316 



Climate of America. — Cooking. 



Vol. Y, 



any soil where it is required, and will relieve 

 it from stagnant water, both on the surface 

 as well as in the subsoil. Were the soil thus 

 fertilized, the produce of any country, whe- 

 ther grain, straw, grass or roots, would be 

 increased many fold, while employment would 

 be provided for agricultural labourers for many 

 years. And one sheep per acre kept addi- 

 tional, or five bushels of grain raised more 

 per acre, would add millions a year to the 

 wealth of any country." 



John Taylor. 

 Berks County. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 The Climate of America. 



Mr. Editor, — The late Mr. George Walk- 

 er, of Holmesburg, observed to a friend, that 

 after eighteen years' residence in this coun- 

 try — during which he had never lost a turnip 

 crop — he could not be induced to return to 

 England to battle with the elements. His 

 estimate of the value of an American climate 

 to the grain and stock farmer was high in- 

 deed, the Indian summer afiording anple op- 

 portunity to raise turnips to any e.xtsnt, after 

 full crops of grain had been carried £nd safely 

 housed — an almost incalculable acvantage: 

 and I have often seen on his farm a heavy 

 crop of turnips, after the same land lad yield- 

 ed a crop of the finest and brightest wheat, 

 amounting to forty bushels per acre. Now 

 if the value of two such crops be joined to 

 the advantage of feeding stock on tie turnips 

 during winter, with the straw of :he wheat 

 crop as bedding for the stock, and m estimate 

 of the whole be drawn, with no dawback in 

 the shape of tythe, tax, or poor ratt, and about 

 half a dozen other " rates," his conviction 

 that his farming operations were conducted 

 in this country 25 per cent, cheaier than in 

 England, was no doubt well-founied. 



I well remember seeing the last of the 

 crops — horse beans — carried one /ear on the 

 24th day of December ! and this too, was in 

 the Isle of Wight, the garden if England; 

 while 1 myself have had a crop rf* oats cover- 

 ed by two feet of snow while ying in the 

 field. And I have now before m< a retrospect 

 of the year 1836 in Scotland, wh:re it is said, 

 " the prevalence of cold, frosy, ungenial 

 nights, during the months of My and June, 

 endangered the vegetative pwers of all 

 growing grain ; and then ws predicted, 

 what has since unfortunately een verified, 

 a serious deficiency in the cros ; the back- 

 wardness of the season and th retarded pe- 

 riod of harvest having a most deteriorating 

 influence on the quality as wdl as quantity 

 of the grain, occasioned by theraw, wet and 

 boisterous weather of the moith of August, 

 with chilling blasts from the est and north- 



east," leaving only the month of July for the 

 season of ripening the grain ! No wonder 

 that the observation follows: "The wheat 

 has proved coarse, thin, and irregular, hav- 

 ing ripened irregularly and been cut, in some 

 instances, partly matured and partly green, 

 having also been hurried from the field, by 

 which its condition has been much impaired." 

 The contemplation of such a picture is cal- 

 culated to do us good; and by it I think we 

 shall be able to understand how it is possible 

 that the management of a well-cultivated 

 farm can be conducted at an expense 25 per 

 cent, lower in this country than in Great 

 Britain, leaving an immense amount of ease 

 and comfort in favour of the American farmer. 

 John Green. 



Darby. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cooking. 



Sir, — In the Island of Jersey, England, 

 they have a mode of cooking which is pecu- 

 liar to those Islanders whose governing prin- 

 ciple is to make a little go a great way. In- 

 dependent of this, however, when the process 

 is properly conducted, the delicious flavour 

 and richness which is communicated to the 

 smallest quantity and inferior quality of the 

 animal food employed, is a very strong re- 

 commendation for its adoption, which requires 

 neither extra trouble or expense. 



The meat to be operated upon, is first cat 

 into steaks and fried with shred onions in 

 butter, over a very quick fire, until it is well 

 browned and about half cooked ; it is then 

 transferred altogether into a stew-pan, water 

 being added sufficient to form a considerable 

 quantity of gravy when the process is com- 

 pleted ; and the whole is left to simmer fbr 

 the space of six or eight hours, when, the pro- 

 per seasoning being added, it is served up hot 

 — a dish fit for a President! I well remem- 

 ber meeting some friends in London, who, on 

 describing a dinner at which they were pre- 

 sent the day before, the tickets for which 

 were a guinea each, they all spoke in rap- 

 tures of a dish of beef-steaks and onions 

 cooked after this manner, declaring it to be 

 superior to all the venison, game and poultry 

 at the table. Will your readers try the ef- 

 fect, even with hard and tough meat of in- 

 ferior quality ; not, however, to the exclusion 

 of that which is young, fat, and tender. I 

 am, Mr. Editor, a lover of good living, but 

 No Epicure. 



Half an ounce of alum in powder, will 

 purify completely twelve gallons of corrupted 

 water, imparting no sensible degree of astrin- 

 gency. 



