TOOLS.

It is no part of our design to go into any general description of agricultural implements. There are constant changes and improvements, and they are introduced at once to the whole country by the inventors or dealers. We also wish to avoid all participation in the controversies respecting the merits of various new inventions. We have several forms of cultivators, horse-hoes, subsoil-plows, drills, seed-sowers, land-diggers, and drainers, various formed plows, root-cleaners, corn-planters, &c., &c. These possess different degrees of merit; all have their day, and will be superseded by others, in the general advancement that marks the science of soil-culture. We strongly recommend the use of the best tools, especially subsoil-plows, seed-planters, and root-cleaners. Always have a tool-house, as much as you do a kitchen. Use the best tools; never lay them down but in their proper place; and always clean them before putting them away. Keep all the wood-work of tools well painted, and the iron and steel in a condition, by the application of oil and otherwise, to prevent rust. Good tools facilitate and cheapen cultivation, and increase the yield of crops, Money paid out for such tools is well expended.

TRAINING.

This is a matter that has received much attention from all fruit-growers. The influence of different modes of training and pruning is very great on the bearing qualities of trees. The peculiarities demanded by the various fruit-trees, vines, and bushes, are given under these articles respectively. We give here only some general principles. The health, beauty, and profit, of most fruit-trees depend upon judicious pruning and training. The following are the general objects:—

1. To secure regular growth and prevent deformities, and thus promote the health of trees.

2. To secure a sufficient number of fruit-bearing shoots, and in right locations, and to throw sufficient sap into those shoots to enable them to mature the fruit. With a certain amount of pruning, you may double the quantity of fruit, or destroy half that the trees would have produced if not trained at all. One half of the fruit of any orchard depends upon correct pruning. It also has a great influence upon the quality of fruit. The cherry is almost the only fruit-tree that throws out nearly the right number of branches, and in the right places. It needs a very little direction while young, and afterward only the removal of decaying branches. The quince needs considerable trimming at first; but, the head once formed, it will need very little after-pruning. Next comes the plum, needing, perhaps, a little more pruning than the cherry or quince, but much less than the other fruits. The plum is apt to throw out strong branches, in some directions, quite out of proportion with the rest of the top. Such need shortening in, to distribute the sap equally through the tree, and thus produce a symmetrical form. This is all the trimming necessary. The roots of a plum-tree are usually stronger than the top, and absorb more than the leaves can digest; hence some of its diseases. The natural remedy would be root-pruning, and leaving the top in its natural state, except shortening-in the disproportioned branches. Removing much of the top of a plum-tree would ordinarily prove injurious. The apple needs considerable pruning, but not of the spurs and side-twigs which bear the fruit, but of limbs that grow too thick, and of disproportioned luxuriance. (See under Apple.) So the pear must be often slightly pruned to check the too vigorous growth and encourage the too tardy. The peach must be so pruned as to prevent the long bare poles so often seen, and to secure annually the growth of a large number of shoots for next year's bearing, and to check the flow of the sap by cutting off the ends of the growing young shoots, so as to cause the formation on each, of a few vigorous fruit-buds. Peach-trees, so pruned, will be healthy and do well for fifty years, and produce a larger number of better peaches than will grow on trees left in the usual way. By a system of pruning that will equalize the growth and strength, the bearing will be general on all the branches of the tree. This will make the fruit more abundant and of better quality. The following six principles—first stated by M. Dubreuil, of France, and since presented to the American people in Barry's "Fruit-Garden," and still later in Elliott's "Fruit-Book"—will guide any attentive cultivator into the correct method of pruning and training:—

1. The vigor of a tree, subject to pruning, depends, in a great measure, upon the equal distribution of sap in all its branches.

2. The sap acts with greater force, and produces more vigorous growth on a branch pruned short than on one pruned long.

3. The sap, tending always to the extremities, causes the terminal shoots to push with more vigor than the laterals.

4. The more the sap is obstructed in its circulation, the more likely it will be to produce fruit-buds.

5. The leaves serve to prepare the sap for the nourishment of the tree, and to aid in the formation of fruit-buds. Therefore, trees deprived of their foliage are liable to perish, and they are injured in proportion to their defoliation.

6. When the buds of any shoot or branch do not develop before the age of two years, they can only be forced into activity by very close pruning; and this will often fail, especially in the peach.

Observe the foregoing, and never cut large limbs from any tree, except in grafting an old tree (and then only graft a part of the top in one year, especially in the pear), and of old, neglected peach-trees, to renew the top, and any careful cultivator can raise an orchard of healthy, beautiful, and profitable trees. There are different forms of training that have gone the rounds of the fruit-books, that are nearly all more fanciful than useful. There are four forms of fan-training, and several of horizontal and conical. The following only are useful:—

Fan-Training.—A tree but one year from the graft, or bud, is planted and headed down to within four buds of the ground, the buds so situated as to throw out two shoots on each side (see fan-training, first stage).



The following season, the two upper shoots are to be cut back to three buds, so as throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on each side. The two lower shoots are to be cut back to two buds, so as to throw out one leading shoot, and one shoot on the upper side. In this second stage, you will have a tree with five leading shoots on each side (see cut, fan-training, 2d stage). These shoots form the future tree, and should neither be shortened in, nor allowed to bear fruit this year.

Each shoot should now be allowed to produce three shoots, one leading one, and two others on the upper side, one near the bottom, and the other half way up the stem. All others should be pinched off when they first appear. At the end of the third year you will have the appearance in the cut (Fan-training, third stage). After this it may bear fruit, but not too much, as a young tree so trained, is disposed to over-bearing. These shoots, except the leading ones, should be shortened back; but to what length depends upon the vigor of the tree. This is to be continued and extended as the grower may choose, always preventing the top from becoming too dense, and the shoot too long for a proper flow of sap, and maturity of fruit-buds. A good form, though slightly irregular, is seen in the cut (Fan-training, complete). Such trees trained against walls, or better, on trellis-work, are beautiful and very productive.



