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RELATIVE MERITS OF THE STRAWBERRY. 
“ farmers 5 daughters 55 with their " plain cotton 
gowns, check aprons, and those neatest, prettiest, 
whitest little caps,” better than all the rest. Won’t 
the man who gets one of them “ feather his nest ?” 
To Cure Herring. —Short, straight-forward, and 
to the point. Let those who wish a recipe turn 
back and read again. 
Boys’ Department —E. S., says, “ a quarter of a 
pound of rice boiled slowly, will yield more than a 
pound of solid nutritious food.” This is not quite 
plain enough for the understanding of boys. How, 
they will ask, can a quarter of a pound of rice, which 
at first is only “ solid food,” be made into four quar¬ 
ters by simply boiling it? I will explain—one pint 
of ri.ce, mixed with three pints of water and brought 
to the boiling point, in about eight minutes will 
have absorbed all the water, except what has 
evaporated—wasted in steam. But still it will not 
weigh four fold, nor has the water been converted 
into “ nutritious food.” But by softening the rice, 
and mixing it with the water, that which uncooked 
was a hard dry substance, has become nutritious ; 
though I cannot see how it has increased four fold 
in its weight, although it will approximate toward 
it. 
Oats. —If oat-meal is “ a light, wholesome diet 
for sick persons,” why not for healthy ones? If 
we should eat more of this food of “ poor per¬ 
sons,” and horses, should we be so much torment¬ 
ed with dyspepsia? [We should not; and it is 
not only one of the most healthy articles of food 
but also one of the most nutritious.] 
Value of Hoofs and Horns of Cattle. —What im¬ 
mense quantitities of these articles are thrown away 
entirely, all over the United States. Not only the 
hoofs and horns, but the entire heads and feet, and 
tails of all butchered cattle, at the West, are nearly 
all thrown away. And I have myself seen wagon- 
loads of hogs’ feet and heads thrown into the Ohio 
River at Cincinnati. And in that region who ever 
saves bones ? 
Substitute for Potatoes. —Is it not advisable 
that premiums should be offered for the best substi¬ 
tute for potatoes ? If there is no other cultivated 
root that can compare with this invaluable vegeta¬ 
ble, who is to say that no other can be found ? What 
was the potato before cultivation made it what it 
now is ? The original is supposed to have been a 
wild growing plant of America; and less than 300 
years ago was unknown in Europe. In 1663, the 
Royal Society of England recommended an exten¬ 
sion of its culture, as a means of preventing 
famine. Little thought had they then, that the cul¬ 
ture would become so universal; that a failure in 
the crop would cause the fearful famine that has 
prevailed during the last year among the millions 
whose ancestors, only 200 years ago, had never 
tasted a potato. Only 230 years ago, the steward 
of the queen’s household in London, purchased a 
very small quantity of “ that neweand rare plante, 
called potatoe,” as a kind of rarity for the Queen’s 
table, at “ two shilling (45 cents), the pounde.” 
Concentrated Gravy of Meat. —Can this article 
be manufactured in this country ? I believe it is a 
fact that sheep have been slaughtered in several 
places in the United States for their “ hides and 
tallow.” Could not the article above noticed, be 
also made at the same time ? And are not cattle 
now reared in Texas so cheaply that their meat 
might advantageously be made into “ concentrated 
gravy? And now speaking of concentration re¬ 
minds me that it is high time that I should concen¬ 
trate one-third of the number of letters in the al¬ 
phabet into the name of Reviewer. 
RELATIVE MERITS OF THE STRAWBERRY. 
Preliminary to a more full exposition of the rela¬ 
tive merits-of the different varieties of the straw¬ 
berry, I will now, as some guidance to those 
who are desirous of forming plantations, name 
such as the full experience of years has proved, 
should be summarily rejected , and also some that 
may be permanently adopted for their certainty 
of crops. The great improvements made in the 
character of this fruit have now rendered it 
necessary, that very many of the older varie¬ 
ties which have been hitherto held in esteem for 
want of better, and which, although in most cases 
possessing good flavor, are miserably unproductive, 
should give place to those which produce abundant 
crops, and possess other estimable properties. 
As a general rule the English varieties, which 
have been from time to time so much vaunted are 
not at all comparable to the new American ones, or 
even to those found in a natural state in our woods 
and prairies, and with but few exceptions they are 
destined to be banished from our gardens; and will 
no doubt be displaced even in England by the supe¬ 
rior varieties which will be sent from America. 
Soil .—The soil should be stiff and not sandy, and 
should be dug and pulverized to the depth of 18 
inches; it cannot be made too rich. Old rotten 
manure should be plentifully intermixed throughout 
the whole depth. 
REJECTED VARIETIES, 
all of which are staminate with more or less fertile 
pistils. 
British Queen, Black Musk Hautbois, Corse’s 
Seedling, Downtown, Elton, Melon, Myatt’s Eliza, 
Myatt’s Pine, Old Pine, Royal Scarlet, Southbo- 
rough, all worthless for barrenness. 
Swainstone Seedling, worthless for barrenness, 
and foliage burns up in summer. 
Deptford Pine, foliage burns up in summer. 
Roseberry, or Aberdeen, small, poor crop. 
Keen’s Seedling, and Ross’ Phoenix, medium size 
and half crop. 
Garnestone Scarlet, fine flavor, poor crop. 
Duke of Kent’s Scarlet, prolific, insignificant, 
useless. 
Bishop’s Orange, the dark-red variety, so called, 
is erroneous ; the true is orange scarlet, very pro¬ 
ductive and valuable. 
Bayne’s Extra Early, Common Hautbois (Eng¬ 
lish), Faulkner’s Scarlet Pine, Navin’s Scarlet, Old 
Scarlet, Victoria, Belle d’Orleans, Warren’s Seed¬ 
ling, Dundee, Lafayette, La Grange, Pine Apple, 
and Stoddard’s Washington are synonymes of 
others enumerated. 
TWENTY ESTIMABLE VARIETIES. 
1. Large Early Scarlet, prolific (s) 
2. Alice Maude; very large, fair crop, early (s) 
3. Primordian ; amazingly productive, large, 
beautiful bright scarlet, the most valuable early 
variety (p). 
