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THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER 
4S7 
have themselves only to blame. Had they at | t 
its introduction acted on the old adage that a 
“ honesty is the best policy,” they would by this ii 
time have created a regular demand for what is, o 
after all, a wholesome article of food. So long r 
as margarine is made from fresh beef fat with n 
care, attention, aud cleanliness, there can be no t 
reasonable objection to its use; but it must be > 
sold for what it is- c 
'' The difference between margarine and butter j. 
(the chemical difference) js abont the same as a 
between different growths and vintages of wine, > 
the latter being mainly of value according as r 
they possess certain ethers, flavor, and bouquet, a 
which delight the palate of the connoisseur ; so t 
butter is different from margarine because it r 
possesses a peculiar Bincll aud flavor which as c 
yet the chemist has not been enabled to impart f 
to the artificial product, as margarino is called, f 
Of every thing in nature, the flavoring or odor- c 
ous principle is a very small proportion of the i 
whole. Let us briefly explain: All fats, be £ 
their source what they may, consist almost en- 
tirelv of three substances, viz., Stearine. Mar¬ 
garino, and Olein, Stearino is Ihe solid, hard 
fat, melting at about 115’’ Fahr., which imparts 
so much of the peculiar characteristics to mutton ( 
suet; it iS generally, though not always, present ' 
in animal fat. Olein, as Its name implies, is sufti- < 
ciently well known to indicate its nat ure; it is oil j 
or liquid fat— that is, at an ordinary temperature. ( 
Palrnutino, or margarino, for the names may , 
be indifferently used, is between stearino and 
olein , it is not so solid as the one or liquid as 
the other, it is the chief ingredient of animal ' 
fat, and is largely found in the fats of the vege¬ 
table kingdom. The pure fatty matter of butter 
may be said to consist of 63 per cent, of marga¬ 
rine and 30 per cent, of olein, the remaining 2 
per cent, being made up of those substances 
which give taste and smell to butter; these, as 
is well known, vary with the food of tho cows, 
and possibly to some extent with the method of 
making the butter. To make a general state¬ 
ment : Butter consists of six acids (acid does 
not always mean something sour)—margaric 
and oleic, which form the great bulk of the sub 
stance, and oaprltio, butyric, caprie, and caproio 
acids, which are of a volatile nature and give 
the characteristic taste and smell to butter. 
When fermentation w set up by the pressure of 
some nitrogenous matters left in the process of 
manufacture, these fatty acids are liberated and 
produce what is known as “rancidity.” 
“Now, margarine can, as we have stated 
above, be obtained from many fats (but. best 
lrom beef fat), and, provided due cleanliness is 
observed, there is no reason why this should not 
be utilized in the preparation of an article of 
food. esjM>ciully now that butter has become so 
dear and its consumption has so increased, and 
though we rake tho butter-producing districts of 
the world, wo can get nothing tike enough, so 
that it will soon take rank as a luxury." 
Such arc tho arguments used in palliating its 
use. The circular then goes on to state that 
fresh, clean, beef fat is much superior to butter 
as a food, taking •• food” iu Us scientific sense 
(putting taste on one side), and is a very valu¬ 
able aud nutritions diet. “For,” it goes on to 
say, *• if we reduce tile human being to a ma¬ 
chine, one gramme of beef fat will enable the 
machine to lift 27,778-1000 pounds one foot 
high, while the same weight of butter will enable 
it to lift only 22.252-1000 pouuds." 
•‘Finally, it says, ‘“Those who like butter 
must make up their minds to pay from 25 to 31 
cents per pound for genuine fresh, as they are 
in the same position as the connoisseur of wines, 
who pays tor ago, flavor, and bouquet; any but¬ 
ter at undur these rates must be stale, rank, 
salt, or margarine;” and it adds that it may 
perhaps be as well to state that in India, Africa, 
and some other parts, Vegetable Butter is made 
from a species of liaasta. and by some is de¬ 
scribed as better than cow’s butter. 
It will be seen from the above that this new , 
article of food is gaining a Arm foothold in the 
markets and cannot be readily displaced, unless 
it be proved that the manufacture Is from old, 
refuse fat—the fat of animals dying from dis¬ 
ease; in fine, such refuse grease as is employed 
by soap-boilers. This lias, from time to time, 
been (^barged against oleomargarine; but no 
well-authenticated proof has been offered that 
such is the case, while the factories which have 
been examined have shown, on the contrary, 
that due regard as to healthy material aud 
cleanliness is observed. 
