FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 341, 21 July 1874, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

COLOURING- BUTTER. I have previously referred to the subject of colouring butter, and during the past five years have experimented with neaiiy every recipe that has come to my notice. I have now settled on a system which is so satisfactory — after nearly three winters' application of it in the colouring of over 3001bs of butter — that it is worth worth while to state it somewhat in detail. The question whether butter ought to be coloured at all is one that may be left to the judgment of the maker. It is quite cei-tain that butter of a good colour sells for a better price than that which is as white as winter butter almost invaiiably is. Ido not find that my customers object to artificial colouring, and I am sure they would criticise an uncoloured article. No one objects to colouring with cai-rot juice, which is unreliable in the matter of taste, and grows more and more so as the spring approaches ; but annatto is sometimes looked upon as a " drug," and many hesitate to use it on this account. The annato plant, which grows in the tropics, bears a prickly pod about the size of a horse chestnut. In are many seeds of about the size and shape of kernels of buckwheat, which are imbedded in a reddish pulp. When the pod ripens, the pulp dries and adheres to the seeds. This pulp, removed from the seeds, is the annatto of commerce. The common Jmeans of preparation is by steeping in water and boiling to a paste and then drying ; this ' is " baked annatto." Recently, Mr G. de Cordova has developed a process for removing the pulp from the seeds by washing in cold water, separating the colouring matter from the liquid, and drying it without the application of heat, and then pulverizing it, securing the colouring principle pure and of full strength. This is called " annattoine," and is the | substance that we use, the form being not different from that in which it exists in the native ptilp, which is used by the people of Brazil as a flavouring | matter in cooking, much us we use salt, and which is as much an article of food and as little a "drug" as is carrot juice. Annatoine is a natural vegetable product, artificially separated from its natural combination without being changed in character, and may be regarded as wholesome and even nutritious. It may be used in several ways. That which we have adopted (and which costs 10 cents per 1001b butter) is according to the recipe of Messrs "Whitman and Biirrell, of Little Fall, N.T., who are large dealers in the material. I first got their recipe from Willard's Dairy Husbandry, and afterwards in an improved form from themselves. It is as follows :—l.: — 1. Dissolve one pound of the best potash and one half pound sal-soda in ten quarts of water, stirring occasionally, and allowing it to stand until well dissolvod, and until the impurities have all settled to the bottom of the vessel. Pour off all the clear liquor possible, let it settle again and pour oft 1 more, aud repeat until only the sediment remains. 2. Dissolve one pound annatoine in eight quarts clear cold water, and let it stand in a cool place for one or two days until perfectly dissolved, stirring occasionally and thoroughly. This mixture will ferment if too warm. 3. Mix tho twos liquids together, and let the compound stand until tho uunattoino is perfectly united with tho alkali and the liquid becomes clear, stirring occasionally. J

4. Store in earthen jars, or, if in glass, keep in a dark place. 5. Immediately before churning shake the bottle, and put into the cream a large teaspoonful of the liquid for each gallon of cream, and stir at once. More or less may be used, according to the depth of the color desired — more for butter to be sold fresh than for that which is to be baited down, as the tint becomes stronger with time. — American Agrieultut ist.

A correspondent of an agricultural paper says — I hare a slough or pond hole on lny farm, about 50 yards long by 25 jards wide, at times dry enough to walk o\er, at other tunes from one to two feet water ;my barn yard draids into it ; at times have from 10 to 30 heed of stock in the yard ; I think ironi 1000 to 2000 loads of good manure or compost can be get therefrom. If I barrow it about 20 yards to hard land, do jou think it would pay to put on ploughed land ? If so, would it be best to mix with some fertilizer, as salt or lime, any or either, and what ; the pond is full of lillies, rushes, resin weed, and other rank herbage, is dry enough now to w all on, but would mire a horse. The answer is— The- first tiling to be done, certainly, is to prevent the waste from tho barn-yard into the \ ond. The care of manure in barn-yards has received but little of the attention it demands, and it is an important question for every farmer to consider. When cattle aie kept m the yard, and the manure is not frequently put into heaps, a large portion of the fertility is lost by soaking into the gronnd. Our opinion is that the yard should be payed with flogs, or concrete, at least two feet thick, aud the surface made reasonably smooth, then use straw litter or muck to absorb the liquids, and to prevent evaporation. There may be a better way ; if therr is it should be proposed and adopted. Even if the cattle are stabled and the manure is thrown into the yards in heaps it should not be permitted to leak into the ground. Kor should water run from the eaves of the barn into the yard. There should bo spouting, and a cistern to provide water for the cattle. Ab to the value of the deposits in the pond v*e can say little, not knowing how long the barn-yard has dioined into it. But if it has value it is easy to determine how much by hauling out a few loads nnd composting it with long manure. Ihe brain cf a horse seems to entertain but one thought at a time; for this reason continued whipping 16 out of the question, and only confirms his stubborn resolve. But if you can by any means change the direction of tbe hole's mind, giving him a new subject to think oi, nine times out of ten you will have no further trouble in starting him. As simple a trick as a little pepper, aloes, or the like, thrown back on his tongue, will often succeed m tuining attention to the taste in his mouth. A fiuit tree never suiiers from too much manure, if the roots are healthy. If « tree seems to suffer a. heavy manuring it is only that it was in a bad way before this. Of course,' if one were to empty a cetspool, a cart load of fresh lime, or some other inordinate mass of food under a tree, it *ould nutter ; but our meaning is, that no amount of manure that would be found of benefit to any regular garden will be otherwise than beneficial to a fruit tree, ii the roots be healthy. Many trees suffer from tho scale insects, as well as from many other minute animal forms, some of which take up their winter quaiters in some form or another in crevicfs of the bark, or in the crotches of the trees. There is nothing which " pays" better than to have these trees washed in the winter with a compound of sulphur and whitewash, colored with anything which rrmy be desirable, so as to make a shade ngieeable to the eye. Many of the small twigs in a badly infested tree may be cut away, so as the better to cover with the mixture the parts which are left.