition of soil or climate, 
better corn is produced. Much disappointment has 
resulted to growers who have engaged in the business 
without suflBcient knowledge cf required conditions. 
As an illustration of the slow sale of pop corn, one 
commission merchant said that he had a mind to adver¬ 
tise that he would receive no more pop corn. 
Fertilizers For Colorado Potatoes. 
C. F. M., Orecley, Colo —Last season I put 600 pounds 
of bone meal per acre on a sandy, clay soil for pota¬ 
toes, with the result that but little better crop was 
raised than where none was put on, and not so go jd as 
where the poorest stable manure was used. Dues that 
not indicate that a fertilizer should be used that con¬ 
tained no bone meal? Are not “complete potato 
fertilizers” made un in good part of bone meal ? If 
so, would it not be better to buy potash and nitrogen, 
or some fertilizer containing but little or no bone 
meal ? 
Ans —Bone meal contains nitrogen and phosphoric 
acid—neither of them in an immediately soluble form. 
Because this substance did not increase the crop it 
does not prove that bone meal is of no value, but rather 
proves one of two things : Your land needs potash, or 
else needs niirogen and phosphoric acid in a soluble 
form. The potato fertilizers contain a good deal of 
phosphoric acid in the form of dissolved bene black or 
rock. The theory on which they are made is to put 
together a mixture of different materials like dissolved 
bone black, bone, fish and guano—giving different 
degrees of solubilty. In your case, of planting on an 
Alfalfa sod, we would use potash and dissolved bone 
black or rock. If on potatoes after potatoes, we would 
add, say, 150 pounds nitrate of soda per acre. Our 
opinion is that your soil needs potash more than any¬ 
thing else. 
Bees on Potatoes and Grapes. 
B. B , Farmingdile, Ill.—l. Do bees feed from the 
blooms of potatoes? 2. It is asserted that bees are a 
benefit to the vineyardist. As we prune principally to 
keep the vine from overbearing, and, as all varieties 
are trimmed, please state where the benefit comes in. 
Ans. —1. I do not know. Potatoes do not blossom 
regularly in many localities. One farmer told me he 
thought the bees did work on potato blossoms. Bees 
