THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



57 



supt, BWeel ht'ibs, quarter of an oUnoe of nutmeg, 

 a few cloves pounded, yolk of an egg-. Cut holes 

 in the beef and put in tlie stutKng, leaving about 

 half the stulling to be made into balls. Tie the 

 beef up in a clotli, just cover it with water, let it 

 boil an hour and a half; then turn it, and let boil 

 an hour and a half more. Then turn out the li- 

 quor, and put some skewers across the bottom of 

 the pot, and lay tlie beef upon it, to brown ; turn it 

 that it may brown on both sides. Put a pint of 

 claret, and some allspice and cloves into the liquor, 

 and boil some balls, made of the stulBng in it. 



Million and lamb. — Six or seven pounds of mut- 

 ton will roast in an hour and a half. Lamb one 

 hour. Mutton is apt to taste strong; this may be 

 helped i)y soaking the meat in a little salt and wa- 

 ter, for an hour before cooking. However, unless 

 meat is very sweet, it is best to corn it, and boil it. 



Fresh meat should never be put in to cook till the 

 water boils; and it should be boiled in as little wa- 

 ter as possible; otherwise the flavor is injured. 

 Mutton enough for a family of five or six should 

 boil an iiour and a half. A leg of iamb should boil 

 an hour, or little more tlian an hour, perhaps. Put 

 a little thickening into boiling water; strain it nice- 

 ly ; and put sweet butter in it for sauce. If your 

 family like lirofh, throw in some clear rice when 

 you put in the meat. The rice should be in pro- 

 portion to the quantity of broth you mean to make. 

 A large table spoonful is enough for three pints of 

 water. Seasoned with very little pepper and salt. 

 Bummer savory, or sage rubbed through a seive, 

 thrown in. 



Porh. — Fresh pork should be cooked more than 

 any other meat. A thick shoulder piece should be 

 roasted full two hours and a half, and other pieces 

 less in proportion. The slight sickness occasioned 

 by eating roasted pork may be prevented by soak- 

 ing it in salt and water, the night before you cook 

 it. If called to prepare it upon short notice, it will 

 answer to baste it with weak brine while roasting, 

 —and then turn the brine ofF,3and throw it away. 



Roast pig. — Strew fine salt over it an hour before 

 it is put down. It should not be cut entirely open; 

 fill it up plump with thick slices of buttered bread, 

 salt, sweet marjoram and sage. Spit it with the 

 head next tlie point of the spit; take ofi" the joints 

 of the leg and boil them with the liver, with a little 

 whole pepper, allspice, and salt, for gravy sauce. 

 The upper part of the leys must be braced down 

 with skewers. Sliake on flour. Put a little water 

 in the dripping-pan, and stir it often. AVhen the 

 eyes droj out, the pig is half done. When it is near- 

 ly done, baste it with butter. Cut off tlie head, split 

 it open between the eyes. Take out the brains and 

 chop them fine with the liver and some sweet mar- 

 jorajn and sage ; put this into melted butter, and 

 wlien it has boiled a f(?w minutes, add it to the gra- 

 vy in the dripping-pan. When vour pig is cut open 

 lay it witli the back to tlie edge of the dish ; half a 

 head to be placed at eacli end. A good sized pig 

 needs to be roasted three hours. — Mrs. Child. 



For llie Fanner's Jloiitlily Visitiir. 

 Dear s?r : — Feeling a deep interest in all that 

 tends to elevate, succeed and prosper the agricultu- 

 ral community, and to obtain all the intelligence I 

 may from any source on this vital interest of our 

 country, I subscribed for the Farmer's Monthly 

 Visitor, believing that your talents, perseverance, 

 and industry would contribute largely to the difi'u- 

 sion of some of the most practical intelligence up- 

 on the subject. Being myself a " booL farmer'' I 

 find it much to my happiness and interest, to avail 

 myself of all the cost, labor and experience " of 

 my predecessors ;" tlie result of which has been, 

 that the information I obtained from the "Cultiva- 

 tor," (edited by Judge }i\n'\) the last .reason cn:i\>Wd 

 me to realize a profit upon the cultivation and sale 

 of a 7IE1P hind of rcgftaldc variety, sufficient to de- 

 fray the expense for five years of four such period- 

 icals as yours, and leave a very liberal balance on 

 hand, besides the satisfiction of being the instru- 

 ment of introducing it far and wide this season, 

 among the cultivators of the soil. So much for 

 book farming. And this is not a solitary instance 

 of the benefit I have derived: — Another year, if 

 p'rovidence spares my lif^ I v/ill tell you a story 

 about reclaiming light, sandy, and worn out soils. 

