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X. A. WILLARD, A. M., EDITOR, 
Or Litti.* FiLLM , Huikimrk CoOwty, New Voek. 
IMPURE WATER AND FLOATING 
CURDS. 
Complaints still coutinue to be made at 
the factories, on account of floating curds. 
It is now tiie middle of September, and fac- 
torymen say they have never before been 
troubled in this way so late in the season. 
And we are ashed to what source should at¬ 
tention be directed to discover ihe cause of 
the evil. Flouting curds come from bad 
milk—milk charged with the germs of putre¬ 
factive Jermentation. Bad milk, of the char¬ 
acter named, may arise from improperly 
cleansed cans and dairy utensils; from putrid 
odors about the milking barns or the cheese 
factory; from the use of putrid rennet in co¬ 
agulating the milk, or from shutting up warm 
milk in the cans during hot weather, while 
carrying it to the factory. But we suspect 
the leuditig cause of the baa milk complained 
of during the latter part of August and first 
of September, must be looked for in the wa¬ 
ter which the cows drink. 
The season has been hot and dry, and on 
many farms water has been scarce, it is 
quite probable the supply of pure water has 
been cut off, and the herds compelled to 
slake their thirst from frog ponds, stagnant 
pools or filthy sloughs, where the water is 
tilled with a mass of decaying vegetable mat¬ 
ter, totally unfit for the production of g«od 
milk. If'the milk of but one heitl drinking 
such water, is carried to the factory and 
mingled with milk known to be good, the 
whole mass would receive a taint sufficient 
to cause floating curds. 
We understand that floating curds have 
made their appearance at factories where the 
greatest precautions are taken to have every¬ 
thing about the premises neat and clean, and 
that particular attention lias been given to 
have the delivery cans of patrons properly 
purified. The cause of the trouble in these 
cuses we think should be looked for in tho 
water which supplies the cows. We linvem 
numerous insl-ances traced bad milk to this 
source, and we are convinced it is a frequent 
cause of trouble in the dairy during hot, dry 
weather—though its evils are not generally 
understood by dairymen. 
We advise cheese manufacturers at fac¬ 
tories troubled with floating curds, to call 
the attention of their patrons to the water 
upon their farms. Some one of the patrons 
may have neglected his stock in this par¬ 
ticular, and without once suspecting the in¬ 
jury he is doing to his neighbors who deliver 
good milk at the factory, Let It be under¬ 
stood at once that the patron who allows his 
cows to drink the stinking, putrid water of 
sloughs and frog ponds is bringing to the 
factory an innumerable number or mass of 
putrefactive germs, which will taint the good 
milk with which it comes in contact, thereby 
hazarding the make of a good product. 
In the treatment of floating curds a curd 
mill is almost indispensable. Tainted milk 
requires skillful manipulation to save the 
product so as to make a saleable article. In 
a floating curd it is always best to get rid of 
the whey early. By drawing the whey,you 
free the curd by so much of the putrefactive 
element. Managu so that the lactic acid fer¬ 
mentation shall obtain the mastery, and 
then, by grinding the curds in a curd milk, 
a saleable product may be obtained. But 
our advice to dairymen is, to keep watch of 
the watering places during dry weather, and 
see that the cows get a good supply of pure 
water. It is an important item in dairy 
management. 
--- 
THE CAUSES AND THE REMEDY. 
Mn. X. A. Willard. Dear Sir :—Can you give 
me a iitile Information In regal’d to choose 
making? First. What makes a cheese taste or 
smell strong? Second. What makes them bitter? 
Third. Wlmt Is the sure way to mukecheese and 
have them pleasant ?— Samuel K. Hill, Jr., 
Marble Buie, Litchfield Co., Conn. 
Remarks. —I. There are various reasons 
why cheese is of bad flavor ami odor, some 
of which are the following :—Dogging cows 
from the pasture to the stable in hot weather, 
thus injuring their milk; kicking cows in 
the udder with a heavy boot, and pounding 
them with a milking slool for every real or 
fancied offense; drawing the milk from the 
cow in a nasty manner, the milker milking 
into one hand and then washing the manure 
from the teat of bag and letting it drop into 
the pail, to be incorporated witlt the milk. 
