154 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
May, 
creating a fever in the secretive organs. Wheat bran, 
oat meal, potatoes, or other roots, are deemed best for 
that purpose. If a cow is in high flesh, a mild bleed¬ 
ing from the neck, with half a pound of salts, fed in a 
mash, previous to calving, is good. 
“ What quantity of grain will a cow bear feeding, 
profitably, and should the kind be varied, at different 
periods, during the milking season V’ 
All cows will not bear feeding alike. Some not be¬ 
ing deep milkers, w r ould acquire too much flesh, and 
shrink in milk, with the same amount of feed that oth¬ 
ers would turn to profit in milk* Hence the necessity 
of feeding separately , with close observation in regard 
to the constitution and capacity of different cows. A 
man’s observation in his own practice, is generally the 
best test in this matter. I have long since abandoned 
the practice of heavy feeding before and immediately 
alter calving. Two quarts of corn or barley meal, or 
four of oat meal, or six quarts of wheat bran, may be 
safely fed, daily, to each cow. While kept to hay, 
grain feed should be made into slop, and fermented be¬ 
fore feeding. The profit of feeding grain more, or lon¬ 
ger than to bring cows to grass healthy and strong, 
would depend upon the comparative value of the feed 
with that of the product. Nothing can be fed to a cow 
that wall increase the quantity of her milk from plenty 
of good grass. The only gain in feeding slop and grain 
during flush of feed, is by enriching the milk and re¬ 
taining the cows’ appetite for it when grass fails. 
When first turned to grass, cows are apt to scour, and 
shrink in milk. Dry wheat bran, or cob meal, will then 
be better than slop feed. Barley and corn meal, are too 
cathartic to feed in large quantities while the cows are 
at grass. 
*' £ Can all dairymen make it profitable to grow corn, 
sown broadcast or otherwise, to feed to milch cows ?” 
Where the soil is strong enough to bear a large bur¬ 
then without manuring too highly, it will bear a profit, 
as it is the best feed that can be given to keep up the 
flow of milk between early and fall feed. But where 
the soil needs much manure, it is not good policy to 
manure highly a small piece of ground to obtain a large 
crop of any kind, to the neglect of other important 
crops. In other words, the dairyman would receive a 
greater benefit, in a long run, from distributing one 
hundred loads of manure on ten acres of meadow land, 
after harvest, or putting on that amount with the seed 
when stocking down for meadow, than by putting it 
on one or two acres to grow corn, to feed cows in sum¬ 
mer. A small feeding of corn daily, will take the ap¬ 
petite from grass with little or no benefit. I have found 
it best to feed plentifully at evening only. 
“ What is the best mode of heating milk and scald¬ 
ing curd ?” 
That which will produce the most perfect equilibrium 
of heat through the whole mass, with the least expo¬ 
sure to excess of heat. A smaller vessel containing the 
milk or curd with whey, set into a larger vessel which 
contains water, through which heat is conveyed to the 
vessel containing the milk or whey, is the safest mode, 
and is now generally practiced here. The more water 
there is in the larger vessel, the more uniform heat is 
conveyed to the milk. If a large tin vat is used, set 
into a wooden box or vat, the tube attached to one end 
of the tin vat, and extending down through the bottom 
of the wood vat, to discharge the whey when the curd 
is sufficiently scalded, should be large enough to let off 
the whey at once, or the curd will settle or pack toge¬ 
ther, and require much hard labor, and will waste, by 
friction, in separating it and making it fine enough to 
drain and salt properly. A vat for thirty or more cows, 
should have a tube at least two inches in diameter, and 
the tin cylinder, with a tube at one end, to fit snug into 
the tube carrying off the whey, should be as high as the 
vat, and four or five inches in diameter; with as many- 
very small holes punched in it as can be and hold to* 
gether, in order to strain the whey from the curd as fast 
as it will pass off through the tube. 
11 Why would it not answer as well to pass steam di¬ 
rectly into the milk or whey and curd, as it would save 
expense in fixtures V* 
Because that portion coming in contact with steam, 
would be exposed to an excess of heat, and would not 
be affected by rennet like other portions which were not 
overheated. Consequently, a strict affinity would not 
be maintained, which is necessary for a perfect cohe¬ 
rence 5 and more or less would float off with the whey, 
or make trouble in curing the cheese. 
“ Is a thermometer a sufficient guide in making 
cheese ?’ ? 
A thermometer that is correct, is an indispensable 
guide in measuring the amount of heat to be used; but 
the time of raising the heat and continuing its effect, 
must be varied to meet contingent circumstances. A. 
L. Fish. (To be continued.) 
Improved Picket Pence. 
Eds. Cultivator —In many sections of our country, 
the scarcity of fencing timber is beginning to be severe¬ 
ly felt, which makes it necessary to economise our ma¬ 
terials to the best advantage. 
I am building a field picket fence on a plan which for 
ornament, cheapness and durability, and the facility 
with which it may be removed, where the farmer wish¬ 
es to alter the lines of his fields, may be well recom¬ 
mended in preference to any other wood fence,—requir¬ 
ing only half the number of posts necessary for the com¬ 
mon board fence. 
In the first place, two benches are prepared about 3 
feet high, and placed about eight feet apart, for the 
purpose of supporting the scantling, while the pickets 
are being nailed on. Two scantling, sawed two inches 
by four, twelve or thirteen feet long, are then laid on 
the benches, where should be fixtures to keep them to 
their places. A scantling is also laid on for the upper 
ends of the pickets to rest against while nailing, in or¬ 
der to bring them in line. The pickets are then nailed 
on with ten-penny nails, two nails to each picket, pro¬ 
jecting over the scantling, above and below, about eight 
inches; the pickets to be sawed in the mill from three 
to four inches wide, and then cut across into three 
lengths, if the strips are twelve or thirteen feet long, 
and for field fence, nailed on with a spacing board of 
five or six inches. 
The posts are then, if for wet land, well sharpened 
and driven down with a maul. A five-quarter hole is 
then bored through the post at a suitable height from 
the ground for the underside of the upper scantling, and 
a pin of white oak, or other suitable timber, is driven 
through the post, having a head or projection at the 
end on the upper side, sufficient to hold the lapped ends 
of the lengths as they meet on the posts. The lengths 
of fence prepared as aforesaid, are then taken up, and 
with a six inch lap, hung or laid on the pins, and a 
stone rolled against the fence, or a short stake driven 
down, is sufficient to confine the bottom. In dry ground 
the posts should be slightly sharpened and set in the 
usual way. 
The advantages of this fence over the common board 
fence are obvious. Posts in all moist lands, are sub¬ 
ject to be raised by frost—some more and some less. 
In the spring the boards are found more or less split, 
and the nails broken, without the possibility of re-pla¬ 
cing the posts by driving them down; but should the 
posts of a fence built on the above plan become raised, 
they can, in the spring, while the ground is soft, be ve- 
ry easily driven down, as the weight of the fence only 
