4334 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
817 
PRIZE ESSAY.—CLASS III. 
BUTTER-MAKING. 
8. B. HARRIS. 
THE DAIRY BUILDING. 
A dairy should have two apartments—a 
milk room and a churning room The aim is 
to have a dry, well-ventilated building in 
which an even temperature is easily maintain¬ 
ed. The shade of trees or of another building 
is very desirable. Care should be taken that 
the dairy is ns distant as practicible from hog¬ 
pens, manure heaps, etc. As the walls and 
roof should not conduct the outside heat to the 
inside, they should be constructed double. If 
the temperature rises very high, as in the 
South, triple walls with two series of indepen¬ 
dent air cells between them, so constructed 
that the air cannot pass from ouo to another, 
or out of, or into them, except at the top, 
make a good dairy house. Walls may be built 
of stone, brick, concrete, or of logs. An arched 
roof, built thickly of stone, brick or concrete, 
is good, and should be whitewashed outside. 
A ceiling is a great help in keeping the dairy 
cool. The floor should be of flags or concrete, 
and be raised some inches above the surface 
level. In dry climates a cellar dairy answers 
well, with the walls raised some feet above the 
surface for lighting and ventilation, and only 
this part will need to be built double. The 
south wall can be built higher than the north, 
and a lean to roof put on; this gives the build¬ 
ing a northern aspect. Shingl-s or slate are 
used for covering, and under them a layer of 
paper should be put; ami this is more neces¬ 
sary under elate The under side of the raft¬ 
ers should lie boarded closely, and the space 
between r,he paper and boards should be filled 
with sawdust. As sunshine and strong cur¬ 
rents of air are to bo avoided, the windows 
and also the door should be put at the north 
end. Tne windows should be double, and the 
outer frame he filled in with perforated zinc 
or a wire screen, and the inner fitted with 
glass. 
From ceiling to roof, and extending a foot 
or two beyond it, there should be a wooden 
pipe fitted with a valve on top controlled by a 
string, for veutilation. The stairs should 
slope gently; the steps be wide, solidly built, 
and the edges be rounded somewhat. < >ver the 
stairs, and almost ou the ground level, a door 
is put which opens to the right and should be 
fixed to remain ojieu when lifted. This door 
should slope out from the cellar so as to throw 
off rain readily. During hot weather cloths 
kept wet and placed over this door and the 
windows, will do much to keep the dairy cool. 
A slat door may be substituted for the other 
during cool nights in hot weather. The best 
temnerature for a milk room is between 60 
and 00 degrees, Fah, At one side of the build¬ 
ing the roof should project several feet and lie 
supported by posts, aud under the projection 
the milk vessels are aired. 
The milk shelves are a very important item 
in a dairy. The best are made of marble; but 
these are rather expensive. Flags or slate set 
on stands of the ordinary height, answer the 
purpose well. The stands can be made of gal 
vanized iron or hard wood; but, better than 
either,are those built; solidly of stone. Concrete 
shelves can bo set up cheaply with a ridge 
round the verge three to four inches high so as 
to hold water for the milk pans to rest iu. 
Shelves may be built around the room, aud a 
circular one be put in the center if the room 
is square, or an oblong one if it is rectangular. 
The floor should be made of large flags or 
slate carefully jointed by cement. Concrete 
flooring is also good, especially when well 
laid. 
FEEDING AND CARE. 
Tne farmer who knows bow to feed aud care 
for his initch cows properly, knows two very 
important items iu dairy farming. Ou the 
greater number of farms, pastunngin Summer 
and feeding ou hay, straw, com fodder, etc., 
in Winter is the usual system of management. 
In the Spring, when the pasture affords a “full 
bite,” turn the cows out, but they should be 
housed at night for some little time, especially 
if the weather is cold or wet. Give extra feed 
at night and if this is rather dry, so much 
the better, for it will prevent excessive purg¬ 
ing. It is important that there should be 
plenty of clean, good water close at hand. If 
there is only one spring on the farm, the divid¬ 
ing fences (if practicable) should be so placed 
that each field will have a corner on it. The 
best results are obtained from a pasture by 
dividiug it into several sections, and allowing 
the cows to graze them in rotation, driving 
them from one to another every 10 or 14 days, 
or before any of them gets very bare. As soou 
as the grass begius to fail, the deficiency should 
be made good by some extra feed. By turning 
the cows on the after-grass of the hay laud, 
the grass season is prolonged, although per¬ 
haps 'tis better to leave it on for winter pro¬ 
tection. Cows short of feed in the Fall can 
scarcely be got up to their usual milking yield 
later on, even if liberally fed. Sudden changes 
of diet should he avoided, therefore the cows 
should be Introduced gradually to their winter 
diet. Salt should be left where it could be 
taken wheu desired—rock salt is better than 
line. 
