MANURES UNDER COVER.

FEW farmers are aware of the great importance of keeping manures protected from the weather, and many who take this precaution may not be fully aware of the great difference there is between manures made under cover and those exposed to rains in the open yard. It is not a little difficult to realize the fact that the chief fertilizing material to be found in a load of stable manure consists of but a few pounds in weight, and that this material is soluble, and easily washed out by a heavy rain, and yet both scientific investigation and practical experience teach us that this is the case.

It is plain that a fearful waste takes place at every exposure of fermenting stable manure to a heavy rain, and it is not too much to say that manure that has been made under the barn, or in the barn cellar, will lose nearly or quite half of its value as a stimulant on being thrown out and exposed to a single severe drenching rain. This has been repeatedly proved by actual trial. Just look a moment at the results.

A lot of twenty acres was planted with potatoes, one half of it with manure from the open yards, the other with that from covered yards, each with twenty loads to the acre. The lot manured from the uncovered yards produced 7 tons, 14 cwt., and 49 lbs. of potatoes per acre. The lot alongside, treated in every other respect precisely the same, but fertilized with manure from the covered yards, produced 11 tons, 14 cwt., and 67 lbs. per acre; an increase of four tons and eighteen pounds to the acre. Nor was this the end. The field was cleared and sown with wheat, the whole dressed with 3 cwt. of guano per acre. That part of the lot that had been treated the previous year with uncovered manure, taken from the open yard, produced 41% bushels and 28 lbs. of wheat, and 1 ton, 10 cwt., and 72 lbs. of straw per acre. The lot that had been treated with covered or protected manure, produced 54 bushels and 26 lbs. of wheat, and 2 tons, 2 cwt., and 2 lbs. of straw; an increase, in the wheat crop, of over 13 bushels, and in the yield of straw of over 11 cwt. per acre.

Such facts as these, which might be multiplied, ought to set every farmer to thinking. The increase of four tons of potatoes to the acre the first year, and of more than twelve bushels of wheat the second year, represents a great difference in the money value of the manure used in the two cases, all owing to the difference in the method of treatment and protection.

Now if you cannot construct à barn cellar, it is worth while for you to consider whether you could not cover the yard, or a portion of it. But by all means stop that wasteful habit of throwing all the stable droppings out at the window, to lie under the drenching caves and the blazing sun. No farmer can afford the loss, and this old practice ought to be stopped.

CULTURE OF ROOTS.

THE great, and perhaps the greatest, defect in our New England agriculture, is the small extent devoted to the culture of roots. It is no doubt true that in a climate like ours, where stall feeding for five or six months in a year is a necessity which nature imposes upon us, the grass crop must be our main reliance for the feeding and nourishment of stock. Still, we need something more. Even if it were only for a change of food, as a sort of condiment, a supplement to the regular feeding, we should find a more extended cultivation of roots judicious and economical. But apart from their importance in this respect, it can be shown, we think, that a greater amount of nutriment can be raised from an acre of well-cultivated roots, be they English turnips, Swedes, or mangolds, than can be raised from an aere of grass.

It may not be generally known that even horses soon become very fond of Swedish turnips, and that they thrive upou them as well as upon carrots, while the cost of raising them is undoubtedly far less, bushel for bushel. It is not necessary, in this connection, to cite instances to show how many tons can be raised upon a given space of land, nor to compare the nutritive value of these roots with that of hay, which might easily be done. The yield of the Swede and the mangold, under good cultivation, and on a suitable soil, is often enormous, and generally, it may be stated, as vastly superior, when its nutritive value is considered, to that of any crop of hay ever raised on the same extent of land.

Swedes and mangolds, therefore, must be regarded as among the most important and valuable of the root crops, and those most worthy of the attention of every farmer. These plants require very different cultivation and treatment. For the former, take a warm piece of light land which has been in grass for some years, and on which the water is not likely to stand for want of drainage, and plough it deeply, about the middle of June, turning in the grass, and then spread on a little well-rotted barnyard manure, and harrow it in with a good harrow, and for this purpose we consider Share's harrow as the best, and then mark out the rows with a marker, about twenty-eight inches apart, and scatter a little superphosphate, bone, ashes, or other concentrated phosphatic manure in the rows or drills, at the rate of three or four hundred pounds to the acre. This may be sown by

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hand in the rows.

