Vol. 1.— "No. 28. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



22 



and saccharine matter will be extracted.and, 

 much of the pulp kept back, which occasions 

 not only too great a degree of fermentation, 

 but diminishes the quantity of wine by the 

 lees it forms— saving much trouble in com- 

 parison to the usual practice of squeezing 

 and wringing through a strainer, by the fair 

 hands of the willing females to whom the 

 duty is commonly assigned — which not only 

 forces through nearly all the pulp and many 

 seeds, but extracts a crude acid from the 

 stems, that is any thing but vinous. The su- 

 gar should be put into a tub or other open 

 vessel with the brandy : and the liquor strai- 

 ned on to it. When the sugar is dissolved, 

 strain the whole through a fine hair cloth or 

 sieve into a strong sweet cask of thirty-two 

 to thirty-four gallons, and fill up to within 

 two to four gallons, which leaves sufficient 

 room for the fermentation to proceed ; and 

 drive in the bung so that no air can enter or 

 gas escape. 



It is desirable that all parts of the process 

 should go on at the same time, and be fin- 

 ished with all possible despatch— observing 

 the same neatness as in a well managed dai- 

 ry. The sooner the wine is bottled after it 

 is perfectly fine, the more briskness it will 

 exhibit. The maxim " the better the sugar, 

 the better the wine," I have found by expe- 

 rience to be correct, and I am inclined to 

 believe, that double refined loaf sugar, said 

 to be an indispensable ingredient for the 

 manufacture of Champaign in France, 

 would produce a wine as much superior as 

 to compensate for the extra expense. I be- 

 lieve three lbs. of sugar to a gallon is the 

 common recipe — but no doubt brown moist 

 sugar is in general use. I consider two and 

 a half lbs. of dry white amply sufficient (e- 

 ven dispensing with the brandy) for such 

 fruit as I have cultivated. That for white 

 wine or Champaign, not being very com- 

 mon, a description may not be amiss. It is 

 called the Champaign currant, and is a good 

 bearer, the fruit rather inclines to an oval, 

 of an amber tint, and much sweeter,but not 

 so large as the white Dutch. To its posses- 

 sing a more vinous substance, particular at- 

 tention to observe the process as above, and 

 management of the plants, I attribute the 

 superior qu allty of the liquor to any facti- 

 tious wine I ever tasted. When preparing 

 my vineyard at Brighton some twenty years 

 since, I was careful to rub oil" all the buds of 

 the cuttings that were put under ground, and 

 six or eght inches above, which effectually 

 prevents suckers, and affords a free circula- 

 tion of air around the bottom. Three buds 

 only were permitted to shoot, which the next 

 season were shortened to four, and after- 

 wards pruned so as to resemble a tree shaped 

 like a wine glass. They were planted in 

 rows four feet apart, and five feet from plant 

 to plant, in quincunx order,that is, they stand 

 opposite only in every other row, which give 

 to each tree an atmosphere of about six feet, 

 —when the fruit was filling the young shoots 

 were topped four or six buds. By such ma- 

 nagement nearly all the force of vegetation 

 is directed to the fruit — enriching and in- 

 creasing the size ro much, that I was often 

 applied to by Market Gardeners for cuttings 

 of my red currants, as a new and superior 

 variety ; and it was with difficulty I could 

 convince them they were the same kind they 

 cultivated. It should be kept in mind that 

 plants treated in this manner will not last 

 more than 30 years generally— though if 

 jRrnfttied to sand up suckers every year (hey 



may continue a century, but the superiority 

 of the fruit will amply pay for the renewal. 



The white currant wine, for which ihe 

 Trustees of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 Society awarded me the first premium a few 

 years ago, had remained in the cask I be- 

 lieve two years ; showed no briskness, but 

 was highly vinous and full sweet. The 

 white wine I have made to imitate Cham- 

 paign, has been drunk by competent judges 

 for very goodimported from France. I have 

 made a very palatable dinner w ine from the 

 Champaign currant, that has been taken for 

 Saulerne, a favorite French wine, — and 

 from the red currant, wine, equal to that of 

 late years introduced as French Mederia 

 such as we often find in Hotels and Steam- 

 boats with the term French sunk, and the 

 Maderia price raised. In producing such 

 wine, it is necessary to give air for a short 

 time to increase the fermentation and de- 

 prive it of a great portion of the sweetness. 

 When closing a communication much longer 

 than you may perhaps wish, I must remark 

 that it will be in vain to attempt the manu- 

 facture of wine upon a large scale either 

 from the grape or any other fruit, unless the 

 operation is promoted with a deep cellar oi 

 vault where an equal and cool temperature 

 can be preserved. With particular esteem 

 I remain very cordially yours, 



SAMUEL W. POMEROY. 



Boston, 4th July, 1R30. 



From the New-England Farmer. 



HAY MAKING. 



