VOl.. XII. NO. 3«. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



299 



raisins. In the latter island, brandy is always add- 

 ed, :inil in both places, a course pursued equiva- 

 lent u> the addition of sugar; dryirjg a portion of 

 the grapes, boiling a portion of the must, and add- 

 ing so much spirit to ;i portion of the must, as u ill 

 prevent its fermentation. Tiie must of the dried 

 grapes ami that which has been boiled are added 

 before fermeutation ; that to which spirit has I. can 

 a. I led, after. Then- is no difference in the result 

 between the sugar in the grape, and that of the 



can,. The wine sent you, was made fr grapes 



suffered to hang' on tin' vines tun weeks later than 

 usual. Tin' grapes gathered two weeks earlier 

 had a portion of sugar added. There was no per- 

 ceptible difference in the wine. I have some wine 

 made from grapes not fully matured, to which nei- 

 ther spirit nor sugar were added, that is now six 

 years old. 1 shall, to a small part of the wine 

 made this season, add as much spirit, as there U 

 in the Boker Rhenish wines, anil will send a sam- 

 ple of each, to have your opinion of the result. I 

 shall next season ferment a portion of my must, 

 with a view to the production of a wine resembling 

 Cliainpaigiie. I have confidence in its practicabil- 

 ity. 



I sit down, merely to acknowledge my gratifi- 

 cation with the contents of your letter: hut when 

 we mount our hobby, we know not where to stop. 

 As 1 doubt not you have one of your own, you 

 will know how to excuse me. 



Very respectfully yours, N. Longwortii. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 TULIP MANIA. 



Mr. Editor, 1 have often seen it stated that 

 there was a time when the tulip was sold for a 

 great price in Holland; that the variety called the 

 Viceroy, would sell for one thousand dollars, &c. 

 lint never saw so full an account of the remarka- 

 ble tulip fever that raged in that country, as is 

 contained in the following' which I have taken the 

 liberty to copy from an old magazine ; thinking 

 should you give it a place in your valuable paper, 

 it would be amusing to many of your readers. 

 Yours, &c. A Subscriber. 



In 1634 a violent passion for tulips appeared 

 in Holland, and spread over the United Nether- 

 lands, where it acquired the dignified title of the 

 tulip trade. It engaged the attention of all ranks 

 for three full years. The fanner lost sight of his 

 plough — the mechanic of his art — and the mer- 

 chant of his trade, and strange ! the lawyer for- 

 got how to plead : in short the infection pervaded 

 every order and condition of life. All were em- 

 ployed in the tulip trade, or in other words, the 

 new business of raising and vending handsome tu- 

 lips ! Such was the frenzy of the time, that 

 The Viceroy would sell for £-250 sterling, $1,110 

 Admiral Pierkeens would often command 



£440 - - - $1,956 



Admiral Van Eyk £160 - $710 



Grebbed was cheap at £148 - $657 



Schilder £160 - - $710 



And Semper Augustus might now and 



then be had as a bargain at £550 2,443 



Such sums for such things wotdd appear incred- 

 ible to this age, if the fact was not too well es- 

 tablished to admit of a doubt. 



In 1637 a collection of tulips belonging to Wou- 

 ter Brockhohnenster, was sold by executors, for a 

 sum equal to £9,000 or $4 0,000. 



A fine Spanish cabinet, valued at £1,000 and 



£300 in cash, equal to $5,777, was given for a 

 Semper Augustus. 



Three oilier Semper Augustuses brought a 

 thousand pounds each ; and the gentleman who 

 sold them refused for his parterre £1,500 a year 

 I'm' seven years ; every thing to he left as found 

 in the parterre, only reserving to the lessee, during 

 that term, the increase of these precious flowers — 

 which was about $6,666. 



Another person cleared in the course of four 

 months £6,000, or the enormous sum of $26,670. 

 All these sums are in sterling or good money. At 

 length a check was put to this frenzy, by an order 

 nf Slate, invalidating all contracts made in the tu- 

 lip trade ; so that a root, which before would com- 

 mand £500 would not now bring five guineas. 



It is said of a single city in Holland, that the 

 trade in it in the course of the three years, was a 

 million sterling or about $4,444,443 all in tulips. 



The childish folly of the grave and frugal myn- 

 heers, during this remarkable period, cannot he 

 better illustrated than by a story which was often 

 told ami always believed to be true at the time. 



"A Burgomaster having procured a place of 

 great profit for his friend a native of Holland, de- 

 clined some generous offer of recompense from 

 the latter; he only requested to see his flower 

 garden which was readily granted. Two years 

 afterwards the same gentleman paid a visit to his 

 benefactor, and walking in the burgomaster's gar- 

 den, he recognised there a scarce tulip of great 

 value which the disinterested magistrate had be- 

 fore clandestinely taken from the garden of the 

 other. The promoted friend now became frantic 

 with rage — threw up his place, which was worth a 

 thousand a year — returned home — tore up his flow- 

 er garden — and was never heard of more !" — Jinn. 

