MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY JOURNAL. 
387 
AMEBIC AN WINES. 
It may be unknown to many of our 
readers that wine is manufactured to a great 
extent in Ohio and Kentucky. We think 
this branch of manfacture may be increas¬ 
ed to an extent that will render it unneces¬ 
sary to import such a large quantity of 
wines, or what is better, render it unneces¬ 
sary to use so much of the drugged, spiced, 
and poisoned stuff with which the market 
is flooded. If wine is to be used at all, 
commend us to the pure juice of the grape. 
It is said to be an undoubted fact that these 
■ i > wines are quite equal to the light wines of 
' I i Germany, which they resemble in taste and 
> | quality, and the consumption of them is 
I ;l) leading to an extensive culture, at the 
, j) west, of the grapes from which they are 
} made. 
) In the cellars of Mr. Longworth, of Cin- 
J > cinnati, who is one of the largest dealers in 
the article, there are some 75,000 bottles 
I) of sparkling Catawba, and some 40,000 
•J 11 gallons of the same wine in casks. Mr. 
g; Buchanan, and others of the same neigh- 
2) borhood, have an equal amount on hand, 
J , but the demand for it surpasses the supply. 
<J | The Catawba grape which ripens better in 
■ | that climate, is generally preferred for wine, 
j 11 but there is no reason, in other parts of the 
j I country, where the Isabella and other va- 
| , rieties mature well, why these should not 
f be used. 
) 0 \ 
I - ’) A large territory of the United States is 
well adapted to the cultivation of the grape, 
; | and unqustionably the manufacture of good 
reliable wines will be found profitable. We 
; | trust the day is not far distant when the 
8 hillsides and the valleys in Southern Ohio 
2 and Indiana, in Kentucky, Tennessee, and 
1 1 other states in .those latitudes, will be 
| ’ thronged with the vine, and the cellars of 
| ; those who desire to use it, stored with 
8 | American wines, instead of those imported 
| from foreign lands. In our opinion there 
| is a valuable field for productive industry 
| '> opening in the vine fields of America, 
1; which may yet very successfully compete 
|; with the famed vineyards in the south of 
j! Europe. Emigrants from the old world, 
| ’ should nave their attention directed to the 
| ’ cultivation of the grape in the localities we 
1 j have named. 
§ ’ There was a good show of wines at the 
| , late State Fair in this city, a fair proportion 
s ' of which was from the vicinity of Cincin- 
s nati. The quality was pronounced excel¬ 
lent, though the premiums offered are so 
small as to prevent any one from present¬ 
ing choice wines, which are sure not to be 
returned to the owner. We trust the sub¬ 
ject of wine making will receive the atten- 
THE BLACK CURRANT. 
The black English currant is represent¬ 
ed to have qualities that entitle it to ex¬ 
tensive propagation. A kind of wine has 
been manufactured fjom it, which is cele¬ 
brated for its medicj/f properties. The Bos¬ 
ton Medical Examiner, qixoted by Fessen¬ 
den, says of this wine: “ It has all the good 
properties of the best Port, without any of 
its heating or constipating effects. We 
name several instances where, in great de¬ 
bility and exhaustion, after protracted and 
severe fever and from other causes, nothing 
else could be thought of or taken .with 
pleasure or advantage, in v hich this wine 
proved grateful to the palate, and most 
friendly to the stomach; in which, indeed, 
it was the principal means of conducting- 
the patient to health and strength. Its 
exhibition has been attended with remarka¬ 
ble success in the early stages of cholera 
and dysentery; and again in the later stages 
of these diseases, after the symptoms of 
inflammation or febrile excitement had ceas¬ 
ed. It has been strikingly remedial in the 
low stages of typhoid and bilious fever.— 
We have not room to enumerate many other 
morbid affections, in which this wine has 
proved useful. In sore throat it has for 
many years, been considered almost a speci 
fic remedy.” 
These opinions are confirmed by other 
testimony. Kendrick, in his American Or- 
chardist says: “F rom the black currant ajelly 
is made, of considerable medical efficacy; a 
wine is also made from them, which pos¬ 
sesses far superior medical virtues to Port 
wine. The jelly has been highly recom¬ 
mended for disorders of the throat, and .as 
a necessary article in the stores of ships 
sailing to the East Indies. A liquor is 
prepared from the black currant which, Mr 
Forsyth says, is possessed of great medi¬ 
cinal efficacy in obstinate coughs, &c. The 
currants for this purpose are bruised, arid 
being placed in ajar, whiskey or any other 
species of alcohol is poured over them; the 
jar is then covered close for a fortnight; 
after this, the liquor is strained and bottled.” 
