No. 3. 



Preservins^ Winter Apples — Fond/or Plan f -9. 



87 



it, tor alter it enters tlie fourth and last ritage 

 of fermentation, it would be very prejudicial 

 to tiie healtli of animals, and could not con- 

 tribute to their nourishment in any way what- 

 ever. 



These hints are thrown out to elicit infor- 

 mation from farmers, who will soon be en- 

 gaged in fattening their ho^'s, and if any ex- 

 periments or observations should be made by 

 them that would enlifrjiten or instruct their 

 brethren who are cnsja^ed in the same land- 

 able work, it is desired that they irvry be com- 

 municated throu^rh tiie Farmers' Cabinet, for 

 we now have a channel of communication 

 with each other, whicli it is presumed will be 

 useful to all, if it is made a proper use of. 

 T. . 



Preserving Winter Apples. 



Winter apples should be gathered as soon 

 as the mature ones begin to fall from the 

 trees; they should be carefully picked by the 

 hand, and never shaken from the tree. If in- 

 tended to be carried to market this fall, they 

 may be packed in chaff or soft straw to pre- 

 vent bruising. But it would doubtless in 

 most instances be more profitable to keep ap- 

 ples till spring, on account ot their high price 

 at that time. The same apples that are sold 

 in autumn for twenty-five cents, orten, wben 

 kept till spring, brmg seventy-five cents or a 

 dollar per busFiel ; while the loss by rotting, 

 when proper precautions are taken to preserve 

 them, is but comparatively trifling. An ex- 

 cellent mode of preserving them, is to pack 

 them away in dry sand. The sand should be 

 • previously well dri"d in the sun. This mode 

 prevents them from rotting one another by 

 contact, the sand absorbs all unnecessary 

 moisture from the fruit, and thus lessens the 

 liibility of rotting; and pirtially excludes the 

 air. VVell driod saw dust woald probably bej 

 still better, provided it is prevented from ab-| 

 sorbin^ moisture by being exchul'd fr<^im Ih • 

 air; but it ^^hould be of a kind of wood vvhiciij 

 will not injure the fl-ivor of the apples. 



Where this method cannot be adopted, a I 

 goo'l way to keep them is to spread them in 

 shallow bins, say (five or six inches in depth,) 

 in a dry cool place, where the temperature 

 should be kept as nearly as possible a little 

 above freezing. 



The foUowins", according to Kenrick, is a 

 mode of preserving apples, almost universally 

 adopted by the most experienced in the vicin- 

 ity of B )>toa, wiiere lar<je quantities of fine 

 winter fruit are cultivated and put up for use. 

 By this mode, we are assured, apples under 

 very favorable circumstonces, are frequently 

 preserved in a sound state, or not one in fifty 

 defective, for a period of seven or eight 

 months. "The fruit is suffered to hang on 



the tree to as late a period as possible in Oc- 

 tober, or till hard frosts have loosened the 

 stalk, and they are in imminent danger of be- 

 ing blown down by high winds; such as have 

 already fallen are carefully gathered and in- 

 spected, and the best put up for early winter 

 use. They are carefully gathered from the 

 tree by hand, and as carefully laid in baskets. 

 New, tight, well seasoned tlour barrels frorq 

 the bak<Ts, are usually preferred ; the baskets 

 being filled, are c:)utiously lowered into the 

 barrels and reversed. The bat rels being quite 

 filled, are gently shaken, and the head is 

 gently pressed down to its place and secured. 

 It is observed th:it this pressure never causes 

 them to rot next the head, and is necessary, 

 as they are never allowed to rattle in remov- 

 ing. No soil straw or shavings are admitted 

 at the ends; it causes musliness and decay. 

 They are next carefully placed in wagons and 

 removed on the bulge, vmd laid in courses in a 

 cool airy situation on the north side of buildings 

 near the cellar, protected by a covering on 

 the top of boards, so placed as to defend them 

 from the sun and rain, while the air is ^ not 

 excluded at the sides. A chill does not in- 

 jure them, it is no disservice ; but when ex- 

 treme cold weather comes on, and they are 

 in imminent danger of being frozen, whether 

 by night or day, they are carefully rolled into 

 a cool, airy, dry cellar, with openings on the 

 north side, that the cold air may have free 

 access, they are laid in tiers, and the cellar is 

 in due time o'osed and rendered secure from 

 frost. 'J'he barrels are never tumbled or 

 placed on the head. If fruit is gathered late, 

 and according to the above directions, repack- 

 ino' is unnecessary, it is even ruinous, and 

 should on no account be practiced till the 

 barrel is opened tor use. — It has been fully 

 tried. — Genesee Farmer. 



For the Fnrmors' ra'iinit. 



Food for S*l!»Bits. 



Vegetable mould or earth when brought in- 

 to a state of solution furnishe-? food tiir plants, 

 and enters into their composition and struc- 

 ture ; plants furni.sh food for ofher plants and 

 for animals, and become anim'ilized by the pro- 

 cess of digestion ; consequently animals are 

 manufactured out of vegetables by si. proce.ss of 

 which we are ignorant; and when animals die 

 and are decomposed by the agency of heat, 

 moisture and air, they are reduced again to the 

 elements wliich constitute the food of plants, 

 and so proceed, on the same round again of 

 producing a new gonerrition of plants and ani- 

 mals : and this rotatory system has been in op- 

 eration from the creation of the world to the 

 present time, and so will continue till time is 

 no more; the quantity of matter always re- 

 maining the same, thoui^h its tiirm and com- 

 bmations are constantly undergoing a change. 



