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JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER, 
Juno  14,  1900. 
any  anxiety  respecting  the  cow’s  diet.  She  is  turned  out  on  to  the  fresh 
young  grass,  which  the  genial  sun  has  caused  to  spring  up  on  all  sides. 
The  day  of  hand  food  is  over.  She  selects  her  own  salad.  Well,  poor 
thing,  the  outlook  to-day  is  not  very  grand.  A  prolonged  spring,  not 
a  poet’s  spring,  but  like  one  described  by  Dickens,  is  still  with  us,  not 
a  feature  of  summer,  unless  we  except  the  drought,  herbage  scanty, 
and  bitter  nights — not  at  all  ideal  weather  for  the  secretion  of  milk. 
The  cow  must  eat;  she  has  a  big  frame  to  support,  and  therefore  she 
picks  about  here  and  there,  and  like  the  locusts  devours  every  green 
thing  that  comes  in  her  way.  At  night  she  vainly  tries  to  seek 
shelter  under  hedgerows  or  trees,  the  very  worst  places  to  find  sweet 
and  wholesome  food.  She  will  be  very  lucky  if  she  does  not  get  hold 
of  some  strong  flavoured  morsels.  She  will  lose  condition  herself, 
and  the  milk  suffers  at  once.  If  pastures  will  not  grow  weeds  will. 
Not  only  weeds  will  attract,  but  sundry  and  divers  buds  and  shoots  on 
hedges  and  trees — some  may  be  wholesome,  others  very  undesirable. 
Some  of  our  readers  will  recall  a  passage  in  a  novel  of  modern  days 
by  a  well-known  writer,  wherein  is  described  the  consternation  of  a 
dairyman  who  finds  his  milk  Garlic-tasted  ;  how  all  the  men  and 
maids  (and  an  angel)  were  sent  out  with  spuds  or  knives  arid  took 
every  inch  of  pasture  ground.  It  was  a  slow  and  expensive  process, 
but  it  was  that  or  loss  of  milk  customers,  We  have  never  had 
Garlic  in  our  own  pastures,  but  found  a  patch  once  hard  by  the  gate 
of  one  of  the  home  fields,  where  cows  passed  daily.  There  is 
practically  no  means  of  removing  the  t  lint  from  the  milk  when  once 
there.  The  only  way  is  by  efficient  refrigeration  to  prevent  it  getting 
worse.  Pas.sing  the  milk  twice  over  the  refrigerator  will  also  aerate  or 
oxygenate  it. 
But  there  are  many  ways  by  which  milk  becomes  tainted  that  are 
quite  preventible.  It  is  the  old  story  of  cleanliness;  wo  are  always 
preaching  it  till  our  readers  will  tire,  but  until  our  noses  give  us  direct 
evidence  to  the  contrary  we  must  stick  to  our  old  text.  It  is  no  use 
to  assert  butter  and  milk  are  sweet  and  good  if  the  evidence  of  the 
nose  is  against  it.  Boiling  water,  not  hot,  scalded  utensils  well 
purified  by  the  breath  of  Heaven,  are  the  main  factors.  Listen  to  a 
few  directions  respecting  the  pails.  First  rinse  in  warm  water,  then 
clean  inside  and  out  with  a  brush  and  hot  water,  using  some  soda  if 
necessary,  and  afterwards  scald  with  boiling  water,  and  leave  exposed 
to  the  air  in  a  clean  place.  No  use  to  put  clean  vessels  where  there 
are  foul  odours.  Strainers,  defective  pails — i.e.,  badly  made,  with 
rough  joints,  or  even  little  holes — are  all  sources  of  danger.  The 
scrubbing  brush  and  washing  cloths  are  often  themselves  in  need  of 
cleansing,  and  are  frequently,  alas  !  neglected.  It  goes  without  saying 
that  the  water  must  itself  be  pure  and  fresh. 
To  enter  upon  the  question  of  the  actual  manufacture  of  the 
butter  would  require  too  much  space.  To  minimise  labour  cream  is 
often  kept  far  too  long.  Overripe  cream  can  never  produce  first  class 
butter.  Supposing  the  butter  churned  in  a  perfectly  clean  wholesome 
churn,  then  comes  the  task  of  freeing  from  buttermilk  and  working,  not 
too  long.  It  is  quite  a  usual  fault  with  amateurs  to  be  too  anxious. 
