484 
July 24 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
same number of hourB each day. The milk is all 
separated at about the same time in the forenoon, 
and the cream is churned the next morning at about 
the same time every day. ThiB routine is followed 
regardless of the variation in the ripeness of the milk 
or the condition of the cream on different days. 
Acid Test of Cream. 
Very few creameries use any test for ascertaining' 
the acidity of the cream during its ripening, but it is 
put into the ripening vat and left there until the but- 
termaker, or his other work, rather than the cream, 
is in the best condition for churning. Since the milk 
from which the cream is obtained is subjected to 
such a variety of treatment by the patrons, the cream 
from this milk will necessarily possess the different 
degrees of sweetness or sourness that the milk con¬ 
tained, and if each lot of cream is ripened at about 
the same temperature every dsy for the same number 
of hours, it is hardly possible to expect a uniformity 
in the ripeness of each lot of cream when it is 
churned. Buttermaaers understand why this is true. 
They know that cream from pure, sweet milk is not 
nearly so ripe after standing 20 hours at a tempera¬ 
ture of 56 degrees F. as cream from slightly tainted 
or sour milk will be if it is kept at the same tempera¬ 
ture for the same length of time. Creameries have 
to deal with milk of many varieties between these 
two extremes, consequently should test the ripeness 
of each lot of cream and govern the ripening accord¬ 
ingly. in order to secure a uniformity in the ripeness 
of each lot of cream when it is churned. 
Alkaline Tablet Jest. 
I have received many requests to explain the use of 
alkaline tablets for testing the acidity of either milk 
or cream, and show how they can be used to aid the 
buttermaker in obtaining uniformity in the ripeness 
of cream. Each one of the tablets contains a stand¬ 
ard amount of alkali, and by dissolving a definite 
number of them in a certain amount of water, the 
solution thus obtained will be of a standard strength. 
When this colored liquid is poured into a certain 
amount of cream in a white cup, the cream remains 
uncolored until all its acid is neutralized. As soon as 
the acidity of the cream is completely neutralized by 
the tablet solution, the cream in the cup becomes 
pink colored, and the operator notes how much tablet 
solution is required to produce this pink color in the 
cream. The process is something like measuring the 
sourness of lemonade by finding out how many lumps 
of sugar of a certain size it is necessary to add to 
the lemon juice in order to make it sweet. The sourer 
the lemonade the more sugar is required to sweeten 
it, and so the ripe cream takes more tablet solution 
to produce the pink color than a sweet cream. The 
amount of acidity in the cream is indicated by the 
amount of tablet solution used in each test. 
The Standard Solution. 
The standard tablet solution is easily made of a 
convenient strength by dissolving five tablets in 50 
centimeters of water in a graduated cylinder. A 
20 centimeter pipette is used for measuring the cream, 
and the per cent of acidity in the cream is found by 
multiplying by two the number of centimeters of 
tablet solution required to produce the pink color in 
the 20 c. c. of cream. Each centimeter of tablet solu¬ 
tion is approximately equal to two-hundredths of one 
per cent of acidity, so that 10 c. c. tablet solution 
represents about 0,2 per cent acid, 20 c. c. 0.4 per cent, 
25 c. c. 0.5 per cent acid, and so on. 
Sourness of Sweet Cream. 
Cream that is sweet to the taste and smell may con¬ 
tain from 0.15 to 0.30 per cent acidity. This is quite 
a wide range in the acidity which cann ot be measured 
by taste or smell ; but the sweet cream which contains 
0.3 per cent acid will ripen much faster in a given 
time than one having only 0.15 per cent acidity, if 
both be kept at the same temperature. T his shows 
the advantage of testing the acidity of each lot of 
cream when it is first put into the cream vat. The 
cream with 0.3 percent acid will ripen so much faster 
than one with only 0.15 per cent acid, that they must 
be kept at different temperatures if it is desired to 
have the same amount of acid developed at churning 
time, which is usually about the same number of 
hours from the time the cream is put into the ripen¬ 
ing vat. 
The great majority of buttermakers ripen cream 
about twenty hours and then churn it. Very few prac¬ 
tice holding the cream 40 hours before it is churned. 
During its ripening, an acid test should occasionally be 
made of the thoroughly mixed cream ; this will show 
whether the ripening should be checked by cooling 
the cream or hastened by warming it. Since the 
buttermaker can easily check or hasten the cream 
ripening, by either cooling or warming the cream, he 
can use a starter or ripen the cream without one, for 
either 20 or 40 hours, if he will test the acidity every 
few hours and find how fast the ripening is progressing. 
