8o6 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
December 7 
cows all the fodder they needed for a whole week. 
The first crop was oats or rye cut when green and fed 
in the barn. As soon as this was off, the land was 
plowed and drilled to fodder corn, which was cut in 
early September, and fed green. The land was then 
ready for rye, winter oats or Crimson clover, and will 
go through the same programme another year. The 
two green crops gave 200 cows all the roughage they 
could eat in seven days. 
With healthy cows, and plenty of sweet food, pure 
milk is sure to come. How is it to be kept pure when 
all the air is filled with floating germs eager to begin 
their work of spoiling it. The cows are brushed and 
carded every day as regularly as they are watered. 
The stable is kept clean and sweet, and frequently 
washed out. That leaves a small chance for any 
manure or hair to fall into the milk at milking, or for 
any bad smells to be absorbed by it. The milkers 
are obliged to keep themselves clean. Before they 
sit down to milk, they must wash their hands and 
faces, clean their nails, and put on clean white 
milking jackets and pants which are kept at the barn. 
Many farmers call all this absurd and useless, but it 
is strictly adhered to, and, in fact, is common usage 
on all dairies where big prices are obtained for milk. 
The milk is drawn into covered pails with only a 
small opening at the top which is covered by a fine 
wire sieve. The milk streams fall directly on this 
sieve, so that it is impossible tor any dirt to get into 
the pail. Ten or 12 milkers soon fill a milk can. As 
soon as they are tilled, the cans are hooked on to a 
trolley-like arrangement, and go rolling on a wiie 
down to the dairy house, nearly 1,000 feet away and 
below. At Fig. 259, we see the cans on the way, 
while at Fig. 258 we can see them entering the upp< r 
story of the dairy house. This “ trolley ” is an end¬ 
less wire rope running over wheels at the barn aid 
dairy house. A man at the latter place, by turning a 
crank, sets the thing in motion, pulls in the full cai s 
and sends back the empty ones. It is a great improve - 
ment over any scheme for carrying the cans by wagon. 
The milk is quickly taken out of the barn, and is 
cooled and aired by its journey through the air. They 
have never dropped but one can since the thing has 
been in operation. 
The dairy house, shown at Fig. 258, is a model of its 
kind. It was put in the valley beside a famous 
spring, which supplies a never-failing stream of pure, 
cold water. As will be noticed, the house is built of 
stone. Here are collected the old stone walls which 
the grandfathers put up as monuments of their in¬ 
dustry and toil, which in this age are useless for prac¬ 
tical purposes, unless put to another use. This daily 
house is typical of the progressive spirit of the age. 
Here is the better use of grandfather's old material. 
His old walls served their purpose. That purpose is 
completed. As dairy house or as road material, they 
serve a new and better purpose, and serve as a nobler 
monument to grandfather’s sterling qualities. Next 
week we shall tell how this milk is dodged past the 
bacteria inside this house. h. w. c. 
THE BOIKEN AND OTHER APPLES. 
As this apple has been highly praised iu some 
places, and as I cannot fully agree with the estimate 
placed upon it, especially as regards the quality of 
the fruit, I will volunteer a description—as I have it. 
Perhaps mine may not be the true Boiken, but I think 
it is. It is said to be of Siberian or Russian origin. 
Here, the tree is a thrifty, but irregular grower ; with 
rather slender, upright, spreading, ingrowing and 
drooping branches. Much of the fruit is borne on the 
ends of the willowy branches ; the leaves are large 
and the bark smooth. There is some blight. The 
fruit is large, usually oblate-conical, very broad at 
the base, nearly smooth, but one side is thicker than 
the other. In color, it is a pale green with a thin, 
crimson blush—specks not prominent, but there is an 
inclination to round, smoky spots (fungus I suppose) 
in the shade. The medium stem is placed in a very 
large, very deep, straight or dishing, nearly even, 
thinly russeted cavity. Calyx open or closed—seg¬ 
ments usually short, upright. Basin medium, rather 
abrupt, furrowed, the core is small—open. Seeds 
brown not plenty. The flesh is quite white and 
juicy, but of a spongy texture, without much flavor 
and entirely too acid for dessert. Now, although it 
bears well, and may be by care kept until December, 
yet it is very much incliued to rot on the tree, and I 
could not couut it a better keeper than Grimes 
Golden. 
