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EYE 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
bearing testimony to the great value of the butter of any, while the one that was the lon- 
work which dairy reformers in Ireland are gest was the fourth down the list in quantity, 
doing, so far as the training of the young is The most butter was made by the churn that 
concerned, and I may express an earnest hope wasturned ataregular speed from beginningto 
that the system so happily in progress in that end, and the next in quantity was the one that 
country may spread throughout the length took the same time in churning, viz , twenty- 
and breadth of the British Islands. eight minutes. This time was indeed but a 
Four separate competitions were required, trifle below the mean between the two ex- 
to include all the dairymaids present, and the tremes, and a trifle above the mean of the 
first and second prize-winners in each of these whole of the churns. The inference to be 
were put together in the “Graud Champion drawn is that a medium is best, both in speed 
Contest.'’ The churns used were all by the and in duration of the process of churning, 
same maker, and as nearly as possible alike; I have repeatedly noticed iu butter-making 
and the greatest care was taken in serving competitions in Ireland, that certain dispari- 
out the cream, so that each competitor should ties present themselves, iu respect particular- 
have tbe same quantity and quality of it. ly to the time occupied in getting butter and 
This being done, each dairymaid was allowed to the yield of butter, and l am unable, so 
to use her own discretion with regard to the far, to account for them in anything like a 
preparation of the churn, to the temperature satisfactory manner. The jireparation of the 
of the cream when it was put into the churn, churn in hot weather, by thoroughly cooling 
to the speed of churning and to the washing the inner surface of it with ice-water, has 
and working of the butter. The duty of the generally had a beneficial effect on the quan- 
judges was to take the temperature of the tity aud quality of the butter, and also has 
cream, tbe rate of speed, the time required, influenced the time taken up in churning, 
the return of butter, etc., and. finally, to ad- This I noticed at tbe Kilkenny Show in June, 
judicate on tbe grain, texture, quality, con- At the recent Dublin show, too, the successful 
sistency, flavor and color of the different competitors were generally those who took 
butters produced, taking into account also the the greatest pains to have everything in nice 
measure of skill displayed iu manipulation. condition; for such pains, properly used, had 
Herewith 1 append a schedule, from which all a distinct iufluence over the consistency and 
the particulars of the contest may be gleaned: general quality of the butter produced, as 
Grand Champ ion C ontest between First and Second Competitors in the Preceding Contest. 
‘ftTtseellcmeous 
SORGHUM HALAPENSE IN VIRGINIA. 
I have not found Sorghum balapense hardy. 
A lot of half an acre that was sowed early 
last Spring a year ago, which fully matured 
seed (which was left to fall on the land), was 
killed “dead as a nail’’ by the first frost. It 
never sprouted last Spring, though last Win¬ 
ter with ui was mild. I don't call this much 
of a showing for its hardiness; do yon? 
Burton's Creek, Campbell Co., Va. j. w. 
[Certainly not; yet it has proved hardy at 
the Rural Grounds, and we have quite a large 
number of reports which declare it has proved 
hardy as far north as the latitude of Chicago. 
Our object is to “tell tbe truth” about every¬ 
thing. hence we give all sorts of experience. 
Is our friend sure tie had the genuine Sorgh¬ 
um halapense?— Eds ] 
OUR ANIMAL PORTRAITS, 
SHORT-HORN COW LEILA, 
Our illustration this week. Fig. 46, re-en- 
graved from the London Live Stock Journal 
is that ot the Short-horn cow Leila, wiuuer of 
the first prize at the recent London Dairy 
Show in the class of Short horn cows entered 
in the Herd Book. The propel ty of Mr Louis 
Ponsonbv, Terrick, Tring, she was got by the 
Duke of Darlington 3rd 83.615. and out of 
The Leila, by the Duke of Geneva 19.014. She 
is close on eight years old, and has produced 
four calves. Level and haudsome in form, sho 
shows attractive and fine quality, and good 
appearance of usefulness as a dairy cow. 
BUTTER-MAKING IN IRELAND, 
PROFESSOR J. P. SHELDON. 
Ireland is essentially a stock-raising and 
dairy-farming country, so far as its agricul¬ 
tural fitness is concerned: nu<! in these respects 
it is, in soil and climate, unsurpassed if even 
equaled, by any other country whatever. 
The charming euphemism, “Emerald Isle,” 
indicates clearly eoougb that it is a country 
famous for grass, aud grass is the foundaiion 
on which all successful stock-raising and dairy¬ 
farming must rest. Its soil, chiefly on the 
carboniferous limestone, and the climate- 
humid and genial all tbe year round—harmon¬ 
ize excellently in tbe growth of grass of sup^ 
rior quality, grass on which the cattle thrive, 
and from which the best of butter is made. 
