55 
T1IE CULTIVATOR. 
Temperature of Cream for Churning, &c. 
Messrs. Editors —In the December number of the 
Cultivator, p. 379, “A Morgan Farmer” makes seve¬ 
ral inquiries, which you request any of your re:.ders 
to answer. 
1st. “ What is the proper temperature for cream to be 
in at the time of churning?” I find the temperature 
of the cream, when put into the churn, to make the 
best butter, should be 55° Fahr., and gradually in¬ 
creased in the process of churning to 62° or 64°, at 
which degree the butter should come ; the whole quan¬ 
tity and the best quality is thus obtained without in¬ 
creasing the labor. To ascertain this without the 
“ Thermometer Churn,” remove a common thermome¬ 
ter from the case, and carefully insert into the cream, 
allowing it sufficient time to mark the degree. 
2d. “Is the flavor of butter injured by washing in 
clear spring water?” I have never found pure water 
to injure the flavor of butter; sometimes it will great¬ 
ly assist in the separation of buttermilk ; but impure 
water should never come in contact with butter 
3d. “What is the proper depth to set milk in pans, 
to obtain the greatest amount of cream ?” A series 
of experiments, published by L. N. Sherburn in 1852, 
detailing the particulars of both trial and result, prove 
that to obtain the greatest amount of butter from a 
given quantity of milk, the best way is to have large 
pans and fill them. My observation coincides. 
4th. “ Will it not make more butter, and of as good 
quality, to let the milk stand until it thickens ?” The 
greater amount of butter obtained from allowing the 
milk to stand until it thickens, or till all the cream is 
risen, and the less time it occupies in churning than to 
churn sweet cream, (as that has to become sour before 
butter can be produced,) in my mind, more than com¬ 
pensates for the slight difference there may be in its 
quality. 
5th. “ Would it not be more profitable to churn the 
milk than to set it for cream, in a dairy of ten cows ?” 
I think not, if proper care is taken in separating the 
cream from the milk, unless your correspondent lives 
where he can find a ready sale for the buttermilk. It 
requires a longer time for churning, and I think wo 
cannot obtain as much butter, from the difficulty of 
separating the small particles of butter from so large 
a body of fluid. 
6th. Is not the cow spoken of sometimes not milked 
clean? which, with some cows, will produce that result; 
or it may be garget—if so you will find in the June No. 
of The Cultivator for 1856, page 174, a remedy. M. 
C. L. Ballston Center , N. Y.\ 
Mode of Collecting Seed Wheat. 
Sometime last September, or thereabout, I read a 
paragraph in one of your valuable papers on thrashing 
seed wheat. The writer complained and very justly, 
of the practice of thrashing wheat for seed. His rea¬ 
son was that it injured more or less the germ, and ten¬ 
ded to deteriorate both the seed and the crop. I wish 
to say to all wheat growers, that when a boy in Eng¬ 
land, my father, who was a farmer, used to whip out 
his seed. He did it as follows: He placed in his barn 
a large stone, nearly of the size of a bushel basket (a 
hard wood log would do,) and taking half of a sheaf 
at a time, with a strap round it, which he held in his 
hand, would then whip or strike the head a few times 
on this stone. All the best kernels would shell out— 
the remainder he left to be finished with the flail. After 
this brief whipping, he would renew and whip away 
handful after handful, until he obtained a supply. By 
following this plan yearly your grain will improve, as 
you will sow none but the full ripe and best grain, free 
from the murderous bruising of the flail and machine. 
Old uncle Fogy may fancy this method beneath his re¬ 
gard. Let him think so; but let farmer Experiment fol¬ 
low it a few years, and see what will be the result. My 
employment was to take the sheaves, open them and col¬ 
lect out all the chess and trash, (a work every farmer 
in the land ought to do ) In this way he always raised 
clean and heavy crops of wheat. W. B. L. Montour$- 
ville , Pa. 
- 0 - 0-0 - 
A Prairie Farm in Iowa. 
Extract of a letter from a correspondent in Butler 
Co., Iowa :—“ I learn from time to time, of many en¬ 
terprising farmers who are making first class improve¬ 
ments in the several neighborhoods hereabouts. One 
that has lately come to my knowledge, and especially 
worthy of mention, is that of Mr. Clarkson, located 
15 miles south of our Grove. Mr. C., for a period of 
some 20 years, published a paper in south-eastern Ind. 
He is located two and a half miles from timber, on a 
prairie farm of some 3,000 acres, upon which, during 
the past season, he has built a modern cottage, at a 
cost of $7,000. He grew this year 10,000 bushels of 
corn, and he informs me that he made several barrels 
of Sorghum syrup, at a cost of 25 cents per gallon. 
Mr. Clarkson commenced operations upon his land 
three years since, under cover of a small muslin tent.” 
Cleaning Clover Seed. 
Permit me to inquire through the columns of your 
valuable paper, which is the best mowing machine for 
seed clover ? The machine must cut about 12G to 150 
acres every season. 
How many acres will the machine cut in 10 hours ?(1) 
Which kind of clover huller will be best ? There 
are three different kinds. (2.) 
Is it necessary to thresh the seed clover first with a 
common threshing machine ? (3.) 
Which kind of horse power will be the best for the 
clover huller, and how many horses are necessary 7 
How many bushels seed will the huller clean on the 
average in 10 hours ?(4.) Epr. Schmidt. Henry 
Co ., III. 
1. Any good combined mowing and reaping machine 
will answer, as Wood’s Manny, Ball & Altman’s, Kir¬ 
by’s, &c. Attach to the machine the platform com¬ 
monly used in reaping grain, with a board behind to 
assist in retaining a larger load of the cut clover, and 
when each pile sufficiently accumulates on the platform, 
rake it off in heaps. A good mowing machine, with 
two horses, usually cuts about an acre an hour. 
2. There are five or six different clover hullers, and 
we are unable to say which is best—a very good one, 
however, is manufactured by Hildreth and Charles, of 
Lockport, N. Y. The price of their huller and cleaner 
is seventy-five dollars. 
3. A common threshing machine is required first to 
separate the seed from the straw. 
4. Any good horse power will answer. If our cor¬ 
respondent should procure a clover machine of Hil¬ 
dreth & Charles of Lockport, the same firm will furnish 
a neat, durable and compact horse power, made wholly 
of iron, for one hundred and ten dollars. Four to six 
horses are usually employed, and the machine will hull 
from fifteen to thirty bushels of seed per day, varying 
with the quality and condition of the seed. 
