52 7 
iS9o THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
for their flesh, which is put up in tins to feed the armies of 
the Old World. 
If the people of our grazing districts did not intelligently 
use well-bred bulls in 1880, the same is not true of 1890. This 
spring a revival in the cattle business generally took 
place, cattlemen bought up the entire bull produce of the 
beef breeds, and there were not enough to go around. 
These bulls were bought at their practical value as a legit¬ 
imate investment, their purchasers securing them for the 
purpose of improving the carcasses and feeding qualities 
of their herds. It is perfectly safe to say^that no inferior 
animals of doubtful value were palmed off on these pur¬ 
chasers at more than their value, and it is equally sure 
that intelligent discrimination was exercised. Among the 
bulls we sold (Herefords) to ranchmen we received for no 
single animal less than $150. I predict a steady, healthy 
growth of the demand for pure-bred bulls from the West¬ 
ern States, and prices will depend on the merits of the ani¬ 
mals. I am led to think that Herefords will be more 
largely required for the ranges, with Short-horns a good 
second. The fact is that the financial salvation of all beef 
raisers lies through the use of the blood of the beef breeds of 
that sturdy, low-set, broad-backed and deep-fleshed type 
that we have learned to look for in a well-bred Hereford, 
Short-horn or Scotch black poll. 
CREAMING MILK WITHOUT ICE. 
The article by Col. F. D. Curtis on “Raising Cream 
without Ice,” in a recent issue of the Country Gentleman, 
(see page 530 of this week’s R. N.-Y.,) leads me to offer a 
few words bearing on this important subject: 
During the last four months of my connection with the 
Geneva Station I had in progress a series of experiments 
to determine the most favorable conditions for creaming 
milk, especially without the 
use of ice. Between 50 and 75 
experiments were made, and 
the results, with the full data, 
are on the books at Geneva. 
The experiments were not 
completed ; but a few general 
observations will serve t o 
awaken interest in this ques¬ 
tion of such vital importance 
to our dairymen, especially in 
seasons like the present when 
ice may be considered a luxury. 
It has been quite generally 
recommended to add warm 
water, at a temperature of, 
say, 120 degrees, to the fresh 
milk in order to hasten the 
rising of the cream and to 
secure the most efficient 
separation of the butter fat. 
The claim was made that by 
adding warm water and rais¬ 
ing the temperature of the 
milk, the range of tempera¬ 
ture through which that milk 
had to fall was increased; 
consequently a more complete 
separation of the fat from the 
milk would be secured. It 
was further argued, and cor¬ 
rectly, that by diluting the 
milk we shortened the time 
required for the cream to rise 
to the surface. On the other 
hand, it is held that the more 
quickly we can cool the milk 
down to below 50 degrees, 
the more efficient will be the 
recovery of fat. This last 
claim cannot be said to fully 
harmonize in all respects with the recommendation to add 
warm water to the milk. Theoretically, the addition of 
cold water to the milk should give us the best results if 
our present notions regarding milk be true. Practically, 
I think this will be found true, and my experiments all 
tend to confirm Col. Curtis’s trials in using cold water. 
In a large number of trials I found that 20 per cent, of 
water added—one-fifth as much water as milk—gave 
nearly, if not quite, as good results as a larger quantity. 
This is a matter of importance, especially when the skim- 
milk is to be fed. Milk from different herds, or from in¬ 
dividual animals even, may vary in this respect. I next 
found that by adding 20 per cent, of water at 120 degrees 
to the milk as it came to the dairy—usually at a tem¬ 
perature of about 90 degrees—the creaming was hastened 
and that the amount of fat remaining in the skim-milk 
was materially reduced from 20 to 30 per cent, in most 
cases. By further experiment I found that cold water 
added to milk gave better results than warm water, and 
that the colder the water the more quickly did the cream 
rise. I soon found, however, that when I used water 
much below 50 degrees—certainly below 45 degrees—I did 
not recover the fat so fully as when water at about 50 to 
55 degrees was used—that is, a larger per cent, of the fat 
remained in the skim-milk when water much below 50 de¬ 
grees was added to the milk. Whether this would be gen¬ 
erally true I can not say, as my experiments were here 
brought to a close, as were also investigations with a new 
method for milk analyses and the testing of the Boyd sys¬ 
tem for ripening cream. 
