1877.] 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



99 



We are always willing to adapt ourselves as 

 nuicli as iK.ssiUli'. to the convi'iiiciice of our 

 frirmls and patrons, but our ability to do this 

 has its limit, beyond whii'b we cannot ro 

 without a serious frnstral ion of all our previous 

 arrangements on the subject. 



MAKING WINE FROM NATIVE GRAPES 



'I'ho lollKwiiiir ipciiir for iii:ikiiiir ilomeetio wine 

 from CatawlKi di- Ualjolla fjrapcs ib cciinmemlfrt by a 

 jjoiitlomnn wlin lias li-ircl it, suta'cssfully. Its direc- 

 tions liave the merits rare in recipes of beiug full and 

 precise : , , ,, 



1st. Select perfectly ripe bundles, and carefully 

 pick oil' llie stems and remove all prapes which arc 

 not quite ripe. 



•M. Squeeze the juice out, cither by hand or press, 

 strain through a liair sieve, and )iour it at onee Into 

 a clean, sweet liarrel or kcir, adding to the vessel two 

 gallons of water for every K'i'Hon of juice made. 



3d. At the same time put in four ]iound6 of sifted 

 sti^ar per (jallou of juice. 



4th. In addinir 'he 'wo gallons of water stated in 

 section 2, let it strain throufih the pulp, sldus, iV:c., 

 of the residuum of the grapes often lieing squeezed. 



.'>th. Fill the vessel full, "|i to the buu,i;-holc, 

 which cover with a sand hag, to allow the ferinenta- 

 tion to escape. 



6th. Watch the barrel daily, and clear or scrape 

 away the scum, which will be thrown out in large 

 quantities. 



7th. As the wine falls below the bung, fill updaily 

 (after elearing away the scum) with sugar water, 

 made with tw-o pounds of sugar to the gallon of 

 water. 



8th. The fermentation will continue from three to 

 six weeks, according to the weather. When it h.ad 

 ceased, I poured into the huug-hole .about one gill of 

 brandy to the gallon of juice, to How over the sur- 

 face and prevent its souring; liut the brandy may 

 not be indispensable. Then bung the vessel uptight. 



9th. Durini; the cold weather, say in the following 

 February, when the wine is perfectly still and clear, 

 draw it olT info any other clean vessel, then quickly 

 clean, scald and rinse thoroughly the barrel in Avhich 

 the wine was made, anil return the wine to it, and 

 draw it off as required for use. 



10th. If you wish to make a very palatable cham- 

 pagne, have the champagne bottles ready when you 

 rack ofT the wine as stated in section 0, put a tabic- 

 si>oonful of common syrup in each quart tmttle; then 

 fill witli the wine, leaving about 1'.., inches clear be- 

 low the bottom of the cork, wliicli fasten very se- 

 curely witli strong twine, as the pressure of the fixed 

 air to escape is very great. 



nth. The wine will imi)rove by age, after the ope- 

 ration described in section 9. 



12th. An old lirandy or whisky barrel is the best 

 (see section 2) . Never use a new barrel, as the wine 

 will taste of the wood. 



i:?th. About lifteen jiounds of grapes will give one 

 gallon of juice. The ri]ier the grapes the better the 

 yield of juice. One gallon of grapes in bunches 

 weicbs about four and a-balf pounds. 



14tb. Keep the wine in the cellar, where it will not 

 be exposed to extremes of temperature. 



l.ith. An ap|>roximate estimate of the quantities 

 required for a thirty gallon barrel will be as follows : 



To make thirty gallons of wine : 150 pounds grapes, 

 yielding ten gallons of juice; twent-y gallonsof water 

 strained through the pulj) residue (see section 4); 

 forty (louuds of sifted sugar; 3' i pints of common 

 brandy (.see section 8). 



If carefully maiie, the wine will be wholesome and 

 palatable, with a flavor like grape juice Madeira. It 

 was preferred to all others at the Washington hos- 

 ■ pitals during the war of lstU-18C.^), and was reporteil 

 to have been the means of saving the lives of some 

 of the soldiers. 



The foroi;oing process comes so near our 

 own, in makint; wine — ii process which we 

 have been using these many years, that we do 

 not hesitate to comtnend it to the notice of 

 our wifio making readers, especially as the 

 season is now rapidly advancing, wheti their 

 attention will be turned in that direction. It 

 is hardly necessary to add that this process, 

 with some modification, may also be followctl 

 in making wine out of blackberries, currants, 

 raspberries, strawberries, or atiy other kind 

 of fruit; but r/ooi? fruit, luoperly cleaned and 

 fully ripe, as well as goad sugar and fjood at- 

 tention to details, ntitil the end is accom- 

 plished, arc the primary essentials in making 

 good wine. 



THE SEVENTEEN YEAR LOCUSTS. 



