SEPT. 5 
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DAIRY NOTES ON MARYLAND.—I. 
We loft the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad 
at Laurel in Prince George’s County, going 
northwest to Sandy Spring by carriage and 
from thence by private conveyance through 
Montgomery, Howard and Baltimore Coun¬ 
ties, stopping at, a number of farms and ex¬ 
amining the manner of farming and the con¬ 
dition of the soil and crops in this section of 
the State. 
Montgomery County is bounded on the 
we3t by the Potomac. It has a rather light 
soil, but by the use of fertilizers good crops 
are grown. Dairying is carried on to some 
extent, but mostly on a small scalo, and in 
connection with other branches, the prevail¬ 
ing rule being a mixed husbandry. The 
country is not so well watered as (n Loudon 
Co., Va., and instead of spring houses for the 
accommodation of the dairy, the system of 
“dry vaults” Is substituted. 
The vaults are often elaborate and expen¬ 
sive structures, and they are made to serve a 
very good purpose in the handling of milk 
and in butter manufacture, especially when 
employed in connection with fee. Cheese 
making is not practiced in the section of 
Maryland Which we passed over ; at least, 
we did not hear of any dairies being devoted 
to this business, though on most of the farms 
visited butter manufacture was carried on 
from a small number of cows. The surface 
in Montgomery County is tolerably level or 
gently undulating and cropsof all kinds were 
looking finely, evidently showing a good deal 
of attention to culture, in the description 
of forms we shall give briefly tho general 
system on which the lands are managed. 
• THE FARM OF DR. THOMAS 
is located near Sandy Spring, about ten miles 
Northwest from Laurel and about twenty 
miles from Washington. It consists ef 175 
acres—75 in woodland, 10 in wheat, 22 in po¬ 
tatoes, 20 in pasture, 20 in meadows and 2* 
in corn. Mr. Thomas has recently set 2,000 
peach trees on 80 acres. There are about 400 
trees in old orchard and 200 of apple. The 
country is well adapted to fruit, and consid¬ 
erable attention is being given to the cultiva¬ 
tion and production of fruits as a specialty. 
SYSTEM OF FARMING. 
Grass lands are plowed, and the first; crop 
taken is corn. This is followed by potatoes 
or oats, and the third crop is wheat, when 
the land is seeded to grass and remains in 
grass three seasons, two of which it is de¬ 
voted to meadow and the third to pasture. 
Corn a verages 40 bushels to the acre; wheat, 
17 bushels ; oats, 80 to 40, uud potatoes from 
100 to 150 bushels per acre. The average 
yield of hay is about tons to the acre. 
APPLICATION OF FERTILIZERS. 
Barnyard manures are usually spread upon 
meadows and on wheat lands in the fall. The 
commercial fertilizers are applied generally 
at the rate of 100 to 400 pounds per acre, but 
sometimes as high as 1,000 pounds to the 
acre. These fertilizers consist of dissolved 
bones, G canape guano and soda mingled 
together in the following proportions, viz., 
one-third guano, 200 pounds soda, and enough 
dissolved bones to make a ton in weight of 
the mixture. This quantity costs $00. The 
fertilizers are drilled in with the wheat and 
potatoes. 
PUTTING IN C70PS. 
Plowing can be done here during every 
month of the year. Com is usually planted 
from the 20th of April to the 10th of May ; 
but farmers aim to have the crop in daring 
the month of April. For the oat crop the 
seed is sown in March. Spring wheat does 
not succeed here, and only winter varieties 
are sown. Tho 'Rappahannock and Bough ton 
varieties are popular, the seed being sown at 
the rate of 1% bushels to the acre. About 
lour quarts of timothy seed are sown in the 
fall with the wheat, and during the latter 
part of the following February the ground 
leceives from lour to six quarts of clover. 
MANUFACTURING FERTILIZERS. 
The large quantity of fertilizers used about 
bandy Spring and the difficulty of getting a 
gjod article has led to the erection of an 
establishment here for preparing the fertil¬ 
izers. The business was opened several years 
ag« by Mr. W. S. Bono, who has from time 
to time increased his facilities until he is able 
to turn off a large annual product. The bones 
■co brought here in the rough, shipments , 
otten coming from the plains in Kansas. 
l(J .v are crushed by means of a stamping 
will, when they are vitriolizedand the guano , 
and sulphate of soda added in the proportions , 
swnn* u,bove - The stampers cost about ] 
' - o an( l the whole establishment and its \ 
various machinery some $5,000 to$0,000. Mr. 
