1874] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
139 
the butter globules of these varieties of milk are 
very distinct in appearance, and that their dif¬ 
ferent characters very readily account for their 
different behavior in the dairy and in the churn. 
For instance, the Jersey butter globule is larger 
than that of the other breeds, and is of a more 
uniform size, there being in Jersey milk very 
few small globules or granules, as they have 
been termed by himself and other investigators. 
The character of the globules in the Jersey 
milk is shown at figure 1, A. At figure 2 is 
seen the character of the globule of the Ayrshire 
milk, and at figure 3 that of the globule of the 
Dutch milk. The cream of the Jersey milk, 
consisting of large globules, rises quickly, some¬ 
times separating wholly in four hours, leaving 
a blue skim-milk beneath ; the cream of Ayr¬ 
shire milk requires over ten hours to rise only 
in part, leaving a very white and still rich skim- 
milk. Amongst the Ayrshire cows there exists 
a family of butter cows whose milk throws up 
the cream almost as rapidly as that of the Jer¬ 
seys. The Dutch milk throws up the cream 
more quickly than the Ayrshire, but the glob¬ 
ules being comparatively small the cream is 
readily mixed with the milk again by stirring. 
This cannot be done with the Jersey milk. The 
Jersey cow, therefore, stands first as a butter 
producer, but is a poor cow for producing milk 
for sale, and a very poor one for cheese; the 
Ayrshire cow stands next to the Jersey as a 
butter cow, but first of all for the cheese dairy 
■or for the milkman, and is therefore pre-emi¬ 
nently the useful cow for all purposes. The 
Dutch cow stands second to the Ayrshire and 
before the Jersey for the purposes of the cheese 
maker or the milkman, but third and last as a 
butter cow. These characteristics, well known 
in practice, are explained when we come to ex¬ 
amine closely the character of their milk. 
Laying cut a 'Western lann. 
In the western states where land is subdi¬ 
vided into squares or parallelograms, the lay¬ 
ing out of a farm would seem to be one of the 
simplest things possible. Nevertheless fre¬ 
quent mistakes are made in doing this, which 
add to the cost of fencing, to waste of land and 
to waste of time in passing to and from work, 
and in hauling in the crops. A square field re¬ 
quires less fencing than one of greater length 
than breadth. If there are more roads than 
necessary, land is wasted; and if the homestead 
is at one end or one side of the farm, much 
time is lost in reaching the distant fields. In 
the accompanying plan we propose a method 
of laying out a farm which avoids all these 
wastes, and in which the homestead is not only 
■in the most convenient position, but is shel¬ 
tered by belts of timber and plantations from 
the prevailing winds. 
The homestead faces the east, and is sup¬ 
posed to be in the center of an 80 acre or a 320 
acre tract. For a 40 or 160 acre tract which is 
■square, the same general arrangement would 
answer. The fields are squares of 10 acres 
each in an 80 or 160 acre tract, and 40 acres 
■each in one of a 320 acre. A belt of timber 
is placed across the north end of the tract 
and along the east side of the northeast field. 
Another plantation is made in the northwest 
corner of another field; both of these together 
will furnish protection to the farm and the 
•farm buildings, which should be placed some¬ 
where near the smaller belt of timber and 
within its protection. The house is surrounded 
by an orchard at the rear, and scattered groups 
of trees ornament it and shelter it upon the east 
and south. If those who are now settling up 
the vast prairies would take some pains to lay 
out their new farms and plant their orchards 
and protecting groves in some such method 
as is here described, the face of the country 
would very soon become a scene of unsur¬ 
passed beauty, and the present bleak, unshel¬ 
tered, dreary aspect of the landscape in winter 
would disappear in a few years. The money 
value of the timber, and the shelter with its 
accompanying beneficial influence upon the 
climate would far more than pay the cost of 
labor and the very small necessary outlay of 
money. In the plan there are no farm buildings 
laid down, as the slope or other configuration 
w 
1 
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31 _ 
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PLAN FOR LAYING OUT A FARM. 
of the ground and the supply of water would 
affect the choice of their location, but in gen¬ 
eral it would be found convenient to place them 
near the homestead where we have indicated. 
Cultivation of Tobacco. —The magnifi¬ 
cent castles in the air which have been erected 
during the past few years by the over-sanguine 
tobacco growers now lie in ruins. The unfor¬ 
tunate builders are disappointed and disgusted. 
