THE RURAL HEW-YOR&ER 
513 
Chamberlain, of the flows Agricultural Col¬ 
lege, and others. The holding of farmers’ 
institutes in different parts of the State is one 
of the most effectual ways of reaching the 
great majority of farmers. The Professor of 
Agriculture must be prominent in his line 
among his fellow-teachers, and in order to 
make his department a success he must neces¬ 
sarily win the confidence and respect of the 
farmers themselves; and in no better way can 
this be done than by attending institutes and 
discussing questions which are of immediate 
interest to them, Tn proof of the value of 
institute work, we have only to mention the 
work done in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, 
Kansas and many other States. In fact, 
wherever it has been tried wo find that a taste 
invariably creates an appetite for more. 
The Manual Labor System received atten¬ 
tion from nearly all present. Mere is the sen¬ 
timent. expressed by Prof. Shelton, of Kansas. 
“The farm is a piece of apparatus that belongs 
to the Students, and should he used by them.” 
In connection with this, the question naturally 
arises as to the proper function of the col¬ 
lege farm outside of experimental work. In 
Michigan, Illinois and other States which have 
a farm of 000 acres or more, it is not possible 
at present to use the whole farm for experi¬ 
mental purposes. But the balance can bo 
profitably used in illustrating class-room in¬ 
structions, giving students the correct princi¬ 
ples of scientific farming. Tu some of the 
agricultural colleges, short or special courses 
in agriculture have been introduced, where 
farmers’ sons, who are not able to take the 
entire college course, can come and re¬ 
ceive one or two years of special instruction 
in agriculture aud other studies immediately 
connected with it. This has worked well at 
Champaign and various other institutions. At 
the Ohio University this course was adopted 
three years ago, and the number of special 
students has rapidly increased from year to 
year. 
Dr. Townshend, of the Ohio University, 
was elected President, and Prof. Lazcnby, of 
the same place, Secretary, for the ensuing 
year. The visiting members were highly 
pleased with the condition of the farm aud 
horticultural deport ment, under the manage¬ 
ment of Professors Morrow and BurrilL 
There is probably no other agricultural col¬ 
lege in the United (States that has a better 
farm, ns to size, quality of soil and location, 
than that which forms a part of the Universi¬ 
ty of Illinois. As one member expressed it, 
“You can’t spread out more agriculture on 
the same amount of space.” J. T, 
(£ nl am a logical. 
SOUTHERN BUFFALO GNAT. 
A considerable portion of Dr. lliley’s 
forthcoming report will deal with this alarm¬ 
ing pest. The insect works damage in por¬ 
tions of Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, 
Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indi¬ 
ana and Eastern Kansas. As a rule, the 
gnats appear soon after the first continuous 
warm spell in early spring. The duration of 
au invasion varies from a few days to live or 
six weeks. Domestic animals are attacked in 
the following order: Mules, horses, cattle, 
sheep, sitting turkeys and hens, hogs, dogs 
and cats. The death-rate of mules is highest, 
both because they seem to ho more susceptible 
to the bite, and because they are almost ex¬ 
clusively used in the Southern States for farm 
work. Ammals bitten by many Buffalo t! nuts 
show all the symptom! of colic, and many peo¬ 
ple believe that these bites bring on that 
disease. 
Dr. King, after a largo mlmber of post¬ 
mortem examinations, thinks the effects of 
these bites are much the same as that of the 
rattlesnake on the human system. The bites 
are uot always fatal, yet sometimes a few 
bites will produce death. When attacked the 
first impulse of the animals is to run away. 
Horses and mules, if not harnessed or tied, be¬ 
come frantic, rush about, roll upon the 
ground and jump until completely exhausted. 
They are safe if they succeed in reaching an 
elevated spot free from trees and accessible to 
the full rays of the sun. Cattle rush through 
woods and dense thickets or into water, If it 
be near, Hogs wallow in mud, if it bo at 
hand. Sheep run about blindly, crying pite¬ 
ously. Without the assistance ol man such 
methods avail little. Fires are started to 
produce dense smoke. The animals at once 
rush into the smoke and crowd together. 
They will not venture out in search of food, 
except during the light of the midday sun or 
during a dark night. Fires made from old 
leather, old clothing, dried dung, etc., which 
produce a great deal of smoke, are always 
started on plantations where the gnats appear. 
