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X. A. WILLARD, A. M., EDITOR, 
O* Little Falls, Hkiikimku Coexnr, New Yoek. 
PREPARING RENNET. 
Will you or some of your correspondents toll 
us the best way to prepare rennet for use In a 
dairy of two hundred cows; and being 1 prepared 
what quantity ought to bo used to the hundred 
pounds of mUk ? -A 8uumciu nun, Schuyler’s 
N. ¥. 
In preparing rennet for use, the veil# or 
skins may be either soaked in water or whey. 
Sour whey is lu st and it should he properly 
purified before using. This is done by taking 
a quantity of sweet whey and heating it to 
near boiling heat, when the butter and 
albuminous matters In the whey will rise on 
the surface and should he removed with a 
skimmer. The whey may then be set aside 
to sour and when it has acquired a sharp 
acid taste is tit for use. Rennet should be 
steeped in stone jars. These jars are now 
manufactured for this purpose of various 
sizes from five to thirty gallons. Wooden 
vessels are liable to become tainted, and 
therefore should never be used for steeping 
rennet. To do the work in the beat manner, 
two jars, say offifteen to twenty gallons each, 
will be required. The old rule is to use one 
rennet to the gallon of liquid, but for fifteen 
gallons we should add two or three rennets 
more. 
Select, then, say eighteen good sweet ren¬ 
nets and put them to soak in fifteen gallons 
of the prepared whey. A small quantity ol 
salt may be added. In order to keep the 
veils from rising on the top, a large stone 
crock-cover may lie immersed in the liquid 
covering the veils, which will hold them nu 
der the surface. After the veils have been 
in soak for a day or so, they should lie 
thoroughly rubbed up in the whey, in order 
to extract their strength. They may then 
be allowed to soak for a day or two longer, 
when they should be rubbed out again, and 
the soaking and rubbing continued from 
limo to time for several days. 
At the end of a week’s time the strength 
of the veils will ho pretty well exhausted, 
when the liquid should be strained through 
a cloth and placed in the second jar. and is 
ready for use. More whey may now be 
added to the veils in the first, jar, where 
they may lie soaked for a week or more 
with an occasional rubbing, which will 
probably extract all their strength, and they 
may then he taken out and thrown away. 
The liquor should be kept in a cool, sweet 
place and occasionally stirred, and if good, 
sweet rennets have been used, it will have 
no unpleasant tainted smell. 
As rennets vary greatly in their strength, 
no exact rule as to quantity can be given for 
a hundred pounds of milk. The strength of 
the liquid must be tested by trying a small 
quantity of the prepared rennet in a small 
quantity of milk, ami then estimating how 
much rennet, it will take to coagulate a hun¬ 
dred pounds of milk in forty to sixty minutes. 
This having been once determined, the 
quantity of rennet required for a vat of milk 
can be regulated with exactness so long as 
the batch of prepared rennet lasts. But at 
every new batch of prepared rennet, a test 
as above described, must be made to deter¬ 
mine its strength. 
When water is used to soak the rennets, 
enough salt must be used to make it a strong 
brine. 
As the sour whey assists the rennet in the 
process of coagulating the milk, rennets 
soaked in whey will go further than when 
soaked in water, and at the same time the 
liquid prepared in the Jar is not so liable to 
taint. 
During the past year we have given sev¬ 
eral recipes, in the Rural, for preparing ren¬ 
net ; but as the season of cheese making is 
approaching, the subject is a proper one to 
be discussed again. 
- *■■*-■* - 
FEEDING MILCH COWS. 
Ityc Meal —Bushes in Pastures, «fcc. 
Is ground cyo a pood and safe feed for cows, 
before or after cfiflvmg; nr would It bo better lr 
mixed with other iiud llvfliler feed V As the jirioo 
of rye is lower tbau any other (?raln, according 
to weight, it soems a desirable feed. 
I have a twenty acre lot of now land that I 
have heretofore pastured with sheep; now 1 am 
tummy my attention to dtiirylibf, pud wish to 
pastine with cows. As there are many raspber¬ 
ry bushes on it, would they afifoot the flavor of 
butter mid choose? C. B. Cahphnter, Duanes* 
touryh, Schenectady Co., A. 1'. 
