iiatrit tntsbanbrj). 
X. A. WILLABD, A. M*, EDITOR, 
Or Lmi.l KaM.S, IIkUKIMK* County, New ^obk. 
POISON CHEESE. 
During our recent visit to St. Lawrence 
county a prominent cheese dealer of that 
county called our attention to a case of 
cheese poisoning which had come within liis 
experience. A lot of cheese had been pur¬ 
chased from a dairyman of that county by 
the dealer referred to, and having been 
shipped by him and placed upon the market 
a complaint was Instituted that the cheese 
proved to be poisonous. No deaths, it is 
true, came from eating the cheese, but the 
persons who ate of it were taken suddenly ill 
with pains and cramps and excessive vomit¬ 
ing, showing evident indications that they 
had been poisoned. 
It was an easy matter, of course, to trace 
the source of this illness to the cheese of a 
particular dairy, and immediately a thorough 
investigation was inaugurated to discover the 
origin of the trouble. On an examination of 
the dairy where the cheese was made, noth¬ 
ing unusual was found in the manner <>i 
manufacture or in the appliances used in 
cheese making. The cheese had been made 
in the ordinary tin vat, and all the processes 
of manufacture were similar to those in com¬ 
mon practice in the country. Due regard 
had been exercised as to cleanliness. No 
known poisons had been employed about the 
premises, and it had become evident to the 
parties investigating that the poison, if any, 
ill the cheese must have come from the salt, 
the annotto, or in some way of which the 
cheese maker or his family were not cogni¬ 
zant, or, indeed, to be blamed. Samples of 
the cheese were also forwarded to Professor 
Jackson of Boston for analysis; and having 
been submitted to a rigid examination by 
this eminent chemist, t he opinion was further 
confirmed that the dairyman was blameless 
in the matter. 
Dr. Jackson states, in reference to the 
analysis of this cheese, that—“ Each and all 
of the samples were entirely (Vee from any 
tone poisons. There are no metals or min¬ 
eral poisons of the kind present, nor any 
alkaloids or deleterious vegetable principles. 
But there is a small proportion of offensive 
putrifying animal matter which baa been 
separated here that does not. belong to good 
cheese. It is impossible to give this im¬ 
purity any correct name, and it is only an 
opinion of mine that it comes from the ren¬ 
net used. It is not poisonous, although it 
occasions vomiting in dogs and cats, and 
small portions of it may be luken into the 
human stomach without effect.” 
The facts elicited from this analysis of Dr. 
Jackson correspond in some respects with 
those discovered, a few years since, by J)r, 
VoKi.CKKit, and from which iL would appear 
that cheese, as well as other kinds of animal 
food, under certain conditions of decay, 
generates a peculiar organic poison; but 
what the composition of this virulent poison 
is, the chemists are as yet, unable to deter¬ 
mine. Dr. Voelckkk stated to us in a con- 
vernation on Hie subject in 1800, that in¬ 
stances hail come under his observation 
where this poison in cheese had become dis¬ 
sipated as the cheese passed into a further 
state of fermentation and decomposition, and 
that the cheese could then be safely eaten, 
producing uo injurious or unpleasant effects. 
lie gave a detailed account of several 
cases of cheese-poisoning, and the result of 
various analyses of the cheese. In his re¬ 
port upon this subject to the Royal Agricul¬ 
tural Society a ease is mentioned somewhat 
similar to that referred to in St. Lawrence 
county, and as it details more fully the 
nature of this peculiar poison than the state¬ 
ment of Dr. J ackson it will be of interest, 
perhaps, to cheese manufacturers and cheese 
consumers to present it in this connection. 
Without going into a history of the particu¬ 
lar dairy, or the various cases of poisoning, 
it will be sufficient, to say that quite a num¬ 
ber of people were taken ill after partaking 
of the cheese, and that samples of the 
cheese causing the illness were forwarded to 
Dr. Voelckeu for analysis. This cheese, he 
says, presented nothing in appearance which 
coitUl be regarded as an indication of its 
spoiled condition or unwholesome quality. 
