594 
SEPT 
common one that farmers do not save for seed 
the first fruits of their garden stuff, such as 
ripen while the plants are in their prime 
vigor, but gather from plants that have been 
late in maturing or crippled by excessive 
bearing. 
All these points which tend to destroy the 
good quality of plants and their products are 
being carefully guarded against by the regu¬ 
lar seed growers, whose competition,moreover, 
urges them to market pure, reliable seeds at 
the present very low prices. 
It does not pay the fanner, therefore, to 
raise his own garden seeds, for these two rea¬ 
sons alone : 1st. Such seeds cost him more in 
the end in dollars and cents, and, 2d, They 
produce inferior vegetables. In purchasing 
seeds, however, it must be remembered that 
the varieties must be selected carefully to suit 
the wants of the purchaser, and when the best 
varieties are found one should make a note of 
them and order them in the future. If the 
farmer does not order direct from the seed 
merchants he takes “commission seeds” at the 
country store, which, by the way, have come 
to possess a doubtful reputation. I think, 
however, that at present there is room for in¬ 
justice in the matter. Id a series of tests on 
the germinative power of such seeds I found 
the average percentage of good seeds quite as 
high as in those direct from the houses of first- 
class merchants. (See Bulletin No. 4, Pa. 
State College Agr. Exp. Station.) When I 
find a farmer raising his own garden seeds I 
wonder if he is still using his spinning wheel 
or his flail. geo. c. butz. 
Agr’l Exp. Sta., State Col., Pa. 
farm Capics. 
SAVE THE POMACE. 
T. S. RUSSELL. 
The pulp or pomace, the most valuable por¬ 
tion of the apple, has been a waste. It is only 
within the last few years that any use what¬ 
ever has been made of it, and now, after so 
much has been written about its discovered 
value, thousands of dollars’ worth that might 
be saved to every fruit-growing districtare an¬ 
nually dumped in a heap to sour and rot. But 
what is to be done with the pomace from our 
large cider mills ? 1st. Press 3 % gallons of 
cider (or more if you can) from each 50 pounds 
of apples, and save the pomace. 2nd. Re¬ 
press with more power if possible and get 
sufficient juice to make two pounds of jelly 
from each bushel and save the pomace. 
3rd. Run it through a sluice or seed-washer 
and get one bushel of clean seed from each 
200 bushels of apples, worth from $4 to $0 per 
bushel, and save the pomace. 4th* Gather it 
carefully, place it in piles with a mixture of 
lime and ashes, watching it like a miser 
would his gold until nature, with some assist¬ 
ance, converts it into a fertilizer that will make 
crops fairly bounce on sandy or gravelly 
land. But it is of the second process that I 
want to speak briefly. 
It is generally admitted by cider-makers 
that in spite of all the power applied, a por¬ 
tion of the iuice will remain in the pomace, 
and after years of experimenting I found that 
the following simple process yields the best re¬ 
sults in obtaining this residue. 
Immediately after the first pressing, place 
the pomace in a mixer. This may be a tight 
box where it can be forked over or cut apart 
and loosened up with a hoe, or, better still, run 
it through a thrashing machine cylinder or 
any convenient device that will thoroughly 
loosen it up. Apply during this mixing up 
enough boilihg-hot water to dampen every 
piece and make it handle nicely. Let it stand a 
few minutes—the longer the better, so that it 
does not begin to ferment. Then re-press and 
mix the juice with the cider and make into 
jelly in any desired proportion ; the more re¬ 
pressed juice used the clearer and firmer the 
product. 
The re-pressed juice alone will make jelly as 
clear as water, but it will lack taste and flavor. 
It is sometimes bitter, but mixing it with 
cider causes cider to “jell” that would be waxy 
without it. The re-pressed juice will also sub¬ 
due the strong acids in the cider which so 
many object to, and leave a product that will 
please all. 
I have found that by this process sweet ci¬ 
der, as well as early apple cider, may be 
worked successfully, and cider partially fer¬ 
mented will be thoroughly regenerated, so 
that the operator will be able to produce mar¬ 
ketable goods when otherwise he could not. 
Besides these advantages more jolly will be 
produced from a given amount of cider ; for 
instance, eight gallons of cider are supposed to 
be the amount needed to make one gallon of 
jelly; but with this mixture of cider and 
water six gallons will do. The man who 
makes cider jelly without re pressing and using 
the re-pressed juice with the cider, does not 
know the first principles of business success. 
