AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
233 
Tulips sometimes suffer from being kept too 
long out of the ground. They should, after 
their summer drying, be put into the ground as 
early as the 1st of October—or if earlier, no mat¬ 
ter. Fresh-rotted sod mold is the best covering 
for them. Three inches below the surface is 
their proper depth in a moderately dry situa¬ 
tion, and a light covering of clean litter should 
be thrown over them for the winter. When the 
frost is effectually out of the ground in the 
spring, this litter can be removed; they will then 
spring up, and flower strongly and beautifully. 
Planting should never be delayed till spring, if 
possible to get them down in the fall. Spring 
planted, they seldom bloom, and if they do, the 
flowers are small and less brilliant. A removal 
once in two years, is amply sufficient for their 
best propagation and show; and if left in the 
earth for three or four years, if they do not get 
too much crowded, and the beds are kept clean 
and rich, they will not harm. Indeed, their 
whole cultivation is simple and easy. Hya¬ 
cinths may be treated like tulips, both in ar¬ 
rangement and cultivation; while crocus, nar¬ 
cissus, jonquils, daffodils, and the like hardy 
flowers, need less attention, and may stand for 
years unmoved, and bloom in great luxuriance; 
their only wrong tendency being to overcrowd 
each other by multiplication. 
Every body who has a piece of ground large 
enough, should cultivate a bed of tulips, and 
other bulbs, as opportunity offers. 
UP THE HARLEM RAILROAD. 
This is an excellent road, and passes through 
a very attractive country, which has such a 
variety of forest-covered hills, and cultivated 
valleys, that the eye meets at almost every turn, 
a succession of eligible sites for country-seats, 
with good farms attached. 
The large and flourishing village of White 
Plains is about thirty miles from the City Hall, 
and nine passenger trains each way, daily stop 
at this place ; and on the way they stop at in¬ 
tervals of from two to eight minutes at York- 
ville, Harlem, Mott Haven, Melrose, Morrisiana, 
Fordham, William’s Bridge, Hunt’s Bridge, 
Bronxville, Tuckahoe, Scarsdale, and Hart’s 
Corners, to land and receive passengers. About 
twice as many trains run to William’s Bridge, 
thus accommodating those denizens of our city 
who wish to enjoy the benefit of pure country 
air during their hours of relaxation from busi¬ 
ness. 
As far as White Plains, the line of the road 
is mostly laid out into village lots and country- 
seats, and the cultivation of the soil has been 
too much neglected. The soil, however, is good, 
and the country healthy; in fact, the most of it, 
more so than the banks of the Hudson River; 
while that portion of it near the city, which has 
heretofore been liable to the fever and ague, and 
other kindred diseases, has, by the influence of 
draining, and other improvements, become much 
healthier. 
A sandy or gravelly loam appears to predom 
nate in the soil, and although in many places 
the land has been allowed to run down, yet a 
sub-soil plow, and a liberal application of fertili¬ 
zers, will quickly restore it. 
One farmer informed us that for twenty 
years his neighborhood had scarcely raised ten 
bushels of wheat per acre on their choicest 
land, but during the last three years, by the 
addition of a small amount of phosphates, they 
had gathered 25 bushels per acre. 
A celebrated fruit grower, some sixty miles or 
more north of the city, informed us, that, for 
nearly thirty years his town had been unable to 
raise peaches, yet now his trees produce an 
abundance of the finest kinds. We noticed 
many apple orchards so neglected, that they 
were literally cumberers of the ground; we 
also saw, in the same vicinity, new orchards of 
as thrifty growth, and promising as large crops 
of good fruit, as the apple trees in the best 
fruit-growing region of Western New-York. 
The Harlem road gives such market conveni¬ 
ences to this whole country, that the farmers 
can afford to bestow far better cultivation—in 
fact, they cannot afford to do otherwise, for 
their land has become altogether too valuable. 
The freight of milk alone, on this road, now 
exceeds six hundred dollars per day, as we are 
informed. 
We made a pleasant trip over this road last 
week, and we advise others to do likewise. The 
obliging conductors seemed to take pleasure in 
making the ride agreeable to all, and we shall 
be glad to repeat it, and report still further of 
this pleasant suburban country of the metropo¬ 
lis. 
Tiie Practical Farmer. —Owing to not receiv¬ 
ing the first two or three numbers,-and a pressure 
of engagements afterward, we inadvertantly 
omitted to notice the appearance of the Practi¬ 
cal Farmer , published at Boston. It is a large, 
well-printed, weekly journal, under the editorial 
superintendence of Mr. Wx. S. King, and will, 
we trust, prove an efficient aid to the cause of 
agricultural improvement. If the half dozen 
agricultural papers at Boston are all well sus¬ 
tained by the farmers of that vicinity, we must 
certainly give them the credit of being a “ read¬ 
ing community.” 