Then sow the seed in these rows with a seed-sower that will cover the seed well. These are the main points to be observed.

Avoid strong nitrogenous or ammoniacal manures. They cause the plant to run to tops, and make large tops and long necks at the expense of the root, which is the main thing you want in the cultivation of this crop. And so does rich, strong, thoroughly cultivated soil. The Swede is impatient of such treatment. It wants a light, warin soil; it wants no forcing or over-stimulating manures; it wants clean culture, and plenty of room to grow without being crowded.

Now the mangold is quite different. It needs to be sown much earlier, for it requires a longer time to grow. It does best on good, strong, stiff soil, well cultivated, and full of manure left and retained in the soil by previous cultivation. Land that will easily bear three tons of hay to the acre is none too good for it. Plough it early in May. Put it in as good and mellow condition as you can, and plough in at least seven or eight cords of good honest barnyard manure, not weak compost, not half straw or muck, but solid manure, that has only compost materials enough to hold the liquids, and no more. Plough it in once, and mix it up by a second ploughing. Then harrow thoroughly, and drill it by a small plough or marker. If you have any refuse salt, a little scattered along these drills will do good. A little old rotted manure will help. Sow the seed carly, the earlier the better after the land is ready, and take care that it is well covered, and the earth pressed down solid over the seed, so as to keep a uniform temperature and moisture. The seed is slow and difficult to germinate; and these conditions are essential to it. Now ií you cultivate these plants well, and keep the weeds out, you may expect ten or twelve hundred bushels to the acre. Much larger crops have been raised. Nineteen hundred bushels have been obtained, and seventy-three tons were raised on Deer Island. Is not such a crop worth taking a little extra pains for?

In feeding out the roots in winter it is always best to begin with the English turnips, as they keep a shorter time than either Swedes or mangolds. They are very useful as the cold weather and stall feeding approaches, and serve to break the otherwise sudden transition from green and succulent feed to dry hay. After them will come the Swedish turnips, to be continued as long as they last, perhaps till the first of March, when it is time to begin on the mangolds. The saccharine matter in the mangold is not fully developed till towards the end of winter, and if fed at the beginning of winter they are less nutritive and more apt to scour the cattle. They may be continued in increasing quantities daily till grass.

FARMERS' PLANS.

ONE of the prominent reasons why we see so little progress in improvements upon the farm is, that farmers do not plan sufficiently for the future. There should be an ideal, a map in the mind, of the farm three, five, or ten years hence, a model of the improved place in the brain, that is to be worked up to by degrees, as time and opportunity admit.

It is safe to say that no farm, however improved, is as perfectly developed as it is capable of becoming. Something will always remain to be done to add to the beauty, the attractiveness, or the fertility of every place. If it were completely finished it is not probable that the owner would be satisfied with it, since the highest enjoyment in life is derived from doing and planning. It is progress, the sense of adding something to the real comfort or beauty of the place, that brings the highest satisfaction.

This ideal farm is by no means inconsistent with the idea of present profit. The plans laid out in the mind may be subordinate to the actual present working of the farm, but carried on and carried out in connection with the ordinary routine of work. They should embrace a determination to improve and beautify the place while getting from it the means of supporting the family. They should include the design of leaving every field in a better condition when the crop comes off than it was when the seed was intrusted to the ground, not only in respect to looks, cleanliness, and perfection of fiuish, but also in respect to fertility and productiveness. It is astonishing to see how much can be done from year to year to adorn and beautify the home and its surroundings. A few trees set out here and there, a few old and decayed trees grubbed up, perhaps, and removed, an unsightly wall or fence taken out of the way, in a thousand ways, indeed, beauty may be made to spring out of deformity, and that, too, without any serious expenditure of time or money, because each operation may be undertaken when other work is not pressing, or, it may be, as a means of filling up idle time.

