AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
185'." 
life. We need not say that her house was in 
order, and that under her superintendence food 
was prepared and the table arranged to please 
both eye and taste. But we did not commence 
this to write about household arrangements in 
general—for, although we have an eye upon 
such matters wherever we go, we leave the sub¬ 
ject to our fair correspondents who have pro¬ 
mised us aid in this line—we now only wish to 
give what we call the best method of cooking 
rice to our taste. At our request, the lady above 
referred to, furnished us the following recipe, 
which is simple and good we know. 
^ Boil rice until it is soft, and while warm make 
it into cakes or flat balls. Dip these balls into 
a beaten egg, and then roll them into Indian 
meal till thoroughly coated. This done, fry them 
in lard, which is better than butter for this pur¬ 
pose. Serve them with sauce, or with butter or 
cream and sugar. 
Try them ladies, and in return for this recipe, 
send us one of your best. 
•--«-»-«■■ ■- ■ 
Suffolk Pigs. —Mr. John R. Page writes us 
that in the account of feeding Suffolk Pigs, 
which we published with a cut in No. 8 of this 
volume, (May 3d,) he omitted to state that all the 
pigs there described, particularly those fed by 
Mr. Crossman, were from coarse , common sows, 
and were the get of the Suffolk Boar Prince. 
- ♦ • • - 
EARLY PRODUCE IN NEW-YORK MARKETS. 
WIIENCE DERIVED. 
But a few years since, Long Island furnished 
New-York city with nearly all early garden pro¬ 
duce, and no complaint of a scarcity was heard; 
soon Connecticut, Massachusetts, and the vicin¬ 
ity north and west of the city, were called into 
requisition, and now, the Southern States and 
Bermuda Isles added to the list of producers, do 
not glut the market. The Southern States and 
Bermuda supply our market in the spring, be¬ 
fore our colder climate can grow what is needed. 
One dealer (J. J. Kipp) has already this spring 
brought from Norfolk, Savannah, and Charles¬ 
ton to this market, about 3000 bushels of green 
peas, 1400 head of cabbages, 3000 baskets and 
1500 boxes of strawberries. He has also 
brought cherries for a month past, few of course 
at first, but now from 30 to 40 bushels per 
trip. 
The peas are worth from $3 50 to $5 per 
bushelcabbages 12^ cents per head, and those 
very small; strawberries 50 to 75 cents per 
quart or box. The cherries bring $6 per bushel. 
We saw to-day (Friday, May 26) a lot of straw¬ 
berries said to be the first from Shrewsbury, N. 
J. They looked well though not quite as large 
as those from the South. New potatoes have 
been in the market for some time from Ber¬ 
muda, and are worth $7 per bbl., but they are 
just beginning to come from Charleston and 
Savannah, some 100 to 150 bbls. per steamer, 
twice a week. They expect to bring as many 
as 300 bbls. a trip in a week or two. The price 
must soon be lower. 
For several items of information given above, 
we are indebted to Messrs. SnERMAN, Baker & 
Co., of Fulton market. 
- - ♦ •« - - 
Another Advance in the Price of Guano.— 
The Peruvian Government have notified their 
agents in this country to advance the price of 
Guanoyfre dollars per ton. This with the four 
dollars advance in February last, makes nine 
dollars per ton, about 20 per cent, since the com¬ 
mencement of this year. 
- • • • - 
Myrtle Wreath; or, Stray Leaves Recalled. 
Charles Scribner, 145 Nassau st., N. Y. 
The excellent articles which have occasion¬ 
ally appeared in this journal for the past few 
months, from the pen of the fair authoress of 
the above work, have given our readers a fore¬ 
taste of her ready perception, enlarged and just 
observation, good sense, and lively graphic man¬ 
ner ; but they foreshadow little of her touching 
pathos, sly humor, and delightful imaginings. 
For all these and more, we must refer them to 
the Myrtle Wreath itself, which, if we do not 
misjudge it, will prove one of the most popular 
books of the day. Minnie Myrtle writes just 
as she talks and acts, and that is like a clear¬ 
headed, good-hearted, unsophisticated woman, 
fresh from the country; who looks upon most 
things as they are, and speaks of others as she 
would wish them to be. Prose and poetry are 
mingled throughout her volume, and the stories 
have one great merit, which is not common 
now-a-days—they are short. Examples of these 
we shall hereafter give in our pages; in the 
meanwhile we advise our readers to anticipate 
us by purchasing the book. It is a beautiful 
volume of near 400 pages, and may well adorn 
the center-table of any parlor. 
- • •• - 
For the American Agriculturist . 
