The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1875-11-15
FACTS FROM ALL SOURCES.
ELDERBERRY WINE.


Ploughman gives the following recipe,
as having been used for years with per-
feet success: To fill five gallon keg,
take five quarts of ripe berries picked
from the stems, five gallons of water,
boil them together one-quarter of an
hour, strain the liquor. add fourteen
pounds Of brown sugar, boil again half
an hour; put into tub three pounds of
raisins, pour the boiling liquor on them;
when about milk-warm add half a
pint of yeast, let it stand three days,
strain into the cask If there is more
liquor than fills the caks, use it to fill up
with as it settles while, fermenting; If
there is none left water will answer. Keep
it full about two weeks. When about
done fermenting, cork the cask tight; let
it stand about three months; then draw
off into bottles.
COLORING APPLES.
The Sacramento Record says: 'sMr.
Charles Caine, who owns an extensive
orchard near San Jose, has method of
giving to red, striped and yellow apples
high coloring The fruit is picked and
laid upon the ground in long fiat piles.
under the half shade of the trees. 1t is
desirable to give them as much sunlight
as they will bear without sunburning.
In two or three weeks the apples on the
top will be richly colored. These are re-
moved, boxed and sent to the market,
and the next layer exposed to the sun.
His apples thus colored, especially the
Baldwin, Smiths CIDER. and Spitzen-
burghs, challenge the admiration of all
who see them. By this process apples
that, when picked from the trees, were
almost without color, will become bril-
liant as the reddest apple on the. tree,
and equally as fine as the best.'
CUT FOOD FOR STOCK.
The Western Rural says: Farmers in
the west not having had experience in
feeding cut seed to stock, do not fully ap-
preciate the advantage to be derived
from it. 1t will be found that the same
amount OF hay or straw cut and mixed
with little bran or smash will do nearly
double the amount of good as that fed
loose to horses or cattle, which are stall
fed When this plan becomes to be more
practiced, the advantage of the inn
proved condition of the stock will be so
great, that the cutting-box will become
an indispensable requisite to every
farmer admiring good stock. 1t requires
some trouble, but the stock needs this
extra care at time when the ordinary
work of the farmer is not pressing. The
expense is not great in the use of hand
machine. and if a larger machine isused,
the work may be done more rapidly, and
the power used to drive it may be used
for other purposes of equal advantage in
thesf farm economy
TOP-DREssING MEADOWS.
The results of single top-dressing on
eight plots of nearly half an acre each of
sandy, warm soil, of the Michigan State
Agricultural college farm, exhibited the
following facts at the end Of three years
The top-dressing was applied in 1864, and
the grass was cut twice each season in
1864 and 1865, and once in 1885, The
produce of each cutting and of each lot
was weighed separately and perfect
record kept. The results for the four
seasons we're as follows: On the plot to
which no manure or fertilizer was applied,
the total weight of hay yielded per acre
was $40 pounds. Where two bushels
of platter per acre was applied, the yield
per acre was 1925 pounds, gain of
4,474 pounds. Where five bushels Of
wood ashes were applied, the yield per
acre was 12,907 pounds, gain Of 4, ,165
pounds. Where three bushels of salt
were sown per acre the yield was Il, 1863
pounds, a gain per acre of 5,227 pounds.
Where twenty loads of muck per acre
was laid on, the yield per acre was Il, SIG
pounds, a gain Of 5,074 pounds. Where
| twenty loads Of horse manure was laid
on, the yield was 1865 pounds, gain
Of 6,224 pounds These are the results
which Indicate that there are fertilizers
which will produce as good results al
plaster. For instance, the plaster yielded