THE CULTIVATOR. 
75 
a generous warmth in our cheese houses spring and fall, and in all 
the cool damp days in midsummer, and so greatly accelerate the ma¬ 
turing process. The soft cheese ripens much sooner than that made 
dry and hard. The latter will dry sooner, but maturing and drying 
may be very different. Cheese will shrink in weight three to one 
in October that it will in August, and yet it will ripen three to one 
in August that it will in October; it ripens like the vegetables, in 
proportion to the warmth of the atmosphere. Many suppose that 
large cheeses require more time to ripen and mature than small ones, 
but we think not. Is not the ripening process of a chemical nature, 
rather accelerated by increased mass, as arc those of the brewer 
and the baker in their chemical operations! A very small cliesse 
or piece of cheese will soon become dry, but without maturity or 
taste. Making cheese night and morning from milk directly Irom 
the cow, has often been tried in this vicinity, but I know of no one 
who continues the practice. The yield is said to be greater, hut 
the cheese rank, retaining that kine animal taste peculiar to milk 
directly from the cow. We carefully avoid extra heat, even on any 
part of the milk, as tending to prepare the oily material for a sepa¬ 
ration when coming to maturity on the shelves. In preparing the 
milk for the rennet, we therefore choose to heat much milk a little, 
rather than heat little much. Large tin vats, adapted to the size of 
the dairy, are coming into use ; by this vat, to contain 300 galls, we 
had anticipated an absolute certaintay of having sweet milk in ex¬ 
treme hot weather; but after a severe thunder storm our milk was 
lobbered worse than ever. Do large metallic reservoirs attract the 
electricity with which the atmosphere is charged at such a season! 
The modern plan of making cheese houses large, that the cheese be 
chiefly kept on counters, is a great improvement. 
Steuben, settled by that noted Baron, being in the same range of 
towns, and adjoining, is almost wholly devoted to butter making. I 
have not the means to give any detail, or to state the amount sent 
to market last year. 
The pine apple cheese, weighing from seven to eight pounds each, 
is made here to considerable extent, mostly, now, by the small dai¬ 
ries. The making process, till it is fitted for the press, is much the 
same as has been here detailed; some add a little more salt. The 
shrinkage is considerable more, and the dairy furniture more costly, 
and the whole labor till fit for market may be about the same. It is 
chiefly made under contract, from eight to nine cents, unless the 
purchaser finds the pressers, nets and trenchers ; if he do so, seven 
to seven and a half cents. It is pressed in wooden semi blocks, grip¬ 
ed together, and when taken from the press suspended in a net till 
so hardened as to stand on a trencher made for that purpose till fit 
for market. We estimate a loss of three pounds weight of cheese 
for every pound of butter taken from it. 
vUthough I have already extended this article to what I fear may 
be considered tedious to the editors and their readers, you will, I 
think, pardon me for suggesting that Dr. Rodney Starkweather, of 
Chesterfield, Mass, has made an experiment on bee management that 
would be very interesting to the curious. It is a beautiful apartment 
in the ridge of his barn, into which two or three men can enter by a 
door. The time the tenement has been thus occupied, and the esti¬ 
mate of honey, &c. &.c. I will not venture to state, but think he 
would do so if requested. Respectfully submitted. 
EPHRAIM PERKINS. 
South Trenton, Oneida county, N. Y. 
Shoreham, Vl. June 23, 1834. 
Sir —About a year since, as I was perusing an agricultural work, 
I saw an extract of yours on the culture of Indian corn, together 
with a description of the “cultivator,” and a recommendation of the 
“ harrow to precede the hoe,” all of which I much approved. But 
reflecting on the variety of soils of which many of our Vermont corn¬ 
fields are composed, and the sudden transition from wet to dry. 
which renders them crusty, and many others situated so low that in 
a wet season, in spite of the vigilance of the most perfect farmer, 
wild grass and noxious weeds will take deep root, which will be be¬ 
yond the power of the harrow to remove, while the compound crusty 
field will be beyond the ability of the cultivator to pulverize—I was 
led into a series of reflections to invent a machine to obviate these 
difficulties and adapt itself to the wants and general interests of 
farmers. 
