1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



389 



TO MAKE CURRANT "WINE. 



For several years we made a ten-gallon keg 

 of currant wine, of as good quality as any we 

 liave tasted, and is generally so pronounced 

 by those who have had an opportunity to 

 judge. The mode of manufacture is simple, 

 and can easily be followed by any family hav- 

 ing the currants and the disposition to make 

 the wine. 



The currants should be fully ripe when 

 picked; put them into a large tub, in which 

 they should remain a day or two, then crush 

 with the hands, imless you have a small patent 

 wine press in which they should not be pressed 

 too nuich, or the stems will be bruised and 

 impart a disagreeable taste to the juice. If 

 the hands are used, put the crushed fruit, after 

 the juice has been poured off', in a cloth or 

 sack and press out the reiiiaining juice. Put 

 tlie juice back into the tub after cleansing it, 

 where it should remain about three days, until 

 the first stage of fermentation is over, and re- 

 moving once or twice a day the scum copi- 

 ously arising to the top. Then put the juice 

 in a vessel — a demijohn, keg or barrel — any 

 size to suit the quantity made, and to each 

 quart of juice add three pounds of the best 

 yellGW sugar, and soft water sufficient to make 

 a gallon. Thus, ten quarts of juice and thirty 

 pounds of sugar Avill give jou ten gallons of 

 wine, and so on in that proportion. Those 

 who do not like sweet wine can reduce the 

 quantity of sugar to 2i ; or who wish it very 

 sweet, raise it to 3^ pounds per gallon. 



The vessel nuist be full and the bung or 

 stopper left off until fermentation ceases, 

 which will be in twelve or fifteen days. JMean- 

 while the cask nuist be filled up daily with cur- 

 rant juice left over, as fermentation throws 

 out the impure matter. When fermentation 

 cea.';es, rack the wine ofF carefully, either from 

 the spiggot or by a syphon, and keej) running 

 all the time. Cleanse the cask thoroughly 

 with boiling water, then return the wine, bung 

 up tightly, and let stand four or five months 

 when it will be fit to drink, and can be bot- 

 tled if desired. 



All the vessels, casks, &c., should be per- 

 fectly sweet, and the whole operation should 

 be done with an eye to cleanliness. In such 

 event, every drop of brandy or other spirituous 

 jiquors .added will detract from the flavor of 

 the wine, and will not in the least degree in- 

 crease its keeping qualities. Currant wine 

 made in this way will keep for an age. We 

 have some made in 1856 which is really an ex- 

 cellent article. — Oermaniown Tehgrapli. 



GROWING AND SAVING CLOVER SEED. 



Upon this subject Birdsdale, in his Clover 

 Leaf, says : — It requires some skill in growing 

 clover for seed, to understand how long to 

 pasture and when to mow the first crop. Of 

 course the season has much to do with its fill- 

 ing, yet the crop can be materially helped if 



managed as it should be. The large kind, if 

 saved for seed, can be pastured till the loth 

 of June, and very close ; then give it a coat 

 of plaster, so as to give it a good start. The 

 medium or common clover should be pastured 

 till the 25th of June, or if mown, cut the same 

 time, and be sure and get off July 1st. 

 You can then look for a good yield of seed, 

 and if later, your crop will not pay for hand- 

 ling. Give it a coat of plaster, and you will 

 find it very beneficial, and particularly on 

 light soil and if the season is dry. Be sure and 

 keep your stock out of the clover saved for 

 seed, as it will spoil the young plants. In 

 cutting the seed, do not let it stand till dead 

 ripe, as one-third will rattle off and be wasted. 

 Cut when the head is handsomely brown and 

 the stalk not quite dead ; there will then be 

 scarcely any waste, and the seed just as plump. 

 Many people, in gathering clover seed, waste 

 at least one-fourth in allowing it to stand too 

 long before cutting. Cut with a mower or 

 reaper — a mower is preferable — attaching a 

 drag ajjron, and tnrow off in bunches of me- 

 dium size and in windrows. Turn it over when 

 the dew is on, so as not to rattle oiFthe bolls. 

 When thoroughly dry, you can thresh imme- 

 diately, or put it away where it will keep drj-, 

 as damp clover is very difficult to hull, and at 

 the same time it is impossible to get all the 

 bolls from the straw. 



CARE OF SUCKING COLTS. 



Those who raise colts, usually exercise care 

 in the selection of good stock to breed from ; 

 but a great many neglect to give the colts 

 proper attention during hot weather, while 

 they are running with dams. It is not uncom- 

 mon to see those that were healthy and well 

 developed in early summer looking puny and 

 poor, and their hair falling oil" before autumn. 

 The trouble arises from allowing the colt to 

 draw milk while the blood of the mare is in a 

 high state of heat from violent exertion. 



When the dam is used in hot weather upon 

 the farm or road, so as to heat her blood, the 

 colt should never be allowed to suck until she 

 has fully cooled off. Let him fill himself be- 

 fore the mother is put in the harness, and if it 

 is important that he should accompany the 

 dam, tie him at her side so that he will be un- 

 able to draw milk until he is liberated ; for it 

 is much better that he should go hungry a few 

 hours than to take his food while it is in a fe- 

 vered state. 



If the mare is to make a long distance in a 

 hot day, and return at night, it is best to leave 

 the coit at home, and draw the milk from the 

 udder by hand once or twice during the day 

 and upon returning, then allow the colt to fill 

 himself gradually as the milk is secreted. 



Colts injured by heated milk seldom recover 

 from it for a year or two, and many times 

 never. They become reduced in flesh, get 

 lousy in the fall and during the first winter of 



