1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
367 
of stone, this is the best material for the walls. 
Build them eight feet high and provide space 
for stairs and door at one end. Stone is also 
the best material for covering, if slabs twelve 
feet long can be procured to reach from wall to 
wall. In a granite or blue stone region these 
are easily procured from quarries by “gagging.” 
Leave a man-hole at the top, large enough for 
ventilation and for pouring in roots from the 
cart. The sides, and top of the cellar should be 
covered with not less than two feet of earth, 
and neatly sodded. If on a side hill, it may be 
so arranged as to drive loaded teams on top. 
If stone for the covering is not convenient, a 
roof may be made by running up gable walls, 
putting on a log ridge pole and log rafters ar¬ 
ranged like a common roof. The rafters should 
be placed near enough to touch one another, or 
nearly so, and be strong enough to hold the 
covering of earth. Batten the rafters with slabs 
and cover all with earth and sods. In a region 
where wood is plenty, and there is no stone, 
the whole wall may be made of logs. When 
finished it will be simply a log house under 
ground. It will serve a good purpose for many 
years. Concrete also makes excellent walls, 
and this material may be laid in the form of an 
arch. If the cellar is made of stone it should 
be cemented to keep out all depredators. 
-- - . * -—aa^t Pi i « - » » 
Winter Eye. 
Rye may very properly be classed among the 
neglected- grains. It is not only less sown than 
wheat, oats, and corn, but it is put upon neg¬ 
lected land by a class of cultivators who neglect 
every thing they undertake to raise. When land 
will no longer bear wheat and corn, it is turned 
out to pasture, and rye, and is run in this rota¬ 
tion until five fingers, St. Jolmswort, and mul¬ 
leins take full possession. Wheat is the lordly 
grain, and receives by far the larger share of at¬ 
tention. New varieties are brought from abroad, 
and originated at home, that farmers may have 
just what they want to escape the ravages of 
insects, and make the most of the peculiarities 
of their soil and climate. But rye is about the 
last resort of the poor farmer for breadstuff, and 
he seldom looks upon the contingencies of the 
next harvest. Yet there is no occasion for the 
general negleGt of this grain. Its alimentary 
value is not much below that of wheat, and its 
market price is only about one-fifth less. It 
makes a very handsome and palatable bread, 
welcome as a change of diet upon all tables 
where it has been favorably introduced. It does 
best upon a rich hazel loam, but makes a crop 
upon almost any sandy or gravelly soil in fair 
condition. It is quite too generally grown upon 
a sod without any manure, yielding ten or 
twelve bushels to the acre. It is much better 
for the farmer and his soil, to use manure and 
take twenty-five to thirty bushels to the acre. 
Well rotted stable manure, or compost, is a good 
fertilizer for this crop. At least half the quan¬ 
tity used should be spread broadcast after the 
plowing, and be thoroughly harrowed in before 
sowing the seed. Of the commercial manures, 
Peruvian guano, fish scrap, superphosphate of 
lime, and bone dust, are frequently used. It is 
common to sow the seed broadcast at the rate 
of one and a half to two bushels to the acre, 
but rye is as much benefited as wheat by drill¬ 
ing. The drill not only saves seed, but, by the 
ridges it raises and the more uniform and deep¬ 
er planting of the seed, it guards the young 
plants against the severities of winter. The 
best time for sowing is in September, or early 
in October, though good crops are sometimes 
raised when sown just before the ground is 
frozen up. If the early sown rye is too luxu¬ 
riant, it may he grazed by sheep or calves, but 
care should be taken to leave a good covering 
for the roots. The true place for this crop is 
not in alternation with pasture to rob the soil of 
its fertility, but in a regular rotation of six or 
eight years, applying manure enough either to 
this, or the preceding crop to secure thirty bush¬ 
els of rye to the acre. At present prices, it is 
not difficult to get a gross return of fifty dollars 
or more from an acre of rye, which is much bet¬ 
ter than twenty dollars, which hardly pays ex¬ 
penses. An additional reason for increased at¬ 
tention to this crop is the great appreciation of 
its straw. It is extensively used for bedding, 
for packing, and for paper making. The de¬ 
mand for this latteruse has so increased in some 
districts that it is quite too dear to be used for 
litter. It frequently sells for $15 per ton and 
upwards. Rye always brings good prices, and 
ought to have more attention from cultivators. 
Grinding Corn on the Cob. —We regard 
this practice with no favor if the corn is good. 
Analyses of the cob of well matured corn show 
that it contains scarcely any nutriment. It was 
obviously not made to be eaten. The cob parts 
with all it can of nutriment to the kernels, and 
is no more fit to be fed out than sawdust. 
When immature corn nubbins, and ears that 
have not dried well in the field are to be fed, 
the case is different. The cobs of these con¬ 
tain a good deal of valuable food, and, if the 
ears be kiln-dried, they may probably be ground 
to very good advantage. Besides kiln-drying, 
if the temperature be increased nearly to scorch¬ 
ing, will convert a portion of the tenderest cel¬ 
lulose which would soon harden to woody fiber, 
into a digestible substance like starch or gum. 
