70 



THE CANADIAN H0RTICULTDB18T. 



and buildings ; but after the first year 

 it is known that in the case of two com- 

 panies now working a dividend of thirty 

 per cent, was cleared and paid to the 

 shareholders. One of the most success- 

 ful mines is owned by a company having 

 its headquarters in London, England. 

 The property covers 1,200 acres. The 

 profits for three years, 1882, 3 and 4, 

 after defraying all expenses, paid a 

 dividend of 25 per cent., leaving a bal- 

 ance of $10,000 as a i-eserve. Large 

 foi'ces of men are being employed in 

 this industry, which is rapidly assuming 

 considerable proportions. The out put 

 for the past six years furnishes the fol- 

 lowing: figures : — 



Unfortunately pyrites, out of which 

 sulphuric acid is made, is not at hand in 

 sufficient quantities to supply works for 

 treating the phosphates, and as most of 

 the product of the mines is used in 

 Britain, where acid is inexpensive, it 

 pays better to ship the crude material. 

 A wealthy American company has 

 established a mill for grinding and pul- 

 verising phosphates, either for acid 

 treatment, or for use in its pure state. 

 These works are situated at the con- 

 fluence of the Lievres with the Ottawa 

 rivers. This mill has a capacity of fifty 

 tons per day. The powder obtained is 

 so fine that it is passed by means of 

 fans through an 80 mesh bolt, thereby 

 separating every particle of mica, which 

 is the most troublesome material the 

 refiners have to contend with. This 

 flour of phosphate is shipped west to 

 cities situated along Lake Erie. Very 

 little of this material has hitherto been 

 used in Canadian agriculture or horti- 

 culture, but as our soils become ex- 

 hausted by the shipment of grains and 

 cattle, the time cannot be far distant 

 when this powerful fertilizer will be 

 largely sought for, and these deposits 



which nature has bestowed with such a 

 bountiful hand, will be thoroughly ap- 

 preciated by the Canadian farmer and 

 gardener. 



Apples for Stock. — C.L. Underwood says 

 in Farvi and Home that he has been 

 feeding apples for ten yeai-s past. He 

 uses a peck of apples to two quarts of 

 bran for his cows and finds it to increase 

 the flow of milk and improve the quality 

 of the butter. 



Apple Butter. — Making Apple butter 

 is almost one of the lost arts, but I 

 have gathered the process from old ex- 

 perienced folks, and New York State 

 farmers say that it is apples pared, 

 cored, cut and boiled in sweet cider till 

 the whole is a dark, rich pulp, and the 

 cider is reduced one-half. No sugar is 

 needed, for the fruit furnishes its own 

 sweetness. Half the apples may be 

 sour and half sweet, or all sweet, as one 

 likes. It takes nearly two gallons of 

 cider to make one of Apple butter, and 

 spices are added, or not, to taste. I 

 should spice it, the rale being one table- 

 spoonful of cinnamon and one-third of 

 a teaspoonful of ground cloves to each 

 gallon of Apple butter, added when it 

 is taken up, boiling hot. It may be 

 kept in barrels, stone pots, or butter 

 firkins and boxes. A clean second-hand 

 butter firkin is a very good thing to 

 keep many kinds of preserves or pickles 

 in. — Vick's Magazine /or January. 



Baked Apples. — Are " a dainty dish to 

 set before a king " if you bake them the 

 right way. Take sour, sound apples 

 and core but do not peel them. Fill the 

 cavities with sugar and stick into each 

 a clove, a bit of cinnamon or lemon peel 

 as preferred. Put the apples into the 

 oven with a little water in the bottom 

 of the baking pan, and bake until a 

 straw will pierce them. Eat cold with 



