Read Ebook: Soil Culture Containing a Comprehensive View of Agriculture Horticulture Pomology Domestic Animals Rural Economy and Agricultural Literature by Walden J H

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 490 lines and 94679 words, and 10 pages

the reason of its appearing in streaks, as it would not do if put into the milk, like the annotta. When the cheese is ten days old, it should be soaked in cold whey until the rind becomes soft, and then scraped smooth with a case-knife; then rinse, and wipe and dry it, and return it to the cheese-room, and turn it often until dry enough for market. Rich cheeses are apt to spread in warm weather; this is prevented by sewing them in common cheap cotton, exactly fitting.

An English cheese called "Stilton cheese," from the name of the place most celebrated for making it, is a superior article, made in the following way: put the cream of the night's milk with the morning's milk; remove the curd with the least possible disturbance, and without breaking; drain and gradually dry it in a sieve; compress it gradually until it becomes firm; put it in a wooden hop on a board, to dry gradually; it should be often turned between binders, top and bottom, to be tightened as the cheese grows smaller. This makes the finest cheese known. As the size makes no difference, it can be made by a person having but one cow.

To preserve cheese, keep it from flies, and in a place not so damp as to cause mould. Of cheese-pressers there is a great variety: each maker will select the one which he considers best or most convenient, within his reach. In some places, as on the Western Reserve, in Ohio, one establishment makes all the cheese for the neighborhood, buying the curd from all the families around. In such places they have their own methods, which they have understood by all their customers.

CHERRY.

Cherries are among our first luxuries in the line of fruits. We have cultivated varieties, ripening in succession throughout the cherry season. There is no necessity for cultivating the common red and very acid cherry, except in climates too vigorous for the more tender cultivated varieties. The cherry is an ornamental tree, making a beautiful shade, besides the luxury of its fruit. It is one of the most suitable trees we have for the roadside;--it ought to be extensively planted by the highways throughout all our rural districts, as it is in some parts of Europe. In northern Germany the highways are avenues, shaded with cherry-trees for distances of fifty or sixty miles together: these trees have been planted by direction of the princes, and afford shade and refreshment to the weary pedestrian, who is always at liberty to eat as much of the fruit as he pleases; this is eminently worthy of imitation in our own country.

Extremes of cold and heat are not favorable to the cherry: hence, cool places must be selected in hot countries, and warm locations in cold regions. Very much, however, can be done by acclimation; it will, probably, yet naturalize the cherry throughout the continent. A deep and moderately rich loam is the best soil for the cherry; very rich soil causes too rapid growth, which makes the tree tender. It will bear more moisture than the grape or peach, and requires less than the apple or pear. It will endure very dry situations tolerably well, while in very wet ones it will soon perish.

Downing, in 1846, recommended the following, as choice and hardy, adapted to the middle states:--

The National Convention of Fruit-growers recommend the following as the best for the whole country:--

We recommend the following as all that need be cultivated for profit. They are adapted alike to the field and the garden. We omit the synonyms, and give only the predominant color. The figures in the cuts refer to our numbers in the list:--

Name. Color. Time. 1. Rockport Bigarreau, red. June 1st. 2. Knight's Early Black, black. June 5th. 3. Black Tartarean, purplish. June 15th. 4. Kirtland's Mary, marbled, light-red. June, July. 5. Delicate, amber-yellow. June 25th. 6. Late Bigarreau, deep-yellow. June 30th. 7. Late Duke, dark-red. Aug. 10th. 8. Cleveland Bigarreau, red. June 10th. 9. American Heart, pale. June 1st. 10. Napoleon, purplish-black. July 5th.

The time is that of their greatest perfection, but varies with latitude and location.

We know none better than the foregoing. In the long lists of the fruit-books, there are others of great excellence, some of which are hardly distinguishable from our list. We recommend to all cultivators to procure the best in their localities, under the advice of the best pomologists in their vicinity. Such men as Barry will be consulted for the latitude of Western New York; Elliott and Kirtland for Cleveland, Ohio; Cole and others for New England and Canada; Hooker and other great fruit-growers of Southern Ohio, &c., &c. These gentlemen, like all scientific men, are happy to communicate their knowledge for the benefit of others.

It is considered difficult to raise cherries at the South; the hot sun destroys the trees. Plant in the coolest situations, where there is a little shade from other trees, though not too near, or from buildings; cut them back, so as to cause shoots near the ground, and then head-in as the peach, so as to keep the whole covered with leaves, to shade the trunk and large limbs, and perfect success will crown your efforts. But in all cutting-back and heading-in of cherry-trees, remove the limbs when very small.

