138 



THE WESTERN POMOLOGIST. 



1871 



they will not shake about In the barrel. Put but 

 one variety in a barrel, and mark it on the head to 

 be opened. 



If put into a cellar to keep it should be cold and 

 dry, and of an even temperature, with no light and 

 but little air. When put up for family use o reven 

 for market they may be carefully put into ten bush- 

 el boxes, well assorted, in a tight, dark cellar, with 

 a temperature of 35 to 50, and be easily kept fresh 

 and sound without wilting, until new apples come 

 again, if of good keeping varieties. The whole sc. 

 cret of keeping apples is a low, even, dry temper- 

 ture, with darkness and but little air. 



The surplus sound apples may be made into cider. 

 To do so they should be ground up into flue pulp 

 of fifty or a hundred bushels at one time, and then 

 put under a press with a gentle pressure at first, in- 

 creasing it by degrees, until thoroughly pressed. It 

 should be strained into barrels and put into a cold 

 cellar. When done working rack off and bung up 

 tight to exclude the air. The lower and more uni- 

 form the temperature the better it will keep. Cider 

 may be kept perfectly .tweet and fresh for years by 

 putting it into wine or champagne bottles imme- 

 diately from the press when clear, and then brought 

 to a heat of 180 degrees to kill the fungus or germ 

 of fermentation, and also to exclude the air, which 

 may be done by heating the cider in a porcelain 

 kettle, and then pouring it into the heated bottles 

 boiling hot, or by filling the bottles first and placing 

 them into a boiler up to their necks in cold water 

 and then heating it to boiling, at which point it 

 should remain a few moments. Then carefully cork 

 and seal to exclude the air precisely as putting up 

 fresh fruit in glass cans, and it will keep just as long 

 as if put into a good cellar. 



The refuse apples can be fed to hogs, or better 

 made into vinegar. To do so grind them up and 

 let them stand in the pomace some time before pres- 

 sing to hasten the acetous fermentation. The higli- 

 er the temperature is kept, and the more air it re- 

 ceives the sooner it will become vinegar. The ad- 

 dition of a few gallons of sharp vinegar to a barrel 

 will very much hasten the formation of vinegar. 



In conclusion we would say, keep a sharj) look 

 out for the numerous destructive insects which ap- 

 pear to be on the increase, and for the object of 

 becoming better acquainted with their habits and 

 the means of checking their further progress and 

 destroying them, we would recommend the careful 

 perusal of the Entomological Department of 

 the Pomologist, which is particularly devoted to 

 that subject. 



With these tedious remarks, we submit this essay 

 to the public, which we hope will benefit the new 

 beginner, if not the experienced in the cultivation 

 of the apple. 



Oregon Hortlcaltaral Notes.—Na. 5. 



Bt a. H. Shipley, Oswego, Oregon. 



Ed. Pomologist: Rain, rain, rain. Rain in the 

 morning, rain at noon, rain at night, rain all night, 

 rain all day. Truly the mists are upon us, and we 

 are having a genuine, old fa,shioned rainy March; 

 one of the real old sort, such as we have not had 

 for many years. I sometimes think that it is the 

 long continued, wet weather keeping the ground .satu- 

 rated with water that causes the decay of the apide 

 trees. The trees will be growing rapidly and seem 

 to be perfectly healthy, when all at once you will 

 begin to see black spots on the limbs, and some- 

 times on the trunks. Examine them and you will 

 find the bark dead under the spots. People call 

 them the plague spot. The tree is doomed, though 

 it may live and bear fine fruit for many years. 

 Some of the branches may die outright and others 

 live for years. I have known orchards whose tops 

 were nearly all dead, renewed and rendered fruit- 

 ful again by having the tops all cut off close to the 

 trunks. In the city of Portland, where there is a 

 system of sewers and the drainage is good, the ap- 

 ple trees appear to be perfectly healthy, which is 

 evidence that it is the excessive moisture that 

 causes their decay, in other places not thus drained. 

 But while we cannot boast of the health of our ap- 

 ple trees, we can and do point with pride and pleas- 

 ure to our 



MAGNIFICENT PEAR TREES, 



and their peerless fruit. The pear is perfectly at 

 home in Oregon. No blight, no crack, no disease 

 of any kind ever affects it. The tree begins to 

 bear >vhen not much larger than your thumb, and 

 continues to yield its luscious fruit year after year. 

 We have probably over one hundred and fifty kinds 

 in Oregon, including all the leading varieties, and 

 all do well. They sell for the same price as apples, 

 or perhaps a shade higher. Our people don't use 

 them as much as they do apples, and not near as 

 inueli as they ought, considering their cheapness 

 and the perfection with which they grow here. 

 Just think of Bartletts, yellow as gold and weighing 

 nearly a pound each, selling for fifty to seventy-five 

 cents per bushel, most of them specimens that 

 would bring that much each, in New York. The 

 largest pear on record grew within two miles 

 of where I am writing. It was raised by Mr. 6. 

 W. Walling. It was of the variety called Pound 

 Pear. The tree is grafted on a thorn, and is still 

 flourishing. This pear weighed four pounds and 

 four ounces, and in circumference lengthwise, 

 31 inches, in width, 18 inches. People at a distance 

 from market not being able to dispose of their 

 pears in the green state are beginning to dry them, 

 for which purpose they are not surpassed by any 

 fruit that grows. Sprinkled with a little white su- 

 gar and carefully dried they are superior to the fig. 

 Dried pears are worth in our markets about 13^ 

 cents per pound. When the North Pacific Rail- 

 road is completed we will send you some. 



