96 ladies’ department. 
GARDENS.—FLOWERS. 
I trust, ladies, you will be enabled to induce the 
editor to keep up your department. It was the many 
valuable articles addressed to you in that old, but 
valuable work, the American Farmer, near twenty 
years past, which attached me greatly to agricultural 
publications. In our delightful winter climate, we 
are not without flowers all the year round. I find 
©n page 3, of what I term my horticultural book for 
the present year, the following flowers out on the 3d 
of January, in the open air—the yellow jasmine, 
the violet, the flowering pear, the hyacinth, and the 
rose. In our vegetable garden, I find on the 4th 
page of the above work, that our cabbage plants, let¬ 
tuce, and the green peas were up on the 4th inst. It 
is only necessary in this delightful climate, to use 
proper industry, not only to be supplied throughout 
the year with every kind of the finest vegetables, but 
it is in our power to have the most beautiful flower 
gardens; and how much it would add to the pleasure 
of life, if a taste for flowers could everywhere be 
cultivated! It would add to one’s years, it would 
make us love home, we should feast our senses on the 
beauties of nature, and be with nature’s God. How 
delighted I am when travelling through the country, 
to see the houses surrounded by handsome flower 
gardens; to witness the beautiful vines entwined 
around the windows of the cottage, and on the walls 
of the mansion. What a delightful employment for 
the fair ladies of our country ! I trust that some of 
your numerous correspondents will take up the sub¬ 
ject and do it the justice its great importance demands. 
Alexander McDonald. 
Eufala , Ala., Jan. 6, 1845. 
Boiling Potatoes.— Not one housekeeper out of 
ten knows how to boil potatoes properly. Here is 
an Irish method, one of the best we know. Clean 
wash the potatoes and leave the skin on, then bring 
the water to a boil and throw them in. As soon as 
boiled soft enough for a fork to be easily thrust 
through them, dash some cold water into the pot, let 
the potatoes remain two minutes, and then pour off 
the water. This done, half remove the pot lid, and 
let the potatoes remain over a slow fire till the steam 
is evaporated, then peel and set them on the table in 
an open dish. Potatoes of a good kind thus cooked, 
will always be sweet, dry, and mealy. A covered 
dish is bad for potatoes, as it keeps the steam in, and 
makes them soft and watery. 
Pickling Eggs. —In England, at the season of the 
year when the stock of eggs is plentiful, they cause 
some four or six dozen to be boiled in a capacious 
saucepan, until they become quite hard. They then, 
after removing the shells, lay them carefully in 
large mouthed jars, and pour over them scalding 
vinegar, well seasoned with w T hole pepper, alspice, 
ginger, and a few cloves or garlic. Then, when 
cold, bung them down close. In a month they will 
be fit for use. Where eggs are plentiful, the above 
pickle is by no means expensive, and as an acetic 
accompaniment to cold meat, it cannot be outrivalled 
for piquancy and gout by the generality of pickles 
made in this country. 
The above is doubtless a very good method of picke¬ 
ting eggs; but for our part, we prefer putting them 
down in salt, after dipping them in whitewash. 
Baked Beans.— Shall I give your readers a hint or 
two for a very homely, but even to epicures some¬ 
times, a very palatable dish if properly prepared ? 
Carefully select and soak your beans the night before 
you wish them for the table; wash them thoroughly 
the next morning, and put them over the fire to sim¬ 
mer immediately after breakfast. When they have 
come to a boil, drain them carefully through a cul¬ 
lender, then add fresh hot water from the teakettle, 
with a suitable piece of salt pork, and let them boil 
slowly till quite soft. Place the beans, with the 
liquor in which they were boiled, in a deep baking 
dish with the pork in the centre. The latter must 
first be neatly cut through the rind in cross strips a 
third of an inch in diameter. Bake them two hours 
in a moderate oven, or if you prefer the orthodox 
Connecticut mode, bake in a brick oven with your 
bread, &c. They may remain in all night with ad¬ 
vantage. Prosa. 
A Fruit, Vegetable, and Flower Market. —A 
project is in contemplation in this city, which depends 
greatly on you, ladies, to carry into effect; and that 
is, the erection of a market for the sale exclusively 
of fruits, flowers and vegetables. Such markets are 
to be found in most of the cities of Europe, and are 
places of great pleasurable resort. No person can 
now visit our markets for the purchase of horticultu¬ 
ral productions, without being disgusted with the 
smell of fish and offal, and the sight of meats and 
other things which are extremely disgusting to the 
refined. A market devoted exclusively as designed 
above, of handsome architecture, with a fountain 
playing in the centre, would soon become a place of 
delightful and instructive resort for thousands of 
our citizens who never go near them now, except 
when necessity forces them to do so. In case this 
goes into operation, women and girls should alone 
have the privilege of occupying the stands for the 
sale of all articles. 
The Garden.-— This is usually the peculiar care 
of the ladies, and when well cultivated, it adds greatly 
to the pleasures and comforts of a country home. 
One of the first things to prepare this month is hot 
beds, the construction of which is so familiar and 
well known, that we need not go into particulars 
regarding them. The most important things in their 
management are, to give the plants plenty of steady 
heat at the bottom, and air on top, with a sufficiency 
of water; and yet be careful not to check their growth 
or expose them to sudden changes. Pretty much all 
that is necessary to be done this month, will be found 
under the head of the Northern and Southern calen¬ 
dars in our last volume, to which we must refer our 
fair readers. 
Liquid Manures. —One of the best things to make 
all kinds of shrubs, vegetables, and flowers grow, i.$ 
to water them with a liquid manure, made in the 
proportion of a pint of soot to a gallon of water. If 
a table spoonful of salt is added to this it will be all 
the better. Guano is now coming into extensive use, 
and may also be made into a liquid manure by steep¬ 
ing one pound of it in a gallon of water. Liquids 
thus prepared are quite powerful, and must be used 
in moderate quantities around the plants and not on 
them. 
