rATURE 
p*«—-- 
gjjGR_IC UlTUR^ 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMBER 
MOOEE'S EUEAL NEW-YORKER, 
AN original weekly 
RURAL, LITERARY AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
CONDUCTED BY D. D. T. MOORE, 
BUTTER MAKING IN ORANGE CO 
Tiik Editor of the Utica Morning Herald has 
made a tour among the butter factories of 
OraDge bo., and we condense below 6onio of 
his observations. 
Ihe establishment of butter factories has been 
a great success, because they have been enabled 
to turn out a very superior article, uniform, and 
one that can be relied on in the market. The 
butter factories arc now oll'ercd 70 cents per 
pound for all they can make, because there are 
those in the cities who will have the best butter 
let the price we what it may, in preference to 
taking an ordinary article at ordinary prices. 
The butter manufactured here is of that peculiar 
tlavor which once having tasted one will not 
soon forget.. 
In connection with the making of butter, 
To Correspondents* —Mr. Randall’s address is 
Cortland Y illage, CortlaDd Co., N. Y. All communi¬ 
cations intended for this Department, and all inquiries 
relating to sheep, should be addressed to him as above. 
SPECIAL CONTRIBUTORSi 
P. BARRY, 0. DEWEY, LL, D., 
H. T. BROOKS, L. B. LAJS'GWORTHY, 
T. C. PETERS, KDWAKD WEBSTER. 
T hk IltrEAi, Nbw-Yobkrb is designed to be unsur¬ 
passed Hi Value, Purity, and Variety of Contents, and 
unique and beautiful in Appearance. Ita Conductor 
devotes ms personal attention to the supervision of Its 
WASHED OR UNWASHED WOOL.” 
ARTICLE ONE. 
cheese is manufactured from the milk after the 
cream is slummed off. This cheese is of course 
Inferior to that made from pure milk, but it 
seems well adapted for shipment to warm cli¬ 
mates, and better suits the taste of people liv¬ 
ing under a burning sun, where much fat is not 
desired in the food. Many of these cheeses are 
sent to China in exchange for tea, and they have 
sold this year for prices equal to those of pure 
milk cheeses. 
For making butter a house is erected over a 
spring, furnishing a large supply of water, the 
temperature of which does not rise above 
Y ats are made in the room around the sm-mo- 
YY e illustrate herewith a very pretty and 
convenient Tonltry House, built by Mr. C. N. 
Besient, at 8 pringslde, near Poughkeepsie. 
Mr. B. gives the following description: 
In a sequestered nook, and cluster of trees, 
on the sunny side of a high bank, surmounted 
by rocks covered with shrubbery, may be seen 
the new fowl - house, lately erected by the 
writer. This location was selected for the 
purpose of protection fronV- cold northern 
blasis, ana receiving the 1U;I tx-ueut or 
the winter’s suu. The deciduous trees in front 
being deprived ot their foliage in winter, admit 
the lull Influence of the sun, and when in full 
leaf, shade and ward off his searching rays in 
summer. 
Description.— The elevation, as will be seen in 
the figure accompanying'this article, is a rather 
pretty affair. The center building, with the gable 
to the front, is twelve feet square; eight feet 
posts. The roof is very steep and surmounted I 
with a kind ot cupola, for the purpose of venti¬ 
lation and ornament; in the bottom of this are 
two small swing doors, to dose up when neces¬ 
sary, The roof is of one andui-quarter inch 
plank, tongued and grooved, the Joints painted 
with white lead and battened. The entire 
front is of glass, extending to the very point 
at the top. 
The left wing is a lower editice, tweuty-two 
feet long aud ten wide. The floor, which is of 
broken stone covered with tine gravel, is sunk 
below the surface, two feet iu front aud eight 
feet in the rear. The back wall restimr am,;!* 
with brick. The front wall and ends are also 
of brick. The roof has a gentle pitch to the 
rear, and made of one-and-a-quarter inch plank, 
tongued and grooved, joints painted with white 
lead before being laid. The under sides of the 
rafters arc lined with hemlock boards, the 
spaces between the rafters tilled with tan, ren¬ 
dering it frost-proof. The front wall is of brick, 
and two feet high, on which the wood and sash 
rest. la the base are gratings to admit air; also 
above tha gW*, aud , ust uuder liiti eaves, mu 
open spaces for ventilation. In very cold weather 
these spaces may be closed with shutters. On 
the right is a door for entrance, and on the left 
is a small one lor the egress and ingress of the 
fowls. 
