Vol. X.— No. 50. 



AJ\D IIORTICULTUUAL JOURNAL. 



397 



pecially on the defect more injmediatoly under 

 notice. In 1783, a dry hot summer, scarcely any 

 dairy could make good cheese. In some dairies 

 more than hall' the make was hollow; and even in 

 the best dairy I had an o|.portunity of examining, 

 numbers were "eyey ;" while in a common sea- 

 son, and more especially in a cool summer, the 

 same dairy has scarcely a defective cheese. 



" In North Wiltshire, an experienced and very 

 intelligent dairy-woman observed, tliat when the 

 " crazy " (the crow-foot) is in full blow, she finds 

 her cheese particularly inclined to heave ; while a 

 dairy farmer of the highest class in the same dis- 

 trict, has ol)served, that when the creeping trefoil 

 white clover (trefulium repens) has been in full 

 blow, and in particular abundance, he has heard 

 the loudest complaints of the licenlions disposition 

 of the cheese. It is not probable tliat any one 

 spe(4es of plants is tlie sole cause of the disoriler. 

 Almost every cheese has its peculiar flavor and its 

 different degree of acrimony. Nothing is more 

 likely to give that almost caustic ijuality which 

 some cheeses are possessed of, than the common 

 and bidbous crow-foots; not only their flowers, 

 but their leaves, are singularly acrid. On the odi- 

 er hand, their are several circumstances which 

 render it probable, that a redundancy of the creep- 

 ing trefoil tends to aggravate the disorder. Dry 

 seasons, by keeping the grass short, give it an op- 

 portunity of spreading. Manure is well known to 

 encourage it, sometimes in a singular manner. — 

 •Sheep-feeding pasture grounds produce a similar 

 effect ; partly owing, perhaps, to the blade grasses 

 being kept short, and in ])art to the soil being me- 

 liorated by a fresh manure; and it has been ob- 

 served, that a suit of cow-grounds, which have 

 been occasionally fed hard with sheep, are Very 

 difficult to make cheese from ; while a few sheep 

 among cows may, by picking out the clover, be 

 serviceable to the dairy." — Marshall. 



lliree feet.* With this the first year's operation 

 ceases. 



The second year's work begins in May, wiih 

 giving the beds a tliorough weeding ; and care- 

 mu.st be taken to sujiply them with plenty of water 

 during the summer. In September the first crop 

 of seed will be ripe; at which time the stems of 

 tlie plants may be mown down, and the roots cov- 

 ered a few inches with earth taken, as before, out 

 of the alleys. 



Tiie weeding should take place as early as pos- 

 sible in the spring of the third year ; and the 

 crop, instead of being left for seed, may bo cut 

 three times during summer, for green fodder ; all 

 kinds of cattle lieing remarkably fond of it. 



In October the roots are taken up, the offsets 

 carefully separated, and inunediately used to form 

 a new plantation ; and the roots, after being dried, 

 ar(# sold, either without further preparation or 

 ground to a coarse powder, and sprinkled with an 

 alkaline lye. 



The roots lose four fifths of their weight in dry- 

 ing; and the produce of an acre is about two thou- 

 sand pounds weight of dry saleable madder. 



Jladder usually sells for about thirtytwo dollars 

 per hundred ; so that the produce of an acre, as 

 above stated, would ainouut to six hundred and 

 forty dollars. 



MADDER. 



(Ruhia Tindorium.) — The following directions 

 for raising this plant are copied from " the Empo- 

 rium of Arts." 



This plant t^ay be propagated either by offsets 

 or seeds. If tlie latter method is preferred, the 

 seed should be of the true Turkish kind, which is 

 called lizari, in the Levant. On a light thin soil, 

 the culture cannot be carried on to any grtat pfofit. 

 1 he soil in which the plant delights is a rich sandy 

 loam, being three feet in depth, or tiiore. 



The ground, being first made smooth, is divided 

 into beds four feet wide, with alternate alleys half 

 as wide again as the beds. The reason of this ex- 

 traordinary breadth of the alleys will appear pres- 

 ently. In each alley is to be a shallow channel 

 for the convenience of irrigating the whole field, 

 &c. That part of the alley which is not occupied 

 may be sown with legumes. 



The madder seed is sown broadcast, in the pro- 

 portion of from twentyfive to thirty pounds per 

 acre, about the end of April. In a fortnight or 

 three weeks the young plants begin to appear; and 

 from this time to the month of Septendjer, care 

 must be taken to keep the ground well watered 

 and free from weeds. 



If the plants are examined in autumn, they will 

 be found surrounded with small yellow offsets, at 

 the depth of two inches; and early in September, 

 the earth from the alleys is lo be dug out and laid 

 over the plants of madder, to the height of two or 



TO BOIL POTATOES. 



Being almost half sick from the changeable 

 weather, I the other day retreated to the kitchen 

 corner, a comfortable place when the cook is good 

 natured. She was a new comer, a native of Wales. 

