DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



ing like any other species, only being a good and 

 double sweet blooming kind, not resembling any 

 tree-like appearance. I beg to say, that If you 

 trim the plant of its suckers continually, within 

 two years, if well grown, you can have hand- 

 some plants, with a crown of one and half to 

 two feet high. The plant is of double value 

 then. F. T: M. Otto. Flushing, Oct. 6, 1851. 



Presekvation of Ripe Fruit. — To A. J- 

 DowNiNG, Esq. — About the season when the 

 Madeleine Pear is ripe, (in July,) I expected a 

 friend, who I knew would be delighted with the 

 taste of this fruit. He did not however arrive 

 until the fruit (which you know lasts only a few 

 days) was nearly gone. I gathered, notwith- 

 standing, a few good specimens, and putting 

 them into a dry, covered, tin vessel, surrounded 

 this with ice, where it remained for two weeks. 

 This, so far as I am aware, was an original ex- 

 periment, and I knew not, therefore, how it 

 would succeed; but on the arrival of my friend, 

 the cover being rejuoved, I was not a little 

 gratified, as well as s:urprised, to find that the 

 fruit had undergone little or no change, several 

 of the pears being still liard, while those which 

 were fully ripe, when put into the vessel, had 

 not decayed. 



As the success of this experiment was wholly 

 beyond my expectation, I have since tried it on 

 other fruits, as early peaches, and summer 

 pears, with equal success. I see no difficulty, 

 therefore, in presenting our friends, on the other 

 side of the Atlantic, specimens of our finest 

 pears and peaches, if they are enclosed in dry 

 tin or glass vessels, and placed in the ice-house 

 of the ship. My experiments, however, have 

 been made only with small quantities of fruit, 

 the vessels holding each but one or two quarts, 

 as a common tin-pail with a tight cover. If 

 you think this new, and worth knowing, please 

 insert it. Yours truly, J. L. Comstock. 

 Hartford, Ct.^ Sept. 1851. 



A very simple and very successful experi- 

 ment. Since receiving this account, we notice 

 in the Liverpool papers, that an American has 

 carried out peaches in the same manner, and 

 had the pleasure of presenting them to his 

 friends in England in the finest preservation, 

 not unlikely that this amateur experiment 

 lead to a large business in exporting the 



more delicate fruits. Mr. Tcdor, of Boston, 

 familiarly known as the "Ice King,'' — must, 

 however, have the credit of the discovery, for 

 his ice ships have for several years past been in 

 the habit of supplying the wealthy citizens of 

 Calcutta with fine American apples — carried 

 out with the ice. Ed. 



New Portdlaccas. — In my communication 

 last month, I described only one new variety, 

 viz. the crimson &nd yellow, and that had not de- 

 veloped its full character. Shortly after, ano- 

 ther bloomed, even more beautiful than the 

 first. It is a white, with crimson stripes. The 

 white Portulacca, already known, sports occa- 

 sionally by an aggravating dash of crimson upon 

 one or two petals, and sometimes a whole crim- 

 son petal, etc ; but th*? new variety I have ob- 

 tained has a distinct and decided character, 

 combining, in every flower, the colors of the 

 two parents, crimson and white, presenting a 

 flower delicate in its pencillings, and beautiful 

 in the extreme. The pure j'ellow and pure 

 white, are both feeble plants compared with the 

 crimson and scarlet varieties, the crimson being 

 the strongest grower of all. The crimso?} and 

 yellow mixed, partakes largely of the strength 

 of the crimson, and the flowers are quite as 

 large. The white and crimson mixed is not 

 quite so strong as the last named. 



The crimson and yellow 7nixed, sports cxacily 

 as I predicted, and makes an extraordinary 

 show. The mixed flowers predominate, but 

 nearly every morning it puts forth among its 

 varigated flowers one or two of pure crimson 

 and of pure yellow. The ^\hite and crimson 

 mixed, thus far has not shown the sporting char- 

 acter, every flower being beautifully .striped. 

 It seems from the character of these varieties 

 of Portulacca, that it comports itself exactly 

 like the Mirabilis Jalapa, the common marvel 

 of Peru, and I infer that we shall soon have as 

 many varieties of Portulacca as we have of that 

 I>lant; and what is somewhat interesting, to an- 

 ticipate all the same colors and mixtures. It is 

 worthy of note here that Mr. McLeod, Florist 

 of this city, had in his garden this season, a 

 double flower of the crimson Portulacca. It 

 was accidental . I omitted to mention that the 

 two new varieties of Portulacca were all 

 were obtained from a large number of 



