FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume II, Issue 103, 28 December 1872, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

THE CURING- OF CHEESE. In an addross before the Ontario Dairymen's Convention, recently, Mi" A. Willard, tlic president, made the following remarks in tho course of his address ; — The great, question for the al tcntioii'of American dairymen to-day is the proper curing of cheese upon the shelf. The subject has been almost entirely ignored by our dairy associations and by the dairymen of America. The curing of cheese has as much to doin< securing fine flavour and quality as the manipulations of the milk and curd. A well-made cheese when removed from the press to the cheese-room contains a certain amount of moisture, a part of which must pass ofl* in the ripening process, or tho cheese will not acquire good flavour. If the cheese is kept in a damp or badly ventilated place, tho excess of moisture will develop another class of fungi, a different kind of fbrmentati.m than that required l for good chcese. From experiments made, it lias been found that 2,030 lbs of newly made cheese will give out nearly 2 lbs of moisture during twenty-foun hours, and the sooner the room is cleansed of such moisture the better; for if it is condensed and falls back upon the older cheese, or the chcese is constantly saturated with these exhalation?! it wdl injure the flavour. We turn new.lv made chcese daily, in order that this moisture may readily pass oil", and the fermentation of the cheese be carried away- in a uniform manner. Amplb ventilation then is important— ventilation that shall carry off the fume 3 of decay and cheesy exhalations. From a large number of well conducted experiments, the principle has been established that a temperature of about 70 degrees is the best for curing well made cheese ; to secure fine flavour and a rich niellow texture as well as long keeping qualities, the growth of the fungi, for fermentation must be slow and uniform. You may force it forward by high heat and light salting, but always at the expense of long keeping qualities. The system of preparing choesc for market at twenty days' old is a. most pernicious system, and is the source of fearful losses to American Jdairymen every year.

I't is admissible only when you know where to place your goods and know they are to go into immediate consumption.. In 1866.1 saw the result of such manufacture in numerous instances —cheese that came in good condition, and if sold once would command 76s in a week's time so fell in favour that it went bogging at 50s. I know the American dairymen and American deal rs often boast of our system, because wc can make cheese that is so soon ready for market that the shelves can be cleaned from mouth to month, but they do not couple it with tiie fact that much of our cheese 5e11.3 in England for 30s or 403 per cwt., and even less. Someono 1 jits on these goods, for cheese of good flavour, that can be held, would be si'd at such a-fearful Ins. I believe that a good many old curing-honses could be improved bv building around an inside wall, leavinr six or eight inches space between it and the present wall a'id by arranging dmblc win 10-vs. It has bp<m 1 that savdust or some non-conducting substance be placed between the walls. I saw something; of th : « recently in Olio. If was a st.ore-house for keeping late made cheese, n f ter it was cured during tlic winter. Messrs Horr amrl Warren, of "Wellington, have a store-house of thifj description, where, on t)io 2 AUj January they had over 10,000 boxes of cheese stored in boi.es,. and- though the wt.aliei- ho,J Wc,. ;.icen=eiy\;vjj, lie trouble was had from frost. lam inclined to think that the plan of dry, well ventilated cellars or basements could be adapted, bo that a low even temperature in hot weather may be secure- at little expense and trouble. Mechanics with whom I have consulted affirm that cold spring water flowing in large metal pipes along the ceiling and. then out of the building, where it may be utilised for other purposes, would be sufficients reduce the temperature to 70 degrees or below, even in the hottest weather. Hot ■water pipes arranged about the room, and connected with the boiler, would be the best means of raising the temperatare in cold weather when heat is required.

Some years age I built a farm dairy house, w'th curingroom in the second story, along, even with the floor on two sides of the room, were openings through the sides of the building, five on a side, provided with wickets so a3 to regulate the quantity of air to be admitted as desired. In the oentre of the room there was a large ventilator, running from the ceiling up above the roof of the building, also provided with a wicket for regulating the a'r. Here I experimented from time to- time in the curing ; of cheese, and I found even with this arrangement that a temperature not above 75 degrees could' be maintained h the hottest weather of summer, by regulating the wickets, and by the use of water upon the floor, which in its rapid evaporation would reduce the heat as desired. By attending to this matter, 1 found that checse could be preserved in good flavour throughout the season, when the factories and farm dairies about wave-not able to keep it, and my experiments have convinced me that any temperature about 75 degrees could not be safelv allowed for curing cheese, and! that witli proper attention to temperature, well-made cheese could be cured so as to retain a mild sweet nutty flavour for a long period.

Xhe Chinese have a peculiar method of preserving grapes. A hole is cut in a ripe- pumpkin, making the aperture large enough to admit the hand. In the inside, after being completely cleaned, the ripe grapes are plaoed, when the cover : s replaced, and pressed in firmly.—The pumpkins - are then kept in a cool piece,; and; the. grapes k "are siid to retain their freshness for a year. I lis field pumpkia ifi'.all ?bsfc ie required-.

