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Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 203, 31 May 1878, Page 7

A very destructive disease has ap- j peared among cattle in Roumania, the ' symptoms of which are excessive diarrhcea, foaming at the mouth, and sometimes swelling of the belly. It is stated that inoculation for the prevention of pleuro-pneumonia has been successfully practised under the authority and direction of the Royal Agricultural Society of England. A correspondent of the Aberdeen Free Press states that a ploughing match took place at Leslie, Aberdeenshire, when two cows under milk, yoked with a horse, and going on the land side, did their work in excellent style. The European Mail states that at the forthcoming Pans Exhibition, English shorthorns will be well represented, Her Majesty the Queen, Mr St, John Ackers, and Mr K. Stratton all having entered cattle. Milking machines have become so important that there is to be a competitive trial of them at the Bristol show yards next July, with judges appointed by the Royal Agricultural Society of England. ' The Journal of the Agricultural Society of Victoria, states that at the late show a small sample of excellent fresh butter was exhibited by Mr Francis Henty, of Ilew, made in a peculiar mariner. A fine Alderney cow was grazing in a paddock laid down with the best English grasses, and produced • what appeared to be the best of milk. The butter from it, however, turned rancid in two or three days, in spite of the utmost care in making. An experiment was tried of boiling the cream, which answered admirably. The butter came quickly in ihe churn, was firm, and kept well. Mr J. Anderson has in process of manufacture an appliance which will form an important addition to the ordinary threshing machines. Its purpose is to receive the sheaves from the stack, to cut and throw out the bands, and to deliver the grain into the threshing machine. By its use. the labour of two men will at least he saved, and , important consideration at a time when farmers are anxious to get their produce into the market, and when labour ■ is more difficult to obtain than at other 1 periods. The apparatus h«s the merit of great simplicity. The sheaves are thrown singly into a suitably shaped I box, whence they are carried along a trough, the bottom. of which is an endless band, so fitted as to ensure the : passing on of the grain, and as the sheaf starts upon its journey it has to pass beneath a revolving knife of circular form, by the pressure of which the. band is cut. The appliance is similar to one which has already been tried iv Victoria, and with marked success. The managers of a few creameries in America, says Professor Arnold, have adopted a new method in the management of milk. As it is received night ; and morning at the creamery it is run into large vats, and at once heated to a i minimum of 140. deg. by driving steam ! directly into it; By this the foreign ! odours are driven out, and the milk '■ may be kept twelve or twenty -four \

hours longer than it would withou' : hearing. As soon as the hearing is done, cold wafer "is run around the milland through it by a series of horizontal | tubes in the middle of the milk, the top tube being just below the cream, to be out of the way of skimming. By j this system of cooling the cream ifv j hurried to the surface. An air-tight cover is now let down upon the vat, j shutting the milk entirely away from all atmospheric influence. Tn this condition it stands 12 to 60 hours, till as much cream as the operator wishes to remove has risen. The residue is sweet and makes better skim cheese then-si when not heated. The cream raised ih this manner is most delicious. It is the finest flavoured, continues the Professor, of any I have met with in any factory, being entirely free from the stale or bitter taste wnich is developed in cream raised on unscalded milk in the open air, and the butter is all that could be desired; It is strictly " giltedged," and unsurpassed. This combines all the best features of the different systems of heating, cooling and exclusion of air, without any of the disadvantages which occur when either system is employed alone. This process of butter-making, being unsecured by patent, is open to all. But its use has not yet been wide enough to determine the question of profit. It costs a little more than the old methods, and requires . facilities for cooling which will be in the way of general adoption.