Horizontal Training is another form contributing to fruitfulness, by regulating the flow of the sap. This is done by preserving an upright leader with lateral shoots at regular distances. To secure this, such shoots as you wish to train must be tied in a horizontal position, and all others pinched off on first appearance.



The process is simple and easy, continued as long as you please. Head in the shoots of these lateral branches to two or three buds and they will bear abundantly. As the growth increases, remove all that are not in the right places, and train all you spare, as before. In the fourth year, you will have trees of the appearance in the cut (Horizontal Training, fourth year).

Conical Training.—The Quenouille (pronounced kenoole) of the French, is the best of all forms of training, especially for the pear. To produce conical standards, plant young trees four or five feet high, and after the first year's growth, head back the top, and cut in the side branches, as in the cut (Progressive stages of conical training).



The next season several tiers of side branches will shoot out. The lowest should be left about eighteen inches from the ground, and by pinching off a part, others may be made to grow, at such distances as you may desire. At the end of the second year, the leader is headed back to increase the growth of the side shoots. The laterals will constantly increase, and you must save only a sufficient number. The third or fourth year, the lateral branches may be bent down and tied to stakes. The branches must be tied down from year to year, and the top so shortened in as to prevent too vigorous growth, and throw the sap into the laterals. This may be continued until the tree will exhibit the appearance in the cut (conical training complete). When the tree has become thoroughly formed it will retain its shape without keeping the branches tied. The fan and horizontal training are valuable for fruits that need winter protection, and they are also very ornamental, and enable us to cultivate much fruit on a small place. All these forms of training increase largely the productiveness of fruit-trees. It is recommended for all small gardens and yards, and will pay in growing fruit for market.

TRANSPLANTING.

Trees should be transplanted in spring in cold climates, and in autumn in warm regions. The top should be lessened about as much as the roots have been by removal. Cutting off so large a part of the top as we often see is greatly injurious. Trees frequently lose one or two years' growth, by being excessively trimmed when transplanted. The leaves are the lungs of the tree, and how can it grow if they are mostly removed? All injured roots should be cut off smoothly on the lower side, slant out from the tree, and just above the point of injury. Places for the trees should be prepared as given under the different fruits and the trees set firmly in them an inch lower than they stood in the nursery. The great point is to get the fine mould very close around all the roots, leaving them in the most natural position. Trees dipped in a bucket of soil or clay and water, thick enough to form a coat like paint, just at the time of transplanting, are said to be less liable to die. Every transplanted tree should have a stake, and be thoroughly mulched. Trees properly transplanted will grow much faster, and bear a year or two earlier, than those that have been carelessly set out. For further remarks on this important matter, see under the different fruits.

TURNIP.

This is one of the great root crops of England, and to considerable extent in this country, for feeding purposes. We think it should be displaced, mostly, by beets, carrots, and parsnips. They are more nutritious, as easily raised, and more conveniently fed. The Rutabaga is a productive variety, and possesses a good deal of nutriment. The essentials in raising good turnips of most varieties, are very rich soil, worked deep, and finely pulverized. They should stand in rows two feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows. They may be mainly tended with a small cultivator or root-cleaner.

English turnips are extensively grown as a second crop on wheat stubble, &c. The soil is highly enriched and the seed sown in rows to allow cultivation. The best method, however, is to turn over old greensward say June 1, and yard cattle or sheep on it till July 10, and then harrow thoroughly, and sow the seed broadcast. The yield will usually be large, and they will need very little weeding. If it is not convenient to yard cattle on the turnip-ground, apply fifteen double wagon loads of fine manure with a few bushels of lime to the acre, and the crop will be large. The usual time of sowing turnips is from the 10th to the 25th of July. We think the yield is larger when sown by the middle of June. The only way to get good early turnips is to sow them very early. The flat, or common field turnip, is easily grown on new land, or on any rich soil tolerably free from weeds and not infested with worms.

WHEAT.

This is the most highly esteemed of all grains, and has more enemies, and is more affected in its growth by the weather, than any other. It has engaged more attention in the study and writings of agriculturists than all other cereals. The outlines only of the results of the vast field of investigation and experiment on wheat-growing can be presented here. There are doubts respecting the origin of wheat. The more general and probable theory is, that it is the product of the cultivation, for a series of years, of a species of grass called AEgilops. This is indigenous on the shores of the Mediterranean, in those countries which, from time immemorial, have been the sources of our wheat. No one has ever found wild wheat in any country; it would be as strange as a wild cabbage or turnip. But the practical question is, How can wheat be most surely and profitably grown? The first requisite is a suitable soil. A clay or limestone soil is usually considered best, as there is much lime in wheat-bran. Such soil is better than light sand, or some of the poorer loams. But the large yields of wheat on the Western prairies, and on the rich alluvial soils of California river-bottoms, shows that the best of wheat may grow on other than clay lands. The truth of the matter respecting soils for wheat, is, that any soil good for corn, potatoes, or a garden, may, with proper tillage, produce the best of wheat. Experience in England, and in all the old countries on the continent of Europe, shows us that old land may be made to yield as large crops of wheat as the virgin soil of the New World. The production of wheat at suitable intervals, for a century, on the same land, need not lessen its power to produce good wheat in large quantities. Wheat is a plant demanding a rich soil, worked deep, and not too wet: these three things will produce a good crop on any land. We say to all farmers, raise wheat on any land that you can afford to prepare. First, if your land has not a dry subsoil, underdrain it thoroughly: water standing in the soil, and becoming cold or stagnant, is very injurious to wheat. Drainage is hardly more essential to any other crop than this. Next, plow deep. Subsoiling, on most lands, is very important to wheat. Manure highly, and put the manure between the soil and the subsoil: this attracts the roots deep into the soil, which is the greatest protection against winter-killing, and the effects of excessive drought. Render the surface of the soil as fine as possible. A finely-pulverized soil is as essential for wheat as for onions. Coarse lumpy soils are so open to the action of the atmosphere as to render the growth unequal, and cause the roots of the plant to grow too near the surface, for dry weather or the cold of winter. Always apply lime to wheat-lands, unless it be a limestone soil—not too much at once, but a few bushels to the acre annually. On no other crop do wood-ashes and dissolved potash, applied in the coarse manures, pay so well as on wheat. Sowing the seed is next in importance. The three questions in sowing are the manner, the depth, and the quantity. Shall it be drilled or sowed broadcast? Broadcast sowing requires more seed, and is liable to be less evenly covered; hence, we should prefer drilling. The depth of the seed is to be determined by the texture of the soil. Careful experiments have shown, that on clay land there is no perceptible difference in the growth of the plants, at any of the stages, in seed sown at any depth, from a slight covering to three or four inches. At a greater depth, it comes up less regularly, and in every way is in a worse condition. But on a light soil, it is, no doubt, best to plant it from four to six inches deep. On very loose soils, as muck land and alluvial soils, the roots of the plants grow too near the surface, and are exposed to being thrown out by winter frosts, and destroyed. The remedy is deep sowing and thorough rolling. The quantity of seed now more generally sown is from five pecks to two bushels per acre. Rich land will not bear so much seed as the poorer. It will grow so thick as to render the straw tender, and expose it to lodge and ruin the crop. Wheat tillers, or thickens up at the bottom, making many stalks from a single seed, quite as much as any other grain; hence, we believe that if it be sown at a proper time on very rich land, three pecks to the acre would be better than more. Such sowing would make more vigorous plants, with much stronger roots, which would withstand cold and unfavorable weather better than any other. We should still more strongly recommend another form of sowing, practised by some European cultivators with great success: it is, to drill in wheat, in rows two feet apart, and give it a spring cultivation; this gives great strength to the plants, destroys the weeds, promotes rapid growth by stirring the soil, and favors tillering, so that the rows will meet, and give a great growth. We doubt not this will yet be extensively adopted in this country. All wheat-land had better be rolled after sowing, and light lands, with a very heavy roller. Light sandy land, having a little clay mixed in as recommended under soils, well manured, the seed planted six inches deep, and the whole rolled with a heavy roller, will bear great crops of wheat.

