The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-06-19 00:00:00

AGRICULTURE.

DIGGING BY STRAIT.—A steam-digging machine has been
invented in Germany. The power required for all its motions,
says the Agricultural Gazette, has been ascertained from
experiments, and every detail corrected by calculation; and
the patentee estimates that the strongest engine which can be
efficiently employed, in spite of its weight, will dig to the
depth of one foot 1 acre per day on the average quality of
cultivated land. Mr. Usher's steam plough, in 1852, accord-
ing to professor Wilson; broke up no less than 7 acres per day,
the cost of working being only 2s. 6d. an acre; and though
the style and depth of its work may have been inferior to that
made by the German engine, the rapid rate of labour is more
likely to get the farmers' patronage.
POTATO !CREESE.—The production of cheese is not con-
fined, as is generally supposed, to the animal kingdoin. An
excellent article is made in Thuringia and Saxony from pota-
toes, a quantity of which is boiled, and, after cooling, peeled
and reduced to a pulp. To each five pounds of this, is added
one pound of sour milk, when the whole is worked up, and al-
lowed to rest for three or four days. It is then again kneeded
and the cheeses are laid in, little baskets to allow superfluous
moisture to escape ; afterwards they are placed in layers in
large vessels, where they must remain fifteen days. The older
they are the more their quality improves ; they do not engen-
der worms, and will keep fresh for years, if placed in a dry
situation, in well-covered vessels. Cheese has been made from
buttermilk; and the Chinese have, for an indefinitely long
period, produced it from peas and beans.—Dr. .21,hrspratt.
AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION.—" What provision is made
for the education of those intended to follow the agricultural
profession ?" is a question which seems certainly not out of
place in these days, when so much is beinc, said about farming
and gardening. A picture might easily be drawn of the
young farmer on the one hand, and the gardener on the other.
The former is sent to a boarding or grammar school, and
learns Latin and Greek perhaps; while the latter is often
obliged to rest contented with what he can pick up at a
national school. It is obvious that in neither case is the
youth' receiving the education he requires for the highly
practical art he is about to pursue. I cannot but think that
it would be a great boon if there were establishments
(scholastic I mean) where the science of practical agriculture
could be blended with the ordinary routine of school life, so
that the young farmer or gardener might be instructed for his
profession before actually entering upon it. I mean nothing
more than that such youths be taught, when at school, how
to use the spade, a hoe, and a rake; how to plant, tend, and
rear the common vegetables and flowers; the care of cows,
horses, pigs, and poultry ; and that they also be made
acquainted with the outlines of agricultural chemistry as ap-
plied to our gardens and farms. By these means I think
much good would be done to the rising generation of small
farmers and gardeners,