NEW ENGLAND FARiMF.R. 



141 



FACTS AND OBSKUVATIONS RF.l.ATINU TO 



AGRICULTURE & DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



FOa THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



FRUIT TREES.- 



"The seeds of a nursery should be planted 

 n rows live or six icet apart, that carrots, po- 

 atoes, or bush beans may be planted between 

 hem. This will be an inducement to keep the 

 lursery clean. Cherries, pe.iches, plums, and 

 ither stone fruit, sheuld be planted while the 

 tones are moist, or with the meat on them. In 

 his way they come up with more certainty. It 

 s a good practice to plant the seeds in beds, 

 ind to remove the young- trees to the nursery. 

 This will give an opportunity of early removing 

 ;he tap root, and of increasing and directing the 

 lateral roots. The dwarfs in a nursery are not 

 ivortli cultivating, and ought to be removed ; 

 there are commonly enough thrifty trees with- 

 aut them. 



" In taking up trees, care should be used not 

 to injure the roots. The tap roots should be 

 cut off, the broken roots pruned with a sharp 

 knife, and the lateral roots should be carefully 

 preserved, and should have suiBcient room in 

 the ground to spread. The trees when set out 

 should have the same aspect, as when standing 

 in the nursery. It is useful to place a small 

 quantity of hay or straw around them, to pre- 

 vent the sun iVom taking up too much of the 

 moisture, and to keep the ground from becom- 

 ing dry and hard. This should be removed 

 before snow falls, lest it harbor mice. On dry 

 land, not exposed to be moved by frost, trans- 

 planting is safest and best in autumn; otherwise 

 fin the spring. Trees are more thrifty, will 

 J !)ear sooner, and more plentifully, near fences, 

 1 and will less incommode the cultivation of the 

 I field. 



t " In forming the head of the tree, all the 

 limbs, which will be likely to rub across other 

 < limbs, should be early removed. By neglect- 

 ing to do this in season, the tree may be injur- 

 j cd by causing large wounds. By pruning when 

 jj the circulation is most active, the wounds will 

 J soonest be healed. It is safest, when the wounds 

 are large, to cover them with some kind of 

 plaister to keep out the water and air, and pre- 

 vent rotting. Mature trees, it is said, will pro- 

 duce more and fairer fruit by being pruned 

 when in blossom. 



When mice have injured the bark, it is use- 

 ful to cover the wound with dirt, or some kind 

 of plaister. When entirely girdled, the tree 

 may be preserved by connecting the under and 

 upper lips of the bark with a suitable number 

 of scions. It is a good preservation against in- 



printer's ink. It is therefore recommended for 

 cleaning old books and prints. Half an ounce 

 of red lead being added to three ounces of com- 

 mon muriatic aciil renders it tit for this use. If 

 indigo and oxid of manganese be added to com- 

 mon ink, it will prevent its being clTacod by 

 muriatic acid. 



The citric acid (lemon juice) is proper for 

 removing ink-stains from linen, but they are 

 best removed soon after they occur. It' they 

 remain long in tiie cloth, the iron in the ink 

 acquires that degree of oxidizenient, which 

 renders it insoluble in acids. When ink stains 

 have thus become what are called iron moulds, 

 they may be removed by oxalic acid (a substance 

 extracted from sorrel) or by first washing them 

 with a sulphuret of potash (formed by triturat- 

 ing or pounding together equal parts of sulphur 

 and pure potash, till the mixture becomes green) 

 and then applying the citric acid as usual. 



ANTIDOTE AGAINST CONTAGION. 



An English chemical work of high authority, 

 states that " accounts have been received from 

 Spain, that in the midst of the dreadful conta- 

 gion which reigned in that country, the inhabi- 

 tants of those houses, where fumigations of 

 chlorine gas* were used, had no attacks of the 

 sickness, and enjoyed the best health. Care 

 must be taken in the use of this gas, because it 

 is so suffocating that it cannot be breathed with- 

 out injury." 



, juries by mice, to tread down the snow, when 

 1 it first falls, for a foot or two about the tree."* 



Addrtss by Rcr. Abitl Abbot, to the 

 Essex Agricultural Society. 



J * For a recipe for preserving trees from mice, see 

 t So. 10, p. 123. 



jl TO REMOVE FRUW STAINS OR IRON MOULDS FP.OM 

 .1 LINEN OR COTTON CLOTHS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES. 



|| Moisten the spot with water, and hold it in 

 I the fumes of a brimstone match. If a red rose 

 ^ be held in the fumes of a brimstone match, the 



color will soon begin to change, and at length 

 . the flower will become white. 



Muriatic acid (spirit of sea salt) removes the 



Jteins of common ialc, but it does not atiect 



*■ Clilorine gas i? produced by distilling a mixture of 

 manganese, cojiimon salt, sulphuric acid aud water 

 See farkes's Chemical Essays, lol. iv, p. 68. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR YEAST. 



