338 



THE (iENESEE FARMER. 



put tlie mixturo into a cleiin barrel, and fill np to 

 wiiliin two ^fallons uf beiu},' full witli clean cider; 

 put the disk in a cool jilace, leaving tlie hunt,' out 

 fo"fy-ei.<ilit hours; then jiut in ilie hunir, will: a 

 small vent, until feiMnentation wholly ceases, and 

 in one year the wine will he tit tor use. Tliis wine 

 re(]uires no racking; the longer it stands upon the 

 lees I he better. * * * * * * * 



'• It is .considered by many as a ])root' of good 

 cider if it sparkles in the jzlass ; liad cider may do 

 tliis, and any will which is bunged tight before the 

 ferinentation is comiiUted. 



"The common appellation for cider isoorrect: 

 we say '■it is fine ;^ by which is meant, free from 

 all feculent matter; and no cider should be cou- 

 eidered iiood unless it is well 'fined.' 



"If it is wished at any pt'riod of the fermenta- 

 tion to stop its further progress, it may be done by 

 a<!ding one or two grains of 8uli)hite of lime to 

 eacli gallon, which will not affect the flavor of the 

 cider." 



THE ORIGIN OF FARMERS' CLUBS. 



R. Scott Bukns, in his OutUi^of Modern Farm- 

 ing, says: 



"The origin of our [English] first agricultural 

 societies dates back to a peiiod more than a thou- 

 sand years ago. At that |)eriod, as we have rdse- 

 where remarked, 'such was the i^overty of the 

 husbandman, and the wretched condition of hus- 

 bandry, that it was the custom for six or eight in- 

 dividuals to club togetlier their scanty means to 

 procure a plow, and oxen wherewith to drive it — 

 hedging: rhetnseUes round in th'ir social organiza- 

 tion witti niany quaint laws, which, in the minute- 

 ness of their details, showed how important to 

 tliem was their association ^igether, how miserably 

 scanty their means when they liad to contribute 

 their mite to the purchase of an instrument, and 

 this so rude, that liy an enactment about the ^ame 

 period we have alluded to, no man was allowed to 

 guide a plow unless he could first construct it, and 

 make, moreover, the twisted willow withes with 

 which his wretclied oxen drew it.' Contrasting 

 the farmers' clubs or societies of this period — and 

 the objects for which they were introduced — with 

 tlio.se of the present time, wlien, in their grand 

 oruanization, they are welcomed to the towns 

 whicli tliey periodically visit, with arch triumphal 

 and banners flaunting, with their thousands of 

 members giving up their means, not to secure, 

 like tlieir bretliren of old, assistaiice for their in 

 dividual operations merely, hut to collect informa- 

 tion and the c.etails of experience for the purpose 

 of scattering them broadcast over the land, that 

 all their brethren might particii)ate in tiie benefits 

 of their association; contra-<tin<r the societies of 

 tlje two periods, we have examples of ancient and 

 modern association." 



THE FORCES OF NATURE. 



A Great Chop of Onioxs.—Jamks Golden, of 

 Chili, in tljia Qounty, raised the past season, from 

 three-quarters of an .icre of ground, nine hundred 

 bushels of onions. lie has sold |)art of the crop 

 for one dollar per bushel. The demand for onions 

 in the army insures good prices. 



In a previous number of the Genesee Farmer, 

 we alluded to an address delivered at the Califor- 

 nia Agricultural Fair by T. Stark King. We have 

 seldom read anything more eloquent and beautiful 

 than the fidlowing passage, describing the effect of 

 the natural t\)rces : 



"Suppose th.at, early in tliis year, the whole 

 world liad bent itself in supplication to the Invisible 

 Ruler — every man and woman, from the Arctic 

 circle to the hot JEquator, kneeling in the humility 

 of conscious dependence, and lifting up from every 

 zone the ])ri\j-er, 'Forsake us not this year, Great 

 Benefactor, l)Ut bless us in our helplessness, from 

 tlie treasury of thy goodness.' And su])pose that, 

 after sucli a verbal petition, the t-uj'ply had come, 

 I hat in every house had Iteen found the water and 

 the stores, the bounties of vciretible and animal 

 food — how surprising would the mercy have 

 seemed. 



"But how much more surpri-ing and inspiring 

 is the real woiu'er, that such a shower upon a bar- 

 ren globe could be! With few prayers for it, the 

 great miiacle has been wrought, and in the double 

 way of beauty and bounty. For wliMt is the dis- 

 play of the seasons? Is not the quickeni/ig of na- 

 ture in the early months of the year, as though God 

 smiles upon the earth at the Equator? and then 

 the spreading wave of that benigniiy sweeps north- 

 ward, rolling back tlie water line, loosing the fet- 

 ters of the frost, melting snow into fertiliziiig juices, 

 pressing the cold clouds farther and farther iiack, 

 and from the tropics to the edges of the Pohir seas 

 gladdening the soil, till it utters in spreading ver- 

 dure the visible green lyric of its joy. And the 

 summer ! Is it not the warm eflBuence of his lireath 

 that flows northward, and reveals the infinite good- 

 ness as it floats through the southern groves and fills 

 the fruit with sweetness, thickens the saj) of the 

 sugar fields, nourishes the rice plaii s, feeds the en- 

 erL{ies of the temperate clime, i)le.sses the hardy or- 

 chards and the struggling wheat and corn, and dies 

 amid the everlasting ice, after completing the cir- 

 cuit of its mission in clothing the northern woods 

 with life? And then the mariy-hued pomp of har- 

 vest conies, when the more ruddy litrht and the 

 gorgeous coloring repeat the joy of the Creator in 

 the vast witnesses ot his beneticence. and the tired 

 fields yield to the laborers their ample bounty, and 

 seem to whisper, 'Take, O children of men, aidbe 

 grateful, until the course of this stupendous miraclo 

 is renewed.' 



"If we could see the wheat woven by fairy 

 spinners, ajniles rounded and painted and jiacked 

 with juice by elfin fingers; or if the sky were 

 a va-t granary or ]irovision store, from which our 

 iK'eds were supplied in response to verbal jirayerB, 

 whoccuild help cherishing a constant undertone 

 of wonder at the miraculous forces that encircle 

 us? But consider how much more amazing is the 

 fact! Consider how, out of the same moisture, 

 the variou-* flowers are comjiounded ; the dew that 

 drops in the tr('])ics is transmuted into the rich 

 oranire lii|Uor and banana ]uilp, and sweet substance 

 of the fiii; the pomegran.ate stores itself with fine 

 fragrance and savor from it; the various colors and 

 qualities of the grape are drawn from it, and in 



