1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FAKMER. 



17 



glass or tin cans ? If tin, fiiilure ought to 

 succeed every effort, as it is wholly tmsuitable 

 for th(^ purpose. If glass was used, I hardly 

 see why he did not succeed, if, as the writer 

 says, he or she was "particular to follow print- 

 ed directions in general use." 



Having canned a large quantity of fruit, for 

 use in my own family, within the last five 

 years, and having been so fortunate as to have 

 had hardly any bottles or cans spoil, or even 

 mould upon the top, and this, too, without any- 

 thing like the amount of labor which the wri- 

 ter aforesaid says was expended, 1 thought a 

 word from me might be acceptable to that 

 person, and also to "many others." 



1 began bottling fruit in quart bottles of all 

 descriptions ; but as glass jars came into the 

 market, I used those. I now use the glass 

 jar — Lyman's — with tin cap and rubber ring, 

 using no sealing wax whatever. I have used 

 them three years, and have never lost a berry, 

 either by souring or moulding. 



With the bottles, I used corks and sealing wax. 

 When the bottle was filled, I pressed the cork 

 below the top of the neck, filled in with wax, 

 made of resin and tallow ; took a strip of 

 strong cloth, tied it over the neck, and then 

 coated that with the wax. In this way I pre- 

 vented the cork being drawn in by the great 

 pressure of air on the outside, and conse- 

 quently the admission of any air to the berries. 

 The corks were previou^ly boiled in Avater, 

 which, rendering them soft and pliable, a much 

 larger cork could be driven into the bottle 

 than if dry, and of course it fitted tighter. 



I have blackberries, blueberries, raspber- 

 ries, currants, peaches, pears, &c., &c., every 

 bottle of which is "keeping," perfectly. 



It may be well to add that, in heating my 

 jars, I just dash them into a pan of hot water, 

 and giving them a quick rolling motion, the 

 •water comes in contact with all parts of the 

 jar at nearly the same instant, thereby obvi- 

 ating the danger of breaking it, as is liable to 

 be done by the unequal heating and expansion 

 of the glass. b. 



Neio Hampshire, 1867. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 CULTIVATION OF THE PEACH. 

 Being desirous of obtaini.ig, from some re- 

 liable source, the best method of treatment in 

 all particulars of the peach, 1 applied, through 

 a friend, to a very reliable gentleman, of Phil- 

 adelphia, who has a very large orchard, and 

 has been very successful in its cultivation, for 

 such information. I send you, herewith, the 

 important extracts from his communication. 

 They may, or may not be of any use to us in 

 this section of country, but it seems to me that 

 any course of treatment that will tend to re- 

 store to us the peach orchards of twenty years 

 ago, should not remain untried. I am inclined 

 to believe, however, that one great, and I fear 

 irremediable trouble with both the peach and 



apple is the ruthless way in which we destroy 

 our forest trees, which heretofore have acted 

 as a shelter from our extreme cold in winter 

 and our blighting winds. 



"The best plan is to get from a reliable 

 nursery one or two-year old choice grafted 

 peach trees, and transplant them early in the 

 spring. Dig the holes for the trees' in the 

 fall, say a yard in diameter and eighteen inches 

 deep — mix a little well rotted manure and leaf 

 mould with the dirt taken from the holes this 

 fall, and let it lie exposed to the atmosphere 

 at the side of the holes during the winter, 

 ready to use when planting the trees in the 

 spring. A northern slope of a hill is best for 

 peach trees, as it prevents the too early swell- 

 ing of the fruit buds, in the spnng, and subse- 

 quent liability to being destroyed by later 

 frost. 



"After the trees are three or four years old, 

 it is best every fall to remove the soil for a 

 distance of eight or ten inches around the 

 trunk down to the top of the main roots, thus 

 forming a bowl for snow and ice to form in 

 during the wiater, destro3ing the worms 

 or germs of worms. In the spring, fill these 

 holes or bowls with ashes. If during the sum- 

 mer the leaves curl or turn yellow, it will be 

 caused by worms attacking the tree where the 

 roots join the trunk, lleinove the ashes, and 

 wherever gum is found oozing out, apply the 

 knife until the worm is destroyed, then hll in 

 with ashes again — there is no danger of hurt- 

 ing the tree hij thus cutting. 



"Peach trees should only be trimmed of dead 

 wood, and shortening of long horizontal limbs, 

 to keep them from breaking by the weight of 

 the fruit. 



"I have as fine peaches and in as great 

 abundance as ar^ produced in the State of 

 Delaware on liver bottom lands, notwith- 

 standing my land is six hundred feet above 

 tide water in Chester County, Penn." 



I am, gentlemen, very truly, yours, 



F. COPELAND. 



BtJTLDiNG ON A Texan Rancho. — In de- 

 scribing a house fifteen feet square, and anoth- 

 er small building for a cook room, which a 

 Northern man, Mr. B. F. Dane, has recently 

 erected, on a rancho he visited in Texas, Dr. 

 Boyntou says in a letter to the Mirror and 

 Farmer, that this undertaking which may look 

 as but a small job to a New England man, be- 

 comes very formidable and expensive, where a 

 man who can handle carpenter's tools can be 

 had only a day or two in a week at best, and 

 where you must wait for boards to be hauled 

 seventy or eighty miles, with ox teams that 

 move at the rate of eight miles a day, when 

 the oxen are not lost — and then a mile in eight 

 days is not an uncommon rate of motion. 