CHARCOAL.

There are but few who realize the value of charcoal applied to the soil. Whoever will observe fields where coal has been burned, will see that grass or grain about the bed of the former pits, will be earlier and much more luxuriant than in any other portion of the field. This difference is discernible for twenty years. It is the best known agent for absorbing any noxious matter in the soil or in the moisture about the roots of the trees. No peach-tree should be planted without a few quarts of pulverized charcoal in the soil. This would also prove highly beneficial to cherry-trees on land where they might be exposed to too much moisture. Its color also renders it an excellent application to the surface of hills of vines. It is quite effectual against the ravages of insects, and so absorbs the rays of the sun as to promote a rapid growth of the plants.

CHESTNUTS

Are among our best nuts, if not allowed to get too dry. When dried hard they are rather indigestible. The tree grows well in most parts of the United States, provided the soil be light sand or dry gravel. If the soil be not suitable, every man may have a half-dozen chestnut-trees, at a trifling expense. Haul ten or fifteen loads of sand upon a square rod, and plant a tree in it, and it will flourish well. Five or six trees would afford the children in a family a great luxury, annually. The blossoms appear so very late, that they are seldom cut off by the frost. The second growth chestnut-tree is also decidedly ornamental.

CIDER.

The usual careless way of making cider, in which is used all kinds of apples, even frozen and decayed ones, and without any reference to their ripeness; without straining, and neglecting all means of regulating the fermentation, is too well known. This is the more general practice throughout the country; but it makes cider only fit for vinegar, although it is used for general purposes. We give the most approved method of making and keeping cider, that is better for invalids than any of our adulterated wines . Our domestic wines, and bottled cider, should take the place of all others.

Select apples best suited for cider, and gather them at the commencement of hard frosts. Let them lie a few days, until they become ripe and soft. Then throw out all decayed and immature fruit. Grind fine and uniform. Let the pulp remain in the vat two days. It will increase the saccharine principle and improve the color. Put into the press in dry straw, and strain the juice into clean casks. Place the casks in an open shed or cellar, if it be cold weather, give plenty of air and leave the bung out. As the froth works out of the bung, fill up every day or two, with some of the same pressing kept for the purpose. In three weeks or less this rising will cease, and the bung should be put in loose, and after three days driven in tight. Leave a small vent-hole near the bung. In a cool cellar the fermentation will cease in two days. This is known by the clearness of the liquor, the thick scum that rises, and the cessation of the escape of air.

Draw off the clear cider into a clean cask. If it remains quiet it may stand till spring. A gill of fine charcoal added to a barrel will secure this end, and prevent fermentation from going too far. But if a scum collects on the surface, and the fermentation continues, rack it off again at once. Then drive the vent-spile tight. Rack it off again in early spring. If not perfectly clear, dissolve three quarters of an ounce of isinglass in cider, and put it in the barrel, and it will soon be perfectly fine. Bottle between this and the last of May. Fill the bottles within an inch of the bottom of the cork, and allow them to stand an hour, then drive the cork. Lay them in dry sand, in boxes in a cool cellar, and the cider will improve by age, and is better for the sick than imported wines.

CITRONS

Are only used for preserving. Their appearance and growth resemble in all respects the watermelon. Planted near the latter, they utterly ruin them, making them more citron than melon. They are injurious to most other contiguous vines. They are to be planted and cultivated like the watermelon. Are very fine preserved; but we think the outside of a watermelon better, and should not regret to know, that not another citron was ever to be raised.

CLOVER.

The only varieties successfully cultivated in this country, are the red and the white. Red clovers are divided into large, medium, and small. The white is all alike. The long-rooted clover of Hungary is an excellent productive variety, enduring successfully almost any degree of drought. But in all the colder parts of this country it winter-kills so badly as to render it unprofitable. Clover makes good pastures, being nutritious, and early and rapid growing. Red-clover makes fair hay, though inferior to timothy or red-top. White clover is unsuitable for hay; it shrinks so much in drying, that it is very unproductive. It is the best of all grasses for sheep pasture, and its blossoms afford in abundance the best of honey. Red clover plowed in, even when full-grown, is an excellent fertilizer. It begins to be regarded, in western New York, as productive of the weevil, so destructive to wheat. Further observation is necessary to settle this question.

