THE CULTIVATOR. 59 
But great variations take place in the manner of performing the 
operation of the cheese manufacture; and certain districts are dis¬ 
tinguished by their peculiarities of practice. In England, more ma¬ 
nipulation is generally employed than is thought necessary under 
the system of management adopted in the dairy-districts of Scot¬ 
land. 
The richness and flavor of cheese very much depend upon the 
quantity of cream which the milk contains. In the districts of Eng¬ 
land most celebrated for rich cheese, the cream of one milking is 
skimmed off and mixed with the entire milk of the subsequent milk¬ 
ing. In this way the milk which produces cheese has its own cream 
and that also of a previous milking. 
It is a frequent practice to colour the milk, so as to give a red 
tinge to the cheese. This is now generally done by a preparation 
of the red pulp of the seeds of the arnotta tree. This adds nothing 
to the goodness of the cheese, but the mixture is harmless. 
The residuum, after the separation of the curd, it has been said, 
is whey. This substance is chiefly employed to feed hogs, and is 
exceedingly well suited to that purpose. 
These are the principal details which it is thought necessary to 
give regarding the preparation of these salutary and nutritive sub¬ 
stances. By means of the dairy, a larger quantity of nutriment can 
be obtained from the consumption of an equal quantity of herbage 
than by any other species of feeding. The dairy forms an impor¬ 
tant branch of public industry, and contributes in a material degree 
to the support of the inhabitants of this and other countries of Eu¬ 
rope. 
In the practice of the farm, where the main object is rearing ani¬ 
mals for feeding, the kinds of animals will be selected for breeding 
which are the best suited for that purpose; and the production of 
milk will be regarded as secondary and subordinate. But when the 
principal object is the production of milk, then animals willbe'select- 
ed the best adapted for yielding rich and plentiful milk. 
The form of animals that are best fitted to arrive at early matu¬ 
rity and secrete fat, differs in some respects from that which indi¬ 
cates a disposition to secrete and yield milk. A dairy-cow, like a 
feeding animal, should have a skin soft and mellow to the touch,— 
should have the back straight, the loins broad, the extremities small 
and delicate ; but she should not, as in the case of the feeding ani¬ 
mal, have the chest broad and prominent before. She should rather 
have the fore-quarters light, and the hind-quarters relatively broad, 
capacious, and deep; and she should have a large udder. There 
should be no breeding in-and-in, as in the case of a feeding stock. 
The object in rearing cows for the dairy is not to produce animals 
that will arrive at premature age, but such as are hardy and of good 
constitution. By long attention to the characters that indicate a 
disposition to yield milk, the breed of Ayrshire has become greatly 
more esteemed for the dairy than other animals much superior to 
them in size and feeding qualities. 
[From ChaptaPs Chemistry applied to Agriculture .] 
IMPROVEMENT OF THE SOIL. 
A KNOWLEDGE OF ITS QUALITIES ESSENTIAL. 
To improve the soil is to render it more suited to vegetation by 
ameliorating the nature of the earth. All then which tends to dis¬ 
pose a soil favorably towards plants, in connection with the action 
which is exercised upon them by air, water, temperature, manures, 
&c. may be justly termed improvement. Thus before undertaking 
to improve a soil, it is necessary to be acquainted with its qualities, 
and particularly with its defects, that we may apply to it the means 
of improvement it requires. 
This preliminary knowledge of the defects of a soil implies a' se¬ 
cond, which is that of all the agents which can be employed in its 
improvement; the correction of known faults can only be performed 
by means of substances possessing opposite qualities. 
As in the term improvement is implied all which can tend to ame¬ 
liorate a soil, it necessarily has a very extensive signification; it 
comprehends operations purely mechanical, and the use of those 
earthy and nutritive mixtures, which are produced by art; it like¬ 
wise comprises all the means which can be employed to direct ad¬ 
vantageously the action of air, water, heat, &c. It is in all these 
relations, that it is necessary to consider the great art of improve¬ 
ment. 
PULVERIZATION AND STIRRING NECESSARY. 
