i89o 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
T.he Farmers Club. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
[Every query must be accompanied by the name and address 
of the writer to insure attention. Before asking a question, please 
see if it is not answered in our advertising columns. Ask only 
a few questions at one time. Put questions on a separate piece 
of paper.] 
WHY IS BUTTER REWORKED ? 
Several Subscribers. —What would be the answer of 
some of our best butter-makers to this question : “ How 
can I improve butter that has been granulated and washed 
free from buttermilk by allowing it to stand 12 or 24 hours 
and reworking? Does such “improved” butter possess 
better keeping qualities ? 
One Washing, One Working. 
I have tried both methods, and have decided that re¬ 
worked butter is no better and has no better keeping qual¬ 
ities than butter that has been well washed and worked 
once. Therefore I have adopted the latter method. 
Hampshire County, Mass. f. w. DICKINSON. 
Six Hours Better. 
I do not think that butter should stand 24 hours before 
the second working. I think six hours would be better. 
If the butter is thoroughly washed and salt is uniformly 
mixed with it and it is properly worked, then the quicker 
it goes into the package the better. In my estimation but¬ 
ter treated in this way would possess better keeping qual¬ 
ities than that which has been allowed to stand 24 hours. 
Crawford County, Pa. LEON MAGAW. 
Less Working Required. 
If butter in a granular form is gently washed at a 
temperature of 60 degrees and freed from buttermilk and 
immediately given a slight and careful working, then left 
for 12 hours at the same temperature, and afterwards re¬ 
worked gently, it will require less working than if treated 
in any other way and, therefore, the butter granules will 
not be broken, hence it will have superior keeping qualities 
and flavor. wu. heugh. 
Cheshire County, N. H. 
An Abandoned Practice. 
The percentage of water remaining in the butter is re¬ 
duced somewhat by reworking; but that butter so treated 
has any better keeping qualities I doubt very much. It is 
a practice I abandoned four years ago. The only working 
I give butter is what it receives in the churn (revolving) 
and in packing. I put my butter from the churn directly 
into the package for shipment. Exposure to air is one 
very potent cause why butter spoils soon ; and I reason 
that the less it is exposed before it is packed the better. I 
have a wide acquaintance among the leading dairymen in 
all parts of this State, and they nearly all either follow the 
practice I have outlined, or use a worker as the butter is 
taken from the churn and then pack it at once. This is 
also the practice at the creameries. Reworking butter is 
among the “ has beens ” with a large percentage of the 
more progressive dairymen. e. g. fuller. 
Calumet County, Wis. 
Less Working Insures Better Temperature. 
In my experience I have found the principal advantage 
gained in allowing butter to remain in the granular form 
a few hours before lumping or packing it, is that unless 
the cream at the time of churning is exactly at the 
proper temperature and degree of ripeness, all the butter¬ 
milk cannot be worked out and the salt raked into the 
granular butter will in a few hours get hold of the butter¬ 
milk left in, so that tho amount of working necessary to 
lump or pack the butter will remove the otherwise lost 
buttermilk, and in this way make the butter keep better. 
The only other advantage is that one can be sure of having 
the butter of the right temperature to work. 
Middlesex County, Mass. e. f. BOWDITCH. 
No Reworking Needed. 
“The Old Brick Guernsey Butter” is placed on a 
Blanchard butter-worker in the granulated form from the 
water in whicfl it was washed free from the buttermilk. 
The moisture is pressed from it and it is finished immedi¬ 
ately for printing, never standing at all or being reworked. 
As the demand for it exceeds the supply, it is never kept 
to become old. j. p. taber willets. 
Queens County, N. Y. 
Washed Butter Keeps Better. 