The taste, it is true, was sharp, peculiar, and 
quite different, from the rich and pungent 
taste of well ripened old cheese; hut it was 
not sufficiently characteristic of its unques¬ 
tionably poisonous properties, lie says: 
“ Having analyzed at different times cheese 
which produced bad effects when taken in 
any quantity, I cautioned my assistants not 
to take too much of it, and invited them to 
taste the cheese sent. Certain chemicals 
which arc sometimes put into cheese can, to 
a certain extent, he recognized by the pecu¬ 
liar taste which they impart. 1 tasted it 
myself, and although I only took a piece the 
size of a hazel-nut, I felt its effects four hours 
after having tasted it. Both my assistants, 
who had taken no more than, at the most, a 
quarter of an ounce each* five hours after¬ 
ward were violently attacked with vomiting 
and pain in the bowels. One of them was 
ill all night, and scarcely able to follow his 
usual work next day. Both complained of 
a peculiarly misty, mercurial taste, which 
seemed to remain with them for many hours 
after partaking of 1 lie cheese. 
“ On a former occasion I found sulphate of 
zinc, or white vitriol, in a cheese which 
caused sickness; and in another instance I 
detected in cheese sulphate of copper. My 
attention, therefore, naturally was directed 
to search for metallic poisons; but though 
carefully operating on large quantities, I 
failed to detect even traces of zinc, copper, 
mercury, antimony, arsenic, or any of the 
metallic poisons which might have possibly 
imparted injurious properties to the cheese. 
Having failed to detect any mineral poison, 
I next directed my attention to the exami¬ 
nation of tiie organic constituents. The 
quantitive general analysis gave the follow¬ 
ing results: 
Water.37.88 
Organic constituents . 58.04 
.Mineral “ . 4.08 
100.00 
Containing salt. 1.33 
“ The proportion of water in this cheese 
was rather large, considering that it must 
have been cut for SOIUC time, and have lost 
water by evaporation. On further examin¬ 
ing it I found it remarkably sour, and had 
no difficulty in detecting an unusually large 
quantity of fatty acids, which, if not poison¬ 
ous themselves, arc the vehicle conveying 
the peculiar organic poison which appears to 
be generated sometimes In cheese undergo¬ 
ing a peculiar kind of fermentation. Proba¬ 
bly the poison generated in this modified de¬ 
cay of cheese is identical with the so-called 
sausage poison, which is sometimes found in 
German sausages, especially those made of 
coagulated blood. A similar poison appears 
to be generated sometimes in pickled salmon, 
smoked sprats, pork, tainted veal, bacon, 
and bams. Bacon and hams, when not 
perfectly cured, and fat meat kept in a damp, 
badly ventilated cellar, are very apt. to be¬ 
come more or 1 <*hs injurious to health; and 
even butter, after it lifts turned rancid, and 
similar organic acids are liberated in it which 
exist in this cheese in a free state, acts as a 
poison in most eases. Singularly enough, 
some people are not affected by these subtle 
organic poisons. 
“ The poison of elieese was known in Ger¬ 
many as long ago as 1820, and probably even 
earlier. A great deal lias been written on 
the subject, lmt we are yet as far as ever 
from knowing the composition of this viru¬ 
lent poison.” 
Dr. Yokukku further states that eases of 
poisoning by cheese, in which no mineral 
poison can he detected, occur much more 
frequently than is generally supposed. Anil 
it appears that, rheme kept in damp. bcully ven¬ 
tilated places, or where too much whey is left, 
or, indeed, all the circumstances which tend 
to produce a too acid curd and to generate 
free fatty acids, are apt to produce this pecu¬ 
liar poison. The cheese maker will see, 
therefore, how important it is to have a 
properly ventilated curing room for his 
cheeses, and also that the whey he thorough¬ 
ly expelled from the cheese. 
Dr. Voelckkk regrets that we. have no 
ready means of detecting this insidious poi¬ 
son which, in a great many cases, has pro¬ 
duced fatal results; and lie remarks that, 
what is indeed strange, poisonous cheese of 
this character w hen kept until it becomes 
quite decayed loses its poisonous properties 
and becomes wholesaling. Poisonous cheese 
always exhibits a strong acid reaction when 
tested with litmus paper. A slight, acid re¬ 
action marks all fresh cheese, but whilst the 
outside of good old cheese is ammoniacal, 
the outside of cheese in which this peculiar 
poison occurs is acid. 
