AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
83 
almost every farmer could select from liis “ wild¬ 
ings ” a sufficient number of tolerable varieties 
for the seasons of family use, and as the balance 
was destined for the cider-mill and apple-brandy, 
the kind of apple was of little consequence. As 
Napoleon said “the English were a nation of 
shopkeepers,” it could as truthfully be said that 
the people of our eastern States were a nation of 
cider drinkers, and apple eaters—for cider was 
the universal beverage of the farmers and me¬ 
chanics throughout the country at breakfast, din¬ 
ner and supper —the “ wimmen folks ” mostly 
“ took tea,” in those days—while cider also was 
the usual drink “ between meals,” except at the 
“ eleven o’clock,” when cider brandy was the daily 
“treat,” in hard-toiling seasons. In farming 
neighborhoods or villages—cities were scarce then 
—one neighbor could scarcely call in at any time 
of day upon another neighbor, without a “ mug ” 
of cider being presented him, while the universal 
entertainment of an evening visit, to both old and 
young, was “ apples and cider.” It was nothing 
uncommon to find a wealthy farmer's cellar stored 
at the commencement of Winter with thirty to 
fifty barrels of cider and fifty to a hundred bush¬ 
els of apples for family use, and the villager or 
small mechanic—day laborer even—who had not 
two or three barrels of cider, and apples in pro¬ 
portion, laid by for family use, was a “poor man,” 
indeed. But temperance societies, and a better 
appreciation of wholesome drinks have worked 
an entire revolution in the cider drinking habits 
of both farmer and villager, until cider, as a bev¬ 
erage, is mostly known as a thing of the past. 
So long ago as thirty years, I knew of large and 
thrifty orchards of wilding trees being cut down 
altogether, because the fruit “would not pay,” 
the owners little dreaming that with grafting into 
them the choice varieties, and the opening of rail¬ 
ways to market, one acre of his orchard would be 
worth more to him than any five or ten acres of 
nis cropping lands. Millions of noble apple trees 
throughout all the northern and some of the west¬ 
ern States have been thus wantonly destroyed, 
the wisdom of which their owners may have since 
most sorrowfully questioned—particularly since 
their younger and more enterprizing neighbors 
are planting largely of the improved varieties, for 
distant markets. 
That apples, years ago, were cultivated with 
perfect ease in almost every part of the country, 
from latitudes 38° to 44° north, needs no proof 
beyond the commonest observation. The first 
thing the farmer did after going upon a new farm, 
and clearing off land enough to provide his family 
wants, was to plant out an apple orchard ; and, 
if he had any pomological taste beyond, to put in 
an assortment of other fruits, as peaches, pears, 
plums and cherries. Let the climate, soil or cul 
vation be what they might, the apple trees were 
almost sure to thrive, and in a few years produce 
abundance of fruit. Even in pastures, by the sides 
of stone-walls and fences, many a thrifty apple 
tree sprung up from seeds accidentally dropped, 
and without the slightest cultivation, except, per¬ 
haps a rough trimming with an ax, hatchet or 
jack-knife, grew into a large and profusely bear¬ 
ing tree. The canker worm, and the caterpillar, 
at various times ravaged the orchards for wide 
districts of country together; the trees were 
rudely cultivated—if cultivated at all—but they 
still grew and flourished in the main, larger in 
old times, than we now see them, full a century 
old, and yet in great bearing. 
Apples are still a staple annual crop over exten¬ 
sive districts of country, when not cut off by ex¬ 
traordinary causes of weather or insect—as much 
so as Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats or barley ; and 
our towns and cities are universally supplied with 
them at cheap rates. It is but three or four years 
ago that thousands of barrels were sent from the 
western canal counties of the State of New-York 
into Buffalo, where they were sold at a dollar to 
a dollar arid a half a barrel, to go to Chicago—a 
thousand miles beyond by Lake transportation. 
Indeed, a large portion of the western New-York, 
winter apples find their best market on the shores 
of Lake Michigan, and the interior country be¬ 
yond, where it is yet a problem whether that ex¬ 
tensive region will be able to supply itself with 
apples in tee future. I speak of this locality, be¬ 
cause I know it. Other localities undoubtedly 
have like relative supplies, and markets ; instance 
the south-eastern counties of Ohio bordering that 
river, in which are immense orchards planted by 
its early Yankee settlers, the owners of which 
ship every year, enormous supplies of apples to 
both the upper and lower Mississippi Valleys. 
