390 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
October  25,  1900. 
is  one  great  object  lesson.  There  is  to  be  found  a  wonder  ul 
collection  of  dairy  animals,  some  exceedingly  good  dairy  productions, 
and  a  band  of  earnest  workers,  male  and  female.  It  looks  like 
business  when  we  read  of  milking  contests.  We  wish  both  first 
prizewinners  had  been  maids;  however,  it  was  a  case  of  “honours 
divided.”  We  always  think  that  a  woman  ought  to  make  a  far  better 
milker  than  a  man,  in  the  same  way  that  an  awkward  horse  is  often 
better  lidden  by  a  woman — her  hands  are  lighter,  and  she  is  less  likely 
to  jag  at  the  bit  and  pull  the  mouth  all  to  pieces.  Delicacy  of  touch 
is  a  woman’s  inherent  gift. 
But  we  want  now  to  speak  of  a  few  of  the  difficulties  of  dairying 
in  autumn  and  winter.  Autumn  weather  is  verv  variable.  We  have 
one  day  broiling  heat,  the  next  a  smart  frost,  and  this  great  range  of 
temperature  makes  the  keeping  of  perishable  food  material  like  milk 
most  difficult.  The  milk,  too,  itself  varies  so  in  quality.  Adults 
possibly  may  not  notice  it,  but  the  little  baby  does.  When  our 
children  were  younger  and  great  milk  consumers  we  invariably  had 
stomach  derangements  this  month,  and  we  only  to-day  heard  the 
complaint  of  a  mother  with  a.  tiny  baby.  She  has  milk  from  two 
sources,  from  perfectly  dependable  people,  but  neither  of  the  lots 
tasted  quite  right,  and  the  baby  was  suffering  accordingly.  We  at 
once  put  it  down  to  some  withered  herbage  or  unripened  grass  ihat 
had  been  eaten  by  the  cows. 
There  is  a  good  'bite”  in  the  fields  yet,  and  cowkeepers  are  loth 
to  begin  their  winter  stores  till  quite  obliged.  We  remember  perfectly 
w  ell  a  nasty  taint  in  our  milk  after  the  cows  had  had  access  to  some 
rotten  and  partially  decayed  Cabbages  and  other  garden  waste  that 
had  been  carelessly  left  in  their  way.  Cows  are  rather  voracious 
feeders,  and  all  is  fish  that  comes  to  their  net.  The  weather,  too,  has 
an  effect  on  the  cows.  A  bit  of  chill  or  cold  and  the  milk  is 
•consequently  less  in  bulk  and  inferior  in  quality. 
After  being  finally  taken  up  and  housed  for  the  winter  the  question 
of  food  is  entirely  under  control,  and  there  should  not  be  any  chance 
of  unwholesome  or  undesirable  food.  Naturally  the  cowkeeper  is 
desirous  jf  using  up  all  food,  but  care  is  needed  to  see  that  the  food 
is  sweet  and  w  lolesome.  Mr.  McConnell,  in  his  note  book,  mentions 
twenty-nine  varieties  of  plants  which  if  in  pastures  have  a  bad  effect 
on  the  milk.  He  might  add  to  his  list  of  injurious  foods  if  he  took 
note  of  the  winter  provision.  We  should  have  ourselves  a  great 
objection  to  feeding  milk  cows  on  Turniptops  ;  there  is  something 
particularly  strong  and  offensive  about  them.  If  coarsely  chaffed 
and  mixed  with  hay  or  cut  straw,  scalded  with  boiling  water,  and 
left  twenty-four  hours  to  heat,  much  of  the  offensiveness  will  be 
removed. 
The  outer  leaves  of  the  Cabbage  gross  and  coarse  are  also  very 
objectionable.  If  there  is  any  doubt  about  the  food  being  of  a  strong 
flavour,  if  it  must  be  given,  let  it  be  after,  not  before,  milking. 
Brewers*  grains  are  much  used  in  towns,  and  they  certainly  do  help 
the  fl  )w  of  milk  ;  but  they  have  a  way  of  going  sour,  and  then  they 
are  anything  but  desirable  food.  Sjur  grains  would  make  milk  bitter. 
We  do  not  hear  as  much  of  ensilage  as  we  used  to  do,  possibly  because 
we  have  had  some  good  hay-mskiug  seasons.  It  is  a  food  that  should 
be  used  with  great  care  and  discretion. 
