usbunbrn. 
X. A. WILLARD, A, M., EDITOR, 
Of I.itti.* 1'Ai.i.t. llllltKIMHK Coif XT v, Ns* Yobk. 
CREAM FROM SCALDED MILK. 
In tin*. Rural New-Yorker of January 
1, 1870, I noticed, and carefully read, an ex¬ 
cellent article headed “ IIoxv to Churn But¬ 
ter Quick," bv Francis Collins, who says: 
“ As soon as the milk is brought in, strain it, 
and set the pan into a pot of water, such as 
stands on every kitchen stove, taking care 
that the water is not hot enough to scald the 
milk, and let it he in until the milk beyius to 
wrinkle. II the milk is scalded, it will not 
produce cream.” 
Now, this may be a good theory, and I 
am inclined to think there is truth in it. But 
it is so very different from my wile’s prac¬ 
tice in setting and heating milk, it puzzles 
me exceedingly to comprehend the results 
of her method. 8he sets the pan containing 
the milk on the kitchen stove; but, if the 
stove is very hot, puts an iron cover belong¬ 
ing to the stove under the pan, so as not to 
scorch the milk. It is left there until the 
milk is scaldin'/ hot, and not unfrequently 
it even bods for several minutes, though 
the boiling is not intentional, and the 
pan is generally taken off its soon as the 
boiling is noticed. If the assertion that 
"scalded milk will not produce cream” is 
true, how can I account for the result of the 
following experiments, most of which were 
made in November and December last, with 
the milk of a three-year-old Jersey heifer, 
every drop of which was intended to lie 
scalded and some portion of it was more or 
less boiled ? 
1 st, cream f-om 8 qts. niillt produced 24 ozs. butter 
2,1 “ *• s •* •* ** 20 " 
3U 
“ 8 “ 
44 
44 
“ 
44 
4th 
“ 25 “ 
41 
it 
70 " 
44 
5 th “ 
“ 12.4“ 
44 
44 
34 “ 
44 
(!14 “ 
II 
4* 
167 " 
44 
Or one pound of butter to 5.89 quarts (if 
milk ; or, in other words, the cream skimmed 
from a trifle less Hum six quarts scalded milk 
made one pound of butter, on an average. 
This butter all came in good condition, 
though in time varying, 1 should judge, from 
about eight to thirty minutes, according to 
the condition of the cream, which was kept 
sometimes down cellar, sometimes in the 
closet or cupboard, ami sometimes in other 
places, for we bad no particular place for 
keeping it, winter or summer, and of course 
the temperature was not very uniform at 
time of churning, though my wife usually 
put the cream into the churn — an old- 
fashioned one, with dasher—several hours 
before churning, and left it in some place 
where she thought the temperature would 
be about right. She has not been very par¬ 
ticular, either, whether the cream was sweet 
or sour at the time of churning. Never 
having lived on a farm till within a few 
years, she professes to have no particular 
svstem or rule to work by, and not to know 
much about butter making anj r way. 
When the first experiment was made, the 
heifer’s daily feed was tour quarts Indian 
meal, four quarts coarse shorts, and all the 
good clover rowen she would eat. The sec¬ 
ond experiment was made a few days after, 
under similar circumstances, and on the same 
course of feed, except that, timothy hay, 
equally well made, was substituted for the 
rowen. And here I was much disappointed 
in the effect of the change; for although the 
quantity of milk was immediately much di¬ 
minished - about one-sixtli, which I expected 
—tne amount of butter from the sanie quan¬ 
tity of milk was also diminished in almost 
exactly the same proportion, the recorse of 
which 1 had looked for, and wag calculating 
on about twenty-eight miuces of butter from 
the eight quarts of milk, but got only twenty 
ounces. This only shows my ignorance; 
and I have to conclude, if an experiment 
made on so small a scale may he considered 
tolerably reliable, that clover rowen will not 
only make more , but richer milk, in butter 
producing qualities, than timothy hay, as 
ordinarily made. Only a few days inter¬ 
vened between the second experiment and 
the third ; hut, in the mean time, swale bay, 
composed of various wild grasses, briers, 
weeds, and especially a largo proportion of 
brakes, such .'is is sold in our market almost 
exclusively for bedding, at one-third to one- 
half the price of good bay, had been substi¬ 
tuted for timothy, the grain feed remaining 
the same. The heifer fell off in quantity of 
milk in about the same proportion as before, 
though the quality, so far as butter produc¬ 
tion was concerned, was but little changed, 
as we got only one ounce less butler than in 
the previous trial with the timothy. The 
fourth experiment was made about a week 
later, but with considerable change of feed, 
damaged flue hay being substituted for swale 
hay; but it was so miserably poor 1 consid¬ 
ered it an act. of cruelty, almost, to feed it, 
and therefore increased the quantity of meal 
and shorts to six quarts each, instead of four. 