 It shall he facts m the iletail, whether for or against 

 me, the jiublic shall have the account. What I now 

 offer for your consideration, is to encourage every 

 farmer to subscribe for every agricultural paper 

 they can afford, if he would improve his' mind 

 and increase his happiness by the light and intelli- 

 gence they contain conducive to this end. 



In your second number, you ask for some infor- 

 mation respecting a new variety of the mulberry, 

 called the Alpine. You are aware that this town 

 has been among the foremost in this enterprise. It 



has been pursued for a number of years by some I 

 of our most intelligent and practical citizens on an 

 extensive scale. Their object has been to cultivate 

 all the varieties, with a view of selecting the best 

 for permanency and utility for feeding of worms, 

 and the raising of silk for manuf icturing. We 

 have two silk factories here ; one with a capital of 

 i%100,000, which is partially suspended for want of 

 the raw material ; the other, on a smaller scale, is 

 in operation, but not fully so, for tlie same cause. 

 In this, sewing silk equal to any imported galloon, 

 silk braids and twist are produced, and I saw a few 

 days since a piece of silk weaving of a fabric su- 

 perior to any of the French Gio de Naples. The 

 raw material was raised by a lady from Charleston 

 S. C. under her own care and supervision, which 

 would surprise the most sceptical. To go on suc- 

 cessfully on our own hook, we want every farmer 

 to appropriate a patch of mulberries, more or less, 

 as an appendage to his farm. It will produce him 

 more for his labor than any thing he could other- 

 wise appropriate it to, with a certainty of finding a 

 ready sale for rus/i for every pound raised at five 

 dollars and upwards. 



I have thus digressed from what I was going to 

 say about the Alpine. It is now confidently estab- 

 lished by three or four years experience, that it 

 possesses the properties of enduring the rigours 

 of our New England climate, is easily propagated, 

 has a vigorous growth, produces foliage in size e- 

 qual to any other, is more nutricious and healtliy 

 for the feeding of worms, and produces a better 

 staple of silk ; consequently it is fast taking prece- 

 dence of the Mullicaulis, by those whose interest 

 it is to select the best variety for a permanent plan- 

 tation. The Canton and Asiatic are al.^o a very ex- 

 cellent tree ; some consider them equal to the Al- 

 pine. But at present the demand seems to be in 

 favor of the latter. Either of these will produce 

 superior foliage, and is excellent for worms. 



.Northampton, Ms. March, 1839. C. C. N. 



P. S. Perhaps I should say of what this variety 

 of vegetable to which I allude is. It is the liuhan 

 potatoc. I raised the last season, notwithstanding 

 the unfavorable weather, sixteen and a half bushels 

 from about a peck, cultivated in the customary way. 

 The information I first obtained from Judge Buel's 

 Cultivator, that the seed were to be obtained from 

 Mr. Thompson, of Catskill, New York. I sent to 

 him, and obtained the seed, for which I paid him 

 six dollars for a bushel besides the expense of trans- 

 portation. I have sold them to the farmers in 

 Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and various 

 sections of this State at six dollars, t!ie same as I 

 gave per bushel. Then you see I am pretty well 

 paid, and have been the means of dilTusing them, 

 and can well afford to pay for the information, and 

 carry to the account of booh hnoiclcdgc a pretty 

 handsome balance for a small operation in farming. 



Another gentleman of Northampton writes us as 

 follows: — 



" I am not sufficiently acquainted with the mul- 

 berry to attempt to give you any information in 

 regard to the Alpine mulberry, altliough they are 

 raised within a stone's throw of my dwelling house. 

 The tree originated here, or rather is produced 

 from seed procured by Mr. Wliitmarsli of this town 

 from the foot of the Alps. From this circumstance 

 it takes its name. The seed was sown lliree years 

 since — two year old seedlings are many of them 

 sold as Alpines — but the seed sold by Mr. Whit- 

 marsh two yeais ago produces atree with a smaller 

 leaf. Whether another year will bring them out as 

 large, remains to be seen 



Since writing the above, I have examined some 

 Alpine trees that have been out three winters. 

 Thev are from six to eight feet high and are ' well 

 wooded. ' The buds begin to swell, and I think 

 there can be no mistake about ' standing winters,' 

 as they have stood some of the hardest since my 

 mcmorv." 



Geology of Maine. 



BY ClIABLES T. JACitSON, M. D. 



It is a common practice among farmers to make 

 use of peat, pund mud, or muck, as they call it, and 

 1 have observed instances in which it was evident 

 that the soil v; as greatly injured by its application. 

