268 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CHEESE MADE OF POTATOES. 



In 1831 I sowed about ninety six acres, on which 

 were applied 'forty bushels of the manure per 

 acre. This crop I commenced sowinf^; the 5{h Oc- 

 tober. By the loth, I had put in fifteen acres. 

 The wheat upon these fifteen acres I am perlectly 

 satisfied, was tuw thirds destroyed hy fly. I know 

 this, from tlie circumstance of its being- decidedly 

 the best in the early part of the sprinjj, then gra- 

 dually declining till just before it ripened, and 

 yielding when reaped, not more than one third the 

 quantity of straw that the rest of the land did. 

 The fly was discovered in this wheat before the 

 1st of November. The last forty acres I did not 

 commence sowing till the 15th Novendier, and did 

 not finish till the 3d December. In consequence 

 of its being so late, I sowed these forty acres (un- 

 fortunately) with Mexican wheat. You remem- 

 ber the severe winter that succeeded. It nearly 

 destroyed the whole of it. There were acres on 

 Avhich scarcely a spire could be seen. This crop, 

 under all these disadvantages, yielded 1450 bush- 

 els : a bushel and a half per acre was the average 

 quantity sown. 



The last fall (1832) fifty six acres and a half 

 (by actual survey) were sown in wheat, at the 

 rate of five pecks to the acre, with forty buslielsof 

 the manure. Forty acres of this field had receiv- 

 ed_^a previous manuring of the same kind. I have 

 made from itcertainly 1000 bushels, perhaps more, 

 which is within a very small fraction of 18 bushels 

 per acre. But for the blast, or scab, or whatever 

 name you may apply to the disease that has been 

 so destructive of our wheat, I think the present 

 would have been much the heaviest crop I have 

 yet made. Last year, from 94 small stacks, I ob- 

 tained 1050 bushels. This year, from 163 of the 

 same size, I shallnot, perha{)S, get quite as much 

 grain. I should observe that 25 acres of this field 

 was in clover last year, which although much 

 grazed, yielded a considerable quantity of vegeta- 

 ble matter to turn in. Theclovered land produced 

 the heaviest growth, and a few acres (say 4 or 5) 

 which I had plastered in the spring, was decided- 

 ly better than any other part. The plaster cer- 

 tainly doubled the crop of clover. 



My mode of applying the manure has invaria- 

 bly been to sow it with the wheat, and cover it 

 Avith a harrow. I had been told, that about Hamp- 

 ton, the farmers preferred scattering it over the 

 wheat in the spring. In consequence of this infor- 

 mation, I commenced two years ago sowing a crop 

 of oats before the cake reached my farm, and had 

 half done it before it got there. According to the 

 Hampton plan, what was finished was top dressed, 

 but not harrowed. The other half was applied in 

 my own way, viz: harrowed in with the seed. 

 The difference was fully 150 per cent, in favor of 

 the harrowing. 



My first experiment (1S30-'31) was upon land 

 on which a crop of corn had been made. The se- 

 cond was on a fallow. The third on a fallow, of 

 which a part was clover. 



The durability of this manure has been and is 

 still very much questioned. That it will cause 

 good clover to grow on the poorest (stiff) land, I 

 have entirely satisfied myself, and can prove to 

 any one who will take the troul)le to ride over my 

 farm. The able essay of Mr. Carter of Shirley, 

 is perfectly satisfactory as to the effects of a clover 

 lay. I have never seen the Shirley land, but from 



what I have been informed, I should think mine is 

 of the same character. 



The seven and a half acres of land on wliich I 

 first applied the oil cake, and which yielded 2G 

 bushels ])er acre, those best acquainted with the 

 farm v.' ill acknowledge would not have produced 

 more than five bushels without it. 



The 96 acres which brought 1450 bushels last 

 year, in spite of all the disadvantages the crop la- 

 bored under, would not, I feel fully justified in say- 

 ing, under the most favorable circumstances, have 

 yielded more than 700 bushels; and the field of 

 56i acres, from which I shall get, this miserable 

 vear, 1000 bushels, would not originally have pro- 

 duced 300.* 



I observe that a writer in your valuable Regis- 

 ter under the signature of " A Gleaner," attri- 

 butes the virtues of the cake to the oil it contains. f 

 This I know to be the general opinion, but I have 

 never been convinced of its correctness ; indeed, 

 I have for some time past, questioned its truth 

 very much. Our press is a j)0vverful one, and 

 leaves a very small portion of oil in the cake. 

 There is moreover other refuse matter in such an 

 establishment as ours, which contains a vast deal 

 more oil than the cake, which I have used as ma- 

 nure, and been uniformly disappointed in its ef- 

 fects. Accident has enabled me, I think, to solve 

 the difficulty, and to declare my belief that the 

 fertilizing qualities of the oil cake reside chiefly in 

 the farina it contains. Sometime last year, a ves- 

 sel laden with flour was stranded near Jamestown, 

 and the flour ruined. Mr. John Mann, who owns 

 a farm in the neighborhood, took two or three of 

 the barrels and top dressed a small portion of his 

 wheat wilh it. I was not an eyewitness of its ef- 

 fects ; but I was informed it produced as great an 

 increase of that portion of his crop as my oil cake 

 would have done. 



By experiment, I find that 50 bushels of the 

 cake will weigh 1800 pounds ; and of this quanti- 

 ty I have discovered that |j is farina or flour — 

 .equal to five barrels of flour. The cotton seed, I 

 fancy, contains more farina, in proportion to the 

 oil than castor bean, and, I believe, would produce 

 as great an effect after being deprivetl of its oil, as 

 it would do in its original state. I should l)e much 

 obliged to you to give us your opinion on this sub- 

 ject. 



I have thus answered your inquiries as fully as 

 I am able to do. Should any other queries sug- 

 gest themselves to you, it will give me pleasure to 

 attend to them. tiiomas g. peachy. 



CHEESE MADE OF POTATOES. 



Exlract from the Correspondence of jyi. Fahnenherg. 



TraiLsIated for the Farmers' Register, from the "Journal d'Ag- 



ricuUure etc. des Pays Bas." 



In Thuringia and a part of Saxony, they make 

 cheeses of potatoes, which are thought very good. 

 This is the way in which they are made. After 

 having chosen potatoes of good quality, (and large 



* Tliere are but few farms in lower Virginia which 

 have produced more than half a crop of wlieat this 

 year, owing to the various and disastrous effects of the 

 long continued wet season in May and June — and it is 

 believed tlial not one has yielded so mucli as two tliirds 

 of a fair average product. — [Ed. Farm. Reg. 



t Farmers' Register, No, 2, p. 109. 



