burst and become soluble in water. This is the 
effect of cooking upon grain. 
Woody fiber, or cellulose, is still more diffi¬ 
cult of digestion. Let us take an extreme 
ease : take the woody fiber of the trunk of a 
tree. That is supposed to be quite indigestible, 
but if we take the saw-dust from hard wood, 
say sugar maple, still better box-wood, place 
it in an oven, thoroughly dry or bake it at a 
temperature of about 300 degrees (do not 
burn it), theu grind it line in a coffee mill, the 
resultant flour will now partially diasulveinhot 
water, and by the addition of yeast will rise 
like wheat dough. Under the power of heat 
it becomes soluble and digestible. Tomliuson 
says the people of Norway aud Sweden, incase 
of scarcity of food, have Sometimes used saw¬ 
dust, thus prepared, lor bread. I could refer 
to a half dozen authorities upon these facts, 
but only meutiou them to show the effect of 
heat upon the digestibility of grain aud the 
woody liber of hay, straw, etc. it appears, 
then, that cooking cattle food ought to render 
it more digestible and therefore more valuable. 
The wi lier-, many years ago, from extended 
experiments, became well convinced of the 
value ot cooking food for all farm animals. 
But there is a great deal that goes uuder the 
name of cooking cattle food, iliul is merely a 
delusion—welting with hot water; never rais¬ 
ing the temperature even to the boiliug poiut, 
much less continuing tbe heat long cuough to 
thoroughly cook the loud. Yet ull these arc 
called experiments in cooking, when they are 
only experiments in warmiug and fermenting 
food. That only can be called cooking food, 
which boils or steams it till reduced to a pulp. 
The writer has proved by careful experiments 
that cookiug renders 35 to 30 per cent, more of 
the food in grain and straw digestible. Early- 
cut aud nicely-cured hay is not improved more 
than 5 to 10 per cent, aud therefore it does not 
pay to cook it. I have not room to detail ex¬ 
periments in this paper. But if it be admitted 
that food is increased m value 25 per cent, by 
cookiug, it dues not follow that cookiug must 
always be profitable. It is a simple question 
whether ihe cost of cooking will be less than 
the gain. 
Aud right here is where mistakes are 
often made. It costs nearly as much to cook 
the food tor five to ten animals as for 30 to 50, 
provided you have an apparatus capable of 
cookiug fur the larger number, i say theu, to 
start with, that you cannot afford to cook the 
food lor a few auimals, unless you have the 
leisure to do it yourself. The cost of the labor 
will be greater ihau the profit. Then, one of 
the greatest discouragemems to successful 
cooking has been the multitude of small ap¬ 
paratus invented and put on the market lor 
thi6 purpose, farmers ure not supposed to be 
engineers, aud they do not understand the ad¬ 
vantage of u large fiie surfaee in producing 
steam. Most of these small boilers, which are 
recommended tor cookiug for 20 to 30 head of 
cattle, have only six to Leu square feet of lire- 
surfaee. Ten square feet ox fire-surface, in a 
boiler, is reckoned equal to one horse power. 
Now, u five-hoi to boiler, having 50 square feet 
of fire surface, would produce five Limes as 
much steam with about the same fuel as a 
one-horse boiler. These small boilers are to¬ 
tally inadequate to the work they are expected 
to do. 
Agaiu, iu cooking food economically, there 
should be ample power to cut the buy, straw 
or fodder coru, with a carrier to deliver the 
cuL feed iu the 6teain box, also with a power 
mixer to mix the cut loddor with tbegraiu aud 
water (for all food musi be moistened before 
it can be steamed), doiug nearly all the labor 
by machinery. When properly arranged, one 
man may do ail the labor of cooking lor, and 
feeding JL0U, head of cattle. Those waste pro¬ 
ducts, given in the above tabic, may be used 
most profitably uuder lire cooking system in 
making up iatteniug rations with straw and 
other coarse lodder. 
the herd, there are more heifers than of the 
other sex, owing to tbe copulation at the earliest 
moment of the heat. Cows should not, as a gen¬ 
era! rule, be served the first time they come 
round after calving, but be put off until they are 
again in season, as they are more likely to stand 
the service and less likely to be injured. 