It may be remarked, in closing, that blue 
vitriol, sulphate of zinc, and poisons of this 
kind, sometimes used by English dairymen 
to prevent cheese from heaving, are not em¬ 
ployed by American dairymen, and we pre¬ 
sume to most of our readers it will be news 
that these poisons have been used abroad. 
-♦«*-♦- 
BUTTERMILK IN CHEESE MAK¬ 
ING, ETC. 
1 am a farmer; send my milk to a cheese fac¬ 
tory. Since cool weather the managers have 
told all the patrons to keep the night's milk at 
home overnight; skim it in the morning, put it 
in with the morning mlllt, and send it all togeth¬ 
er once a day. Some of the patrons have churned 
their cream and put in the buttermilk, claim¬ 
ing it was perfectly light, because the sweet 
buttermilk was, in their estimation, better than 
the avurngc quality of the milk. I, of course, 
will not ask you to decide the moral part of the 
question, but wish to know what the sweet but¬ 
termilk is worth for the manufacture of cheese, 
compared with milk. A plain answer to the 
above, tu the Hairy Department of the It oral, 
will greatly oblige F. W. MOSEUEV. 
Poultney. Vt., Oct. 12. 
Remarks.—IV liere the night’s milk is set 
for cream, and the cream churned sweet 
next morning, as we presume is the case re¬ 
ferred to by our correspondent, the sweet 
buttermilk is of some, value for cheese mak¬ 
ing. It can hardly he regarded, however, as 
of equal average value to the milk with 
which he says it is mixed for the factory. 
The value of buttermilk for cheese mak¬ 
ing varies greatly' from a variety of circum¬ 
stances. Some specimens may be quite rich 
and others exceedingly poor. In a specimen 
of cream examined by Berzelius the but¬ 
termilk in one hundred parts was composed 
of cheesy matter, 8.5; whey matter, 92.0. 
Cream varies very much in composition, 
according to the circumstances under which 
it is produced. Cream of average quality 
contains about twenty-five per cent, of but¬ 
ter. The analyses of two samples of cream 
gave the following: 
No. 1. No. 2. 
Water .1. 74.40 61.67 
Rutter (pure latty matters).. ... 18.18 33.43 
Casein. 2.09 2XB 
Milk sugar.. . 43)8 1.56 
Mineral matter.’. 0.59 0.72 
100.00 100.00 
Now if it were possible to take all the but¬ 
ter from the cream by churning, we should 
have in the buttermilk of the above samples 
a trifle over two and a half pounds of cheesy 
material out. of a hundred pounds of cream. 
Or if we take out the butter, letting the bal¬ 
ance represent the buttermilk, the first sam¬ 
ple would give a little over two and a half 
pounds of cheesy material from nearly eighty- 
nine pounds of buttermilk; and in the second 
sample about the same amount, of cheesy 
matter from sixty-six and a half pounds of 
buttermilk. But in churning the cream a 
portion of the butter remains in the butter¬ 
milk—sometimes more and sometimes less, 
according to various Circumstances. So it 
would be no easy matter to say bow much 
cheese one hundred pounds of buttermilk 
would yield. Milk at this season of the year 
is quite rich in butter; and even when the 
night’s milk is skimmed and added to the 
whole milk of the morning, it will probably 
yield a pound of elieese from nine pounds of 
milk. 
If all the patrons of a cheese factory 
added the buttermilk from their cream to 
the milk, and did it in an honest way, we 
presume in the receipts of cheese each 
patron would get his just proportion. We 
cannot reconmlend, however, the addition 
of buttermilk to the milk delivered at a fac¬ 
tory, on several accounts. In the first place 
the flavor of the cheese will be likely to be 
inferior or less perfect from such additions 
of buttermilk coming from so many sources; 
and again some butter makers are in the 
habit of tempering their cream with water 
—both hot ami cold—and there is a liability 
that some of the buttermilk will he pretty 
well watered. At any rate this buttermilk 
business opens up a chance for fraud, or at. 
least, for uneoinflwtHble suspicions among 
neighbors, and hence we think factories will 
do well to prohibit such delivery. 
—=- ; —- 
The Country Oiee*e Market. — The cheese 
market ut Little Falls for Hie week ending Oct. 
