54 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
placed sods, turned upside down, and the remainder filled with earth; the 
ditch is about two-thirds filled with stone, which leaves sufficient earth on top 
to be uninjured in ploughing; the digging cost thirty-three to forty-two cents 
per rod, and laying the stone and filling up, forty-five cents, (estimating labor 
at one dollar per day,) making theaverage expense per rod eighty-three cents; 
for picking up and carting the stone, I make no charge, as I have stone enough 
near at hand, and independent of the drain, I consider it matter of economy for 
good tillage, to have the land well cleared of them. 1 have also dug upwards 
of one hundred rods more in the same manner, ready to be filled this spring, 
and shall continue to thoroughly w derdrain all my wet lands. There is no¬ 
thing, however, I have undertaken in the way of improvement, in which the 
public have been so sceptical, and not a few’ have ridiculed it outright. There 
are those who must see water enough run to carry a fulling mill, before they 
can be satisfied of its injurious effects, and are even then loo indolent to dig a 
common ditch to take it away. Indeed, I heard one, who is called a pretty 
good farmer, i e. who is economical, never expending a dollar, for fear he 
shall not see it again, but doing every thing within himself, say, (on being ad¬ 
vised to run a drain through a grass lot so wet that you could not mow it with¬ 
out standing over shoes in water,) “There are different opinions about it; 
some think, it is better wet; that they got more grass on wet land. I have my 
doubts; I am not satisfied yet.” Not so with me, sir; I have no doubt about 
it, and am as confident of success in this, as in any tiling I have undertaken. 
I expect, the coming season, to be entirely remunerated for the expense, be? 
sides permanently reclaiming, and making first rate land of that'which was 
mostly of little value. And why, it may be asked, have you written this arti¬ 
cle ? You have told us only, that you have seen the injurious effects of stand¬ 
ing water, and to prevent it, have made a drain. True; but even this is more 
than all have done; and if its effect is only to revive the subject, and lead your 
numerous readers to review the many excellent articles, together with the mi¬ 
nute detail of the work, accompanied with the plates you have from time to 
time, given in your very useful paper, my desire will be accomplished, and 
others will, I have no doubt, do what I have done. The truth is, in farming, 
as well as morals, we need be told a thing more than once. To the most ca¬ 
sual observer there is need enough of draining; and I would recommend all, to 
examine the subject and act upon it at once. I shall hereafter prepare a state¬ 
ment of facts in relation to the result of crops, <fcc. from this land. 
I am now in the course of some experiments with swamp muck. I have on 
my farm a piece of about two acres or more, from one and a half to seven feet 
deep, enough to enrich the whole farm. I have weighed, after drying over the 
fire for twenty-four hours, two hundred and forty grains of it, which, after 
burning, left a residuum ol only twenty-two grains, giving twp hundred and 
eighteen grains, or ten parts out of eleven of vegetable matter, or food for 
plants, besides the alkali, &e. in the ashes of the remaining eleventh part. I 
am preparing a compost of it with lime, and one also with prutrescent manure; 
the materials were put together last fall, are fermenting, and so far doing well. 
Almost every farmer with us has mines of this, better than mines of gold for 
the industrious. A proper application of industry here, will be found much 
more profitable than grinding apples for cider. Let the children gather and 
feed them to the stock, while the men and boys, with their teams, get out the 
muck. Yours very respectfully, 
H. G. BOWERS. 
CHEESE MAKING. 
Mr. Buel,—Sir, —I became a subscriber to your valuable paper at the 
commencement of its third volume, and have since perused all its numbers with 
a great deal of interest. You have published several communications, wish¬ 
ing that some one would send you some directions on the art of making cheese, 
which should be “ founded on the writer's dwn experience.” As none have 
yet appeared in the columns of the Cultivator, I have concluded to send you 
a few directions, which are the result of my own observations only, for upon 
actual experience I can say but little. 