The jelly from the black currant is far¬ 
ther described as being fine for the table, 
and the wine as of peculiar flavor, which, 
to those long accustomed to its use, is de¬ 
lectable. 
A triend of ours, who has for many years 
made use of this currant in his family, as a 
remedy for some of the above named af¬ 
fections, especially for diarrohea, fully con¬ 
curs in the foregoing estimate of its value. 
He Considers it excellent as a 
LIST OF PATENT CLAIMS 
ISSUED FROM THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 
For the week ending Nov. 18, 1851. 
preserve. 
PACKING 
APPLES FOR 
MARKETS. 
FOREIGN 
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>r 
tion its importance demands. 
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PROTECT YOUR FRUIT TREES. 
A great many fruit growers buy good 
and handsome trees, and get them growing 
well, and then frequently, by neglect, allow 
cattle to injure or destroy them. Cattle 
are very fond of browse in winter, and when 
they cannot have convenient access to it 
they will chew up succulent shoots il they 
are nearly an inch in diameter, and break 
down and disfigure the tree. 
A little attention to walls and fences will 
prevent this great evil, and bring forward 
the promising trees to be a profit and an 
ornament. Sometimes a fruit-grower pays 
) fifty cents for a tree, and fifty more in ta¬ 
king care of it, and then, from its fine, 
promising appearance, he would not take 
! two or three dollars, and it is richly worth 
it; yet, for the want of a few minutes’ time, 
in fastening a board, or fixing a nail, this 
beautiful and valuable tree, and perhaps 
. many more, are destroyed by some unruly 
animal. Now is the time to attend to this 
business, and let it bo well done, that the 
trees may be safe through the winter.— JV. 
E. Farmer. 
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Soar suds for Grapes. —A. J. Downing 
says: “ I have seen an Isabella grape pro° 
duce 3,000 fine clusters of well ripened 
fruit in a season, by the liberal use of ma¬ 
nure and soap suds from the weekly wash.” 
The effect of soap suds on other plants 
is something surprising. A cypress vine,— 
which had remained stationary for a fort¬ 
night, when about two inches high, imme¬ 
diately commenced growing after a good 
watering with soap suds, and grew about 
six inehes the first five days. 
Order and neatness in everything are 
essential to profit. Broken posts and rails, 
old wheels and parts of carts, sleds and 
small implements scattered about the yards 
and road-side, are indicative of anything 
but system and true economy. 
As this is about the time when most of 
the apples are prepared for shipment to 
foreign markets, it may be well to say a 
few words on the subject. No care, how¬ 
ever, in packing for transportation, will pre- 
seive the fruit unless it has been properly 
gathered in the first place. Premising, 
then, that the apples have been properly 
collected and preserved, the business of 
packing them is not a difficult one, so that 
they may be transported any distance, by 
still continuing to them the same care 
which they have had from the beginning. 
Flour barrels are as cheap and conven¬ 
ient as any thing for them. They should 
be perfectly clean, sweet and tight. The 
apples should be assorted, rejecting all that 
are wormy, bruised, or mis-shapen, leaving 
only such as are hard, good sized, and hand¬ 
somely shaped, as every one that is defi¬ 
cient in these qualities operates as a discount 
upon all the rest when opened in a foreion 
market. Place some soft substance on the 
bottom of the barrel, say cheap cotton or 
soft paper, and then after wiping the ap 
pies, roll them in dry paper and place them 
in layers with the stem end up, until the 
surface is covered, and so closely that they 
cannot jostle upon being moved with the 
barrel. Cover these with the cotton or pa¬ 
per, and proceed in this manner until the 
barrel is full. The barrel must be filled so 
full as to require the head to be pressed 
gently down; this will prevent all motion 
among the apples themselves, while the 
barrel is conveyed from place to place.— 
We practice a similar mode to keep our ap¬ 
ples for family use, and find it a good one. 
it is but a little labor to wrap a barrel of 
good-sized apples in paper, and where old 
newspapers are abundant, the expense is 
very trifling. 