It is plain that nothing can be done to sup¬ 
press the manufacture of oleomargarine. If 
there is a demand for tho article ; if certain peo¬ 
ple will go upon tho market and select a substi¬ 
tute for butter; if they find it. preferable in taste 
to the common mid low grades of genuine butter 
and find more value for their money when fa id 
out for this article than for butter, what are the 
butter-makers to do about it ? Mere talking or 
denunciation and misrepresentation of facts 
vi .il not obviate the difficulty But there is one 
tb ng open to do—one thing which can be done 
ai. 1 ought to be done - and ihat is, to ask 
that laws be made requiring the manufacturer 
and vendor of this article to brand it for what it 
is. It should be placed upon the market as 
oleomargarine, or under some other distinctive 
name, so that there shall be no deception in the 
matter. This is the position we have always 
taken in the Rubai, —to call things by their 
names. Dealers ought not to be allowed to put 
off oleomargarine as genuitio butter, and severe 
penalties should be inflicted for such deception, 
and more especially should this be made tho rule 
now, since tho recent improvement in oleomarga¬ 
rine, which resembles genuine butter so closely 
as to deceive many who are not good judges of 
tho differqpce Let ween the two articles. Oleo¬ 
margarine bodes no good to the manufacturers 
of genuine butter. It is a dangerous competitor 
for favor among that class who are seeking cheap 
food and are content to use ordinary or second- 
class goods. Butter-niters, it seems to us, 
must accept tho situation and now strive to put 
a perfect article on the market. 
MILK-ROOM-WHITEWASHING, Etc. N 
X. A. Willaru —Will you please answer the p 
following question-, through the Rural: —1. . 
Which would be preferable—a milk-room in a 
cellar, with water-lime bottom, or above ground r< 
in a room apart, from other buildings? 2. ti 
Would whitewashing in any.wise injure the milk 
or cream ?— Mrs. J. S. and C. B. Sprague, Otse¬ 
go County, N. Y. ^ 
v 
Remarks.—T he best plan for tho construction 
of a milk-room for butter-makiDg depends al¬ 
together upon the method proposed for setting 
the milk and the amount of money that the 
builder feels willing to devote to the purpose. v 
Where Bmall pans are used, and where the tem- a 
perature of the room in its natural state, or 
without aid from other sources, is depended ^ 
upon to cool the milk while setting for cream, c 
a cellar or underground apartment, finished off r 
with water-lime cement, is very desirable, and if 1 
the room is properly ventilated and constructed * 
with good drainage, it is preferable to an tipper f 
room, because the temperature of tho cedar will * 
be lower and more oven than any room above c 
ground where no special provision is made for 1 
controlling temperature. Wo have seen many ( 
cellars of this description where good results in * 
butter-making were obtained In Maryland, * 
Pennsylvania, and other States where the cli 1 
mate is wanner than in New York, these cellars, f 
or “ dry-vaults,” as they aro sometimes called, ! 
are quite frequently seen among the butter 1 
dairymen. But if some of the more modern 
systems of setting milk be adopted, nil upper 1 
room will bo quite as efficient and can he erected 1 
at much less cost. Thus, for instance, if it is 1 
proposed to use the large pans and cool the 
milk down to, say fiO’ 5 , by means of cold spring ' 
water kept constantly flowing under and around 
the milk, then any ordinary room, if well-venti¬ 
lated and protected from the sun’s rays by shado 
trees or otherwise, will lie preferable to the cel¬ 
lar plan; and the same’may be said of the 
Hardin or Cooley plan of setting milk in re¬ 
frigerator like boxes, where ice is used to cool 
the air which surrounds the milk in the box. 
The small-pan. system for setting milk is now 
giving way to newer and better plans; and if 
our correspondent is not familiar with these im¬ 
proved systems, we should advise a thorough 
investigation of the subject before building and 
arranging a milk-room. • “ Willard’s Practical 
Butter Book,” recently published at the Rural 
office and costing bat one dollar, gives a large 
amount of useful information on butter-making 
and dairy rooms, and is profusely illustrated 
with plans of buildings and appliances. There 
have been so many plana suggested of late for 
setting milk, that an investigation in regard to 
their r.everal merits is important to the butter- 
maker who is seeking progress iu the*art. In 
deciding upon a plan, much will depend upon 
surrounding circumstances—the convenience of 
obtaining cool spring water and carrying it in a 
stream to the miik-room; and again, as to 
whether a good supply of ice can be cheaply 
obtained. Tho answer to these and like ques¬ 
tions will have considerable influence in deter¬ 
mining how tho milk shall be set and, of course, 
what plan is best for a milk-room. 
In regard to whitewashing the room, no injury 
j will obtain to the cream or milk, unless the 
! whitewash is put on in such a careless manner 
I as to (lake off and fall into the milk. On tho 
other hand, whitewashing, when properly done, 
helps to purify the premises, and on this account 
may be recommended. 
