1854. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



437 



For the New England Farmer. 



LAKE CHAMPLAIN DROUGHT, 

 CROPS, &c. 



I have not the honor of being the oldest inhabi- 

 tant, so cannot say what has been, but for 27 

 years, during which time I Imve been a resident 

 of this valley, I have never known such a drought 

 as at present. We are literally dried up. Streams, 

 largo and small, are very low ; some, on which 

 are mills, have no water except in holes. Since 

 June 10th, only 2.81 inches of rain — 1.21 in June, 

 1.60 in July, and the last only .02 July 20th.— 

 June was 'i^'^ colder than last year, July 5^" 

 warmer. 



May and June were favorable for grass, of 

 which there has been a great crop, and well se- 

 cured; oats, wheat and rye, a full average; 

 corn and potatoes, many pieces a total failure ; 

 buckwheat, carrots, &c., do. In some towns 

 there have been showers, so there may be half 

 crops. Fruit — apples not one-fourth an average, 

 and very small ; pears few ; plums, the most har- 

 dy plenty, others rery few ; grapes, early ones 

 mildewed, Isabella and other late ones promise 

 well. G. 



Burlington, Vt., Aug. 19. 



For the New England Farmer. 



GRAPE WINE-HEN LICE, &c. 



Mr. Editor : — Last spring I took half of a flour 

 barrel and filled it with dirt — took down a branch 

 of a grape vine that grows in my field, and buried 

 it therein, according to the directions laid down 

 in Cole's Fruit Book. And now, after cutting 

 it from the parent vino, what shall I do with it ? 

 Shall I plant it this fall, or not until spring, if 

 not until spring, what shall I do with it this fall 

 and winter? (a.) 



I saw in the N. E. Far?ncr, (to which I am a 

 subscriber) of July 29, a recipe for making cur- 

 rant wine, but I have looked in vain as yet, for a 

 recipe to make grape wine. Cannot you inform 

 me how to make good wine from our common na- 

 tive grape ? (Ij.) 



I have noticed in the Farmer that different cor- 

 respondents have told their methods for destroy- 

 ing the curculio, striped bugs, lice on cattle, &c., 

 &c., but no one has ever told how to destroy lice 

 on fowls. In a part of the Ijay in my barn I keep 

 corn husks in the winter, and in the summer I 

 keep my sleigh and meal barrels, &c. My hens 

 make nests in my sleigh and about in the bay and 

 lay and set and hatch chickens there. The other 

 day I found to my surpi'iso that my sleigh, plow, 

 &c., were covered with myriads of lice. I looked 

 in the henroost, which joins the Jjay, and found 

 they were there, too. Now if you can inform me 

 through the columns of the Farmer, of any meth- 

 od that will destroy such vermin, I shall be very 

 much obliged. I am about building a henery, and 

 how shall I manage to keep it clear from being 

 infested with vermin 1 (c.) 



Respectfully yours, Ignoramus. 



Wre?itham, August, 1851. 



Remarks. — (a.) Transplant your grape, after 

 the frost has killed the leaves, into the spot where 

 you wish it to remain, see that no standing water 

 can remain about it, and protect it slightly through 



winter with the boughs of evergreees, or coarse 

 hay or straw. 



(^>.) B. F. Cutter, Esq., of Pelham, N. H., 

 will instruct you how to make wine from the na- 

 tive grape. 



(c.) Vermin on fowls may be destroyed by 

 slightly greasing or oiling, the top of the head of 

 each fowl, and applying it under the wings. Feed 

 to them an occasional mash of boiled onions and 

 Indian meal ; rub the roosts with raw onions. A 

 correspondent in last year's volume of the month- 

 ly Farmer, says that a feather dipt into spirits of 

 turpentine, and the parts most infested touched 

 with it, will destroy the intruders. The oil, how- 

 ever, will bo effectual, if persisted in, as the spir- 

 acles or breathing pores of the body become 

 clogged and they cannot breathe. 



RECIPE FOR MAKING GRAPE WINE. 



Eds. Rural : — For the gratification of your cor- 

 respondent, "H. B.," of Toledo, and perhaps 

 other readers of your excellent paper, 1 submit 

 for insertion the following mode of making Grape 

 Wine. It may be aflirmed that from the days of 

 Noah down to the present time, good wine, eith- 

 er from the juice of grapes or any other fruit, has 

 been obtained only through the simple process of 

 fermentation. My practice in making wine for 

 the past t»wenty years, has been as follows : 



When the grapes are fully ripe, and have been 

 removed from the vineyard to the place assigned 

 for making the wine, they should be assorted, and 

 all the green and decayed ones removed. Then 

 put them into a barrel, about a bushel at a time, 

 stems and grapes, and pound them thoroughly till 

 all the grapes are mashed. Continue the process 

 till all are finished that you wish to make up at 

 that time. The next process is to press out the 

 juice or must. Then to every gallon add two 

 pounds of sugar, and stir it thoroughly till all the 

 sugar is dissolved. It is then put into barrels for 

 the purpose of fermentation, there to remain, with 

 frequent filling up to supply the waste, till the 

 pomace is all fermented off. A supply of the 

 must should be on hand for that purpose. The 

 barrels should not be bunged up until the fer- 

 menting process is about completed. This may 

 be easily ascertained by placing your ear to the 

 bung. If in April or May the wine should be 

 found clear, it may bo racked oS", but if unsettled 

 it should be left till fall. If the wine is found to 

 be just what you want it at the time of racking, 

 bottle as much is you choose ; but if not, let it re- 

 main on the lees, and the article will increase in 

 character and strength. 



I would remark that all grapes raised in this 

 section of the country, do not contain enough 

 sugar or saccharine matter to make good wine 

 without the addition of sugar. u. n. l. 



— Rural New-Yorker. 



Saving Sweet Potato Vines for Seed. — A. P. 

 Strobel sends to the Georgia Telegraph the fol- 

 lowing : 



"Sweet potato vines may be saved during the win- 

 ter, and used the following spring in propagating 

 a new crop. I have tried the experiment during 