Carbonate of ammonia (or the kind of saline 

 substance which is used in smelling bottles) is 

 now much used by Jbakers in England, as a sub- 

 stitute for yeasl. 



RECIPE FOR TRESERVING LEMON JUICE OR HME JUICE. 



Strain the juice through fine muslin or filter- 

 ing paper, and add as much loaf sugar as is nec- 

 essary to make it sweet ; then put it in a bottle 

 which must be nearly filled, corked, waxed, 

 tied over With wet bladder, and put info boiling 

 water for an hour. Let it cool gradual!}', and 

 put it by for use. — Domestic Encyclopedia. 



RECIPES FOR FURIFVING PUTRID WATER. 



If putrid water be agitated with a small quan- 

 tity of magnesia it will lose its bad taste and 

 smell in a few minutes. Alum may likewise be 

 used for tlio purpose of purifying and sweeten- 

 ing water which has become foetid and unfit for 

 use. Each gallon of ' ater requires, according 

 to its impui-.ty, only from five to ten grains of 

 calcined alum, and double or treble that pro- 

 portion of charcoal, in order to render the most 

 offensive water perfectly sweet and pellucid. 

 The ingredients, however, ought to be preser- 

 ved in close vessel', or their efficacy will be 

 considerably dimioished. 



CLASS VESSELS, HOW PURIFIED. 



All sorts of glass vessels and other utensils 

 may be purified from long retained smells of 

 every kind, in the easiest and most perfect 

 manner, by well rinsing them out with charcoal 

 powder, after the grosser impurities have been 

 scoured off with sand and potash. 



OrdVs Journal, vol, 2, p. 170. 



WEILS, HOW FREED FROM FIXED AIR. 



Carbonic acid gas, or fixed air, so often occu- 

 pies the bottom of wells, that workmen ought 

 never to venture into siirh places, without jire- 

 viously letting down a lighted candle. If the 

 candle burn*, they may enter with safety ; if 

 not a {piantity of (|uick lime should b<- let down 

 in buckets, and gradually sprinkled with water. 

 ;\s the lime slacks it w\\\ gradually absorb car- 

 bonic acid gas, and the workmen may afterwards 

 descend in safety. 



THE BEST MODE OF ADMINISTERING OPIUM. 



Citric acid, [lemon juice] has been found, 

 within a few jears to be useful in medicine. 

 It is said that the largest dose of opium may be 

 checked in its narcotic eifects, if a proper (juaii- 

 lity of citric acid be taken with it ; and that 

 with this addition, it induces cheerfulness, in- 

 stead of stupefaction, succeeded by gentle and 

 refreshing sleep. 



Parkes^s Chemical Catechism, p. 171, 10th ed. 



When farmers employ a great deal of lime, 

 it sometimes happens that their horses' feet are 

 burnt by it, which is extremely troublesome, 

 and sometimes proves even fatal to the poor 

 animals ;* a method of preventing or remedying 

 that circumstance will therefore be of use. 



The best method of preventing any inconve- 

 nience of this sort, is to spread the lime, when 

 in its powdery state, upon the field as evenly 

 as possible, and allow it to lie in that state 

 sometime before you begin to plough it. If 

 the lime has been in fine powder it will have 

 become effete in a week or so ; after which 

 tune it will be as little corrosive as any kind of 

 common earth, so that the horses may work 

 among it with perfect safety — but if it has been 

 suffered to run into clods before it was spread, 

 lhesc,^f not broken small, will be longer in ab- 

 sorbing their air, and, of consequence, will re- 

 main longer in an acrid state, so that in that case 

 the ploughing may be deferred a week or so 

 longer ; nor will it then be so perfectly safe as 

 the other. 



But if it becomes necessary at any time to 

 plough in the lime immediately after it is spread, 

 take care to do it only when the soil is perfect- 

 ly dry ; and in leading your horses to the plough, 

 take care to prevent them from going through 

 any wet place, so as to wet their hoofs or an- 

 cles ; for lime acts not at all upon any dry sub- 

 stance — but when it is in its acrid caustic state, 

 it would corrode the hair and flesh in a mo- 

 ment, if it has access to water. As soon as the 

 horses are unharnessed, keep their feet dry till 

 you have got them carefully brushed, so as to 

 wipe away all the dry powdery lime that may 

 adhere to them ; and if the least shower should 

 fall, unyoke your horses immediately, and take 

 them off the field. 



But in case of any accident, by which a horse 

 or man that is working among lime should be 

 scalded by it, it is always advisable for every 

 farmer, who has work of that kind going for- 

 ward, to keep a tub of very sour milk or whey 



in some place, ready to wash the part affected 

 with it, which will quickly destroy the poignan- 

 cy of the lime, and prevent the mischief that 

 would otherwise ^rise from it. The sourer the 



* 1 have known several horses actually killed by this 

 means, aiKl others so disabled as never to be perlectly 



wtll afterwards. 



