▼Ot^. XlJr. NO. 8. 



AND HORTICULluRAL REGISTER, 



Bi 



caro ti) put ciJor in clean sweet casks, and the on- 

 ly way to effect this is to rinse or scald thcin well 

 as soon as the cider is out, and not let tlieni stand 

 with a remn.int or lees to make them sour, must 

 or stink. Whi^n my casks are filled, I place ihorn 

 in the shade, and exposed to the northern air — 

 When ffriTientation takes place, fill them up once 

 or more a day, to cause as much of the filth as pos- 

 eihle to dischari;e from the herry bunj ; when it 

 discharges a clear white froth, put in the bunpr stack, 

 or boro a hole and put a spile in it, and thereby 

 check t!ie fermentation {gradually ; and whiMi it has 

 subsided, take the first opportunity of clear cool 

 weather, and rack it off i:.to clean cask.s; to effect 

 which, when I have drawn the cider out of a cask 

 in which it has fermented, I first rinse the cask 

 with cool water, then put into a hogshead two or 

 three quarts of fine gravel, and three or four gal- 

 lons of water ; work it wcdl to scour off the yo^st 

 or scum and sediment which always adheres to the 

 casks in which the cider ferments ; and if not 

 Bcoured off as above directed, will act as yeast 

 when the cider is put in again, and bring on fret- 

 ting, and spoil or greatly injure the liqnor ; after 

 scouring, rinse as before. I find bi'nefit in burn- 

 ing a brimstime match in the cask, suspemled by a 

 wire, after putting in two or three buckets of cider; 

 the best method for which process is, to have a 

 long tapering bung, with a large wire drove in the 

 small end with a hook for the match, which for a 

 hogshead should be siifKcient to kdla hive of bees. 

 If the cider stands a week or more after racking, 

 previous to its being jiut into the cellar, rack it 

 again and rinse the casks, but not with gravel, nnd 

 ;>ut it immediately into the cellar. 'I'he late made 

 I put iu the cellar iimnediately after or before the 

 first racking, agreeable to circumstances as to the 

 weather. The cider I wish to keep till warm weath- 

 er, I rack iu clear cool weather, the latter part of 

 February or March. It is best to keep ihe cask 

 full and bunged tight as Dossible, 



To refine cider for exportation or bottling, take 

 of Russia isinglass about an ounce to a barrel, 

 pound it as soil as possible, pink it into fine shreds, 

 put it in a clean earthern pot, pour on about half a 

 pint of boiling water, siir and beat it with a stick 

 split in four parts at the end, and something put in 

 to keep it apart ; when it has got thick add a pint 

 of good soiintl cider, set the pot in a place the most 

 safe and handy, but not too warm ; as it grows 

 stiff, add cider as before in small quantities, and 

 repeat the stirring, the oftener the better, if fifty 

 tirnos a day; in two of three days, if it is well dis- 

 solved, rack off the cider which is for refininir, add 

 of it to the isinglass prepared as above, stirring it 

 well till fit for straininu', which do through a linen 

 cloth ; then mix the fining and cider together as 

 well as possible, and set it in a proper place for 

 drawing off, giving some vent for some days. If it 

 is not sufficiently fine in ten days, rack it off and 

 repeat the fining as before; but it is best to rack 

 it, fine or not, in ten or twelve days, lest the sedi- 

 ment should rise, which I have known to be the 

 case, 



'I'he foregoing operation should be performed 

 previous to the apple trees being in bloom; but I 

 have succeeded best in the winter, in steady cool 

 weather. I have likewise had good success in put- 

 ting the fining in the cider direct from the press, 

 and set in casks with one head out, taps put in and 

 SH in a cool place properly fixed for drawing, and 

 •covered ; when the fermentation subsides and the 

 scum begins to crack, take it off carefully with a 



skimmer, then draw it carefully from the s(-diment. 

 If it is not suffici"ntly fine by the middle of winter, 

 proceed as before directed. 



The settlings of cider spirits, reduced w.th wa- 

 ter cider, being put into cider in proportion of from 

 two to three gallons to a hogshead, answered the 

 purpose of filling lull as well as the isinglass. 



JOSEPH COOPER. 



'2nd mo., 1803. 



From ihe Albany CuUivalor. 



FOWLKR, SPARE TH.'\T BIRD! 

 Messrs Gaytord Sf Tucker: — I know of few 

 things more calculnted to disturb the equanimity of 

 mind, and ruflic the feelings of a humane man, one 

 who lives amooLr animals and birds, and feels as if 

 they were all personal friends, than to see a shock- 

 headed, straddling thing, calling itself a man, with 

 rusty musket or rille, creeping about our highways, 

 woodlands or orchards, and popping away at the 

 harmless little creatures that give to the landscape 

 half its charms, and to the eye and the ear half 

 their pleasures. 