Using the milk from diseased cows—cows 
which have sore udders, and allowing par¬ 
ticles of pus and corruption to go into the 
milk pail with the milk; compelling cows 
to slake their thirst from frog ponds and 
slough holes where the water is green and 
foul with putrid and decaying vegetable 
ing good milk, after it is drawn, to absorb 
the stinks and filthy emanations from cess- 
k , 
pools, pig pens, privies, and the like intoler¬ 
able nuisances, when they are located so near 
the milk room that the air is constantly pol¬ 
luted by a legion of single and separate 
stinks. 
Then there are causes of bad cheese from 
faulty manufacture,—using putrid rennet, 
imperfect manipulation of the curds, leav¬ 
ing them filled with whey to decompose and 
putrefy in the cheese; insufficient scalding 
and salting of the curds, neglect in pressing 
and taking care of cheese after it goes upon 
the shelf; faulty and ill-ventilated cheese 
rooms, where the cheese is subjected to a 
Bwelteriug beat during Lot weather, as over¬ 
heating induces rapid decomposition and 
undue fermentation. 
These are some of the more common 
causes of strong and bad tasting cheese. 
II.—Bitter cheese sometimes results from 
the food which cows eat, giving a bitter 
taste to the milk, as when they feed largely 
upon the duisy and other bitter herbs. It 
results, too, from imperfect manufacture, 
and often from faulty curing of the cheese 
upon the shell', as when the cheese is kept 
at too low a temperature, and where the 
proper fermentation is checked or arrested 
while the cheese is young. 
HI.—The surest way “to make cheese 
and have them pleasant” is to avoid the 
faults we have enumerated. Take milk 
from healthy cows, well fed and cared for. 
Keep it perfectly sweet and clean from the 
time it is drawn from the udder until it goes 
into the cheese vat. Use sweet rennet, prop¬ 
erly prepared, for coagulating the milk. 
Be careful not to overheat the milk or 
curds in the process of manufacture—work 
the curds down until they have the proper 
feel and texture, developing a slight acidity. 
Drain, salt and press us we have recom¬ 
mended in back numbers of the Rural. 
Put. the cheese into a clean, well ventilated 
coring room having a uniform temperature 
of (70°) seventy degrees Farenhcit; turn and 
rul) daily until cured ; and if the cheese do 
not have a “ pleasant taste " it is because you 
have not fully comprehended our instruc¬ 
tions or faithfully carried them into practice. 
--— 
IHilUiutr Stool Attachment. 
1 send you a description of (not a patent 
fly trap) an article to attach to a stool in fly 
time. Take two sticks one and a-quarter 
inches square, one twelve inches in length and 
the other seventeen inches; frame or halve 
two ends together at right angles, in such a 
manner that when the short end is bolted 
under the left hand side of the stool, the long 
end will extend upward toward the cow at 
an angle of forty-fl vo degrees. Let the elbow 
extend seven inches from the stool. Now 
sol the stool upright, and nail a thin board— 
one-quarter or three-eighths of an inch—one 
foot wide and two and a-lmlf feet long, at 
the longest point (or sluts, which are prefer¬ 
able,) on the left hand side of the long end, 
so as to stand perpendicular. Now you can 
sit and milk, and keep your hat on. Try it, 
milkmen.—J. M. Stilson, Erie Co., N. Y. 
ntrustrhd wen. 
TWO AGRICULTURISTS. 
Curloa Pierce ami Henry Iveyen. 
It would seem proper that the leading 
journal of American Agriculture should not 
be without some notice of the recent, de¬ 
cease of two prominent American farmers. 
I refer to the late Carlos Pierce, Esq., 
President, since its foundation, of the Stnn- 
sLead County Agricultural Society of the 
Province of Quebec, and Hon. Henry 
Keyes, President of the Vermont State 
Agricultural Society. Mr. Pierce died 
several weeks since of typhoid fever, and 
Mr, Keyes, who was his relative, is sup¬ 
posed to have contracted the disease in at¬ 
tending upon him, and departed this life on 
the. 23d of September. 
