JULY 2 
all the best brands of salt I have used contain 
or produce), and worked just enough to get it 
compact and free from superfluous moisture, 
why, then he is generally willing to take our 
butter in rolls at about double the price for 
which he can buy average print butter. An¬ 
other thing I have been telling our customers 
lately, aud one of some importance, viz,: that 
the butter is not touched with the baud at all. 
Now that is something that ought to please 
anyone who likes good butter. I have long 
held the theory which Jones (*‘who pays the 
freight”) ventilated some time ago that it is 
impossible to touch any article of food with 
the bare hand without leaving some part of it 
on the article handled—a small part it’s true, 
but yet it is a part of the human anatomy. 1 
suppose if a close calculation were made, it 
would be found that a man in the course of a 
long lifetime—if he was a big bread eater— 
would be found to have eaten a whole cook. 
Let us stop at the cooks, and not eat dairy¬ 
maids too. If you make butter above the 
average, you must sell it to people above the 
average. A. L. crosby. 
Gatonsville, Md. 
R. N.-Y.—And yet it is a good plan to have 
the dairymaids so neat and sweet that the cus¬ 
tomer would be glad to try and eat them too 
—if he could. _ 
FASHIONS IN BUTTER MAKING. 
I have been interested in readiug several 
articles in the Rural upon butter making. 
After all, is it not quite as easy to become 
just a little bigoted upon agricultural subjects 
as upou religion { One advocates this or that 
mode, and in a lew years some other mode, 
or some new churn or butter worker. Then, 
not satisfied, he returns to the old method. 
Who knows best how to make and salt butter 
—the men who write for papers or the women 
who have made butter for 25 or 30 years? A 
few years siuce no one who washed the butter 
could make a good article, yet I knew a wo¬ 
man who always washed her butter, notwith¬ 
standing what was written against the prac¬ 
tice, and she made good butter, and now 
every one washes butter. 
How hard it is to establish a rule for every 
oue. Some succeed with one method, some 
with another. Success is the main tiling. 
Success to the Rural! g. a. s. 
Ionia Co., Mich. 
THE ANNATTO BUSH. 
Few, apparently, who have used this popu¬ 
lar coloring matter in the dairy, know where 
it comes from. Reports from the United 
States Consuls at Parti, Brazil. Pauama and 
Porto Rico give some information on the sub¬ 
ject. Theauuatto bush,(Bixa orellana,) varies 
in bight and shape. In- Brazil it sometimes 
grows to the bight of 25 feet; in Porto Rico 
10 feet is the limit. The flowers somewhat 
resemble apple blossoms. The seeds grow in 
pods. These pods grow in clusters, and each 
pod contains 20 to 24 seeds. The seeds are in¬ 
closed in a red, waxy pulp which furuishes 
theeoloriug matter. The bush is cultivated 
considerably by the Indians in the valley of 
the Amazon, The Indians use the pigment 
as a coloring matter for their food. All kinds 
of food are highly colored. The pigment 
mixed with turtle oil is used to smear the 
bodies of the Indians. This is thought to 
higbten the beauty of the decorated individ¬ 
ual as well as to guard against the mosquito. 
An infusion of the leaves drank hot is thought 
by the Indians to be a remedy for jaundice. 
Small quantities are exported to Spaiu and to 
the United Slates. Iu the two years ending 
March 1837, 27,435 pounds were sent to this 
country. The annat.to used here is said to be 
frequently adulterated witli red ocher, pow¬ 
dered bricks, chalk, etc. 
tyt |>lo«Uni Uart). 
THE EGG PRESERVATIVE PRIZES. 
PETER B. MEAD. 
At the suggestion of the Rural, the Com¬ 
mittee on Agriculture of the American Insti¬ 
tute last year offered a prize of $20 for the 
best ‘‘Egg Preservative,” which should be 
simple, inexpensive and adupted to general 
use. The test was to be a six months’ trial. 
The terms were published in the Rural, other 
papers kindly repeated them, and the commit¬ 
tee issued a circular. In this way the matter 
became widely known, aud gave the commit¬ 
tee some new conceptions of t he value of ad¬ 
vertising. 
When the committee took this matter in 
hand they thought it would be an interesting 
and instructive pastime, and that the result 
would be of some benefit to the public; but 
they had no conception that they were about 
to be presented with an elephant the dimen¬ 
tions of which would dwarf the famous Jumbo 
into a mere pygmy. But so it proved; and 
the committee have been driven nearly to the 
verge of insanity by their endeavors to get rid 
of the monster. 