Apples prepared in this manner will keep 
well and bear any necessary amount of 
motion; and one barrel of them in a foreign 
market will bring more than two barrels 
packed in a careless manner.— JV. E, Far. 
Heading in Peach Trees.— No injury 
to the tree has ever been experienced by 
us iu heading in pca«h trees in autumn.— 
It may be done quite early in the spring; 
but the winds are cdd and boisterous in 
March, and the ground covered with snow, 
so that the job then s altogether an un¬ 
comfortable one. Being annually headed 
in, by off cutting one-hUf of the previous 
summer’s growth, the free gradually as¬ 
sumes a round and compact form, produces 
larger and better fruit, aad the branches 
will seldom break down when loaded with 
either fruit or ice.— JV. E. Farmer. 
To D. R. Hendrix, of Pottstown, Pa., for im 
provement in boot trees. 
To Alonzo Bascom, of East Jaflrey, N. II., for 
improvement in apparatus for sizing and dyeing 
yarns. 
To Thos. LI. Dodge, of Nashua, N. II., for im¬ 
provement in printing presses. 
To S. Curtis, of Newtown, Ct., for improve¬ 
ment in machines for cutting combs. 
To G. YV. Gardener, of Albany, N. Y., for im¬ 
provement in stove grate bars. 
To Henry Golden, of Greensboro’, Miss., for 
improvement in plows. 
To James Hardie, of Victoria, Texas, for im¬ 
provement in propellers of machinery to be used 
in currents. 
To Nehemiah Hodge, of Adams, Mass., for 
impro vement hi railroad car wheels. 
To Jehu Hollingsworth, of Zanesville, O., for 
improvements in mill for grinding and bolting. 
To Adam Lemmer, of Newark, N. J., for im¬ 
provement in cannon for throwing chain shot. 
To Gaspard Malo, of Dunkirk, Frauce, for im¬ 
proved screw propeller. 
To Isaac H. Morris and David Flanders, of 
Parishville, N. Y., for improvement in desks. 
To David F. Phillips, of Republic, O., for im 
provements in railroad switch. 
To Wm. Redick, of Uniontown, Pa., for im 
provement in seed planters. 
To Wm. W. Riley, of Columbus, O., for im¬ 
provement in inserting porcelain teeth. 
1 o Hale R. Rose, of Guilford, Vt.,for improve¬ 
ment in stoves. 
To H. J. Ruggles, of West Poultney, Vt., for 
improvement in stove grates. 
To John C. Fr. Salomon, of Cincinnati, O. 
for improvement in spring saddles. 
To Vine B. Starr, of East Hampton, Ct., for 
improvement in gongs. 
To Geo. 1 odd, of St. Louis, Mo., for improve¬ 
ment in fi nishing and balancing millstones. 
DESIGNS. 
To Charles Muller, of Tompkinsville, N. Y., 
for design for a hat stand. 
To Frederick Fitzgerald, (assignor to S. C. 
Herring and John Ryer,) of New York city, for 
design for iron railing. 
To Apollos Richmond, (assignor to A. C. Bars- 
tow & Co.,) of Providence, R. I., for design for 
parlor stove grates. 
IMPROVEMENT IN CARRIAGES, 
We liaye had an opportunity of exam¬ 
ining Mr. M. G. Hubbard’s new plan for 
coach, carriage and buggy springs, of which 
we present illustrative engravings below. 
Messrs. Bradley and Noble, of Rushford, 
N. Y., received a premium at our late 
State Fair for a buggy built with this im- 
improvement, and it received the highest 
encomiums of L. B. Langworthy, Esq., 
Sup’t of the Mechanical Department, and 
of hundreds who saw it tested on the Fair 
Grounds. 
SMOKING HAMS. 
WATER RAMS AS FIRE ENGINES. 
Eds. Rural:— Within a short time there 
has been several very disastrous fires in 
Western New York, occurring in villages 
destitute, or poorly supplied with fire en¬ 
gines. In some instances, as in Mumford 
and Le Roy, there isan abundant supply of 
water with fall sufficient to be made avail¬ 
able for purposes of milling and machinery. 
It has occurred to me that water rams 
might be made available as an engine with 
which to extinguish fires. They would be 
less expensive, and when once in order, al¬ 
ways ready. The expense for hose would 
be the same in both cases. A few men 
could attach the pipe, direct it against the 
fire and extinguish the same before an en¬ 
gine could be got into operation. Is the 
plan feasible? s s> L> 
Caledonia, N. Y., 1851. 
