1901 
447 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
FARM AND DAIRY NOTES. 
Care of Milk. —In 25 years’ experi¬ 
ence I have not seen milk in such fine 
condition for the month of May. Nat¬ 
ural conditions have been perfect, cool 
weather with pure air, made so by the 
frequent showers. We shall without 
doubt have unfavorable weather during 
the season. We must have cleanliness 
in the dairy. The trouble has been to 
make people understand what grade of 
cleanliness they must observe. It is 
a weakness of human nature to observe 
those who are not doing as well as we 
are, and pat ourselves upon the back, 
thus obtaining a clear conscience. I find 
myself doing this same thing time and 
again, and it takes a good deal of will 
power to reverse the lever and look at 
the fellow who is doing better, and find 
out how he does it. There is no conten¬ 
tion over clean cans, strainers and pails. 
There are, however, two points debat¬ 
able, one straining milk, and the other 
aeration. I have repeatedly stated in 
institutes that straining milk is a fraud, 
and usually bringing out subsequent 
criticism, but following the statement 
v/ith the question: “If a cow puts her 
foot in the pail, how much could be 
strained out except the leg?” Listeners 
were willing to give the idea a mo¬ 
ment’s thought. 
I would much prefer to receive coarse 
dirt, and that is all a cotton strainer 
takes out, than to have milk pass 
tbroiigh any kind of strainer not abso¬ 
lutely germ proof. The question of aera¬ 
tion has not been discussed by our dairy 
e.\perts, only from the affirmative. I do 
not wish to be considered heterodox. I 
have been one of the strongest advo¬ 
cates of aeration, and honestly so, be¬ 
cause I had seen good results from it. 
It is my judgment now that the good 
effect is due rather to the cooling effect 
of the air than to any effect by coming 
in contact with the aii*. If milk has 
taken on odors from weeds or silage, 
which are to a certain extent volatile, 
aeration will materially aid in produc¬ 
ing a cleaner-flavored product, provided 
(he exposure took place in an atmos¬ 
phere not impregnated with germ life. 
The great danger attendant upon aera¬ 
tion comes from the fact that the work 
is usually done near the stable or milk¬ 
ing barn. I am speaking of the factory 
patron, from actual count among a large 
number of farmers, noting the location 
of the milk cans when milking. Less 
than 50 per cent had a suitable place to 
aerate. This will be read by some of our 
patrons, and, no doubt, they will say at 
once: “Why have you so strenuously 
advocated the purchase of aerators?” 
No, I do not say stop aeration. Our 
patrons who use the combined aerators 
and coolers, like the Champion, as a 
rule deliver the best milk. But the 
point I wish to make clear is this. The 
good effect of aeration is more largely 
due to the cooling which takes place, 
either by coming in contact with a cool 
surface or in dropping through the air, 
which is usually much cooler than the 
milk, and not due alone to air contact. 
In my judgment there is only one safe 
v/ay to care for milk at the farm home 
when delivered once a day to the cream¬ 
ery or cheese factory, and that is to set 
the milk cans in cold water, frequently 
stirring for the first half hour. Ice is 
the only agent which we can safely em¬ 
ploy in checking germ growth. It is 
practically impossible to keep germs out 
of milk, but at a 50-degree temperature 
they develop so slowly that manufacture 
or consumption takes place before loss. 
Milking Tubes. —I think I have 
learned one cause of so much trouble 
following the use of milking tubes. It 
has been our experience often that more 
harm was done by increased infiamma- 
tion than value by using the tube. I 
have heard farmers In institute meet¬ 
ings give substantially the same testi¬ 
mony. We formerly used no special 
care of the tube after use; that is, it 
was not sterilized before using. What 
better medium for conveying germs into 
the teat and udder? A coating of milk 
would adhere to the tube inside and out, 
just enough to grow these little plants 
in countless numbers. The tube would 
be put into a pocket or covered with a 
rag or hung up by a string, any way but 
the right way. Of late I have sterilized 
the tube just before using and the re¬ 
sults have been more satisfactory. Of 
course there is danger under the most 
favorable conditions, and I would not 
advise their use if possible to avoid it. 
But sometimes it is necessary. We have 
just had two cases, one cow lacerated 
the end of the teat, and another cow 
with contagious garget. 
Garget Remedy. —Dr. Smead gave us 
a remedy for this trouble that is a fairly 
good one, made of one part carbolic acid 
and one part glycerine; one part of this 
mixture to seven parts raw linseed oil, 
used on the end and in the passage. 
Contagious garget is the germ growth 
on the end of the teat, which finds its 
way up the passage until all chance for 
getting the milk is gone. I have used 
a tube on this teat, dipped each time in 
the above preparation before use, and 
the teat is improving. It was so far 
gone that hand pressure failed to start 
a drop. 
