1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



163 



From Evans' Italy. 

 PARMESAN CHEESE — IRRIGATED LANDS. 



The country between Cremona and Lodi com- 

 prises the richest part of Milanese. The irriga- 

 tion too is brought to the highest state of perfec- 

 tion. The grass is cut four times a year as fodder 

 for the cows, from whose milk is made the well 

 known cheese called Parmesan. The cows, 

 which are kept in the stall nearly all the year' 

 round, are fed daring summer on two of these 

 crops of grass or clover, which are cut green, and 

 in the winter on the other two, which are hayed. 

 The milk of at least fifty cows is required for the 

 manufacture of a parmesan cheese. Hence, as 

 one farm rarely affords pasture for such a number, 

 it is usual for the farmers or metayers of a district 

 to club together. The milk of 50, 60, or even 

 100 cows, is brought twice to the farm where the 

 dairy is fixed; the person on whom devolves the 

 task of making the cheese, keeps an account of 

 the milk received, and the cheese is afterwads ap- 

 portioned accordingly." In this fertile plain a farm 

 of sixty acres is considered as a large one. These 

 farms are subdivided into fields of three or four 

 acres, for the convenience of irrigation; a practice 

 which, in the course of a lew years, impairs the 

 quality of the grass to such a degree, that it be- 

 comes necessary to discontinue it. In this case, 

 the sluices of the Gora are shut, the ground is 

 ploughed in autumn, and in the following spring 

 sown with hemp, which shoots up to a great height; 

 when this is pulled, the ground is sown with le- 

 guminous plants. In the next spring it is sown 

 with oats, which grow to the height of six or 

 seven feet. The richness of the soil being thus 

 sufficiently subdued, itis next cropped with wheat. 

 Maize is then sown in the following spring; a 

 second crop of wheat succeeds, and finishes the 

 course of cropping. The ground is then left to it- 

 self, and is immediately covered with herbage. 

 During winter it is manured, and the new meadow 

 is then subjected again to the process of irrigation, 

 which is usually continued for fifteen years. Thus 

 the rotation in the Milanese extends to twenty 

 years; five years for the growth of hemp, pulse, 

 and grain, and fifteen for the growth of grass. 

 Rice is also grown in some parts of the Milanese; 

 but as it partakes of the nature of an aquatic plant, 

 for the rice grounds are kept under water during 

 nearly the whole period of its growth, its cultivation, 

 has been placed under considerable restriction by 

 the government, owing to the malaria which it en- 

 genders. 



From the Silk Culturist. 

 THE VALUE OF A FEW MULBERRY TREES. 



A few years since, a farmer purchased a farm in 

 the town of Mansfield, on which were standing 

 twelve mulberry irees of full growth. Not being 

 accustomed to the business of making silk, he 

 supposed them to be of no more than the ordinary 

 value of forest trees for fuel. A neighbor, how- 

 ever, soon called upon him, and agreed to pay 

 him twelve dollars annually, for the privilege of 

 picking the leaves. The farmer, to his astonish- 

 ment, found that the twelve mulberry trees were 

 as good to him as .$200, at six per cent, interest. 



From the Silk Culturist. 

 VIRGINIA SILK. . 



Mr. Forrest Shepherd, of New Haven has pre- 

 sented us with a specimen of the Bombyx Virgin- 

 iensis, or the native silk worm of Virginia, ft is 

 found in great numbers on the Plantation of J. B. 

 Gray, Esq. Stafford Co., and is capable of en- 

 during the most rigorous winter. The cocoons 

 are found suspended upon the red cedar, and 

 yield a beautiful white silk of a strong thread. 



The future history of this insect will be partic- 

 ularly interesting to all engaged in the culture and 

 manufacture of silk. Mr. Shepherd, who is soon 

 to visit Virginia, has kindly promised to give us 

 farther information on the subject. 



FORMS FOR AN OVERSEERS JOURNAL AND 

 MONTHLY REPORTS, SUITED TO A SOUTH- 

 ERN PLANTATION. 



[The gentleman who sends the following forms, has 

 long been engaged in planting on a very large scale, 

 and therefore his experience is worth far more than 

 any opinion we could offer of the usefulness of the 

 plan. It should be observed that in the copy below, 

 the mere plan is presented: the blank spaces, which 

 would be required on a sheet for use, are here neces- 

 sarily reduced in size, or omitted. In blank forms 

 printed on a large sheet, to receive the actual entries, 



the "Journal of plantation , for the month ," 



should occupy two entire pages facing each other— and 

 the other two pages would give room for the several 

 other accounts. If the blank space left at the end for 

 "General Remarks," should not be sufficient, it could 

 be easily enlarged by adding a blank leaf to that par- 

 ticular monthly report, without affecting the regular 

 order and form of the reports.] 

 To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I send you a copy of a plantation journal which 

 I have had made and printed after my own expe- 

 rience, with the request that you will subject it to 

 the examination of practical planters, and if ap- 

 proved, present it the "agricultural society" of 

 3 7 our district, with my highest respects. 



The intercourse of'experience, founded on prac- 

 tical knowledge is the only solder of an agricultu- 

 ral community: and every individual is bound not 

 only by his duties to others, but by his own inter- 

 ests, to extend and nourish this useful interchange 

 of systems. It is. from this principle that, humble 

 as the gift may be, I tender to you the first off- 

 spring of my own exertions — and I can only hope 

 that like the "widow's mite," the acceptance may 

 be secured by the purity of my motive. 



You will observe that the journal is adapted for 

 a period of one month, and is intended to be bound 

 in boards of twelve sheets for a volume — thus 

 forming an authentic record annually, of the. oper- 

 ations on the estate, and serving thereafter as a 

 reference for seasons, crops, expenses, &c. I con- 

 ceive that the simple and concise form of this 

 sheet, will enable any overseer to keep it correctly, 

 as he will have nothing to do save to fill up the 

 heads and columns — and when proprietors travel 

 for the summer, or reside off their plantations, 

 this sheet neatly folded, will as a letter, inform 

 them of all the operations of the farm, and even 

 its daily proceedings. 



F. MACRAE. 



Tallahassee, Florida, 



