erly fed they increase the flow of milk in cows 
without impairing the quality, and I value a 
daily feed of iipple6 for the horse as highly as 
I do one of carrots. The horse is a treat lover 
of appIeB, in that respect equaling any school¬ 
boy. If, when yon visit the horse in hie stable 
in Winter, you will make it a rule to give him, 
now and then, the treat of an apple, you will 
soon find that you have gained his affections 
and confidence, and that he will always greet 
you with pleasure. Indeed, I have found that 
when 1 have desired to catch a horse that i6 In 
pasture, an apple or two are always more at¬ 
tractive to him than a taste of either salt or 
grain, heeides being much more convenient to 
carry. My conclusion is that for sheep, and 
especially for breeding ewes, kept mostly on 
dry hay. they are valuable as a preventive of 
costivencss, and that, on the whole, they are 
as valuable for feed for stock in general in 
Winter, in proportion to their weight, as the 
roots usually grown for that purpose, and 
more valuable than the common flat turnip, 
while the milk of the dairy is entirely free 
from any unpleasaut taste or odor arising from 
their u6e. But in the commencement of their 
U6eproper judgment should be exercised, as in 
every other case of a sudden change of food 
with animals. The change should be some¬ 
what gradual, increasing the amount as the 
animal’s system becomes accustomed to the 
change, and the feed may be increased till, wo 
will say, about one peck is given at a feed to 
each horse or full grown cow or steer, and in 
a similar proportion to the young cattle or 
sheep. For colts they are invaluable, if prop¬ 
erly fed. 
But here I am met by an article which I find 
is going the rounds of the country newspapers 
and, under the head of “ Facts for Farmers,” 
cautioning them against the use of apples as a 
food for stock, as likely to be productive of 
Injury. The article appears anonymously and 
no hint is given as to the quarter where it 
originated. B-sides this, it seems to me to be 
too absurd to be worthy of any consideration, 
were it not that it may, perchance, alarm or 
influence some young or inexperienced stock 
grower, to his detriment. Therefore I refer 
to it in passing. I quote a portion of the arti¬ 
cle: “Some farmers near Middletown claim 
to have discovered that their callle, when fed 
on apples, have shown every evidence of 
drunkenness. Oae farmer claims that his cows 
staggered about so that he had to watch them 
all day to prevent them from falling into the 
creek." The explanation given is, that ihe 
oow, being a ruminating animal, allows the 
apples to “remain so ioug in the first stomach 
that fermentation commences,” and, of course, 
progresses sufficiently to produce intoxication! 
Surprising theory that! Now we are not even 
informed what particular * Middletown" is 
referred to, “near” which such extraordinary 
occurrences were not'ced, and where the cows 
were so unusually dilatory in “chewing the 
eud,” a6 the writer expresses it. There are in 
the United States no less than ^“Middle- 
towns," having different locations. We are not 
informed whether the one referred to is in 
Connecticut, in New York, or in the moon, 
We rather incline to think it is in the latter 
place, or at least that the originator of the 
theory was a little moon struck when he ad¬ 
vanced it, for the idea that any article of food 
will remain in the stomach of any healthy ani¬ 
mal, man or beast, so long before it is digested 
as to undergo such a kiud of fermentation as 
will produce intoxication, is preposterous, and 
is a direct impeachment of the wisdom and 
goodness of the Almighly. If It be true, why 
may not similar results he produced by feeding 
the meal of any graiu ? for meal, after under¬ 
going a certain amount of fermentation, will 
certainly evolve a much greater amount of 
alcohol in proportion to its bulk then crushed 
or masticated appleB can possibly do 
Milk, whey and other slops soon decay in such 
places, vitiating the air and imparting an in¬ 
jurious odor to the cheese or butter made from 
the milk or cream kept there. The floor, 
therefore, should be frequently scrubbed and 
washed, especially in warm weather, and the 
above implement will be found very useful. 
count of the better concussion and the ease of 
operating it. Bnt it has the disadvantage of 
carrying around with the dasher a large por¬ 
tion of the cream, and of exerting the best 
effect only at the extremity of the dashers 
where the cream is seen, as at C, to be thrown 
against the sides and top of the churn with 
force. 