Though very prominent in New England 
as business men, (Mr. Pierce being a well- 
known and successful Boston merchant, and 
Mr. Keyes one of the projectors, and for 
sixieen years the President, of the Connec¬ 
ticut and Passumpsic Rivers Railroad,) it is 
only their connection with the progress and 
improvement of agriculture in this secllon 
of Vermont, and the neighboring parts of 
Canada that 1 would here briefly notice. 
Mr. Pierce's late estate of some one 
thousand acres, with a handsome villa resi¬ 
dence, adjoins the village of Stanstead Plain, 
lying directly on the frontier of Canada and 
bordering upon Orleans Co., Vt. The land 
in this vicinity is of remarkable fertility, 
easily tilled and nearly level. Devoting 
most of this farm to grass, and his attention 
mainly to the raising of improved stock, 
Mr. PrERCE was nevertheless not indifferent 
to the cultivation of grain and roots, large 
quantities of each being grown upon the 
estate, and fed liberally to the stock. All 
the work upon the farm was thoroughly 
done, all improved implements used freely 
as required, and the utmost attention paid to 
the preparation and scientific use of fer¬ 
tilizers. The barns and stables were exten¬ 
sive, and, though destitute of ostentatious 
fittings, wanted nothing requisite for the 
most perfect care of the stock. Machinery 
for threshing, cutting feed and pulping roots 
was at hand, and convenience in every de¬ 
partment was secured by careful study. 
Mr. Pierce was much interested in the 
propagation of Short-Horns, and did much 
to popularize them. He also introduced the 
Dutch cattle into this vicinity, and has lately 
given considerable attention to Jerseys. 
Many of your readers will remember the 
mammoth ox “ Pride of Livingston,” ex¬ 
hibited at the Ladies’ Metropolitan Fair in 
New York, April, 1804. This ox was pur¬ 
chased by Mr Pierce and presented by him 
to the Boston Sanitary Fair, where it was 
sold for $5,000. Subsequently it came again 
into the possession of Mr. Pierce, and, after 
spending a year or two on the Stanstead 
farm, was presented by him to General 
Grant. 
Besides cattle, Mr. Pierce gave much at¬ 
tention to the breeding of horses, sheep, 
and swine, and has conferred great benefits 
upon all this section by the Introduction of 
choice animals and his liberality in making 
them available to all, even of the most mod¬ 
erate means, who desire to improve their 
stock. If Mr. Pierce was not a “specula¬ 
tor” in fancy stock, he wax that much more 
efficient promoter of agricultural prosperity 
—an active disseminator of all that, was cal¬ 
culated to benefit his neighbors. It was his 
intention, had he not been so unexpectedly 
removed, to establish a first-class agricul¬ 
tural journal, devoted to the farming inter¬ 
est of Northern Vermont and the eastern 
townships of Canada. He was yet a young 
man at the time of his decease, actively 
meditating plans of daily extending useful¬ 
ness, and his loss is a severe blow to the in¬ 
terests of all this portion of America. 
Mr. Keyes was a resident of the beauti¬ 
ful village of Newlmrg, situated in one of 
the most lovely and fertile portions of the 
Upper Connecticut Valley. His farm, of 
five hundred acres, was upon tho opposite 
side of the river, in the town of Haverhill, 
N. n. The productive capacity of this Val¬ 
ley has been celebrated from the earliest set¬ 
tlement of the country, and any one who 
has had the pleasure of going over the beau¬ 
tiful estate of our lamented friend could but 
admit that here was abundant confirmation 
of the often expressed truth that the dweller 
in the Valley of the Connecticut need envy 
no one. however fair his heritage. 
