iscr." 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
$69 
worth propagating. The nearer a really good 
apple is grown to the place of its origin, the 
1 letter, as a rule, it is. For instance, the New- 
town Pippin, once the best apple in our New 
York markets, originated on Long Island, and 
was chiefly cultivated there, and along the lower 
section of the Hudson River, and the contiguous 
parts of New Jersey,and seldom grows anywhere 
else in perfection. It is now the scarcest good 
apple to be found with us. It has been intro- 
duced, to be sure, and grows extensively, east, 
north, south, and west of us. In those distant 
localities it has ceased to be the Newtown Pip- 
pin of Long Island, but is quite another thing, 
hardly to be recognized in either appearance or 
flavor, by those not intimately acquainted with 
its original character. So with the Swaar, of 
Ulster Co., N. Y., the Greening, of Rhode 
Island, the Roxbury Russet, the Westfield Seek- 
no-further, of Massachusetts, and many other 
varieties which originated and flourished in pe- 
culiar localities, and of great local excellence 
and fame. Still, there are many good varieties 
which hold their original qualities over a wide 
diversity of soil, climate, and position. 
Thus it is that we have so many varieties, 
sundry of which are favorites in separate mar- 
kets, each the best for a given locality, and 
worth very little, as profitable fruits for the cul- 
tivator, far beyond them. It becomes a matter 
of necessity, then, for the orchardist to know 
what are the best apples for him to grow; and 
when he ascertains such fact, to take his proper 
kinds, and cultivate them with all his might. 
Tiiose who aspire to become orchardists are 
prone to grow too many varieties. Teu or a 
dozen, to range through the various seasous of 
ripening, are enough for the most ambitious 
cultivators to plant. Two or three of early, 
three or four of autumn, and as many of the 
winter kinds, are sufficient, for the profit of any 
apple grower who rears them as a market crop, 
and if the bulk of his winter crop be confined 
to not more than two varieties, all the better. 
For early apples, the season is short, and the 
market limited. One good sweet, and another 
tart, is enough for the brief time they are in 
season. Three or four, from September until 
the middle of November, or the first of Decem- 
ber at latest — sweet and tart — will fill the range 
of demand, when the winter kinds will come 
in use, from December until the next June or 
July; and half a dozen of the later varieties 
will fill the entire season. 
AVe do not say what these varieties should 
be, for the very reason we have given, that 
soils, climates, and positions so differ as to make 
an apple which is quite good for one locality, 
altogether an indifferent one for another. Find 
out a fewof the very best kinds for the place you 
occupy, and the market you are to sell in, and 
then confine your attention to them. A man 
with fifty things in his orchard, all good some- 
,r!i, re, will, perhaps, on trial, hardly find a dozen 
which give him cither profit or satisfaction in 
their production, and at the end of a dozen or 
twenty years cultivation, he has to re-graft three- 
fourths of them, and begins the world again in 
Bruit growing — all too expensive, vexatious, and 
heart-breaking, to be borne with equanimity. 
We might expand into several pages of these 
remarks, but have not the space. AVe can only 
throw out hints for reflection. Wc started with 
Doctor Warder's book, and pronounce it a cap- 
ital one of its kind, full of instruction to every 
one who wants to know anything of apples, or 
apple growing. He gives a list and description 
of apples, and of the best ones all over the 
United States, where the)' originated, and 
where they best grow. He names some twelve 
or fourteen hundred varieties. One quarter in 
number, of the best, would be quite enough, 
for hundreds of them have been thrown out by 
the growers, as not of much account, and it is 
useless to keep a further record of such any- 
where. Yet he names a great many of unim- 
peachable excellence from which every one may 
select and apply to his own locality with success. 
"We wish to say more on this prolific subject, 
but must forbear, merely commending this book 
to every orchardist. Stud}' it well, and closely. 
We have no interest in it other than what 
relates to our brother orchardists, and the 
welfare of good apples. We are glad that it 
has been written, and hail its appearance as an 
indication that its subject is drawing the atten- 
tion of our pomologists to a degree commen- 
surate with its great economical importance 
among our agricultural staples." 
Hew Fruits and New Names. 
It seems a great pity that the introduction of 
new fruits, or at least fruits with new names, 
could not in some way be regulated. It is, of 
course, a subject beyond the reach of any other 
law than that which fruit growers make unto 
themselves. Each year brings such an addition 
to our "new fruits," or rather new names, 
that one almost despairs of keeping pace with 
them. We are not to be supposed as deprecat- 
ing novelties, for we like them, but we do de- 
sire, and the public have a right to claim, that 
these new fruits have some qualities superior 
to old varieties. There is too much looseness 
in the way in which varieties are introduced, 
and no nurseryman who is a true pomologist 
will put forth a variety that has not been thor- 
oughly tested, or which has not been decided 
upon by some pomologist or pomological body 
competent to judge of its quality. 
