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~I FARM AND F IRESIDE JOURNAL: ~ (~- \COOPERSTOWN,. N.Y., SATURDAY, JANUARY s; 1887. .; ventilation and Femperature. The,.two most important items in keep- | ples. For the first four weeks that n: the.celar, and while the tem- - t \during the day and cool it night, I open the cellar . in the: evening \Afd:close up\ in the morning, and when © Aho firss cold-snap. comes I leave the cellar open both dayand night, closing up again Notes of Sci-ave] in Florida. Y Paper No. 47. Written emiéssly for Tux Orszao ~- my m Baken ° i 'We closed our Inst with orafige picking. Fanien, Most-Erowers linvo-a- building-an purpose) for storing and packing. The oranges fre picked from the trees in baskets and are carried -or carted to the: fruit, house for packing and. pfepnfipé‘ for market... © They sre sized by putting: them in V shaped troughs with several holes or open- | £ ings through then; through : which the or- stand the foreman at the packing house, but the gibberish of all the other employes we-met, was as unintelligible to us as would have been that of a Seminole In: dian, who formerly roumed over the same - _Pine apples. were raised. under a kind of shelter 'or shade, probably to give some protection both from, 'the heat and cold. Posts were set in the ground ton or twelve feet apart and about twelve feet above the ound. Upon these posts were. spiked diit one foot apart small poles about the -| the-grape fruit. Tt-grows like the shaddock. we saw in only one other place, and tlint was the blood. orange. * Its pulp wasneatly as red as blood. It was very pleasant taste and very Juicy. fou e e u We also.saw and tasted a frait called 'on medium: sized trees, is of a pale yellow color out side, white pulp and grows' from four to six {nches in diameter. 'The citron, the orange,the grape fruit; all seemto'ripen .at about the same time on the trees, while the lemon, will be in alt_ stages of growth upon the tree at the same time. very fine. We hero saw'oleander trees, century.plants, lantana, pomegrante, Ara- bist: Jessamine, and. many other new and peculiar fruits and shrubs. _ . Among the flowering shrubs here is the t [Bpanist bayonet, 8, tree with ® -long; slim; goods and to-take-agricultural- sharp ledf, from a foot to a foot and 'half in length, sticking out from the trunk and limbs in every direction. It grows tenor twelve feet high, and has a \blossom large, cup shaped, of a 'pure:waxy white and is extremely beautiful. R * hen me -westher-rurgs-warn.-During~ treme cold \weather the cellar must be ofigned on the opposite-side from the wind, , and can be allowed to remain open ' until ,. the temperature in the collar goes to 25°, ~ * when it should be closed until it runs up ' . »above the freezing_point, which owing to latent heat in the apples it will quickly do. ''This process of ventilation can be repeated until you have your apple cellar about 82 °, . . when it should be closed as tightly as pos- sible; and not opened oftener thin necessary. 'To keep apples then, we should open the cellar when the- temperature outside is lower than in the cellar, and close it when the temporature outsides warmer than in the collar, - Keop the cellar as dark as possible at all times. | Burn sulphur in- the cellar frequently, say once or twice each week for several weeks after apples are : placed in cellar, | The nearer air tight cel- oq ~ lors are, the better fruit will keep. I find it much easier, snd 'many times more profitable to regulate the temperature of 'my apple cellar than to sort out rotten % apples. My apples are nover sorted until I | - get ready to market them, (05 the reason that apples will decay much faster after being disturbed, and it does not pay to handle twice. - If they aro not keeping,, sell them at once. ___ ___ -at- Granular Butter. 'The best butter makers of the day stop \the churn when the butter is in the {gran} ular\ form, £. e., io small granules or grains, . none of them larger than a grain of whent. In this stage the buttermilk is drawn out of the churn, and cold water turned in to wash the buttermilk out of the butter. 'This is then drawn off and the process re- peated until the water comes away clear. 'A brine is then made aud poured into the --- - <chrump, and the-dash is turned gnough to bring the brine in contact with the small particles of butter. | Thebutteris then re- moved from the churn and only worked enough to remove the surplus brine and shape the butter into rolls or prints for packing. | In this way the grain is not in- jured, and the good qualities of the butter are préserved in all their integrity, constl- tuting what is known as \gilt-edged\ but- ter. - Of courso all steps in the process are taken with due regard to what is required to secure the desired product, proper tem- pérature; proper, cleanliness, and proper deliberation and accuracy in everything.