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NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 18, 1828. 



Kxlracl from a Treatise oa Affricuhure, originally publislied in 

 the Albany Argus. 



RYE. 



Tliis grain, though of the same far.iily v.ith 

 wheat, is less vahiable. A bushel of rye weighs 

 less, and gives less flour, and of worse quality, I 

 than a liushel of wheat. In comparison, there- 

 fore, witli wheat, it fails ; still there are circum- 

 <:tances, which, as an object of culture, may give 

 it the preference : 1st. It grows well in soils 

 where wheat cannot be raised : 2tl. It bears a 

 much greater degree of cold than wheat : 3d. It 

 goes through all the phases of vegetation iu a 

 shorter period, and of course exhausts the soil 

 "ess : 4th. If so'vn early in the fall, it gives a great 

 deal of pasture, without much eventual injury to 

 the crop : 5th. Its produce, from an equal sur- 

 face, is one sixth greater than that of wheat. — 

 These circumstances render it peculiarly precious 

 to poor soils and poor people — to mountains of 

 great elevation and too high northern latitudes. 



Its use, as a food for horses, is known as well 

 iu this country as in Europe. This grain chop- 

 ped and the strawdcut and mixed, forms tlie prin- 

 cipal horse food in Pennsylvania ; and in Germa- 

 ny, the postilhons are often found slicing a black 

 and hard rye bread, called "bon])ournikle," for the 

 post and other horses ; and the same practice pre- 

 vails in Belgium and Holland. 



Its conversion into whiskey, is a use, less ap- 

 proved by reason and patriotism ; but if a spiritu- 

 ous liquor must he drank, we have no scruple of 

 preferring the form of whiskey, (of our own mak- 

 ing) as that, which, on the whole, is least injuri- 

 ous to the human bodj' and most beneficial for 

 the body politic. 



The species of this grain, cultivated hei'c, are 

 two — tlie black and the white ; for spring rye, I 

 (often mistaken for a species) is but a variety, pro- j 

 duced by time and culture, and restored again 1 

 to its former character and habits, by a similar ■ 

 process. . j 



According to the course of crops, potatos, in a ' 

 sandy soil, precede rye. The ploughing, harrow- 

 ing, and mamiring given to that crop, wiU there- 

 fore make part of the preparation necossaiy for 

 this. After harvesting the potatos, plough the 

 ground and sow and harrow in tlie rye, taking 

 care, as in all other cases, that the seed be care- 

 fully selected and thoroughly washed in lime wa- 

 ter, as the means best calculated to prevent the 

 ergot ; a disease, to which it is most hablc, and 

 ■.vhich is supposed to be an effect of too great 

 humidity. 



Rye is not exempt from the attacks of insects ; 

 but sufiers less from them than cither wheat or 

 barley. Whenever the straw of winter rye be- 

 comes yellow, shilling, and flinty, and cu-culatcs 

 uo more juices, nature makes the signal for har- 

 vest, and no time sliould be lost in obeying it. 

 ''Cut two days tr,o soon, rather than one day too 

 '.t'-," was among the precepts of Cato ; whii-h, if 

 :'.d;jp;;',d here, would save much grain — terminate 

 the harvest about the tenth of July, and give a- 

 bundant time to turn down the stubbie, and sow 

 'he crop next in succession. 



Slave Ma-n^-ers. — E. ?,Iu!ibran, of New York, has 

 lately been fined in the sum of $2,000 as having 

 fitted out a vessel called the Science, for the Afri- 

 (•an slave trade, which vessel was some time since 

 sent into New York and condemned. 



SILK. 



Since we have commenced epitomizing the 

 "Manual" on the cultivation of silk, it lias given 

 us great pleasure to find some of our enterprising 

 citizens already engaged in the nurture of silk 

 worms, and making preparatioi* for an extensive 

 attention to the production of silk. Capt. Anthony 

 Wright, of this town, showed iii, a few days ago, 

 four or five beautiful cocoons, v/\a.>le by silk worms 

 on his farm the present season. Capt. Wright 

 has set out a considerable number of niulberi-j' 

 trees, v/hich are doing ^^ell ; and he will soon 

 have abundance of means for trying the experi- 

 ment of silk making on an extensive scale. 



One or two others, we understand, have em- 

 barked in the same enterprise, but how extensive- 

 ly, or with what success in the outset, has not been 

 told us. Our husbandmen would do well to fol- 

 low this example generally. If an acre of land 

 will suppoit mulberry trees enough for the pro- 

 duction of forty pounds of silk, annually, and this 

 is said to be the case, our farmers will find this 

 one of the most profitable uses t*(ivhich their Avy, 

 sandy lands can be appropriated.wiJViass. Yeo. 



CREAM. 



Pans or trays for holding milk, to raise the most 

 cream, ought to be broad and shallow, and the 

 milk put in them should not be more than three 

 or four inches in depth. Tin and wood are the 

 best materials for making these. 



