As it is the office of the leaves to absorb nourishment from the atmosphere, they should never be removed, except to mature the wood or fruit. In doing this, remove such leaves as shade the fruit, as soon as it is ready to ripen. To do it earlier, impairs the growth. Do it gradually, at two different times. Thinning the fruit is important, as tending to increase its size and flavor, and also to promote the longevity of the tree. If the fruit be thickly set, take off one half, at the time of setting. Revise in June, and then in July, taking off all that may be spared. One _very large_ apple to every square foot, is a rule that may be a sort of guide, in other cases. According to this, two hundred large apples would be allowed to a tree, whose extent is fifteen feet by twelve. If any person think this thinning excessive, let him try two similar trees, and thin one as directed, and leave the other unthinned. It will be found that the thinned tree will produce an equal weight, and fruit of much finer flavor.
CHAPTER x.x.xVI.
ON THE CULTIVATION OF FRUIT.
By a little attention to this matter, a lady, with the help of her children, can obtain a rich abundance of all kinds of fruit. The writer has resided in families, where little boys, of eight, ten, and twelve years old, amused themselves, under the direction of their mother, in planting walnuts, chestnuts, and hazelnuts, for future time; as well as in planting and inoculating young fruit-trees, of all descriptions. A mother, who will take pains to inspire a love for such pursuits, in her children, and who will aid and superintend them, will save them from many temptations; and, at a trifling expense, secure to them and herself a rich reward, in the choicest fruits. The information given in this work, on this subject, may be relied on, as sanctioned by the most experienced nursery-men.
The soil, for a nursery, should be rich, well dug, dressed with well-decayed manure, free from weeds, and protected from cold winds.
Fruit seeds should be planted in the Autumn, an inch and a half or two inches deep, in ridges four or five feet apart, pressing the earth firmly over the seeds. While growing, they should be thinned out, leaving the best ones a foot and a half apart. The soil should be kept loose, soft, and free from weeds. They should be inoculated or ingrafted, when of the size of a pipe stem; and in a year after this, may be transplanted to their permanent stand. Peach trees sometimes bear in two years from budding, and in four years from planting, if well kept.
In a year after transplanting, take pains to train the head aright.
Straight, upright branches, produce _gourmands_, or twigs bearing only leaves. The side branches, which are angular or curved, yield the most fruit. For this reason, the limbs should be trained in curves, and perpendicular twigs should be cut off, if there be need of pruning. The last of June is the time for this. Gra.s.s should never be allowed to grow within four feet of a large tree, and the soil should be kept loose, to admit air to the roots. Trees in orchards should be twenty-five feet apart. The soil _under_ the top soil, has much to do with the health of trees. If it be what is called _hard-pan_, the trees will deteriorate.
Trees need to be manured, and to have the soil kept open and free from weeds.
_Filberts_ can be raised in any part of this Country. _Figs_ can be raised in the Middle States. For this purpose, in the Autumn, loosen the roots, on one side, and bend the tree down to the earth, on the other; then cover it with a mound of straw, earth, and boards; and early in the Spring raise it up, and cover the roots. _Currants_ grow well in any but a wet soil. They are propagated by cuttings. The old wood should be thinned in the Fall, and manure be put on. They can be trained into small trees. _Gooseberries_ are propagated by layers and cuttings. They are best, when kept from suckers and trained like trees. One third of the old wood should be removed every Autumn. _Raspberries_ do best, when shaded during a part of the day. They are propagated by layers, slips, and suckers. There is one kind, which bears monthly. _Strawberries_ require a light soil and vegetable manure. They should be transplanted in April or September, and be set eight inches apart, in rows nine inches asunder, and in beds which are two feet wide, with narrow alleys between them. A part of these plants are _non-bearers_. These have large flowers, with showy stamens and high black anthers. The _bearers_ have short stamens, a great number of pistils, and the flowers are every way less showy. In blossom-time, pull out all the non-bearers. Some think it best to leave one non-bearer to every twelve bearers; but others pull them all out. Many beds never produce any fruit, because all the plants in them are non-bearers. Weeds should be kept from the vines. When the vines are matted with young plants, the best way is to dig over the beds, in cross lines, so as to leave some of the plants standing in little squares, while the rest are turned under the soil. This should be done over a second time in the same year.
_Grapes._ To raise this fruit, manure the soil, and keep it soft, and free from weeds. A gravelly or sandy soil, and a south exposure, are best. Transplant the vines in the early Spring, or, better, in the Fall.
