1864.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
295 
the Virgalieu, and was planted about the year 
1848, by Rev. Absalom Peters, D. D., of Wil- 
liamstown, Mass. It was several times trans¬ 
planted, and finally put in the position it now 
occupies, about 1853. The tree stands in the 
garden formerly occupied by Dr. Peters. It is 
perfectly hardy, a vigorous grower, an abund¬ 
ant bearer, and gives crops every year. It has 
borne for three or four years, and has the pres¬ 
ent season over a bushel of fruit. The pear 
ripens in Williamstown, the 1st week in August, 
which would make it about as early as the Mad¬ 
eline. It is a much better pear, about the size 
of the Tyson, highly colored, and promises 
to be one of the best early summer pears.” 
The engraving gives the size and shape, and 
we add the following description: Fruit small, 
irregularly obovate. Skin, lemon-yellow, with 
a fine blush on the sunny side. Stem, stout, 
more than half the length of the fruit, inserted 
obliquely, with a large lip. Calyx, nearly clos¬ 
ed, in a very shallow and nearly regular basin. 
Flesh, j uicjr, buttery, gritty near the core, sweet, 
with a rich, sprightly flavor. Early in August. 
We understand that steps have been taken to 
propagate and bring it into the market. 
How Figs Grow and Flower. 
But few persons who are familiar with dried 
figs, as they are imported in drums, would re¬ 
cognize them in their fresh state. They resem¬ 
ble a pear somewhat in shape, are very soft, and 
are filled with a sweet mucilaginous pulp, which 
is considered very delicious by most persons, 
though some do not like it at first, but after¬ 
ward become very fond of it. In the climate 
of New York City, figs may be grown with fair 
certainty of making a crop every year, if a lit¬ 
tle care be taken. Plants may be had at the 
nurseries, or may be started from cuttings. They 
should have good soil and be allowed to grow 
in the bush form. At the approach of hard frosts 
the roots are cut around with the spade at a 
distance from the plant equal to about half its 
liight. This root pruning prevents too rampant 
growth of the branches in spring, and also facil¬ 
itates the laying down of the plant. The 
A FIG IN BLOSSOM. 
plant is bent over, and secured by pegs and 
covered with a layer of earth sufficient to pro¬ 
tect both root and stems from injury by frost. 
In the Middle States, covering with a barrel or 
with straw, is found to be sufficient. Cutting 
out decaying or crowded branches, and short¬ 
ening the overgrown ones, is all the pruning re¬ 
quired. It is a common impression, even among 
cultivators, that figs produce fruit without ever 
blossoming. They do blossom, but in a very 
curious manner. The accompanying cut, made 
from a specimen brought to show that they do 
not flower, will serve to illustrate the way in 
which they do flower. The engraving shows a 
young fig, cut through lengthwise at blossoming 
time. It is a hollow sack, or bag, with little pro¬ 
jections all over the inside of it. This matter 
which lines the bag, is seen by means of a mag¬ 
nifier to be made up of a multitude of minute 
very simple flowers. A small slice, at the left- 
hand side of the figure, is magnified so as to show 
some of these flowers, and on the other side two 
separate flowers are shown much larger. Both 
staminate and pistillate flowers are found in the 
same fig, each raised on a little stalk. This bag 
is botanically called a receptacle. We are famil¬ 
iar with a large flat receptacle in the sunflower, 
where the small flowers are crowded on its up¬ 
per surface. If we imagine the sunflower re¬ 
ceptacle to be drawn up to form a bag, with the 
little flowers all inside, we shall get an idda of 
the structure of the fig. When the fig ripens, 
the remains of the flowers and their stalks, and 
the receptacle itself, all become sweet and pulpy, 
while the pistils of the pistillate flowers -ripen 
and become fruits, though commonly called 
seeds. The fig then, instead of being a simple 
fruit, is really a collection of a great number of 
fruits which are produced by many different 
flowers, and it is the substance which surrounds 
them which popularly passes for the fruit. 
TUB ETOaMML 
Cheese-Making in the Small Way. 
“A Farmer’s Wife,” from Gorham, Maine, gives 
an account of her very successful practice in cheese¬ 
making with a few cows, in the hope of benefiting 
some of the readers of the American Agriculturist: 
“A large amount of good cheese might be produced 
from dairies of from four to six cows, if the farm¬ 
ers’ wives only felt competent to undertake cheese- 
making, and were furnished with a few simple but 
necessary articles. The things most needed are a 
cheese tub, to “set” the milk in, a good basket to 
drain the curd in; a lever press , and hoops of two 
or more sizes, to accommodate the smaller supply of 
milk as the season advances. I was brought up on 
a farm, in what was then a cheese-making district, 
and have been for the last ten years engaged in 
cheese-making through the hot weather, on a farm 
of which I am the mistress, and as my method dif¬ 
fers somewhat from any that I have seen recom¬ 
mended for either large or small dairies, and as it 
produces almost uniformly a good cheese which 
finds a ready sale, notwithstanding its small size, 
(perhaps partly in consequence of it,) I write my 
process out for the information of those who have 
lived—as a person told me the other day—“twenty- 
two years on a farm and never saw a cheese made.” 