-[ National Stockman. _- z- - Pigs in Winter. Many farmers have either killed or sold the heavy hogs by this time, and theinplace is now supplied by younger members of the pork family. | It is important that these pigs be cared for during cold weather in such a way that they will not suffer» from the severity of the cold, nor be stunted in wth for the want of proper nourish ment. _ 'The little pigs should always have a good warm place to aleep, and plenty of good feed, so that they will grow \rapidly from the start, until ready for market. ~~~Pork is low now, and it must be made; cheap, and to do this it will not do to let there be a standstill In growth. At no time docs it pay to feed out grain, unless there is a sufficient amount of growth made'to pay for it, and this can not bh re- 2 Hired with at-& standstill. Ali ® feed to an animal which does not grow in proportion, is lost, and .in these hard times farmers cannot afford to waste any gtsin whatever, but to yield a profit it must be seen that each animal gives increased weight, in. proportion to the amount of grain expended upon it. From this the .. importance Isgeen of making byery young - animal.grow from the start, and most es- ly is this watning needed in the man- { agement-of the pigsin winter. time.-{Stock: Mamet—says. of your % s Eno to brakea anges of the same size fall into boxes below. In that way those of uniform size are kept together, They are then-taken and one atm time wrapped in tissue paper, and boxed for shipment. . Sometimes they are again sorted separating those of uniform color, as well as size, and boxing separate. 'The pickers.use step ladders for those too 'high to reach from the ground, and longer ladders for those still higher on the trees. The work when well done is accomplished with care. The oranges were priced at from oneto one and half cents in value while on the trees, and the fruit of many groves are sold in that way, the purchaser picking and packing the sume, oranges direct from the trees, one cares little for those which are picked. sud mar- keted. before ripe, as many sold are. Or- ange picking is.quite a business in orange raising localities, but it is a fruit which will bear to hang upon the trees for a long time before harvesting, if necessary. Orange grovesare usually set with from 65 to 75 trees perncre. . Bomewe havescen with 100, but 65 is probably nearer right. When set four or five years if well cared for, the crop will pay the care. | At eight or nine years they nre expected to average about 1,000 per tree and more as they be- come older. Large fortunes have been made (and probably lost too) in the orange business. - Itis not a business which will prosper. without care and labor, but well directed toil in it is pretty: sure 'to give its reward in time. | They in most places need fertilizing, although we saw many fine groves which we were assured were raised entirely without. Wealso saw Anewild orange trees loaded with fruit growing vigorously nmong the tall pines, and also saw liberally used in some places as fertil- fzer in the orange orchards. One would think after traveling as far as we did and seeing so many orange groves of all sizes nud ages, that the business would he soon overdone, but upon noting the incrense in their use, and the compara- tively small area from which our country must be supplied If it relies upon its own productions, the matter changes Its aspect entirely. If not destroyed by frosts or other causes it is destined to become an imimense business. - No oranges yetknown are superior to those grown in Florida when from the right stock. Deland has conveniences for the accom- modation of a large number of guests and it is n delightful place for a winter nbode. 'Those who reside here claim it to be equal- ly so for summer. The thermoreter sel- dom rising above 90© in the shade, while n breeze tempers the beat of the mid-day season, and all nights are said to be cool enough for sleep. At near night the fourth day after our arrival we bid adieu to our friends and to the pleasant city of Delarifizand took the cats for the river landing. Boon after night fall the evening steamer came along ange to Stanford, a new city situated upon the southwestern shore of lake Monroc, 199 miles from Jacksonville. The trip from Deland Landing to Sanford, and from Stanford down the river to Astor were both made during night, s0-0f course we can tell little of tho country between De- land Landing and Sanford from actual ob- servation. » and has a soil of black sand, and water so near its surface that surface drainage be- comes necessary, _ The Tampa railroad con ford house, a finalarge hotel and wellkept. | Price four dellats per day. No discount made for nbsence from mesls. We went aboutfour miles from Sanford After picking and. eating fine ripe sweet. inthe hammock lands. Cottonseed meal- we | und wo went aboard - and- secured our. pas- Sanferd is upon comparatively low land,\ nects with the river navagation at this place. While hére we stopped at the San- to Belair to see the famous Belair crange grove of 