liixrn feusbantrrn. 
X. A. WILLARD, A. M., EDITOR, 
Op Little Falls, Herkimer County, Xkw York. 
LEAKS IN DAIRY FARMING. 
Lousy Cattle — Wiat if Cnnt8 to Food them— 
Remedies Suggested, &c. 
It is sometimes interesting and instructive 
to analyze the different methods of conducting 
operations on dairy farms. One man will make 
the dairy eminently successful while his 
neighbor,'with equal facilities, apparently, has 
serious losses iu his business, and can scarcely 
make “the ends meet, from year to year. 
The one looks carefully over all the details 
of farm management, making ample provis¬ 
ion against waste and loss, while the other 
allows the ‘"little leaks ” to go on unchecked, 
and thus his profits are eaten away and con¬ 
sumed. 
At a recent meeting of Herkimer county 
farmers the question of “ Leaks in Dairy 
Farming and Ilowto Stop them ” was under 
discussion ; and as some of these “ leaks ” 
seem to he appropriate topics for the season, 
wo give briefly from our notes what was 
Buid on that occasion. Mr. Lewis of Frank¬ 
fort, opened the discussion taking for his 
theme, 
“ Lioe on Cattle.” 
lie said:— In a dairy district, where a 
large nilmber of cattle are wintered, it 
will surprise many to learn the cost of 
feeding the lice. From forty years’ ob¬ 
servation and experience with lousy cat¬ 
tle, and from careful and well-consideml es¬ 
timates, l find that a lousy cow requires 
from one hundred to five hundred pounds 
more hay for her winter keep than when free 
of lice. A great many farmers — good farm¬ 
ers too — are quite negligent in looking over 
their stock and freeing them from lice. 
Hardly one farmer out of ten has estimated 
the cost of feeding lice. It is only when 
some poor animal becomes wretchedly thin, 
is weak, dull and stupid, that attention is 
called to the trouble. Then it is discovered 
that lice are sucking out her life and the 
remedy is applied. Hut the moderately lousy 
animal is loll to shift for herself. Feed, il is 
true, is dealt out abundantly, and people of¬ 
ten wonder why such an abundance of food 
should not yield better results in the condi¬ 
tion of stock. The whole trouble consists 
in trying to winter over an innumerable num¬ 
ber of lice. 
In a dairy of forty cows, and at present, 
prices of grain and fodder, it will cost that, 
farmer, whose cattle are infested with the 
vermin, at least two hundred dollars to win¬ 
ter his lice. And with this additional cost it 
will be impossible to bring the stock out in 
Spring in so good a condition as without the 
lice. This Is one of the great, leaks of dairy 
farming. 
Some were of the impression that the 
cause of lice on cattle is traced to poor or 
insufficient keep. That opinion is not 
strictly correct. Dirt or filth will breed lice 
on young cattle just as it does on dirty chil¬ 
dren. They are the natural parasites of neat 
stock which certain conditions of the animal 
may render favorable for their development. 
It might be interesting to know how lice 
originate, and from what source they come; 
but these questions belong to the unexplained 
mysteries of life. It Ls certain, however, that 
lice will pass from one animal to another in 
the stable, and thus not unfrequently the 
whole herd become more or less infested. 
They will be found, on examination, on tlie 
flank immediately above the buck part of 
the udder, between the forward legs, ou the 
brisket, along the back and about the eyes 
and ears. These places constitute their 
towns and cities, their leading thoroughfares 
and public highways. A louse commences 
t© breed when about eight days old, the nits 
hatch in seven days, and the progeny spring¬ 
ing from one pair of lice during the winter 
could only be enume rated and described as 
“ Legion." 
Mr. Shu nn said that lice in calves come 
generally iu the first instance from the cows 
on which the calves suckle. They were very 
injurious in checking the growth and thrift 
of young animals. If the lice are not de¬ 
stroyed it is often quite difficult to carry the 
young animal through winter. Thousands 
of young animals are thus weakened in the 
fall, and perish during the rigors of winter. 
