Vol. VII.— No. 6. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



45 



rections on this subject :— •' The general method 

 of gathering apples for cider, is, shaking the tree, 

 and thrasliiug tlie branches with poles. The for- 

 mer will answer when the fruit is at maturity ; 

 they will then drop without injury to tlie buds. — 

 Poles should never he used but with a hook at the 

 end, covered with cloth or malts to prevent 

 wounding the bark ; they then serve to shake the 

 small hnihs. Particular attention is re(iuired in 

 gathering winter fruit. They should be taken in 

 the hand, the tiugers placed at the foot stalk, and, 

 by bending it upwards, the fruit is gathered with 

 case, and without injury ; they should be moved 

 from the gathering baskets with great care," &c. 1 

 The same writer says, " The injudicious method . 

 practised in gathering fruit, is more destructive in { 

 its consequences, than is generally understood : ; 

 the blossom buds of the succeeding year are plac- 

 ed at the side of the foot stalk of the fruit, and if 

 the spurs are broken, no fruit on that part will be 

 produced." — See further, Fruit. 



Use. — For pies, tarts, sauces, and the dessert, 

 the use of the apple is too well known to require 

 description. In France, bread is made consisting 

 of one third of boiled apple pulp, baked with two 

 thirds flour, jjroperly fermented with yeast for 

 twelve hours. This bread is said to be very fine, 

 i'uU of eyes, and extremely palatable and light. — 

 Apples, by furnishing cider, a grateful and salu- 

 bnous liquor, liave a tendency to diminish the 

 cousumptiou of ardent spirits. Besi<Ies, apples 

 are thought to alter and ameliorate the taste and 

 t.he tone of the human system, in such a manner 

 ■its to destroy that artificial appetite, which is grat- 

 ified by tlie deleterious preparations of alcohol. — 

 " The palate," says Mr Knight, a celebrated Eng- 

 lish horticulturist, " whicdi relishes fruit, is seldom 

 jj^eased with strong fermented liquors ; and as 

 feeble causes, continually acting, ultimately pro- 

 duce extensive effects, tlic sup])lying the public 

 with fruit at a cheap rate, would have a tendency 

 to operate favourably, both on the physical and 

 moral health of the people." In medicuie, ver- 

 juice, or the juice of crab-ap])les, is used for 

 sprains, and as an astringent and repellent. The 

 good table apple, when ripe, is laxative ; the juice 

 is useful in dysenteries ; boiled or roasted a|)i>!eb 

 fortify a weak stomach. " Scopoli," says Loudon, 

 " i-ecovered from a weakness of the stomach and 

 indigestion from using them ; and they are equ.'d- 

 )y efficacious, in putrid and malignant fevers, with 

 the juice of lemons or currants." " In diseases 

 of the breast," says Dr. Willich, (Dom. Enci/.) 

 "such as catarrhs, coughs, consumptions, &c. 

 tliey are of considerable service. For these ben- 

 eficial imrposes, however, they ought not to be 

 eaten raw, but either roasted, stewed, or boded. 

 They may also be usefully employed in decoc- 

 tions, which, if drank plentifully, tend .to abate 

 febrile heat, as well as to relieve painful strictures 

 in pectoral complaints." 



Apples have also been recommended as food 

 for horses and farm stock, for which purpose 

 .sweet apples are of the greatest value. — See JV. 

 E. Farmer, vol. v. p. 82. Sweet apples are said, 

 likewise, to afford a saccharine matter, which is a 

 good substitute for molasses. For this purjiosc 

 the apples are ground and pressed in a cider mill, 

 and the juice boiled immediately, the scum being 

 taken off till it is reduced to a proper consistence. 



The following process lor making apple jolly 

 has been recommended : — Pare and quarter t!ic 

 apples, and remove the core conipletely. Then 



put them into a pot, and place it in a heated oven, 

 or over a slow fire. When well stewed, squeeze 

 oiu the juice through a cloth, to which add a little 

 of the white of an egg. Itoil it to a proper con- 

 sistence, skimming just before it begins to boil. 



BENE PLANT, (Sesamvm Orienlale.) 

 Mr Editor — The mucilage obtained from the 

 leaves of this plant has proved very benelicii;! in 

 some of the middle States, in the summer com- 

 plaints of children, and was administered success- 

 fidly last season to upwards of two hundred per- 

 sons at the Pavilio.n. The seeds of the Bene or 

 Sesamum are a great article of food in Egypt and 

 the East, and furnish an oil said to be superior to 



that of the olive The magic power of the word 



Sesame, will always be remembered by those who 

 have read the Arabian Tales. 



Doctor James Smith, of the Vaccine Institu- 

 tion, Baltimore, says, " one leaf of this plant im- 

 mersed in a tumbler of sjiriiig water, changes it 

 immediately into a fine mucilage, that is ])erfectly 

 clear, tasteless and inodorous, and very useful in 

 the summer complaints of children, the dysentery, 

 &c. Sick children take it as they would ])ure 

 water, and as it is perfectly imiocent, they may be 

 allowed to take as much of it as they like." 



The leaves of this rare and v aluable plant may 

 be obtained gratis at the PAVILION. 



THE SHELTON OAK. 



