184S. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



269 



Keeping Apples. 



Mr. Pell, of Ulster County, the celebrated 

 exporter of Apples to Europe, recommends that 

 apples after having been carefully hand picked 

 in baskets, should be laid on a floor, by hand, 

 without pouring from the baskets, until they are 

 12 or 18 inches deep, and be left to dry and 

 season three weeks ; when again equally care- 

 fully packed in clean dry barrels, they may be 

 kept without rotting any reasonable length of 

 time, and are safely sent to any part of Europe 

 or the East Indies. The plan of drying and 

 seasoning in the, air before barreling, prevailed 

 generally some years ago, although now-a-days 

 it is mostly discontinued, and thought useless. 

 We are disposed to think well of this process 

 when it becomes important to keep apples safely 

 till the next spring, or to send to foreign coun- 

 tries, for we have always observed that on open- 

 ing a barrel a few days sfter being put up, in 

 ever so dry weather, that the moisture often 

 stands in drops over the whole surface ; and 

 although loose barrels will allow it mostly to 

 evaporate, yet where they come in contact, the 

 two surfaces retain it and causes rot. 



The carrying of apples in a common vv'agon, 

 either before or after barreling is injurious ; 

 they should b*e moved on springs or on sleds. 

 The least abrasion of the skin, or crushing of 

 cells of the pulp containing the juice, allows 

 fermentation and decomposition, and the conse- 

 quent decay of the whole mass. 



Apples will not freeze until at a temperature 

 of from .5 to 10 below the freezing point of 

 water, and it is beneficial to keep them as cool 

 as possible, even down to 30 degrees. Apples 

 inclosed in a water tight cask may be left in a 

 cold loft or garret all winter without further care, 

 and v/ill be sound in the spring, and perfectly 

 fresh. ^ 



Tlie Cut-Worm. 



Although some of the readers of the Farmer 

 may be well acquainted with the following meth- 

 od of getting rid of this troublesome vermin, as 

 it may benefit others I thought it proper to malie 

 it public. Last spring, having planted some 

 things rather early, on account of frosts I was 

 obliged to cover them with straw, &c. Upon 

 uncovering them I allowed the straw to lay in 

 the paths, &c., a day or two, and upon removing 

 it I discovered that the cut-worm and other ver- 

 min were gathered beneath the straw and v/ere 

 readily destroyed. I then placed straw among 

 my cabbages with the like effect. 



Yours, &c., Frederic Williams. 



Gerry, N. Y., Oct., 1848. 



There is no true virtue in that benevolence 

 which can be extinguished by ingratitude. 



Progress of Improvement in Kentucky. 



A FRiEXD residing in Boone Countj'-, Ky.. 

 who has procured over fifty subscribers to our 

 present volume, among the young farmers of 

 his neighborhood, thus writes us relative to the 

 progress of improvement in that section : — 



" The reading of agricultural papers is some- 

 thing new to the most of our old fashioned far- 

 mers in this section of our beloved Republic, and 

 many view it as an innovation on their long 

 established customs and right of dictation. But I 

 hail the signs of the times as favorable for a rad- 

 ical, though gradual change, in the feelings and 

 actions of the yeomanry of Old Kentucky. One 

 among many omens that would favor this predic- 

 tion, is the fact that nearly all the subscribers 

 which I have procured for the Farmer are 

 YOUNG MEN, who look favorablv upon the intro- 

 duction of various improvements in labor-saving 

 machines for the benefitof farmers and mechanics. 

 Many of our aged sires stand aloof from these 

 machines, and wait till some of their more dar- 

 ing neighbors use them until they become quite 

 common and very cheap ; and by the time they 

 make the bold step and get in possession of the 

 improvement, they look around and are quite 

 astonished to find their more enterprising friends 

 laying aside that improvement for a still greater 

 one. But in advancing crowds there is always 

 a front and rear." 



Good Feeding. — The Oaks Cow. 



In his address before the Greene County Agri- 

 cultural Society, Col. Z. Pratt makes the fol- 

 lowing remarks on a subject of great importance 

 to dairy farmers : — 



We read of premiums being given to large imported cov.s 

 that have yielded some tliiriy quarts a day ; but every 

 dairy woiKan will tell you that it is not the cow? that gives 

 the largest quantity at a milking, that makes the best one 

 in the long run. A better one still, is she that keeps on 

 tlirough the whole year, in winter as well as summer, let the 

 feed be short or long. Run fast, is a g'.'od name, but hold 

 fast, is a better one. 



In the Agricultural journals, I have read an account of a 

 middle sizexl country cnw ; I refer to the celebrated Oaks 

 Cow, bought out of a drove in Massachusetts, for a mere 

 trifle. Her history illustrates two things worthy of note : 

 First, what we can obtain from the best of our old breed : 

 and secon !ly, how much depends on good feeding ; and 

 just as it was with the Oaks Cow. so will every man find 

 it with his form. If he won't feed his farm, and that often 

 and well, he need not expect it long to feed him. Always 

 taking out of tlie meal-tub, and never putting in, will soon 

 come to the bottom, as poor Richard says. But to return 

 to the Oaks Cow that did so much honor to tlie name of 

 Caleb Oakes ; it is stated on the most unquestionable au- 

 thority, such as satisfied the Massachusetts Agricultural So- 

 ciety, that in the first year with ordinary keep, she ate 

 twelve bushels of corn meal, and then gave 300 pounds of 

 Cutter : the next, 35 bushels, and she gave more than 100 

 pounds : the next year slie had a bushel of meal a week, 

 and all her own milk skimmed, and then she gave from tlie 

 S'.h of April, to the 25th of September, the day of the show, 

 484 pounds, besides suckling her calf for five weeks. She 

 was exhibited, and deservedly took the premium on the 

 last mentioned day ; and will carry down her owners name, 

 with credit, to posterity, as long as Oaks grow. 