Mr. Wiiitmax believed that lice often got. 
upon the sides of the stable where nits are 
deposited, and thus, though the stable may 
be unused tor months, when the cattle are 
again housed lice are bred. He placed an 
ox that was being fattened, in a stable un¬ 
occupied for several months previous, and, 
although the animal was in high flesh when 
he went in and was fed highly, he soon be¬ 
came very lousy. Attention should be given 
to wliite-wasbing or otherwise purifying the 
inside of stables where cattle are to be fed. 
Stopping Hit? Leak. 
Several methods were recommended far 
ridding the animals of lice. A little 
mercurial ointment rubbed on the edges 
of the stanchion, so that it will come 
in contact with the animal’s neck — three 
applications, at intervals between each of 
eight days — will suffice to purify the herd. 
Four ounces will do one application for forty 
cotvs. Cattle should not be allowed t.o get 
wet or be exposed to cold, bleak storms 
during the treatment. 
Three parts kerosine oil to one of lard, or 
curriers’ oil, well mixed, and applied with a 
brush to the parts where the lice congregate, 
will destroy them, and no injury will result 
from its use if cattle take cold. 
Mr. Rose stated that the dust from hay or 
grain, nibbed into (lie hair along the back 
and other parts where lice are found, will 
rid the animal of the pest. The application 
should be made several times. 
Mr. Whitman employs tobacco smoke, 
and finds it very effectual, lie uses a tin 
tube, in form something like an old-fashioned 
sausage-8tuffer, having at one end a mouth¬ 
piece. Lighted tobacco is placed in the cen¬ 
tral part of the tube, and the smoke blown 
into the lmir and over the lice. Il, kills 
them at once. This is a good device for 
operating upon lousy colts as no injury fol¬ 
lows from its use. Curriers’ oil and other 
grease will kill lice, but its application in 
cold weather is objectionable, as it mats the 
hair and chills the animal. 
Among the other “ leaks” mentioned, but 
not fully discussed, were the following: 
Leaving gates open; poor fences; cold sta¬ 
bles ; feeding late cut bay; feeding unground, 
grain to cattle and uncooked feed to swine j 
doing work by band that could lie done by 
machinery much cheaper and better; doing 
farm work out of season; plowing manures 
under on leaehy soils; using the old square 
harrow on heavy soils When the teeth are 
dull and blunt; using imperfect seed. Some 
of these topics, with others, arc to be fully 
discussed at a future meeting. 
- +■+■*■ - 
STEAMING FOOD FOR MILCH COWS. 
BY J. WILKINSON. 
The economy of steaming food for do¬ 
mestic animals has long since been well 
established, yet it is by no means generally 
practiced, not even by those who acknowl¬ 
edge that there is great advantage in it This 
is one of the numerous branches of hus¬ 
bandry that have been carefully investigated 
and experimented with, until reliable and 
correct conclusions are established; and 
though they show conclusive evidence that 
certain systems are more profitable than any 
others, yet their adoption is the exception 
and not the rule. 
The result of every carefully conducted 
experiment with the use of cooked food 
vermin uncooked, that has come to the knowl¬ 
edge of the writer, has been in favor of the 
former, and, in many instances, according to 
t he figures of the experimenters, from thirty 
to even fifty per cent.; while the result shown 
in other cases, in feeding the same kind of 
animals, was as low as eight per cent, as the 
nut profit, derived from cooking. The differ¬ 
ence in the net profit derived in the various 
experiments was mainly attributable to the 
degree ot acuracy and cure with which the 
experimental feeding had been Conducted. 
