<i30 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



-^-fn 



-V-r- 



strongest vinegar. Bake it quite dry in tlie 

 oven ; tl\en pound it into a tine powder, with 

 which and vinegar make another cake, and 

 bake it as formerly. Reiterate this operation 

 three or four times; then hang the last made 

 cake quite hot in a cask of wine, iind it will 

 turn the whole into vinegar in less than an hour. 

 Texus Wood, or yew tree, thrown into wine, 

 will soon change it to vinegar. Red Leet has 

 the same tendency. 



To increase the strength of Vinegar.-^Vjoil two 

 quarts of good vinegar till it evaporates to one. 

 Put it in a vessel, and set it in the sun for a 

 week ; then to one part add six of weak or 

 inditierent vinegar, and it will make it strong 

 and agreeable. — 



To revive old ■u.-ritin^s. — Boil gall nuts in 

 wine, then with a sponge dipt in the liquor, 

 pass it on the lines of the old writings, when it 

 will appear as fresh as if newly done. 



To prevent wine tasting of the cask. — Stick a 

 lemon full of cloves, and hang it at the bung 

 hole, over the wine for three or four days, du- 

 ting which the air must be prevented from get- 

 ting into the cask. 



'^clarify new wine. — Hang a bag full of fine 

 and thin beech shavings at the bung-hole for 

 two or three days. If the wine is red, it may 

 be made white by adding a quart of clear whey 

 to the cask. — 



To restore turned wine. — Half a pound rock 

 alum in powder; the same quantity of sugar of 

 roses ; 8 pounds of honey, and 1 quart of good 

 wine, mixed well together, and then put into a 

 cask of wine, stirring while it is poured in. 

 Leave the bung out for one day ; then replace 

 it, and two or three dajq after thp wine will 

 be clear. 



A handful of parsley put into a bag, and hung 

 for a week in the bung-hole of a cask of wine, 

 *rill correct any bad flavor it may have. 



A bag of leek seed, or of the leaves and twist- 

 ers of the vine, put into a cask of wine to in- 

 fuse, will restore it if it is sour or sharp. 



A handful of steel filings, and another of salt, 

 tied up in a bag, and placed on the bung, will 

 prevent wine from being hurt by thunder. 



Employment nf Iodine for (he Relief of Can- 

 cer. — We have heard that Iodine, in tlielbrm of 

 Alcoholic solution, duly diluted with simple sy- 

 rup, has been used with success in one of tlie 

 Paris Hospitals, allaying the pain and increase 

 of a cancerous rumor in the breast; but we 

 have been unable to obtain from our correspon- 

 dent any satisfactory particulars of the case ; 

 we, tlierfore, merely throw out the rumor 

 for the consideration of our medico-chirur- 

 gical readers. — Journal cf the Royal Institution, 

 JVu. 27. 



THE FARMER. 



BOSTON .—SATURDAY, FEB. 15, 1823. 



Railer Silenced. — .V woman stopped a divine 

 in the streets of the metropolis, with this salu- 

 tion : " There is no truth in the land sir! there 

 is no truth in the land." '• Then do you not 

 speak truth, good woman,"' rrplied the clergy- 

 man, " O yes, I do," retiirned she hastily. 

 " Then there is truth in the l.ind," rejoined 

 ho as quickly. 



THE A.MERIC.\.\ OKCH.^DIST. 



■We have perused with much pleasure, and we hope 

 not without profit, a work entitled " The American 

 Orchadist, or a Practical Treatise on the Culture and 

 .'^lanagemtnl of Apple and other Fruit Trees, u-ilh Ob- 

 servations on the Diseases to tchich Iher/ are liable, and 

 Iheir Remedies. To uhieh is added the most approved 

 Method of M'maging and Preserving Cider. Compiled 

 from, the latest and most approved Aulhorilies, and 

 adapted to the use of American Farmers. By James 

 Thacher, M. D. Felloxc of the American Academy of 

 Arts and Sciences, and of the Massachusetts Medical 

 .Society, ir. ic." Boston : published by Joseph W. 

 Ingraham ; pp. 226, 8 vo. price $1,25. [The work 

 may be purchased at any of the principal Bookstores in 

 Boston.] 



This work has been recommended by the Officers of 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural Society, who have 

 unanimously affixed their signatures, as individuals, to 

 the following testimony of their .ipprobation. 



" We have perused, at the request of Dr. Thacher, 

 his Treatise on the Culture of Fruit Trees, and the Art 

 of Making Cider ; and although we cannot hope that 

 our opinions will have any great weight with the pub- 

 lic, yet as the author is desirous that we should ex- 

 press them, we have no hesitation in saying, that it 

 appears to us an excellent compendium of all that has 

 been Written on the subject — comprising, within a mod- 

 erate compass, the result of the observations of the 

 experienced cultivators of Europe, and of this country 

 — with many original suggestions of his own — and we 

 believe that such a work will be of great value to 

 those who wish to obtain a knowledge of this branch 

 of agriculture, but who cannot have access to the ori- 

 ginal sources, from which, with great labor, and, as 

 we believe, good judgment, this compilation has been 

 formed." 



