270 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
rSEFTEMBMi, 
the curd had better be salted with a pailful of 
the whey still remaining in the vat, on the same 
principle that the writer in the Dairy Farmer 
suggests, (to prevent the curd solidifying, and 
having to be broken up ;) but contrary to his 
theory, the cream will rise just the same on the 
whey tub, for I tried this method long before I 
saw his article, and the curd can be made too 
salt with whey about it, just as we can put too 
much salt in the brine for our meat barrel, his 
opinion to the contrary notwithstanding. Again, 
there is no need to keep three pails of whey 
around the curd, it takes twice as much salt, 
which is sheer waste, while the best of the 
whey is lost, or if put in the whey tub, renders 
the whole unpalatable for the hogs. 
M. J. Stephenson. 
Carroll Co., Illinois. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Making Sugar from Imphee and Sorghum. 
Last Fall I made excellent sugar from Imphee, 
by the following process. A large tub that 
would hold seven or eight bushels, was fitted 
with a false bottom about two inches from the 
lower end or head. This was marked off in 
squares of two inches, and a gimlet hole bored 
in each square. Three thicknesses of flannel 
were then laid in, on which three bushels of bone 
black were placed, and the tub was then filled 
with common hard-wood charcoal; this was 
used for filtering. Next, a quantity of lime wa¬ 
ter was prepared by putting half a peck of lime 
into a large jar, and covering it with water; this 
was done half a day before it was wanted for 
use. There was also made a strong ooze of 
white oak bark, by pouring hot water upon it. 
After having pressed out the Imphee juice in¬ 
to a two-bushel tub, it was tested with litmus 
paper, which turned from blue to red. I then 
added lime water until the litmus paper retained 
its blue color when dipped in the juice. The 
juice was then poured into the filtering tub. 
This process was repeated until the filtering tub 
was filled. After having let it stand about half 
an hour, the juice between the head and the 
false bottom was drawn off and poured upon 
the top again, and the faucet left open for the 
juice to run from the filter into the evaporating 
pan. Half a pint of the tan ooze was added to 
the juice, and heat was applied until it came 
nearly to a boil, when the fire was slackened 
and the whole left to stand twenty minutes. 
Just before the highest temperature was reach¬ 
ed, I added the whites of four eggs well beaten 
and mixed with a pint of skimmed milk. Hav¬ 
ing taken off all the scum, the fire was replen¬ 
ished, and the boiling pushed as fast as possible, 
the scum being removed as it came to the sur¬ 
face. When the syrup was sufficiently reduced, 
it was removed from the fire, poured into tubs 
and set aside. I treated five pans of j nice in this 
way, and all crystalized in from ten to twelve 
hours. I think it gave about sixty per cent of 
sugar. I tried one pan of sorghum juice, but it 
did not form sugar; though I have.no doubt it 
would have done so, if only the three or four 
lower joints of the cane had been used. 
To facilitate the separation of the syrup from 
the sugar after ciystalizing, I intend next sea¬ 
son to have a large tub made similar to the fil¬ 
tering tub, but with the false bottom six inches 
Horn the lower head, and only one thickness of 
flannel laid upon it. This will allow the syrup 
to drain into the lower division when it can eas¬ 
ily be drawn off. Ezra Hinsuaw. 
Kiokvk Co., Iowa. 
Wine Making. 
R. Buchanan, in a former number of the Ohio 
Valley Farmer, says wine making is as simple 
as cider making. We give a few extracts from 
his directions. The well ripened bunches are 
cut from the vine, and all unsound or immature 
berries picked out. Each day’s picking is 
mashed at night, by pounding in a barrel with 
a beetle—stem and berries—or passing them 
through a mill. The contents are put upon a 
press, where about one-third of the best juice 
runs off without any pressure. After the first 
pressing, the outer edges of the “ cheese ” are 
cut off for eight or ten inches, the parings 
thrown upon the top, and the screws again 
turned. This is repeated two or three times, 
but the juice from the last pressing is dark and 
astringent, and only capable of making an in¬ 
ferior wine, hence it should be kept separate. 
The juice from the first pressings is put in large 
casks, allowing space for fermentation. No 
brandy or sugar should be added to the best 
Catawba juice, as it makes a better wine with¬ 
out, and is strong enough to keep well. One 
end of a syphon is placed in the bung hole of 
the cask, and the other end terminates in a pail 
of water. The fermentation commences in a day 
or two, and the carbonic acid generated passes 
through this pipe, and bubbles up through the 
water in the pail. This will show how rapidly 
the fermentation is going on, and when it 
ceases. In ten to fourteen days the syphon may 
be removed, and the casks filled up, and the 
bung driven in lightly—in a month tightly. 
In mid-winter the wine is carefully drawn off 
into other casks, and the lees, added to the 
pomace of the grapes, are used to make brandy. 
The wine will be clear and pleasant to drink 
in a month or two after the first fermentation 
ceases. A slight second fermentation takes 
place in the Spring, and it will only be neces¬ 
sary to loosen the bungs; when it is over, the 
wine will be clear in two or three months, and 
safe to bottle, but it is usually better to defer it 
until the following November. The only secret 
of wine making is, to have well ripened grapes, 
perfectly clean press, casks, and everything else 
used, and having the casks constantly bung full 
after fermentation, so that no air shall come in 
contact with the new wine. 
