NEW ENGL.AND FARMER. 



Published by John B. Rdssell, at Xo. 52 Xorth Market Street, (over the Agricultural Warehouse). — Tkomas G. FESsENDErTTErf/t^ 



VOL. VI. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1827. 



No. 11. 



RURAL ECONOMY. 



APPLE srRUP. 



To prepare an excellent Syrup, not inferior to 

 Molasses. — Grind a quantity of sweet apples, 

 those, for example, known by the name of sweet- 

 ings. Express the juice immediately upon their 

 bein" ground, and strain it as clear as possible be- 

 fore fermentation has commenced. Put it into a 

 larae boiler, and boil it down to a syrup which in 

 taste will be found to be pleasanter than common 

 West India molasses, and as little subject to fer- 

 mentation. Four gallons of rich sweet apple juice 

 will yield one of syrup ; by boiling longer, and re- 

 ducing the quantity, it may be made of any consis- 

 tence required. — The substance of the above we 

 have copied from an article in the Boston Centinel 

 for 1813. ' 



PREPARED FRUIT. 



To prepare fruit for children &c. in a more 

 wholesome manner than putting them into pies or 

 puddings you may take the following mclliod: Put 

 apples sliced, or plums, currants, gooseberries, &c 

 into a stone jar, and sprinkle as much loaf sugar 

 as is necessary among them. Set the jar on a hot 

 liearth, or in a sauce pan of water, and heat the 

 water, and let it remain till the fruit is thoroughly 

 done. 



TO PRESERVE CUCUMBERS FOR PICKLES. 



Put cucumbers immediately after gathering into 

 a tight, clean barrel, with a sufficiency of salt, 

 when melted, to cover them. In the same mannei 

 proceed till the barrel is filled, adding salt with 

 .jvery additional parcel, and keeping the cucum 

 berg immersed in the pickle; for any suffered to 

 float will rot immediately. When pickles arc 

 wanted for use, take a sutHcient quantity, put thfin 

 in a clean barrel or tub, in a cool but not ''n a 

 freezing place, and pour three times the quantity 

 of boiling water to them, and let them stand aven- 

 ty-four hours. Then pour off this water and add 

 as couch more boiling hot. Proceed in the same 

 way a third time and the cucumbers will be green, 

 plump and bard, and fit for the vinegar and other 

 seasoning. Be careful that boiling water, not 

 merely warm water be used. 



The above is the substance of a communication 

 from a very respectable correspondent, published 

 N. E. Farmer, vol. V. page 30. The writer ob- 

 served that lie "had practised pickling cucumbers 

 as above upwards of twenty years: and has had 

 them ten years old, perfectly good. 



It is said likewise that cucumbers may be pre- 

 served by putting them while fresh and green into 

 a mixture of one part whiskey and three of water. 

 See N. E. Farmer, vol. V. p. 370. 



SUGAR. 



A sample of sugar made last year on the planta- 

 tion of Col. Henry Yonge, Gadsden county, East 

 Florida, has been left with the editor of the Bal- 

 timore Pariot. It is a specimen of a crop of thir- 

 ty barrels. The sugar appears superior to that of 

 Louisiana in strength, though its color is not so 

 fine as that of some of the latter, owing to its hav- 

 ing been packed up befi.i.j the molasses was suffi- 

 ciently drained off. Its flavor is peculiarly deli- 



cate, resembling that of candy. That part of 

 Florida was a wilderness when the territory was 

 ceded jy Spain ; but it is now rapidly settling by 

 intelligent and enterprising men, who are turning 

 their rttontion to the cultivation of sugar. 



Somt persons arc of opinion that the production 

 of sugir now does not equal its consumption, and 

 that lie increased demand has been partially sup- 

 plied ly the old stock. If this is correct, it is to 

 be hojed the cultivation of sugar will be still more 

 promoed in Louisiana ; and introduced and ex- 

 tendei in Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Geor- 

 gia. 



A A3rmont farmer inclines to the opinion that 

 Broon Corn may be profitably cultivated with a 

 view t) the sugar that can bo obtained from it. 

 Ho alo recommends experiments to ascertain 

 whethr sugar cannot be obtained from other 

 northen vegetables insufficient quantities to war- 

 rant thir cultivation partly fur this purpose. 



We. earn that the Sugar Cane is flourishing 

 luxuriatly in one or two gardens in this city. 

 We lern also that in a garden at the lower end 

 of the ity, a stalk of Oronoco Cotton has reached 

 the hejht of upwards of six feet. It is a beauti- 

 ful plat, and worthy the inspection of the curi- 

 ous. — t is said the plant will grow into a tree of 

 considrable size, and that it will not attain its 

 matury before the second year from its planting. 

 — Auusta Const. 