Mr. Keyes, though an admirable farmer, 
and displaying upon the farm, as elsewhere, 
bis great ability as a manager and systema¬ 
tize^ was not an extensive propagator of 
stock. His estate was worth visiting, how¬ 
ever, as a model farm, oti which everything 
was made to count, and nothing leas than 
the best demanded and obtained in eneh de¬ 
partment. Waste land was Mr. Keyes’ 
abomination. Every field must be profita¬ 
bly productive, and he seemed intuitively to 
strike out the most proper means for secur¬ 
ing that end. As an illustration of this pas¬ 
sion for making every acre tell, I may men¬ 
tion the fact that, although nearly the whole 
farm consists of rich bottom land, there is 
near the entrance a few acres of sand so 
light as to drift in the wind like snow. This 
Mr. Keyes has had set out to pines, which, 
though he knew they would never attain 
any value during his life-lime, yet utilized 
the ground in the only possible way, and 
will no doubt demonstrate bis sagacity to a 
succeeding generation. 
I would like to give a more extended ac¬ 
count of the agricultural operations of these 
two gentlemen, from which much of use 
and interest might he realized, but I know 
the pressure upon your columns, and hesi¬ 
tate to encroach farther upon them. It 
seems to me that in rendering honor to the 
memory of men who, like these, have hon¬ 
ored agriculture, we agriculturists honor 
ourselves, and do much toward promoting 
that spirit of emulation and exertion which 
must he put forth continually to raise our 
business, and those who follow it to the po¬ 
sition they ought to occupy in the. estima¬ 
tion of society. T. H. Hoskins. 
Newport, Vt., Sept., 1870. 
■-»« » 
GREAT EATERS. 
Under January 12, 1722-23, Thomas 
Hearne, the antiquarian, enters in his Diary 
what he had learned regarding a man who 
had been at Oxford not long before—a man 
remarkable for a morbid appetite, leading 
him to devour large quantities of raw. half- 
putrid meat. The common story told re¬ 
garding him was, that he had once attempt¬ 
ed to imitate the Saviour in a forty days 
Lent fast, broke down in it, and “ was taken 
with this unnatural way of eating.” 
One of the most remarkable gluttons of 
modern times was Nicholas Wood of Har¬ 
rison, in Kent, of whom Taylor, the water 
poet, wrote an amusing account, in which 
the following feat is described: — “Two 
loynes of mutton and one of veal were but 
as three sprats to him. Once, at Sir Ware- 
ham St. Leger’s house, lie showed himself 
so violent of teeth and stomach that, he ate 
us much as would have served and sufficed 
thirty men, so that his belly was like to turn 
bankrupt and break, but that the serving- 
man turned him to the fire, and annointed 
his paunch xvith greace and butter, to make 
it stretch and hold; and afterwards, being 
laid in bed, he slept eight hours, and fasted 
all the while; which, when the knight un¬ 
derstood, he commanded him to be laid in 
the stocks, and there to endure as long as he 
had laine bedrid with eating.” 
(Tin ilonltrn-fktrb. 
w* % ~ % 
POULTRY FOR MARKET. 
As the time approaches for forwarding 
poultry to market, and in answer to some 
inquiries, we propose to give a few sugges¬ 
tions on the proper manner of fattening, 
killing, dressing, and boxing fowls intended 
for marketable purposes and also for tho 
table. 
FaueniuK Poultry. 
Although yie manner of fattening poultry 
may seem, as we Lave said heretofore 
through the columns of the Rural New- 
Yorker, to be extremely plain, there is, 
nevertheless, a right and a wrong way, a 
long and a short mode of accomplishing the 
object desired. Many breeders who rear 
fowls for tlic market believe in letting poul¬ 
try forage and shift, for themselves, while 
others believe 1 ho best, method is in keeping 
them constantly in high feed. This is just 
our idea; for where a steady and regular 
profit is required from rearing poultry, or a 
business is made thereof, the very best 
method, whether for domestic use or for the 
market, is constant high keep from the be¬ 
ginning. Thus they will always be in a 
saleable condition anti ready for the table. 
As the American Poulterer’s Companion 
justly says, fowls kept in this way need hut 
very little extra attention. Their flesh will 
be superior in juiciness and richer in flavor 
than those which are fattened from a low 
and emaciated state. Fed in the manner 
above indicated, spring pullets are particu¬ 
larly fine, commanding the highest price on 
the market and proving a most healthful, 
nourishing, and restorative food. 
