1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



497 



PRINCE'S YELLOW GAGE PLUM. 



The Yellow Gage was raised, so long: ago as the 

 year 1783, by the elder Mr. Prince, of Flushing,!. 

 I. It is very common on the Hudson river, but we 

 do not find any description of it in Manning or Ken- 

 rick. We have noticed that it is sometimes con- 

 founded, at Boston, with the Imperial Gage, which 

 is really quite distinct. Its great hardiness and pro 

 ductiveness, joined to its rich sugary flavor, makes 

 it a favorite sort. There is a tree in the gardens 

 here, thirty years old, which still bears most excel- 

 lent crops annually. 



Branches smooth, short-jointed, with glossy leaves, 

 and forming a large spreading head. Fruit a little 

 above medium size, oval, rather broadest toward the 

 stalk. Suture a mere line. Skin golden yellow, a 

 little colored, and covered with a copious white 

 bloom. Stalk an inch long, inserted in a small round 

 cavity. Flesh deep yellow, rich, sugary and melt- 

 ing, though sometimes rather dry; parts freely 

 from the stone. Ripens rather early, about the first 

 week in August. 



The growth of this plum is not only very differ- 

 ent from the Imperial Gage, but the fruit of the 

 latter is readily distinguished by its abundant Jm'ci- 

 ness, its greenish color, and the superior sprightli- 

 ness of us flavor. — Doicning. 



Vinegar. — The juice of one bushel of sugar 

 beets, worth twenty-five cents, and which any far- 



mer can raise with little cost, will make from five 

 i to six gallons of vinegar equal to the best elder 

 wine. First wash and grate the beets, and express 

 the juice in a cheese press, or in any other way 

 which a little ingenuity can suggest, and put the 

 liquor into a barrel, cover the bung with gauae and 

 set it in the sun, and in fifteen or twenty days it 

 will be fit for use. By this method the very best 

 of vinegar may be obtained without any great 

 trouble, and I hope all who like good vinegar will 

 try it. — Ohio Valley Fanner. 



Teaching the Eye. — The great majority of 

 mankind do not and cannot see one fraction of what 

 they might see. "None are so blind as those that 

 will not see," is as true of physical as moral vision. 

 By neglect and carelessness we have made our- 

 selves unable to discern hundreds of things which 

 are before us to be seen. A powerful modern 

 writer has summed this up in one pregnant sen- 

 tence : — "The eye sees what it brings the power to 

 see." How true is this ! The sailor on the look- 

 out can see a ship where the landsman sees noth- 

 ing; the Esquimaux can distinguish a white fox 

 amidst the white snow ; the American back-woods- 

 man will fire a rifle ball so as to strike a nut out of 

 the mouth of a squirrel without hurting it ; the 

 Red Indian boys hold their hands up as marks to 

 each other, certain that the unerring arrow will be 



