Bairn Xiusbanilm. 
MILK FARMING IN NEW ENGLAND. 
Imaginary Profit. 
Many persons have an idea that “milk 
farming: ’’ Is not only exceedingly profitable 
but delightfully pleasant. Taking the price 
of milk to the city consumers at six to 
eight cents per quart, and often largely di¬ 
luted with water at that, it is not strange 
that favorable estimates as to profits are 
drawn, nor is it difficult to figure up Halt er¬ 
ing returns. Bay that a cow gives on an 
average 1,800 quarts of milk per year, and 
if 500 quarts of water be added, we have 
2,300 quarts, which, at the moderate average 
of six cents per quart, amounts to £138. In 
the cheese making business the 1,800 quarts 
of milk will possibly make about 400 pounds 
cheese, which, deducting the cost, of manu¬ 
facturing, may net the dairyman £14. Hut 
then he has the trouble of hauling the milk 
to the factory twice a day, besides boxing 
tho cheese and cart ing It to the depot. 
The difference of £01 per cow iu favor of 
tho milk farmer looks like a very lug item 
of profits for tho one business over the 
other. The consumer, who pays a high price 
for a very poor quality of milk, naturally 
complains and not unfrequently charges 
upon the milk farmer extortion iu prices 
and dishonesty i u diluting the milk lie sends 
to market, while a very general impression 
prevails that milk farming requires less 
labor and is less vexatious than almost any 
other branch of agriculture. 
Tho Rugged Facta. 
The bitter experience of the New Eng¬ 
land milk farmers divests this business of 
some of its imaginary pleasures, and tho 
rugged facts, as detailed byu correspondent, 
of the Massachuset ts Ploughman, are not 
calculated to makeono “banker over much’’ 
for a business so uncertain in its profits and 
filled with so many petty vexations. AVe 
have no space for an extended enumeration 
of the troubles and abuses to which the New 
England milk producer is subjected, but we 
shall briefly allude to a few that are brought 
prominently to light b,y t his correspondent: 
In the first place, il appears that when 
milk is sold by the quart, the farmer gets 
only half the price that the consumer pays 
for it. Leaving out those farmers in the 
immediate vicinity of Boston who send 
their milk In carta directly to market, it 
may be stated that milk is sent to Huston 
by railroad, distances varying from twenty 
to sixty miles. It is sent in small caus, 
each holding eight and a-quarler quarts. 
[Gallons, is it not ?—Ed.J 
Now, it seems that from twenty-two to 
twenty-four cents per can is charged for 
freight and tho delivery of the milk. In 
Other words, t he cont ractor takes one-half 
of the money for winch the milk sells to 
pay for freight and his services, and the 
other half goes to Ihu milk producer. The 
actual railroad freight varies from one to 
three cents per can, according to the dis¬ 
tance and the amount carried in the can. 
From two to four cents per can is paid by 
the farmer to the collector who gathers up 
tho milk at the different farms and delivers 
it at tho car. This collector, it seems, al¬ 
though paid by the farmer, is employed, oi¬ 
ls under thft complete control of the Con¬ 
tractor. The business of t he collector is to , 
gather up the milk and deliver it in due 
season on the car, and to carry back to the , 
farmer the empty Cans. The whole business 
is managed by the contractors, notwith- ■ 
standing different associations among the i 
producers have boon formed from time to 
time to break loose from their thraldom. 
Humiliating Annoyances. 
The present season is given as an example. 
The contractors met and agreed to pay live 1 
cents a can less for milk than they paid last j 
Winter. “This was late iu September. The 
farmers had all arranged for Winter; they ] 
had bought their cows, filled their barns ‘ 
with hay, and many of them purchased 1 
their stock of grain. They all believed they 
could not raise milk a cent cheaper than , 
last, Winter; hay was dearer, and grain very 
lit tle cheaper, ami labor, an Important ele¬ 
ment, no lower. They refused to agree to t 
roduoo their price. Tho contractors said, ; 
wo shall pay you so much, and no more, < 
aud what are you going to do about it? Wo r 
have the cars, aud the customers in Boston, f 
and you can’t do anything else with your j 
milk now that you have it on hand.” Hu- c 
millating as this position is for the farmer, u 
that is not the worst of it. lie has no ar- o 
rangoment for making butter. He cannot a 
sell his cows. He is prepared to make say t 
£75 to £100 per month by selling milk, and f 
he needs the money, and so, grumbling in- c 
wardly, and outwardly protesting, in the 
end he shamefacedly yields the point. 