Bond supplies the farmers for a circuit of 
ten miles square, and the product sold an¬ 
nually is over 800 tons, 
MILK VAULT AND CHURN ROOM. 
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a.a.a. Pans in trough, 
11, Chimney. 
O, Stairway leading from churn room down 
to in ilk vault. 
D, Stairway to the churn room. 
Tho croura is churned in summer at a tem¬ 
perature of about 02° Fahr. and in winter at 
05° Fahr. 
THE MILK VAULT. 
The milk vault is 9x13 feet and 7 feet high 
to the top of the arch. The ground is exca¬ 
vated 11 feat, and by rounding up tho earth 
I I eel more the arch is 8 IVet under ground. 
This gives a low temperature, and with the 
use of an. air tube communicating with the 
ice house, an even temperature of (10° may 
bn mainted. There is a chimney 18 in chap, 
square running from the buck end of the 
arch and this, with an opening at the bottom 
leading out through a drain, gives ventila¬ 
tion so that the atmosphere is kept sweet 
and pure. The drain also serves for the es 
cape of water. There is a pipe also to let in 
water communicating with the well outside, 
fin the sides of the milk vault there is a raised 
platform with trough, all of solid masonry, 
for tho purpose nt holding the pans of milk 
which are set lor cream. The pans used are 
about a foot in diameter, and the space in 
the trough is wide enough for two pans. The 
pans hold about six quarts each, and the 
milk is set six inches deep. 
Tho (;lmrn room is several feet higher than 
the milk room, a wide stairway leading from 
one room to the other. It ia 8x12 feet, and 
has windows which are protected with gauze 
wire to keep out flies and vermin. The whole 
structure is built of stone and every part of 
the rooms plastered with cement, so as to be 
impervious to water and to vermin. The 
subjoined rough draft will illustrate the 
ground plan of the structure. 
PACKING AND MARKETING. 
The butter is put up in prints of about 
inches in diameter and two Inches thick, and 
are packed in what is known as the Philadel¬ 
phia butter pail. This pail will hold about 
00 pounds of butter prints. It Is oval in 
shape, with ice chambers on the end sides, 
the butter being placed in the center on 
shelves arrange I with cleats so as to not 
come in contact with each other. 
The butter (s marketed hi Washington City 
at 50c. per pound. The market wagons start 
out for Washington about sunrise and get 
back at 9 o’clock, P. M, 
Cottage cheese is made to some exten t from 
the sour milk, and is sold in Washington for 
15c. per quart. Buttermilk brings 8c. per 
quart and sour milk 20c. a gallon in the same 
market. 
PRICE OF LABOR. 
Dr. Thomas has three hands that get $14 
per month and board. Good colored labor¬ 
ers command from $10 to $14, or from $0 to 
$10 per month and board. Servants and farm 
hands appear to bo plenty, and from what 
wo saw they appeared to be superior to much 
of the foreign element which is employed in 
Central New York. 
FEEDING STOCK, &5. 
Cows are fed during the milking season, 
with a mixture of corn meal and bran as a 
supplementary feed. The mixture Is in the 
proportion of two thirds bran to one-third 
com meal, and each cow gets a quart of this 
twice a day. No meal is fed to dry stock. 
For fodder the main dependence is upon 
corn stalks in wintering horned cattle, while 
horses get w beaten straw and com on the 
cob, say about three pecks of ears per day 
each. 
Cows cmne in milk during the month of 
belliuaiy, and the calves are vealed when 
from five to six weeks old, the meat bringing 
$Ko. per pound. Mileh stock is dried off 
about the first of January. Thc cows almost 
always got some grass to color the butter, 
but they begin to have their com stalks or 
other coarse fodder in December. During 
August and September sowed corn is fed to 
help out the pastures. Most of the hay raised 
on the farm is sent to Washington, where it 
commands from $18 to $35 per Pan. The roads 
leading to Washington are good, and not 
unfrequently from three to four tons of hay 
are loaded upon the immense wagons which 
go out to that market. 
THE BOARDERS. 
Another source of income to the farmers 
ol tliis section is tho boarding of clerks and 
families from Washington. A largo number 
of persons In Government employ come out 
here to spend a portion of the hot weather, 
staying- from six weeks to three months, and 
the farmers get; from $7 to $10 per week for 
board and rooms. Almost every farmer lias 
his house filled with these summer hoarders, 
and it is regarded as ft very good business 
when the bills are promptly paid ; but not 
unfrequently farmers get loaded with a 
“ dead beat ” or two, which reduces the 
profits. 
