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140 
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THE BLANCHAKD CHURN. 
— ■ 
In all that we do with milk, the constant 
effort should be to do everything not only 
well, but to secure uniformity; otherwise, 
we may be certain of an uncertain product. 
The cows should be milked at the same time 
each day ; the milk should be strained warm; 
it should be kept at a uniformly cool temper¬ 
ature ; the skimming should be performed 
at the same hour dally ; the cream should 
be stirred at each addition to secure its ho 
mogeueousucss ; it should be churned each 
time at the same age-say in summer after 
the second, fourth or sixth skimming—and 
each batch should be churned, worked, salt¬ 
ed and in every way treated like the others. 
Every point we name is important—nay, 
essential — to having uniformly excellent 
butter. 
Slight irregularities may be better over¬ 
looked in everything except in the churning ; 
but if this goes wrong, the butter (especially 
in warm weather, is very likely to be spoiled ; 
certain it is, it will not be of first quality. In 
cool weather and with everything favorable, 
no doubt the 11 Old Dash Churn,” which the 
good old butter makers continually cite as 
Hie best of all churns for the best of all but¬ 
ter, will do its work admirably, but in warm 
w eather and in cold weather alike, it Is ab¬ 
solutely unreliable and rather to be regarded 
as an instrument of torture than us a labor- 
saver in the dairy. How have the arms 
and backs of delicate woman—aye, and of 
robust Biddies and of stalwart boys—ached, 
as the oeaseless plasli, plash of the weari¬ 
some churning was kept up from morning 
to noon, from noon till dewfall, perchance to 
be renewed next day—when a lardy, cheesy 
mass, hardly tit for axle-grease, was the only 
reward 'i 
This is no overdrawn picture, as everybody 
who has ever done the work or tried to eat 
the butter can testify, and yet the “ good old 
Dash Churn” is the paragon of the old fogies, 
and more in use than all the improved ehurns 
put together—probably teu times over. In 
the use of the Dash Churn this state of things 
in small dairies can hardly be helped some¬ 
times. lu large duiries where the mass of 
oream is very great, the case is different, and 
the product much more likely to be uniform, 
with only moderate care. 
The Rural wants its readers to have the 
best butter and to obtain it with the least 
amount of labor on the part of the over 
worked women ; hence, we present here the 
Blanchard Churn, as combining more good 
qualities aud doing better work than any 
other in market; not only is it made of the 
very best material and in the most thorough 
manner, so as to be strong and durable, but 
it is exceedingly simple in its construction, 1 
easy to work, quickly and easily cleaned and 1 
thoroughly efficient in its double duty of 1 
churning and gathering, aud of working the ' 
butter. 
Some one may ask how all this Is aceom- ’ 
plislied. We have only space to say that it 
is of a convenient bight for the operator { 
either to stand or sit; the dasher not being s 
wholly immersed, all the cream is uniformly l 
agitated and aerated at each turn, hence the 1 
butter comes nearly all at once and is of a 1 
uniform character ; in gathering, the dasher t 
having an oscillatory motion, and being oc- t 
casionally revolved both forward and back- i 
ward, this work is quickly done : when gatb- 8 
ered, the buttermilk being drawn off at the I 
bottom, and the specks of butter being wash- t 
cd down from the lid and angles, reversing v 
the movement of the dasher, the buttermilk s 
is pressed out quicker and better than it can 1 
be done by the hand ladle ; aud in the same d 
manner the salt may be well worked In. 
The only oare necessary in this working is t 
not to overdo the matter, lest the butter lose t 
its waxy character and be made greasy. g 
An experience of six years with this churn v 
enables the writer to express liimself posi- t 
tively on the subject. The sizes vary from b 
two gallons’ to 150 gallons' capacity. s: 
The Publisher of the Rural New-Yorker b 
has placed it upon his attractive premium s 
list, believing that he can do the butter mak- *1 
ors of the country no greater service than by t 
bringing it thus within the ability of all who 1 
desire it to possess a Blanchard chum adapted tJ 
to their wants. f< 
Farmers, aud their sons and daughters P 
who want the very best butter and to fl 
avoid the back-aching they are often sub- sj 
jected to in efforts to “bring the butter” b 
while using the old-fashioned churns—should 
“ make a note ” of this. It will be compara- a 
tively easy to form a club for the Rural si 
large enough to secure a Blanchard Churn, 
thereby saving much valuable time and per¬ 
spiration in the future, to say nothing of the 
pleasure derivable from introducing a pure 
and useful paper to the notice and support 
of neighbors and others who will be bene- 
■. 5 ^ 3381 ^ 
fited by its perusal. Our new Premium List 
will comprise many other labor-saving im¬ 
plements, the possession of which will prove 
of great value, if not indispensable, to those 
engaged in rural pursuits. 
