DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



and apricots. Last year we tlio^ight to be rid 

 of liis presence, as tlie previous year Ave had a 

 frost in April, wliich killed all the fruit. We 

 had neither apples, pears, plums, peaches, nor 

 anything else in the fruit line, within 50 miles 

 of us. But lo! this year, " Monsieur Ton- 

 son come again," and more than ever. "Where 

 did he come from? Not from the fruit that fell 

 from the trees the year previous, for we had 

 none. 



We have some fifty varieties of your best 

 northern apples, and as many of i^ears, all 

 which succeed very well. Also some fine na- 

 tive apples; and I should like to send you, (if 

 the distance was not so great,) a barrel of them, 

 to compare with your Newtown Pippins and 

 Spitzenburghs, &;c. Much attention is being 

 p\id,for a few years past, to the cultivation of 

 fruits — and this county can probably boast a 

 larger variety than all the rest of the state to- 

 gether. Thus far, cherries do not succeed, from 

 the splitting of the bark when about three years 

 old J the cause we cannot ascertain. Some sup- 

 pose it to be caused by the heat of the sun ; I 

 doubt it, as the temperature of summer is be- 

 low that of Albany or New- York. Peaches 

 flourish in perfection, and native trees do bet- 

 than northern, of every description, and come 

 into bearing sooner. 



I intended to say something about our south- 

 ern shrubs and flowers, when I began, but as 

 this article has reached such a length, I fear if I 

 should say anything more, you will not print it, 

 and if you should, your subscribers will not read 

 it; so will defer it for another time. Yours re- 

 spectfully. J. Van Buren. Clarksville, Ga., 

 Jan. 23, 1851. 



Native Bone Earth. — The discovery has 

 been made, recently, of an ''inexhaustible 

 quantity" of native phosphate of lime, near 

 Dover, New- Jersey. It has been analyzed by 

 Dr. Chilton, Prof. Mapes and Dr. Antisell, 

 separately, and pronounced by them to be 

 superior as a manure, to the bone dust usually 

 sold in New- York market. The legislature of 

 New-Jersey, we understand, passed a bill last 

 winter, chartering a company for working this 

 mineral manure, and putting it into market 

 extensively — but Gov. Ford has vetoed the bill. 

 s the Gov. means that his own state shall 

 ade fertile first. If this manure corres- 



ponds to the expectation formed from the pub 

 lished analyses, it will be in great demand for 

 grain crops and fruit trees— especially pears. 



The Value of Carrots. — Very few persons 

 are aware of the fact, that young carrots are 

 among the most wholesome of vegetables, and 

 greatly assist digestion. French cooks, in 

 many of their stewed dishes, introduce small 

 slices of young carrots, and the Julienne soup, 

 so common on every French table, is seasoned 

 with finely chopped vegetables — young carrots 

 being the most important, and the difference in 

 digestion between a dinner eaten at a French 

 cafe, and an English hotel, is not alone in the 

 cooking, but in the vegetable condiments in- 

 troduced. It is only lately that the chemists 

 have explained the digestive stimulus known to 

 exist in the carrot, to consist in a peculiar acid 

 — pectic acid — found in this vegetable. 



After saying so much, with a view to the 

 promotion of a better understanding with the 

 carrot in our kitchen gardens, we quote the 

 following in corroboration from the Working 

 Farmer, calculated to increase the field culti- 

 vation of this useful vegetable: 



" Two bushels of oats and one of carrots, is 

 better food for a horse than three bushels of 

 oats; and when used for light work, the quan- 

 tity of carrots may be increased. With such 

 food horses will enjoy good health and spirits, 

 a loose hide, shining coat, and improved di- 

 gestion. It may be thus exp'aincd: The car- 

 rot is very nutritiDus, and, in addition, has the 

 curious property of gelatinizing the watery 

 solutions contained in the stomach of the horse. 

 Carrots contain pectic acid, a single drop of 

 wliicli mixed with the juice of an orange or 

 otlier fruit, immediately turns it into a jelly, 

 and the Paris confectioners use it for this pur- 

 l)0se. Soups iu which carrots have been boiled, 

 are always gelatinous when cold, and are more 

 easily digested when used as food, than soups 

 otherwise made. 



The bene pla.it has similar properties. A 

 thill slice of tliis plant thi-own into a glass of 

 water, renders it ropy and gelatinous, and for 

 tliis reason it is a specitic for summer complaint 

 Avith children. 



By examining the dung of a horse fed in part 

 on carrots, it will be found to contain no undi- 

 gested hay or oats, and therefore less quantities 

 of those materials are necessary than Avhen lialf 

 the amount swallowed is parted Avith in an undi- 

 gested state. For fittcning animals the carrot 

 is equally valuable, and for milch cows they 

 surpass any other food. The milk of a coav at 

 mid-winter fed on carrots, is equal in flav 

 that supplied from clover in summer, Avhil 



