203 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 5 



tluum of rape seed, after the oil has been ex- 

 pressed; but as rape is a plant unknown in any part 

 of America, though without doubt it might be 

 cultivated there to great advantage, no oil-cake for 

 manure can be procured from thence. 



Much linseed oil is used in the United States, 

 where the houses, mostly built of wood, are paint- 

 ed on the outside. 



A great quantity therefore of what is called linseed 

 cake, or oil-cake, being the remainder of the lin- 



to be warm in the spring; but it is not allowed to 

 flow lor more than twenty-lour hours at a time: 

 it is then taken off for a few days, then turned on 

 again for twenty-four hours, and so on, till the 

 meadow is nearly fit for cutting; immediately alter 

 which, it is applied again in like manner for a se- 

 cond crop, and then again to force the aftergrass 

 in autumn hut it is always found to have the great- 

 est effect upon the spring crop. 



In this state they also apply water to their lands, 



seed after the oil is pressed out, might be purchased in another very different and unusual manner; they 



there; and would be highly useful in England, in 

 fattening of cattle, and for other purposes: it is 

 chiefly consumed thereby milk-cows, in the neigh- 

 borhood of the great towns, and sometimes in iat- 

 tening cattle and hogs. The present price of it in 

 America is 40s. per ton; while the price of the 

 cake here is not less at this time than £8 8s. 



A gentleman in this country, aware of the ad- 

 vantage of importing this article from America, 

 was lately desirous of accomplishing it; but on ma- 

 king the necessary enquiries, found that those cakes 

 came under the description of one of the non enu- 

 merated articles, and consequently were liable to a 

 duty, (I believe £27 10s. per cent, on their value,) 

 which amounted to an absolute prohibition. This 

 prohibition seems in good policy proper to be taken 

 off; and I cannot do less than recommend the 

 subject to the consideration of the board. 



"Irrigation ie much practised; the method, soils, 

 effect, and every other circumstance, should be at- 

 tended to." 



Irrigation, as far as I could learn, is known only 

 in two parts of the United States, and in neither of 

 them practised to any considerable extent. It of- 

 fers no material circumstances worthy of imitation, 

 nor is it conducted on any principles, that are 

 not at this time much better understood in this 

 country. Connecticut is the most northern slate 

 where it is met with: the practice was probably 

 carried thither by the first settlers, most of whom 

 emigrated from those counties in the west of Eng- 

 land, where it is now best understood; but they do 

 not appear to have kept pace in improvement with 

 their kindred on this side, of the Atlantic. 



The German tract in Pennsylvania, is the other 



flood great tracts of low meadows, situated on 

 running waters, just before the winter sets in, to 

 the depth of two or three feet, by stopping the 

 course of the stream, and let them thus remain co- 

 vered till the spring, in order to keep them warm, 

 and defend them from the frosts. These lands pro- 

 duce the following year a considerable quantity of 

 coarse hay; which, in consequence of the fine cli- 

 mate in summer being very well got, is eagerly 

 consumed by the cattle in winter; after the hay is 

 cut, these fields ibr the remainder of the year are 

 pastured. 



In Pennsylvania the water is usually turned on 

 the meadows about the middle of April, and is al- 

 lowed to flow about two months; a lew days after 

 which, the ground having got dry, the crop is cut: 

 as soon as the crop is off, the water is again turned 

 on for three or four weeks, or till the land gets a 

 sufficient covering to defend itself from the sun, at 

 that season very powerful; a second crop is then 

 soon ready for the scythe; after which the water is al- 

 lowed again to flow over it, till within a short time 

 before it is wanted for pasturage, when it is turned 

 off, in order that the ground may so harden as not. 

 to receive injury from the treading of cattle. Which 

 of the two methods of applying the water may be 

 most productive, I know not, not having seen the 

 meadows of Connecticut in the summer season; 

 but those of Pennsylvania bear abundant crops. 



Water issuing from limestone in Pennsylvania, 

 is thought prelerable to any other running stream; 

 but the w r arm half putrid water from the reservoir 

 made for this purpose, which is not unfrequent, or 

 a mill dam, in which it becomes soft, slimy, and 

 muddy, is greatly preferred to all others; water of 



part where it is practised, and the knowledge was this kind, at this season of the year, will in Penn- 

 carried thither lrom Flanders or Germany. Two sylvania be heated as high as S5° by Farenhcifs 



crops of hay are always cut where lands are thus 

 artificially watered. 



The law has ordained the right of the water to 

 be in him who possesses the spring head, or the 

 highest part of the stream; he may consume what 

 quantity he pleases, but must convey the remain- 

 der into the ancient channel; he must not divert 

 the stream, or waste the water to the prejudice of 

 those below him. The mode of applying the wa- 

 ter is different in the two states: in Connecticut it 

 is turned on the land as soon as the weather begins 



ships; but the oil-cakes, being the produce of foreign 

 countries, ought agreeable to the same navigation laws, 

 to be allowed to be imported in the vessels of the coun- 

 try that produces them, as well as in British vessels; as 

 all other importable articles,the produce of such coun- 

 tries, are allowed to be imported: no doubt the words, 

 British built ships, where they refer to linseed cakes, 

 and rape cakes, have been inadvertently inserted. I 

 must therefore again recommend this article to the con- 

 sideration of the board, as the importation of linser 1 

 and rape cakes, appears an object well worth their con- 

 sideration. 



thermometer, and must have a great effect 

 forcing vegetation 



No art is used in conveying the. water beyond a 

 channel, carried on a level as far as it can be done 

 conveniently, over one side of which it can How: 

 no means have been taken for raising it above its 

 natural level, which in many places might be per- 

 formed with much facility. 



Since the introduction of clover, these meadows 

 are falling fast into disuse, many of them having 

 been already ploughed up and converted into til- 

 lage; no farther improvements are therefore hereaf- 

 ter to be looked for in this branch of rural econo- 

 my. 



"To examine how far, to what cause owing, 

 and the effects of an indigent poor in the United 

 States, is an object of great political importance, 

 and whether such are ready to emigrate to, or be- 

 yond the mountains'?" 



There are no indigent poor in the United Stales. 

 In a country, where in every part the demand for 

 labor greatly exceeds the supply, where wages are 

 high, and provisions not in proportion to them, no 