As it respects fall or spring wheat, no positive directions can be given, adapted to all climates. In many localities it is of little use to sow winter wheat, as it is very uncertain. In other localities winter wheat almost always succeeds best. This question then must be determined by circumstances. The time of sowing winter wheat varies in different climates, according as it may be exposed to depredations of worms and insects in the fall. Farmers are not liable to mistake in this matter. Spring wheat, in all climates, should be sowed very early. It is hardly possible in all the Middle and Northern states to prepare the ground in spring, and get in wheat in suitable season.

The yield of a crop of spring wheat, depends materially upon the growth in the cool and moist weather of spring, when it spreads and its roots get a strong hold before the hot weather, that hurries up the stalks and ears to maturity. Hence plow in the fall, and harrow in the wheat, as early as possible, in the spring.

The varieties of wheat are numerous and uncertain. In the state of Maine, an intelligent cultivator, in 1856, recommended Java wheat as having a very stiff straw, and producing a very heavy yield. The Mediterranean wheat is also a favorite variety. Club wheat has also had a great run, and is now very popular at the West. But of varieties no one can be confident. We notice in the discussions of the best agriculturists of England and Scotland, that they have doubts of the proper names of some of the best varieties. In a certain rich part of Illinois we know an unusually popular wheat, sold at high prices for seed, under the name of mud club, as being much better than the ordinary club. We happened to learn that it was nothing but common club wheat, sown on rather low ground, where it happened to grow very fair that season. It is only occasionally that such tricks are successfully played, but it is true that many varieties are the result of extra good or chance cultivation. The celebrated Chidham wheat, named from a place where it was successfully grown, was also called Hedge wheat, because a head found growing in a hedge was supposed to be the origin of it. Now it is not probable that that head was the only one of the kind in all the country, and it would by no means be identified in all localities. And as all wheat is the result of the cultivation of the AEgilops or some other wild grass, it shows us that varieties may be produced by cultivation. Great importance is therefore to be attached to frequently changing seed; especially bringing it from colder into warmer climates, and changing from one soil to a very different one. Thus seed raised on hard hills is highly valuable for alluvial soils. Thus the efforts to introduce so many new varieties from the dominions of the sultan, will prove of vast advantage to wheat culture in America. So let us be constantly importing the best from Great Britain and the British provinces and from California, and all the extremes of our own country. Such wheats are worth more for seeds than others, but any extravagant prices for seed wheat, under the idea of almost miraculous powers of production, are unwise.

It would be useless to go into a more extended notice of varieties, as some do best in certain localities, and all are rapidly spread through the dealers, and by the influence of agricultural periodicals. The best time to harvest wheat is when the straw below the head has turned yellow, and the grain is so far out of the milk as not to be easily mashed between the fingers, but before it has become hard. The grain is heavier and of better quality, and wastes far less in harvesting, than when allowed to ripen and dry standing in the field. Drying in good shocks is far better than drying before cut. Some have gone to extremes in early cutting, and harvested their wheat while in the milk, and suffered serious loss in its weight. We sometimes have rain in harvest, which causes all the wheat in a large region to grow before getting it dry enough to house. A remedy is, to go right on and cut your wheat, rain or shine, and put it up, without binding, in large cocks of from three to five bushels, packing together as close as possible, however wet, and cover the centre with a bundle of wheat to shed rain. It will dry out without growing; and, although the straw will be somewhat mouldy, the grain will be perfectly good, even when it has been so wet as to make the top of the shocks perfectly green with grown wheat. This process is of great value in a wet season. To prepare seed-wheat for sowing, soak it for a day or two in very strong brine; skim off all that rises; remove the grain from the brine, and while wet, sift on fresh-slaked lime until it slightly coats the whole grain; put on a little plaster to render the sowing more pleasant to the hand. Wheat will lie in this condition for days without injury. So prepared, it will exhibit a marked superiority in the growing crop.

