DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



487 



been a favorite bean with my family for summer 

 use, on account of its intensely black colour, even 

 in its green state; anil which I think will forbid its 

 ever beinc; a popular snap-bean.* Its excellent 

 flavor, far superior to that of any bean we have 

 ever used, gives to the soup a richness unequalled 

 by any other vegetable. I will venture to say. if 

 served up on the table of the Astor House, pre- 

 pared with the addition of meat-balls, nine-tenths 

 of the guests would rise from the table praising 

 the turtle soup. As a dry, winter bean, when 

 made into soup for family use, it is certainly with- 

 out its equal. Last season I made trial of some 

 fifteen kinds of bean. No one of them is as highly 

 prized in our family as this; and the longer we 

 use it, the better wo like it. It is a great bearer, 

 and well adapted to light and dry soils. Tell 

 your readers again to make trial of the Turtle 

 Soup Bean. It can be found at Shephard's, 145 

 Maiden-Lane, [or at Thorburn's,] New-York. 



At another time, I may give you the result of 

 other trials of the new vegetables. /. M. Ward. 

 Hill Cottage, Newark, New- Jersey, Dec, 1849. 



Sir — I have been a regular subscriber and 

 faithful reader of your excellent journal, the Hor- 

 ticulturist, for some time, and have admired the 

 many neat and elegant plans for cottages and 

 country residences, drawn and described in the 

 several numbers. But these plans, although many 

 of them beautiful, are not exactly suited to the 

 wants and uses of many of your southern readers; 

 and the purpose of the present letter is to request 

 that you will favor us with a few designs, suitable 

 to our climate and our facilities, (I should say 

 want of facilities,) for building in the country. 

 The style of building generally adopted in our 

 southern country, (I speak of country residences,) 

 is neither neat or convenient; and I am satisfied 

 if you will give your numerous southern readers 

 the advantages of your taste and experience, you 

 will not only effect a great improvement in the 

 taste, but confer a public benefit by adding vastly 

 to the comfort of the community. With us, the 

 summer is the largest part of the year; and we 

 therefore build chiefly for the summer, (of course, 

 however, not disregarding the winter ;) and the 

 main points, as it seems to me, to be observed by 

 us in building, are coolness, airiness, cheapness, 

 and comfort, united with a tasteful, handsome 

 exterior. In the sand-hills, where we have no- 

 thing to work upon but pine trees and a barren 

 soil, it seems difficult to do much. But good taste 

 can do a great deal ; and I therefore coDfide the 

 matter to your hands, assured that if you will 

 think it worthy of your attention, you can effect 

 everything. I remain, very truly, one of your 

 subscribers, P. M. E. Balfray, N. C. 



[Our correspondent will see, in the frontispiece 

 for February, that we have profited by his sugges- 

 tion. Ed.] 



* Our correspondent picks this bean too late. If picked 

 when very younir, it boils quite green, and is the very best of 

 gnap-beaus. Bo, 



ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



Apricots — V. W. Smith. (Syracuse, New- 

 York.) As a question of profit, for the market, 

 we know of no apricot that will yield so much as 

 Dubois' Golden. It is inferior in size and flavor to 

 Moorpark or Large Early, but we have seen Mr. 

 Dubois taking wagon loads of the fruit to market 

 getting a very high price, in seasons when the 

 finer sorts did not produce at all. It is, in short, 

 more hardy and productive than any other sort, 

 and that is the point, for profitable culture. If 

 your soil is one where the apricot beais and holds 

 its fruit well, then we should say, by all means 

 give the preference to the Large Early; but with 

 the ordinary circumstances, as a market fruit, Du- 

 bois' is the best. 



Selection of Northern Fruits. — A. F. 

 wishes '• a small list of the best apples and pears 

 for market culture in the Oak openings of Cal- 

 houn county, Mich." We recommend the lollow- 

 ing: Apple* — Yellow Bellefleur, Early Harvest, 

 Fameuse. Domine. English Russet ; Pears — White 

 Doyenne, Bartlett, Beurre D : Aremberg. Also, a 

 few fine sorts for private consumption : Plums — 

 Smith's Orleans, Green Gage, Jefferson ; Cher- 

 ries — May Duke, Downe's Late, Elton; Pears — 

 Fondante d'Automne, Beurre d Anjou, Seckel; 

 Apples — Dutch Mignonne, Swaar, Ladies' Sweet- 

 ing, Northern Spy. B. McVicar. (Milwaukie, 

 Wis.) Two earliest and best pears for your cli- 

 mate, Dearborn Seedling, Bartlett; (if your site is 

 too cold for this, then Flemish Beauty ;) Peach- 

 es — Early York, White Imperial; Plums — Impe- 

 rial Ottoman, Yellow Gage; Cherries — May 

 Duke, American Heart, two latest and best; 

 Pears — Beurre d'Aremberg, Wint'r Nelis; Peaches 

 — Morris White, Old Mixon Freestone; Plums — 

 McLaughlin, Jefferson; Cherries — Belle Magni- 

 fique, Downer's Late. The Red Dutch currant is 

 more valuble for general purposes than either the 

 Victoria or Cherry currants. Dr. Brincklee's 

 raspberries have not yet been tested out of Phila- 

 delphia, but are as fine as the Antwerp, and will 

 probably prove much hardier. 



Dwarf Fruit Trees. — An old Subscriber. 

 (Boston.) You can train your dwarf pear trees 

 so as to cover the wall you speak of six or eight 

 feet high, ami the fruit will be finer if the trees are 

 judiciously pruned, than in the usual way. Duch- 

 ess d'Angouleme is one of the most magnificent 

 pears on the quince, often weighing a pound, and 

 of fine flavor. Red Astrachan, Dutch Mignonne, 

 Porter, Sapson, Early Strawberry, are among the 

 ornamental apples grown as dwarfs. 



Annual Flower Beds — Flora, (Northamp- 

 ton, Mass.) The following annuals make fine 

 beds, or masses, when sown so as to cover a sur- 

 face of three or four feet each — none of them grow 

 over a foot high, and they bloom all the summer 

 and autumn. Phlox Drummondi. lilac, crimson, 

 pink and white; Escholtzia, bright yellow; Gili* 

 tricolor, white, purple and yellow; Portulac- 

 ca — three sorts — purple, crimison and white ; 