The best earths produce but little, if they be not stirred by the 
spade, the hoe, or the plough. This operation divides and softens 
the earth, brings to the surface the manures of all kinds, which the 
rains had caused to sink below it; facilitates the spreading of the 
roots, mixes the dung with the earth, and renders its action more 
equal; it destroys weeds, and causes them to serve as manure; and 
it frees the soil from vermin, which would otherwise multiply in it to 
the destruction of the harvests. 
This operation is performed upon all soils of what kind soever ; it 
forms the very basis of agriculture ; without it there can be no har¬ 
vest. The tillage by the hoe is much more perfect than that by the 
plough, but the spade is a still more efficacious implement. The 
plough divides and turns the soil with less exactness than either of 
the others; and notwithstanding the crossed and multiplied furrows, 
there will be some portions of the intervals and intersections, where 
the soil will remain untouched; but as tillage by the plough is the 
least costly, and the most expeditious, it has generally received the 
preference. 
I know a little village in Touraine, between the Cher, and the 
Loire, where all the lands are cultivated by the spade, and their 
produce is always double that of any in the neighborhood ; the in¬ 
habitants have become rich, and the soil has doubled in value. In 
Bremont, between Lochesand Chinon, they employ no other means 
of cultivating a very fertile soil; but this method can be used only 
on small estates, or in a country where labor is very abundant, and 
to be procured at a low price; I do not doubt, however, that there 
are some localities where it could be conducted with profit, if it 
should be employed from time to time to ameliorate successive por¬ 
tions of land ; especially those that have been used for the cultiva¬ 
tion of such plants as have long roots. 
In the alluvial soils formed by the deposites of the Loire, between 
Tours and Blois, the farmer reaps from his land a harvest of corn, 
and afterwards lets it to persons, who turn it to the deptii of a foot, 
with spades, and raise upon it leguminous plants. 
From the effects produced by this kind of tillage, we may per¬ 
ceive, that it cannot be employed equally in all soils, or indifferently 
at all seasons, nor be always carried to the same depth. A light, 
porous, calcareous, or sandy soil requires less tilling, than that which 
is compact and argillaceous; and this last requires to be stirred 
more deeply than the first, because otherwise, the roots cannot pe¬ 
netrate it and fasten themselves in it; neither can the air gain ac¬ 
cess to deposit upon them its kindly moisture. 
Calcareous, sandy, and siliceous soils may be tilled at any time, 
whilst the argillaceous soils are in a fit state for the plough only at 
certain seasons, which must be eagerly seized upon by the farmer; 
the action of the plough upon these lands immediately after rain, on¬ 
ly leaves marks in the mud ; and if they be allowed to remain till 
they are thoroughly dry, they become impenetrable by it; the in¬ 
terval between these two periods is the time most fovorable for till¬ 
ing. 
UTILITY OF THE HARROW AND ROLLER. 
The best tilling does not always prepare soils entirely for cultiva¬ 
tion ; some are not sufficiently divided or crumbled ; others are not 
sufficiently levelled, and it is only by the assistance of the harrow, 
or the roller, that the labor of tillage can be completed. By drag¬ 
ging the harrow in all directions overly a newly ploughed field, the 
clods left by the plough are turned over, the uprooted weeds are car¬ 
ried off, and a more equal division is given to all parts of the soil. 
The strength and weight of the harrow must be in proportion to the 
resistance offered by the nature of the soil. The harrow can be 
employed advantageously in opening the soil of artificial meadows, 
especially those of clover, when the surface has become a crust im¬ 
penetrable by air, or water; the operation of harrowing in this case, 
should be performed early in the spring of every other year, or im¬ 
mediately after having cut the first crop of fodder; by this means, 
many plants injurious to the soil are destroyed; and meadows are 
restored, which would have been constantly deteriorating. I have 
practised harrowing fields of grain, early in the spring, with great 
success; and have found the harvests from them uniformly much 
finer, than from those that had not been harrowed ; but it was ne¬ 
cessary to pay attention to having the harrows very light, and made 
with wooden teeth. 
The roller I have found to produce an excellent effect after the 
seed was covered ; it unites and levels the surface of the ground, 
and is particularly useful for porous and light soils ; and for those 
earths of which the constituent particles are fine and light. If such 
soils have not received a suitable degree of firmness from the roller, 