Losses on Milk. 
Again, the contractor says, if you will 
agree to furnish me just so much milk every 
day, T will agree to take it; but the farmer 
cannot, in that way, sell all his milk. “ Prac¬ 
tically, he is entirely at the mercy of the 
contractor or the collector. They take 
eight cans to-day. You notify them that 
• you shall have ten next day. We cannot take 
it, is the decree, and you cannot help ,your- 
1 self; or, what is worse, when your milk is 
increasing, the collector throws off’ two or 
three cans loss than before, and when you 
ask an explanation, tells you lie has not got 
the cans, they are all full, and again you 
cannot help yourself." 
“After being worried in this way a few 
weeks, suddenly you find at your door half 
a dozen cans of milk returned ; you ask the 
reason. * Well, they say it is sour.’ Bure 
enough it is sour, and would be very likely, 
after being carried in a wagon three or four 
miles, then to Boston, and very likely all 
over Boston and hack again to your door, 
having been traveling t wo or three days. 
But t he system demands that the producer 
must lose it. lie does not know, and can¬ 
not know, where It has been, or bow treat¬ 
ed. He suspects that the milkmen in Bos¬ 
ton, or the grocer, had an over-supply and 
so sent it back. In many cases ho declares 
he had marked his caus, aud is sure tills was 
never his rulllc, aud occasionally he finds 
milk returned which is still sweet and good 
so far as he can judge. But it Is deducted 
from Ills bill aud how can ho help himself ? 
Watering the Milk. 
“Again, when everything has gone smooth¬ 
ly for some days, and he begins to flatter 
himself that he shall at last, have some com¬ 
fort in Ids business, tho poor producer is 
informed that Ids milk has been watered. 
He stands aghast at the idea. To be sure 
bo does not; milk his cows, and his men have 
charge of the milk. They can put in water 
without his knowledge. Fie protests that 
his men are honest, and in his in-art he 
knows that if ids milk was wittered, it was 
done after it left him, in tho car, in the 
milkman’s stable, at the corner grocery, 
anywhere on its travels. He even suspects 
that the contractor has some spite against 
him because lie advised tho farmers to stand 
out about the price; but it is useless to 
say so. Aud, once more, how can he help 
himself?” 
Relief Suggested. 
This we call a decidedly rough looking 
paradise in which the New England milk 
producer has located himself, to say noth¬ 
ing of the vexations and troubles attendant 
upon the farm and the production of milk 
in the first instance. Such a humiliating 
thraldom wo should say ought speedily to 
be broken; and it can bo broken, if the 
milk farmers will associate together and 
build creameries in neighborhoods and con¬ 
tract their milk from these points in bulk. 
Let. all surplus milk be made up into butter 
or chee.se at. the factory, and if the con¬ 
tractors are not willing to pay a fair com¬ 
pensation, or such price us the members of 
the association consider right and just, then 
let, all the milk be turned into butter and 
cheese until such time us contractors shall 
be willing to recognize that the farmer has 
some right and voice in the sale and price 
of his product. Empty resolves, and asso¬ 
ciations that practically accomplish nothing 
but “ words and smoke,” will not reach t la- 
case. There must be a power behind Hie 
words and a way to carry resolutions into 
practical operation. When that is done, all 1 
these vexations and losses will disappear. 
that sufficient evidence can be had to re¬ 
verse this decision iu the courts. The ad¬ 
vice given, we understand, is for the facto¬ 
ries t.o pay costs and have a new trial. In 
conversation with one of the prominent par¬ 
ties iu the defense, he informed us that, the 
factories did not propose to recognize the 
patent claimed, and that they should fol¬ 
low the advice of counsel, and contest, the 
claim to the “bitter end.’ This is the con¬ 
dition of.thingsat present in Herkimer Co.; 
but what has been done, or what is doing, 
in other States, we are not informed. Quite 
a number of let ters have been received by 
us from time to time similar to the one 
above. As the matter is now In a fair way 
to be settled iu the courts, parties interest¬ 
ed will see how t he ease stands in Herkimer 
Co., and govern themselves accordingly. 
Bomcslic (Broiiomu. 
FLOATING ISLAND. 
