343 
AMERICAN A3MCULt0EIST. 
I September, 
'•hurrah, boys,” have their use, but as guides are 
not so safe as those who work carefully and quietly. 
Apples, Apple Juice, Cider, Vinegar. 
This is most emphatically “the bearing year” 
with apples. Not only are well kept orchards in 
full bearing, but every superannuated and half-de¬ 
cayed tree, and every scrub and chance seedling by 
the roadside, is loaded in a manner seldom seen in 
a lifetime. With this abundance it is evident that 
with apples there will be a glut in the market. 
There will be no room except “ higher up,” and 
those who send poor fruit to market had better use 
their barrels for fire-wood, and save the freight 
charges. There is always a certain demand to be 
met, but this year only the select fruit will supply 
it. In years of plenty, careful selection and neat 
packages tell. The almost daily inquiries as to 
fruit dryers show that preparations are being made 
to dry a share of this abundance, and we hope by 
this article to anticipate the inquiries that will soon 
be made as to disposing of the fruit in the various 
liquid forms. Apple juice, as it comes from the 
press, or “sweet cider,” is liked by many, and we 
have inquiries as to keeping it in the unfermeuted 
state. Preserving powders are advertised, and some 
of these from their effectiveness in preserving fruit 
will no doubt keep fruit juice equally well. The 
majority will wish to preserve their sweet cider 
without addition, and these can treat it by the same 
method used in canning fruit. Heat the cider to 
the boiling point, bottle and cork it while still hot. 
When apple juice is exposed to the air, the natural 
ferment it contains causes a change to take place. 
The sugar in the juice is converted into alcohol, 
and carbonic acid is given off. This process may 
be carried on until all the sugar is decomposed, 
when it is “hard” cider. The fermeutation may 
be arrested at the desired point by bottling, and 
sparkling cider will be the result. This, which is 
also called “champagne cider,” can only be pro¬ 
duced by bottling before the fermentation is quite 
finished. The best still cider is made from late 
ripening apples, when the weather is cool, fer¬ 
mented slowly at as low a temperature as possible, 
taking care to exclude the access of air; wheu fer¬ 
mentation has quite ceased, the cider should be 
racked off into a clean cask, and kept securely 
bunged or bottled. The great use of apples in this 
year will be to make vinegar. In the fermentation 
of cider, the sugar of the apple juice is converted 
into alcohol, and in making vinegar, that alcohol is 
changed into acetic acid. The conditions of this 
change are full exposure to the air and a high tem¬ 
perature. The richer the cider in alcohol, the 
stronger will be the vinegar, and the more slowly 
will the change take place. Ordinarily, the eider 
is put away in the cellar or some out-building, and 
in time, it may be two or three years or more, will 
be found to be changed into vinegar. Those who 
have heard of the “ quick vinegar process,” think¬ 
ing it can be applied to cider; we are often asked 
to give a description of it. In this process, a liquid 
containing alcohol, usually in the form of cheap 
whiskey, is converted into vinegar in a few hours. 
But this is not applicable to ciders for in the fer¬ 
mentation of cider or other fruit juices, the change 
into vinegar is accompanied by the growth of a 
very low form of plant, “the mother,” as it is 
usually called, and this would so clog up the ap¬ 
paratus of ihe quick method as to very soon put a 
stop to it. Still, the change of cider may be greatly 
hastened. Those who make cider vinegar on a 
large scale have a house especially for the work, 
and this is heated to about 70°. Vinegar can not 
be made rapidly at a much lower temperature. Ex¬ 
posure to the air is important, hence the casks are 
not filled, but only partly so, in order to expose a 
broad surface of the liquid to the action of the air. 
Exposure is increased by frequently transferring 
the cider from one cask to another, letting it run 
very slowly. Exposure can be promoted by allow¬ 
ing the partly formed vinegar to slowly run down 
a long trough, and also by allowing it to trickle 
over corn cobs placed in a cask, the cobs having 
been previously washed and soaked in good vin¬ 
egar. Old vinegar acts as a ferment, and hastens 
the change, and the mixing of new and partly 
formed vinegar with a portion of old and strong 
vinegar helps the change. Another method to 
hasten vinegar making is to add yeast to cider, or 
what produces the same effect, the “ mother ” from 
vinegar barrels. The conditions for the most rapid 
conversion of cider into vinegar may be summed 
up: A temperature of at least 70°, all possible ex¬ 
posure to the air, the addition of old vinegar to the 
new or the use of “ mother.” It should be remem¬ 
bered that the weaker the cider in sugar the weaker 
will be the vinegar, and the more rapid the change. 
A Convenient Fruit Picker. 