In many instances the difference in the 
temperature at which the animals were kept 
was sufficient, to effect the result, fully fifty 
per cent., and yet the farmer whose feeding 
experiments have been conducted under cir 
eumstuneea, when compared with one whose 
success was fifty per cent, more profitable, 
showed beyond all doubt that, the main dif¬ 
ference in the circumstances of the two ex¬ 
periments was the difference in the tempera¬ 
ture at which the animals and the food were 
kept, still no provision is made to supply the 
defect in the stable and its appurtenances, 
but the leas successful seems satisfied with 
the profits of his system. 
Scarcely an example of this kind can be 
found in any other of the industrial pursuits, 
but they are common in every branch of 
agriculture. An example directly to the 
point has recently come to the knowledge of 
the writer from the mouth of the less success¬ 
ful of two neighbors, who occupied adjoining 
farms in Baltimore comity, Maryland, and 
were both in the milk business. Their sta¬ 
ble arrangements wore similar, except that 
one led cooked and the other uncooked food. 
Thu number of cows kept were about the 
same. The character of the provender pro¬ 
duced and purchased, precisely the 9ame, 
that purchased being taken from the same 
cargo or lot; the two dairymen went to 
the drove-yard together and jointly selected 
and purchased a lot of cows, which were 
placed in a yard and the partners divided 
them by casting lots for the first choice, and 
choosing alternately until the stock was 
divided. 
This course was calculated, in connection 
with all other circumstances connected with 
the systems of these two dairymen, to place 
them, more nearly than is usual, on the same 
platform with regard to their dairy profits. 
There was, however, a great difference in the 
net profit derived from the two stables, 
though the milk was sold at the same price, 
and precisely the same course pursued with it. 
The only difference in feeding the t wo 
dairies was as follows, tho hay and fodder 
used being the same in each case: 
When they laid in the grain fed, the course 
pursued was to deliver at the same time of 
the same quality of food in these propor¬ 
tions:— To the stable of tho party who 
steamed the food for his cows, nine hundred 
pounds of com meal and one hundred bush¬ 
els of “ brown atufi',’’ weighing twenty-seven 
pounds per bushel, costing forty-five cents 
per bushel; and to the other stable 1500 
pounds of corn meal and one hundred bush¬ 
els of “ brown stuff,” which was fed on cut 
hay and fodder the same as the other, only 
that it was in a raw state. 
The gentleman who fed the uncooked 
food referred to his book and gave me the 
data. 'The yield of milk per head from the 
cows fed with tho cooked food was a frac¬ 
tion over ten per cent greater than that of 
those fed and sold for beef from the dairy 
stable, anil the amount of sale per head 
averaged seven dollars more for those fed on 
steamed food. 
1 was informed that these two dairymen 
were in the habit of visiting, almost daily, 
each other’s stables, and closely observing all 
the details of the management of both sta¬ 
bles. The party who fed the uncooked food 
has Hince provided ldmself with u Cooking 
apparatus, and Is now preparing to build a 
very extensive stable, with steam power for 
cutting fodder and the best arrangements for 
cooking food. 
But there are numerous other dairymen in 
this county, who are conversant with the 
result of the experiment in feeding cooked 
and uncooked food by these gentlemen, who 
are still feeding In tho old way; and the 
majority will continue so to do no doubt, 
notwithstanding the large profit shown to 
arise lVom cooking. 
Where the number of animals kept is 
small, it is questionable whether it is practi¬ 
cable to make it pay for the necessary arrang- 
mwills, apparatus, care and labor required to 
cook food; but in the experience of the 
writer of several years with steaming food, 
and bis observations on the operations of 
others, ho lias concluded that, with the im¬ 
proved modern facilities for steaming, it will 
pay well to cook food for a dairy of six 
cows anywhere within twenty miles of the 
Baltimore market. 
