Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1870-10-05

Mistellanu.
RURAL NOTES.

The following notes" which we find in
the Providence journal are worthy Of the
attention of gardeners and housekeepers :
Apples are abundant, and cider can be
bought for four dollars per barrel not the
best, perhaps; such as ought to be bottled
for drinking; but quite pure and strong
enough for the most useful purpose of
making vinegar. This latter article has
been sold of late for fifty cents per gallon; !;
we speak now of cider vinegar, not the
deletrous stuff made of slops and acid, re-
tailed to Ignorant city purchasers. Now
as a matter of economy and health, it
would be advisable for every family to
buy cider and have their own unadultera-
ted vinegar. Get sufficient quantity in
a wooden cask, take out the bung, put in
little vinegar and the thing is done; it
will make vinegar without any addition,
but takes more time. The process can be
hurried, but the pure cider makes the best
vinegar. Reckoning the barrel dollar,
we get the cider for ten cents a gallon;
cheap enough if honestly made. All
other farm products will be high at least
such as Rhode Island produces. Wheat
and corn are likely to be moderate in
price but potatoes, butter, vegetables and
milk will be high. Many meadows are
ruined, and will have to be planted in the
spring, or reseeded. 1t is too late for any
atter-teed Of consequence, and the springs
or wells are low or dried up.
1t is time to take up the plants put out
in the spring; such as have remained in
the pots should be repotted if the roots
have taken possession of all the earth.
They should be put in pots of only one or
or two sizes larger than those they are
now in, but the added soil should proper
ly he prepared. We have been sitting
from our heap of peat, dry two years age,
a quantity for this purpose, and for use in
the spring. The plants which have bios
somed during the summer should be
placed in cool cellar where they will
not freeze. They should not be watered
too much when put away, as the roots
will be likely to rot. The better way is
to give them just water enough, at inter-
walls to keep them alive, the roses which
remain out of doors should have some
Slight protection. As a rule, roses are
not sufficiently manured. few bits OF
| charcoal in the pots of those which are to
| bloom in the winter will add to the bril-
liancy of the flowers. Home plants
should be kept where they can have air
and sun, without being exposed to frost,
as long as possible Take up gladiolus
bulbs, allow them to dry in the shade, and
but away in a cool dry place. Fuchsias
in blossom, will now bear to be more in
the sun.
Preparations should be made at once
for the hanging basket which is to adorn
the sitting-room this winter. A young
and thrifty bogonia or geranium, which
has not yet bloomed, should be potted and
kept in thrifty state in the open air, TAX
| ing care that it is under cover when there
is the least danger of frost. This will
make the central figure of the basket.
Around it, when it is transferred to the
| basket. will be placed lobelia, ivy, mas
turtium, lycopodium and moneywort, or
as many of these as there is room for.
| The common error is over-crowding. We
have had good success with the shallow
| wooden basket; but if an earthern one is
used let it be of the common red clay,
| which is porous, and SO better adapted for
the purpose. Until the plants get fairly
started, it is better not to give them too
much sun, nor too much heat. If the bas-
ket is procured already filed from the
greenhouse, it should be removed on a
warm day, and care taken that the tenn
perature of the room in which it is placed
| approXimates that of the green house.
| The better way is to take slips started in
September, which will, in good soil, be
we'll grown by winter.
We have already mentioned that oul
callas, which were dropping out of doors
in the sun, revived upon being potted,
and placed in water three or four inches
deep, in a partial shade. They have i'm
proved daily, and now show a strong
growth, with heavy stems and broad leaves
of a most vivid green. We shall transfer
them. as frosty nights come on, to the
piazza, closing the sliding windows
nights, and giving them the sun and air,
as long as possible Then take them in
and place the tub in which they stand in
front of glass door looking south, in the
coolest part of the room, which is kept AT
seventy degrees during the day and, say
fifty to sixty degrees at night, through the
winter,
| Awrter to tho New York Farmers Clul
gives recipe for cheap paint. whicl
has been fonnd excellent for rough boards
but is not so well adapted to smooth sur
faces: Hydraulic cement, 3 pecks; fine
beach sand, | peck; common SALT
quarts; mix with water to the consstenct
Of cream, and apply with common white
wash brush On rough pine or hemloek,
it will last from two to three years without
renewing The cost of putting 1t on
two story building, 50x24, with labor at
81 per day, and cement at 81 per bar
rel, is 81 80.