186-1. 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
271 
randia , and after this Lobelia gracilis- and ramosa. 
Convolvulus Mauritanieus is highly recommended, 
as are some of the Tropoeolums: Where the bas¬ 
ket is quite large, small pots of any plant in 
flower may be set in and changed as often as 
need be. To water the baskets, plunge them in 
a pail or tub of water and let them remain un¬ 
til soaked through, then allow them to drain un¬ 
til the water no longer drips from them, and 
hang them in place. 
The Management of Pears. 
Almost daily, specimens of pears are brought 
to the office of the Agriculturist to be named. 
These specimens, coming from inexperienced 
cultivators, show that the proper management 
of this fruit is not generally understood. The 
life of a pear may be divided into two periods; 
growth and decay. During its growth the 
forces of vegetation are at work in building up 
its structure and it increases in size; then there 
comes a period, early or late, with the different 
varieties, when growth ceases and decay begins. 
It is not feasible to give at this time an account 
of the chemical changes which take place, but 
it is within the observation of every one that 
early pears pass from maturity to decay in a few 
days, while the late ones, though they go through 
the same process, are weeks, and even months, 
in completing it.. There is a point in their pro¬ 
gress from maturing to decomposition which we 
call ripeness. It is when the acids of the fruit 
are more or less changed into sugar, to give 
sweetness, and when other principles have been 
converted into water, and imparted juiciness, 
that we say the fruit is “ in eating.” Whether 
a variety of pears shall be considered as good 
or bad, will depend upon testing it just at the 
time when these conditions are most perfectly 
fulfilled. Moreover it is found, as a general 
tiling, that the more slowly these changes go on, 
the more perfect they will be. The Vicar of 
Winkfleld ripened up in October or November, 
is hardly eatable, but kept cool, and allowed to 
perfect itself gradually, until January and Feb¬ 
ruary, it is really good. There are so few ex¬ 
ceptions, that it may stand as a general rule that 
pears should be ripened in the house. By this 
means, greater sweetness, juiciness, flavor, and 
higher perfection in every way will be secured. 
Summer and autumn varieties should be picked 
as soon as full-grown, which may generally be 
known by the softening of some of the earliest 
specimens, and spread upon shelves to ripen. 
When there is much fruit, it will be found nec¬ 
essary to have a fruit-room. This may be a 
closet, or other small room, in a cool part of the 
house, furnished with shelves upon which the 
fruit is spread. In this way the progress of each 
variety may be daily inspected. When it is de¬ 
sirable to retard the ripening,; the room may be 
cooled by having an ice shelf near the ceiling 
with provision for carrying off the drip from 
the melted ice. A good sized block of ice, 
wrapped in a woolen cloth, will keep the air of 
the room both cool and dry. Ledges upon the 
edges of the shelves will keep the fruit from 
rolling off, and moveable cleats may be used to 
separate the different varieties. Winter pears 
are kept on the tree until frosts come, and are 
then barreled like apples, and kept as cool as 
possible, until wanted for eating. A few days 
exposure in a warm room, will bring them into 
the proper condition for the table. Where there 
are but a tew specimens of pears, an ordinary 
case of drawers will be found a convenient sub¬ 
stitute for a fr>'.‘ “bom for ripening pears. 
The Bread Discussion Continued. 
This subject is of such universal interest to 
housekeepers, that we feel warranted in giving it 
more space than is usually allowed to any one topic. 
A contributor to the American Agriculturist, “Not a 
Bachelor,” at Deer Park, L. I., makes the following 
sensible, practical suggestions: “It is not necessary 
to give any particular rule for making bread, there 
being a number of good methods; therefore I will 
give a few hints to those just commencing, if not to 
those who already know how to make bread. By 
observation I have found that the majority Of bread- 
makers leave it a little too long before baking,,in 
which case the original pleasant flavor of nice sweet 
bread will be lost. The sourness, however, may 
be removed by thoroughly mixing thrQUgh it a 
tcaspoonful of dissolved baking soda to four com¬ 
mon sized loaves, but nothing can fully restore its 
primitive goodness, though the addition of soda 
improves it. If very sour, more soda should be 
used. Bread is best when made and kept warm 
enough to lighten in flic shortest possible time; 
lienee bread made over night is never quite as good. 
Before it gets fully light, it should be well moulded 
into loaves, and put into buttered pans or dishes 
and set near the fire,” or in some very warm place 
to re-liglitcn. A little melted butter brushed over 
the top of the loaves improves them, and prevents 
a hard crust. When it commences to rise, turn 
the dishes, if necessary, to cause the bread to 
lighten evenly--after which it should be put into a 
reasonably hot oven, and the fire increased ard 
kept at a steady heat until nearly done. But it 
should not be left an hour without any thought of 
its well-doing, because no stove oven is so perfect 
as to bake exactly even without some attention ; 
therefore look to it, and turn or change the dishes 
when its appearance seems to require it. Where 
a brick oven is used, it demands less attention, as 
it is supposed to bake alike on all sides. After 
bread is baked to a light yellowish brown, and done 
through, take it from the dishes, and set each loaf 
separately to cool. Or if the crust is liked soft or 
brittle, spread a clean towel in some convenient 
place in the open air, take the hot loaves from the 
dishes, set them upon the towel without covering, 
and leave until entirely cold, when they should be 
put away for use. This last mode I consider an im¬ 
provement, though all may not like the extra work.” 