RESULTS ACCOMPUSHRD. 
Dr, Thomas is a very intelligent gentleman 
ami has a real love for farming, He was 
educated for the profession of medicine, but 
having a taste for agricultural pursuits he 
abandoned medicine for the farm. Ho com¬ 
menced upon his land when it was mostly 
covered with timber, clearing 100acres, grub¬ 
bing out tho stumps and leveling the surface. 
All tho buildings and improvements on the 
place have been made under his own super 
vision. Ho is an active worker, and is not 
afraid to take part, in any farm operation. 
He is still a young man, but in looking over 
his 'beautiful farm, his ample and substantial 
residence of brick, the tasteful la,wu and the 
surrounding farm buildings, it seemed to us 
that bis labors had been almost; “ Hercu¬ 
lean.” And it must bo remarked here that 
the cost of all the changes and improvements 
that have been made on this farm from the 
time it was covered by the original forest to 
the present, has been paid from tho farm, 
and by a judicious sj stem of farming. 
The example of such a man in this age of 
luxury and idleness, is worth a vast deal to 
the youth of the surrounding country. His 
work shows what can be accomplished in a 
le>v years by industry and perseverance, 
guided by intelligence and high mental cul¬ 
ture. And no farmer can look upon this ele¬ 
gant home, transformed so recently from t he 
wilderness, without feeling proud of the 
achievement made in the cause of agricul¬ 
ture. 
-4-*--*-— 
THE WESTERN NEW YORK BUTTER 
* MAKERS’ REPORT. 
Tuk Second Annual Report of the Western 
New York Butter Makers’ Association, comes 
to ns by the favor of the Secretary, C. E. 
Buxton. This is a valuable report, contain¬ 
ing the papers and discussions before the 
society during the year 1872. Nearly all the 
matter in the pamphlet iR from practical 
dairymen, embodying tho result of <their ex¬ 
perience. Facts are therefore given rather 
than opinions. Wo have no space at. this time 
to give a review of the report, but shall from 
time to time refer to some of the papers and 
discussions in subsequent articles. 
One of the most noteworthy papers, per¬ 
haps, in the report, is that of Mr. L. W. Mil¬ 
ler of Stockton, who announces the propo¬ 
sition that when a cow is dry, three quarts 
of fine com meal per day, fed regularly 
morning and evening, if kept in a elenr, w o rn 
stable, is ample sustenance without any liay 
or other food whatever. “One bushel of 
corn,” he says, “ will thus last a cow twelve 
days, and we have in this article the cheap¬ 
est and best kinds oi food for wintering 
stock, taking care to feed liberally of hay or 
other food when the cow gives milk.” This 
statement is so different from the generally- 
received opinion OI 1 the subject of feeding- 
cattle, that many have believed that .t was 
impossible to keep a cow on such a small 
quantity of food for uuy length of time, at 
least not without great injury, and yet Mr 
Miller affirms that he has done so repeat¬ 
edly. We regard Mr. Miller’s statement 
as very remarkable, and shall refer to it 
again. The Society at Its last annual meet¬ 
ing changed its name, and h hereafter to be 
known as the Chautauqua Dairymen’s Asso¬ 
ciation. Flint Blanchard of Jamestown, 
N. Y., is President and C. K. Benton of Fre- 
donia Secretary for the year 1874. 
-»»♦ 
VERMONT BUTTER. 
Some idea of the. butter market at St. Al¬ 
bans, Vermont, may be inferred from a sin¬ 
gle day’s shipment of butter from that point. 
On the 4th of August there were shipped 
2,201 tubs of butter, weighing 110,050 lbs. 
It averaged 27c. p-rlb. or about 827,713. This 
quantity of butter, if used with economy, 
might possibly be sufficient to supply the 
people of New York City with enough to 
butter their bread at one meal. 
Sit? Horseman. 
HOW TO INDUCE HORSES TO LIE DOWN. 
Horses do not need to lie down in order 
to rest and sleep as most animals do ; still it 
seems hard when any eircumstunce prevents 
them when ot herwise they might be inclined. 