The result, as to butter, 1 had not even ven¬ 
tured to guess on, and of course was not dis¬ 
appointed. The quantity of milk was not 
materially changed, though the quality was 
much improved, owing, I suppose, to the ad¬ 
ditional two quarts of Indian meal; for of 
the hay she appeared to eat not much more 
thau nature obliged her to. The fifth and 
last experiment was made immediately after 
reading the article referred loin your paper; 
Imt, in place of the damaged liny, the best of 
red-top and white honeysuckle (white clover) 
bay was fed, and two quarts each of meal 
and shorts instead of six. And neither quan¬ 
tity or quality of milk, so far as cream and 
butter were concerned, were very essentially 
Changed. 
My wife and I made these experiments 
very carefully,sole] y for our own gratification; 
and not. for Hie purpose of criticising any 
man’s theory of making butter; nor even 
for giving to others any information on the 
subject, as we both have very little expe¬ 
rience. • But we claim that the foregoing 
figures represent honest, practical facts, and 
leave others to arrive at such conclusions as 
they can. Our opinion is, that some scalded 
milk will produce cream. 
If it is asked why such small quantities of 
milk were used in these experiments, we 
have only to say because it was not conve¬ 
nient to use more. We milk only two cows, 
and the wants of a large family of our own, 
with several families of our neighbors, 
called for a large proportion of the milk 
every day, so that we had but little to scald 
and set away for butter. E. B. Perry. 
Providence, R. I., 1870. 
-- 
ROOTS FOR MILCH COWS. 
Relative Value of Turnips, mniurels and 
Carrots in the Production of Milk. 
In a recent number of the Mark Lane 
Express we find a statement from an Eng¬ 
lish writer ou the comparative value of man¬ 
gels, carrots and turnips for the production 
of milk. lie regards both the carrot and 
mangel as interior lo the turnip, when qual¬ 
ity of milk is sought—that is, milk abound¬ 
ing in cream. As the relative value of dif¬ 
ferent kinds of food must always be of in¬ 
terest to dairymen, we give this writer’s 
statement, but without in any way indorsing 
it. lie says: 
“Although mangel-wurzel enables cows 
to give a large supply of milk, it is ,of a 
poorer quality than when they are turnip 
fed, and not nearly so productive of cream. 
The butter made from it has also a slightly 
acrid taste, not so powerful as that of tur¬ 
nips, perhaps, hut much more difficult 
wholly to remove or even to obviate to n 
passable degree. The thinness of the milk, 
when wholly mangel-fed, and this unpleas¬ 
ant taste, make it Imperative to Iced with 
bran, grains, crushed corn, or a portion of 
cake during the whole time this root is being 
used with milch cows. 
"Farm horses eat it. with great apparent 
relish and thrive well upon it; and by its 
use a moderate.saving in oats can be effected. 
When grated and mixed with chopped bay, 
a very agreeable and appetizing mess is 
formed, both filling and nourishing, and 
highly conducive to the health of the ani¬ 
mals. If grating is objected to on the score 
of extra trouble, the whole roots thrown into 
the feeding box with the cut hay do almost 
equally well, the saliva of the horse and 
abundant sap of the root itself moistening 
the chad abundantly.” 