When I read in tho Rural New-Yorker 
the question how to make Floating Island, 
I hoped to learn a better way than one that 
1 have used for thirty years, but the re¬ 
cipes given so far are very different from 
what I call Floating Island, and certainly 
not so good. Put into a clean sauce-pan one 
quart, of sweet milk; when it has been on 
the stove long enough to become nearly hot,, 
add to it the beaten yolks of three eggs, and 
stir until it becomes thick as cream. Do 
not, let it boil; then strain through a Rmall 
sieve, sweeten and flavor to I he taste, and 
set it in a cool place till wanted. Put the 
whites of the three eggs into a largo vegeta¬ 
ble dish, with two tablespoonfuls of cur¬ 
rant or other jelly to each egg—that is, six 
spoonfuls to the three eggs—and six table- 
spoonfuls of white powdered sugar; beat 
the whole until it resembles thick, white 
paint, or thin putty in consistency- perhaps 
half an hour or more; do not stop too soon. 
Just before dinner drop the islands on the 
custard, and it will make a delicious dessert: 
try it. A gentleman once dined with us, 
and afterward asked a friend of what could 
our dessert have been made; for though it 
looked solid, yet when put into the mouth 
there was nothing of it. It was Floating 
Island.—w. 
♦ ♦♦- 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
CHEESE RACK AND SETTER IN COURT, 
There is a man traveling through this seo- 
t ion claiming pay from the cheese factories 
for the use of Scott’s Patent Range and Set¬ 
ter. This Scott, lie says, was a neighbor of 
Jesse Williams. Is it a swludle, oris so sim¬ 
ple a thiug as two pieces of scantling, with u 
ciroular piece of board with a rim, patented ? 
He also claims that, suit was brought by tho 
patentee against the user of the arrange¬ 
ment. and was decided in his favor the past 
winter.— J. 11. Chapman, Went, Rutland, 
IT., May 17th. 
About one year ago, a suit was brought 
by the owners of what is claimed as Scott’s 
patent, against certain parties in Herkimer 
Co., who have been using tho “Cheese Rack 
and Setter ” fur a long time. A number of 
factories, representing some 5,0(H) cows, 
joined in defending this suit, employing 
counsel, and agreeing to “share and share 
alike" in all expenses that should be in¬ 
curred. The suit was referred to a referee, 
aud testimony taken, and we understand 
the deoision in the case went against the 
factories. The counsel for the factories 
claim that the testimony was not all iu, and 
Green Pea Soup in Winter and Spring. 
—Here is a suggestion for housewives, from 
an English gardener who usually talks of 
what he knowsSow peas thickly in pots 
and boxes, say six weeks before the soup is 
wanted. Pluce them In a temperature of 
GO' or so, close to the glass In a house or pit. 
Cut tho plants as soon as they attain a 
hight of from three to six inches, and rub 
them through a sieve. The shoots alone 
will make a fair soup. Mixed with dry 
peas, also passed through a sieve, no one 
could scarcely distinguish color or flavor 
from that of real green pea soup. There is, 
however, considerable difference in the fla¬ 
vor of pea leaves, as well as of the peas 
themselves. The best marrows, such as 
Ne Plus Ultra and Veltche's Perfection, 
yield the most piquant cutt ings. Also tho 
more light the plants receive the higher (ho 
flavor, plants drawn up or at all blanched, 
being by no means comparable with those 
well and strongly grown. 
in the spring, a few patches or rows may 
be sown in open quarters expressly for green 
cutt ings. These are most perfect and full 
flavored when four inches high. When 
too long, tho flavor seems to have run to 
wood, and the peculiar aroma of green peas 
is weaker. 
There is yet another mode of making 
green pea soup at any season at very short 
notice. Chip the peas by steeping them in 
water aud leaving them iu a warm place for 
a few days. Then slightly boil or stew, 
chips aud all, and pass them through a 
sieve. The lluvor is full and good, though 
such pea soup lacks color, it is astonishing 
liow much the mere vegetation of seeds de¬ 
velops their more active and predominant 
flavor or qualities; a fact that might often 
be turned to useful account in tho kitchen 
in the flavoring of soups or dishes, with 
turnips, colory, parsley, &c. 
To Make a Cap Bag. —Take a round 
piece of pasteboard for the bottom, large 
enough to hold the cap without crumpling 
it. Paste on the outside a piece of cash- 
mere or other worsted cloth, and on the in¬ 
side a piece of neat white cloth. Then take 
a piece for the outside ft little over half a 
yard long, so as to turn iu an inch or 
more at the top, and lino with nice white 
cloth; then sew around the bottom, ai\d 1 
- sew up; then hem the top over the lining 
■ as much as you wish it to turn in; but do 
• not have the lining any longer than to go 
i neatly under this scam. Then run a place 
• for a cord so as t o make a ruffle of what was 
' < urned Iu at the t op. Run in a tape or cord 
■ to draw it together aud hang up with. 
