A-^^. O 0^ of' * '. . ^ ^^- V •/.. .a\^ :5, " ' , V -^ ,0^ '^-"./\-?^;V"'^;o^ .Oo, ^ ^M m ,0 ^-■\_ C^. '' « 1 1 \ " >: ^ O' .•=^"^" 'C' ^*^' - - ./ "/ ■r-'-. '. .^^^ vO o^ -^^S^ s^'^ 0^ ^ o^- s^ % -V- ^,. .^^^ ^.' 3^ o 0' "^^ v^ I: sOo. a" -x\ ^'' o>' '>r './■ .\X t- ^„ .-v>:<' ■.^' •^, <.''»-^A^ . THE SOUTHERN GARDENER RECEIPT-BOOK, CONTAINING VALUABLE INFORMATION, ORIGINAL AND OTHERWISE, ON ALL SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH DOMESTIC AND KURAL AFFAIRS, GARDENING, COOKERY, BEVERAGES, DAIRY, MEDICAL, VETERINARY AND MISCELLANEOUS. THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED BY MRS. MARY L. EDGEWORTH. PHILADELPHIA : J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO, 1859. A> <^- -' a- ' Entered, according to tbe Act of Congress, in tlie year 1859, by S. C. EDGEWORTU, in tbe Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of Georgia. / ?/ THIS VOLUME Es atfectfonatels 19clrfcatcD RS. ELIZABETH THORNTON, CAMDEN, SOUTH CAROLINA, MARK OF ESTEEM FOR HER EXALTED WORTH IN ALL THE RELATIONS OF LIFE. M. L. E. (vii) PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION, The general favor with which the first two editions of this book were received by the public ; the very frequent demands for it since all the copies have been disposed of; together with the numerous solicitations of my friends for its republi- cation, have induced me to undertake a task which, I trust, will prove as valuable to others as it has been agreeable to me. To the present edition are added many original receipts, as well as some that have been carefully selected ; all of which, together with those in the former editions, have been thoroughly tested, and their value well ascertained. The aim of the author has been to present to the public, in a plain, concise and^giccessible form, information on all sub- jects appertaining to domestic and rural affairs, avoiding, as far as possible, technical language. Although the gatherings from a field so extensive must necessarily be numerous, yet the whole has been so systematically classed, and each sub- ject so arranged under its appropriate head, that the desired information may be found without trouble. Those receipts which could not, with propriety, be elsewhere arranged, have been placed under the head of Miscellaneous. ■ (ix) X PREFACE. The directions for Gardening were written expressly for this work by Mr. Phineas Thornton, of Camden, South Carolina, well known as one of the best gardeners of the South. Having been engaged in the business about forty years, his long experience, faithfully recorded, cannot be otherwise than valuable. These directions are not, as the title would indicate, limited in their usefulness to the South only ; but, on the contrary, will prove equally applicable to all sections of our country, with some little variation in time, dependent on latitude or climate. For the Medical department, prescriptions and receipts have been collected from the most reliable sources. My hus- band (a practising physician) has contributed a number of prescriptions for special diseases, which, from several years' successful use, can be confidently recommended. In the department of Cookery, much pains has been taken in proportioning the recipes, so as to adapt them to the tastes, requirements and means of all. Since so much of health, happiness and domestic comfort depends upon the proper preparation of our daily food, it should be the pride and pleasure of every housekeeper to cook well. To assist in acquiring this skill, something new will be found in this book. Mary L. Edgeworth. Fort Vallet, ' Houston County, Georgia. CONTENTS. GARDENING Page 13 COOKERY 97 Curing andCooking Meats 97 Soups 126 Pickles and Sauces 137 Vegetables 154 Bread, Cakes, &c 163 Puddings, Pies, &c 204 Preserves and Jellies 233 Preparations for the Sick 247 BEVERAGES 255 THE DAIRY 271 Profits of Cow-keeping 271 MEDICAL RECEIPTS 281 VETERINARY RECEIPTS 325 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS 393 For complete Alphabetical Index, see end of the Volume. (zi) THE SOUTHERN GARDENER AND RECEIPT BOOK. GARDENING. TO CHOOSE THE BEST SOIL FOR A GARDEN. Prefer a sandy loam, not less than two feet deep, and good earth, not of a binding nature in summer, nor retentive of rain in winter ; hut of such a texture, that it can be worked without difficulty at any season of the year. There are few sorts of fruit-trees, or esculent vegetables, which require less depth of earth to grow in than two feet, to bring them to perfection, and if the earth of the kitchen-garden be three or more feet deep, so much the better; for where the plants are in a state of maturity, if the roots, even of peas, spinach, kidney-beans, lettuce, &c., be minutely traced, they will be found to penetrate into the earth, in search of food, to the depth of two feet, provided the soil be of a nature that allows them. If it can be done, a garden should be made on land the bottom of which is not of a springy, wet nature. If this rule can be observed, draining will be unnecessary, for 2 (13) 14 GARDENINU. when land is well prepared for the growth of fruit- trees and esculent vegetables, by trenching, manur- ing, and digging, it is by these means brought into Buch a porous temperament, that rain passes through without being detained longer than is necessary. When land is of too strong a nature, it should be well mixed with gravel and sand. TO PREPARE HOT-BEDS, MANURES AND COMPOSTS. Stable manure is in the most general use for form- ing hot-beds — which are masses of this manure after it has undergone its violent fermentation. Leaves, especially oak-leaves, when perfectly decayed, form a rich mould, or excellent manure. The object of preparation in these substances, is to get rid of the violent heat produced when the fermentation is going on. It is obvious that that preparation must consist in facilitating the process. For this purpose a certain degree of moisture and air in the fermenting bodies is requisite; and hence the business of the gardener is, to turn them over frequently, and apply water, when the process appears impeded, and exclude rain, when chilled with too much water. Stable manure i^equires to lie a month or longer in ridges or beds, and to be turned over in that time thrice, before it is fit for cucumber beds of common construction. Tan bark and leaves require a month also. Fermentation is always more rapid in summer; and if the materials are spread abroad during frost, it is totally impeded. Ashes are often used with ma- nure, and promote the steadiness and duration of their heat. GARDENING. 15 SOWING SEED. The usual cause of seed not growing, is owing to their not being well rolled or pressed. When sowing on a large scale, rolling would be more expeditious ; but for small sowings, the following may answer as a substitute : — After the seed is sown, and the ground raked evenly, take a board of the length of the bed ; lay it flat on the ground, and walk the whole length of the board. This will press the soil on the seed. Then shift the board till you have thus gone over the whole bed. In dry, warm weather, cover your seed-beds for two or three days with boards laid flat on the soil, or green pine boughs, taking care to remove them at night that the beds may have air and the night dew. By this method the seed will soon vegetate and grow. Late in the spring, or during summer, seed should not be sown or planted, unless there be a good season of rain, or the ground be sufiiciently moist. In a dry time the ground might be well watered over night, and sow or plant the following morning. In this case the seed should be previously soaked in soft rain-water from twelve to forty-eight hours, par- ticularly beets, as they are difiicult to get up when sown late in the season, on account of their hard shell or covering. Therefore they should have fortj'-eight hours' soaking, letting them stand in the sun to keep the water warm. Parsnips or carrots might be soaked the same length of time. GERMINATION OF GARDEN SEED. M. Humboldt has made several experiments on the subject of the germination of seed in the oxymuriatic acid, or oxalic acid diluted with water, and has found H) GARDENING. that this acid has a remarkable effect in accelerating the progress of vegetation. Cress seed, when thrown into this fluid at the temperature of 88°, showed germs in three hours, while none were seen in water in twenty-six hours. Professor Pohl, at Dresden, pro- duced in this manner vegetation from dried seed one hundred years old ; and Messrs. Jacquere and Vanden Schott, at Vienna, have caused the growth of old seed in the botanical garden, which have resisted every other method. VEGETATION OF GARDEN SEED. The number of years during which different Garden Seed will retain the vegetative principle. YEARS. Artichoke 3 Asparagus 4 Balm 2 Basil 2 Beau 1 Beet 10 Borage 4 Broccoli 4 Burnet 6 Cabbage 4 Camomile 2 Caraway... i 4 Carrot 1 Cauliflower 4 Celery 10 Chervil 6 Cives 3 Corn 3 Corn Salad 2 Coriander 3 Cress 2 Cucumber 10 Dandelion 10 Dock 1 TEARS. Endive 4 Fennel 5 Gallic 3 Gourd 10 Hop.., 2 Horseradish 4 Hyssop 6 Jerusalem Arti- choke 3 Lavender 2 Leek 2 Lettuce 3 Marigold 2 Melon 10 Mint 4 Mustard 4 Mangel Wurzel ... 10 Marjoram . 4 Nasturtion 2 Onion 2 Parsley 6 Pea 1 Parsnip 1 Pennyroyal 2 YEARS. Potato 3 Pumpkin . 10 Purslain 2 Radish 2 Rampion 2 Rape 4 Rhubarb 1 Rosemary 3 Rue 3 Ruta Baga 4 Salsify 2 Samphire 3 Summer Savorj' .. 2 Scorzenera 2 Shalot 4 Sherret 4 Sorrel 7 Spinach 4 Squash 10 Tansy 8 Thyme 2 Tomato 2 Turnip G Wormwood 2 GAKDENING. 17 TO SAVE SEEDS. All seeds save better in their seed-vessels, but this can rarely be done, on account of the great space occupied. As soon therefore as the pods of cabbages, turnips, radishes, &c., turn brown and a part become dry, the stems should be cut and laid on a cloth or floor to dry, afterwards threshed out and hung up in bags in a dry room. ASPARAGUS May be sown any time during the month of March, in a small bed of light, rich soil, drilled in rows nine inches apart, which would be preferable to broad-cast, on account of hoeing and keeping them clear of weeds, covering them one inch deep ; should the weather prove dry, water them occasionally. In twelve months (or say in the month of February, after the plants are up), they may be set out in beds six feet wide, by twenty-five or thirty feet in length, with walks two- and-a-half feet wide between each bed, sufficient to admit a wheelbarrow. The beds are previously pre- pared by spading to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches. After the bed is leveled and raked fine, pro- ceed to lay it ofi" in trenches, across the bed, two feet apart from each other, each trench to be dug fifteen inches wide and two-and-a-half feet deep, laying up the soil in ridges between each trench. Should the natural soil not be good to that depth, the inferior at the bottom may be removed and carried off: after this is done, throw in eighteen inches of well-rotted stable manure ; after leveling the same, add two inches of soil on the manure, taken from the sides which were 2* 18 GARDENING. thrown out of the ridges ; level this also and rake it finely, and all is ready for planting. Then be careful in selecting such plants only as have good fiber, and a fine bold crown; in setting out, place them eighteen inches apart, and lay out the fiber in regular order, and not tumble them to- gether, as is too often done, to the great injury of the plants. When this is done, cover them with two inches more of the soil from the sides of the ridges, as before, and the work is done. Plants eighteen months or two years old would be preferable, as they would be more vigorous. The plants throughout the summer must be kept clear of weeds, and occasion- ally hoed, and the loose dirt gradually thrown in from the sides of the ridges. By these operations, and the summer rains, the trenches will by October be filled up as level as the bed was before setting out the roots. Upon the approach of cold weather, and after the tops have been killed by frost, they should be cut down even with the ground and carried oft"; the bed should then be covered with two or three inches of coarse stable manure, partly rotten, which should remain on the bed until spring, when it must be forked, or hoed carefully into the surface of the bed so as not to injure the crowns of the roots. Just before the shoots make their appearance in the spring, the beds should be carefully raked free from weeds. No kind of vegetable seed should be sown in the beds between the plants, as it exhausts the good- ness of the soil. The first year after planting the bed, a few of the strongest shoots may be cut, but it should be sparingly, as the roots will be all the better afterward. Continue to pursue the same system of culture every year, and the roots will rapidly in- GARDENING. 19 crease in vigor. Beds prepared in this manner, and yearly attended to, will last many years, and the pro- duce will be of a superior quality. Asparagus thrives in a light, rich soil, neither too wet nor too dry. There are two or three varieties of this plant, but the giant asparagus is the largest and most productive. By analysis it is ascertained that the elements of asparagus are mainly supplied by bone manure and superphosphate of lime. ARTICHOKE. This is a perennial plant, a fine vegetable for table use, and highly esteemed by many. There are two or three varieties. The largest globe has a dusky, purplish head; the dwarfish globe is a prolific variety, and valuable as occupying less room with its head. They are propagated by suckers, or by seed. The seed may be sown any time during the month of March, in small beds of tolerably light, good soil, drilled in rows twelve inches apart. In order to pro- cure good thrifty plants, the seed should be dropped singly nine or ten inches apart, and covered two inches deep ; work them occasionally, keeping the ground loose and light, and free from weeds. About the last of August, or early in September, the plants may be set out in large beds of a deep, rich, light soil, moist but not wet, giving the plants three feet space each way, being careful that the hearts do not get covered with the earth. It would be well to have the beds situated so as to have a gentle slope, sufficient to carry ofi" any superfluous moisture or water that might accumulate during the winter or spring. If the slope of the beds were to face the south, it might hasten the vegetation of the plants so as to produce 20 GARDENING. heads for use the following summer. Late in the fall, or about the last of November, when vegetation has ceased, the dead leaves may be removed from the plants, and the beds covered with a good coat of ma- nure from the stable, partly rotten, with fine straw, or other coarse litter, to the depth of two or three inches, observing that the plants be lightly covered. Bone dust and wood ashes also improve the soil. In the spring, before the plants begin to vegetate, the beds may be lightly spaded, or hoed, so as not to injure the plants, and raked finely afterward, in order to de- stroy all superfluous weeds. The ground should be worked occasionally during the spring and summer, so as to be kept light and loose, and free from weeds. By the above mode and treatment, the plants will bear and do well for six or seven years. After the plants have been bearing two years, the stocks may be examined in the spring (say the last of February), and two or three of the strongest or best shoots being selected for growing, the rest are removed with a knife or chisel. These shoots or suckers may be transplanted into new beds, as before described. "When all the heads from a stem are taken, cut off" the stem close to the ground, to give the plant more strength for new shoots. The plant called Jerusalem artichoke is not pro- perly an artichoke, and would not be ranked as a vegetable for the table. Its root, which is similar to a potato, contains but very little nutriment, therefore is but of little value. The growth of the plant or stalk resembles the sunflower, and is of the easiest possible cultivation ; will grow in almost any soil, and when it has once got possession of the ground it is very diflacult to eradicate : as hogs will eat them, they G A 11 D E N I N G . 21 are sometimes cultivated for that purpose. For a crop, they may be planted after the ground is well ploughed, any time in March, in drills two and a half or three feet apart, and may be planted and worked as corn crops, hilling them a little when worked with a hoe. They may be cut in two or three pieces like potatoes, and dropped in the drills twelve inches apart, and covered two or three inches deep. They will produce more abundantly in a strong, light clay soil. As the root is firm and hard, they are some- times made use of for pickles. BEETS May be sown the last of February, or early in March, and in order for a succession of crops, they may be sown till the last of April, in beds prepared of a light, strong, rich soil, and spaded to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches, and made four or five feet wide. After the beds are leveled and raked finel}'-, they may be drilled in rows, twenty inches apart. The seed may be dropped singly five or six inches apart, and covered two inches deep. As the plants will admit, thin out to stand singly twelve or fifteen inches apart. In order to have large thrifty plants, the ground should be frequently worked, and made very light and loose, and kept free from weeds. Should the fall season prove favorable by not being dry, they might be sown from the first to the tenth of August, and come to perfection before the winter sets in ; but the early sowing is most favorable to this climate. Beets sown in a light, dry soil, after the month of March, should be soaked thirty-six hours, and kept in the sun in the course of the day, to keep the water warm; after the seed is sown and raked 22 GARDENING. in, the ground should be well pressed. When the beets have their full growth, which may be noted by their tops being decayed or dead, they may be dug up, and preserved by being packed away in light, dry sand, either in boxes or barrels. It would be well to spread them on the ground for a day or two, in the shade, to give them air to evaporate the surplus moisture. Prepare the soil the autumn before plant- ing with common salt and unleached ashes, BEANS. Bush beans of all descriptions, if the spring be favorable, may be planted the first of April, and in order for a succession of crops, they should be planted once in two or three weeks till the last of May, in a light, rich soil, in trenches from two to two-and-a-half feet apart, covered two inches ; and when the plants will admit, hoe and thin them out to stand four or five inches apart. Bush beans, for a full crop, may be planted from the fifteenth of July to the twentieth of August. Pole beans, of all descriptions, may be planted from the fifth of April to the last of May, in drills from three to five feet apart, according to the height they run ; and as the plants will admit, thin them out to stand from nine to twelve inches apart. Two beans or vines may be admitted to run to one pole. Sometimes they are planted in hills from three to four feet apart each way, and three or four beans may be planted in a hill, but only two thrifty vines left to run to one pole. Those kinds which do not run so much, may be planted with corn when about six inches in height, and if the soil be light and strong, will do well ; but when this method is adopted, the corn should be planted in drills or trenches from four GARDENING. 23 to five feet apart, and the corn thinned out, leaving a space of two feet between each stalk. Then plant two or three to each stalk, leaving only two or three thrifty plants to run. Lima beans might be planted with advantage in a single row, along a border on each side of a walk, and poles might be bent over in the form of an arch for them to run on. By this means they might be easily gathered when grown. They are one of the best kind of shell beans for table use, and require a good, strong, light soil. They will bear till frost, and will stand the dry weather much better than any other kind, and are, therefore, the most profitable crop. They may be gathered in the fall, after they become dry, and laid away for winter use. By soaking them in soft water over-night, pre- vious to cooking them, they will boil very sweet and tender, and are very fine for soup. As they are more tender than other varieties, they should not be planted sooner than the tenth or fifteenth of April. Windsor beans are one of those varieties that are very hardy, and will stand the winter frost For early spring use, the}^ may be planted from the first to the middle of October, in a strong, rich soil, in trenches from two and a half to three feet apart, and covered three inches deep ; and when the plants will admit, they may be thinned out so as to stand from six to eight inches apart, and for a succession of crops they might be planted again the last of February and early in March. Wood-ashes and bone-dust, or superphosphate of lime, are suitable fertilizers. BORECOLE Is a species of cabbage, and one of those hardy plants, the leaves of which may be cut without injury 24 GARDENING. to its growth, and will produce a new crop in the course of a month or six weeks. Thej may be sown in small beds, made light and loose, about the last of February, or any time during the month of March, in drills nine inches apart, and covered one inch deep. In order to have good, thrifty plants, and of a regular size, thin them out a little soon after they are up, and in a few days more thin them ont again, so as to give the plants three or four inches space; and when the plants will admit, they may be set out in beds or squares previously dug, and made light and loose, at the distance of two-and-a-half feet apart each way. It should be observed that the land must be well manured, and in a high state of tillage, for the culti- vation of this plant, which, if kept constantly hoed, will grow very luxuriantly, and in the hottest ^^'eather be infinitely more brittle in the leaves than any other kind cultivated in gardens, which is a certain indica- tion of its being a healthy plant. It is worthy of the attention of the farmer or grazier on occount of the rapidity of its growth and the property of withstand- ing the effect of severe frost, while it affords an excel- lent vegetable for the table, and may be used with advantage for feeding cows and sheep. There are several species of this plant, but the green curled borecole is the hardiest and best. BROCCOLI. A species of cabbage cultivated for the use of the table. There are several kinds of this plant, but the purple Cape Broccoli is said to be the best. It may be sown about the latter end of February or early in March, in any tolerable soil, in drills eight or nine inches apart, and covered one inch deep ; and when GARDENING. 