The cow house should be warm, roomy, well 
ventilated aud lighted, and kept at an even 
temperature—about 00 dog. F. is considered 
best The cow bouse is fitted with rope or 
chain ties, and the cows stand two iu a stall; 
the advantage of thus keeping each two to¬ 
gether, is that one cow in turning sideways 
(to scratch herself) can’t, disturb more than 
one. A passage Should be made iu front of 
the manger, so that a small wagon containing 
the food can pass along it; or two rows of 
cattle, facing each other, can bo put in a wide 
house, with a passage between the rows 
Room enough should be allowed behind the 
cattle for taking away the manure, which 
should be done three tunes a day, while they 
are feeding morning, noon and eveuiug, so as 
to disturb them as little as possible. Behind 
the cows, a channel should bo made, and this 
might be Ailed with straw to absorb the liquid 
manure. Tho mangers should be made of 
strong, durable material, and be divided into 
three compartments for two cows, the largest 
in the center to contiiu hay and other bulky 
food for both, aud iu tho others the messes 
may be fed. The “ corners” of tho feed 
trough should be rounded somewhut, as the 
food sticks and sours In them. Cows kept 
constantly in during Winter should be curried 
and brushed. 
Feed three times a day,aud at regular hours. 
Cows become anxious when feeiling time 
arrives if not fed just then, and remain so till 
fed. By feeding after milking, morning and 
evening, the butter is not so liable to taste of 
the food. Potatoes, mangels, squashes and 
pumpkins should be used in addition to tho 
ordinary food, but the seeds should he re¬ 
moved from the last. two. For mixing with 
the cut or chopped feed these should be pulped 
to make a perfect mixture. If to this mix¬ 
ture is added some concentrated food, it will 
increase the butter yield, lessen the labor of 
churning, and improve the condition of the 
cattle. Those crops most liable to decay 
should bo used first, aspumpkiusundsquashes; 
after these, potatoes, and, lastly, mangels, 
which improve by keeping. Kohl rubi is very 
nutritious, gives a large root and top, and 
does not flavor the butter. Cabbhge is also 
good, and yields lurgely on rich land. In the 
vicinity of towns, where a large yield of milk 
is the object, brewers’ aud distillers’ refuse 
is largely used. Cotton-seed meal gives rich 
milk, but is too highly nitrogenous to bo used 
alone, and it colors butter highly. Beau and 
pea meals are also good, but, like cotton meal, 
should not be fed alone. A mixture of three 
to four pounds of cotton-seed meal, corn meal 
and bran, after boiling water has been poured 
on it, and it has been allowed lo stand from 
12 to 24 hours, makes an excellent addition to 
the ordinary food Liuseed meal is suid to 
injure the flavor of butter, and if used largely 
makes it greasy,—lNew-process meal will 
not — Eds.] Kape-seed meal should bo 
steeped bifore it is used. Bran is excellent, 
and makes sweet but rather pale butter. 
Corn meal is also good, and gives butter a line 
color. Cracked oats, and cracked or coarsely 
ground wheat, if cheap enough, could bo fed 
with advantage. 
Rye flour may also be used advantageously. 
A high authority on dairy farming recom¬ 
mends the following as the best of several 
mixtures ho had tried;— 
Six pounds of rupe cake; one pound of malt 
sprouts; one pound of bran; oue to two 
pounds of beau meal; or one to three pounds of 
corn meal; with nine pouuds of hay and 28 
pounds of mangels, kobl rubi or cabbage. In 
calculating the cost of any of the foods men¬ 
tioned, the value of the manure produced by 
them should also be considered. 
SOILING. 
Soiling, or house feeding, is the most profit¬ 
able way a man owning a small farm can 
work it, if he will engage in dairying, and 
providing ho has a family to supply the extra 
labor of cutting and carrying the food. For 
the generality of farmers, however, a mixed 
system of pasturing and soiling answers bet¬ 
ter than soiling alone. A part of the farm is 
put under a rotation of crops; on this (ran be 
grown (generally speaking) oats, to be cut iu 
the milk; corn, to be cut before coming into the 
roasting-ear condition; millet, to be cut when 
in bloom: peas and vetches, to be cut when in 
flower. Rye sown in September, can be cut 
when in bloom, aud the ground can be cleare 
in time to sow corn for fodder. Peas sown early 
can also be cleared off iu t ime to sow corn for 
fodder. Sorghum is also highly spoken of. 