I'rof. Leidy has examined the so-called "seventeen 

 year locusts" which have made their appearance 

 near Easlon, Pa., and confirms the statement that 

 the cicada is incapableof damaging the cereal crops, 

 and he thinks that the admitted injury to the wheal 

 in that vicinity must be ascribed to other insects, 

 and especially to the Hessian Hy. The female cicada 



does not sing. Much information is already present- 

 ed to the public in the bulletins of the United .States 

 Kntomologieal Commission, eoncerninc the Koeky 

 Mountain locust, ealoptfiucs spretnit. The Commis- 

 sioners are Professors C. V. Riley, A. S. Packard, 

 .Jr., and Cyrus Thomas. Careful descri|)tions of the 

 circumstances and mode of life of the yimng locust 

 arc given. Before otitaining wings and when most 

 ravenous, while traveling in swarms, it is calculated 

 that the insects cannot make a progress of more 

 than thirty miles from their hatching place, in a sea- 

 son. When food fails they become cainiibals. After 

 aequlrinir wini,'s they lose appetite to a considerable 

 extent and cease to ho very destructive; they are then 

 also the prey of many parasites. The Commission- 

 ers reconimend several methods of destroying the in- 

 sects, for difl'erent stages of their growth. Before 

 the eggs hat<'h they should be plowed under, and the 

 ground fhoroutrhly compressed by harrowing and 

 rolling. After batching, the young locusts can be 

 driven in luunbers almost as readily as sheep; win- 

 drows or piles of burning hay or straw should then 

 tie prejiarcd, and the locusts can be driven into them. 

 An ell'ectual method at this stage is to^drive them 

 into a ditch two feet wide and two feet deep, 

 with periiendicular sides, out of which it apjicars 

 that they can not readily jump. If the width of the 

 ditcli is increased, the deiith should be also, and the 

 steepness of the sides is essential; liut if w.ater can 

 be let into the ditches they need not be so deep. 

 Where the winds are high the insects are more apt 

 to escape from the ditch, especially if it be shallow. 

 A large open-mouthed bag, driven by horses over a 

 field, docs good service, especially if the end of the 

 bag or net be made of wire gauze instead of cloth. 

 When the horses are hitched at the sides of the bag 

 or net, 12 to 10 feet apart, they help to drive the lo- 

 custs inward toward the net. Other effective contri- 

 vances are sleds, sometimes made of oil-cloth, zinc 

 sheets, or iron smeared with coal tar; sometimes car- 

 rying an open furnace, made of wire and filled with 

 burning pine; the latter plan requires a hot tire, and 

 a sheet to cover the grate and kec|) the heat within; 

 the scor(-hing that the grain beneath gets only makes 

 it a few days later. Smooth-barked frees can be 

 protected by lilieral white-washing; if the bark is 

 rough or ttie trunk is short, a strip of bright tin, 

 three, or four inches wide, tacked around, serves the 

 purpose If the spaces between the bark and the tin 

 are blocked with earth, and the bark below the tin 

 is 6meared*with grease, tar or kerosene. Of course 

 the tin must be put on high enough, so that the 

 'hoppers can not jump over it from the 

 ground. Cotton batting, stiff paper, and 



glazed paper auswer the purpose of tin to 

 an inferior extent. Missouri and Minnesota have 

 passed laws oBering rewards for the specific destruc- 

 tion of the insects and their eggs, and Kansas makes 

 the work of destruction compulsory upon "all 

 able-bodied males between the ages of 12 and 00 

 years," in the districts .attacked. The various prices 

 paid by the States are, for eggs, -$5 per bushel and 

 .50 cents per gallon ; for grasshoppers, from $1 down 

 to 20 cents per bushel, the highest prices being paid 

 early in the season. — Phihulelphia Lcilyer. 



It is really wonderful to see how very slow 

 the masses of tlie people are in aciiuiring even 

 a tolerable knowledge of the habits of the 

 "seventeen year locust," or they would not 

 suspect it, at this late day, of destroying or 

 even injuring the wheat. They certainly 

 would not deposit their eggs in wheat steins, 

 for that would defeat their procreative olyect ; 

 and as to drinking anything (they cannot eat) 

 it is questionable whether they ever do " any- 

 thing of Che kind," in their mature states. 

 Very little has been developed through the 

 Entomological Commission — and probably 

 little will be developed — that is new. Nearly 

 all the remedies recommended in tlie above 

 article may Ijc found in Harris', or in Fitch's 

 and Riley's reports. But this good will be 

 done; it will arouse theattention of the people ; 

 more knowledge through the commissions 

 "bulletins" will get into their hands, and 

 more of their work will get into the imblie 

 press. The greatest drawback is, mil the 

 people read ? 



WHAT IS A PRACTICAL FARMER? 



