wov. fa 
OOBE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
SIS 
Jpairjg ^ttsbaiulrg. 
SETTLING DIFFEEENCES BETWEEN 
CHEESE MAKER AND PATRON. 
A Correspondent writes us that a cer¬ 
tain cheese maker of his acquaintance has 
had a little difficulty with his patrons 
about floating curds. He says;—“They go 
back on hint $175,” and wo think he is not 
to blame, ** and i t is proposed to leave it to 
the Farmers’ Club of Little Fulls, or the 
Central Farmers’ Club at Utica, and have 
the matter tested and settled who is respon¬ 
sible for floating curds—for future cases— 
as they do occur in all hot seasons.” 
Till* is a very good mauner of setfling 
such difficulties, and in every way prefer¬ 
able to carrying the matter into court, 
where, in all probability, each party would 
be mulcted for lawyers’ fees and other ex¬ 
penses, in a sum that would more than 
cover the amount af. issue. 
Questions like this about milk and cheese 
making, are very readily determined by 
those who have had experience in handling 
milk and manufacturing it into cheese. 
Certain things in regard to the condition 
and treatment of milk and the manufac¬ 
ture of chouse are now recognized as essen¬ 
tial to the production of a good merchant¬ 
able article. No first-class cheese maker 
will pretend to argue that fine cheese oan 
be made in filthy premises, with uncleaned 
dairy utensils, putrid rennet, and a gen¬ 
eral neglect in factory management, if 
the cheese maker or manager is culpable 
as to these matters, he ought to be held 
responsible for losses resulting from his 
want of care and mismanagement. But 
on the other hand, if the patrons have 
been careless in the treatment and hand¬ 
ling of the milk, whereby it Is delivered in 
a filthy and unsound condition, the cheese 
maker ought not to be held accountable 
for losses resulting from such neglect of 
patron*. 
We are Inclined to the opinion that the 
patrons of cheese factories do not generally 
appreciate, to the full extent, their respon¬ 
sibility in furnishing milk in good order at 
the factory. Many think it sufficient if 
they cun deliver milk before It shows a 
perceptible change toward acidity. The 
milk may be reeking with filth, may be so 
decomposed as to be nearly, If not quite, 
putrid, and yet perfectly free from any 
acid taste or smell. Such milk is the fruit- 
fid source of floating curds, especially dur¬ 
ing hot weather. To hold that the manu¬ 
facturer must handle this so as to avoid 
lbrating curds, and produce from it a cheese 
as perfect in flavor and quality as from 
milk in good, sound condition, is unreason¬ 
able, and It ought not to bo expected; and 
yet there are a good many dairymen who 
will throw all the blame upon the cheese 
maker under such Circumstances, 
It is oftentimes supposed that the large 
attendance at the Dairymen's Conventions 
is made up, for the most part, of farmers 
who arc- patrons of cheese factories. This 
is not so. The cheese makers, the dealers, 
and those indirectly interested in the dairy 
business, are the persons who attend and 
make up the bulk of the audience. Audit : 
has been a great source of regret to the 
progressive dairymen that the farmers who 
are patrons of the cheese factories fail to • 
be present at the conventions. It Is this • 
class who still remain in ignorance of many j 
of the essential principles concerning the | 
treatment of milk—principles which are 1 
well understood by the factory managers, i 
Here is another reason in favor of settling ‘ 
the difficulties between patron and cheese 
maker ar. a meeting of the Farmers’ Clubs. 
Let the patrons and manufacturers oomo I 
together, and have the matter fairly dis- j 
cussed and settled. Patrons, we appre- ] 
ltend, will often learn something from suoh > 
discussion that will more than payfortbeir \ 
claims against the cheese maker. We see } 
no reason why all the facts concerning dif- \ 
ferenoes between patron and cheese maker \ 
may not bo presented and fairly decided at ' 
a club meeting as proposed, and an arnica- i 
ble settlement of these differences will be ! 
much the wiser course for both parties, J 
thau to resort to the courts. i 
that milk is produced so cheaply in Illi¬ 
nois, Missouri, and other Western States, 
as to render it an easy matter for that sec¬ 
tion to compete with the East; and more¬ 
over, in the event of a largo and rapid in¬ 
crease in dairying, the West and North¬ 
west could compel the Eastern dairymen 
to retire from the field. We do not think 
1 there is cause for immediate alarm as to 
1 the over-production of dairy goods. For 
1 the last twenty years fears have been en¬ 
tertained that the business was being over¬ 
done, but year after year the markets have 
been cleared. Our population is increas¬ 
ing with wonderful rapidity, and the de¬ 
mand for milk, butter and cheese must 
keep pace with the growth of the country. 