If a mowing lot is to be cut twice in a sea- 

 son, the first crop ought to be mowed earli- 

 er than where it is cut but once, in order that 

 the roots may recover immediately, and be 

 ready for vegetation afresh. Where the 

 grass is cut later, the vegetation of the roots 

 stops for some time. The grass, however, 

 which is thus cut early will not be so heavy 

 as that which is cut later, as it will shrink 

 after cutting; but the roots will not be »o 

 much exhausted, and will afford a larger 

 crop the next time of cutting, or the next 

 summer if mowed but once in a season.— 

 Loudon says in the cutting of grass crops, 

 for the purpose of being made into hay, it is 

 necessary that they be in the most suitable 

 states of growth and maturity, for affording 

 the best and most nutritious fodder. With 

 this view they should neither be cut at too 

 early a period, nor suffered to stand too long ; 

 as in the former case there will be conside 

 rable loss in the drying from the produce 

 being in so soft and green a condition, and 

 in the latter from a large proportion of the 

 nourishing properties being expended.— 

 Grass when mown before it comes in full 

 flower, while the rich saccharine juice is in 

 part retained at the joints of the flower 

 stems, is in the most proper condition for be- 

 ing cut down, as at that period it must con- 

 tain the the largest proportion of nutritious 

 materials but which then begin to be absor- 

 bed, and taken up in proportion as the flow- 

 ers expand and the seed ripens, so as to con- 

 stitute the meal or starch of the seed lobes, 

 and is either dispersed upon the land or fed 

 upon by birds ; the grass stems with then- 

 leaves being left in a similar situation to 

 that of the straw of ripened grain. But 

 there are other circumstances, besides those 

 of ripeness, to be attended to in determining 

 the period of cutting crops of grass, as in 

 some cases, when they are thick upon the 



low color before the flowering fully take? 

 place ; under such circumstances, it will of- 

 ten be the most advisable practice to mow as 

 soon as the weather will possibly admit ; for 

 if this be neglected there is great danger of 

 its rotting, or at any rate of its acquiring a 

 disagreeable flavor, and becoming of littlo 

 value. Where grass is very tall, as is often 

 the case in moist meadows, it is liable to 

 fall down and lodge, by which the same ef- 

 fects are produced. 



The same writer under the head Clover t 

 observes that ' The making of herbage 

 crops from hay is a process somewhat dif- 

 ferent from that of making hay from natu- 

 ral grasses. All the herbage tribe ought to 

 be mown before the seed is formed and in- 

 deed before the plants have fully blossomed, 

 that the full juice and nourishment of the- 

 plant may be retained in the hay. By the 

 adoption of this system, the hay is cut in bet- 

 ter season, it can be more easily secured, 

 and is much more valuable. Nor is the 

 strength of the plant lodged in the seed, 

 which is often lost. The great advantage of 

 converting under ripe herbage and grass in* 

 to hay is now beginning to be known.-— > 

 There is much more saccharine matter in it 

 and it is consequently more nutritious. A 

 crop of clover or sainfoin, when cut in the 

 early part of the season, may be ten per 

 cent lighter than when it is fully ripe; but 

 the loss is amply counterbalanced, by obtai« 

 ning an earlier, a more valuable, and moro 

 nutritious article ; while the next crop wil! 

 proportionably be more heavy. The hay from 

 old herbage will carry on stock, but it is on» 

 ly hay from young herbage that will fatten 

 them. When the stems of clover become 

 hard and sapless, by being allowed to brin£ 

 their seeds towards maturity they are of lit- 

 tle more value as provender, than an equaE 

 quantity of the finer sort of straw of corn.' 



The mode of making clover hay, and that 

 of all herbage plants, as practised by the best 

 farmers, is as follows. The herbage is cut 

 as close to the ground and in as uniform anfi 

 perfect a manner as it is possible to accom- 

 plish, by the scythe kept constantly sharp. 

 The surface having been in the preceding 

 spring freed from stones and well rolled, 

 the stubble after the mower ought to be ^ 

 short and smooth as a well shaven grass lawri. 

 That part of the stems left by the scythe is 

 not only lost, but the after growth is neither 

 so vigorous nor so weighty, as when the firs; 

 cutting is taken as low as possible. 



'As soon as the swath or row i3 thorough- 

 ly dry above, it is gently turned over (not 

 tedded or scattered) without breaking it, 

 sometimes this is done by the hand or by e 

 small fork ; and some farmers are so anx- 

 ious to prevent the swath from being broken, 

 that they will not permit the use of the rake 

 shaft. The grass, when turned over in the 

 morning of a dry day is put into cocks in the 

 afternoon. It impossible to lay down any 

 rule3 for the management of hay after it Is 

 put into cocks -, one thing is always atten- 

 ded to, not to shake out, or scatter or ex- 

 pose the hay oftener than is necessary fof 

 its preservation.' 



BaHTa!?-— The branches of this tre£.p8i> 

 ding to the ground, take root and put forte 

 new trees. One has been described, the 

 largest trunk? of which amounted to 350 is 

 number, and the shade of which cavereC 



7000 persons. Its fruit (the Indian fig' 

 ground, the bottom parts berime of a f*>M would •Bpj^th««jrni6 nittber *ifh footf. 