They  work  their  butter  so  long  and  so  zealously  that  it  becomes 
“  oily  ”  and  “  salvy.”  Others  again  are  not  careful  to  get  rid  of  first 
the  butter  milk,  secondly  the  water  that  has  been  used  to  wash. 
That  is  all  very  well  if  customers  can  be  persuaded  to  buy  butter^ 
milk,  and  water  at  so  much  per  ounce;  but  the  butter  will  not  be 
good,  and  therefore  will  not  command  a  first-rate  price. 
It  is  no  use  to  make  good  butter  and  then  spoil  it  by  contact  with 
strong  smelling  articles,  or  by  keeping  it  in  an  unwholesome  place. 
It  is  want  of  care  in  small  details  that  does  so  much  to  spoil  our  butter 
as  a  whole.  It  is  the  old  story  of  “  for  want  of  a  nail,”  and  we 
cannot  wonder  that  the  English  farmer  loses  his  butter  customers 
when  we  find  how  often  the  article  is  “  too  tasty.” 
Work  01]  the  Home  Farm. 
The  wind  still  keeps  in  the  north-east,  and  we  have  very  little  sun. 
shine.  Crops  are  not  suffering  exactly,  except  from  the  fact  that  they 
are  losing  time,  and  harvest  is  being  put  further  back  day  by  day. 
Many  farmers  are  crying  out  for  rain,  but  all  long  for  more  sunshine 
and  warmth — some  of  last  season’s  heat.  Can  the  heavy  expenditure 
of  powder  in  South  Africa  have  n Hooted  our  weather  ?  We  have  hoard 
it  suggested. 
More  local  examples  of  Charlock  spraying  keep  coming  under 
notice.  Sulphate  of  iron  is  used  in  some  cases  in  place  of  sulphate  of 
copper.  It  is  cheaper,  but  requires  a  much  stronger  solution  to  bo 
effectual.  It  is  said  to  do  leas  injury  to  the  young  corn  shoots,  whilst 
being  quite  as  effectual  on  the  Charlock. 
There  has  been  rather  a  serious  loss  amongst  young  calves  lately. 
Some  farmers  invariably  lose  calves  in  the  spring,  and  seem  to  expect 
it,  but  this  time  the  loss  has  been  more  general,  one  old  neighbour, 
usually  lucky,  having  lost  a  dozen.  We  fancy  the  Hush  of  grass  has 
much  to  do  with  the  scour  which  causes  the  mortality,  the  active 
reason  for  the  scour  being  overfeeding.  More  calves  are  killed  by 
having  too  much  milk  than  by  having  too  little.  Alternate  doses  of 
cholera  mixture  and  castor  oil  are  tho  only  medicines  worth  using. 
The  scarcity  of  labour  will  no  doubt  have  a  tendency  to  induce 
farmers  to  sow  Turnips  on  the  flat  where  ridging  has  been  usually 
practised.  On  some  soils  flat  drilling  is  desirable  on  account  of  tho 
greater  certainty  of  getting  a  plant  in  dry  weather,  but  we  do  not  like 
putting  large  quantities  of  artificial  manure  in.  with  or  immediately 
underneath  the  seed.  For  one  thing,  the  residuary  influence  of  this 
manure  is  apt  to  show  itself  too  much  in  a  sort  of  ridgo  and  furrow 
appearance  in  the  next  crop,  and  wo  do  not  think  the  young  'J’lirnips 
are  benefited  by  the  Hear  presence  of  a  highly  concentrated  manure, 
especially  a  nitrogenous  one.  We  should  prefer  broadcasting  tho 
manure  either  by  hand  or  drilling. 
Potatoes  must  be  earthed  up  as  they  become  ready.  Very  large 
growers  use  a  light  one-horse  plough,  and  go  over  tho  ground  twice, 
a  horse  hoe  set  very  narrow  being  run  between  the  ridges  before  the 
second  earthing.  Old  ewes  will  now  pay  for  a  bit  of  cotton  cake ; 
what  is  not  repaid  in  milk  for  tho  lambs  will  give  a  i-eturn  in  mutton, 
which  is  not  likely  to  be  cheap  this  season.  A  pen  should  be  arranged 
with  hurdles,  to  which  the  lambs  only  have  access,  and  they  can  bo 
treated  and  educated  to  a  little  choice  mixture  of  lamb  food  whilst 
their  dams  are  discussing  the  coarser  material. 