I know these men cannot look upon birds as I 

 do, or they would not have to be guilty of homi- 

 cide to know what the sensations of a murderer 

 are, when they wantonly destroy these creatures of 

 the air. I plead not for the hawk or the crow ; but 

 for the beautiful songsters that greet the morn 

 with a hymn, flutter over and through our meadows 

 and orchards, and exhibit an instinctive happiness 

 that woiild reconcile the most morbid misanthro- 

 pist to life and its cares. I never liear the sono- 

 sparrow, that with us is usually the first harbinger 

 of spring, without a feeling of gladness that "the 

 winter is over and gone, and the time of the sing- 

 ing of birds is come ;" and this feeling is increased, 

 as day after day, the blue bird, robin, tree sparrow, 

 yellow bird, bob-a link, brown thrush, oriole, and 

 swallow, su>-cesriivcly arrive, and enliven the woods 

 and fields with their presence, and fill the air with 

 their music. 



Tell me not that birds have not memories ; that 

 when the mysterious instinct compels their migra- 

 tion from us, ihey never return to their loved haunts, 

 or again build in the same grove, but go whither 

 accident or chance may direct. Only a few days 

 since, I was standing in the field, and suddenly I 

 heard the far off twitters of the barn swallow, of 

 which not one had yet appeared. Away up in the 

 blue sky, I at last descried him, as he .-lowly and 

 on weary wing descended from his long flight, and 

 with a song that could not be mistaken but for one 

 of joy that his journey was over, he resumed his ac- 

 customed place oil the ridge of the barn. In a few 

 minutes he was joined by his mate, and during the 

 hour in which they were resting from their weary 

 way, many were the congratulations that passed 

 between them. On the spot where for years they 

 have built their nest, and reared their young, they 

 are now building, and their absence is like Ihe 

 absence of friends. 



And what is the crime charged upon these beau- 

 tiful birds, that they are doomed to death by every 

 boy or man, who is disposed to show his powess 

 in shedding their blood ? Why they eat our cher- 

 ries, or perhaps occasionally peck our trees or our 

 sweet iipples. This charge is true ; but only a very 

 small part are guilty, if guilt there is about it : and 

 must all the acknowledged harmless species suffer 

 for the act of one or two ? Where is the man who 



cin accuse the sparrow, yellow bird, blue bird, 

 swallow, thrush, bob-a-link, lark, and a multitude 

 of others, of preying on his crops or his fruits? — 

 Yet these are sought after and destroyed with as 

 much avidity and hot haste as the most predatory 

 ones. The urchin or the ragamullin raises his 

 weapon, and the half-warbled song, remains unfin- 

 ished forever. 1 have admitted the charge, but if 

 true in its fullest extent, v,<mld it justify extermi- 

 nation ? Is there no good deed perfi)rmed — no 

 services rendered to the gardener or the cultiva- 

 tor, which may be plead in extenuation or mitiga- 

 tion .•" I think there are many, and that the good 

 they do, overbalances many fold, as a strict matter 

 of profit or loss, the trifling injuries they produce. 

 The robin, the cedar bird, and the woodpecker, 

 are the three of the small birds most destructive to 

 fruit, but these are far from being useless. I this 

 morning saw iu my garden, a robin hopping alon^ 

 on the ground ; soon f saw it seize a black grub 

 or cut worm, and in a few moments another. Thhsa 

 two worms among my- melons or cucumbers, would 

 have done me more injury than a dozen robins in 

 my cherry trees, and yet these two formed but a 

 small part of the worms of various kinds this single 

 bird would devour in a day. Of all birds, the ce- 

 dar bird is to mo, perhaps, the only one positively 

 disagreeable ; yet I owe to a flock of these birds, 

 that made my orchard their home last year, many 

 a bushel of beautiful apples, as they fed continual- 

 ly on tlie canker worm that at one time threatened 

 the total destruction of some of my choicest fruit 

 and trees. And the wood-pecker, while you think 

 he is (miy amusing himself by hammering away on 

 your trees, will, if you observe him closely, be seen 

 ever and anon to thrust his long barbed tongue in- 

 to a h->le, and extract a grub that was perforating 

 and destroying inch by inch your tree. Di.'pend 

 upon it, the wood -pecker will not hurt your trees, if 

 there are about them no insects, or decayed wood, 

 that requires excision. 



Before you destroy a bird on your premises, or 

 permit any one else to do it, be certain that you 

 are not about to destroy one of your most faithful 

 friends. Carefully weigh the good and evil they 

 occasion against each other ; think of the plea- 

 sure and instruction they afford: rise on one of our 

 beautiful mornings before the sun, and hear from 

 copse, and orchard, and grove, the thousand voices 

 of joy and melody that are rising and mingling, 

 and if you have a single feeling that belonged to 

 man in paradise, it will not be necessary to repect 

 to you — Futvter, spare that bird! 



A Friend to Birds. 



Pairxting. — Spirits of turpentine is in most cases 

 used in mixture with paints, because it facilit.ites 

 the drying rapidly. It decomposes and destroys the 

 vitality of the oil : it should never be used when 

 durability and lustre is required. I have been in 

 the practice of painting my out buildings with pure 

 oil, mixed without boiling, and am satisfied that it is 

 more durable : the drying proc.'ss is not so rapid, 

 but the coat is harder and more adhesive, and less 

 expensive. S. W. Jewett. 



H'eybridge, VI. 



Powers oj the .^rab Horse.— Vrascr, in his ' Tar- 

 tar Journey,' relates as an undoubted fact, that an 

 Arab horse travelled 520 miles in six days—rested 

 three days, and then went over the same ground in 

 five days. 



