300 



THE ILimOIS FAEMEK. 



Oct 



•jp ; when the leaves and stems of the fruit began 

 to mould quite badly. 



No. 2 kept tolerably well until about 1he middle 

 of December, when I found the cotton sticking to 

 the grapes where they came in contact, and the 

 berries rotting and the stems mouldy. 



No. 3 kept the best of the three by all odds. 

 By changing the papers aud repacking, I kept 

 grapes until the 15th of March perfectly plump and 

 fresh, and most of the stems fresh and green. I 

 know not how much longer they would have kept 

 had I not used up the last of them at that time. 



The Munier Grape. 



While in Massillon recently, Mr. James M. Brown 

 called our attention to a new grape which is thought 

 to have originated in that vicinity, and which ripens 

 several weeks earlier than the Isabella. Other 

 gentlemen as well as Mr. Brown, gave this grape a 

 character which surprised us, both on account of 

 its earlineas of ripening and excellent quality as a 

 table grape, besides which they say it is a great 

 bearer. From an inspection of the vine on the 

 premises of Mr. Brown, we are sure the grape is as 

 hardy as the Isabella or Concord. All that we 

 could learn of the origin of the grape was, that 

 the original vine was found growing on the premi- 

 ses of an honest German near Massillon, and the 

 fact of its good qualities having come to the know- 

 ledge of several amateur cultivators of the city, it 

 was propagated from, and in every instance fully 

 justified the expectation of its propagators. — Ohio 

 Farmer. 



Grape Growing in Iowa. 



H. A Truax, of Lyons, Iowa, who has been quite 

 largely engaged in small fruit for two or three years, 

 and who has been very successful in propagating 

 the grape, says the Concord is the most reliable 

 of all grapes for the Northwest; the Crevelling 

 and Bartford Prolific are not far behind. The 

 Delaware is going to take the place of the Catawba. 

 No trouble with it after the vines get old enough to 

 bear. All the Delaware wants is age ; slow grower, 

 but sure on the list "heat" — Prairie Farmer. 



Preparing Rennet. 



I answer the inquiries of C. B. Chapman, of Cal- 

 ifornia, in Rural of July 18, relative to preparing 

 rennet, as follows : 



The rule is applicable to green or dry rennet, 

 though I think the better way is to salt them down 

 in a stone jar as soon as saved. I generally use 

 them prepared in this way, but it sometimes hap- 

 pens that I have not enough ; in this case I get 

 dried rennets, which are equally as good. You 

 need have no fears of your cheese fermenting or 

 raising when the rennets are used green, if you 

 will till them with salt (being careful to preserve 

 the curd with them), before soaking for use. I 

 have become necessitated to use them in this way 

 and am never troubled with cheese raising — a dif- 

 ficulty wholly attributable to lack of salt. — Mrs. 



GOXJI-D. 



Cashmere Goats. 



Some very fine Cashmere goats have been shown 

 at our State fairs. It may therefore be interesting 

 to our readers to know something of the value of 

 the fleece of this animal. Mr. Klippart appears to 

 have done the subject justice and taken the starch 

 out of the speculation that was like to grow up 

 with the new animal. Ed. 



'-Wv 



Leaves of parsley, eaten with vinegar, will 

 prevent the disagreeable consequences of eating 

 onions. 



Messes. Editors : — It would kave saved me a 

 great deal of trouble and vexation of spirit if I 

 could endorse and carry out in practice the saying 

 of Talleyrand, namely, that language was given to 

 man to enable him to conceal his thoughts. I was 

 somewhat surprise d in reading the last number of 

 the Farmer to find myself the subject of an article 

 entitled "Cashmere Goats — Injuttice." There is 

 no doubt in my mind that Mr. Ogden intends me 

 as the "Columbus gentlemen ;" but then his in- 

 formant is very much at fault ; er else — and I can- 

 not think for a moment that this is true — that Mr. 

 Ogden has misrepresented. 



I stated to the gentlemen who went to obtain 

 his purchase of "four hundred dollars per head," as 

 near as I can now remember, as follows: — "If I 

 owned a flock of sheep I would not be without a 

 pair of Cashmere goats, on purpose to protect the 

 sheep from dogs." The gentleman stated that the 

 fleece was as fine as Saxony wool — was utcd to 

 make the Cashmere shawls — and was worth eight 

 dollars a pound. I replied that a part of his state- 

 ment WHS probably true ; but the other part was 

 not true. It is probably true that the wool sells for 

 eight dollars per pound — ^I have no idea of its com- 

 mercial value ; but it is not true that the fleece is 

 as fine as Saxony wool — neither is it true that the 

 Cashmere shawls are made from the fleece. I have 

 measured with a capital micrometer 39 samples of 

 wool and four samples of long or fleece hair or 

 wool of the Cashmere goats owned by S. S. Wil- 

 liams, of Granville. To make sure that I «ommit- 

 ted no errors in my measurements, I gave all the 

 samples, properly numbered, to an excellent micro- 

 scopist in this city — one who has access to the best 

 microscope in the United States. He measured 

 them and returned them to me, noting on the wrap- 

 per of each sample his measurement. His meas- 

 urement and my own agree precisely. The mi- 

 crometer used was one in which the inch was di- 

 vided into seven thousand five hundred parts 

 (7,500.) Seven samples of Saxony wool, belong- 

 ing to three different individuals, and embracing 

 bucks, ewes and lambs, measured ranging from 

 5-7500 to 8-7500 of an inch, whilst the finest hair 

 or wool from Williams' thorough-bred buck meas- 

 ured 17-7500, or a little more than just double as 

 coarse as the coarsest Saxony wool, and three and 

 a half times as coarse as the finest Saxony wool. 

 The Cotswold, Leicester and Southdown wool 

 ranged from 16-7500 to 18-7500 respectively, or 

 about the same fineness as Wr. Williams' fine thor- 

 ough-bred imported buck. But the fine down on a 

 three-fourths blooded buck measured 9-7500 or 

 just 1-7500 more than the coarsest Saxony. Now, 

 1 1 have no doubt — but do not know it in fact — that 