DOMESTIC LABOR HONORABLE. 
House-keeping is too often considered a mere 
drudgery, and domestic labor a kind of service 
to be performed only by the uneducated and 
uncultivated. A greater mistake could not be 
made, nor one more disastrous to true happi¬ 
ness and family comfort. Puddings and pies, 
bread, butter and cheese, and all the et ceteras 
of dinner-pot, oven, and roaster, have much more 
to do with the enjoyment of those who gather 
around the same table, beneath the same pro¬ 
tecting roof, than is generally believed. 
Any young lady who ventures to assume the 
duties of wife and house-keeper, without know¬ 
ing how to make good bread, or attend to the 
various preparations for the table which are 
necessary in every family, is taking a leap in 
the dark. She is periling her own happiness, 
and the happiness of him whom she has pro¬ 
mised to love and honor. No one who has 
lived in a well-ordered home, can be happy in 
exchanging it for one where sour, or heavy 
bread is the order of the day, where biscuits are 
yellow with saleratus, or heavy for the want of 
it, where the beef-steak is “ fried to a chip” in 
boiling fat, instead of being nicely broiled on a 
gridiron, where every thing which a husband 
provides is ruined in the cooking, and rendered 
as unhealthy, and disagreeable as it can well be 
made. Love, under such circumstances, will 
almost surely become fretful, if no worse calam¬ 
ity befalls; and his torch instead of burning 
clearer and brighter, as it always should do, 
will gradually grow pale and sickly, and flicker 
like a dying candle in its socket. 
The domestic education of our young ladies 
is too much neglected. They are taught French, 
music and drawing, and after a few years at 
boarding-school, return home, too often with 
the idea that they arc highly educated and ac¬ 
complished, and have nothing more to learn. 
The work, which they deem finished, is scarcely 
begun. Such attainments are by no means to 
be undervalued. I would not have them know 
less of these branches of knowledge. French 
and German are so much spoken in our country 
by multitudes, who have emigrated to our 
shores, that it is desirable to be able to converse 
in these languages even if we never travel in 
Europe, or read the great authors of those na¬ 
tions in their mother tongue. Music and draw¬ 
ing refine the mind, and both may be made of 
practical benefit in the management of a family 
of little folks. I have heard of a mother, who, 
when her children were restless and uneasy, on 
the very verge of disobedience, and contention, 
would soothe and quiet them, and like David 
charm away the evil spirit by music. She would 
sing in a low and pleasant measure, some story 
which would have an interest in itself, and an 
additional interest from the peculiar manner of 
reciting it. Children are always amused by 
drawing, and a mother who can instruct and 
assist them need not consider the time wasted, 
which she has spent in acquiring the skill to do 
so. 
But French, music, and drawing, nor any 
mere book education, cannot take the place of a 
practical acquaintance with the daily duties of 
the household. Any thing worth doing at all, 
it is often said, is worth doing well. There is a 
right way, and a wrong way in washing dishes, 
and in sweeping floors and carpets, as well as in 
the fitting of a dress, or the conjugating of a 
verb, and it is just as important your dishes 
should be properly washed, as that your dress 
should fit neatly and smoothly. 
It is the spirit with which any labor is per¬ 
formed, that makes it degrading or elevating. I 
always look with feelings of the truest respect 
upon one who arranges her household cares 
with ability, who presides calmly, decisively, 
and lovingly over those who may be under her 
direction, and who brings order out of confusion, 
and keeps it in the ascendent. She may be 
ignorant of books, she may know nothing of 
style or fashion, but she is a noble woman, and 
she has a character far superior to many whose 
advantages have greatly exceeded hers. 
“Act well your part” in whatever sphere of 
life you are placed, “ there all the honor lies.” 
do not look upon any thing which you can do 
to add to the comfort of your family as beneath 
or unworthy your attention. Remember that 
hands were made to use, not to be looked at, or 
for mere pegs for the suspension of jewelry. 
Let your heart be in your work, and do it 
cheerfully, not grudgingly, and every one whose 
respect is worth having, will regard you as you 
deserve. Domestic labor is no disgrace to the 
wealthiest and fairest lady that ever walked on 
our beautiful earth. Anne Hope. 
-• O*- 
Demand for Cattle. —The St. Louis Intelli¬ 
gencer of the 19th inst., says that “dealers 
from New-York are scouring Illinois and Indiana 
to buy up stock to meet the high prices current 
at the metropolis. High prices have been paid 
for good beef cattle—$7 50 to $8 50 per 100 
lbs. net; $4 and $4 25 live weight are the cur¬ 
rent rates at Chicago, and but few to be had at 
that.” 
