502 



FARM, ORCHARD, DAIRY AND GARDEN. 



is obtained by slicing, drying, and grind- 

 ing the roots to a powder, exhausting the 

 powder with sulphide of carbon, and hav- 

 ing removed the solvent, rapidly crystal- 

 lizing out of the carotine from the ex- 

 tract. 



BUTTER, to Preserve Fresh.— Melt it 

 in a well-glazed earthen pan, set in a 

 water-bath at a heat not exceeding 180 

 Fahrenheit, and keep it heated, skimming 

 it from time to time, until it becomes 

 quite transparent ; then pour off the clean 

 portion into another vessel, and cool it as 

 quickly as possible, by placing the vessel 

 in very cold water or ice. This is the 

 method employed by the Tartars who 

 supply the Constantinople market. In 

 this state it may be preserved perfectly 

 fresh for six or nine months, if kept in a 

 close vessel and a cool place. 



CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER, 



Culture of. — The cabbage can be culti- 

 vated by the most simple and easy means. 

 It grows in most soils, and produces its 

 beneficial heads nine months in the year. 

 The ground must be rich, or made so by 

 a good coat of manure, as they have 

 strong, tapering roots. Digging or plow- 

 ing deep is very essential. For early use, 

 sow in hot-beds in February or March ; 

 and for winter, the seeds may be sown 

 in open ground in May or June. When 

 five or six inches high, transplant to from 

 twelve to thirty inches apart. Almost any 

 manure, except hog manure, will answer 

 for cabbages, as barn manure, rotten kelp, 

 well diluted liquid manure, night soil, 

 guano, phosphates, wood ashes, fish, salt, 

 glue-waste, hen manure, ail properly com- 

 posted, or slaughter-house offal, and the 

 richer they are in ammonia the better. 



In New England the largest cultivators 

 for market, drop the seed directly where 

 the plants are to stand, instead of the old 

 mode of transplanting from a hot-bed. 

 Time is thus saved, risks incidental to 

 transplanting are avoided, and all the 

 plants in the field start alike. Half a 

 dozen seeds are scattered in each hill, so 

 that the cut-worm has to depredate se- 

 verely before he really injures the field. 

 As the plants grow, the feeble ones can 

 be thinned out, and where the seeds in an 

 adjoining hill have failed to vegetate, the 

 deficiency can be supplied by the super- 

 fluous healthy plants. Four to six ounces 



of seed thus placed in hills are sufficient 

 for an acre. 

 CABBAGE PLANTS, To Preserve from 



the Fly. — Make the seed-bed on a plat- 

 form or scaffold raised on posts about 

 five feet from the ground. The jumps of 

 the insect are limited to a certain height, 

 and the plants are thus placed beyond 

 their reach. 



CABBAGE PLANTS, Enemies of, to 

 Destroy. — Sprinkling wood ashes and air- 

 slaked lime upon the young plants, while 

 the leaves are damp with rain or dew, is 

 an efficacious remedy for destroying the 

 voracious fly, beetle and flea that attack 

 them as soon as they have broken through 

 the soil, as well as for most other insects. 

 Until the plants have a stump as large as 

 a pipe-stem they are subject to the rav- 

 ages of the cut-worm, for which there 

 seems to be no better remedy than 

 sprinkling liberally wood ashes or air- 

 slaked lime close about the stems of the 

 plants. As this pest disappears about 

 the middle of June, cabbages that are 

 planted late suffer but little from it. 



CABBAGE PLANTS, Clubfoot in.— 

 Bainbridge Bishop, of New Russia, New 

 York, states that he has found, by long 

 experience, that clubfoot in cabbage can 

 be remedied by boiling leaves and twigs 

 of the scarlet-berried alderberry to a 

 strong decoction, and pouring a gill, cold, 

 on the center of the plant One appli- 

 cation is generally sufficient. On heavy 

 soil it may be necessary to loosen the 

 earth about the stem of each plant. As 

 a preventive, water the plants once or 

 twice with the decoction after setting out. 

 The application has also a good manurial 

 effect. 



CARROTS, To Cultivate.— Select a good, 

 rich clover sod, deep loamy soil, or 

 even gravelly, well drained; spread on 

 evenly fifteen to twenty ox-cart loads of 

 good manure to the acre. In the spring, 

 after the ground is well settled and dry, 

 with settled warm weather, plow the 

 ground thoroughly, eight inches deep, 

 or more, depending upon its previous 

 management. In plowing, it ought not 

 to be plowed more than an inch deeper 

 than before, unless the deeper soil has 

 been ameliorated and is richer than the 

 upper soil. A soil having a close, stiff 

 subsoil, unless thoroughly subsoiled, will 

 grow poor crops of roots generally. After 



