VOT.. XII. NO. 47. 



AND HOUTTCULTUIIAL JOURNAL. 



381 



year that there are three or four days rain and 

 three or four days dry ; therefore on beginning to 

 cut the grass, as it is well-known that during wet 

 weather grass may be cut, and suffered to remain 

 in the svvarth for several days without injury ; and 

 it being desirable, where bands are plenty, to have 

 a good quantity, or so much as will complete a 

 slack in a day, in the same state of forwardness; 

 I should prefer beginning to cut during the rainy 

 weather: however be this as it may, the swards 

 "should not be opened but on a certain fine day ; 

 and when this is done the grass should be well 

 shaken apart and equally spread over the ground. 

 As soon as the upper surface is dry, turn it well 

 over ; and in this operation great care should be 

 taken to open and spread any cocks that may not 

 have been divided in the first opening. This be- 

 ing done, commence raking into wind-rows, in 

 lime that the whole may be made into small cocks 

 before night. The second day thr.se cocks must re- 

 main untouched; let the weather be wet or dry : the 

 third day, if the weather be certain and fine, throw 

 the cocks open ; but if the weather be wet or 

 threatening, they may remain another day, or un- 

 til the weather is certain to be fine for the day. 

 The cocks should then be thrown, according to 

 the crop, into beds of two or three rows ; and af- 

 ter three or four hours exposure, turned over ; and 

 taking time to gather the whole into wind-rows 

 and cocks before night, let this operation com- 

 mence accordingly, and none be I ft open: the day 

 after this, which in fine weather "ill lie the fourth ; 

 the cocks must again remain untouched, or not be 

 opened, whether the weather be wet or dry. On the 

 filth or next day, these cocks will only require to 

 l>e opened for an hour or two, when they will be 

 fit for the stack. The novelty of this mode con- 

 sists only in suffering the hay to remain in the 

 cock the. second and third or alternate days ; and 

 at first sight it may appear that so much time in 

 fine weather must be lost, but this is not the case. 

 Whilst the hay remains iu cocks, a slight fermen- 

 tation, or what is termed sweating, wiil take place, 

 and in consequence, after it has been opened on 

 the third and fifth days, it will prove to be just as 

 forward as if it had been worked every day. And 

 the advantages resulting from this, are obviously 

 the following; by shortening the time of open ex- 

 posure, the color of the hay is more perfectly pre- 

 served, and consequently the quality: and the 

 fermentations or sweatings which take place in 

 the cocks, prove so much to have diminished that 

 principle, or inclination to prevent its beating in- 

 juriously in the stack ; and the whole operation of 

 making, whether it takes four days or eight, re- 

 quires three days labor only ; and the hay being 

 left in that state every night, in which it is the 

 least possibly exposed to the injuries of the weath- 

 er, and in which it may remain for a day or two 

 in uncertain weather, without injurious exposure ; 

 much painful anxiety, and useless attendance of 

 laborers are obviated. 



TO PREVE.VT BEER PROM BECOMING ACE- 

 TOUS. 



There is a way to prevent beer from getting 

 acetous, or what is called hard, which is as simple 

 as it is efficacious. Reasoning on the plain prin- 

 ciples of chemical science, we were led to try it, 

 and have this summer found its truth ami advan- 

 tage. Ft is nothing more than to suspend a knob 

 of marble by a piece of tape from the bung hole to 

 near the bottom of the barrel, upon which, being 



pure carbonate of lime, the acid quality of the 

 beer acts on its incipient formation : it consequent- 

 ly becomes neutralized, and thus is kept from 

 turning bard or sour. In our experiment the 

 marble was considerably eaten away, except where 

 the tape encircled, and the beer remained sound 

 and fresh to the last drop. We mention this dis- 

 covery as being a point of some consequence to 

 householders, and especially to farmers and their 

 laborers in harvest time; for it is more likely that 

 weak beer should become sour than strong; it is 

 much more healthy to drink it fresh than ever so 

 little turned off', and, in the way of economy, many 

 barrels might be saved, which are every year 

 thrown into the hog-tub from becoming unprinta- 

 ble. It will do good, however, to every species 

 of beer, and, we expect, to any kind of home- 

 made or even foreign wines in cask, which have 

 or are likely to become tart or sour. — Oxford Jour- 



From the Genesee Farmer. 

 CURRANT WISE. 



Being lately on a visit to one of my friends in 

 a neighboring town, I was regaled by him with 

 some currant wine of his own manufacture, li 

 was so very excellent that I requested him to make 

 known to me the process of making it — it was as 

 follows : 



Take eight or ten gallons of currant juice, to 

 which .add ninety pounds of common brown, or 

 one hundred pounds of molasses sugar — put them 

 into a brass kettle, which hang over a moderate 

 lire — stir them up together well, and can ful- 

 ly take off* all the scum which rises to the top. 

 Particular care must he taken that the fin- is not 

 so great as to make the juice boil, no more heat is 

 necessary than to cause the impurities contained 

 in the sugar to rise so as to be skimmed oil'. 