Saving clover-seed is a matter of considerable importance. The large red clover is too late a variety to produce seed on a second crop the same season, as do the medium and small. The first growth must be allowed to ripen. Cut when the heads are generally dead, but before it has begun to shell. The medium and small red clovers will produce a good crop of seed from second growth, if it be not too dry, immediately after mowing. Cut when the heads generally are dry, rake into small winrows at once, and soon put it in small bunches and let it stand until very dry, and then draw in. Raking and stirring after it becomes dry will waste one half of it.

COFFEE BEAN.

CORN.

Seed-corn should be gathered from the first ripe large ears before frost, and while the general crop is yet green. Select ears above the average size, that are well filled out to the end, and your corn will improve from year to year. Take your seed indiscriminately from the crib at planting-time, and your corn will deteriorate. The largest and best ears ripen neither first nor last; hence, select the largest ears before all is ripe, and reject the small earliest ears. Soaking seed twenty-four hours, and then rolling in plaster before planting, is recommended; it is conveniently practised only where you plant by hand. Soaking without rolling in plaster is good, if you plant in a wet time; but if in a dry time, it is absolutely injurious. Once in a while there occurs quite a general failure of seed-corn to come up. Farmers say that their corn looks as fair as ever, but does not vegetate well. When this is general, there is a remedy that every farmer can successfully apply. The difficulty is not from the intense cold of the winter: it is sometimes the result of cold, wet weather after planting. But we do not believe that such would be the effect, with good seed, on properly-prepared land. The difficulty is, the fall was very wet, and the seed was allowed to stand out and get thoroughly soaked; when it was gathered it was damp, and the intense cold of winter destroyed its vitality, without injuring its appearance. There is no degree of cold, in a latitude where corn will grow, that will injure the seed, if it be gathered dry and kept so. Our rules for saving seed, given above, will always remedy this evil. This is, perhaps, the most profitable of all green crops for soiling cattle. Sown on clean, mellow land, it will produce an enormous weight of good green fodder, suitable for summer and early fall feeding of cows, just at a time when dry weather has nearly destroyed their pastures. Corn-fodder, well cured, is better for milch-cows than the best of hay. Cut fine and mixed with ground feed, it is excellent for cattle and horses. It is best preserved in small stacks or large shocks, that will perfectly dry through. The tops and leaves, removed while green, are very fine.

COTTON.

No product of the soil is more useful than this. To this country alone we give the highest value to Indian corn. But, in usefulness to the whole world, corn must yield the palm to cotton. It employs more hands and capital in manufacturing, and enters more largely into the clothing of mankind, than any other article. The history of cotton and the cotton-gin, and of the manufacture of cotton goods, is exceedingly interesting. The eminence of Great Britain as the first commercial nation of the world is due, in no small degree, to her cotton manufactures. And the influence of this great staple American product upon all the interests of this country, social and political, civil and religious, is universally felt and acknowledged. The cotton-fields of the South, at certain stages of growth, and especially when in bloom, present scenes of beauty unsurpassed by any other growing crop. It does not come within our design in this work to give a very extended view of cotton culture. This business in the United States is confined principally to a particular class of men, known as planters. They cultivate it on a large scale, having the control of large means. Such men seek knowledge of those of their own class, and would hardly condescend to listen to an essay on their peculiar business, written by a Northern man, not experienced in planting. And yet an article, not covering more than ten pages of this volume, might be written, condensing in a clear manner all that is established in this branch of American industry, as found in the publications of the South. Such an article, well written, by a man who would be regarded good authority, would be of vast pecuniary value to the South. Whoever carefully reads Southern agricultural papers, and "TURNER'S COTTON-PLANTER'S MANUAL," will see a great conflict of opinions on the subject, and yet a presentation of many facts, that one thoroughly conversant with soil culture in general would see to be true and important. The embodiment of these facts and principles in a brief, plain article that would be received and practised, would add value to the annual cotton crop, that would be counted by millions. What better service can some Southern gentleman do for his own chosen and favorite region than to write such an article? We give the following brief view of the whole subject, not presuming to teach cotton-planters what they are supposed to understand much better than we do, but to throw out some thoughts that may be suggestive of improvements that others may mature and carry out, and to lead young men, just commencing the business of planting, to look about and see if they may not make some improvements upon what they behold around them. This will not fail of being interesting to Northern men, most of whom know nothing of the cotton-plant, or the modes of its cultivation. It is interesting, too, that some of the most essential points are in perfect accordance with the great principles of soil culture throughout the world.