Enemies of wheat are numerous, and various remedies are proposed. The wire-worm is sometimes very destructive. Wheat planted with a drill, with a heavy cast-iron roller behind each tooth, will not suffer by them; they will only work in the mellow ground between the drills. Drive over a field of wheat exposed to injury from wire-worms with a common ox-cart, and you will notice a marked difference; wherever the cartwheel passed over, the wheat remains unharmed by the wire-worm, while on either side much of it will be destroyed. But the wheat-midge, or weevil, is the great enemy, rendering the cultivation of wheat in some localities useless. One precaution is, to get the wheat forward so early and fast as to have it out of the way before they destroy it. This is often done by early sowing, high fertilization, and warm land. Sometimes wheat is too late for them, and then a good crop is secured. But this can only be relied on in cool, moist climates. Our hot, dry seasons are not suitable for wheat, late enough to be out of the way of the weevil. The great remedy for this enemy is his destruction. Burning the chaff at thrashing is useless for this purpose. The worm has entered the ground to remain for the winter, before the wheat is harvested. We know of but one way to kill the weevil, and that is, by insect lamps or torches in the field in the evening. The flies are inactive until evening, when, from dusk till eight or nine o'clock, they deposite their eggs in the blossoms and chaff of the wheat. Now, it is ascertained that this fly, like many other insects, will fly several rods to a light. Twenty-five torches at equal distances, in a ten-acre lot of wheat, would be near enough. Nearly all the flies in a field would fly to them in half an hour. These need be lighted only on pleasant evenings, as weevils will not work in wind or rain, and they only commit their depredations during the time the wheat is in blossom. Let twenty-five racks, or holders of some kind, be put up on ten acres of wheat, and have pitch-pine put in them and ignited, after the manner of night fishermen, and let this be done a few nights, during the blossoming season of wheat, and the fly will be destroyed and the crop saved, in the worst weevil-season that ever occurred. In the absence of pitch-pine, some other light can be devised—as, balls of rags dipped in turpentine and sulphur, as in a torchlight procession. Something can be devised that will burn brilliantly for an hour: this will not cost fifty cents an acre, during the weevil-season, and will prove almost a perfect remedy.

Rust in wheat is only avoided by getting your wheat to maturity before the rust strikes it. If it is nearly mature, and the rust strikes it, cut it and shock it up in the shortest time possible.

Wheat is a great subject in agriculture, on which many volumes have been written, and on which it is customary to write long articles. We trust the recapitulation of what we have said, in the following brief rules, is more valuable to the practical wheat-culturist than any large volume could be. Analyses of wheat-bran and straw, the philosophy of rust in wheat, the length, size, and color of the weevil, and the great diversity of opinions on wheat-growing, are not what practical men regard. The one question is, How can I grow wheat surely and profitably? The following rules answer this important question, rendering failure unnecessary:—

1. Make your soil very rich, putting the manure as deep as convenient. Apply lime, wood-ashes, and potash, the latter dissolved and applied to your coarse manure.

2. Under-drain thoroughly all wheat-land, except that on a dry subsoil.

3. Plow deep and subsoil all wheat-lands, except those on a gravelly or sandy bottom.

4. Plant wheat from two to six inches deep, according to the texture of the soil—deepest on the lightest soil. Roll after sowing, and roll light lands with a heavy roller.

5. Always get your wheat in early, and in a finely-pulverized soil, and be careful not to seed too heavy.

6. Sow seed that has not long been grown in your vicinity, and steep it two days, before sowing, in a brine, with as much salt as the water will dissolve, sifting fine, fresh lime over the wet grain, after removing it from the brine; put on, also, plaster-of-Paris or wood-ashes.

7. Harvest wheat before the straw becomes dry, or the grain hard.

8. Destroy weevil by lights in the field, on the pleasant evenings during the blossoming season.

WHORTLEBERRY.

Of this excellent berry there are several varieties, distinguished by the height of the bushes, or by the color of the fruit. The main divisions are, the Swamp and the Plain Whortleberries. The swamp variety has been transferred to gardens, in Michigan, and has proved valuable. The shrub attains considerable size, producing fruit more surely and regularly than in its wild state, and of an improved quality and larger size. It may be grown as well as currants all over the country. The small plain variety is usually found on sandy plains, and is a great bearer of fruit everywhere highly prized. It may be transferred to all our gardens, by making a bed of sand six inches or a foot deep, or it may be so acclimated as to grow well in any good garden soil, and become a universal luxury. We recommend it as a standing fruit for all gardens.

WILLOW.

The cultivation of willow for osier-work is pursued to some extent in this country, and might be greatly increased. At one fourth the present prices, it would pay as well as any other branch of agriculture. Some varieties will grow on land of little value for other purposes, and all on any good land. Willows will take care of themselves after the second or third year. The more usual method of planting is of slips, ten inches long, set in mellow ground about eight inches deep, in straight rows four or six feet apart, and one foot apart in the rows—except the green willow, which is put two feet apart in the row. They should be kept clear of weeds for the first two years. The osiers are to be cut when the bark will peel somewhat easily, and may be put through a machine for the purpose, invented by J. Colby, of Jonesville, Vermont, at the rate of two tons per day, removing all the bark, without injuring the wood. Different opinions prevail respecting the varieties most profitable for cultivation; they vary in different localities. The manufacture of willow-ware will increase with the increased production of osiers, and the consequent reduction of their cost.

WINE.

We have elsewhere stated that our only hope for pure wine in this country is in domestic manufacture. We shall here give two recipes that will insure better articles than are now offered under the name of imported wines.