The carrot is evidently regarded of less 
value for milk than the mangel, for he says: 
“ In giving carrots to milch cows, the only 
recommendation they have is the absence of 
all unpleasant taste in the batter, as the 
milk is neither so abundant in quantity nor 
so rich in quality as that obtained in turnip 
feeding.” He remarks, further, that some 
years ago a series of experiments were in¬ 
stituted with different, roots, the whole ex¬ 
tending over a period of about four months, 
and the conclusion arrived at, after such a 
lengthened trial, ivas exactly that which is 
here recorded. But ns a feed for farm horses 
they are recommended, ns they save corn 
and give a fine gloss to the skin, besides 
keeping the animals in good condition. 
From fourteen to to twenty-one pounds in a 
single feed are a liberal allowance ; anything 
over that being apt to affect the kidneys and 
induce excessive staling.” 
This writer's estimation of Lurnips seems 
to correspond very nearly with that held by 
Dr. Loring, who, we believe, regards the 
turnip as the " king of roots” for feeding, 
whether to cows or horses. There are so 
• many different opinions in regard to the re¬ 
lative value of these roots ns a feed for milch 
cows, that we should be glad to see the re¬ 
sult of some well-conducted experiments at 
our Agricultural Colleges, to throw more 
light ou the matter. And these experiments 
in feeding properly belong to the Agricul¬ 
tural Colleges, since they can there be con¬ 
ducted with that, care and accuracy that 
would he likely to give authoritative results 
which would be of great value to the farmer. 
-♦-*-♦- 
.Mr. X. V. Willard, wo learn, has returned 
from his California trip. Our renders whose in¬ 
quiries may have Leon neglected in tils absence, 
will understand why, and hope for prompt re¬ 
sponses hereafter. 
GOPHERS IN MINNESOTA. 
In the last Rural New-Yorker received 
I see a letter from “Prairie Boy,” wishing to 
know how to catch gophers; and you wish 
some Western boy who has seen a real 
gopher to describe it. We have the real 
q which had “ pulverized the earth so great- 
(\ ll r 4/ ;rtltr;rf rc.f lv ” so as to loosen the rootlets and destroy 
* the plants they fed on; and the crow was 
_ — after worms. Such is the philosophy of 
u Socrates J* Stauffer. 
GOPHERS IN_ MINNESOTA. Pl , 
Is the last. Rural New-Yorker received . TArrc , 0 T-rrTP A T tots 
1 see a letter from “ Prairie Boy," wishing to N0TES FOR NATURALISTS. 
know how to catch gophers; and you wish How to Catcii the Muskrat, 
some Western boy who has seen a real \ subscriber of the Rural Nf.w- 
gopher to describe it. We have the real Yorker, at Ames, N. Y., writes:— “I 
gopher here in Minnesota, ami lots of mis- would like to Inquire the best way to catch 
chief he does, too. A full grown oue is as tile muskrat. Will some of your readers 
large as a good sized rat, lias shorter legs, tell?” We were never much of a trapper, 
larger head, shorter neck, and is stouter but we used to catch, them by setting steel 
built than a rat; has very small eyes, is of traps in the mouths of their holes (under 
dark brown color, covered with thick, soft water) in spring, driving a strong stake, 
fur like a mole; has two pockets, formed by with a fork on the upper end, through the 
folds of the skin, one each side of the head, ring of the chain to hold the trap. 
with which he carries, or rather shoves, the -- 
dirt out of his hole. Thr EuK,e and 8,,,r * eon ' . , 
They always live in the ground, and, like W'. II. D., Ogdenshnrgli, N. \ ., writes the 
the mole, are very rarely seen above ground. Rural New-A orkkr : “ In the town of 
Their work is seen here all over the conn- Lisbon there are wlmt are called the Gallop 
with a fork mi the upper end, through the 
ring of the chain to hold the trap. 
Tlic KuiiIh and Sturcton, 
W. H. D., Ogdenslmrgli, N. Y., w rites the 
Rural New-Yorker:—“I n the town of 
Lisbon there are wlmt are called the Gallop 
try. They throw out of the ground piles of Rapids, on the St. Lawrence River. I saw 
dirt, often as much as a bushel in a place, a large bald eagle soaring above the ivatcr. 