In fattening fowls confined in coops, old 
writers recommend feeding t hem with bread 
soaked in ale, wine, or milk , barley mixed 
with milk, and seasoned with mustard or 
anise seed; while others recommend cram¬ 
ming them three or four times a day; also 
keeping them in a dark place, and not al¬ 
lowing them any exercise. Bradley says, 
“ the best way, and the quickest, to fatten 
them, is to put them into coops as usual, and 
feed them with barley meal, being particular 
to put a small quantity of brick dust in their 
water, which they should never be without. 
This last will give them an appetite for their 
meat., and fatten them very Boon.” Yet an¬ 
other writer says they should be shut up 
where they can get no gravel; keep corn by 
them all the time, and also give them dough 
enough for one feed a day. For drink, give 
them skimmed milk; with this feed they will 
fatten in ten days; if they are kept over ten 
days, they should have some gravel, or they 
will Tall away. 
The mode of fattening poultry extensive¬ 
ly practiced in Liverpool, England, is to 
feed them with steamed or baked potatoes, 
warm, three or four times a day; the lowls 
are taken in good condition from the yard, 
confined in dry, well-ventilated coops, and 
covered in, so as to prevent the entrance of 
too much light. It is said this method is 
attended with the greatest success. 
In all cases in fattening fowls, whether 
old or young, we should recommend that 
the food be cooked and fed warm. Barley 
meal, or mixed with equal quantities of In¬ 
dian meal made into a thick paste or por¬ 
ridge and fed warm, is about as good a feed 
as we know of, and seems to make flesh 
faster and more solid, and give it a golden 
color aud plump appearance after being 
dressed. 
Killiuu: aud Dresnine Poultry. 
As much, it not more, depends on the 
manner of killing poultry as in the dressing 
to have it look fit for market. Too much 
caution cannot be used in this branch of the 
business. One mode of killing fowls, (in¬ 
stead of wringing the necks, which vve dep¬ 
recate,) is to cut their heads off with a siDgie 
blow of a sharp ax, hang them up by the 
legs and allow them to bleed freely, and 
pluck their feathers immediately—while 
warm. The French mode, which is highly 
commended, we think far the best, as it 
causes instant death without pain or disfig¬ 
urement, and is simply done by opening the 
beak of the fowl, and with a sharp-pointed 
and narrow-bladed knife, make an incision 
at the back of the roof, which will divide 
the vertebra}, and cause immediate death, 
after which bang the lovvl up by the legs 
till the bleeding ceases, and pick it while 
warm, if you desire Ihe feathers to be re¬ 
moved. Willi a little care the skin of the 
fowl does not become as torn aud ragged as 
it does in the old-fashioned way of scalding. 
Another thing, the flesh presents a better 
and more natural appearance when not 
scalded. 
Qeyelin says: — “Some breeders cram 
their poultry before killing, to make them 
appear heavy ; this is a most injudicious plan, 
as the undigested food soon enters into fer¬ 
mentation, and putrefaction takes place, as 
is evidenced by the quantity of greenish, pu¬ 
trid-looking fowls that are seen in the mar¬ 
kets.” Fowls should always be allowed to 
remain in their coops at least twenty-four 
hours previous to being killed without food 
by so doing, the breeder will be the gainer 
in the end; as hi* poultry wift keep longer 
and present a better appearance in the mar¬ 
ket; and above all he wdll show the purchas¬ 
er that he is honest, and has not crammed 
his poultry for the purpose of benefiting him¬ 
self and swindling others. 
Boxiutr Poultry tor Market. 
On the subject of boxing poultry for mar¬ 
ket. Dr. Bennet says :—•“ It should be care¬ 
fully packed in baskets or boxes, and above 
all, it should be kept from the frost. A 
friend of mine, who was very nice in these 
matters, used to bring bis turkeys to market 
in the finest order possible, and always ob¬ 
tained a ready sale and the highest market 
price. His method was to pick them dry, 
while warm, and dress them in the neatest 
manner; then take a long, deep, narrow, 
tight box, with a stick running from end to 
end of the box, and bang the turkeys by ihe 
legs over the stick, which prevents bruising 
or disfiguring them in the least.” The way 
poultry is frequently forwarded to city mar¬ 
kets is enough to disgust almost any one, 
and throws odium on breeders as a class.—L. 
