THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



119 



in Cheshire, may bear ia mind the famous beds of rock- 

 salt, and the brine-springs near Northwich, Middle- 

 wich, etc. ; the cotton and silk factories of Macclesfield, 

 Stockport, Congleton : but cheese, being the principal 

 product, will be the main subject of inquiry to the agri- 

 culturist ; and the boning of grass-lands may also bo 

 investigated with benefit at the same opportunity. Two- 

 thirds, or more generally three-fourths, of a dairy-farm 

 are in permanent pasture, the remainder in tillage ; the 

 farmers being commonly bound to lay the whole of their 

 manure, not on the arable, but on the grass, purchasing 

 what may be necessary for the other fields. And the 

 cheese — that is, the chief product of the farm — goes to 

 pay the rent. Tile-drainage has been done to a very 

 considerable extent ; but the chief improvement consists 

 in the application of bone- manure. In the milk of 



each cow, in its urine, and in the bones of each calf 

 reared and sold off, a farm parts with as much earthy 

 phosphate as is contained in half a hundredweight of 

 bone-dust. Hence the advantage found in returning 

 this mineral matter by boning. It is considered that 

 draining and boning four acres of land yield an addi- 

 tional produce equivalent to the keep of one cow ; and 

 tenants readily pay 7 per cent, to their landlords for 

 expenditure in bone-manure. The quantity applied 

 varies from one to two tons an acre, ground to coarse 

 powder, and put on in the autumn. Nutritious grasses 

 quickly take the place of useless or injurious varieties ; 

 and the land never afterwards reverts to its sour condi- 

 tion. Why is it that the same practice has failed in 

 some other counties ? 



THE PRESERVATION OF FOOD. 



In preceding articles in this Journal we gave abstracts 

 of the specifications of patent inventions relating to 

 "Drain-tiles and Pipes " and "Manures." We now 

 propose to follow these up by similar abstracts of the 

 specifications of inventions relating to " The Preservation 

 of Food." And we do this all the more readily, as our 

 article may form a suggestive sequel to the paper pre- 

 sented some short time since, entitled the " Preservation 

 of Grain for Food." For the matter of the present paper 

 we are indebted to one of the publications of the Com- 

 missioners of Patents, corresponding in size and price 

 (fid.) to the Abridgments of Specifications relating 

 to " Drain-tiles and Pipes" and " Manures," as above al- 

 luded to. We shall confine our remarks chiefly to those 

 patents having special reference to agricultural produce. 



The first patent recorded bears a date as early as 

 October 7th, 1691 ; it was granted to Thomas Porter 

 and James White, for preserving " by liquors or other- 

 wise all sorts of flesh, fowle, and fish, and many other 

 things, either in pieces or whole bodyes, at a cheaper 

 rate, for many years, in all climates, without changing 

 the nature, quality, taste, smell, or colour thereof, as 

 good, palatable, and wholesome, to be eaten and made 

 use of for any intent and purpose whatever, as when 

 first killed or put into such liquor." What these 

 liquors or "otherwise " were, which were to eff"ect such 

 a preservative process, does not appear, as no specifica- 

 tion was enrolled. 



Vegetables were proposed to be preserved by drying 

 and preparing, so as to keep a twelvemonth or longer 

 without loss of flavour, under the patent dated Dec. 

 30th, 1 780, to John Graefer. The plants and vegetables 

 to be preserved were boiled for a " minute or there- 

 abouts " in salt and water, taken out and hung sepa- 

 rately on lines or small hooks, in an atmosphere impreg- 

 nated " with heat or fumigation by means of a bazagio 

 or any other stove, or steam issuing through funnels, or 

 by the natural heat of the sun." To this atmosphere 

 the plants were to be subjected till perfectly dry. To fit 

 them for exportation, they were to be removed to a 



damp room, where they were allowed — oddly enough, 

 after the care taken to dry them — to imbibe a sufficient 

 quantity of moisture to allow of their being packed 

 without crumbling. 



Eggs were proposed to be preserved "for the space of 

 two years at the least," by immersing them in a mixture 

 of such specific gravity as to allow of their floating in it ; 

 this mixture to be composed of the following substances 

 in certain proportions : Quicklime, salt, cream of tar- 

 tar, with water. The date of the patent is Feb. 8, 1791 ; 

 the name of the patentee, William Sayne. 



February 19th, 1793, a patent was granted to John 

 Donaldson, for preserving animal and vegetable sub- 

 stances, by combining certain principles therein con- 

 tained ; " proportioning the farinaceous vegetable 

 principle with the coagulative or mucilaginous one." 

 Watery vegetables required, according to the patentee, 

 a greater quantity of farina or mucilage. Carrots or 

 turnips required a preserving matter compounded of 

 barley or wheat meal with a solution of common gum 

 or vegetable mucilage. The substances, either raw or 

 otherwise, were afterwards to be kiln-dried and packed 

 in boxes. 



In the patent granted to Augustus de Heine, Feb. 

 26th, 1810, the articles to be preserved were proposed 

 to be put into vessels of glass, iron, or other metal ; in 

 the lids or covers of which were protuberances wherein 

 valves were fitted, which suff'ered the air in the vessel to 

 escape, but prevented it from entering. From the in- 

 terior of these vessels the air was exhausted by a 

 peculiar machine described. 



June 20th, 1820, a patent was granted to John Val- 

 ance, for a method of packing or casking hops, so as to 

 be out of the reach of atmospheric influences, and which 

 would enable them (as anticipated by the patentee) to 

 be kept " as long as is pleased — perhaps half a century 

 even" — without being damaged. The hops packed in 

 metallic or wooden cases, by means of a strong hy- 

 draulic pressure, or otherwise ; the joints, or crevices, 

 were to be luted with pitch and rosin," softened 



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