182 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



long tons, or 4,480 pounds, and the draft was meas- 

 ured by a dynamometer. On an ordinary earth road 

 in good condition and hard the draft was 254 pounds. 

 On a grass field it was 468 pounds. On newly plowed 

 land it was 771 pounds. As the draft power or an or- 

 dinary horse of 1,000 pounds is 150 pounds, two horses 

 could draw this load with ease on an ordinary road, 

 and a ton and a half on a grass sod, while with a nar- 

 row tire half as much, or a single ton, is a full load 

 for a double team. Besides this, the broad tires roll 

 and level a road, so that the more it is used the bet- 

 ter it becomes, while narrow tires cut it into ruts if at 

 all soft. 



Orange Wine. A correspondent in the Ameri- 

 can Carbonator gives the following recipe how to 

 make orange wine : 



Take one part orange juice, well strained; one part 

 water; three pounds sugar per gallon. Any kind of 

 sugar will do, and the darker the sugar the richer 

 will be the color of the wine. For each ten gallons 

 put up, keep one gallon of the same for refilling the 

 cask during fermentation. Lay casks on the side, 

 fill full and leave bung open. Do not let it be ex- 



Rosed to too much cold. Fill up the casks every day 

 om the quantity kept out, as the scum is thrown off, 

 and watch closely until the wine passes the stage of 

 alcoholic fermentation. This will usually require 

 from ten to twenty days, and can easily be deter- 

 mined by its ceasing to rise and the cessation of brisk 

 fermentation. When it arrives at this stage, place 

 the bung in loosely. Watch closely for a few days, 

 and as active fermentation ceases, put the bung in 

 fast. Let it stand two months and then rack off care- 

 fully into clean casks. If perfectly clear, seal and 

 let it stand six months, when it may be bottled. If 

 not clear, it may be racked off a second time, two 

 months after the first time, and sealed six months be- 

 fore bottling. Be sure your casks are full, for con- 

 tact with the air will cause the wine to pass into acetic 

 fermentation. 



This article finds a ready market at $5 per gallon. 



Strawberry Growing. Prof. Lazenby, before 

 the Columbus Horticultural Society, gave the fol- 

 lowing summary of essential points to be kept in 

 mind: 



1. The most profitable varieties for the commer- 

 cial grower are those not easily influenced by differ- 

 ences of soil and climate. Those which succeed 

 well on wide areas are usually better than those which 

 have a more local reputation. 



2. Pistillate varieties, when properly fertilized, 

 are more productive than the sorts with perfect 

 flowers. 



3. The value of a variety for fertilizing pistillate 

 flowers does not depend so much upon the amount 

 as upon the potency of the pollen. 



4. The flowers of pistillate varieties are less liable 

 to be injured by frost than the flowers of perfect va- 

 rieties. 



5. Varieties that are neither very early nor very 

 late in point of maturity, are the most productive and 

 have the longest fruiting season. 



6. As a rule, varieties that have the most vigorous 

 and healthy foliage are the most productive, while 

 those with a weaker growth of foliage and a greater 

 susceptibility to leaf blight are usually more pro- 

 lific. 



7. Winter protection may be dispensed with upon 

 well-drained sandy soils, but appears to be a necessity 

 upon heavier ones. 



8. The leaf blight may be checked by using the 

 Bordeaux mixture, beginning just as soon as leaves 

 appear, and continuing the application every few 

 weeks throughout the season. 



Bacterium Peptofaciens is the name of a new 

 milk bacteria, which changes more than half the 

 casein into albumen and peptone. Some lactic acid 

 and acetic and butyric acid was produced, but no gas 

 even after a week. It is claimed that the bacteria 

 can be practically used in peptonizing and rendering 

 soluble the casein in milk, thus producing an easily 

 digested food. 



Ripening Cream by Bacteria. Prof. Conn of 

 the Connecticut station, is experimenting with four- 

 teen species of bacteria found in Connecticut cream- 

 eries and several others from Europe. 



One species has been furnished to three cream- 

 eries, one in Cromwell, Conn., for nearly four months 

 and the others several weeks. The managers report 

 most gratifying results. The use of the bacteria fur- 

 nished the Cromwell creamery has greatly improved 

 the quality of the butter. 



Cause of Blue Spots in Cheese. The results 

 of experimentation in Holland tend to the belief that 

 this is not caused by bacteria (worth noting these 

 times when bacteria is the bete noir of all), but by a 

 large percentage of iron. The iron may have got 

 into the cheese by using ferruginous water or rusty 

 utensils. 



I^actola is an artificial milk. One hundred gal- 

 lons of skim milk is boiled in a vacuum pan with 50 

 to 200 pounds of sugar until evaporated to one-third 

 or one-fourth of its bulk. It is then put into another 

 pan, where 1% to 2 ounces of refined cotton-seed oil 

 is added and the whole mass thoroughly mixed. 



Graham Bread. The German chemist Bardet, 

 as a result of experimentation, regards Graham bread' 

 as a suitable substitute for meat. When properly 

 prepared it contains 40 per cent, of gluten (a muscle 

 former) as compared with 25 per cent, in rye bread. 



Tydeus Molestus. During 1888 the mite "tydeus 

 molestus," a new species of acarid, became very 

 abundant in gardens not far from Ath, Belgium, 

 where it had been noticed in smaller numbers for 

 twenty-five years. In passing through the gardens 

 and brushing against the vegetation one becomes 

 covered with the mites, which produce an irritation 

 similar to that of the larval trombidiums, called jig- 

 gers or red bugs. The mites also attach themselves 

 to domestic animals, about the joints, the eye and 

 the anus. Young ducks suffer greatly from this par- 

 asite, and are even killed by its attacks. The remedy 

 proposed was to plow up the garden several times 

 during the summer, and uprooting all shrubs and 

 plants with hairy leaves. 