Currant Wine.—This, as usually manufactured, is a mere cordial, rather than a wine. The following recipe gathered from the Working Farmer, is all that need be desired, on making wine from currants, cherries, and most berries, that are not too sweet. Take clean ripe currants and pass them between two rollers, or in some other way, crush them, put them in a strong bag, and under a screw or weight, and the juice will be easily expressed. To each quart of this juice, add three pounds of double-refined loaf sugar (no other sugar will do) and water enough to make a gallon. Or in a cask that will hold thirty gallons, put thirty quarts of the juice, ninety pounds of the sugar, and fill to the bung with water. Put in the bung and roll the cask until you can not hear the sugar moving on the inside of the barrel, when it will all be dissolved. Next day roll it again, and place it in a cellar of very even temperature, and leave the bung out to allow fermentation. This will commence in two or three days and continue for a few weeks. Its presence may be known by a slight noise like that of soda water, which may be heard by placing the ear at the bung hole. When this ceases drive the bung tight and let it stand six months, when the wine may be drawn off and bottled, and will be perfectly clear and not too sweet. No alcohol should be added. Putting in brandies or other spirituous liquors prevents the fermentation of wine, leaving the mixture a mere cordial. The use of any but double-refined sugar is always injurious, and yet many will persist in using it, because it is cheaper. The reason for discarding, for wine-making, all but double-refined sugar, may be easily understood. Common sugar contains one half of one per cent. of gum, that becomes fetid on being dissolved in water. The quantity of this gum in the sugar, for a barrel of wine, is considerable—enough to give a bad flavor to the wine. This is avoided by using double-refined sugar, which contains no gum. This recipe is equally good for cherry wine.

The following recipe for making Elderberry Wine, produces an article that the best judges in New York and elsewhere have pronounced equal to any imported wine. Its excellence has made quite a market for elderberries in New York. These berries are so easily grown, and the wine so excellent, that their growth will be encouraged throughout the country. It is not only an exceedingly palatable wine, but is better for the sick, than any other known.

To every quart of the berries, put a quart of water and boil for half an hour. Bruise them from the skin and strain, and to every gallon of the juice add three pounds of double-refined sugar and one quarter of an ounce of cream of tartar and boil for half an hour. Take a clean cask and put in it one pound of raisins to every three gallons of the wine, and a slice of toasted bread covered over with good yeast. When the wine has become quite cool, put it into the cask, and place it in a room of even temperature to ferment. When the fermentation has fully ceased, put the bung in tight. No brandy or alcohol of any kind will be necessary. Any one following this recipe exactly, will be surprised at the excellence of the wine that will be the result.

Of Grape Wines, there are several varieties, whose peculiarities are determined mainly by the process of manufacturing. A full treatment of the subject would require a volume. The following brief directions will insure success in making the most desirable grape wines:

1. Let the grapes become thoroughly ripe before gathering, to increase their saccharine qualities and make a stronger wine. All fruits make much better wine for being fully ripe. Cut the bunches with a sharp knife and move carefully to avoid bruising. Spread them in a dry shade to evaporate excessive moisture.

2. Assort the grapes before using, removing all decayed, green, or broken ones, using only perfect berries.

3. Mash the grapes with a beater in a tub, or by passing them through a cider-mill. "Treading the wine vat" was the ancient method of mashing the grapes, not now practised except in some parts of Europe.

4. To make light wines put them at once into press, as apple pomace in a cider-press.

5. To make higher-colored wines let the pomace stand from four to twenty-four hours before pressing. They will be dark in proportion to the length of time the pomace stands.

6. To make wines resembling the Austere wines of France and Spain, let the pomace stand until the first fermentation is over, called "fermenting in the skin."

7. The "must" or grape-juice is to be put into casks, the larger the better, but only one pressing should be put into one cask. Put in a cellar of even temperature, not lower than fifty nor higher than sixty-five degrees of Fahrenheit, and where there is plenty of air.

Prepare the cask by burning in it a strip of paper or muslin, dipped in melted sulphur, and suspended by a wire across the bung-hole. Fermentation commences very soon and will be completed within a few days or weeks according to the temperature. Its completion is marked by the cessation of the escape of gas. No sugar, brandy, or any other substance, should be added to the grape-juice to make good wine. They are all adulterations. The wine having settled after this fermentation, may be racked off into clean casks, prepared as before. A second fermentation will take place in the spring. It should not be bottled until after this second fermentation, as its expansion will break the glass. While in the casks they should always be kept full, being occasionally filled from a small cask, kept for the purpose. When this fermentation ceases, bottle and cork tight, and lay the bottles on their sides, in a cool cellar. The wine will improve with age.

Sometimes it remains on the lees without racking and is drawn off and bottled. Frequently the wine does not become wholly clear and needs fining. Various substances are used for this purpose, as fish-glue, charcoal, starch, rice, milk, &c. The best of these substances is charcoal, or the white of eggs and milk. Add by degrees according to the foulness of the wine. An ounce of charcoal to a barrel of wine is an ordinary quantity; or a pint of milk with the white of four eggs—more or less according to the state of the wine.

Rhine Wine of Germany may be made as follows:—

Take good Catawba or Isabella grapes, and pound or grind them so as to crush every seed and leave them in that state for twenty-four hours. Fumigate the cask by burning strips of muslin dipped in sulphur as in the preceding recipe. Strain or press out the juice into the cask filling it and keeping it entirely full, that impurities may run out of the bung, during fermentation. In the spring prepare another cask in the same way and rack it off into that. When a year old bottle it and it is fit for use.

Sweeter wines than any of the above are made by adding sugar to the must before fermentation. It should be double-refined sugar, and still it is an adulteration.

WOODLANDS.

One of the greatest errors of American farmers is their neglect to cultivate groves of trees for woodlands, in all suitable places. Our primeval forests have been wantonly destroyed, and the country is not yet old enough to feel the full force of neglecting to replenish them, by new groves, in suitable localities. On the points of hills, rough stony places, sides of steep hills, ravines that can not be cultivated, and by the side of all the highways of the land, trees should be cultivated: in some places fruit-trees, but in most places forest-trees. The advantages would be manifold; they would afford shade for cattle, groves for birds, which would destroy the worms; they would break off the cold winds from crops, cattle, fruit-orchards, and dwellings; would greatly enrich the soil by their annual foliage, afford abundance of fuel at the cheapest rates, give much good timber, provide for fine maple-sugar, and be the greatest ornaments of the rural districts. Only think of the comfort and beauty of fifty miles square, in which not a street could be found which had not trees on each side, not more than twelve feet apart. When such trees should become twenty years old, the pedestrian or the carriage could move all day in the shade, listening to the music of the birds, and inhaling the aroma of the foliage or flowers. To every owner or occupant of the soil we say, plant trees.

POULTRY.

