THE GBNESEE FARMER. 



353 



5. How TO Kill Wasps. — Fiud their holes. In 

 the evening pour in a little turpentine if you can. 

 If the holes run upwards push in some rags dipped 

 in turpentine. In both cases put a turf or clod on 

 the hole and stamp it well down. 



Another Way. — [Gas tar will do as well. P. G.] 

 "When I put " P. Gr." the receipt is mine, and not 

 my father's. 



6. How TO STRIKE ClIIXA RoSES FKOM CtrTTINGS. 



— ^In the beginning of September get some pretty 

 ripe shoots. You may know whether they are ripe 

 enough by the lower leaves coming off easily. Cut 

 the shoots into pieces 8 or 9 inches long. With a 

 sharp knife cut the lower end straight across, below 

 a bud ; draw the knife fiwn tlie bud, not towards 

 it; cut the upper end slanting, just above a bud. 

 Leave on the two uppermost leaves. Pull off all 

 the others. Take a pot about 8 inches deep. Put 

 a few crocks in the bottom ; over tlie crocks lay 

 some old shreds and then an inch of cliarcoal dust, 

 or silver sand; fill up with one quarter peat and 

 half loam. With a round stick make holes through 

 the peat and loam down to the charcoal. Put in 

 the cuttings jso as to leave the ftwo'Jeaves above 

 ground, and press the soil down firmly. Give a 

 watering with rain water. Then plunge the pot 

 on a mild hot bed, or set in any warm place where 

 it may bo kept damp ; put a hand glass over and 

 keep the sun otf until the cuttings begin to push. 

 Then give a little air, at night, putting the hand- 

 glass on again in the daytime. They will soon 

 strike roots. 



Another Way. — You may place the pots wlien 

 filled with cuttings in a shady border with or with- 

 out hand glasses, and they will strike in time. 

 But the first is the quickest way. 



T. How TO Stoke Win'tee Pears in small Qcak- 

 TiTiss. — Get some nnglazed jars; garden pots cov- 

 ered by the pan will do. Make them perfectly 

 clean, if they have ever been used. The best way 

 is to half burn them over again. 



Gather your pears very carefully, so as not to 

 rub off the bloom or break the stalk. On no ac- 

 count knock them about so as to bruise them. — 

 Put theiu on a dry sweet shelf to sweat. When 

 the sweating is over rub tliem dry witli a soft 

 cloth, as tenderly as if you were dry-rubbing a 

 baby. 



As soon as they are quite dry put them one 

 over the other into the jars or garden pots, with- 

 out any sort of packing ; close up the mouth of the 

 jar loosely., or isf the garden pot by whelming the 

 pan over it, and stow them away in a darkish 

 closet where they can't get the frost. 



Open the jars now and then to see how they are 

 getting on. 



Don't put more than one sort in the same jar if 

 you can help it. Mind : the warmer they are kept 

 the faster they will ripen. 



8. How to save Leaves in Winter. — Sweep 

 them up when dry. Keep the oak leaves by them- 

 selves if you can ; for they don't make such good 

 leaf-mould as others. Burn Fir leaves. Keep the 

 leaves as dry as you can by packing them close in 

 dry weather against your pits, if you want the 

 leaves to keep frost out; and put over them a slo- 

 ping roof of mats or old boai-ds, or something of that 

 kind. So managed they will keep off very bad 

 cold. If they get very wet they are not of much 



use. If you don't want them for pits put them into 

 a shed. You may get some early Seakale or Rhu- 

 barb by burying the old roots among dry leaves. 

 When the winter is over and you want a little bot- 

 tom-heat for your frames, leaves are useful for mix- 

 ing with stable litter. Half and half is not too 

 much. A cucumber bed made up so will give a 

 nice mild heat. What leaves you don't want for 

 this should be thrown up out of doors for the sum- 

 mer to take their chance, and by the autumn all 

 except the oak leaves will be crumbled to powder, 

 and make famous leaf-mould. Rut they should 

 be turned over two or three times during the sum- 

 mer. 



9. How to make Goued or Pumpkin Soup. — 

 Get a ripe Pumpkin; no matter what sort if its 

 leaves are sweet and the flesh tender. The best 

 sorts are the great green or yellow ones, and the 

 brownish-yellow one shaped like an egg, which is 

 best of all. Peel as much as you want ; cut it to 

 pieces ; boil in water, with a little salt, till in can 

 be mashed through a sieve. Have ready some 

 strong vegetable broth (see No. 10); mis the broth 

 and the mashed Pumpkin well together, and boil 

 them for three hours. At last thicken with a little 

 butter and flour. By way of change a little milk 

 may be added. 



10. How to make famous Vegetable Broth. — 

 Chop to pieces as many carrots, onions, celery, and 

 turnips as will fill a good-sized basin ; boil them in 

 as much water as the basin, when empty, will hold, 

 with a few peppercorns and a little allspice, tiU the 

 vegetables have lost their taste ; then squeeze out 

 every drop of water, and you have the finest vege- 

 table broth in the world, Some people boil some 

 nice fresh bones with the vegetables, and this is a 

 good plan if you want the broth to be stronger. 



11. How TO keep Geraniums over the Winter. 

 — Take them up on a dry day. Knock all the 

 mould off their roots. Shorten them down to two 

 or three joints. Lay them in the sun for a few 

 hours if you can. Mind there are no leaves on 

 them. Have ready some quite dry pit (not sea) 

 sand. Bury them 4 inches deep in the sand, the 

 roots downwards. Keep them dry all winter; you 

 may do that in a good cold frame which does not 

 drip. Fine coal ashes will do as well as pit sand. 



If you have convenience for keeping frost out you 

 need not bury them, but may keep the ends out of 

 the sand. 



12. What to do with Brussels Sprouts, and 

 all SORTS OF Sprouting Cabbages, in Autumn. — 

 Let them alone, all but breaking off two parts of 

 the side leaves. If you top them, as some teU you, 

 you will spoil them. 



13. How TO Prune Fruit Tree in Autumn. — 

 Let them alone. 



14. How TO keep Ants off Fruit. — Oneway. — 

 Sprinkle their runs with turpentine. Another way. 

 — Draw a ring an inch wide with gas tar round 

 the stem 6 inches above the ground, if the ants get 

 up by the stem. \^Another way. — Put guano in 

 their runs. I think this is best. P. G.] 



15. How TO Pickle Berberries for garnishing. 

 Let them be quite red and dry, but not soft or over 

 ripe. Take a pickle jar ; pack it full of bunches 

 without pressing them. Fill it up with good cold 

 vinegar. Add a little salt. Tie down with a blad- 

 der. These will keep till March." 