 In one instance, I observed in Waterford, that a 

 portion of tlie field on which this substance was 

 placed, presented a dwarfish and sickly yellow 

 crop of Indian corn, wiiile that part of the field not 

 treated by it, was covered with a most luxuriant 

 and healthy urowth of the same corn. The opera- 

 tion was tried experimentally, in order to ascertain 

 the value of prat alone as a manure. 



If it had first been made into a compost, with an- 

 imal manure and lime, it would have presented 

 very different results. Lime alone on piMt merely 

 renders its acid properties inert, and then it an- 

 swers pretty v\'ell as a manure. But if laid down 

 in layers with barn-yard manure, night soil, dead 

 fish, or any oilier animal matter, and then each 

 layer is strewed with lime, a most powerful fer- 

 mentation will take place, and a vast quantity of 

 ammonia will be disengaged, which combining 

 with the ulmic acid of peat, will form iilmate of 

 ammonia, a most powerful manure. Carbonate 

 of ammonia, and many other salts, will also result, 

 which convert the whole mass into the very rich- 

 est kind of manure, forming what may be properly 

 called a universal compost. 



If the farmer is desirous of destroying the seeds 

 and insects in barn-yard manure, let him heap it 

 up in alternatejayers, with fresh quick-lime, and 

 the heat gcnernted will effectually destroy them. 

 This operation produces a number of soluble salts, 

 and therefore il should only be done, wliere the 

 manure is soon to be used, for the rain would re- 

 move them in solution. 



If a soil is charged with sulphate of iron, it is 

 best to use quick-lime in powder sprinkled on the 

 surface of the soil, for its action is the more rapid 

 and powerful. Generally, however, it is proper to 

 slake the lime with water, and then to expose it 

 freely to the air, in case it is to be sown broad- 

 cast, so that it may become carbonated, which 

 renders it more permanent, it being less soluble in 

 water. 



In general, it may be stated, that about four 

 casks of lime are required for each acre of land, 

 and according to the experience of Mr. Puvis, this 

 quantity, in many cases, was found amply sudi- 

 cient. If the soil is loose and sandy, without any 

 clay bottom m ir the surface, it is evident that an- 

 nual renewals will be required, until the desirable 

 quantity is obtained. 



The followiii!^ tables shew the amelioration of 

 soils in France where limeing has been very suc- 

 cessful ; and where it has been found that 3 per 

 cent, of lime in the soil, was amply sullicient to 

 render it extremely luxuriant. It will also be re- 

 marked tliatthe beneficial eft'ects of this treatment 

 were even more strongly marked on the rye crops 

 than on those of wheat. It is found, also, that 

 lime succeeds best when used in the compost of 

 animal and vegeuible matter, and where this method 

 is pursued, tiie soil becomes annually^ richer, in- 

 stead of bein"- exhausted. 



Krom the N. V. Eve::ing Pusl. 



Mr. Editor — How many bones are in the body of 

 a man, and how many nerves .' As you seem will- 

 \m to answer questions, will you inform me ; 



^ QUERIST. 



Answer. — There are 240 bones, 400 muscles and 

 tendons, 100 nerves, lUO cartilages and ligaments, 

 and 9 kinds of articulations or joinings, in the me- 

 chanical structure of the human body. Bones are 

 composed of gebitinous fibres in net work of earthy 

 salts— as phosphate, carbonate, and sulphate of 

 lime. The gelatine ptevails in young aninnils, and 

 hence their bones are more flexible. In tlie fietus 

 the bones are gristly, and ossification commences at 

 their centres. Bones have blood vessels. 



Table ofprodurt of the do-\\ Table ofprodtift of tht do- 

 main of La Cioisette. \\ main of La Burronne. 



1811 



\:» 



149 

 2.V2 

 137 

 BO 4 

 213 

 2.4 

 374 

 295 

 649 

 471 



~ Marl may be used in the same manner as air 

 slaked lime, and it is found to possess similar prop- 

 erties. Sea-slirlls may be used when broken to 

 piece? by the nelion of fire, or by frost, and great 

 benefit is gained by such a dressing. Shells owe 

 their fertiltzini!' properties to the carbonate of lime, 

 of which ihvy are chiefly composed, but their com- 

 pact texture requires to be broken down in the 

 manner alluded to. 



Burnt bones contain a small quantity of carbon- 

 ate, mixed witli a large proportion of the pjiosphate 

 of lirae, and may be advantageously used. Bones 

 ground to powder have also a very powerful and 

 desirable influence, forming one of the most valu- 

 ablo top-dreEsin.j9 with which we arc aquaintcd. 



