Country Scenes and Flowers—Making Bread, 
St 
Our city belles must hasten to their sub-urban, or 
more distant country retreats before the summer sol¬ 
stice has mounted its throne, or the rich variety of deli¬ 
cate and lovely flowers, which now lift their rainbow 
faces in every sheltered copse, and beside each native 
nedge, will be sought in vain ; like past pleasures in 
retrospect and as transient. Then seize the moments 
as they fly, and while you glean flowers by the way, 
aim to draw a useful moral, even from the short-lived 
playthings of creation. Let us go first to the velvet 
meadows every where enamelled with flowers, where 
are the wild Geranium, Americanum, because our only 
one: the deJicate Vida or Vetch with its papilionaceous 
blossoms and graceful tendrils; the blue and white Lu¬ 
pines just passing away; the wild daisy which Burns 
so beautifully soliloquized after prostrating with his 
plow, 
Wee, modest, crimson tipped flower, 
Thou’s’t met me in an evil hour; 
To spare thee now, is past my power 
Thou bonnie gem. 
The Convallaria , Solomon’s seal, with the graceful 
bell-flowered Uvularia; the more striking Erythroni- 
um or Adder’s tongue, a beautiful lily with mottled 
leaves; the A quilegia or Columbine as fragile and 
more imposing; and that little flower our once tiny 
hands delighted to gather, the shining Ranunculus or 
butter cup. Ah! who will not in this merry month of 
fleeting joys, revert to their happy childhood of violet 
and daisy memory, when the last one plucked -was 
still the fairest, and not one simple flowret passed un¬ 
noticed. Sweet days and most blessed memory! 
whose impress on our somewhat, seared hearts, is yet 
fresh and green. But we must not linger here. We 
will now to the sedgy streams and to the sylvan dells 
where we find numerous varieties of the brake. 
Among these, the exquisite Asplenmm or Maiden’s 
Hair; the Trillinvis or wake robin, purple, white and 
variegated , more conspicuous in our Western woods 
and well worthy of cultivation; the Lychnedia with 
lilac-colored blossoms surrounding their tall and slen¬ 
der stem, here and there too, a Podophyllum or Man¬ 
drake like some of the preceding, a flower of May, 
which has lingered awhile to gaze on the more gor¬ 
geous bloom and loveliness of June, and in some sha¬ 
dy copse you may, perchance, find that curious plant 
which from its cup-shaped blossom sometimes, ’tis 
said, affords refreshment to the thirsty traveller, the 
side-saddle flower, or Saracenia, so called from its 
fancied resemblance to the head-dress of a Turk; the 
Asclepias, milk weed; and the beautiful Orchis tribe; 
and above us, throwing up its white petals into some 
branch of a neighboring tree, more green and lovely 
than the parent one, is the Cornus Florida or Dog¬ 
wood. But look where we will, we can find no shrub 
or flower more beautiful than the superb Kalmia, the 
Laurel, and only those know who have seen it in its 
perfection, what enchanting beauty and magnificence 
it lends during its short-lived reign, to eastern woods. 
Pity it so ill repays the effort at cultivation.* We 
have found the more shady its retreat in the deep 
woods, the darker and more glossy its classic leaves, 
and the more roseate the hue of its rich and dew-tex¬ 
tured blossoms. Among our Northern forest shrubs, 
we think it bears the same relative position, as does 
the far-famed Magnoliat of the South in their flowery 
month cf March, to the jessamines and myrtles, and 
various other plants raised with care in our conserva¬ 
tories, but which form the lovely hedge-row ornaments 
of that sunny clime. But we are out of our latitude, 
and we would fain return again to the beauties of our 
* Can any of our readers afford to the florist a hint for its suc¬ 
cessful cultivation. 
t The Magnolia at the South is a laige forest tree. 
own woodland scenes were they not too numerous to 
enumerate in detail, but we must allude en passant to 
the garden which now pays richly for the care that 
has been, bestowed on it. The Roses are this month 
in perfection, and cast all other cultivated flowers in 
the shade, for who will long dwell over the tributary 
beauties of the parterre when the queen of flowers 
and of sweets, every where commands our homage 
and admiration 'l The beautiful and fragrant Lilies 
are also in their prime,and as usual,enter into compe¬ 
tition with the rose. But to pass all these brighter 
glories by, better, we say , the lowliest flower that lifts 
its head from the bountiful bosom of the teeming 
earth, than none at all, for the humblest petal displays 
inimitable skill, and is a lesson to the overwise who 
too proudly esteem the finite mind; and is ever a wel¬ 
come to guileless and trusting infancy; And who 
shall say there is not a lesson in every page of na¬ 
ture’s book, in the flowers we tread upon, as well as 
in the stars of light which irradiate worlds and sys¬ 
tems like our own! We quote the sweet sentiments 
of Mary Howitt, in answer to the query, 
“ Wherefore had they birth ? 
To comfort man, to whisper hope, 
Whene'er his faith is dim ; 
That whoso careth for the flowers 
Will care much more for him.” 
The thrilling influence of the retrospect of tnese 
sunlit, flower-decked, happy, childhood hours, maybe 
gathered from the exquisite reflections of Madame de 
Genlis. “ O, how much sweeter is it to me, to recall 
to my mind the walks and sports of my childhood, 
than the pomp and splendor of the palaces I have 
I since inhabited. All these courts, once so splendid 
| and brilliant, are now faded ; the projects which were 
I then built with so much confidence are become chi- 
i meras. The impenetrable future has cheated alike 
the security, of princes and the ambition of courtiers. 
Versailles is drooping into nuns. I should look in 
vain for the vestiges of the feeble grandeur I once ad¬ 
mired , but I should find the banks of the Loire as 
smiling as ever, the meadows of St. Aubyn as full of 
violets and lilies of the valley, and its trees loftier and 
fairer. There are no vicissitudes for the eternal beau¬ 
ties of nature; and while, amid blood-stained revolu¬ 
tions, palaces, columns, statues disappear, the simple 
flowers of nature, regardless of the storm, grow into 
beauty, and multiply for ever.” 
Hannah More, the impersonation of purity, judg¬ 
ment and good taste, after her eightieth year, said 
“ the only natural passion left to her, which had lost 
none of its force, was the love of flowers.” Lay up, 
then, my youthful friends, a rich store of pure and 
happy recollections for old age to dwell upon and 
revel in. Ella. 
Making Bread. —To make good bread, good flour, 
good yeast, and good management are required. One 
of the simplest processes of making it is as follows : 
To 8 quarts of flour, add 3 ounces of salt, 1-3 pint of 
yeast, and 3 quarts of water, of moderate tempera¬ 
ture, and the whole being well mixed and kneaded, 
and set by in a proper temperature, will rise in about 
an hour, or perhaps a little more. It will rise better 
and more equally if the mass be covered. It must 
undergo a second kneading be formed into loaves for 
the oven. The more bread is kneaded the better it 
will be. Be careful not to allow it to become sour in 
rising. Milk will make white bread, but it will not 
be sweet, and dries quicker than when made with 
water. If loaves are lightly gashed with a knife 
around the edges before they are put into the oven, 
cracking will be avoided in baking. From an hour 
to an hour and a half is required to bake bread fully. 
N. O. Pic . 