This stately tree stands on the road-side, where 

 the Pool road diverges from that which leads to 

 Oswestry, about a mile and'a iialf from Shrcws- 

 biu-y ; whose spires form a pleasing object in the 

 distance ; whilst above them, the famous moun- 

 tain called the Wrekin, lifts its head, and inspires 

 a thousand social recollections, as the well known 

 toast that includes all friends around its ample 

 base is brought to mind by the sight of its lofty 

 summit. The appearance of the Shelton oak, 

 hollow throughout its trunk, and with a cavity 

 towards the bottom, capable of containing half a 

 score of persons, sufficiently denotes its antiquity. 

 Tradition informs us that just before the famous 

 battle of Shrewsbury, June 12, 1403, headed on 

 one side by Henry Percy, surnanied Hotsi)ur,Ovven 

 Glcndowcr, the i)owerf^ul Welch chieftain, and the 

 firm adherent of the English insurgents, ascended 

 this tree, and from its lofty branches, then most 

 probably in the full pride of their vi,';ur, reconnoi- 

 tercd the state of the field ; when finding the king 

 was in great force, and that the Eirl of Northunr- 

 hcrland had not joined his son Henry, he descend- 

 ed from his leafy observatory with the i)rudeiit 

 resolution of dechning the combat, and retreated 

 with his followers to Oswestry. 



The great age of the Shelton oak, thus jiointed 

 out by the tradition which connects it vvitli the 

 name of Glendower, is likewise attested by legal 

 documents belonging to Richard 11. Waring, Esq. 

 whose ancestors jiosses.sed lands in Shelton and 

 the neighborhood, in the reign of Henry III., jiro- 

 bably deriving them from Waring, son of Athlet, 

 a Saxon, who had land in the market place of 

 Shrewsbui-y before the use of dates was known. 

 Among this gentleman's title-deeds is the follow- 

 ing paper, subscribed, "per me Adam, Waring," 

 and entitled, "how the great oak at Shelton stan- 

 deth on mye grounde." [Here follows the tran- 

 script]. This extract will suffice to prove that 

 the Shelton oak was esteemed a grea< one within 

 one hundred and forty years of the battle of Shiov.'s- 



bury, and an object of remark to old j)eople long 

 before that period. The circumference of this 

 tree at one foot and a hall' from the ground, is 

 Ihirty-sevcn feet ; and at five feet fi-om the ground, 

 it is ttvenly-six feet. 



From lliC American I-'anntr. 



TO PREVENT THE DESTRUCTION OF 

 BEES, BY THE BEE-MILLER. 



Devun's Fernj, Balk Co. N. C. July 8, 1828. 



Mk SKiNNEii. — Understanding that you are th« 

 publisher of a jiapcr exclusively devoted to domes- 

 tic industry and intelligence, and through which 

 every subject uiion domestic economy can be, and- 

 is readily connuunicatcd to the jpublic ; I tcke the 

 liberty, through the advice of a friend, of making 

 known to you, for [lublication, (should you think 

 proper to publish the same,) my method of p)-e- 

 venting the destruction of that useful insect, the 

 Bee, by what is usually called iho Bce-miUer, or 

 Bee-worm. 



I have, sir, for many yeais, been the raiser of 

 bees, and was at one time nuich troubled with the 

 bee-worm ; but, upon examination, I found they 

 always bred between the bench u[ion which the 

 hive sat and the bottom edges of the hive. I first 

 adopted the method of having the bottom edges 

 of the hive brought to so small a point or edge as 

 to afford them no shelter; but now, during the 

 warm season, I raise the hive by placing small 

 sticks aroimd under the hive, so as to raise it, 

 say about half an inch from the bencli, which I 

 take out during Avinler or the co'd months. 



And I can say, sir, that for many years I have 

 seen nothhig of I he bee- worn), uiid that my stock 

 of bees have increased as fast as I can or could 

 wish. Yoms, &c. 



MILEY HAMILTON. 



B.\RM, OR YEAST. 



Dr Townson, in his " Travels in Hungary," 

 gives the following recipe for making a ferment, 

 which may be used as a substitute for yeast in the 

 composition of bread. 



" The ferment is thus nvdCc : Two gccJ hand- 

 fids of ho];3 are boiled in four quarts of water • 

 this is poured upon as tnuch whealen bran as can 

 be well moistened by it ; to tills are added four Oi- 

 five pounds of leaven ; when this is only warm, 

 the mass is well worked togetlier to mLv t.he dif- 

 ferent parts. This mass is then put into a warm 

 place for twenty-four hours, and after that it is di- 

 vided into two small pieces about the size of a 

 hen's egg or a small orange, \,iiich are dried by 

 being placed i.pon a board and exposed to a dry 

 air, but not to the sun : when dry they are laid 

 by for use, and may be kept half a year. This is 

 the ferment, and it is to be used in the following 

 manner ; for a baking of six large loaves, six good- 

 handfuls of these balls are taken and dissolved in 

 seven or eight quarts of warm water. This is 

 poured through a sieve into one end of the bread 

 trough, and three quarts more of w arm ^vater are 

 |)oincd through the sieve after it, and what re- 

 mains in the sieve is well pressed out : this liquor 

 is mixed uj) with so much flour as to form a mass 

 of the size of a large loaf: this is strewed over 

 with flour, the sieve wiih its contents is put upon 

 it, and then the whole is covered up warm, and 

 left till it has risen enougli, and its surface has 

 begun to crack ; this forms the leaven. Then fif- 

 teen quarts of warm water, in which six handfuls 

 of sah have been dissolved are poured throueh 