I have experimented somewhat to ascertain the keeping 
qualities of washed granular butter and unwashed. 1 And 
that butter thoroughly washed in pure water when in the 
granular state, will keep longer than that not washed. I 
have taken butter from the same churning, oefore it was 
washed, and thoroughly worked the buttermilk out of it, 
then salted it in the same way as the remainder of the 
churning which had been washed while in the granular 
form. The latter kept perfectly sweet and good for one to 
two weeks longer in the summer months than the un¬ 
washed butter. By thoroughly washing the butter while 
in the granular form, all the caseine and foreign matter 
are taken out, leaving only the butter fat, and giving it the 
true butter flavor, free from the insipid sour curd taste. 
Its freedom from curds, I think, will account for its better 
keeping qualities also. • L. P. bailey. 
Montgomery County, Ohio. 
The Whole Story. 
I assume that pure butter fat will not dissolve salt, 
but only hold it in suspension or, by mechanically sur¬ 
rounding it, retain it dispersed in the lumps or layers in 
which the butter-maker, by greater or less skill, has left it. 
The reply to the question must be prefaced by an “ if. If 
the butter when it breaks from the churned cream is at a 
temperature that will allow the globules to form sepa¬ 
rately, and not mass into lumps, and if the process of 
churning is stopped at the point where the grains are, not 
the “size of wheat,” but like shot of the thickness of a 
wheat kernel; then if the thermometer is used to test the 
water or brine used in washing it, and a temperature of 62 
degrees, or, in warm weather, one as low as 58 degrees is 
obtained, the surface of each granule is hardened so that 
it can roll on its neighbors without clinging to them. This 
condition having been secured, the butter is practically en¬ 
tirely free from buttermilk. A little delay will also allow 
the water held in the interspaces to run off. Whether it 
is now drained in the barrel churn or is laid on the table 
of the butter-worker it is ready for the salt. Ten pounds 
in a barrel churn can be salted perfectly by tilting the 
churn this way aud that, and sifting the salt on each fresh 
surface as it appears until finally the very bottom is ex¬ 
posed as the bulk lies on the extreme side of .the churn. 
This butter, gathered at once by the revolution of the churn 
into a mass, is straightway ready for the packing. The pres 
sure on thin sheets laid in the firkin or on small portions 
divided for prints, will oftentimes extract so little brine 
as to be practically inappreciable. 
If the mass taken from the churn is passed over the 
butter-worker and more completely intermingled and 
compressed, the work is better done and a half hour or 
more may elapse before working the butter if it is not 
allowed to be chilled, and so to become stiff and refractory. 
Having pure butter, salted, and free from buttermilk, the 
only object in working a second time after an interval of 
several hours, is to obliterate the evidence of haste or care¬ 
lessness on the part of the buttermaker in applying the 
salt to the butter. If, in a layer of butter two inches 
thick, the entire amount of salt is applied on top, and, in 
the working, two salted surfaces are folded together in¬ 
stead of the bottom of one mass resting on the salted top 
of another, a simple rolling twice through the worker will 
not distribute the salt evenly. To avoid overworking, it is 
set aside until the layers of salt absorb the color from 
the butter Immediately next to them, and the eye can de¬ 
termine where the excess is. In such a case reworking is 
necessary to secure uniformity of color. If butter is re¬ 
moved from the churn with granules as small as mustard 
seeds, so much water will be held in the interspaces that 
an extra allowance of salt should be put on to be expressed 
when dissolved into brine, and a second working will be 
necessary to extract this superfluous brine. Given an even 
salting of clean butter granules and one working of the 
mass, no improvement is to be hoped for by a second work¬ 
ing. But throw salt on in masses, or let the butter be 
warm enough to “ball” the granules, or let the butter¬ 
milk for any reason fail to be expelled before salting, and 
the second working is not only advisable but necessary. 
Essex County, Mass. j. francis guluver. 
Wood, Ashes, Etc. 
IF. 3. D., Eaton, Ohio. —I can get good hard-wood un¬ 
leached ashes from a tile kiln for 30 cents per barrel hold¬ 
ing three bushels. 1. What is their commercial value ? 2. 
What would be the best thing to mix with them for use 
on corn ground? 3. I have aclieck-row planter with a fer¬ 
tilizer attachment; can I drop fertilizers in the hill or drill 
with it ? Which is the best way, and how much 
should be applied per acre? 4. Will it prevent grub worms 
from working ? 
