The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1889-01-09

cultural subjects may he addressed to DIR. 7. II.
HosKiNs, Newport, to A. MEssER, Rochester, Vt.
Editorial NOtings.
DoGNTATIsM.-A witty chap once said
that " dogmatsm is puppyism grown to
maturity" Dogmatism may answer in
theology, but it won't do in farming.
No mans mere say-so is worth straw
in any practical business, and least OF
all in agriculture. An exchange very
dogmatically says: Cream always rises
fastest on falling temperature and
very slowly at stationary temperature,
while the separation is very slight, if
at all, when the temperature of the
milk is rising In warm room, With
out artificial cooling, cream rises very
slowly, and in hot weather, when the
temperature of the room remains high,
the separation is more or less imper-
feet Now these may he facts, but If
so we have yet to be put in possession
of the proof. Our own experience is
that cream rises most quickly at a
stationary temperature, and that a
low temperature is desirable only be-
cause it is the easiest stationary tenn
perature to maintain. Here is prob
lem for our Experiment Station to re-
solve; but there is some nice work to
be done before it is settled.
"SALTpETER, if used in considerable
quantity, is poison, and some writer's
condemn its use for curing meat. 1t
is not probable, however, that the
quantity recommended above would
be harmful, though it would change
the color and texture of all the lean
meat in the barrel" So says our
good Brother Howe of the PbGnir, and
he is right as to the question of poison
ing. Strictly speaking, saltpeter is not
a poison, but it is a powerful irritant,
unless largely diluted. When this is
done, it is often given incidentally at
the rate of half an ounce daily, not
only without injury, but with decided
benefit, in acute rheumatism. 1t is not
for its poisonous action that saltpeter
is Objectionable in curing meat, but for
its hardening effect and its destructive
action upon the flavor. BY its oXydiz-
ing action it reddens the meat, but it
also detroys its solubility in the fluids
of the mouth, and the improvement in
the looks of the meat does not pay for
the injury to its digestibility The eX-
tract given above appeared in connec-
ton with the English directions for
curing pork, elsewhere commented
upon. - 0lGSS2A
CAN'T KILL 'EM THAT WAY.-A
scissored scrap is going the rounds to
the effect that ''a heavy application
of poultry manure on places infested
with Canada thistles is said to be eff
fective, as the manure is too strong
for the young plants" According to
our experience, there is only one way
in which this is true. No doubt any
sort of manure might be piled upon
bed of thstles deeply enough to
smother them. Thistles are "sort o.
queer" Though very deep-rooted and
vigorous of growth, they not unfre-
quently die of themselves, without any
apparent reason. Most anything ap-
piled to them just at that time might
get the credit of killing them. But
very few weeds are killed by manuring.
Our farming would be much more
pleasant if they were.
GRADUATED BUTTER. An eX-
change gives US the following: "The
market is asking US for granuated but
ter, says Mr. Gould, and if we will fill
the boxes with the best granulated
butter, and then take a butter ladle
and smooth it all slick, we have lost
that granulated surface and lost a point
with the buyer" Mr.. Gould is called a
pretty good authority on dairying, but
we hardly think the time is quite come
to lay down a rule for general practice
such as this. Will some of our dairy
experts tell us how the public which
consumes the best butter looks upon
the matter? Is it ready for granulated
butter inst as it comes from the churn?
WHERE Is THE ARGUMENT?"-
Another exchange tells us that Henry
Stewart argues that one ton of clover
hay contains nine or ten per cent of
albumnoids, while a ton of timothy
hay has only five and one-half per cent
of these valuable nutriments." Mr.
Stewart is here merely stating what he
supposes to be fact; though why it
should be stated in this awkward way,
and what the quantity of either has to
do with the percentage of one of its