greater liability to taints, than where spring water, passing in a considerable stream under the building, can be had.

COLORING CHEESE.

Great complaint is made by shippers of the color of American cheese. It is of a redish tint or shade, a bricky color, in streaks, too high or too light, and is not uniform, except uniformly wrong. This is attributable to the careless mode of dissolving or liquefying the anotta. Annotta, or anotta, is the pulp of a South American plant, and is no more poisonous than the coloring property of the carrot, beet, blackberry or any other coloring vegetable. According to medical authors, it has no injurious effect upon the human system, but simply contains a red coloring principle. The red ray of light is the first primary color and least divergent from the solar spectrum; the next are orange and yellow. Acids change vegetable blues to red; alkalies turn them back to blue, and change the blue infusions of cabbage to green.

Under these laws, if we dissolve anotta with a pure acid the color is brightened, and if we intensify the red by carbonizing the acid it becomes darker than venous blood, and the color is stretched to its utmost tension. In this state if diluted with a vast quantity of milk a diffusion of colors ensues, and we have the next in the solar spectrum, orange and yellow, or the cowslip shade.

To dissolve anotta with an alkali is a serious mistake. It retards coagulation, and is extremely liable during the curing of cheese to damage its color. Sharp, strong alkalies saponify the butter. The ley of leached ashes is very impure; the red color it contains is mostly carbonic acid, and is not fit to be used in the preparation of human food. Purify the ley of leached ashes and it is as clear as water; the residue is very filthy. An acid carbonized solution of anotta should then have added to it a mordant to fasten or set the color, and we shall be all right.

Continued scientific investigations have been made-suggested by remarks made at the late dairymen's convention, held at Rome, to perfect a coloring solution, and with a degree of success which promises to be highly advantageous to the dairying public, and to remedy the bad color of American cheese. JONATHAN JONES.

WINFIELD, Herkimer county, N. Y.

ORGANIZATION OF FACTORIES.

Within a brief period several corporations have been formed for making cheese under the general manufacturing law of New York. The stock is divided into small shares, and generally distributed as much as may be among the dairymen of the neighborhood, with a view of creating a gen eral desire for the success of the institution, and enlisting efforts to secure patronage. The concerns of the association are managed by a board of trustees or directors; the stockholders having no direct voice in the management, beyond the annual election of the trustees. The trustees appoint one of their number president; elect a secretary and treasurer, and form committees to look after the different interests of the company. A super-. intendent is employed to direct the manufacturing and curing operations

The actual cost of conducting the company's business is charged to the patrons in a general account, with a percentage on the amount of capital stock sufficient to pay interest on the investment and cover the wear and decay of fixtures.

In this account credits are given for all moneys received for cheese, whey, or other produce, and the balance apportioned among the dairymen according to the amount of milk furnished by each. The interest and any surplus of the percentage that may not be necessary for repairs, are divided upon the shares of stock. It is yet to be determined whether this be the more successful and satisfactory method of conducting the business, and whether the division of responsibility will result in want of proper care in manage

ment.

In view of the very general inclination among dairymen to avail themselves of the advantages of the factory system of manufacturing cheese, it is thought a brief statement of the different methods upon which they are conducted would likely interest many of those whom this report may reach.

Originally the milk received at the pioneer factory was wholly purchased by the manufacturers, it being estimated and paid for by the amount of curd it produced when pressed.

This plan failed to give entire satifaction to the dairymen, because of differences of opinion upon its prospective value in the fall market, but furnished sufficient data for determining every item of expense attending the manufacture, and for deducing the cardinal features of the commission method.

Hence the dairymen were left to accept a price for their milk or curd which the manufacturers felt safe in offering, or allow them one dollar per cwt. of cheese manufactured and the whey, for performing the work of making, curing, preparing for market, selling the cheese, receiving and disbursing the moneys; the dairymen paying all other expenses, as boxes, bandage, salt, rennet, &c.

These two methods were practiced together, each having about an equal number of adherents for a few years, the latter however gradually growing in favor, until it has become the general rule among the older factories. In some instances slight variations in the detail of the original terms have been made.

Mr. Geo. Williams has in use in his cheese curing house at Whitesboro, shelving in four rows for cheese to stand upon, each row containing two tiers, one above the other, and each tier two rows of cheese, side by side. The upper shelf is not too high to be conveniently reached, not quite four feet. It is composed of two parallel pieces of scantling, as heretofore shown in the plate for ranges. The lower tier of cheese rests upon a shelf, but in order to turn them with equal ease they are slid out from the shelf upon a little truck of the same height, the top of which is composed of two pieces of scantling, similar to the plate for ranges, and after you turn, rub and grease the cheese, you slide it back. These tiers of shelves, both upper and lower, are supported by upright posts that run from the top to the bottom of the building, about eight feet apart. There are four rows of these posts upon each floor, and each row of posts supports four tiers of cheese, one

tier on each side of these posts, and one above the other, supported by frame work let into the posts. A diagram may be seen in the illustrated Annual Register, of rural affairs, of 1864, by Luther Tucker & Son, Albany. The storing capacity of the rooms are thus doubled.