Clover in some States can be sown with the 
oat crop aud will yield well the following 
Spring, Lucerne, or Alfalfa, yields several 
cuttings in a season and is excellent feeding, 
dry or green. Any of these crops should bo 
cut some hours before beiug fed. Tho ad¬ 
vantages of soiling are numerous; the cows 
are spared excessive exercise, are protected 
from rain aud wind storms, also from the 
heat, aud if the house is darkened, iusects will 
uot annoy them. Soiling by day and pastur¬ 
ing at night are successfully practiced by some 
farmers. 
SILAGE. 
The process of ousilage is only in its infancy 
at present; but is being tested In various parts 
of the country, and if found practicable, will 
partially supersede the storing of so much dry 
feed for winter use. The labor of hauling and 
cutting such a weight of green food is consid¬ 
erable, which l think is apt to be under rated 
on account of the novelty of the process, 
Browers’ and distillers’ refuse can bo bougnt. 
when cheap, and a year's supply can ho stored 
away in a silo—this has beeu practised for 
several years with advantage by farmers living 
near towns. Ordinary barrels in which the 
stuff is well packed, if suuk in the ground and 
tightly covered and daubed over with wot 
clay, answer the purpose as well as more ex¬ 
pensive silos. 
(To be continued ) 
What an age of bogus philanthropy this is, 
to be sure! Few are the papers published in 
large cities or little towns, which do not dis¬ 
play, with all the prominence of large type, 
great length and attractive illustrations, 
advertisements offering something for noth¬ 
ing, valuable goods for no adequate consider¬ 
ation; tempting loans at low interest and on 
no security. Home advertisements of this 
sort are to be seeu all the year round, but 
just now as the Christinas holidays approach, 
and tho prospect of making and receiving 
friendly presents opens tho hearts and purses 
of young and old, these advertisements “that 
are meant to deceive,” are ten times more 
numerous than ever. 
Even at this season never before has such 
a swarm of fraudulent misrepresentations aud 
sheer swindling devices been presented to the 
public as are this year put forward to gull 
gudgeons and fleece fools. Borne of these 
cheats find prominent places, week after week, 
iu tho columns of ordinarily respectable 
papers. They have boon sent in by reputable 
advertising agents who guarantee payment 
for them, and to u publisher there is a tre¬ 
mendous temptation to look upon a guaran¬ 
tee of payment as u guarantee of honesty. 
Occasionally one of them gets into a decent 
paper by an oversight or a mistake; but in 
such cases its true character is soon detected, 
aud it is promptly kicked out. Within the 
last fortnight we have ourselves rejected over 
$600 of advertisements which wo cither knew 
or thought to be fraudulent. 
We have been overwhelmed lately with in¬ 
quiries about the reliability of a number of 
persons or concerns which advertise in vari¬ 
ous papers in different parts of the country 
or use the mail for putting their wares. Our 
investigations have been unusually prompt 
aud energetic, with a view to save the pockets 
of our friends at this souson. Just a few 
words of advice, before giving the results of 
our research:—Whenever you see the word 
FREE! in any form of type, or anything of 
tnat sort, don't have anything whatever to 
do with the concern that is trying to befool 
you with that hoax. Nobody need spend money 
iu advertising to And people willing to accent 
something for nothing,though there are pjenty 
of sharpers willing to give a dollar for a rea¬ 
sonable certainty of getting $100 for it. The fel¬ 
lows who try that dodge, are tricksters, and 
you'll turn out their dupe if you deal with them. 
Since the appearance of our remarks on 
the Pulvermacher Galvanic Belt, we have re¬ 
ceived quite a large number of reports in its 
praise. Mr, J. E. iletherington, who has the 
exclusive sale of the belt- in this couutry, is a 
gentleman of high standing and upright char¬ 
acter, who would not on any account engage 
in a business that could not stand close scru¬ 
tiny. We certaiuly have never received a 
single complaint from any purchaser of the 
article which for years has been advertised iu 
our columns. We classed it among the one- 
tenth of such appliances that are not hum¬ 
bugs; from what we have learned about it 
since, we feel disposed to put it in a class by 
itself—as a really good thing. 
Another lottery swindle; this time it hails 
from Augusta. Maine, and is under the aus¬ 
pices of the Illustrated Family Monthly. We 
should think the Post-Office authorities would 
quickly squelch tho scoundrel who runs this 
fraud: meantime we hope our renders will 
know enough to let the villain entirely alone. 