The experiments thus far made led me to believe that 
the addition of about 20 per cent, of water (at 50 degrees) to 
milk was preferable to an addition of warm water as an 
aid to raising the cream. The cream was raised in less 
time and more completely with cold water than with 
-jyjirm. Dr. Babcock found fibrin to be less active if the 
\ 
\ 
temperature of the milk was quickly lowered, as by the 
cold processes of setting; hence more efficient creaming. 
This would harmonize also with the plan of adding cold 
water rather than warm to milk. While my investiga¬ 
tions were brought to a close before the chemical and 
microscopical researches were completed, yet I felt quite 
certain, from observations, that the quality of the butter 
was improved by using cold water instead of warm for 
diluting the milk, as treating it much above the normal 
temperature seemed to cause the fat globules In it to 
coalesce. On this last point I would not wish to be under¬ 
stood as taking positive ground, since my experiments 
were too incomplete to justify any real claim; but they 
may afford a clue for others to work upon. 
From the results of the experiments thus far made I 
would suggest that each dairyman should make a few 
single trials for himself. Let him take a morning’s or 
evening’s milk, mix it thoroughly and then divide it 
equally. Let one lot of this milk be set just as delivered to 
the dairy. To the other half let one-fifth as much water 
as milk be added. Let the temperature of the water be 
about 50 degrees, and otherwise let the two lots of milk be 
treated alike, and let the dairyman see which is creamed 
first, and which gives him the most butter for a series of 
trials. My trials all go to show that it will pay to dilute 
the milk in the summer when one is without ice, and in 
the winter always. e. f. ladd. 
CRIMSON CLOVER— 1 TRIFOIUM INCARNATUM. 
This forage plant was introduced into this State about 
10 years ago. It has proved to be of such great value for 
forage and for plowing under for green manure that much 
interest has been awakened among the farmers and fruit 
growers in regard to it. It is found in Southern Europe, 
and is extensively cultivated in some parts of France, Ger¬ 
many and Italy. It closely resembles the common Red 
Clover—Trifolium pratense—in appearance, except In the 
shape and color of the blossom, which is from two to three 
inches in length, and about one-half an inch in diameter. 
The color is a brilliant crimson. I know of nothing more 
beautiful of its kind than this clover, with its thrifty plant 
and bright blossom. A field of it in full bloom is a sight 
which will long be remembered. There is a variety with 
a white blossom, and occasional specimens of it are fre¬ 
quently seen in fields of the Crimson. Crimson Clover dif¬ 
fers from Red Clover in being an annual. Plants from 
seed sown in the spring will bloom and mature seed the 
same season and then die. In this State it has heretofore 
been gr wn principally for the purpose of being plowed 
under in the spring as a green manure. It is the practice 
of a number of farmers and fruit growers to sow the seed 
broadcast, at the rate of eight to 10 pounds per ?- ere, in 
their peach orchards and corn-fields at the last cultivation 
of the soil during July and August. The plants make 
sufficient growth to cover the ground with a mat of the 
foliage, that remains green throughout the winter and 
furnishes excellent pasture before the ordinary clover 
starts to grow in the spring. The plants are in full 
bloom by May 10, and the seed ripens about four weeks 
later. Several farmers in Kent County last season were so 
well pleased with it that they seeded large areas of their 
peach orchards and corn-fields with it for the purpose of 
filling their siloes with the green fodder. It is greedily 
eaten by all kinds of stock. If cut and cured before it is 
too mature, it makes an excellent quality of hay. The 
plants produce seed abundantly, frequently yielding from 
10 to 16 bushels of clean seed per acre. It has given excel¬ 
lent satisfaction upon light sandy and also upon heavy 
clay soils, and promises to be very valuable for Increasing 
the fertility of poor soils. I have been informed that it 
has been successfully grown at the New York Agricultural 
Experiment Station at Geneva. I am so favorably im¬ 
pressed with it that I intend testing it upon my own 
farm in the vicinity of Elmira, N. Y. m. h. beckwith. 
Kent County, Del. 
[Prof. Beal, of the Michigan Agricultural College, after 
repeated trials of Crimson Clover on a small scale, thinks 
it of no value for Michigan. Prof. Gulley is of the same 
opinion for Mississippi. An illustration of it appeared in 
The R. N.-Y. of July 27, 1885, page 434. Mr. D. S. Hicks 
has raised it in Brunswick County, Va., and has confidence 
that it will prove valuable as far north as New York. It 
is not hardy in Michigan, according to Dr. Beal.—E ds.] 
