MARCH 49 
186 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
ping on the ice. or mutual punching of th 
co*8. or by high breeding, etc., etc., etc., to 
the end of the long list of the supposed causes. 
Some of these may, and often do, cause a cow 
to lose her c *H, bnt only rarely, for a healthy 
cow will stand a good deal of abuse, but none 
of them ever caused the disease to become epi¬ 
zootic and to spread through a whole herd, 
and from that to other herds. The true cause 
16 reasonable and simple and suggests preven¬ 
tion ; the cure is impossible. 
--- 
Lice on Lai lie. 
I see in agricultural papers many recipes for 
the destruction of these vermin, most or all of 
themdoubllesseffective.and I am not here going 
to praise or condemn them either individually 
or collectively, for 1 can say nothing 1 y the 
wav of experience concerning them. Not that 
my cattle and horses have never suffered from 
the pests; but because 1 have noticed the fol¬ 
lowing facts which have suggested the remedy 
mentioned below: 
Fact 1 Neither horses nor cattle are troubled 
with these parasites during Summer, when 
they can get to the ground. Fact 3. Horses 
delight to roll on the ground and always prefer 
naked snots where there is no grass. Why ? 
Fact 3. Horned cattle like to rub their necks 
and shoulders (the places selected by lice; 
against any bank of earth and seldom omit to 
do so when any ehauce occurs. Wbat for ? I 
have noticed, too, that they like to paw In any 
loose earth and that in that case they do not 
throw the earth back behind them as a dog 
does, but that it often lights on their backs. 
Why is that? I have nothing to B3y about 
hens, all Ecem to know why they wallow and 
throw dirt over their baeks. So 1 take the 
hint and when 1 discover any lice on cattle or 
horses, I rub earth on them (sand is the best) 
and strew it along their backs, and if one ap¬ 
plication is not successful I uy itaga'm, always 
in perfect faith that I shall succeed in the end 
because 1 always have. I supplement this 
with card orcuny- 2 omb. Viellabd. 
--♦»» - 
To Prevent Calves from Socking each 
Other. — A correspondent writes us from 
Wallsville, Fa., that this habit lately referred 
to in the Rubai,, is simply due to call nature— 
the expectation of getting more food by suck¬ 
ing ; so that when the supply in the feeding 
vessel is exhausted, the calf seir.es hold of the 
ear or some other part of its neighbor think¬ 
ing to obtain more food by sucking it; and the 
practice if allowed to be persisted in soon be¬ 
comes a habit hard to he got rid of. The best 
preventive, he thinks, is to have the stanchions 
far enough apart to prevent the calves from 
reaching any part of each other, when their 
necks are tied in them, while they are feeding. 
Then it allowed to stand just so for a short 
time after eating or drihking they will scarce¬ 
ly ever attempt to Buck each other. 
gairg luslianiirp. 
THE DAIRY COW—NO. 28. 
HENRY STEWABT. 
Making Cheese. 
The process of miking cheese is not only a 
mechanical one ; it is also a chemical opera¬ 
tion the nature of which has been very little 
understood, and even now we cannot say that 
suffliieut iB known about it to make it auj- 
thing but a very uncertain one. From what 
has been said about milk (article No. 20) and 
rennet (article No. 37) it is very easily pei- 
ceived that the rennet is the active agent in 
producing the separation or precipitation of 
thecaseiuc of the milk from the whey; that 
the action of the rennet depends upon a eei- 
tain organic element in it which is not well un¬ 
derstood, and that this organic eleiueut acts 
by the production of a sorL of inchoate, or un¬ 
developed acidity which, however, is soon 
made active and apparent by lapse of time. 
This development of acidity iu the curd is one 
of the most important changes which the dairy¬ 
man has to control. All else is mechanical. 
To understand the process we will follow it 
step by step as practiced in an American fac¬ 
tory. 
The milk, either whole or skimmed, is heated 
to about 80 degrees. Sufficient rennet is added 
to bring the card in 40 minutes to an hour. 