We  have  spoken  of  the  water  supply  till  we  fear  of  wearying  our 
readers,  but  it  is  a  burning  question,  and  does  not  receive  half  the 
attention  it  should  do.  By  the  water  supply  we  mean  not  only  the 
drinking  water,  but  also  that  used  in  cleaning  all  miik  vessels.  Who 
does  not  know  the  taste  of  strong  winter  butter — strong  enough  to 
knock  you  down  if  you  have  a  delicate  stomach  ?  Should  the  butter 
have  an  inclination  to  strength  it  is  well  to  cause  a  thorough  investigation 
— first,  as  to  the  nature  of  the  food  eaten  by  the  cows;  second,  as  to  the 
cleanliness  of  all  utensils  which  either  receive  or  contain  milk  and 
cream  ;  third,  the  state  of  the  cream — f.e.,  temperature  and  acidity  at 
the  time  of  churning.  If  there  is  no  chance  of  a  change  from  the 
strong  coarse  food,  all  the  dairymaid’s  efforts  must  be  turned  to 
•  eliminating  the  flavour.  This  can  be  done  by  scalding,  cooling,  and 
aerating. 
We  strive  to  keep  our  dairies  cool  and  clean.  Well,  in  winter  it 
is  quite  easy  to  keep  the  cream  too  cool — that  is  to  say,  we  do  not  give 
it  a  chance  of  ripening  or  acquiring  the  proper  acidity  necessary  for 
successful  butter  making.  Well,  there  is  usually  a  snug  corner  in  the 
farmhouse  kitchen  where  the  cream  pancheons  may  be  placed  and  the 
cream  allowed  to  ripen. 
It  seems  a  small  matter  to  mention,  but  the  cream  must  be  con¬ 
stantly  stirred.  There  is  more  art  in  this  thorough  mixing  than 
people  imagine.  Do  not  go  to  the  other  extreme  and  make  the  cream 
too  sour ;  it  is  only  by  practice  that  the  exact  point  of  ripeness  can  be 
ascertained.  It  is  of  great  importance,  too,  thit  the  cream  pancheons 
be  perfectly  clean  and  flawless ;  any  crack  or  bit  of  glaze  chipped  off 
is  fatal.  On  no  account  use  metal  vessels.  There  is  one  modern 
source  of  danger,  and  that  is  the  separator.  It  may  be  considered 
olean,  and  probably  is,  but  there  is  always  the  chance  that  a  morsel  of 
dirt  may  be  left  undetected.  That  bit  of  dirt,  like  the  Onion  atom 
in  the  salad,  will  soon,  though,  “unsuspected  animate  the  whole.*' 
The  proper  cleaning  of  the  separator  is  no  light  task,  nor  should 
it  be  left  to  a  young  servant;  it  really  is  a  bit  of  work  for  the 
mistress. 
Are  any  of  our  readers  ever  troubled  with  “  sleepy  ”  cream ;  cream 
that  refuses  to  butter  ?  Depend  upon  it  the  cream  has  not  been 
uniformly  ripened  ;  that  is,  not  stirred  enough,  or  possibly  not  warmed 
sufficiently  to  allow  of  the  development  of  acid.  If  a  sharp  frost 
comes  and  the  cnam  gets  frozen,  bring  up  the  temperature  very 
gradually,  and  be  especially  careful  to  see  that  the  right  stage  of 
acidity  has  been  reached.  Churn  cream  that  has  been  frozen 
separately;  that  is,  do  not  mix  with  any  other  you  have  which  has 
not  been  frozen.  It  in  winter  butter  should  be  flecky,  streaked,  or 
cloudy  it  is  a  sign  that  it  has  been  worked  in  too  cold  an  atmosphere. 
We  have  often  spoken  of  putting  all  milk  and  butter  vessels  out  to  air 
and  sweeten ;  dare  we  add,  be  careful  of  your  locality,  not  too  near  a 
drain  or  pigstye,  or  even  on  the  ground.  It  is  not  many  days  since 
we  saw  a  dog  licking  and  sniffing  around  some  pancheons  put  out  to 
“  air,’’  they  were  also  w  ithin  a  few  teet  of  a  very  nasty  open  drain. 
We  have  known  butter  spoiled  by  being  worked  on  boards  that  have 
been  scrubbed  lavishly  with  soap,  especially  some  of  the  stronger 
varieties.  Soda  and  boiling  water  are  quite  enough;  not  much  soda 
unless  the  water  is  very  hard,  and  plenty  of  cold  water  rinsing 
afterwards. 
Just  one  more  point  and  we  have  done.  Are  the  winter  quarters 
of  the  cow  as  sweet  and  wholesome  and  light  as  they  ought  to  be  ? 
Eemember  all  germs  love  the  dark.  Admit  the  sun,  and  then  you  see 
reason  to  admit  the  broom  and  whitewash  bucket.  Milk  is  often 
tainted  between  leaving  the  cow  and  reaching  the  dairy. 