It is a surprising fact, that the cheese business has been carried on in this 
country so long, and to so great an extent as it has, without greater exertions 
to bring it to greater perfection by the assistance of science. I do not mean to 
call in question the quality, for I believe there are many persons in this coun¬ 
try who are capable of making cheese of quality equal, and perhaps superior, 
to any foreign production. But I do not believe that any cheese maker in the 
country, even Col. Meacham himself, can, at all times, “accomplish the 
greatest possible object by the least possible means” in that art without the 
use of the thermometer. It is but a few years since distillers could only ex¬ 
tract to the utmost extent, ten quarts of hydrometer proof liquor from a bushel 
of grain; while by the assistance of science and experiments, they now get 
fifteen quarts from a bushel. They too might mash, cool off, &c. by guess, 
without thermometers, and make just as good alcohol, but they would be the 
losers in the quantity. Why may not then more cheese be obtained from the 
same quantity of milk than is generally done ? That the substance is not all 
coagulated is evident from the f ict, that butter is made from the whey. I do 
not know of a dairyman in this vicinity that uses a thermometer, a guide to 
regulate the temperature of the milk when set, or in any part of the process. 
Tne whole of the cheese in the country, I believe, is made by guess, and con¬ 
sequently no other than directions founded upon (rote) experience can be ex¬ 
pected. 
I have been in the cheese business for the last few years, and last year I 
had the luck to obtain a cheese maker, whose skill and experience in the art 
are probably second to none m the country, and whose mode and directions 
are as follows: First is the preparation of rennet, which is merely soaking the 
rennet in water or sweet whey, which is preferable, and adding\salt enough 
to keep it sweet; as to the quantity used in a given quantity of milk, that is 
altogether regulated by the strength of the rennet liquor; and as some rennets 
are better than others, I am unable to reduce it to a certain rule on paper; 
there should be enough, however, for perfect coagulation: but too much “ is 
apt to blow up the cheese full of small holes,” and it will acquire a disagreea¬ 
ble flavor. The evening’s milk, in hot weather, should be cooled from 45 to 
55 degrees of Fahrenheit’s thermometer, to prevent its souring, which maybe 
done by setting the milk, if in pans, into cold water, and if some should be in 
the cheese-tub; large tin coolers should be set into the milk with cool water, 
changing the water (if required) until the milk be cooled to the above tempe¬ 
rature. The milk having thus stood all night, the cream should be carefully 
skimmed off in the morning and put into a pan. The quantity of milk heated 
or warmed is regulated by the temperature of the external air; for cheese is or 
can be made at all seasons of the year. I found, by the thermometer that the 
temperature of the milk, when set, varied from 85 to 95 degrees, and I believe 
the rule laid down in the Farmer's School Book, putting at about the same 
temperature as when taken from the cow, viz. 90 to 95, to be a good one. 
Enough should then be heated or warmed to liquify the cream, (which is 
poured into the warm milk,) and raise the temperature of the whole, when in 
the cheese-tub, together with the morning’s milk, to 90 or 95 degrees. In cold 
weather it all wants warming; when in very hot weather it wants very little 
or no warming; in the latter case,'the cream may be liquified by putting it in¬ 
to the strainer, and pouring the morning’s milk on it. 
The rennet is then well mixed with the milk; but the quantity, as before 
mentioned, depends upon the strength of it. The time allowed for coagula¬ 
tion, I find to be about one hour, (as soon as it is coagulated, it will admit of 
a slight pressure on its surface without breaking,) during which time more or 
less cream will naturally rise to the surface. This, to prevent its escape with 
the whey, should be carefully skimmed into one side of the tub, and some of 
the coagulated milk or curd put-on to it with a skimmer, the whole is then 
very carefully broken up with a skimmer or a cutter, made for the purpose. 