-♦♦♦- 
Butter and its Substitutes. — A patent has 
been taken out in France for the manufacture of 
margarino, and it is allowed to be retailed on the 
condition that it is not described as butter. It 
i is asserted that from one manufactory in Paris, 
• employing 400 men, margariuo to the amount of 
i *100,000 a month is sold. It, is principally used 
i in Fiance for kitchen purposes and by pastry- 
) cooks: but it is also bought in large quantities 
; by the lower and poorer classes. 
LIVE STOCK AT THE CENTENNIAL. 
We aro authorized to publish the following 
letter from Mr. Burnet Landreth, late Chief of 
tho Bureau of Agriculture, International Exhi¬ 
bition, to the members of his Advisory Coni- 
mitte. The members of that Committee com¬ 
prised tho following well-known gentlemen, 
representing nine States 
A. L- Kennedy. M. I>. Pa.; Chas. R. King, M, 
D..do.; George Blight, do.; George I. Young, 
do.; Hon. Eli Slifer. do.; Jacob It. Eby, do.; 
Samuel C. Will its, do.; L. H. Twaddell, M. D., 
do.; Charles L. Sharplesa, do.; Thaddeus Norris, 
do.; Theodore Harrison, do.; Horace J. Smith, 
do.; John A. Enroll, do.; Hon. Marshall P. 
Wilder, Mass.; John A. Warder, M. D., Ohio; 
P. J. Berckmau, Ga.; John B. Scott, Ala.; S. D. 
Bruce, N. Y.; Samuel Thorne, do.; John D. 
Wing, do ; Louis Weldin, Del.; John I. Bishop, 
N. J.; H. J. Alexander. Ky. 
Messrs. Thorne and Wiug, disapproving of 
the action of the Finance Board, in Locating the 
Live Stock Show outside the Centennial Grounds, 
resigned, just preceding the Live Stock Exhibi¬ 
tion. 
Tho technical qualifications of tho committee 
were such as to cover all the subjects comprised 
within the administration of the Bureau. 
Blooming dale, Pa., Jan. 30,1877. 
On the 8th inst., the Director-General accepted 
my resignation as Chief of Bureau of Agriculture, 
which I tendered him on New Year's day, after 
an arduous service of twenty-two months. 
I desire to express to yon my many obligations 
for aid and counsel. Although our united re¬ 
commendations in the form of well considered 
resolutions were not always accepted by the 
Authorities, we have the conscious satisfaction 
that our experience and best judgment were 
over at its service. Unfortunately for tho Live 
Stock Show, the Committe on Finance which 
controlled locations as well as expenditures, had 
uot at any time a member of agricultural ex peri- 
euee or taste, and the result was discontent On 
the part of representative men of an interest of 
the national value of one thousand millions of 
dollars, while all the exhibitors from England 
and Canada were loud in expressions of disgust 
at the slight offered them after an invitation to 
participate. 
Most of the members of tho Advisory Com¬ 
mittee, however, know too well the difficulties 
under which this department struggled, and it is 
unnecessary to enlarge upon them. 
Aside from the Fiobl Trial and Live Stock 
Show, the Agricultural Exhibition was, despite 
impedimenta an unsurpassed'success, comprising 
objects shown bv 2,673 American, and by 8,317 
Foreign exhibitors, the whole representing a 
value of live millions of dollars. 
It is believed the Agricultural exhibition pro¬ 
duced a good impression upon all visitors, the 
buildings being novel in construction, the ex¬ 
hibits tastefully arranged, aud the variety of ob¬ 
jects so great as to relieve the eye and mind 
from any sense ol monotony. 
Tt cannot be irrelevant nor indelicate to add, 
that yon, like myself, defrayed your own per 
sonal and traveling expenses, while services 
were gratuitous, of for mo to reefnd the fact, 
that, in the Agricultural Department alone were 
the services of the Chief pf Bureau unrequited. 
Thanking you, my Dear Sir, mostly truly for 
your valuable assistance during the period of 
preparation and exhibition, I am, 
Yours Very Respectfully. 
Burnet Landreth. 
are so careless in regal’d to clean hands, clean 
tools, etc. Wo must guard our reputations as 
the cream of success. Nearly all of us can get 
tho honey, but not every one can sell it readily 
in these days of so many adulterations. Neat¬ 
ness is one point in getting and keeping a good 
reputation ; honey neatly put up in Bottles, jars, 
boxes, or frames, sells very much better than 
tho carelessly put up honey, while labeling an 
article neatly and tastefully adds much to its 
attractiveness, aud alt combined adds the value 
to oar pockets. Wo must see to it that our ex¬ 
tractors, tools, frames, and boxes are kept and 
used in clean places. 