Many of ihc dairy farmers of Herkimer 
and the adjoining counties have been in the 
habit of feeding ground rye to cmvs in milk, 
and with the best results. They claim that 
it not only produces a good quantity and 
quality of milk, but that it serves a good 
purpose in keeping the animals in strength 
and condition. It is usually fed to cows, af¬ 
ter calving, as a spring feed, and it is thought 
best to mingle the rye meal with shorts or 
wheaten bran, in equal proportions, or at 
least to have one part bran to two of rye 
meal. Some use ground oats instead of bran 
to make the mixture. When rye has been 
used in tbi^way as a feed for milch cows, 
we have never heard of any trouble in the 
i 
herds resulting from such feeding. In Europe, 
however, very fatal consequences have oc¬ 
curred from the use of rye meal. 
This has been the case when the grain has 
been affected by ergot—a long, black fnngus- 
like substance shooting out of the seed, or 
head of the growing plant, before the crop 
has ripened. When a considerable number 
of the plants have been diseased in this way, 
and the fungus mixed up with the grain and 
then ground into meal and taken internally, 
il has produced the most dreadful effects on 
man and animals, in the rotting and separat¬ 
ing of the limbs from Ike body. This effect 
from ergotized rye, when first observed in 
France, was called dry gangrene. 
Rye resembles wheat somewhat in its com¬ 
position, and contains about tiic same pro¬ 
portion of flesh-producing substances as 
wheat, but rather more sugar. The follow¬ 
ing represents the average composition in a 
hundred parts of the grain of rye in its 
natural state: 
Gluten,..10.79 
Albumen. 3.01 
Starch.. M M 
Gum. 5.31 
Sugar. 3.71 
Fatty mat tors. 05 
Hunk. 10.211 
Axb..... 1.71 
Water .13.<xj 
ioo.oo 
The grain of rye, on an average, yields 
about twenty-four per cent, of bran and 
seventy-six of flour. The low price of rye, 
at times, as compared with oilier grains, 
must render it an economical kind of cattle 
food. In comparison with barley, rye is 
usually considered inferior to that grain for 
feeding purposes. 
There are no instances coming under our 
observation where rye lias been fed to cows 
before calving, and we cannot, therefore, 
speak of its effects. Perhaps on account of 
its liability of being contaminated with 
ergot, its use as a feed for pregnant cows 
would not be advisable. This, we fancy, 
would be the only objection ; still, it is pos¬ 
sible there may be others, and if any of our 
readers have had any experience showing 
any bad effects from using rye as a cat tle 
food, we should be glad to have a statement 
from them giving results, &o. 
As a rule the best milk is made from good, 
sweet upland pastures, free of weeds, bushes, 
Ac. Of course it would be preferable to 
have pastures free from raspberry bushes. 
Still we should not apprehend auy serious 
trouble from pasturing cows on the land re* 
fered to by our correspondent, unless it was 
so filled with weeds and bushes that the 
cows were forced to consume much of them 
for their support. The raspberry Is by no 
means so bad a shrub for cows to have ac¬ 
cess to, as many kinds of weeds and shrubs 
sometimes found in pastures. Milk is affect¬ 
ed more or less by the food upon which the 
cow feeds, and although the taint from 
weeds aud bushes may be so slight in the 
product of butler and cheese as to pass in 
the markets without objection, still the fact 
that the very finest flavored goods cannot be 
made from such milk should induce farmers 
to take all possible pains within their means 
to eradicate weeds and bushes from pastures. 
- *-*-■* -- 
CHEESE FACTORY RBPORTS -1869. 
We are informed by the Secretary of the 
American Dairymen’s Association, Mr. G. B. 
Weeks, Syracuse, N. Y., that he desires to 
embody in his forthcoming report of the As¬ 
sociation as many reports from Cheese fac¬ 
tories as can lie had. Factorvmcn, therefore, 
will not only confer a favor on him, but upon 
the dairy interest generally, if they will for¬ 
ward to the Secretary the result of their fac¬ 
tory operations for 1869. These reports 
should give the length of the season, number 
of cows, amount of milk received, quantity 
of uncured and cured cheese made; amount 
of milk required for a pound of cured cheese, 
price obtained, size of cheese, average weight, 
colored or not, when marketed, with such 
other facts and statistics as faetorymen are 
able to give. 