25 plants have germinated eight leaves, they should be transplanted into nursery beds, in rows twelve inches apart, and the plants five or six inches from each other. By this means the plants would have a more regular, stout growth. Should the weather prove dry, they might be frequently watered, which should be done at night, observing to stir the ground loose around the plants the following morning; and in order to make them flourish and grow, they should be kept in a good state of tillage, and free from weeds during the whole growth. About the first of May ■they may be set out in large beds of a light, strong soil, and well sheltered, or where the shade would strike them early in the day, giving them a few hours of the early morning sun : give the plants two feet space from each other. As our summers frequently prove too hot and dry for the early sowing and plant- ing of this vegetable to mature and come to perfec- tion, they might be sown about the middle of July, on shady beds or borders, and watered occasionally should the weather prove dry, observing when the plants are well up to thin them out six or eight inches apart, to give them a good regular growth ; and about the middle of August they might be set out in beds, as above described. They would then be apt to flower and head well before the hard weather set in. Should the winter prove mild, they would continue to head and put out during the winter season. Broccoli re- quires the same manures as cabbage. CAULIFLOWER. The early cauliflower may be sown from the tenth to the last of February, in any tolerable soil, in drills six inches apart, and covered one inch deep : and 3 26 GARDENING. when they produce three leaves they may be put into nursery beds, as the broccoli, and about the last of April set out or transplanted, where they may remain, giving them a good, light soil. The late cauliflower may be sown about the last of April, and set out in nursery beds as above ; and about the last of June, may be set out where they are to remain, giving them a space of two feet each way. Those that are headed must have the heads shaded by breaking the large leaves over them. CARROTS. For summer use, may be sown from the middle of February to the last of March, in beds prepared four feet wide, of a light, rich soil, drilled in rows twelve inches apart, and covered one inch deep. As soon as the plants are well up, they may be thinned out, to stand one or two inches apart, and as they advance a little in size, thin them out to stand three or four inches from each other. By this mode, and frequently stirring the ground finely, the roots will be of a regu- lar and good size. For winter and spring use, carrots may be sown from the first to the last of August, and treated as above. Carrots should not be sown late in the spring, and early in the fall, unless there be a good season of rain, observing to roll or press the ground after the seeds are raked in. The salt and lime mixture, composted with leaf-mould, a little plaster of Paris, bone-dust, and wood-ashes, are the special manures. EARLY CABBAGE May be sown the last of January, or early in Feb- ruary, in warm beds of any tolerably light soil, either G A 11 D E N I N G . 27 in broad-cast, or in drills nine inches apart, which would be preferable, on account of hoeing and keep- ing them free from weeds : cover them one inch deep, and when the plants are well up, the}^ may be thinned out to stand two or three inches apart. By this means they will be more thrifty, and regular in size. When the plants will admit, they may be set out in beds of rich mould, previously made loose and light, each plant two feet apart. Late cabbage may be sown the last of May, or any time in June, and remain in the beds till August be- fore transplanting, and may be set out in the same manner as the early ones. Green glazed cabbage may be sown any time in February or March, and treated as the others, only giving them a little more space when transplanted. Early cabbage, sown from the twentieth of Septem- ber, to the first of October, on a warm border, would produce heads two or three weeks earlier, should the winter prove favorable, and not too severe. RAISING CABBAGE FROM CUTTINGS. A neighbor of ours tells us, that he, accidentally, raised some fine cabbage from cuttings last year. Some pieces of old stumps happened to be buried in the spring, at the proper depth. They soon sent up shoots (one each) at an early day, and formed excel- lent heads. There was no tendency to seed, any more than from plants obtained in the usual way. To try the experiment of getting early cabbage in this way, cut the stump into small pieces, with one bud on each ; plant and cultivate them as you would plants from the seed. 28 GARDENING. TO KILL LICE ON CABBAGE. Last year I had one quarter of an acre of cabbage that were nearly covered with the cabbage-louse. I took off the outside leaves, and burned them. Having a few gallons of very strong tobacco liquor (left after sheep-shearing,) which I diluted by adding soap-suds from the wash, I sprinkled the plants very thoroughly from a watering-pot. I believe it killed every louse, for I did not discover one afterwards. TO DESTROY WORMS ON CABBAGE. Tobacco-leaves strewn upon and among cabbage are said to be effectual in preventing the ravages of cabbage- worms. SOLID CELERY May be sown in March, on a small bed of light rich soil, in drills six or nine inches apart, and cover- ed lightly. When the plants are up to the height of an inch or two, they may be thinned out to stand three or four inches apart, so as to give them a regu- lar, good growth. Should the weather prove dry, the plants may be occasionally watered at night, observing to stir the ground between the plants the following morning. AVhen the plants are from six to nine inches in height, and have acquired a stocky growth, they may be set out in a very rich, moist soil, previously prepared, in trenches three feet apart and a spade deep : lay the earth on each side of the trenches, and dig the bottom, leaving them level : place the plants along the trenches upright six inches apart, and water them, should the weather prove dry afterwards; they might be shaded in the day for two or three days till GARDENING. 29 they have taken root. In three or four weeks draw the eartli to each side of the plants, breaking it fine : do this in dry weatlier, and be careful not to bury the hearts: repeat the earthing once in ten or twelve days till the plants are fit for use. In order for a succession of crops they may be sown in April and May, and treated as above. Seeds sown later than April should be sown in a moist, shady situation, and the ground well pressed. As they are sometimes diflicult to get up when sown late, it might be well to water the beds for three or four evenings, should the weather prove dry, and cover them in the day with green pine boughs. Salt and ashes would be a good manure. CURLED CRESS, OR PEPPERGRASS, May be sown the last of March, or early in April, in beds of a tolerably good soil, in drills six inches apart, and covered lightly ; and in order for a succes- sion of crops it may be sown once in two or three weeks, till the last of May. Garden cress may be sown as above, only give it nine inches space between the drills, and as soon as well up thin them out so that the plants may stand single two or three inches apart. CUCUMBERS, For early use, may be planted about the first of April, in a good, warm, light soil : should the nights prove cool about the time they should come up, or after, the hills may be covered with straw at night, and removed in the day, when the sun is up, so as to warm the hills. For a succession of crops, the long green may be planted for pickling the last of May, 3* 30 GARDENING. and early in June, in a moist soil, so it be light and good ; the early sort in hills four feet apart each way ; and the long green, or late sort, in hills six feet apart each way, leaving only one thrifty plant in a hill to grow. Put no fresh manure in the hills, as it is too powerful, and will cause them to wilt and die. If the soil be light and poor, make up hills about two feet square, by throwing out the soil to the depth of fifteen or eighteen inches ; then fill up the hole with good rich mould, well pulverized : a little of the top soil first taken ofi:" might be mixed with the mould near the top, observing to leave the hill only a little above the level of the ground. In order that they may be kept in a flourishing state, and bear till late, the ground must be kept loose and free from weeds, and no cucumber suftered to remain on the vine till full grown, except such as are wanted for seed. Should the weather prove very dry, they might be oc- casionally watered at night, by filling a small trench — made before the vines commence running — with water, that it may run to the roots. This is prefer- able to sprinkling water on the tops of the hills, or plants, as the vines are very tender. The seeds should not be planted till the ground is warm ; they will then come up quick, and grow without any obstruction ; otherwise, if they come up, and get stunted by thd cold, they do not flourish well afterwards. For a fall crop for pickling, they might be planted the last of July, and early in August. To save cucumbers from the streaked bug, plant an onion in each hill. When cucumbers are planted later than the month of April, it would be well to spread a coat of fine straw on the ground between the hills, to the depth of three or four inches, immediately after a rain. GARDENING. 31 By this method they would not suffer by the drought ; and if the season prove wet, the vines will not be so liable to rot. NOVEL METHOD OF RAISING CUCUMBERS. After all that the doctors have said against cucum- bers, they are still a welcome dish upon most tables, and, when eaten in moderation, are probably health- ful. That they are not so when eaten immoderately, is, we have no doubt, also true. Cucumbers are most sought after early in the season, and we will now proceed to tell how we managed last year to have them in perfection long before they were plentiful in market. Having cleared the soil to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches from a space four feet in diameter, we placed an old nail-keg in the centre, and filled up around with fresh manure, and covered it over with six or eight inches of earth, forming a mound of a foot or more in height, and six feet in diameter, with the open-ended keg in the centre, into which in very dry weather we could pour water, which would escape into the manure through the openings, and prevent the perishing of the vines. The seeds were planted in the mound (not in the keg, for that was empty) in March or in April, and the heat of the fermenting manure forced them vigorously. We had heavy frost afterward, and the surface of the earth was completely frozen ; but it was only necessary to lay a board over the plants, and the warmth below was amply sufiacient to protect them. The only object in using the keg was to prevent the water from running off and form- ing gutters down the sides of the mound. The plan worked well, and as it may be advantageous to 32 GARDENING. others also, we publish it for the general benefit. A frame for the vines to run upon is advantageous. EGG PLANT May be sown on a warm border about the first of April, in drills nine inches-ifpart, and covered one inch deep ; and where the plants will admit, they may be set out in beds of a light, rich soil, giving them two feet space each way between the plants ; hoe, and keep them free from weeds, and as they advance in size draw a little earth around the stems. There are two varieties of this plant, the white and the purple : the latter is preferable for table use ; the white is more for ornament, as the growth is not so large. The plants may be set out eighteen inches apart. They make a handsome ornament for the flower-pot. GHERKINS May be planted from the middle of April to the last of May, in any tolerable soil, so that it is light and warm, in hills six or eight feet apart, leaving but one thrifty plant in a hill to grow. If they be kept free from weeds, and the summer is moderately dry, they will bear abundantly till frost. They are very fine for pickles. GOURDS May be planted from the first to the last of April, in a good, light, rich soil, in hills six or eight feet apart. And the mammoth gourd may be planted from the middle of March to the last of April, in hills from eight to ten feet apart. GARDENING. 33 KAIL, For early spring greens, may be sown about the last of January, in small beds of a light, rich soil, in drills twelve inches apart, and covered one inch deep. As soon as the plants are well up, thin them out to stand two or three inches apart: afterward they may be thinned out for use as they advance in size: those that remain for seed should have fifteen or eighteen inches space. LETTUCE, For early use, may be sown the last of January on warm borders of a light, rich soil, prepared well and raked fine, in drills nine inches apart, and covered lightly ; and in order that the plants may be fine, and of a regular size, thin them out as soon as they are well up, to stand three or four inches apart ; stir the ground frequently, and keep them free from weeds. As soon as the plants will admit, set them out in beds, or round the borders, fifteen inches apart; if the ground be very rich and light, they will head well. In order for a succession they may be sown once in three or four weeks till the last of April. Wood- ashes, common salt and animal manure will improve the soil. LAVENDER, SAGE, BALM, TANSY, THYME, RUE, ROSEMARY OR OTHER HERBS, May be sown by the last of March, or early in April, in small beds made light and fine, and drilled in rows nine inches apart, and covered one inch deep. "When the plants will admit, they may be thinned out, to stand four or five inches apart: in the following winter, say in January or February, they may be set out 34 GARDENING. in small beds, each plant from eighteen inches to two feet apart, according to the size they grow. MUSTARD, For winter use, may be sown from the middle of September to the middle of October, on warm borders of a tolerably rich, light soil, and covered lightly in drills fifteen inches apart ; for spring use, it may be sown again from the middle to the last of February, in beds spaded and well prepared, in drills eighteen inches apart. In order that the plants may flourish and grow quick, thin them out as soon as they are well up, to stand two or three inches apart. After- wards they may be thinned out as wanted for use. Those that are to remain for seed should be thinned out to stand twelve or fifteen inches apart. NASTURTIONS May be sown the last of March, or early in April, in a very light, rich soil, in drills four feet apart ; drop the seeds three or four inches apart, and cover them two inches deep : when the plants will admit, thin them out, to stand nine inches apart. The plants should be supported from the ground b}' bushy sticks. Should the spring be dry, they should be occasionally watered in the evening, observing to stir the ground around the roots loosely the following morning. In a warm climate they would flourish best planted on a shady border, where the shade would strike them early in the day. The leaves, as well as the fruit, are sometimes used for pickles. As it is very ornament- al, they might be planted in boxes, with a light, rich soil, one seed in a box, and watered every evening till they come up, and placed on a shelf on the shady GARDENING. 35 side of the house. They should be watered every evening, if the weather be dry, and the ground loosened around the plant the following morning. By this method the plants will grow very luxuriantly. OKRA May be planted any time in the month of April, in a large bed of light, rich soil, drilled in rows four feet apart, and covered one inch deep. When the plants will admit, thin them out, to stand one-and-a- half or two feet apart, according to the strength of the ground. If the okra be planted in drills, six feet apart, cucumbers might be planted in hills between the rows, and do very well. MODE OF RAISING ONIONS IN THE TOWN OF WETHERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT. The town of "Wethersfield has long been famous for the large quantities of onions which are annually raised, and exported to the West Indies and the southern States. It has been superstitiously supposed that there is something in the soil of Wethersfield peculiarly adapted to the culture of onions ; and this whim has, no doubt, discouraged many from attempt- ing the cultivation of this valuable root in other sec- tions of the country equally favorable to its growth. It is true the soil of Wethersfield is a rich, sandy loam, well adapted to horticultural purposes ; but the suc- cess of its inhabitants in the cultivation of onions, is attributable in a much greater degree to a particular virtue in the fingers of its females, than any peculiar properties of its soil. The business of raising onions in Wethersfield is reduced to a perfect system. The following is the So GARDENING. method of cultivation : Early in the spring, the laud is manured by ploughing in fine manure from the stable or barn-yard, in the proportion of about ten loads to the acre. That of neat cattle is preferred, as that of horses is considered of too heating a nature. Ashes, bone-dust and the salt and lime mixture are also good fertilizers. After the manure is ploughed in, the land is well harrowed and laid out in beds five feet wide. The beds are laid out by turning a furrow toward them each way. This raises the bed above the aisles, and gives an opportunity for the water to run ofl", should there be occasion for it. They are then raked with an iron tooth or common hay-rake, and the aisles suflered to remain as left by the plough. Thus pre- pared, the beds are ready to receive the seed. As early as the season will admit, the seed is sown in the following manner: a rake with teeth a foot apart is drawn crosswise to the beds, for the purpose of making drills for the reception of the seeds. The seed is then sown in the drills with the thumb and fingers, and covered with the hand. From ten to twelve pounds of seed are put upon an acre. After the plants come up they are kept free from weeds, which generally requires four weedings; a hoe of suitable width to pass between the rows is used in weeding, which saves much labor. When ripe, they are pulled, and the tops cut off with a knife. A suf- ficient length of top is left to tie them to the straw in roping, or in bunches of three and a half pounds, as required by a law of the State. An ordinary crop is from six thousand to eight thousand ropes to the acre. The qttantit}' annually raised in the town is estimated from one million to two millions and a half of ropes, G A K D E N I N a . 3? whicli are sold at an average price of two dollars a hundred, amounting to from twenty to thirty thou- sand dollars. Most of the labor of raising onions in Wethersfield is performed by females. The cultivation of an acre requires from fifty to sixty days' labor of a female, whose rate of wages, including board, is about torty-two cents a day. Though many of the young ladies of Wethersfield spend a portion of their time in their onion gardens, yet in personal beauty, education, and politeness, they are not excelled by moat females of far less industrious habits. LEEKS May be sown early in September on a warm border open to the south, in drills nine inches apart, and covered lightly. About the middle of February fol- lowing, the plants may be drawn up and set out in beds of four or five feet wide, previously prepared by spading in rich manure well rotted and pulverized, and the beds may be laid off in trenches of four or five inches deep, and fifteen inches apart. Make holes with a dibble three inches deep at the bottom of the trench, and six inches apart, to receive the roots. A portion of the straggling roots and tops may be crop- ped or cut oflT; when the plants are set, close the dirt lightly around the roots, leave the trench open, and draw up the earth to the plants as they grow till the trenches are made level. By this method the roots will be fine and well blanched. PARSNIPS May be sown about the last of February, or any time during the month of March, in beds prepared 4 do GAKDENING. four feet wide, of a very rich, light eaitli, dug at least a full spade deep, and drilled iu rows eighteen inches apart, and covered one incli deep. AYhen the plants will admit, they may be thinned out to stand twelve or fifteen inches apart. Cabbage-seed may be drilled between each row-, and do well, as the cabbages would be remvoed before they would prove an injury to the parsnips. Peppergrass might also be sown in drills be- tween the parsnips, and would prove no injury, as it is made use ofi" as salads, or rather used wdth lettuce, and would be removed before the parsnips got to be of any size. As parsnips, carrots, and beets, are difficult seed to get up when sown late, they should not be sown after the month of March, without a good season of rain, soaking the parsnips and carrots from twenty- four to thirty-six hours, and the beets forty-eight hours before planting, either in warm water or letting it stand in the sun, which Avill answer the purpose, observing to press the ground well after the seed is sown and raked in ; and if the soil is light and dry, it would be well, after the seed is raked in, to cover the bed a few days with plank or green pine bushes, observing to remore them at night to give the beds air, and to have the advantage of the night dews. By this method they will not fail to come up, if the seed is good. Potash and phosphoric acid are the elements most likely to be wanting in the soil. Apply wood-ashes and bone-dust. PARSLEY May be sown early in Februarj^, but would do best sown in September, in small beds of a good, light soil, in drills six inches apart, and covered one inch deep. GARDENING. SS^ As soon as the plants will admit, thin them out to stand three or four inches apart. As parsley-seed seldom vegetates under five or six weeks, it would be best to give it rather a shady border ; and if sown after February, it would be advisable to soak the seed t^velve hours in water, mixed with sulphur, observing to press the ground well after the seed is raked in ; and should the weather prove dry afterwards, occasion- ally water the bed. By this method it would soon vegetate and come up. PEPPERS May be sown from the tenth to the last of April, in small beds of a light, rich soil, thinl}', in drills fifteen to eighteen inches apart, and covered one inch deep. As soon as the plants will admit, thin them out to stand twelve inches apart. Those plants that are drawn out may be transplanted into large beds, of a strong, rich soil, giving them eighteen inches space each way. ENGLISH PEAS, For an early spring crop, may be planted any time in December in a light, rich soil, drilled in rows four feet apart, and those that grow very tall require five feet space, covering them two inches deep. As the winter often proves too severe, they might do full as well, or better, planted the last of January, or early in Februarj' ; and in order for a succession of crops, they ma}' be planted once in three or four weeks after, till the middle of April. They have been proved to do full as well, or better, planted in ridges around the edges or borders of beds, which makes a great saving of ground, and renders the gathering much easier. It is a good plan to plant two rows together, about nine 40 GARDENING. inches apart, so that by setting bushes between them both rows may be held up. The ground should be frequently stirred and made tine around the roots, and kept free from weeds ; and, as they advance in height, draw a little earth to the stems. Peas that do not require sticks may be planted in drills two-and-a- half feet apart, or on the edges or borders of beds, as the other kind. Ashes and bone, or superphosphate of lime, are good manures. RADISHES. This root being liable to be eaten by worms, the following method is recommended -for raising them. Take equal quantities of buckwheat-bran and fresh horse-manure, and mix them well and plentifully, and spread a thick coat on the bed intended for sowing, and spade it in, so that it may get thoroughly mixed. Suddenly after this a great fermentation will be pro- duced, and a number of toadstools (a kind of mush- room) will start up in forty-eight hours. Dig the ground over again, and sow the seeds in drills early in February, and when well up, they may be thinned out, regularly, to stand three or four inches apart, and keep the ground loose and free from weeds. By this method they will grow with great rapidity, and be free from insects. Buckwheat-bran is an excellent manure of itself; also ashes and superphosphate of lime. A second crop of radishes might be raised on the same bed after the first is done, by spading up the ground, and sowing and managing as at first. RHUBARB, OR PIE PLANT. This may be propagated either by seed or cuttings: the seeds may be sown on a warm bed early in March, GARDENING. 