Acidity of Properly Ripened Cream. 
If cream is allowed to ripen much beyond 0.6 per 
cent of acidity, the butter will often have a sour 
flavor, from over ripe cream. When cream has 
reached this point of 0.6 per cent acid, it should be 
cooled at once and kept as cold as possible, 50 degrees 
F., or lower, until it is churned. Very little acidity 
will develop in cream which is cooled to 50 degrees 
F., but it will ripen very fast at 70 degrees F. 
The efforts of the buttermaker should be directed 
towards ripening the cream up to about 0 6 per cent 
acid, and no further, and this amount of acidity 
should be attained a few hours before churning time, 
in order that the cream may be cooled during these 
few hours and reduced to a low churning tempera¬ 
ture. If the cream has not been sufficiently ripened, 
there will be a lack of flavor in the butter, and if it 
is over ripened the butter will have a sour flavor. 
The acid test is an aid to uniform butter flavor, by 
showing when the cream has developed a certain 
amount of acidity. e. h. farbington. 
Wisconsin Dairy School. 
TIMBER LANDS TURNED TO GRASS. 
HOW THE WORK WAS DONE IN WISCONSIN. 
Thirteen years ago, we purchased a farm in this 
county, part of which consisted of bottom timberland. 
For the purpose of making it into a hay meadow, and 
in order to ascertain whether it would prove a losing 
or paying undertaking, we kept strict account of the 
expense and income of the same ; every day’s labor 
that we put in ourselves, as well as team work, was 
charged up to the land at the same rate that we were 
paying for hired labor at the time that it was done. 
This included cutting and hauling of the timber as 
well as the cutting and taking away the hay crop, 
burning of the brush and rubbish, cost of grass seed 
used, etc. Here is a statement of the result up to 
date. 
Dr. 
To cutting wood, clearing and burning brusb.$882.11 
To grass seed, and sowing the same... ••••••• 
To cutting, hauling and stacking 172 tons of bay, at $1.50.. 238.00 
Total.$1,139.56 
Taking into consideration the fact that the first 
cost of the land was only about $12 per acre, and the 
cost of clearing it added to the expense of harvesting 
the several crops of hay foots up $38 per acre more, 
this appears like a very heavy outlay ; but as a good 
share of the labor performed was done by ourselves, 
and with our own teams, at a time when farm work 
was not rushing, and as the balance of the ledger 
shows favorably, $38 per acre invested in the land so 
cleared has proved to be a good investment, as witness 
the following : 
Cr. 
By wood used and sold for firewood, and fence posts. 
By improvement to laud, scraping, ditching, etc. 
By 172 tons of hay sold and used, at $5, $6, and $7 per ton. 
.$885.44 
. 45.50 
.1069.00 
Total 
$2,000.00 
This leaves a balance in our favor of $860, and as the 
cleared tract consists of about 30 acres, it shows an 
actual income of something more than $28 per acre, 
at the end of 10 years, over and above the outlay. No 
interest account on money invested or received has 
been kept, but the improvement to the land has 
doubled, if not trebled, its former value. As the 
result at the start was very uncertain as to its pay¬ 
ing, the outcome might encourage others who own 
such lands to do likewise. 
Part of the land was heavily timbered years ago, 
as a great many standing stumps showed, and to 
make such land available for a hay meadow was a 
big job indeed. As the way we accomplished this 
might be new to others in some respects, I would add 
that a start was made on the most level, and at the 
same time the highest part of the land. Instead of 
digging out the stumps and trees (unless they hap¬ 
pened to be small), we cut them near and almost even 
with the surface of the ground, so as to allow the 
mower to run over them. This is very hard work, 
and in consequence of it, many a man refuses to do it 
in a satisfactory manner. The work of cutting the 
stumps was mostly hired and paid for by the day, 
and where the trees were cut and made into firewood 
or posts, we usually paid 10 cents per cord more than 
the running price. This is inducement enough to 
most men to do the work as required. The stumps 
which are ordinarily left above ground, if cut even 
with the surface, will make more than enough wood 
to pay the extra 10 cents per cord, so that we virtually 
get the worst part of the clearing done free of cost on 
account of such wood otherwise going to waste. 