I take parts of several well cured rennets, and soak 
them in warm water a few hours, rubbing occasion¬ 
ally and adding as much salt as will dissolve readi¬ 
ly ; then drain the liquor and soak again a few 
hours ; strain off the second liquor, and put it with 
the first, into a glass jar or bottle, adding so much 
rock salt that there shall always be some undis¬ 
solved ; cork it tight, and keep in a cool place. 
When the night’s milk is brought in, I strain it 
immediately into the cheese tub and put in rennet 
sufficient to bring the curd, or show that it is com¬ 
ing in ten minutes, and in twenty minutes the curd 
should be firm enough to admit of being crossed 
off coarsely with a wooden cheese-knife. In ten 
or fifteen minutes more it is cut finely and left to 
settle until bed time, when if it is settled sufficient¬ 
ly, it is dipped into the basket and left to drain 
through the night. If from any cause, such as late 
milking, or the rennet not proving strong enough 
to bring the curd readily, it does not separate from 
the whey at bed time, it is left in the tub until 
morning. It is much better to put it draining be¬ 
fore going to bed, for if it remains all night in the 
tub it is liable to sour, particularly in warm weath 
er, to the very great detriment of the cheese. 
In the morning the tub is prepared by simply 
rinsing in cold water, unless the weather is cold, 
when hot water is used, in order to warm the tub 
so that it may not cool the milk. The morning’s 
milk is strained into it, and the same process as with 
the night’s, milk, is gone through with, until it is 
ready to drain, when it is dipped into the same 
basket with the curd forfned from the night’s milk, 
and thenceforward both arc treated together. 
The whey that runs off in the morning is saved 
to scald the curd with, and is carefully heated over 
a slow fire so as not to scorch it. When the curd 
has become sufficiently firm to admit of being cut 
in slices, which condition may be hastened by fre¬ 
quently cutting it with a case knife, and by a light 
weight laid upon it, it is put back into the tub, cut 
in thin slices and “ scalded,” not so as to melt 
the curd and make it run together, but merely to 
harden it. My rule for the temperature of the scald¬ 
ing whey is, that it should feel hot to the hand, but 
not hot enough to burn the hand, as the whey is 
poured over it, while moving the curd in the tub, 
so that it may all become equally scalded. Enough 
hot whey is thus* poured over the curd to cover it, 
and fifteen or twenty minutes is sufficient time to 
be allowed for scalding. Then it is dipped again 
into the basket to drain and cool. Half an hour, 
with an occasional cutting and turning, is sufficient 
for cooling, when it is again put in the tub to be 
chopped fine and salted. A cup of salt, for a 
cheese weighing from 10 to 12 lbs. when dry 
enough to market, is the quantity that I use. It is 
then put in press and subjected to a moderate pres¬ 
sure until toward night, then it is turned, and an 
increase of pressure added until the next morning, 
when it is ready to remove to the curing room. In 
two or three weeks, if the weather is favorable, 
with proper care, rubbing and turning over every 
day, these cheeses will be ready for market. 
The advantages of this method over others de¬ 
scribed, are, that it prevents the cream from 
separating from the milk, with which it can never » 
again be so thoroughly incorporated. It saves 
the labor of cooling and again warming the milk, 
and it makes a good cheese. Try it and 6ee.” 
How to Make Catsup. 
Large quantities of tomatoes, cucumbers, peach¬ 
es, plums, etc., received at New-York market, some¬ 
times remain unsold until too much decayed to be 
disposed of as vegetables or fruit, but they are not 
thrown away as worthless. Parties are ready to 
buy them at a cheap rate for making catsup, and 
immense quantities of such produce are used in 
manufacturing much of this article on sale in the 
stores. Better fruit will give a better article; but 
knowledge of the above fact may enable some 
to turn to account much that would otherwise be 
lost.—In making catsup the main requisite is to 
incorporate the pulp well with spices or vinegar. 
Tomato Catsup, which is most used, may be well 
made as follows : Select perfectly ripe sound fruit, 
cut in slices, and boil until the pulp is cooked soft. 
Rub it through a sieve to take out the skins and 
6eeds, and replace it in the kettle for cooking. To 
each gallon of pulp add three tablespoonfuls each 
of salt, ground pepper, and mustard, and one of 
ground allspice. "Enclose four large sweet pep¬ 
pers, and two or three garlics, or one large onion 
in a small bag, and boil, in the catsup. The garlic 
or anion may be omitted if the flavor is not rel¬ 
ished. Cook it until of the right consistence. It 
should be just thick enough to run 6lowly from 
a bottle. When cool, pour it into bottles, cover 
them with a bit of cotton cloth tied on the neck, and 
leave it three months to ripen ; then cork and seal. 
Gkape Catsup.— Place grapes in a kettle sur¬ 
rounded with boiling water. To each quart allow 
a teaspoonful of broken cinnamon, one of mace, 
and a half teaspoonful of cloves. Let it simmer 
over water one hour. Strain the juice and pulp, 
add to each quart a pound of sugar, and.then boil 
again until reduced to nearly a jelly. Thin to prop 
er consistence with vinegar, bottle, cork and seaL 