41 in drills eighteen inches apart, and dropped thinly ; and when well up and in a growing state, they may be thinned out, in order to give the plants a good, re- gular growth, to stand six inches apart. The soil should be kept light and loose around the plants, and free from weeds during the summer: and in the month of September following, the plants may be removed to a stationary bed, previously prepared, of a deep rich mold, well spaded in, the ground inclined to be moist, but not wet. The plants may be set out two- and-a-half feet each w^ay ; and, before the cold wea- ther sets in, there may be a coat of half-rotted manure spread over the beds, which will benefit and strengthen the roots. The after management of rhubarb requires good culture, and keeping clean ; and every fall the beds should have a good coat of well-rotted ma- nure spread over. As young plants produce the most tender stalks or canes, new beds should be made once in three j^ears, which might be done by dividing the old roots and crowns in such a manner that each set has one or more eyes, and planting in September, as above stated. Rhubarb is remarkable for the quantity of phosphates and soda it extracts from the earth. Crude soda or bone-dust may also be added as a fer- tilizer. SALSIFY OR VEGETABLE OYSTER, Is a white root, resembling a parsnip, and may be sown in small beds, and cultivated in the same manner. SHALLOTS May be planted by the middle or the last of Feb- ruary, in drills about fifteen inches apart, laid open three or four inches deep, and in each drill put a 4 * 42 GARDENING. sprinkling of salt evenly, and upon that a layer of dry soot, about half an inch thick; then plant the roots upon it, about six inches apart, and cover up the drill evenly, with the earth firmly round the roots; keep them free from weeds during their growth, and work the ground evenly, without drawing up the earth round the roots. By this method they will pro- duce fine large bulbs. SPINACH, For winter use, may be sown the last of September, and again in October ; and in order to have a succes- sion of crops for spring use, it may be sown again in February and early in March, in a light strong soil, drilled in rows fifteen inches apart, and covered one inch deep. As soon as the plants are well up, thin them out to stand three or four inches apart ; after- ward they may be thinned out for use as they advance in size. If any are left to remain for seed, they should have about fifteen inches space. NEW ZEALAND SPINACH, A new valuable sort, which may be planted from the twentieth of February to the last of March, in beds prepared, four feet wide, of a good, light, rich mold, in drills twenty inches apart, the seeds dropped singly six inches apart in the drill, and covered nearly two inches deep; and if they should all come up, the plants may be thinned out, to stand eighteen inches apart, and those plants that are taken up will do very well, transplanted in beds as above, giving them the same space. If the ground is well stirred, and the plants kept free from weeds while young, it will spread and be very luxuriant. As it stands the dry GARDENING. 43 hot weather better tljan almost any other plant, it hears well till frost; as the leaves are plucked off for use, they will put out again. SUMMER SAVORY May he sown the last of March, or any time during the month of April, in small beds of almost any to- lerable soil, drilled in rows nine inches apart, and covered lightly. Keep the ground loose, and free from weeds, during the growth of the plant. SPRING TURNIP May be sown the middle of February for early use, and again till the last of March for a succession, in any tolerably good, light soil, drilled in rows fifteen or eighteen inches apart, and covered one inch deep. As soon as the plants are well up, so as to be able to get hold of them with the fingers, thin them out to stand singly one or two inches apart ; and as they advance in size, so as to crowd and touch each other, thin them out again so as to give them three or four inches space : afterwards they may be thinned out for use, giving them a little more space as they advance in size : keep the ground loose and light round the roots, and free from weeds. By this method the tur- nips will be always well rooted, and the tops very fine. Many persons have said, they never succeed in raising spring turnips, and for that reason have given up the cultivation of them. There are two very good reasons why these people are unsuccessful in their cultivation : one is, that they do not thin them out so as to allow sufiicient space ; and the next reason is, that tliey do not sufficiently work the ground, so as to get rid of the weeds. The author of this work 44 GARDENING. has cultivated spring turnips for upwards of thirty years past, and has never failed one spring, when sown early, in having ver}- fine large roots. The common late, flat turnip may be sown from the first of August to the tenth of September, either in broad- cast, or drilled in rows as the spring turnip, which would be preferable, in order to work or keep them free from weeds. They should have about eighteen or twenty inches space betAveen the rows, or more, if the ground be strong. The large Norfolk field turnip should have two feet space between the rows, or more, if the ground be strong. New ground, enclosed a year before planting (where cows have used,) is said to be preferable for fall turnips. Previous to sowing, plough it two ways, and run a harrow over it to level and break the ground loose. Hanover turnips may be sown from the twentieth of July to the middle of August: but the early sowing, tiie last of July or the first of August, will be best, if there should be a good season of rain, as the roots will then have time to get their growth before the winter sets in. They require a strong light soil, either spaded or well ploughed ; they may be sown in drills twenty inches or two feet apart, and covered one inch deep. As soon as the plants will admit, thin them, to stand fifteen inches apart ; those that are drawn out may be transplanted and do very well. REMEDY FOR DESTROYING THE TURNIP-FLY. A remedy for destroying the turnip-fly is to get a quantity of lime from the kilns, in lumps or shells, which, put into a shed, or under cover, and slack it with tobacco water ; when it is slacked into a powder, sow it carefully upon the young plants. If any farmer GARDENING. 45 will try this simple remedy, his turnip crop may be saved from the destruction of the fly. Immediately after rain, or while the dew is on the turnip, is the best time for sowing the lime, when it adheres to the leaves of the young plants. RUTA-BAGA, — QUALITY OF LAND, MANNER OF SOWING, CULTIVATION, &c. A late fall turnip, has a smooth leaf like a cabbage, and is known in the State of JSTew York by the name of the yellow Russian turnip. There are other varie- ties similar, which have a leaf of a yellowish green, while the leaf of the ruta-baga is of a bluish green, like the green of peas when nearly full-grown, or like the green of a young and thrifty early York cabbage. The outside of the bulb of the ruta-baga is of a green- ish hue, mixed toward the top with a color bordering on a red ; and the inside of the bulb, if the sort be true and genuine, is of a deep yellow. The time of sowing in the State of New York is from the twenty-fifth of June to the tenth of July ; but as our seasons here are much longer, and the latter part of the summer generally hot and dry, it would be advisable not to sow sooner than the twentieth of July, and not later than the middle of August. As a tine, rich garden mold, of a great depth, and having a porous stratum under it, is best for ever}-- thing that vegetates, except plants that live best in water, so it is best for the ruta-baga. But Cobbett, on the culture of this root, says : " There is no soil in which it may not be cultivated with great facility, ex- cept a pure sand, or very stifl:' clay." A few days previously to sowing, the ground must be plowed into ridges, having two furrows on each side of the ridge, so that every ridge consists of four fur- 46 GARDENING. rows, or turnings of the plow, making the tops of the ridges nearly, or quite, three feet from each other. As the plowing should be deep, it will of course have a deep gutter between every two ridges. If the ground be not strong, rotten stubble manure may be placed under the middle of each ridge, be- neath where the seed is sown. The ground being prepared, lay open a trench in each ridge or roAv, and sow the seed very thinly, so that they may not touch each other, and cover them one inch deep, observing to press the ground well that the seed may vegetate quickly before the earth gets too dry. This is always a good thing to be done even with any kind of seed that is sown lightly, especially in dry weather and under a hot sun. Seed are very small things. When we see them covered over with the earth we conclude that all is safe, but if they do not vegetate and come up, they are then pronounced bad seed. We should remember that a very small cavity is sufficient to keep them untouched nearly all around, in which case, under a hot sun, and near the surface, unless they are well pressed after sowing, they are sure to perish. As soon as the plants are well up, they may be thinned out so as to give them two or three inches space ; and when theplants will admit they may be thinned out again, giving them fifteen inches space to stand. Those plants that are drawn out may be transplanted. As soon as the grass begins to make its appearance, the tops of the ridges around the plants may be hoed six inches in width. Then, with a single horse-plow, take a furrow from the side of one ridge going up the field, a furrow from the other side coming down, then another furrow from the same side of the first ridge going up, and another from the same side of the other GARDENING. 47 ridge coming down, observing to plow within three or (bur inches of the plant. This turns a ridge over the original gutter. Then observe to turn these fur- rows back again to the turnips. In this manner the weeds are nearly, or quite, all destroyed. When the weeds again make their appearance it will be neces- sary to repeat the same operation with the hoe and plow as before, which may suffice, unless the ground has been uncommonly grassy. Should it be necessary to work it the third time, the application of the hoe may answer. From the above mode of cultivation, the plants or leaves will be so productive as nearly to touch each other in the middle between the ridges. Cobbett states that from the above mode of cultivation, he has raised upward of a thousand bushels from one acre of ground on Long Island, New York, the tur- nips on an average weighing upward of seven pounds each. Transplanting is a mode said to be preferable, the ground plowed up and made into ridges as above. The plants may be obtained either from those which are thinned out by the first mode of planting, or from seed previously sown in small beds of a rich, light soil, drilled in rows twelve inches apart. They should be thinned out as soon as they are well up, to stand two or three inches apart, in order that the plants may be more thrifty and regular in size. As soon as the plants are large enough, they may be transplanted, giving them the space above mentioned. A moderate season of rain is preferable to too much wet. The mode of planting is as follows : First, the hole is made sufficiently deep — deeper than the root really re- quires, so that it be not bent at the point, if it can be avoided ; then, while one hand holds the plant with its root in the hole, the other hand applies 48 GARDENING. the setting stick to the earth on one side of the hole, the stick being held in such a wa^^ as to form a sharp angle with the plant; then pushing the stick down so that its point goes a little deeper than the point of the root, and giving it a little twist, it presses the earth against the point or bottom of the root, and thus all is safe, and the plant is sure to grow. The general and almost universal fault is, that the planter, when he has put the root into the hole, draws the earth up against the upper part of the root or stem ; and if he presses pretty well there, he thinks that the planting is well done ; but it is the point of the root against which the earth ought to be pressed : for there the fibres are, and if they do not touch the earth closely, the plant will not thrive. The above mode will ap- ply to cabbage and all other plants that are removed. If the ground was plowed or prepared in the fall or winter before, so mucli the better ; the plowing, as before observed, should be very deep, and the ridges well laid up. In this situation it would, by the succession of frosts be shaken and broken tine as powder, by March or April. It should then be turned back, always plowing deep; then, pre- vious to sowing, the manure may be put in the ridges and plowed and sown as first described. As the winters at the North are too severe for the ruta-baga, they are harvested or taken up the last of November, and either put in cellars or hills prepared in such a manner as to keep out the frost. In this climate they would keep in the ground during the winter without injury. The tops, as well as the roots, arc excellent food for cattle, hogs, or sheep. By cutting up the roots, and boiling or steaming them, with a little meal added, they arf excellent food for hosrs. GARDENING. 49 STRAAVBERRIES. New beds of strawberries may be formed in this climate early in the month of September, made up in beds of four feet and a half or five feet wide, in a good, light soil, neither too moist nor too dry. The most suitable manure for strawberries is composed of rotten leaves or decayed, wood, mixed, with other rot- ten vegetable substances scraped from the stable-yard. Walks may be made between the beds, of about two and a half feet wide, sufficient to admit a wheelbar- row, for the purpose of manuring the beds from time to time as may be required. The plants may be pro- cured, from the roots that have formed from the run- ners on old beds, of the growth of the past season, or the year before, which would be preferable, as they would bear more abundantly the next season. Three rows may be set out in each bed; one row on each side, twelve inches from the border, and one row in the middle, so that the plants may have eighteen or twenty inches space from each other both ways : let them be covered two or three inches deep. Should the weather prove dry afterward, they might occasion- ally be watered a few times of an evening, till they take root. Nothing more need be done, but keeping the soil light and loose between the plants, and free from weeds till frost. After the leaves have become dead or decayed, and before the ground freezes, they may be carefully taken off with the hand close to the crown of the root. The beds may then be covered two or three inches thick with a good coat of manure (half rotted) from the stable or cow-3'ard, or composed of decayed vegetable mold, as before stated, being careful that it be free from grass-seed of any kind. 5 50 GARDENING. Early in the spring, before vegetation begins to grow, spread over the beds a slight covering of straw, and set fire to it : this will consnme all the decayed leaves, &c., left from last season, and leave the whole neat and clean. The earth may be lightly turned in be- tween the plants, being careful not to injure the roots ; then spread on a thin coat of fine manure, well pulverized, raked from the yard, and mixed with ashes, which will warm the ground, and bring on the plants more speedily. After the plants are in a good growing state and begin to blossom, spread on a good covering of fine straw, two inches thick, when the straw is wet and the weather damp, taking care that it be spread on evenly, and that no part of the ground be left bare. This method brings on the fruit earlier, and ripens it finely, and produces a better quality: it likewise keeps the fruit clean, and free from dirt or sand. After this the vines should not be disturbed, until they have done bearing. As soon as the fruit is gone, the runners should occasionally be taken ofip" as they appear, and the beds kept free from weeds during the summer, which may be done by hand as they show themselves. In the fall when the leaves are decayed, the straw may be removed into the sta- ble-yard, and mixed with other manure to rot. If any plants are then missing, they may be replaced with young plants, such as before stated. They should not be set later than the month of September. The beds may then have another coat or dressing, to preserve them from the severity of the winter, as be- fore mentioned. If the above mode is adopted in the culture of the strawberry, they will bear and do well for many years. Where there are male and female plants, such as GAKDENING. 51 the hautboys are stated to be, it would do well to mix the male plants regularly when setting out, in each row; say one male to every six female plants. A solution prepared as follows may be used with ad- vantage : a pound each of nitrate of potash, glauber salts and sal-soda ; and of muriate of amonia a quarter of a pound; dissolved in thirty gallons of rain or river water. Use this quantity in three applications at intervals of about a week; the first when the green leaves begin to start, and the last just before the plants are in full bloom. Between the applications, when the weather is dry, give them clear, soft water, as the growth of the young leaves is so rapid that, unless watered, the sun will scorch them. Make the application towards evening, with a watering-pot. OBSERVATIONS ON THE CULTURE OF THE STRAWBERRY, BY A. J. DOWNING. The strawberry is certainly one of the most valu- able and delicious of all the smaller fruits. It is not easily cultivated. It yields an abundant crop in a short time, from a very limited space of ground ; and while its pleasant sub-acid flavor is agreeable, and forms one of the most delightful additions to the dessert in summer, it is also extremely wholesome, never, as is the case with most other fruits, under- going the acetous fermentation. In some diseases it has been highly beneficial, and it is afiirmed that Linnseus was cured of the gout by an abundant use of these berries. The strawberry, though a low, herba- ceous plant, sends dowm remarkably strong roots. In good soils these are often found to penetrate to the 52 GARDENIXG. depth of fifteen inches, or more, in a season. It is neceessary, therefore, to produce a fine bed, that the soil be deep as well as rich : where the sub-soil is not positively bad, the ground is always much improved by trenching (two spades deep) before setting the plants. In doing this, a good coat of manure should be deposited between the two spots. Old garden soils, which have been long cultivated, are astonish- ingly improved by this practice, the whole becoming renewed by the presence of the fresh soil; and the growth of plants in such mold, when again acted upon by the sun and air, is of course proportionately vigorous. A deep, yellow loam, rather damp than dry, is undoubtedly the preferable soil for this plant : but almost anj' soil, for so limited a species of culture, may, in the hands of a judicious gardener, be rendered suitable for it. We have seen splendid crops of fruit upon a very stift', yellow clay, mellowed down by mixing with anthracite coal ashes and manure. The best season for making new plantations of the strawberry is either in the spring, the latter part of February, or early in March, or directly after the beds have ceased bearing in August. If the latter time is chosen, the plants generally get sufficiently well estab- lished to bear a considerable crop the ensuing year. There are various modes in which to plant the beds when formed. Some arrange the plants so as to be kept in hills, others in rows, and others again allow them to cover the whole surfiice of the bed. We con- sider the first method preferable, as in that way the ground can be kept cultivated between the plants ; the fruit is generally larger and finer, being more ex- posed to the genial influence of the sun, and the GARDENING. 53 duration of the bed is greater. Three or four rows may be planted in each bed, at a suitable distance apart, and the runners from the rows should be short- ened and cut off about three times during the season. If the plants are not thriving well, a light top-dress- ing between the rows in autumn will be of great ad- vantage. Burning of the upper surface of the bed in the spring has been highly recommended by some persons ; but we have never found it to answer our expectations upon trial. This fruit receives its name from the very ancient custom of placing straw on the beds between the rows of plants, to preserve the ber- ries clean. Clean wheat or rye chaff may be substi- tuted for straw, and it has the very great additional advantage of not only preventing most weeds from growing, by excluding the light, but also, by decom- posing with considerable rapidity after the fruit sea- son is past, it contributes much to the enrichment of the surface soil of the bed. Young and strong run- ners, well rooted, should in all cases be chosen to form the new bed, and not old plants, or those offsets which grow near them. There is a fact with regard to the strawberry plant little known, the ignorance of which puzzles many a good cultivator. This is the existence of separate fertile and sterile or barren plants in many of the va- rieties, otherwise plants which produce chiefly male, and others that produce only female flowers. Botani- cally, the strawberry should produce both stamens and pistils in each flower, and the blossoms should consequently all mature fruit. This is really the case with the alpine, tlie wood-strawberries, &c., but not entirely so with the large scarlet and pine strawber- 5* 54 GARDENING. ries. These latter sorts, it is well known, produce the largest and finest fruit, but we very often see whole beds of them in fine flowering condition, almost en- tirely unproductive. The common parlance .in such cases is, that the variety has run out or degenerated ; but the idea is a confused and ignorant one, while the healthy aspect of the plants fully proves the vigor of tlie sort. The truth is, in all strawberries of the fore- going classes, that although each blossom is furnished with stamens and pistils, yet in some plants the pistils are so few that they are scarcely perceived ; in others there are scarcely any stamens visible. When the plants bear blossoms furnished with stamens only (or in a large proportion,) they are, of course, barren ; when pistils only are produced in abundance, they are fertile. To have a bed planted so as to bear abun- dantly, about one plant in eight or ten should be staminate, or barren blossoming plants, the others the fertile ones : for, if the latter only be kept, they alone will also be found unproductive. If an}'- person will examine a bed of the Hudson, or any of the large scarlet strawberries, when they are in blossom, he will discover a great number of plants which bear large, showy blossoms filled with fine yellow stamens. These are the barren plants. Here and there, also, he will discover plants bearing much smaller blossoms, filled with the heads of pistils, like a small, green straw- berry. The latter are the fertile ones. Now the vigor of the barren plant is so much greater than that of the fertile ones, and their ofi:"sets are so much more numerous, that if care be not taken to prevent this, they soon completely overrun and crowd out the fer- tile or bearing plants : and to this cause only is to be GARDEN ING. 55 attributed the unproductive state of many beds of the large-fruited strawberries, which are in many instances perhaps entirely devoid of fertile plants. The proper method, undoubtedly, is to select a few fertile plants of each kind, plant them in a small bed by themselves, and allow them to increase freely by runners; then, on planting, the proper proportion could be made, and kept up by the regular clipping of the runners. Many of the fine English varieties of straw^berries (Wilmot's superb, for instance) are generally found worthless here. This is owing, in some cases, to the ignorance or w^ant of care of those persons who ex- port the varieties, in sending often no fertile plants. In other instances it is equally owing to our negli- gence here, in not preserving the due proportion of barren and fertile plants. This peculiarity in the blossoms is very little known, or even understood, among scientific cultivators. It was first pointed out to us by our esteemed friend N. Longworth, Escp, of Cincinnati, one of our most distinguished western horticulturists. Its truth we have repeatedly verified, and a slight examination will convince any person of the cause of the numerous worthless, yet thrifty-look- ing, strawberry beds throughout our gardens. The finest of the large English varieties of this fruit, wdiich we cultivate here, is the Bishop. It is remarkably large, a most abundant bearer, and of superior flavor. Many of the larger-berried sorts, as the Methville Castle, have been hollow and comparatively tasteless, though of uncommon size. This variety, however, appears to us to unite all that can be desired to con- stitute a strong, fine, and delicious strawberry. 56 GARDENING. TOMATOES May be sown any time in the month of April, in a light, rich soil, drilled in rows four feet apart, where they are to remain and grow. They should be sown thinly, and covered one inch deep ; and when the plants are well up, they may be thinned out three or four inches apart to give them a good, regular growth. When they are several inches in height, thin them out again to stand three feet apart to remain ; then put bushy sticks to them to bear them up, as they spread much and are inclined to run a little. By working them well, and keeping the ground loose and free from weeds, they will bear very abundantly till frost. After the tomatoes are once cultivated, people are not in the habit of saving the seed in the spring, but depend on the volunteer plants coming up from the rotten ones that deca}' and fall ofi" on the ground in the fall ; but to improve and have the genuine sort, it is best to select some of the largest and fairest for seed, and sow every spring. They should be squeezed out, when fully ripe, in water, rinsed well, and dried in the shade for several days. Spread them thinly before they are put away. Bone-dust and common salt is a proper compost to be added to the soil. PUMPKINS May do well when planted among corn, where the soil is very strong, and made light and loose ; and in order that they may have room, it would be well to plant the corn in drills or rows six feet apart. The corn may be thinned out to stand two or two-and-a- half feet distance between each stalk, which mode is thought best for its growth. Between every other row the pumpkins may be planted, after the second GARDENING. 57 plowing and lioeing, in hills fifteen feet apart, making the hills nearly level with the ground. As the plants will admit, thin them out, so that only one vine may remain to a hill. Hoe and keep them free from weeds as long as practicable without injury to the vines, observing not to hill up the earth around the root. Be sure to take oflT the first two or three crops when about as large as a goose-egg. When the first crop of pumpkins is gathered, a larger num- ber will occupy their place, which are to be trimmed oflf. The gathering may be continued so long as time is left for those on the vines to ripen. They are said to produce better when planted apart from other vege- tables. The ground should be strong, well pulverized, and made as level as possible, making the hills at least ten or twelve feet apart, keeping the ground loose and free from weeds, as in that mode of cultivation there is less likelihood of injury from drought. They root at every joint, which makes it necessary to have the ground strong and kept loose as they run. SQUASHES. All kinds of running squash may be planted about the first of April, and for a succession of crops may be planted till the middle of May, in a similar soil to the pumpkins. Plant free from other vegetables, and observe to take oft' the first growth when young, as with the pumpkins. Summer-hush-squash for early use may be planted from the first to the twentieth of April, in a good, warm, light soil, in hills four feet apart. Put several seeds in a hill, but do not leave more than two or three good thrifty plants to grow in each, giving them ten or twelve inches space from each other. As they 58 GARDENING. are cultivated, observe to draw the earth but lightly around the roots. WINTER, OR LATE RUNNING SQUASHES. A piece of ground not liable to suffer from drought, free from shade, and sheltered from wind, must be selected. At the proper season plow it three times, or till it is mellow. Dig holes in the earth about eight feet apart, that will contain at least a bushel. Fill each hole about two-thirds full, with good, strong, well-rotted manure, and partly mixed with a good, rotten compost taken from the hog-yard, or hog-pen, adding a pint of dry ashes or lime. Cover the manure slightly with some of the dirt first taken out of the hole, and, after a few days, work it all over thoroughl}'', and mix with it the best part of the dirt first thrown out, enough to fill up the hole, so as to be a little above the level of the ground. To allow for settling, repeat this working over two or three times in the course of ten or twelve days, and then plant seed from good ripe squashes, Avhich should be done about the last of April, or early in May. The plants will soon spring up and grow vigorously. The yellow- striped bug is the principal enemy to be dreaded. The plants, from the first appearance of the bug, should be examined twice a da}-, and the pest destroy- ed. Hoe the ground, and keep it loose and free from weeds, leaving not more than two thrifty plants to a hill. As the vines are liable to be blown about, it would be well to put brush between the hills for the tendrils to lay hold of as they spread. As the ground cannot be worked after the bushes are put down, and the vines spread, it should be kept very clean and free from weeds till then. The few weeds that come up after- wards might be removed, or taken out with the hand. GARDENING. 69 DIRECTIONS FOR THE CULTIVATION OF WATER-MELONS. Water-melons, managed as follows, are frequently produced weighing from thirty to forty pounds, as far north as forty-three degrees. If the same pains were taken in the south, they might be raised very large and fine. Dig holes two feet in diameter, twenty inches deep ; fill one foot with rubbish raked from the garden and stable-yard, and unrotted manures ; beat down hard, and water it freely; then fill to the top with rich soil; on this spread an inch of fine compost, or well-rotted manure, compact, but not hard. Plant the seed from the fifteenth of April to the first of May, ten or fifteen to a hill, to allow for accidents, a little below the sur- face of the compost. Brush over the hill with the hand so as to fill the holes made by the fingers ; then cover the hill with an inch of clear sand. Should the weather be dry, water them well two or three evenings. The hills may be made twelve feet apart, and when the plants are well up they may be thinned out so as to leave five or six good, thrifty plants : and when the plants have got six leaves, thin out again, so that only two may remain to grow, and give the two plants ten or twelve inches space. If the season be dry, dig down by the side of the hills nearly as deep as the bottom of the holes, and put in a bucket or two of water, filling the hole after the water is absorbed. As soon as the yellow bug is gone, take away the sand, and supply its place with soil. This is all that can be done in the hill. When the plant has six leaves take oif the center shoot with the point of a sharp penknife, and when the lateral shoots are six 60 GARDENING. incLes long take off all l3ut three. "When these begin to fall to the ground, secure them down with cross- sticks ; and as they advance, spade up the ground a foot deep in advance of the vines. Once in every three or four feet, put a shovel-full of soil on the leaf- joint of the vine, not covering up the leaf, and press it down gently with the foot on both sides of the leaf. If this is kept moist, it will take root — the ends of the vines to be kept to the ground by cross-sticks. Let the vines spread from the hills regularly so as to cover the whole ground. If the side branches of the main vines are inclined to head up, and not to keep to the ground, take them off, say a foot, from the main vine. All pruning should be done in the middle of the day, when the sun shines. Let no melon grow nearer the root than four or five feet, and then only one on a lateral branch, three to a plant. Let the vine run on as far as it will, keeping it to the ground. Permit no melon to grow that is deformed, and pull off no male blossoms. "When the melon has nearly attained to its size, others may be permitted to grow on the same vine, and a second crop raised. The vines might be made to grow from twenty to thirty feet long. Great care should be taken that they are not moved or trod upon. Tlie sand is put on the hills as a preventive against the yellow bug; but pumpkin or squash seed may be planted near the hills for the bugs to light on, taking care to pull them up as soon as the bugs are gone. Common salt, bone dust, or superj^hosphate of lime, guano, ashes, and animal manures, are also srood for water-melons. GARDENING. 61 TO DRIVE BUGS FROM VINES. The ravages of the yellow-striped bugs on cucum- bers and melon-vines, may be effectually prevented by sifting charcoal-dust over the plants. If repeated two or three times, the plants will be entirely free from annoyance. There is in charcoal some property so obnoxious to these troublesome insects, that they fly from it the instant it is applied. HINT TO FARMERS. It is said that the spirits of turpentine is a deadly enemy to all the insect tribes, and consequently will destroy the bug or worm which is found to prey on wheat and other grain. With a watering-pot, finely perforated in the spout, a person may sprinkle a field of ten acres, without using more than two or three gallons. The experiment on a small scale ma}^ easily be tried. TO CORRECT DAMAGED GRAIN. Musty grain, totally unfit for use, and which can scarcely be ground, may, it is said, be rendered per- fectly sweet and sound by simply immersing it in boiling water, and letting it remain until the water becomes cold. The quantity of water must be double that of the grain to be purified. The musty quality rarely penetrates through the husk of the wheat ; and in the very worst case it does not extend through the amylaceous matter which lies immediately under the skin. In the hot water all the decaj^ed or rotten grain swims on the surface, so that the remainiug wheat is efl'ectually cleansed from all impurities with- out any material loss. It is afterwards to be dried on a kiln, occasionally stirring it ; or it would dry in the 6 62 GARDENING. hot sun if spread there. It should be effectually dried before it is ground, or there would be danger of its heating, and of the flour becoming musty. rOTATOES, Planted from the middle of February to the middle of April, are raised with the greatest success in this climate: a later planting seldom turns out well, owing, generally, to the heat and dryness of summer. A light soil, which is neither too dry nor too wet, suits them best. The ground should be well plowed once or twice previous to planting, and if the ground was plowed late in the fall, to have the winter exposure, so much the better, in order that the ground might be made mellow and fine. After preparing the ground for planting, lay off the trenches three feet apart, seven or eight inches deep, and throw in the bottom coarse straw or litter from the stable, one or two inches thick, pref^sing it down evenlj' ; and on this put a compost of stable and cow-pen manure, tolerably well rotted, to about the same thickness; then cut your potatoes, so that there may be one or two good eyes in each piece, from the middle of the potato, rejecting both ends, or what is called the eye or top and the bottom or root end ; then drop them in the trench nine inches apart, and cover them with the earth taken from the drill, three or four inches deep, taking care to have the ridge covered very little above the level of the ground. One good molding will be sufficient, after the potatoes get about six or eight inches in hight. ANOTHER METHOD OF RAISING POTATOES. The latter part of February, make trenches about ten or twelve inches deep, by running a plow two or GARDENING. 63 three times in a place, and scraping them out with a hoe. In these trenches put a small quantity of stable or other strong manure, drop the potato, and fill the trenches with half- rotted straw or trash from the woods or barn-yard. Then level the ground, and scatter leaves or other trash, about four or five inches deep all over the surface, which keeps the ground moist, and prevents the weeds and grass from grow- ing. There is no trouble in working them afterwards. A SUCCESSFUL MODE OF KEEPING SWEET POTATOES. Dig a square pit in the ground about four feet deep, about the size you wish your house to be. Log it upon the inside until the logs are four or five feet above the surface of the earth. Draw the dirt well around the log frame. In the earth, on the inside of the first frame, build another frame of logs, leaving a space of one foot between the two. Fill the space between them with sand or dry earth. Upon the top of the frame lay a plank floor, the upper part of the floor to be covered with earth about four inches deep. Then a roof, with the gable-end opened at the south, and closed at the north. Have a door in the los; frame about two feet square, to the south. After the pota- toes are dug, they must be protected from the sides and bottom by dry pine leaves. The door must be kept open in warm, dry days, and closed in cold, damp weather, and always at night. A floor of poles should be made to the potatoe house. ANOTHER. Open a hole or bed about a foot deep, in high, dry land (deeper would be better) ; put the potatoes in a 64 GARDENING. conical form, and cover with fine straw and corn stalks ; or stalks alone, at first, and then with earth from eight to twelve inches deep ; covering lightly at first, and increasing the quantity of earth as the cold increases, would prohably be better, but more risk is run in covering too lightly than too heavily. The only advantage in putting on stalks, is to keep the earth from mixing with the potatoes, as they keep equally well, or better, to put the earth on without either straw or stalks. A house built of clay, the walls about a foot thick, and covered (under the roof) in the same manner, was found not to preserve pota- toes. When a hill is opened, remove the contents to this house during winter; but in spring, say early in May, remove the potatoes to a dry house or lot, for if left in the hill, they sprout or become too moist and soft to be good. The yam rarely fails to keep till new potatoes are dug, but the Spanish can seldom be kept so late. Large hills or banks never keep so well as small ones. About twenty bushels are suf- ficient. The above plan has proved highly successful after much experience. PRESERVING IRISH POTATOES Injurious Effects of their Tops. "When digging your potatoes, spread them out as much as possible upon the ground, in order that each potato may feel the direct influence of the sun and air; and do not dig more than can be got in at night, lest they have to be exposed out twelve or twenty-four hours with nothing over them but a few straggling tops, as a sort of apology for a covering. It is recom- mended to have them carried into the cellar or bins as soon after they are taken from the hills as they can GAEDENING. 65 be conveniently. The bins should also be so con- structed that potatoes can be excluded from air and light — in short, so as to keep thern in a state similar to that which they are in previously to their being dug; that is, secure from the light and air, with a little moisture and a temperature sufficiently low to keep them from vegetating. The best plan is to make a bin. Put some sand or turf at the bottom, cut some sods, and line up the ends with them, and when the potatoes are put in, cover them over with sods, and beat them down solid. This keeps them moist and cool, and, no doubt, is an excellent plan. The light has a peculiar action on some potatoes, making them heavy and watery or waxy, and strong or rancid to the taste. It is, per- haps, not always possible to prevent this, when they have suffered from some disease of their tops, or have been disturbed while growing, or have not a suitable soil. As it regards the tops, it is generally the custom to throw them down, and take no further trouble about them. It has been recommended to preserve them wdien green for fodder ; and also not to leave them on the ground, as they form a harbor and breed- ing-place for insects, which will probably injure the next crop, especially if it be wheat. During the past sunmier, several crops of wheat that succeeded a po- tato crop, were injured by some worm or insect. It is better, either to gather them up and burn them, or throw them into the hog-yard, for manure. ANOTHER MODE OF PRESERVING POTATOES FOR FOOD. An English paper says that to preserve potatoes in a proper state for food for many years, it is only ne- cessary to scald them, or subject them to a heated G* 66 GARDENING. oven for a few minutes. By doing this they will never sprout, and the farinaceous substance will keep good for many years, provided the cortical part or skin be entire. They should be well dried after being scalded. TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF THE IRISH POTATO. A way has been recommended for improving the potato from the seed of its own apple. Gather the apples of the blue potato when fully ripe, and wash out the seed, and dry them. In the spring sow them in drills. They come up very thick, having the ap- pearance of small weeds. In two or three weeks they put out leaves, having the appearance of potatoes ; then thin and work them. In the fall you will likely have seed of various shapes and complexions, from which select four or five kinds in the spring, and plant each separately. This is said to improve the potatoes very much in flavor and quantity. Wood-ashes will improve the soil for the potato. ON THE CULTURE OF THE GRAPE-VINE. There are few things that afford more pleasure for the same expense of time and trouble, than a good and well managed grape-vine. The following plan for its cul- ture has proved, after many experiments, highl}* suc- cessful: — An Isabella vine, one year old from the layer, having a very good root, was planted in the spring in an ordinary soil, of rather a sandy quality, and a wheel-barrow load of wood-yard manure and old lime-mortar put about the root. As soon as it began to grow, all the buds were rubbed off but one, and that was trained perpendicularly, rubbing off during the season all side-shoots ; and when it had reached to the top of a second story balcony, the end was GARDENING. 67 nipped off, thus stopping its further growth. In the spring following, every bud but two at the top of the vine were rubbed off, and those two were trained along the front of the balcony on a large wire stretched along the posts for their support. Every side-bud, during this season, was also rubbed off' as at first. Both shoots made about thirty-five feet of growth this season. In the second spring, every joint on the horizontal shoots was permitted to send forth its buds, and to grow unmolested, till the branches had fairly set fruit, generally until they were about eighteen inches long. Then the end of each branch was nipped off", and its further growth prevented. The perpendicular stem was carefully prevented from send- ing out buds. The whole plant was carefully watched that no more buds might be permitted to grow — each one being rubbed off" as soon as it appeared. Thus from about the middle of June, the vine was not per- mitted to form any new wood. During the season the grapes grew uncommonly well, and M'ere very fine, and every one ripened in good season, as was proved by the numerous company at the Horticultural Society exhibition, who unanimously pronounced them the finest grapes there. The produce of the vine was three hundred and fifteen bunches, all very large, and the grapes of uncommon size. The society awarded to them its first premium for native grapes. Almost everybody, however, doubted whether the plant had not been injured by this excessive bearing of fruit; and many old gardeners considered that it would be killed by it. The writer never doubted on this score. He had only compelled the plant to make fruit, in- stead of wood to be cut off and thrown away ; and 68 GARDENING. has no doubt that if he had been able to get, the sea- son before, a greater length of wood for fruit branches, the plant would have supported a much larger quan- tity of fruit. On trimming the vine, preparatory to its bearing the third year, there was very little wood to be cut oif. Only two buds were left on each branch of last year's growth, and these are now growing, and showing fruit-buds very finely. The vine is not dead, nor does it appear to have been injured in the least by last year's hard work. So far, the experiment is highly successful, and we now feel authorized to recommend this plan to all who love fine fruit. It must be borne in mind that the experiment was made with the Isabella grape ; we of course cannot say any- thing about its applicability to other kinds, from expe- rience ; but the same reasoning applies with equal force to all kinds. If the powers of a plant can be turned from the formation of wood to that of making fruit, as we have proved it can be, in the case of the Isabella grape, we do not see any reason Avhy the ex- periment may not be successful with all kinds of grapes and fruit. One thing we do know, that a plant that bears fruit does not grow as much as one that does not ; and we are hence authorized to infer, that the power of the plant may be directed at plea- sure, either to the growth of fruit or of wood — tliat by suppressing the one, you may increase the other, to a very great extent. It may be observed that tliis vine occupies no room at all in the garden. It grows close in the corner of the house, a sin- gle stem ascending fourteen feet to the balcony, when it starts oft" horizontally as above described, along the balcony. Thus every house in any city that GARDENING. 69 has a yard at all, so that the vine may be set in the earth, may have just such a supply of delicious grapes as the writer of this had last fall. ANOTHER WAY TO CULTIVATE THE GRAPE-VINE. Why so little attention, comparatively, is bestowed upon the culture of the grape in this country, where there are so many acres of poor land, of little value in an agricultural point of view, but on which vines would flourish and produce largely, and yield a profitable return, is truly surprising. The mode of culture here suggested offers ample means for pro- curing an abundant supply of this delicious fruit, as hundreds of pounds might annually be produced upon the surface of walling ; for every house in town and country has more or less spare walling, which is deemed of no value, and might be turned into inva- luable account in the production of the fruit of the vine. There is not a single point of culture in the whole routine of the management of the vine, the knowledge of which is so important as that which enables the cultivator to discover with accuracy the greatest quantity of fruit he can annually extract from it without checking its growth, or impairing its vital powers ; for it is well known, that the generous flavor of grapes, and the vital energies of the vine, are much affected by over-cropping. No vine under three inches in girth ought to be suffered to ripen any fruit, and the great end to be attained is the flavor of the grape that is used for the table, and this is regulated by the circumstances under which they ripen ; one of which is, the quantity of grapes suffered to remain and ripen as compared with the strength of the vine. Some vines show more fruit than others, but the power to 70 GARDENING. ripen is nearly equal in all. The warmer tlie aspect, the greater perfection does the grape attain in our climate, as is already demonstrated in the hot-houses; but it is not warmth alone ; shelter is equally neces- sary. There is no period in the growth of the vine, from the moment it is planted until it attains the greatest extremity of its growth, in which any move- ment of the wind. will not have a greater or less per- nicious eifect on its well-being ; for its perspiration is so great through its large leaves, that a great supply of sap is necessary every moment, through the growing season, to enable it to recruit its loss. Every wind that blows on the foliage of the vine deranges its functions, and retards the growth of the plant and the ripening of its fruit, in proportion to its duration and violence. An aspect due-south is a very good one, but the south-west winds form a drawback to its excellence. The best is east by north. I have seen the black Hamburg attain great perfection in this aspect. The soil most congenial to the growth of the vine is a light, rich, sandy loam. One reason why grapes will not ripen on open walls is, the great depth of mold in which the roots of vines are suffered to run, which supplies them with too great a quantity of moisture. The subsoil should be of dry materials, for it is not mere earth the roots require, but air also. Each root requires a peculiar temperature, and all flourish best in a stony soil. TO PRUNE GRArE-VlNES TO ADVANTAGE, In pruning vines, leave some new branches every year, and take away (if too many) some of the old, which may be of great advantage to the tree, and will much increase the quantity of fruit. When GARDENING. 71 training the vine, leave two knots or buds, and cut them oif the next time; for usually the two buds yield a bunch of grapes. Vines, thus pruned, bear abundantly, whereas others that have been cut close, to please the eye, yielded little or no fruit. REMEDY AGAINST MILDEW OF GRAPES. Take a pint and a half of sulphur, and a lump of the best uuslacked lime ; put them in a vessel of about seven gallons measurement: let the sulphur be thrown in lirst, and the lime over it; then pour in a pailful of boiling water ; stir it well, and let it stand half an hour : then fill the vessel with cold water, and after stirring well again, allow the whole to settle. After it has become settled, dip out the clear liquid into a barrel, and fill the barrel with cold water, and it is then fit for use. Next proceed with a syringe holding about a pint and a half, and throw the liquid with it on the vines in every direc- tion, so as completely to cover the foliage, fruit, and wood. This should be done when the fruit is just forming and about one-third the size of a pea : it may be continued twice or thrice a week for two or three weeks. The whole process for one or two hundred grape-vines need not occupy more than half an hour. MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT-TREES. The following suggestions, as to the use of lime around fruit-trees, are worthy of attention. In the autumn, we laid bare the roots of a number of un- thrifty apple, pear, and peach trees, and leaving them exposed during the "winter, returned the dirt in the 72 GARDENING. spring, and applied to the roots of each tree about half a bushel of gas-lime. Last year the trees seemed greatly improved, and the pears bore more than three times as much as they did the two previous years ; the limbs had to be propped up, and the fruit seemed improved. "We treated some old quince-trees in a similar manner with success. Ashes are a good substitute for lime, and ordinary lime would probably do as well as the gas-lime. Exposing the roots of trees occasionally during the winter, it is well known, is very salutary. I have perfect faith in the beneficial use of calcare- ous substances applied to the roots of trees, sensible, as has been observed, that " oxygen is the basis of acidity," with which all putrid substances are charged; and it is with this view that Major Reybold, of Dela- ware, the first of the cultivators of the peach (for he and his sons, and sons-in-law, now number 70,000 peach trees-planted in orchards), is at this time actively eiigaged in dressing his trees with shell-marl by de- positing a quantity at the root of every tree, to be pulverized by the frosts of the ensuing winter. He also cultivates his orchard with the plow, turning a shallow furrow over the whole surface of the land, three times durins: the summer, — a weio^htv atlair, seeing that one of these orchards contains more than one hundred acres ; by these means he conceives that he renovates the land and benefits the health of the trees, which are, indeed, in full vigor, although many of them are very old, and as large as some apple-trees of mature growth. One of the proprietors of a lime quarry, mentioned that lime, which was proved by analysis to yield 96.6 per cent, of carbonate, and not a trace of magnesia, increased the size of the GARDENING. 73 frnit of an apricot-tree three-fold, hj digging in around its roots a quantity of lime, adding also to its flavor in an equal degree. MANAGEMENT OF FRUIT TREES. In the iirst place, allow me to say that the disease of the peach-tree called and known as the yellows, is not contagious, and I will hold myself ready to prove, not theoretically or speculatively, but practically, that there is no such thing as a healthy peach-tree being infected by another standing adjacent and having the yellows. I will not say that this or any other disease cannot be inoculated ; but if it can, I have not been able to do it in several experiments made for the pur- pose. I will endeavor to detail some of my experiments and observations in regard to the yellows, &c., and believe that I can show it to be the result of error in their culture. This farm had upon it, a small apple orchard, the trees standing at distances of thirty-two feet; between the rows of apple-trees, peach-trees were planted, at distances of sixteen feet tree from tree. The peach-trees were in a very unhealthy con- dition ; some of them, being in the last stage of the disease called the yellows, ceased to live after that year ; others not so bad, but having the disease in the worst form (every part of the tree being affected), received my care and attention. My first desire was to get rid of the peach-worm, which I readily accom- plished by the use of salt and saltpetre around the trunks of the trees, &c., and at the same time I gave to those trees producing good fruit, a top-dressing of manure. Two years after, my orchard was entirely 7 74; GARDENING. free from the worm, and appeared in a healthy con- dition, with the loss of only three trees out of about forty that had the yellows. The orchard being in good health, I resolved to test my then theoretical views; having planted a few trees to supply me with fruit in case these should be destroyed, I went more cheerfully to work, and select- ed eight trees standing in a row, and had the ground manured for about ten or twelve feet on each side of the row of trees ; it was then plowed, and potatoes were planted in every third furrow, this furrow re- ceiving an additional quantity of manure. The balance of the orchard was plowed during the month of September ; a part thereof received a dressing of manure, and was plowed in ; another part was ma- nured after being plowed, and a third part was left with- out manure ; the whole orchard was sown with wheat, and the following spring with clover. The effect was, that a large majority of the peach-trees showed some symptoms of disease, but more perceptible on those where there was no manure, where the manure was turned under, and where the potatoes were planted. Of the eight trees where the potatoes were planted, I was resolved on saving four of them if possible, for here I. thought the greatest amount of injury was done (though I have thought differently on this sub- ject since), yet in this case the injury met my fullest expectation, and the four trees unattended to had the yellows and were about to die, when two friends, both peach-growers, came to see my orchard ; these gentlemen, pointing to three of these trees, asked if I could cure them ; I told them it might be possible, although they were very far gone ; their remark was, that they thought these trees could not be restored to GAKDENING. 7^ health. The middle one of these three trees, beins- most diseased, was selected by me to be cured ; and. if those friends will call and see me in September next, I will promise to give them some perfectly sound fruit, to be gathered from this tree, though the fruit is not of a very good kind. The other two trees died for want of attention, and were cut down this spring. IsTow this is one instance of which I have ample testimony of this disease being curable, though it is not the first instance of cure with me by very many. The disease was produced by the plow, and the cure by rest, with a top-dressing of stable manure and ashes. I deem it unnecessary to say anything more about my orchard at present, but beg your indulgence to permit me to ask attention to the effect produced from plovN^ng orchards. A person living within two miles of me, has an apple orchard that was, to within the last three years, a most prolific orchard, but in con- sequence of some of the trees putting on the appear- ance of decay, he thought that to manure and plow it would be of service ; this he did three years ago, and the orchard producing no fruit the next year, and the trees appearing more unhealthy, he manured and plowed again ; but still he has no fruit, and his trees are growing worse instead of better. Another per- son about seven miles distant, has an apple orchard that he has worked in corn three years ago ; one of his people being at my house the year following, I inquired if there was any fruit on the trees : " ISTo : the frost has killed all the apples." I then asked him about trees standing in different parts of the orchard, where I knew they could not plow, and was told these trees were full of fruit, and that the 76 GARDENING. "frost did not hurt them." I desired him to say, the next time he was asked why these trees were full of fruit and the others barren, that they had not been injured with the plow. I could give very many in- stances of this kind, but my object being to call atten- tion to this matter, I will ask every one to make his own observations and comparisons ; let every farmer look into his neighbor's orchard and his own, and see what the effect of plowing is when compared with the unplowed orchard adjacent to that plowed ; let him call to recollection the fine orchard planted by his father, that is going into decay, and ask himself the cause, and he will receive more knowledge upon this subject than could be derived from volumes written upon orchards — though I would strongly recommend the perusal of all works written upon the subject of our business ; the avocations of life are alwa^^s pro- moted by a proper and strict inquiry after truth, and no agent should be neglected to the advancement of so desirable an end. My system is to work a tree just as I do the corn plant; the one as an annual, the other as a perennial ; give the tree all the cultivation it is to have while young, and before a set of organs are wanted for the perdurable formation of fruit; and when the tree puts on the appearance of premature decay, I give it a coat of manure spread upon the surface of the ground: this I apply in the fall of the year, always preferring long to short manure, and when ashes are deemed necessary, I have put them on in the spring. Shall I say a word here about peach-trees many years ago, which Mr. Downing represents to have grown anywhere in the United States, south of 43° of latitude ? Well, at that time there was but little GARDENING. 77 demand for peaches as a market fruit, and they were for the most part converted into pork and brand}-. For these purposes, it did not answer at that period of time, to pick them oifthe trees by hand, but a neat grass lay was considered as indispensable to facilitate their collection, as step-ladders are at the present day. The peaches then were shaken oiF the trees, and the best selected, either for drying or for the still, and the hogs disposed of the remainder. There were several reasons why orchards were not destroyed at that time by tillage, and perhaps the most prominent one was that a grain crop in the orchard would prevent or retard the gathering of the peaches, which, by the by, were worth more than any grain crop that could be grown in the orchard ; but whenever an old peach -orchard was plowed a few times, a new one had to be planted, or at least such was the case 30 years ago, on some farms, to my cer- tain knowledge. I do not wish to be understood that the peach-tree can be grown at the present time with the same facility it could then, for I have no doubt that the pabulum necessary for the support of this tree has become in a great measure exhausted from the soil, but I presume it can be restored ; if so, we must get "the neighbors" to resuscitate their soils and to form a good stock by proper tillage; but when the trees come into full bearing, we must then feel satisfied with whatever Nature may be pleased to do in the premises, for any stirring of the soil after this period of growth is obtained, has a tendency to bring the orchard into decay, of which I can show hundreds of surviving witnesses. A careful inquiry will show that the peach-tree bea:au to decline about the close of our last war with 7 * 78 • GARDENING. England; grain commanding a very high price at that time, peaclies were only considered in a second- ary point of view, and orchards that probably had not been disturbed Avith the ploAV for 15 or 20 years previous, were then put in wheat, corn, &c. This soon brought the orchards into decay, and in many instances they were not replaced; and when replant- ed, they have been treated very differently from the original. We must now have a crop of grain, grass, or roots, but in former times such things were not expected from a peach orchard after it began to pro- duce full crops of fruit. ON THE CULTURE OF THE PEACH-TREE. Having bestowed much time and attention on the cultivation and preservation of fruit-trees, the follow- ing are the results of many experiments. After adopt- ing various modes in rearing the peach-tree, none succeeds so well as the following : In the fall of the year I bury the peach-stones (from wdiich I design to raise trees) in a hole under six or eight inches of earth, to remain there until the following spring, when I take them np, and after cracking the stone carefully, so as not to injure the kernels (most of which will be found swollen and ready to sprout), I then plant them in a trench eight or ten inches apart, where they are suffered to remain until the plant has acquired a growth of three or four inches in hight, when I transplant them to the place designed for my peach-orchard, placing small stones about the plant, to preserve them from being trod upon by the cattle, &c. It is unnecessary to be more explicit on this part of the subject; every farmer is acquainted with the mode of rearing, which is emphatically trifling, com- GARDENING. 79 pared with the preserving of this valuable and deli- cious fruit-tree. Few have turned their attention to it, and of the few the smallest number have suc- ceeded : perhaps none have fully in preserving the peach-tree from decay for any length of time. I have, however, prevented the destruction of my trees for several successive seasons, and am entirely convinced of the efficacy of my plan in destroying an insect, which, of all other things, I believe most pernicious to the tree. It is a fact, of which perhaps few farmers are aware, that the peach-tree receives its death by an insect of the fly -kind, which annually deposits its eggs in the bark of the root of the tree, sometimes at or near the surface of the ground, but most generally under the surface. The egg is deposited by making small perforations : these are sometimes numerous, and from the circumstance of a gum issuing out of the wounded parts, there is no doubt that it ma- terially injures the health of the tree. Knowing this to be a fact, and believing the insect just alluded to, to be the primary, if not the sole cause of the failure of our peach orchards, I tried a variety of methods to destroy them, and found the following to have the desired efiect: In the fall of the year, when the eggs are deposited, I take, for a grown tree, a liand- ful of tobacco-stems, or what will do equally as well, about half a gallon of wood-ashes ; and after baring the roots, lay either of them on and about the trunk, and cover the whole with earth. The amber of the tobacco, and the ley of the ashes, are both fatal to the embryo insect, and will eflectually destro}'- it. For young and healthful trees a much smaller quantity will do, as they are seldom disturbed by the insect, 80 GARDENING. from the circumstance of their roots being less ex- posed than those of an old tree. Many farmers, in my opinion, injure the health of peach-trees, and bring on premature decay by prun- ing. I have tried them with and without pruning, and am decidedly against using the pruning-hook at all. The reasons in favor of this plan are obvious. I suffer the tree to grow as ]S[ature pleases, which it does in the manner best calculated to withstand the shocks of storms, and to bear its fruit without props. In pursuing an opposite plan, by cutting off the first branches that appear, a long body is formed, and the tree ultimately divides in two or three main branches, which, when loaded with fruit, or during high winds, are apt to split asunder, and the death of the tree en- sues. It is true I have found it necessary sometimes to prop my trees ; but they never attain a great height, and take the shape which is given to them by nature. The load is so equally distributed that the necessary propping is easily done. In addition to what I have already stated, it may not be improper to add, that an intelligent farmer informed me, that merely to keep the earth about the root of the tree in the fall of the year, and removing it again when the winter sets in, would destroy the insect, whose eggs would then be exposed to the severe frost. I have never tried this experiment, but am of opinion that it would have a good effect. From its simplicity it is well M'orthy a trial. I prefer ashes, because they are always at hand, besides being a good manure for peach-trees. I have found a sandy soil best, both for a nursery and orchard. GAKDENING. 81 PLANTING APPLE-ORCHARDS. The following mode of planting an orchard of apple-trees is possessed of many advantages. Ac- cording to the common mode, the trees are planted fifty feet apart, to give them room to spread to their full extent, and that the ground may be worked be- tween them for their benefit, as well as for the crop produced. The disadvantages arising from this plan are so many, as to have suggested the one now pro- posed in place of it. The disadvantages attending the usual mode of cultivation are : — 1st. The trees grow up with a straight body, six or seven feet high, before they are sufiiered to produce their limbs. This large body is soon filled with worms under the bark, which is pecked into holes all around by the small wood-pecker searching after them. These two causes soon bring on the canker, which, in a little time, occasions the decay and death of the trees. 2d. They frequently grow crooked and deformed, which is not only unsightl}', but a great injury. 3d. Their bodies and large branches become full of moss, and harbor insects which prey upon them. 4th. The trees planted thus, and especially where the ground is cultivated between them, grow luxu- riantly, throw out large branches, and form high trees with great heads : thus exposing them to the fury of the winds, which sometimes break ofi:' large branches, and Avhich, whenever it happens, if care is not taken to smooth the wound, and protect it from the air, bring on disease and decay. It also renders the fruit liable to be blown down, to the 82 GARDENING. great loss of the proprietor. Thej^ are, besides, more difficult to prune and keep in order. Their fruit is more difficult and expensive to gather, owing to the hight and extent of the head, and thev seldom bear more than every other, or every third, year. By the following mode, all these disadvantages, it is believed, will be avoided. Tlie trees are to be planted at every twenty feet; the second spring after planting, head them dow^n at about three feet from the ground, so as to let four branches arise from the part left, taking care to pare away tlie part from the highest branch down close, so as to let the grow- ing bark cover the wound as soon as possible. This ought always to be well covered with Forsyth's com- position, until the scar is completely overgrown by the new wood. The following spring prune alb the four branches, which ought to be trained as regularly as they can be had on all sides of the body, each about a foot long, and suffer each of them to put out two shoots, rubbing off" with the finger all beside them. Thus you wall have from this time eight branches to form its head, and a body only about two feet long. All these eight branches are to be allowed to grow until the tree comes into bearing, taking care to allow no strong-growing, spongy shoot to grow be- yond its fellows, but keeping all of equal growth and size. When the tree comes to bear, four of these branches, — every other one, — are to be headed down, each to its lowest shoot, which is to be trained into the vacancy that has been made by lopping away the parent branch. While these four branches are in the progress of making new wood, the four that have been left are bearing, which they will do GARDENING. 83 plentifullj for three, four, or five years, until the new wood has come into a bearing state, which may be known by the fruit -buds AA'hicli they will show in every part. When these new branches have arrived at this state, then cut out the four old ones that have borne fruit, and are now getting up pretty high, and bearing mostly on their tops. Take care in cutting out these old branches to do it as low as you can, and where their lowest shoot is, however small, or where there is even the appearance of a bud to shoot forth and renew them. These are to be trained in the same manner as before directed for the first that were cut out, until they arrive at the state and size to bear fruit in their turn again, when the last bearing ones once more undergo the same operation, and so on alternately. Note particularly in pruning, or in cutting away these branches, that it must be always done so near to the shoot or bud that grows to furnish the branch in the place of the one cut away, that the growing wood may cover the wound as soon as possible. In all cases where the knife is used, or any injury done in any way, the part must be smoothed, and the com- position applied without delay, at any season. The stems, or bodies of the trees, and the branches, are, once a year at least, to be washed with soft soap and water, which, by encouraging their growth, and pre- venting moss and insects from harboring therein, is of essential service to them. The advantages of this mode are, 1st. The bodies being so short are easily kept clear and free from insects, and of course from the wounds made by the wood-pecker in searching for them, and 84 GAKDENING. thus kept healthy aiul thriving, and of course highly fruitful. 2d. They cannot hut he straight, with as many hranches on the one side as the other, hj' which the sap is regularly dispersed, conducing to the beauty, regularity, and health of the trees. 3d. The trees are thus kept in perpetual youth, health, and fertility, and yield an annual crop. 4th. Tliey are not subject to be broken by the high winds, nor their fruit to be lost by being broken off. 5th. They can never contract moss on either body or branches, which greatly injures the large tree. 6tli. Their fruit is easily thinned, and more easily gathered, and at less expense; and lastly, the plea- sure arising from an orchard thus growing and thus kept is naturally and properly enhanced by the consi- deration of its superior profitableness. Let any one go through the State, or the United States, and I will venture to say, that he will find almost every orchard with the body of the trees drilled in holes, and their branches covered with moss ; many of the trees bent and crooked; much old, naked, barren, and even dead wood upon them, and scarcely one that bears every year. To all those whose orchards are in this state, this mode ofters the only way to resuscitate and renovate them. Cut down trees that are crooked, wounded, irregular, diseased, or decayed, and train up the best and strongest shoot that will put up from the part left, or from the root, and by managing them as above directed, in a few years a young, healthful orchard will take the place of an old, cankery, decayed, unsightly, and unfruitful one. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the more GARDENING. 85 the ground is stirred between the trees the more they will grow and flourish. The best manure for them is marsh mud ; salt marsh, if to be had, but never fresh stable manure. The salt in the mud con- duces to the health of the trees, destro^-s slugs, worms, and insects, and this manure carries no weeds into the orchard. A comparison of the productiveness and profit of an orchard cultivated in the old way, with one treated in the manner now proposed, will show the superiority of the latter over the former in a strong point of view. An acre will contain only sixteen trees at fifty feet apart, whereas it will contain two hundred at twenty feet ; the first only bears every other year. Let us then take them when in full bearing, and see their product for a space of ten years. We will allow each large tree to bear twenty bushels ; this will give 16 by 20 = 320 bushels for the acre ; and as the trees only bear half the time, consequently in the ten years they will produce sixteen hundred bushels. Al- low only five bushels per tree for the small orchard, the hundred trees in the acre will produce five hun- dred bushels, and as they bear every year, the ten years will give five thousand bushels. If it be said the allowance of five bushels is too much for a small tree, let it be remembered that this tree is always in a healthy and fruitful state ; that its bearing being renewed every four or five years, it is always young and lusty, and able to bear a good crop. Let it also be remembered that an average of twenty bushels to the large trees is a great allowance, which, I will ven- ture to say, is never realized. Thus, then, whether we consider the beauty, the regularity, the health, or 86 GARDENING. the vigor of the trees on the plan proposed ; their greater fruitfuhiess, and consequent profit ; their per- petual renovation and youth ; the ease with which their superabundant fruit is thinned and gathered ; their greater exemption from injuries from high winds ; we cannot but perceive that the advantages are so many, and so decisive, as to give the plan a marked superiority. FRUIT TREES. The new method of raising fruit-trees by planting the scions is a great desideratum in the art of obtain- ing good fruit. It has many advantages over graft- ing, because it is more expeditious, and requires no stock or tree. They may be planted where they are required to stand, and the labor for one day will be sufficient to plant out enough for a large orchard. After the scions are obtained, the method of prepar- ing the plant is as follows : Take the scion as for grafting, and at any time after the first of February, and until the buds begin to grow considerably, and dip each end of the shoot in melted pitch, Avax, or tallow, and bury it in the ground, the buds uppermost, while the body lies in a horizontal position, and at the depth of two or three inches. We are informed that trees obtained in this way will bear in three or four years from the time of planting. We have no doubt of the practicability of this method of raising fruit. A gentleman in this vicinity the last season planted about twenty scions of different kinds of pears, which appear to flourish. The composition he used was melted shoemaker's wax. GARDENING. 8T PLUGGING TREES, This operation is a very efficient remedy for de- stroying caterpillars, and other insects, preying upon the limbs of fruit-trees, &c. It has often been desired to find such a remedy. Our shade-trees are covered every 3^ear Avitli disgust- ing and voracious caterpillars. Year after year, new, troublesome, and costly means are proposed, which are inefficient ; while this very easy and cheap way to poison and destroy at once all the insects of any tree is so little Ivnown, that our farmers and gardeners ap- pear to be unacquainted with it. It was discovered in France, and I have verified it by the knowledge of it everywhere. This simple operation consists in boring a hole with a large spike gimlet about one- third the diameter of the tree in depth. Fill the hole nearly fall with the flour of sulphur, and plug it up by driving in a wooden peg. This does not injure the tree in the least, but the sulphur is decomposed, or carried into the circulation by the sap, and is ex- haled by the leaves in a gaseous state, while it poi- sons and kills all the caterpillars and insects preying upon them. PEACH-WORM. A mixture of one ounce saltpetre, and seven ounces salt, applied on the surface of the ground, in contact and around the trunk of a peach-tree, seven 3'ears old and upwards, will destroy the worm, prevent the yellows, and add much to the product and quality of the fruit. The orchard also may be sown with the same mixture, at the rate of two bushels to the acre. GARDENING. THE CANKER-WORM. Take one gallon of cheap whale oil, one pound flour sulphur, twelve ounces sal ammoniac, and one pound chloride of lime. Let the sal-ammoniac and lime be made fine, so that all parts may mix together. Take some old or cheap woollen cloth (about nine inches wide, and in length according to the size of the tree), and tie it round about the middle so as to encircle the tree, letting the upper part of the cloth hang over like the collar of a coat, so as to form a curve for the millers to run into. The cloth may be dipped in the mixture, or it may be well to spread it on with a paint-brush, and it may be well to renew it once or twice a week till the millers have done flying. This was tried last season, after the worms were fully grown. Being shaken from the trees, they attempted to ascend, and would die in two minutes after they came in contact with the above ingredients. ANOTHER. A complete remedy against the ravages of the canker-worm has been discovered : it is simply to encircle the tree at the surface of the ground with Scotch snuff. The writer of this has examined trees thus treated, and found the circle of snuft' completely fringed with thousands of dead worms. The trees were all tarred, and where the snufl:' was used, no worms appeared on the tar, and where the snuflf was omitted the insects nearly covered the tar. GARDENING. 89 COMPOSITION FOR HEALING WOUNDS IN TREES. Melt a pound of tar with four ounces of tallow, and half an ounce of saltpeter, and stir the whole together. A coat of this composition, applied to a cut or bruise, will prevent its decay, and cause the wound to heal. Before applying it, all the unsound part should be cleared away. CEMENT FOR GRAFTING. Two pounds and two ounces of rosin, six ounces of tallow, and ten ounces of beeswax. Melt them together, and turn the mixture into cold water, and let it remain till cool enough to handle; then work it as shoemakers' wax. It will remain on the stock for years. It is not so soft as to run in hot weather, nor so hard as to crack in cold weather. All of the ingredients for making this cement must be of good quality. SOAP-SUDS FOR WATERING PLANTS. Every one who has a garden, should have all the soap-suds saved to water plants with. It will be found to improve the growth of plants very much. APPLES. I have statements, without number, of the value of apples for feeding swine. In one case the gain upon raw apples was eleven pounds' weight in twelve days ; and in this case nothing except apples was used. The best form of using them seems to be to boil them with potatoes ; and it is recommended to put the apples at 8* 90 GARDENING. the bottom of tlie kettle, and the potatoes thus become impregnated with their flavor. Many farmers pro- nounce them equal in value to potatoes for the fatten- ing of swine, milk-cows, and beef-cattle. There is no food more healthful or nutritious for human beings than apples, cooked or raw. The free use of apples and milk in place of tea and coffee would give to the young members of the family vigorous bodies and bright minds, and abate a large item in domestic ex- penses likewise. GEOLOGICAL DEFINITIONS. The primitive earths are four; clay, sand, lime, and magnesia. Clay is called by geologists alumina, or argillaceous earth. Sand is called silex, siliceous eartb, or earth of flints. Lime, as it exists in the soil, is commonly called calcareous earth. Each of these earths answ^ers a determinate and specific pur- pose in the economy and growth of plants, and the perfection of the soil lies in the mixture of the whole. Basis of the wdiole : the primitive earths which enter into its composition. A'egetable matter: all vegetable substances in a decaying or rotten state. Animal matter: all animal substances in a putrefying state. Organic matter : a term applied both to animal and vegetable substances in a putrefying state. Ve- getable mold : the earthy remains of vegetable sub- stances which have either grown or decayed on the soil, or have been conveyed thither in the progress of cultivation. Loam is a combination of vegetable mold with the primitive earth. Marl is a substance consisting of lime, with a small portion of clay, and GAKDENING. 91 sometimes of peat, witli a marine sand and animal remains. It is useful as a manure, and distinguished by shell, clay, and stone marl. CORNSTALK SUGAR — DIRECTIONS FOR CULTIVATING THE CORNSTALKS, AND MAKING SUGAR. With regard to the culture, it is stated that corn should be planted as broom-corn is commonly planted, very close in the row, probably a stalk every three or four inches. The tillage will be the same as for broom-corn. When the young ears begin to appear, pluck them off carefull}^, and repeat the gathering as often as necessary, so as to prevent the formation of any grain ; because, if grain be allowed to form, it takes all the sugar from the stalk. About the time the corn begins to harden, the making of sugar should begin. It is not necessary to say anything about a proper mill to crush the stalk and separate the juice, because mills of the cheapest kinds only should be employed now, until the business would fully war- rant an expensive outlay. It would probably be found that the common cider-mill, with plain cylin- drical nuts, would be quite sufficient for the farmer who would raise a fourth or half an acre of sugar-corn for his family, and this quantity would be sufficient for a satisfactory experiment. When the juice is separated from the stalk, about a tablespoonful of whitewash, made of the best quick- lime, and about the consistence of thick cream, should be added to each gallon of the juice, and then the boiling should commence. The scum that rises should be carefully removed; and the juice, if this process has been properly conducted, will be quite clear — 92 GARDENING. nearly colorless. Then commences the process of evaporation ; and when the juice has boiled down in about the proportion of eight gallons to one, the boil- ing will be completed, and it may be poured into a shallow, tight wooden box to grain. It has been ascertained, that if the juice be boiled in a deep vessel, like the common cooking vessel, sugar will seldom be obtained ; while if it be done in a shallow vessel, so that the juice at the commence- ment of the boiling shall not be more than three to five inches deep, sugar will be obtained without dif- ficulty. It has been ascertained, also, that the sugar from corn will not grain so readily as that from sugar- cane. And in some instances, it has remained more than a week after the boiling, before the sugar was formed, and yet excellent sugar was made. It should be particularly remembered, that the juice should be boiled as soon as extracted from the stalk. It becomes acid very soon, and no sugar can be made if the juice be allowed to stand two or three hours before it is boiled. The juice will even spoil in the stalk before it is ground, if the stalk be cut off a few hours before grinding. It is necessar}^, then, that every part of the process should be done with the greatest dispatch. The stalks should be brought to the mill as soon as cut, and ground immediately. The vessel for boiling ought to be properl}- tilled in an hour, or at most two hours, after grinding; and the process of boiling down should immediately com- mence, and be continued until completed. Excellent syrup, superior to the best molasses, will be obtained by observing the above directions, and boiling five gallons of juice down to one gallon. GARDENING. 93' The juice of the corn-stalk is very rich in sugar, when cultivated in the manner suggested. One gal- lon of juice will produce nearly 1:^ pounds of sugar. JAUFFRET'S MODE OF MANUFACTURING MANURE. The first thing to be done, is to prepare a quantity of saturated water, which is done by having a vat made of any convenient size, which is half filled with water, and into which are thrown weeds, and almost any kind of vegetable matter that will ferment readily, so as to fill it, with the water, three-fourths full. He then adds, to a vat twelve feet long, six feet wide, and six feet deep, ten pounds of quick -lime, and five ounces of sal-ammoniac. Then you may add sink- water, refuse from the kitchen, dead animals, and such like matters. Stir it up occasionally, and if it becomes too offensive in odor, add more unslacked lime to it. The next step is to have another vat, smaller than the other, into which suflBcient of the above made liquor is to be put to dissolve, or mix with the following materials, which last prepared water he calls Lessive. Take 200 lbs. of fecal matter and urine (from privies,) 50 lbs. of chimney-soot, 400 lbs. of gyp- sum (plaster of Paris,) 60 lbs. of unslacked lime, 20 lbs. of uideached wood-ashes, 1 lb. of sea-salt, 10 ozs. of saltpeter, and 50 lbs. of what he calls leaven of ma- nure. Mix all these with the saturating water till it makes a thick porridge. The leaven of manure is the drainings of a former operation, if there has been one. The above ingredients should be mixed as fol- lows : — Stir the first vat up till it is thick, and then pour a portion of it into the lessive vat; into this throw the lime, then the soot, next the ashes, then 94 GARDENING. the fecal matter ; and lastly, the saltpeter. The plas- ter of Paris is to be thrown in little by little, stirring the mixture to prevent caking. When the whole is well mixed, stir in the leaven. When the above substances cannot be obtained but at too great expense, Jauffret substitutes other things; for instance: — Instead of fecal matter and ■urine, take 280 lbs. of horse, cow^, or pig dung; for the gypsum, 100 lbs. of baked or burnt earth or clayey loam ; for the soot, 100 lbs. sheep manure, and the same weight in mud ; for the unleached ashes, 50 lbs. of leached ashes or 2 lbs. of potash; for sea-saU., 100 lbs. of sea-water. If you come short of lessive, make it up with the saturating water, always using the most impure and puti-id that you can obtain. Having got the above materials ready, clear away a spot of ground, and beat it hard, so that water will not soak in readily, and make little pits around this plat into which the liquor which drains from the heap may run. Then take your straw, weeds, &c., or what- ever you wish to convert into manure, and put them into a vat of lessive ; wet and pack them into a heap, treading them down so as to make them compact. At every layer, of a foot, pour on a quantity of the lessive, and tread it in so that the whole shall be well mixed together. The heap may be six or seven feet high, and when all is packed, spread the bottom of the lessive vat on the top so as to slime it all over, beating and pressing all about so as to make it as snug and compact as possible. At the end of 48 hours a fermentation commences. On the third day the top of the heap is to be opened six inches, and the sediment which was thrown on to the top is turned over, and another drenching is given with the lessive, GARDENING. 95 and again covered up as before. On the seventh day, make holes near each other with a fork, say three feet deep, and another drenching given and again covered up. About the ninth day give it another drenching through holes somewhat deeper. In 12 or 15 days the manure will be fit to spread. It will at once be perceived that it will not do to work upon this in freezing weather. Our readers will also perceive that the principle of manufacturing manure in this way depends on mixing matters in a putrefying and liquid state, to those which are dry and inert, so as to bring about fermentation among the whole, and reduce them to a soluble state ; or, as we before expressed it, using a rotten liquor to assist in the decomposition of vegetable matters. ON PREPARING SEED-CORN. Dissolve saltpeter in water, so as to make it very strong. Soak your seed-corn therein, until it becomes swelled ; then plant it in the usual way, taking care not to let it be long out of the brine before it is co- vered. It will produce three times the crop, and ripen sooner than the same sort of corn planted without soaking, on ground of the same qualit}^ WATERING GARDENS. It is necessary to water gardens for various pur- poses ; as aliment to plants in a growing state, as support to newly transplanted plants, for keeping under insects, and keeping clean the leaves of vege- tables. One general rule must be ever kept in mind during the employment of water in a garden ; that is, never to water the top or leaves of a plant when the sun shines upon it. It should be done either in 96 GARDENING. the evening or early in the morning, unless the water- ing be confined to the roots ; in which case, trans- planted plants and others may be watered at any time ; and if they are shaded from the sun, may also be watered over their tops. Many kitchen crops are lost, or produce inferior quality, for want of proper attention of this kind. The fulness of succulency, which copious waterings in the evenings would impart to vegetables, would amply repay the trouble. REMARKS. Perform every operation in the proper season, and in the best manner, completing every part of it as you proceed. Finish one job before beginning another. In quitting work for the day, leave all in an orderly manner, making a temporary finish, and putting the tools carefully away. Keep your walks and every part of your garden in perfect order. A small garden, well tilled, will be more remunerative than a larger one imperfectly tilled. COOKERY. CUKma AND COOKma MEATS. GENERAL DIRECTIONS. Meat inteuded for salting should hang a few days, until its fibres become short and tender ; instead of bein\'ithout difliculty, however much swollen the finger may be. 37 434 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. TO EXTRACT A GLASS STOPPER. Take a large strip of wool ; pass it once around the neck of the bottle ; attach one end of this to a board, or some fixed object ; hold the other, and then seesaw the bottle along it. The friction will soon heat the neck of the bottle, and by the heat the neck will expand sufficiently to allow of the stopper being ex- tracted. TO REMOVE PANES OF GLASS. Put soft soap on the putty for a few hours, and it becomes as soft as if just put on, though the putty had become as hard as a stone. TO MAKE PASTE. Putting acetate or sugar of lead into it, instead of the old way of mixing it with alum, keeps it free from mold, clear, and quite moist for months together. TO CLEAN PAINT THAT IS NOT VARNISHED. Put upon a plate some of the best whiting ; have ready some clear, warm water, and a piece of flannel, which dip into the water, and squeeze nearly dry ; then take as much whiting as will adhere to it ; apply it to the paint, when a little rubbing will instantly remove any dirt or grease. Wash well oft' with water, and rub it dry with a soft cloth. Paint thus cleansed looks equal to new, and without doing the least injury to the most delicate color. It will preserve the paint much longer than if cleaned with soap, and it does not require more than half the time usually occupied in cleaning. MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 435 A WASH TO CLEAN PICTURES. Make a ley with clear water and wood-ashes ; in this dip a sponge, and rub the picture over, and it cleanses it perfectly. The same may be done with chamber-ley alone, or with white wine. TO REVIVE OLD WRITINGS, WHICH ARE ALMOST DEFACED. Boil gall-nuts into wine ; steep a sponge into that liquor ; then pass it on the lines of the old writing, and all the letters which were almost undecipherable will appear as fresh as when newly done. TO PREVENT MOLDING IN BOOKS, INK, PASTE, AND LEATHER. Collectors of books will not be sorry to learn that a few drops of oil of lavender will insure their libraries from this pest. A single drop of the same oil will prevent a pint of ink from molding any length of time. Paste may be kept from mold entirely by its addition ; and leather is also eftectually secured from injury by the same agency. TO CLEAN KNIVES AND FORKS. Procure a smooth board, cover it with leather ; melt a sufficient quantity of mutton suet, and put it hot upon the leather with a piece of flannel. Then take two pieces of soft Bath brick, and rub them one against the other over the leather till it is covered with the powder, which rub in until no grease comes through when a knife is passed over the leather, which may be easily known by the knife's keeping its polish. 436 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. TO KEEP UP SASH WINDOWS. This is performed by means of cork, in the simplest manner, and with scarcely any expense. Bore three or four holes in the sides of the sash, into which in- sert common bottle-corks, projecting about the six- teenth part of an inch. These will press against the frames, along the usual grooves, and by their elas- ticity support the sash at any height which may be required. COMPOSITION FOR RAZORS. Common candle-snuff, clear of grit, spread on a razor-strop, produces the best edge, in the shortest time, of anj'thiug ever tried. The coat should be spread wnth a knife, not too thick, and will last se- veral months ; first rub the strap with a little clean tallow. WOOD POLISHING. The Persians have introduced an entirely new mode of polishing, which is to wood precisely what plating is to metal. Water may be spilled on it without stain- ing, and it resists scratching the same as marble. The receipt is as follows : — To one pint of spirits of wine, add half an ounce of gum shellac, and half an ounce of gum sandrick, placing it over a gentle heat, and frequently agitating it until the gums are dissolved, when it is fit for use. Make a roller of list, put a little of the polish upon it, and cover that with a soft linen rag, which must be slightly touched with cold-drawn linseed-oil. Rub them in the wood, in a circular direction, not cover- ing too large a space at a time, till the pores are suffi- MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 437 ciently filled up. After this, rub in the same manner spirits of wine with a small portion of the polish added to it, and a most brilliant polish will be pro- duced. If the outside has been previously polished with wax, it will be necessary to clean it off with glass paper. POLISH FOR DINING TABLES. Rub them with cold-drawn linseed-oil, thus : — Put a little in the middle of a table, and then with a piece of linen (never use woollen) cloth, rub it well all over the table ; then take another piece of linen, and rub it for ten minutes ; then rub it quite dry with another cloth. This must be done every day for several months, when you will find your mahogany acquire a permanent and beautiful lustre, unattainable by any other means, and equal to the finest French polish ; and if the table is covered with the table-cloth only, the hottest dishes will make no impression upon it. When once this polish is produced, it will only require dry rubbing, with a linen cloth, for about ten minutes, twice in a week, to preserve it in the highest per- fection. COMPOSITION FOR MAKING COMMON WOOD RESEMBLE MAHOGANY. This will make any species of wood, of a close grain, so nearly to resemble mahogany in the nature, density, and polish, that the most accurate judges are incapable of distinguishing between this happy imi- tation and the native produce. The first operation, as now practised in France, is to plane the surface, so as to render it perfectly smooth ; the wood is then to be rubbed with diluted nitrous acid, which pre- 37* 438 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. pares it for the materials subsequently to be applied. Afterward one ounce and a half of dragon's blood, dissolved in a pint of spirits of wine, and one-third of that quantity of carbonate of soda, are to be mixed together and filtered, and the liquid in this state is to be rubbed, or rather laid upon the wood with a soft brush. This process is repeated, with very little alteration ; and in a short interval afterward the wood possesses the external appearance of mahogany; when this application has been properly made, the surface will resemble an artificial mirror : but if the polish become less brilliant, by rubbing it with a little cold- drawn linseed-oil, the wood will be restored to its former brilliancy. USEFUL COMPOSITION. To prevent friction, and facilitate the running of machinery, the best thing in use is said to be grease, eight parts, to two parts of black-lead, intimately mixed. TO PREVENT THE SMOKING OF A LAMP. Soak the wick in strong vinegar, and dry it well before you use it ; it will then burn well, and give much satisfaction for the trifling trouble in prepar- ing it. SMOKY CHIMNEYS. It has been clearly demonstrated by science and practical experiments that this great drawback upon domestic comfort is remedied by a simple process, viz., a slight, but continued enlargement, commencing at the bottom of the flue, and extending to the top. This is sure to produce a draught, and it is presumed MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 439 that in most instances of defective chimneys, inatten- tion to this simple rule, in the original construction would be found to be the cause of the evil. TO PREVENT SOOT FROM ACCUMULATINa IN CHIMNEYS. Instead of plastering the inside of chimneys in the usual way, take mortar made with one peck of salt to each bushel of lime, adding as much sand and lime as will render it fit to work, and then lay on a thick coat. If the chimney has no offsets for the soot to lodge on, it will continue perfectly clear and free from all danger of taking fire. COMPOSITION TO DEFEND THE ROOF OF A HOUSE FROM THE WEATHER AND FIRE. Take one measure of fine sand, two measures of wood-ashes well sifted, three of slackened lime ground up with oil ; lay this on with a painter's brush — first coat thin, and second thick. This mixture adheres so strongly to a board that it resists an iron tool, and the operation of fire. COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING FARMERS' UTENSILS. Put three-fourths of a pound of resin into an iron kettle, with three gallons of train-oil, and three or four rolls of brimstone ; when they are melted and become thin, add as much Spanish brown, or any other color you choose, ground up in oil in the usual way, as will give the color you desire ; then lay on a thin coat with a brush, and when dry lay on another. This will preserve barrows, plows, carts, wagons, yokes, gate-posts, weather-boards, shingles, &c., many years from the effects of the weather. 440 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING HARNESS. The following is a method of preserving leather, harness, and traces, engine hose, boots, and shoes, cording, cart and wagon covers, stack cloths, &c., in the most effectual manner: — Take of neatsfoot-oil one quart; beeswax, cut small, one ounce; oil of tar half a pound ; and after simmering the neatsfoot-oil and wax a little in a pipkin, the oil of tar must be added ; when, after a gentle simmering again for a few minutes, stir- ring it the whole time wath a stick, the mixture will be finished, though an ounce of naphtha added would be a considerable improvement. It is used precisely as oil would be applied, and where it may be required to soften old and hardened leather, a sponging with hot water first, is advisable, and the liquid should be driven in before the fire. Leather, or cordage, dressed with this liquid, never rots, hardens, nor grows moldy. When it is desirable to render leather water-proof, the ounce of naphtha proposed to be added should have a drachm of India-rubber dissolved in it. Kaphtha is highly inflammable, and therefore should be kept from the fire and candle, and added after the mixture is taken from the fire. COMPOSITION FOR PRESERVING BOOTS AND SHOES. The receipt is as follows, and is to be used for the "uppers" only: — One half-pint neat's-foot oil, one ounce beeswax, one ounce spirits turpentine, one ounce tar, one half-ounce Burgundy pitch, to be slowly melted together, and well incorporated by stir- ring, taking care not to set the mass on fire, as the MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 441 articles are all highly inflammable. The boots being damp, the composition is to be spread on with a small brush, taking care to cover the seams well, and then be allowed to dry ; the application to be renewed until the leather is saturated. For the soles, tar alone is the best application, to be put on while hot, the boots also having been by the fire, so that the soles are quite warm ; if there is no grease, or other foreign matter, on the soles, three or four, or sometimes more, coats will sink into the leather ; it must also be used until the soles are com- pletely saturated. The trouble of preparing boots after the above directions is very trifling; and any one once having tried it, and experienced the comfort of being all day in the snow and slush, without having wet feet, will never fail to continue the use of it. COMPOSITION TO SENDER SHOES WATER-TIGHT One pint of drying oil, two ounces of yellow wax, two ounces of turpentine, half an ounce Burgundy pitch, melted carefully over a slow fire. If new shoes are rubbed carefully with this mixture, either in the sunshine or at some distance from the fire, with a sponge or soft brush, and the operation is repeated as often as they become dry, till the leather is fully saturated, they will be impervious to the wet, and will wear much longer, as well as acquire a softness and pliability that will prevent the leather from shrivelling. Shoes or boots prepared as above ought not to be worn until perfectly dry and elastic, otherwise their durability would rather be prevented than in- creased. 442 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. BLACKING, Which, when on the boots or shoes, can be rubbed with a cambric handkerchief, without soiling it in the least, and will assume the same lustre, after being plunged in water, as before : — Quarter of a pound of ivory-black, one ounce of sweet-oil, one ounce spirits of lavender, one ounce oil of vitriol, two ounces sugar-candy, three pints best vinegar, or stale beer, and juice of two lemons. The ivory-black and sweet-oil are to be well mixed in a mortar, the sugar-candy to be pounded, the vitriol to be put in a glass of water, and allowed to stand till cold. The spirits of lavender and oil of vitriol are not to be put in until all the other ingre- dients have been well mixed. ANOTHER. The following are said to be the materials of which Bay & Martin's blacking is made : — To one pound of ivory-black, in which has been mixed half an ounce of oil of vitriol and one ounce of sweet-oil, add one pound of pulverized loaf-sugar. Mix the whole with a gallon of vinegar, and let it stand three days, when it is fit for use. It should be stirred often, and kept from the air to prevent evaporation. The cost of a gallon of this blacking is seventy-five cents, and is retailed at the ^ores at the rate of four dollars. MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 443 JAPAN COPAL VARNISH. One ounce gum-copal, one ounce gum Arabic, one ounce gum tragacanth, four ounces gum shel- lac, and one-quarter of an ounce of gum myrrh ; pound it fine, and put it in a quart of alcohol. Let it stand for half an hour ; after that, the composition is fit for use. For coloring red, one-quarter of an ounce of San- ders yellow, one-quarter of a pound of turmeric. To color black, one-quarter of an ounce of lamp-black. Wood may be made any color, and when dry, this varnish will give it the gloss. The best material for black color is the oil varnish, which may be obtained at any drug-store. To pre- pare the work for varnishing, oil it completely with linseed-oil, put on with a sponge. How to apply the Varnish. — Absorb with a sponge a suflacient quantity to varnish the piece of work which is to be finished (three or four tablespoonsful is suflicient for a sideboard) ; over the sponge you must put a cotton or linen cloth ; then apply to the cloth a little linseed-oil, which may be frequently re- peated while varnishing. The varnish dries as it is applied to the wood, and at the same time gives the tint or shade required, if the coloring material is mixed with it. The varnish may be mixed with the coloring mate- rial, and the varnish and coloring all done at the same time, or the coloring may be given first ; after which the varnish may be applied. If the varnishing and coloring are to be performed at the same time, a suflicient quantity of varnish and coloring matter must be mixed together to varnish the work to be 444 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. finished. If, however, it is desirable to varnish and color separately, the color should be laid on first, and when dry the varnish may be laid on as above directed. TO MAKE JAPANESE CEMENT, OR RICE GLUE. This cement is made by mixing rice-flour inti- mately with cold water, and then gently boiling it. It is beautifully white, and dries almost transparent. Papers pasted together by means of this cement will sooner separate in their own substance than at the joining, which makes it extremely useful in the pre- paration of curious paper articles, as tea-trays, ladies' dressing-boxes, and other articles which require layers of paper to be cemented together. It is, in every respect, preferable to common paste made with wheat flour, for almost every purpose to which that article is usually applied. It answers, in particular, for pasting into books the copies of writings taken off by copying-machines, or insized silver paper. With this composition, made with a comparatively small quan- tity of water, that it may have a consistence similar to ' that of plastic clay, models, busts, stays, and the like, may be formed when dry. The articles made of it are susceptible of a very high polish. They are also very durable. TO MAKE A BEAUTIFUL AND LASTING WHITEWASH. Take a quarter of a peck of unslacked lime, and pour on it a kettle of boiling water ; while the lime is slacking, add half a gallon of stale chamber-ley ; when the lime is perfectly slacked, dilute it with water to the proper consistence, and add to this mix- ture one-quarter of an ounce of Prussian blue. This MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 445 will give you a beautiful and lasting wash, that will neither peel off nor turn yellow, and will look nearly as well as white paint. By increasing the quantity of blue, you may make either a pale or a dark blue, as best suits your taste : or, if you prefer it, by add- ing yellow or red ochre, you may impart either of these tints to your wash. TO MAKE A BRILLIANT STUCCO WHITEWASH FOR BUILD- INGS, INSIDE OR OUT. Add one-quarter of a pound of whiting, or burned alum pulverized ; one pound of loaf-sugar ; three quarts of rice-flour, made into a thin and well-boiled paste; one pound of the cleanest glue, dissolved in the same way as by cabinet-makers. This mixture may be put on cold within doors, but hot outside. This preparation will be as brilliant as plaster of Paris, and retain its brilliancy for many years. TO MAKE A CHEAP PAINT, OR WHITEWASH. Take two quarts of skimmed-milk, two ounces of fresh slacked lime, and five pounds of w^hiting. Put the lime into a stone vessel, pour upon it a sufficient quantity of milk to make a mixture resembling cream ; then add the remainder of the milk. When this is done, crumble and spread the whiting on the surface of the fluid, in which it will gradually sink. It must, after all the whiting has been precipitated, be well stirred, or ground as you would other paint, when it will be fit for use. By the addition of any coloring matter, you may make it to suit your fancy. It should be put on with a paint-brush, and when dry a second coat should be given. The quantity above mentioned is sufficient for twenty-seven yards. 38 446 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. ANOTHER. Take one bushel of lime, and slack it with cold water; when well slacked, add to it twenty pounds of Spanish whiting, seventeen pounds of salt, and twelve pounds of sugar. Strain this mixture through a wire sieve, and it will be fit for use after reducing it with cold water. This is intended for the outside of a building, where it is exposed to all weather. In order to give a good color, three coats are necessary on brick, and two on wood. It may be laid on with a wliitewash brush. Each coat must have a sufiicient time to dry before the next is applied. For painting inside walls, take one bushel of un- slacked lime, three pounds of sugar, five pounds of salt ; prepare as above, and apply with a brush. It is well calculated to preserve brick walls ; and is far preferable to oil paint. This paint will preserve rough boards longer than dressing them, and cover- ing them with oil paint. You can make any color you please. For straw color, use yellow ochre in- stead of whiting ; for lemon color, ochre and chrome yellow; for lead and slate color, lampblack; for blue, indigo ; for green, chrome green. These dift'erent kinds of paints will not cost one-fourth as much as oil paints, including the putting on. A CHEAP WHITE PAINT. One pound of unslacked lime, one pound of Spanish whiting, one gallon of sweet milk, one gallon of flax- seed oil, one tablespoonful of lime ; pour on the lime sufiicient water to slack it, and while the lime is slacking, pour in the oil ; add the whiting and salt, and then pour on the milk, and stir it well. I MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 447 A CHEAP GREEN PAINT. Take four pounds of Roman vitriol, and pour upon it a tea-kettleful of boiling water. When the vitriol is dissolved, add two pounds of pearlash, and stir the mixture well with a stick until the effervescence ceases ; then add a quarter of a pound of pulverized yellow arsenic, and stir the whole together. Lay it on with a paint-brush, and if the wall has not been painted, two or three coats will be necessary. If a pea-green be required, put on less ; and if an apple- green, more of the yellow arsenic. The cost of this paint is less than one-fourth of oil color, and the beauty far superior. PERMANENT INK FOR MARKING LINEN. This useful ink is composed of nitrate of silver (lu- nar caustic), and tincture or infusion of galls, in the proportions of one drachm of the former, in a dry state, to two drachms of the latter. The linen or cot- ton must be first soaked in the following liquid, viz : salt of tartar, one ounce, dissolved in one ounce and a half of water ; and must be perfectly dry before any attempt is made to write upon it. MARKING OR DURABLE INK. Take six cents' worth of lunar caustic, and having put it into an ounce vial full of vinegar, cork it tight and hang it in the sun. In a couple of days it will be fit for use. To make the preparation for the above, take a lump of pearlash of the size of a chest- nut, and dissolve it in a gill of rain-water. The part of the muslin or linen to be written upon, is to be 448 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. wet with the preparation, and dried and glazed with a warm flat-iron : immediately after which, it is ready for marking. TO MAKE BLACK INK. In three pints of vinegar, let three ounces of gall- nuts, one ounce powdered logwood, and one ounce green vitriol, be steeped half an hour ; then add one half-ounce gum Arabic, and when the gum is dis- solved, pass the whole mixture through a hair sieve. IMPROVED COMPOSITION OF BLACK WRITING INK. Take a gallon of soft water, and boil in it one pound of chips of logwood for about half an hour ; then take the decoction from the fire, and pour it from oiF the chips, while boiling hot, on a pound of the best Aleppo galls, reduced to a fine powder, and two ounces of pomegranate peels. After having stirred them well together with a wooden spoon, or ladle, for some time, place them in the sunshine in summer, or within the warmth of the fire, if in win- ter, for three or four days, stirring the mixture as often as may be convenient ; at the end of that time, add half a pound of green vitriol, powdered, and let the mixture remain four or five days more, stirring it frequently, and then add further four ounces gum Arabic, dissolved in a quart of boiling water ; and after giving the ink some time to settle, strain it off from the dregs, and keep it well stopped for use. If the ink be desired to shine more, the proportion of the pomegranate peel must be increased. In order to secure this ink from growing moldy, a quarter of a pint of spirits of wine may be added ; MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 449 but to prevent its containing any acid which may injure the ink, a Httle salt of tartar, or pearlash, should be added previously, and the spirits poured ofi" from it. FOR MAKING RED INK. Infuse four ounces of ground Brazil-wood in one quart of vinegar for three days, then heat it to the boiling point, and keep it for an hour at that tem- perature ; after which, it must be filtrated. While hot, dissolve in it one-third of an ounce of gum Arabic, and the same quantity of sugar, and of alum ; allow it to cool, and put it into bottles well stopped. An ink of a still more beautiful shade may be made with a decoction of cochineal, to which ammonia is to be added. HOW TO PREPARE PRINTER'S INK. Take one pound of common turpentine, made with juniper and linseed-oil. Add to it one ounce of resin black, which is the smoke of it, and a sufficient quantity of oil of nuts. Set this composition on the fire, and boil it to a good consistence. In the summer it must boil a little more than in winter, for in the summer the ink must be thicker, because the heat makes it more fluid. FOR STOPPING A LEAK IN A CASK. The best thing for stopping a leak in a cask is whiting beaten up with common yellow soap. If this mixture be well rubbed into the leak, it will be found to stop it after everything else has failed. 