In North America, in the later years of Manhattan Island in New York, Albert's promotion of wheat cultivation in spring was considered a failure. Because the European wheat varieties in this era were too crap, and the growth period was nearly one year. In spring, wheat was harvested in winter. But is that possible? The temperature requirement for wheat in the final maturity period is quite high.
So, after Marin's reminder failed, Albert also learned from his mistakes. Before the autumn harvest, Albert harvested the taller green wheat stalks with all his heart. Then, he used them to feed them...
Previously, Marin got 10,000 English ewes and took them to Ayuen in Western Sahara to find Merino to raise rams for breeding. After returning, the ewes gave birth to 15,000 lambs.
However, after selection, only 4,000 lambs had fine wool enough to meet the requirements of sheep with wool. Therefore, the 4,000 fine wool lambs were specially selected by Marin to further cultivate and reproduce to form a new variety.
Of course, the other 11,000 lambs were not abandoned. After all, these sheep are of excellent bloodline. Even if the wool is not as fine as the 4,000 selected ones, they are thinner than the wool of most European sheep.
After careful consideration, Marin decided to select 5,000 hybrid lambs from them and sent them to the North American colonies for breeding in North America. Moreover, these lambs were raised as meat lambs. After all, the colonies also needed meat.
As for domestic pigs, Malin did not provide pig breeds to North American colonies. Why? The main reason is that the domestic pig breeds in Europe are too garbage now. It is fine if they are small in size and have few meat, and the number of cubs is small. Only five or six piglets in one child is very different from the Taihu pig in the Ming Dynasty. You should know that Taihu pigs in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty can give birth to more than a dozen piglets in one child. Moreover, Taihu pigs grow fast and eventually have large body shapes. From the perspective of population expansion, they are obviously very excellent.
Although domestic pigs such as Taihu pigs are black pigs, the proportion of fat is relatively high, unlike the white pigs in later generations with high lean meat rates. But don’t forget what era it is now... In this era when people generally lack oil and water, fat meat is more popular than lean meat... Of course, no matter how good Taihu pigs are, they have to be introduced first...
After arriving in the North American colonies, these 5,000 mixed-race lambs were sent to the two islands of North America. Albert attached great importance to these lambs and ordered people to cultivate them carefully. After all, although these lambs were eliminated, the wool was slightly thicker. However, compared with the merino sheep and the lambs selected before, their wool was indeed thicker. However, compared with other European sheep, they can be considered fine wool sheep, which is even better than the native British sheep. More importantly, they can adapt to the humid climate in eastern North America. After all, their mothers are from the wet country England...
Albert ordered people to harvest the stalks of unripe wheat. In addition to making room for the place, there are also reasons why they use the stalks of almost ripe wheat as feed.
You should know that when a plant matures, most of its nutrition is absorbed by the fruit, and then the whole plant begins to dry up... Therefore, the harvested rye is mostly in rye grains, while the rye straw is not too much nutrition left...
However, because these wheats have not yet been borne, the nutrients of the stems have not yet been gathered into the fruit wheat grains. In this way, this unfinished plant is still very nutritious and suitable for feed. Therefore, Albert ordered the harvest of all the 5,000 acres of wheat stems on Manhattan Island and all of them were reserved as forage reserves for new sheep. In fact, some of the wheat stems were silage as high-end feed.
In addition, after large-scale development, the arable land on Manhattan Island has reached 10,000 acres from the previous 5,000 acres, almost reaching the extreme. You should know that the total area of ​​Manhattan Island is only more than 14,000 acres. Apart from the 10,000 acres of cultivated land, the rest are necessary facilities such as castles, roads, ditches, and trade markets. After all, it is impossible to use all land as arable land.
Leonardo da Vinci also came to Manhattan Island with a steam engine and a spiral pump to test the water pumping ability of the steam engine...
Originally, Leonardo da Vinci planned to test the steam engine's ability to pump water in spring plowing after the beginning of next spring. But Albert was unwilling to fail to plant wheat, so he encouraged Leonardo da Vinci to plant wheat after the autumn harvest period ended. After all, if 10,000 acres of wheat produce millions of pounds of wheat, the value is worth more than 20 million pounds of rye.
Leonardo da Vinci felt it didn't matter. Anyway, he was here to test the irrigation ability of the steam engine, and it would have no effect earlier or later.
To this end, Albert stopped using the water truck to pump water, and instead let the steam engine drive the spiral pump to pump water. The several steam engines and spiral pumps brought by Da Vinci have lived up to expectations. With the efficiency of the water truck, he soon irrigated the 10,000 acres of arable land on the island.