Fattening and preparing poultry for the market are important items in rural economy. Plenty of sweet food and pure water given at regular times, and the fowls not allowed to wander, are the requisites of successful fattening. The best feed for fattening fowls is oat-meal. Next to this is corn-meal. Three things are essential in food for fattening animals, flesh-forming, fat-forming, and heat-producing substances. Of all the grains ordinarily fed, oat-meal contains these in the best proportions, and next to this comes yellow Indian corn meal. Fat is good, but must be given in a hard form as in mutton or beef suet. Rice boiled in sweet milk, fed for a day or two before killing fowls is said to render the flesh of a white delicate color.

At least one third of the value of poultry in the market depends upon properly preparing and transporting it.

1. Do not feed fowls at all for twenty-four hours before killing them.

2. Kill by cutting the jugular vein with a sharp pen-knife, just under the sides of the head, and hang them up to bleed.

3. Pick carefully and very clean, without tearing the skin, and without scalding. Singe slightly if need be. Dip in hot water for three or four seconds and in cold water half a minute.

4. Do not open the breast at all, but remove the entrails from the hind opening, leaving the gizzard in its place. Put no water in but wipe out the blood with a dry cloth. Leaving the entrails in is injurious, tending to sour the meat and taint it with their flavor.

5. Do not allow your poultry to freeze by any means. For transporting to a distant market, pack in shallow boxes never containing over three hundred pounds each and in clean straw without chaff or dust, and in such a manner that no two fowls will touch each other.

6. Geese and ducks look better with the heads cut off. But all fowls having their heads removed must have the skin drawn down and tightly tied over the end of the neck bone. This will preserve them well and give a good appearance.

To preserve fowls for a long time in a perfectly sweet condition for family use, fill them half full or more with pulverized charcoal, which will act as an absorbent and prevent every particle of taint.



AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS.

The following list of Agricultural Periodicals embraces all that have come to our knowledge. In a subsequent edition we shall endeavor to render the list more complete, and give the special design of each, with the frequency of publication, form, price, editor's and publisher's names, etc.

NAME OF PAPER. PLACE OF PUBLICATION.

American Farmers' Magazine New York City. American Farmer Baltimore, Md. Alabama Planter Mobile, Ala. American Agriculturist New York City. Canadian Agriculturist Toronto, C. W. Cultivator Albany, N. Y. Cotton Planter Montgomery, Ala. Cultivator Columbus, Ohio. Cultivator Boston, Mass. California Farmer San Francisco, Cal. Country Gentleman Albany, N. Y. Farmer and Planter Pendleton, S. C. Granite Farmer Manchester, N. H. Genesee Farmer Rochester, N. Y. Horticulturist Albany, N. Y. Homestead Hartford, Ct. Journal of Agriculture Chicago, Ill. Maine Farmer Augusta, Me. Michigan Farmer Detroit, Mich. Magazine of Horticulture Boston, Mass. Massachusetts Ploughman Boston, Mass. New England Farmer Boston, Mass. New Jersey Farmer Trenton, N. J. North Carolina Planter Raleigh, N. C. Ohio Valley Farmer Cincinnati, Ohio. Ohio Farmer Cleveland, Ohio. Prairie Farmer Chicago, Ill. Rural New Yorker Rochester, N. Y. Rural Southerner Ellicott's Mills, Md. Rural American Utica, N. Y. Southern Planter Richmond, Va. Southern Cultivator Augusta, Ga. Southern Homestead Nashville, Tenn. Valley Farmer St. Louis, Mo. Vermont Stock Journal Middlebury, Vt. Wisconsin Farmer Madison, Wisc. Working Farmer New York City.



INDEX.

Acclimation; 9 Agricultural Periodicals, List of; 440 Almonds; 10 Animals, Rules for feeding; 178 Apples; 12 Apple-Tree Wood, Analysis of; 14 Apple-Worm, Remedy for; 22 Apricot; 50 Artichoke; 52 Ashes; 53 Asparagus; 54 Atmosphere, Important Auxiliary in the Growth of Plants; 278

Balm; 56 Barberry; 56 Barley; 57 Barns; 59 Bean, Coffee; 130 Beans; 60 Bees and Beehives; 64 Beets; 77 Bene Plant; 81 Berries, Preservation of; 367 Birds useful in destroying Insects; 82 Blackberry; 83 Black Currant; 165 Black Raspberry; 85 Board Fences; 179 Bones, their Value as a Fertilizer; 85, 275 Borden's Milk Condensation; 369 Borecale; 86 Borer, Preventive and Remedy for; 23 Breck's Book of Flowers; 195 Breeding in, Deteriorating Effects of; 142 Broccoli; 86 Broom-Corn; 87 Brussels Sprouts; 89 Buckthorn; 89 Buckwheat; 90 Budding; 91 Buffalo Berry; 390 Bulbous Flowering Roots; 195 Bushes, Eradication of Noxious; 94 Butter; 95 Butter Dairy; 167 Butter-Making, Essential Rules for; 100 Butternuts; 102

Cabbage; 102 Calves; 108 Canker-Worm, Remedy for; 25 Cans; 111, 367 Carrots; 112 Caterpillars, how destroyed; 24 Cauliflower; 113 Celery; 114 Charcoal; 125 Cheese; 115 Cheese-House; 167 Cherries; 118 Chestnuts; 125 Chickens; 197-199 Churn, Best Form of; 98 Churning, Brief Rules for; 97 Cider; 126 Citron; 127 Cleft-Grafting; 210 Clover; 128, 235 Coffee Bean; 130 Colts, Milk from the Dairy Excellent food for; 248 Conical Training; 420 Corn; 131 Corn, Broom; 87 Cottage, Economical Plan of a Laborer's; 257 Cotton; 134 Cotton Plant, Analysis of; 139 Country Residence, Plan of; 255 Cows; 140 Cranberry; 156 Cucumber; 161 Curculio on Plum-Trees, Unfailing Remedy for; 355 Currants; 164 Currants, Black; 165 Currant Wine, Recipe for making; 433