That apples are, produced with more difficulty 
of late than in times past, is certain. The wear¬ 
ing of our soils by cropping is probably one cause ; 
the depredations of numerous apparently new in¬ 
sects is another. We take more pains with our 
young orchards than our fathers did with theirs, 
and on the average they are not so flourishing, 
particularly in old soils. The insects are more 
destructive. Until about twenty years ago, I 
neither saw nor heard of the common apple worm 
in this vicinity—and there are large apple orchards 
on the opposite side of the Niagara river, in 
Canada, seventy years old, and still in bearing— 
while now in some years, half our best apples are 
spoiled by the worm in the core. I might say, 
with a good deal of theoretical truth—but that 
some punctilious nurseryman would “ pitch into ” 
me —(instead of my facts or argument) that the 
modern system of root-grafting many of the re¬ 
fined and delicate growing varieties, the wood of 
which is unfit to make a strong, vigorous and 
hardy trunk, but which would do very well as a 
top, worked on a wilding stem, branch high, is 
one cause of the comparative effeminacy in the 
growth of our modern orchards. But, with all the 
drawbacks attending them, we are not likely to be 
without a full supply of apples in our country for 
a long time in the future. I will speak of other 
fruits in mv next. 
-«-<--h®.-- 
Try a Hot-Bed. 
A simple and cheap apparatus for bringing for¬ 
ward plants for early Summer use, is, to say the 
least, a very convenient appendage to every home¬ 
stead large enough to have a vegetable garden. 
Yet comparatively few possess it, and among 
farmers especially, such a thing as a Hot-bed is 
almost unknown. Surely the farmer deserves the 
first fruits of the season, and he may have them 
if he will. Lettuce, cabbage, cucumbers, toma¬ 
toes, cauliflower, melons, etc., may be upon his 
table from four to six weeks earlier than usual, 
by a little painstaking, at a season when the time 
to do this work can be easily spared from other 
occupations. On page 53 of last Vol., we gave 
quite full directions for the construction and man¬ 
agement of Hot-beds, but the following just at. 
hand from a stated contributor is seasonable, and 
will perhaps be of service to many who have not 
seen the article referred to : 
The first thing to be done is to determine the 
size of the bed wanted. If it is only for family 
use, and to supply a few friends with early plants, 
twelve feet long and six wide will be ample. To 
make the frame, take two inch planks, cut them 
into suitable lengths, and nail or hook them to 
cedar posts, set at the four corners. If hooks are 
used, the planks are more easily taken apart and 
stored away after the season is over. These posts 
should be three or four inches square. The frame 
has, of course, no bottom. The back should be 
about three feet high, the front a foot and a half, 
and the ends made with a regular slope from back 
to lront. So made, the rain will be carried off 
Irom the sash, and the light will reach all the 
plants within. The sash may be made like com¬ 
mon window sash, except that there are no cross¬ 
bars, and the panes of glass overlap each other 
a quarter of an inch at the bottom, so as to shed 
rain like the shingles of a roof. The sash 
should be made of good, seasoned pine, 1^- to 2 
inches thick, and painted three good coats. Small 
panes, say 6x8, are less liable to breakage than 
larger; and in glazing, they should be bedded in 
soft putty. For the sash to rest and slide upon, 
strong strips should be placed across the frame, 
and moiticed in at each end. The following cut 
may represent the sash and frame : 
A hot-bed twelve feet long would need three 
sashes, four feet wide. 
While the frame has been making, we will sup¬ 
pose that the manure, it quite fresh, has been 
thrown into heaps and turned over and mixed for 
ten days or a fortnight, so as to promote a regular 
fermentation. This having been done, choose a 
good situation for the bed, with a dry bottom, and 
sheltered, if possible, on the north and west 
sides. Determine the size you need, and then 
drive stakes at each corner. Now, wheel on the 
manure. Strong, littery manure from the horse- 
stable is the best; but in lack of this, tanners 
bark may be used, or leaves—oak-leaves are best. 
If dung is to be had, lay up a bed of it, six inches 
to a loot wider on all sides than the frame which 
is to rest upon it, pressing it down gently and 
equally throughout. The average hight of such 
beds is from two to three feet. If, as some per¬ 
sons prefer, the bed is sunk a foot or more in the 
ground, the manure need not rise more than two 
feet above the surface. Having set the frame 
and sash upon the dung-bed, with the lower 
side towards the south. Jet the whole lie a 
few days, until the most violent fermentation has 
passed off. Then, put on about six inches of the 
best garden mold. The part devoted to radishes 
and lettuce may have a toot of soil. In a few days 
the seed may be sown, which should be done 
about six weeks belo.-e the usual time for trans¬ 
planting to open grounds. Examine the bed daily, 
and if the heat becomes excessive, run a stake or 
crow-bar down into the manure to let the steam 
escape; the sashes, also, may be raised a little. 
If the ground becomes dry, water occasionally 
with tepid water ; if the heat declines, keep it up 
by the addition of fresh manure piled up arounu 
the sides of the bed. In cold nights, cover the 
beds with matting or straw. 
Pie or Japan Melon.— This new melou is 
spoken of as a good substitute for apples, in mak¬ 
ing pies. The seed is very little disseminated as 
yet. We acknowledge the receipt of small par¬ 
cels from J. Child, of California, and H. Hale, oi 
Mississippi. We have only enough to experimem 
with, the result of which will be made known in 
due time. 
