districts. Nothing would be more interesting, in an agricultural point of view, than self-registering thermometers placed in immediate proximity to plantations, or within range of their influence, and compared with others in exposed and similar altitudes. This would be a valuable test, and sufficiently show the advantage of giving shelter, and explain the secret of growing wheat at the elevation of Stanton-house. But then comes the question-would it pay? and what kind of trees would best flourish on Derbyshire mountains? 150 years ago the larch was a stranger, and treated as an exotic, and confined to a glass-house; and it is probable that many foreign trees of the pine tribe, now luxuriating in the wilds of Canada, or the snowy heights of Kamtschatka, or the Himalaya, would flourish in the moorland waste or the rocky precipices of the mountain-lime and the millstone-grit. Sufficient at present is not known of these plants to give a definite opinion as to their usefulness on English soil; but the inquiry is going forward, and will, without doubt, result in the importation of many useful forest plants from northern wilds. In accordance with these views I have the high authority of Sir Joseph Paxton, who, in reply to my inquiry, states, "the red pine (Pinus resinosa) produces the yellow deal of Canada, and would, without doubt, grow well in the highest situations, but it has not been tried extensively." With respect to the forest trees of the Himalaya, Sir Joseph says, "some would possibly flourish in Derbyshire; although the weather is cold in their native habitats, the great amount of sunlight elaborates their juices and perfects their wood, so that any amount of cold can be endured without injury. The Cembra pine would grow in the most exposed places; its wood is not equal to many others. Riga deals are made of a great variety of pines, and the common Scotch fir (Pinus sylvestris rigensis)." Nothing but a judicious examination of the soil and subsoil, guided by experience, could determine the kind of British trees best adapted for particular soils or situations. All the trees will flourish in the lower valleys in South Derbyshire there are magnificent specimens of the oak, the elm, and sycamore; but the land is too valuable to grow timber except for ornamental purposes. To all those gentlemen and friends who have kindly aided me in preparing a Report of the Farming of Derbyshire, I offer my best thanks; and, whether successful or otherwise, I shall not regret the attempt, having obtained much valuable information by the inquiry, and many valued friends and acquaintance, although continued rains and snow-storms prevented my visiting some interesting parts of the county, and doing that justice to the merits of " Derbyshire Farming" which it deserves. IV. A Method of Preserving Corn-Stacks from Damage by Rooks. By the Rev. THOMAS BURROUGHES. It is a general practice in this part of the country to disperse the corn-stacks about the fields, more particularly since the prevalence of incendiarism; and it is doubtless most advantageous, both on account of the expedition during harvest, and also on account of a greater degree of dryness thus derived to the grain than can be the case in a confined stackyard. But, on the other hand, a new disadvantage is thus incurred: the thatch is extremely liable to be injured by rooks, more particularly in severe weather, and no little amount of damage will often follow from wet; the rooks also continually pull out large quantities of grain from the sides and from under the eaves of the stacks. The usual protection against the mischief is a little boy, who is very often employed to guard a single stack, though sometimes several, if near together; and where two or more boys are required, as is often the case, for this purpose for many months together, the expense becomes considerable; and from their frequent neglectfor "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes ?"-there is, after all, very often much damage done. I have, therefore, been led to adopt, for the last few years, a very simple, but certainly effectual plan, and which I see has now become extensively imitated: hazel twigs, about four or five feet long, are stuck round the stack, pointing at an angle upwards, and at a distance of about four yards apart; one row a little below the eaves of the stack, and another about halfway up the thatch, the upper twigs being placed in an intermediate position between the lower; lines of worsted or strong cotton are then suspended from a small stick on the top of the stack to the ends of these twigs, and cross-lines also between the two rows, as well as lines along each row: the whole thus forming a sort of loose net-work; and at the cost of only 1s. two or three stacks may be thus fully protected. The net-work will last a full year, if required so long, though parts of it may occasionally require repair, as after very high winds; and perhaps there can be no greater proof of the efficacy of the plan, than the fact, that if any part of the worsted has been much broken away, an attack after a short time is sure to be commenced on that part of the stack. Gazeley, near Newmarket, V. On the Production of Butter. By Louis H. RUEGG. It is related of a celebrated sculptor, that, when reproached by a friend for having made no progress in his work, he pointed to the statue, and said, "You mistake: I have been by no means idle since you were here. I have retouched this part and polished that; I have softened this feature and brought out that muscle; I have given expression to that lip and more energy to this limb." "Well, well," rejoined his friend; "these are but trifles." "Very true," replied the sculptor, "but trifles make perfection, and perfection is no trifle!" This, which is a truth for all time-for every man, under every circumstance of life-is to no occupation more applicable than to that of farming generally, and to no particular branch of farming more valuable than to the business of which we have now to write. The production of butter is an operation that is conducted in much the same manner, whether it be performed in Holland or in Ireland, in Dorsetshire or in Cambridgeshire, and yet a difference in value of full 20 per cent. is often struck in the London market between the produce of contiguous dairies! What constitutes this difference? Not breed-not soil-nor food alone (though all these have their influences); but those minute attentions which in themselves are but trifles, but which accumulate into perfection. Butter-making is a process conducted in pretty much the same manner in every county, and an account of the operation, as it is performed in Dorsetshire (whose butter holds the highest rank in the quotations of the London market), may serve for a general description. The cows are milked twice a