As this is a matter which specially con¬ 
cerns the cheese interest of the country, it is 
hoped managers and manufacturers at fac¬ 
tories will send forward their reports at once, 
-- 
8 low Blitter.—Mr. QtrtMBT asked the Western 
N. V. Dinners’ Club, Feb. Kith, why it was so 
hard to churn butter at this time of year. Ho 
found great difficulty. Kept salt before his 
cows constantly, Mr. DEWEY had divided the 
tnilk front a lot of cows, and part went to his 
son’s house and the rest to Ills own. The* milk 
in both places received like treatmr-nf yet at 
one place there was little trouble in bringing 
the butter, and at the other it Imd been many 
times i til possible. He sailed his cows. Mr. 
Colton had notgiven his cat t leer sheep a pound 
of salt for twelve years, and usually found fif¬ 
teen minutes long enough to bring bolter at any 
time of year. His stock wu< \y rush ire. The 
subject was referred to Prof. Lattimoue, of the 
University. 
' ■ H I- 
A Profitable Cheese Factory. - The Buffalo Ex¬ 
press furnishes a brief report of the first Collins, 
the plonoif cheese factory of Erie Co„ N. Y„ for 
1869, as follows: 
Number of cows contributing... 730 
Total pounds of milk received.2,769,330 
Total ebowc in tide, poll nets. 300.239 
Total cheese made, boxes ... ....- .. 5,103 
Average pounds of uilllt to pound of cheese. 9 
Average gross price per pound, 11J0 pounds... $16 28 
Average net price, to patrons. 14 53 
Time of cheese making from March 24 to De¬ 
cember 14. iiiioitqic Session & Co., proprietors; 
Mrs. Stephen Wn.Bon, maker. 
Theu nenmmouly small amount of milk—nine 
pounds—ton pound of cheese Is due partly to 
excellent management, and Partly to the fact 
that the patrons have an intelligent and liberal 
system of feeding and caring for their milch 
cows. 
DISEASED FOWLS—TREATMENT. 
I notice jn your last issue the inquiry of 
“Bloomfield” in reference to his diseased 
fowls. I do not know whether it is roup or 
not, for though I have kept fowls nearly 
fifty years, I have never had a case of Amp 
in my own flock. But my attention has 
recently been called to a diseased hen, whose 
symptoms were very much like those des¬ 
cribed by “Bloomfield.” When my atten¬ 
tion was first called to her, the throat was 
perfectly covered with canker, us was also 
the mouth; but tl i ere was no discharge from 
the nostrils, no sneezing, no froth in the cor¬ 
ner of the eyes, no hard feeling of the crop. 
But there were, in addition to the cankered 
throat, with its very offensive smell, several 
excrescences about the head, which had the 
appearance of ugly black warts. The largest 
of these was on the lower part of the face, 
about equally distant from the eye and nos¬ 
tril. This was as large as a large-sized 
bean. 
On the opposite side, and similarly located, 
was another, not quite as large as the first; 
another, the size of a pepper-corn, about, the 
centre of one eyelid; another of considerable 
size on the comb; another on oueof the deaf 
ears, and still another on the under side of 
the neck. These were not filth, dried on, 
but absolute excrescences, growing out 
from, and adhering to, the. parts where they 
were located. Altogether, she was a pretty 
hard-looking customer. But as I had be¬ 
come a good deal interested in poultry rais¬ 
ing, and finding no such symptoms of disease 
in the books within my reach—I have Teget- 
mcicr and Beuient —I decided to try some 
experiments. 