Remarks. —Our correspondent, as prob¬ 
ably are many others, is laboring under a 
misapprehension, or possibly a want of 
knowledge of the operation and capacity of 
the water ram. They do not act with suf¬ 
ficient force to elevate water fast enough to 
meet the emergency of a lire, but are rath¬ 
er the slow and constant stream that would 
keep a reservoir always full. They will 
raise water to almost any given height, the 
quantity being diminished in proportion to 
the elevation given it. In the villages 
named, as well as many others, it would be 
an economical arrangement for keeping 
reservoirs filled from which a supply could 
always be depended upon. 
A better arrangement, and one attended 
with little expense would be to have public 
houses, blocks of buildings, and farm bouses 
supplied with a good force pump, with 
which water could be thrown upon the 
buildings at a moment’s notice, and with 
few hands. A very good article can be 
obtained for thirty or forty dollars at agri¬ 
cultural warehouses, and of hardware mer¬ 
chants, The best one with which we have 
ever met for this or any other purpose 
where a force pump can be used, is Cary’s 
Rotary Engine Pump, made by Cary & 
Brainard, at Brockport, N. Y. These are 
of different sizes, any one of which, with 
twenty-five or fifty feet of hose, would be 
in extinguishing fires, second only to a 
regular fire engine or the Annibilator. 
+ ! 
Fig. 1. 
Figure 1 shows the application of this 
improvement to Stage Coaches—removing 
the ordinary expensive gearing and substi¬ 
tuting four simple, straight wooden reaches 
two of which are bolted to the hind axle 
and to the front end of the body—and two 
are bolted to the rear end of the body and 
attached to the front axle—so that they 
spring freely around the curved bottom, 
and adjust themselves readily to any re¬ 
quired load. 
-=■-■" * -’JSEZJGh+ict'*K— 
Fig. 2. 
Figure 2 represents a view of a pleasure 
carriage with this improvement, and sug*- 
gests the evident economy and durability 
which its simplicity secures. 
Fig. 3. 
I igure 3 shows the graceful appearance 
of the light buggies built on these springs; 
evidently lighter, cheaper and stronger than 
any plan we have met with—yet we deem 
the light and graceful appearance of the 
buggy and the perfection of the self-ad¬ 
justing movement its greatest advantages. 
A e understand that Mr. Southwick, of 
this city—one of our oldest and best me¬ 
chanics,— has made arrangements to build 
Carriages and Buggies on this improve¬ 
ment, and we recommend those wishing 
O 
vehicles to examine them before order¬ 
ing other styles. 
POWDER AS A MOTIVE POWER. 
A Mr. Daggett, of Roxbury, according 
to the Boston Traveller, has invented an 
engine to produce either stationary or loco¬ 
motive power, without the aid of steam — 
propelling medium being nothing but gun¬ 
powder, and a very small quantity of that, 
acting by concussion upon compressed air. 
The machine is very simple, consisting of 
arge reservoir, constructed of iron, in the 
form of a steam-engine boiler, with two 
explosive chambers attached to it on one 
side. At the connexion of these explosive 
chambers with the reservoir, are valves that 
open intOgthe reservoir against a spring. 
The reservoir being filled with atmos¬ 
pheric air, a blast is given in one of the 
explosive chambers. This force acts as a 
plunger to an air-pump, and forces a new 
supply of atmospheric air from the explosive 
chamber into the reservoir. The air is of 
course worked off from the reservoir, like 
steam, operating upon a piston and giving 
the motive power. When one explosive 
chamber has been discharged, and the 
valve closed, as it is instantly by the force 
of the spring, the action of the machine is 
such as to produce a similar discharge in 
the other chamber—and thus a regular and 
constant supply of atmospheric air is kept 
up. The discharge is affected by a ham¬ 
mer moving backwards and forwards with 
the machine, and striking, in the manner 
of a gun-lock, upon the explosive chambers 
alternately. The powder is supplied regu¬ 
larly by the movement of the machine, and 
in such quantities as may be desired—the 
arrangement being such as to admit of 
the application of more or less, as greater 
or less power of propulsion may be required. 
It is evident from the experiments made 
with the model, that an astonishingly small 
quantity of powder will be requisite for 
any practical purpose to which the machine 
may be applied. 