Prune them, the first year, so as to have only two main branches, taking off all other shoots, as fast as they come. In November, cut off all of these two branches, except four eyes. The second year, in the Spring, loosen the earth around the roots, and allow only two branches to grow, and every month, take off all side shoots. When they are very strong, preserve only a part, and cut off the rest in the Fall. In November, cut off all the two main stems, except eight eyes. After the second year no more pruning is needed, except to reduce the side shoots, for the purpose of increasing the fruit. All the pruning of grapes, (except nipping side shoots,) must be done when the sap is not running, or they will bleed to death. Train them on poles, or lattices, to expose them to the air and sun. Cover tender vines in the Autumn. Grapes are propagated by cuttings, layers, and seeds. For cuttings, select, in the Autumn, well-ripened wood, of the former year, and take five joints for each.
Bury them, till April; then soak them, for some hours, and set them out, _aslant_, so that all the eyes but one shall be covered.
_To Preserve Fruit._
Raspberries and Strawberries can be preserved, in perfect flavor, in the following manner. Take a pound of nice sifted sugar for each pound of fruit. Put them in alternate layers, of fruit and sugar, till the jar is entirely full, then cork it, and seal it air tight.
Currants and Gooseberries may be perfectly preserved thus. Gather them, when dry, selecting only the solid ones. Take off the stalks, and put them in dry junk-bottles. Set them, _uncorked_, in a kettle of water, and slowly raise it to boiling heat, in order to drive the air out of the bottles. Then take out the bottles, cork them, and seal them air tight. Keep them in a dry place, where they will not freeze. The success of this method depends on excluding air and water.
Apples, Grapes, and such like fruit can be preserved, by packing them, when dry and solid, in dry sand or sawdust, putting alternate layers of fruit and sawdust or sand. Some sawdust gives a bad flavor to the fruit.
_Modes of Preserving Fruit Trees._
Heaps of ashes, or tanner"s bark, around peach trees, prevent the attack of the worm. The _yellows_, is a disease of peach trees, which is spread by the pollen of the blossom. When a tree begins to turn yellow, take it away, with all its roots, before it blossoms again, or it will infect other trees. Planting tansy around the roots of fruit trees, is a sure protection against worms, as it prevents the moth from depositing her egg. Equal quant.i.ties of salt and saltpetre, put around the trunk of a peach tree, half a pound to a tree, improves the size and flavor of the fruit. Apply this about the first of April, and if any trees have worms already in them, put on half the quant.i.ty, in addition, in June. To young trees, just set out, apply one ounce, in April, and another in June, close to the stem. Sandy soil is best for peaches.
Apple trees are preserved from insects, by a wash of strong ley to the body and limbs, which, if old, should be first sc.r.a.ped. Caterpillars should be removed, by cutting down their nests in a damp day. Boring a hole, in a tree infested with worms, and filling it with sulphur, will often drive them off immediately.
The _fire-blight_, or _brlure_, in pear trees, can be stopped, by cutting off all the blighted branches. It is supposed, by some, to be owing to an excess of sap, which is remedied by diminishing the roots.
The _curculio_, which destroys plums, and other stone fruit, can be checked only by gathering up all the fruit that falls, (which contains their eggs,) and destroying it. The _canker-worm_ can be checked, by applying a bandage around the body of the tree, and every evening smearing it with fresh tar.
CHAPTER x.x.xVII.
MISCELLANEOUS DIRECTIONS.
Every woman should know how to direct in regard to the proper care of domestic animals, as they often suffer from the negligence of domestics.
The following information, in reference to the care of a horse and cow, may be useful. A stable should not be very light nor very dark; its floor should be either plank or soil, as brick or stone pavements injure the feet. It should be well cleaned, every morning. A horse, kept in a stable, should be rubbed and brushed every day. A stable-horse needs as much daily exercise as trotting three miles will give him. Food or drink should never be given, when a horse is very warm with exercise, as it causes disease. A horse should be fed, three times a day. Hay, sheaf-oats, shorts, corn-meal, and bran, are the best food for horses.
When a horse is travelling, order six quarts of oats in the morning, four at noon, and six at night, and direct that neither food nor water be given till he is cool.
Keep a horse"s legs free from mud, or disease will often result from the neglect. A horse, much used, should be shod as often as once in two months. Fish-oil and strong perfumes, on the skin, keep flies from annoying a horse. Some horses are made fractious by having the check-rein so tight as to weary the muscles.
A cow should be watered three times a day, and fed with hay, potatoes, carrots, and boiled corn. Turnips and cabbages give a bad taste to the milk. Give a handful of salt to a cow, twice a week, and occasionally give the same quant.i.ty to a horse. Let them drink _pure_ water. A well-fed cow gives double the milk that she will if not fed well. A cow should go unmilked, for two months before calving, and her milk should not be used till four days after. The calf must run with the cow for four days, and then be shut from her, except thrice a day, when it should take as much food as it wants, and then the cow should be milked clean.