• Then sew around rattans, or hoops out of 
a hoop skirl, about midway, so as to keep 
the lower half in shape with the bottom. 
These may be sowed in the inside or out¬ 
side ; but if on the outside sew on t wo about 
an inch apart, and plait, a piece of cloth 
over them in such a way as to look nice. 
Such a bag, lined with calico, will, if made 
neatly, answer for a traveling bag and for 
many other uses. Smaller ones may be 
made In this way for carrying one’s work, 
or other t hings.— k. 
Coffee Making.—I venture to give my 
way. Buy it roasted but not ground. 
Grind every morning, just enough for one 
drawing. Put into the coffee pot one table 
spoonful for every adult member of the 
family. Pour upon itas much boiling water 
as you think you need cups of coffee. One 
person ought not to drink more than two 
cups if they regard the laws of health. Let 
it st and where it will not boil, but keep it 
boiling hot, until breakfast is nearly readj T . 
Then let it boil up once or twice. Remove 
from the stov-caiul let it settle five minutes. 
Put the sugar and cream into the cup and 
pour the hot coffee upon it,. If milk Is used 
heat it quite hot, or boil it if you choose, 
aud let it cool a little before using. If you 
get good coffee and make it, this way, and 
3 *our husband don’t like it, his taste is very 
different, from that of most people.— Mrs. 
B. B. Sawyer. 
How to Utilize Pressed Leaves.—I 
have some very handsome pressed foliage 
from plants and trees, and think they could 
be made ornamental for the parlor if T knew 
how to use them.—p. 
If you make a handsome alhum of them, 
fastening them carefully to the leaves of a 
nicely bound book, prepared for the pur¬ 
pose, writing the common name of the plant, 
the scientific name, when they grew and the 
date when gathered, you will find it as in¬ 
teresting a center table ornament as 3 *ou 
can have. In other words make a herbarium 
of it. You will find it will not only Interest 
yourself in the gathering, studying and ar¬ 
ranging, but other people as well. That is 
the way we should do it. 
To Pickle Tomatoes. — Slice, round 
ways, a quarter of nu inch or so in thick¬ 
ness, aud put in layers, sprinkled with salt, 
24 hours, or over night,; then drain thor¬ 
oughly. To good cider vinegar, add a pint 
bowl of sugar to a quart—more or less, to 
your taste—a teaspoon of cloves, aud one of 
cinnamon; a popper pod, or the black; put 
the tomatoes in and bring to a boll. They 
are ready for use, and keep well.— m. n. 
Maple Sirup without Graining.— I 
read the article by a correspondent about 
how to make maple sirup without graining. 
I put in the alum and canned aud bottled a 
lot of it, and it has all crystalized into 
sugar. I should like that correspondent 
(IV. A. GRAHAM, page 134, Rural New- 
Yorker, Feb. 24,) to tell mo how to take 
a cake of sugar out of a bottle. — Leer 
Linseed. 
Button-Hole Worker. — In answer to 
several inquiries, we say we know nothing 
of tin? button-hole worker advertised in our 
columns, from practical experience. One 
of our correspondents writes us that she has 
not succeeded in using it; whether it is her 
fault, or the fault of the implement, we 
know not. 
Cleaning Paint.—If the paint in the 
sitting room, which Mrs. F. W. Y. wished 
to clean, is not badly soiled, she will find 
washing it with a coarse linen cloth with 
clean warm water will clean it and not in¬ 
jure the luster. If soiled, a few drops of 
ammonia in the water will work wonders. 
Wipe and polish dry with a clean linen 
towel.—M rs. S. B. Sawyer. 
Preserving Eggs In Lime Water.— 
1 have used a brine made of one pint each 
of lime and salt to every pail of water for 
t wo years past. It preserves the eggs per¬ 
fectly, but they are discolored, which is ob¬ 
jected to in market. How can this discolo¬ 
ration be prevented and the eggs preserved ? 
—It. J. Fauk. 
Brine for Cucumbers.—L. does not 
want to use any water in making a brine 
for cucumbers. At least people here only 
pack them in salt as they take them from 
the vines. Tho brine is made while they 
stand, from the melting of the salt.— Mrs. 
S. B. S. 