 The potatoes were peeled, and put into the water 

 after it had commenced boiling. Afier they were 

 about sufficiently boiled the water was poured ofl" 

 and the sauce pan containing them again put on 

 the coals to drive off the moisture. Two or three 

 times in the course of ten minutes, she took off 

 the lid and shook up the potatoes, bringing those 

 at the bottom to the top. In this last operation 

 consists the whole art of boiling a potato. The 

 steam is allowed to escape from all the potatoes 

 and from all parts of the sauce-pan. If a towel is 

 put over the potatoes while they are steaming, it 

 absorbs the moisture that condenses on the under 

 side of the lid and drops again on the potatoes. 

 When the lid is taken ofl' to shake up the potatoes, 

 the towel is also taken out. Potatoes managed in 

 this manner, are superior beyond all comparison, 

 to those cooked in the common way. — JV. Y. Far. 



in consequence, lard is so cheap as to make it 

 profitable to mix it in butter in the proportion 

 of at least one ^la//. Greasy doings these." 



CULTURE. 



Soap suds is one of the best antidotes against 

 insems, as Well as a very good manure. Trees, 

 shrubs, garden vegetables, &c, if showered with 

 this liquid once or twice a week, would not be in- 

 jured by Worms and bugs, and would flonrish'sur- 

 prisingly. Watering plants, such as jjotatoes, tur- 

 nips and even flax, with sea-water, has been re- 

 commended with Dr Deane ; but he says, « salt 

 water ajjplied to tender plants, most commonly 

 proves too strong for them, if applied when the 

 ground is dry ; but if it be wet, the strength of the 

 water is abated by mixing with the juices in the 

 soil, before it is taken up by the root.s, and thus it 

 is rendered innocent and safe, as I have found by 

 experience." Do not forget to place a hhndful of 

 ashes or plaster, or mixture of both, on your hills 

 of corn and potatoes, just before the first or second 

 hoeing. These substances are usually applied af^ 

 ter hoeing, but it has been thought better to cover 

 them with earth, ]pA the sun and air steal away 

 their fertilizing qualities. Soap suds is the best 

 of manures for cucumbers, melons, &c. 



ILLINOIS BUTTER. 



The editor of the Illinois Advocate complains 

 bitterly pf the qiuility of the butter brought to Ed- 

 wardsville, Illinois. Even high prices, it a|)pears, 

 have no effect in producing it of good quality. 

 The cause is rather a curious one, and we will 

 let him speak for himself. " It' high prices would 

 be of any effect here, cause of complaint would 

 have long since been removed. But the cause is 

 innate in the makers, and in consequence, good 

 butter is as rare in this market as pine-apples in 

 Iceland. — Ecce signvm. A few days sincc,Swe 

 purchased a few pounds •( Ilobson's choice, ) 

 and although the morning was cool and the butter 

 had been up in nice rolls, we were obliged to lift 

 it out of the vessel in which it had been brought, 

 by spoonfuls. What a pity that hogs are so much 

 easier raised in this country than cows; and that, 



BEES. 

 Watch your bees, for it is about time to 

 look out for swarms. This useful insect tneets 

 with less attention from us farmers, than it merits. 

 Bees cost alitiost nothing at all but a little care, 

 and a few hives which almost any farmer can 

 make. Some believe, and apparently on good 

 grounds, that a garret or atiyothcr unoccupied 

 dark room will answer every purjiose of a bee- 

 house ; and Dr Smith asserts, that bees in a gar- 

 ret, "with so much room before them and a few 

 small orifices through which they might get into 

 the open air, never would swarm till the whole 

 garret was completely stored with comb." But 

 in order that you may manage your bees to the 

 best advantage, you had better procure the little 

 treatise on bees, written by Dr Thacher and Dr 

 Smith, which may be had of any of the Boston 

 booksellers, as well as at the New England Farm- 

 er office. 



Yellow Lociist Tree. — A writer in the New 

 York Farmer, recommends this tree as one of the 

 most valuable for various purposes, Ihiit we have 

 in the country. The wood is lough, elastic, 

 grows rapidly, and outlasts almost or quite all 

 other kinds of wood. A fence post five inches in 

 diameter, he says, will remain sound for fifty years. 

 For sills of houses and other timber exposed to 

 dampness, he says it will last longer than any other 

 wood. It is highly valued in ship-building. 



'Inches, we suspect it should be, instead of feet. 



Specific for Cholera. — "The following simple 

 recipe," says a Calcutta paper received by the last 

 arrival, taken at a single draught, " seldom fails of 

 aflTording instant relief to the patient, viz. one 

 ounce cinnamon water, thirtyfive drops tincture of 

 opium, one drachm spirits of lavender, and two 

 drachms tincture of rhubarb." 



Antidote lo the C/io/cra. — The Board of Health 

 of Quebec recommend to every citizen to provide 

 himself with a phial of laudanum and one of pep- 

 permint, to be carried about the person, and resort- 

 ed to immediately upon the attack of the malady. 

 — JVexo York American. 