In fact, because the steam engine speed is only a few dozen revolutions per minute, the pumping speed is not fast, at least it is much slower than the single-cylinder diesel engine used in later rural areas.
To this end, Da Vinci asked the craftsmen to create a relatively thick spiral pump, which won by volume. In addition, he also used the transmission system of large and large gears to allow the large gears of the steam engine to drive the pinion of the spiral pump. In this way, the pump speed can also be faster.
After these changes, the pumping efficiency of the steam engine pumping system has indeed been greatly improved. However, it is still not as good as the pumping efficiency of a single-cylinder diesel engine in later generations. However, it is better than a water truck. Because the speed of the water truck is slower and needs to change according to the speed of the water flow. The rotation of the steam engine is relatively stable, so the efficiency is much stronger than that of the water truck. Of course, it is more coal-consuming...
Albert's autumn plowing on Manhattan Island aroused great interest from the Delavas. The Delavas were very envious of the colonists' use of cattle to plow the land. Because they were still in the backward agricultural era of slash-and-burn farming and using manpower to dig the land.
To this end, several female chiefs of the Delavas jointly found Albert, hoping to buy oxen and plows from Albert, and obtain iron farm tools such as shovels and iron sickles.
Albert thought about this and agreed. However, it was not for free. He promised to provide several Delava tribes with long-term oxen and iron farm tools, but he wanted land - the fertile land at the mouth of the Hudson River near Manhattan Island. In addition, he also wanted to hire a group of Indian archers as an auxiliary force for the army to attack Iroquois. After all, in terms of familiarity with the North American jungle, the old hunters from the Black Forest were far inferior. With these people as the leader party, the actions would be smoother and safer...
After discussion, in order to improve the agricultural level, the Delava tribes finally agreed to give Albert the western half of the Long Island area across the river to Manhattan Island in the estuary of the Hudson River. Albert needed to provide them with 500 cattle and corresponding plows. Of course, various other iron farm tools were also needed...
Albert estimated that the western half of Long Island was estimated to be one or two thousand square kilometers, dozens of times larger than Manhattan Island. For this reason, he agreed without hesitation. Anyway, the plowing ox is really nothing to the Grand Duchy of the North Sea. Every year, the Grand Duchy of the North Sea imports tens of thousands of cows from the Crimean Khanate. Among them, many of the cows were killed and eaten meat... So, it was no pressure to send 500 cows from the Delavas. Of course, Albert also kept in mind Marin's instructions-never send Indians to avoid the already warlike Indians creating ferocious cavalry...
When the winter wheat was planted, Albert immediately organized thousands of farmers to arrive in the western part of Long Island across the river by boat, and began to cut down forests in preparation for transforming it into farmland. The 5,000 sheep were also taken to the Long Island area for grazing. After all, the place here is much larger than Manhattan Island. There are already a lot of weeds in the forest, enough for those sheep to eat...
In addition, the Long Island area is relatively independent from the North American continent, and is separated from the East River from the land. The chances of being invaded by Indians are very small. There is an Indian fishing village in the eastern part of Long Island, but it belongs to the ally Delavas.
Therefore, Albert believes that agriculture and animal husbandry can be vigorously developed in the western Long Island region. At least, 100,000 acres of arable land can be reclaimed in the western Long Island region. Of course, this requires enough labor. Therefore, Albert plans to immigrate to more than 10,000 England with Garland, who is in charge of Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland Island, so as to reclaim western Long Island. Moreover, the population of tens of thousands of immigrants on Cape Breton Island is actually a bit overflowing. Because the temperature is low there, it can only plant rye and sheep, which is a waste of human resources.
If some immigrants to develop Long Island, the effect will probably be much better. After all, New York can not only grow rye, wheat and soybeans, but also grow a lot of vegetables. However, on Cape Breton Island, there are very few types of vegetables, and only a few more cold-resistant varieties can be planted.
Also, Albert believes that Upper Bay, west of Long Island, is a very excellent freshwater port, which can be built into an excellent freshwater port. In addition, a shipbuilding base can be built here. Because the conditions of the harbor here are really good. This is a harbor that shrinks into the inland, with a relatively narrow but actually wide exit leading to the sea. Because it is the estuary of the Hudson River, the northern part of the Upper New York Bay is basically a freshwater area. The south side of the estuary also has a certain amount of salt, but due to the impact of the river, the salt content is also very limited. In the era of wooden boats, the northern part of the Upper New York Bay is an absolutely excellent port area. The terrain is open, the water is deep, and it is still a freshwater port, and it is not affected by sea storms...
Chapter completed!