228 



CA NA DIA N HORTICUL TURIHT. 



we should plant varieties of fruit that 

 can be made into cider late in autumn, 

 or early winter ; cider made in winter 

 keeps sweet better than that made in 

 early autumn. 



Keejnng Cider Sweet. The best and 

 only method of preventing fermentation 

 in early-made cider is by heating to 

 175' Fahr., and placing in an air-tight 

 package and sealing up while hot, fol- 

 lowing the usual method of canning 

 fruit. Cider put up by this process I 

 have kept through the second summer, 

 as sweet as when it ran from the press. 

 The objection to this method is that it 

 changes to some extent the flavor of 

 the cider, and when opened for use it 

 ferments just as does canned fruit. A 

 method of preserving late-made cider is 

 to add some antiseptic, advertised in 

 the cider journals, which has, as its 

 active ingredient either sulphur or 

 salicylic acid, the latter being the most 

 used. One ounce of the acid to thirty- 

 two gallons of cider being the rule ; 

 the quantity being so small as not to 

 be detected, and not injuring it for 

 vinegar making. 



Vinegar Making. One after another 

 method was laid aside as useless or in- 



expedient, and I have gone back to 

 barrel manufacture, but have decreased 

 the length of time over the old process 

 in a very simple manner. The cider 

 for vinegar made and barreled, the 

 barrels are elevated into an upper 

 story, and on the approach of winter 

 one-third of the contents of each barrel 

 is removed and placed in other casks, 

 leaving the barrels two-thirds full. 

 Then I leave the barrels and allow the 

 frost to do its work, with no danger 

 of bursting, as there is room for expan- 

 sion. 



In the spring, when thawed out, the 

 barrels are rolled over in order that the 

 contents may again be intermingled, 

 and then allowed to stand. By May 

 or June, almost every barrel so treated 

 is excellent vinegar, while if they had 

 been placed in the cellar over winter, 

 many barrels would not become vinegar 

 within two years. Do not, however, 

 leave vinegar already made exposed to 

 the frost. One object in having the 

 vinegar in an upper story is to escape 

 that pest of the vjnegar-maker, the 

 barrel worm. — H. M. Dunlap, before 

 the Central Illinois Horticultural So- 



THE EARLY PURITAN POTATO. 



F. Selleck, Morrisbuhg. 



SIR, — You wished me to write you in 

 regard to the Early Puritan Potato. 

 1 purchased a peck from Messrs. Hen- 

 derson it Co., this spring, and planted 

 one half of them giving the rest away 

 to some of my friends. They are an 

 oval potato in shape, white, and you 

 can hardly notice any of the eyes. I 

 cooked some when not quite ripe and 

 found them much better than either 

 Early Rose, Bliss' Triumph or Vicks' 

 Extra Early. They came in blow five 

 days earlier than Early Rose, and one 

 week earlier than Bliss' Triumph or 

 Vicks' Extra Early, and ripened about 



the same time ahead of them all. The 

 stalks stand very straight and tirm 

 when green and do not fall over until 

 quite ripe. I planted them on May 

 10, and on August 10, they were 

 ripe. This season has been a 

 very hard one here, especially on 

 early potatoes, as just the time the 

 potatoes were setting we had a dry 

 spell and, in consequence, potatoes are 

 not much over half a crop, that is, early 

 ones. The late potatoes are looking 

 nice and green yet, and as we have had 

 plenty of rain lately why they may do 

 better. I planted Early Rose, Vicks' 