Some fine wooden trays with lead ; but this is 

 a bad practice, as lead may sometimes be dissolv- 

 ed by the acid of the milk, and then it is poison- 

 ous. Wooden trays ought to be well scalded, 

 and dried in a cool place, as often as new milk is 

 put imto them, to prevent the wood from absorb- 

 ing too much of the acidity of the milk, and thus 

 coagulating the new milk, before the cream ; for 

 cream will not rise, after the milk has become co- 

 agulated. 



If new milk be kept as warm as when it comes 

 from the cow, no cream will rise on it ; but, when 

 sufficiently cooled, the cream separates from \\^ 

 rest and rise;* to the top. In order then to efl'eat 

 this, to the best advantage, jlie new milk sliciuj' 

 be made as cool as possible, and the cooler it is 

 thus made, the more suddenly and eftectually the 

 cream will rise. The cooler the cellars in v.diich 

 milk is kept, the better. To set milk-jians, made 

 of tin, in lieds of salt, would, no doubt, be useful, 

 where the cellar is too warm ; and to set all milk 

 vessels on a floor which is constantly covered with 

 cold spring-water, is also an excellent plan ; and, 

 where it can be done, ought never to be omitted. 



Most of the cream comes last from the cow in 

 milking. The last half-pint of milk that can be 

 got, by milking the cow dry, contains as much 

 cream as the first quart, or perhaps three pints ; 

 and, for this reason, cows ought always to be 

 , milked as clean as possible. The quantity of 

 cream will also be greater, if the milk of each 

 cow be strained into a pan by itself, as soon as 

 possible. The jiracticc of pouring the milk of 

 the cows together, while milking, and letting the 

 whole stand till nearly cooled, is a very bad one, 

 na in this, way, much of the cream will not after- 

 wards rise. 



It is is said, that any given qnantity of milk, 

 havmg the cream separated by the scalding jiro- 

 coss wc shall describe, yields a fourth more of but- 

 ter ; and it is well known that this cream may be 

 churned into butjcr in two or three minutes. 



Tiie milk is kept twenty-four hours — it is then 

 put into a vessel over a small fire, which should 

 only be sufficient to raise the heat of the milk, 

 nearly to boiling, in two hours, not less. When 

 it has been this length of time heating, and begins 

 to exhibit indications of being near boihng, by 

 bubbles rising to the surface, it is to be taken off, 

 and let stand twenty-four hours more. The smal- 

 lest degree of boiling mars the process. 



At the end of this time, the cream will be all on 

 the surface. It is then to he divided into squares, 

 with a knile, and taken off from the milk beneath. 

 This cream will keep much longer, without sour- 

 ing, than cream raised in the common way ; and 

 may be, at any time, quickly converted into but- 

 ter. It may also be salted, and used on bread, or 

 othenvise, without churning. 



It is good for coffee, but not for tea ; as when 

 put into this liquid, a part of it turns immediately 

 into butter. In London, this cream is considered 

 a great dainty, and, in winter, is sent into that 

 city from a distance of two hundred miles. — Far- 

 mer's .Assistant. 



PENNSYLVANIA. 



William Pemi the founder of this State, in one 

 of his letters to his friend Richard Turner, gives 

 the following account of the origui of the name 

 given to the State. 



"5th 1st mo. 1681. This day my country was 

 confirmed to me, under the great seal of England, 

 with large powers and privileges, by tlie name of 

 Pennsylvania, a name the king would give it, in 

 honor to my father. I chose New Wales, being 

 as this, a pretty healthy counti-y ; but Penn, being- 

 Welsh for a head, as Penmunmoire in Wales, Pen- 

 rith in Cumberland, and Penn in Buckingham- 

 shire, the highest land in England, called this 

 Pennsylvania,which is the high or head wood land 

 for I proposed, when the secretary, a Welshman, 

 refused to have it called New Wales, Sylvania, 

 and they added Penn to it ; and though I much 

 opposed it, and went to the king to have it struck 

 out, and altered ; he said, it was passed, and he 

 would take it upon him — nor could twenty guin- 

 eas move the under seeretai-y to vary the name : 

 for I feared, lest it should be looked upon, as a 

 vanity in me, and not as a respect in the King, as 

 it tridy was to my father, whom he often mentions 

 with praise." 



A bet of a suit of clothes was recently made 

 that a pair of P. G. Naglc's patent water proof 

 boots, would resist water for 24 hoiu-s. A tub was 

 filled with water to the proper height and the 

 boots placed in it, under the inspection of a gen- 

 tleman in whom both parties had confidence. At 

 the close of the last hour a large concourse of cit- 

 izens assembled to witness the result. Tlie boots 

 were taken out of the water at the appointed time 

 a piece of paper which had been placed on the in» 

 ncr sole was found perfectly dry, and upon thrust- 

 ing the hand into the boots not the least feeling of 

 dampness could be discerned. The bet was paid. 

 M Y. Dai. Adv. 



Boston and Hudson River Rail Road. — The En- 

 gineer for the Western Railway, and one of the 

 Directors, are now engaged in extending the sur- 

 vey which ascends the Westfield River, and along 

 that river to the boundary line of New-York. The 

 portion which lies within New York will be sur- 

 veyed under the direction of the CommLssioners of 

 that State. 