It happened thus. Soon after it became 
known that the prize had been offered, receipts 
began to come in like summer showers, aud 
preparations were made for the test ; but just at 
this time the showers increased to a regular 
downpour, and the committee had to go in 
“out of the wet,” and had to stay in. They 
had no chance to do anything, for the down¬ 
pour increased. and by fall had l ecome an old- 
fashioned equinoctial, which finally turned to 
a drizzle, and this lasted till past midwinter, 
aud only ceased a few weeks ago in little drops. 
It seems as if everybody had a recipe for 
preserving eggs. 
The committee, too, have had a good lesson 
in geography. Recipes came from all parts 
of the country, California and the most dis¬ 
tant Territories contributing their share. The 
Rural, it would seem, goes everywhere. It 
is curious to uoto the different, classes from 
whom recipes came. They were oast by far¬ 
mers aud farmers’ wives, boys and girls, mili¬ 
tary men, men who “ go' down to the sea in 
ships,” travelers, school teachers, men of 
science, and others whose calling did not seem 
to be sure. It is doubtful if twenty dollars 
ever had such a hot pursuit before. The 
largest number of recipes came from fanners’ 
wives and children, a suggestive evideuce 
of the one who takes care of the poultry. 
Now conies the perplexing part of the mat¬ 
ter. Of this multitude of recipes, fully 
niuety-five per cent, are substantially one aud 
the same tbiug, showing how widely dissemi¬ 
nated one particular recipe has become, meet¬ 
ing with only trifling changes in pnssing 
through a multitude of hands. The develop¬ 
ment of this fact alone is worth all the labor 
it has cost. Now suppose that this particular 
recipe (it seems very little) should prove to 
be the best, how are the committee to divide 
the prize among so many people without the 
help of a miracle ? As the days of miracles 
are passed, they will probably have to wait 
till the government coins that contemplated 
half cent piece. Who else can help them I 
As the Rural suggested this matter, it is 
proper that its readers should know what a 
strait the committee are in. The rest of the 
committee may faint aud fall by the way, but 
the chairman is bound to see this thing 
through if the eggs hold out. If be is not 
heard from again, he may probably be found 
at the nearest lunatic asylum. 
onto lojjica l. 
THE JUDGING OF FRUITS. AND THE 
AWARDING OF PREMIUMS. 
PRES. T. T. LYON. 
Difficulties of the judges; vagaries of ex¬ 
hibitors; practice of the Michigan Horti¬ 
cultural Society; its advantages; specimen 
tables; errors in nomenclature. 
The position of “ Tasting Committee ” at 
fruit shows, is by no means the sinecure which 
it is very commonly assumed to be. To 
whomsoever the premium may be awarded, 
the other competitors are very sure to question 
the soundness of the decision, and, perchance, 
to suspect that the judges have been “ bull¬ 
dozed ” or “ approached.” 
The judges, having been “marked” to dis¬ 
tinguish them from the “ common herd,” and 
introduced to their “field of labor,” are quite 
likely to (lml that A, being auxious to createa 
sensation, has insisted on massing his various 
exhibits in oue grand display; while B, who, 
perchance, may be located at the opposite ex¬ 
tremity of the hall, or possibly, even in another 
building, is similarly ambitious, and has also 
concentrated his entire display. 
These exhibitors, who may possibly care as 
much for the award of the masses—whose eyes 
are their judges—as for that of the judges 
projier, will, very probably, have piled plate 
upon plate of fruits, whose chief merit con¬ 
sists of size and color; while the competiug 
exhibits are so sandwiched in among others, 
that correct judgment becomes impossible, 
save by the process of placing them side by 
side, in some manner. 
These and divers other considerations tend 
to the conclusion that the process of lighten¬ 
ing and directing the investigation of the 
judges of fruits, should commence with the 
framing of the lists of premiums, aud of the 
rules by which their decisions are to bo 
guided. 
