928 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. HAY 16 
Ip I understand him correctly, the Editor 
says he will plant no more Concord vines at 
the Rural Grounds. There is solid wisdom in 
that declaration. The Concord has too long 
over shadowed better grapes. For market it 
has bad its value. As an evidence of what I 
think of it, I will say that for upward of 15 
years I have not even eaten a Concord grape. 
It is net good enough for me—at least while I 
can get better. I should be happy to have the 
Editor step up by my side, and I have no 
doubt he will in time. There are now better 
grapes than the Concord, even for market. 
Some of the new kinds are improvements, but 
not all. Some, in fact, are not improvements 
at all. My ideal native grape is one that 
shall nearly, or quite, equal the Black Ham¬ 
burgh ; and short of that we should not stop. 
We already have better grapes than the Sweet- 
waters. Earliness and hardiness are the points 
that have given us the most trouble. I tasted 
something last Fall, which leads me to think 
that the birth of the ideal native grape is not 
many years off. There should be somebody 
to cry “Excelsior.” I may be hard to please, 
but I do not despair. 
* * * 
The New York Sun has been making a brave 
fight for the preservation of the Adiroudacks, 
and deserves all the “backing up” it can get. 
I am surprised and disappointed that the agri¬ 
cultural press has not given this subject a 
more thoughtful consideration, and been more 
decidedly outspoken. It is a great mistake to 
suppose tbat the subject does not concern the 
farming interests, and that, too, in a most im¬ 
portant manner. This column is not the place 
for an essay on the meteorological influence of 
the Adirondacks; but now that a bill for their 
preservation seems likely to pass, it is the duty 
of all farmers (as it is, indeed, of all good citi¬ 
zens) to use their influence to prevent the care 
and conservation of these grand old forests 
from passing into the hands of a political ring 
of any party, who would be sure to make it 
an unnecessarily costly job, and probably a 
botch. * * * 
I am very much pleased with the new tobac¬ 
co plant, Nicotiana affinis. It is not a plant 
for the trade, as it will not pack readily with¬ 
out breaking the leaves, and it is hurt by hav¬ 
ing its early growth checked by transporta¬ 
tion. It is a good plant, however, for the 
amateur, and is easily raised from seed. It 
does not resemble the common tobacco plant 
very closely, the leaves being much smaller, 
narrower, and more pointed, and they do not 
grow up with the stalk in the same way. On 
the contrary, they grow close to the ground 
in the form of a crown or rosette. The leaves 
on the flower-stalks are quite small, and 
dwindle away to mere stipules. A strong 
plant will throw out many lateral flower- 
stalks from the main one. Again, some plants 
will throw up three or four flower-stalks at 
the same time, which the common tobacco 
plant does not. The flowers are pure white, 
and from two to three inches in diameter. 
Their fragrance is simply delicious, and never 
cloys. You never tire of inhaling it. Another 
peculiarity of the plant is, tbat it is a night- 
bloomer. The flowers open as the sun sets, and 
close the next morning; but tty? same flower 
opens and closes many times. I have had as 
many as 42 flowers open at one time on the 
same plant, * * * 
This Nicotiana was sent out as an annual; 
yet I have plants three years old that are 
blooming more profusely than plants raised 
from seed last Summer. I was fortunate in 
being presented with some seed a year before 
it was offered for sale here, and have given 
the plant a thorough trial. The foliage, to be 
sure, is rather plain, but not more so than the 
Calceolaria, which it somewhat resembles, but 
is more tender. When, however, the large, 
white flowers begin to open, and fill the house 
with their delicious fragrance, you will be apt 
to think it one of the most charming plants you 
ever saw. It emits no fragrance, however, 
during the day. It is a good plant for the 
border, and will flower well in a pot in the 
open air during Summer. It resents being 
too much cramped for pot room, and is emi¬ 
nently a thirsty plant, needing an abundant 
supply of water. It blooms freely during the 
Winter in the greenhouse, and will bear 
pretty hard freezing without injury. I am 
sorry to say I have not yet tried it in the sit¬ 
ting-room, and therefore say notbiug about it 
in that respect, as I never recommend what I 
have not tried. As the plant is not likely to 
be taken up by the trade, I have described it 
somewhat fully for the benefit of the amateur, 
particularly the ladies, to whom I recommend 
it. Lady friends who have seen it, say “it is just 
lovely and so sweet.” 