After service tie or shut up the cow and do not 
let her mix with the herd for twenty-four 
hours. 
Calves. —After the calf lias been with the 
dam a couple of days, if there is no sigu of 
garget in the bag of the latter, teach It to feed 
from the pail and to be led familiarly with the 
halter. If the dam’s bag is hard and will not 
yield to the hand-rubbing, let the call in to 
Buck aud bunt thiee times a day uutil tbe hard¬ 
ness is removed, stripping the teats well alter 
each nursiug, 
Boll Calves reared at the pail, at a year 
old will show a finer head and dewlap thau if 
allowed to nurse, as iu the latter performance 
they are obliged to hold their heads down and 
necks stretched out so as to occasion too much 
loose skin. They should have good milk every 
day until turned to grass, and at a year old 
have a ring iu the nose. A calf of either sex will 
take, from the first to the third week, four to six 
quarts of milk daily; from the third to the 
sixth week, six to eight quarts; from the sixth 
to the eigth week, 10 to 12 quarts. Keep 
before them in a little box which they cauuot 
tread in, some wheat bran aud give them access 
to a Utile fine hay after they are. a month old. 
A mixture of wheat bran, ground oats aud oil 
meal, allowing a couple of quarts a day to each 
calf, is excellent food for the youugsters as 
they grow, aud will assist in weaning them from 
the milk wheD that is needed for other pur¬ 
poses, or keep them iu condition when skimmed 
milk is substituted for fresb, as it is on most 
dairy farms after three or four weeks. No 
matter how fine the breed is, the calf must be 
raised on rich, uourishiug food to develop its 
milking qualities as well as its growth, and an 
animal stinted during its first year iu its natu¬ 
ral food, seldom recovers. Cieauiiuess is of 
the first importance and freedom from vermin. 
I see now before me a cow of tbe best pedigree 
and the richest of milkers, which has never 
developed iu size and form aud has remained 
weak aud poor because whilst a growing 
heifer, 6he was neglected, and the lice and dirt 
allowed by a careless stableman to overrun her. 
Salt iu a small quanta tj »nee a day is better for 
all the auimals than large quantities less often, 
aud a little sulphur mixed with it—say one-half 
ers is, that if they are fine enough to stop cow 
hairs from passing through, they are then so 
very fiue that the thick portions of rich milk 
soon clog the whole strainer up and create 
great delay in straining the milk at tlio stable. 
Every practical dairyman knows what harm it 
does cows for the milkmen to take along time 
in finishing them up. There should be no 
stopping from the time the first cow is touched 
until the whole herd is finished, and it should 
all be doue in as short a time as is consistent 
with clean, thorough milking- Men should 
not be allowed, much less required, to delay 
at the receiving can. Wire strainers, if fiue 
euough to he of any real service, are sure to 
do this. 
The best plan is to have a strainer large 
enough to hold a full bucket of milk, placed 
upon the receiving can. This strainer should 
have one thickness of linen and one of cotton 
cloth on it, the former above the latter. Iu 
this way aud (bis way only can milk be prop¬ 
erly and expeditiously strained at the stable. 
YVilh this plan the man when through with a 
cow, walks to the receiving cao, pours in his 
bucket of milk aud passes on to the next cow. 
The bottom of the largo strainer should be as 
large as the rcceiviug can will admit. L. s. u. 
CENTRIFUGAL CREAMING 
At the late Dairy Fair there were on exhibi¬ 
tion two machines lor separating the cream 
from milk by centrifugal force. Only one was 
in operation, and it did such good work that 
the Messrs. Whitman and Burrell took ft home 
with them to try it iu actual work in the dairy. 