;?3<] was brisk, with an advance In prices. The 
usual number of Now York dealers were pres¬ 
ent, with some from other States. Farm dairies 
made a rapid sale at priees ranging from 16't to 
17 lie. The delivery ol' farm dairies was a little 
loss than for the week previous, numbering 
about 1,400 boxes. In factories the transactions 
were on a moderate scale ns to quantity, some 
fnetoryinen looking for higher rates, and refus¬ 
ing to make shipment* Hits week. We give 
quotations of sales as follows: 
Vunhornsville, 18c.; Zimmerman Crock, 18c.; 
Palatine Union. 18c.; Fry's Rush, 18c.; New villo, 
lsvfic.: Old Fairfield, 18Vo.: Smith Creek, 18\e.; 
Snell's Bush, 18;«; Eatonville, lB.ifc,; Rrook- 
uian's Comers. lBAi'cv: Florida, 18k e. 
Not much butter in market, and sales at 38c. 
to .>9e. 
Wo have advices from abroad for the first 
week in October. Our Liverpool correspondent 
Rays that notwithstanding the large home make 
(English) and consequent supply to market, the 
demand for American of every grade cont inues 
to an unprecedented extent; and although arri¬ 
vals Lave been larger, priees have continued 
higher lhau any previous year, and the week 
closes firm at one shilling advance, thus showing 
a gradual appreciation by the public of the im¬ 
provement in the make and quality of Ameri¬ 
can cheese since the adoption of the factory 
system. Fine factory is quoted in Liverpool at 
03 to 05s.; and on the 12H> of October at 05s. Od. 
The imports into Liverpool from Juno 1st to 
September 24ih, were 506,745 boxes; and from 
September 24th to October 18th, 799 boxes, malt¬ 
ing a total of 505,544 boxes. Last year, from 
June 1st to October 2d, the imports were 489,750 
boxes. 
The exports from New York to Great. Britain 
(all parts) the present year, from May 15th to 
September 18th, have been 634,678 boxes. From 
May 15th to September Uth, 1868, they were 611.- 
S92 boxes. 
Our London correspondent reports that Amer¬ 
ican cheoso sells freely in that market. We give 
quotations as follows:—English Cheddar, 82 to 
SSs.; Wiltshire double, OS to 76s.; Cheshire medi¬ 
um, 56 to CCS.; line, 70 to 80s.; Scotch, 72 to 7.5s.; 
American extra, 00 to 68s. Du teb cheese—Edams, 
18 to 57s ; Gondas, 48 to 55s.; Derby shape, 50 to 55. 
We are not surprised that prices have reached 
the present figure: and m our articles we have 
ad vised dairymen to keep steady in their views 
and not get into a panic, rushing cheese oil at 
lower figures than it could be produced. 5Ve 
cannot help thinking that some of the elaborate 
market reports published by some of the papers 
with speculating views of over production and 
suggestions of weak markets, have been ill 
timed, and not. based on a correct knowledge of 
supply and demand both in this country and 
Europe. The effect of such reports is to mislead 
dairymen and make them nervous and over 
anxious to push their goods upon the market at 
times and at a price below their value. Tho 
publication of weekly reviews of tho elioc-su 
market made by city firms which have one part¬ 
ner in the country engaged In buying cheese, 
may be all well enough; but such reviewsshould 
be taken with a due degree of allowance by dai- 
(Tbc Bintltrit-Dari). 
EXPERIENCE WITH FOWLS. 
1 occupy a building some seventy feet in 
length for a dry-goods and grocery store. In 
the rear of this building is a fence at both 
ends, extending to the river some ten or 
twelve rods. The space between tlie9e two 
fences comprises my fowl yard. Not being 
a “lightning calculator," I can't tell, at this 
minute, how much land is enclosed; but, to 
“jump it," I should say in the vicinity of 
one-fourth of an acre. 
My first experiment with fowls, some 
eight years since, was with the Black Span¬ 
ish. I sent to E. S. Ralph, Esq., Buffalo, 
N. Y., for a trio, bred, as be said, from bis 
own importation. They were nice fowls. 1 
kept them the first, year at my house and 
raised from that trio sixteen pullets and two 
roosters, which, early in the following spring, 
I moved to the above described yard in the 
rear of the store. For about eight weeks 
they laid splendidly; but at the end of that 
time I noticed that they began to droop and 
appear sickly, and in three weeks more they 
were all dead but one. 