It was ever thus with growers of what may be 
called special crops. For a few years large 
profits tempt greater ventures and then come 
excessive crops for one or two scasaua and 
prices go out of sight. A Connecticut farmers’ 
club has of late discussed this matter. It was 
there stated that in Franklin County there was 
enough tobacco for sale to give 25 dollars to 
every person, old and young, in the county. 
We have heretofore cautioned our readers that 
this result might happen ; that tobacco was one 
of those illegitimate crops, so to speak, which 
might be profitable for a season, but were a 
poor dependence. What is to be done ? A 
tobacco stubble makes an excellent ground for 
a com crop or a root crop. We have heard of 
45 bushels of wheat having been harvested from 
one acre of tobacco land in Massachusetts; 100 
bushels of corn would not be a more valuable 
crop, which with the fodder, would bring near¬ 
ly $100 per acre; this would be probably as 
much as many tobacco crops in the palmy days 
of the business have yielded, net, and twice or 
four times as much as it would now yield. It 
is now a good time not to grow tobacco. When 
the surplus is worked off it will doubtless be 
again profitable. Tobacco is a risky crop. 
French Agriculture. —The superficial area 
of France, according to the official returns, con¬ 
sists of 115,500,000 acres. Of these over 36,- 
000,000 acres are owned by proprietors whose 
estates cover only 8J acres upon an average. 
Over 16,000,000 acres are owned in farms of an 
average size of 35 acres; over 19,000,000 acres 
consist of farms of an average of 87| acres, 
and of farms of an average of 415 acres there 
are but 43,000,000. Nearly twenty million of 
the population subsist upon the smallest sized 
farms; two and a half million upon those of an 
average of 35 acres, and only one million upon 
each of the other classes of farms. The con¬ 
sequence is that three fourths of the popula¬ 
tion never taste sugar or beef, but live in the 
greatest economy upon bread and vegetables 
and drink water or the poorest wine or cider. 
How Leather is Tanned. 
The business of tanning leather is a rather 
complicated one, and can not be well under¬ 
taken without the expenditure of a good deal 
of capital in buildings and machinery. As the 
process occupies some months, it is also neces¬ 
sary that a large stock of material should be 
accumulated, and this adds to the amount of 
capital needed to carry on the business. A 
very small tannery would require $20,000 to 
put it in operation, and there are many large 
ones in which ten to twenty times that amount 
is invested. It is also necessary for the busi¬ 
ness that a supply of bark should be near at 
hand; we therefore find the tanneries near ex¬ 
tensive tracts of timber land in which oak and 
hemlock predominate. The stripping of the 
bark from the trees can only be done in the 
spring; that from oak trees is only to be pro¬ 
cured in the month of May, while that from 
hemlock can be stripped during May and June. 
The whole year’s supply of bark must there¬ 
fore be secured in these months and piled up 
and stored for use. Very large sheds are 
needed at every tannery for storage of the 
bark. Fig. 2 of the accompanying engravings 
shows the method of gathering the bark. The 
trees arc cut down, and the bark is cut all 
around the tree every four feet in length with 
the axe. It is then split from cut to cut. A 
long handled spud or blunt chisel is then in¬ 
serted beneath the bark, and if peeling well it 
separates with great ease in one piece four feet 
long ill ai d;u J 1Le tr >3, otherwise it conies o.fl! 
in smaller pieces. The bark is laid out to dry, 
and then piled up into cords ready to haul to 
the tannery, where it is stored under cover. In 
drying the bark care must be taken to keep it 
from mildew, which spoils its color and qual¬ 
ity. The bark is ground as it is wanted for 
use in strong iron mills, fig. 3, to a coarse pow¬ 
der. The ground bark is taken from the bark 
mill by means of conveying spouts, or elevator 
cups, like those used in grist mills but much 
larger, to the leaches, where it is soaked in hot 
Fig. 1.— A HIDE DONE UP. 
water until all the strength is extracted, and a 
dark liquor, very much like strong coffee in ap¬ 
pearance, is strained from it. The waste bark 
is what we know as tan-bark, and is useful for 
packing ice, bedding for cattle when dry, and 
"for making gentle hot-beds. The tan liquor is 
run into large vats for use. The hides undergo 
various preparatory processes before they are 
put into these tan vats. They come to the tan. 
nery either in the shape seen in figure 1, which 
is a green country hide, properly folded and 
tied, or as dry or green salted. In this last 
shape they have no horns attached and are tied 
up in somewhat the same shape as the fresh 
hides, but having been kept for some time, or 
coming from South America or Texas, they do 