I took the hen to a warm room—the one 
she had been kept in, with four other fowls, 
was up from the ground—dry, double hoard¬ 
ed, and kept clean, and in dimensions four¬ 
teen by twenty feet. For a few days, being 
at a loss to know what to do, we washed 
the sores with a strong suds ol Castile soap 
and water; and as she could not or would 
not eat, we crammed her with a dough made 
of equal parts of oat meal, corn meal and 
coarse wheat flour. We found, however, 
that she was evidently getting worse, and 
that something more efficient must be done 
to remove the canker und these ugly sores, 
or she must Inevitably die. i then made 
the following wash for the throat: 
To one pint water add one drachm tan¬ 
nin, and alum equal in size to two large wal¬ 
nuts. No fear of getting too much alum. 
With a soft swab 1 washed the mouth and 
throat twice a day. For the sores outside I 
used an ointment made of the following: 
To one pound fresh butter, melted, add one 
ounce oil of origanum and three-quarter 
ounce oil hemlock ; stir well while cooling, 
or the oils and butter will not mix. After 
washing the sores about the bead, 1 have 
applied this ointment. The result is, the 
canker and sores have disappeared, the hen 
looks well, eats well, and is as lively as ever. 
1 have known of no other ease excej.it those 
mentioned hv “ Bloomfieldand I verily 
believe that, without some such treatment, 
ibis would have proved fatal. 
Gloversvillc, N. Y., 1870. R. A. Avery. 
•---♦♦♦- 
POULTRY PROFITS., 
We find testimony generally unfavorable 
to the keeping ol a larger number than 
twenty or thirty liens. During the past 
year 1 have kept a larger number, and give 
you the result. The account runs from Sep¬ 
tember 1st, 1868, to September 1st, 1869: 
For U0 hens and 14 roostnra... 
12,879 its. wheat screenings. 
88 dozen eggs for hatching.... 
One-half bushel lime. 
1 gallon kerosene, for destroying vermin... 
Dr. 
... ¥105.00 
.... 199.119 
.... 51.04 
50 
.... 1.50 
$837.03 
By 250 hens.. 
787 dozen egRs.,. 
Or. 
....$150.00 
.... 418.62 
137 chickens sold.. 
.... 83.40 
$080,92 
357.03 
Profit.... 
....$329.89 
The foregoing is not a large average of 
eggs to each hen, being less than eight 
dozen. This is owing to the great number 
of hens set, whereby 1 lost their full product 
of eggs. I had, at one time, thirty hens set¬ 
ting. I began to set hens the latter part of 
January, believing that as 1 had a warm 
house and every tiling arranged for the busi¬ 
ness, that 1 would realize a large profit on 
early spring chickens; but, alas! disappoint¬ 
ment conies to the most hopeful and san¬ 
guine ! Though the eggs hatched well and 
the young chicks were as gay and sprightly 
as could be, at the age of three weeks they 
one after another began to droop and die 
without any apparent cause, till my beauti¬ 
ful and Interesting flock of seven hundred 
was reduced down to two hundred on the 
first of June, after which they grew rapidly 
and were more healthy. 
The cause of this mortality is now plain 
me. The cold, damp weather and the want 
of bright sunshine, an essential thing to ani¬ 
mal as well as vegetable life, preyed upon 
the vitality of their bodies, which their deli¬ 
cate natures bad not. the power to resist. 
Hence weakness made death. My chickens 
batched in June soon got ahead of those 
hatched in February, and are now larger 
and better. 
The rearing of young chicks and the care 
of poultry, if an easy task, is not an idle one. 
Constant care and continued watchfulness 
arc always required. To guard the sitting 
hens from crowding two into one nest, to 
keep them from quarreling; to watch that 
they do not abandon their nests, and keep 
them from killing each other’s young; to 
feed three times per day ; to give fresh water 
as often, and dust and gravel, and to exam¬ 
ine all, banish the vermin, if any, with some 
sort of oil, and to sweep out their houses at 
least, three times per week, is but part of the 
work which, if not done, will result in loss. 