wntific and Useful. 
ABOUT AN AQUARIUM. 
1 v it would not be too much trouble, 1 would 
be greatly obliged if you would publish, as 
soon as convenient, directions to make an 
Aquarium and what the names of plants 
most suitable, and much oblige.—N. Q S. 
Belle Vemon, Fayette- Co., Pa. 
In response we copy the following article 
which has just appeared in the Scientific 
American :—One of the first principles, in 
constructing a tank for an aquarium, is to 
give the water tbs greatest possible exposure 
to the air. The simple rectangular form is 
the best. This is generally constructed of 
Iron and glass : the iron should be japanned, 
and the glass be French plate, to insure bril¬ 
liancy and strength. The breadth and hight. 
of the tank should be about one half of the 
length, (.’heap tanks can be made of wood 
and glass, the frame- and bottom being of 
wood, and the sides of glass. In order to 
make the joints watertight, care must be 
they will completely destroy it. After the 
plants are well started, add the shells and 
amphibious animals. The following shells 
will be found desirable : Plunorbis trivolvis, 
Physa heterostrupha, TJnio complunatus. 
Many shells are not needed. Snails act the 
part of sca\ angers. 
If amphibious animals are introduced, the 
rock work must extend above the surface of 
the water, or a float of some kind must be 
substituted. It is impossible for them to live 
under water all the time, aud they would die 
without some such arrangement. 
The turtles claim first rank. The Enys 
punctata, or spotted water turtle, and the 
Chrysemys plot a, or painted water turtle, 
will be found to be the best for the aquarium, 
and should be procured when very young, as 
they are very destructive when old. The 
tritons (Triton tigt inns, Triton niyer), the red 
salamander, the crayfish (Astucus Bartuni), 
are all suitable, and present a very odd and 
yet a very natural look to the aquarium. 
In selecting the fishes, there is no boundary 
to the number to be obtained, but experience 
has proved that comparatively a few only 
thrive In confinement. Among these, and 
the first, is the gold fish. He can live for 
months without introduced food, and is, 
without comparison, the most hardy, stand¬ 
ing remarkable changes in the temperature ; 
and he Is the most, gaudy and attractive. A 
large number of the fishes prey upon each 
other, and Will only do for the aquarium 
when In the young state. Among these may 
be mentioned Poinotis vulgaris, or sun fish, 
Esox reticulatux, or common pickerel, and 
Perea foreseen s, or yellow perch. The 
LeueAseus pygmaius, or rock fish, is a great 
addition, and is found very plentifully in our 
streams. The Pimelodus atrarius, or com¬ 
mon block catfish, is another worthy of a 
place. So also is the Hydrargta diaphunu, or 
transparent minnow. 
But few fish can live in an aquarium : and 
the needless crowding together, so often seen, 
is very hurtful to health, and causes sound, 
strong fish in u short time to become weak 
and poor. 
'flic great difficulty in keeping an aquarium 
is to secure enough oxygen for the fish. To 
a slight degree, it is the duty of the plants to 
supply this ; but if too much vegetation be 
present, decomposition takes place and ruin 
follows. It has been demonstrated that inly 
a small amount is necessary to absorb Die 
carbonic acid given off by the fish and am¬ 
phibians ; consequently, if the water be daily 
aerated with a syringe, it will absorb an 
(dhc IJsttaraM 
HUMMING-BIRD 
THE 
MOTHS CAUGHT BY 
TONGUE. 
taken to get a proper aquarium putty or ce- .abundant supply of oxygen for the animal 
ment. The following is a good recipe : Put 
an eggeupful oil and 4 ozs. tar to 1 lb. resin ; 
melt over a gentle fire. Test it to seeif it has 
the proper consistency when cooled ; if it has 
not, heat longer or add more resin aud tar. 