140 acres. \Af this gtove too, are raised pine apples, bananas, citrons, mul- rries, figs and variousother kinds of trop- semitropical fraits. © We found was attached a covering of Palm leaves. These made a sort of covering which would protect from 'the heat of the sun, and cool winds, whilgjt the same time it would admit all the rain that fell upon it. A shelter of this kind covered a large plot under which were growing pineapples inevery stage of growth, from the tiny plant justset, to the large ripe fruit ready for the market. Tlicy grow from two to three feet high with a single pine apple upon the top-of the stalk, Leaves cover the stalk or stem upon which they grow from the soll to the fruit, of a thick pointed form 'like: those around the stem- end of the fruit only larger. 'These little sprouts often seen around the stem end when set in the soil grow and produce the fruit It was a fine sight to' viet this odorous fruit in all the various stages of its growth. We here too, as also in many other places, saw the banani in growth.- It grows upon a stout light colored. stalk with long light colored leaves. Its usual height is from eight to twelve feet. - A single bunch of the delicious fruit grows upon the top of the upright stock. | After maturing the fruit the stalk dies if not cut down. 'The ent root and the next year bear the fruit and their mission is filled precisely as is that of our berry bushes here north, 'The grower trims off the extra leaves and cuts the old stalks, aad piles thero around the roots to mulch and fertilize the growing plants. If not killed by frost or other cause, they when started, continue to bear for years, The fruit or bunchesif calculated fors distant market, are cut before mature, and persons ngfar north as we are, never size of good sized-hoop-poles.-To these- stalks sprout up annually around the par- |* ~-After spending -nearly -all day, in- the Belair grove, ourself and Yankee friend walked back to Sanford, and we took the night boat for Astor, It had been delayed. in waiting for the arrival of the Tampa train, else we should not have been in time 'or the trip. It was a lfirge boatheavily laden with passengers. The night was dark and the boat used some Kind. of clec- tric light to light up the river thead. We obtained a good position for viewing the river scenery by the aid of such light, and a more weird, enchanting vision cannot be imagined. It converted the tall pal- metto trees into white, ghostly looking sen- tinels, and the waves and ripples caused in the water into liquid streams of the brightest hues of silver and gold. ~ - As we occasionally started upa flock of ducks, they would glisten with every con- ceivable color of light and, brightness, as they arose in fright from the surface of the placid waters ahead of ud. 'That ride of hours duration was one continued en- chanting panorama of changing scenery, of inimitable brightness, 'We enjoyed it far above any ride of our lifetime, It eclipsed in its dazzling beauty the most enchanting scenes described in the story of the \Arabian Knights Entertainment,\ We arrived at Astor a little after mid- night, sorry to lose our vision of enchant ing beauty, but glad to find a place for sleep and rest. The city of Astor is located on the west bank of the St, Johns river, about 184 miles south of Jacksonville in Orange county. Itis said to be the prop- erty of William B. Astor of New York city, who owns.a large tract of Jand at that place. The Bt. Johns ond Lake Eustis Tail starts from this place. It is a narrow gague road nud its cars were crowded with passengers. -Another curious-slirut unmentioned. Itiscalled the album cactus. Tt receives its name from its ability to pre-| serve every letter or word scratched upon \ the surface of its leaves, Its leaves are a deep green celor; about an inch thick, eight to ten, inches wide, and from twelve to sixteen inches long. One of those leaves stuck in the soil will grow and give off 's short thick shoot which will grow from its surface ends or edges another leaf. and that another in the most curious chance form imagiuable. 'They thus continue to add stems and leaves in this promiscuous way until eight or ten feet high, It. bears in the same awkward manner, a fruit about the shape and size of a large pear, of a sweet taste, pulpy inside, and much relished as an edible fruit. While here we learned the southern way of raising sweet potatees. Potatoes offthe last year's growth are leftiin the ground, nn‘d they sprout from the vines, and pieces of these new vines are cut off from 'six to eight fuckes fong for seed for n new crop. -| The land is plowed in ridges about three |\ feet apart, and with a crotch or other way, these pieces of vine are pushed into the top of the ridges so that buth ends of the vines so planted are near the surface of the soil. 