This can, however, seldom be done, hence it is 
best to break up the unsound corn with a hatchet 
into pieces an inch or two long and boil them, 
with the little potatoes and other feed for hogs* 
- 4 —►-«*--- 
Poke or Pigeon-berry as a Garden Plant. 
Nov/ that the Poke or Pigeon-berry ( Phyto¬ 
lacca decandra) is ripening its long clusters of 
purple berries, we are reminded of the excel¬ 
lence of its young shoots in spring. It throws 
up vigorous sprouts as large as one's finger, 
clothed with undeveloped leaves. These shoots 
cut when young and cooked like asparagus, are 
so nice that one who has once partaken of them 
is sure to wish for more. The supply depends 
upon the chance plants that may grow by the 
roadside or in the fence corners. Why not put 
it in the garden and make a permanent bed, as 
with asparagus and rhubarb ? If the shoots are 
so good without cultivation, they are likely to 
be better with it, and the convenience of being- 
able to get “ a mess” without running all over 
the country will be great. Who will try what 
cultivation will do with a plant that has hereto¬ 
fore been despised as a weed ? Those who are 
disposed to undertake its cultivation should 
take up the roots this autumn. Divide the large 
ones and set in rich soil, three feet apart each 
way. That the plant has a medicinal reputa¬ 
tion need not deter any one from eating it; 
whatever there may be active about the young 
shoots is entirely destroyed in the cooking. We 
have known those who have habitually eaten it 
for years without noticing any medicinal effects. 
In Europe the Poke is frequently grown in 
gardens for its showy character when in fruit. 
Vinegar Making. 
The remarks of Mr. I. D. G. Nelson, on vine¬ 
gar making, at the American Pomological So¬ 
ciety’s meeting, have already been quoted in 
these columns; we now give an extract from a 
paper prepared by the same gentleman for the 
Indiana State Hort. Society, an association of 
which he is President. Vinegar may be made 
from inferior apples, but the better the fruit, the 
finer the product. Some think vinegar more 
profitable than selling the fruit. “My cider 
house is constructed with a view to convenience 
and economy in the manufacture of cider and 
vinegar, and is used for both alternately as the 
season requires. During the fall and until all 
the apples are ground up I make all the cider I 
can, and store it away in pipes, barrels, etc., 
under an open shed convenient to the cider 
house, where it will undergo vinous fermenta¬ 
tion, and by the addition of a little good strong 
old cider vinegar it frequently gets quite sour 
before cold weather, and sometimes is fit for 
market by adding a little more strong vinegar. 
As soon asAve are through making cider for the 
season, avc remove the horse-poAvef, (endless 
chain) grinder, pressing crib, vats, pomace box¬ 
es, etc., out of the basement of the cider house, 
and commence at once filling it with double and 
treble tiers of barrels of racked cider from the 
shed; start up the fire in the furnace, which is 
so constructed as to be out of the way Avhen 
making cider, and the cider house is thus quick¬ 
ly com r erted into a cheap and excellent vinegar 
house. The thermometer is kept at about 75° 
Fahrenheit, and the process of vinegar making 
commences at once. If some of the casks ap¬ 
pear a little ‘lazy,’ and not inclined to make 
vinegar as fast as they should, I lake empty 
casks and put four gallons of the best vinegar 
in each, and drip slowly the contents of the 
sluggish casks, sometimes through hard Avood 
shavings, but more generally over a board, into 
a dripping trough, then into the casks prepared 
as above—the object being chiefly exposure to 
atmospheric air, by reason of Avhich it becomes 
acetified. Thus it is quite frequently the case 
that the laziest casks are first fit to go out of the 
vinegar house, Avhich we remove, as Avell as all 
others, as fast as they are ready, to the cellars, 
Avhere they remain until required for market, 
so that by the time the house is required again 
for cider making, all the old cider is com-erted 
into vinegar, and removed out of the way. 
The endless chain horse-poAver, cider mill, A r ats, 
etc., are put back in less than half a day, and 
the vinegar house is now converted into a cider 
house again, and the Avork goes on as before. 
The apples are scooped out of the wagon and 
thrown upon the upper floor, through a con¬ 
venient door, when they run off on an inclined 
plain to such a part of the chamber as they are 
needed, or at once run into a hopper that feeds 
itself. The whole Avorlc is done Avith a small 
amount of labor, which is one of its cTiief rec¬ 
ommendations. This is, in brief, my method of 
Avorking up a feAV thousand bushels of apples, 
many of Avhich were formerly wasted, or from 
which I realized a very insignificant sum. The 
same thing is within reach of any farmer who 
can command a fetv hundred dollars to start 
with, on a cheap scale, and out of Avhich, if he 
has the apples himself, or can purchase them 
at a reasonable price, he may soon build up 
a lucrative and legitimate business, and at the 
same time be of permanent usefulness in furnish¬ 
ing consumers with a genuine article of health¬ 
ful acetic acid to take the place of the poison¬ 
ous stuff now in general use as vinegar.” 