The president of the International^Dniry 
Fair, Mr. F. B. Thurber, furnished me the fol¬ 
lowing statement of a trial of one of these 
machines at the dairy fair in England, at which 
he was iu attendance last summer!— 
“Memorandum of results obtaiuediu a com¬ 
petitive trial between the Laval Cream Separ¬ 
ator aud setting milk in pans, at the Dairy 
Show of tbe British Dairy Farm Association, 
Loudon, October, 1879:— 
“ Sixty gallons of milk were divided into 
two equal portions of 30 gallons each. One 
portion was placed in the separator, and the 
product churned at a temperature of 50 de¬ 
grees, yielded 10 pounds 7 ounces of butter; 
the other portion was set in paua 13 hours, aud 
theu skimmed; left another 12 hours aud 
skimmed agaiu; the product was then churned 
at 50 degrees, and yielded 18 pounds 13 ouuces 
of butter. 
“The skimmed milk by both processes was 
then set iu pans 24 hours; that from the separ¬ 
ator yielded 17 ounces additional cream ; that 
from the ordinary method of setting yielded 
38 ounces additional cream. To complete the 
test a bottle of each skimmed milk was taken 
by Dr. Voeleker, Consulting Chemist of the 
Itoyal Agricultural Society, to ascertain what 
amount of fatty matter still existed in the 
skimmed milk ; this result had uot been com¬ 
pleted or anuouuced when I left." 
While the above statement makes out a ease 
iu favor of shallow setting, yet, if the figures 
be true, I will venture the prediction that iu 
less thau three years centrifugal cream separ¬ 
ators will be as common iu farm-houses as 
sewing machines now are. To my notion, 
however, there is some mistake iu the make¬ 
up of this statement. Just to think of it; the 
shallow pans aud the machine required but 
about fifteen and sixteen pounds of milk each 
to make a pound of butter, and they probably 
used city milk, which every one is williug to 
swear is at least one-third water from the 
pump. Aud then there was much cream left 
by both processes, as afterwards proveu. The 
closest work 1 ever did with milk was in a 
competitive trial between deep, cold aud shal¬ 
low setting, iu Chautauqua county. There we 
used native cow's milk. The former method 
required 21.51-100 pounds aud the latter 21.53- 
100 pounds of milk to one of butter, aud noth¬ 
ing but a chemical analysis ol that skimmed 
milk would ever have fouud a particle ol cream. 
Iu my opinion, whoever gave Mr. Thurber 
that statement made the mistake of dividing 
those 00gallons of milk between them instead 
of giviug each process 00 gallons. From my 
practical knowledge ol cream separating I am 
quite positive that, considering the quality of 
milk probably handled and the amount of 
cream leftiu the skimmed milk, the two pro¬ 
cesses required just about double the amount 
of milk to make a pound of butter that this 
statement credits them with having used. I 
hope the English exchanges of the Rckal 
New-Yokkku will correct this statement, if in 
rnakiug it 1 am mistaken. L. S. Hakdin. 
A MOVEMENT LOOKING TO BETTER 
PRICES FOR MILK. 
A meeting of the milk-produccrs of Orange, 
Sullivan aud Sussex counties, N. Y., was held 
at Middletown, on the 6th inst., to form an 
organization for mutual protection, and to ob¬ 
tain better prices for milk. More than 250 
delegates attended, representing most of the 
important stations in the three counties. Re¬ 
ports from the various stations show that 
farmers generally would be glad to accept two, 
three and four cents a quart respectively for 
each four mouths of the year, while some pre¬ 
ferred two and oue-half aud ihree and one-half 
cents for each six months. Many of the re¬ 
ports state that the farmers are williug to biud 
themselves not to sell for less than two, three 
and four cents. No actiou was taken on the 
reports, as it was determined that the first 
business should be to form an organization. 
The following committee to draft a plau for an 
organization was appointed: For the Erie 
Road aud its Branches—Henry M. Howell, of 
Middletown; Joseph W. Youugs, of Oxford ; 
J. E. Wells, of Chester, and Charles F. Johns¬ 
ton, of Goshen. For the New Jersey Midland 
—J. W. McCoy, of Deckcrtowu, N. J., and G. 
W. Cook, of Slate Hill, Orange County. For 
the New York Midland—James D. Gray, of 
Farksville, Sullivan Couuty. For the Sussex 
Railroad—Samuel Warbussa, of Bruuchville, 
N. J. The committee will meet at Middletown 
on Jan. 13th, and report to a mass-meeting of 
the farmers of the three counties to be held 
there on Jau. 20. 