THE DAIRY COW-NO. 20 
KEEPING EGGS 
The hen, properly speaking, is an artificial 
creature, and just as our plethoric and “dis¬ 
eased roots” called mangels, turnips, etc,, 
originated from insignificant wild specimens, 
60 the hen, with her nine to fifteen dozens of 
eggs a year, is the cultivated and civilized re¬ 
sult from a single or, at best, a double-dozened 
bird in the jungle. While we are at liberty to 
admire her cultivation up to the present stand¬ 
ard, yet as she delivers these eggs mostly in 
one seasou of the year, she is to that measure 
inconvenient, and should in some way be iu- 
duced to spread her favors more evenly over 
the whole year and thus give ns eggs at a time 
when most needed, as in the Winter, during the 
absence of fresh vegetables and fruit. The art 
of artificial incubation will have a tendency, as 
it becoraee more universally adopted, to do 
away with the brooding characteristics of 
fowls and make the non-sitting breeds more 
popular, and thus abolish the desire on the 
part of henB to lay more eggs at one season 
than another. The question of accommoda¬ 
tions cuts much figure in it, too. for a poorly- 
fed hen when wet and cold can have little de¬ 
sire tc propagate her species, and we needs 
must look somewhere for a substitute for 
Winter layers. 
The best plan hit upon 60 far is a meth¬ 
od for preserving eggs fresh from the time 
they are laid in the Spriog and Summer 
until the demand increases for them in Winter. 
To accomplish this many plans have been de¬ 
vised. We notice in the poultry papers quite 
a number of recipes or devices. Some claim 
that eggs should be oiled or greased to keep 
out the air; others that they should be turned 
once a day. and an ingenious plan is suggested 
—to fill a hag with eirgB wrapped in paper and 
have a loop on both ends to hang it up by 
one end one day and the other end the next day. 
While we can understand the necessity for 
turning eggs while hatching in order to get 
the heat on all sides, we fail to see the keeping 
quality of this process, though we know it is 
quite universally practiced. 
Keeping eggs i- quite a feature in commerce, 
where they change hands under the common 
name of “limed eggs," whether they have ever 
been near lime or not. Almost every mer¬ 
chant that deals at all extensively in eggs has 
a secret pickle of his own to keep them in. 
A correspondent of the Western Rural gives 
the following recipe for a pickle: “ Take five 
quarts of rock-salt, five pounds of nnslaked 
lime and a quarter of a pound of cream-of- 
tartar ; dissolve in four pails of water, which 
make sufficient pickle for a barrel of eggs." 
Then there is cold storage for holding eggs 
along with butter and cheese. At the last 
meeting of the National Butter, Cheeae and 
Egg Association, held at Indianapolis, there was 
quite a discussion between the egg merchants 
present as to what wa3 the best temperature 
for holding eggs for long storage. We give 
their ideas in their own language:— 
Mr. J. A. Smith, of New Ifork—I think the 
egg trade of this country the most irregular 
trade that we have. A storage house properly 
constructed, properly put up, will keep eggs 
three mouths, possibly four mouths. They 
should be worked off within four months. 
Three months is as long as any eggs should be 
held in cold storage. I have never known but 
one way to hold eggs in cold storage to hold 
them properly, so that they came out good, 
and that is, take good oats (the oats must be 
perfectly dry, sweet and clean); get every 
particle of dust out of them, then pack the 
eggs in them. If you pack eggs in musty oats 
they will certainly be useless when they come 
out. They should be in a temperature of 86® 
to 40°. The reason bo much is said against 
this cold storage is, that eggs are not properly 
packed; they are put in musty straw. 
