sels from this as well as from every other culinary process." (Mease.)

The most valuable liquor to be obtained from apples, unquestionably, is the cider wine made ac cording to the following process.

APPROVED METHOD OF MAKING WINE FROM CIDER.

To one barrel of cider, when just from the press, add half a pound of sugar to each gallon, and two gallons of brandy, West India spirit, or cider brandy. The cask must be lightly stopped, and filled up every day, while fermenting, for four or five days, and then stopped tight and put into a cool cellar. In three or four months rack it off, and add two gallons more of brandy to each barrel. Take one quarter of a pound of burnt alum, six whites of eggs, and one pint of clean sand, mixed together, and put them into the barrel when racked, to clarify. When racking, the liquor must be kept from foaming, by letting it run down on a thin board; and when the cask is about half full, while racking, a match of sulphur must be burned in it, and then the cask stopped close and shook, so that the smoke may incorporate with the liquor. In one year this will be equal to sherry wine, and in two, equal to the best Madeira. Having made one cask of this kind a few years since, it so far exceeded my expectations, that I can with confidence and pleasure recommend it to general notice, as a liquor possessing the qualities of a sprightly, cordial wine, the cheap produce of our own farms, and free from any deleterious metallick impregnation.

OF PEARS.

It is no longer questionable that the pear tree is well adapted to the climate and soil of New England. Although much neglected by our farmers generally, numerous varieties are cultivated in different parts of Massachusetts, in great perfection. All the varieties of the pear are hardy and longlived, and will flourish in a clay or loamy soil, but wet situations are unfavourable. Most of the directions already detailed, relative to the cultiva-. tion of the apple tree, may be applied to that of the pear tree. The production of particular varieties from the seed is equally capricious, and the annihilation of certain kinds from long duration, is supposed to be no less remarkable than in the apple. The propagation of particular species is effected by grafting or budding, and by this method any desired variety may be obtained and perpetuated. Considerable attention is necessary in the choice of stocks for grafting. Suckers from other trees should never be employed, as they will have a constant tendency to generate suckers, to the injury of the tree. It should be observed, to graft or bud summer pears only upon summer pear stocks; autumn pears upon stocks of the same kind; but never graft a winter pear upon a summer pear stock, for the sap of the summer pear will decline or diminish, before the winter fruit has. sufficient time to mature and ripen. Every planter should keep a nursery of free stocks, by planting the seeds of the different varieties, and these should be taken from fair and choice fruit, and in their ripe state. The season for grafting or budding, and the manner of performing the operation, are the same as already described for the apple. The pear tree will succeed very well, when graft

ed on a quince; in which case, it is preferable to graft under ground in the root, as the tree will be more strong and vigorous; whereas, if grafted above the surface, the produce will be a dwarf tree. In transplanting pear trees, we are advised, when the soil is dry and sandy, to perform the business in autumn, and they will gain root fibres enough to support them, before winter, and will shoot in the spring better than those which are planted in April. But in moist places, it is best to dig the holes in autumn, and plant in April, as the cold of winter might greatly injure them. The soil for pear trees ought to be two or three feet deep, and they should be planted shallow, that the roots may spread near the surface, and enjoy the benefit of the sun and air; and by some it is accounted useful to expose the same side to the sun as when in the nursery. Pear trees require but little pruning, comparatively with the apple, and if carried to excess, it proves very injurious. All dead branches, however, and even thrifty ones, which interfere and chafe each other, and every sucker proceeding from the trunk or roots, should be carefully removed. Every large wound should be covered with the composition or cement, as a security against the effects of the sun and weather. If affected with diseases, or infested with insects, the appropriate remedies, recommended for apple trees, must be applied. In the Agricultural Repository, vol. iv. is a communication from Mr. Hammon, of Talbot county, Maryland, to the following purport. "Pear trees, and other fruit trees, are frequently affected, and sometimes suddenly decay, without discovering the causes of their decline. A gentleman of this neighbourhood, some years ago, observing the situation of his trees, and having unsuccessfully used many applications, at length directed their trunks or bodies to be washed with soft soap; and it is not easy to imagine the early change which appear

ed in the bark and foliage: the bark became smooth and glossy, and seemed sound and beautiful; and he thought the tree was greatly improved in every respect. I have tried the same experiment, and with equal advantage to apple trees; and am persuaded they have been greatly benefited by this process. It is used in the spring, and may be repeated in the following years, as frequently as the trees appear to require it. Mr. Peters declares, that he used soap suds without beneficial effects; but it is probable that the soft Soap in substance is more powerful, and that having more strength and virtue than the suds, as commonly made, it may more effectually destroy the worms, bugs, and other insects, which so materially injure the trees; and it is believed to be in consequence of their destruction, that the bark and branches are enabled to derive so much improvement from the application of this substance."

Mr. Forsyth's treatise contains his method of managing diseased pear trees, and such as were unfruitful from decay, and has clearly demonstrated, that the quantity of fruit was thereby remarkably increased, and the quality greatly improved. When old trees are affected with canker, or otherwise diseased, by which they are rendered unproductive, his practice is, to head them down in May or June, as near as possible to where they were engrafted. By this method the young shoots soon sprout forth, and grow so rapidly, that in two or three years they bear fruit most abundantly. Mr. F. illustrates his practical principles by two or three striking examples, and by plates representing the trees and fruit. One of the first four which he headed down, was a Saint Germain, which produced nineteen fine, large, well-flavoured pears the next year, and in the third, bore more fruit than it did in its former state, when it was four times the size.

Another bore four hundred pears the second

year; and he finally found, that the trees headed down bore upwards of five times the quantity of fruit that the others did; and it keeps increasing, in proportion to the progress of the trees. ❝ On the 20th of June," says Mr. F., "I headed several standards that were almost destroyed by the canker; some of them were so loaded with fruit the following year, that I was obliged to prop the branches, to prevent their being broken down by the weight of it. In the fourth year afterwards, one of them bore two thousand eight hundred and forty pears, while another tree, not headed down, growing by its side, being twenty years old, bore five hundred pears, which was a good crop for its size: so that there were on the old tree, which had been headed down not quite four years, two thousand three hundred and forty more than on the tree of twenty years growth."

The following is Mr. Forsyth's method of training the trees, that are cut near the place where they were grafted Every year, in the month of March, (April or May for our climate,) he shortens the leading shoot to a foot or eighteen inches, according to its strength. This shoot will, if the tree be strong, grow from five to seven feet long in one season; and, if left to nature, would run up without throwing out side shoots. The reason for thus shortening the leading shoot is, to make it throw out side shoots; and if it be done close to a bud, it will frequently cover the cut in one season. When the shoots are very strong, he cuts the leading shoot twice in one season: by this method he gets two sets of side shoots in one year, which enables him the sooner to fill the tree. The first cutting is performed any time during the spring, and the second about the middle of June. When you prune the trees, and cut the fore-right shoots in April, always cut close to an eye or bud, observing where you see the greatest number of