'The soil is slightly pressed around them and 'the work of planting is done. These vines grow and the tubers of the new crop grow, not unlike our Liish potato in the bills of the ridges.. If the soil is new and clean no other caro is given them until they are dug for use or sale. We opened a hill of the last year's growth, and the first tuber was as large as a fair sized head, and weighed four and three-fourths pounds. Florida often pro- duces them of six or seven pounds weight each. They remain in the soil undug until Eru strawberry and pine apple, flavor, and is | not -pass-andon-ter ie © Again,talking about .and blaming Eurg- .' pean conntries because the price of'i farm products are so low, s all bosk;; - Th high tariff on: imports. inthis country I caused them to seok other markets for: Aigricultnralinterests ofthis dorintry; , > ge- exchanggnnd thus: the: rif 'and othef-products has been fatimulated.. those' countries, reducing their-valué European markets; and wehave \n for blaming them because they furch where they can exchange their own wares, {avorable-fo-thet wn-int CR ests. - * Again,. large portion of that minority which the farmers are taxed to sustain aro Socialists, who are trying to destrey our institutions and upheave the foundations of all civilized society; claimingthat man can- not produce land, therefore the Tind- be-, longs to the whole people, one same as an- other, and no person has the right to own any of it. No doubt many will ridienle the idea that any such absurd theory can ever make any progress in this enlightened age and country, But don't be too certain ° about this matter, one of. the leading ad— vocates of this pernicious theory obtained over 68,000 votes in the city of New York _ on their first attempt, and. the organization - Mis rapidly increasing and will eventually triumph unless the farming class bestir themselves and exert their influence to crush this gigantic monster '\Bocialism\ before it obtains proportions beyond the control of the ballot box, and which must eventually-cause-bloodshed.-- - ' Remember there are so many dema- gogues in both political parties, whose aim is place and plunder, ready to voté eight or six hours for a day's work, if they can make votes by so doing, that will retain 'them in office where they can feed at tho public crib; such men are, ready to vote high tariff or low tariff -as they think will benefit themselves. Ignore party, select honest men to represent you, who will look after the interests of their constituents and not after private gain. 8. Harezn. » Form Now-J (Snickeps can be fattened in twelve days to two weeks if they-are keptinn partly dark place and fed all they. will eat. A New York Tribune writer says that [see a banana in its perfection, -- Another plant we often saw was the castor bean tree. It grows from the seed to the diameter of two or three inches and twelve to fifteen feet high in a single year. Wesaw the largest of these at Deleon Springs. | Wesaw growing in many places the cassava plant (arrowroot) from which starch and tapioca are made, growing here to great size. 'We have seen the roots as large and long as a person's leg. A very large yield per acre can be produced, | It is used by many' for food prepared in a va- riety.of ways. We failed to notice the in- digo plant, an oversight we regretted. Citrons, the kind we bave dried in our northern markets, wesaw growing In muny places. They grow upon trees like the orange but the trees ure not so large in aize. We saw the fruit which would weigh sev- eral pounds cach.. They reminded us of the.story of H. Greeley's pumpkins on trees. - It was truely novel to seo this large fruitupon trees. Botooit was, that knownas Bhaddock. - It too, is large, weighing sev- eral pounds each. Some said those we saw at Belatr of bothcitronsand shaddocks, would weigh ten or twelve pounds each. The pulp of the shaddock is redish in color, a sort of a sub-scld orange taste, very Florida. Another fruit called limé, looking yellow, the color of the orange, but grows larger, like the shaddock, but is not of the same taste or color fnside. | Its tasta to us was between the orange and the lemon, and they are in market in the cities of Fiorida. 'We saw barrels of them in Tallahaseee. . We also saw and tasted a fruit called papaw. It is a pedr shaped yellow fruit to five inches long. | To us it bad a sickish sort of a sweet taste. It might become very palatable by practice, but wearg not particularly fond of too many-new things. Conte pear, the scuppernong grape, the | peach, the nectarine, all growing. Another tree which bears well in four years from the seed is the mulberry. | Its trait resembles in size, and looks. like our juicy, and is said to keep well, We never saw any except at New Orleans and in three to four inches n diameter, and four \We saw the fig trees, the persimmon, the Le large sized black berfles. It. commences fipeniggsboplthqflrxtof»M¢deon~ tinues to stipply the fruit until nearly June. {1 Ai the lbyenkfast table we were seated beside the conductor of the morning train. In conversation we heard the name Uma- tills mentioned. 