-♦♦♦- 
“WAR ON THE BRAHMAS.” 
At a meeting of the Northwestern Poultry 
Association, held at Chicago some t ime since, 
there was a very lively discussion on the 
standard of excellence of Light Brahma 
fowls, whether they should possess a single 
or double comb. Many of the members of 
the Association expressed themselves dis¬ 
satisfied with the standard of excellence of 
the Brahma fowl, now recognized by many 
breeders. 
Daniel Worthington, President of the 
Association, presented various authorities, 
showing the original Brahma to have been 
quite different, in style and shape, from the 
present standard; stating they were gener¬ 
ally single comb, the pea comb being the ex¬ 
ception; that the form was more round and 
plump; shorter legs aud bodies; not so 
gawky, and better layers; color, slightly 
huff on the back, with a general mixture of 
gray. 
After discussion, pro and eon, it was finally 
decided that as the present Light Brahma 
fowl was certainly a very superior bird, and 
the standard now in use was indorsed by all 
the prominent American and English breed¬ 
ers, the Association would not change the 
present standard, but rather adopt another 
for the Light Brahma, witii single comb and 
markings in conformity to the authorities 
quoted by Mr. WolmnNGTON, tints enabling 
exhibitors to show both single and pea-comb 
fowls. 
A late number of the Prairie Farmer, re¬ 
marks upon this subject, (the war on the 
Brahmas,) as follows:—“It is at last over, 
and there is peace in the hearts of the com¬ 
batants. The question of double combs and 
single combs for Brahmas, is settled in a 
manner that ought to please both sides, 
whether it does or not. The decision virtu¬ 
ally amounts to this:—That a Brahma fowl 
may possess either a single comb or a pea 
comb, according to the taste of the individu¬ 
al breeder; at least such is the decision of 
the North western Poultry Association. The 
protracted discussion among its members has 
resulted in making two classes of Light 
Brahmas, and in establishing a standard of 
excellence for each.” 
This Society, iu its proceedings, ignored 
the standard of excellence and description of 
this breed of fowls, as laid down by Teget- 
meier, as being “ incorrect, and not adapted 
as a safe guide for the judging of” Light 
Brahma fowls. Whether the action of this 
Society, in this particular, will be adopted 
by others, yet. remains to bo seen. Without, 
however, ottering an opinion as to the grounds 
taken on this question by the Northwestern 
Association, we should be glad to publish ihe 
views of members of the New York, Penn¬ 
sylvania and Connecticut State Poultry As¬ 
sociations, or others, upon this subject, as we 
deem it a question of considerable import¬ 
ance to breeders, and the present, not au in¬ 
appropriate time for the discussion of this 
matter, prior to the annual meetings of the 
different Societies named. Let us have a fair 
and full discussion, through the Rural New- 
Yorker, of the points involved, regardless 
of everything save the public interest.—L. 
-- 
The Best Journal on Poultry. 
W. A. H., Tarboro, X. G, writes “ Will 
you be kind enough to give me the address 
of the best journal on poultry in the United 
States? as I presume there must lie a Poul- 
terers’ Journal pul dished ‘in the States. 
Ans.— A lriend at our elbow suggests that 
the Rural New-Yorker is that journal. 
What Ails My Fowls if 
Can you give me a remedy for a disease 
resembling apoplexy, which is killing num¬ 
bers of my chickens daily; also t he probable 
origin of it. They go to roost in apparent 
good health and in the morning are found 
dead under the roost. Others fall dead 
while running about the range. Soon 
after death they turn green and become veiw 
offensive. The droppings are green and 
watery. They are feed on corn and oats, 
and look well. What is the remedy ?—In¬ 
quirer, Wilmington, N. V. 