To have eggs clean, bright and fresh, it is 
essentially necessary that the nest boxes 
should be so arranged that the hens cannot 
soil them, either by roosting on their sides or 
flying into them during the day. I have 
sought in vain for a jilan to obviate this dif¬ 
ficulty. Surrounding the nest with wire, as 
recommended in journals and books, does 
not have the desired effect, for on stormy 
days and in deep snows, when poultry should 
be kept within doors, they will fly into the 
nests, carrying all sorts of dirt on their feet 
into the nests. My husband has devised a 
remedy as follows:— 1 The nest boxes arc made 
as usual, of two boards, one twenty inches 
wide l’or the front, the other twelve inches 
wide, is to serve for the bottom. The edges 
of these boards are nailed together, aud par- 
titioned off by boards one foot square anil 
one fool apart; this makes the nests com¬ 
plete, These boxes arc nailed against tiie 
wall, which forms the other side of the nest 
boxes. A broad board extends from the wall 
downward, making a steep roof over the 
nest boxes, but high enough up to admit the 
largest hen, all along the whole length of the 
nests; so arranged, they will not roost on the 
roof, owing to its steep slope; nor will they 
enter the nests except to lay; nor will dust 
nor dirt enter the nests. 
My hens range on the prairie, being pre¬ 
vented from eutcring the farm by an outside 
picket fence, which Is the best arrangement 
for keeping poultry. They thus enjoy their 
own sweet will. My hens are indiscriminate 
crosses of all the good varieties that have 
had their day of praise during the last 
twenty years. So If there be- any good in a 
cross breed, and any value in testimony, this 
is tbc best breed. Last year my bens aver¬ 
aged over eleven dozen eggs each, and Lhis 
was equal to any report of blooded hens, ex¬ 
cepting one, I have seen In any of the three 
agricultural journals I read. The case al¬ 
luded to was where a man kept niue Brah¬ 
ma liens which layed twelve dozen each ; 
though generally, ns reported, the number is 
eleven dozen each, and this with all that 
Care and zeal sure to follow the jmrehase of 
a new and high-priced breed. While my 
hens do as well I perceive no advantage in 
making a change, except to cross tiie blood 
with my neighbors as usual. My hens have 
not laid as many eggs this year as last, for 
the reason before mentioned.— Mrs. Adelia 
Deyinnt, Denver, Col. Ter. 
-- 
REARING CHICKENS. 
The plan adopted by myself for the best 
mode of raising young chicks is first to have 
a secluded, well ventilated apartment in the 
hennery for setting liens; have the nests 
made with fresh wood ashes in the bottom, 
then clean oat straw, well formed, on top of 
the ashes. Ashes keep the vermin out. Then 
feed regular; keep clean fresh water con¬ 
venient at all times for hens to go to. As the 
chicks come out, take them from the hen to 
a basket or box in a warm place. When 
the chicks are all out take the hen to 
a convenient place in your chicken yard, or 
where the grass is not high, tie one end of a 
string to her leg, the other to a stake or 
wood pin driven in the ground nearly flush 
with the surface. Lay a produce barrel with 
the open end to the stake-, put in a layer of 
wheat cbalf or sawdust and give the hen the 
chicks. Give the chicks next hatched to the 
first hen till she has say twenty-four. With 
the next broods do likewise. 
The barrels make good shelter from the 
storms, and protect the chicks from rats, &c. 
Have a board twenty inches square to set 
up at night against thu open end of the 
barrel; lean a brick or stone against it to 
keep it up. In day time set the board 
against one side of the barrel, which makes 
a shelter from the sun for the chicks. The 
siring should lie four feet long, which will 
give the Jien some range. When the place 
becomes worn move the barrel to a fresh 
spot. The barrel should lay on its side and 
be kept from rolling. When the chicks are 
large enough to wean let the hen be confined 
to the hennery, and the chicks roost in the 
barrel three weeks longer, then close the 
barrel and make them a roost in the hen¬ 
nery. Edwin M. Clark. 
Evansville, Ind., 1870. 
ABOUT HIVES. 
In the beginning we bad sections of hollow 
trees and inverted straw baskets for hives. 
So the primitive man lived in caverns. Then 
came the old box hive, changing the form 
rather than the principle. There was access 
to the bees and honey, to be sure. The 
lower end was open, revealing to any one 
rash enough to turn the hive over, the edges 
of the combs and a glimpse of the bees. But 
this, compared with what we needed for the 
most profitable management, was like twenty 
miles of team and wagon from farm to mar¬ 
ket, compared with a railroad at the door. 