- < --- 
When to Cut Timber. 
The following statements, made by R. C. Ken¬ 
dall in the Country Gentleman, seem to show 
that the season at which timber is cut, has less 
influence upon its durability than is generally 
supposed: 
“ In 1812 there were built at Sackett’s and 
Store’s Harbors, on Lake Ontario, the following 
government vessels, constituting a portion of 
the fleet under the command of Commodore 
Chauncey during the war: the ship Madison, 
brigs Oneida and Sylph, and schooners Julia, 
Growler, and Lady of the Lake. These vessels 
were all built during the Winter, from timber 
cut and hauled directly from the woods—the 
Oneida having been finished and launched in 
sixty days from the time her keel was laid. Af¬ 
ter the war, all, except the ship Madison, were 
employed in the merchant service. She was 
condemned in 1817 as being too rotten for ser¬ 
vice. On Christmas day, 1825, the Lady of the 
Lake foundered in a gale, her captain, crew, and 
21 passengers going to the bottom with her. 
She was built from the “ leavings” of the Madi¬ 
son, and was perfectly sound when lost. The 
Julia was captured by Yoe; the Growler was 
as rotten as muck in four years from the day she 
was built, while at thirty years of age the Oneida 
and Sylph were as sound as ‘ hearts of oak.’ 
“ On Lake Erie, the British flag ship, Queen 
Charlotte, was built in the Summer time at Mai 
den, from timber cut in the vicinity, and used as 
fast as cut. Perry’s flag ship, the Lawrence, 
was built at the same time, at Presquisle, from 
Pennsylvania oak, used as fast as it could be cut 
and hauled. The Lawrence rotted in five years, 
while the Queen Charlotte, when sent over the 
Niagara Falls at the age of forty years , was hard 
and sound. The U. S. frigate Hudson was built 
in New-York, by contract, from Jersey oak cut 
during the Summer, and in four years she was 
condemned as a rotten hulk. The U. S. brig 
Lawrence was built in Baltimore, by contract, 
from Maryland oak cut in Winter. “She made 
one cruise, and was condemned and sold for $725, 
being a mass of dry rot. 
“I once took a Massachusetts built ship 
around Cape Horn in her 43d year, built of Mas¬ 
sachusetts oak cut in Winter, and I never saw a 
speck of rot about her. A twin ship built at 
the same time from Virginia oak.cut in Summer, 
was as rotten as a 1 pear ’ at nine years old. 
“ Of two large steamers built at the same time 
at the mouth of Black River, south side of Lake 
Erie, from timber cut in Winter, one was dead 
and rotten, or rather rotten and dead, in 9 
years; while the other, now 26 years old, ex¬ 
hibits little symptoms of decay; and, as a final 
example, there is at this time, belonging to Bal¬ 
timore, a bark trading regularly ’round Cape 
Horn, and a staunch, safe, sound craft too, (as I 
know, having made a voyage in her myself,) 
that was built from summer cut timber in 1811. 
Her consort, built at the same time, and of like 
material, went to decay in her 12th year. 
“Wherefore, in view of these facts, I argue 
that waiting for particular signs and seasons in 
which to cut timber, is much like the popular 
superstition of sailors against sailing from port 
on Friday. My advice (not that I insist upon 
its being universally followed) is, go to sea when 
you are ready and the wind serves; and cut 
timber when it best suits your convenience, be 
it Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter, as I believe 
the constitution of the tree itself has more to do 
with its after preservation, than the influence of 
any particular season has.” 
---- «»•- --- 
Coffee and Cotton in Africa. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
In the February No., you have an article on 
Coffee, in which I was much interested, inas¬ 
much as I have lived in a coffee country. 
I was in Western Africa six years as a Mis¬ 
sionary, and have had some opportunity to see 
and learn something of the country and people, 
but I wish now to speak particularly of the 
coffee. Your cuts are good, and your descrip¬ 
tions undoubtedly true as respects the growth 
of coffee in the countries you speak of, but as 
applied to Africa not altogether correct. 
In Africa the coffee is indigenous—grows wild 
extensively in the forests and mountains. In 
many places it is a regular forest tree, ranging 
from 30 to 75 feet high, and 5 to 15 inches di¬ 
ameter—growing, of course, rather slim and tall 
in proportion, and bearing comparatively not a 
large amount of berries. But the grains, (small¬ 
er than the cultivated,) are said by coffee drink¬ 
ers to be of as good a flavor as any other. This 
is the case in the country back of Sierra Leone 
and Liberia, as I know from my own observa¬ 
tion. The natives do not generally use it, ex¬ 
cept in the vicinity of settlements of foreigners, 
but they gather and bring it down for sale. 
In Liberia, the coffee is extensively cultivated 
in farms of from 10 to 100 acres, and the trees 
are standing in the street and in almost every 
yard. When cultivated in orchards, they, of 
course, grow more bushy, but attain the size of 
apple trees 8 or 10 years old—bearing bushels 
of berries (instead of 2 to 4 lbs. as you speak of). 
The trees are transplanted from nurseries, 8 to 
10 feet apart, bear about the 3d year, and in¬ 
crease in amount as they increase in size. In 
