THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



127 



To prcsn-ve Penis, Plums, Damsons, S,'C.for Tarts 

 anil Pics. 



Gatlief Uiem when lull grown and just as tliej' 

 bocfiii to turn. Pick one third of the largest out 

 aiid put to them as much water as will cover them, 

 hoil and skim them. When the truit is boiled soft, 

 strain it through a coarse seive, and to every quart 

 of this liquor put ;j. pound and a half of sugar ; boil 

 and skirji it, and tlien throw in your fruit, just give 

 tlieni a scald, take them off the lire, and when cold 

 put them into bottles, with wide moutlis, pour your 

 syrup over them, lay a piece of white paper dip- 

 ped in sweet oil over them, and cover light. 



The editor of the Yankee Farmer, who ought to 

 be good authority on such sulijects, says: "The 

 following is an easy and wholesome method to 

 make preserves and jellies without using brass or 

 tin, or any other poisonous utensil. Currants, 

 strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, cranberries 

 or damsons may be preserved in the same way. 



"To mafic Jelly. — Take a peck of currants on the 

 stem or strings, wash them thoroughly and let 

 tliom set in a large wooden bowl or tray to drain ; 

 next day put them on common dinner plates and 

 set them in the oven as soon as the flour bread is 

 taken out ; in an hour or two they will be scalded 

 through, tjike them outand separate the juice from 

 the skins and seeds by straining them through a 

 clean coarse cloth, then return the juice into the 

 ])Iates and set them immediately into the oven to 

 dry away. Have as many plates as the oven will 

 hold, for the smaller the quantity of juice on a plate 

 the sooner it will be thick enough to add the sugar. 

 Let the juice dry away until it is about as thick as 

 inolas?es, wliich perhajjs will not be till the oven 

 is cold. When the juice is sutHciently thick, juxt 

 it into a largo pitclicr and add as many pounds of 

 sugar, as you had of currant juice before it was 

 dried away ; then set the pitcher into an iron din- 

 ner pot, with water enough to reach half way up 

 the pitcher; cover the pitcher with a saucer, and 

 the jjot with the prit lid or cover; put it over the 

 fire and let it bull till the jelly is thoroughly scald- 

 ed ; it must be t^ken offthe lire two or three times 

 and stirred witli a large silver spoon or clean wood- 

 en stick ; when thoroughly scalded, take it off, and 

 wlien it is cold, cover it close and keep it in a dry 

 cool place. 



"To ]ircparc Preserves. — AVash the fruit and let 

 it drain dry. Then set it on plates in a pretty warm 

 oven, (after Ihe Hour bread is drawn out it will be 

 about the right heat,) let it set about an hour or 

 two, so as to be scnlded througii, take it out and 

 pour it off, and return the juice to the oven to dry 

 away ; when it is as tl'.ick as niolassce add it to the 

 fruit from which it was taken, and put it into a 

 stone or earthen preserving pot ; add as many 

 pounds of sugar as you had of fruit before it was 

 put into the oven, then place the pot in a kettle of 

 water, cover the pot with a plate, and set the wa- 

 ter a boiling; after they are well scalded^, take 

 th.em oil'aud set them in a dry, cool place. They 

 may be made witli molasses instead of sugar, only 

 the molasses must be boiled till it is as thick as it 

 can be, or as thick as you would boil it for can- 

 dy.' 



Blachhcrrij Syruj). 



We are indebted to a friend for the following re- 

 ceipt for making blackberry syrup. This syrup is 

 said to be almost a specific for the summer com- 

 ]>laint. In Iriliw it was successful in more than one 

 eape of cholera. 



To two quarts of juice of blackberries, add 



1 lb. loaf sugar, 



1-2 oz. nutmegs, 1-2 oz. cinnamon, pulverized, 



1-2 oz. cloves, 1-4 oz. alspice, do. 



Boil all together for a short time, .and when cold, 

 add a pint of fourth proof brandy. 



From a tea-spoonful to a wine glass, according 

 to the age of the patient, till relieved-, is to be 

 given. 



Tlie Wheat Crop will be ge;ier.ally bounteous and 

 abundant; though in some places it is cut short by 

 Ihe 11 v and chinch bug. Tlie Rockingham Regis- 

 ter of tlie 2!Hh states, that the harvest has com- 

 menced in that count}' ; and that the most "san- 

 guine expectations of heavy crops will be fully re- 

 alized." Our accounts from Wheeling are equally 

 cheering. Fine prospects also in Tennessee. We 

 understand, that 130 to 135 cents have been obtain- 

 ed in this city for deliveries in July — and from 

 120 to 125 for August. 



