POTA.TOS UNDER WALLS — THE MULBERRY. 
191 
M. De Chateaubriand, a mouth which exhales 
a sweet and perfumed breath, but something 
"which is not perfumed at all, generally have 
recourse to the Calamus in order to mollify 
their unpleasant smell. This practice seems to 
have been borrowed from the Tartars, who 
w^ere very careful to chew this reed, and hold 
it in the mouth, when they drank the brackish 
water, which had a somewhat disagreeable 
taste. The Calamus is strong enough to have 
neutralized this bad quality. 
But what renders it still more worthy of 
notice is, the fact that it may be made an 
excellent dish for tables. In summer, when 
the reeds are gathered, the rhizomes are taken 
up and properly cleaned and cut in vertical 
slices, and put in preserve with sugar a la 
plume. The slices should be placed one on the 
other in glass jars, such as we used for similar 
purposes ; and when the sugar has ci-ystallized, 
there will be found one of the most delicious 
and healthy preserves that can be made. It 
is an excellent help to the digestive organs, 
and indeed equal in this respect to the ginger 
of the Indies. The cholera is now at our 
doors ; and it is agreed among medicah men 
that good food is a great preventive of this 
Asiatic scourge. Now, in Asia, the Calamus 
is considered as a sovereign remedy for this 
epidemic. Prepared in the manner just de- 
scribed, it forms a very dainty and soothing 
dish for the stomach, which every one should 
be careful to preserve in a healthy condition. 
The Calamus is easily transplanted, and 
may be grown with perfect ease and success 
by the banks of running or stagnant waters, 
or even the tanks or ponds beside our houses. 
It is a plant which is at once agreeable and 
useful for the table, the toilette, and the 
health. — Translated from the Ghent Annals. 
POTATOS UNDER WALLS. 
One of the methods of growing early 
potatos, which we have recommended more 
than once, is very applicable to the wants of 
private families, though by no means profit- 
able to the market gardener. It is a simple 
and reasonable way of obtaining an advance 
in the season, but is not so prolifi.c as ordinary 
planting. Dig up the ground at the foot of a 
south wall, (which is generally covered, by the 
by, with trees,) and take it quite level ; lay 
whole potatos a foot apart close to the wall, 
only omitting them one foot from each stump 
of a tree as you pass them ; then dig a foot 
from the wall, and lay the soil well bruised in 
the angle, so as to cover the potatos four 
inches at least, and this earth so laid is to 
form a sloping bank. The potatos will come 
up very early close to the bricks, and even in 
a hardish frost they will scarcely freeze, but 
if up too early, throw a little more well bruised 
soil on them, so that they may be covered a 
while longer. If they come through that, 
have some peas haulm or light litter handy to 
throw over them at night, and you will find 
this crop precede the other in the open ground 
full three wrecks. The potatos should be 
Rilott's Flour Ball, Soden's Early Oxford, 
Ash-leaf Kidney, Early Sonning, or some 
well known clear early kind, otherwise the 
advantage gained by the season will be lost 
by the lateness of the crop, which in like 
manner will only precede its own sort in the 
open air. Let the potatos be a middling size, 
just below the size we should care to see at 
table, but larger than we would give to the 
pigs as waste. By missing the trees we pre- 
vent any damage to them by earthing up. 
As the potatos are on a bank, and rain will 
rarely reach them, they must be watered 
liberally in hot weather. Next to a wall, the 
south side of a bank will be good; and next to 
that, the south side of a wooden paling ; but 
nothing so good as a wall, nor so early. 
THE MULBERRY. 
This tree, so familiar to the keepers of 
silkworms and the lovers of the fruit, has 
been the subject of much speculation. Plan- 
tations have been made for the purpose of 
rivalling India in the production of silk, and 
private persons have made extraordinary 
efforts to produce silk in quantity, by placing 
the eggs or young hatched worms on the trees. 
Many have wondered how it was the silk- 
worms failed so generally. A friend of ours, 
who was going to do wonders with a few 
young mulberry trees and lots of the eggs, 
watched the progress of his worms with great 
interest ; on a sudden they all, or nearly all, 
disappeared. Time after time did this destruc- 
tion overtake him and spoil his stock. The 
fact is, that his silkworms only served to 
appease the hunger of sundry birds, who 
reaped a rich harvest on the mulberry trees. 
Wjiether the silk-producing mania has been 
appeased or not altogether, it is difficult to 
say, but if ever any of our friends intend to 
produce what they call native silk, let us 
recommend them to cover the entire tree with 
a net, and thus keep off the host of birds 
which feast upon caterj^illars, grubs, and 
insects generally. The mulberry tree may 
be produced from the seeds of the fruit, which 
must be squeezed and the pulp washed, so 
that the seeds may be cleansed and dried. 
They may then be sown in the ground in an 
open situation, and should be raked in. 
Hand weeding, to prevent them from being 
