The Placer herald., 1874-11-28
HOUSE AND FARM.

FRuIr dried by the Alden hot-air process
Is coming into market, and has much
superior flavor to the fruit dried by the old
process. There is mine of wealth for Califor-
MIA in this method of drying fruit. So rap
idly is the city population Of the world iu-
creasing that it is impossible to over-sulply
the market, and Our farmers have here
sure crop for which they can always obtain
remunerative rates. and on which the price
of freight will lie but Il small consideration.
Yet two or three ships like the Three Broth
ers might this year be loaded with fruit
which has been suffered to go to waste.-San
Francisco Post.
II better or cheaper rotessand the best
Is the cheapest-can not be invented, then
it were well to secure the Alden but we late
~ saw plan of a new dryer which we think
will be much cheaper than the Alden, and
If it shall prove upon trial to be as good there
can be no just cause hereafter for allowing
any California fruit to go to waste for, as the
Post says, we have the world for market.
--.Sacyamento Bee.
NUrs--Four years ago J. Leme, the well
known French gardener who lives near
Nevada city, received a lot of chestuuts from
France. These he put into the ground, and
then waited upon them. The nuts sprouted,
peeped up from under the ground and now
they are trees aud have borne large crop
of fruit this year. The crop is of course very
valuable, chestnuts being always in demand.
We noticed few weeks ago statement
that chestnuts grown in Yolo county had
been received in San Francisco. 1t appears
that California is capable, in any section of
it, Of growing this nut. Yet it will @ many
years before California ceases TO order chest
nuts from Europe and the Eastern States Of
the Union. The wood of the chestnut tree
is most valuable. For fence posts it is prac-
tically everlasting, and it makes shingles
which may wear out, but which will not rot
we think that every man in this State who
owns or who has access to piece Of ground
should plant few chestnuts. Now is the
time TO put them in, and fresh nuts can be
procured in any Of our fruit stores. Think
of having your own chestnuts in four years
time, and plant "a few nuts.-G Y Uaion.
GnApEs-LoNe PRuNINe AoArN.-The
Alta of Monday has the following 1t is re-
ported that Mr.. Nickerson has crop Of
1000 tons of grapes on a vineyard Of 200
acres, near Lincoln, Placer county, and that
he has sold them Oh the vines for $40 per
ton, thus netting him $50 900, or 500 per
acre. The number of vines per acre is 900,
and the large yield of twenty-five pounds
per vine is attributed to long pruning. That
method of treating vines is no novelty, hay
ing been tried frequently since the necessity
Of pruning was discovered, more than 900
years ago, and the universal judgment is that
for most varieties, though it may give a
large crop the first year, it Injuries the vine
and does ultimately more harm than good
The Isabella and Catawba are of different
species from the European grape, and need
long pruning. 1t is always desirable that
intelligent agriculturists should make expert
ments to test the correctness of the principles
taught to them by their predecessors, but it
is very unwse to risk the fortunes of large
vineyard at the first trial.
How much vines can be made to bear
with safety has not been determined salts
factorily. Old vines, with widespread root !,
may bear as much AS n ton annually, on an
average, as we know from a few exceptional
cases; but, for vines eight or ten years old,
planted at intervals of six or eight feet, the
ordinary short pruning is supposed to allow
all the drain consistent with large and
steady yield. The price of $40 per ton is
only half cent O ound, or less than halt
the price Of potatoes or grain, but grapes
can be grown in many places too poor for po-
tatoes orgrain.
LABOR of all kinds is still in active demand,
yet the report comes, seemingly authenti
Gated, that the Mechanic State Council of
California are sending circulars abroad ad
vising their class not to come here Most
people might be unwilling to believe that
they can be so narrow minded, selfish and
unpatriotic; and to say the least this report
does not speak well for their common sense.
Bee.
The Mountain Counties are getting but
a very small per centage of the immense
immigration now pouring into this State, and
simply for the reason that little or nothing is
known Of this section by the people who are
seeking homes on this coast. Most of them
are attracted hther by the voluminious over
drawn pictures of the Southern rounies cir
culated among them at great expense by the
large land owners. They go directly to the
Southern counties, and If the reality is less
than their anticpatons, many of them return
East in disgust without looking further. No
effort has been make to place in their posses
sion correct information in regard to the
mountain counties, and they come here in
total ignorance of the capabilities of our eli
mate, most of them believing that there is
nothing but barren waste and snow-capped
mountains to contend with, and our South
en brethren are careful not to dspel that
idea. Would it not pay to make an effort
to set the world right on this point 1t is OF
very litfla use for iha local nrosc io Lar., on