1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARJklER. 



549 



common hay rake, a suitable boat, and some 

 pieces of canvass constitute the outfit of a 

 mosser. 



He commences operation at low tide, when 

 the moss is left bare on the rocks. At spring 

 tide, when the rocks are uncovered to a greater 

 distance from the shore than at neap or com- 

 mon tide, he finds the best article. This he 

 pulls by hand. It is more free from admix- 

 ture with tape grass, and other marine plants, 

 and he bleaches this with special care. This 

 is bought by the druggists, and is used for 

 blancmange. 



At common tides, he gathers it with his rake. 

 As the tide rises he runs his boat on to the 

 beach. The moss is then transported on hand 

 barrows to bleaching beds on the higher parts 

 of the beach, where it is turned with a hay 

 rake until it is dry. Then it is washed in salt 

 water, and again spread and dried, and this 

 process is repeated several times, until it is suf- 

 ficiently bleached, when it is packed in barrels 

 and headed up and is ready for market. 



The mossers watch the heavens as carefully 

 as do the hay-makers, and when a rain threat- 

 ens, they put it into cocks and cover it with 

 canvass hay caps. The prime article consti- 

 tutes but a small part of the crop. This, as 

 we have said, is chiefly taken by the apotheca- 

 ries. 



Its most important use is in the manufacture 

 of cloth, paper, felt hats and straw hats, in 

 which it is used for sizing. The poorer qual- 

 ities arc bought for size. The second quality 

 is sold to the brewers, by whom it is used for 

 "fining" beer. A quantity of the moss is 

 boiled with the beer, and its gelatine unites 

 with the impurities, and produces the required 

 clarification. It is also used, instead of ising- 

 glass, fish skin, and white of eggs, for fining 

 coffee. 4 



of sulphuric acid twenty hundred carboys, of 

 tallow five thousand barrels, and their con- 

 sumption of lard, on an average, equals weekly 

 seven hufidred and fifty tierces of three hun- 

 dred pounds each, per week, for two hundred 

 and eighty days in the year. 



No Trials of Speed at the New York 

 State Fairs. — From a fable of the attendance 

 at each of the annual fairs of the New York 

 State Agricultural Society for the past twenty- 

 four years, it appears that the average atten- 

 dance for each of the first twelve years was 

 51,000, and for each of the last twelve years 

 53,500. This latter term includes, of course, 

 the several years of the late war, during which 

 many societies held no exhibition. The atten- 

 dance this year was 68,400. And yet the 

 Country GenUeman informs us ^'tha.t never has 

 a horse trotted against another, or against 

 time, on the Society's grounds." 



A Large Business. — One firm in Cincin- 

 natti made in a single year, star and tallow 

 candles, soap, lard oil, olive oil, glycerine, «S;c., 

 exceeding the value of two millions of dollars. 

 They are regularly fiUing^orders from Califor- 

 nia and elsewhere, of five to ten thousand 

 boxes of soap and star candles, the first of 

 sixty and the second of thirty-five pounds to 

 the box. They use up of resin, thirty-six 

 hundred barrels, of soda ash one thousand 

 tons, of candle wick thirty thousand pounds, 



For the New England Farmer. 



CULTIVATION" OF CKANBERSIES. 



I noticed in a late Farmer an inquiry by a 

 New Hampshire correspondent in rt ference to 

 cranberry culture. Having had. a little ejcpe- 

 rience in the business, sometimes succeeding 

 and sometimes failing, an inquiry of that kind 

 always interests me. 



Some ten or twelve years ago I conceived 

 the idea of converting what was formerly the 

 bottom of a reservoir, into something that 

 would be of some sort of income. A portion 

 of it was covered T^ith small willows ; another 

 portion with sweet flag ; and the rest of it was 

 just getting into grass. The willows and sweet 

 flag I took out, root and branch, which left the 

 mud naked and bare. Into this mud and 

 among the grass I put the vines, in little tufts, 

 about three feet apart each way To get the 

 right kind, I carted them seven miles. 



The whole process created quite an excite- 

 ment in the neighborhood. It was a wet, 

 muddy job, in which I had no sympathy from 

 my neighbors. Two strands of No. 9 wire 

 were run on two sides of it, to keep off the 

 cattle. I estimated the expense to be about 

 $12, — possibly it might have been $15. In 

 two years the ground was covered with vines, 

 some of them being six feet long. I soon be- 

 gan to harvest cranberries, and the fifth and 

 sixth years, I think it was, I sold $50 worth 

 each year. Since then the crop has varied 

 from a few bushels to nothing. This year I 

 do not get a cranberry, though at one time 

 they looked well. 



With this little experience, assisted by ob- 

 servation, I think now I could select situations 