If any one thinks, doing this is too much 
trouble, let him quit the business and give 
enterprising men a chance to supply an arti¬ 
cle that does not have to go begging for buy¬ 
ers. 
Be sure that the water used is pure, soft and 
as hot as possible. That from the condensed 
steam of the steam evaporator is just right. 
Never resort to cooking the pomace, for this 
releases an amount of fine cooked pulp that 
will destroy the product, causing mold, etc. 
Any one possessing a good steam evaporator 
and a reasonable degree of good sense, can 
make jelly by following the foregoing plan, 
using sound, fipe fruit. Keep everything the 
juice touches perfectly sweet and clean, and 
boil immediately after pressing, thus avoiding 
fermentation. 
Boil quickly, keeping the steam above 60 lb. 
in the boiler. Boil until it is done, the time 
depending on the condition of the cider, its 
quality, the amount of heat applied, the quan- 
ity of cider in the evaporator, etc.; the jel^y 
should be drawn off into the vessels intended 
for market, and should never be disturbed. 
The kind of vessels depends on the market one 
must supply. All things considered, a wooden 
pail made for the purpose and covered with 
shellac on the inside is the most convenient 
and desirable and in it the jelly will keep for 
years if necessary, growing clearer in color 
and pleasanter in taste as the years go by. For 
my part I would rather have the profit that 
may be derived from the pomace of a cider 
mill than all that may be made from the first 
pressing. 
APPLE BUSINESS IN WESTERN NEW 
YORK. 
IRVING D. COOK. 
Great extent of the business ; picking and 
sorting ; a commendable method of doing 
the latter ; a handy device for gathering 
apples ; marketing ; immense amount of 
evaporating. 
For many years Western New York apples, 
and more particularly those of the winter 
varieties, have, as a rule, found a ready 
market in all the great markets of our own 
country, and more recently many of the 
foreign markets have been largely supplied 
from the apple orchards of this locality. The 
fabulous war-time prices realized by those 
having a surplus to dispose of, during those 
times, offered an inducement largely to in¬ 
crease the acreage of their orchards; conse¬ 
quently vast apple orchards are now occupy¬ 
ing land formerly devoted to the cultivation 
of other farm products. From where I now 
write, can be seen one of the many bearing 
orchards containing 2,000 or more trees of the 
choicest varieties of fall and winter fruit, 
and as the industry has at the present time at¬ 
tained to such enormous proportions, one may 
well inquire, how is such a crop to be har¬ 
vested, and where is the market for this great 
amount of fruit. 
To secure this crop during the short and 
often unpropitious days of Autumn, taxes 
the utmost energies of the orchardist. Ad¬ 
ditional help from the surrounding towns and 
villages at about SI per day including board, 
is engaged weeks before the picking is to 
commence, which is usually about the first of 
October, (for winter fruit) extending to the 
20th or 25th. The high winds liable to occur 
at this season, often sweep thousands of 
barrels of the choicest fruit from the trees, 
ruining their keeping qualities, and they can 
be utilized only by disposing of them at the 
evaporators at reduced prices. It is imper¬ 
ative therefore that this work should be 
pushed as fast as possible. 
Ladders of different lengths, averaging from 
12 to 25 feet, are required—one for each 
picker. These are placed carefully on the 
outside of the tree: all fruit within reach 
should be taken from the tree by the picker 
as he advances upward. These he deposits 
carefully in a half-bushel basket hanging on 
his arm, or suspended by a hook from a round 
of the ladder, or a near-by limb. 
The usual method of disposing of the fruit 
as it is gathered from the tree, is to leave it in 
long piles between the rows, first having 
spread a light coating of straw, which pre¬ 
vents the apples from becoming bruised or 
soiled in case of wet, disagreeable weather. 
Next in order is the sorting, which requires 
constant care and judgment. For each barrel 
about a quarter of a bushel of the choicest 
specimens are selected for the “face” end. 
The first course is laid with the stem end of 
each apple down. The remainder of the 
barrel is filled with selected fruit, as it aver¬ 
ages from the pile. The head is then pressed 
in; the barrel is turned on its si^e, and the 
variety it contains is marked on the face end. 
The seconds and culls are disposed of at the 
evaporators and cider mill. 