And it is to be doubted whether the busi¬ 
ness will go beyond this point, since the 
moderate prices of late years aro not suffi¬ 
cient to stimulate a rapid increase in dairy¬ 
ing like that during the war. Hence, wo 
think, there is not likely to be any consid¬ 
erable surplus nf dairy goods to be carried 
over from one year to another. 
In tlm foreign trado we have an outlet 
annually for nearly, if not quite, a hundred 
million pounds of cheese, at prices ranging 
not far from fourteen cents per pound. It, 
is truo, in the event of a war with Eng¬ 
land, our dairy interest might for the time 
suffer; but, perhaps uo more so than other 
leading branches of agricultural industry. 
But wo do not think a war between the 
two nations is likely to happen very soon, 
and, therefore, can see no reason why the 
dairy may not be counted upon as a steady, 
reliable business, at about, the average 
prices which the goods have sold the past 
season. 1’rices, doubtless, may fluctuate 
in different years, but the fluctuation, we 
apprehend, will not be caused so much 
from over-production of dairy goods as 
from pushing them too fast upon the mar¬ 
ket, or from other causes, which operate 
alike to depress or elevate other branches 
of industry. 
The dairies of New York have yielded 
better profits this season than they did last 
year, for the same time, and although prices 
have not been so high as we could have 
wished, it. Is our opinion they will not go 
much lower for a Series of years to come, so 
that those who are satisfied with the busi- 
nessat. this year’s tl gores may reasonably ex¬ 
pect the dairy wlllpayaa well in the future. 
Wo cannot, therefore, join in the appre¬ 
hension, not mi frequently expressed by 
some of our dairymen, that dairying at lliu 
West will very' soon compel a serious de¬ 
cline in prices, and that New .York dairy¬ 
men must look for much lower rates for 
their goods than they have been getting 
this your. And in confirmation of this 
opinion we may refer to the statement of a 
writer in a recent number of the Prairie 
Farmer, in which thecogt of produoinginilk 
in Illinois appears to be very fairly given. 
According to this writer the cost of pro¬ 
ducing milk is twelve and one-half cents 
per gallon in Summer, and eighteen cents 
per gallon in Winter. 
Now, laud is put at .<65 per acre—a very 
moderate estimate, considering the cost of 
buildiugs, fences, etc. Hut we give all the 
figures iu the estimates, that practical dai¬ 
rymen may judge for themselves as to the 
statement. Hero they are: 
COST OF PRODUCING MILK AT THE WEST. 
Tne cost of producing milk at tho West 
is of interest to Eastern dairymen, since 
from this a comparative estimate may be 
made as to how far the West tnay compete 
with the East in furnishing dairy goods to 
the markets of the world. It has been 
supposed, and indeed is generally claimed, 
CA VITA I, tNVEBTKll IN TUK DAIRY flLSIXKSS. 
IfiO acres of land at *3 per acre.iiO im ini 
30 nows at *40 per head... l'iiUO OO 
3 horse* at |tao each— . 'nuo’ou 
2 lurui wagons at *00 each.. . lou oo 
I spritiK wagon.pjo'oo 
Jlorsu power, (cod cutter, feed mill, steamer, 
etc..... 300 (XI 
Plows, cultivators, harrows, etc... 75 ‘ini 
i combined reaper and mower. 200 uo 
■i harnesses. i<|3( 
20 milk cans.lm m 
Milk palls, spades and shovels, forks, lioesi 
e" 5 . 100.00 
Total. .$13,JOO.OO 
1 ) 11 . 
Interest on f IS, tOo.OO of capital at 6 percent... *780.00 
I,oss on cows by deiltli or accident. 80 (XI 
Lessen horses by death or accident. 1,','iNi 
Wear and tear on cows. juAB! 
Wear anil tear on horse*... {Sun 
Wear and tear on wagons. VIM 
Wear oil reaper.oiljxi 
Wear on horse power, feed aimer, etc. liO ixi 
Wear oil plows, cultivators, ®tc. 7’^, 
Wear on harnesses,.......iTjn 
Wear on milk can* ... .. . •m'ftl 
Wear on mimll tool*... 7 . 7 . 7 ' lli txi 
Wear on oiu rods of fence. is',id 
Wear on buildings, puinung, etc. 5p'm 
Cost of material for repairing fence_ 777 5AX) 
lather of fjirmnr for one year... . 300 in 
ijitbor of hired man lor one year.,... 7_ 77 ! 250 (X) 
Labor Of hired boy for six mouths. IXl'lNI 
Labor of hired girl ono year.. ’ 13000 
Hoard of all nt *2 each per week. .77 3I>| 00 
Feed bought In addition to what the farm pro- 
. '"ices. 150.01) 
Insurance. 30.OO 
. 75. W 
Total of Dr. account.... *2 477 si: 
Total of Cr. account. 2’2fi0lSo 
CR. 