Feeding Silage. —We are feeding one 
dairy silage, and shall continue for two 
weeks. The cows have abundance of 
grass, yet they eat the silage as eagerly 
as in midwinter, but it’s as fine as silk; 
nearly odorless, bright, clean as the day 
it went in. It was cut fine and well 
packed. Don’t be afraid of cutting fine 
and distributing ears, stalks and leaves 
evenly all over the surface, ana then 
tread every portion alike. Don’t tread 
the sides and let the rest of it go with¬ 
out. Don’t go to extremes any way in 
anything. 
Tile Wet Weather. —Rain, rain, rain 
everywhere. One can find satisfaction 
usually in every condition if he has only 
improved every opportunity in the past. 
The past dry seasons offered a splendid 
chance for ditching and draining out the 
low marshy lands that are too wet in 
a wet year, and in a dry time the plant 
food seems quite indigestible. As I 
write, the clover stands large enough to 
cut a good swath on land formerly water 
soaked. I have found a saving in energy 
and expense when work was done at a 
time natural agencies were helpful. Al¬ 
though rain has been so abundant that 
soils are sticky and difficult to work, 
yet it is a much more favorable time to 
kill weeds. Quack grass and every man¬ 
ner of foul stuff than during severely 
dry periods. Every seed and root is de¬ 
termined to grow, and frequent working 
puts an end to their days. While our 
work has been delayed we have made 
the best of it and put large fields in the 
finest condition. h. e. cook. 
BRIEF DAIRY NOTES. 
Milkers and Milking. —Our experi¬ 
ence with milkers and milking doesn’t 
coincide with H. E. Cook, on page 383. 
We want and like the men who can milk 
cows the quickest and cleanest. We 
don’t mean men who go at a cow “ham¬ 
mer and tongs,” but attend strictly to 
business,, milk fast and gently. Our ex¬ 
perience is based upon close observation, 
backed up by study of daily records kept 
for several years on from 40 to 60 cows. 
The slower men almost invariably drop 
on the record, and are quite as apt to be 
the ones who are afraid of the nervous 
cows, and when milking keep the cow 
stepping and switching her tail. Fast 
milkers get more milk, are apt to milk 
more cleanly and we have never seen as 
the effect of their work “bunches in 
teats, garget, swelled udder,” etc. Milk¬ 
ing is one of the vital points in dairying 
and does not receive the attention it 
should. We believe one of the great rea¬ 
sons so many fail in dairying carried on 
with other lines of farming is that milk¬ 
ing can be done at any time, and by any¬ 
body, This morning at ‘k o’clock, to¬ 
morrow at 7, and “any old time” at 
night. Regularity and the cow at ease 
will pay. 
Spraying Cows.—We have tried five 
of the commercial fiy killers, and have 
not been perfectly satisfied. When ap¬ 
plied just before milking most of them 
are good for that one milking; some 
may have a salutary effect on the next 
one, but you can count only on one 
milking, and it's quite a task and some¬ 
what expensive, in the busy season of 
labor, and also of material to spray 50 
or 60 cows twice a day. They are all 
vile smelling compounds, and ought to 
be used at least a half hour before milk¬ 
ing, and this isn’t always possible when 
the cows are in pasture. We have never 
observed any ill-effect upon the milk be¬ 
cause of the odor connected with them, 
but have been careful to use them as 
long before milking as possible, and to 
keep the milk cans outside of the stable. 
As our barn has many windows the odor 
soon disappears. During the latter part 
of last season my brother was spraying 
the henhouse with water-gas tar, which 
we buy at per barrel, and as there 
was some left in the sprayer it was tried 
on some of the cows. It drove the flies 
away, and kept them away two to three 
days. Since that time we have used the 
tar. It seems to have no ill-effect upon 
the hair or skin, and keeps off the files 
twice or three times as long as the fiy 
killers, and costs less than two cents a 
gallon. Of course it smells bad, but not 
much if any worse than the commercial 
preparations. We have used the cheap 
tin sprayers for such work, but they are 
hard on the arms, too much friction, and 
we plan this season to use one of the 
better makes of the compressed-air 
sprayers. 
Tarring Corn. —We have noticed the 
directions for spreading tar on corn. Our 
way is simple, and the corn never clogs 
01 ' fills up holes in the planter. We use 
just enough tar, so that by vigorous 
stirring a minute or two tne corn is all 
black, then spread in the sun a few 
minutes, pouring the corn on a sack. We 
mix a half-bushel at a time. The tar 
dries quickly, and the corn can be han¬ 
dled without blacking the fingers or use 
of plaster, etc. Don’t leave in hot sun 
too long, as tar absorbs heat very fast, 
and will burn one’s hands if spotted 
with tar. It might injure the corn. 
Oonnecticut. n. o. m. 
