yo FARM-GARDENING AND SEED-GROWING. 



with shears, cart to the shed or barn, and prepare for 

 mashing or grinding. The primitive mode, which must 

 yet be resorted to where machinery is not at command, is 

 to cut away one third or more of the fruit from the stem- 

 end, and peel the skin from the balance. It will be ob- 

 served that there are no seeds in the upper or stem-end 

 and those below lie over one fourth of an inch from the 

 skin ; hence much may be cut away to reduce the 

 labor of mashing or grinding as well as washing. The 

 peeled fruit may be placed in small quantity in a strong 

 barrel, and mashed to a fine pulp, emptied into other bar- 

 rels, and this continued until finished, or they may be 

 ground in a portable cider or wine mill. I have always 

 used Krauser's Patent Portable Cider-Mill, for these and all 

 other things which require to be ground up in order to 

 procure the seed. This mill has two reciprocating levers 

 working alternately against a rough cylinder, and by 

 placing the cut part against the cylinder, bottom-end 

 down, the pulp is scooped out, and the skins which pass 

 through whole are quickly taken out in washing. To pre- 

 pare the fruit for this mill we simply cut away the top 

 and quarter the other part, and for mashing by hand or 

 grinding in other mills they should also be cut, .as well as 

 peeled. In cutting avoid using a very sharp knife, lest 

 many seeds be cut and spoiled, and after the fruits are cut 

 they must be ground immediately, for they quickly heat 

 and rot. The pulp, to work nicely, should be washed the 

 day after grinding, but may remain longer without injury 

 to the seed. 



The washing is done principally in the same manner as 

 cucumber seed, except that we use a No. 3 sieve first, and 

 as each lot receives its third washing the seed is removed 

 to a barrel, and when the whole is thus far cleaned it is 

 again washed as before, using sieve No. 6. Two or three 

 changes of water will make the seed perfectly free from 

 pulp, when it must be taken out in sieves Nos. 12 and 14, , 