Internal Arrangement .—In the rear and run¬ 
ning the whole length of the room, are two tiers 
ot boxes or nests, whieh are, eighteen inches 
BY- 1" on Tkrms and other particulars, see last page • 
and for Inducements (Premiums. Free Copies, &e„) to 
those forming clubs, address the Publisher. 
FALL MANURING FOR CORN. 
It is sometimes a question with farmers 
whether they ought to apply manure to land in 
the autumn, which they intend to plant to corn or 
potatoes the following spring—letting it remain 
on the surface through the winter. Frequently it 
is convenient to do so. Spring is a hurrying 
season. Rains delay the work; mud hinders 
the drawing of manure. If they can keep it 
without waste through the summer and fall, 
adding meanwhile ingredients to swell the bulk, 
and increase the richness, they can draw and 
spread it in the winter even, when there is more 
leisure. 
But does it waste by being exposed to the 
elements through the winter? We think not, 
chemically at least. It may bo wat bed or floated 
off from steep hill-sides, or flats Table to over¬ 
flow. But on level or moderately rolling land, 
there is probably not only no waste In’applying 
the manure In the autumn or winter, but it will 
benefit the crop grown the next season, much 
more than if put on in the spring. Some of our 
beet farmers have adopted this practice, and 
they And it to work well. How cau the manure 
waste ? YV ill any one tell us ? As fermentation 
takes place, consequently no gases arc evolved 
to pass off. But it dries, says one, when there is 
uo snow on the ground, by the wind aud frosts. 
Draw out a load of manure, aud spread it. and 
or ,ne water and likewise even the particular 
breed of the sheep. Not being called upon, 
however, to give a description of the various 
methods of washing, nor to indicate the most 
practicable one, we will suppose that every 
farmer has endeavored to wash his sheep prop¬ 
erly. After this process the wool has to dry on 
I the sheep’s back ; an^ .t is here, where the great 
mistakes, it aot f eculations, have occurred 
every year, to tic disadvantage of the careful as 
well as honest .arrner and manufacturer. 
Mauy farmers who are desirous of bringing 
their wool into the market, in a good, light con¬ 
dition, will shear their sheep as soon as they are 
dry, and this can easily be ascertained by feel¬ 
ing the wool at the breast of the sheep. It 
takes, when the weather is favorable, three days 
for drying, and the shearing should be done on 
the fourth day after the washing. There are 
however, many farmers who let the sheep run a 
fowls. YVe kept our Spanish fowls in this house lon S er time—sometimes a fortnight, if not even 
last winter, without injury by frost, to their longer—iu order to make the wool weigh heavier 
wattles or large combs. by the grease it is gaining, and this bad prac¬ 
tice has increased since the agents who have 
been in the habit of buying wool in the country 
have made comparatively no difference iu price 
for light or heavy woo!. Another bad practice 
has been adopted more and more for the above 
stated reasons, and this is that the fleeces have 
been rolled up with al! the dirt upon them, and 
frequently the unwashed wool of dead sheep is 
packed inside. A!l this is detrimental to the 
interests of the careful and conscientious wool 
growers or those who have been accustomed to 
clean every fleece of all its impurities and to pack 
by itself the wool of the dead sheep. 
YVe beg leave to refer also to the tying of the 
fleeces, which of late has become a perfect annoy¬ 
ance. Thick, rough and miserable twine or 
strings have been used in such quantities, that 
often whole flocks were found with each fleeco 
tied by ounces ot' that common twine, and 
whiehamonnted to nearly 5 percent, of the whole 
weight. Besides this loss of weight, there is 
the damage done by the fibers of the twine 
getting mixed with the wool and being spun 
aud woven in the goods, the extracting of which 
is not only expensive but injurious to the fabrics. 
of the wool in the interior is 
The back wall resting against 
the bauk, is of stone, twenty inches thick, faced 
HOPS IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA 
Having spent three months among the hop- 
growers of England, introducing what is there 
known as the American System of growing 
hops, but which is here kuown as Collins’ 
Pateut Process, I am able to present some facts 
important to farmers generally in this country, 
and especially those engaged iu raising hops. 
