The Placer herald., 1871-06-03
HOUSE AND FA II II.

PEAR CULrURE.--The pear which seems
to be fast dying out in m my localities at the
East. is the hcalthiest of ali fruits in Califor-
MIA, the longest lived, and the most produc-
tive, and the fruit, as compared with the
pears of other States, is superior in quantity.
Some of the older trees in California yield
more than half ton of fruit each, on an av-
crage every year. The most profitable pears
are the Glout Morceau, Bartlett, Easter
Bearre, Vicar or Wakefield and the Winter
Nellis The Bartlett is the most profitable
for mountan cultivation, because it rpens af-
ter the valley pears are gone in the San
Francisco market, and then bring from FIVE
to ten cents per pound.
An experienced pear culturst says that he
has examined thousands of dwarf pear trees
in the grounds of others, and has never
seen good, healthy, vigorous trees where an
nual pruning has been omitted. Near his
orchard which contains 1000 healthy, thrift
ty, dwarf pear trees, neighbor planted
trees at the same time, obtained from the
same source and of the same age as his.
This n.ighbor pruned a little in the first and
second years, but last year his trees being
full of blossom buds, he allowed them to
bear and left them unprnned. The season
was a very dry one, and the fruit did not
fully mature, and now from one-half to two
thirds of the trees are dead -Ru'dl Press
FooD FOR Fruit TREEs.-It must be ap-
parent to every rejecting person that the
material round about a fruit tree, which
renders important aid in the production of
fine fruit of any kind, must be more or less
exhausted after a vine, bush or tree has pro-
duced abundant crops for several successive
seasons. For example, a large pear tree or
apple tree will yield from ten to fifteen bush
els of fruit or more annually. Many trees
have produced more than twice these
quantities at one crop. After few seasons
the material that the roots must be supplied
WITH in order to develop fruit, will be more
or less exhausted. For this reason fruit be-
gins to fall, and the filureis all attributed
TO an east wind, or some mysterious atmos
pheric influence when in reality the sole
cause is starvation arising from an impoyer-
ished soil 1t is evident that fruit trees can
not produce fine fruit out of nothing, or out
of such material as may not be desirable for
any other purpose
Why DO ANNALS NEED SALT Prof J.
+. Johnston, of Scotland, says: "Upwards
of half the saline matter OF blood (ifty-seyen
per cent consists Of common salt, and this is
partly discharged every day through the
skin and Kidneys the necessity of continued
supplies of it to the healthy body becomes
sufficiently obvious The bile also contains
soda Tone of the ingredients of sal) as a spe
cial and indispensable constituent, and so do
all the cartilages of the body. Stint the
supply of salt, therefore, and neither will
the bile be able properly to assist digestion
nor the cartilage to lie built up again as fast
as they naturally waste. 1t is better to
place salt where stock can have free access
to it, than to give it OCCASIONAL in large
quantities. They will help themselves to
what they need, if allowed to do SO, atpleas-
ure; otherwise when they become "salt-hun
cry" they may take more than is wholesome.
New ISDUsTRY.-Thc sweet potato used
in various form as an esculent-in making
bread, as a substitute for coffee, in the
brewing of beer, as well as for tattening
farm snimals-is now beginning to be used
in making syrup, ''tar surprising that of the
beet, and even Of the sorghum in delicacy OF
flavor, while the yield is much more abund-
ant. The average product OF a bushel OF
sweet potatoes, the yam variety being pre-
ferred, is alleged to be over two gallons; and
as the average yield per acre, on poor, sandy
soil is from $50 to $50 bushels, the product
must necessarily be from 800 to $50 gallons
of syrup. This must open to the view OF
the pinev woods agriculturalists a new and
most profitable industry, one man, with a
mule, being able to cultivate at least fifteen
acres in potatoes The residiuum, after the
juice for syrup has been extracted, is pro-
nounced valuable edible either for man or
beast
CHocoLATE-IIow TO MAKE AND Use II.
Take an ounce of chocolate for one person;
scrape it and boil it about five minutes with
about four tablespoonfuls of water. When
smooth, add about pint of new milk; let il
boil, stirring it well. Buttered toast is the
proper accompaniment of chocolate, or light
cake, made thus Half y cupful of butter;
one egg; two spoonfuls of cream Of tartar,
one small cupful Of sour milk added to this f;
three cupfulls the same size, of flour, sifted
and well beaten into the liquid; and one
small spoonful of soda, dissolved in hot wa
ter, and mix in the cake just before putting
it in the oven, which must be hot enough to
bake it in ten minutes. Bake in narrow
cake pans, filling them three inches deep.
A USEFUL RECEIPT Rub four parts, by
weight, fyolk Of eggs, in mortar with five
parts of glycerine. This compound has the
consistency Of honey, is unctuous, like fatty
substances, but is easily removed by water.
Applied to the skin, it forms varnish, which
effectuay prevents the action of air. 1t
allays the itching in cutaneous actions. 1t
is unalterable, and can be exposed to TIE air
for an indefinite period.