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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



WEEDS. 



I like these plants that you call weeds- 

 Sedge, hardback, mullein, yarrow — 



That knit their roots, and sift their seeds 



Wiiere any grassy wheel-track leads 

 Through country by-ways narrow. 



They fringe the rugged hillside farms, 



Grown old with cultivation, 

 With such wild wreath of rustic charms 

 As bloomed in Nature's matron arms 



The first day of creation. 



They show how Mother Earth loves best 



To deck her tired-out places ; 

 By flowery lips, in hours of rest, 

 Against hard work she will protest 



With homely airs and graces. 



You plow the arbutus from her hills ; 



Hew down her mauntain-laurel ; 

 Their place, as best she can, she Alls 

 With humbler blossoms ; so she wills 



To close with you her quarrel. 



She yielded to your axe, with pain, 



Her free, primeval glory ; 

 She brought you crops of golden grain ; 

 You say, "How dull she grows ! how plain !"— 



The old, mean, selfish story. 



Her wildwood soil you may subdue. 



Tortured by hoe and harrow ; 

 But leave her for a year or two, 

 And see— she stands and laughs at you 



With hardback, mullein, yarrow. 



Dear Earth, the world is hard to please ! 



Yet heaven's breath gently passes 

 Into the life of flowers like these ; 

 And I lie down at blessed ease 



Among thy weeds and grasses. 



Lucy Larcom. 



DOMESTIC RECIPES. 

 {From the. Ladies' Floral Oabinet.) 



Lemon Pie. — Yolks of three eggs beaten 

 well, to which add one full cup of sugar, 

 the juice and part of the grated rind of 

 one lemon, and one tablespoon of flour. 

 When the crust is ready, add to the other 

 ingredients enough sweet milk or cream 

 as will be necessary to fill the pie-tin, and 

 bake in a hot oven. As soon as the cus- 

 tard is fairly set and the crust done, spread 

 over the top the whites of the eggs, pre- 

 viously beaten stiff with a little sugar, 

 and return to the oven to brown a trifle. 

 —A. L. T. 



Pickled Peaches. — Forpeaches enough 

 to fill a three-gallon crock, take two quarts 

 of strong cider vinegar, four pounds of 

 brown sugar, plenty of stick cinnamon. 

 Rub the peaches until all the fuzz is ofi, 

 stick four cloves in each peach, unless the 

 peaches are small, then three will be suflSi- 



cient. Boil tlie vinegar, sugar and cin- 

 namon, and when it has been skimmed 

 put in half the peaclies and boil them till 

 they feel a little soft, then take them out 

 carefully, put them in the crock and boil 

 the rest, then put them in the crock, and 

 boil down the vinegar till there is just 

 enough to cover them. Put a plate over 

 them to keep them from swimming, and 

 when cool paste brown paper over the 

 crock to keep out little flies, and keep 

 from the air till cool weather. — G. C. F. 



HiGDoM. — Not quite as many green 

 peppers as green tomatoes, and about 

 one-quarter as many white onions. Chop 

 the tomatoes very fine, salt them and let 

 them stand twelve or twenty-four hours, 

 then squeeze out every particle of juice ; 

 put them in a porcelain kettle with cold 

 water enough to cover them and heat 

 scalding hot ; when cool enough, squeeze 

 every particle of water out. Chop the 

 peppers and onions separately, and boil 

 separately in salted water until nearly 

 soft, then squeeze the juice out and mix 

 with the tomatoes thoroughly. Now boil 

 all together in vinegar and water until 

 soft, then they may stand a day or two, 

 or more if convenient, or they may be 

 squeezed out immediately. Put the 

 amount of sugar you wish to use, plenty 

 of white mustard seed (one-half pound 

 to one peck of tomatoes), a little cloves 

 and cinnamon in some strong vinegar, 

 heat it and pour it over the higdom, and 

 when it is all boiling hot, it is done and 

 ready to put away, in crocks or large- 

 mouthed bottles. If put into bottles 

 corked, and sealing wax poured over the 

 corks, it will keep the year round. There 

 should be vinegar enough to make it tho- 

 roughly moist and a little juicy. — A. L. T. 



Dahlia Coccinea. — As single flowering 

 dahlias are attracting considerable atten- 

 tion at the present time, I would call 

 attention to D. coccinea, a very distinct 

 and profuse-flowering species ; the flowers 

 are freely produced from June until frost, 

 and are of a deep crimson color, with a 

 bright yellow disc. The plant grows from 

 two-and-a-half to three feet in height and 

 requires a treatment similar to that given 

 other dahlias. — Rural New Yorker. 



PRINTED AT THE STEAM PRESS ESTABLISHMENT OF COPP, CLARK k CO., COLBORNE STRHKT, TORONTO. 