There is one practice that seems to be increas- 
ing among introducers of new fruits, to which 
we decidedly object, as tending to make confu- 
sion, and fill our books with useless synonyms. 
It is that of sending a fruit out underono name, 
and then changing it to another. Astrawberry 
that has been offered as Abraham Lincoln, now 
comes to us as the President ; a grape that was 
exhibited as the Carpenter, is now known as 
the Out-Door Hamburgh, and we can call to 
mind other instances of the like. There should 
be no change of name for any possible reason, 
save that the first one had already been given 
to another plant, to which it belongs by right 
of priority. Gentlemen fruit growers, give 
us as many good fruits as you can, but trouble 
us with as few useless names as possible. 
Guatcd Against Frosts. — It usually is the 
case that after the first lew frosts we have a 
long succession of golden autumn days, just 
made for ripening fruit and bringing out the 
late blooming flowers. A very slight covering 
will protect a plant, and tiiose who have a 
choice grape or tomato that is late in ripening, 
or Dahlias or other plants that arc just in the 
hight of their bloom, should have at hand some 
screen to protect them from the first frosts. A 
sheet or other cloth put up tent wise, or stretch- 
ed in any way over the plant, will be all that is 
needed. In England the amateur fruit grow- 
ers have regular fixtures, upon which a cover- 
ing may be stretched when the trees are in 
flower, as well as when the fruit is ripening. 
'Wine-Making' on the Small Scale. 
Those who wish to make wine in any consid- 
erable quantities, will, of course, study up the 
subject hi books devoted to it. But there are 
many, who, having a few grapes, would like to 
convert them into wine for their own use, or to 
test the wine-making qualities of some particu- 
lar variety. If the grapes contain sufficient 
sugar to make a goodwiue, the process requires 
but little care, as the wine will make itself, but 
with grapes deficient in sugar the process be- 
comes less easy. The theory of wine-making 
may be briefly summed up thus: Grape juice 
contains sugar ; fermentation converts this sugar 
into alcohol. If the amount of sugar and the 
resulting amount of alcohol be small, then fur- 
ther changes take place, and vinegar is the re- 
sult. If, on the other hand, the grape juice or 
must be naturally rich in sugar, so much alco- 
hol is produced that the liquid does not readily 
pass into vinegar — but remains as wine — and if 
there is a very large amount of sugar, more 
than is converted into alcohol before fermen- 
tation ceases, there will be a sweet wine — a 
thing not at present likely to occur with us. 
The first requisite is good grapes. These must 
be as thoroughly ripened as possible. They 
are to be carefully freed from defective berries, 
removed from the stems and crushed. With 
small quantities this may be done with the hands, 
or with larger ones, in a barrel with a wooden 
pounder. The steps after this will depend upon 
the character of wine desired. The juice may 
be at once pressed out and placed in the keg or 
demijohn in which it is to ferment, or, if it be 
desired to extract color and aroma from the 
skins, then the impressed mass is put in a tub 
or other vessel, covered with a cloth over which 
some boards are laid, and allowed to ferment 
for two or three days, or until the color of the 
skins is sufficiently extracted. At the end of 
this time, press out the must, and transfer it to 
the vessel in which the fermentation is to be 
completed. This will take place in from ten days 
to several weeks, according to the richness of 
the grape, and it will go on more or less rapid- 
ly, according to the temperature of the room. 
A weak must will ferment readily at 60°, while 
a heavier one will require a higher temperature. 
With rich grapes, the only thing necessary is 
to fill the vessel to the bung or mouth, allow- 
ing the froth to be thrown over. The loss must 
be supplied from must kept for the purpose. 
If the must is poor, it is better to close the ves- 
sel with a tight bung or cork, with an India 
rubber tube inserted in its center. This tube, 
which may be a foot or two long, should have 
its free end dip below the surface of water in a 
cup conveniently placed. As fermentation goes 
on, the liberated gas will bubble through the 
water, but no air can enter. 
When fermentation is complete, which will 
be known by the liquid becoming quiet, the 
vessel is to be closed and allowed to remain 
until the wine becomes clear. It should then 
be carefully racked off, or transferred to an- 
other and perfectly sweet and clean cask or 
vessel. Another fermentation, less violent than 
the first, will take place when warm weather 
returns, after which the wine maybe bottled. 
If sufficient care be used, these experiments 
may be made on a small scale, but they need 
careful watching. The best specimen of Amer- 
ican wine we ever saw WOS made from the Iona, 
hv Pod. Grant, who used a demijohn for a 
cask, ami his dining-room for a wine-cellar. 
The richer the must is in sugar, the more 
successful will these small operations prove. 