day-in summer in the fields, in winter generally in the straw barton. The milk is purified by being passed through a sieve, and then set to cool in milk leads. In some counties glass-ware or stone coolers are used; but a Dorsetshire farmer will use nothing but leads, which he finds the cleanest, sweetest, and in every respect the best of milk-coolers. In these the milk is allowed to stand for a period varying from 12 to 36 hours, according to the season, the quantity of milk at command, &c. Usually, after standing for 24 hours it is skimmed, and the cream is collected in tin vessels until sufficient to form a "churning" has accumulated. In very large dairies and in the summer season butter is made every day; and it may be laid down as a general rule that the quicker cream is converted into butter, the sweeter and better the butter. It should not be allowed to remain longer than three days under any circumstances. The churn having been prepared by rinsing, with hot water in winter and with cold water in summer, the cream is agitated until a complete separation of the fatty matter from the milky fluid has been effected. This operation is a most uncertain one; its duration varying from 10 minutes to 12 and even 24 hours, according to the temperature, the quality of the cream, the state of the weather, the operation of the churn, and other circumstances. The butter having "come" (to use the language of the dairymaid), the whey is drawn off for the pigs, and the butter is taken out and well washed. It is then worked with the hand until the buttermilk is thoroughly expressed and the air-bubbles are broken. A portion of salt is mixed with about each half-dozen pounds; the manipulation is resumed; the lump undergoes a second washing, which carries off the surplus salt; and it is finally made up into rolls or printed pats for the home-market, or, with an additional salting, is packed in clean tubs for the London factor. In Bucks milk is skimmed at the end of 12 hours, and this process is repeated at the end of 24 and 36 hours; and during the winter it is subjected to the skimmer a fourth and even a fifth time. In Devonshire, where much clouted cream is made, it has been attempted to increase the proportion of butter from cream by scalding the milk; but on this point Mr. Acland, in his Report on Somersetshire, furnishes some conclusive facts. Mr. Acland had 12 quarts of raw milk tested against as many of scalded milk, and it was found that not only was there loss by evaporation (as might have been expected), but that the quantity of cream and the weight of butter were less from the scalded than from the raw milk; and an analysis by Professor Way shows that the largest proportion of pure butter was found in the latter. The primal condition of excellence in butter-making is purity. Milk is in the highest degree susceptible of taint. Milk in the udder may be poisoned by the cow eating improper food. "Milk," says Dr. Taylor, in his work on Poisons, "is rendered bitter when the cow feeds on wormwood, on sow-thistle, and the leaves of the artichoke. Its taste is affected by the cabbage, the carrot, and all strong-smelling plants, and the effects extend to butter and cheese, and all articles of food prepared with milk." Milk may even be poisoned without the cow being affected, in proof of which the same writer refers to the case of some inhabitants of a district in North America, where a disease called the cow-sickness, symptoms of having been poisoned, and even death itself, were caused by the milk of cows fed on unwholesome herbage. With so sensitive a fluid, therefore, the utmost care is required, not simply as regards the milk itself, but also the food which the cow eats and drinks. Cows are sometimes permitted to drink from a barton-pond, which the drainings of liquid manure had made, to use a common expression, "as black as a hat." Others, again, are allowed to slake their thirst in the waters of stagnated ditches, or in ponds which have been slowly decomposing animal or vegetable refuse matter. If milk is so liable to be affected that it may be the medium of conveying poison through the cow, it follows that the quality of butter very materially depends upon the quality of the water which the cow drinks. The necessity of cleanliness on the part of the dairymaid is insisted on by every writer on this subject. The dairy-vessels must be scrupulously clean: they and the dairy itself must be removed from everything that taints the air. The fumes of a stable, or the effluvia of a pigsty or dungheap (which are too frequently found in the vicinity of the dairy-house), injuriously affect the butter. If the cooler be made of zinc, a very serious effect indeed may be produced. "It is probable," says Dr. Taylor, "that some of the lactate of zinc is here formed, as well as a combination of the oxide of iron with casein. I have been informed that milk and cream which were allowed to stand in such vessels have given rise to nausea and vomiting. This practice would not be allowed under a proper system of police." Even when the cream is safely "boxed," it is not out of danger: for in the box-churn the whey often escapes through the spindlehole, and the butter gets a metallic taint. In its next stage, if the hand of the dairymaid be moist or "sweaty," or recently washed with soap, the butter acquires a rancid taste; and though it may have reached the tub in safety, it frequently spoils from improper packing. In fine, from the time when its elements are first formed from the succulent grass of the field until the time when it appears on the breakfast-table, butter leads (so to speak) a most precarious existence, and its preservation depends almost entirely on the trifling, but constant, attentions which I have endeavoured to indicate. The Cow.-The quality of butter and the quantity of milk depend less on the breed than on the food of the animal. It is almost impossible to assign to any particular breed the milching palm-it belongs to the individual animal. I have found one dairyman speaking of Herefords as the best milchers within his experience; his neighbour favoured the beautifully symmetrical North Devon; whilst a third declared that the best milk-producer was a cross. In the London dairies the Yorkshire shorthorn or the Holderness cow is almost universally found. A London dairyman told me that the red cows were regarded with antipathy by almost every cowkeeper in the metropolis. He could not account for it, but the dappled cow always had the call in Smithfield. It is, however, not difficult to discover that the cow selected is of a breed that generally gives the largest quantity of milk without reference to the quality, as, by the London dairyman, milk, and not butter and cheese, is the article required. The Hereford, the Devon, the short-horn, and the cross are good, |