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A NEW WAY TO KEEP APPLES. 



Me. M. It. Thompson, of Miffin 

 County, Pennsylvania, in a letter to 

 the " American Agriculturalist," de- 

 scribes his method of keeping choice 

 apples over winter, and until apples 

 come again. The method is so sim- 

 ple, and the process so easy, that we 

 hope many of our readers will be 

 induced to make a trial of it at least, 

 so that in future years of abundance 

 like the present the crop may be made 

 a source of greater profit. Mr. 

 Thompson packs his apples in barrels 

 or large boxes, surrounding each 

 apple with a common dry ground 

 gypsum (plaster of Paris). This is 

 readily done thus : — Put into the 

 bottom of the barrel or box an' inch 

 of the plaster, and then a layer of 

 apples, keeping them from contact 

 with each other, and an inch from 

 the side all round. Sift in more 

 plaster to fill up the space, and cover 

 the whole nearly an inch. Then add 

 another layer of apples, and more 

 plaster, and so on to the top. The 

 plaster employed is, we suppose, the 

 common ground plaster for fertilizing 

 — not the calcined, used for making 

 casts, models, etc. The plan is 

 worthy of trial at least, for it would 

 appear reasonable that the fruit sur- 

 rounded with a compact mass of dry 



powder should keep almost as dry as 

 if hermetically sealed. Mr. T. says 

 he keeps pippins thus packed in good 

 order until the folio wing. June. We 

 judge from a remark in his letter that 

 he does not store them in a cellar, but 

 in any cool roomof the dwelling-house. 

 In the " Chronicle" of Jan. 31, 

 Dr. Lindley reports the receipt of 

 some apples from Nova Scotia in the 

 most perfect condition possible. He 

 thus describes the manner in which 

 the fruit was packed : — A wooden 

 box was filled with trays, each 2 feet 

 long, 18 inches wide, and 5 inches 

 deep, divided by partitions into 

 spaces 4 inches wide. These trays had 

 a layer of dry ground plaster of Paris 

 strewed over the bottom ; on this 

 layer the apples were placed in a sin- 

 gle row ; more plaster was carefully 

 filled in between the apples, and the 

 whole was covered with about an inch 

 of plaster well shaken down, sothat the 

 fruit became immoveable. Packed in 

 Halifax on the 9 th January, the box ar- 

 rived on the 25th. Upon being opened 

 the fruit was found to be in the most 

 beautiful preservation, both as to ap- 

 pearanceand quality. The plaster hav- 

 ing been perfectly dry.no decay from 

 moisture or fermentation was possible, 

 and a soft brush removed it easily. 



SPENT HOPS. 



Having a few moments of leisure, I 

 think I may usefully employ them in 

 the interests of floriculture by jotting 

 down a few remarks that may serve 

 to redeem hops from the aspersions 

 that have been cast upon them, both 

 as fermenting material for assisting 

 numerous plants in their growth with 

 bottom-heat, striking cuttings, etc., 

 and as a fertilizer that may be em- 

 ployed to advantage for potting, etc., 

 after it has become unfit for the pur- 

 pose of furnishing bottom-heat. 



As it regards the first particular, 

 the heat they generate is not nearly 

 so durable as that furnished by 

 "bark" or "stable-dung;" but, on 

 the other hand, a very thin layer of 



them will supply a considerable 

 amount of warmth, so that if the 

 cultivator has a batch of any plants 

 or newly-struck cuttings that only 

 require the assistance of two or three 

 weeks' gentle warmthto set them going 

 for the season, a layer of six or nine 

 inches of closely -packed hops would 

 be ample for the purpose ; besides, 

 they are much pleasanter to finger 

 in the process of plunging than either 

 tan or dung ; and whether the quan- 

 tity employed is large or small, an 

 admixture of new hops to the amount 

 of one-third of the quantity, well 

 forked up and incorporated with the 

 old, will revive the heat when it 

 begins to decline. It has frequently 



