Juns 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



77 



trees (Prunus Americana,) red variety, 

 every year for t|uite a number of years 

 these three trees blossomed as full, seeming- 

 ly, as possible, the whole top beinj; a perfect 

 Hiass of bloom. Plums would set as thick 

 as they could haug almost, grow to about 

 half the size of peas and theu they would 

 begin to swell like a bladder or putl'-ball, and 

 the trees would hang as full of these blad^ 

 dcrs as they did before of the first set plums. 

 Soon after the bladders began to swell they 

 would commence to fall till the number 

 diminished to about the quantity a tree 

 ought to bear of plums to mature ; the rest 

 would swell till many of them would attain 

 two to three inches in diameter, irregular in 

 shape, of course ; after a while most of them 

 would fall oft", but some would hang till the 

 next Spring before falling, being dried to a 

 black knot like. Being young at the time, 

 I frequently used to pick them oft" after they 

 were well swollen, and pielv them open; ail 

 I usually found was spongy, hollow center, 

 similar to that described in the foregoing 

 article from the Entomologist. The trees 

 stood partly under and -between two pear 

 trees, a Harvest and a Virgalieu ; and in all 

 other respects seemed to be healthy. After 

 attaining an age when I thought I ought to 

 know, and have a little voice in direction, 

 we had these three trees and one or two 

 others grafted to improved varieties, Wash- 

 ington, Blue Gage, and one or two others I 

 do not now recall. The grafts took and grew 

 well, and in due time came to bearing and 

 bore excellent fruit for several years, till 

 destroyed by high wiuds, when the trees 

 were grubbed up. From the time the full 

 top of the old trees were taken ofi" there 

 was no trouble from the bladder-like appen- 

 dages, all the fruit grown on the grafts being 

 as healthy and well grown as if grown on 

 their own roots. 



I give this bit of experience that should 

 others be troubled with bladder plums they 

 miglit take the hint and graft in ditl'erent 

 varieties, divesting of the major part of the 

 old top at once. W. H. White. 



Windsor, Conn., in Co. Gentleman. 



A NEW CABBAGE. 



The Filderkkadt. — This is a new and 

 very valuable cabbage. Mr. Bick, the most 



poplar and 

 reliable im- 

 porter of 

 rare and val- 

 uable seeds, 

 says: "1 am 

 acqua luted 

 witn no cab- 

 bage that has 

 given such 

 general sat^ 

 isfaction as 

 the Fikkr- 

 kravi. It is 

 more conical or "sugar-loaf" in form than 

 any cabbage I have ever known, is very solid, 

 and keeps well. It forms a solid head even 

 under quite uiifavorable circumstances, and 

 I do nottnink I ever obt;nned three plants in 

 an acre that failed to produce a fair market- 

 able head. I was induced to import it on the 

 recommendation of one of my German cus- 

 tomers who thought he would have to return 

 to Fatherland if he could not get some of his 

 favorite " kraut." 



Orange Wine— Cellars for Wine. 



We wore indebted, during the fair, to our 

 kincf and esteemed friend. Rev. Richard 

 Johnson, of Bayou Sara, La., for a few bot- 

 tles of most delicious Orange Wine, and we 

 take great pleasure in giving our readers Mr. 

 Johnson's mode of making this truly delight- 

 ful beverage : 



Wine prom Sour or Wild Oranges. — 

 Peel the oranges carefully — cut the pulp 

 across, and squeeze by hand or otherwise, so 

 as to express all the juice. To one gallon of 

 this juice, add seven quarts of soft, pure water, 

 and elem7i pounds of good brown sugar. Mix 

 the orange juice, water, and sugar together, 

 and strain. A Ave or ten-gallon keg, demi- 

 john (or large vessel) may be used, according 

 to quantity of juice. Fill the vessel to the 

 brim or bung, reserving to every five-gallon 

 vessel two bottles of " must," or fre.sh juice, 

 (as prepared) to supply the waste of ferment- 

 ation. When no more fermentation can be 

 detected, (which will be about July,) lay a 

 bag containing about a pound of sand on the 

 mouth of the vessel. After a couple of 

 months, cork or bung the vessel slackly, 

 wrapping a cloth around the cork, and draw- 

 ing it out occasionally to let off the accumu- 

 lated gas. As soon as the weather becomes 

 cold, cork tight, rack oft' in February, on a 

 cold day, to another vessel or into bottles, 

 and — drink ! 



Sioeet Orange Wine is made in precisely the 

 same manner, using only eight, instead of 

 eleven, pounds of sugar. 



As wine cellars have heretofore been con- 

 sidered absolutely necessary, we append the 

 following : 



Wine Cellars.— A correspondent of 

 the Cincinnati Oazette, writing from "The 

 Plains," says that heretofore wine makers in 

 the West have given great attention to the 

 building of underground wine cellars, but it 

 now turns out that the construction of the 

 cellars is an unimportant matter. Lately, 

 the largest operators in the business have 

 found out that better wine can be made by 

 allowing the wine to ferment and obtain the 

 requisite age in buildings above ground, than 

 by the old and ancient process adopted in 

 other climates totally dift'erent from that of 

 California. This being the ease, the expense 

 of building extensive stone or brick cellars 

 can thus be entirely dispensed with, and one 

 heavy item of expense in wine making done 

 away with. Thus our wine makers, by ex- 

 perience, in mo.st cases dearly bought, are 

 gradually becoming better acquainted with 

 the the peculiarities of climate in the cehure 

 of the grape and wine making. — South Land. 