We never have seen the corn crops, where we 

 have been, more luxuriant. They have had abun- 

 dant showers of rain ; though in Florida and Georg- 

 ia, the people have suffered e.xeessively from tlie 

 drouglil. — Richmond Va. Enquirer. 



Writing Ink. 



Our writing is generally upon the hand gallop 

 over a large surface; and it really makes a differ- 

 ence in running out ideas from the point of the pen, 

 whether the ink flows in a continuous, equal and 

 smooth rvin, or whether it now is given out in too 

 great qu.antity, and now fails in the midst of a let- 

 ter or a monosyllable : we cannot suffer with equa- 

 nimity the interruption which failing ink or a bad 

 pen snmelimes produces : — muddy ink or ink mix- 

 ed of mud and water, and now and then a ha;r, and 

 a pen with an unequal or short split, or no split at 

 the point, are '.Iways annoying. Thirty years ago 

 we used to make and use ink from " Walkden's 

 genuine London English Ink Powder" : that pow- 

 der, mixed in an equal quantity of soft water and 

 vinegar, made the best of ink. It came free from 

 the pen and looked rather pale as it flowed. But 

 the writing laid by for a week or more surprised 

 the rapid writer with a beauty of the hand that he 

 by no means anticipated \vhile the sheet laid before 

 him as the i)cn passed over it : there was a change 

 from the brown pale to the bright glossy black, 

 giving a flavor, if it may be so expressed, to the 

 hnnd writing as agreeable to tlie mind, as that of 

 food most inviting to the palate. Nor was this all ; 

 there was a permanency in the character of this 

 ink, which was as lasting as the paper on which 

 it was imprinted. Such was its excellence that it 

 soon became an object for the counterfeiting of 

 mountebanks ; the false Walkden's Ink powder 

 sof>n became as eornuion as the counterfeit Lee's 

 pills ; and the printed wrapper and signature were 

 so well imitated that very few besides the li- 

 ter and wholesale vender could detect the impos- 

 ture. 



Since the good old days of Walkden, we have 

 had all the varieties of ink powder and ink. Pre- 

 tended chemists have invented and sold ink which 

 ought .to have bei;-.i turned upon their faces to 

 plague the inventor,^, some of itsuch as might readi- 

 ly be washed off in cold v;aler, but other some 

 such as would have eaten Ihr uigli the skin of the 

 flesh as it eats holes in the paper, from the vitriol 

 or other material of wliich it was composed. 



The ancient old blue dye-pot of the chimney 

 corner when nothing better could be obtained in a 

 country town in mid winter — an article once fash- 

 ionable in almost every farmer's family — used to be 

 resorted to when all the ink horns and ink bottles 

 had frozen up and failed for that or some other 

 cause. The ink of Ihe blue dye-pot was far, verv 

 far preferable to that ink of the same color, which 

 is now vended from the bookstores and other pla 

 ees, at ninepenee for a very small bottle — a qiinr- 

 ter of a dollar for r:na a little larger — and fifty 

 cents for such a quantity as might last a constant 

 writer a moui.h, if it did not in that time become 

 mouldy, and pass into " airy nothing," leaving on- 

 ly a dirty sediment in the vessel which contains it. 

 Writing the single name of " Isaac Hill" as we 

 have done many thousand times within the last 

 three years in dift'crent capacities, and often 

 at different places, this blue ink has frequently an- 

 noyed us : sometimes a portion of it will have turn- 

 ed to the color of decaying sour milk, leaving now 

 and then a streak of almost any other color than 

 that which the ink would be supposed to impart. 



"Can you give us no better ink?" has been a 

 question often put. " We .get the best that can be 

 had at Marsh, Capen and Lyon's, or Brown's, or 

 Boyd's; but there is no ink now a-days that will 

 not mould." 



The ink with which we have written out tlie 

 matter of the two last numbers of the Visitor is a 

 new invention of Cukhier and Hall, book-bin- 

 ders of this town. We know not the materials of 

 which it is made ; but thus far it is our opinion that 

 this ink .approaches nearest that which has been 

 described as the original Walkden's of any that we 

 have ever seen. The bottle from which the ink we 

 now write with is taken, was opened nearly three 

 months ago, and the ink writes with the same fa- 

 cility as it did at first, and it preserves the same 

 color when put upon paper. Signing some insur- 

 ance policies that Iiad been filled up the other day, 

 we observed the beautiful black gloss on the hand 

 writing of Doctor Morril, while the ink running 

 from our pen was of a much paler hue. " Is this 

 Currier and Hall's ink, and do you use the same in 

 filling up the policies .•'" The answer was in the 

 atfirmative ; and the Doctor imniedintely turned to 

 a bundle of policies which we had subscribed a 

 month previous with the same pale ink that was 

 now running from the pen. If Messrs. Currier 

 and Hall understand the process and the materials 

 for making a uniform ink, such as we have descri- 

 l)pri, tiiey ought to be encouraged by all the public 

 ofiiccs and by all the .'jeminaries in the country. 



