353 



THE FARMfil^S CABINET. 



VOL. I. 



Vinegar Tree. 



We have the molasses or sugar tree among 

 us in the shape of the rock or sugar maple, 

 which many of our farmers make use of to 

 good advantage, and many more might, did 

 they know how to improve the good things 

 which Providence has supplied them with. In 

 addition to this, we have undoubtedly, a good 

 vinegar tree, though we have never tried the 

 experiment in order to ascertain the facts, and 

 the time may now, perhaps, be past for doing 

 it this year. Wiiile perusing the last num- 

 ber of Silliman's Journal of Science, we were 

 struck by the following remark from Prof 

 F. Emmet, while speaking of the properties 

 of Formicjacid, — "Being lately very much[ 

 etruck with the odor peculiar to the red oak, 

 I applied my lips closely to the transverse 

 section of some fresh cut logs, and, to my 

 astonishment, sucked up with ease, a pure 

 and grateful vinegar, sharp to the taste, and 

 80 like the bests pecimens of the acetic acid, j 

 that distillation could not have improved its! 

 qualities. The tree was full grown and| 

 sound, and felled in the month of February , 

 about the 6th, and the wood examined as soon 

 as cut. The acetic acid existed more abun- 

 dantly in the red portion next to the heart." 



Now it is well known that the sap in the 

 red oak is abundant, perhaps as much so as 

 in the maple. Would it not, if tapped at the 

 time the maple is, yield a quantity of pure 

 vinegar sufficiently large to supply a family 

 for a considerable part of, or for the whole 

 year "J We wish some one who has an op- 

 portunity would try the experiment, and let 

 us know the result. The acetic acid is much 

 used in the arts, and if it can be obtained in 

 this simple way, of a good quality, it will bej 

 a discovery of considerable importance. — 

 Maine farmer. 



Agriculture. 



It is very evident that for a few years past 

 the Agriculture of America has been rising 

 in the scaleof human employments; its rewards 

 have been greater than were ever realised 

 before. We do not mean that a given quan- 

 tity of farmer's produce has sold for more dol- 

 lars than it ever commanded before, but that 

 with a given amount of labor the farmer is 

 enabled to produce a geater amount of wealth, 

 to command a greater amount of the substan- 

 tial comforts and conveniences of life. 



A glance at the causes of this appreciation 

 of agricultural industry, will convince us that 

 it is destined to be permanent. 



There is no apprehension that our agricul- 

 ture will ever degenerate, and fall back to the 

 unskilful, inefficient labor of the half barbarous 

 cultivator with his wooden spade. 



As far as the prosperity of this leading oc- 

 cupation depends upon a skilful and judicious 



cultivation of the earth, it ie not only certain 

 not to recede, but to advance. 



But the prosperity of the agriculturist is 

 promoted not only by improvements in the 

 processes of his own art, but by improve- 

 ments in all other arts. The products of 

 agriculture, being articles of prime neces- 

 sity, have at all times nearly the same intrinsic 

 value. But their e.xchangeable value varies 

 very greatly. Before the invention of the 

 spinning jenny and the power loom, a bushel 

 of wheat might have paid for two and a half 

 yards of cotton cloth of a given quality ; 

 whereas now a bushel of wheat will buy six 

 or seven yards of a fabric of equal or better 

 quality. So a great number of other manufac- 

 tures have contributed to increase the ex- 

 cAa?2^ea/;/efafwe of agricultural produce. And 

 it is obvious that these advantages are as per- 

 manent as the applications of mechanical power 

 that have given birth to them. The present 

 improved processes in the manufacture of use- 

 ful fabrics will never be abandoned unless still 

 better are discovered. 



It is the growth of various manufactures in 

 our own and other countries, and the improved 

 means of transportation by which these manu- 

 factures are brought to our doors, that have 

 chiefly contributed to secure a belter reward 

 for agricultural industry. 



Finally, agricultural industry was greatly 

 elevated when the plough was substituted for 

 the spade. Its condition was still further im- 

 proved when the several kinds of labor were 

 divided, and mechanical expertness acquired 

 in the various arts. It advanced still farther, 

 (and of this last melioration we have by no 

 means reached the utmost extent,)when labor- 

 saving machinery was generally introduced 

 in the manufacturing arts. — Detroit Journal, 



Millet. 



This grain may be sown any time between 

 the middle of May and the middle of July, 

 and will make you a heavy crop of hay in six 

 weeks, say from 2 to 4 tons to the acre. If 

 you design it for hay alone, as soon as the 

 head is formed, you should cut it ; cure it in 

 cocks, and you will have a hay more nutri- 

 tious than any other. It cures easily, keeps 

 well, and is eaten with avidity by either 

 horses or cattle. 



If you want to obtain the grain, let it remain 

 a few days longer until the head turns yel- 

 low ; then cut; thresh out the seed, when 

 dried, and stack or stow away your hay. 

 When the seed is permitted to ripen, the hay, 

 of course, is harsher, but is still a highly 

 nutritious provender for stock of all kinds. 



If you desire hay only, you may i:ow from 

 three pecks to a bushel of the seed ; if tor both 

 grain and hay, from two to three pecks will 

 be sufficient. 