The following are methods of preparing preserved milk :-~ Take of fresh milk 0110 gallon, and skim it, take of sesqui-cit-bonute of ooda (in very fine powder) IV dram, mix, evaporate by heat ofsleatu or water-bath to 0110-third of its former bulk with constant agitation, t,hen add of iwvdcred sugar •t'lb, and complete evaporation ata.redifrd reinpo aturo. Reduce tho dry mass to powder, addthe cream which .was removed from tlie milk, arid after thorough mit* ture put the whole into woll-stoppered bottles, or tins, which must be at once hermetically scaled, method — Takv of fir si 1 milt 011 c qunSrt, sugar, lib, Carbonate of soda, $■ dram, dissolved in 1 fluid ounce of waiter, mix, reduce by heat to a syrup, and finishthe evaporation 011 plates by exposure in an oveiv. The above are- recipes that have been patented. Another method is to use a vaOuum pan and pumps similar-to those used by sugar-boilers. lias the'idea that bananas wduld make a most valuable food for pigs and cattle over been acted upon by. our farmers. The fact that bananas are usually regarded s fiuic of a by 110 means very cheap kind in the general wa> has probably prevented farmers from thinking of them as fooil for stock. Yet 110 plant yields anything like as muck> nutriment from' the same extent of soil' as the banana. Baron Humboldt estimatedthat it returns twenty times as much, as the potato, and 113' times as much as wheat. What then prevents their beiug extensively grown as food for pigs and cattle? We verily bolieve there is no reason whatever in the case of those who have land of sufficient richness and in suitable positions. A crop that will yield twenty times as much per acre a 9 the potato must surely be among the most valuable vegetable productions availablo for fattening purposes. A correspondent who resides in one of the American dairy districts says, that the farmers are buying more and more corn-meal and bran every year to feed their cows. They feed it no: only in the winter and spring, but during fcho summer and autumn wkile the cows aro at grass. " I was,' he says, " exceedingly glad to hear it. It is a very encouraging 6ign of agricultural improvement. 1 have thought for BOir.e time that the dairymen were improving faster than the grain-growing'frtrmcrs. Tho eheeso-factory system, contrary to my expectations, proves a great stimulus to liberal feeding, i thought the rich (ood would give rich milk, and that if the factory paid a uniform price per quart there would bo far less-encouragement to' produce rich milk by liberal feeding than if the milk was made into cheese mid butter at home. lam glad to learn that such is not tho ease. The nrlk is weighed every day, and a farinor s.oon "nds out whether his cows are giving less or more milk thanlwso of his neighbours. If I were a dairyman, I should not only feed all the grain and brad I ciuhi all'ird to buy, but I should: keep a sharp lookout to se • if a lew tons of artificial manuro could not sometimes be obtained at rcajonabV ral<" "

Tlve foTwhi? nrn directions- foil tanrrng skill' s with h tains, is el hv tV North American Indians The ■snaked n writer. ami t'ie lniir is removed Irom them with nti old knif.\ t' on rlao d ahmg w'tli the bramsof the deer, ealf, or nt'ier ■' ni "'il in an earthen pot. The contents are t en to nbnit 05 degrees, or which eonverts the moi-Men^' 1 brains to a kind of lather,.an 1 makes the skins elenn and pliable.. Thcv arc then wrung o it-, and stretched >n every direet'ou, by means oi thongs, over a iramc compose 1 of upright stakes and cross-pieces; and while drying they are constantly rubbed w.ith a smooth atone or hard piece of "wood, so as to expel the water and fat. The skins are t' en smoked. For this purpose a fire is lighted in the bottom of a small pit, mi l rotten wood' thrown in as fhel. St icks are crcetcd' in a pyramidal form around the pit, and the skins hung the- eon one above the other, their position being occasionally ciiangcd. The smoking is kept up for an hour or more. Tliay are then rubbed with chalk or powdered iiypsum, and scraped and beaten. J?hcsc directions apply to calf, deer, or similar skins, and would in' all probability be found suitable for kangaroo skins. , . , . " B. R." wants to know what ails his mare, which is constantly rubbing her mane and tail, and making sore spots on her neck by so doing, and what shall ho do for her. I lie mare has "the mange, which is ft skin disease similar to t.lio itch. Give a table-spoon of sulphur in her feed once a day for a week, and wash the tail and neck with soap and watei and then rub lard and sulphur ground' up together, on the spot or the itchy parts. According to the Home Journal, the bcstliniment for cuts,, galls, spav.n, poll-evil, fistula, or any other of the external diseases that animals are liable to is made by dissolving one ounce of finely pulverized corrosive sublimate and one ouneo of gum camphor in one pint ol spirits of turpentine, put in a strong bottlo. Apply with a swab. Badlv cured hn-y luw a very unfavourable efleet upon livo stock of all kinds. Stephen's says it will change a, horse's appearance in two days, even when given with an unlimited supply of oats. Bad hay excites-tiie kidneys to extraoiditiary activity: the discharge of urine is profuse, and the animal becomes hide-bound, emaciated, and feeble. When you want to cub oil' a bullock's horn which grows too close to the fact, it the end of the horn only reijuiics removal, merely sawing it, olf with a fine sharp saw will be suilieient. But the lower pari, of the liorn is filled with a sensitive cellular substance, and if' the horn needs cutting, the animal must besecured, and when the horn is removed by meanj of the saw, the stumo must be bound up w.tli a clotlv saturated with tar; to exclude the air, when the-wound will gradually heal over. The same treatment should bo applied to a horn broken off'at the lower part.