66 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
February 3 
MORE REMARKS ABOUT WOODCHUCKS. 
I have found that a very successful way to get rid 
of woodchucks is to fill their holes up solid with earth, 
late in the Fall, after they close up for the Winter, as 
we never see one out here after September 20, till 
about March 20, so any time before the ground freezes 
stop their holes airtight, while they are in the dor¬ 
mant state; they will not very often dig out again. 
I have tried it for several years, and I have never 
known of one to come out, although one of my neigh¬ 
bors claims that they will, but I think it must be 
where they had two holes, and one of them was not 
stopped up tight. r. n. w. 
W. Corinth, Vt. 
SULPHUR DOES IT.—My experience has been that 
not many woodchucks can be killed by trap or gun. 
The best way I know is to burn sulphur in and then 
stop the hole. In nearly every case I saw no sign 
of a woodchuck afterward, and concluded that he 
must be dead and buried. But do the work thor¬ 
oughly. s. F. H. 
Mt. Kisco, N. Y. 
BISULPHIDE OF CARBON.—In reading W. A. L.’s 
article in The R. N.-Y. of January 13, in regard to 
ground hogs—the most useless and destructive ene¬ 
mies the farmer of this section has to contend with— 
I wish to say that bisulphide of carbon, if properly 
used, is sure death^ to them. My father, a man over 
80 years of age, has, the past season, used carbon in 
more than 100 burrows, which were known to be in¬ 
habited by from one to six of the pests. After being 
properly treated, I have never known a colony to open 
up again excepting an occasional one opened from 
the outside by woodchucks coming from neighboring 
fields. 
Our friend either has not used enough of the car¬ 
bon, or has not properly excluded the air. The rifle 
is a good remedy, but I consider carbon cheaper and 
better. From my own observations, I wish to say 
that they are very destructive to young trees, destroy¬ 
ing the bark, as has been said, but instead of their 
claws it is done with their teeth, as I have often seen 
them biting young fruit trees near the ground. For 
what reason I do not know, as they do not eat the 
bark as rabbits do. o. g. w. 
Williamstown, Mass. 
A WOMAN’S STRUGGLE.—I was both interested and 
amused by W. A. L.’s article on ground hogs on page 
17. It reminded me of a little experience of my own 
last Summer. A small part of my two-acre poultry 
farm had been set to cabbages for Winter poultry 
feed, and just as the plants had started in for a fair 
growth, considering the drought, I found, on a visit 
one afternoon, a reddish yellow animal sitting up on 
its hind legs, apparently eating the tops off some 
weeds at the farther border of the lot. “Well,” said 
I to myself, “that’s the queerest-looking little yellow 
dog I ever saw,” for 32 years of city life had not made 
me very proficient in natural history. I advanced 
slowly towards it, and it went on quietly eating until, 
when I was within 100 feet, it started and ran across 
the adjoining pasture to the banks of the river. On 
describing my visitor, I was told it was a woodchuck. 
“But what do woodchucks eat?” I asked. 
Mr. Ground Hog answered that question himself 
within 24 hours, for my next visit to the lot showed 
about 100 of my cabbage plants eaten off nearly even 
with the ground. Now, to the average farmer, it 
might have been but a small loss, but to a woman 
unused to country work it represented a pretty good 
amount of backache and weariness setting out those 
cabbages and carrying water ever 600 feet every day 
to start them in that severe drought. I had no idea 
of giving my labor to furnish food for woodchucks, 
so I took all the strychnine I had bought to kill rats, 
and sprinkled it on the lower leaves, carefully avoid¬ 
ing the centers of the plants which might close up 
with the deadly drug in them, and later cause the 
death of some of my beloved White Leghorns or 
Light Brahmas. Evidently, it must have proved a 
pleasant relish to Mr. Woodchuck and family, for, 
though a large share of those leaves were eaten, yet 
the work of destruction went bravely on afterwards. 
