306 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Oct. 
several rooms for milk, butter and cheese, are kept with 
most scrupulous neatness. Not a fly or any other insect, 
nor even the least speck of dirt could be here discovered. 
The cheese-room was cool and airy; the windows of 
which were protected by gauze screens, and the tempe¬ 
rature kept low by wetting the floor with cold water. 
After the cheese is properly cured in this room, and be¬ 
fore the weather has become so cold as to make it liable 
to freeze, it is removed to a room in the cellar or base¬ 
ment of the house. Here the temperature is nearly the 
same, about 45 degrees at all times. It is kept here for 
any length of time, and improves with age. 
Economical arrangement. —The cellar just men¬ 
tioned, (which, by the way, is so cold that no ice-house 
is ever needed,) belongs to the house of the principal 
or senior family. On signifying our wish to see the ar¬ 
rangements for culinary purposes, two of the females 
at once accompanied us to the kitchen, and kindly show¬ 
ed us the admirable fixtures, and explained their various 
uses. It would be useless to attempt a minute descrip¬ 
tion of all the labor-saving contrivances which are here 
secured. We have examined similar departments be¬ 
longing to various large establishments, but have never 
seen such perfect conveniences as there are here, and 
we knew not which most to admire, the skill and inge¬ 
nuity evinced in the original design, or the neatness dis¬ 
played in their use. A view of this beautifully clean 
kitchen, and the systematic and quiet manner in which 
operations are here conducted, is a sight worth seeing. 
The cooking for a family of some 300 persons is here 
done with less labor than is usually required for thirty. 
Sales.—A large portion of the sales of the society 
consist of dried herbs, extracts, and the seeds of vege¬ 
tables. Some fifty to sixty acres of land are devoted to 
the production of these articles. The amount of sales, 
or the nett profits of the business we did not learn. The 
cultivation of their herb and vegetable gardens, as well 
as their fields generally, is very neat. The herbs and 
Other preparations are put up in the best manner, and 
are sold by established agents in the large cities, and 
also by travelling agents over a large portion of the 
country. We noticed a press used for pressing herbs, 
which appears to possess some important improvements. 
It was invented by a young man belonging to the soci¬ 
ety, and we believe he has secured a patent for it. We 
hope he will furnish drawings and a description of it for 
insertion in our columns. 
We are well avvart that many of the improvements 
of which we have spoken, cannot be so readily or ad¬ 
vantageously carried out on common farms or individual 
estates, anil we do not bring them forward as deserving 
universal adoption; but we do think that something of 
the system, which is here observed in conducting busi¬ 
ness, might be profitably imitated by many of our farm¬ 
ers. Above all we dp not hesitate to recommend, both 
to husbandmen and housewives, the shakers’ examples 
of neatness and cleanliness, the imitation of which we 
are sure would result in the increase of comfort and 
happiness. 
Wild Geese. —Cn the premises occupied by one of 
the families of Shakers, we saw the largest flock of these 
birds we have ever seen in a domestic state.* There 
were about forty in number, all of which anti about as 
many more, which have been sold, sprung from one pair 
procured about twenty years ago. The man who has 
charge of them, Daniel Hawkins, gave us some facts 
in regard to their habits which were new to us, and may 
be worthy of note. It is known that wild geese do not 
breed till three years old; but friend Hawkins states 
that they always mate in the fall, preceding the spring 
when the}- are to breed. He states that the new pair 
selects the site for its future nest in the fall soon after 
mating, and that they carefully guard it ever afterwards 
till the young brood is brought off. The ganders ap¬ 
pear to be strict monogamists , choosing but one female, 
and adhering to her with the strictest fidelity till death 
or force separates them. This seems to be their natural 
state, but we cannot say that the male would not unite 
with more than one female, where the number of the 
latter was greater than the former. 
This family of geese furnish an example of “in-and- 
in” breeding. In discussing this subject in a former 
article, we stated that aboriginal or pure races of ani¬ 
mals were not known to degenerate from this course of 
breeding. Friend H. informed us that the original pair of 
geese from which these have descended, belonged to on® 
brood; they were therefore, of precisely the same blood, 
and their offspring to this time,have been produced by the 
strictest in-and-in breeding. But have they degenera¬ 
ted ? is the question. Not in the least degree, so far as 
can be discovered. They breed as well as they ever did, 
and the young are as large, as hardy and as perfect as 
the old stock were. 
These geese, besides being a curiosity and an orna¬ 
ment to a place, are thought to be quite as profitable 
as any. It is said they have more and better feathers; 
they are heavier and more hardy. Friend Hawkins in¬ 
forms us that the female lays from three to five eggs the 
first breeding season, or the spring they are three years 
old, and after that an average of about seven. All the 
eggs generally hatch, and the young are almost sure to 
grow up. Their growth is surprisingly rapid, reaching 
nearly their full weight, as friend H. states, in about 
eight weeks. This quickness of growth admits of their 
being reared, in their wild state, within the sho^t sum¬ 
mers of the polar regions. During incubation, the gan¬ 
der watches the nest night and day, and will peril his 
j life in defending it against all intruders. lie manifests 
as much affection for the young as the mother, and is 
| even more assiduous in providing for them. He always 
I endeavors to induce as many of the young as possible to 
| place themselves under his care. In this way the strong¬ 
est ganders often get away the young belonging to others. 
The first gander of this flock was kept over twenty 
years, and he always acted in the capacity of a patriarch 
to all his posterity—none in the flock refused to yield 
to his authority, and he availed himself of what he ap¬ 
peared to think w r as his right, in taking charge each 
season of several broods of young. 
SCIENTIFIC FACTS. 
* We noticed also a fine fiock of these geese on the farm ol Samuel 
Perry of New-Lebanon. 
Nitrogen. —Wheat exhausts soils, because it derives 
therefrom the large quantity of nitrogen which the 
grain contains; but it is this same quantity of nitrogen 
which renders it more valuable than other grains. To- 
j bacco exhausts powerfully the soil, because it requires 
i an abundance of nitrogen to form its nicotine; but on 
this principle its value in market depends. To produce 
indigo, nitrogen must be supplied to the plant by an 
abundance of rich manure; no crop is more exhausting; 
but without the nitrogen no coloring matter could be 
formed. The value is in proportion to the cost; and the 
success of the cultivator depends on the skill with which 
he turns the nitrogen of waste and valueless substances 
into those of high price in market. 
Blood. —Blood examined under amicroscope, is found 
to consist of minute red particles, floating in a nearly 
colorless liquor. These red particles, in human blood, 
are from one four-thousandth to one eight-thousandth of 
an inch in diameter. In most other animals they are 
I larger. 
Preserving Animal Substances. —Putrefaction 
requires the presence of water; hence, by drying ani¬ 
mal substances, they are preserved. Hence one reason 
of the preserving power of salt, from its strong affinity 
for the water contained in these substances. Alcohol 
operates partly in the same way. Various other sub¬ 
stances act by entering into combination, and the divel- 
lent tendencies of the affinities of the constituents of 
those substances are overcome; among these are corro¬ 
sive sublimate, copperas, tannin, wood vinegar, and 
kreosote. A high temperature stops putrefaction by 
coagulating the azotized materials. Putrefaction is im¬ 
possible above 182o or below 32°. Freezing acts precise¬ 
ly as drying. Hence bodies preserved by frost, and those 
which remain fresh for years after death on the Arabian 
deserts, are preserved from the same essential cause. 