The next season 1 tried the Leghorns. 
They proved to he beautiful layers but they, 
too, soon began to sicken and die, one by one, 
till 1 was reduced to two bens tliat I gave to 
a friend and he 1ms them alive and well. I 
came to the conclusion Hint I could not keep 
fowls in the back yard of a grocery store 
where 1 was constantly throwing salt, and the 
refuse that would naturally accumulate in 
such a place. 
I was about giving up tbc idea of raising 
poultry (for I would not have them near my 
house as 1 claim that no man can have a 
garden and have hens running about loose,) 
when 1 heard of tho Brahmas as being re¬ 
markably hardy, Ac. Ac. I purchased a few 
of them, put them into the before mentioned 
yard and have ever since bred them in pre¬ 
ference to any others. I have found them to 
be very hardy—the'best layers in t he winter 
of any fowls 1 have ever seen. They will 
eat anything from east, iron down to a kernel 
of com without seeming to impair their 
digestive faculties in the least. The greatest 
objection to them is that, when they take a 
notion to sit they are hound to do it; hut I 
have found a way to got the best of them 
even in that case. 1 keep a small coop in 
the yard with an extra rooster in it, and 
when I find a hen that. Shows any symptoms 
of sitting 1 shut, her iu said coop and keep 
her on short, commons two days when she Is 
glad to come out and go to laying again. 
Last spring 1 had twelve liens and a 
rooster, of the Brahma breed. From the 
first of January to the first of July they 
earned me just one dollar and seventy-five 
cents each. What it cost to keep them that 
length of time 1 cannot tell, for I kept no 
account of it; but I don’t think it cost over 
seventy-five cents each at tlic most. 
One word in regard to fowls changing 
their sex by transportation. That , I think, 
they will hardly' do; but I do fear tliat, they 
or their eggs sometimes change their nature 
during the process. For instance:—Some 
three or four years since I thought I would 
like to try the Dominique fowls, and 1 sent 
to one N. A. Shuts of Exeter, N. II., (who 
advertised to sell eggs from pure-blooded 
fowls,) and got a dozen of eggs. I raised 
from them eight pullets; throe of them were 
jet. black; three of them were almost white, 
and the other two were a mixture of both. 
Did the eggs change in-coming so far, or was 
the man a humbug ? 
I have learned that one kind of fowl may 
be valuable in one locality and utterly worth¬ 
less in another; and that it, is hardly right 
to wholly condemn anything, for most every 
biped and quadruped on the face of the 
earth has one or more redeeming qualities. 
Northbridue, Mass. L. F. SMrrn. 
•--- 
EXTERMINATING VERMIN. 
In the Rural of September 18 1 noticed 
an article on “Fowl Vermin.” When I 
came on my farm twenty-two years ago 
I bought the liens then on the place. I soon 
discovered that not only the hens but horses 
and cows were completely covered with lien 
lice. On examining the barn I found every 
brace and timber completely covered. I 
rubbed dust and dry ashes into the hair of 
the cattle; served the hens likewise; took 
a half bushel measure filled w ith ashes and 
went all over the scaffolds and all about tlie 
barn, and with a shingle scattered the ashes 
over them. I have had no lice since. 
The very fine dust penetrates every little 
crevice in every part of tho barn and no lice 
can live where there are unleached ashes. I 
have had no occasion to repeat the treat¬ 
ment ; but to avoid it I sprinkle over the 
lien-house floor some dry ashes, once in 
three or four months, and every time the 
hens fly down from the roost they kick up 
the (lust. 
I set. my liens on horse manure, and before 
putt in a; the eggs in 1 put in one or two 
liandfulls ot dry ashes, which prevents the 
vermin. When thus treated, not a louse is 
to be found on a fowl. The lice come from 
their manure, but ashes prevent them. I 
clean out their room but once a year, letting 
their manure lay on the floor all the time. 
I have kept one hundred and fifty and two 
hundred hens for years; have kept for the 
last two years Brahmas, but shall not keep 
’them auy longer. They- are good layers and 
good for the table; but having so many 
feathers behind, their dung don’t always go 
clear of it; and what sticks to Ihe feathers 
will, in a short time, become a complete 
mass of lice. That is one of the reasons I 
don’t wish to keep them any longer. 