When the curd is firm enough to break, it is 
cut across in two or three directions, so as to 
make small cubes, which facilitates the separa¬ 
tion of the whey. The whey usually separates 
in 15 or 20 minutes, by which time the curd 
has acquired a firm texture. The curd is then 
stirred with an agitator until it is well broken 
up. when heat is applied to the vat, and the 
temperature raised to 98 or 100 degrees. The 
broken curd is now well stirred, but carefully, 
lest the cream inclosed In the particles of curd 
might be lost in the whey. Just at this point 
the art anu experience of the daiiyinan are 
taxed to seize the precise moment when acid¬ 
ity is about to develop itself, and before this 
occurs, the whey is drawn off. Then the curd 
is heaped in the vat and left lo drain, while the 
acid develops itself gradually, until the curd 
becomes slightly sour to the taste. Tbe mod¬ 
ern practice of cheese making is gradually be¬ 
coming more uniform in respect to the removal 
of the whey while it is still sweet, and leaving 
tbe card in the vat to develop a moderate de¬ 
gree of acid befoi e going to press. 
After cooling 15 minutes the curd is turned 
over, I y which it is exposed to the air and un¬ 
dergoes the requisite process of oxidation for 
the production of the desired acidity, and this 
manipulation is really the critical point in 
cheese making. If too much acid is produced 
the cheese lacks the mellowness aud richness 
so desirable in a fine quality of product. If 
the whey is not sufficiently separated there is 
not only an excess of acid but often a more or 
less advanced degree of putrefactive decompo¬ 
sition in the cured cheese, which produces a 
very pronounced and sometimes very i ffensive 
odor, as in the case of that class of high-flav¬ 
ored and strongly odorous cheese of which the 
well known Limburger is a type. A great va¬ 
riety of cheese may be produced by different 
manipulations at this stage and ty the after 
process of curing. 
The common factory cheese, as now made, is 
put to press when the curds are cooled down 
to 60 or 65 degrees and before acid is plainly 
developed. After pressing for a few miuutes 
to express the residue of the whey, the curd is 
broken up and groun 1 in a curd mill, ealted at 
the rate of two pounds to the buudred of curd 
and it then goes to press and is kept under 
pressure for two or three days. 
The next process is curing the cheese. This 
is usually done iu rooms specially prepared for 
the purpose, artificially heated and cooled, as 
the circumstances may require, and made with 
non-conducting walls and floors and amply 
ventilated. Here the cheeBe is exposed to a 
proper degree of heat to undergo a ripening 
stage during which the crude curd changes to 
a soft, buttery cheese which melts in tbe 
mouth and has acquired that peculiar agree¬ 
able, pi quant and luscious flavor, which, with a 
certain Bolubiliiy and easy digestibility, gives it 
so high a value as an article of food, if not of 
luxury. The usual temperature of the cur¬ 
ing-room is 70 degiees; this is lowered or in¬ 
creased as may be desired to retard or hasten 
the ripening. The above applies to what is 
called full-milk cheese. 
The high value of butter interferes very much 
with this manufacture and au enormous quan¬ 
tity of cheese is made of skim-milk, with the 
butter-milk worked up into it by the employ¬ 
ment of a certain alkaline agent which neu¬ 
tralizes the acidity. 
A vast amount of nonsense has bean talked 
and written in regard to these manufactures. 
They have been called frauds and illegitimate. 
A common-3ense view of the matter is to be 
taken. Is it better to waste a large qnantity of 
skimmed and som milk, produced in butter 
making, or turn it into a wholesome article of 
food that meets a certain popular demand ? 
There 1 b but one answer to this question. The 
cream of the whole milk has been replaced to 
a large extent in this manufacture with a pre¬ 
paration of animal fat known as oleomargarine. 
This is a limpid, yellow oil perfectly odorlesB, 
and when honestly made is of perfect purity 
and devoid of ai y objectionable quality. A 
sufficient portion of this oil is mixed in the vat 
with the skimmed milk until a perfect emul¬ 
sion is formed. The after process is precisely 
the same as for pure milk. Buttermilk or 
sour skim-milk cheese is made by a different 
process. 
In a former article it has been stated how 
the acid of sour milk may be neutralized by 
meaus of an equivalent amount of alKali. It 
msy be worth while to repeat something of tbe 
process of curdling (souring) milk and of neu¬ 
tralizing this effect. The caseine of milk is 
insoluble in water, but is soluble iu a weak 
slkaline liquid. ' Fresh milk Is slighily alka¬ 
line aud contains au excess of soda with which 
tbe caBeine is in combination. When milk 
sours, the lactic acid produced by the decom¬ 
position of the milk sugar takes the soda from 
the caselne, forming lactate of soda, and the 
caseine is precipitated in the form of curd. 