MANURES.--Perhaps this is, at the present time, the greatest question for cotton-planters. The application of all the most approved principles and agents of fertilization would do more for the interests of the cotton crop than anything else. Cotton-plantations are sometimes said to run down so as to render it necessary to abandon portions of the land, and select new. Instead of this, land may not only be kept up with proper manuring, but made to yield larger crops from year to year. The following analysis of the ash of the cotton-plant will indicate the wants of the soil in which it grows:--

This analysis shows that the soil for cotton needs much lime, bones or bone-dust, and wood-ashes, besides the ordinary barn-yard and compost manures. All the preparations and applications of manures specified in this work, under the head of "Manures," are applicable to cotton. The usual recommendations of rotation in crops is, perhaps, more important in cotton culture than anywhere else. Judicious fallowing, on principles adapted to a Southern climate, is another great means of keeping up and improving the land. This is also the only effectual means of guarding against the numerous enemies and diseases of the cotton-plant. The health of the plants is secured, and they are made to outstrip their enemies only by the fertility and fine tilth of the soil in which they grow. This is confirmed on every hand by the correspondence of the most intelligent planters of the South. Let cotton-growers go into a thorough system of fertilization of their soils, and attend personally to the improvement of their cotton-seed, by selection, as recommended above, and the result will be an addition of one eighth, or one fourth, to the products of cotton in the United States, without adding another acre to the area under cultivation. When this comes to be understood, men of small means will cultivate a little cotton by their own individual labor, as the poorer men do corn and other agricultural products, and thus improve their condition. The above suggestions are the conclusions to which we come, from a thorough examination of what has been published to the world on this subject. We recommend the careful perusal of "The Cotton-Planter's Manual," by Turner , and increased attention to the subject, by the intelligent, educated, and practical men with whom the cotton-growing regions abound.

COWS.

The appearance of the hind-part of the cow, from a point near the gambrel-joint up to the tail, Guenon calls the escutcheon. The following cuts show the marks of all of Guenon's eight classes, the first and the last in each class. The intermediate ones are in regular gradation from the first to the eighth order. Each class is divided into high, medium, and low, yielding milk somewhat in proportion to their size. We give the quantity of milk which the large cows will yield. This also supposes cows to be well fed on suitable food. Smaller cows of the same class and order, or those that are poorly cared for and fed, will, of course, give less.

The names of all these eight classes are entirely arbitrary--they mean nothing. M. Guenon adopted them on account of the shape of the escutcheon, or from the name of the place from which the cows came. But cows with these peculiar marks are found among all breeds, in all countries, and of all colors, sizes, and ages. These marks are certain, except the variations that are caused by extra care or neglect.

This class of cows has a delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair, growing upward from between the teats, and, above the bag behind, it blends itself with a growth of hair pointing upward, and covering the region marked in figure 1. This upward growth of hair begins on the legs just above the gambrel-joint, covers the inside of the thighs, and extends up to the tail, as in figure first. Above the hind teats they generally have two oval spots, two inches wide by three long, formed by hair growing downward, and of paler color than the hair that surrounds them . The skin covered by the whole of this escutcheon is yellowish, with a few black spots, and a kind of bran, or dandruff, detaches from it. Cows of this class and order, when well kept, give about twenty-two quarts of milk per day, when in full flow, and before getting with calf again; after this a little less, but still a large quantity. They will continue to give milk till eight months gone with calf, or till they calve again, if you continue to milk them. This, however, should never be done; it exposes the health of cows at the time of calving, and injures the young. From this there is a gradual diminution in the quantity of milk through the orders, down to the eighth.

Cows of this order , or with the marks you see in the drawing, will never yield more than about five quarts per day in their best state, and they will only continue to give milk until two months with calf: hence, these are only fit for the butcher. The intervening six in Gruenon's classification are gradually poorer than the first, and better than the last, in our cuts. The marks are but very slightly different from the above, except in size; the difference is so trifling, that any one can at once see that they belong to this class;--and the comparative size of this mark will show, infallibly, their value compared with the above. In the intermediate grades, the spots are smaller, and as the orders descend, these spots are wanting, and some slight changes in the form of the whole mark are observed, yet the general outline remains the same. Now, as the decrease in the eight orders in each class is about from two and a half to three or three and a half quarts, no man with eyes need be deceived in buying a cow, or raising a calf, in the quantity of milk she may be made to give. Any man can tell, within one or two quarts, the yield of any cow or heifer. The only chance for mistake is in the case of bastard-cows, which rapidly dry up on getting with calf.

