JOS 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



'OCT. 5, I84a 



APPLE MOLASSES. j 



Brother Fanners — Will you listen to me a few 

 minutes wliile I tell yuu how to provide yourself 

 ■"'ith a first rate article, and one of prime necessity, i 

 You are probably in something of u liaste, though I 

 hope you will have your potatoes dujr and safe in | 

 your cellar, for there arc many things a farmer has 

 to do to be ready for winter. It is just about elec- 

 tion time also, and every farmer should manage so 

 as to be able to drop in at. the poll and give his 

 vote for a good and true man ; but do not, as many 

 ivill, make the privilege of voting an e.xcuse for 

 spending a whole day at the tavern, imbibing " wet 

 damnation." 



If you are a married man, as I hope you are, for 

 no other one lias a consistent claim to the charac- 

 ter of a good citizen, you know, or if you do not, 

 your wife does, tliat i» costs no trifling sum to pro- 

 vide sweetning for the family, while there is no 

 possibility of living without it; and experience has 

 fully shown me, that for many of the purposes of 

 domestic cookery, apple molasses is far preferable 

 to West India, while it is at the same time much 

 cheaper. 



I make little cider ; my apples are worth more 

 fed to my hogs than for cider ; but 1 make a prac- 

 tice of selecting my sweet apples, those that fur- 

 nish the richest, heaviest liquor, and make a cheese 

 from them, using the cider thus obtained for making 

 apple or quince preserves, boiling down for molas- 

 ses, and keeping two or three barrels for drink, or 

 ultimate conversion into vinegar. When new from 

 the press, and before fermentation commences, that 

 which I intend for boiling is brought to the house, 

 and boiled in brass, to the proper consistence; 

 taking care not to hum it, as that gives the molas- 

 eea a disagreeable flavor, and taking off all the 

 scum that rises during the process. The quantity 

 to be boiled, or the number of barrels required to 

 make one of molasses, will depend greatly on the 

 kind of apples used, and the richness of the new 

 liquor. Four or four and a half are generally suf- 

 ficient, but when care is not used in making the 

 selection of apples, five barrels may be necessary, 

 but let it take more or less, enough must be used 

 to make the molasses, when cold, as thick as the 

 best West India. When boiled sufiiciently, it 

 should be turned into vessels to cool, and from 

 them transferred to a new sweet barrel, put into a 

 cool cellar, where it will keep without trouble, and 

 be ready at oil times. 



Molasses made in this way will be pure, and 

 possess a vinous or rather brandyed flavor, which 

 makes it far superior to the West India for mince, 

 apple, or tart pies, though where the apples used 

 are very sour, a small quantity of imported molas- 

 ses may be advantageously used. It is also excel- 

 lent for making beer in summer, giving it a brisk 

 flavor which common molasses will not. In short, 

 there are but few uses to which molasses is ap- 

 plied, in which it will not be equal or superior to 

 the other. Its cheapness should also be a decided 

 reconmiendation with the farmer. The cider from 

 which I manufacture my molasses, is worth at the 

 press a dollar a barrel, and it is worth a dollar to 

 reduce it to molasses, thus making the cost of a 

 barrel of molasses, allowing four and a half barrels 

 to be used, $5 iSO. The price of common molasses 

 will average about 50 cents a gallon, or si.\teen 

 dollars a barrel — making a saving to the farmer, in 

 the use of apple molasses, of about ten dollars per 

 barrel. Try and See. 



— Farmers' Jour. 



For ihe N. E. Fanner. 



REPORT OF SPEECHES AT THE HORTI- 

 CULTURAL FESTIVAL. 



Mr Putnam — Dear Sir — In the Courier of Mon- 

 day last, is a glowing description of the Horticultu- 

 ral festival of the previous week. From indispo- 

 sition, I was unfortunately unable to attend it. I 

 am fully aware of the great increase and spread of 

 fruits, flowers and vegetables since the incorpora- 

 tion of this Society, and was somewhat sorry to 

 see by some of the speeches that the credit altn- 

 gether was given to it for the great variety of 

 fruits now among us, and saying that only four or 

 five kinds of cherries, about as many pears, and as 

 many of other fruits were previously cultivated 

 among us. This is a very great mistake, as will 

 be proved before 1 close. It will be recollected 

 by many, that iMr Preble, S. G. Perkins, J. Prince, 

 G. Parsons, S. W. Pomeroy, and many others, 

 from 1808 down to the incorporation of this Socie- 

 ty, in 1828, had been collecting fnmi all parts of 

 Europe, and our Middle States, great quantities of 

 fruit trees, &c. &c. I have seen lists of some of 

 these gentlemen, in which above one hundred and 

 Ihirly sorts of apple trees, as many of pears, forty 

 of peaches, thirty of plums, ten of apricots, &c. &c. 

 were in iheir collection at the latter date. Indeed 

 it must be in the recollection of some now living, 

 that at the very first exhibition of (he Horticultural 

 Society, one of the above gentlemen senlfiflyeifrht 

 specimens of apples, (as will appear by referring 

 to the New England Farmer of that period,) being 

 a larger number than any person has since shown, 

 (except from a nursery, for sale.) 