Ans.— 1. There is no way of judging of the value of ashes 
except by analysis. They may be worth scarcely more 
than lime or they may be worth a dollar per 100 pounds. 
2. Unleached ashes are high in potash and low in phos¬ 
phoric acid and without nitrogen. We should therefore, 
in order to make a well-balanced fertilizer, add phosphate 
and nitrogen, as, for example, bone and nitrate of soda, 
blood or fish. 3. A little fertilizer in the hill may serve to 
give the young plants a vigorous start; but it will be of 
little service afterwards. We should sow broadcast by all 
means. 4. Probably not. 
Circulation of Moisture In the Soil. 
E. C. K., Minnequa, l J a. —1. How does moisture cir¬ 
culate in the soil? Why do crops stand drought better 
when the soil is rolled than when it is loose ? 2. What is 
a history of the Irish or white potato ? 
ANS.—1. The rain penetrates the soil until all parts are 
saturated. A part of the moisture passes through the soil as 
it is porous and well-drained ; a part returns or is held near 
the surface by capillary attraction. Retentive soils, like 
loam, sandy loam or peat soils, retain this moisture longest. 
Sandy or gravelly soils do not retain it. Much, however, 
depends upon the depth beneath the surface of the so called 
water level. We are not aware that soils after they are 
rolled do stand droughts better than those which are 
not. The reverse is more likely true. 2. For a history of 
the potato see The R. N.-Y. of April 26, 1890. 
An Ice-house. 
(?. II. D., Birmingham, Conn. —I am building an ice¬ 
house 12 feet square above ground, with an addition on 
the north side for a Cooley creamer. It is covered inside 
and out with matched sheathing. Do I need an air¬ 
tight chamber between the ice and creamer rooms ? Must 
I pack the ice close to the building or leave a space to be 
filled with sawdust ? Can I get the cool air from the ice 
room to the creamer room without wasting the ice ? 
Ans.— An ice-house of the kind described is not at all 
economical, as the waste of ice will be very large. In con¬ 
structing a cold room in an ice-house it is necessary to pack 
the ice all around and over the apartment, and as the con¬ 
stant moisture affects the wood and causes a disagreeable 
odor it is not advisable for use in cooling milk. It would 
be far better to have the ice kept separate and in a house 
specially prepared for it, and use the ice for cooling the 
water in the creamer, which may be kept in an adjacent 
room. Tne house must be air tight in the foundation, and 
the sides must be open and well-ventilated on the top. It 
is best to have double walls, with a space of 10 or 12 
inches between them filled with sawdust. The ice may 
then be packed close to the walls without any sawdust 
855 
around the sides, but a foot or so of sawdust should be put 
under the ice and two feet over it. The gables may be 
made so as to admit air freely over the top covering, 
as this tends to keep the ice cold. This mode of building 
is so simple that a plan is scarcely necessary. The door of 
the house is made from top to bottom in sections for con¬ 
venience in putting the ice in and taking it out, but it must 
be double and kept filled with sawdust below the level of 
the covering. The ice is always taken out from the top 
and the covering is replaced as the ice is taken out for use. 
The inner doors may consist of single boards fitting against 
the inner wall, so that one may be taken out as the level 
of the ice is lowered. The outer doors are hinged and 
fastened by bars, and open outwards. The same quantity 
of ice will cool more water than it will of air, and thus it 
is used more economically in the direct way. It is neces¬ 
sary to provide some drainage for the escape of any water 
coming from the Ice if the floor is of clay or any impervious 
material, but it is not necessary on gravelly or sandy soil, 
or if the ground is elevated so as to afford natural 
drainage. 
Barley For Stock. 
F. P. R., St. Sophie, Quebec. —I am getting my farm 
ready to fatten 50 steers in winter. Is barley a good grain 
to make beef ? Corn is so high priced here that we cannot 
afford to feed it. I would like to get some ideas about the 
relative values of the different kinds of grain as beef-pro¬ 
ducers. 