<■♦■> - 
Work  on  tlie  Rome  Farm. 
Weather  still  fine  !  Very  warm  days  and  a  touch  of  frost  in  the 
early  morning,  but  not  yet  enough  to  destroy  either  Kidney  Beans  or 
Dahlias.  Never  was  there  a  more  favourable  time  for  taking  up 
Potatoes,  and  very  few  are  now  left  in  the  land.  Prices  are  rising, 
£4  per  ton  being  easily  procurable  for  good  stuff.  So,  as  often  has 
happened,  we  shall  probably  find  this  year’s  deficient  crop  more 
remunerative  to  the  grower  than  a  good  one  would  have  been.  An 
interview  with  some  Irishmen  who  have  been  picking  up  a  neighbour’s 
crop  elicited  the  opinion  that  no  difference  could  be  detected  between 
sprayed  and  unsprayed  portions  of  the  field.  The  owner’s  opinion  is  in 
favour  of  the  sprayed,  but  he  uses  his  eyes,  not  his  hands. 
Farmers  are  not  in  a  hurry  to  drill  Wheat ;  perhaps  they  are  waiting 
for  more  rain.  Certainly  some  fields  are  dry  enough,  and  a  good 
moistening  would  make  the  mould  work  down  better.  The  ley  has 
hardly  been  ploughed  long  enough,  but  if  it  can  be  got  in  well  the 
Wheat  wOuld  be  better  growing,  and  making  a  strong  plant  before 
winter.  There  is  generally  a  loss  of  root  on  ley,  and  the  stronger 
and  thicker  the  plant  is  the  better  can  it  stand  against  the  ravages  of 
wireworm. 
We  see  that  a  discussion  on  the  most  suitable  quantities  of  seed 
Wheat  to  sow  has  been  started  in  the  pages  of  the  “  Agricultural 
Gezette,”  to  which  also  Lord  Denbigh’s  agent  has  sent  a  report  of  atrial 
of  two  leading  varieties  of  Wheat  at  Newnham  Paddox.  We  think  this 
report  gives  a  very  good  hint  as  to  suitable  seeding,  for  both  crops 
were  successful  ones — viz.,  40  and  56  bushels  per  acre  respectively,  and 
both  were  drilled  with  2^  bushels  per  acre.  This  is  a  typical  quantity, 
which  may  be  increased  as  we  approach  winter,  but  we  must  not  exceed 
3  bushels.  Scholey’s  Squarehead  was  the  champion  sort  at  Newnham, 
but  as  it  was  grown  on  Bean  stubble  whilst  White  Monarch  was  grown 
on  Clover  ley,  the  comparison  is  hardly  a  fair  one.  The  latter  lost 
root  in  winter,  though  it  appears  to  have  recovered  sufficiently  to  give 
promise  which  was  hardly  fulfilled  when  tested  by  the  thrashing 
machine.  Squarehead  is  a  very  suitable  Wheat  to  follow  either  Beans 
or  Potatoes,  and  it  is  still  our  most  productive  kind ;  but  there  is  some 
risk  in  sowing  it  on  ley,  as  it  does  not  tiller  so  well  as  other  kinds,  and 
therefore  does  not  fill  up  gaps  made  by  wireworm.  If  we  did  sow 
Squarehead  on  ley,  which  has  not  been  our  practice,  we  should  sow 
3  bushels  after  October  20th,  and  not  sow  it  at  all  after  mid-November. 
White  Wheat  is  better  for  late  sowing. 
Mangolds  are  still  growing  and  doing  well ;  we  notice  men  at  work 
storing  them  on  one  or  two  farms.  We  think  they  may  be  left  with 
advantage  into  November,  and  certainly  have  never  seen  any  injured 
by  frost  before  Martinmas,  so  we  cannot  see  the  force  of  employing 
labour  to  store  them  now  when  the  fine  weather  gives  us  the  chance  to 
do  so  much  other  work  that  is  equally  necessary  and  more  urgent  at  the 
present  time.  For  instance,  the  stubble  heaps  from  the  worked  fallows 
might  be  carted,  some  of  them,  into  the  yards  to  make  a  nucleus  of 
bedding  for  the  cattle  so  soon  to  be  brought  up ;  others  to  a  place 
handy  for  use  in  covering  the  root  heaps  later  on.  Good  clean  straw  is 
too  scarce  to  use  freely  for  such  a  purpose,  and  stubble  secured  and 
heaped  in  dry  condition  will  make  an  efficient  substitute. 
