THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



175 



1 ON THE DIFFERENT SCHEMES OF ROTATION 



ed are to be remelted, and in this siate to be 

 poured into boxes or pans, of a capacity of ten or 

 twelve gallons, and allowed to Ibrra lumps which ! To the Editor of the Farmers' Register 



.h.T'''?^'^^'''''?' '''^" ,'^^'" removed Irom [ In your February number there is a very in- 

 he vessels and piled or stacked up lor a week or i teresling paper, over the si^^naiure oi N Z the 

 ten davs. more or rsr. i ih. rnnm nnn,^;^;..„ ;, I ,...•._. ^„,- .'._':_ . ^c; .iQuaime oi ix., on itie 



ten days, more or less, the room containiug it 

 should be at a temperature of nearly 80°, which 

 will cause a sweating or oozing Irom the blocks, 

 and they will improve in quality ; the blocks are 

 then to be rolled into cloths or put into bags, and 

 these placed between plates, and submitted to 

 very heavy pressure by means of a hydraulic 

 press. Alter this pressure it is brought again into 

 the (brm oi' blocks, and these are to be cut up by 

 means of revolving, or other knives, or cutlers • 

 the pieces thus obtained are to be put into ba<^s' 

 and subjected to the action of hot water, or ''ol 

 steam, in a press, until it becomes hard enough 

 to be manufactured into candles, or put up for 

 other purposes to which it may be desired to an- 

 ply it ' 



TK^ „ CI-.. tnai wioiicu lU lIDIHOVe niS U 



Pn.pH .""^' l''^i^''^'"S It to the action of ry, to experiment Ibr hims 



heated water, or of steam, is to place the ba<Ts 

 containing the siearine in a box, or chest, into 

 which heated water, or steam, may be introduced 

 but not to such extent as to Juse the stearine A 

 lollower is then to be placed agtimst the ba.rg 

 contained in the box, or chest, and moderate 

 pressure made upon them ; the material will now 

 be lound to have acquired all the required hard- 

 ness, and to posses a wax-like consistence, such 

 as would generally cause it to be mistaken lor 

 wax. 



I am aware that alcohol has been used for the 

 purpose ol separating elaine and stearine Irom 

 each other in analytical chemistry, but the lard 

 or other /atiy matter consisting of these sub- 

 stances, has, in this case, been dissolved in the 

 heated alcohol, and the whole has been suffered 

 to cool together ; this process would be altocreiher 

 mapphcable to manufacturing purposes, as the 

 cost would exceed the value of the product. In 

 my manufacturing process, instead of dissolving 

 the lard in alcohol, I add a small proportionate 

 quantity of the latter to the former, the whole of 

 whicfi IS driven off at an early period of the 

 ebullition, but by its presence, or catalytically, 

 disposes the elaine or stearine to separate Irom 

 each other, which they do alter long boilino- and 

 subsequent cooling. I do not, therefore, claim 

 the use ol alcohol in separating elaine and stearine 



he^^r^^ °'h^T' by d'^^°'^i"g the lat.y matter in 

 heated alcohol, and by subsequently coolin^ the 

 solution ; but what I do claim as of my invention 



de'cXed mettT '/ 1?"^" P^^-^- the wHmn 

 senaratinnT '^ °* effectively promoting their 

 separation, by incorporating alcohol, hiahly rec- 



otnS''' ^'^ '^' \f"^ '" ^"^^" rop-ortfona e 

 ZnhT' '^^°"^ °^"°"' '"^'-eo'- 'ess, Of said 

 Then tif!L'P';h^' to eighty gallons of lard, and 



Svennff L"f '^n J"^"'" °^ ^^e alcohol will' be 

 w7h . H ' ""^ "^'^ ''^^'^ '^"^^ 'h« «'a'«e and stearine 

 Sin disposition to separate from each other on 

 subsequent cooling, as herein indica-ed and made 

 Known. Tr«xi,.T u c 



Witnesses, '^'''''' "• ^'"^"- 



T. H. Patterson', 



H. S. Fitch. 



subject of rotations. Being myself an ardent vo- 

 tary to the cause of agriculture, and havitx' had 

 some htlle experience on the subject of rotations 

 and being still in quest of truth, or rather lio-ht' 

 upon the subject, I am induced to comply vvitfi 

 the request of ray brother larmer, in my poor 

 way, as far as my limited experience and obser- 

 vation extends, upon the subject of his inquiry. 

 Looldng to experience as the only correct 

 teacher in agriculture, and having had so lew 

 successlul pioneers in this an, in this our much 

 abused and maltreated tide-water section of Vir- 

 ginia, that it has become, or was necessary until 

 recently, (as we have now many more good farm- 

 ers m the field than formerly,) for every one 

 that wished to improve his lands, or his hueband- 

 ilf; it has therefore 



fallen to my lot to have tried most of the rotations 

 of the different gentlemen as brought in review 

 by N. That most or all the gentletuen mention- 

 ed by N. are successlul cultivators, and im- 

 provers of the soil, I do not doubt, and that all have 

 done well under the rotation followed by each ; 

 but it does not follow that some, if indeed not all,' 

 might not have done better under anoiher rotation', 

 and I hardly suppose that either gentleman would 

 contend that his was a perfect system. Let us 

 then first examine a little into the three field ro- 

 tation, as recommended by Tabb, Roy, and Har- 

 rison ; as, if my memory does not deceive me, that 

 was the rotation recommended by those o-entle- 

 men. Mr. Tabh, then, in the first place, owns one 

 ol the finest estates in all Virginia, or perhaps na- 

 turally in America ; when I say naturally, i mean 

 original fertility of soil, and one that perhaps, with 

 almost any tillage, it was impossible to wear out, 

 being of the very best description of Gloucester 

 low grounds ; a soil perhaps of several leet in 

 thickness, unless sooner coming in contact with 

 marl or some calcareous earih, which is the under- 

 lying stratum ofthis soil. Superadded (o this, Mr. 

 T. IS a very judicious man in all his affaire, and a 

 most excellent cultivator and improver of the soif ; 

 and also having it in his power, if necessary, to 

 draw from extraneous funds to aid in his farmimr 

 operations. And, if I mistake not, Mr. Tabb has a 

 fourth of his farm in a standing pasture, which en- 

 ables him to keep a very large slock, by which 

 means he is enabled to apply a very large amount 

 of animal and animalized matter to his land, in- 

 dependent of the clover and other vegetable mat- 

 ter grown on the fields cultivated. Is it to be 

 wondered at that, under all these pecuhar advan- 

 tages, Mr. Tabb's land should do well and even 

 produce abundant crops under the three-field ro- 

 tation? Advantages that scarcely any lands in 

 the state are subject to, to wit : being naturally 

 rich, producing: perhaps, when cleared, 10, 12, or 

 more barrels of corn to the acre, a soil almost in- 

 exhaustible; for many years under the excellent 

 management of its owner, with every adventi- 

 tious circumstance that could be desired ; I say it 

 is not to be wondered at that it should do well 

 under the three-field rotation of corn, wheat and 

 clover. But it I mistake not, there is some fallow- 

 ing in the way too, with Mr. Tabb, so that I 



