1852 
THE CULTIVATOR 
301 
in point of rank and respectability. The enterprising 
agriculturist who directs his attention solely to his pur¬ 
suit, who leaves political controversies to demagogues, 
who busies himself not in party disputes, who subscribes 
for, and reads an agricultural paper, and is constantly 
planning how he may with the least labor and expense, 
bring his farm into the highest state of cultivation, must 
needs be a happy man. His is an ennobling pursuit, his 
is an engaging and prosperous business. The failure of 
this firm in the iron trade, and the suspension of payment 
of that house in the West India trade, concern him not; 
he is independent of them. Of course the feeding of pigs 
and the cleaning of stables, are not the most engaging 
pursuit in the world, yet the thrift of hogs and cattle, 
the satisfaction of seeing them sleek and clean, and the 
value of manures, more than counterbalance the un¬ 
pleasantness of these things. The merchant no doubt 
feels a secret pride within his breast when he cogitates on 
his accumulating wealth,—wealth gotten by honest means, 
and by his own unaided energies; and does the agricul¬ 
turist contemplate his fields of smiling grain, his acres 
of sweet scented clover, his orchards of golden fruit, or 
his flocks and herds with a feeling less satisfactory? I 
answer, no! 
Of the number who embark in mercantile pursuits, 
one-fourth at least, probably one-third, never see again 
the capital with which they commenced. The farmer 
commonly commences without capital; he has often the 
monarchs of the forest to contend with, but he seldom 
fails to realize the needful, though he may be obliged to 
wait long for it; yet fortune will assuredly crown his ef¬ 
forts sooner or later; and he seldom or never fails entirely, 
unless laziness or uncommonly bad management is the 
cause of it. While the young men of these provinces, 
and the United States, are dissatisfied, and are seeking 
a home in California and Australia,—while one exclaims 
“ I can make more money in the auriferous regions in a 
month, than can be realized off a farm in a lifetime,” the 
steady farmer jogs on; he cares not for the reports that 
reach his ear from the land of gold; he weighs well the 
difficulties to be encountered, and concludes that “ with¬ 
out pains there can be no gains,” and that the chance of 
realizing gold is twice as great there as here. Some no 
doubt get a competency, but I fear the majority do not, 
and those who return, if they do return, are commonly 
wrecks of their former selves; therefore instead of “ let¬ 
ting go a certainty for an uncertainty,” let the young 
men, especially inexperienced ones, turn their attention 
to some safer pursuit, instead of listening to the wild 
vagaries of fancy, which busy bodies delight to pour into 
their ears; let them become “tillers of the ground,” 
and if they do their utmost, success will crown their 
labors. J. E. Fairweather. Norton , Kings county , 
New Brunswick , July 1, 1852. 
To Pickle Plums. 
A notable house-heeper has furnished us the following 
excellent mode: Take, say 14 pounds of plums, and put 
with them 7 pounds of sugar, by placing them in alter¬ 
nate layers with spices, in a vessel. Pour on them half 
a pint of vinegar. Then heat the vessel in the oven with 
just sufficient heat to cook them slowly, and when cook¬ 
ed the process is completed. They will keep till mid¬ 
winter, and are very palatable, even to an invalid who 
can eat nothing else. 
Second Rate Plums may, according to the same reli¬ 
able authority, be preserved till spring in the following 
way: Take any plums of inferior quality, [good ones we 
presume would answer quite as well,] and cover them in a 
vessel with whiskey. Next spring, when fruit is scarce, 
and the appetite keen for its preparations, soak the plums 
in cold water over night, and then stew long. The alco¬ 
hol will be all driven off, but little acidity will remain, 
and but little sugar will be needed. They will be found 
very fine and agreeable. We would suggest that none 
but strict temperance people should presume to approach 
the above dangerous article, and they should be very 
careful. 
Plums for Pies and Puddings in Winter, may be 
kept by boiling in molasses, and depositing in jars. 
Keeping Grapes. 
A new method of keeping grapes in winter has been 
adopted to some extent in France, consisting essentially 
in hanging up the bunches separately by the smaller end, 
on wire hooks. Small 
wires,of sufficient stiff¬ 
ness, and a few inches 
in length, are bent in¬ 
to hooks in the shape 
of the letter S; one 
end is passed into the 
smaller end of the 
bunch, and the other 
placed upon a sus¬ 
pended hoop,as shown 
in the annexed figure. 
The position of the 
bunches causes every 
berry to hang away 
from its neighbor, and 
consequently they are 
less liable to rot by 
contact, than by any. other arrangement. 
The hoops are suspended by three cords or wires to a 
button overhead, like the hook of a baby-jumper; and 
any convenient number of hoops may be hung successively 
under the first. The centre of the fruit room may be thus 
occupied; and the walls may be covered by passing hori¬ 
zontal wires around the walls, and about a foot from them, 
to receive the hoops for the suspension of the bunches. 
This will be found much more perfect than the more 
common practice of keeping grapes upon shelves or in 
drawers. It is hardly requisite to remind those accus¬ 
tomed to the successful keeping of grapes, of the neces¬ 
sity of careful picking, the removal of imperfect or de¬ 
cayed berries, and of avoiding too much moisture in the 
fruit room on the one hand, and of such a degree of dry¬ 
ness on the other as to cause wilting. The former may 
be prevented by chloride of lime, which absorbs moisture 
rapidly; and Vie latter by keeping the fruit room, (which 
may be only a few feet square,) hermetically sealed — 
opening the door but once a week to examine the fruit 
and remove any bad berries. The necessity of exclud¬ 
ing frost is of course obvious. 
