22 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Althou'li the following receipt has been already pub- 

 lished in the New England Fanner, vol. i, page 3, we 

 give it again at tlie request of some friends, to oblige 

 new subscribers, not in possession of that volume, and 

 to show our opinion of its utility. We have it from 

 gfood authority that several persons have succeeded in 

 making most excellent wine, by following exacfti/ the 

 prescriptions of this receipt ; and some persons who 

 have tried a number of different modes of making this 

 kind of wine, have told us that the method here laid 

 down is much preferable to any with which they are 

 acquainted, \^'e presume that the currant wine vin- 

 tage is not yet passed by in some places within the 

 limits of the circulation of our paper, and hope this 

 formula may yet be of use to some of our readers the 

 present season. 



From Carty'^s ^^mtrican J^liisevm. 

 RECEIPT FOR MAKING Cl'RRANT WINE. 



Gather your currants when full ripe ; break 

 them well in a tub or vat, (some have a mill con- 

 structed for the ])ur[)ose, consisting' of a hopper, 

 fixed upon two lignnmvitae rollers) press and 

 measure your juice, add two thirds water, and 

 to each gallon ot that mixture, (i. «. juice and' 

 water) put three pounds of muscovado sugar, 

 (the cleaner and drier the better ; very coarse 

 sugar first clarified, will do equally as well,) 

 stir it well till the sugar is quite dissolved, and 

 then turn it up. If you can possibly prevent it, 

 let not your juice stand over night, as it should 

 not ferment before mixture. 



Observe that your casks be sweet and clean, 

 such as never had either beer or cider in them, 

 and if new let them be first well seasoned. 



Do not fill your casks too full, otherwise 

 they will work out at the bung, which is by 

 no means good for the wine ; rather make a 

 proportionable quantity over and above, that 

 after drawing off the wine you m.iy have a suf- 

 ficiency to fill up the casks. Lay the bung 

 lightly on the hole to prevent the flies &c. from 

 creeping in. In three weeks or a month after 

 making, the bung hole may be stopped up, leav- 

 ing only the vent-hole open till it has fully done 

 working, which generally is about the latter end 

 of October. It may then be racked off into oth- 

 er clean casks if you please ; but experience 

 seems to favor the letliiig thp wine stand on the 

 lees till spring, as it thereby attains a stronger 

 body, and is hy that means in a great measure 

 divested of that sweet luscious taste, peculiar to 

 new made wine ; nay, if it is not wanted for 

 present consumption, it may without any dam- 

 age stand two years on the lees. 



When you draw off the wine, bore a hole, an 

 inch at least above the tap-hole, a little to the 

 side of it, that it may run clear off the lees. — 

 The lees may either be distilled, which will 

 yield a line spirit, or filtered through an Hipo- 

 crates' sleeve and returned again into the cask. 

 Some put in spirits, but I think it not advis- 

 able. 



Do not suffer yourself to be prevailed on to 

 add more than one third juice as above pre- 

 scribed, in hopes th-it the wine may be richer, for 

 that would render it infallibly hard and unpleas- 

 ant, Dor yet a greater proportion of sugar, as it 

 would certainly deprive it of its pure vinous 

 taste. 



By this management you may have wine, let- 

 ing it have a proper age, equal to Madeira, at 

 least superior to most wines, commonly import- 

 ed, and lor much less «ioaey. 



In regard to the quantity of wine intended to 

 be made, take this example, remembering that 

 twelve pounds of sugar are equal to a gallon of 

 liquid. 



For instance, suppose you intend to make 30 

 gallons, then there must be, 



8 gallons of juice, 

 16 of water. 



24 gallons of mixture, 

 6 gallons from sugar. 



24 gallons of mixture, 

 3 multiplied by, 



12)72 



equal to 6 gallons of 

 liquid. 

 30 gallons. 

 I and so proportionably for any quantity you 

 I please to make. 



The common cider presses, if thoroughly 

 clean, will do well in making large tpiantities: 

 the small hand-screw press is most convenient 

 for such as make less. 



N. B. An extraordinary good spirit for me- 

 dicinal and other uses, may be distilled from 

 currant juice by adding a quart of molasses to a 

 gallon of juice, to give a proper fermentation. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SATURDAY, AUGUST 16, 1823. 



MR. ROSE'S COMMUNICATIOX. 