 *-♦-♦ 



Forests— The English Walnut.— It is 

 said that the deficiency of forests in certain 

 parts of California is at present attracting 

 attention in that State, and the journals are 

 pressing upon farmers the necessity of plant- 

 ing waliiut, hickory, orange, and locust 

 trees, a.sserting that the crops would yield a 

 fair return for the expenditure. Thus a 

 grove of 12,000 English walnut trees in Los 

 Angelos ctiunty, one-fourth in bearing, is 

 reported to j'ield an average of $30 a tn^e, or 

 $113,500 in the aggregate. Besides this, it 

 is asserted they would afl"ect the climate 

 beneficially. In Egypt, it is said, the 

 eonstrue'tion of the fresh water canal 

 from the Nile to Ismalia, caused an ancient, 

 dried-up basin to be covered with vegetation 

 and the trees, when grown up, changed the 

 temperature of the air, and produced heavy 

 rains. 



♦-•-* 



Grape Culture in Canada. — The Can- 

 ada Farmer speaks of a large increase of 

 interest in grape culture in Canada. It 

 states that in one t()wn.ship on the shore of 

 lake Erie, the fiirmers clubbed together and 

 sent oil' $800 in one order for grape vines. 



Knives and Forks. — Powdered charcoal 

 is the best thing to use in scouring knives 

 and forks. 



— The San Francisco markets receive 

 about 6,000 pounds of strawberries daily, and 

 they sell at from ten to fifteen cents a pound. 



The chief of the Botanical Garden of 

 Ghent is reported as saying that some of the 

 leaves of the Victoria Regia in that garden 

 have a diameter of nine feet, and that he 

 placed 246 pounds of bricks on one leaf be- 

 fore any rent was shown. 



— The world is a sea of glass ; affliction 

 scatters our path with sand and ashes in 

 order to keep our feet from slipping. 



A firm faith is one of the best of divini- 

 ties ; a good life is the best philosophy ; a 

 clear conscience the best law ; honesty the 

 only true policy ; and temperauce the best 

 physic. 



— There is no question so mighty, so 

 transcendently important to the well-being 

 of the human race as the question of Fruit. 



t^^ To be able successfully to check the 

 insect scourge, and eventually to destroy the 

 more noxious kinds, it is necessary to under- 

 stand their habits— the moth that lays the 

 eggs, where and when to look for them, when 

 the transformations take place, etc., and the 

 remedies to be applied, to destroy egg larva, 

 pujia, or adult insect. 



Puffs op Preserved Paste. — Roll out, 

 a quarter of an inch thick, good puff paste, 

 and cut it into pieces four inches square. 

 Laj' a small quantity of any kind of jam on 

 each ; double them over, and cut them into 

 square, triangle, or crescent shape ; lay them 

 with paper on a baking plate ; ice them. 

 Bake them about twenty minutes. 



Green Tomato Sweet Pickle. — Scald 

 and peel tomatoes whole; then scald in 

 strong ginger tea. For 2 lbs. of tomatoes 

 make a syrup of one pint of vinegar and 

 one pound of sugar. Drain tomatoes and 

 drop into the syrup and cook till clear. Add 

 mace, cinnamon and white ginger. Have 

 the tomatoes covered with syrup. 



Rhubarb Vinegar. — The process for 10 

 gallons will be — take 25 ordinary sized stalks 

 of rhubarb; pound or crusli them with a 

 piece of wood in the bottom of a strong tub; 

 add 10 gallons of water ; let this stand 24 

 hours; strain ofl' the crushed rhubarb and 

 add 18 pounds of sugar free from molasses, 

 and a teacupful of the best brewer's yeast; 

 raise the temperature to 65 deg. or 68 deg., 

 and put your brows into a 12-gallou ca.sk ; 

 place it iu a position where the temperature 

 will not fall below 60 deg. In a month 

 strain oft' from the grounds, returning it to 

 the cask again, and let it stand till it becomes 

 vinegar. Perhaps some of our readers can 

 furnish a better method. 



Spickd Beef. — Chop fine the tough ends 

 of two very large beefsteak.s, and a piece of 

 raw suet about as large as half an egg, season 

 with pepper and salt, and a little dried sum- 

 mer savory; then add two well beaten eggs, 

 with about half a pint of dried bread rolled 

 fine, or as much rolled crackers, and a piece 

 of fresh butter as large as an egg, make it 

 into a loi g roll, with flour enough to keep 

 it together, put into a baking pan, with 

 dripping as large as half an egg, and water 

 enough to keep from burning. Bake as you 

 would a roasting piece of beef: when cold, 

 slice thin for the table. — Agriculturist. 