The hop gardens in England are confined to 
certain limited locations, the eastern and 
parts of the Island, while here the whole 
try is adapted to their production 
duty on foreign hop: 
land, and lor four 
import duty has 
put uowu, or trie yield per acre. It is 
believed to be from S to 10 cwt. per acre, and 
some years it goes to fifteen hundred in this 
country. The product of hops iu this country 
is increasing rapidly. In 1S50 there were less 
than 3,000,000 of ILs.; iu 1SG0 there were over 
11,000,000. and last year the crop must have 
reached 18,000,000. This year is the nearest to 
a failure m the hop crop that has ever oecured • 
probably not over three or four hundred per 
acre, about halt what is needed to t supply the 
demand. The erop in Euglaud is*very good, 
aud is selling at from £T> to £10 per hundred.’ 
llcie the price is trout 40 cents to 60 cents per 
pound, 
ouly as little as possible. For salting aud work¬ 
ing over a butter-worker is used. This is a 
simple and cheap instrument, which should be 
In every house where one hundred pounds of 
butter are made yearly. There is no household 
work harder than the working of large masses 
of hard butter with only the bowl aud ladle. 
This butter-worker is a triangulurslab, with bev¬ 
eled edges about three inches high. It should be 
of a size suitable to the amount of butter to be 
worked. That described for a large dairy is four 
feet long, twenty-live inches wide at one end, 
and five at the other. It Is supported on legs so 
hb to incline from the wide to the narrow end. 
At the latter point there is an opening for tho 
escape of buttermilk iuto a pail below. The 
butter la worked with a diamoud-shaped lever, 
hinged to the board at the lower end, and some¬ 
what longer than the board, bo us to leave a 
central 
coun- 
aud as the 
>s is now removed in Eug- 
years pftst neither excise nor 
been collected, aud as the 
American fanner is a competitor of the English 
tanner, at home and abroad, it may be interest¬ 
ing to compare the result of cur crop with that 
of the English farmers, i There the yield per 
acre, as shown by official returns tor the last 
twenty-three years that the excise duty was 
collected, was an average of 6 cwt. 3 qrs. per acre, 
each year. Tho highest average was 11 cwt., 
aud the lowest 1 cwt. A qrs.; and on this small 
yield they call hop growing the most payiug 
crop in England. Their crop is very uncertain 
and tho price fiactuating. The cost to start a 
new yard of hops has been very considerable, 
so that the wealthy alone could engage in it] 
but now one-quarter the outlay formerly requi- 
red is sufllcient to commence growing the crop, 
aud the yield aud the quality of the hop pro¬ 
duced is improved by the now process. I found 
this system iu use in several districts in Eng¬ 
land. Simmons & Hi nt used it this season on 
thirty five acres. They said to me, “ YVo last 
year set sis acres with stakes and twine and tho 
yield iu bushels ot green hops was greater, aud 
LINS, 
The paclcin: 
mostly doue by the Agents or Commission 
houses, and the farmers are not to be blamed 
for the way iu which it is done. Experience 
has, however, shown that it is necessary for any 
dealer or Commission house iu the Eastern 
market (.and even among careful manufacturers 
who may want to fiud out what wool their 
agents may have selected, and wliat the actual 
cost of it will be,) to empty the sacks—classify 
the wool—reject the unwashed, the dead wool 
and heavy bucks, though poorly washed and 
subject to au allowance of one-third off; and 
then see what there is ot light and heavy fleeces 
in the quantities they are receiving. 
In Silesia aud Saxony, the wool growers take 
from the fleeces the bellies, breeches and the 
head wool, (generally called the locks,) as they 
Sheep and Cattle Disease.— One gentleman 
near Edinburgh has exposed a few sheep to 
plague-stricken cattle in all stages of the disease, 
but uoue have showu signs of being at all affect¬ 
ed thereby. The last number of tho London 
Agricultural Gazette, says, it is satisfactory that 
we hear nothing more of the liability of sheep to 
Air slacked limp Bprinkled among potatoes, 
when put in the cellar iu the tall, will prevent 
their rotting. 
H Lansing 
