Vol. VI.— No. 49. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



387 



tlius be mude to coiiipensutc for the scanty pro 

 duoe of ajiotlier. 



2d. Increase of food from the same quantity of 

 land. Where a family depends entirely on their 

 potato garden for food, such dependence necessa- 

 rily leads to great waste. The potato is seldom 

 ready for consvnnption before the month of Octo- 

 ber, and frequently becomes unfit for food before 

 the month of June or July. The family, howev- 

 er, bebig obliged to live on their potatos through- 

 out the whole year, have bo recourse but to con- 

 sume one part of tlie crop, at\er it has lost much 

 of its nutritious properties, and another part be- 

 fore it is thoioughly ripe. In this waj', probably, 

 one sixth of the whole crop is wasted. But as 

 the potatos may always be converted into meal, 

 when in their great'st perfection, this waste may 

 be prevented, and the same quantity of laud will 

 thus produce one-sixth part more of wholesome 

 nourishment, at all times readj' for consimiption. 



3d. Prevention of diseases. The unwholesome 

 diet to which a population dependent wholly on 

 potatos is obliged to have recourse, during the 

 months intervening between the decay of the old 

 crop and the thorough ripening of the new, causes 

 typhus and other diseases of a most infectious and 

 fatal kind ; but these diseases would in a great 

 measure disappear, were the necessity for using 

 the unwholesome food, which principally occa- 

 sions tiiem, no longer to exist. 



The low rate at which potato meal can be sup- 

 plied, when compared with other articles of hu- 

 man food derived from grain, appears, from the 

 following result of the experiments by Gen. Disom, 

 in Damfrieshire, to ascertain their relative pro- 

 portions : — 



Wheat, 2^d.") 



Oatmeal, IJd. 1 „ , 



Barley Meal, i|j !> Per poimd. 



Potato Meal, Id. 3 



POTATO FARINA. 



The mode of extracting farina from the potato, 

 is, to separate by grating, straining, and repeated 

 washing, the mealy from the coarse and fibrous 

 part of the root. The former, which contains the 

 most nourishing portion of the root, is then dried, 

 and becomes exactly in appearance like wheaten 

 flour. The fibrous part may be employed for 

 making household bread or other useful purposes. 

 The advantages of this process are — 



1. Improvement in bread made from inferior whea- 

 ten four. Flour produced from inferior soils, or 

 exposed to imfavorable seasons, is deficient in 

 that important article, "the gluten ;" — but by a 

 jnixture of the jelly of the potato, made from the 

 farina, bread as light in texture, and nearly as nu- 

 tritious in quality, may be produced, from flour of 

 the finest quahty, the gluten, in which inferior 

 wheat is defective, being supplied by the farina. 



2. Greater quantity of nourishment from the same 

 exient of soil. An acre of land in potatos will 

 produce about 2,700 pounds weight of farina ; 

 ■vvhcreas an acre of land in wheat will not pro- 

 duce more than 1350 pounds weight of flour. It 

 is evident, therefore, that in proportion as farina is 

 used instead of wheat in the composition of bread, 

 the comitry will become capable of supporting a 

 greater population, and be rendered more inde- 

 pendent of foreign relations for subsistence. 



Sir John proceeded to mention many other val- 

 uable uses to which potatoes may be applied, as 

 the rearing and fattening domestic animals — the 

 manufacture of spirits — the dn^ssing of weaver's 



webs — the in-cparation of various dyes, &c. ; ad- 

 ding, however, that the pouits he had already 

 dwelt upon were those which it seemed to him 

 mo.st iujportant to illustrate. 



AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



One Hundred Dollars Premium for the best Butler. 



A nimiber amongst the most respectable citizens 

 of Boston and its vicinity having subcribcd and 

 paid over to The Treasurer of the Massachusetts 

 Society for Promoting jjgriculture, a sum of $ 1 00 to 

 encourage improvement in the quahty of butter of- 

 fered for sale in the Boston market, the Trustees 

 of the Society, in compliance with the request of 

 the contributors, will award this liberal premium 

 of one hundred dollars, to the person who shall 

 exhibit the best biuter, not less than three hun- 

 dred poiuids weiglit, at the Society's Hall, in 

 Brighton, on Tuesday, the 14th day of October 

 next, (the day previous to the Cattle Show.) The 

 competition will not be confined to persons within 

 this Commonwealth, hut will be open to the cit- 

 izens of all the New-England States. 



To entitle any parcel to the premium, it must 

 have been mauulactured between the first day of 

 June inst. and tne fifteenth day of September, of 

 which fact a written declaration, under oath, will 

 be required. Tlie preference will be given to 

 tliat parcel whi( n has been longest made, provid- 

 ed it is of a quality not inferior to any other. The 

 judgment of tiie Committee in mailing their a- 

 ward will be influenced by any appearance of par- 

 ticular attention to cleaiilmcss and nicety in the 

 manner of putting up the Butter. 