Mr. Gilbongh—I have had 15 years' experi¬ 
ence in keeping eggs in cold storage. If eggs 
are taken fresh and placed in cold storage they 
can be safely kept. It has resulted profitably 
to me. First, get fresh eggs, take out all dirty 
or soiled eggs; get the very best oats—the 
cleanest aud the best—put them through the 
fanning-mill and take all theduBt out, and pack 
the eggs in cold Btorage of about 45°. When 
we take them out of the cold storage we let 
them stand, so that they may become of the 
same temperature as the atmosphere around 
them. 
Mr. A. Albro—I move to hold eggs any length 
of time in cold storage—38 ° to 40 ° —should 
The revolving churn, which Itself Is rotated 
and has no dash, produces the requisite con¬ 
cussion acd agitation m >Bt perfectly. In this 
the cream in a compact body is thrown with 
great force on to the opposite side of the 
churn, and in rebounding meets the adjacent 
side and is dashed against that, and so on con¬ 
tinuously (D). This effect is greatly increased 
by a method of hanging the ehnrn by two di¬ 
agonally opposite corners, which causes the 
cream to be thrown :n many more directions 
and increases the agitation to its .utmost 
limit, making cross currents in the mass 
which greatly add to the friction. This effect 
is 60 complete that the principle involved in it 
is made use of in some factories where Bmall 
articles are smoothed and polished by friction 
against each other, as they are rotated in a 
barrel or box- It is an application of pre¬ 
cisely the mechanical effects of churning, and 
it has been foimd that the rectangular box 
hung upou opposite corners completes the 
polishing much more rapidly than any other 
device. 
The effect of the churning is increased up to 
Its meet complete point when the churn is only 
half filled, in the up-and-down churn there 
should not be so much as this to produce the 
best effect, and much difficulty in churning 
arises from this unsuspected cause, viz., 
putting too much cream In the churn. ItwiU 
be evident that if the ehnrn were completely 
filled, the necessary concussive action could 
not take place at all, and this action will be 
increased more and more as the quantity of 
cream in the churu is reduced, until the point 
iB reached when the action is the most effec¬ 
tive. In the up-and-down churn this point 
is when the cream in the churn is hut a few 
ineheB in depth ; in the revolving dash churn, 
when it is Jess than half full and the cream 
does not reach to the shaft of the dasher; and 
in the rectangular, dashless eburne, when they 
are a little less than half full. When more 
cream than this is pnt in either of the churns, 
the time of churning is lengthened in propor¬ 
tion to the increased quantity. 
other¬ 
wise chemistry and all experience have been 
sadly at fault. And I am yet to learn that 
meal does not remain for as long a time in the 
Btomach of any animal to ferment aud evolve 
Us intoxicating principles as do apples. If the 
theory advanced in the article quoted be cor¬ 
rect, then it etrikes me the pledge administered 
by our temperance advocates should include in 
its prohibitions the feeding to our animals of 
anything which Is likely, by its fermentation 
in their stomachs, to produce “drunkenness,” 
*s In the case of the cows mentioned. But the 
idea is too preposterous to be followed fur¬ 
ther. My only, or greatest, wonder is that any 
intelligent editor should copy it among his 
“Facts for Farmers." He must place a low 
estimate ou the intelligence of farmers. 
My own experience prompts me to continuo 
to practice, and also to recommend to others, 
the free use of apples, both for man and beast, 
especially during the Winter Beason, when 
there is bo little other green food for use, as 
being not only nutritious, but as being such a 
regulator of the system as is necessary for its 
welfare, and therefore highly eonducive to its 
health. Of course, I intend this recommenda¬ 
tion only for such as are in ordinary health, 
and then to be used with some judgment, or at 
least with common sense. 
DAIRY FLOOR WIPER 
A HANDT DATRT TLOOR WirKR lg Shown at 
figure 14. Jt consists of a strip of vulcanized 
rubber attached, as shown, to a flat piece of 
wood, beyond which it projects about an inch. 
A handle is inserted in the piece of wood, and 
xio. 14. 
thus Is formed a cheap and convenient Imple* 
ment that saves time aud money in the dairy, 
as its use there leaves the floor nearly dry. 