At first, I was inclined to regard this variety as 
promising, but after several years’ fruiting, I am 
obliged to think it of very little value for this local¬ 
ity, where the fine-grained, high-flavored Grimes 
Golden, the showy, juicy Jonathan, and the long- 
lived, popular Minkler succeed. 
One of the most delicately flavored apples which 
we have at this season (November), is the Evening 
Party. It is not so good a bearer as I would like, and 
the texture is just a little suggestive of sponginess ; 
yet it is the apple of all apples with which one needs 
a guardian to tell him when he has had enough. 
Besides, its rich color, and erratic, aristocratic out¬ 
line are suggestive of coquetry with the palate. I 
wish that it bore better and kept longer. 
Tenderskin is another apple that “turns in its 
descriptive grave” here, at the quality grade that 
Downing gives it. It is scarcely inferior to the 
Melon, and many times more productive. But its 
small size unfits it for the market. 
Sangamon County, 111. benj. buckman. 
IS IT BACTERIA OR COW? 
WHAT MAKES TUK CUBAM BITTER? 
The Target. 
One of our subscribers asks this question : “ What 
causes the bitter cream which the Jersey cow is par¬ 
ticularly prone to give, and is there any known rea¬ 
son for it ? Is there any known remedy to prevent 
it ? I have owned a good many high-grade Jersey 
cows, and I have yet to find one whose cream is free 
from this fault at certain times in the year. The 
cream is usually sweet for a few months after calv¬ 
ing. Will you be kind enough to tell us what causes 
of a bitter or unpleasant taste in milk, can be traced 
directly to the cow, and not to poor methods of feeding 
or handling ? 
" Bacteria ! ” Says Dr. Conn. 
The only causes of bitter milk that are known at 
the present time are, first, certain bitter tastes that 
may be derived from certain kinds of food fed to the 
cow. Very little is known iu regard to this. Second, 
it is positively known that iu many cases bitter milk 
is produced by certain species of bacteria which get 
into the milk and grow there, producing intensely 
bitter products. Several such species are known, and 
several instances of bitter milk have been traced to 
such a cause. These bitter producing species are 
probably associated with the food given to the cow. 
that a Jersey cow is particularly prone to bitterness 
in her milk, I was not aware, and I know of no reason 
why Jersey cows should be thus subject more than 
others. I am, therefore, unable to answer the ques¬ 
tion which your correspondent asks, beyond the gen¬ 
eral statement that, as a rule, bitter milk is produced 
by certain species of bacteria getting into the milk. 
H. W. CONN. 
Bad Food or “Micro-Organisms.” 
Bitter cream is due, so far as known, to one of two 
causes: First, food eaten which contains bitter sub¬ 
stances. Second, micro-organisms which produce bit¬ 
ter substances. There seem to be a considerable 
numoer of different organisms which have the power 
of producing bitterness iu milk. Certain kinds appear 
to develop at comparatively low temperatures, and 
are found in cream which has been kept standing for 
some days at a temperature, say, in the neighborhood 
of 45 degrees. The point which is raised by your cor¬ 
respondent, namely, that Jersey cows are peculiarly 
liable to produce bitter cream, is probably accidental. 
It is hardly probable that breed has anything to do 
with it; yet it is possible that such may be the case. 
The suggestion which seems best to offer is that pains 
be taken to observe strictly, cleanliness in every way, 
in the stable, about the bodies of the cows, the hands 
of the milkers, and especially the milking utensils, 
such as the milk pails, cans, etc. Then in addition to 
this, pains should be taken not to keep cream stand¬ 
ing any longer than is necessary to ripen it properly 
for the best results in churning. l. l. van slyke. 
Bacteria Cornered in a Cellar. 
I do not know of any cause of a bitter or unpleasant 
taste in milk that can be traced directly to the cow, 
and not to poor methods of handling or feeding, 
except that the cow may be in heat or diseased. In 
either case, the milk should not be used. If I had the 
trouble of which your correspondent speaks, I would 
investigate the feed thoroughly, especially if the cow 
had poor water or poor pasture. If the feed proved all 
right, then something is wrong with the barn, the 
dairy, or dairy utensils. Plenty of pure air, sunlight 
and steam applied iu the right places, will prevent 
any trouble if the feed is all right and the cow healthy. 