As the most convenient way of expressing 
my views on the subject, 1 may be permitted 
to state the practice of the Michigan State 
Horticultural Society, which for many years 
past has been found eminently satisfactory, 
so far as the judges are concerned: 
The fruits grown in the State, whether val¬ 
uable or otherwise, are alphabetically ar¬ 
ranged jn the society’s catalogue, and the com¬ 
parative values of the varietiesare given l>y 
means of a scale, varying from one to 10; the 
values for cooking, market and dessert being 
placed in separate col umns. Tbo sum of the 
values of the varieties found in a given collec¬ 
tion, taken from tbo column devoted to the 
purpose for which they were entered, will 
properly express the aggregate value of such 
collection for such purpose, and a comparison 
of the aggregates of competiug collections 
will determine the award, subject, however, 
to modification for superiority of size, freedom 
from blemishes, careful handling and taste in 
the arrangement and ornamentation. This 
society instructs its judges of fruits to exclude 
from competition all unlabeled and incorrect¬ 
ly labeled specimens, and to consider, 1st, the 
values of the varieties for the required pur¬ 
pose; 2nd, the color, size and evenness of the 
specimens; 3rd, their freedom from blemishes, 
the apparent care iu bundling aud the taste 
displayed in their arrangement for exhibition. 
Duplicates are excluded from the competition, 
aud large, show y, but indifferent varieties are 
held to discredit a collection. 
Instead of the usual, “Beat, collection,” the 
society stipulates, in each offer of a premium: 
For dessert aud family purposes, for the most 
useful and best grown collection, giving a suc¬ 
cession of varieties, superior quality, delicacy 
of texture and beauty (in the order named), to 
take precedence of profitableness and size. For 
market varieties the requirements are: For 
the most valuable and best grown collection, 
selected strictly for market purposes; produc¬ 
tiveness, suitable, even size, handling quali¬ 
ties, color and succession being the leading 
considerations. 
As will be seen, these offers bring together 
the conditions required, just where both the 
exhibitor and the judges can scarcely fail to 
become familiar with them; while the idea is 
definitely conveyed that the value to be at¬ 
tached to a given variety depends not upon 
its general merits, but strictly upon its merits 
for the purpose for which it is placed in com¬ 
petition. 
This process brings out the opinion of the 
exhibitor as to the relative merits of the varie¬ 
ties which he may enter, for the required 
purpose; while the awar.ls, if fully’ reported, 
with the reasons therefor, also afford a clew 
to the estimate of their comparative values 
for such purpose, by the judges. 
The bearings of this system of entries and 
awards upon the status of varieties, as well as 
upon the special values of varieties for defin¬ 
itive purposes, will be rendered more obvi¬ 
ous by the following quotations from the fruit 
catalogue spoken of: 
Use and Value. 
Seale 1 to 10. 
APPLES. 
Dessert. 
Cooking 
Market. 
Alexander. 
. 2 
10 
s 
Baldwin. 
. 6 
9 
10 
Cabashea, 20 Oz. Pippin .. 
4 
1 
Dyer. Poimne Itoyaf._ 
Green Newtown Pippin.. 
. 10 
8 
4 
. 10 
8 
3 
shiuwnssee. 
. 10 
6 
8 
1 
1 
5 
Ben Davis. 
. 3 
5 
9 
PEARS. 
Bartlett. 
. 8 
10 
10 
Bose.. 
. a 
8 
9 
Onondaga. 
. 7 
8 
a 
Socket. 
. 10 
— 
7 
The question of profit is not considered in 
the scaling of the first two columns; while, in 
the third it is made a leading consideration. 
Competing collections are required to be 
placed together; and it is made the duty of a 
committee on uomencluture, t-o precede the 
awarding judges and correct erroneous names. 
Such error in naming Ls held to exclude the 
misnamed fruit from competition. The effect 
of these requirements has been to wholly avoid 
incorrect and careless nomenclature; aud by 
so doing, to greatly lighten the labors of judges, 
as well as to insure more correct educational 
results. 
THE BLUEBERRY CROP IN NEW 
ENGLAND. 
Extent of the trade; picking and shipping; 
kinds of pickers; keeping qualities; pay of 
pickers; demand ahead of supply; cha nces 
of overstocking the market; preserving; 
a wild not cultivated crop; bl ueberry area. 
I ship from iny own farm an average of 
1,000 bushels of blueberries yearly. I handle 
for neighbors within, say, a circle of a mile, 
about 2,000 bushels, and there are shipped in 
other wayB from this vicinity, say, 2,500 bush¬ 
els. The bulk of them are shipped to Boston 
from the railroad station ut Milford, N. H., 
eight miles distant. There are shipped, via 
the same station from other sections here¬ 
abouts, say 8,000 or 10,000 bushels, aud from 
other small stations on the same railroad per¬ 
haps 8,000 more, or a total of 20,000 or 25,000 
bushels a season over the Waltou Branch of 
% 
the Boston aud Lowell Railroad. The ship¬ 
ments from this section are far ahead of those 
from any’ other in New Englaud. 