A leading daily paper, a short time ago, an¬ 
nounced that some one had invented an implement 
for picking fruit, and went on to describe one of 
the oldest devices for the purpose, as if it were a 
new invention, and it was no doubt new to that 
writer. Fruit pickers have long been in use, and 
the records of the Patent Office will show that a 
great variety have been invented. Some of them are 
too complicated to come into general use. A fruit 
picker is only of use to bring down such fruits as 
cannot be reached by hand, from a ladder or other¬ 
wise, as those that grow in such positions are 
usually the finest specimens, and too valuable to 
be shaken off, it is worth while to take some 
trouble to secure them in a perfect condition. We 
have shown in a former volume that a fruit picker 
may be made from an old fruit can ; the can, with a 
V-shaped notch cut in the upper edge, is fastened 
to a suitable pole, putting a lock of hay, some 
paper, or other soft material in the can to prevent 
bruising. By catching the stem in the V-shaped 
notch, the fruit is readily detached and brought 
down. But such a picker, though effective, is only 
a make-shift, and as it has to be lowered to remove 
each fruit, it makes hard work. A better picker, 
and one that is quite as good as any, is one in¬ 
vented by Jas. H. Ten Eyck, Auburn, N. Y., who 
sent the sample from which the engraving was 
made. It is a bottomless dish, 3 inches high, 5 
inches across at the top, and 3i inches at bottom, 
made of tin, with a socket to receive a pole of con¬ 
venient length. Above 
the edge there project 
two stout iron wires of 
the shape seen in the 
cut; these are close to¬ 
gether below and di¬ 
verge above, and serve 
as fiDgers to catch the 
stem and detach the 
fruit. The most impor¬ 
tant portion of the 
affair is not shown in 
the engraving; this is a 
bottomless bag, or hose, 
of cotton cloth, of the 
diameter of the bottom 
of the picker, to which 
it is attached by means 
of a small copper wire; it should be about two 
feet longer than the pole. If poles of differ¬ 
ent lengths are used, then the hose may be made 
longer by having extra pieces to be buttoned toge¬ 
ther. To use the picker, the pole is held in one 
hand, while the lower end of the hose is taken in 
the other, and turned up to about four feet from 
the bottom, thus forming a loop. A fruit is de¬ 
tached and drops into this looped part of the hose; 
the next one, if allowed to fall directly against the 
other, would bruise both ; to prevent this, the 
hose is grasped by the hand that holds its lower 
end, closing it sufficiently to break the fall, and 
then releasing the hose to allow the fruit to pass 
down. Wheu the weight becomes inconvenient, 
the end of the hose is turned down, and the fruit 
allowed to slip gently into a basket. Mr. Ten Eyck 
furnishes the picker complete, except the handle, 
to those who prefer to buy one rather than make it, 
but he has not patented it. He writes : “ My ob¬ 
ject in sending it to the American Agriculturist is to 
give every one the privilege of making and using it,” 
thus showing a liberal spirit which his brother 
fruit-growers will without doubt appreciate. 
What is Founder ? 
In works on Veterinary Surgery, the trouble pop¬ 
ularly known as “Founder” is described as La- 
minitis, or an Inflammation, of the Foot. This dis¬ 
ease appears iu two forms. In the simple form the 
sensitive lamina of the foot and the equally sensi¬ 
tive sole are affected, while in the more severe 
form the bones of the foot are also included. 
Among the many causes of this disease, perhaps 
the most common is the severe concussion from 
fast driving on hard roads, over-exertion and over¬ 
feeding, and drinking cold water when the horse is 
heated. The treatment recommended by Dr. Wil¬ 
liams, one of the most eminent authorities, consists 
in the administration of mild purgatives. Tincture 
of Aconite in small and repeated doses, as a febri¬ 
fuge, with poultices to the foot in the early stages 
of the disease and cold applications later. He 
recommends also the application of Mr. Broad’s 
shoes. Mr. Broad’s plan is : “ As early as possi- 
broad’s shoe for foundered horses. 
ble, get lightly nailed on the feet affected, extremely 
stout, wide-webbed and long-bar shoes, made 
from iron about twice the ordinary thickness that the 
particular horse’s shoes are made from ; make them 
gradually thin from behind the quarters, so that 
the heel part of the shoes is wide and thin, and 
fitted rocker fashion, which enables the horse to 
throw his weight where he tries to, much better 
than he can in ordinary shoes or without any; that 
is, off the pedal bone on to the soft elastic tissues 
and tendon behind it, which are much less vascular 
and sensitive.” Mr. Broad’s shoe for foundered 
horses is shown in the accompanying engraving. 
Success with the Currant Crop. 
Our long-time correspondent, “ W. C.,” who is 
never led away by enthusiasm, gives us the follow¬ 
ing bit of experience. We may say that his place 
is on the Connecticut shore of Long Island Sound, 
and that his sales were made in one of the many 
prosperous small towns of that locality:—“I have 
been experimenting with the currant for the last 
five years, on a small scale, and the present season 
have produced 120 quarts on three square rods, and 
they were sold to a huckster at 12 cents a quart, 
wholesale. They retailed at 16 cents a quart, de¬ 
livered in the village. At the wholesale rate, the 
amount of sales for an acre would be $768. The 
varieties were the ‘ Red Dutch,’ ‘ Versailles,’ 
‘White Grape,’ and ‘Cherry.’ About half of the 
patch were ‘ Red Dutch ’ in full bearing, and the 
other part in various stages of growth—none of 
them in full bearing. The rows of plants were 
four feet apart, and the plants three and a half feet 
apart in the row. The plot had received a liberal 
dressing of Canada ashes two years before, which 1 
think one of the best and cheapest fertilizers for all 
kinds of fruit. It also received last fall a top¬ 
dressing of manure from the pigsty and sea-weed 
from the shore, which was worked in with the fork 
this spring. The stools were thinned out severely 
this spring, and the ground kept in good cultiva¬ 
tion until the fruit was set. The currant worm at¬ 
tacked the bushes soon after the leaves came out, 
and was subdued with a single application of White 
Hellebore mixed with water—say a large table¬ 
spoonful to eight gallons of water. Hardly a worm 
could be found alive the morning after the appli¬ 
cation. The mixture was applied with a garden 
syringe, which sends the liquid with such force that 
every leaf gets a drenching. Another crop of 
worms appeared in June, and the Hellebore made 
short work with them. Three things are to be ob¬ 
served in the application of this poison. 1. The 
White Hellebore should be fresh from the drug 