Fo}St Bee Hives. — It has been long a custom 

 in Uor.ia, to make cavities in the trees of a for- 

 est, for the purpose of receiving and rearing 

 jwanns of bees. Some proprietors have hundreds 

 and thousands of such trees. Those which are 

 -•hosen for this purpose are large oaks, firs, pines, 

 alders, &c. It is found that the pure air of the 

 higher regions agrees better with the bees than 

 th3 air of hives resting on the ground, in which, 

 owing (it is presumed) to the pernicious exhala- 

 tions of the earth, disease frequently makes great 

 nvages. 



Another advantage of this plan is, that it never 

 bjcomes necessary to kill the bees, and that hon- 

 ey may be taken at pleasure, if it can be spared, 

 iuring the whole of the summer, by simply re- 

 noving, or unlocking and opening the slip of 

 loard which covers the longitudinal opening in 

 he cylinder, in the middle of a warm day, when 

 nost of the bees are out. This, a= we have else- 

 where mentioned, (Encyc. of Card. § 1738) we 

 have seen done every two or three days, for the 

 use of a family, during a residence of above three 

 months in a small Polish town on the Russian 

 frontier. — Loudon. 



Separating Wax and Honey from the Comb. 



When your honey is cleared from the comb, 

 put your wax into a coarse canvass bag along 

 with some pebbles ; tie the bag up close, and put 

 it into a pot, or saucepan, filled up with water. 

 Place the pot on the fire ; let it boil for some 

 hours ; then take it from the fire, and get it in a 

 cold place. The next day you will find a fine ev- 

 en cake of wax floating on the water, free from 

 lall impurities. The reason of putting pebbles in 



the bag is to keep it at the bottom of the pot 

 otherwise it would rise, and attach itself to the 

 supernatant cake of wax. The water that remains 

 contains a good deal of saccharine matter ; and 

 by adding more honey, (as proportion requires) if 

 may be U5ed for making mead. 



The following is a good method of separating 

 the honey from the comb : — When you cut out. 

 from an old hive, the honeycomb, put the same on 

 flat dishes, or shallow wooden trays, made of lime 

 or willow wood (as deal wood, and some others, 

 might give an improper flavor to the honey,) and 

 cairy these trays into a room with closed windows, 

 otherwise your bees will find them out, and give 

 you much trouble and annoyance. Then with a 

 knife and fork cut from the comb the purest, which 

 I shall call No. 1 ; put it into a pan, and cut it in- 

 to small pieces; after this, put the above into a 

 coarse sieve, (where the holes are about l-14th 

 part of an inch,) and let it filter into a pan set un- 

 der the sieve. 



The remaining honeycomb, which I shall call 

 No. 2, must be treated in the same way as No. 1, 

 but will give an inferior honey, in consequence of 

 the comb containing a yellow matter, called bee- 

 bread, which the honey dissolves, and derives froir 

 it a yellow color and disagreeable taste. 



I have only to remark that honey from young 

 bees does not require the above assortment, being 

 all white and pure: it is hence called virgin honey. 



On the Cultivation of the Annual Sunflower. — 

 Sir — allow me to recommend, through the medi-, 

 um of your useful miscellany, the cultivation o' 

 the annual :sunfl<iv,Gr, as possessing the advanta 

 ges of furnishing an abundance of fodder for cat- 

 tle, in their leaves. When, also, they are in 

 bloom, the bees flock to them to gather sweets. 

 The seed is valuable for feeding sheep, pigs, &c. 

 It produces a striking effect on poultry, in occa 

 sioning them to lay more eggs than usual; the 

 dry stalks burn well, and the ashes afford a con 

 siderable quantity of alkali. — English Mag. 



Timber — An English paper recommends thai 

 prohibitory duties be laid upon the importation of 

 American timber, " the crevices of which are 

 found to bo filled, absolutely filled, with bugs." 

 Some new houses have been erected in Regent's 

 Park, in the construction of which American tim- 

 ber has been employed, and "the insects from it 

 are already numerous and troublesome." 



A Mammoth Peach. — A peach of the malaeaiton 

 kind was picked this season, in the garden of Si- 

 las Felton, Esq. of Marlboro', which weighed 9 

 1-2 ounces, and measured nine inches and a half 

 around. — Concord pa. 



Large Pears. — In the same gentleman's garden 

 three pears were blown from the tree, last week, 

 which were yet unripe and hard; they were of the 

 Amory kind, which do not reach maturity till the 

 middle of October, These pears were of the folf 

 lowing weights and measurements: — 



1. Pear, 1 lb. 8 oz. measured )4 3-8 inches. 



2. " 1 " 7 " do. 14 1-8 " 



3. « 1 " 1 " do. 12 7-8 " 



The total weight of the three, 4 pounds. — Ibid 