'  -  - - — 
Prices  of  Sheep. — In  tho  prices  of  fat  sheep  in  London,  the 
record  of  the  year  and  several  recent  years  was  broken  recently,  when 
wethers  sold  up  to  9fd.  per  lb.,  carcase  weight,  sinking  tho  offal. 
But  for  some  weeks  the.  top  price  has  been  higher  at  Liverpool  than  in 
London,  lOH-  par  lb.  having  been  tho  top  price  all  through  May  in  tho 
latter  market. 
Winter  reeding  of  Cows. — A  discovery  which  caused  soma 
surprise  to  the  Newtonrigg  officials  was  made  in  connection  with 
some  experiments  on  tho  winter  feeding  of  cows.  The  rule  at  the  Cum¬ 
berland  Farm  School  is  to  discontinue  cake  when  a  cow’s  yield  of  milk 
sinks  to  a  gallon  a  day.  During  the  very  severe  weather  of  December 
it  happened  that  the  housed  Swedes  were  used  up,  and  the  snow  pre¬ 
vented  the  bringing  of  others  from  the  field.  As  a  temporary  expedient 
Mangolds  were  given  to  the  cows  for  a  week,  but  only  to  half  tho  extent 
that  Swedes  had  previously  been  supplied.  The  resultant  manure  was 
very  much  softer,  as  was  anticipated,  but  quite  unexpectedly  the  milk 
yield  of  the  whole  herd  rose,  although  the  weather  was  very  cold  and 
wet;  moreover,  the  supply  has  continued  higher  than  would  have  been 
looked  for  from  cows  ou  the  natural  decline  in  milk  yield.  Mr. 
Lawrence  therefore  concludes  that  the  medicinal  effect  of  the  Mangolds 
ou  the  cows  which  had  been  under  liberal  treatment  for  winter  dairying 
was  to  put  the  system  of  the  animals  into  better  working  order,  and  thus 
improve  milk  secretion. 
IVIanurlng  Hops. — The  results  of  Dr.  Bernard  Dyer’s  elaborate 
experiments  in  the  manuring  of  Hops  have  demonstrated  the  fact  that 
nitrate  of  soda  is  a  particularly  effective  manure,  and  large  quantities 
of  it  have  been  employed  with  profitable  results  and  without  apparent 
evil  effects.  As  much  as  10  cwt.  of  this  forcing  manuie  has  been  used 
on  1  acre  with  beneficial  consequences,  the  profits  from  this  heavy 
allowance  exceeding  those  obtained  from  the  light  dressings  from  2  cwt. 
upwards.  Dr'.  Dyer  does  not  advise  the  continuance  of  nitrate  of  soda 
on  this  lavish  scale,  however,  but  considers  4  cwt.  per  acre  a  safe  and 
serviceable  dressing  for  general  use.  He  is  emphatic  in  urging  the 
early  application  of  manures  of  this  class.  Contrary  to  the  theory 
advanced  in  some  quarters  he  holds,  and  has  confirmed  his  contention 
by  practical  demonstration,  that  the  crop  utilises  and  appreciates  the 
manure  beet  in  its  earlier  stages  of  growth.  The  manuring  process 
should  begin  as  soon  as  vegetation  starts  in  spring,  and  be  completed 
by  the  end  of  May  at  the  latest.  Another  point  strongly  enforced  by 
Dr.  Dyer  is  the  necessity  of  applying  a  liberal  dressing  of  a  phosphatio 
manure  in  any  circumstances,  with  or  without  farmyard  manure,  and 
independently  of  the  form  of  nitrogenous  manure  employed.  For 
calcareous  soils  he  recommends  8  cwt.  per  acre  of  superphosphate,  but 
for  soil  lacking  in  lime  basic  slag,  bone  dust,  or  guano  would  probably 
be  better.  For  medium  land  superphosphate  and  one  or  other  of  the 
other  substances  named  should  be  used  in  alternate  years.  Potash  salts 
are  not  requisite  when  farmyard  manure  is  used,  but  should  be  included 
when  artificials  only  are  available. — (“  Morning  Post.”) 