These fires are kept burning on different parts 
of the plantation as long as the gnats are pres¬ 
ent. Those who can possibly do so, aim to 
keep their horses and mules in darkened 
stables during the season of danger. It is 
found that animals which are well cared for 
and are in healthy condition will stand at¬ 
tacks from the gnats far better than those 
which are ill-treated and unhealthy. Almost 
any grease will act ns a preventive, but it is 
found that a continued coating of such mater¬ 
ial will tend to injure the animal. One reme¬ 
dy which has been found useful consists in 
rubbing the affected animal with water of am¬ 
monia, and administering internally a mixt ure 
of 40 to 60 grains of carbonate of ammonia to 
one pint of whiskey every three or four hours 
until relieved. Some planters give continued 
doses of whiskey and keep the sick animals in 
darkened stables. Several well authenticated 
cases are given where human beings have died 
from the effects of gnat bites. 
■ - 
Dissolved Hen-Manure for the Striped 
Bug.— In a recent, issue of the Rural, it was 
said that dissolved cow-manure failed to drive 
away the striped bug. I found that hen- 
nmmire dissolved to the consistency of thick 
whitewash, and liberally applied with an old 
broom or whisk of hay, will successfully drive 
them away, besides causing the vines to grow 
much better. But it is apt to kill some of the 
seed-leaves of the vine, but the rough leaves 
will stand it. j. a. w. 
Dunkirk, N. Y. 
SAMPLES. 
Sir J. B. Lawes says, in the London Agri¬ 
cultural Gazette, that it is rather hard upon 
our agriculturists, who have for a long period 
used every effort to produce—out of a long¬ 
eared, long-legged, hairy grayhound species 
of animal—a pig resembling a ball of hairless 
fat, to be told that this animal does not suit 
the wants of their customers, and that they 
must produce an animal which has a great 
deal more lean mixed with its fat. 
There can be no doubt, Dr. Lawes says, 
that hutterino aud the various forms of arti¬ 
ficial butter have contributed largely to the 
change in public opinion with regard to ex¬ 
cessively fat hogs. The farmers in England 
are not altogether blameless in having brought 
about this unfortunate state of affairs, as the 
quality of the butter supplied to the large 
towns was far from being as good as it ought 
to be, and the consumer appeal's to prefer a 
tasteless fat, which is supposed to he butter 
but is uot, to real butter which has a more or 
less rank smell or taste.... 
For laying on fat alone probably no food 
is better than Indian corn, but for the other 
process a more nitrogenous diet is necessary, 
and probably skim milk with pea-meal aud 
rice or barley would furnish the desired ingre¬ 
dients........ 
Many years ago, when Dr. Lawes was ex¬ 
perimenting with pigs, ho noticed that the 
more nitrogenous foods produced a pig which 
grew more, aud the tlesh of which was in 
larger proportion to the fat, than was the 
case with pigs fed with food containing less 
nitrogen; but he did not follow this subject 
further, as the taste of the day ran in the di¬ 
rection of very fat pork. There can be no 
doubt that the tendency to put on fat in 
masses, and without admixture of lean, has 
been developed in some breeds of pigs, so that 
give them what food you please they will con¬ 
tinue to fatten. It is important, therefore, to 
select pigs which retain some of their old 
characteristics; and by the use of suitable 
food any oue can produce the pork of the day 
ou which the consumers have set their hearts. 
The Farmers’ Review says that those who 
use refrigerators have had experience of the 
fact that even iti the best there is a great de¬ 
gree of dampness which causes impure air 
and a disagreeable odor. Prof. E. W. Stew¬ 
art, in the Allauiy Cultivator, says that the 
refrigerator may bo purified most effectively 
and the air he kept, dry and sweet by keeping 
some fresh quicklime on a plate in it. The 
lime will absorb one-third of its weight of 
water, and thus dry the air and increase the 
effect of the coolness of the ice. 
Necessary os is the cellar as an adjunct to 
every well-planned farmhouse, in many in¬ 
stances from improper construction or lack of 
cure it becomes a source of disease instead of 
comfort, says the Review. 
Cellars, of all places about the home, 
should lie thoroughly drained. But even 
though the draining is perfect, there are, 
nevertheless, cases in which life is endangered 
by living above one. Too many people neg¬ 
lect to clean their cellars. Potatoes, cabbages 
and other vegetables are allowed to rot and 
rankle in dark recesses and, like stagnant ac¬ 
cumulations of water, but more speedily if 
anything, produce the germs of disease. 