By gross receipts of 30 cows, at f7f< per cow, (In¬ 
ured at the basts of I2>.jc. per gallon, for 
the six Summer months, and at 18c. per 
gallon for tho six Winter months..$2,l'aO.06 
11083 . S227.G0 
Now the writer states that the above bal¬ 
ance sheet is based on tho experience in the 
- dairy business of seventeen years, and that 
, several prominent men to whom it lias been 
submitted declare it to be correct, with the 
exception of the capital account, which iu 
- their opinion is estimated too low. 
This Illinois dairyman semis his milk to 
1 (Tiiaago for city consumption. He delivers 
t it at the nearest depot, from whence it goes 
> by rail to this city, and, with the exception 
of some extra milk cans, we do not see as 
tho expense account would differ very muOii 
- iu case the milk were to bo delivered at the 
1 nearest cheese factory, lie makes the fol- 
■ lowing additional statement, which wo give 
in tiis own words, as it presents a pretty 
strong case, and one which milk farmers 
will not uufrequontly recognize as coming 
up ftp their own experience, lie says: 
7 You will see at a glance that, even at the 
price asked by us, the farmer comes out <>n 
the wrong side of the lodger to the tune nf 
S'-”"•<:(!. Now we must, of course, deduct 
that from the $104 of labor, with board, 
charged for his service, which leaves him, 
the man that would ooiuiuand a salary of 
?),fl <>0 in your city, or anywhere else, the 
miserable pittance of Mlii.Ai, ami board 
himself out of that. Now, here at our sta¬ 
tion, on the (’. B. & Q. road, the milk train 
is dun at 7 o’clock and 18 minutes A. M., 
ami, in order to get my milk properly 
cooled and ready for shipment in time for 
the train, 1 am obliged to rise at 1.15 Win¬ 
ter and Summer. I have to take it to t he 
depot at that early hour, when iu Die short¬ 
est and, oftentimes, tho coldest days of 
Winter, I cannot see a rod ahead of my 
team; through all kinds of weather, m> mat¬ 
ter whut happens, f tie milk must be there 
on time; and nevertheless, during the sev¬ 
en years since I have been sending milk, 
1 have uot failed being on time but twice, 
and iu both cases it took us half a day to 
shovel our way through the snow to the 
depot. Verity? the farmer is the beast of 
burden of this great nation. Between the 
monopolist, the carrier, the middle man 
and the laborer, we are having a sorry time 
of if But, never miud, brother farmers, 
we will labor on and wait—we will right all 
this in the laird’s own good time.” 
If it bo true that milk as far West as 
Illinois, and on comparatively cheap lauds, 
costs the farmer 12!-.j cents per gallon in its 
production, by what manner of means can 
the Illinois dairyman furnish cheese de¬ 
livered at the Atlantic seaboard at a price 
much loss than II cents per pound? Say 
that the gallon of milk makes a pound of 
cheese, and that one and a-half cents is 
charged for making, furnishiugand boxing, 
we have the it cents per pound for the 
cheese at the railroad depot nearest the 
factory. lo this must be added tho freight 
from Illinois to New York City. In other 
words the freight is against him. Again, 
under the present regulations of the trade, 
Western cheese must always sell in Now 
York City lor a less price than Eastern, 
even though it bo of equal quality. The 
reason for this is because the West is so 
much further from the seaboard, which 
makes the risk greater, not only of damage 
but decay. A large proportion of tho New 
York cheese is bought upon orders. On 
market days, at the country markets, the 
telegraph is ill frequent requisition. The 
cheese is bought, one day and arrives in 
New York on the next day. There must 
bo certainty as to the time of Its arrival, 
and the nearer the goods are to the city the 
better advantage can be taken of the mar¬ 
kets. Especially is this the case with the 
foreign trade, which often semis its orders 
by cable, and has a controlling influence on 
prices. 
in comparing the dairy business of the 
two sections, tho main advantage of the 
West is in her cheaper lauds and cheaper 
cows. Tho East generally has lands better 
adapted to grass — lands not so liablu to be ' 
affected with drouths—hotter water, and be¬ 
ing near the seaboard has the advantage in 
freights and the opportunity for marketing 
goods from time to time when prices are 
best. Will not these advantages on the one 
hand balance those on the other, and are wo 
not justified in the conclusion that Western , 
dairying will not increase so rapidly and to j 
that extent that the East will soon becojn- j 
polled to abandon the business? If it costs 1 
the farmer of the Northwest 127; cents per , 
gallon to produce milk, he will not be likely 
to overstock Eastern markets with cheese 
iu order to force prices down, much, If any¬ 
thing, below the summer rates of 1872. 
|[ j&^irttftc and tfsqful. 