We have copied this recommendation, at lengfth, 

 l>o««.u3c it has that weight which attaches to iiic opin- 

 ions of gentlemen, who are eminent for practical, as 

 well as scientific knowledge of agriculture and horti- 

 culture ; and because the merits of the work could in 

 no other words be more concisely, and at the same 

 time more fully expressed. We believe that any per- 

 son who has even no more than half a dozen fruit trees 

 to cultivate, would save money by buying this book 

 and making himself acquainted with its contents ; and 

 every house-keeper who would wish to make the most 

 of one of the cheapest, as well as one of the best gifts 

 of Providence to mankind, would find his or her ac- 

 count in becoming possessed of this compendium of 

 valuable information relative to fruit and fruit trees. 

 A knowledge of the medical properties of apples alone 

 [see Orchardist p. 12] is worth to house-keepers five 

 times the price of this book. As an article of diet, 

 when properly chosen and judiciously cooked, they 

 yield perhaps to no vegetable substance, except the 

 potatoe. Sweet apples, in particular, are a wholesome, 

 che.ap and very palatable food for man and beast. The 

 liberal use of fruit counteracts that debilitating, de- 

 grading and demoralizing hankering after spirituous 

 liquor.«, which foreigners, (we fear with some trutli.) 

 have declared to be a national characteristic of the 

 .\merican people. But we must refer to Mr. Thachn's 

 book for the various uses of fruit (some of which, we 

 dare say, many good people have never thought of,) a;, 

 an article of commerce, as well as domestic consump- 

 tion. 



We believe that> nothing can prevent the general 

 circulation of Dr. Thacher's American Orchadist, ex- 

 cept that kind o{ economy (falsely so c.iUed) which by 

 " withUolding mor'; than is moet lendeth to poverty ;" 



or a prejudice, which we fear is too general, agains 

 every kind of information which comes in the shape o 

 a book, or appears in print. But what is this bool 

 knowledge, which some farmers seem to think worai 

 than profound ignorance ? In agriculture, it consists o 

 facts and observations, derived from experience ant 

 reason, and recorded first in writing, and then printed 

 Nobody objects to acquiring the rules of arithmetic 

 geometry, surveying, and the precepts of morality ant ^",( 

 religion, from books. And why may not the rules o 

 agriculture, gardening, and those in particular whicl 

 have reference to the management of fruit trees, be set 

 down in black and white, and sent to the press ? If 

 farmer knows, better than the book can tell him, ho« ''" 

 to manage with regard to any particular point or mat Lj 

 ter set forth in the book, let him make use of his own ^ 

 knowledge, in preference to that in the book. Th 

 book only advises, it does not dictate. It furnishes, a' 

 a cheap rate, materials for the farmer's own mind to 

 work upon. Pope says, 



" Jf'kat can we reason but from what we ibioizi." 

 And what can we know if we know nothing excepting 

 what we have done ourselves, seen other's do, or heard 

 our neighbors talk of, hi comparison to what we may 

 know by having the experience of ages presented to *<t 

 our view in a book? Besides, if a farmer knows better 

 than a book teaches, if he is a genuine patriot and well 

 wisher to mankind, he will in some way commtinicate 

 his knowledge to the author, or some editor of a news- 

 paper, in order to have the mistakes in the book cor-E-; 

 reeled against another edition. In short, there can be 

 nothing said against toot knowledge in agriculturev 

 which may not as well be said against books relating 

 to law, physic, or even divinity, which are (at least 

 now-a-days) all written by fallible men. 



But it is time to conclude our dissertation on book 

 knowledge, and this notice, with a quotation from th« 

 work before us. 



"it is a remarkable fact that the first planters be- 

 r-noaflipd ir, »>■«;> posterity •• greater number of or- 

 chards, in proportion to their population, than are now 

 to be found in the old colony ; and it is no less noto- 

 rious that the children have substituted a poisonous 

 liquor for the salutary beverage, which almost exclu- 

 sively cheered the hearts of their virtuous ancestors. — 

 i he views of men are often materially affected through 

 mere indolence of temper, no less than through the 

 cloud of prejudice. Averse to the labor of reading and' 

 inquiry, they adhere pertinaciously to the routine of 

 their predecessors, and treat with equal contempt the 

 lessons of experience, and all suggestions of improve- 

 ment. It is not, however, desirable that former modes 

 of practice in husbandry should be abandoned until it 

 shall be incontestably proved, that a system more 

 adapted to our circumstances, and in all respects of su- 

 perior utility, can be founded on the surest basis. It it 

 not to be required of our farmers to subject themselves 

 to the expense and uncertainty of novel experiments ; 

 but he who possesses capital and leisure, and who, in 

 the spirit of investigation, shall put in execution a 

 hundred new projects, although in ten only shall he be 

 successful in the acquisition of useful knowledge, will 

 be entitled to public praise and respect. These pages 

 contain no speculative or visionary projects, nor recom- 

 mend any untried experiments. Although a portion of 

 information is derived from European authors, no in- 

 considerable part of it has been collected from the prac- 

 tical experiments and observations of our own country- 

 men. There is, therefore, no part of this production 

 but what may be adopted as applicable to our climat^ 

 and calculated to promote the interests of the cultiva- 

 tors of our soil. The knowledge respecting the proper 

 management nf fruit trees is contained in numerous 

 volumes, and in incidental papers, published in period- 

 ical works. My object has been to collate and em- 

 lirace all the jnincipal circumstances relative to the 

 subject, and condense the wliole into a small compas»» 

 that shall be accessible both to the pecuniary means of 

 all, and to the intellectual powers of the most ordinary 

 capacity. The authoritie*. to which I aa chiefly ia- 



. 