Many, like myself, have for several years 
past sorted apples on a table constructed in 
the following manner: Length, seven feet; 
hight, three feet; width, 3% feet. The top 
should be covered with canvas or oil-cloth, 
nailed securely to strips of inch-stuff three 
inches wide. At the corners, openings should 
be arranged of sufficient size to admit half¬ 
bushel baskets. These are to rest on supports 
fastened to the legs. The latter should be 
three inches wide of two-inch stuff, all thor¬ 
oughly braced. On this table the pickers 
carefully empty their baskets, while others 
attend to the sorting, “facing,” pressing and 
heading. The “seconds” and cider apples 
should at the same time be loaded in wagons 
standing near by, and at once drawn away 
and disposed of. This method has proved 
much easier and more economical, as well as 
expeditious, than the old back-aching way 
of sorting off the ground. As this industry 
has increased from year to year to its present 
magnitude, the task of hand-picking each in¬ 
dividual apple and placing it in the basket 
seems well-nigh impossible, consequently 
quantities of choice fruit are often shaken 
from the tree and taken to the evaporators. 
In the meantime Yankee ingenuity has been 
striving to solve the problem how the fruit 
can be shaken from the tree and still retain its 
keeping qualities. For this purpose one of 
the most prominent and extensive fruit grow¬ 
ers of Genesee Co., has invented an apparatus 
constructed of canvas, resembling somewhat 
a huge inverted umbrella ; this is placed under 
one side of the tree and moved as occasions 
require and into it the fruit is shaken. As it 
falls on the canvass it rolls down to the lower 
and smaller part, and then through an open¬ 
ing into a large basket. Then the apples are 
carried away by two men to be sorted. 
While there is a strong prejudice against 
shaking winter fruit from the tree, this de¬ 
vice has been used by the inventor for three 
seasons, and several have also been introduced 
into other portions of the State. That the 
work can be greatly facilitated by the use of 
this contrivance there can be no question, and 
the condition of the fruit and the prices ob¬ 
tained for it soon after it has been gathered 
and at different periods during the later win¬ 
ter and spring, demonstrate that the hand 
picking of such large quantities of fruit is 
eventually to be superceded. 
Apple markets are established at nearly all 
the stations on the New York Central, West 
Shore and other rail roads, and along the line 
of the Erie Canal, where the barreled fruit 
is sometimes piled in high tiers waiting ship¬ 
ment to the large towns and cities of 
our own country, while increasing quanti¬ 
ties are each year purchased from the 
growers and sent to foreign ports. Fruit de¬ 
signed for later markets, goes into winter 
storage in the large cold storage houses de¬ 
signed especially for the purpose; and thou¬ 
sands of barrels are stored for the winter in 
the cellars of private citizens located near 
these shipping points. The remainder of the 
barreled fruit, that designed by the grower to 
be held by himself for future market, usually 
remains outside in the open air, until the ap¬ 
proach of cold weather, when it is rolled in¬ 
to the cellar for winter storage. 
Important factors in utilizing the apples of 
Western New York are the wonderful eva¬ 
porators some of which are capable of turning 
out over a ton of dried fruit in 24 hours. In¬ 
deed it is stated on good authority, that with¬ 
in a radius of 40 miles of Rochester, there are 
1,500 evaporators, from the small farm-house 
drier with a capacity of 25 bushels per day. 
to the large steam evaporator drying 800 to 
1,000 bushels in 24 hours. These give employ¬ 
ment during the autumn and early winter 
months to 30,000 hands who average from 85 
to 812 per week. A careful estimate places 
the total amount of evaporated fruit for 1887 
at about 30,000,000 pounds, requiring 5,000, 
000 bushels of apples. Large quantities of 
this fruit are shipped abroad to nearly all 
foreign ports. It is said that about 4,000,000 
pounds were exported during last season of 
which more than one half were shipped from 
Rochester. Thus we are encouraged to be¬ 
lieve that with the increasing demand at 
home and abroad for both green and evapor¬ 
ated fruits, the sagacious and pains-taking 
orchardist of Western New York is assured of 
success. 
Genesee Co. N. Y. 
PATENT SILAGE AGAIN. 
In the Ensilage Special, dated May 5, 1888, 
we gave a short account of the invention of 
Mr. S. M. Colcord of Massachusetts. The 
season for filling the silo is near at hand and 
we desire to again call attention to the “ patent 
silage” before mentioned. We have received 
various samples from Mr. Colcord On July 
17 he sent a sample of silage by mail. It was 
perfectly sweet and closely resembled in ap¬ 
pearance wilted corn fodder. A drawing of 
a handful of this fodder is shown at Fig. 311. 