'We had from the Rev. A. Reynolds learned that a neighbor of hearing it named, resolved to stop over one train and call upon them. 'We paid our fare to That place, saying to the conductor that if we concluded to continue farther we would pay again. $51 The country between Astor and Umatilla was mostly flew, just cleared and many orange groves recently set, after ardving upon the pine landsafew miles from the St. Johns river. The whole of central Florida is dotted with almost innumerable small lakes and pounds, We for days were hardly out of sight of them, They wero mostly shects of clear beautiful water, and said to abound with fish, Occasionally as' we rode along we would see flocks of wild ducks pon their surface, or tall white cranes walking along their shores. On arriving at Umatilla we learned that the Whitcombs, the family sought, lived in sight of the station, 'This is anew place, but as everywhere olso the sounds of the | saw and the hammer were almost continu- ours had friends at that place and upon |. wanted-elther-for-use-or-market: piece we dug from would produce from three to four hundred bushels per acre. Bugar cane is raised, not from seed planted, but from stalks of cane saved for such purpose. All of this and the southern portions of Florida produced fine cane and of extra sweetness. The soil after ready is furrowed and those seed or planting stalks are lakd lengthwise in the furrow and eovered. The sprouts for the new crop come out of the joints of the cane so plant- ed. Itis then cultivated and hoed until mature tor its harvest for the sugar mill. We saw sugar canes raised in southern Florida fully fourtecn feet long and from two to two and one-half inches in diameter. Buch were however for above the usual growth. 'To the lover of flowers no country can surpass Florida. They are not only abund- ant but universal. Ones ambition can be fully satisfied, no teaiter how high its aims. - They often are so plentiful as to become void of interest,. 'We pass them without notlce when once sated with them, as wo do the light and air. The High Protective Tariff.-Its Influence -Interests of the Conntry, and Effects upon the Agricultural Two ounces of. siltpetreldissoived ima quart of warm water and thrown into the cistern will remove the offensive odor of the wa- ter. ' iL 'The land that will maintain twenty com- mon-bred cows will maintain twenty well- bred ones, and the annual profit from the latter will be considerable more than from 'the former. Tt is the samo with an anfmal as it is with a steam boller-the more complete the combustion of the food orfuel it getstlio more satisfactory will be the result, because there is less waste. A cow should never be allowed to skip a milking, as the retention of so large a it and injure the quality of the milk, and pephaps the udder also. j A dairyman should keep as many cows only as he tan feed well. It is not econom:- fcal to divide the food among & large number when the same result can be sécur ed from a smaller number well- fed. Farmers can {mprove their corn by grow- ing seed corn in s patch by itself, where special attention shall be given to the mat- ter of fertilization, Now is the time to mature plans for the next planting. volume of milk in the udder will inflame ° Tous. It is fast growing Into a village. 'Two stores and a hotel, with dwellings, shops, and doguerrean rooms, are already here, More are being rapidly erected. Buildings of wood in Florids sre more easily and cheaply erected than could those of like size and accommodations be\ made with us here north, - No cellars are made. All buildings of wood, no matter how good, sre erected upon piers, or offen blocks of livé oak or other durable wood, and set high enough above the sofl so that air can elrculafa freely under 'them. 'We saw some upon fram6 Work several feet high. < Neitheris it atall necessary tomake dwellings, 'One will, howaver, meet=with fine looking residences if most settled parts of. Floride; . He will also see.abundance ef those of extreme. o- The Whitcombs moved: here fron Cin» clunatl, Ohio, about eight years ago, and. settled upon the banks wf one of those beautiful lakes, i, securing honiesteads which have now been transformed-into-valuable the hame protection. for- the warath Of fis Written expressly for the Orszco Famexz. the manufacturers. The agricultural being the paramount Interest of, this country, ought to be pro- tected and not burdened by minor interests. There are over eight millions of people en- | gaged in farming and less than one million {engaged in manufacturing {n the United Stated; and -it must-be- a- source slonto tax the farmers for the benefit of Télsa well Enown and admitted fact that the consumer fins to pay the farlff on the' goods he buys, and it is « factthat the price | 1s increased en many articles the farmers Mr. Stahl, in the Indians Farmer thinks ers than men.. Bees, hée-says, must be treated like'children, kindly and patiently; and such work women: does better than