As a further encouragement to competitors, an 

 opportunity will be afibrded, on Wednesday, the 

 day of the Cattle Sliow, to sell their Butter at pub- 

 he auction at Brighton, without expense of Auc- 

 tioneer's fee ; when the most hberal price may be 

 expected for good butter ; — it being a subject of 

 general complaint that prime butter, except in 

 small quantities, is rarely in Boston market, while 

 it is well known that in other cities, and particu- 

 larly Philadelphia, the market is daily and abmi- 

 dantly supphed with butter of the finest flavor, put 

 up in the nicest manner. 



The State premiimis for the same article will 

 be awarded as usual at the same time. 



Apphcation to enter for the premium of $100 

 must be made to Jonathan Winship, Esq. resid- 

 ing at Brighton, on or before Monday the 13th of 

 October. 



RICHARD SULLIVAN. \ Committee 

 GORHAM PARSONS. \ of the 

 E. H. DERBY. j Trustees. 



June, 1828. 



(U' Printers of newspapers in the several New 

 England States are requested to insert the above. 



from the London Horticultural Society, as omig 

 of the most superior kinds. The greatest atten- 

 tion is paid in preserving the exact names of eve- 

 ry variety by careful diagrams of the garden, and 

 labels, so that no errors can occur. Their culin- 

 ary, ornamental and green house plants aflTord all 

 the varieties which they are encouraged by the 

 taste of the citizens to cultivate. 



We were also much gratified, on a recent visit 

 to Albany, with a number of other establishments 

 of private gentlemen, who employ the advanta- 

 ges of leisure and fortune in the dehghtful recrea- 

 tion of gardening. 



The collection of 3Ir. George Wilcox, though 

 not of great extent, is unrivalled for the beauty 

 and nutnber of choice varieties of several select 

 plants. His geraniums, in particular, of which he 

 has nearly 200 kinds, are remarkably fine. — JV. Y. 

 Farmer. 



Large Sheep. — Mr. John Brientnall, of Railway 

 N. Jersey, called at our office a few days since 

 and exhibited some fine wool, of 20 inches in 

 length, taken from an improved Dishley Buck, 

 which he imported from England. The sheep 

 now weighs 252 lbs. lie will be exhibited at the 

 Fulton market in his fleece, at the meeting of the 

 New-York County Agricultural Society, on the 

 25th of June, and on the following day withoul 

 hi.s fleece. In our next number we will give a 

 drawing of him, with some additional and iulerest- 

 iiig particulars. — ibid. 



ALBANY. 



The nursery grounds of Judge Buel, about 2 

 miles from the capitol, bids fair to become one of 

 the most valuable and important establishments in 

 this country, and one that will be of the most ex- 

 tensive lienefit, particularly to the northern sec- 

 tions of the New England and middle states. It 

 consists of about eighty acres of ground, a con- 

 siderable portion of which is occupied as a nurse- 

 ry, embracing an immense variety of choice fruit 

 and ornamental trees. The former have been in- 

 oculated or grafted with the greatest care and 

 skill by hunself and his partner.Mr. Wilson, from 

 cuttings obtained from Europe, and jiarticularly 



MANGEL WURTZEL. 



It is stated in a late number of the British Far 

 mer's Magazine, that at the late Doncaster Agri- 

 cultural Meeting, Lord Althorp described an in- 

 teresting experiment which he had made to as- 

 certain the comparative merits of Swedish turnips 

 and mangel-wuitzel in the fattening of cattle, the 

 result of which went to iirove the superiority of 

 the latter. Tw^o oxen were at the same tune put 

 to these different kinds of food, and contuiued al 

 them for a stated period : that which was fed on 

 mangel-wurtzel increased considerably more ill 

 weight than the other, which was fed on Swedish 

 turnips ; and the other, which had been at turnips, 

 was put to mangel-wurtzel for a similar period i 

 and it was found, at the termination of the experi- 

 ment, that the ox which had been put from the 

 mangel-wurtzel to turnips, had lost weiglit, whUe 

 the other, which had been removed from turnips 

 to mangel-wurtzel, had gained considerably. His 

 lordship further observed, that during the drough- 

 ty season, when the turnips had been nearly all 

 burnt up or destroyed by the fly, the mangel-wurt- 

 zel had flourished, and was an abundant crop. — 

 American Farmer. 



The Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road wiU be com- 

 menced on the 4th of July. It is intended that 

 the first spade full of earth shaU be dug, and the 

 first stone deposited, by the venerable Charles 

 Carroll, Carrollton. The feelings of the Baltimo 

 reans towards their distinguished fellow citizei;, 

 allow them to omit no opportunity of doing hom- 

 age to his worth. 



Green peas. — On Saturday morning, ITtli of May, 

 in Covent Garden Market, green peas were ex- 

 posed for sale, for which the moderate price of 

 three guineas per quart was asked ! — There was 

 also a show of cherries and strawberries, but the 

 prices were equally high. — Lon. pap. 