Dairy; 167 Declension of Fruits, Cause of and Remedy for; 168 Dill; 169 Downing's List of Gooseberries; 208 Drains; 170 Ducks; 172 Dwarfing Fruit-Trees, Process of; 173

Early Fruits and Vegetables, how produced; 174 Eastern States, Varieties of Apples adapted to; 20 Eastwood's Work on Cranberry Culture; 156 Egg Plant; 175 Eggs, how to test and preserve them; 176 Elderberry; 176 Elderberry Wine, a Recipe for Making; 434 Endive; 177

Fan Training of Trees; 417 Farm-Buildings; 251 Feeding Animals; 178 Fences; 179 Fennel; 181 Figs; 181 Fish; 184 Flax; 192 Flowering Shrubs; 195 Flowers; 193 Foot-Paths, Circular, how laid out; 254 Foot-Rot in Animals, Remedy for; 388 Forest Trees; 437 Fowls; 196 Fruit; 200 Fruits, Declension of; 168 Fruits, Early, how produced; 174 Fruits, Preservation of; 367 Fruits, Manner of Gathering; 205 Fruit-Trees, Location of; 269 Fruit-Trees, how to induce Productiveness in; 201

Garden; 202 Garlic; 205 Gathering Fruits; 205 Geese; 205 Gooseberry; 206 Grafting; 208 Grafting-Wax, how made; 211 Grapes; 212 Grape-Wine, Method of making; 435 Grasses; 227 Greenhouse; 231 Guano, Care requisite in the Application of; 277 Guenon's Treatise on the Milking Qualities of Cows; 142 Gypsum; 232, 247

Hams, Preservation of; 370 Harrowing; 233 Hay, making and preserving of; 234 Hedge; 236 Hedge-Pruning; 238 Hedges, Shrubs suitable for the Formation of; 57, 89, 236-238 Hemp; 239 Hens; 196 Herbaceous Flowers; 196 Hive, Proper Construction of; 74 Hoeing; 241 Hogs; 409 Hogstye, Plan of; 252 Hogstye, Manure from the; 274 Hops; 242 Hops, Method of curing; 244 Horizontal Training; 419 Horse; 246 Horseradish; 249 Hotbeds; 249 Hothouse; 231 Houses; 251 Hybrids; 259

Inarching; 259 Insects; 260 Iron-Filings, Beneficial to Pear-Trees 261 Irrigation; 261 Italian Farmhouse, Plan of; 228

Kale; 86

Labels for Fruit-Trees; 202 Laborer's Cottage, Plan of; 257 Landscape Gardens; 263 Lawton Blackberry; 84 Layering; 264 Laying in Trees; 265 Leeks; 266 Lemon; 266 Lettuce; 267 Licorice; 268 Lime, Value of as a Fertilizer; 268 Limes; 269 Liquid Manures, Value of; 273 Location; 269 Locust-Trees; 270

Manures; 271 Maple-Trees, Best Method of tapping; 404 Marjorum; 283 Marl; 282 Melons; 283 Mice, Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; 373 Milk, Condensation and Preservation of; 369 Milking Qualities of Cows, Infallible Marks of; 142-155 Milking, Rules for; 96, 155 Milk, Value of for Horses; 248 Millet; 287 Mint; 288 Moisture, Retention of, leading Benefit of Manure; 277 Mulberry; 289 Mulching; 289 Mushrooms; 290 Muskmelons; 283 Mustard; 292

Nasturtium; 293 Nectarine; 293 New Fruits; 295 New Rochelle (Lawton) Blackberry 84 Northern States, Varieties of Apples suitable for; 30 Nursery; 296 Nuts; 300

Oaks; 301 Oats; 303 Okra; 304 Olives; 304 Onions; 305 Oranges; 308 Orchards; 309 Orchards, Favorable Locations for; 269 Osage Orange; 236 Oxen; 311

Parsley; 312 Parsnips; 313 Pastures; 315 Peas; 316 Peach;; 319 Pear;; 332 Pear-Orchard, Plan of; 337 Pennyroyal Mint; 288 Peppers; 347 Peppergrass; 348 Peppermint; 288 Picket Fences; 180 Piggery, Plan of; 252 Plaster of Paris; 232 Plowing; 348 Plum; 351 Plum, Analysis of; 353 Pomegranate; 359 Potato; 360 Potato-Rot, Cause of and Remedy for; 364 Potato, Sweet; 406 Poultry; 438 Preserving Fruits and Vegetables 367 Protection of Trees for Transplanting 265, 300 Prunes, Domestic; 356 Pruning and Training; 414 Pruning Peach-Trees; 323 Pumpkin; 371

Quince; 372

Rabbits, a Protection of Fruit-Trees from in Winter; 373 Radish; 374 Rail Fences; 180 Raspberry; 375 Raspberry, Black; 85 Rennet, how prepared; 115 Rhubarb; 377 Rice; 378 Rocks, Methods of removing; 379 Rollers; 379 Root Crops; 380 Root-Pruning, Method of; 353

Saffron; 381 Sage; 381 Salsify or Vegetable Oyster; 382 Scraping Land; 382 Seeds; 383 Shade-Trees; 437 Sheep; 384 Sheep-Manure, Value of; 389 Shepherdia, or Buffalo Berry; 390 Skippers in Cheese; 117 Soils; 391 Sorgho, or Chinese Sugarcane; 405 South, Apples adapted to the Climate of the; 31 Spearmint; 288 Spinage or Spinach; 394 Squash; 395 Stable; 59 Stilton Cheese, Method of Making; 117 Strawberry; 396 Subsoil Plowing; 349 Succory; 177 Sugar; 403 Summer-House, Plan of; 256 Summer Savory; 406 Sunflower; 406 Sweet Potato; 406 Swine; 409

Tobacco; 411 Tomato; 412 Tongue-Grafting; 211 Tools; 414 Training and Pruning; 414 Transplanting; 421 Turnip; 422

Van Mon's Theory of the Production of New Fruits; 295 Vegetables, Early; 174 Vegetable Oyster; 382 Vineyards; 213, 216

Wagon-House; 251 Walls, Stone; 179 Watering Gardens in Dry Seasons, Benefits of; 261 Watermelons; 283 Wax-Moth, Protection against; 73 Weevil, or Wheat Midge, Remedy for; 430 Western States, Varieties of Apples suitable for the; 30, 48 Wheat; 423 White Blackberry; 84 Whortleberry; 432 Willow; 432 Wine; 433 Wines, Adulteration of Imported; 212 Winter Lettuce; 177 Wood-Ashes, Value of as a Manure; 53 Woodlands; 437 Woolly Aphis, Remedy for; 23

* * * * *

AGRICULTURAL BOOKS,

PUBLISHED BY

A. O. MOORE,

(LATE C. M. SAXTON & CO.)