For generations past Gish butter has enjoy¬ 
ed a reputation which, more in the early 
part of tbe current century than now, has 
been of great value. It was famous for 
“body’’ and for keeping properties, and was 
exported to many countries. Within modern 
times, however, it has lost a good deal of 
its fame, not bo much,perhaps, 
because it bas fallen off iu 
quality, as from tne fact 
that the butters of other 
countries have gone ahead of 0 
it. It must be admitted, too, 
that it is not equal now to J&L 
wbat it formerly was, aud wjjTJ 
that our Irish friends have r im 
lost sonieof their ancient skill /ujWfS 
in the ait of butter-making. 
That this skill is not wholly l 
lost, and is easily within re- 
covery, is seen clearly enough 
in the excellent samples of 
butter we find iu tbe Emerald 
Isle, and in the marked im¬ 
provement which has been 
effected within tbe last four 
or five years in some of the 
southern districts of that beau- — 
tiful country. 
Soon after my return from N 
your side of the Atlantic, in " 
October last, 1 had the pleasure 
and privilege of being judge iu 
the Dairy Show, which, on 
the thiee last days of the ^ 
month 1 have named, was 
held under the auspices of the 
Royal Dublin Society, aud in " 
the excellent premises at Ball's ^ ‘Kji 
Bridge. My duties were to i'|’ 
adjudicate among the butter, 
and In ihe butter-making 
competitions. In the former 
were many grand samples of 
butter; and in the latter many deft aud excel¬ 
lent dairy maids, nearly all of whom—and there 
were 28 of them—hud been trained either at 
the Munster Dairy .School, near Cork, or at 
the Glasneviu Agricultural College, near 
Dublin. These girls were, for the most, part, 
farmers’ daughters, comely, smart, uud viva¬ 
cious, as so many of Ireland's daughters are, 
and they were met together for a tournament 
in butter making, and for a trial of skill iu 
frieudly rivalry which, if it is continued, can¬ 
not fail to be of great service to the country. 
It has been my good fortune to officiate as 
a judge in several of these butter-making 
competitions in [relaud, arid 1 have learnt to 
admire, very greatly indeed, the skill aud 
mastery of principles displayed by the com¬ 
petitors. These competitions, unique iu ex¬ 
tent if uot iu kind, aud tnoroughlv origiunl 
to Ireland, are a pleasing aud practical out¬ 
come of the work which is being done in the 
Irish Dairy Schools, and of the nature and 
thoroughness of which they are demonstra¬ 
tions in public—just as the “speech days” of 
public schools may be said to be the same. 
They stand as evidence of the sound ness of the 
training which is given to the students, aud 
serve to stimulate that spirit of frieudly 
rivalry which, in many w alks of life, performs 
a service whose exiert cannot easily be 
gauged or even estimated. I take pleasure in 
A great many people who want profitable 
employment suffer much disappointment and 
what is often to them a serious loss,owing to a 
deceptive form of advertisement, which fre¬ 
quently appears in newspapers of good as well 
as of bad standing in the way of admitting 
only trustworthy advertisements into their 
columns This form of advertisement was 
well illustrated in the circular sent ont by tbe 
Monarch Novelty Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
which was denounced at length here in the 
Rural of January 17. The concern offered 
a liberal “salary” and “expenses” to those 
who would engage to sell its goods. Other 
concerns offer a salary only: but state a defi¬ 
nite sum. Nearly every paper one takes up 
contains one or more advertisements of this 
sort, the w'ordiog of the ad¬ 
vertisements varying a trifle, 
but all offering a definite 
salary with the frequent ad¬ 
dition of a definite sum for 
expenses. Tbe firms that ad¬ 
vertise in this way are not all 
of the fraudulent character 
v of the Monarch Novelty Com¬ 
pany: the credit of some of 
them is rated high by 
Name. 
Speed. Revolu¬ 
tions per Minute. 
Consistency ol Butter on Leav 
ing Churn. 
Mary O’Sullivan.... 
Hannah Mulvey 
Joh muah Sweeney 
Minnie Malinin*_ 
Ellen OVonnor. 
Mary McCarthy .... 
Kite Sheehan.'. 
Mary Callaghan .... 
SO SO, av. 37« 
11 SI, av. 47vj 
4 Ms, av. 4S 
48,4.'. I), av. 50 
52.-0, av 5(5 
3- J2. av. 39 
52 57. av. 54W 
40 48, av. 17 
6 94* Toueh, and fairly firm. 
6 11 Rather soft. 
fi '2 TouKh, firm, excellent col, flavor 
6 794 Firm nod tough, very good. 
6 544 Rithersort. 
6 9 Rather soft. 
6 Ton. h and Arm- large granules. 
6 10>^ Tough and hard; very good. 