Egg-Hatching Record.— On April 27 I 
set a 120-egg Cyphers Incubator and five 
hens on S. C. White Leghorn eggs from 
pens of from 15 to 18 females to one male. 
Promptly on the twenty-first day there 
were hatched. 118 chicks from Incubator, 
and 10, 12, 13, 13 and 15 respectively from 
the five hens; the first one broke three 
eggs. There were only five Infertile eggs 
out of the 192 set. Can anyone beat that 
record? mrs. a. j. a. 
Hazardville,' Conn. 
Fertilizer for Rabbits.— I notice an In¬ 
quiry from a person In Pennsylvania ask¬ 
ing for a wash to prevent rabbits peeling 
young apple trees. I will give you one 
that I have tried on apples, pears, peaches, 
etc., and it worked all right. Mix fresh 
cow droppings with enough water to make 
a thick wash; get a brush or a rag on the 
end of a stick and proceed to wash the 
trees up as far as needed and the rabbits 
will pass by on the other side. Put the 
wash on on a dry day, so that It will dry 
up quickly. If there Is much rain one or 
more applications may be necessary, I 
only used one, put on in the Fall. 
Bellalre, O. p. a, w. 
FRIEND 
Thil eow 
WM a l«rr«r 
to milk 
. ' prior to 
* using ^ 
eents worth 8 hoo*Fl 7 « Had it been 
used earlier she would not have lost milk 
and tlesh to the amount of |U. The other 
cow was protected early and continued to 
give 18 qtt. daily through flj time* 
ThousaiidK haveduplicated 10 gallons seven consecutive years. 
If your dealer does not keep it, send us $1.00 for latest improved 
double tube sprayer and enough 8hoo-Fly to protect 100 cows, 
or send 25c for liquid. Cash returned if cows are not protected. 
SHOO-FLY MFG. CO., 1005 Fairmount Ave.,Phlla.Pa. 
glSS EUREKA FLY KILLER 
does the work on stock and poultry. We warrant it. 
Best ajjr'l authorities In D.8. endorse It. Can you ask 
more? Rapid seller. Big profit. Sure success. 1,000 
live agents wanted. Write for prices. Bio territory 
given. The J. H. Ames Co., Oowdoinham, Me, 
CHURN 
DASHER 
LIGHTNING 
1st. Yon can churn In half the time. 
2d. You can save three-fourths the labor 
Why? Because the handle Is In two 
parts the upper part, where yon take 
hold of it, revolves around an Iron bolt. 
The dasher Is so constructed that It re¬ 
volves swlftlv, both passing downward 
and upward, thereby increasing the mo¬ 
mentum at least .'iO per cent. Delivered 
free on receipt of 35c. TUBO. J. ELY 
MFG. CO.. Girard, Pa., U. 8. A. 
You’ve Been Humbugged 
by cream separators that mix water 
with milk and do not separate. THE 
SUPERIOR CREAM SEPARATOR 
effects a complete separation in the 
shortest possible ti me by a circulation 
of cold water In an outer jacket. A 
trla 1 convinces and every can is guar- 
arteed. Write to-day. Agents XVanted 
Sri’FKlOR FENCE MACHINE CO , 
184 GrandKiverAve.,Detroit,Mlch. 
Aerated Milk 
'because of Its purity and long 
keeping nuallties will make 
and hold trade for any man 
who sells It. The 
CHAMPION 
Milk Cooler and 
_ Aerator 
)0NT HAVE prepares It In the best form. 
_ , , Takes out all odors, germs of 
, 5 n LI R decay.dlsease germs.etc. Send 
^7.. for Hooklet, “Milk and lU 
I L|\ Care”—mailed free. 
_ CHAMPION MILK COOLER CO., 
Milk Ueaien' Suppiisa, Squlrss St., Cortlind, R. Y. 
SHARPIES 
Ormam Saparatoam 
I Have Tubular Uowlfly 
use DO disks, eAsy to run, rsllabfs. 
durable aud effective. Catalog JM 
aod treatise, ^^Basinesa Dairying'* 
I free. 7%€b^dairym«n9ayt£t^ar0 
(Ae htEt Mtparaters, 
Sharpies Co., f. M. Shirpltt, 
Chicago, III. West Chaitar.w, 
THERE IS NO BEHER INVESTMENT 
FOR 
THE 
DAIRY 
THAN 
THE 
IMPROVED UNITED STATES SEPARATOR 
Its substantial one-piece frame and enclosed 
gears running in oil insures the user of a long 
lived machine and few repair bills. 
Its threerseparators-in-one bowl makes it the 
greatest cream producer on the market, as has 
been proved many times in competition with 
other makes. 
If interested, write for illustrated catalogues. 
VERMONT FARM MACHINE CO. 
BELLOWS FALLS, VT. 