As to swarms, the most you could predict 
amounted to this:—If they come at all, it 
will probably be sometime between May and 
August—“ an opinion as is an opinion.” You 
had to watch them every fair day. As to 
numbers of bees, you could tell something by 
the extent of surface presented by the clus¬ 
ter, but then it might be as thin as the popu¬ 
lation of Wyoming or Colorado. As to 
stores, you could weigh the whole una guess 
at deductions for wood and wax. As to foul 
brood, we were in blissful ignorance of the 
existence of any such insidious foe. As to 
surplus honey, when crowded, the bees would 
climb through holes in the tops of the hives 
and store it in boxes; when not crowded 
they would not. 
Then came the movable frame. Now wo 
could predict swarming by examination. As 
soon as royal cells were sealed over, we 
looked out for emigrants. We could take out 
comb after comb and ascertain exactly every¬ 
thing pertaining to number of bees, amount 
of honey, presence of foul brood, and the like. 
Moreover, the strong could be made to help 
the weak. A full comb from a rich hive, 
bees brushed off and transferred to a poor 
one, was an equalizing of this world’s goods 
much to the edification of the poor stock. 
Two weak stocks could be put. together. 
After destroying one of the queens, select ing 
from their fourteen or sixteen combs those 
which were cleanest and heaviest with honey 
and brood, and uniting them, the two might 
go on rejoicing in their redoubled might. 
We could make artificial swarms, and 
thus without waiting upon the slow motion 
of the bees, multiplying stocks at pleasure. 
But we soon learned that increase in num¬ 
bers is not the end of bee keeping. It was 
very desirable, even, to prevent swarming 
entirely and turn all the energies of the bees 
to surplus honey. Then it was thought that 
by giving jileuty of room, swarming might 
be restrained. This succeeded but partially. 
A better plan was to clip the wings of the 
queen, and then, to prevent her from at¬ 
tempting to fly and getting lust, to construct 
a shallow box, two feet square perhaps, the 
edges armed with smooth lia projecting in- 
wards, so that a bee could not gel out with¬ 
out flying, and place this in front of the hive 
in such a manner that the queen on coming 
out would find herself in it and he obliged 
to return. 
In most movable frame hives, also, there 
is too much space between the body of the 
hive and the surplus boxes. The shorter 
this distance the better. Let tiie boxes 
come directly in contact with the frames, 
and no harm will be done. You say, “ not 
so, for the queen will get into them and de¬ 
posit eggs and the bees pollen.” But I say 
il this should happen once in fifty times, the 
greatly increased amount of honey obtained 
by bringing the boxes close to the bees 
would far outweigh this slight disadvantage. 
The improvements next to bo made seem 
to me to lie iu tbe direction of making comb 
rather than tbe hive, i am convinced from 
actual observation that bees will store honey 
iu almost any cavities, even if they bear no 
more than a very slight resemblance to regu¬ 
lar cells. But I have nothing conclusive to 
offer on this point at present, 
M. Quinby. 
•-- 
BEES IN VIRGINIA. 
B. Johnson Barbour, Gordonsville, Va., 
writes the Rural: —“Our immediate sec¬ 
tion (the Piedmont Region of Virginia) seems 
to be peculiarly adapted to bees. There is 
scarcely a ravine in the range of mountains 
(known as tbe Southwest Range) which has 
not its bee tree, in which some swarm which 
has ‘escaped to the mountains’ from the 
plains and valley below, is plying its dilli- 
gcut vocation. We have mauy persons 
who follow the rather idle vocation of hunt¬ 
ing for these trees; and a year or two ago 
I knew one man to find fourteen or fifteen 
of these wild colonies. 1 denounce it as an 
idle trade, but perhaps it deserves a stronger 
phrase, as almost invariably the tree is cut 
down, the bees are destroyed, and the honey 
of course, is the only profit; whereas, I sup¬ 
pose with a little care, the whole stock 
might be preserved and made the nucleus 
of a thriving business, instead of suggesting, 
as it does now, forcibly, tbe act of the sav¬ 
age, who cuts down a ifuit tree for the single 
crop.” 