A live farmer, always awake to the spirit of improvement, will have his farm, at the end of ten years, in a vastly better condition in respect to attractiveness and real value than it was at the beginning, while another will plod on, work quite as hard, perhaps, and find his farm no better, and probably worse, than it was in the beginning. The difference will be found in the planning, the brain work, of the two men. One has an ideal in his brain that he means to attain, and by degrees it is developed into actual results; the other merely plods on from day to day, always hesitating about undertaking anything out of the ordinary routine of farm labor, working hard enough with his hands, but little with his brain. If there is a waste

place in his lot, an ugly eyesore, he is slow to begin its improvement. If there is a rock in the way of the scythe or the plough, it lies there year after year, though an hour's work might remove it.

Now in all improvements, and, in fact, in all the operations of the farm, it is better to have a fixed and definite plan at the outset. It not only saves time, but it often saves the necessity of undoing what has already been done. A drain may be cut to meet some supposed emergency, and where it may interfere with a regular plan of draining the farm. A tree or an orchard is planted without a comprehensive plan in regard to its location, and the time comes when it has to be removed, because it interferes with some other plan. A wall is built, perhaps, where, on some change of purpose, it is no longer wanted. All these mistakes arise from the want of a well-considered and comprehensive plan at the outset, which would have prevented them.

The true way to progress on the farm is to do something, be it more or less, every year. It may not amount to a radical change in any one year, but in the aggregate the improvement will be apparent, and the real money value of the farm enhanced.

If the profits of farming are less apparent than those of mercantile pursuits at certain times, it should be borne in mind that neither are the wear and tear of mind and body, nor the labor and risks so great. The chances of a happy and comfortable life are greater upon the farm than in any other calling, and if the spirit of improvement exists in the mind, the sources of real and permanent happiness and satisfaction are inexhaustible. We hope to see the time when our young men will incline to the culture of the land, rather than to dissipate their intellect and their energies in our villages and cities. To hasten this time, we must increase their intelligence, their sense of the true dignity of agriculture, adopt new methods of farming, apply more science and more knowledge to the details of this calling, make farming attractive, agrecable, and productive, and this is to be accomplished by the system, the forethought, and the plans of the human brain.

CHEESE FACTORIES.

THE system of manufacturing cheese in family dairies, which prevailed in this country till a recent date, and still prevails in most countries in Europe, has been superseded, to a large extent, by what are commonly known as Cheese Factories. The factories offer great and unquestionable advantages over the family dairy, such advantages as the division of labor and the concentration of skill and effort always secure. They have, therefore, done much to build up the character and reputation of the American dairy in the markets of Europe, and to add largely to the prosperity of the country by the increase of our exports. They may almost be said to constitute a new era in the agriculture of the United States.

The dairy business of this country now involves a capital of over seven hundred millions of dollars. It becomes, therefore, a matter of great importance to add to the efficient production of this capital by improvement in the methods or the quality of the article produced. The factory system has effected a vast improvement in these respects. It has introduced a great degree of uniformity in quality, so essential in a market product. A vast amount of cheese made in private or family dairies was always inferior, and when brought together in the hands of large dealers it was very difficult to find any two lots exactly alike, or so nearly alike as to possess the requisite uniformity of character, while a large proportion was always inferior and slow of sale. The factory system has remedied that difficulty.

The best of private dairy cheese is, and has been, perhaps, as good as the factory made, but the amount of this first quality was small. A vast proportion of the milk used in the manufacture of cheese was spoiled by the want of skill and care, and attention to minute details. This fact often made our goods a drug in the foreign market, and had a tendency to depress the whole dairy business of the country. The factory system united the highest degree of skill, and applied the most scientific methods in the making of cheese; and although it is by no means perfected, it may be said to have accomplished a revolution most beneficial to the farming interest.

The number of cheese factories in this country exceeds a thousand, and it is constantly increasing. At a distance from a good milk market, where milk is sold in its normal state at three and a half to four cents a quart, it will be found most economical to utilize it in the form of butter or cheese. If the latter, the factory system offers so many advantages that it is worth while to adopt it, and carry it to the highest degree of perfection. It is important to start right, and to secure the requisite degree of skill in management at the outset. Let an agent visit the best cheese factories already in successful operation, and study the details of their management. Any expense incurred in starting aright will be well invested.

