320 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



owners that the most valuable portion was being 

 evaporated and washed away. One half the quantum 

 in bulk, to which the proper and necessary attention 

 had been psijd, would have been more valuable. My 

 mode and manai;cment of the yard, S:c., being differ- 

 ent, and, as I think, entirely superior to any I have 

 observed, I give it for the benefit of your readers. 

 The whole yard containing the manure should be 

 under cover. It should be large enough to contain, 

 besides the manure, lime, charcoal dust, braize, saw- 

 dust, or spent tan — the charcoal, if practicable, and 

 road scrapings, loam or dirt dug from fence rows, of 

 each a heap, large or small, in proportion to the 

 quantity of manure likely to be made. The bottom 

 of the yard should be hollowed out, in a partially 

 concave manner, in order to prevent the escape of all 

 liquids ; this should be covered with a slight coating 

 of charcoal dust, and then each time you remove the 

 manure from your stables, which should be at least 

 once a week, you should spread it evenly over the 

 yard, cover it with another thin coating of charcoal, 

 one of lime, and finally with dirt. The heap should 

 be occasionally sprinkled with common salt, pickle 

 or fish brine, and well moistened with all the soap- 

 Buds, &c., you can save and collect. The lime assists 

 ihe decomposition, the earth becomes permeated and 

 impregnated with the generated ammonia, and hence 

 becomes manure. The charcoal retains the uric acid, 

 and whatever other volatile portions that would 

 otherwise escape. The salt so acts upon the seeds 

 of weeds, &c., that are in the manures, as to prevent 

 their germinating when hauled out into the field, 

 and the soap-suds, &c., besides aiding the " manure 

 making " process, prevents the heap from '^Jlre fann- 

 ing." E. S. A. P. 

 — Dollar Neicsvaper. 



ALL ABOUT APPLES. 



Picking Winter Apples. — The usual time of pick- 

 ing winter apples is the last of September, or the fore 

 part of October ; many leave them until the middle 

 of October, which improves the flavor, though they 

 do not keep so well. In order to pick them, some 

 take a small basket in the tree, fill it, and then let it 

 down by means of a rope, which will upset the basket. 

 As a better mode, some recommend placing bags or 

 piles of hay under the tree to throw the apples on ; 

 the hay to be so formed that the apples will roll off 

 as soon as it strikes ; but I would recommend to fruit- 

 gatherers the machine called a " fruit-gatherer," an 

 axlicle by which a man is enabled to pick the fruit 

 while standmg on the ground, and also much faster 

 than in any other way. The apple should bo pulled 

 so as to retain the small stem only ; and to do this it 

 is necessary that the upple should be pulled in a 

 right line with the stem. If the apple is twisted a 

 little, it will come off easy without the leaf. 



Preserving Winter Apples. — After picking in the 

 fall, the apples should be kept in some cool shed until 

 the weather becomes so cold as to render their removal 

 to the cellar necessary, in order to keep them from 

 freezing ; for it is heat and moisture that hastens their 

 decay. Apples that are to be kept long must be kept 

 cool and dry. A cellar which has ice in one part of 

 it is desirable. We have always found them to keep 

 best by having hanging shelves for their reception. 



Another Mode. — To keep Apples for Spring Use. — The 

 following, judging from experience, I believe to be 

 a very elficient mode of keeping apples: They are 

 to be kept in chaff. First put a layer of chaff sprinkled 

 with quicklime over the bottom ; then a layer of 

 apples, followed by another stratunr of chaff and 

 lime, and so on until the cask is filled. In regard to 

 this method, the editor of the Genesee Farmer says, — 



" It is well known to all those who have been in 

 the practice of burying apples in heaps, that the fruit 

 comes out in the spring much fresher, and oftener 

 flavored than it does Avhen kept in open bins in the 

 cellar — a part of the flavor, in the latter case, doubt- 

 less evaporating. This method has all the advantage 

 of burying, with another which we will explain. 

 When one apple among many in a bin rots, the 

 adjoining ones are contaminated ; and not unfre- 

 quently a mass of rottenness occurs, surrounded by 

 much sound fruit. Now the use of the lime is to 

 absorb the gases generated by the putrefaction, and 

 prevent such leaven from spreading." 



It does not recjuire much lime ; less than a quart 

 for a barrel is sufficient. 



Apples for Stock. — As there are always at this time 

 of the year apples lying under the trees rotting, per- 

 haps a few remarks in regard to feeding them to stock, 

 will not come 'amiss to some of your readers. 



They may be turned to profit by feeding them to 

 hogs, cows, horses, and sheep, as they are admirably 

 adapted to promote the thrift of stock generally. 

 Some have imbibed a very strong prejudice against 

 feeding them to cows ; but the idea that cows fed on 

 them will shrink their milk, is altogether absurd ; 

 that is, when fed in a judicious manner, with ripe, 

 well-matured apples. I have no doubt that if fed 

 too freely, when the food taken is of a succulent and 

 fermentable nature, it will be likely to produce fever ; 

 but overfeeding with potatoes, &c., will be just as 

 likely to prove injurious. As to the quantity which 

 should be given a common-sized cow, I would not 

 recommend more than a peck to half a bushel, ac- 

 cording to the appetite of the animal. This amount 

 will answer the purpose of a liberal feeding with hay 

 and grain. LEOXADE. 



— Dollar Newspaper. 



HARVESTING ROOTS. 



It is a great error to suppose that roots, such as 

 beets, turnips, carrots, &c., when intended for stock- 

 feeding, should be housed early. It is, on the con- 

 trary, much better to let them remain out till the 

 weather becomes quite severe. A heavy frost does 

 not injure the turnip, if it is in the soil. I have 

 known the ground to freeze quite hard before their 

 removal, and no injurious consequences resulted from 

 the circumstance. And beside, the growth of the 

 turnip, after the weather becomes cold, is much more 

 rapid than during the milder season. Cabbages, like 

 tui-nips, are also very essentially benefited by remain- 

 ing out, even till snow falls. Some, indeed, allow 

 them to remain out all winter ; but this is a pernicious 

 practice, for although they are liable to become dis- 

 eased, and rot, if they are too early removed to the 

 cellar, yet it is always well to have them under cover, 

 in order that they maybe " available" when wanted 

 for use. I^' 



— Germa}itow7i Telegraph. 



Men who know the same things are not long the best 

 company for each other. But bring to each an intel- 

 ligent person of another experience, and it is as if 

 you let off water from a lake, by cutting a lower 

 basin. It seems a mechanical advantage, and great 

 benefit it is to each speaker, as he can now paint out 

 his thought to himself. We pass very fast, in our 

 personal moods, from dignity to dependence. And 

 if any appear never to assume the chair, but always 

 to stand and serve, it is because we do not see the 

 company in a sufficiently long period for the whole 

 rotation of parts to come about. — Emerson. 