When we were delivering milk to the local trade, 
we had a constant complaint from one customer whose 
milk would not keep over night. We investigated 
and found that none of our other customers had any 
trouble, a neighbor of the complaining customer re¬ 
porting that the milk we furnished him kept four to 
six days. The complaining customer kept the milk 
in a cool, dry cellar. We asked him to try keeping the 
milk in some other part of the house. He did so, and 
reported that the milk kept all right. The cellar 
appeared to be perfectly clean and sweet ; but we 
concluded that it must be the home of some bacteria 
that was injurious to milk. 
A gentleman bought butter from one of the best 
makers in this county. He was troubled all summer 
with rancid butter. Butter brought fresh from the 
dairy the day it was made, would become rancid 
in two or three days, although kept in a well-iced 
refrigerator. This refrigerator was an old one, but 
was kept clean. Finally the man bought a new re¬ 
frigerator, and has had no trouble with his butter for 
over a year. He thinks now that, although the old 
refrigerator was apparently clean, the pores of the 
wood must have been saturated with the germs that 
cause rancid hutter. 
The longer we work in dairying, the more sure we 
are that, if there is any defect in the milk, cream or 
butter, it is the fault of the man and not the cow. 
The only points where the cow is to blame are in 
giving too little when properly treated, and in not 
showing enough butter fat. All other characteristics 
the feeder and dairyman control. H. m. COTTRELL. 
A Hint At the Trouble. 
So far as I know, all peculiar flavors of milk, bitter 
or otherwise, may be attributed to the influence of 
ferments, or to the taste directly imparted to the milk 
by the food, with the exception that it has been fre- 
queutly noticed that the milk from cows in advanced 
periods of lactation, may contain a bitter, saline pro¬ 
duct. So far as I know, this product has never been 
isolated. I am not aware that the Jersey cow is more 
subject to this than cows of other breeds, h. ii. wing. 
E- N.-Y.—VVe are rather surprised that only one of 
our correspondents should even hint at what seems to 
be the true solution of the trouble. There are three 
eauses for an unpleasant taste in milk or cream out¬ 
side of what happens to it after it is taken from the 
cow. When the cow is far advanced in pregnancy, 
the milk often has a strong, salty taste. It may not 
be exactly bitter, but is unpleasant, and quickly 
noticed by most people. Of course in large dairies, 
where the milk from many cows is well mixed, this 
taste would not be noticed. Cows may be troubled 
with a disease of the liver that eauses bitter milk, and 
in some stages of tuberculosis the milk has a peculiar 
flavor. In this case, we think the trouble is due to 
the fact that the cow has been giving milk too long, 
and that the characteristic change has set in. 
lhis is pretty well proved by the fact that, when two 
cows were kept—one long in milk and the other fresh 
—their milk was kept separate, in the same refriger¬ 
ator and one showed the bitterness while the other 
was sweet. We believe that the hest cows—that is, 
the ones giving the richest milk, will show more of 
this trouble than others. It is strange that scientific 
men have not given this matter more attention. 
MILLERS AND THEIR WATS. 
THEIR SHARE OF THE FARMER’S WHEAT. 
Reference here is not made to the kind of millers 
that has wings, but to owners of flouring mills, some 
of whom will never have any wings, I fear, unless 
they change their ways. The day is rapidly passing 
iu which farmers thought that they had greater griev¬ 
ances against every other class than workers m other 
occupations could have against then; but some of 
the men who buy and grind our grain have ways that 
are decidedly unfair to farmers, and some improve¬ 
ment would be in order. 
Within a few miles of our village are five mills that 
buy and store some wheat whenever it is offered by 
local growers. The amount of wheat grown here is 
far short of the requirements of these mills, which 
find a good market for flour in the coal regions 
of southeastern Ohio and West Virginia. The re¬ 
mainder of the wheat needed is ordered chiefly from 
dealers in the city markets of our State. Before com¬ 
petition between the mills for the local wheat arose, 
the idea was that each mill should take the wheat of 
its regular customers, or what was offered at its 
doors, and pay a price just sufficiently large to make 
it unprofitable for the farmer to ship to the city. The 
miller could thus save about 10 cents a bushel on 
local wheat, as he paid city prices plus freight for 
the imported grain, and several cents less than city 
prices for local grain. But there was so much profit 
in the local wheat, that the mills began sending buy¬ 
ers out, offering slight inducements to the growers to 
sell to a competitor of the man they usually supplied. 
Farmers learned that something was to be gained by 
going to more than one mill with samples when they 
wanted to sell. 
Last summer, after thrashing, a neighbor and I took 
samples to one mill, and 65 cents a bushel was offered 