SMrections for Good Bread, by 
“ E. W. L.”—Sift IO 34 lbs. flour into a large wood¬ 
en bowl (wood being the best to retain heat), and 
warm it to 70 degrees (Fahrenheit). The way we 
warm it is to let it stand on a chair near the kitch¬ 
en stove, and occasionally stir it, and turn the 
bowl. Take a dozen medium sized potatoes, peel, 
boil down, mash and strain through a colander, and 
add enough water to measure three pints—-this 
mixture should be as warm as 84 degrees. Then 
stir this in the flour (scooping out a place iu the 
center) until it is a thick batter, add two yeast 
cakes or one cent’s weth of yeast, place an invert¬ 
ed pudding dish or pan over the mixture and cov¬ 
er the bowl with a blanket, and so keep warm un¬ 
til morning. In the morning add a quart of milk- 
warm water, and three tablespoonfuls of salt, and 
knead in all the flour. When sufficiently light, 
mould in loaves, (it is much better to put two 
loaves iu a pie-pan than to have deep, round pans, 
as the crust forms too quickly and prevents the 
bread from rising,) and let them staud about ten 
minutes, and bake in an oven heated “just right.” 
Bread from “ Salt-rising.”— Mrs. S. 
A. Smith, Green Lake Co., Wis., writes to the 
American Agriculturist: “ I use salt-rising, that is a 
little salt and a little salcratus [how much ?—Ed.] 
on which pour about a teacupful of warm water, 
cool with cold water, and thicken with flour or 
shorts. If in no hurry, I stir the flour in the boil¬ 
ing water; this is longer rising, but will not sour 
so soon, and is much nicer. When light, put a 
quantity of flour in the bread-pan and pour in 
boiling water and stir up ; then cool a little with 
cold water and stir to a thick batter; then add the 
rising and set to rise. When light, knead thor¬ 
oughly (twice kneading is better); butter the loaves 
on the outside, let rise and bake iu a quick oven. 
This makes sweet bread that does not soon stale." 
Lima and other Beans Dried Green. 
The Lima is the prince of all beans—good dried 
in the pod, better still shelled green and dried, and 
best picked fresh from the poles in summer. The 
good housewife who lias never used them in com¬ 
pounding that ambrosial dish, succotash, has yet a 
charm in reserve for her lord of creation, when 
she comes to know beans that are beans. Their 
highest use is in this dish, and if it were not for 
offending the universal Yankee nation, we should 
say that the larger part of them have never yet 
eaten succotash. You think at once of Scipios, 
Cranberries, Chinas, Lafavettcs, Jacksons, Mar¬ 
rowfats, and the thousand and one names by which 
good beaus are distinguished. They have their 
uses, but, as compared with the Limas, they are 
not fit to put into this incomparable dish, eaten 
in its glory only in summer when the beans are 
yet green, and the corn is iu its most juicy state 
The next best stage of the article is where the 
corn and beans are canned in the usual way of pre¬ 
serving fruits. But if this is too much trouble, 
then dry both corn and beans in the green state. 
Almost every good housekeeper in the country un¬ 
derstands the mysteries of drying green corn in 
1 . .. hot September sun. It is not so generally 
'inown that beans dried in the green state, by the 
same process, either iu the sun or by the kitchen 
stove, are quite as valuable as the corn. In the 
case of the Limas, we have a double object in dry¬ 
ing them, to save them and to get the best part of 
our crop. The Lima grows luxuriantly, and con¬ 
tinues .bearing until it is cutoff full of succulent 
pods by the frost. Ordinarily about one-third of 
the yield will be in this green state, and will be 
ruined by the frost unless picked and dried. If 
properly secured it is the most valuable part of the 
crop. You have something that will exactly match 
the dried corn. 1 pick them a few days before the 
frost, shell them and spread them upon a cloth or 
board, dry iu the sun a day or two, and finish the 
process by a little heat in the kitchen. The object 
is simply to dry them thoroughly, not to cook them 
at all. They are then put up in a bag, and hung in 
the store room ready for use. 
The beans that ripen upon the poles are shelled 
and stored in the same way. These are used prin¬ 
cipally as a vegetable during the winter. They are 
a good supplement to potatoes on the most boun¬ 
tiful table, and an excellent substitute when the po¬ 
tatoes are lacking. On agood dry soil they are as eas¬ 
ily raised as other beans, they arc more productive, 
and yet they are almost, always double the price. The 
difficulty of raising them is greatly overestimated. 
They should be planted with the eye downward, 
and only three or four left to grow in a hill. The 
plan of starting them in a sod under glass, and 
then transplanting, will do for more northern lati¬ 
tudes, but is not necessary in this. The first week 
in June is the time to plant. As we can now dry and 
save green beans, the fact that they require a long 
season to perfect the whole crop is of less import¬ 
ance. Let us popularize Lima beans. Connecticut. 
Mow to wash a,'i'Hread-lace Collar. 
—Communicated to the American Agriculturist by 
“Aunt Sue”: Take an empty champagne bottle, 
[we suppose any other would answer.—E d.] cork 
it, push it into the leg of a stocking, and tie a string 
round the stocking at each end of the bottle so 
that it will fit the bottle tightly. Now baste your 
collar on to the stocking; the more carefully basted 
the edges are, the greater will be your success. 
Carry the collar round and round the bottle, allow- 
ing it to retain its shape easily. Soap well, and let 
it soak over night: rinse with hot water in the 
morning, and allow it to dny on the bottle; when taXen 
off it will look as good as new, and need no ironing. 