They make such work throwing up dirt in and all at once it. made a sudden descent 
our meadows, particularly In clover fields— upon something, but did not rise again. On 
for they arc very fond of clover roots—that going along the beach a day or two aftet, T 
we have to cut our hay with scythes ; mow- found a very large sturgeon and an eagle 
ere cannot be used to advantage. They are 
particularly destructive on all kinds of root 
crops, and frequently carry off a large share 
of the potatoes before they are dug; and we 
know nothing of it till, digging, w e find no 
potatoes. They have their roads or subter¬ 
ranean passages underground, half a foot or 
more from the surface, all over the country. 
They am particularly destructive to fruit 
trees, by eating off the roots. They destroy 
a great deal of grain in the shock by digging 
up under it and hauling it in the ground. 
Their holes are never found open unless they 
are at, work throwing out dirt, which is gen¬ 
erally very early in the morning or after sun¬ 
down at evening. One can only tell where 
they are by their piles of dirt. 
If their holes arc opened they are seen to 
come and close them soon. By taking ad¬ 
vantage of that, wo very easily trap them. 
We dig open their holes, follow them sev¬ 
eral feet, place a small steel trap in the 
with his claw's fast in the sturgeon’s side. I 
suppose the fish took the eagle under and 
both perished.”__ 
A Feathered Barometer. 
Some years ago a gentleman in-suc¬ 
ceeded in domesticating a wild goose. From 
frequent observation he learned that this 
bird bad, or seemed to have, a premonition 
of approaching cold or storms, long before 
they were suspected by himself or others to 
be near. Tim consciousness of the coming 
change was shown by its becoming very un¬ 
easy and restless. On one occasion, when 
the owner had killed some large hogs, the 
weather became very hot during the day, 
and he was quite alarmed at the danger of 
losing his pork. While arranging to have it 
spread so as to get as cold as possible, he 
was delighted to discover manifest uneasi¬ 
ness and excitement in the conduct of the 
goose. He felt relieved in a measure, but 
still had his meat spread upon the ground. 
passage, cover the trap over with a piece of Before the dawn of the morning it was frozen 
board two or three feet long. We are sure 
to set the trap two or three feet from the 
entrance of the hole, leaving the hole open 
under tlm hoard large enough, so that they 
can see. daylight, and they travel over the 
trap to close the hole, and arc thus caught. 
If the trap is too close to the entrance of the 
hole they will cover it up with dirt and not 
be caught, as they shove the dirt ahead of 
them with their pockets. We have been 
very successful in catching them since learn¬ 
ing how; have caught hundreds of them. 
We were ft long while in learning how, and 
we began to think they were going to take 
possession of everything, especially our gar¬ 
dens. A Farmer’s Son. 
-- 
SOCRATES AND THE MOLE. 
It is my duty to notice “ Socrates,” who 
seems inclined to question the soundness of 
my views on the “ common mole” question. 
The mole may love to tunnel the hills that 
cover the sweet potatoes, gnawed, by the cut¬ 
worm, upon which latter he feeds; so also 
with the corn—“even so sharp as to run the 
furrows and take the hills as ho goes ” — be¬ 
cause the grubs are at the roots of the corn 
and not in the furrows. I stated in my 
former article that a mole will starve sur¬ 
rounded with corn and sweet potatoes, that 
is, vegetable food. Let “Socrates” try the 
experiment and disprove it by withholding 
animal food. 
Our modern "Socrates” agrees with the 
ancient “ Aristotle ’’ in concluding that 
moles have no eyes ; hut the fact is against 
him. Spectacles, it is true, across his nose 
might interfere with his excavating habits, 
and would certainly be useless. Where eyes 
" ought to be” they will be found; I would, 
therefore, recommend the spectacles to 
“ Socrates,” when looking for them. They 
are not merely rudimentary, but quite sharp 
enough for his moleship, whatever the ap¬ 
pearance may seem to his philosophic judge¬ 
ment. 
The “ Mole Cricket,” cryllotalpa vulgaris, 
is a great devastator of the produce in the 
kitchen garden. It burrows under ground, 
and devouring the roots of plants thus oc¬ 
casions them to wither; it even gets into 
hot-beds; yet fortunately it is of compara¬ 
tive rare occurrence, ami as yet not so ex¬ 
tensively colonized; but the one is an insect 
and the other a mammal, and hence need not 
be confounded. 
The argument of “ Socrates ” reminds me 
of the farmer who, with his sons, kept up a 
regular fusillade against the “crows;” which 
through and through by the intense sold.— 
N. b. __ 
To Oct Ui<l of Anti-. 