The garden butchers (gardeners they cer¬ 
tainly are not) are again at work in the public 
parks and elsewhere. It were much better 
that a knife were never used on trees and 
shrubs than to have them hacked and de¬ 
formed in the frightful manner now so com¬ 
mon. Beautiful forms seem to be altogether 
odious in the eyes of these men. The shrubs 
in a common roadside hedge put them to 
shame. 
* * * 
I remember seeing last Fall, in the door- 
yard of a village home, a fine plant of Prinos 
verticillata. Later I saw another and larger 
plant on the fine lawn of Mr. H. W. Callen¬ 
der. He, I learned, had bad the good taste to 
lift the plant from the woods and place it 
where I saw it. I commend his example and 
good taste to others. I have often been sur¬ 
prised that this beautiful plant is not given a 
conspicuous place on tbe lawn, fit has had a 
place on the Rural lawn for 11 years.— Eds.] 
I recommend it whenever I make out a list of 
plants. If it were a foreign and expensive 
plant instead of being a native, it would be an 
easy matter to get up a craze about it. We 
pass by the beautiful things at our very doors 
to reach out after those afar off and not half 
as beautiful. Perhaps it is distance that 
makes them enchanting, regardless of ex¬ 
pense. Can any reader of the Rural tell me 
of any berry-bearing plant tbat excels in 
beauty the Prinos verticillata, commonly 
called Black Alder i Is there, indeed, one to 
equal it? And yet our nurserymen, with 
barely one exception, do not think it worth 
while to propagate it. I am going after beau¬ 
tiful native plants. 
* * * 
Last Spring, to repeat an experiment, I put 
out a number of imported budded roses. This 
Spring they are all dead but one. Roses on 
their own roots, planted at the same time in 
the same bed, are all alive. The Winter, it is 
true, has been an unusually severe one, but 
tbe result has been the same with me for up¬ 
ward of 40 years. I cau remember the time 
when budded roses were the rule and roses on 
their own roots the exception. Everybody 
wanted budded or French roses, as they were 
called; but in time rose fanciers learned that 
budded roses had a great weakness for being 
winter-killed, and roses grown from cuttings 
took their place, and have held it ever since. 
Now t , however, budded roses are being im¬ 
ported again quite freely. The careful reader 
should profit by tbe long experience of others. 
_ horticola. 
[We beg to make a remark. There are 
many varieties of roses that grow vigorously 
on their owu roots, aud with such we lose by 
budding. But bow is it with those that do 
not strike roots readily, or grow gingerly, or 
refuse to grow from cuttings—such e. rj. as 
Mabel Morrison, Mad. Laeharme, Boroness 
Rothschild ei alt — Eds.] 
€1 )t l) orbs man. 
GALLOWAY CATTLE. 
A. B. ALLEN, 
At page 25 of the Rural, Mr. Johnson gives 
an account of the disposition of Galloways, 
very different from any I have ever before 
seen, and it is entirely different from my 
knowledge of them in Scotland, England and 
America. Mr. J. says, “the Galloways in 
particular are noted for their fighting quali¬ 
ties, and stubborn and vindictive temper. 
The bull ealves, when lassoed, thrown and 
trimmed, never yield, and when letup, attack 
tbe first thing that opposes them. Have sullen 
faces—bull-dog heads—eyes with fires in them 
—use their heads as battering rams—crush the 
life out of everything they go for, etc,, etc.” 
As Mr. J. speaks of “trimming” these bull 
calves, I suppose it is the same as making 
steers of them. If so, then they are probably 
grades out of wild Texan cows, because 
thoroughbreds are too valuable to be 
“trimmed”—all are wanted for bulls to cross 
on native cows. If grades, then they must 
inherit the ferocious disposition spoken of 
above from their dams and not from their 
sires; and this is increased by the wild life 
they lead in growing up on the great Plains. 
Those breeding pure Galloways there and else¬ 
where, speak highly of them. As an example 
of this, I will cite a correspondent of the 
Breeders’ Gazette in the issue of April 3!ld, now 
lying before me. At page G37, he says: “I am 
now breeding the Polled Galloways. . . There 
has been some inquiry as to the docility of the 
polled cattle. 1 have owned none but the 
Galloways for the past three years. I will say 
that they are the most gentle and quiet cattle 
I ever bandied, and I have been all my life on 
a farm and among cattle. I can haudle every 
one of my herd from head to foot, and be in 
no danger from boras or heels. . . . I have an 
imported Galloway bull three years old, that 
♦ is yarded with some yearling colts. Now, Mr. 
Editor, it would do you or any other man 
good to see that bull and the colts play to¬ 
gether these nice, warm days.” 