The berries were formerly shipped in hulk in 
cheese boxes, butter firkins, or anything that 
came handy, and, later, quart, round, covered 
boxes, in board crates each holding from 50 to 
75 quarts. At present they are sent in the 
same boxes iu uniform, open-slat crates of 32 
quarts. We employ all kinds of pickers, but 
on an average they are a much better class 
than would lie supposed. The season—July 
and August.—is vacation time. Here is a list 
of my pickers for one year: three Dartmouth 
College boys, one Institute of Technology boy, 
three Academy boys, oue washerwoman, three 
French Canadians, one magician and ventril¬ 
oquist, five district school ma’rms, two factory 
girls, aud 10 or a dozen men, women and 
children from the neighboring farms and 
villages. A Sioux Indian and a Japanese from 
Dartmouth intended to come, but didn’t get 
around. 
Blueberries can be kept much longer than 
any other small fruit. The boxes should be 
rounded up and the cover pressed down to 
prevent shaking and settling. The berries 
have to be carted a long distance over rough, 
country roads before they reach the station, 
arriving at Boston the following morning; 
and if the market happens to be glutted, they 
are sometimes held back a week, but if kept 
much longer they are apt to wilt and get 
sour. 
The usual way of paying pickers is to wait 
until the returns come in, then deduct ex¬ 
pense of teaming, of wear and tear of boxes 
and crates, and as much more as an elastic 
conscience will allow, and give the pickers 
two-thirds of what is left. The berries are 
scattered through pastures, aud swamp bush 
aud underbrush, except in rare cases where 
owners have hud enterprise enough to clear 
up. It is very like picking wild blackberries. 
In spite of these disadvantages, the pickers 
are well paid, and strawberry pickers invari¬ 
ably desert their employers when the blue¬ 
berry season opens. 
The supply aud demand are both rapidly 
increasing, but the demand is still ahead of 
the supply. Iu comparison with other small 
fruits, the blueberry more than holds its own, 
aud averages much higher prices than other 
fruit. 
The fruit is perishable, and. of course, there 
Ls some danger of glutting the market. A few 
days of rain iu the bight of the season will 
so ripen the fruit that when the storm is over 
a rush may glut the market with over-ripe 
berries. An instance of this kind happened 
two years ago, when quantities of berries 
were sold to fanners for 5e. or lie. per quart; 
but such a glut is usually followed by a 
scarcity, aud the pickers who stick right 
through have no reason to regret the glut. 
The blueberry is much more remunerative 
than the strawberry crop; but while straw¬ 
berry cultivation extends all over the country 
the blueberry area is comparatively insignifi¬ 
cant. 
The berries are sometimes dried for home 
use, stewed or used iu cake iu place of eur- 
rauts (the so-called currants of commerce). 
They resemble fresh fruit about as much as 
dried apples resemble fresh. Canned blue¬ 
berries, however, are excellent put up in fruit 
jars at home, or canned in factories iu Maine. 
Near a market distant from wild berry pas¬ 
tures, the blueberry crop will pay better than 
anything I know of. The plants are easily 
grown when transplanted into sod ground, and 
spread rapidly, and once rooted they are there 
for all time unless plowed under, aud then a 
most unaccountable oddity of the blueberry 
comes in—1 have never, with the exception 
of one plant which [ am experimenting with, 
known u blueberry plant that would grow in 
cultivated ground. Set them out in rich, fiue 
soil, in which other small fruits would flourish 
and they will dwindle away aud die. I have 
known acres of low blueberry viues to be 
plowed up aud not a plant survived the 
first year; but if you set them out upon hum¬ 
mocks in swamps or upon dry, barren, ledgy 
pasture that would starve sheep, they will 
soon cover the ground, aud if they are fed 
down, mowed or burnt over, the following 
year they will give a triple crop. They grow 
wild in New Hampshire, Maiue, Nova Scotia, 
Labrador, Wisconsin, ludiana, Maryland, and 
I presume in other State’s. They can 1)6 suc¬ 
cessfully transplanted iuat least the following 
States: Nebraska, Ohio, Michigan. Iowa, Con¬ 
necticut, aud Pennsylvania, uud this Spring I 
mailed a few to a friend in Kansas, but have 
not heard from them yet. s. a. HERRICK. 
Hillsborough Co., N. H. 
A FEW FACTS REGARDING EVAPOR¬ 
ATED FRUIT. 
FROM J. C. BURRUS. 
The market for apples is high aud stock is 
very scarce, but prices are likely to be lower 
later iu the seasou. The prospects for the 