I am well satisfied that when a perpetual 
dairy is kept, — that is, when the milk must 
be bad every day in the year, in the same 
quantity, anil thirty or more cows are kept 
in one stable, a saving of fully thirty per 
cent, can be made by cooking and grinding 
tlie food. T am further of the opinion that 
a saving of at least eight per cent., but gen¬ 
erally fifteen per cent., can be made on all 
corn fed by grinding it. at the same time it. 
is steaming, by the use of a revolving cylin¬ 
der in which the corn is to be steamed, and 
putting into the cylinder, with the corn, a 
proper number of iron balls, the steam to be 
admitted through one of the journals on 
which the cylinder revolves. The cylinder 
being but partially filled, it will revolve in 
one direction and the bulls in the opposite. 
As (lie steam softens the com it will be 
readily mashed to a pulp, in wbiwli condi¬ 
tion, if it is mixed with steamed mill feed, or 
brown stuff, and this mixture, put on cut 
hay In a warm state, will Constitute a char¬ 
acter of provender in which the nutrition 
will be readily availed of. 
CONDUCTED BY MAltY A. E. WAGER. 
PHILOSOPHY OF MEATS AND 
PASTRY. 
We give a synopsis of Miss Colman’s 
third lecture. 
Wby are pies and cakes unhealthful ? We 
do not like to be cnlled odd, and singular, 
and notional, and put people to trouble and 
worriment perhaps, and so very many times 
indulge in eating what we know, from past, 
experience, harms us. If wo fully under¬ 
stood why and how tlie eating of such and 
such things violates nature's laws, and the 
reason why such penalties follow their viola¬ 
tion, we should have a solid scientific basis 
to strengthen our objections. 
Dyspepsia is indigestion in some way, and 
is never the result of chance. If it comes 
we have invited it. Sometimes the stomach 
is strong enough to endure a vast deal of 
abuse, and is the last of the digestive organs 
to yield to disease. When it utterly refuses 
to do its work the body is mmourished; par¬ 
tial indigestion insures only partial strength, 
and the victim is tired, languid and weak. 
Most of the food in general use is good; 
we spoil it in cooking it. If it is not prop¬ 
erly cooked and sent into the stomach it docs 
not have a proper reception. You must un¬ 
derstand the importance of putting food into 
the stomach. | Here followed a lucid expo¬ 
sition of the method of digestion and indi¬ 
gestion, -which we omit, supposing our 
readers are physiologists enough to know all 
about that.] It is desirable and necessary 
that we should know how not to poison our 
friends, or those for whom wo cook. A soro 
stomach will not receive anything kindly. 
Fruit sometimes hurts us, and wo know fruit 
is healthful. We might as well say that fire 
is nnhealthful, because we hav© burned our¬ 
selves. Bad food has hurt us, and we do not 
get over it, at once, so as to appreciate what 
is good. What is the uniform characteristic 
of bad food? Some people say fruit cake is 
bad; others, hot biscuit,—which is true 
enough; for it melts tho butter, and lias 
shortening in it that many times is fat. 
Concerning Fat. 
What is fat? What portion of tho animal 
do wu find it, in? Is it food? We rarely 
find much of it in healthy animals. Wo 
shut up an animal, deprive it of needed 
healthful exercise, aud it fattens. Fat is 
neither sinew, nor muscle, nor bone. Ac¬ 
tivity carries off tho effete ©r superfluous 
matter. But if the blood becomes sluggish 
and impure, and the liver fails to do its work 
and carry off the surplus matter, and tho 
stomach digests more than the system needs, 
it is deposited In the cellular tissues, and is 
purely dead matter. It has never been organ¬ 
ized, and cannot be made into food. True, 
the Esquimaux eat gallons of oil; they eat 
muscle besides. But neither their mental 
nor physical condition is anything to boast 
of. We never would think of copying them 
in any other respects. The Jews imcbew fat. 
The old Jewish law was tho highest model 
law ever given on earth. The fat of their 
animals was offered on tlie altar. 
A few animals have considerable fat about, 
them, needing it for shield or protection. 
Tlie bog in bis natural state Ls not fat. Hut 
even if be were, lie is a scavenger and was 
made for one, like tho crow and the hyena. 
He eats the filthiest of filth, and then wo eat 
him! 
