The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-06-12 00:00:00

Correspoubtnct.

PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE.

Larry' No. XVII.
Ox THE RESULT OF THE SHOW ; WHAT NIA(11I
BERT MIGHT BE PURCHASED PROFITABLY , AND
ON THE GENZRAL lIIPROVLEHINT OF 1,0( AL

FARMING.
To the Editor of the Dorset County Express asd
A oricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, June 11th.

Sta,—Notwithstanding the bad state of the wea-
ther I think the past week, taken as a whole, has
been satisfactory, and productive of much good in
the way of improvements to all who searched fur
them.
Among the exhibitors, of course, there are many
who cannot see why a prize should not have been
awarded to this or that; and it is really very lines.
ing to listen to some of those who feel aggrieved, and
to hear that the judges know a great deal less than
nothing. Really. Sir, such men as these esimut
overburdened with good sense, and it seems to me
that there is but one infallible remedy :—lt is this,
that every man who has not sufficient feeling of
respect for the judges to bow to their deciine,
should have a class each one to himself, and juatz
his own stock.
Now, Sir, I must say a word or two about the-
machinery. I was particularly struck with the straw-
elevators ; and having for many years seen a great
waste of straw in almost every part of Dorset.
mon,,t allow this very useful article to escape notice.
The difficulty always experienced in stacking straw
properly. at the mune time& steam engine is at work.
has always more or less been severely felt ; and I
think this straw elevator will, in a great measure,
remedy this and soon repay the outlay ; for support.
jug a rick has to be thrashed on a stormy day, in
nine cases out of ten the greater part of the straw
will he blown about and spoilt; and this being a very
common case, is a reason for the poor condition
of the cow and other stock so visible in many of the
yards during the winter mouths; and for this reason
alone any clear-headed man will see that an outlay
in this direction will be a profitable investment.
Another thing worthy of notice, especially in the
dairy line, is the simple but clever invention for
turning cheese. With a large number of cows, an
invention of this kind, simple and effective as it
must prove to be, is a desideratum long looked fur
and now found perfect. As a reason for adopting
' these machines, I will request any practical man to
carefully examine the many poor samples of cheese
daily offered for sale in our shops, and he will soon
perceive that more than one-third of this sorry pro-
duce will have a good and a bad side ; that is. one
side of the cheese will be hard and dry, and the
other decayed, rotten, and worthless, and this
entirely front inattention in turning; and I am sure
that no one who has had experience in dairy-work
on a large scale will say that it is not a troublesem
job to turn the cheese daily, and a duty very
frequently neglected. Now, with the terming
machine there can be no excuse for a lot of wad
and heel sided produce, for in the short space of -five
seconds the whole may be turned daily, and I have
no hesitation in saying that it is indispensable ; and
U I am always wishful for anything that will result.
in a public good, I feel it my duty to do all in my
power to bring these machines into general use,
in order that the teeth of poor Dorset may be
less severely tried. I will just tell an old story of
two French merchants who sailed from Weymouth
with a mixed cargo of Portland stone and Dorset
cheese. There beings famine among the rats the
the whole of the stone was devoured, while the
cheese, from its hardnems, remained untouched.
The reader will believe 35 much of the French-
man's story DA he pleases, but he must admit that
the worst kinds of Dorset cheese would be a disgrace
to any county in England.