D. S., Bedford, Ontario, writes tire Rural 
New-Yorker:— “ I take a long table and 
set each leg in a small crock, which I fill 
with water. If you do not supply them 
with a canoe or bridge with which to get 
upon the legs of the table, you can safely 
put anything on it you may wish to keep 
from the ants.” 
G. R. D., Merritnac Co., N. H., writes: 
“ Saturate a sponge with water and sprinkle 
into it fine sugar. The ants will enter it, 
and it may be immersed in boiling water, 
and they thus destroyed. Another way is 
to place near their liaunts a piece of raw 
beefsteak, a dish of sugar, or something 
eagerly sought for by the ants; entirely sur¬ 
round it with “ fly-trap paper," which will 
hold them fast if they attempt to pass over 
it. By this plan, however,everything eaten 
by them must be removed. 1 have heard it 
said that if the place infested be washed with 
cresylic soft soap, or spirits of turpentine, 
or lobster shells, or if anything offensive to 
their senses be placed where they most fre¬ 
quent, they will become scarce.” 
Colorado Fold to Bairs “Flay l’ossuin.” 
In looking over the extracts from letters 
received by the American Institute Far¬ 
mers’ Club, as reported in the Rural New- 
Yorker of July 10tlj, I notice that a cor¬ 
respondent of Cheshire, Michigan, states 
“ the bugs will perish if knocked off the 
vines at mid-day, where there is sun into the 
open spaces between the rows.” Another 
correspondent writes that he uses a tin pan 
and a paddle, knocking the hugs into the 
pan and then burying them in the ground. 
Now, in the first place,I would as soon think 
of killing house-flies by scaring them to 
death with a fly brush. Although the po¬ 
tato bug plays “ possum ’’ when disturbed, 
it can tty, and the larvae can crawl from one 
hill of potatoes to another with the greatest 
ease. G. G. S. must think the Club green 
on the subject of Colorado bugs to write such 
nonsense. 
1 should like to ask the Morgan, Ohio, 
correspondent why he don’t kill the bugs 
before putting them in the ground. 1 
would hate to trust them in the soft earth. 
One of my neighbors informed me he 
had tried the same plan and found the 
bugs still alive in the ground. 1 recom¬ 
mended to him the Paris green process, 
and lie tried it and rejoices in the victory he 
bus gained. He says he had spent time 
enough to have bought ten times the amount 
hnb Department. 
GREELEY, COLORADO. 
[\VK have had several Inquiries u to the character 
of the locution of thin new town an.t community. 
In the Nashville. III.. Journal we flntl a letter from 
A. C. Todd, dated at Greeley. .1 nly 1 , which seems to 
be written In a dispassionate way, from which wo 
make the following extracts.—E ds. RURAL Nt:w- 
Youker.] 
Guided by the descriptions of Mr. Meek¬ 
er in the New York Tribune, and others, I 
had expected hills and valleys, rocks and 
pine groves, &c., whatever goes to make up 
beautiful scenery. Instead of ibis, I found 
Greeley in the midst of a vast, treeless prai¬ 
rie, just such as the Union Pacific Railroad 
traverses from Omaha to Cheyenne—a prai¬ 
rie which, while really undulating, seems to 
be a nearly level plain, bounded on every 
side by the mirage, except where, westward, 
the Rocky Mountain range looms up in the 
distance, a prairie not green, but gray and 
desert-like. There nre a few cottonwood trees 
along the Cache a-la-Poudre, not forming a 
wooded belt, as one would imagine—for tbe 
river is always in tbe prairie—but here and 
there a tree, or a bunch of young cotton¬ 
wood trees. All the timber used in build¬ 
ing, fencing, &o., comes from the mountain, 
where there is an abundance. That tbe 
ground when irrigated will produce well, I 
have no doubt.; but to the eye it is a sandy- 
pebldy desert. 
The location was fixed upon last April. 
There are now about five hundred persons 
here belonging to the colony ; about thirty- 
five families; about two hundred married 
men, whose families are still absent, and 
about one hundred young,unmarried men. 