A. L. FISH S CHEESE FACTORY.

I am informed that Mr. Fish has built a factory, and will work upon a plan differing from the usual practice in cheese factories. It is located at Cedarville, Herkimer county, N. Y. The conditions. are these: The manufacturer furnishes a suitable wagon on springs for carrying one hundred and fifty cows milk at once, as an attachment to the factory to be run by the patrons, without charge, on any route furnishing one hundred and fifty cows milk to the factory. Each patron to deliver at the factory one calf's rennet to each cow's milk delivered by him, the milk to be delivered morning and evening by nine o'clock, from April first to December first, and weighed. Each patron's weight of milk to be put upon a way book to be presented by the carrier, corresponding with the account kept on the factory book, the milk made up into cheese, cured, and put into boxes when sold, ready, for which manufacturer charges one dollar per hundred, the patron paying contingent expenses for bandage, salt, anotta, boxes, &c. For milk taken at the dairy barn and carried to the factory by manufacturer, and all contingent expenses paid by him, one cent per pound extra is charged to the patron. If the whey is left to the manufacturer, one shilling per hundred is to be deducted from two dollars. If it is taken away by the patron, one shilling per hundred is to be added to one dollar for milk delivered.

Mr. Fish has an original plan for heating his curing building with his steam apparatus. He has ordered his hoops made of oak staves, bound with heavy iron bands and iron handles attached, carefully made, the inside being turned or worked down true and smooth. The size of his hoops are eighteen inches in diameter and sixteen inches high. I would here say that the usual size for hoops are twenty and one-half inches in diameter, and from thirteen to fifteen inches high. There are different kinds of metal hoops made in Utica. Whether they are better than wood I am unable to say.

WHEY BUTTER.

Whey butter is always made in Switzerland for table use. It is equal to common butter, except perhaps it may be a little more highly salted. The whey is heated in a kettle (in the same apparatus in which you make the cheese, after the cheese is removed), gently to boiling heat. The whey should be salted before or while heating. This effects the separation of the oily and cheese particles from the whey, and they rise to the surface and are removed by the skimmer to large tin coolers, which are placed in cisterns of cold water, where the cream remains twenty-four hours; then it is churned in a common dash churn, worked by dog power, at a temperature of 60° to 65°, requiring about two hours to produce butter. If the cream requires more churning it generally makes an inferior quality of butter. The whey should be sweet.

CONCLUSION.

We have presented the main features in the plan of the cheese factory system and the various operations connected therewith.

To prevent misunderstanding or litigation, let every factory organization observe these rules:

1. Always weigh your milk instead of measuring.

2. Get some careful person to draw contracts, so that each man may know just what he must do.

AN ACT

TO PROTECT BUTTER AND CHEESE MANUFACTURERS.

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. Whoever shall knowingly sell, supply or bring to be manufactured to any cheese or butter manufactory in the State any milk diluted with water, or in any way adulterated, or milk from which any cream has been taken, or milk commonly known as "skimmed milk;" or whoever shall keep back any part of the milk known as "strippings," shall, for each and every offence, forfeit and pay a sum not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, with costs of suit, to be sued for in any court of competent jurisdiction for the benefit of the person or persons, firm, association or corporation upon whom such fraud shall be committed. (Act of May 2d, 1864.)

THE DESTRUCTION OF NOXIOUS INSECTS BY MEANS OF THE PYRETHRUM (PERSIAN INSECT POWDER).

This powder was first introduced into France in 1850, and came exclusively from districts of Persia and Caucasus. Within a few years, however, the plant itself has been introduced into France, and at the present date is cultivated successfully and in large quantities. M. Willemot, of France, has recently published in the Technochologist, an interesting paper on the cultivation and use of the Pyrethrum, (P. carneum) from which the celebrated Persian powder for the destruction of insects is prepared. (We give the description as contained in the Annual of Scientific Discovery of 1864.) It is described as a small perennial shrub, from twelve to fifteen inches in height, bearing flowers an inch and a half in diameter, and resembling those of the ox-eye daisy (Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum.) Its cultivation is easy, and its appearance quite ornamental. It flowers from June to September, and may be propagated by layers as well as by seed.

The parts of the plant from which the powder is made are the dried flower-heads, gathered when ripe, on fine days, and dried by exposure to the sun. In the process of desiccation they lose about 90 per cent. When perfectly dried, they are reduced to powder.

A quantity of these plants grown upon eighteen square rods is estimated to furnish one hundred pounds of powder, which is best preserved in sealed vessels of glass. The application is made either as a powder or an infusion, though in the latter form it is more beneficial, especially when intended for the destruction of insects on plants. The powder may be employed directly to the insects themselves, or in the places they frequent. They are attracted by its smell, become stupefied, and immediately die. This substance may be employed without injury to the larger animals, or to man. It is intimated that the amount of this powder consumed annually in Russia alone is about 500 tons.

The principal insects to which the powder of the Pyrethrum is destruc tive, may be arranged under four classes,-first, insects injurious to agriculture and horticulture; second, insects obnoxious to man and his habitation; third, insects destructive to certain substances, as wool, furs, feathers; and, fourth, insects injurious to museums of animal and vegetable products, and collections of natural history. We do not pretend to enumerate all the insects to which the powder is destructive; it will suffice to mention a few instances, which will sufficiently show what applications may be made of it. Our domestic animals,-dogs, cats, fowls, pigeons, &c., are subject to annoyance from insects, which cannot withstand the effects of this powder. Of the numerous insects injurious to agriculture and horticulture, we may mention the following which have been destroyed.