Turned into the field for the night, many— 
pr obably the majority—of horses will not lie 
down all night, unless it bo to roll; and in 
the field by day, how often it happens that 
one may approach a horse, especially an old 
one, standing under a tree and slat tie him 
out of a sound nap. Few horses will lie 
down in a mud stall for several daya If their 
feet are sound. The habit of not lying is 
then naturally acquired. If for any reason 
the horse has ever suffered from lying down 
in too narrow a stall ; if lie has ever gotten 
his head under the manger ; if lie has beeu 
“ cast” by accident in any way, und this 
habit becoming second nature, it need give 
tho owner no special solicitude . o long as the 
horse is sound in every particular. 
However, it. is best to break up the habit, 
and if possible when horses arc young, for 
horse will no doubt have occasion to lie down 
some time before he dies, and when that time 
cornea he will be very stiff and awkward in 
getting up ir unaccustomed to the effort. 
It is commonly regarded as evidence of 
sickness If a horse is not overworked and 
whose feet are r r have been sound, is fouud 
by a person entering the stable at any time 
of the day or night lo be lying down. 
Mr. Horne, a veterinary surgeon of Wis¬ 
consin, writing to the Country Gentleman, 
says There is no better way to coux a 
horse to lie down than a good, clean, dry bed 
in a clean, airy, loose box. I have had horses 
which would not on any account go even If 
forced, into a stall where t hey had suffered, 
but would go Immediately and cheerfully 
into any other ordinary si nil. Any practical 
veterinarian knows how often horses other¬ 
wise quiet and obedient refuse to ipproacli 
his infirmary, and oven thi sound of his (the 
doctor’s) voice will produce quite a nervous 
trepidation in an animal upon which he has 
operated, evidently causing the animal pain 
and suffering. Wo very much underrate the 
capacity of our noble domestic animals to 
appreciate a kindness or to resent a wrong. 
This is more often manifested by the noble 
and faithful lior-e and dog. 
A change of place will often give encour¬ 
agement to a horse and he will lie dm V n al¬ 
though having persistently stood up in his 
accustomed stall, from having received an 
injury there, or from Its milch resembling 
the place of former suffering. 1 do not claim 
this is the only cause, for I have known 
horses for many years, that would not lie 
down anywhere, and which had never had 
the above cause for this refusal. Again, I 
repeat, a clean, Iopfh box Is tho Lest to bring 
about a change in th s horse’s ii .bits. 
— ■■■■ » »♦ ■ 
HORSE MORALS. 
In discussing the moral qualities of tho 
horse, the iowa % State Journal offers the fol¬ 
lowing sensible ideas: 
In selecting a horse, or mare for bleeding, 
speed and form are not all the qualitn s to be 
looked after. Never breed to a vicious or 
ill-tempered horse, no matter what may be 
his pedigraH or antecedents; and reject at 
once any horse lacking a sprightly intelli¬ 
gence. There are us many degrees of intel¬ 
ligence in a horse as in the human race, and 
without intelligence a horse is always slug¬ 
gish, stupid and awkward in his movements. 
The thorough bred Arabian horse has gen¬ 
erally that capacity necessary for learning 
any useful lesson, that all his work and labor 
for man are a pleasure to I lie owner and ap¬ 
parently to the horse. Wo like to see a rami 
proud of a noble horse, but more especially 
does it fill our heart with delight to see a 
horse proud of his master. There are clowns 
among horses and they are alwavs a vexa¬ 
tion bo the owner. Some will plod along the 
road, never looking where they step, and 
just as likely to Stop on a stump or a hole in 
a bridge as any other place. But the intelli¬ 
gent horse takes heed to hi* steps, and if 
anything happens dangerous to life or limb 
to himself or his muster, his judgment fre¬ 
quently prevents the accident. And a gentle, 
kind horse, with a large development of so¬ 
cial mid Intellectual powers, whiles away 
many a weary hour of the louely traveler, or 
lightens the labor of the long days of the 
tiller of the soil. In selecting breeders, great 
care should be taken relative to the social 
morals of both horse and mare. Like begets 
like, and in no case more than that of the 
horse. A bad and vicious temper in a horse 
may be checked, but never eradicated, and 
he will always be unpleasant, dangerous, 
and in his fretting and fuming will unneces¬ 
sarily waste his strength. Form and action 
have claimed the closest scrutiny, and those 
qualities have been given their full impor¬ 
tance. but the social morals of the horse have 
been lost sight of in the strife for speed and 
strength. Viciousness is almost invariably 
transmitted to the progeny, more certainly 
than color or points, and should be a serious 
objection to any horse as a good breeder. 