The caseine is an acid substance always ready 
to unite again with an alkaline base. If a 
small quantity of soda or potash (common 
saleratus iB bi-carbonate of potash) be added 
to the sour milk, the precipitation of the 
caseine is prevented aud it is again dissolved, 
because the acid is neutralized and combines 
with the alkali. Tbe milk is again sweet. No 
injurious product has been formed. Precisely 
tha same action has taken place which occurs 
when saleratus and sour milk or buttermilk 
are used for making cake or biscuit. Ail the 
talk about the heinousness of this method of 
making wholesome cheese from an otherwise 
waste product of the dairy, at the recent daily 
meeting 3 , is simply cheap and sensational non¬ 
sense. Just as valid objections mightbe made 
to the use of salt—an alkali soda combined 
with chlorine, of itself a highly poisonous sub¬ 
stance—for the purpose of preserving cheese 
from putridity, as against the use of au inof¬ 
fensive carbonate of soda or potash to prevent 
tbe very same (fleet. Tie alkali is used to 
prevent the formation of an acid gas in the 
cheese, which would cause it to swell, heave or 
“ huff ” and so destroy its value as food. This 
gas is a product of excessive acidity in the 
cuid and is frequently produced iu full-milk 
cheese that has been badly made- 
In making sour milk cheese tbe alkaline 
preparation is added In sufficient quantity to 
neutralize the acid alter the milk is heated to 
83 or S4 degrees ; the rennet is added in the 
usual manner and the whole process goes on 
as with whole-milk cheese. By this process 
an enormous economy is gaintd and a vast 
amount of milk is saved from waste, and util¬ 
ized as human foodol a whol jsome and nutri¬ 
tious kind By the modern improvements iu set¬ 
ting milk for cream the tkimmed milk is usu¬ 
ally kept sweet aud only the buttermilk is sour; 
ibis is usually added to the sweet skimmed 
milk in the proportion of ont-lenih. 
Jiclti Crop. 
NOTES FROM THE RURAL FARM. 
Potato Experiment*. 
The following experiments were made to as¬ 
certain what distance apart potato seeds, cut 
to single ryes, should be planted in order to 
produce tbe best yield of marketable potatoes. 
Each test row was S3 feet m length; the varie- 
ly planted was Beau'y of Hebron. An old sod 
w r as plowed nnder in the Winter of 1880. Tbe 
land was well prepared last Spring. The seed 
pieces were placed in shallow furrows three 
feet apart, Msy 18, and upon them a slight 
sprinkling of concentrated potato lertilizer was 
spread. The earth was then hoed back so that 
the entire plot was quite level. The same fer¬ 
tilizer at the rate of 300 pounds per acre was 
afterward spread broadcast, just previous to 
the first cultivation. The potato beetles were 
destroyed by tbe nee of London-purple, using 
a tablespoonful of the purple to a half-bushel 
of plaster, thoroughly intermixed. We have, 
found that the quickest and most effectual 
way of mixing the poison with plaster or flour 
is to Bpread the latter say two inches deep over 
a tight floor; then spread the poison over the 
surface aud mix with an iron-tooth rake. A 
half-barrel at a time may thus be prepared 
That the yield was light in every case was no 
doubt due to the fact that the season was very 
unfavorable to tbe potato crop, being very dry 
in the early and too wet in the later part. We 
Pave lo regret that the information to be ob¬ 
tained from the results of the experiments is 
by no means proportionate to the labor and 
time spent in conducting them. 
ONE EYE IN a PLACE — ALL THE DRILLS 33 
FEET in length. 
18 pieces, ■weighing 12 ounces. Yield. 24 pounds. 
(18 nieces in a drill 32 feet hum would be 22 in. apart.) 
20 pieces, weighing 14 ounces. Yield. 14}4 pounds. 
(This row was harmed by moles ) 
25 pieces, wcixhitiK 14 ounces. Yield, 26}$ pounds. 
38 M 
tl 
Wi “ 
" 26}$ 
** 
80 “ 
4» 
IK 
»» 21 
83 “ 
r« 
23 
“ 24 
40 “ 
ft 
23 41 
“ 20 
" 
49 “ 
ft 
26 “ 
“ 28.!$ 
li6 ” 
41 
82 ‘ 
“ 31}$ 
«l 
TWO PIECES. EACH HAVING IiDT ONE EYE. PUT 
CLOSE TOGETHER IN DRILLS 34 FT IN LENGTH. 