TO BOIL RICE. 
Rice is one of those vegetables which is easily 
injured by poor cooking, and may be made 
really unpalatable by a little over-boiling. Rice 
should be carefully looked over, and thoroughly 
washed in two or three waters. The kernel 
will then have a pearly lustre. It should be 
put into boiling water in which a little salt has 
been thrown, and allowed to boil fifteen or 
seventeen minutes. The water should then be 
drained off—and the kettle set back from the 
violent heat of the fire—when it has steamed in 
this way about fifteen minutes, it will be per¬ 
fectly soft, of snowy whiteness, and each kernel 
will retain its individuality, and not be lost in 
one solid mass of paste. 
A pint of rice may be boiled in three quarts 
of water. A. H. 
-• • <- 
For the American Agriculturist. 
A MORNING PEEP INTO FARMER BROWN’S 
KITCHEN. 
TnERE are no class of men more independent 
than farmers. Their comforts are less affected 
than others, by changes in the market. A 
duction in prices may deprive them of some 
gratifications, but it does not diminish their 
supply of wholesome food, or deprive them of 
fuel. A rise in the market brings money into 
their pockets, and a man who can sell a load of 
potatoes for $50, as one has recently done at 
Rochester, may well say that “ after all, farming 
is a pretty good business.” It is a business, 
however, which in the season of labor admits 
of no idleness. So soon as frost disappears, all 
is busy industry. The farmer’s wife and 
daughters are obliged to be diligent to have the 
bouse in order—the paint cleaned, the carpets 
shaken, the walls whitewashed, and the smoke 
and dust of winter removed, to give time for 
butter making, cheese making, &c. 
What bustle in farmer Brown’s great home¬ 
like kitchen. Breakfast for a half dozen men to 
be cooked—and a substantial one too—for it is 
to keep up the supply of bone and muscle 
which is to fill the barns with plenty, the gran¬ 
ary with its rich treasures of wheat, rye and 
oats, and the golden corn, that will display its 
attractions in the great crib, and court, through 
the wide crevices, the caresses of. the wind. 
With what satisfaction that rasher of bacon, 
so finely cured in early winter, is welcomed by 
the palates of those robust men. Those fried 
eggs are fine ; that hot corn bread is delicious. 
How dry and mealy those potatoes! they must 
be Mercers. The rye bread and the wheat could 
not be improved; the butter is yellow and 
sweet, and tastes of the fresh green grass; 
the coffee is clear, the cream rich, and there is 
scalded milk, for those who like it, to use with 
their cream. How tempting it looks. It would 
almost entice a Grahamite to break his resolu¬ 
tions, and just drink a little to see how it tastes. 
She who has presided over this breakfast, is 
certainly a good house-keeper, or every thing 
would not be so perfectly cooked, and so nicely 
arranged on the snowy cloth which covers the 
table. The whole room has an air of comfort 
and thrift. The ceiling, to be sure is low, and 
every thing is plain, but there are book-shelves 
between two of those windows, well filled with 
different agricultural works, and they give evi¬ 
dence of having been thoroughly read. There 
is one shelf, I see, for the ladies—Miss Beecher’s 
Domestic Economy and her Recipe-book, The 
Mysteries of Bee-keeping, and several other vol¬ 
umes on those independent little folks, may be 
found on it. Books of general literature are in 
the parlor, which has quite a little library for 
the leisure hours of the family in the long win¬ 
ter evenings, when they gather around that cen¬ 
ter-table, from which a vase of wild flowers now 
sends its perfume throughout the shaded room. 
There are newspapers on that small table in 
the corner. I recognize the recent numbers of 
the Agriculturist , neatly stitched in a paste¬ 
board cover to await a binding at the close of 
the year. The Tribune , the laboring man’s 
friend, and the newspaper of the country, are 
regular visitors. There are juvenile papers for 
the children. The Little Pilgrim has found his 
way into that neat and tity kitchen, and he 
meets a warm welcome. 
Those boys look as though they would make 
men—true men—with a character that will be 
respected and honored. Their brown faces are 
ruddy with the glow of health, their eyes beam 
with intelligence, and they are ready for either 
frolic or work. How unusually neat all those 
assembled around that inviting break fast-table 
appear. The men are required to be particular. 
There is a scraper at the door, and a mat, both of 
which are to be used. A broom hangs near by, 
with which they brush off the dust which has 
