70 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
domestic (gxonamg. 
OLiD BUTTER. 
The excellence of “old cheese ” has passed into an 
adage, but butter that is good in old age , is not so often 
found. Made and cured as it ought to be, however, it 
may be kept a long time, and is none the worse for age. 
Being at Mr. Bement’s the other day, and remarking the 
tine quality of the butter at table, inquiry was made how 
long it would keep? Mrs. B. replied that she had fre¬ 
quently kept it six or eight months—that she had just 
sent a jar to a friend in England, that was made in the 
early part of Sept, last—“ but,” said she, “ we once kept 
some over “ two years.” The circumstance was this; a 
roll of butter was by accident dropped into the well —after 
two years, the well was cleaned out, and the butter found. 
It was perfectly sweet and good—being solid, the water 
had not penetrated into or injured it at all. 
PUMPKIN PIES. 
A correspondent of the Northampton Courier says that 
much l-abor may be saved, and these pies be made better, 
by grating the raw pumpkin, instead of first stewing it, as 
is commonly done. 
CHEESE FROM BUTTERMILK. 
Miss Neils on, gives in the Journal of the Royal Ag¬ 
ricultural Society, the process of making cheese from 
buttermilk, which she says was obtained from a person 
residing on Long Island in the United States. The con 
tents of the churn were put into a pot and hung over a 
slow fire—the buttermilk became curdled, and the curd 
went to the bottom of the pot. The whey was then 
poured off, and the curd worked as other cheese, giving 
it salt to the taste, which will be about half the quantity 
usually given to skim milk curd. Put the curd in a clean 
coarse linen cloth, and hang it from the ceiling to dry for 
a few weeks, when it is fit for use. The linen cloth when 
hung in a net, gives a neatness to the appearance of the 
cheese. If a little bit of butter be worked into the curd, 
and the cheese kept for three or four months, it will be 
very good. Cheese can be made in this way on a very 
small scale, even from the produce of one cow. 
GREASE SPOTS. 
A correspondent of the Southwestern Farmer, who 
signs “ J. E. W.” gives the following as a good recipe 
for taking grease spots out of clothing, &c. 
“ Take ihe yolk of an egg, entirely free from the white, 
(be sure not to scald the egg,) and with a soft brush ap¬ 
ply the mixture, and rub it on the spot until the grease 
appears removed or loose. Wash off the egg with mo¬ 
derately warm water, and finally rinse off the whole with 
clean cold water. Should not all the grease be removed, 
which may arise from being on a long time, or not suf¬ 
ficiently washed, dry and repeat the operation.” 
The writer of the above, says that a fine Merino shawl, 
which had been badly smeared w r ith tar and grease, 
(gudgeon grease,) was perfectly cleaned by this process 
In a few minutes. 
tkierinaq} department. 
MAD ITCH. 
by superior sagacity he spits out, and this ready made ar¬ 
ticle does all the mischief, and so it would serve the hogs 
or horses if they were to swallow it. Separate your cat¬ 
tle from your hogs in cornstalk chewing time, and you 
will separate your cattle from the mad itch. An ounce 
of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Farmer, this is 
the remedy. A Believer in Proper Remedies.” 
PERIOD OF USEFULNESS IN CATTLE. 
It is surprising how much longer some animals hold 
out, as the expression is, than others. Some fail and be¬ 
come valueless at eight or ten, and others are good at fif¬ 
teen or twenty years. From what we have seen, we 
are inclined to think that the Durhams introduced here by 
Mr. Van Rensselaer, commonly called the Patroon stock, 
in many instances retain their faculties to a remarkable 
degree in old age. We consider this indicative of strong 
constitution. 
While at Mr. Hillhouse's, he showed us the old bull 
Ajax, the illustrious sire of a long catalogue of heroes, 
whose successful contentions on many a cattle show field, 
are chronicled in the premium lists and annals of various 
agricultural societies. Among his distinguished offspring 
are President, Leopard, Nero , Astoria , and Prinee, ail 
celebrated prize animals. 
A.jax is a large well made bull, now newly fifteen years 
old, and like his sire, Washington, who died at nineteen, has 
retained in a remarkable degree the fine form and vigor 
of the prime of life. But he has lately been seized with 
a stiffness of the limbs, particularly in the lower joints of 
the hind legs, which for the present renders him nearly 
useless as a sire. 
This is a formidable and fatal disease of cattle, mostly 
confined to the western states, its cause hitherto consi¬ 
dered unknown, and medical treatment almost useless. 
In the October no. of the Tenn. Agriculturist, we find 
the following,.which is deserving of consideration from 
the fact that the disease appears, so far as we have learn¬ 
ed, only where cattle have been fed on stalks, or where 
that is almost their only food, as in the west. Cattle fed 
on cornstalks cut in a straw cutter, do not suffer in this 
way. 
“ Gentlemen —I know of but one remedy for the mad 
itch, and that is surgical. Open the second stomach and 
extract the corns'.alks. This fatal disease among cattle 
is produced by cornstalks. The fibres being indigesti¬ 
ble, hang in the manifold or duodenum, and irritate and 
inflame until the poor animal is driven to madness. 
Farmers feed their hogs upon green corn; the cattle fol- 
©w and pick up the stalk chewed fine by the hogs, which 
RAMS HORNS. 
Messrs. Editors —The critique in a late New-York 
paper, on some remarks in the August no. of the Culti¬ 
vator, about the horns of sheep, is incorrect. Every 
farmer who has kept horned sheep, may have noticed 
that the annual growth of their horns, for several years 
—(perhaps not “ to the end of their lives”)—is shown 
by a rough ring, or wrinkle. The growth of young trees 
is marked by a ring or “ joint,” as some call it, some¬ 
what similarly. This is, however, not an infallible cri¬ 
terion of the age, for ewes that have been early bred 
from will frequently appear a year older than others of 
;he same age, but which did not have a lamb so early by 
a year. But the facetious author of that criticism, has 
made a great mistake; to make his ram “fifiy-one years 
old,” he has counted the ridges on his horns, instead of 
the annual rings. Jabal. 
Massachusetts , 1843. 
COWS LOSING THEIR MILK. 
A correspondent at Columbia, Pa., says he has had se¬ 
veral cows dry up their milk in one night so entirely, that 
from having given a good quantity, they gave none of 
any consequence. He conjectures it was occasioned by 
their eating potatoes, which in his neighborhood, are this 
year very unsound. 
We hear great complaints of a “ disease” in potatoes 
in the quarter where our fv'.md lives—some accounts 
state that the death of anim tad been occasioned by 
these defective or diseased po at es—and we think it not 
unlikely that they may have occasioned the trouble with 
the cows, especially if eaten in large quantities. 
CURE FOR FOUNDER. 
A friend at Zanesville, Ohio, has sent us the following 
recipe: “ Bleed freely in the neck, say from one to two 
gallons, and drench with strong* decoction of sassafras 
lea—one or two quarts. If the horse is not relieved, re¬ 
peat the drench in six hours. Let his drink be weak 
sassafras tea. The above will act like a charm; in nine 
cases out of ten, a perfect cure will be effected in twelve 
hours at farthest.” 
Black Leg in Calves.— Our correspondent, Wm. 
McCoy, Esq. of Pendleton county, Ya. will find some 
cases of the successful treatment of this disease, detailed 
in this paper for last month, p. 23. He will also find in 
the previous vols. several articles on the subject. 