In this class, the shape of the escutcheon is entirely distinct, so that no one will confound it with the first. The gradations are the same as in the preceding, only this class, all through, is inferior to the other. The first will give only twenty or twenty-one quarts, and the poorest only four quarts. This escutcheon is formed by ascending hair, but with a very different outline from the first class; it has the same spots above the hind teats as the first, formed by descending hair. In the lower orders these disappear--first one, then one small one, and then none at all--and as they descend, similar spots appear, formed in the same way, on one or both sides of the vulva . The skin of the inside surface of the thigh is yellowish. The time of giving milk--viz., eight months gone with calf, or as long as you continue to milk them--is the same as in the first class. The last order of this class give very little milk after getting with calf.

This escutcheon is easily distinguished from the others, by its outline figure. The spots on the bag above the hind teats are formed as in the preceding, and as gradually disappear in the lower orders. In those orders there is a slight difference in the outline, but its general form is the same. The first of this class yields twenty or twenty-one quarts a day, and gives milk till within a month of calving. The last order of the class gives only three and a half quarts, and goes dry on getting with calf. The intermediate gradations between the first and eighth orders are the same as in the preceding classes.

These escutcheons are unmistakably diverse from either of the others; gradations, from first to eighth orders, the same. The first order in this class will give eighteen quarts a day, and give milk until eight months with calf. The dandruff which detaches from the skin within the escutcheon of the first order is yellowish or copperish color. The two marks on the sides of the vulva are narrow streaks of ascending hair, not in the general mark. The last order of the class gives three and a half quarts only a day, and goes dry when with calf.

Here is another general mark, easily distinguishable from all the others by its outline. The first order will give eighteen quarts a day, and give milk eight months, or within a month of calving. Yellowish skin; delicate bag, covered with fine downy hair, as in the higher orders of all the preceding classes. The eighth order of this class will give only two and a half quarts per day, and none after conceiving anew. The gradation from first to eighth order is regular, as in the others.

Yield of first order eighteen quarts per day; time, eight months. Skin within the escutcheon same color, bag equally delicate, and hair fine, as in all the first orders. Eighth order yields about two quarts per day, and dries up on getting with calf.

First order in this class gives fifteen quarts; time, eight months. The skin, bag, and hair, same as in the higher orders in all the classes. The eighth order will yield two and a half quarts per day, and dry up when with calf.

EIGHTH CLASS.

First order will give fifteen quarts per day; time, eight months. Skin in escutcheon reddish-yellow and silky, hair fine, teats far apart. The eighth order yields two and a half quarts a day, and dries up on getting with calf.

Each class of cows has a kind called bastards, among those whose escutcheons would otherwise indicate the first order of their class: these often deceive the most practised eye. The only remedy is to become familiar with the infallible marks given by Guenon by which bastards may be known. This defect will account for the irregularity of many cows, and their suddenly going dry on becoming with calf, and often for the bad quality of their milk. They are distinguished by the lines of ascending and descending hair in their escutcheon.

In the FLANDERS COW there are two bastards; one distinguished by the fact that the hair forming the line of the escutcheon bristles up, like beards on a head of grain, instead of lying smooth, as in the genuine cow; they project over the intersection of the ascending and descending hair in a very bristling manner. The other bastard of the FLANDERS COW is known by having an oval patch of downward growing hair, about eight inches below the vulva, and in a line with it; in the large cows it is four inches long, and two and a half wide, and the hair within it always of a lighter color than that surrounding it. Cows of this mark are always imperfect. In the bastards, the skin on the escutcheon is usually reddish; it is smooth to the touch, and yields no dandruff.

Bastards of the SELVAGE COW are known by two oval patches of ascending hair, one on each side of the vulva, four or five inches long, by an inch and a half wide . The larger the spot, and the coarser the hair, the more defective they prove, and vice versa.

Bastards of the CURVELINE COW are known by the size of spots of hair on each side of the vulva . When they are of four or five inches by one and a half, and pointed or rounded at the ends, they indicate bastards. If they be small, the cow will not lose her milk very rapidly on getting with calf.

The SQUARE ESCUTCHEON COW indicates bastards, by a streak of hair at the right of the vulva . When that ascending hair is coarse and bristly, it is a sure evidence that the animal is a bastard.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet