214 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[Julv, 
el or sand, they are seldom injured by frost, and 
last, but not least, weeds will seldom grow through 
them or upon them. 
---- 
Usefulness of Soot. 
This article is often wasted, being thrown into 
the ash-heap, or dumped on the ground at the 
back-door, and no use made of it. Both science 
and experience show that it is a valuable ma¬ 
nure. If used as a top-dressing to grass, it pro¬ 
duces a marked effect. When sown broadcast, 
some of its ammonia becomes volatilized, and is 
wasted in the atmosphere. Therefore, it should 
be mixed with water, and applied as liquid ma¬ 
nure. Twelve quarts of soot to a hogshead of 
water make a powerful fertilizer. It may be ap¬ 
plied to peas, asparagus, strawberries, raspber¬ 
ries, and to nearly all growing crops. 
Iffarmers and gardeners more generally con¬ 
sidered that all fertilizers are more useful, when 
first reduced to a liquid state, they would take the 
trouble to bring various manures into this condi¬ 
tion before applying them. “They do these 
things better in Spain,”—certainly they do in 
England. 
-- - —♦•—->-**-- 
Inexpensive Household Ornaments....V. 
preserving flowers. 
Flowers are always welcome embellishments 
of the dwelling. Many, however, for want of 
proper conveniences, or of time for their care, 
must forego the pleasures of the conservatory or 
the flower stand. To such, and to all lovers of 
the beautiful, the following directions for preserv¬ 
ing flowers in their natural forms and colors will 
he of interest. We found an account of the 
method of preparing them translated from a for¬ 
eign journal, in the Gardener’s Monthly. We 
have not tried the process, but it appears feasible, 
and is at least worth an experiment. 
Procure a quantity of fine sand, and wash it un¬ 
til all the soluble particles are gone, and the wa¬ 
ter runs from it quite clear. Then spread the 
sand upon a clean surface, and expose it to the 
sun or the fire, until perfectly dry. Next pass 
it through a fine sieve to remove all dusty parti¬ 
cles which may have remained after the washing, 
after which use a coarser sieve to get rid of too 
large grains. When that is done, your sand should 
be a mass of fine particles of nearly equal size, 
as it is for instance in the so called silver sand, 
used for writing. Keep the sand in a very dry, 
also if possible, in a warm place, that no vitaliz¬ 
ing quality may remain in it. 
Now for the flowers—cut them in a fully de¬ 
veloped state, taking care that they are neither 
wet nor moist by dew, rain, etc. If you can not 
obtain them in any other condition, which is to 
he regretted, then the following troublesome pro¬ 
ceeding will render them dry. Take one or two 
flowers at a time, and put them into a glass, into 
which pour just enough water so that the ends 
can stand in it; the flowers will then dry, and 
still suck up water enough not to fade. 
Next, get a box or a pot, or anything large 
enough to receive your flower or flowers ; pour 
sand enough into it that they may stand by them¬ 
selves, their stems embedded in the sand. And 
now for that job which calls upon your whole 
skill and your most delicate fingering; don’t be 
afraid though, practice renders that too a com¬ 
paratively easy matter. You have to fill up the 
box above the level of the flowers witli sand, so 
that the flowers are completely embedded in it. 
By means of a tube or a funnel, or a sieve, you 
can do it in such a way that every particle of the 
flower rests in sand, and that your filling up shall 
not have crumpled or displaced the" smallest pet¬ 
al. Of course, such a thing can be done only in 
a very slow way by a beginner. 
And now take care not to shake your box, else 
the flowers inside might get hurt. Carry it to a 
place both dry and warm, that all the moisture in 
the flower may pass into the sand, which being 
porous, is in turn acted upon and will let the mois¬ 
ture pass entirely out and be evaporated. Avoid, 
however, positive heat, or the colors of the flow¬ 
er will fade, whilst at too low a temperature the 
moisture in the flower will not dry quickly enough, 
and so rot it. The warmth should, as a general 
thing, never exceed 100°. 
When you are sure the flowers have fully dried 
—a thing which very little practice in touching the 
box will teach you—the thing is done. Open the 
box, and by holding it in a slanting .direction, let 
so much sand run out that you can lift the flow¬ 
er by the stem ; by turning it upside down, shak¬ 
ing it gently, and if necessary, blowing on it, all 
the sand will be removed, and you have the flow¬ 
er in its most perfect form. It will be a little 
brittle, to be sure, in such a dry state as this, 
and therefore will require careful handling. But 
a few days’ exposure to the atmosphere will 
have imparted moisture enough to the flower to 
make it considerably less easily broken. 
You now see why we can not do with the larger 
grains of sand ; they would press unequally, and 
spoil the flower, which forever retains all the 
marks of such pressure ; nor with the dusty par¬ 
ticles of the sand, because they, as well as the 
soluble particles which we have removed by 
washing, would adhere to the hairy and velvety 
parts of the flower, would never be got rid of, and 
would materially impair the original beauty. 
Prepare the Fruit Bottles—The best Method 
of Preserving Fruit. 
Cherries and strawberries, now in the hight 
of bearing, have ushered in the fruit season, to 
be kept up by raspberries, blackberries, peaches, 
plums, etc., to the end of the luscious catalogue. 
Thanks to recent inventions, we may prolong the 
enjoyment of these cheap and healthful luxuries 
beyond the few short months of their ripening 
and rejoice in fruits retaining almost their natur¬ 
al freshness, when the plants that bore them are 
shivering in the winter gale, or sleeping under 
their snowy covering. 
Up to the present time 
we have an abundant 
supply of a large assort¬ 
ment of last year’s 
bearing, safely kept in 
the manner described in 
the previous volume, 
pages 214 and 310. Be¬ 
fore us, as we write, 
stands a wide mouthed 
pint bottle or jar, invert¬ 
ed in a small tin “patty¬ 
pan,” with cement just 
covering the rim around 
the neck of the jar as 
shown in this figure. In the jar are peaches put up 
last August, the jar corked, the cap and cement 
added, and they now look as if just gathered 
and made ready for tea. Being in clear glass, 
’any change can be readily noticed. Having dur¬ 
ing the year fairly tested the usefulness of glass 
vessels for this purpose, we shall hereafter dis¬ 
card tin, or metal of any kind. For many fruits 
and vegetables tin cans answer every purpose; 
and if glass or earthen-ware were not obtain¬ 
able, we should use tin for sweet fruits as 
formerly; hut the comparative cheapness of 
glass, the entire absence of injury to the articles 
by corrosion of the surface, and the readiness 
with which the condition of the preserves is ascer¬ 
tained, are paramount advantages. No particu¬ 
lar form of jar is essential—any bottle with a 
neck wide enough to receive the fruit will ans¬ 
wer. We gave preference to those having a 
flange about the mouth, and a shoulder in the 
neck for the cork to rest against, because of their 
convenience. The addition of the small pan upon 
the top for holding the cement, and relieving the 
pressure upon the cork, makes the shouldered 
neck unnecessary. 
The essential points to be observed in preserv¬ 
ing in this manner are : lsf, that the articles be 
entirely fresh. With soft pulpy fruits, as straw¬ 
berries, this is very important. Many who 
have been at fault here, blamed the bottles or 
cans, and us for recommending them. Berries 
purchased in the market are often from six to 
thirty hours gathered, or more. Fermentation 
advances somewhat before it can be perceived by 
the taste, and when once it has started, is with 
difficulty arrested. The good housewife some¬ 
times introduces such fruit into confinement, 
without sufficient cooking—the openings are 
safely closed, but the “ working” goes on. Car¬ 
bonic gas is generated, “pop” go the corks, 
and out run the frothing syrup and the house¬ 
wife’s hopes together. Fruits with a firm skin 
give less difficulty, because their decay does not 
commence so early. 
2 d. Sufficient cooking is needed to expel the 
air contained in the fruit, and to counteract 
the change which exposure to the atmosphere has 
produced. The liquid albumen is made solid by 
boiling, and in this state is not easily fermented. 
Green corn among vegetables, require the long¬ 
est boiling ; say two to three hours. Skin fruits, 
as plums, peaches, etc., we have kept without 
cooking, except that obtained by pouring in the 
boiling syrup and sealing at once, but a previous 
heating through is preferable. 
3 d. Care must be taken to entirely exclude the 
air. Fill the bottles, raise the liquid to the boil¬ 
ing point, then put in the cork, and make all 
so tight with cement, that air can not enter. A 
pin hole left will as certainly spoil the fruit as 
though the cork were not inserted. Housekeepers 
should not be discouraged by one or two failures. 
A few trials will give the necessary practical ex¬ 
perience, after which they will thank the Agri¬ 
culturist for commending the fruit bottles. Now 
is the time to procure a supply. 
SPECIAL DIRECTIONS FOR PUTTING UP FRUIT. 
As a guide to new readers, of whom we have 
some fifteen or twenty thousand, and for con¬ 
venient reference for older readers, who may not 
have last year's numbers at hand, we add the fol¬ 
lowing special directions. 
Berries. For strawberries, blackberries, and rasp¬ 
berries, take the clean fruit, picked while dry, 
avoiding washing unless really necessary. Put into 
a glazed vessel ; one of brass will do, but is not so 
good as an enameled one. Pour over it a hot 
syrup, made of & lb. to 1 lb. of good white sugar to 
one pint water. (We have used J-, and 1 lb. of 
sugar with nearly equal success, A good 
rule is to use about as much sugar as will be re¬ 
quired to fit the fruit for eating, remembering 
that rather more is required when the fruit is to 
be saturated through, than when it is to be eaten 
fresh.) A small amount of syrup will be needed 
to fill the interstices between the fruit, and it 
need not come up quite to the top at first, as the 