Hens sit twenty days, and should be well fed and watered, during this time. The first food for chickens should be coa.r.s.e dry meal. Cold and damp weather is bad for all young fowls, and they should be well protected from it. Pepper-berries are good for fowls which have diseases caused by damp and cold weather.
In Winter, much fuel may be saved, and comfort secured, by stuffing cotton into all cracks about the windows and the surbases of rooms, and by listing the doors. Cover strips of wood with baize, and nail them tight against a door, on the casing.
The following are the causes of smoky chimneys. Short and broad flues, running up straight, as a narrow flue, with a bend in it, draws best.
Large openings, at the top, draw the wind down, and should be remedied, by having the summits made tapering. A house higher than a chimney near it, sometimes makes the chimney smoke, and the evil should be remedied, by raising the chimney. Too large a throat to the fireplace, sometimes causes a chimney to smoke, and can be remedied, by a false back, or by lowering the front, with sheet iron. Shallow fireplaces give out more heat, and draw as well, as deep ones.
_House-cleaning_ should be done in dry warm weather. Several friends of the writer maintain, that cleaning paint, and windows, and floors, in _hard_, _cold_ water, without any soap, using a flannel washcloth, is much better than using warm suds. It is worth trying. In cleaning in the common way, sponges are best for windows, and clean water only should be used. They should be first wiped with linen, and then with old silk. The outside of windows should be washed with a long brush, made for the purpose; and they should be rinsed, by throwing upon them water, containing a little saltpetre.
When inviting company, mention, in the note, the day of the month and week, and the hour for coming. Provide a place for ladies to dress their hair, with a gla.s.s, pins, and combs. A pitcher of cold water, and a tumbler, should be added. When the company is small, it is becoming a common method for the table to be set at one end of the room, the lady of the house to pour out tea, and the gentlemen of the party to wait on the ladies and themselves. When tea is sent round, always send a teapot of hot water to weaken it, and a slop-bowl, or else many persons will drink their tea much stronger than they wish.
Let it ever be remembered, that the burning of lights and the breath of guests, are constantly exhausting the air of its healthful principle; therefore avoid crowding many guests into one room. Do not tempt the palate by a great variety of unhealthful dainties. Have a warm room for departing guests, that they may not become chilled before they go out.
A parlor should be furnished with candle and fire screens, for those who have weak eyes; and if, at table, a person sits with the back near the fire, a screen should be hung on the back of the chair, as it is very injurious to the whole system to have the back heated.
Pretty baskets, for flowers or fruits, on centre tables, can be made thus. Knit, with coa.r.s.e needles, all the various shades of green and brown, into a square piece. Press it with a hot iron, and then ravel it out. Buy a pretty shaped wicker basket, or make one of stiff millinet, or thin pasteboard, cut the worsted into bunches, and sew them on, to resemble moss. Then line the basket, and set a cup or dish of water in it, to hold flowers, or use it for a fruit-basket. Handsome fireboards are made, by nailing black foundation-muslin to a frame the size of the fireplace; and then cutting out flowers, from wall-paper, and pasting them on the muslin, according to the fancy.
India rubber, melted in lamp-oil, and brushed over common shoes, keeps water out, perfectly. Keep small whisk brooms, wherever gentlemen hang their clothes, both up stairs and down, and get them to use them if you can.
Boil new earthen in bran-water, putting the articles in, when cold. Do the same with porcelain kettles. Never leave wooden vessels out of doors, as they fall to pieces. In Winter, lift the handle of a pump, and cover it with blankets, to keep it from freezing.
Broken earthen and china, can often be mended, by tying it up, and boiling it in milk. _Diamond cement_, when genuine, is very effectual for the same purpose. Old putty can be softened by muriatic acid. Nail slats across nursery windows. Scatter ashes on slippery ice, at the door; or rather, remove it. Clarify impure water with powdered alum, a teaspoonful to a barrel.
NOTE.
A volume, ent.i.tled the _American Housekeeper"s Receipt Book_, prepared by the author of this work, under the supervision of several experienced housekeepers, is designed as a Supplement to this treatise on Domestic Economy. The following Preface and a.n.a.lysis of the Contents will indicate its design more fully:
_Preface (for the American Housekeeper"s Receipt Book.)_
The following objects are aimed at in this work:
_First_, to furnish an _original_ collection of receipts, which shall embrace a great variety of simple and well-cooked dishes, designed for every-day comfort and enjoyment.