140 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK,

And sent by mail to any part of the United States on receipt of the price.

1 American Farmers' Encyclopedia. A work of great value $4 00 2 Dadd's Modern Horse Doctor 1 00 3 Dadd's Anatomy and Physiology of the Horse 2 00 4 Do. do. do. do. colored plates 4 00 5 Dadd's American Cattle Doctor 1 00 6 The Stable Book 1 00 7 The Horse's Foot, and how to keep it sound; paper 25 cts., cloth 50 8 Bridgeman's Gardener's Assistant 1 50 9 Bridgeman's Florist's Guide, half cloth 50 cts., cloth 60 10 Bridgeman's Gardener's Instructor, half cloth 50 cts., cloth 60 11 Bridgeman's Fruit Cultivator, half cloth 50 cts., cloth 60 12 Field's Hand-Book of Pear Culture 60 13 Cole's American Fruit Book 50 14 Cole's American Veterinarian 50 15 Buist's American Flower Garden Directory 1 25 16 Buist's Family Kitchen Gardener 75 17 Browne's American Bird Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth 50 18 Dana's Muck Manual, cloth 1 00 19 Dana's Prize Essay on Manures 25 20 Stockhardt's Chemical Field Lectures 1 00 21 Norton's Scientific and Practical Agriculture 60 22 Johnston's Catechism of Agricultural Chemistry (for Schools) 25 23 Johnston's Elements of Agricultural Chemistry and Geology 1 00 24 Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry and Geology 1 25 25 Downing's Landscape Gardening 3 50 26 Fessenden's Complete Farmer and Gardener 1 25 27 Fessenden's American Kitchen Gardener 50 28 Nash's Progressive Farmer 60 29 Richardson's Domestic Fowls 25 30 Richardson on the Horse 25 31 Richardson on the Hog 25 32 Richardson on the Pests of the Farm 25 33 Richardson on the Hive and Honey Bee 25 34 Milburn and Stevens on the Cow and Dairy Husbandry 25 35 Skinner's Elements of Agriculture 25 36 Topham's Chemistry Made Easy 25 37 Breck's Book of Flowers 1 00 38 Leuchar's Hot Houses and Green Houses 1 25 39 Chinese Sugar Cane and Sugar Making 25 40 Turner's Cotton Planter's Manual 1 00 41 Allen on the Culture of the Grape 1 00 42 Allen's Diseases of Domestic Animals 75 43 Allen's American Farm Book 1 00 44 Allen's Rural Architecture 1 25 45 Pardee on the Strawberry 60 46 Peddar's Farmer's Land Measurer 50 47 Phelp's Bee-keeper's Chart 25 48 Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows; paper 38 cts., cloth 60 49 Domestic and Ornamental Poultry, plain $1.00, colored plates 2 00 50 Randall's Sheep Husbandry 1 25 51 Youatt, Randall, and Skinner's Shepherd's Own Book 2 00 52 Youatt on the Breed and Management of Sheep 75 53 Youatt on the Horse 1 25 54 Youatt, Martin, and Stevens, on Cattle 1 25 55 Youatt and Martin on the Hog 75 56 Barry's Fruit Garden 1 25 57 Munn's Practical Land Drainer 50 58 Stephens' Book of the Farm, complete, 450 illustrations 4 00 59 The American Architect, or Plans for Country Dwellings 6 00 60 Thaer, Shaw, and Johnson's Principles of Agriculture 2 00 61 Smith's Landscape Gardening, Parks, and Pleasure Grounds 1 25 62 Weeks on the Bee: paper 25 cts., cloth 50 63 Wilson on Cultivation of Flax 25 64 Miner's American Bee-keeper's Manual 1 00 65 Quinby's Mysteries of Bee-keeping 1 00 66 Cottage and Farm Bee-keeper 50 67 Elliott's American Fruit Grower's Guide 1 25 68 The American Florist's Guide 75 69 Hyde on the Chinese Sugar Cane, paper 25 70 Every Lady her own Flower Gardener; paper 25 cts., cloth 50 71 The Rose Culturist; paper 25 cts., cloth 50 72 History of Morgan Horses 1 00 73 Moore's Rural Hand Books, 4 vols. 5 00 74 Rabbit Fancier; paper 25 cts., cloth 50 75 Reemelin's Vine-Dresser's Manual 50 76 Neill's Fruit, Flower, and Vegetable Gardener's Companion 1 00 77 Browne's American Poultry Yard 1 00 78 Browne's Field Book of Manures 1 25 79 Hooper's Dog and Gun 50 80 Skilful Housewife; paper 25 cts., cloth 50 81 Chorlton's Grape Grower's Guide 60 82 Sorgho and Imphee, Sugar Plants 1 00 83 White's Gardening for the South 1 25 84 Eastwood on the Cranberry 50 85 Persoz on the Culture of the Vine 25 86 Boussingault's Rural Economy 1 25 87 Thompson's Food of Animals; paper 50 cts., cloth 75 88 Richardson on Dogs; paper 25 cts., cloth 50 89 Liebig's Familiar Letters to Farmers 50 90 Cobbett's American Gardener 50 91 Waring's Elements of Agriculture 75 92 Blake's Farmer at Home 1 25 93 Rural Essays 3 00 94 Fish Culture 1 00 95 Flint on Grasses 1 25 96 Warder's Hedges and Evergreens 1 00

THE END