11 WATER-WITCHING." 
s Wk have a correspondent in Grand Isle 
j t o., \ t., who takes issue with “ Water- 
1 Witch” upon t he subject, of “ Water-Witch- 
( ing. He not only believes there is “ some- 
1 thing in it,” but “ Annies there is.” He has 
no doubt that men abuse the credulity of 
. those who employ them for tho purpose of 
finding water, but insists that in the hands 
of some men a green forked stick will surely 
indicate where water runs; and that it can 
bo successfully demonstrated to any can¬ 
did scientific man, and will sooner or later 
become an established fact. He is anxious 
the ItuicAi, New-Yorker should "do the 
cause of truth the service to convince our 
countrymen Unit it is not old fogy ism 
nor superstition, but really an important 
truth.” To this end lie proposes to come 
t" New York and tell where the water 
pipes are, every one of thorn, by passing 
over them with tho stick, and trace them 
1'rom one end to tho other. He requires, 
ir he does it, fair pay for his time ami his 
expenses; if he fails, ho bears liis own ex¬ 
penses. This modest proposition is made 
to the Rural Njsw-Yorker, which is to 
undertake the expense of verifying the in¬ 
dications of his slick by digging up the 
streets and tracing tho pipes. He may say 
that the Water < 'ommissioners have maps 
of the routes of the water pipes. It may 
be true, but wo don’t happen to know it. 
Wo respectfully decline the proposition. 
We don’t Caro enough about “the cause of 
Until in tins matter to incur the expense, 
time and trouble. If we wanted to dig 
Tor water somewhere, and doubted whether 
wo could find It, we might accept tho con¬ 
ditions for the purpose of discovering it. 
So others will be glad to employ him, doubt¬ 
less, on tbo same terms. Let him advertise 
himself, and he will doubtless find business 
—especially iu time of drouth. Assertions, 
out- way or the ot her, amount to nothing. 
Water-Witch” has asserted, no; our cor¬ 
respondent, asserts, yes ; but wo do not 
want to be umpires in any test. Haven’t 
time nor ambition in that direction. This 
ends the discussion of the topic except 
tacts are introduced. 
---— 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL N0TE8. 
To Mend Mahogany or Walnut Moltl- 
inga. I found the following recipe in some 
paper some time ago—it may be it was in 
the Rural— and have tested it and liml it 
excellent. 1‘lease publish (or republish if 
it has appeared lit your columns) it for tho 
benefit of others: 
Take two pieces of lumber, one to fit the 
inside, tlio other the outside of the mold¬ 
ing (the lumber of oourso cut to the curves 
required); soak the molding in boiling wa¬ 
ter for ten minutes; then put It between 
tho piece* or lumber; then clump them to¬ 
gether slowly bending the molding; let it 
stand for three days, and it will be lit for 
use.—M. N., Akron, O. 
Cement for Iron.— Can you tell me if 
there is a cement for iron? I have heard 
that there is. —P. N. Eaton, 
■> Looking through a work on mechanics we 
find tho followiuggiven:—'“Mix sixty parts 
of pulverized cast-iron tilings with two 
parts of sal ammoniac and one part of flour 
of sulphur; and add water until a paste is 
formed. A cement is thus obtained which 
grows hot spontaneously, evolving sulphu¬ 
retted hydrogen, and soon becoming very 
hard. Of course it must be prepared im¬ 
mediately before using.” 
Restoring Vulcanized Rubber.— Jas. 
Marvin asks if there is any process by 
which vulcanized rubber can be restored to 
tho condition It was before it was vulcan¬ 
ized, asserting that there is a fortune for 
the inventor of a process thut shall be prac¬ 
tical on an extended scale. We only know 
that it has been done, but do not know the 
process nor what it costs to so restoro it. 
Do any of our readers? 
Dairying iu California.—The Pacific 
Rural Press says; "This Important feat¬ 
ure of California agriculture is also receiv¬ 
ing its full share of attention; the most 
noted breeds of milker* suited to the varied 
conditions of soil and the nature of the 
grasses of the varied districts of valley, 
bill and mountain lauds, are now being 
eagerly inquired into, with reference to 
their peculiar properties and adaptability 
each to the other, with a view of obtaining 
the best, and only the best, thoroughbred 
animals.” 
Size of Field for a Half-mile Track. 
—A correspondent asks somo of our mathe¬ 
matical readers to give the size of a field 
for a half-mile track (circular), and state 
what tile distance should be from the cen¬ 
ter of the field to the center of the track, 
the track to bo thirty feet wide. 
Soda from Nevada.—There is a small 
lake in t kurchlll Co., Nevada, having an 
urea of about seven ucres, which is a perfect 
well of carbonate of soda in its almost pure 
state. Hits substance can be obtained from 
this reservoir to the extent of 20,000 tons a 
year. 