How is fat managed in the stomach if it is 
not digested? It is a conceded fact Unit, 
the gastric juice does not act ou it. 
Home say that it passes to the liver and is 
digested by the bile, which is an alkali. 
Others affirm that tho fat, or grease, or oil, 
gets up a commotion in tho stomach, which 
calls in the bile to settle the matter. The 
melted fat rises on the surface of the food, 
and the bile lias to work its way tip through 
to reach it, It produces heartburn, flatu¬ 
lence, etc., besides making a sickening mess 
in your stomach. Ho if you want to make 
stews, skim off tho grease, and be content 
with tlie nutrition in the food. Bread and 
butter is open to the same objection, If we 
pour down hot tea or coffee with it to melt 
tho butter. 
If the gastric juice has no power over 
fats, how is the stomach to digest food in 
which fat is cooked and baked and boiled? 
Is it any wonder the digestive organs give 
us so much pain, when we once comprehend 
the amount of unnecessary work wo enforce 
upon them? When we put food into the 
stomach, which has grease rubbed in It, or 
cooked in it, the stomach has to wash and 
beat aud cook it out again, and il 1s a task 
our bands would find vury difficult. 
There are many devices in man’s system 
to atone for his sins, and save lilmself 
against himself. Bile, one of these, comes to 
the rescue when grease is the invader. It is 
a mystery that people will cat grease when 
conscious of its pernicious results. Lean 
meat is more easy to digest than fat. When 
cooked with fat it is permeated with it, if 
done over a slow fire. If the skillet be hot 
enough to form a crust on the outside, pre¬ 
venting the mingling of the fat, it, escapes 
being spoiled, if y*u can keep it from burn¬ 
ing. But broil your meats. Broiling keeps 
in the juices and absorbs no fat. For roast¬ 
ing or baking have the oven hot enough to 
skim over the aurfadb. Turkeys and chick¬ 
ens should be boiled before baking. Ido 
not approve of “basting” with grease or 
melted lat. It. soaks into the meat liber, 
Engs, Mlllt, Pies ami Oakes, 
There Is lilt in the yolk of eggs. The al¬ 
bumen of hard boiled eggs Ls indigestible; 
soft, boiled, less so, because less cooked. 
Cook or bake an egg an hour, and it is hor¬ 
rible. But we put them in cakes and pies 
and puddings, and bake and cook them to 
quite the same degree of indigestibility. 
Milk is constipating to adults. We have 
teeth ; our structure of system is changed. 
Milk is for infants. Cooked milk is still 
more constipating. Cheese is worse Cream 
is its least objectionable form, if uncooked. 
What, shall we make pie-crust and cake 
of? Wc need not insist on having any. We 
cannot reform oookery and have everything 
the same. We cannot have our old-fash¬ 
ioned pumpkin pies, with milk and eggs and 
flaky pie-crust, as of yore. But, if one wants 
the body a servant of the mind instead of 
the reverse, he must be willing to pay the 
price for it. Although this need not exclude 
all the good and pleasant dishes. 
Fine flour is bad enough to begin with, for 
one defect hi cookery. Puddings are more 
wholesome and palatable tlmn pies. It was 
my greatest cross to think 1 must abandon 
pies when I began to appreciate tlie sins of 
the cook-room. But here I have pie and 
cake, (removing the concealing napkin,) 
which are a great improvement on tho old 
plan, and may bo eaten with impunity by 
dyspeptics. 
Tart Pics are better because they have no 
top crust. Tho crust for this one is made of 
one-third wheat meal, one-third corn meal, 
one-third tine flour and water. A crust can 
be made of simply wheat meal and of water, 
kneaded together. 
