No. 10. 



Aiiimal OJfah. 



299 



owned by those who cultivate them, but are 

 farmed on shares. The farm descends, hoW' 

 ever, from father to son, as a kind of patri- 

 mony, without any renewal of the lease; 

 the landlord making these small subdivisions 

 of his large estate, for the purpose of having 

 his land better cultivated. In tliis way, the 

 amount produced appears very large, each 

 farm being kept in the highest state of cul- 

 tivation, and the whole of it being brought 

 into use. A farm of sixty acres is divided 

 into fifteen acres of meadow, forty-five ara- 

 ble, and sown with grain and clover, about 

 ten acres of the latter. From this are fed 

 eight oxen, thirteen cows, or young stock 

 and a horse. One of the sources of profit 

 is the fatting every year a pair of oxen. Af- 

 ter being worked, they are at five years of 

 age fed off, and sold often for two hundred 

 dollars the pair. Indian meal is employed 

 largely in bringing them into condition for 

 the butcher. To cultivate a farui of this 

 size, or to be more exact, forty-five acres, 

 two pair of oxen are employed to do the 

 work of two ploughs, a pair of three years 

 old and a pair of steers, to do the lighter 

 work, and a horse to thresh the grain and 

 go to market. All the work seems to be 

 beautifully executed. Chateauvieux says, 

 "that nothing can be more perfect or neater, 

 than the hoeing or moulding up the Indian 

 corn when in full growth by a single plough, 

 with a pair of oxen, without injury to a sin- 

 gle plant, while all the weeds are effectually 

 destroyed." Their course of cultivation is 

 one that we should think in this country too 

 exhausting; or rather too much so for the 

 amount of manure we can make. The first 

 year, Indian corn; second, wheat; third, 

 clover; which is ploughed up after the first 

 mowing and left fallow — fourth year, wheat. 

 The capability of the soil to yield year after 

 year good crops, under such a system as this, 

 is an evidence of its fertility, though much 

 is acknowledged to be due to the abundance 

 of manure; of which the whole is put on 

 the Indian corn. How much of this grain 

 is produced an acre we cannot ascertain; it 

 is spoken of as being considerable, but no 

 particular quantity given. We may assume 

 it to be large, as it contributes "more than 

 any other article to the maintenance of al- 

 most the whole country population of Pied- 

 mont, who eat it in a variety of forms." Two 

 of the modes of using Indian corn for food, 

 are in the forms of farinata and pollenta. 

 The first is made by throwing the meal into 

 a pot of boiling water, and putting butter 

 and oil with it; this makes a kind of soup, 

 which appears the common dish among the 

 people of the South of Europe. Pollenta is 

 made in the same way as the last material. 



but without oil or butter. It is allowed to 

 remain on the fire till of a consistency to be 

 cut into slices; these are then put on the 

 gridiron for a few minutes, and then we pre- 

 sume every one consults his own taste as to 

 the disposing of them. 



Having made known the mode of culti- 

 vating one of these snuill farms, it is a mat- 

 ter of curiosity to know what are its profits. 

 It must first provide for the support of eight 

 or nine persons, and maintain twenty-two 

 head of stock; but we must bear in mind 

 that the expenses are probab y very small, 

 and the climate mild and Cdnstnnt. The 

 profits will then be taken from the fattening 

 every year two oxen, a cow, and two pigs; 

 from the sale of silk and a small portion of 

 wine; from sending to market all the wheat 

 and other grain, vegetables and poultry. 

 The Indian corn goes to feed the labourers 

 and fatten stock; none of it appears to be 

 sold. From these hasty details your readers 

 can judge of the importance of Indian corn 

 in the economy of other nations besides our 

 own. It is cultivated through nearly all 

 Italy, and to some extent in Spain ; but as 

 the course of crops appears the same in the 

 different provinces, it is not perhaps of suffi- 

 cient interest to go into any further history 

 of this important grain. 



A. L. Elwyn. 



April 29th, 1847. 



Auimai Offals. 



Of dried blood. — This liquid — especially 

 when it has been subjected to boiling, which, 

 by coagulating it, retards its decomposition 

 in the ground — is found so useful to the 

 growth of sugar canes, that it has been late- 

 ly sent from Paris at a cost of two dollars 

 the one hundred pounds, to the colonies, 

 where it arrives, costing four dollars. Blood,, 

 in whatever state it is found, and from what- 

 ever animal it comes, offers, therefore, to 

 the inhabitants of the country a valuable re- 

 source for manure, and already, in this view, 

 it has formed the base of an important spec- 

 ulation in Paris. 



The following is one of the simplest modes 

 of employing it. Some earth free from clods 

 is dried in the oven, after baking bread, care 

 being taken to stir it from time to time with 

 a rake; it requires about four or five times 

 as much as there is of liquid blood; the hot 

 earth is brought to the front of the oven, and 

 is sprinkled with the blood to be preserved, 

 while turned over and over with the shovel; 

 the mixture is then baked over, and stirred 

 with the rake till the desiccation is complete. 

 It can then be put up in old barrels or boxes, 

 sheltered from the rain, to be used when 

 needed. The earth in this preparation is 