If the breaking up be not very carefully done, or if it be carelessly.mixed, 
the butyraeeous substance will become reunited with and escape with the 
whey. A coarse cloth or strainer is then spread over it, through which the 
whey will rise, and as much of it dipped off as can be gotten handily; the 
cloth is then removed and the curd broken up again as fine as can be with a 
skimmer, when the whey is dipped off again as before. Some of the first vjhey 
should be heated as soon as it is dipped off, and by the time the whey is dip¬ 
ped off the second time, it should be ready to scald the curd. The quantity 
heated is also regulated by the temperature of the external air; in hot weather 
two pails full of whey of 130 degrees, will scald the curd from forty pails of 
milk; but in cold weather it will take more. As soon as the whey is dipped 
off the second time, the curd is broken up the third time, and immediately 
scalded with the hot whey; as soon as the hot whey is poured on, the cheese 
makers thoroughly mix it and break the curd with their hands as fine as they 
can get it; it is then cooled by pouring on cold whey; it is then removed into 
a cheese-basket or sink, over which a large cloth is spread, in which the whey 
is worked out by squeezing and working the curd, as clean as possible; the 
curd is then again put into the cheese-tub and salted. The common rule is a 
tea-cup full of salt to every fifteen pounds of cheese, but as lea-cups, like 
“ pieces'of chalk,” vary in size, I consider this an unsafe rule. The proper 
way is to regulate by taste. The salt should be thoroughly mixed and gradu¬ 
ated with the curd, for if this is not done, the parts that are not settled puff 
ftp, and perhaps give it an unpleasant flavor. It is then ready for the press. 
It is of great importance that the cheese should be well pressed, for no 
cheese will keep well that is not well pressed. I have not made any actual 
experiments of the different results of coagulating the milk at different tempe¬ 
ratures, nor is this the proper season; I intend, however, to know the diffe¬ 
rence in the coming season. 
Yours, &c. AARON PETRIE. 
Little-Falls, April \Zth, 1837. 
Wawar.smg, Ulster co. March 23th, 1837. 
Dear Sir, —It was not till last year that I knew of the Cultivator being pub¬ 
lished as a periodical. I took the first opportunity of subscribing for the then 
current volume, (the third) and found it to contain so much useful and interest¬ 
ing information on the important subjects of which it treats, that I would have 
procured the two preceding volumes at quadruple the price of them; but the 
first being out of print, I could obtain only the second, which I have perused 
with increased interest and satisfaction. And here permit me to observe, that 
I think the reprinting ol the first volume a highly beneficial and judicious pro¬ 
ject. I have lately sent for it and the fourth, in company with fourteen or fif¬ 
teen new subscriptions, (for the fourth,) to be sent to this office. 
Considering the queries and communications of correspondents, and espe¬ 
cially the answers and remarks elicited thereby, a useful part of the paper, I 
would, for the sake of information, submit the following: 
Is plaster liable to lose its value by being kept over year, or any length of 
time, in its ground state! And should it be ground coarse or fine? Reason 
would seem to dictate the latter; but some talk otherwise. Having been much 
disappointed in the benefits I expected to derive from the use of plaster, I wish 
to be better informed as to its nature, and the best mode and time of applying 
it; which, I believe, are not well understood by the generality of farmers. My 
soil, I believe, does not contain a large proportion of alumine, or calcareous 
earth. It consists of an elevated, dry and warm sandy loam, resting on a yel¬ 
lowish sandy subsoil. The stones are generally rounded, of a grayish colour, 
and composed of coarse hard grit, and some of them of gravel and small peo¬ 
ples, of different colours. The imprints of muscle shells have been seen in 
darker stones,* And although this is the kind of soil which, I believe, is said 
to be most benefitted by plaster, yet having used it freely in various ways for 
the last four years, (with the exception of the second) there was but very lit- 
* I am thus particular, because, to me, there is no part of the notices of cor¬ 
respondents more interesting than their descriptions of the soil, subsoil, &c. 
in which they either succeed or fail in raising such and such crops, or in other 
agricultural experiments. And I hope that they will generally give such de¬ 
scriptions; and also, that the geological survey of the slate will be prosecuted 
with minuteness and despatch. 