Pumpkin Pie —With crust made by sitting 
coarse corn me&l on tlm hake-dish to the 
depth of one-eighth inch, tho plate having 
been oiled in her rnaimur, by using a bit of 
sweet oil ou a cloth and rubbing it well, not 
enough being put on it to affect the taste of 
the pie at all. Flio pumpkin Ls prepared as 
commonly done, being well cooked and 
strained. Proportions of ingredients, one 
half pumpkin, one-half milk and a little 
sugar, a teaspoonful. Pour hi the dtsh lined 
with corn meal, and bake. If the mixture 
does not absorb all the meal, no matter. 
This pie was capital. Try it. 
Ambrosia.— Make a batter crust like Bread 
Itcaipo No. 1. Line a deep dish with it. 
Place in the bottom a layer of uncooked 
fresh fruit, apple or grape, etc., then a thin 
layer of sugar, and then a layer of batter. 
Sprinkle ©u flour If tlm fruit be very juicy. 
Put crust ou the top. Have the dish higher 
than the contents. Bake one hour, if not 
large. Flour is always to be understood as 
being wheat meal or "graham” flour. 
Oat Meal (Jake .—Wet meal with water, 
(hit in small shapes, with a cooked raisin in 
the middle. Bake In an oven. 
Fruit Cake. —One cup stowed and silled 
(strained) apple- fresh apple better, one cup 
of sugar, one cup of raisins (cooked) or cur¬ 
rants ; flour enough to make the batter self- 
reliant. Bake in patty pans. Ate of this 
cake. Delicious. Try it. 
Journey Cakes. —One-half cup of currants, 
one-half cup of sugar, one-half cup of water 
Flour enough to make a stiff dough. Roll 
out, cut., bake fifteen minutes. Very good. 
Bayo Pudding. —One cup of sago, scalded 
iu two cups of water; two cups of chopped 
sour apple, one lemon. Sugar depends upon 
the acidity of fruit; three-quarters of a cup 
will do for a rule. Bake one hour and a 
quarter. Good. 
Miss Golman’h repast at this lecture was 
quite equal to the preceding ones. Sho 
made a practical illustration of what one can 
do with legitimate ingredients. One need 
not bn discouraged if in the first or even 
fifth trial, she fail to make as palatable 
dishes from the same materials, as Miss Col- 
man does, who lias had years of experience. 
-- 
IMPROVEMENT IN TABLES. 
Often we hear it, remarked by the good 
house-wife, “ Husband, I do wish our dining 
room table was larger; it is so inconvenient 
and inhospitable to crowd our guest at meals. 
Besides, one of the children is necessitated 
to wait until the older ones are served, 
simply for want of a larger or improved 
table.” The answer many times is—“ We 
are unable to incur the expense of a now 
table of larger dimensions!” To ah who 
are in this dilemma, we would suggest a 
careful examination of the sketch in con¬ 
nection with this article, which illustrates the 
manner ol’ increasing the superficial area of 
a common table one quarter, with very little 
expense. 
i . • 'f 
' 
gimp 
- --tr— f? > , 
Br' mk 
ifpSgSC* 
- r \ 
■ 
, ifc-T*S5 -i 
■ te> 
-V • 
r: ) 
An extra or transferable leaf, B, is attached 
to a common table, 8, by means of strips, 
K, P, secured to the former, and passing 
through holes cut in the end of the table near 
the legs and immediately in contact, with tho 
top of the table. The part B, should be from 
one and a half to two feet wide, and when 
not used may be removed to a corner of the 
room, or other place most convenient., until 
again required. This is a fine arrangement, 
and in a short time pays tho trouble and ex¬ 
pense of obtaining it. L. D. Snook. 
N. B. — If this or other articles that I 
have or may furnish for the Rural are not 
understood by readers, they will confer a 
favor by making the same known through 
its pages, when I will cheerfully give the 
desired information.—L. D. s. 
Brown Bread.—rake two cups of sweet arid 
one of sour milk, three cups of meal, one of 
flour, one half cup of simp, a teaspoonful of 
soda, saltspooufnl of salt; steam two and a half 
hours.— Mrs. M. T. S. 
