Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1864-08-25
FARM DGARDEN.


as it is commonly denominated, second crop,
as feed for cattle, is a question upon which
there Is no small discrepancy of opinion
among practical men. So far as my own ex-
perlence extends, 1 am inclined to regard it
rs possessing no inconsiderable degree of
value, although l am far from considering it
equal 10 the first cutting. The correctness
OF THIS conclusion might, think, be easily
| ana eohcluslvely proved, but it is not nv OBJ
| Jec' at present to discuss the relative worth
oi the two, but simply to indicate a few
points necessary to be observed in curing and
| preparing 1t for domestic use All aftermath,
no matter at what stage of maturity it NAV
! De cut-poSsesseS a degree of succulence
| which renders the curing process always one
| OF greater or less difficulty. This difficulty
| Is also somewhat augmented by the unfayor-
! able state of the atmosphere which renders
| frequent turnings indispensable, and the di
minished warmth of the sun, which begins
to be sensbly felt about the time on which
the aftermath is fit to NOW. These difficult
lies combined oppose serious obstacle, and
are often the cause of serious losses, espe-
cially to such as are unacQuainted with the
business, or who prefer the old system to the
new.
Will here detail the process | have usually
pursued, and give the result. When the grass
thick set, select a bright day, and com
mence cutting. The grass cut on the first
day, Is permitted to remain il the swarth till
the following day, when as soon as the dew is
fairly off, it is carefully turned with the fork.
but not spread. If the weather is sufficient
ly warm the first day, the turning is perform
ed in the afternoon before the dew falls, and
the swaths are formed into cocks in the after
noon of the second. This is done mostly
with the fork, the rake being used only to
gather Up the scatterings, and give to the
cocks a compactness and symmetry to secure
their stability and protect them from rain.
A quart of salt is allowed to each cock, the
mineral being sprinkled on by hand as the
grass is thrown up by forkfulls, and in this
condition the crop is permitted to remain till
cured. With clear atmosphere and a warm
sun, three or four days will be sufficient to
complete the process without opening, and
the hay will be as perfectly made as hay is
ordinarily in the best and most favorable
summer weather. On removing it to the
barn, usually apply one peck of salt to the
tOn-SOmetimes in its natural state, and
sometimes in solution. This prevents its
heating, and gives to it bright green color,
and a most delightful Cdor, besides corr ect-
ing any unpleasant flavor which the grass
may have acquired in consequences of its
closeness of growth and consequent seclusion
from the sun.
Young animals are particularly fond of this
feed; they devour it with avidity at all times,
and it is highly favorable to the development
of both flesh and muscle.-Cor. Ger. Tel.
On CHURNING.-A talented Frenchman once
wrote pamphlet upon the proper manner Of
blowing out candle; and | suppose the
reader will consider his book and the heading
of tits article 10 be parallel cases, and ex-
claim "Why, everybody knows how to
churn." But | think a careful examination
will show that everybody does not know how
to Churn, or rather how to produce butter
from cream, or we should have less growing
from the "gudewife " because the butter
would not come" All who have had any
experience in the matter know the apparent
ly perverse nature of butter; at times it will
come Chat is, separate from the buttermilk),
in a few minutes, and sometimes will not
come at all This and many other curious
facts may be made clear By little careful
investigation in the matter, which, with thy
permission, friend editor, | propose to make.
The butter exists in the cream in the form
of minute globules surrounded by thin film
of casein, and to obtain the butter we must
first break this film. This may be done in
two ways, either by agitating it orby beating
it. There are several conditions which ntiu-
ence the time required for separating the
butter by churning and if these are thor
oughly understood and complied with there
will be little or no trouble in getting butter
to come The main and most important con-
dltion is the temperature of the cream when
1t enters the churn: there seems to be GER
tain medium established, and it seems to
make but little difference whether the tempe
e tho &c loIo -
there will still be the same trouble in break
ing the casein which envelopes the globules
Of butter. The cream when poured into the
churn should not have higher temperature
than ffty-fye degrees, nor lower one than
fifty three degrees; when put in at this tenn
perature it will rise from five degrees to ten
degrees during the operation of churning.
Another important condition which does
much to influence the time required for sep
arating the butter is the state of the cream
when it is put into the churn if sweet it
will require much longer than if sour-and it
is an established fact that before the butter
can be made the cream must be sour, and if
it does not reach this state before it goes into
the churn it must and will afterward, or no
butter will be obtained. Some of those who
always take the premium at our county fair
always churn sweet cream to obtain it, and |
advocating the above doctrine, but that does
not coutrovert my argument, for before the
butter separates it does get sour.
A thermometer hang ng in the room where
the cream is kept will indicate the tempera-
ture of the cream at the time, and this nav
be either raised or lowered to about fifty-four
degrees after it goes into the churn, bv ad-
ding cold or hot water the case may re-
uuire CtHe the charm is IN notion
The time occupied in churning has great
effect upon butter, and also upon the temper
ature Of the cream in the churn; if the cream
is at fifty five degrees when put into the
churn, very fast churning will raise it too
high, and soft, light colored butter will be the
result, especially i'll warm weather; in cold
weather the motion should be faster, Fin order
to keep up the proper temperature. l have
known entire churnings to be thrown into the
hog-tub because one or two of these neces-
sary conditions were not complied with. Even
when the churn fails to separate the butter,
we have one unfailing agent left in the form
of heat, which never fails to burst the film of
casein, but will not produce an article fl to
be called butter-but it can be put to uses
known to every good hougeke eper.
Some are in the practice of churning the
whole milk in this case it should have
temperature Of at least sixty-fve degrees be-
fore going in the churn-Da5ynan, in Ger
naantooon Telegraph.
TOMATOES FOR SUPPER.-Few people know
how to prepare upcOoked tomatoes in the
way adopted in nv family and incousarshIv