Then in regard to our hives and yards. It is 
but a few moments' more work to set a hive iu 
perfect line 'with its fellows, and then how much 
more pleasant to look at! To a person with a 
true eye to the beauty of uniformity, it is a real 
annoyance to see hives looking like a hastily 
thrown together rail fence, facing all points of 
the compass iu tho same row, oven if there has 
Vioon au attempt to make a row of them; sonio 
hives tipping to the front, the aoxt back, others 
endwise, this way aud that , making the yard look 
as though the bee-keeper ( ?) had sailed over bis 
yurdju a balloon, sown his hives broadcast, and 
then tried to rake them into straight rows with 
the anchor. But tho lilveR in straight, rows— 
even if the rows face different ways,—and tip 
them all a little to tlm front to carry off water 
from the entrance and to keep rain from beating 
in. Keep your bee-yard dean, free from high 
weeds aud grass, which are a sad bother to tho 
boos, and when dry a danger from fire. 
How few apiaries do we go into whero we find 
the hives free and clean in this respect 1 . I havo 
been into yards whero the poor bees had to alight 
on tho top of the hives and crawl down the front 
to tho entrance, the grass being so thick that 
they could get in no other way. 
Grass and woods aro flub hiding-placos for 
mice, Insects, toads, etc., where they can come 
forth to work on the bees, and their proceeds. 
It also makes hives damp, combs moldy, and 
bees diseased. 
Wo have our hive* on legs seven inches high, 
ffljt -tyuirum. 
NEATNESS IN BEE-KEEPING. 
Mr. William M. Kellogg, in a paper read 
before the Michigan Bee-keepers Association, 
and reported in the Michigan Farmer, had some¬ 
thing to say about neatness iu connection with 
koeping bees, that may be read by every apiarian 
with profit. 
Neatness iu all things is to be commended. In 
all the walks iu life neatness gives a charm to 
everything wo do. How much nicer a person ap¬ 
pears who is always neat in his personal affairs and 
how much more we can enjoy liis society, than 
that of one who is a sloven in all ho does ! I do 
not mean to be always “ dressed up;” dandyism 
and foppishness are not neatness, by any means. 
A man may be very finely dressed and make a good 
appearance, yet be a sloven in private affairs. He 
'is neat to “ show off.” This ueatness we should 
oxtend to all wo do in bee-keepiug. Wo Hbould 
ho neat in our persons, so that, in case we 
have visitors, as we all do when wo are working 
with our boos, handling combs, extracting honey, 
etc., they may not go away with the feeling that 
they do not want any of our honey, because we 
with an alighting-board reaching from tho 
ground to tho entrance. Our chickens roam at 
will around and under the hives; and woo to the 
bug, miller, or mouse that dares come iuto their 
domain, for their sharp eyes detect every one. ' * 
All tho hives should have one good coat of 
paint at least once a year, which cao be applied 
during cool days when Iho bees do uot fly, with¬ 
out changing the hoes over to do it. It. adds to 
the neatness of the yard besides preserving the 
hives from the effects of the weat her. 
Then, brother bee-keepers, let us all be neat 
in bee-keeping as one of tho effects to bring the 
science up to the standard it should occupy. 
% Naturalist. 
HOW THEY DO IT IN CHICAGO. 
A contributor to the Chicago Field, in refer¬ 
ring to the violation of tho game laws, says: 
“ I have letters in my possession from com¬ 
mission men on South Water street, Chicago, 
soliciting shipments of prairie chickens and 
quails now. One says to box up tight and bill 
poultry or I’nrs, and when received they are put 
in tho cellar, sold there, and canned away in 
sacks by restaurant men. What is the use of 
more legislation, while the present laws are not 
enforced ?” We especially commend this to the 
attention of those who are complaining that the 
penalties proposed in the new game law are too 
severe. It is only by severe penalties that the 
law can be made a terror to those who would 
violate it. For the law-abiding sportsmen it 
would havo no terrors were the penalties twice as 
severo. The argument used to us by one of the 
objectors, that a dealer iu game found with any 
number of birds on hand during the close season 
would be ruined by the heavy penalties, is one 
of the best in its favor, as it would be the best 
thing possible if every dishonest game dealer 
could ho driven out of the business. 
To this wo will add that tho game laws in tho 
Eastern Htatos aro uot respected any more if as 
irmch as they aro in tho Western. Quail are 
killed at all seasons and on all days of the year 
right, here, almost within the sound of the chimes 
of Trinity Church on Broadway, and hymen who 
would bo very indignant, if one should even hint 
that they wore not high-toned gentlemen of 
honor. But to enter a complaint of the violation 
of the game Iiiwb against these gents, would en¬ 
sure an enemy for life, a law-suit and perhaps 
something worse, hence men of peaceful habits 
shrink from 6ueh encounters, and game of all 
kinds and useful bifds are sacrificed by the 
thousands iu and out of season. 
Green Oysters. —Mr. Buckland states that 
the green-bearded oysters, sometimes found on 
the c iast of England, owe their color to a kind of 
sea-weed and not to copper as believed by many 
persons. 
