The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-10-09
AGRICULTURAL NOTES.

THE California HorttculturiSt recon-
mends the following mode of keeping
grapes: Spread the carefully cut fruit
thinly on the shelves or tables for few
days, to dry up the stems little. Then
cut clean, dry rye straw in straw-cut-
ter about an inch long, and cover liber-
ally the bottom of a suitable tightly
jointed box, on which place a moderate
layer of fruit; then cover with the cut
straw literally and lay on fruit again,
and thus proceed. Put them in a cool,
dry place, and the grapes will keep
sound for several months.
THE Rocky Mountain HuS6andman
says: 1.-The grasses of Montana are
unlike those of California in regard to
killing out by pasturage. Old fields
turned out soon become reset with their
primitive growth. The pasturage is
permanent and almost without limit,
and stock fatten and flourish the year
round. Although there are severe
storms in winter and the snow lies deep
on the mountain ranges there is COM
paratively little in the valleys, and stock
come out in the spring looking better
than they do along the banks of the
Neuces, in Texas"
A WRITER in the Vine and Fruit Re
cOrder says he has discovered from prac-
tice that sulphur, one ounce to gallon
of water, and sprinkled or syringed over
grape vines, just at nighfall, will destroy
insects and mildew and leave no bad
show afterward. When sifted as pow
der it has an unpleasant and oftentimes
injurious effect, although it is acknOwl-
edged a specific manure of value, even
when applied boldly broadcast upon the
soil. Salt applied to vines in connec-
ton with gypsum or plaster of Paris,
forms a manure which acts as healthy
stimulant on soils of loamy clay,
gravelly or dark, rich sandy loan.
FATTENING pigs, says the Country
Gentleman, should be kept in perfectly
clean quarters, their pens cleaned at
least twice day, plenty of clean dry lit
ter supplied, and the manure heap out
side kept clean from OdOr by alternating
layers of road dust, coal ashes, turf, or
other absorbent. They should be fed
with regularity, and never made to
squeal from hunger. Young pigs should
be so well attended to that they may
grow constantly through every day of
their existence. Sheep should have a
daily feeding of grain as soon as the
pasture becomes dry, beginning small
and raising to half pint at feeding.
Cattle should have enough to maintain
good, strong condition to enter winter.
All animals within doors should have
pure air and pure water.
LEARNED from neighbor, says New
York Tribune contributor, how to make
cistern filter that works perfectly. Of
40 common hard brick, and cement
enough to lay them, build up around the
pump-pipe a tube of four inches dame
ter on the inside, the two last courses to
be drawn in so that the last touches the
pipe; then cement the top close around
the pipe, and it is finished. Every drop
of water you pump must pass through
the bricks. Some may say, as | did,
"the water will not pass through as fast
as you sometimes wish to use it," You
can't pump it out as long as there is any
water in the cistern, and it is clear as
crystal, and clean. For a few days it
tastes little limey, but that soon passes
This filter does not get out of order,
does not freeze, is out of the way, and
cost for material and labor 80 cents. A
friend tells me he had one in successful
use eight years.
PEACH CULTURE.-Discussi on
peach culture in Michigan, as reported
in the Michigan Farmer, furnish some
good suggestions, which may prove use
full to beginners. A distinction was
made between the treatment of young
trees and larger ones which are bearing
full crops In order to harden or ripen
the shoots of young and rapidly growing
trees, the cultivation of the soil, so i'm
portant during the early part of the sea-
son, should cease in August. Otherwise
they would be likely to keep on growing
till frost, and would be left in a green
and succulent condition, untitled to
withstand the cold of winter. Bearing
trees, on the contrary, should be cult
waited till the fruit is about to ripen, as
the crop continues to consume the
strength of the tree after the cessation
of the growth of the shoots. Some of
the cultivators present stated that they
| found it important to check the growth
of young trees as autumn approaches by
pinching in, and one of them used a
pair of shears for this purpose. In ap-
plying all directions of this sort, the
Judgment must be used, for difference
in soil and treatment would make diff
the time that growth ceases.
c.. Z. DAVIDSON, Nayland, Mich,
who has had three years experience in
cultivating and manufacturing sorghum,
gives some points of general interest to
sorghum growers. He writes: 81
have satisfied myself that the sooner
the cane is made up after it is ripe and
cut the better the quality of the strip,
and the larger the percentage of sugar
that will granulate. No cold juice
should be added to the evaporation after
it comes to boil. Large deep pans or
evaporators are the best. The cOntinu-
ous-steam process lessons the chances of
graduating product from all ground
cane Juice. The running of cold juice
into hot at any stage of the reduction
coagulates or sets the albuminOus and
waxy elements so that it requires fill
tering process to extract them. | also
found that the more the cane-stalk was
shortened at both ends the better the
quality of the. strip. The butt joints
| are barren of scaccharine matter and
give the strip bad taste, and the top
Joints are worthless. From experiments
on small scale | think the best results
can be obtained by steaming the cane
and expressing the juice by screw press
ure. The juice is then free from the
waxy impurities that so much hinder
granulation, also the fine portions of
cane that are ground out in crushing in
a mill. OF the practicability of this