 When the liquor becomes pure, pour it into a clean 

 firm barrel — then fill up the barrel with clean wa- 

 ter, and let it stand (in the cellar) with the bung 

 out to ferment. Let the fermentation continue as 

 long as it will. The cask must be filled up fre- 

 quently with sweetened water. When the fer- 

 mentation ceases, bung up the barrel tight, the 

 process of manufacturing the article is ended. 



My friend assured me that he could by his cur- 

 rants, manufacture his wine, for 37iV cents per 

 gallon, and that he had frequently sold it at one 

 dollar per gallon. 



Many a farmer has currants, which might in 

 this way be made use.of to great advantage ; and 

 those who have not, might, in little time, and with 

 little trouble, furnish themselves with an ample 

 supply. W. P. W. 



Milton, March 22, 1833. 



Qy We do not pretend to know, never having 

 tried the process, what advantage there may be in 

 heating the juice and sugar. Hut we do know, 

 having practised it for a number of years, without 

 a single failure occurring, that the above propor- 

 tions of currant juice, sugar and water, (without 

 being simmered over a fire, but otherwise managed 

 as above,) will make a clear, good, strong wine. 

 We should have supposed, that healing the juice 

 would have a tendency to loosen the fermentation, 

 and therefore prove injurious. 



Our plan has been to carefully strain the juice 

 through a flannel cloth ; and to completely dissolve 

 the sugar before putting it in the barrel. By fre- 

 quent mashing and stirring the sugar, light impuri- 

 ties will rise to the top anil heavy ones sink to the 

 bottom, the first of which we skimmed off' and the 



second left in the bottom of the vessel. If care is 

 taken to keep the barrel filled up during the fer- 

 mentation, " the scum which would rise to the 

 lop" by heating, will be thrown out by the fermen- 

 tation. — Experience has convinced us, that it is 

 best when making to have as much of the mixture 

 over filling the barrel, as will keep it filled up 

 during the fermentation. The vessel ought to be 

 tilled up two or three times a day. — Ed. Franklin 

 Repository. 



NATIVE GRAPE. 



All New England abounds iu the wild purple 

 grape, some vines of which are very prolific, and 

 some appear to be always barren. This grape has 

 seldom been used for any purpose, except to be 

 pickled while green, or eat when ripe; but we 

 have the best evidence that it may be turned to 

 account, in the manufacture of a very delicious 

 wine,. We have not the slightest doubt that the 

 .•'me may he cultivated so as to yield a thousand 

 old more than now, of larger and finer fruit, and 

 he product will be abundant of almost any fiavor- 

 (I wine the manufacturer may choose : the pure 

 ice lightly expressed, and somewhat sweetened 

 with sugar, will furnish a wine of a most excellent 

 flavor, similar in color and taste to a Frontignac 

 or Muscat; and the qualify may he changed by a 

 stronger expression of the astringent quality of the 

 skins, until the wine will, in that respect, run 

 h rough all the varieties of Claret port, still retaili- 

 ng, however, much of the Muscat flavor. — Lowell 

 Jour. 



1" 



4241 



95 



7 03 



COMPARATIVE VALUE OP DIFFERENT 

 KINDS OF FIREWOOD. 



The table at large shows the weight of a cord 

 of different woods, seasoned, the quantity of char- 

 coal each will make, and other valuable informa- 

 tion — founded on experiments. It assumes as a 

 standard the shellbark hickory. 



lbs. in a cord. Comp. value. 



1 Shellbark Hickory, 4469 100 $7 40 

 1.5 Buttonwood, 2391 52 3 85 

 15 .Maple, 2668 54 4 00 



11 Black Birch, 3115 63 4 67 

 17 White Birch, 2369 48 3 56 

 10 White Beech, 3236 65 4 81 



4 White Ash, 3450 77 5 70 



2 Pignut, Hickory or ) 



common Walnut, J 



15 Pitch Pine, 1904 43 3 18 



19 White Pine, 1S68 42 3 11 



20 Lombardy Poplar, 1774 40 2 96 



7 Appletree, 3115 70 5 18 



3 White Oak, 3821 81 6 00 

 9 Black Oak, 3102 66 4 89 

 6 Scrub Oak, 3339 73 6 40 



16 Spanish Oak, 2449 52 3 85 



12 Yellow Oak, 2919 60 4 44 



8 Bed Oak, 3254 69 5 11 



13 White Elm, 2592 58 4 29 



5 Swamp Whortleberry, 3361 73 5 40 

 So much for the purchaser — and now a word 



to the seller. 



It is estimated that a cord of wood contains 

 when green 1443lbs. of water. So that a farmer 

 who brings into market a cord of green wood, has 

 no less load for his team, than another who should 

 put on the top of his cord of dry white oak, three 

 jiiartcrs of a cord of seasoned [fine, or one hogs- 

 lead and two barrels of water. — Brown's Sylva 

 Americana. 



