HOW TO PRESERVE EGGS. 
47 
solved is, because, that in different places, different 
breeds are best. Yet how often do we see long 
articles written to induce others to believe that this 
or that particular breed, which the writer happens 
to own, are most decidedly the only kind that ever 
ought to be kept by everybody else. This, how- 
ever, does not appear to be the object of the writer 
of this article. - On the contrary, it is a very sensi- 
ble one, and well worthy the attention of the 
sheep farmers of the United States. 
The True Principles of Farming. — This is 
another English article. But the ideas are equally 
well adapted to the United States. But of all diffi- 
cult subjects ever undertaken, the writer who should 
undertake to write a work, in which he would lay 
down the " true principles of farming," would find 
his task the most difficult. No theory nor principle 
could be offered but it would find opponents. Al- 
most every farmer, particularly if he is one who 
never reads any work upon the subject, thinks that 
he conducts all his operations upon the true princi- 
ples. It would be as difficult to make a work 
giving the true principles of farming, as it would to 
decide what is the best breed of sheep. The true 
principles in Maine, would hardly do in Louisiana. 
The Arracacha vs. The Potato. — Aha! Some- 
thing new, is it? No doubt, to many of your 
readers it is not only new, but is all Greek. And 
in vain will they search a Lexicon or Encyclopaedia 
for a definition. And yet, new as the word may 
be to many, it is more than twenty years since 
Baron de Schack, a celebrated botanist, undertook to 
introduce the cultivation of this root into the United 
States, as an article of human food. 
In the year 1827, the arracacha was growing 
in great perfection at Cantonment Brooke, in 
Florida. 
In 1828, the late William Prince had thirty 
plants growing in his garden at Flushing, Long 
Island. 
In 1829, Dr. Mitchill says that he had received a 
few roots from Caracas, which lived through the 
winter in a hothouse, and died next summer in the 
open ground. Dr. M. was of opinion that the 
cultivation would never prosper in this country, 
unless in the extreme south. 
In 1831, Gideon B. Smith, of Baltimore, sent a 
lot of roots to Boston. He also planted them at 
Baltimore. In South America, it is called by the 
name of apio, which is also the Spanish word for 
our common garden celery. 
No doubt, it is a valuable esculent, yet it can 
never take the place of the potato ; for it will not 
keep in an eatable condition after it is dug, but a 
few days. In August, 1831, Mr. Smith was of 
opinion that the root could be cultivated as easily 
as the sweet potato, and in March, ] 832, he thought 
that it would be quite as easy to cultivate it as 
the parsnip, he having succeeded well in preserving 
it through the first winter. But it did not finally 
succeed. 
About the same time, Mr. Legare, of Charleston, 
to whom Mr. Smith had presented some roots, 
had one of them cooked, and found it to taste like 
the potato and celery combined. He, too, failed, as 
I presume all others did. 
From all this and much more " experience," it 
seems to me that the arracacha, is hardly worth 
much more experimenting upon. I have full faith 
that the potato will yet recover from its present 
malady, and that no other vegetable can fill its 
place. Though, in the mean time, I shall be pleas- 
ed to see experiments tried with anything that bids 
fair to serve as a substitute. I have only given a 
little arracacha history, so that people may not be 
tempted into expensive experiments, under the sup- 
position that it is something " new under the sun." 
Rag Weed. — " It has been stated, on what au- 
thority we know not, that land, on which rag weed 
grows, is not suitable for wheat." Certainly. If 
it is growing on the land, it is not suitable to sow 
wheat on. But give the land a first-rate plowing 
and turn the rag weed about ten inches under, and 
my word for it, if the land is otherwise suitable for 
wheat, the rag weed will not be much in the 
way. 
The Florida Everglades. — The project of drain- 
ing this vast body of land is one that ought not to 
be lost sight of. But why give the land to the 
state? The general government own the land, 
and have the power, and the interest is theirs, and 
that is the proper authority that should immediate- 
ly set about this great work. The increase in the 
value of their own land would more than pay all 
the expense. 
Milking Cows. — "This is a subject of too 
much importance to be passed over." Yes it is. 
And if the writer means to leave the impression 
that he would prefer to have cows milked three or 
four times a day [unless they are giving an extraor- 
dinary quantity, say twenty to thirty quarts], I 
should like to have him pass over my cows entire- 
ly. I must repeat, that I can see no benefit aris- 
ing from so often milking. Regularity in time 
of milking, and by the same person, as much as 
possible, is always advisable ; but unless the cow 
naturally secretes so much milk that the udder is 
unable to contain it through the day, it is idle to be 
pulling at the teats three or four times during that 
time. And in winter time, if we have a cow that will 
carry all the milk she will secrete for twenty-four 
hours, I do not believe that there is anything gain- 
ed by milking more than once in that time. 
How to Keep a Horse from Straying, should have 
been entitled "How to hitch horses on the prai- 
rie." The plan is an ingenious one, and it re- 
minds me to tell you how to make a baulky horse 
pull. If one horse of a pair is baulky and the 
other is true, tie a cord to the tail of the baulky- 
horse and to the doubletree, so that he must go 
ahead and keep his end up even, or have his tail 
badly pulled, and my word for it, he will go ahead 
after getting one or two good jerks. 
A Day to Myself. — Ah ! thip reminds me that it 
is full time that I was taking a night to myself. 
And so another monthly farewell from your 
Reviewer. 
How to Preserve Eggs. — Take 8 quarts of 
unslacked lime, i lb. of common salt, 2 ounces of 
cream tartar; mix in water so as to bear an egg 
with its top just above the surface ) pour the mix- 
ture into a water-tight cask containing the eggs, 
and they will keep good for two years. 