It is strange how easily gulled people are— 
one of these scamps gets up a flaming adver¬ 
tisement, and even some agricultural (?) paper, 
claiming much zeal for integrity, will admit 
the advertisement .because it, pays. They 
offer a great, array of prizes, from $6,000 dowu 
to next to nothing, for most are mere bauble; 
and they offer these free; but to gut. a chance 
to have them free, you must pay 60 to 75 
cents, more or less, for a paper not worth any¬ 
thing, and this offer is so temptingly put forth 
that few realize that t.lmse swindlers never lot 
any of the prizes of any value go to any one 
except members of the gang, aud that they 
are used over and over uguiu to swindle and 
defraud now victims. Tbo only safe way is to 
avoir! all offers of this kind. Legitimate, hon¬ 
est publications do not have to resort to kuav- 
ish tricks to secure subscribers. When you 
are tempted to send for tiny of those frauds, 
"don't.” 
We hope uoue of our readers will be green 
enough t,o be duped by some nameless firm in 
Chicago who are advertising a $25 00 watch 
for $5,27. This is such a liberal linn that he, 
she, or it wants to find 100 000 foolR who will 
take 100,000of those shoddy watches and sub. 
scribe for some paper just as worthless, in 
order that they, or he, or she may have the 
intense felicity of losing $50,000. This watch 
is advertised as aluminum gold, and said to 
look exactly like gold, aud that none but the 
best judges can tell it from gold. The facts 
are, aluminum gold is simply another name 
for a certain kind of hra*s, and these watches 
are little, if uny better than any other brass 
watch, aud who would want to carry a brass 
watch about iu bis pocket. Surely no one on 
a warm day. We should say that a cheap 
brass watch was worse than no watch at all, 
and advise all our friends to have noth¬ 
ing to do with any such watch, firm or 
paper; tbo whole thing looks too snaky 
for us to have anything to do with them, 
or to receive their advertisement. Can 
it be that farmers are the biggest fools iu 
the world, or are they most confiding and most 
easily gulled ) We see now in tho papers no 
less than four advertisements of watches to 
be given away, to ho sold for much less tliau 
the oost of production, and all hailing from 
Chicago; all aro coupled with the proviso 
that tho fools sending for them aro to send a 
subscription to one of several mushroom self- 
styled agricultural papers, published by frauds 
and cheats. Now the scoundrels who make 
those tempting offers, and pay thousands of 
dollars for their advertisements, are sharp 
and wary, and it must be thut they find their 
most profitable opportunities for work in the 
ranksof farmers and farmers’ boys. It makes 
us Hud to draw the only legitimate conclusion 
we can from this fact. Wo sincerely hope 
there aro none among our numerous family 
so foolish as to be duped by these tempting 
but fraudulent offers. These wutches are 
tho worst, cheapest, most worthless class of 
cheap brass, not worth, for use, ten cents a 
dozen, and those sharp knaves try one dodge 
for fleecing the unwary, until it pays no 
longer, aud then resort to some new one, 
something equally worthless, but which they 
manage to picture iu equally high colors. We 
warn all our friends to beware of all the 
'taking schemes hailing from Chicago; they 
aro all worked by a lot of scamps who have 
no right to bo outside of the penitentiary, and 
the only safety is to have nothing to do with 
them. Keep your money In your pocket, and 
lot their watches alone; both are equally 
fraudulent, aud wo are sorry to see so many 
exemplary farm papers admitting these 
fraudulent advorviseraents into i heir columns. 
It can’t be possible that they are so hard up 
that their necessities compel them to accept 
such; utid worse yet, we are pained to see 
some editors going so fur out of their way as 
to commend the cheats to their readers. For 
shame, brothers! for shame! ilow can you 
do so questionable a thing? 
To many inquirers; The Chicago “Globe” 
and the Cincinnati “Ocean to Ocean” are both 
fradulent concerns. Subscribers to cither are 
hardly likely ever to see more than a few 
numbers during the subscription season; and 
it is even doubtful if they will ever see one. 
The four-per-cent, loan scheme is, of course, a 
humbug. We will have more to say of these 
when wo have more space, as they ure typical 
swindles. We do not recommend the Mars- 
ton Remedy Co., or the Cividale Remedial 
Agency; T. C. Fowler; J. J. Reeves; Frank 
O. Wehoskey; or “Rev.” J. T. Inman. We 
warn our friends to have nothing to do with 
any of these; nor with the Voltaic Belt Co , 
of Marshall, Mich., or L. A. L. Smith & Co., 
of Palatine, 111. The Harris Remedy Co., 