We like the word "practical" when applied to 

 farmers and farming. It has a kind of genuine ring 

 in it that sounds like buslneis. But it Is frequently 

 misapplied and abused, and as it Is part of our title 

 we are bound to defend it aealnsl the tongue of 

 slander or ignorance. Some men seem to think that 

 a practical farmer has no business with books or pa- 

 pers, that all his knowledge must come from his own 

 experience and observation ; otherwise he is a theo- 

 lefical farmer; or, in common parlance, a "book 

 farmer." This is a definition we will not accept, be- 

 cause there is nothing in reason or language to sup- 

 port it. 



Webster tells us tliat practical means, when ap- 

 plied to a person, "one who reduces his knowledge 

 to actual use." This definition Is easily understood, 

 and answers the question at the head of this article 

 very clearly. A practical farmer is one who reduces 

 his knowledge to actual use. The definition does 

 not limit hiiii as to the source of his knowledge, nor 

 indicate how it is to be obtained. He may get It from 

 agricultural papers, by studying hooks, or In listen- 

 ing to the lectures of a college professor — no matter 

 how, so long as he makes actual use of It upon the 

 farm, it Is jiractleal kiiowleilge he obtains, and the 

 more he gets and reduces to practice the better prac- 

 tical fanner he becomes. 



It is a mistaken noliou that book knowledge Is op- 

 posed to tho practical. There Is much practical 

 knowledge that cannot be obtained outside of books 

 or their equivalent. The captain of a vessel Is a 

 practical sailor; sols the man before the mast. But 

 while both can reef a sail equally well, the latter 

 would run the vessel to destruction, jierhaps. If 

 l)laeed in command. There is a science In navigation 

 that cannot be learned by simidy performing the 

 duties of a common sailor. It must be obtained 

 from books, and the men who safely conduct the 

 thousands of vessels from one port to another, across 

 the boundless ocean, demonstrate how eminently 

 practical this book knowledge is. It is just so in 

 farming. Holding the plow, driving the machine, 

 pitching bay, sowing grain and making cider, is all 

 practical work, that must be learned just as a sailor 

 must serve his time before the mast ere he can as- 

 pire to the command of the vessel. And before the 

 farmer can take the higher iiosltion of a commander, 

 he must learn something of the science of agricul- 

 ture, and this can no more he learned by holding tlie 

 plow than science of navigatton can be by reefing 

 sails. 



How long would it have taken the farmer to learn 

 what jilauts and soils are composed of simply by his 

 own observation and experience on the farm ? He 

 might plow, and sow, and reap till doomsday with- 

 out being wiser in this respect. Science has made 

 known the fact that phosphoric acid, potash aud 

 nitrogen, are about the only substances necessary to 

 apply to the soil in the cultivation of crops. Does it 

 render the farmer less practical if he learns this from 

 a book or 'paper and then makes practical use of the 

 knowledge on his farm '■ And suppose he makes an 

 experiment in the use of these substances, and writes 

 the result for publication — is he any the less practi- 

 cal forsodoiug? , ., , . . , ,, , 



Let no farmer be afraid of becoming less practical 

 by reading books and papers that treat upon his pro- 

 fession. "Knowledge is power" iu farming as in 

 every other business of life, and the more 

 the farmer obtains, the more practical he may be- 

 come. — rfacliciil Fanner. 



The aliove, from a sterling Pennsylvania 

 Agricultural journal, that for practical matter 

 has not its peer in tlie whole country, is not 

 mere gossip, it is ijnspcl, which cannot lie gain- 

 said. It is so-near our own way of thinking 

 on the subject, and is said so tersely and so 

 rationally that we believe it will be useful to 

 those of our readers who are in the cilbrt to 

 become practical through brain-culture, the 

 exercise of their mental faculties, and the 

 jierusal of instructive books, as well as by the 

 labor of their hands, through which they "fell 

 the sturdy oak, and direct the unwiedly plow. " 

 No manipulation of the soil, no mechanical 

 contrivivnce, no fertilizing compound is pos- 

 siljle—howcver simple it may be— without 

 trenchin"- up on tlie domain oi practical science. 



^ 



PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY, 

 is the Grange on the decline ? We hope not; 

 for we regard it as an instrument of moral 

 and social advancement, to say nothing about 

 it intellectually and pecuniarily. But when 

 we see the Grand Secretai^ of the State 

 Grange of Teuucsscc, officially announcing 

 the delinquency of one hundred and forty 

 Granges in that" State, it looks very much as 

 if they were becoming "weary in well-doing." 

 It is true that these subordinate Granges may 

 only be a little neglectful, but when they are 

 warned that unless they make reports to the 

 Secretary of the State Grange within thirty 

 days from the 1st of June, the Master of the 

 National frrange will be requested to revoke 

 their charters, it looks like more than merely 

 temporary neglect. If the (Jrangers wish to 

 progress in their honorable and elevating or- 

 ganization, they must not be spasmodic, hut 

 must lean to the work like faitlifwl oxen, and 

 move steadily oxwAuu to the end of life. 



Do not forget your subscriptions for 1877. 