 Reg. 1765. 



From the Vermont Watchman. 

 WHAT TO DO WITH IT. 



Mr. Editor, Many persons ask, " what shall 

 we do with it ?" when we persuade them to aban- 

 don ardent spirit. I answer destroy your enemies 

 with it. The house of an inn-keeper of my ac- 

 quaintance was very much infested with vermin ; 

 he resorted to many different methods but could 

 not destroy them; at length he thought of the ef- 

 fect ardent spirits had upon his two legged cus- 

 tomers, and lie resolved to make an experiment. 

 Accordingly he prepared a pan of black-strap, set 

 it in the cellar and waited the event. The next 

 morning he found fourteen large rats lying help- 

 less around the pan. It is needless to add, he 

 pursued this device until his house was cleared of 

 rats and mice. 



A farmer's corn was much annoyed by a hear, 

 which he was not able to destroy until he thought 

 of rum. He procured a vessel of well sweetened 

 ruin, and the next morning bruin was too rich and 

 happy to go or stand. A few have found that 

 corn strongly saturated with rum, will take away 

 the use of leg and wing from crows. One old far- 

 mer told me last summer that grasshoppers loved it 

 too. Now I say ; neither throw away nor burn 

 ardent spirit, nor for conscience's sake murder hu- 

 man beings with it — but destroy grasshoppers, 

 bears, and crows. Foxes I presume, are too cun- 

 ning to drink it. ■ A. B. N. 



From the Maine Farmer. 

 jiNGRAFTING AND SETTING OUT TREES 

 IN THE SAME SEASON. 



Mr. Holmes, In the 6th number of vol. ii, there 

 is an editorial article headed as above, by which it 

 appears you have put queries to a number of per- 

 sons in regard to this mode of managing trees, with- 

 out obtaining the information desired. It appears 

 how. ver, that you have obtained through the me- 

 dium of the Northern Farmer, the knowledge of 

 one instance of its success. Two witnesses are 

 better than one, I will therefore give you my ex- 

 perience on the subject in the spring of 1830. I 

 bought thirty trees of a sufficient size to set in an 

 orchard. In digging up the thirty large ones, we 

 dug up a considerable number of small crooked 

 things that were not worth any thing to the own- 

 er ; I therefore obtained about sixty from the nur- 

 sery. They were of all sizes, from the bigness of 

 a pipe-stem to that of a man's thumb. I carried 

 them home and put them in the barn.- The next 

 day being rainy, I went to work and grafted them. 

 As soon as it was fair weather, I had them set 

 out in rows, each kind by itself. The result was 

 that upwards of fifty grew and did well. The 

 large ones were set out and I engrafted them, 

 some the same day, and some a few days after, 

 and they did as well as any scions that I ever set. 

 Let trees he properly set, and I would then 

 graft them and, warrant them as cheap as I would 

 any trees whatever. Z. Sargent. 



Gardiner, March 2, 1834. 



USEFUL HINTS FOR HOUSE SERVANTS. 



Soda, by softening the water, saves a great deal 

 of soap. It should be melted in a large jug of 

 water, some of which pour into the tubs and boil- 

 er; and when the latter becomes weak, add more. 

 The new improvement in soft soap is, if properly 

 used, a saving of near half in quantity ; and though 

 sometimes dearer than the hard, reduces the price 

 of washing considerably. 



Many good laundresses advise soaking linen in 

 warm water the night previous to washing, as fa- 

 cilitating the operation with less friction. 



Soap should be cut with a wire or twine, in 

 pieces that will make a long square when first 

 brought in, and kept out of the air two or three 

 weeks ; for if it dry quick it will crack, and when 

 wet break. Put it on a shelf, leaving a space be- 

 tween, and let it grow hard gradually. Thus it 

 will save a full third in the consumption. — H. S. 

 Did. 



WILD GEESE 



— In large flocks have passed over this town du- 

 ring the last week. The migrations in this direc- 

 tion are quite regular, this being one of the travel- 

 led highways they pursue in making their period- 

 ical journeys. On all their routes, wild geese 

 have regular taverns or stopping places, to obtain 

 rest and food. The great bend of the river be- 

 low this town and also that above it, are among 

 their favorite places of resort to woo " nature's 

 sweet restorer." They come down upon the bo- 

 som of the waters and repose until morning, when 

 they renew their journey to the northern or south- 

 ern latitudes as the seasons direct. It isgenerally 

 supposed in spring that wild geese are going to the 

 great lakes to breed. At the lakes the people 

 know but little of them. They stop there but a 

 short time and continue their course onward and 

 are found in vast numbers almost at the north 

 pole. — Northampton Courier. 