For several years past, 1 have seen similar 
accounts, given in the agricultural papers, of 
the docility of Galloway cattle, but as I did 
not preserve them, I eanuofc now refer to them. 
I have been among Galloways iu Canada, and 
a few in the State of New York, and I have 
seen a great many at pasture in Scotlaud and 
England. I have also seen them transported 
in crowded cars on the railroads and in the 
crowded London market, and always found 
them quiet aud gentle as lambs. I suppose 
they may occasionally butt each other, 
although I never happened to observe them 
do so; yet this is less harmful than the goring 
and ripping up of cattle wearing sharp-pointed 
horns. 
I am told by those who are keeping Gallo¬ 
ways on the great Western Plains that their 
long, thick hair, with an undercoat of fine fur, 
protects them from the fierce, winter blizzards, 
better than the shorter, thinuer coats of any 
other cattle can protect the wearers—in fact, 
as well as the buffalo is protected by a similar 
covering. Joined to this, they have an ex¬ 
ceedingly hardy constitution, are quick feed¬ 
ers, mature early, aud prove highly prolific. 
Their beef is of tbe very best quality, and the 
carcass cuts up in tbe most economical manner. 
Uniting so many superior qualities makes 
them undoubtedly the most profitable cattle to 
breed for meat that we now have in the 
United States, or that we could obtain from 
any quarter of tbe globe outside of Scotland. 
I have most earnestly advocated the increase 
of polled cattle in our country for many years 
past, and particularly on the Western Plains 
since 1872, when we began to ship fatted steel's 
to England, knowing that they could be more 
safely and cheaply transported across the 
ocean than horned beasts, and that they would 
arrive at their port of d estination in superior 
condition, and bring a higher price there. 
-♦ ♦ » 
CATTLE-DISEASE CONVENTION IN 
ILLINOIS. 
{RURAL SPECIAL REPORT.) 
Recent occurrences have caused a marked 
increase of interest in legislation for the pre¬ 
vention and suppression of pleuro-pneumonia, 
glanders and other contagious diseases among 
live stock in Illinois. On April 30th, there 
was a meeting of prominent cattle breeders of 
the State, to confer with committees from 
both branches of the Legislature now in session, 
concerning proposed legislation. Among others 
present were the Presidents of tbe American 
Short-horn and Hereford Breeders’ Associa¬ 
tions, tbe President and Secretary of the State 
Jersey Breeders’ Association, Vice-President 
aud Secretary of the State Board of Agricul¬ 
ture; aud widely known and extensive breed¬ 
ers and feeders of cattle of different breeds,the 
State Veterinarian, etc. 
This convention adopted resolutions recog¬ 
nizing the existence of contagious pleuro pneu¬ 
monia in Illinois; indorsing tbe action of 
Governor Oglesby in quarantining against 
free importation of cattle from Missouri; urg¬ 
ing more effective legislation by the State, 
aud expressing the conviction that full secur¬ 
ity can only be had by efficient legislation on 
the part of Congress. After very careful con¬ 
sideration by joint committees of the Legisla¬ 
ture and the convention, a bill was commend¬ 
ed the leading features of which are the ap¬ 
pointment by the Governor of a Board of 
Live-Stock Commissioners, consisting of three 
practical stockmen, who shall serve without 
salary, and a State Veterinarian, with necess¬ 
ary assistants, working under direction of this 
Board. These two are to investigate alleged 
cases of contagious diseases, with power to 
quarantine animals, farms or localities; to 
slaughter diseased animals or those exposed to 
infection, the latter to be paid for at fair 
market value, but diseased animals not to be 
paid for. It is made the duty of any person 
baviug reason to believe contagious disease 
exists at any place within the State, to report 
this to the Board. Failure to report such dis¬ 
ease to veterinary practitioners is made pun¬ 
ishable, as is buying or selling diseased ani¬ 
mals, or those exposed to infection. 
While there was no appearance of excite¬ 
ment or wild alarm, and it was the feeling 
that, with the quarantine of the farms where 
the disease is known to exist, there is less 
danger of its further spread, the Convention 
deliberately resolved that the appropriation 
of $250,000 by tbe State as an emergency fund 
to meet possible cost of work under the pro¬ 
posed law was necessary. 
I think the general action of this meeting 
may be taken as expressive of the opinions of 
a majority of the most intelligent and best- 
iuformed cattle-breeders of Illinois. It is 
hardly to be expected that it will change the 
opinions of those who hold there is no sufficient 
reason to believe there has been any contagi¬ 
ous pleuro pneumonia in the West, but such 
men would perhaps have been interested in 
the full statement by a gentleman of this State 
who places his losses, already, at 825,000, or 
in the report made by a committee of stock 
men in Callaway Co., Mo. G. e. m. 