Pour the cement into the angles in a heated 
state, but uot boiling hot, as it would crack 
the glass. The cement will be firm in a few 
minutes. Thou tip the aquarium in a differ¬ 
ent position,aud treat a second angle likewise, 
and so on. The cement does not poison the 
water. 
It is not advisable to make the aquarium of 
great depth ; about eight inches of water is 
sufficient. In regard to the light, great cave 
must be token. Too much often causes 
blindness, and is a common source of disease. 
The light fish receive in rivers comes from 
above ; and an aquarium should be construc¬ 
ted sous to form iio exception to this rule. 
All cross lights should be carefully avoided, 
at least if the light is very strong. Never 
place the aquarium in front of a window so 
that the light pusses through it; for, when 
viewing an aquarium, the source of light 
should come from behind us. Not enough 
light is as injurious as too much, aud causes 
decay of the vegetation. 
Having constructed a watertight aquarium 
the botton is strewn over with clean sand to 
the depth of 1 to 3 inches, on this a little 
gravel is spread ; then a few stones or rock- 
work. Heavy, large l ocks should be avoided; 
they displace a large amount of water and 
increase the danger of breaking the glass 
sides. Pumice stone, well washed, is the best 
kind, being light and with a rough surface 
suitable for the rooting of plants, etc. ; and 
if fancy forms are desired (bridge work, etc.), 
the pumice stone can be cut quite easily to 
the desired shapes. The plants are rooted in 
the sand and the vessel left at rest fora week 
for the plants to vegetate. The following 
plants will be found useful Utricularia in- 
flat a, Utricularia vulgaris, Myriophylhun 
spicutum, Anurcharis Canadensis, Hottunia 
injlata. 
In obtaining plants, procure all the roots 
and see that they are well rooted, if fungus 
should form, add snails (Planorbis trivolvis) ; 
life, and the trouble arising from the decay 
of much vegetable matter will be lessened or 
altogether avoided. 
■- 
TELEGRAPHIC IMPROVEMENT. 
A late Scientific American contains the 
following :—A new invention in telegraphy 
by George B. Prescott and Thomas A. Edison 
has lately been successfully tested at tin* 
main olll.ee of the Western Union Company in 
this city. The new invention is a process of 
multiple transmission by which two messages 
can be sent simultaneously in the same direc¬ 
tion over the same wire, and either message 
can be dropped at any waf station on the 
circuit. The old duplex system can be ap¬ 
plied to the new invention, and by the com¬ 
bination lour messages can be sent simultane¬ 
ously over the same wire iu opposite direc¬ 
tions between any two terminal points. The 
old Morse key is used, with no duplication 
except as to parts of machinery. It is alleged 
that the invention will quadruple the useful¬ 
ness of the 175,000 miles of wire now owned 
by the company. 
Mr. Prescott is well known as the electri¬ 
cian of the Western Union Campany. Mr. 
Edison has probably made more inventions 
pertaining to practical telegraphy than any 
one man now living. We hope that these 
expectations will be fully realized. The ad¬ 
vances thus far made in the practical uses of 
electricity are many and various. Butitinay 
Lie truly affirmed that we have at present 
only reached the threshold of this great de¬ 
partment of human industry. Except chem¬ 
istry, we know no field more promising for 
the inventor and discoverer than that of 
practical electricity. Young men should 
study the subject. 
-- 
Petroleum in Limestone.—A writer says: 
Petroleum seems to be indigenous to certain 
limestones. The oil is usually found in bands 
or patches, with strata above and below 
containing no oil. The oil is hermetically 
sealed in the pores of the limestone, and es¬ 
capes in lines of disturbance. Heat is re¬ 
quired for the separation of the oil. 