We hope our friend will pardcti us for g-iving 

 his letter (published in this day's paper, p. 20,) 

 at full length, without his licence, either ex- 

 pressed or implied. A good patriot may some- 

 times be allowed to trespass a little on private 

 property, provided he can thereby benefit the 

 public ; .-nd by parity of reasoning, a private 

 letter may be published without the consent of 

 the writer, if it contain information which may 

 prove useful to the community. That part 

 which relates to our own " reminiscences," 

 could not well be separated from the rest with- 

 out injuring the texture of the article. We 

 therefore concluded to publish the whole in- 

 stead of " an extract of a letter," &c. according 

 to immemorial usage, although we are sensible 

 that we run some risque of being accused of 

 egotism in thus obtruding upon our readers, 

 some allusions to a portion of our editorship's 

 biography, eur propensity to poetizing, and 

 other things which have no connexion with 

 what should be the objects of an agricultural 

 paper. 



We perfectly agree with Mr. Rose in the 

 opinion that llie kind of soil on which agricultu- 

 ral experiments are made, ought to be specially 

 noted in giving accounts of such experiments ; 

 otherwise we shall oftrn derive no benefit from 

 details of agricultural processes. Every farmer 

 can give a description of his soil accurate enough 

 for most purposes, without any knowledge of 

 chemistry, though he may not be able to state 

 the exact proportions of clay, sand, lime, &,c. of 

 which it is composed. W-e intend shortly to 

 give in our paper the difl'erent modes of ana- 

 lysing soils recommended by writers on hus- 

 bandry, which may enable the owner of land to 

 tell with sufficient exactitude (or all possible 

 practical purposes, what kuid of land, chemi- 



cally considered, his farm, or any part of it, i 

 composed of He may then adapt his plants li 

 his soil, instead of attempting to force his soi 

 to bear plants to which it is not adapted. 



We hope that our New England cultivator 

 will be induced to copy Mr. Rose's example 

 and send us the results of their analyses of soil 

 in different parts of the country. Those vvhi 

 wish for information relative to the mode o 

 conducting processes of this kind, may find i 

 method, taken I'rom the writings of Mr. Joht 

 Young, of Halifax, Nova Scotia, entitled '■^ Let 

 ters of Agricoki,'''' and republished in our firs 

 volume, page 91. This article we intend tc 

 publish again for the benefit of new subscriber! 

 who may not be in possession of our first vol 

 ume, together with other means for obtaining 

 the same end (as before intimaced) copied from 

 other approved authors. 



Some philosophers, if we mistake not, have 

 maintained that lime is exclusively the product 

 of animalization, and Judge Cooper's assertion 

 (mentioned by Mr. Rose, and quoted in No. 17. 

 vol. i, of our paper,) that some fine pasture 

 lands in Pennsylvania contain not a particle ol 

 lime would seem to corroborate that theory ; 

 for if there is no lime in the soil, and the bones 

 of animals fed upon it contain lime as usual, i( 

 must follow, we believe, that animal organiza- 

 tion can change other substances into lime. — 

 But Mr. Rose's anal3'sis overturns this theory, 

 so far as it depends on Judge Cooper's asser- 

 tion that no lime is to be found in the soil oi 

 this fine grazing country. We have the high- 

 est respect for Judge Cooper's authority on sci- 

 entific topics, but cannot carry our reverence 

 so far as to suppose him altogether exempted 

 from error^ especially as regards facts, which 

 he probably derived from the testimony of less 

 accurate observers. 



We hope that Mr. Rose's communication will 

 prove what we farmers call an entering xncJge, 

 ibr other articles from the same source. We 

 know him to be abundantly able, and hope he 

 will be no less willing to contribute to the ob- 

 jects ot our establishment the fruits of a highly 

 cultivated intellect, united, we believe, with an 

 acquaintance with the art as well as the science 

 of agriculture. 



COMMUNICATED. 



Simeon Draper, Esq. of I'rookfield, has a calf of thi 

 Holderness breed, which weighed at three months olJ 

 .'332 pounds, and at four months, .Tuly 14th, 440. Th 

 "-ill for the last month is over 3 1-2 lbs. per day. 



Brookfield, July 19. A Subscriber. 



A lemon raised by Mr. Adam Price, at Burlington, 

 N. J. measuring 12 inclies in circumference and w eigh- 

 ng 14 ounces, has been shewn in New-York. The tree 

 from which it was gathered had on it at one time Ihij 

 season above 100 lemons, many of which were nearly 

 as large as the above. 



The industrious Mr. Osgood, of South Salem, is now 

 gathering in his currant v.intage. He will make almnt 

 1000 gallons of wine this season. His wine has ^ome- 

 Limcs sold at the South for $3 a gallon. — Hulem Chis. 