Judges’ Remarks. -♦Quickly, neatly, and perfectly handled, 
bandied.—5Thoroughly though slowly done; not overworked. 
Very deftly and cleverly done.—i Cleverly 
mer- 
||j eantile agencies; and quite a 
considerable number of them 
might justly complain of 
being stigmatized as humbugs 
or swindlers. It is a form 
of advertisement, which, 
■ although intended to deceive, 
has come to be often used by 
•t ^ ^ N quite reputable concerns who 
^ sell goods through canvassing 
» ' agents; although the people 
most frequently employ 
M ^ it, are by no means worthy ot 
tin ~ credit or confidence. 
,5‘B In all such cases no definite 
S salary or sum for expenses is 
>>>''' ever given. The object is to 
get tbe person who answers 
the advertisement to corres- 
pond with, or call upon, the 
advertiser who hopes to be 
" - - able to beguile him into work- 
, ; iug 1 ‘on com mission,” or for a 
certain percentage of the 
price of the goods sold. The 
“salary” as w ell as the 1 ‘expen¬ 
ses” will, iu all cases depend on the amount of 
the sales. If the “commission’ 1 reaches or ex¬ 
ceeds the amount offered, there will belittle 
difficulty in securing payment; but if it falls 
short (and iu uine cases out of ten. it will) the 
advertiser says that a “good man” could have 
easily earned the sum iu “commissions,” and 
that the failure to do so must be due to the 
incapacity or laziness of the agent who, of 
course, cannot expect hts employer to lose 
money through his own fault. In all cases 
the “salary” aud “expenses” are to be de¬ 
ducted from the price of the goods sold, in a 
stated ratio, which, of course, really amounts 
to working “on commission.” As a rule with 
very rare exceptions, advertisers of this sort, 
after a good deal of gammon, iuduee the ap¬ 
plicant to work “on commission,” with the 
strong assurance that he will in this way make 
more money than the definite amount offered. 
A certain percentage of applicants are certain 
to engage on these terms. Most of these 
abaudou the business after a short trial; but 
a small proportion of them will continue 
to “cauvass” for whatever is given them 
to sell, until they cau get some more 
congenial or remunerative employment, 
or until they get disgusted or discouraged 
and sink into idle vagabonds or tramps. 
Cow ‘Leila. (Re-eugraved from the London Live Stock Journal.) Fig. 46, 
It will be noticed there was very little dif¬ 
ference iu the temperature of the cream when 
the churning began, though each of the girls 
had the choice of raising or loweriug it, ac¬ 
cording to her judgment. I may mention 
here, in reference to temperature, that, each 
competitor had “gathered a wriukle,” so to 
speak, from the preceding contests, in which 
there was a much greater disparity of tem¬ 
perature, aud had approximated closely to 
the practice—not temperature only, but in 
other matters too—of the successful competi 
tors in the preceding con tests. It will be noticed 
that the time occupied iu churning varied very 
Considerably—from 19 minutes in one case to 
40 miuutes in another—even though the eream 
had been well-stirred before it was distri¬ 
buted to the girls, aud though there was no 
difference of consequence in the temperature. 
I eaunot account for this, because the churns 
were all alike; it did not depeud on the rate 
or the regularity of tbe speed employed, nor 
even on the irregularity ot it, for while the 
churn which gave butter the soouest was 
turned with tolerable regularity, the oue that 
was uext to it was the most Irregular iu the 
lot. Aud, again, of the churns ready to¬ 
gether oue hud an absolutely regular speed, 
while the other varied six revolutions per 
minute. It will be noticed that the two churns 
which were ready first, .produced the least 
well also as on the quautity of it. These are 
general conclusions, aud the disparities I have 
spoken of remain without a satisfactory ex¬ 
planation. 
It will be perceived that these competitions 
possess, apart from the emulative spirit which 
they promote, a distmet and important eduea- 
tioual value, because they supply contrasts 
and comparisons which canaot bo obtained 
except where several churns are iu operation 
simultaneously. We may educate dairymaids 
and dairymen as we will, grounding them 
equally iu solid principles, aud still the natu¬ 
ral skill, the thoughtfulness, the talent for 
taking pains, and the fidelity of intention, 
differ in different persons to au extent hardly 
comparable, save in cases such as that to 
which this article relates. It was iuteresliug 
to note how closely the most successful com¬ 
petitors were watched by those who had failed 
in the preliminary competitions, and from 
this l infer that public exhibitions of skill in 
butter-making are certain bo result in benefit 
to many people. I may add that the first 
prize iu the champion contest was awarded to 
the dairymaid iu chief at the Muoster Dairy 
8ehool, who iu this way proved herself well 
fitted to fill with credit the important aud re¬ 
sponsible position which is involved in the 
duties she has to perform. 
Surrey, England. 