WOOD ASHES. 
I think few farmers have made a more systematic use of 
wood ashes than myself, and I have bought a good deal 
from farmers whose land had more immediate need of them 
than my own. But they had tried ashes themselves, and 
could not see that they had helped the crops any, except 
that they seemed to bring in White Clover. President 
Smith’s recent praise of ashes, not only as a fertilizer, but 
as a means of keeping the soil moist, will no doubt help to 
boom the Canadian ashes trade; but I think some caution 
is needed, and some knowledge of what ashes will and will 
not do for a crop, in order that one should not waste money 
in experiments with them as a fertilizer. It must^be first 
understood that ashes are not a complete fertilizer. They 
contain nothing that will supply the nitrogenous element 
of plant food, and, if this is lacking, a dressing of ashes 
will not much benefit any crop except one, like clover, 
which can gather nitrogen from the air. There is nothing 
that it behooves farmers to learn about more important 
than how to balance and proportion the plant food they 
use, so that there shall be 
neither lack nor waste of any 
useful element. This is per¬ 
haps the least well understood 
thing in farming, and the 
most worthy of study. In Mr. 
Smith’s case, he applied ashes 
successfully to land long in 
cultivation, with other man¬ 
ure, and got what seemed to 
him remarkable results, 
especially in increasing the 
power of the soil to hold moist¬ 
ure. This is what will be al¬ 
ways seen on such land. But 
let any man with a thin,> light 
soil apply ashes, no matter 
how freely, and it is most prob¬ 
able that he will see no im¬ 
provement in his crop, though 
he may be observing enough to 
note a better growth of clover 
there in succeeding seasons. 
Upon a potato crop treated 
with a light dressing of man¬ 
ure,ashes will often do marked 
good, and the same would be 
true upon a thin sod for corn 
or beans. In the first case, 
the manure gave a relative ex¬ 
cess of Ditrogen, needing the 
potash and phosphates of the 
ashes to make it available, 
while the corn crop, needing 
but little nitrogen, would 
make prompt use of the con¬ 
stituents of the ashes. 
For young fruit trees, ashes, 
supplying the non-volatile ele¬ 
ments for making wood, are 
an excellent fertilizer, caus¬ 
ing a free but firm growth. On bearing fruit trees stable 
manure, or some other complete fertilizer is called for, 
and without such a food supply the leafage will be pale 
and scanty, and the crop light and poor. With ashes 
alone, the surest way to bring up worn land of a lightish 
nature is to grow clover, for which ashes constitute a 
complete manure. The clover will gather in a large 
supply of nitrogen and store it In its stems, leaves and 
roots. Used in this way, ashes will surely and rapidly 
build up such a farm. About 50 bushels to the acre of 
ashes averaging five to six per cent, of potash, will grow 
clover which, when turned under the second season, will 
give 25 bushels of wheat where 10 bushels of rye would 
have been a large yield without the ashes, and where 
clover would have made no considerable growth. In many 
cases ashes are not within the reach of those who would 
like to try them. In such a case a good substitute is a 
mixture of muriate of potash with a plain acid phosphate, 
or finely ground bone. The proportions ought to be such 
as will give about three parts of phosphoric acid to one of 
potash. If this is used to grow clover, any other crop can 
be grown afterwards with success. Of course, the method 
will be used in connection with the home supply of 
manure, and may be continued until the farm becomes in 
this way nearly seif supporting in the way of fertilizing 
material. I have said nothing about the use of ashes on 
heavy soils, yet there is occasionally a case in which clays 
are benefited by potash. If ashes give a marked result on 
clover, the soil needs them. t. h. Hoskins. 
[Dr. Hoskins’s remarks are suggestive and valuable. 
There are parts of the country where good wood ashes are 
cheap. In such places, farmers should never buy chemical 
fertilizers until the ashes have been tried. A first-rate 
supplement to unleached ashes is raw bone flour, being 
strong in phosphoric acid, in which ashes are weak, and 
furnishing nitrogen of which ashes are destitute. Eds.] 
COLLAR AND HARNESS FOR CATTLE. Fig. 213. 