I think the quality of hams as much de¬ 
pends upon the manner of smoking them, 
as upon the manner of curing. If a ham 
is well cured, bad smoking will spoil Tt.— 
The ordinary manner of constructing smoke 
houses, of generating the smoke in close 
proximity with the hams, is bad economy. 
And ii not in bad taste, it is generally the 
means of making a bad taste. By this 
method the hams are generally heat; and 
if not heated, or rather if not to that degree 
that will render them soft and greasy, they 
contract a bad flavor from hot, or crude 
and acrid smoke. Smoke should not be 
allow to reached a ham until it is per¬ 
fectly cool, and purified, as it will be, if it 
has time to cool. 
Build no fire in the smoke house. In¬ 
stead of doing so, dig a small trench in the 
earth, extending from the smoke house 30 
or 40 feet, upon slightly descending ground, 
it practicable; cover it with a slab, or board, 
replacing the earth; at its termination 
construct an arch, or fire place, with brick 
or stone. I wo hours labor will complete 
the job. Do not substitute a f love pipe, 
(as some do,) for by that means you partly 
defeat your object. The earth will best 
cool and purify the smoke. Generate your 
smoke in the arch as you would in the 
smoke house. In the absence of a smoke 
house, a very good substitute can be made 
by using an old hogshead, or section of a 
hollow tree. T< 
Potato Pie. —Two pounds of potatoes; 
two oz. onious (cut small,) 1 oz. bntter, 
paste, and half an ounce of tapioca. Pare 
and put in the potatoes; season with pepper 
and salt; put them in a pie dish, adding 
the onion, tapioca, and a few pieces of butter 
on the top, and half a pint of water; cover 
it with paste, and bake in a moderately 
hot oven. A little celery or powdered sage 
may be added. 
Hot Pot. —Cut some potatoes, as for 
potato pie, put them in a dish in layers, 
with pepper and salt between each layer; 
then put some butter on the top, adding a 
little water, and set it in the oven. 
WOODPECKER'S STORES. 
In stripping off the bark I observed it 
perforated with holes larger than those 
which a musket bullet would make, spaced 
with most accurate precision, as if bored 
under the guidance of a rule and compass, 
and many of them filled most neatly with 
acorns. Earlier in the season 1 remarked 
the holes in most all the softer timber, but, 
imagining they were caused by wood in¬ 
sects, I did not stop to examine or inquire; 
but now, finding them studded with acorns 
firmly fixed in, which I knew could not 
have been driven there by the wind, I 
sought for an explanation, which was prac¬ 
tically given me by Captain S-’s point¬ 
ing out a flock of woodpeckers busily and 
noisily employed in the provident task of 
securing their winter’s provisions. It ap¬ 
pears that that sagacious bird is not all the 
time thriftlessly engaged “ tapping the hol¬ 
low beach tree,” for the more idle purpose 
of empty sound, but spends its summer , 
season in picking those holes, in which it 
lays its store of food for the winter, where 
the elements can neither affect it or place 
it beyond their reach, and it is considered (1 
a sure omen that the snowy period is ap¬ 
proaching w hen these birds commence stow¬ 
ing away their acorns, which otherwise 
might be covered by its fall. 
I frequently paused from my chopping 
to watch them in my neighborhood, with 
the acorns in their bills, half clawing, half 
flying round the tree, and admired the 
adroitness with which they tried it at dif¬ 
ferent holes until they found one of its ex- 
exact calibre; when, inserting the pointed 
end, they tapped it homo most artistically 
with their beaks, and flew down for another. 
But their natural instinct is even more re- \ 
markable in the choice of the nuts, which ' 
you will invariably find sound; whereas it 
is a matter of impossibility, in selecting ■ 
them for roasting, to pick up a batch that ‘ 
will not have half of them unfit for use, the 
most safe and- polished looking very fre¬ 
quently containing a large grub generated 
within. Even the wily Indian, with all his 
craft and experience, is unable to arrive 
at anything like an unerring selection, while 
in a large bag-full that we took from the 
bark of our log, there was not one contain¬ 
ing the slightest germ of decay. They 
never encroach on their packed store until 
all on the surface are covered, when they 
resort to those in the bark, and peck them 
of their contents without removing the shell 
from the holes. — Felly’$ Excursion to 
California. 