Then I searched the adjacent hillside until I found 
a burrow. There were two openings, so I stopped up 
one and into the other I thrust a can of lighted paper 
saturated with kerosene and plentifully sprinkled 
with brimstone. It made such a pungent smoke that 
I was heartily glad to close the hole. Very small 
spirals of smoke puffed out showing that it was do¬ 
ing its work effectually. For two days my cabbages 
were undisturbed, and the burrow was not dug out, 
but the third morning showed my ted of late plants 
entirely destroyed, and a prolonged search revealed 
a burrow not a rod away. I gave this one a vigor¬ 
ous smoking-out with brimstone, and found it dug 
out 24 hours later, and more mischief done. As 
fast as they had been eaten off I had reset the plants 
from a bed in my garden, nearer the house, for I was 
determined not to be conquered by my enemy, but 
now I was at my wits’ end, and consulted an old 
farmer near by. 
“Sprinkle leaves freely with Paris-green,” was his 
advice. I used it lavishly on the lower leaves of over 
100 plants, and that was the last I knew of the wood¬ 
chuck pests for that season. My hens have eaten 
nearly all those cabbages without a single case of 
mishap, so I think it a safe remedy. ' a. j. a. 
Hazardville, Conn. 
AN OLD FARMER AND HIS FARM. 
There are two classes of people who try hard to 
give agriculture a black eye. One is the man who 
tells a big story and makes it appear that it is the 
easiest thing in the world to make a fortune on the 
farm. This man knows better, but somehow he can’t 
get down to facts and admit that there is any shade 
to his glowing pictures. The other is the man who, 
having half tried, goes about saying that “farmin’ 
don’t pay.” The farm may have provided him with 
shelter, food, fuel and clothing of better quality than 
he could find in any other calling, but it “don’t pay,” 
and he takes care to advertise the fact. If this paper 
meet the eyes of any of this class of people we desire 
them to stop long enough to read this letter from an 
old farmer in Iowa. We have had his letter en¬ 
graved just as it came to us. There’s a lesson for 
you. Like a good story-teller, he keeps the interest 
up to the end, and puts the best meat in the last five 
words. What a happy world this would be if more 
men would mind their own business! 
~ <f &/m, (2^crr*-e- /&L&. - 
_ /#? _ 
_ £ __ 
_ /l£aAA oAci — 
Afay ^ % _ 
d# a/A ctf. —-— 
ifer-l/k 
l*t 
/t. td 
HoAf - lit ferry 
Sew AAtJtA* _ 
ANOTHER OLD FARMER.—Here is a letter—this 
time from a farmer in New York State, which may be 
read with the other: 
Mrs. Smith and I are 66 and 68 years old. We have 
worked prudently all our lives; 32 years on our farm, 
and it is now our own. We had three children born 
to us, and lost them when they were young. Now, 
with no children to look after us, or we after them, 
we have sold the farm, consoling ourselves with the 
thought that we have done our part of farm work, 
and we believe that our neighbors will bear us out in 
saying that we leave the farm in better condition than 
it was when we moved on to it. We have taken The 
A PAIR OF CHEESE KNIVES. Fig. 24. 
R. N.-Y. for over 25 years, and by looking back we 
believe it is demonstrated that instead of its being 
an expense, it has proved a profitable investment. 
What a mine of information we have received in those 
long years! Many a time we have got information 
from its columns that was worth many times the price 
of the paper. o. h. smith 
MAKING SMALL CHEESE AT HOME. 
Plain and Easy Directions. 
Will some one who has had experience give me plain 
directions for making pressed cheese at home? I have 
the milk from three cows. Can the cheese be made in 
cold weather, and where should it be kept? I wish to 
make it for our own use. e. l. c. 
Bunker Hill, Ill. 
THE NEEDED TOOLS.—The utensils necessary to 
make cheese on so small a scale are a tin vat or tank, 
large enough to hold a little more milk than is used 
(it is more convenient if this vat have square cor¬ 
ners); two knives for cutting the curd, one with the 
blades running perpendicularly and the other with 
the blades running horizontally (.see Fig. 24); and a 
siphon of some kind with which to draw off the whey. 
For this a rubber tube of about one inch diameter, 
with a wire strainer fixed on one end to prevent the 
curd from passing out, might be used. The vat 
should be furnished with a water jacket, much the 
same as a double bailer, so that the milk may be 
heated and kept warm. The heat is sometimes sup¬ 
plied by means of a large lamp or an oil stove placed 
under the water vat. It will not do to apply the heat 
directly to the milk vat, for a portion of the milk 
would then be cooked while other portions remained 
cold. For 50 pounds or so of milk two large pails 
could be used, one smaller than and inside the other, 
the heating done by placing them on the cook stove, 
though, as said above, a square-cornered vat is much 
more convenient. 