CHEESE-MAKING, No. 7. 
T. D. CURTIS. 
HEAT. 
As an agent iu cheese making, heat is use¬ 
ful in regulating the action of tbe rennet. 
Never carry it high enough to scald or cook 
anything. It should reach only blood beat, 
which is the temperature of the milk iu the 
cow’s udder, where it was never known to be 
cooked or scalded. Hence, our terms are mis¬ 
nomers. We neither cook nor scald curds. 
The milk should be set at a temperature rang¬ 
ing from 80® to SO*, according to the state of 
tbe weather, the lower temperature to be 
used in hot weather, and the higher in cool 
weather. More commonly, tbe setting is done 
at 82“ to 84*. Precisely why the setting is 
done at this temperature does not appear to be 
known. A little vaiiation either way does 
not appear to make an}' difference—save that 
a lower oue works too slowly.and a higher prob¬ 
ably too fast. No very definite or satisfactory 
experiments have been made iu regal'd to tem¬ 
perature. Theoretically, the setting should be 
done at 08*, the point at which Nature sets 
milk in the stomach, and at which the rennet 
is most active. One authority says lactic acid 
is rapidly developed at 98*. Possibly setting 
at that temperature might hasten its develop¬ 
ment too soon, as we set old milk, which soon 
sours, and Nature sets new milk, which works 
slowly in cheese-making at the usual temper¬ 
atures, Who knows? The curd properly cut, 
proceed to gradually raise the temperature to 
08* or 100*. It should be raised slowly and 
steadily, giving time for the heat to penetrate 
the pieces of curd, which are slow conductors. 
Some stop at. 00*, for the curd to take another 
rest! There may be some advantage in this j 
but I fail to see it or to find it out by question¬ 
ing. If the heat has been suddenly raised to 
00*, I cau see the advantage of stopping to let 
the heat equalize all through the pieces of the 
curd, and thus, in a measure, prevent more 
rennet action on the surfaces than in the cen¬ 
ters. But when the heatis slowly raised—not to 
exceed a degree in four or five minutes,-and the 
curd is cut fiuel can see no reason why the rise 
should not move steadily along until the de¬ 
sired limit is reached. That point once at¬ 
tained, the temperature should be as nearly 
maintained as possible until the curd is 
“cooked”—that is, the proper amount of whey 
is expelled, and the requisite degree of firmness 
is secured. If the room is at all cool, the vat 
should be covered with a cloth whenever the 
curd is at. rest. A very convenient method of 
covering is to get a cloth a little wider than 
the vat, and tack it to strips of lath running 
crosswise, that will project a little over each 
edge of the vat. These slats should be about 
a foot apart. This fixed, the cloth is easily 
rolled up when uot needed, and unrolled when 
wanted on the vat. 
» »t - 
WHO CAN BEAT TH1K RECORD? 
In the Rural of March 21st, mention is 
made of the extraordinary record of 73 pounds 
of milk in one day made by Mr. Singerly’s 
Holstein heifer, Constance S, two years old. 
I should like to inquire whether ibis heiter is 
with her first or second calf. If the former, 
the record is certainly extraordinary; if the 
latter, I am able to match it. I have an im¬ 
ported heifer of tbe same breed (but called 
here Dutch-Friesian), which I purchased last 
Fall from the Chenango Valley Stock Breed¬ 
ers’ Association. At the time of calving this 
Spring, Feb, 19th (her second call), she was 
two years 10 mouths aud 27 days old. On 
March 12th, she gave exactly 72 pounds of 
milk, and iu 15 consecutive days, commencing 
March 7th, she gave 1,031# pOUuds, or 68# 
pouuds per day. For tbe whole month of 
March, she gave 2,060# pouuds, although dur¬ 
ing the first six days she had not come to her 
full flow of milk. During this time, the milk 
of seven days was set, aud the produce was 14# 
pouuds of butter, although her food was not 
calculated to give the best, results iu tbat di¬ 
rection. 1 should like to ask if this record has 
ever been beaten by a cow under three years, 
and if so, when and by what animal i 
Hamilton, N. Y. D. w. skinner. 
S1)jC 
A POULTRY HOUSE FOR FIFTY 
FOWLS. 
At the request of several correspondents, I 
present, at Fig. 187, a design for a poultry 
house for 50 fowls, with modern improve- 
