170 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



! 

 ) 



the acids or their salts being held in solution. The 

 most common are the carbonic acid and the car- 

 bonates, and sulphurous and chloric acids and their 

 combinations. All the waters containing carbonic 

 acid gas, and sulphureted hydrogen, (the material 

 that makes the sulphur springs of the country,) 

 uncombined with the earths, are rendered soft by 

 simple boiling, as the gases are expanded by 

 heat and thrown off, and no deposit is left — but 

 when united with lime, alumina (clay) or the 

 metals, boiling deposits a portion by releasing the 

 solvent, in the form of a hard stoney concretion. 



Tne process used by washing- women, to cleanse 

 the hard water by adding lye, ashes, or potash, is 

 a strictly correct chemical process. Acids, and 

 alkalies are antagonistical principles ; one destroys 

 or neutralizes the other, and renders both inert 

 and harmless. The sulphuretted waters are more 

 difficult to cleanse, or purify, than any other class 

 except the muriates (acid of common salt, now 

 called chlorates,) as they adhere to their combina- 

 tions with greater tenacity. 



The effects produced on hard water in washing, 

 where soap is used, is very simple when in- 

 vestigated. Soap is a compound of an alkali 'and 

 animal fat, or vegetable oils and resins, and when 

 added to water containing any acid, or acidulated 

 substance, the acid, by its chemical affinities, seizes 

 and neutralizes the alkali of the soap, disengaging 

 the fatty substance in the same shape it was origi- 

 nally, and in the worst possible shape for cleans- 

 ing the person or clothing. 



There is a vulgar error prevailing among the 

 people generally, that it is dangerous to add lime 

 to wells and cisterns, on account of its rendering 

 the water hard. There is no greater fallacy among 

 our traditionary belief. Lime is strictly an alka- 

 line substance, and as such, is a neutralizer of all 

 the acids that water contains, and may be freely 

 used when in a quick or unslacked state — old and 

 airslacked is hurtful, as it has become a sub-car- 

 bonate. One ounce of fresh quick lime, dissolved 

 in water, will soften two barrels of ordinary hard 

 water, and render fit for washing purposes. It is 

 also advantegeously used to sweeten cistern water 

 when it becomes stagnant, and of bad odor, and 

 the cheapest and most ready deodorizer of all un- 

 pleasant, unhealthy effluvia. — Rural New-Yorker. 



For the New England Farmer 

 DANVERS WINTER SWEET APPLE. 



BY J. F. HYDE. 



Mr. Editor : — In your paper of the 7th Feb., I 

 noticed an article on the "History of the apple 

 tree," by your valuable correspondent, S. P. Fowl- 

 er, Esq., of Danvers, in which he speaks of the va- 

 riety known as Danvers Winter Sweet. Now I 

 would not have the hardihood to contradict a 

 statement made by a gentleman of Ids standing 

 and ability ; but my experience in growing this 

 variety will not allow me to agree with him in 

 saying that it is one of the finest varieties, or that 

 it is profitable to raise for market. On the contra- 

 ry, when I picked my apples last fall, I was com- 

 pelled to own — notwithstanding I had recommend- 

 ed it to others — that it was not a good kind to 

 raise. In fact, I almost made up my mind to graft 

 them over next spring with something better. I 

 will now give my objections : In the first place, 

 the apples on the trees are all sizes, from very 



small to about medium, then nine-tenths of them 

 are more or less covered with dark rusty specks, 

 which so much disfigure them as to render them 

 almost unsalable. 



The above are my principal objections. I have 

 no reason to find fault on the score of productive- 

 ness, for it is a constant though not a great bear- 

 er. My trees are well taken care of, and are on 

 good ground, good for most kinds of apples, but 

 perhaps not for this ; one tree stands in a deep, 

 black loam, with a clayey subsoil, quite moist ; 

 while others are on higher and dryer land, where 

 is found a deep yellow loam, with a subsoil of 

 gravelly loam. In both these situations the ap- 

 ples are very imperfect ; if the variety grows well 

 with others I say tres bien, I am glad of it, it will 

 show that it is either the fault of my soil, or my 

 own fault in not taking proper care of the trees. 

 1 will here state that I am quite positive, in fact, 

 I know that I have the true kind, for I have exhib- 

 ited it at the rooms of the Mass. Horticultural So- 

 ciety a number of years in succession, and it has 

 been pronounced right ; no one has ever doubted, 

 nor can they. I well know that I am speaking 

 against an apple that has been recommended by 

 Pomological Conventions and Horticultural Socie- 

 ties, at different times and places, but I can't help 

 that ; what I have stated above are facts, and if 

 they tend to injure the reputation of this variety, 

 it is all right, for Ave don't want a kind that has 

 the name of being good and is not ; Ave Avant the 

 "game as Avell as the name." I have written this 

 partly for the purpose of draAving out the opinions 

 of others in regard to this apple. Perhaps it does 

 well in its native town, and may be in other 

 places. I hope Ave may hear from others in respect 

 to it. Yours, &c, j. f. h. 



Newton Centre, Feb. 16, 1852. 



Success in Farming — Its Secret. — Universal suc- 

 cess in agriculture often dooms the favored man 

 to the envy of his fellows. It has even called 

 down upon him the Avrathful superstitions of a 

 whole neighborhood. The great diffusion of light 

 and knowledge, hoAvever, is dispelling the horror 

 of "book" or scientific farming. 



Pliny gives a case among the Romans, where 

 Cresinus was cited before the people to answer to 

 a charge of sorcery founded upon the fact of his 



athermg greater crops than his neighbors from a 

 small spot of ground. In answer, Cresinus pro- 

 duced his efficient and superior instruments, his 

 well fed oxen, and a hale young woman. Point- 

 ing to them, he exclaimed — "There, Romans, are 

 my instruments of witchcraft ; but I cannot here 

 show you my labors, sweats, and anxious cares." 

 Reader, skill and energy are the witches thatnoAv 

 bring success to the husbandman. — Rural New- 

 Yorker. 



Hoav to Catch a Sheep. — In catching sheep 

 never seize them by the wool on the back, as it 

 hurts them exceedingly, and has, in some cases, 

 been known to kill them, particularly in hot 

 weather, if they are large and fat. Indeed, the 

 best way is to avoid the avooI altogether, and to 

 accustom yourself to take them by the hind leg, 

 or, what is still better, by the neck, placing one 

 hand under the jaw, and the other at the back of 

 the ears ; by lifting up the head, a child may hold 

 almost any sheep. 