There are about one hundred and forty 
houses—some of frame, some of prairie sod, 
a few tents, and all other imaginable shel¬ 
ters. They are preparing to make adobe 
bricks, or bricks sun-dried. There is clay 
for making ordinary brick, but no wood to 
burn thorn with. No coal yet discovered 
near the town. Some are building grout 
houses, the material for which is exceed¬ 
ingly abundant and convenient. 
The colony lands extend over a space 
about ten miles broad, west of the railroad, 
and east some twenty miles. 
The Cache a-ln-Poudre is a very beautiful 
mountain stream, about one hundred feet 
wide, running through the center of the 
colony. The Platte touches the colony 
lands upon the south side. These streams 
are fed, not by rains, but by the snows upon 
the mountains; they are, consequently, 
higher as the weather grows warmer, and 
lower in winter. The Cache a la-Poudre is 
full of fine fisli, as I know by personal ex¬ 
perience, and is a fine bath-tub, but all 
swimming has to be done down stream. It 
will afford any amount needed of water¬ 
power, and is already beginning to supply 
the place of rain to the thirsty soil. 
A ditch, ten miles long, eight feet wide, 
and fifteen inches deep, capable of carrying 
2,500 inches of water, and intended to irri¬ 
gate (5,000 acres of land, has just been com¬ 
pleted ; it cost $8,000. Another ditch, 
twenty-five miles long, is being surveyed 
upon the north side of the river; this will 
water about 100,000 acres. There is still to 
be another ditch, further north, which will 
irrigate some 800,000 acres. 
There lias been a good deal of dissatisfac¬ 
tion among the colonists,and some fifty have 
left. There are always grumblers in every 
enterprise, and doubtless the colony is better 
off without most of those who have left. 
Those here now are becoming better pleased 
the longer they remain. I have no doubt 
the colony will be a success. 
In this country the great business has been 
stock-raising, and the opportunities for this 
are still boundless. The grass, notwithstand¬ 
ing its very unpromising appearance, is most 
excellent food, whether green or dried, for 
all kinds of stock. Sheep-raising is a still 
larger business in the Territory than cuttle- 
raising; and any one that knows what is 
required for a sheep-raising country, and 
, remembers the dry atmosphere and soil, the 
nutritious character of the buffalo grass, and 
the purity of the air and water, will see at 
» once that this is the place for sheep, 
i The one great feature that recommends 
l Colorado is its woudrously pure and health¬ 
ful air. The plain on ■which Greeley stands 
is not far from one mile higher than your 
1 city of Nashville, near six thousand feet 
above the level of the sea. The atmosphere 
. is perceptibly rarer than any 1 have ever 
s breathed before. When tbe sun shines, it 
I has a penetrating power unknown in Illi- 
, nois, but in the shade the air is always 
B cool and the nights 1 believe always 
b pleasant. . 
I have tried to describe with disinterested 
i exactness tlic country about Union Colony 
J No. 1. I urn disposed to doubt the wisdom 
e of its location, and not so much upon my 
t own judgment as that of tbe old settlers 
s here. There are places at the toot of the 
regular lusu.uoe against me cuivs, iv.iiui of p^ is green. I hope no one who takes here. There are places at me moi o u 
to him, were guilty of pulling up tufts of lhe Rur X l New-Yorker will thus waste Rocky Mountain range that would tultiu 
grass and eating than. Until better informed x»is time. I bought, a half pound of Paris the expectations as to beauty ol scenery, 
on examination he found that the cut-worm green for thirty cents, and with that I have stone tor bnihhng pui )ioses, n s unit ut 
lonse " cl1 _«•« vl,,lil ? °f SKK C* perils OT™ UtotaBlMm'S Sled'"" Sr.' McekerVilEscripTiun of cS 
the grass, and lliat Hie eiu.ts knew just j^-st jt 3 appearance in Litis orado. There are valleys Haul to bo eveiy- 
where to find the cut-worm; by removing v i e i«jtv*last vear. Potatoes that have been thing that a smaller colony could deane. 
tbe loose tufts they could feast on the de- kept clean are looking remarkably well.— There are no roses without thorns; no 
stroyer. They were after the grub, or worm L. A. S., South Haven, Mich., July 23,1870. country without disadvantages. 