I have just accomplished one, which I have the pleasure to state 
I have tried with equal success on crusty grassy fields, on seeded 
and well subdued soil, and think I may safely say, exceeds any 
in common use, provided the field is free from roots and stone. It is 
made agreeable to the description of your “cultivator” to eradicate, 
with three cultivator and four harrow teeth ; a cultivator tooth in the 
centre, a harrow tooth in each extension ; thus in succession through¬ 
out. It will be obvious to the practical farmer that the angling po¬ 
sition and cylindrical form of the cultivator teeth will be directly cal¬ 
culated to force through crusty fields and cut up stubborn rooted 
noxious weeds, at the same time throwing it directly in contact with 
the harrow teeth, which, in addition to the common use perfects the 
work by pulverizing. It will also be noticed that the harrow teeth 
stand last in the extensions, thus permitting the machine to run near¬ 
er the plant without bruising, covering or cutting the roots. The 
men whom I have employed in hoeing confidently affirm that it is a 
great saving of manual labor. 
Sir, I have been encouraged to forward this communication by the 
very polite invitation of the superintending committee of “The Cul¬ 
tivator,” and should they deem it worthy a place in their columns, 
will highly oblige a friend to the public interest and a patron of the 
Cultivator. " Yours respectfully, 
SCIOLOUS. 
Bridgewater, N. Y. July 24, 1834. 
J. Buel, Esq.—It is with much satisfaction that I notice in a late 
number of the Cultivator an invitation to writers to give their signa¬ 
tures, as it gives your readers an opportunity to correspond with 
those writers. Also an invitation to forward for publication descrip¬ 
tions of new plants and seeds. I sent some time since a communica¬ 
tion on the culture of Madder to the New-England Farmer: since 
then, I have planted nine acres, and as I have given in the Farmer 
a particular description of the article, together with the mode of cul¬ 
tivation, and also in the Otsego County Almanac lor 18.34, will not 
trouble myself or your readers with a very lengthy article at this 
time on the subject. In the circle of my acquaintance I think there 
may be of madder under cultivation, about twenty acres. I began 
the cultivation in the spring of 1831. I planted the top roots, or 
seeds, in hills four feet apart each way, 250 hills or about one-ninth 
of an acre ; kept it free at all times of weeds, and for two seasons 
continued to throw earth on the tops, thereby increasing the quanti¬ 
ty of top roots, and promoting the growth of the bottom. I dug the 
madder last fall, washed and air dried them two or three days, and 
afterwards perfectly in a kiln, ground them in a grist mill and weigh¬ 
ed ; the result 135 pounds, and I believe the top roots, or seed, if I 
had dried and ground them, would have weighed about fifty pounds, 
making 185 pounds, at nineteen cents, would amount to $35.15, or 
$316 per acre, but as I sold the top roots for seed, they brought 
me a far greater sum. In 1832 I planted 600 hills in one piece of 
; ground, same distance as before—this will be dug the ensuing fall, 
I and the seed forwarded to Albany, if any person should request me 
to do so. The price here in September and October will probably 
be about $3 per bushel, by the quantity. 
In 1833 I planted eight acres in drills, scant six feet in the rows, 
and one foot in the drills, and should, if the ground had been free 
from that terrible scourge, (quack grass,) have planted forty-eight 
bushels. I hired this piece of ground just after a harvest of wheat, 
and was ignorant that it was covered wit h quack in the room of 
wheat: this circumstance, in the following spring compelled me to 
plant seventy bushels in room of forty-eight. The whole expense in 
cultivating this crop should not have exceeded $800 for four years, 
but in consequence, it will probably cost $1,000. The profits ofother 
crops between the rows of madder to be deducted from the expense, 
the amount of the crop when fitted formarket, four years cultivation, 
a clean and rich piece of land, calculating madder at one shilling, 
would be $2,000. I planted this piece of ground about the last of 
April or first of May, and about the first of June after I had cleaned 
the drills of weeds, I planted between them alternately, corn and po¬ 
tatoes. I had 1,070 bushels of pink-eye potatoes, sixty bushels of 
corn ; the corn being eleven or twelve feet apart did not do very 
well, and the worms were very plenty; the potatoes were perhaps 
better for being planted at so great a distance. I consider the quan¬ 
tity of ground planted with potatoes and corn, each about two and a 
quarter acres. The ground for the potatoes was furrowed, and the 
potatoes covered with the plough, and hoed once. I made in this 
piece some experiments in the cultivation of potatoes which I shall 
be glad to communicate to the public through the columns of the 
Cultivator. 1834, this spring planted potatoes between every other 
drill of madder; after having wed and covered the madder tops once, 