, Dear Rural, :—I often feel prompted to 
^ make a few* remarks on some of the many 
} interesting items that, appear in your col- 
" umna, but while the intention is good, the 
, time is generally lacking. For once, how¬ 
ever, I feel constrained to come to the aid of 
“Daily Rural Life” with the following ex- 
4 tract from the Proceedings of the St. Louis 
‘ Academy of Science (II., p. cxv.) touching 
1 the power of flowers to catch Sphinx moths : 
“ Mr. Riley exhibited a living specimen 
, of Menobrancfnis lateralis, caught in Mera 
I mee river. Some years ago he had caught. 
the svino species in Luke Michigan. He also 
I exhibited flowers of the Physianthus aliens, 
of which he had spoken at a former meet¬ 
ing, and which held captive by their tongues 
a number of different owlet moths (A*oc- 
tuidac) and some large Sphinx moths, es 
pecially DeAUphilu linealu. This climbing 
plant belongs to the Asclepiadacece; the 
brown, ovoid corpuscles, peculiar to the 
stigma of this family, catch in their cleft the 
moth’s tongue, or any threod-liko body that 
gets into it, and, together with the pollen- 
masses connected with them, are torn oil 
from their attachment. Firmly adhering to 
the tip of the tongue, they prevent its with¬ 
drawal whenever, in seeking honey, it gets 
into the narrow groove formed by the stiff 
antheral projection*. A moth is sometimes 
thus held by a single corpuscle, and though 
when once captured such a moth may break 
loose, it would seem to be always at the sac¬ 
rifice of a part of its tongue, judging from 
the number of tongue fragments found in 
the flowers. The holding power of these 
flowers appears wonderful when we reflect 
on the size and muscularity of the larger 
Sphinx moths. Nerium oleander was known 
to catch Sphinx moths in Europe iu a some¬ 
what similar way, and QBnothera grandi- 
flora by a different method.” 
1 hope “Daily Rural ” will succeed in get¬ 
ting from his correspondent specimens of 
the plant mentioned iu your iasue for July 
11. I am anxious to know if it, too, will 
prove to belong to the milk-weed family. 
Yours, v. v. R. 
■-♦♦a- 
STRANGE STORIES CONFIRMED. 
Some mouths ago, Darwin wrote to his 
disciple Fritz Muller, nowin Brazil, directing 
his attention to the habits of the leaf-cutting 
ants. The reply contains a confirmation of 
Mr. Belt’s observations to the effect that 
these ants do not feed on the leaves they 
gather in such vast quantities, but on the 
fungus which grows on the leaves in their 
underground chambers. On examining the 
stomachs of these ants, Mr. Muller found no 
trace of vegetable tissue which might have 
been derived from the leaves, but only a 
colorless substance, showing under the mi¬ 
croscope some minute globules, “probably 
the spores of the fungus.” 
Again, as to the protective partnership 
between certain plants and their ant inhabi¬ 
tants, Mr. Muller says he has cut dowu hun¬ 
dreds of cecropia- and never missed the ants, 
and adds :—“ I wonder that it had never oc 
eurred to me that the trees are protected by 
the ants ; but there can be no doubt that 
this is really the case, for young plants of 
cecropioc, not yet inhabited by ants, are often 
attacked by herbivorous insects.” 
-- 
TELEGRAPHIC CROWS. 
At a recent session of the Asiatic Society, 
Mr. L. Sclnvendler showed a crow’s nest, 
made of pieces of telegraph wire, twisted to¬ 
gether iu a most ingenious and kuowiug 
manner, lie said that lately such nests had 
been frequently found, and that the crows 
often selected telegraph posts, between which 
and the telegraph wires they built those wire 
nests, causing what, aro known as “earth” 
and “contact,” and interfering with commu¬ 
nication. Crows, however, were by no means 
the only animals interfering, by their domes¬ 
tic arrangements, with overland telegraphy. 
Wa3ps build their mud nests in the porcelain 
insulators,'causing, in rain and dew, leakage 
from the wire to the ground. Birds of prey 
frequently dropped dead fish aud other offal 
upon the wires, causing contact. These were 
all frequent sources of temporary interfer¬ 
ence with telegraphic communication upon 
overland lines, and they, combined with 
many other facts not necessary to mention, 
seemed to show that it would be a very great 
advantage to use subterranean telegraphs 
instead of overland lines. 
