MISCELLANEOUS AKTICLES. 429' 



racked carefully, care being- taken not to draw the sediment, and again 

 the barrels must be filled full and bunged tight. This racking may be 

 repeated two to three times, or until the cider is perfectly clear, then 

 it should not be disturbed till February or March, when it will be in 

 condition to bottle. Put one teaspoonful of sugar in each bottle and 

 cork tightly. If cider is to be kept to sell by the barrel, it is a good 

 plan to filter it after it has fermented a few days, and add some anti- 

 ferment and store it away till it is wanted. 



Apple pomace I have always considered worthless, but of late 

 farmers have been using it as feed for cows, and claim that it is better 

 than any kind of roots. I have not tried it, but I know those who 

 have done so with good results. 



There are many kinds of generators for making vinegar. I have 

 never used any. What vinegar I have made has been made by the old 

 process of putting the cider into casks, filling them two-thirds full and 

 letting the cider stand till it turns to vinegar, which usually takes about 

 two years. If any one were going into the vinegar business largely it 

 would pay to use some kind of generator, as in this way the vinegar is 

 made much more quickly. 



When cider is bottled it is a good plan to use champagne bottles, 

 with a nice label, and have the corks nicely wired. If sold by the 

 barrel, it is the quality of cider that tells. The business is fairly profit- 

 able if well managed, and the quantity now sold is much larger than a 

 few years ago. My business has increased from 200 barrels to over 

 3,000 barrels yearly in twenty-five years, and the demand for good cider 

 appears to be increasing. Apple juice is made into jelly in many parts 

 of the country, but I think the business does not pay very well. For 

 boiled cider — that is, cider boiled down from five gallons to one — there 

 is a moderate demand at fifty cents a gallon, which pays well. — J. H. 

 Andrews in Rural New Yorker. 



THE TOMATO- WORM PARASITE. 



I am frequently asked concerning the origin of the peculiar egg- 

 like objects often seen on the backs of tomato-worms. These are not 

 eggs, however, but are the cocoons of a little parasitic fly which is an 

 enemy of the worm, and the way they originate is as follows : Some 

 fine summer day, when the tomato-worm is enjoying his meal of the 

 leaves or fruit of the tomato, a small, black four-winged fly alights 

 upon his back and deposits beneath his skin, by means of a long needle- 

 like instrument called the ovipositor, great numbers of minute eggs. 