The first three or four seasons, the limbs of trees 
and brush were piled in large piles for the purpose of 
burning them later ; this proved very unsatisfactory, 
as in nearly every instance, when trying to burn them 
where they lay, we failed, and were obliged to start 
fires outside and rehandle all that we wished to burn, 
thus requiring a good deal of extra labor. Later on, 
and to avoid this, as well as to cheapen the labor, we 
tried the following plan, and with such success that 
hereafter we shall follow it unless a still better way is 
found. The woodchoppers are now required to throw 
all limbs that are not wanted for fuel, etc., one way, 
and instead of making high piles, lay them in rather 
low and flat piles. As soon as an acre, more or less, 
has been cut over, we hitch a span of horses to the 
horse hayrake, and comm ence gathering these limbs, 
large and small, with it. The rake teeth are elevated 
after driving up to the piles, and the team is backed 
one or two feet over the butt ends of the limbs ; the 
teeth are then dropped, and the horses started for the 
place where we burn the brush. Although at first 
one might think the rake would soon give out, it will, 
notwithstanding the rubbing and slashing as well as 
squeaking and scraping that the work occasions, stand 
the racket. It is, of course, hard on the rake, and an¬ 
other instance in which manufacturers do not always 
know to what use their tools are frequently put. But 
if one has a good steel rake, it will do that kind of 
work and do away with one of the worst features of 
brush burning, because it can be done not only quicker 
but a great deal cleaner and, in consequence, better 
than with half a dozen hands. All one needs is one 
or two good rousing fires instead of ten or a dozen, 
and may be more. One or two men will handle and 
burn the brush as it is gathered from a radius of 
eight or ten rods, at the same time leaving the land 
in nice shape to seed to grass. 
It frequently happens on some bottom lands that 
the lowest places are too soft to bear up a team and 
loaded wagon; in such a case, the brush may be util¬ 
ized there. In gathering the brush in the manner 
described, we find when there is snow on the ground 
it materially interferes with rapid progress, and it 
should be done, if possible, at a time when there is 
none. 
After clearing in the manner described, the first, 
second, and, sometimes, the third crop consists largely 
of weeds ; these are looked after during their growth, 
and as soon as they are about to blossom, we com¬ 
mence to use the mower and cut what brush may 
have grown, together with a little grass here and 
there. If necessary, on account of weeds, we repeat 
the operation during the season. These cuttings are 
left on the ground one or two days, so as to cure, and 
although one might feel inclined to touch a match to 
them, we raked all together in windrows, and as we 
needed bedding for the stock, this mixture of smart- 
weeds, pigweeds, thistles, foxtail, golden rod, Tickle- 
grass, boneset, Prickly ash, willows, flags and at 
least, as many more different kinds added, wero 
taken home and stacked in the yard. In this way, 
we unexpectedly discovered that, especially during 
the winter, horses and cattle will eat nearly every¬ 
thing mentioned, clean, and you need not starve 
them to it, either, as in the case of feeding rye hay. 
Our stock is fed about all the good Timothy hay and 
corn stalks, as well as some clover, peas and oats 
mixed, that they will eat clean ; yet there is some¬ 
thing about these weeds that they like, and in con¬ 
sequence, eat nearly all of them if given to them in 
small quantities, so we take them away in preference 
to burning them. 
We have, during this period, sown some grass seed 
annually on such places as needed it, but aside from 
this, have had hardly any expense to speak of except¬ 
ing to keep the newly-cleared portions free from 
brush that showed here and there at first. On the 
whole, we are more than satisfied with the result, 
as the income from such land is a sure source of 
revenue, first on account of there being no expense 
for fertilizing such meadows, because of the annual 
overflows. Then early and late, and during the hot 
test portions of our dry summers, it yields unfailing 
pasturage. Owners of similar lands may consider 
themselves fortunate. J. v. l. 
La Crosse, Wis. 
Chemicals for a Wheat Crop. 
G. L. G., Oneida, If. Y.—l can get land plaster for $3 per ton. 
What chemicals shall I use with one ton of plaster for a fertilizer 
for wheat ? Where can l get them, and what will be the cost ? 
Ans. —We would not advise you to mix plaster with 
other chemicals to make a wheat fertilizer. Plaster 
or sulphate of lime is not, strictly speaking, a fer¬ 
tilizer. Its greatest value is in “fixing” or holding 
ammonia, which it does when put with manure or 
sprinkled in the stables. We would never use plaster 
at all except as a part of manure—using at first m the 
stables or yards, and thus getting a double use from it. 
The simplest wheat fertilizer you can make is a mix¬ 
ture of three parts fine ground bone and one part 
muriate of potash. Use this when sowing the wheat, 
as heavily as you can afford and, the following 
spring, use 200 pounds or more of nitrate of soda per 
acre. These chemicals may be bought of the fertilizer 
firms advertising in The R. N.-Y. The cost will 
depend upon the quantity bought and the ability to 
pay cash. 
