536 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov, 



Both specimens of the grain sent are plump and 

 good. We have now five specimens of Massachu- 

 setts, and one of Vermont wheat. 



CHEMISTRY. 



That I may not be tediously prolix, my present 

 remarks will be confined to a single passage in 

 "Chemical Terms, No. 3." 



"When vitality has left organized bodies, their 

 component elements are at once seized upon by 

 oxygen, which unites with their nitrogen and con- 

 verts it into atmos'iihcric air," &c. 



With one exception, the statements in the whole 

 paragraph arc undoul)tedly true, in the sense in- 

 tended by the writer ; ja't it is to he regretted that 

 the capacity of farmers for receiving elementary 

 instruction is assumed to be so weak and low as to 

 require such inelegant and unscicntilie language. 

 The ol)jt'ctionable statement, changing somewhat 

 the phraseology, seems tol)ethat in the decay and 

 dissolution of organized and azotized Ijodies, "oxv- 

 gen seizes upon" and "unites with their nitrogen 

 and converts it into atmospheric air." Waiving, 

 for tlie present, all objection to the uncoutli and 

 somewhat ludicrous expression, that oxygen seizes 

 ttpo7i the various elements and converts them, (for 

 thei-e is no proof that oxygen is not as much the 

 "seized tipo)i" as the seizer), the statement in rela- 

 tion to nitrogen is so palpaljly erroneous and ab- 

 surd, that we are unwilling to believe that the 

 author of "Chemical Terms" lias so far forgotten 

 first rudiments as to put forth the statement in 

 sober earnest. Perhaps after the manner of peda- 

 gogues, he adroitly coml)ines an intentional error 

 with numerous truths, to test the critical acumen 

 of his pupils. 



In the decay of azotized matters, some have 

 maintained tliat oxygen coml)ines with nitrogen 

 and forms, not atmospheric air, but nitric acid; 

 many admit that the nitrogen passes ofl" into the at- 

 mosphere as a simple uncomljiiied element, while 

 the fact is too oljvious to be denied, not only to 

 chemists but to every careful observer of nature, 

 that "ammonia, a ctmibination of hvdrugen and 

 nitrogen, is a constant product of the decomposi- 

 tion of organic substances containing nitrogen." 



The merest tyros in chemistry well understand 

 that atmospheric air is, in no sense, a chemical 

 union or combination of elements. 



Why oxygen should be accused of leaving for 

 awhile its most indifierent and peaceful associa- 

 tion with the superabounding volume of nitrogen 

 in the atmosphere, that it might "seize upon" — that 

 for wliich it has no passion and only a feeble 

 affinit}- — some humble quantity of nascent nitro- 

 gen, or some nitrogen in loving union with some 

 other element, "converting it into atmospheric 

 air," and subjecting it to the same indifiereni treat- 

 ment accorded to atmospheric nitrogen in general, 

 is more than we can understand. 



I. B. Hartwell. 

 Wilkinsonville, Mass., Sept. 30, 1867. 



AN AllGl'MENT FOR THISTLES, AND HOW TO DE- 

 STROY THEM. 



I frequently see in your paper and others, ob- 

 jections to Canada thistles, with ways suggested 

 to get rid of them. Now I am in favor of tlie tliis- 

 tle. I never liad too many of them on my tillage 

 land. Tliey make good Ibdder for any kind of 

 stock. When in hay they want as much drying as 

 bay anti no more. I have cut thistles in my pas- 

 ture for fodder, and find that when clear the}' need 

 but little drying, as when considerable mouldy 

 any stock will eat them and do well on them, but 

 If they are thoroughly dried they arc too sliarp 

 for utock. 



Where thistles of any kind grow freely, I know 

 there is good land for grass, grain, or other crops. 

 I do not want any better recommendation of any 

 cultivated land than to know that thistles grow 

 freely. But I do not want them in my pasture, as 

 I think they are an injury there. Unless too se- 

 verely stocked, cattle will not eat the feed where 

 the thistle grows thick. I have mowed small 

 patches in my pasture, and find that after they are 

 wilted by a little rain or dew, the stock will eat 

 them. But if the oV>ject is to drive them out of 

 the pasture, the right time to mow them is said by 

 many to be in the old of the moon in August. I 

 have lietter success in mowing them later in the 

 season, because the longer they stand up the larger 

 the cavity in the stock becomes, and the surer you 

 are of killing them. I think the rain that gets 

 into the cavity of the stock rots and kills the this- 

 tle. With such mowings for two years you will 

 not have many thistles in your pasture. 



Orison Foster. 



Tiinbridge, Vt., Oct. 1, 1867. 



HOW TO MAKE WINE FROM GRAPES. 



Can you give the particular information of the 

 process of manufacturing wine from grapes ? 

 Kendall's Mills, Me., Oct. 1, 1867. D. b. 



Remarks. — Those who preserve the Farmer 

 will find directions for wine or cordial making in 

 one of the numbers about a year ago. The follow- 

 ing method is recommended by a correspondent of 

 the Countri/ Gentleman. It is for a barrel of 

 "Grape Wine" : — "Get anew oak forty gallon cask, 

 five or six bushels of grapes, and 100 pounds of A. 

 No. 1 hard sugar. Pick the grapes carefully from 

 the stems, rejecting all unsound ones, put them 

 into tubs and fill to cover with water. Let them 

 stand 24 hours, then mash in some convenient way ; 

 leaving the pulp and liquor to stand again 48 hours, 

 and then strain into other tubs. In the operation 

 avoid contact with all metals, especially iron, be- 

 cause it gives a dirty color, and brass and copper 

 because they are poisonous. After the first strain- 

 ing wash, and wash again the seeds and pulp with 

 a little water each time, and all the desirable solu- 

 ble matter of the grape will be obtained. Distrib- 

 ute the liquor into tubs and add the 100 pounds of 

 sugar and water sufficient to make 4o gallons, in 

 all. Put 40 gallons into the barrel, reserving the 

 five gallons to fill the cask from day to day, as 

 the spume works off" at the bung. When the ac- 

 tive fermentation has passed, say in the course ot 

 three or four weeks, bung up tightly. In from 

 three to six months a palatable liquor will have 

 been developed, and if I am rightly informed, the 

 100 pounds of sugar will have changed, first into 

 grape sugar, and then into 50 pints of absolute 

 alcohol." 



bees and bee-bread. 



It appears that I did not convince your coiTCS- 

 pondcnt "F." that his l)ees did not j)erish for the 

 laik of l)ec-l)read ; neither do I believe they died 

 from that cause. If he lives in a region where 

 bees can't collect enough l)cc-l)r('ad to keep up 

 breeding tlirough warm weather, my atlvice to 

 him is, titlier remove to some place where the 

 land is better, or else sell his bees. I don't under- 

 stand why it is that some of his bees die for a lack 



