340 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 6 



reluctantly in taking possession of their new ha- 

 bitation, disturb them by brusliing them with a 

 goose-quill or eome, other instrument not harsh, 

 and they will soon enter. In case it is Ibund ne- 

 cesr!ary to invert the hive to receive the bee?, 

 (which is frequent from the manner of their 

 aiiii'htiiK'-,) then first, secure the drawers down to 

 the floo'r by inserting a handkerchief or some- 

 thing above them ; now invert the hive and shake 

 or bru?h the bees into it ; now turn it gcnily right 

 end upon the table, or other place, observing the 

 rule aloresaid. 



GEESE AS BAROMETERS. 



From the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 



A recent tourist in the Highlands mentions a 

 novel mode an inn-keeper had of ascertaining 

 what would be the state of the weather -.—"He 

 has onlv to send his fleet of geese to the loch-side, 

 and if they put out to sea, it will be fair; if they 

 anchor onshore, it will be rainy." 



MANUFACTURE OF CHEESE FROM POTATOES.* 



From the Quarterly Journal of AgrituUure. 

 Cheese, it is said, of extremely fine quality, is 

 made Irom potatoes in Thuringia and part of Sax- 

 ony, in the following manner: — After having col- 

 lected a quanlity ot potatoes of good (paality, giv- 

 ing the preference to the large while kind, they 

 are boiled in a cauldron, and after becoming cool, 

 they are peeled and reduced to a pulp, either by 

 means of a grater or mortar. To five pounds 

 of this pulp, which ought to be as equal as possi- 

 ble, is added a pound of sour milk, and the ne- 

 cessary quantity of salt. The whole is kneaded 

 together, and the inixture covered up and allowed 

 tolie for three or four days according to the season. 

 At the end of this time" it is kneaded anew, and 

 the cheeses are placed in little baskets, when tlie 

 superfluous moisture is allowed to escape. They 

 are then allowed to dry in the shade, and placed 

 in layers in large pots or vessels, where they must 

 remain for fifteen days. The older these cheeses 

 are, the more their quality improves. Three kinds 

 of them are made. The first, which is the most 

 common, is made according to the proportions 

 above indicated ; the second, with four parts of 

 potatoes, and two parts of curdled milk; the third, 

 with two parts of potatoes, four parts of cow or 

 ewe milk. These cheeses have this advan- 

 tage over other kinds, that they do not engender 

 worms, and keep tresh for a great iir.mber of years, 

 provided they are placed in a dry situation, and in 

 well closed vessels, 



dition to, or an improvement on, our herbage plants 

 ought 10 be encouraged. Our idea is, that the time 

 is not liu- distant when, in the best cultivated dis- 

 tricts of Britain, the only animals pastured in the 

 fields will be sheep; and that these will be folded 

 on poriions ol' verdant surlace not larger than they 

 can crop in a day or two, when they will be moved 

 to a fresh px)rlion. Hurdles or net-lt?ncing will be 

 used as substitutes for permanent fences ; and then, 

 of course, hedges and walls will no longer be wan- 

 ted on most larms, except lor an enclosure or lwo_ 

 a(^joining the farmyard. This will be a savins'; of 

 the grotjnd occupied by the fences, of their first 

 cost,"and of their annual keeping ; while it will, at 

 the same time, destroy the source whence are dis- 

 persed innumerable insects and seeds of weeds. 

 In hilly countries and in valleys, which can be 

 more profitaiily kept under perpetual grass than 

 under the alternate system of herbage plants 

 and corn, we do not say that fiiuces will not 

 continue to exist ; but we have no doubt what- 

 ever of their sooner or later disappearing Worn 

 all countries which can be subjected to the al- 

 ternate husbandry ; and more particularly where 

 such countries have long dry summers, as is the 

 case in most parts of the continent. On the greater^ 

 ' part of the continent, indeed, there is no way of 

 procuring manure sufficient for larming to ad- 

 vantage, but by consuming the herbage crops 

 under°cover, and saving and fermenting all the 

 liquid matters produced in the farmyard and in the 

 oliices of the house. In this view of things, it will 

 readily be conceived that we attach great im- 

 portance to the improvement of old, or the intro- 

 duction of new, herbage plants ; and more espe- 

 cially of those tap-rooted or deep-rooting kinds 

 whii'h are adapted for countries having long dry 

 summers. We have great pleasure, therelbre, in_ 

 introducing the (ijllowing extract from the letter of 

 an enlightened and scientific correspondent:—"! 

 have fuuror five siieciesof Acrfif/cifm in cultivation, 

 of the value of which I entertain great hopes, and 

 some new grasses; one fi-om Siberia, .-//o/jeci/rus 

 nigricans, seems to be valuable lor its bulk and ear- 

 liness, beyond most graminecB whch we have 

 hitherto had in cultivation. I think, too, that 

 among several species of sonchus hieracium, 

 which I am now tryinir, there are several which 

 will be useful fodder plants on light silicious soil ; 

 of which, at a future time, when I see more about, 

 them, I may perhaps trouble you with anxiccount." 

 — JV. P. T. xlprilMh. 1839. Any of our rea- 

 ders who have seeds of new herbage plants, or of 

 plants which they think might prove useful as 

 such, will greatly oblige us by sending a few, in 

 order that we may forward them to our esteemed 

 correspondent, W. P. T. — iJoml. 



PERFECT AGRICULTURE ADVERSE TO FENCES. 

 NEW HERBAGE PI^AKTS. 



From Loudon's Gardener'^ Magazine. 



As the tendency of agricultural improvement in 

 every country seems to be to stall-feeding, or, 

 rather, to leedins in court-yards with sheds, instead 

 of pasturing in fields, every attempt to make an ad- 



* An earlier and more full account of this practice 

 was translated from a Belgian journal for the Farmers' 

 Hegister. See page 268, vol. i.— Ed. F. R. 



SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO BUILDING 

 FENCES AND LOG HOUSES. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Surry C. //., Va., Mmj 2S{h, 1S39. 

 I consider it a dut}^ incumbent upon all, not only 

 the farmer, but the doctor, lawyer, merchant and 

 the mechanic, in short, every individual in the com- 

 munity, whatever his vocation may be, (as he is 

 either directly or indirectly dependent fijr his sup- 

 port on the farmer,) to lend their aid in support of 

 this all interesting subject, our mother agriculture. 



