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                  THE WISCONI

but that which is made of apples. The quan-
titie is such, that by the report of the gentle-
man himselfe, the parson hath for tithe many
hogsheads of dydir."'
  The Britons, I judge, belonged to the " hard
cider" party, for we read of a kind "not to
be drank till two or three years old." They
made a famous drink, called Lambs-wool, by
putting the pulp of roasted apples into ale-
victuals and drink, I should say.
  The zeal of our Puritan fathers in the cider
business is quite remarkable; the cider-mill
early became one of the established institu
tions of New England, and other sections
were not far behind
  The specific gravity of the juice varies with
different apples.  The famous English cider
apple, Red Streak, gives a specific gravity of
10.79, and other varieties are as high as 10.86
and 10.91-these latter may be considered
pretty strong cider.
  Favorite cider has been sold in Newv York
for $10 a barrel, and I venture to say that
good eider is better than poor wine. The fla-
vor of the eider to a great extent comes from
the skin; small apples, as having proportion-
ately more skin, nsake the best cider. If we
use cider at all, we will do well to study the
best modes of making it, and select the best
apples for the purpose; they must be mature
without decay, and must be made up when the
warm weather is over, so as not to occasion
excessive fermentation; and be sure anl put
it in sweet barrels.
  If we would have good fruit, good culture
Is indispensable. It is a matter of extreme
regret that the mass of our citizens are so
neglectful of what, by general consent, makes
the best return for labor and capital employ-
ed. Fruit trees need manure, and the right
kind of manure. Well rotted barnyard man-
nre, lime, ashes, charcoal and muck, are the
leading fertilizers.
  Columella treats of stirring the soil among
fruit trees, and it is known that the Romans
had tools similar in character to ours, includ-
ing the spade, rakes, hoes or weeding-hooks.
the marra, a hoe-mattock, etc-and we know
they used them sometimes, for Pliny informs
us that the success of one cultivator, C. Furi-
us Cresinus, was so great that he was accused
before the Senate of practising magic, and
justified himself by the exhibition of his tools,
exclaiming, "these are the implements of
magic which I use; butIcannotshow you the
oared, the toils, and the anxious thoughts that
occupy me day and nighL" (See Loudon, p.24.)
  This secret of promoting growth and pro-
ductiveness by stirring the soil, so singularly
divulged before the Roman Senate, eighteen
hundred years ago, would seem to be a secret
now, so far as the owners of many fruit or-
chards are concerned. But while we stir the
soil, let us not destroy the roots by reckless
plowing and spading.



SIN FARMER.                             381

  In conclusion, I will only say that the ap-
ple, in my opinion, outweighs in value all oth-
er fruits together. It may not equal the ex-
quisite flavor of the grape or pear; but as the
every day food of the million, I believe it will
yet rival the potato itself. Its best varieties
in nutritive value equal the potato pound for
pound, and can be produced at one-sixth the
cost of the potato. My friend, Mr. J. J. Thom-
as, of Macedon, who generally honors us with
his presence at these meetings, estimates. in
Patent Office Report for 1860, the cost of pro-
ducing apples at two and a half cents a bush-
el. Before seeing his estimate, I had calculat-
ed it at from three to four cents, good varie-
ties; they are, therefore, the cheapest of all
food for man, and, excepting grass, for beasts.
Hardy and less exacting than other fruits,
adapted to a wider range of soil and climate,
more regular and more abundant in yield,
they are God's best gift to man, next to wo-
man.


MECHANICAL AND COMMERCIAL.



        The teal of the Paper Makers.
  It was one of the grounds of the declara-
tion of our independence as a nation, in 1776,
that the British government persisted in com-
pelling the purchase of none but stamped pa-
per. But how much worse was that than the
present abominable tax upon paper which the
great reading and writing public are obliged
to pay to-day in the form of two prices for
every sheet of paper they use?
  There is no scarcity of material-the price
of rags being two to four cents per pound, ac-
cording to quality-and yet the exhorbitant
prices are kept up. There is no way to account
for it except by the assumption that there is
a league of paper-makers, to the end that they
may make themselves rich without waiting
for those slow and tedious accumulations by
which the great body of business men and la-
boring people make themselves comfortable
and independent after years of faithful effort.
  Before the war, such paper as this on which
the FAtxan is printed could have been bought
for about $7 per ream. For the past two years
we have paid $14 to $18. We are paying $14
now, and without much prospect of early re-
lief from so great a burden of expense.
  The natural way in which an evil like this