A writer in the Breeder’s Gazette objects 
to Prof. Henry’s proposed plan of ensiloing 
dried corn fodder in that he thinks the dryness 
of the stalks would seriously interfere with the 
plan. The succulence of the green .stalks is 
one of the most important elements of value 
in ensilage. 
The writer above alluded to has this year 
planted the corn in drills, with oue grain about 
every eight inches in the drill, and he intends 
to cut the stalks when the grain is in the milk 
or just going out of it, and pass stalks and 
ears together through the cutter aud thus 
avoid pulling aud husking... 
Hoard’s Dairyman says that E. S. Buffum, 
Le Roy, la., has a Jersey heifer, that gave 
birth to her first call’ March 17, 1885, which 
date lacked one day of her being a year old. 
Mr. Bufl’um very naturally desires to know if 
any oue has a younger mother. 
Mr, Shkpuerd, in the Phil. Press, says that 
ratal pas have a decided advantage where 
stock is allowed to run out in that the stock 
will not eat them. 
All farm journals should dwell upon the 
marked difference between the common and 
Hardy C’ataipa (C. speciosa). It is a pity that 
certain writers, whose statements are ordinar¬ 
ily entitled to consideration, should huve 
deemed them essentially alike. 
The N. E. Farmer says that one of the 
secrets of success with peuehes is clean culture, 
on moderately rich land early in the season 
and no cultivation of the soil after midsum¬ 
mer to cause a late tender growth which 
would be destroyed in winter. The borers 
must also be cleaned out thoroughly at the 
proper time in June, and then there is consid¬ 
erable choice in varieties, some kinds being 
apparently much more hardy than others. 
Any farmer who has ever been successful with 
peaches should keep planting a few annually’ 
for home use. If a crop is secured once in 
three or four vcai-s, it will usually pay for all 
the trouble of setting and tending a few 
trees.... 
When a close, damp, musty smell can be 
perceived in the cellar, or when auv dLagree- 
ahle odor is appreciable, there is danger. 
And the danger may have existed before the 
odor could be perceived. The safe way is to 
keep the cellar clean. . .. 
Popular Gardening regrets that the Ru¬ 
ral pitches into the Norway Spruce. It. does 
not express any regrets as to our opposition 
to the Balsam Fir. As au ortiameutal tree 
the editor of Popular Gardening says that 
“the Norway has a loug lead on all other 
classes,”. 
A writer in the Indicator, of Kansas City, 
Mo., says that Kausas farmers must make up 
their miuds to quit sowing oats. Oats and 
chinch bugs flourish together, lie objected to 
oats last spring, but was overruled and forty 
acres wei e sown on his farm They came to 
nothing, brought forth chinch bugs by the 
million aud now the corn must suffer. Not 
only the use of the ground is lost, but to this 
must be added the labor, the cost of seed and 
the damage to contiguous crops. As a rule, 
farmers had better let their ground go to 
weeds than to sow it in oats. . 
There is no practical limit to the demand 
for good fresh butter that cau be sold at from 
one cent to five centra pound above the high¬ 
est quotations, for everybody wants such but¬ 
ter, says Mi'. Uheever, in the N. E. Farmer. 
But for butter that sells for two or three times 
the ordinary price the demand is limited to a 
very few buyers... 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Et Every query *mu»t Do accompanied By the name 
and address or the writer to Insure attention. Before 
nsletiiff n question, please see it It fa) not answered in 
our advertising column*. Ask only afew questions at 
one time. Put questions on a separate piece of paper.) 
ACIDITY IN MILK, ETC. 
L. O. ./., Moline , III. —t. What is the best 
method to retard fermentation in milk t ‘3. Is 
the dry feed which is sold at glucose works 
injurious to milch cows or their milk' S. 