Ans.—B arley is an excellent food for horses, sheep and 
hogs, and will fully take the place of corn for feeding 
cattle, if a little oil meal can be fed with it. The follow¬ 
ing table gives an idea of the comparative values of differ¬ 
ent grains : 
Albuminoids. Carbohydrates. Fat. 
Rye.11. 67.4 2. 
Oats.12. 55.7 6 9 
Corn.10. 62.1 6 5 
Barley.10. 63.9 2 5 
Remember that the “ albuminoids ” represent that part 
of the food which goes to make the muscles and “ red 
meat;” while the “carbohydrates” make the fat. The 
“fat” in the food is the same as the fat in the animal. 
Muscle cannot be made from the carbohydrates or fat. 
We see from the above table that barley differs from corn 
in the fact that it has less fat, otherwise it is nearly the 
same. It is, therefore, better for growing animals, or 
those requiring great muscular exertion, like colts and 
horses, than for cattle, which are to be kept from exercise 
and simply grow fat. This difference between corn and 
barley can be easily made up by adding to the latter a 
small quantity of old-process oil meal, thus supplying the 
needed fat to the ration. 
Chronic Nasal Discharge In a Horse. 
J. H. H., Nashua, N. 3 — One of a pair of valuable 
horses on my farm runs at the nose, and though he eats 
and works well, he does not look right. He has been af¬ 
fected in this way for about two months. I have injected 
carbolic acid up his nose twice a day without any apparent 
benefit. After a few hours of heavy work the matter drops 
from both nostrils and almost covers the ground when he 
is standing still for awhile. The discharge smells disa¬ 
greeably, and there is some cough. What should be the 
treatment? 
Ans.—T he discharge, as briefly described, may be due to 
glanders, or to chronic local inflammation, or abscess of 
the bony cavities or sinuses in the front of the head, which 
communicate with the nasal passages; to nasal gleet, or to 
decayed teeth. Special treatment would be necessary in 
either case, so that no general treatment can be advised. 
Take the animal to a competent veterinary surgeon for 
diagnosis and treatment. Owing to the dangerous char¬ 
acter of glanders, and the possibility that the discharge 
may be due to this disease, you should have the horse ex - 
amined at once. 
The Fltzwater Pear. 
J. C. O., Somerset , Ky. —What does The Rural know 
about the Fitzwater Pear ? 
Ans.—W e illustrated and described this pear in the 
issue for December 14, 18S9, from specimens sent to this 
office. The color is a bright yellow with russet dots about 
the calyx. It ripens from November to January. The 
flesh is tender, buttery, juicy, sub-acid, spicy and excellent. 
Mr. Herbert A. Jones, Himrods, N. Y., was propagating 
it at the time we published the description, and we presume 
is now. He knows nothing of its origin farther than that it 
is from seed brought by some relative and planted about 
40 years ago. The origin of the seed is not known. 
MISCELLANEOUS. 
J. B. IF., Charlton, Mass.—ln a letter written for the 
benefit of laboring people, on page 737 of The Rural, Mr. 
Terry tells us of a bank which has $20,000,000 in deposits 
and a surplus of $1,350,000, and which pays five per cent 
interest on deposits; what is the address of that bank? We 
can only get four per cent here, and I do not expect that 
we can get even that rate much longer. 
Ans.—T he institution mentioned is the Society for Sav¬ 
ings, Cleveland, Ohio. It is strictly mutual. The dividend 
last year was five per cent. On July 1 it was but four per 
cent. 
T. IF. IF., Massachusetts.— What kind of vegetable 
seeds can be advantageously sown in the fail in the home 
garden ? 
Ans.—I n September, in cold-frames, one may sow 
cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and turnip. Onions 
may also be planted. There is little sowing to be done in 
October or November. 
J, H. A., Warren County, N. J.—What are the three 
best varieties of blackberries for this section. 
Ans.—K ittatinny, Minnewaski, and Wilson Jr., if it will 
stand the climate. 
