The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1895-12-12
OUR RURAL TOPICS.
Some Practical Suggestions for Our
Agricultural Readers
Something About mcat-MeaL

Is Idpidly gaming FAVOR abroad IS called
meat-mel or meat-aour II is a prepara-
ton from the residue of meat used in the
making of meat extracts. Unlike the vari-
Gus meals of meat prepared in this country,
the foreign article consists exclusively of
meat which is ground to q fine flour. This
meat-meal was formerly used only for pics
and poultry, but it has been recently dis
covered to be an excellent food for calves. if
not fed too heavily. 1t is best used at the
rate Of an ounce of meal to each pint Of
milk. In this proportion it is readily di-
gested and helps to counterfeit the laxative
tendency of skim milk If fed too freely it
causes constipation, and in extreme cases
paralysis. An analysis of the meat-meaI
shows it to contain - FER cent. muscle
makers and 16 per cent. pure fat The
presence of bone IN the American neat
meal render it Objectionable as calf food.
Fine-F1avored Butter in Winter.
Why is it That we encounter more poor
butter flavor in Winter than in Summer?
While the natural conditions for producing
good flavor are not az perfect now as then,
yet these adverse conditions can be easily
overcome by the exercise of average fore.
sight. As regards the correction of this
evil, we should remember that the cream
possesses the flavor of the milk from which
it is derived, and that the butter made from
the cream rstsins the flavor of the latter.
Therefore, we must go back to the begin
ming and start the-milk quality all right.
A bad tactical flavor may be inherent, or
acquired. Inherent when coming from
tainted food, as musty hay, hay mixed with
weeds, mOldy or black ensilage; from the
breathing Of vitiated stable air by the cows,
and from physical ailments affecting the in
tegrity of the udGer Acquired, by filth
falling into the milk pail from the teais or
udder; warm milk absorbing odors from a
tainted stable atmosphere; uneIean milk
utensils, and the use Of a buttery that is
communicating appendage of the farmhouse
kitchen.
From any one or more of these numerous
causes foreign flavor can be impaired
to the milk that nothing will eradicate,
the treatment being purely preventive
How easy, then, not to have poor butter
flavor from such sourcesi By merely exer-
cising the caution and care needful to De
maintained in every dairy, the whole danger
is ob7iated. Having considered the means
of infection of the raw material, let us turn
to the finished material, the butter itself.
1t stands less chance of deteTiOrating in
Winter than in Summer-tF anks to the low
temperature-but yet it may lose its flavor
through number of channels.
As preventives in this line, the butter must
M ho Cd Nr,4f
be extracted from it reliable and soluble
brand of salt, free from foreign mineral mat
ter, must be used and the product must be
put in clean, aseptie packages.
In the majority of cases unelean stable
impregnating the milk is the
cause of damaging Winter butter flavor
When You have lost the aroma of butter, it
is the same as though the diamond had
been bereft of its luster-its chief attribute
of worth is gone.
Iwould make every mixer wash his hands
before sitting down to a cow, and if neces-
sary sponge OFF the animals udder and teais.
This latter preeaution, however will seldom
be needed where plenty Ofdry bedding is used.
| would also give the stable thorough air
ing daily, and if this was not sufficient TO
eradicate orders, L would employ a deo-
dOrlzer, like plaster, ON the floor after clean
ing. By these precautions you are not try
ing to gain anything but what should
always be found IN butter-namely, natural
1aV0r. Nature attends to these points pretty
we'll in Summer time, when cows have the
range of GlOVer-Scented fields, but q wise
1airyman can officiate quite we'll in ma
ture's place if he only tries to. Are you
doing it this Winter, and thus preserving
the most valuable characteristic of your
butter ?-Amerieau Agricultarist.
Destroying English Sparrows.
To the grower of grain or fruit the COM
mon English sparrow is an unmitigated
In Winter, when Cher feed is
scarce, it eats fruit buds, and thus does IT.
reparable damage. They cannot easily be
destroyed in Summer, as food is then so
abundant that poisoning cannot be effective.
In Winter they can be found at night under
sheds or in the hOllOws of bay or grain
stacks. In the daytime small quantity
Of grain soaked IN strychnine will make
short work of all that eat it. Domestic
fowls should be confined while this expert
nent is made. Every sparrow killed in
Winter lessons the number next Summer by
lozens, for the little nuisance is enormously
prolific, Matching out several broOds every
summer.
Making Farm Buildings of Stone.
When the country was new most farm
buildings were necessarily built of wood,
which was then so plentiful that nothing
ould be cheaper. Now there are many
,laees where the lumber for dwellings and
arms has to be purchased, while the farm
fords plentiful supply of stone that can
e had without other cost than labor A
tone building, if kept in repair and well
uilt originally, will last for generations. 1t
not more expensive than building of the
anne size made of wood and is much less
exposed to danger from fire. The farmers
5ho have built basement barns say that the
pace thus secured and walled with stone
Osts less than any space above ground. 1t
not difficult task to use the trowel and
~ stone in enduring walls. Most farmers
nth some practice could do much of this
FORK, and thus save the heaviest part of the
Expense for labor.
Cottcnseed Meal for Hogs.
The results Of an investigation made at the
Dwa Station on feeding cottonseed and
Their meals to swine seem to warrant the
blowing conclusions Cottonseed meal is
Ital to hogs when fed in sufficient quantity,
ne total amount required to prove fatal be-
lg in this case from 81 to SO pounds per
Og Hogs in this experiment. were fed
ithout injury for IL weeks following cattle
lat were fed from four to seven pounds of
,ttonseed meal per head daily. Cottonseed
zeal added to a c0Tn-and-CObmeal ration for