HEATING AND TESTING.—The first step in the 
process of making the cheese is to warm the milk 
gradually up to 82 degrees and stir it frequently mean¬ 
time to prevent the cream’s rising. To test whether 
the milk is ripe enough to add the rennet, add a tea¬ 
spoonful of rennet to a teacupful of the milk, stir it in 
quickly and note the time required for coagulation. 
If the milk thickens in about one minute, it is ripe 
enough to add the rennet. If coagulation comes 
more slowly, then wait several minutes and test again. 
When the test shows that the milk is ripe enough, 
add the rennet extract to the milk at the rate of 
about one teaspoonful of rennet to 50 pounds of milk, 
but mix the rennet with about one-half cupful of cold 
water before putting into the milk. Stir in quickly 
and thoroughly and then let the milk stand quietly 
until the curd is formed. A handy form of rennet 
is now supplied in tablets. 
CUTTING THE CURD.—When the curd is firm 
enough to cleave entirely away from the vat by press¬ 
ing gently with the fingers it is ready to oe cut. The 
cutting is done with the knives mentioned above. 
Cut twice at right angles to each other with the per¬ 
pendicular knife and follow once with the horizontal 
knife. During all this time the temperature of the 
milk should be Kept at 82 or 84 aegrees. As soon as 
the cutting is done apply more heat gradually until 
the temperature is raised to 98 degrees and mean¬ 
time keep the curd constantly and gently stirred to 
prevent its settling to the bottom. The stirring may 
be done with a small wooden rake, such as the four- 
year-old makes garden with. When the temperature 
has reached 98 degrees the curd is allowed to settle and 
rest for a time. A clean iron is heated not quite hot 
enough to burn the curd, a little of which is pressed 
together in the hand and touched to the hot iron. If, 
on pulling the curd slowly away from the iron, it 
draws out in fine threads about one-fourth inch long, 
the whey may be drawn from the vat. r l his is done 
by the siphon mentioned above. 
STIRRING AND PRESSING.—After the whey is all 
drawn off the curd is stirred with the hands until 
the particles are dry enough so they will not unite. 
Some means must be provided for the whey to drain 
away from the curd while the stirring is being done. 
Then add salt at the rate of 1% ounce to 50 pounds 
of milk; that is, if 50 pounds of milk were used in 
the beginning, put 1 V 2 ounce of salt in the curd 
from that milk. Stir the salt in thoroughly and when 
all is dissolved the curd is ready to place in the press. 
The temperature of the curd should not fall below 75 
degrees up to this time. Leave in press for 24 hours, 
then place in a room which can be Kept at a uniform 
temperature of 70 degrees. After remaining there for 
about two weeks the cheese can be placed in a cooler 
temperature, say 60 to 65 degreer. Turn the cheese 
every day during the curing process to prevent mold¬ 
ing and to preserve a good shape. For the majority 
of tastes cheese is sufficiently cured when a month 
from the press. 
Cheese can be made in cold weather, although it will 
be seen that without convenient appliances it is diffi¬ 
cult to keep the temperature at the proper point, and 
this is absolutely essential in succesful cheesemaking. 
The room for curing should not be too dry nor too 
damp. A dry cellar will do nicely if warm enough. 
Directions for making cheese appeared in The R. 
N. Y. May 13, 1899, on page 366. Those directions 
were for Cheddar cheese and the reasons for the dif¬ 
ferent operations were given to a slight extent. The 
cheese here described is what is known as stirred 
curd. The process requires less machinery, and turns 
out a product which is preferred by many to the 
Cheddar, because it is softer and milder. l. a. 
Save the Birds. —W. F. Allen, the strawberry grower 
of Maryland, told us recently that he never permitted a 
bird of any kind to be shot on his farm. At the time he 
spoke, his yard was well filled with English sparrows, 
which are well known to be a nuisance. Mr. Allen said 
that he would not except even the English sparrows, al¬ 
though at times they became so troublesome that he 
shot a few of them himself. He says that the birds do 
destroy a small quantity of fruit, but there are more in¬ 
sects than fruit, and the birds make most of their dinner 
out of insects. It would be a good plan if thousands of 
other farmers would adopt this same plan, and abso¬ 
lutely prohibit the killing of any bird on the farm. 