Manchester, N. H. Josiah Clark. 
-♦♦♦- 
HOW TO FATTEN CHICKENS. 
The London Cottage Gardener says;—“ It 
is hopeless to attempt to fatten them while 
they are at. liberty. They must be put in a 
proper coop ; ami this, like most other poul¬ 
try appurtenances, need not be expensive. 
To fatten twelve fowls, a coop may be three 
feet long, eighteen inches high and eighteen 
inches deep, made entirely of bars. No part 
solid—neither top, sides nor bottom Discre¬ 
tion must housed according to the sizes oi 
the chickens put up. They do not want 
room ; indeed the closer they are the better 
—provided they can nil stand up at the same 
time. Care must be taken to put up such a? 
have been accustomed to be together, or 
they will fight. If one is quarrelsome, it is 
better to remove it at once; ns, like other 
bad examples, it soon finds imitators. A 
diseased chicken should not be put up. Tin- 
food should bo ground oats, ami may cither 
| be put up in a trough or on a flat board rmi- 
i ning along the front of the coop. It maybe 
mixed with water or milk ; the latter is the 
better. It should be well soaked, forming 
a pulp a,s loose as can be, provided it does 
not run off the board. They must be well 
fed three or four times per day—the first 
time as soon after daybreak as may be posse 
ble or convenient, and then at intervals of 
four hours. Each meal should be as much 
and no more than they can eat up clean. 
When they have done feeding, the board 
should be w iped, and some gravel may he 
spread. It causes them to feed and tlirivt ’ 
« •-»- 
DISEASED CHICKENS. 
My chickens Tire rapidly dying from a dis¬ 
ease that as yet 1 have seen no name for. 
They are sick from two to four days, and 
I show none of the symptoms of the diseases 
mentioned iu any of the authorities I have 
j consulted. They first begin to droop, show¬ 
ing much weakness, and refusing to cat hut 
little, hut. drink more than usual. Their 
combs and gills, as the disease progresses, 
continue to darken until they die, when in 
some instances they are nearly black. Their 
discharges are copious and of a greenish 
color. 
It attacks small chickens which are in the 
garden, as also the old ones which are in the 
hennery. They all mingle together, however, 
in the same range. It first attacked the 
small chickens in tlie garden. 
A post-mortem examination of a large hen 
that died yesterday developed the fact that 
her heart, was quite small and much shriv¬ 
eled. lier crop had corn in it that had been 
there at least two days, and was very offen¬ 
sive on being opened. 
1 have given them sulphur mixed with In¬ 
dian meal and in water; also asafetida in 
the same way. Have also tried gin and mo¬ 
lasses, four parts gin to one of molasses; yet 
the disease docs not abate. What is tlie dis¬ 
ease and tlie remedy ? J. L. Patton. 
Berlinsville, l*a. 
--»-*-*- 
DEFENDING BRAHMAS. 
1 have not found Brahmas to eat more 
than common fowls; but, if they eat five 
times as much, they would pay better Hum 
the common fowls. 1 have never known 
them to sit on stones nor lay them, but have 
known them to sit on eggs in a properly 
constructed nest, and bring out and raise 
every chicken. There is no other breed so 
good sitters and mothers as the Brahmas. 
As to their egg laying propensities, they can¬ 
not he surpassed, especially as winter layers; 
and if it came to stone laying I am pretty 
sure they' would be A No. 1. I considei 
them worth (at the present time,) from three 
to five dollars apiece, and would buy as 
many as Oconomowac could ship from now 
to the 1st of January at twenty-five cents 
apiece, and give him an order for as man) 
more next year. 
In conclusion, i would say there is no 
other one breed of fowls so good as the Broh- 
mas. They are undoubtedly the fowls for 
America. N. H. Holmes. 
West Roxbury, Mass. 
--♦♦♦---- 
Choleru In Chickens, — I had a lot sold to me bj 
a knave that were badly off with cholera. Gave 
arsenic, one part to one thousand parts of crusne 
sugar, well triturated together. Feed two gram 
ol‘ this preparation to each hen, three or our 
times a day, mixed with a little meal. Mine *oi 
well in two or throe da vs.—*. A. M. 
