1851. 
115 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Now in regard to the utility of the article first men¬ 
tioned, for the destruction of worms, I know nothing; 
lout in reference to salt, I have made some trials which 
show that the quantity of “ six bushels” per acre will 
produce no such results as above stated. I have, in one 
instance, put wire-worms in a vessel with earth, and 
Itrowed salt at the rate of forty bushels to the acre. The 
worms were examined at various times for several weeks, 
but showed no appearance of having received any injury, 
or of being in the least incommoded by the salt. Several 
other worms were in the vessel with the wire-worms, 
but the salt appeared to have no etfect on any of them. 
J. T. P. _ 
Milk-houses and Butter-making. 
Eds, Cultivator—-I notice your request for informa¬ 
tion in regard to spring-houses for milk. Almost every 
farmer in this section of country has a spring-house, as 
it is almost impossible to make good butter in the sum¬ 
mer without one. And as I have as good a one as I have 
seen, I will try to describe it. My spring rose in a low cave, 
on the east side of a hill, close to the creek. This cave, 
the former owner used for a spring-house, but as it was 
inconvenient, I quarried and blasted out the rock about 
twenty feet into the hill, and about fourteen feet wide, 
down to the level of the spring. On the west side or 
next to the hill, I found a perpendicular seam in the 
rock, that answered for the wall, nine feet in height. I 
built the house 12 feet by 11 in the clear, and two stories 
high; the lower or milk-room is 7% feet to the joists. 
The upper story is about six feet high. I put the door 
in the east end, and a small window of six lights 8 by 10 
at the side of the door. I thought the second story 
would add much to the coolness of the lower room, but 
a good ceiling might answer the purpose as well, but I 
had plenty of stone at hand, and I knew the upper story 
would be useful, and the roof would cost no more. The 
rock or bank covers the lower story on three sides. 
The spring comes in at the west end, and escapes through 
a crevice in the rock under the floor to the creek. We 
find it cool enough in the warmest weather for every 
purpose. Fresh meat will keep a week in it, but as it 
was too cool to stand to churn in it, I put a shed over 
the door for that purpose. But my wife said it was too 
warm under the shed to make good butter , and she made 
it inside the house, although it was a bad place for per¬ 
sons afflicted with the rheumatism. I then cleared off 
the shed and built a churning-room 6^ feet long, (which 
was all the room I had to the creek,) and eleven feet 
wide, two stories high, and to make it more comforta¬ 
ble I floored it with plank on the rock. There is two 
doors in this room, one on the north, the other on the 
south side, and a window with 12 lights in the east end. 
I thought we were fixed, but building' the churning- 
room against the end of the milk room in which the only 
window was, made it too dark. I then cut a hole 2£ 
feet long and a foot wide in the upper floor under the 
window, this threw down enough of light and served as 
a ventilator. I boxed this hole round three feet high to 
prevent the dust blowing down. I find it very conven¬ 
ient now. 
We might make a great deal of butter, but we have 
have never sold more than 958 lbs. in any one season. 
We churn all the milk, except part of the first or fore 
milk, in which there is little butter; this we skim and 
use sweet. The butter is taken off" as soon as churned, 
and the milk well washed out of it by the hand; it is then 
salted with Kanawha salt pounded fine in a cloth with a 
hammer or a log. This has been the usual practice; but 
last spring we got a barrel of very fine salt from New 
York, which saves the trouble of pounding the Kanawha. 
As soon as the milk is churned, the person who makes the 
butter, scalds her hands to prevent the butter from stick¬ 
ing to them. The butter is then raised by the hand into 
a wooden bowl, where the milk is worked out of it, and 
the salt worked in. It is then covered with cold spring 
water and left in the spring-house till next day. It is 
then washed with cold water, and beaten and worked 
till neither milk or water remains in it. It is then ready 
for weighing into pounds, or for packing. That which 
is immediately sent to market is put in pound lumps, 
each wrapped in a clean white cloth. These cloths are 
returned, well washed and laid out to bleach till they 
are required again. We have had our butter engaged 
for some years at 15 cents per pound, and take it 
to Madison once a week. We are now offered 18| cents 
a pound, for all we can make, for a year. Two families 
get their weekly allowance put up in small earthern ves¬ 
sels. We leave the full one and bring home the empty 
one weekly. When we have butter standing in a bason 
or crock, we put some strong pickle on it. Our butter 
is very much liked by all those who have tried it. 
We keep the milk vessels on the rock floor, and not in 
the water as most others do. We use a large Kendall 
churn that holds twenty gallons; it is pretty hard work 
turning it. Would a fly or balance wheel improve it? 
[No.] The spring-house is plastered, and w 7 ell white¬ 
washed, and the yard around is planted with Cedar, 
Cottonwood, Aspens, Catalpa, Red Bud, Service- 
berry, Dogwood, Black-locust, Rock-Maple, &c. &c. 
I have a Black-locust grafted about ten feet high with 
the Robinia hispida or Rose acacia, which I think looks 
very pretty when in flower. 
In the winter when we have little milk, and the weath¬ 
er is very cold, we bring the milk to the house. We 
have a perfectly dry cellar, with the floor partly solid, 
level rock, and this place answers very well in winter. 
One of my neighbors who has an excellent spring about 
200 feet from his house, but 30 feet below it, has had an 
Hydraulic ram put up, and intends to erect a milk-house 
on the north side of his dwelling-house, and to have a 
shallow trough to run the water into and to set his milk 
vessels in. This will save labor. Another who has no 
spring convenient, has a milk-house built close by his 
well, and has a channel built with brick, and plastered 
with cement, to run along three sides of the house, close 
to the wall. The channel is about 1| feet wide and six 
inches deep. This he pumps full of water two or three 
times a day or as often as it gets too warm, and he keeps 
the milk vessels setting in the water. He says it does 
pretty well. Another whose spring rises within about 
ten feet of the surface of the ground, sunk a cellar 
aroud the spring, roofed it over, made stairs down to 
it, and keeps the milk setting in the water. It is pretty 
cool, but inconvenient. I find all, except ourselves, 
keep the milk vessels setting in the water. A man from 
