1870. 



NEW ENGLAND F.\R:MER. 



527 



and the turkeys go half a mile or more from 

 the house. The eighteen acres of poultry 

 yard is rough land of little use for tillage. It 

 has a pond in it, and many rocks, and weeds, 

 and bu.^hes, and saudy places, and ash heaps, 

 and lim*e, and bones, and grass, and a place 

 which I plough up to give them worms. 



'-2d —When a hen has set I take her box, 

 throw out the straw and earth, let it be out in 

 the sun and rain a few days, aud give it a good 

 coat of whitewash on both sides. In winter, 

 when ir, is very cold, I have an old stove in 

 their house, and keep the warmth above freez- 

 ing. There is also an open fire-place where 

 I build a fire in cool, wet days. They dry them- 

 selves, and when the fire goes out there is a 

 bed of ashes for them to wallow in. Summer 

 and winter my hens have all the lime, ashes, 

 and sand they want. 



"3d —Another reason why I have such luck 

 is, because my poultry yards receive all the 

 scraps from the Metropolitan Hotel. Egg- 

 mikintr is no easy work, and hens will not do 

 much of it without high feed. They need j ust 

 whar a man who works requires — wheat bread 

 aod meat. Even when wheat costs $2, 1 believe 

 in ft-eding it to hens. As to breeds. I prefer 

 the Brahmas, light and dark. I change roost- 

 ers every spring, and a man on the farm has 

 no other duty tban to take care of my poultry. 

 I fr. quently tu^n off 3,000 spring chickens m a 

 fcingld season." 



MAKING GOOD CIDSK. 

 Cider that is really good is almost a rarity, 

 and yet a rich, pare quality may be obtained 

 by an orchardist who will exercise care in the 

 preparing of fruit, and the expressing of 

 ifae juice. It is a custom very common to 

 8 rape together the refuse of the orchard, in 

 eluding rotten fruit,- dirt, leaves, etc., and 

 work up the whole collection together. Good 

 cider cannot be obtained in this way, any more 

 than good wine can be the result of working 

 up half rotten and filthy grapes. 



Apples should be gathered, as far as sound- 

 ness and cleanliness are concerned, with as 

 much care as for winter storing. They a'-e 

 better for lying awhile in some open shed, 

 where not exposed to the frost, as perfectly 

 ripened fruic makes the best cider. If it is 

 possible, use no straw in pressing, as all 

 f )rtigii substances detract from the rich flavor 

 of the liquid, and use no water unless it be in 

 the I ist pressing whioh may be designed for 

 viriegir. If high color is desired, it may be 

 0-. Twined by allowing the juice to lie in the 

 po:uace before pressing. By the exposure 

 trie saccharine matter takes up oxygen, and 

 the same change is made in color as sugar un- 

 dergoes in a refinery, and if long continued, 

 a d.rcomposition takes place in which the sugar 

 is resolved into carbonic acid gas and alcohol, 

 the cider becoming sour or hard. 



People do not usually realize the importance 



of having pure juice, in order to secure long 

 keeping and high flavor. Impure liquid, ia 

 which fermentation, or natural working is 

 checked, never becomes a good drink. Cider 

 will, if left to itself, work clear, but the time 

 required, and exposure to the atmosphere 

 made, brings about a change of sugar to al- 

 cohol, as above spoken of. The object should 

 be to purify as soon as possible. This may, 

 perhaps, be the most effectually done by 

 straining as soon as it comes from the pre^s 

 through woolen cloths, and putting up in 

 clean barrels, and racking off after standing a 

 few days and run through a filter into a clean 

 cask. Only that which appears to be free 

 fiom sediment should be drawn. After a 

 week or so, rack off and filter again, _ and j ec 

 again if there are any signs of working. To 

 prevent exposure to the air between the times 

 of transfer, use a bent tube, one end inserted 

 in the bung of the barrel and the other in a 

 pail of water ; this will allow the escape of 

 gases which are generated in the barrel. 

 After the cider has been rendered perfectly 

 pure, bung up tight, and a delicious drink 

 will be had, doubly worth all trouble. — Ohio 

 Farmer. 



FARMERS' BOYS. 

 When I was a boy, my first savings of ten 

 cent pieces, earned by Saturday afternoon 

 work— for school kept half a day on Saturday 

 then — were expended in buying a heifer calf. 

 Then I worked on and paid my fath'^^r a cer- 

 tain sum each month for keeping. When the 

 calf was one year old, I traded it for two steer 

 calves, and now I had to put in good and 

 strong to pay for their keep ; but I occupied 

 all my spare time in learning these calves to 

 work in the yoke, and at one year old they 

 would gee and haw as wdl as old oxen, and 

 my father paid me for their use in leading th>i 

 team for breaking in his two and three-year- 

 olds. Aga=n, I had a piece of ground each 

 year after I was fourteen, that I could plant 

 and work on shares ; and if I wanted help, 

 why I had to give two days of my time to the 

 hired man's one day. I grew just what*ny 

 fancy and rea'iirg dictated, and from the pro- 

 ceeds I dressed as well as any boys now. [ 

 had aWays some time to play, time to read, 

 and now look b^ck with love and plea>ant 

 thoughts to the old farm aud the farm hand 

 who taught me how to use evi ry tool, and 

 whipped me when I neglected to drive the 

 team out straight at the end of the furrow in 

 ploughing. Tnis remembrance of my own boy- 

 hood has always induced me to favor ail items 

 of encouragement at home on the farm ; and 

 I believe if it were more generally practice . 

 we should have more good farmers, and less 

 broken down merchants, or loafing, hanging 

 on, time-serving clerks, ready for anything 

 except honorab'e labor and usefulness belong- 

 ing to the highest order of creation -Farni 

 Advocate, 