The members of the committee are nearly all 
iu favor of selling all the milk on the platform 
at Jersey City, from day to day, for cash and 
for what it will bring, and will probably rec¬ 
ommend an organization lookiug toward this 
as au ultimate result. This would prevent 
heavy losses ou milk bills by reason of irre¬ 
sponsible dealers, aud would save large losses 
of cans as well as eollee tors’ fees. The com¬ 
mittee thinks some intermediate plau must be 
adopted to improve the present eoudition of 
the business aud to encourage timid farmers to 
risk the more radical change of daily platform 
sales. 
Most of the farmers iu the three counties 
are receiving only three cents for winter milk. 
The feed to produce this costs nearly all they 
gel lor the inilk, and little is left lor income 
ou capital, depreciation ot stock aud the labor 
iuvolved. Association creameries are buiug 
built or projected at different points along the 
Erie road, to work up tbe surplus milk iuto 
cheese or butter. 
STOCK BREEDING NOTES 
KXCliAlU) GOOILUAN, 
[Havjjsg been in the habit for twenty years 
past of entering iuto my note book memoranda 
of the best ideas of otuers aud the results of 
my owu practice iu bleeding fiue dairy stock, 
I reproduce some of the most useful of tffese 
notes us a guide to begiunersun the business of 
breeding.) 
Milks. ns—To develop milking properties or to 
perpciuate them, breed with bulls descended 
from making families. Keep the cows con¬ 
stantly iu milk for from nine to ten months, 
giviug plenty of good stimulating and milk-pro¬ 
ducing lood, summer and winter. Heifers must 
come in young—my Jerseys do at two years— 
and be kept in milk ten mouths with their first 
calf, that the miikiug organization may he kept 
in full play for as long a period as possible. 
jSnnviCK ok Cows.—it may not be possible 
to luice nature into any particular chunuul, 
but the experience of breeders has settled upon 
tke_pruaice of taking advantage of the Jirti 
period of the cow’s heat—not always the first 
coming in heat—to insure tfie gelling of a 
hei f er, it is noted that when a buff runs with 
pouueut oi me itUKAJL. no says that corn¬ 
stalks produce butter of a very white color. 
Now since I commenced stabling my cows— 
about the middle of October—1 have given 
them corn-stalks twice a day, mornings aud 
nights; at uoou I feed them a little wheat 
Btraw, which i use as bedding after they have 
picked it over; yet my butter has a very rich 
color. Give me plenty of corn-stalks, oats aud 
ground com—three of oats to one of corn—a 
little bright hay—clover, timothy or quack 
(quack I prefer if cut aud cured properly)— 
aud if your correspondent eau beat the color 
of my butter he will have to meutiou a differ¬ 
ent kind of feed to do it with. To make but¬ 
ter come quickly, 1 have uever either seen or 
heard of anything better thau ground oats as a 
feed for the cows. Never bufore has butter 
come so soon with us as during the past two 
winters, during one of which we fed the cows 
with ground, and during the other with un¬ 
ground oats. 1. A. D. 
larkvfffis, N. r. 
STRAINING MILK 
I have seen at dairy fairs many devices for 
straining milk—one with a pyramid of very 
finely woven wire in the center of the strainer 
rising about three inches above the bottom. 
The theory upon which this is expected to 
work is that the milk pouring upon the apex 
of the pyramid, would wash tho_sidea so that 
the milk could pass through. This same prin¬ 
ciple was in another invention applied more 
simply by inserting the same wire gauge over 
holes in the sides of the old-fashioned circular 
strainers. 
. .The great trouble with all these wire strata* 
Meat ok Fat ?—There is a general agitation 
in the live stock papers looking to the pro¬ 
duction of beeves, sheep and hogs yielding a 
hue quality of marbled meat rather than huge 
masses of indigestible fat. Tne present ten¬ 
dency of fat-stockshows is decidedly favorable 
to the rearing of auimals of less service to the 
table thau to the Lord-read c H »g Indus try. 