[lj'0\ying to some obscurity in the manuscript 

 and the late hour at which it was prepared for the 

 press, there are several verbal errors in the commu- 

 nication of Leonard Jarvis, Ksq. in the last Visitor: 

 the most of these will be readily detected and' cor- 

 rected by tlie critical and observant reader. 



GathKring and preserving Seeds. 



It will soon be time to think about gathering 

 seeds of many kinds for next year. There are but 

 few people who consider that plants as well as an- 

 imals may be much improved by selecting the best, 

 most perfectly grown and earliest seed. The next 

 year's crop will not only by this means be increased 

 in quantity, but its quality will also be improved. 

 All kinds of seeds tliat grow in husks or pods 

 should be strung up and suspended fr.om the ridge- 

 pole or a rafter in the garret, where they will be 

 out of the way of mice, and where they will dry 

 gradually. Great care should be taken to keep 

 tliPin from an excess of moisfure which will cau.se 

 them to mould and destroy Uie germinative princi- 

 ple ; and on the other hand, they will not be so good 

 if tliey arc shelled out (especially if it is done be- 

 fore they are perfectly ripe) and placed in the su:i 

 or any situation where they will dry very rapidly; 

 they thus become shrivelled and will not so readi- 

 ly' vegetate, although the vital principle may not be 

 destroyed. The seeds of squashes, pumpkins, cu- 

 cumbers, melons, &c , should be carefully cleaned 

 from the pulp that surrounds them, and then plac- 

 ed in a situation where they will dry gradually, be- 

 ing every day stirred up or turned to prevent their 

 moulding. Seeds after being thus prepared, may 

 be preserved almost any length of time, in a per- 

 fectly good state by packing them in pulverized 

 charcoal and keejiing them in a dry place, or stop- 

 ping entirely from the air in a glass bottle. 



Maine Farmer. 



rrtini the Wnshin^lon G'obe. 



Commerce of the United States. 



According to the custom-house returns to the 

 Treasury Department, recently published, the to- 

 tal value of imports during the year ending Sept. 

 30tli, 1S3S, was ,f; 11 3,717,4(14, being twenty-seven 

 millions less than during the year 1837, and seven- 

 ty. nine millions less than during the year 1836, the 

 year of the great expansion, that preceded the sus- 

 pension of specie payments. 



The falling off in the exports has not been so 

 great. The total value of exports of every descrip- 

 tion from Ihe United States, during the last year, 

 was S^ 108,481), GIG, being nine millions less than in 

 1837, and twenty millions less than in 1836. The 

 value of exports of domestic produce in 1838, was 

 .•y%,ll33,8Ui. in 1837, §95,564,414, and in 1336, 

 .$106,016,680. 



Coi?iparing the years 1833 and 1836, we find that 

 the chief falling off in the imports was in the fol- 

 lowing articles : 



1836. 1838. 



Cotton goods $17,876,087 $6,509,330 



Woollen goods 12,758,430 6,067,530 



Silk goods 22,862,177 0,812,338 



Linen 8,271,213 3,583,540 



Iron and Steel 12,802,648 7,413,504 



Sugar 12,514,718 7,-586,825 



Teas 5,342,811 3,407,156 



Wines 4,332,034 2,318,202 



This table exhibits in a striking light the effects 

 which expansions and contractions of the currency 

 have on the import trade. 



One article, molasses, seems not to have been 

 affected by these changes in the currency. The 

 value of that imn.Trted in 1836 was !|;4,U77,312, and 

 in 1838 f 3,86.-j,285. 



■ In the import of another article, viz : coffee, 

 lliere was, relatively speaking, but a small falling 

 ofl'. The total value in 1836 was $0,653,053, and 

 in 1838, $7,640,217. 



Salt is the only commodity, or at least the only 

 commodity of any importance, the import of which 

 increased. In 1836 the total value was S;624,.527 ; 

 in 1838 it was $1,028,418. 



In the exports, the chief falling off was in cotton, 

 tobacco, and rice. In some articles of export there 

 was an increase, as will be seen by inspecting the 

 following table : 



1836. 1838. 



Cotton $71,284,925 $61,556,81) 



Tobacco " 10,058,640 7,302,039 



Bice 2,.548,750 1,721,819 



Flour 3,572,509 3 603,299 



Fish 067,890 810,003 



Furs 653,662 636,945 



Lumber 2,860,691 3'1 16,106 



Manufactures 6,107,.528 8.397,078 



The export of cotton goods of domestic manu- 

 facture in 1838, was $3,758,755, against $2,831,473 



