No. 129.] 495 



harrow, mice, or trimming. To thirty pounds of hickory wood 

 ashes add ten pounds of sand, ten pounds of charcoal dust, two 

 pounds of alum, one pound of sulphur, thirty pounds of slacked 

 lime; sift these compounds and mix them perfectly with thirty 

 pounds of fresh cow excrement; convert them to the consistence 

 of thick paint by adding strong soap suds to the mass, and put 

 it on with a stiff brush. 



The second recipe is Columella's mode of preserving apples. 

 He directs that they be picked before quite ripe and examined 

 carefully to see that they are sound, and without blemish or 

 worms ; they are then placed in earthen jars, which are to be 

 filled with raisin wine, or with must, that is, the expressed juice 

 of the grape before its conversion into wine by fermentation, 

 boiled into a third of the first quantity, so that all the apples 

 may be covered by the liquor, then put the cover on and plas- 

 ter it. 



Peach Tree, — Among the most delicious of all fruits may be 

 named the peach, {Amygdalus Persica.) The Nectarine is a va 

 riety of peach produced by cultivation. I have seen peach trees 

 bearing smooth skinned Nectarines on a portion of their branches 

 and rough downy skinned peaches on others, and in one instance 

 a peach covered with down on one side and a smooth skin on the 

 other. No difference can be discovered between the two trees 

 when growing near each other, even the blossoms are alike. 

 According to the Romans the peach tree originated in Persia, 

 where it is said to grow wild; they consequently called it Persica, 

 by which latter name it is usually known by modern botanists to 

 distinguish it from the Amygdalus. They require a long warm 

 season to bring their fruit to perfection, so much so that in Eng- 

 land glass houses, or walls enjoying a southern exposure, are 

 requisite to perfect them. There are but few fruits superior to a 

 peach, if the skin is thin, flesh firm and thick, pulp yellowish 

 and the juice flavored. If a peach is covered wdth a thick down 

 it is invariably of inferior quality ; if the flesh separates imme- 

 diately from the stone on being broken, the peach is called free- 

 stone, or melting; if, on the contrary, it adheres strictly, it is 

 called clingstone. There is a. village in France known as Mon- 