40 pieces, weighing22 ouuces. Yield, 24!$ pounds. 
(Netrly lo inches apart) 
60 pieces, weighing 24 ounces. Yield, 27 pounds. 
60 •• " 28 •* " 24}$ “ 
66 •* ” »4 “ " 25j$ “ 
THREE PIECES (SINGLE BYES) POT CLOSE TO¬ 
GETHER IN DRILLS 33 FEET IN LENGTH. 
48 nieces, weighing 22 ounces. Yield, 18 pounds. 
(Injuredby moles.) 
75 pieces, weighing 40 ounces. Y ield. Bo pounds. 
90 “ " 42 “ *» 24 » 
The average size of the last was much smaller 
than any of the others. 
FOUKFIttCBS PUT CLOSE TOGETiittK IN DRILLS 
83 FEBT LONG 
64 pieces, weighing 3 1 ouuces. Yield, ‘4 pounds. 
FIVE PIECES CLOSE TOGETHER- DRILL 33 FEET. 
80 pieces, weighing 38 ounces. Yield, 27 pounds. 
POTATO SKINS CUT TO SINGLE EYES 
May 36 we plauled iu well-prepared ground 
37 pieces of potato skins—each having a single 
strong eye— six inches apart in the drill. The 
37 pieces weighed two ounces. Three grew, 
and the yield was half a dozen potatoes as 
large as marbles. The experiment was made 
to test the value of a positive assertion on the 
part of a ‘•well-known” farm writer that such 
eyes would yield as well as those to which flesh 
is attached. 
Yield of (he White Elephnnt. 
In a plot adjacent to that in which the fore¬ 
going experiments were made, and treated in 
the same way, we planted the White Elephant. 
The plot was 60 feet long and 37 feet in width, 
or a little over I-34th of an acre. They were 
plauted in nine rows 66 feet long, cut to siugle 
eyes, and one piece dropped about every 33 
inches. They were planted May 11. The yield 
waB 697$ pounds. 
The Yield of New Seedling Potatoes 
One of our prominent seedsmen sent us 
about SO kinds of new seedling potatoes to test. 
Some of these have this season been offered for 
sale. All of them were represented by their 
originators as improvements in some or all re 
spects over those at present known In com¬ 
merce, As our test was made chit fly to ascer¬ 
tain their comparative productiveness, we need 
present them only by the original numbers : — 
No. 85. 99 pieces, -weighing 5 lbs, planted alt one 
foot apart. Yield........55 lbs 
No. 35 (duplicate). 99 pieces, weighing 5 lbs. I oz. 
Yield ... 
• • t 
. 58 
lbs 
No. 26. 99 pieces, weighing 
3 lbs. 14 
oz. 
Yield 57 
lbs 
No. 36. 99 
• • 
li 
6 li>* 
4 
oz. 
• 1 
80 
lbs 
No. 9. 56 
* 4 
2 lbs 
8 
oz. 
“ 
22}$ lbs 
No, • ,9 
• « 
tl 
2 9) ,. 
tl 
17 
lbs 
No. 83. IS 
M 
• i 
1 lb 
9 
oz. 
H 
24 
lbs 
No. 22. 40 
It 
" 
2 lbs 
O 
oz. 
II 
49 
k>s 
No, 50, 16 
»• 
II 
11 
oz. 
ft 
9 
tbs 
No. 51. 31 
It 
41 
17 
oz. 
it 
20 
lbs 
No, 39. 8 
It 
II 
11 
oz. 
tl 
7 
lbs 
No. 49. 34 
• « 
• 1 
111) 
8 
oz. 
It 
29 
lbs 
No. 10. SO 
II 
• 1 
lib 
6 
oz. 
14 
lbs 
NO. 2. £9 
tl 
• 1 
lib 
454 oz. 
** 
12 
lbs 
No. 7. 66 
II 
• 1 
2 lbs 
4 
oz. 
tl 
40 
lbs 
No. 32. 33 
If. 
II 
1 lb 
12 
oz. 
14 
18 
lbs 
No. 30. n 
II 
41 
l lb 
2 
oz. 
IS 
10 
lbs 
No. 23. 22 
It 
II 
lib 
6 
oz. 
15 
lbs 
No. 14. 43 
II 
«< 
2 lbs 
3 
oz. 
•( 
28 
lbs 
No. 25. 19 
It 
■« 
a 
135$ oz. 