This shows the exact size of the pieces as cut 
up for the silo. Mr. Colcord writes as fol¬ 
lowing regarding the feeding of the silage : 
I have made examinations of milk and 
cream from 16 grade cows fed on green forage 
preserved, giving 65 pouuds daily in perfect 
condition as taken from the silo. They give 
me 20 cans of milk daily, averaging six months 
from calving. The cans contain 17 pints each. 
The cows were kept in the barn, from a good 
pasture, this hot weather, and gained one can 
the first day on my fodder. The trial was 
made on three consecutive days. The milk 
was set submerged in the Cooley cans. The first 
and second day, with ice at 48°, ending at 58°; 
the third day the temperature was 58°. A 
light ration of bran and cotton-seed was fed 
with the forage. The trials were made with 
one pint of milk from each cow, and the milk 
of all was mixed together. 
The first day the pint was taken from the 
last quart milked, and yielded four and one- 
half inches of cream to 18 inches set, just 25 
per cent, of the cream. The second day the 
pints were taken from all the milk; the yield 
was three inches of cream in 18 inches—just 
16% per cent. The third day the pints were 
taken from the last half of the milk. The 
yield was four inches of cream. The tempera¬ 
ture in the shade was 86°; the water setting 
was uniformly 58°. 
The first day’s setting was 16 hours; the sec¬ 
ond day’s setting was 12 hours; the third day’s 
setting was 12 to 20 hours; no ehange was 
made in the quantity. 
There was no suspicion of silage taint, or 
any objectionable odor or flavor in any of 
these samples from first to last. The color, 
flavor and odor were simply perfect. We had 
the cream on the table morning, noon and 
night, on oatmeal, in coffee and tea, on bread 
and cookies—all we could eat. The quality 
was equal to any I have ever seen. 
The cream became acid on the third day; 
the milk soured on the fourth day, in each 
case. During these examinations wo had 
thunder showers of some magnitude. 1 have 
a sample of the forage fed to the cow from 
which I pressed 11 oz. of juice from 16 oz.— 
also the same 16 oz. I took from the stomach 
1 % hour after she ate it, from which I pressed 
11 fluid ounces.” 
A ball of the silage taken from the stomach 
of the cow is shown at fig. 312. Here we 
have two samples of silage one as it appeared 
just before feeding and the other as it 
appeared 1 % hour after. We have examined 
the partly digested product. It was surpris¬ 
ingly free from acid. Regarding the sample 
of silage sent us Mr. Colcord writes:- 
“ The milk was made from the last cut- 
down in the silo. It stood 13% feet high, 
two feet on top from the front face to the 
back wall, and three feet at the bottom, 
without cover, or weight, or pressure, on top. 
For the past two months, with 70 per cent, of 
juice in it from top to bottom,—more at the 
top than at the bottom. That end of the silo 
is 12 feet above ground, exposed to the sun, 
air, and light. Under those conditions in this 
hot weather any silage that I have ever seen 
would spoil. I have taken 32 oz. of it and 
pressed out 16 to 18 oz. of juice from it. It is 
slightly acid, ordorless, and pleasant to the 
taste, and keeps well exposed to the air in a 
cool place. I send this as a sample of the for¬ 
age that refuses to go to destruction under 
spoiling conditions, aud very closely repre¬ 
sents the quality of the forage from which the 
milk tests were made. Now it is proper for 
me to remark that carbonic acid pure, is per¬ 
fectly healthy in the stomach. It is the gas 
in all soda and mineral waters and the pop- 
gas in champaign, and is a positive advantage 
in preserving green forage. It cannot be pre¬ 
vented or kept out of the silo, and is absorbed 
by the juice or water in the corn. 
Acetic acid is also harmless in moderate quan¬ 
tities and renders the forage much brighter 
and more palatable. It comes into the silo on 
the third day of filling and cannot be pre¬ 
vented. It can be driven out of the silo from 
the corn, in a gaseous state, by heavy pressure, 
continuous for six weeks. It is not a product 
of heat and fermentation, in any ordinary 
sense of that term, but is usually disposed of 
by decomposition in the silo through the 
instrumentality of heat and fermentation, 
forming many new compounds with foul 
odors, most of which belong to the putrid 
class, which is usually the case with all silage 
as made in the ordinary way. By this new 
system both these acids and air are controlled 
