Sharp County record., 1879-08-21
FARM TOPICS.

/ " hot weather continues, shippers of
fruit, vegetables and live stock should
be very careful as to the condition OF
their stuff, when packed. A single
peach or tomato, if too ripe when pack
ed, will affect whole box in very
short time, and very materially reduce
the profits on lot. Besides the loss on
stock caused by over-crowding in ship.
ment, it is inhuman to pack animals
closely in car, box or coop, during
this kind of weather. Coops of fowls
have been received here during the past
week, in which half their occupants
were dead from heat and thirst, causing
both loss to the owners, and rejecting
upon their humanity as well. At least
one. fourth less of the number of cattle,
sheep and hogs that can be comfortably
put in a car in cool weather, should be
put in one when the thermometer is up
in the nineties. They evidently suffer
from the heat, when at liberty on the
farm, with free access to the water and
shade when they need it; how must their
sufferings be aggravated when they are
packed in cars and coops so closely that
they can not move, and are wholly de-
prived of waterP 1t will pay to give
them the benefit of as much fresh air,
water and breathing as possible. ST.
Lo,tis Journal Of agriculture.
WHEN TO SKIM MILK.-The NeoU
ENGLAND Farmer replies to the inquiries
of correspondent, when is the proper
time to skim milk, and whether it is al
ways desirable to remove the cream
while the milk is sweet. Now, this is a
difficult question to answer in a few
words, partly because there are so many
other conditions connected with butter
making, all of which may have an i'm
portant bearing on the question. Under
certain conditions we would prefer to
have cream sour when taken from the
milk, or certainly very soon afterwards
There is probably no month in the year
when dairymen are so much annoyed by
bad behavior in cream as in November,
and at time, too, when the milk may
be kept an indefinite length of time
without souring. We might answer that
when milk inclines to keep sweet for a
long time, we would prefer to have the
conditions changed so that it should
sour, and when it sours too readily, we
should endeavor to keep it sweet. In
July and August, milk set in open pans
without ice, and in warm room, in
clines to sour too soon, before the
cream has time to rise completely. At
this time we shonld change
the conditions so that it should
keep sweet longer. In cold weather the
cream rises so slowly that it often be-
comes bitter in the pans. Here more
heat is wanted, even though ii tends to
sour the milk. So, we would say, in
cold weather keep the milk where it
will tend to grow sour in 48 hours, and
in hot weather keep it from souring in
less than "a hours. We prefer to have
milk that is set in open pans ready to
skim in from "a to sc hours, the year
round, and just ready to sour when the
cream is removed, but not really sour,
nor thick, like curdled milk. We pre-
fer to have cream slightly acid when it
goes into the churn, summer and winter,
because it usually comes to butter more
rapidly, while the quality is equally
good as from perfectly sweet cream.
Milk that has become SO sour as to cur
die ard remain in insoluble flakes, will be
caught in the butter in the form of white
specks, much to its injury, both in fla
vor and keeping qualities. Simple sour
ing, it its early stages, is not injurious
to cream for making good butter.