What is the best time to sow rye for spring 
pasture ou a clay soil 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
1. Milk becomes acid more quickly in pro¬ 
portion to tke.liight of the temperature. Acid- 
ity[is'also| produced jby lthe., presence in it of 
any particles of caseine which has the power 
of changing the milk sugar into lactic acid, 
so that a low temperature and the absence of 
any stale milk about the utensils will he the 
most effective means of retarding the fermen¬ 
tation of milk. A short explanation of the 
peculiar properties of milk may be instructive 
in this respect: Milk, when fresh, contains a 
small quantity of free soda in solution, hence 
it is alkaline. It also contains some sugar 
(lactose or milk sugar) which contains 13 
parts or atoms of carbon and 13 parts of 
water (or of hydrogen and oxygen in the right 
proportions to form water). Its chemical 
formula is Cm Hm On or 
(tartan.12 
Hydrogen.24 
Oxygen. 12 
This sugar is the basis of the acidity which 
takes place in the milk by decomposition, aud 
the acid formed is known os lactic or milk- 
acid. This consists of three parts of carbon 
and three parts of water (or equivalent parts 
of hydrogen or oxygen to form water). Its 
chemical formula is Cl H« Os or 
Carbon .3 
Hydrogen.......6 
.3 
It is thus seen that one atom or part of milk- 
sugar consists of precisely the same equiva¬ 
lents as four atoms or parts of milk-acid. 
All that is necessary then to change the milk- 
sugar to acid and render the milk sour, is to 
break up the sugar into equal fourth parts 
and change it into lactic acid. Caseine is a 
nitrogenous substance, aud has the property 
of thus breaking up the milk-sugar and Conn¬ 
ing milk-acid. All other nitrogenous bodies, 
albumen, flbriu, and most, animal mem¬ 
branes. as the bowel, bladder, stomach, etc. 
of animals, when dried, have the same proper¬ 
ty. No oxygen is required to effect this 
change. Hence milk closely sealed and pre¬ 
served from the air may become acid if any 
caseine or animal membrane is present in it. 
Milk will uot become sour as long as auy of 
its free soda remains in it; bub as acid is 
slowly formed iu it, the soda is gradually 
neutralized, and when it is all taken up by the 
acid, the milk then becomes thick, the caseine 
being no longer soluble iu it. As soon as this 
happens the sugar is decomposed with great 
rapidity anti the milk sours very fast; all 
the faster until it becomes very acid. Bat 
this Change of the sugar is also effected 
by a peculiar germ or several kinds of them 
which reproduce themselves with great rapid¬ 
ity in the milk, and the more rapidly as the 
temperature increases, I have found the 
common mold or mildew of a cellar pro¬ 
duces this change of the sugar to acid and 
causes the milk to become sour, by setting the 
requisite fermentation in action, so that to 
retard this fermentation three things at least 
are necessary; first, to keep the milk free from 
any matter that may start the change of the 
sugar into acid: stale milk, animal secretions, 
membraneous matter from a disordered udder, 
all these being provocative of acidity in the 
milk; second, to keep the milk at a low tem¬ 
perature, and, third, to avoid the presence of 
mold or mildew in any form iu the milk cel¬ 
lar or room. The flouting dust which pre¬ 
vails everywhere also has numberless germs 
in it, which are able to start this decomposition, 
and hence the place where milk is kept 
should be clean and free from this dust. 
The addition of a small quantity of soda 
carbonate to the milk will also retard the 
decomposition of the sugar by neutral¬ 
izing the acid as it is formed. 2. Dry 
glucose meal is uot injurious in any way 
to cows kept for milk, unless it is fed iu 
excessive quantities. Being the refuse of the 
grain after the starch is taken out of it, it is 
rich in nitrogen and hence is really a more 
valuable food than the corn itself. The sole 
objection to it is when it is wet and sours 
quickly. All sour food is injurious to milk. 
3. For winter and spring pasture rye should be 
sown in August and well manured to get a 
good stand. It tnay l>e pastured in the fall if 
the growth is luxuriant, under favorable 
weather. 
MANAGING A SMALL DAIRY. 
It. O., Jefferson, Ark .—Will Mr. Houry 
Stewart tell a small farmer the best way to 
manage his milk, for making butter iu sum¬ 
mer, under the following conditions: I have 
a milk-house and a well with water at a tem¬ 
perature of <12°. I milk eight cows and get lfi 
to “.JO gallons of milk per day. 
ANSWERED BY HENRY STEWART. 
Few persons are aware of the advantages 
which are now available in dairying from the 
recent inventions. The case above mentioned 
is one in point. If a hand centrifugul cream 
separator, which is made to use iu dairies of 
this kind where 200 pounds of milk daily are 
produced, were used, the evening’s milk could 
be set iu a tauk iu the cool water and mixed 
with the morning’s milk and creamed, and 
the sweet, skimmed niilk could be fed to calves 
or juade. into very good cheese. The cream 