The making of butter in factories is also successfully practised, and, like cheesemaking, it relieves the family from great care and drudgery, and is productive of satisfactory results.

SOME FACTS ABOUT MILK.

MILK consists of certain fatty or oily particles in solution, of caseine, and of sugar of milk. The fatty matters do not exist in a free condition, but are enclosed in little globules, which rise to the surface on account of their being lighter than the liquid in which they float. The casing or covering of the fatty matters, or the skins of the little globules, are composed of caseine or curd. The globules are of different sizes in the milk of different animals. Some of them are round, but others are oval or egg-shaped.

Milk also contains, in addition, a certain portion of mineral matter, which consists of phosphate of lime and phosphate of magnesia, the chief constituents, also, of bones. In diseased milk there are certain other substances, which may be said to be accidental, and which cannot be identified by chemical tests, but only by the microscope.

The whiteness of milk is due to the opaque globules which are suspended in it. A bluish tint indicates a small amount of cream. The whiter or the more opaque it is, the more curd and butter it contains, and the richer it is. The quality of milk is usually better from September to November than at other seasons of the year, but the quantity is usually less at that time. If cows are not well fed as the winter approaches, the yield will not only be small, but the quality will be

poor.

In moist climates the yield of the cow will be more abundant, but the quality poor, that is, more thin and watery than in dry climates. The moisture in the food will have a similar effect upon the quality. It is an error to suppose, as many do, that the morning's milk is richer than the evening's. This depends very much on the character of the food which is consumed four or five hours previous to milking. If it is poorer at evening, it will be found that the food consumed has been poorer in quality. The composition of cream varies as much, or nearly as much, as that of milk.

The whole of the cream rises in twenty-four hours' time when the milk is set at a temperature of sixty-two degrees. It is a mistake to suppose that more cream rises by letting milk stand thirty-six hours, as many do. The quantity will almost invariably be appreciably less and the quality poorer. The cream which rises first is the richest in quality, it being the largest globules that rise first to the surface.

A most careful experiment was tried to ascertain the proper time which milk should be allowed to stand to raise cream. Milk that was allowed to stand sixtytwo hours produced only twenty-seven pounds of butter, while an equal quantity, standing only thirty hours, produced thirty pounds of butter. It was found, also, that one hundred measures of new milk yielded thirteen and a half measures of cream after standing eighteen hours, and the same quantity after twenty-four hours, but less than thirteen measures after standing forty-eight hours. The same experiment was carefully repeated, when one hundred measures gave thirteen measures after standing eighteen hours, and the same quantity after twenty-four hours, but it gave only twelve measures after standing forty-eight hours. It was proved that eighteen hours, with milk standing in a temperature of sixty-two degrees, is better than any longer time, and that all the cream that is worth getting will rise in that time.

Milk that has been agitated, or shaken up, as when sent by railway, throws up less cream than that which has been less disturbed. A careful trial was made to settle this point, and here is the result: One hundred measures of new milk, after standing twenty-four hours at sixty two degrees, gave twelve measures, or twelve per cent. of cream, while at the same time, a like quantity of the same milk, after having been gently shaken in a bottle, threw up only eight per cent., a loss of one third in the quantity of cream. This shows that the shaking that milk gets when transported by rail has the effect of breaking some of the cream or butter globules, the consequence of which is either that a portion of the fatty matter remains suspended in the milk, or, which is, perhaps, more probable, that the cream which is thrown up becomes richer in fat.

LICE ON CATTLE.

THE simplest treatment of lice on cattle and foot-rot appears to be to clean off the floor of the stall, and cover it thickly with air-slaked lime, Sprinkle the lime freely through the hair of the animal also, working it well in. It has been found effective, ridding the cattle completely of vermin without any injury, not even causing the hair to fall off. Cases of foot-rot, or "foul in the foot," are readily cured in the same way, by letting the animal stand in two or three inches of airslaked lime. Being fine and powdery, it works up between the claws, and if the trouble is not of too long standing, it will effect a cure. Every farmer will do well to remember this simple remedy, and experiment carefully to satisfy himself. Possibly it would be effective in driving the ticks from sheep. The presence of all

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