PRACTICAL FARMER 



69 



GlilSANINGS IN HUSBBANORY, AND ITEMS OP 

 ECONOMY, 



BY THE EDITOR OF THE N. E. FARMER. 



On preserving Vegetables. — ^ he preserva- 

 tion of vegetables for future use is effected by de- 

 stroying or rendering dormant, the principle of 

 life, and by warding off, as far as practicable, the 

 progress of chemical Llecomjjosition. When veg- 

 etaiiles or fruits are gathered for use or preserva- 

 tion, the a. r of the atmosphere which surrounds 

 them is continually depriving them of carbon, and 

 forming the carbonic acid gas. The water they 

 contain, by its softening qualities, weakens the af- 

 finity of their elements ; and heat produces the 

 same effect by (Jilafng their parts, and promoting 

 the decomposing effect both of air and water. 

 Hence drying in the sun or in ovens, isone of the 

 Hiost obvious modes of preserving vegetables for 

 use as food, or for other piu'poses, but not for 

 growth if the drying process is carried so far as 

 to destroy the principle of life in seeds, roots or 

 sections of the shoots of ligneous (woody) plants. 

 Potatoes, turnips, and other etculcn? roots may be 

 preserved from autumn to the following summer, 

 by burying them in perfectly dry soil which shall 

 be at the s.ime time at a temperature but a few 

 degrees al)ove the freezing point. Corn [grain] 

 may be preserved many years by first drying it 

 thoroughly in the sun, and burying it in dry cool 

 pits, and closing these so as effectually to exclude 

 the atmospheric air. In a short time the air 

 within is changed to carbonic acid gas, in which 

 no animal will live, and in which, without the ad- 

 dition of oxygen or atmospheric air, no plant or 

 seed will vegetate. The corn is thus preserved 

 from decomposition, from insects, vermin, and 

 from vegetation, in a far more effectual manner 

 than it can be in a granary. In this way the Ro- 

 mans preserved their corn in chambers hewn out of 

 dry rock, the Moors in the sides of hills, the Chi- 

 nese at the present time in deep pits in dry soil, 

 and the aborigijial natives jf Africa, in earthen 

 vessels hermetically sealed. The origin of these 

 practices are all obvious imitations of what acci- 

 dentally takes place in nature, from withered grassy 

 tussocks to the hedgehog's winter store; and hence 

 the origin of herb, seed and root rooms and cel- 

 lars^ and packing plants and seeds for sendingto a 

 distance. — Enc. of Jigr. 



Jerusalem Artichoke. — This plant is in a peculiar 

 manner fitted to grow under the shade. It can, 

 therefore be cultivated in woods ; and it is some- 

 times sown in England to afford shelter for game ; 

 the plants being left to reproduce themselves an- 

 nually from tubers. 



Taking into account the hardy qualities of this 

 plant, its productiveness and easy culture, it may 

 be doubted whether it merits the universal neglect 

 into which it has fallen. Granting its inferiority 

 as an article 6f food to the plaoti now cultivated 



for our domestic stock, it must be of some impor- 

 tance to have a plant that can be so easily raised 

 and on soils so low in the scale of fertility. 



To keep off or drive away Bed Bugs. — Make a 

 strong decotion of red pepper, when ripe, and ap- 

 ply it with a common paint brush to the joints of 

 the bedstead, wainscoating, &c. where these in- 

 sects resort and it will kill or expel them. 



Warm water for cows. — It has been said that 

 cows will give the more milk in cold weather in 

 consequence of having water which they drink 

 made a little warm. 



A method of making good butter from the milk of 

 cows fed on turnips. — Let the vessels which re- 

 ceive the milk be kept constantly clean and well 

 scalded with boiling water. When the milk is 

 brought to the dairy, with every eight quarts niix 

 one quart of boiling water, and then put it up to 

 stand for cream. — Hunterh Geological Essays. 



Method of preserving young trees from being in- 

 jured by Hares or Rabbits. — By William Pater- 

 son, Esq. of Iberden, Kent, Eng. 



Hares, rabbits and rats have a natural antipathy 

 to tar ; but tar, though fluid, contracts (when ex- 

 posed to the sun and air for sometime) a great dry- 

 ness, and a very binding quality ; and if ap])lied 

 to trees in its natural state will occasion them to 

 be bound. To remove the difficulties, tar isof ao 

 strong a savor, that a small quantity mixed with 

 other things in their nature loose and open, will 

 give the whole mixture such a degree of its own 

 taste and smell, as will prevent hares, &c. from 

 touching what it is applied to. 



Take any quantity of tar, and six or seven times 

 as much grease, stirring and mixing them togeth- 

 er ; with this composition brush the stems of 

 yoimg trees, as high as the hares, &c. reach, and 

 it will effectually prevent their being barked. I 

 believe if a plantation of ash, (which they are 

 very fond of) were made in a rabbit warren, this 

 mixture would certainly preserve it. These ani- 

 mals do great mischief amongst flowering shrubs, 

 and are particularly fond of Spanish broom. Scor- 

 pion Senna, and evergreen Cystissus. I have had 

 those shrubs eaten down to a stump, but as the 

 mixture cannot well be applied to them, I have 

 enclosed their branches with a new tar twine, 

 putting it several times round the shrub, which 

 has had the desired effect. Tar twiue by being 

 exposed to the air and rain, will lose its smell, 

 consequently must be renewed as occasion re- 

 quires; but the mixture is always to be preferred 

 where it can be useful. 



JVote by the Editor of the .V. E. Farmer. — It is 

 probable that the above mentioned composition 

 would preserve young trees in nurseries from the 

 depredations of mice, moles, &c., which are often 

 fatal to young fruit trees, &c. in many parts of the 

 United States. 