14 
20 
lbs 
No. 3-. 19 
■ 1 
lib 
1 
oz. 
ll 
16 
lbs 
No. 15. 66 
II 
II 
3 11. 
1 
oz. 
*• 
4i 
lbs 
No. 24. 47 
tl 
14 
lib 
11 
oz. 
II 
85 
lbs 
No. 34. 29 
14 
15 
oz. 
M 
14 
lbs 
No. 29. 43 
»* 
II 
lib 
11 
oz. 
II 
35 
lbs 
TOBACCO CULTURE.-NO. 3. 
G. A GOFF, JR. 
Management of Tobacco Beds. 
There is no other point in growing a crop 
of tobacco so important and so Uiffimlt to 
perform, as raising the young plants. It is the 
point where most failures occur, for the reason 
that it requires so much care and watching. It 
will not do to depend on one’s neighbors for 
plants, as they are rarely willing to part with 
them until their own wants are supplied, after 
which the best opportunities for setting are 
past, and the remaining plants iu the bed are 
small aud weak. Inexperienced tobacco grow¬ 
ers need to be reminded that during nearly 
half of the period from the sowing of the seed 
to the time for harvesting the crop, the plants 
remain in the seed-bed, and during that inter¬ 
val, being very small and tender, tiny require 
much more care aud attention than during the 
last half of their growing lives. Inefficient 
hired help can hardly be trusted in cariDg for 
the plants without the supervision of the 
grower, and our most successful growers give 
to the work their personal attention. 
After the plants are started nicely in the 
seed-bed, the chief dangers of failure are 
from burning, drying up, and tbe depredation 
of insecte. The former two perils can be 
remedied by exercising sufficient vigilance; 
the last danger is more d 111 mR to manage. 
The most troublesome insect that preys upon 
the young plants is a small fly or flea, which 
sometimes causes much loss. Various means 
are used to stop its depredations when it ap¬ 
pears, as applying ashes, plaster, soap suds, 
guano water, etc.; but these are of little avail, 
ODly in so far as they strengthen the growth of 
the plant. A better and more effectual remedy 
is to place u hen with chickens a few days old, 
iu close proximity to the plant bed, when the 
young chicks will aid greatly in destroying the 
insects. Weeding the plant-bed must begin as 
soou as the weeds are large enough to pull. It 
is a slow and tedious task requiring much pa¬ 
tience to perform it well. A board is placed 
across the bed and upon this the weirder lies, 
face downwards, a position which allows him 
to gel close to his work, without treading upon 
the bed. The expense required to weed a to¬ 
bacco bed depends largely upon its manage¬ 
ment. If weeds are allowed to scatter their 
Beeds upon it while it is not occupied with 
plauts, the work of weeding is much more la¬ 
bor iou- and costly. For this reason no weeds 
should be allowed to grow in the bed at any 
time daring tbe rear. 
Tobacco plants forced 1 y tbe use of glass 
ate always more lender th»u those grown in 
the open ground. In order to toughen ihem 
so that they will bear transplanting without 
much loss, the glass should be dispensed with 
a week or Pin d«ys previous to the time of set¬ 
ting them in the field. Eirlv tobacco plauts 
should be large enough to set by the first part 
of June. Nothing i» gained by setting small 
plauts, they should have leaves at least two 
inches long. 
Kitting the Ground. 
While the plants are growing, the soil where 
they are to be set should be fitted to receive 
them. The soil is usually plowed twice in the 
Spring, onceearly and again just before setting 
time. When the soil has been properly pre¬ 
pared by tbe use of the plow, baj row and 
roller it is marked one way, in rows three feet 
aud a half apart, with a common corn murker. 
Sometimes the plauts are set on a hill or 
*• spat" made with a hoe ; but the more pop¬ 
ular method at present, as it saves much labor 
is as follows: a ridge is foimed over each 
ma>k with a plow or cultivator. The Alden 
hill cultivator is the best implement for the 
purpose that we have found, aud is the one 
generally used. The center teeth are removed 
leaving only the two outside ones, which are 
so arranged as to move the earth inward, thus 
forming a ridge. The ridges are then passed 
over with a light roller, on the outside of 
which are fastened narrow cleats which serve 
to mark the points where the plants are to be 
set. The roller commonly used for this pur¬ 
pose is made in two parts, each two feet long 
and about the same in diameter. These are 
buug in a frame far enough apart so that two 
ridges may be rolled at once. Thills are at- 