8«* 450 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. TO PRESERVE NAILS FROM RUSTING. Take cut nails, and heat them pretty hot, but not red hot, in a fire-shovel over the fire, and then drop them into a glazed vessel containing train oil. They absorb a good deal of oil, and when thus prepared, never become rusty, and will last many years. Hinges and screws that are exposed to the weather would be equally benefited by such a treatment. The preparaiton of cut or wrought nails used in making board fences, or in any place where there is considerable exposure to the weather, in the manner recommended above, would be a decided improvement. GREASE FOR WHEEL AXLES. Thicken half a pint of melted grease with black- lead in powder, having previously thrown in and melted a lump of beeswax of the size of a small hickory-nut. Apply it to the hubs and axles before it hardens. In warm weather, use tallow instead of soft grease. Black-lead is sometimes gritty, that is, it contains sand, and such should be rejected. If tar has been previously applied to the hubs and axles, it ought to be carefully removed before the composition is applied ; and until the pores of the wood become filled with the composition, it may escape from the boxes in that way, and render frequent examinations for the first few weeks necessary. BROWNING STEEL OR IRON. After a long series of experiments, Mr. Ettrich has discovered, and made known in a foreign journal, a process of procuring a permanent oxide, and then giving it a dark-brown or black color. The iron or MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 451 steel of a rifle-barrel, for instance, must be well smoothed and polished, and all greasiness removed by chalk before browning commences. Then mix one part of nitric acid with one hundred parts of water, and, moistening a rag in this, apply it to the barrel. It is material that the rag should only be moistened, for if instead of damping the iron, the fluid streams over it, the browning will be imperfect and irregular. The barrel, after being wet, should be placed in a window on which the sun shines, for an hour or more ; and when this process has been twice or thrice repeated, the superfluous rust must be removed by a scratch-brush, consisting of a quantity of fine wire tied up into a bundle. This process being repeated eight or ten times, the barrel will have acquired as perfect a brown as is usually given by gunsmiths ; but to take away the rusty appearance that remains on the iron, it is browned or blacked, by dissolving one grain of nitrate of silver in five hun- dred of water, and applying this solution in the same way as the acid. The number of repetitions of nitrate of silver water will depend on the shade of blackness required, but from one to five will be sufficient : at each wetting with the nitrate, the barrel should be placed in the sunshine, to insure a dark color. The last process is to apply the scratch freely, though lightly, and then polish the whole down by beeswax. Mr.Ettrich found by experiment, after becoming ac- quainted with the process used by the trade, that his system of operation produced a much finer and darker brown than could be given by theirs, and is decidedly more simple and easy in being carried into eflfect. 452 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. PIG TROUGHS. Take two pieces of board or plank, of the length that you wish your trough ; put two of their edges together at right angles, and nail them strong; then take two pieces, something longer than the trough is wide, and nail upon the ends ; then take some clay mortar and fill up the chinks to prevent its leaking, and it is done. The food settles down in the bottom of the trough, and the pig will lay his sharp under jaw into it completely, while the long ends prevent its being upset so easily as the old kind. Anybody who can saw a board off, or drive a nail, can make one. If you have no trough for your pig, just try your hand at making one on this plan. FENCE POSTS. An excellent method of rendering fence posts dura- ble in the ground, consists, 1st. In peeling the posts, and in sawing and splitting them, if too large. 2d. In sticking them up under cover, at least one entire sum- mer ; and, 3d. In coating with hot tar about three feet of the but-ends, which are to be inserted in the ground; after which they are ready for use. We have no doubt that the advantages of this mode of pre- paration will more than remunerate for labor and expense. The best timber is obtained from trees wd:iich have stood a year, after they have been girdled and peeled. FENCE POSTS — ANOTHER. The durability of posts, used in making fences, is a matter of great importance to farmers, and will con- tinue so as long as the present system of fencing is continued. We are informed that the Shakers of MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 453 Union Village have been in the habit of making oak posts as durable as locust, by a very simple and easy process. This is merely to bore a hole in that part of the post which will be just at the surface of the earth, with such a slope as will carry it just below the surface, and fill it with salt. This, it is said, will preserve the timber from decaying for a long time ; and, from the knowledge we have of the influence of salt in preserving ship-timber, when treated in a similar manner, we have no doubt of its being an ex- cellent method. MEASURING CORN. Having previously levelled the corn in the house, so that it will be of equal depth throughout, ascertain the length, depth, and breadth of the bulk ; multiply these dimensions together, and their products by four ; then cut off" one figure from the right of the last pro- duct: this will give so many bushels, and decimal bushels of shelled corn. If it be required to find the quantity of corn in the ears, substitute 8 for 4, and cut off one figure as before. Example. — In a bulk of corn in the ears, measur- ing twelve feet long, eleven feet broad, and six feet deep, there will be 316 bushels, and eight-tenths of a bushel of shelled corn ; or 633 bushels of ears, as follows : — 12 12 11 11 132 6 132 6 792 4 792 8 Shell corn, 316.8 633.6 ears 454 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. The decimal 4 is used when the object is to find the quantity in shelled corn, because that decimal is half of the decimal, and it requires two bushels of ears to make one of shelled corn. In using these rules, a half-bushel should be added for every hundred, that amount of error resulting from the substitution of the decimals. TO CALCULATE INTEREST. A short and simple method of calculating interest at six per cent, per annum. Rule. — Multiply the principal by half the number of months. Example. — What is the interest of forty dollars for twelve months ? $40 the principal. 6 half the number of months. $2.40 answer. Example. — What is the interest of forty dollars for seven months ? H 1.20 20 .40 answer. ANOTHER METHOD OF COMPUTING INTEREST. An accurate and easy way to calculate interest is to multiply the sum by the number of days ; that pro- duct being divided by 6 will give the interest in mills; MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 455 then strike off" the right-hand figure, and the remain- der will be in cents. Example. 1250 dollars. 80 days. Divide by 6)100000 Interest at 6 per cent, for 80 days, $16.66 J If 7 per cent, is required, add one-sixth more to the interest. When the amount to be multiplied has a fraction, it is usual to drop it if under 50 cents, or count it another dollar if over. Each whole month should be reckoned as 30 days TO KILL WASPS OR YELLOW JACKETS. When a wasp's nest is found, take about half a pint of tar in a pitch ladle, and run part of it into a hole where tlie nest is ; put the remainder of the tar round about the mouth of the hole, and the job is done. All the wasps that are in the nest are caught in their at- tempt to come out, and those that are out are caught in their attempt to go in, so that none escape. If the nest should be in a place where the tar will soon get dry, it may perhaps be better to put a little more tar round the hole the following daj^, as in general there are a great many of them which are out all night, and when the tar is dry it will not catch them. It is not necessary to dig out the nest, and the tar may be ap- plied at any time of the day, even when the wasps are most busy. Should the wasps build their nests any place out of the ground, they might easily be destroyed by smoking them well with brimstone after night. 466 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. IMPORTANT DISCOVERY; OR, HOW TO KILL CROWS WITH NEW ENGLAND RUM. Soak some corn in a quantity of rum, until it is Baturated therewith, and then spread it in a corn-iield infested with crows. The crows will eat, become stupefied, and then may be easily killed. TO PREVENT CROWS FROM PULLING UP CORN. Soak seed-corn in a solution of Glauber salts, from twenty-four to forty-eight hours before planting, and no living animal, with the sense of taste, will eat it. SCARE-CROWS. The best scare-crows we have ever used, were bright sheets of tin suspended from poles, by wires ; the poles of sufficient height, and in sufficient numbers, to be seen all over the field. Four or six, if judiciously placed, ^^'ill effectually answer for a field of fifty acres. The mode of fixing them is this : cut a pole of suffi- cient height, trim off all the limbs but the upper ones ; to the end of this limb attach, by a strong flexible wire, a sheet of tin, and plant the pole, thus provided, firmly in the ground, on the destined spot. The limb left at the top, should project horizontally far enough to allow full play to the tin. Thus attached, the slightest breeze gives motion to the tin, and conse- quently causes a reflection so sudden as to effectually frighten off the crows, or other birds addicted to pick- ing up the corn. ESTIMATING THE WEIGHT OF CATTLE. In a country like ours, where great numbers of cat- tle are annually bought and sold, under circumstances MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 457 which preclude the possibility of ascertaining their weight with positive accuracy, it must be desirable that some general rules, approximating to exactness, should be known, in order to prevent mistake on the part of the interested individuals. In England, two or three tables have been constructed by different in- dividuals, founded on the length and girth of the animal, at certain points, and based on a vast number of experiments, most carefully made. To illustrate this matter, we have copied from an English work the figure and tables, as follows : — Girth feet. in. 5 5 6 6 6 6 7 8 Length. Kenton's Table. Gary's Table feet in. stone. lb. sinne. lb 3 6 21 24 21 4 24 3 9 27 1 27 4 34 4 8 34 7 4 6 88 38 11 5 43 1 43 4 6 45 9 45 7 4 9 48 48 5 6 64 6 64 7 6 70 5 70 3 6 6 99 8 99 12 7 107 6 107 6 39 458 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. The manner of taking the girth and length of an animal is as follows: — The girth is taken hy passing a line jnst behind the shoulder-blade, and under the fore-legs (see line on the figure): this gives the cir- cumference of the animal. The length is taken along the back, from the foremost corner of the blade-bone of the shoulder, in a straight line, to the hindmost point of the rump, or to that bone of the tail that plumbs the line with the hinder part of the buttock. These lines are then measured by the foot-rule, and the w^eight can readily be calculated from the tables. Some slight difference of weight may be traced in the tables, and also in another one, calculated by M. Der- ment: but the agreement is sufficiently close to show that no material error can exist. The tables, accord- ing to the English mode of reckoning, are calculated upon the stone of fourteen pounds, avoirdupois; thus, if the girth is six feet, and the length five feet, the weight will be forty-three stone, one pound, or six hundred and three pounds. Mr. Benton in his "Gra- zier's Ready Reckoner," states that for a half-fattened ox, one stone in every twenty must be deducted ; and when they are very fat, one-twentieth may be added. Ko tables can, however, be at all times implicitly re- lied upon, as there are many circumstances connected with the build of the animal, the mode of fattening, &c., that will influence the measurement, and conse- quently the weight. As a general guide, such tables must be useful to the farmer, or grazier, for whose use they are of course principally intended. TO CURE SHEEP-SKINS WITH THE WOOL ON. Take a spoonful of alum, and two of saltpeter; pulverize and mix well together, then sprinkle the I MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 459 powder on the inside of the skin, and lay the two in- Bides together, leaving the wool outside. Then fold up the whole skin as tight as you can, and hang in a dry place. In two or three days, as soon as dry, take down, and scrape with a blunt knife till clean and supple ; this completes the process, and makes a most excellent saddle-cover. If, when you kill the sheep, you treat the skins in this way, you can get more for them from the saddlers than you can for the wool and skin disposed of separate!}'. Other skins which you desire to cure with the fur or hair on, may be treated in the same way. RECEIPTS FOR HOUSEKEEPERS. New iron should be very gradually heated at first. After it has become inured to the heat, it is not as likely to crack. It is a good plan to put new earthenware into cold water, and let it heat gradually until it boils, then cool again. Brown earthenware, in particular, may be toughened in this way. A handful of rye, or wheat bran, thrown in while it is boiling, will pre- serve the glazing, so that it will not be destroyed by acid or salt. Clean a brass kettle, before using it for cooking, with salt and vinegar. The oftener carpets are shaken, the longer they will wear. The dirt that collects under them grinds out the threads. If you wish to preserve fine teeth, always clean them thoroughly after you have eaten your last meal at night. 460 MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. Do not wrap knives and forks in woollens ; wrap them in good strong paper. Steel is injured by lying in woollens. Suet keeps good all the year round, if chopped and packed down in a stone jar, covered with molasses. Barley-straw is the best kind for beds. Dry corn- husks, slit in shreds, are better than straw. Brass and irons should be cleaned, done up in pa- pers, and put in a dry place during the summer. When molasses is used for cooking, it is a great improvement to boil and skim it before using. It takes out the unpleasant raw taste, and makes it almost as good as sugar. Where molasses is used much for cooking, it is well to prepare one or two gallons in this way at a time. Never allow ashes to be taken up in wood, or put into wood. Always have your inatches and lamp ready for use in case of sudden alarm. Have impor- tant papers together, where you can lay your hands on them at once in case of fire. Use hard soap to wash your clothes, and soft to wash your floors. Soft soap is so slippery that it wastes a good deal in washing clothes. It is easy to have a supply of horse-radish all win- ter. Have a quantity grated while the root is in per- fection, put it in bottles, fill them with vinegar, and keep them corked tight. Woolen goods should be washed in very hot water, and as soon as the article is cleansed, immerse it in cold water; let it be wrung, and hung up to dry. MISCELLANEOUS RECEIPTS. 461 IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING COFFEE. Put the coffee (after grinding) into a flannel bag; tie it closely, allowing sufficient room to boil freely ; put it into the boiler, adding as much water as may be required. After boiling, it will be perfectly clear without the addition of eggs, &c., having likewise the advantage of retaining its original flavor and strength in greater perfection than when clarified. TO MAKE GOOD COFFEE OUT OF RYE. The rye is to be well cleaned, and then boiled till soft ; but care is to be taken that it does not burst. It is afterward to be dried in the sun, or in an oven, and then burnt like cofiee ; and, when ground, it is fit for use. THE END. 39* INDEX A CHEAP green Paint.. ..^ Page 447 Kice and Meat Soup 130 white Paint 446 Acidulated Raspberry Syrup 255 A Cure for the Red Ant 429 Adds Jar Pickle 145 A l)ish of Maccaroni 160 A fine Hash 116 Plate .Mixture 432 A Friar's Omelet 230 Age of Sheep 326 A good Steam Boiler 274 A la daube Beef. 115 A Leg of .Mutton, with Oysters 118 Almond Pudding 213 American Shampoo Liquid 322 An agreeable Beverage for a sick per- son 252 An Antidot* for Poison, Onions. 291 A new way to make Candles 419 An excellent Pill for Indigestion 297 Animal Life, length of 325 An infallible Remedy for a Cold 298 Another cheap Syrup 130 method of Computing Interest... 454 making good Beer 261 raising Potatoes 62 mode of preserving Folates for food 65 way to cultivate the Grape-vine... 69 to feed Cows 275 Antidote for Poison by Arsenic 291 Ants, a cure for Red 429 A poor .Man's Soup 133 A Portable Ice-house 401 Apricot Jelly 236 Apple Butter 239 Compote .-. 232 Custard Pie 224 dried 224 green 224 Dumplings, baked 220 boiled 220 Jelly 239 Molasses 238 Orchards, planting 81 or Gooseberry Fool 230 Pie 226 Pudding 216 Water 253 Apples 89 dried 412 preservation of. 409 A Receipt for making superior Bread. 163 A Remedy for Arsenic 292 Arrow-root 247 Blanc .Mange 228 Arsenic, Antidote for poison by 291 a remedy for 292 Artichokes, to cook.. 155 to sow 19 A short way to make old Bread new.. 167 A simple method of making Soap 417 Remedy for a Cough 299 way of preventing Flies from sit- ting on Pictures, or any other Furniture 430 A Spanish Steak 112 Asparagus Soup 132 to cook 155 to sow 17 Asthma, cure for the 300 A Styptic which will stop the bleeding of the largest ves.sels 286 A successful mode of keeping Sweet Potatoes 63 Attar of Roses 414 A very rich Pudding, of prime Fruit.. 212 A Wash to clean Pictures 435 B.\C0N, to cure, said to be equal to the Burlington method of cur- ing Hams 99 Baked Apple Dumplings .'. 220 Custiird 219 Indian Pudding 206, 207 rich 207 or roast Pig 108 Salmon, in slices 124 Baldness, Liquid Compound for the cure and prevention of 321 Balm, to sow 33 Bannocks 183 Bathing 281 Bath Pudding 217 Batter Cakes 180, 181 Pudding 214 Bean, Salad 146 Beans, Butter, to boil 157 (463) 464 INDEX Beans, Snap, Southern mode of boil- ing them 157 to pickle 139,141 to plant 22 Bee. cure for the sting of a 287 Beef, a la diiube 115 and Pork 97 Brisket of ll-l Essence of. 248 Frirandeau of. 115 Gravy Soup 129 Potted 114 Rump of. 112 Soup 128, 129 Tea 248 Tomato 115 to preserve tender and sweet throughout the year 102 Beefsteak Pie 222 Bee-hive, plan of a Kentucky 404-406 Beer, another mode of making good... 261 Corn 264 Ginger 262, 263 Hop 260 Persimmon 264 Spruce 261 Tar, for Consumption 262 Bees, hunting 407 taking, without destroying the hive 407 Beeswax, to bleach 427 Beets, to bake 156 to boil 157 to pickle 141 to .';ow 21 Beverage, an agreeable, for a sick person 252 Beverages 255 Big Head in Horses 352 Biscuit Butter 179 excellent ITS Jelly 251 light 178 Milk 178 Naples 196 Sponge 188 Sugar 196 Tea 178 Bite of a Rattlesnake, Cure for... 287-290 Viper. Cure for the 287-290 Bitten, Frost 286 Blackberry Cordi.il 256 Syrup 257 "Wine 250 Elackin'Z 442 Black of green Tea Jelly 234 Bladder, Stone or Gravel in 362 Blanc Mange 227 Arrow-root 228 Carrageen 229 Quince 228 Bleeding at the Nose 286 of the largest vessels, a Styptic which will stop the 2R6 Blind Staggers 349 Blist.'rs 332 Block-tin Dish Covers, method for cleaning 431 Blood, cleansing and purifying the.... 307 to stop 2S5 Boiled Apple Dumplings 220 Indian Pudding 208, 214 Flour 251 Kump Steaks, with Onion Gravy. 114 Boiler, a good Ste.am 274 Bonifiadas or Stiekys 200 Books, to prevent molding in 435 Boots and Shoes, Composition for pre- .serving 440 Borecole, to sow 23 Boston brown Bread 168 Botts, Remedy for 364, 365 Bowel Complaints. Cure for 306 Brand)'. Raspberry 255 Bran Tea 253 Bread, a short way to make old new., 167 a Receipt for making superior 163 Boston brown.... 168 brown 167 Cakes, &c 163 Corn 170, 171 Egg 171 Dyspepsia 168 Egg 164 Fritters .„. 183 Indian Sponge 171 Jelly 251 Judson's Corn 170 light Corn 170 Mrs. Miller's Receipt for pre- mium 164 Pudding 218 Pumpkin 169 Recipe for making good 165 Rice family 169 Sauce 150 Soup, light 250 to make excellent, without yeast. 166 to make Potato 168 Turnip 169 Yeast for 165 Brief Hints for Winter 391 Brisket of Beef 114 stewed 113 Britannia Ware, to clean 431 Broccoli, to cook 159 to sow 24 Broken China, Cement for mend- ing 432, 433 Glassware, Cement for mend- ing... 432, 433 Broken-winded Horse 341, 842 Broth, Vegetable., 249 Brown Bread 167 Sugar and Soap Poultice 321 Browning Steel or Iron 450 Buckwheat Cakes 181 Bues, to drive from Vines 61 Bunns 197 Burden's excellent Ointment, Re- ceipt for making 286 Burns, Remedy for 294 Butter, Apple 2.39 Beans, to boil 157 Biscuit 179 Drawn 150 making 276 packing 279 patent 277 salting 277 INDEX, 465 Cabbage, Early, to sow 26 from cuttings, raising 27 preservation of 411 to cook 159 to destroy Worms on 28 to kill Ijice on 28 to pickle 139, UO Cabinet, or Muffin Pudding 211 Cake, Corn 172 Klizabeth 200 fried. 198 Gingerbread 194 Indian Meal, Breakfast 172 Indian Pound 2u0 Johnny 172,173 Loaf 197 Love 200 Railroad 195 Rich, small 197 Soda 199 Soft, for Tea 195 Tea. 195 Another 19(3 Wafer 199 Wine 195 Cakes, Batter 180, 181 Buckwheat 181 cheap and excellent 190 Cider 185 Coffee 177 Composition 185 Plain 185 Confectioner's Pound 187 Cream 192 Tea 176 Cup 191, 192 Cream 192 Election 190 Flannel 182 Fruit 189 Green Corn 181 Griddle 179, 180 Griffin Batter 180 Potato ISO Pound 186 Queen 190 Rice 178, 188 Griddle 177 Johnny 177 Rye Batter 171 Scotch 191 Queen 191 Silver 190 Soda 176,177 Sponge 187 cheap 187 Washington 182 White 190 Calf 's Head Soup 119 to make 134 Calico, to make wash well 4J5 California Rice Pudding 205 Calves, cure for Scours in 374 Diseases of 375 Feet Jelly 233,252 Camomile Poultice 321 Cancer, cure for a, by extracting it ... 310 cure for 311 Candles, a new way to make 419 making dipped 418 Canker-Worm, the 88 Capons 398 Carrageen Blanc Mange 229 Carrot Poultice 321 Pudding 217 Carrots, to boil 157 to sow 26 Catsup, cucumber 147 Pepper 148 and Meat dressing 148 Tomato 148 Cattle, cure for murrain in 374 diseases and treatment of 366 distemper in 366 hoven 372 King's Oil for curing wounds in . 329 Salts for 374 swellings 329 to cure the mange in 368 to destroy vermin in 368 to kill lice on 367, 368 to relieve choked 372 Caulitiower, to cook 158 to sow 25 Celery, to cook 155 Sauce, for roasted or boiled fowls. 151 solid, to sow 28 vinegar 147 Cement for grafting 89 for mending broken China... 432, 433 Glassware 432, 433 Japanese, to make 444 Cheap and excellent Cake 190 Sponge Cake 187 Cheese Pudding 212 Cherries, to dry 412 Cheshire Pudding 215 Chicken Panada 249 Salad, French 120 Water 249 Chickens, or fowls to fatten in four or five days 397 to cure the Gapes in 397 Chilblains, remedy for 294 Chills and Fever 317 Chimneys, smokey 438 to prevent soot from accumula- ting in 439 China. Cement f>r mending broken.432,433 Chinese method of mending 433 Chocolate 254 Cholera, cure for 305 Morbus, cure for 3U5 Chronic Diarrhoea, cure for 306 Sore Eyes, Eyewater for cure of.. 320 Cider and Wine, mode of refining 259 Cake 185 Kerrison's Recipe for 266 sweet, clear, that will retain its fine vinous flavor, and keep good a long time 264 Citron Pudding 213 to preserve Watermelon 236 Cleansing and Purifying the Blood.... 307 Fine Block Tin Dish Cover.s, me- thod of 4.31 Patent Pewter, method of i.. 431 Clyst.-r 3.32 Cocoanut Pudding 214 Codfish, to cook 124 4:^ -^ ; ^"^^ ^, / ■ - , ^- '^ ^^ 'O^ « ., ^ •■' >SS^ ^ '' , »^ ,0" ■^^. •V"'^^ oH -7*^ W i-f -i ^ "P aA ^1 r\\ O 0' -" > O ^^A / x^e.. % "''■i^ii^y'iSh'' \ ^. <^ ^>' ^-PL '.r'c^ o 0^ .^^' v^^ -^^^ 0> -''ci- '.. v*^ '^^ o 0' ■ V .^^ ^-^ .:-«> N .\0 ^x "^,. c^' Cy^ o 0'