It is very true, since the weekly and annual 

 shows of this Society, all these things have become 

 more circulated abroad. It must be well remem- 

 bered that Mr Lowell had also received his large 

 collection of pears from Mr Knight, and freely dif- 

 fused scions from them. 



The following named pears were also, before 

 ISIO, in high repute and in large quantities: St. 

 Germain, St. Michael, Virgalicu, Chaumontel, Col- 

 mar, Crasanne, Bon Chretien, Broca's Bergamot. 

 What has become of them .^ Can any person in- 

 form us the cause of their disappearance — or are 

 they well replaced ? 



Of vegetables, also, it is believed that all now 

 cultivated, were then; but the spread since has 

 been much increased. 



It is hoped the preceding remarks will not offend 

 any one: the writer is far from intending to do it: 

 this is only intended that auld lang syne may not 

 be forgotten. 



Yours, truly, N. 



P. S. — It is hope(J itie Courier will copy the 

 above, as it should follow the published account of 

 the festival. 



d^The above communication is anonymous: 

 we know not whence it comes. We should have 

 liked the writer's name; but we shall not withhold 

 it because of our ignorance as to who its author is. 

 We presume its facts are correct, and in the opin- 

 ion of many they may be an important sequel to the 

 report of the speeches at the horticultural festival ; 

 but we supposed that those speeches generally 

 would not be regarded as of mucli authority or con- 

 sequence, so far as their facts go ; — they, like most 

 speeches on similar occasions, were intended to 

 please the company present, and were not supposed 

 to be full and authentic histories of the cultivation 

 of flowers and fruits among us. — Ed. N. E. F 



CYCLES IM THE SEASONS. 



There is a belief prevalent among some aged 

 people, that there are cycles in the seasons ; by 

 which is meant a return of the peculiarities of each 

 season every nineteen or twenty years. Or, in 

 other words, .the season nineteen or twenty years 

 ago, was similar to the present, and that nineteen 

 or twenty years hence there will be also a similar 

 one to the present. 



We believe that the exact period is not yet 

 agreed upon by those who are believers in cycles, 

 but it does not vary much from twenty years. 



We were reminded of this subject by reading 

 the remarks of "Viator" in the Bangor Whig and 

 Courier, who states that he found such a theory 

 believed by some of the people in New Brunswick, 



Some years since, a diary kept by old Parson 

 Smith, of Portland, (Falmouth,) during many years 

 before and after the Revolution, was published. 

 In this, notes of the seasons were made, and we 

 believe there is a summary of the seasons at the 

 end of the book. It is now out of print, and we 

 are not able to procure a copy. We should like 

 very much to see an abstract of this diary, as far 

 as the crops and the seasons are concerned, and: 

 venture to set brother Smith, of the Eastern Far- 

 mer, the task of making one. He can probably 

 procure a copy of the work. Let us investigate 

 this subject. If the belief is well founded, and it 

 shall be proved that there is such a thing in nature: 

 as cycles of the seasons, it will be a valuable dis 

 covery. If, on the other hand, facts ivill not war- 

 rant this belief, and it shall turn out upon investi' 

 gation that there is nothing to found such a theory 

 upon, we shall do good by overthrowing iL The 

 most marked instances of similarity, tli;it cm be 

 found within the last forty years, we presume are 

 1816 and 1836. The former (1816) will always 

 be known as the "cold season." 



The year 1836 was not quite so disastrous, but 

 yet it was a cold and comparatively fruitless year 

 Both wheat and corn came in very light throughout 

 the Union. During the winter and spring follow- 

 ing, immense quantities of foreign wheat were im- 

 ported into the United States, and even a cargo ol 

 German wheat was brought up the Kennebec tc 

 supply the deficiency in this part of Maine. We 

 do not now remember the particulars of other years 

 so distinctly. 



The drought of last year, (1841,) we believe die 

 not have a prototype in 1821. It may be answered 

 however, that droughts do not, as a general thing, 

 affect a large extent of country at a time ; thai 

 they are more local in their character, and are not 

 felt, like temperature, over the whole length and 

 breadth of the country throughout a whole season. 

 We should be glad to hear from our correspondentfi 

 on this subject. — Maine Far. 



ii 



Good Farming. — "Sambo, is your master a good 

 farmer.-' "Oyes, massa fuss rate farmer — he 

 make two crops in one year." " How is that 

 Sambo.'" "Why, he sell all his hay in de fall 

 and make money once ; den in de spring he sell dt 

 hides of de cattle dat die for want of de hay, and 

 make money twice." — Selected. 



Illio can heat this ? — Mr Luke Bush, of this town. 

 has an ox which he has fattened on his farm, thai 

 weighs 3000 lbs. We challenge any farmer in 

 New England to produce an equal. — Wesifield Pal- 

 ladium. 



