DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



enrich and loosen the soil — as burned clay never 

 coheres again. Then ridge up the soil before 

 winter, digging into it a good dressing of fresh 

 stable manure. For the i)rocess of burning 

 clay, see Hort. vol. ii. p. 442, and vol. iii. p. 

 184. Ed. 



A WORD ABOUT EARLTf Peas. — As digging 

 with me commenced almost with my life, and 

 I think will only end with me in death, there- 

 fore it is natural I should have a fellow feeling 

 for your correspondent, "An old Digger;" I 

 have read all his letters for this two or three 

 years past, and must say. as far as a digger is 

 allowed to be a judge, that they are all to the 

 point, good sound unvarnished tales, and well 

 delivered; but I believe Jeffries paid him a 

 pretty little corapliTnent, but I must not under- 

 take such things, or I may get the promise of a 

 good shower of walking canes and umbrellas. 

 To come to the point : peas are the things I wish 

 to talk about; old Digger's method is very good 

 in its way, and as he has been kind enough to 

 lay it before the readers of the Horticulturist, 

 I will in return tell you my plan. 



In the first place get some weather boarding 

 cut in about foot lengths, (longer will be un- 

 handy,) then cut a sod the length and breadth 

 of the board, lay it with the grass side down, 

 let the sod be about three inches thick, (of 

 course good old pasture sods are the best;) cut 

 a channel down the center of the sod, sow the 

 peas therein and cover them with good light 

 rich soil; put them in a hot-bed frame, on a 

 mild heat ; fill all the chinks between the sods 

 with some light soil ; M'hcn the peas appear 

 above the ground give all the air you can ; when 

 they are up about two inches remove them into 

 a cold frame; a covering with boards in case of 

 very bad weather will do. When the time ar- 

 rives for planting, open a trench wide enough 

 to take the sods; they will slip off the board 

 very readily. I have grown peas for many 

 years this way, and where I have had the con- 

 venience of vineries, where I could shift them 

 from the first to the second or third house to 

 harden them otf, I have had them in bloom and 

 supported by strings attached to straps nailed 

 on to the boards. But the least trouble is 

 some brush just strong enough to keep up the 

 peas. I have at this time a good crop of snap- 

 beans as well as peas grown in this way; the 



beans will be in flower by the time I can put 

 them out. 



This is not all I grow in this way ; cucumbers, 

 musk and water-melons, squashes, egg-plant, 

 okra, &c. succeed equally well. Ipreparethe 

 boards and sods the same as for peas and beans 

 with this slight difference ; after the long sod is 

 laid on the board, I cut it into about five blocks 

 and scoop out the middle. I then drop in the 

 seeds, allowing enough for thinning. They are 

 then treated the same as the peas; they are not 

 taken so soon out of the hot-bed, but give them 

 full air every day you can ; when the season is 

 for enough advanced all you have to do is to 

 put them in the hills, sods and all, and they 

 will never know they were forced. R. Weston. 

 Ashwood, Tennessee, March 26, 1851. 



Preserving Fruits Fresh. — In the Febru- 

 ary No., 1850, of the Horticulturist, you pub- 

 lished an account of the mode of preserving 

 fruit in tin cans, by which (those who succeed- 

 ed) were to have it in all its freshness and deli- 

 cacy, as if but recently plucked from the trees. 

 Having made the attempt and signally failed, I 

 wish to ascertain wherein I erred, so that I may 

 make the trial again, for I would like much to 

 be able to have by me a few cans of delicious 

 fruits, with which either to treat a friend, or 

 better still, to add to the comforts of the inva- 

 lid. My experiment was thus conducted. I 

 procured a number of tin cans, about six inch- 

 es high by five wide, with tops to fit over, with 

 a small hole the size of a pin in the centre. 

 These I filled with fruit, packing them careful- 

 ly, so as to have no bruised or decayed speci- 

 mens. The first I tried was filled with straw- 

 berries; tlie others with peaches. The straw- 

 berries were carefully hand picked. The peach- 

 es were selected by myself, so as to be sure 

 there were no specks or bruises; they were put 

 in whole, and as some of the cans were filled 

 with large varieties, only very few could be put 

 in. I then had the tops carefully soldered, and 

 following the directions given by " W." I plac- 

 ed them in a pot filled with hot water, which 

 was made to boil over a gentle fire, and a drop 

 of water was placed over the small hole to as- 

 certain when the air was expelled, but it seem- 

 ed to me to be impossible to expel it all if that 

 was to be the test, for I kept some of the cans 

 in the water for upwards of a half hour, and 



