1865.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
method of cutting up leaves tlie sides in the best 
shape to be cured as b.icon — a practice com- 
mon at the AVest, seldom used at the East, and 
almost unknown over most of New-England. 
Maple Sugar. 
There is more than usual profit to be expected 
from sugar making this year. The Sorghum 
growers have realized very handsomely for the 
crop so far as we have learned, except in a few 
isolated cases of failure from late ci-ops or early 
frost, and the letters of inquiry we receive indi- 
cate an interest on the part of tl\e owners of 
sugar trees, which -will probably result in secur- 
ing a very large crop of maple sugar. The sap 
of trees grown upon dilferent soils and expo- 
sures, is found to vary considerablj' in the quan- 
tity of sugar it contains, and in earthy impurities 
also. Tlicsc impurities are not of much impor- 
tance. They are salts of lime and magnesia for 
the most part. Besides, the sap contains some 
albuminous substance, part of which is coagu- 
lated by the boiling, and may be skimmed off 
from the boiling syrup after it becomes consider- 
ably concentrated, and another portion with 
some of the earthy salts may be removed liy 
straining through flannel before " sugaring off." 
When tlie sap yields much scum, and is seen to 
be impure, it is usually clarified by the addition 
of a few eggs beaten together with milk, and 
stirred into it, all of which is subsequently re- 
moved by skimming. Tin or wooden sap- 
troughs, buckets and spouts, or " spiles" ought 
to be prepared during the present month. A 
good evaporator is made by riveting together 
two or three sheets of Russia sheet iron, turn- 
ing the edges up so as to make a large fiat pan. 
This must be provided with a large faucet, and 
set nearly level, supported by bars of iron, to 
prevent sagging and warping. Some of the eva- 
porators invented for making SoTghum syrup 
have been used, as we learn, with very good 
results. They certainly are well adapted to the 
purpose. We shall be glad to hear from some 
of the large maple sugar makers, among the 
readers of the Agriculturist, in regard to any 
improvemeuts in the way of making sugar, re- 
cently introduced, with a particular description 
of then' apparatus of all kinds, for it is some 
years since we have been in the " sugar bush" 
at sugaring time. Letters received the first week 
iu January, may be in time for February No. 
Relations between Editors and Dealers. 
An editor of an agricultural journal has two 
important duties : he has to urge his readers to 
adopt such new principles, to try such new im- 
plements, and to test such new fruits, seeds, etc., 
as seem in his judgment to be worthy of a trial. 
On the other hand, if faithful to the require- 
ments of his position, he is obliged to warn his 
readers ajainst the many snhemes of specula- 
tors upon their credulitj', and if a thing is re- 
commended to the agricultural community as 
worthy of their adoption or purchase, to exam- 
ine it, and give his opinion. This latter course, 
while it saves his readers many thousands of 
dollars, makes the editor many hundreds of 
enemies, and long lists of makers of super-hum- 
bu" manures and unpractical implements, of 
mirserymen who look at their stock through 
glorification spectacles, and seedsmen wlio pell 
seeds or plants at prices out of all proportion to 
their value — in short, all that class of persons 
who are included in the very comprehensive 
term of " humbugs," 
are no friends to the 
editor. The Agricvl- 
turist, having done its 
share in this unpleas- 
ant work, has made 
hosts of friends on 
one side, and a cor- 
responding number of 
enemies on the other, 
as most naturally fol- 
lows from the course 
it has pursued. There 
are two ways in 
which tliose having 
ends to serve, attempt 
to manage an editor ; 
the one is to buy him 
up, and the other is 
to frigliten him down. 
AVe do not recollect 
that the buying u]i 
process has been ver\- 
recently tried on us, 
thougli it has been 
attempted with some 
of our neighbors ; but 
the other stylo has 
been manifested in 
various forms, from 
blowing up letters to 
tlu'eats of personal vi- 
olence, and prosecu- 
tion. In the absence of positive law defining an 
editor's duties and responsibilities, he is obliged 
to be " a law unto himself," and in case an ag- 
grieved person brings him befoi-c the courts, he 
has to rely upon Uie intelligence and discrimina- 
tion of a j ury to sustain him in what ho conceives 
his duties to tlie public. It will be very difilcult 
to convince tliem that because a nurseryman 
exhibits a yellow apple, and calls it a red one, 
that the editor is obliged to say tliat it is red, or if 
he is presented with au elongated and poorly 
filled Ijunch of grapes (which thereby become 
his own property), that he is precluded from 
saying that the bunch is badly grown. We have 
gone upon the principle that a book, no matter 
by whom written, or a fruit without reference 
to whose grounds tlie seed grew upon, when 
offered for sale, becomes puljlic property, and 
as such is subject to criticism. If one owns 
a tree or vine which the originator states 
perfects its fruit very early, and he finds tliat 
it does not ripen until late, it is his duty to 
say so, no matter if the nurseryman should lose 
the sale of the plants, and wc think it would 
be ditficult to find any law or court that would 
prevent him giving the results of his experience 
and observation, or knowledge ou the subject. 
Horticulture and Matrimony. 
According to the New York Observer, the 
Rev. Dr. Aul, of Ohio, believes in having 
good things go together. The reverend gentle- 
man is a cultivator of grapes, and always has a 
plentiful stock of young vines on hand : " He 
said that whenever any of his young friends 
got married and went to housekeeping, he 
loved to give them a grape vine to set out at the 
beginning of their domestic life. The idea was 
to me very pleasant. His pleasure was not 
merely in raising fine grapes, of which he had 
great quantities, but in giving the blessing of a 
vine to cover the arbor or the door of his neigh- 
bors." A pleasant way this parson has, and his 
gifts more sensible than many wedding presents. 
The Snowy Owl, or Harfang. 
This large and very sho^vy bird is found 
throughout northern portions of both hemi- 
spheres. It is a day biril, but most active at morn- 
ing and evening, feeding upon all sorts of 
small animals and birds, and taking unwary 
grouse, and someliiuos ducks and chickens, 
much as a hawk does. Field mice, rabbits, and 
small birds are their principal food, and when 
they are bold enough to come in the vicinity of 
barns and grain stacks, they are among the 
most persistent enemies of rats. The perfectly 
noiseless flight of the owl enables him to drop 
without warning upon his prey, if he has not 
been seen. In the winter, among the snows, 
this bird is particularly inconspicuous, on ac- 
count of his color, which is white, more or less 
sprinkled, particularly on the back and breast, 
with half-moon shaped, dark-brown or ash-col- 
ored spots. These owls weigh four or five 
pounds, but they are so profusely covered with 
feathers that they appear to be much larger. 
Plants out of Place. 
The old definition, that a weed is " a plant 
out of place," is illustrated in the grounds of an 
intelligent correspondent in Connecticut, who 
finds some plants prized in the flower garden 
to be quite unwelcome in his ^fields. There 
are some plants which, like fire, are excel- 
lent servants, but most deplorable when they 
acquire the mastery over us. It is notorious 
that most of our worst weeds are of foreign 
origin, which very often make themselves more 
at home than the native sorts. We extract the 
following from a communication by the gentle- 
man above alluded to. 
" Fumitory {Fumaria officinalis). — A delicate 
garden flower, sown in the flower garden about 
twenty 5-ears since. Thougli soonbanished from 
good society for its arrogant claims< it holds on 
so tenaciously among currant bushes and fence 
corners that we have relinquished the hope of 
