1865.] 
AMERICAN AG-RICULTURIST, 
317 
They are much used to border beds of hyacinths, 
etc. Set 3 inches apart and cover 3 inches deep. 
Grape Hyacinth. —The several species of Mus- 
cari, are perfectly hardy, with small grape-like 
flowers, of white, blue and purple, like those 
shown in fig. 1, which is somewhat under size. 
The bulbs may be left in the ground for years. 
Lilies. —All are beautiful, from the common 
native wild ones to the more rare but perfectly 
hardy exotics from Jajian. Set a foot or more 
apart according to the size, and four inches deep. 
Several species of Squill are very bril¬ 
liant spring flowers, among which is our West¬ 
ern Quamash, Scilla Fraseri., sometimes sold as 
Camassia esculenta. Treat same as the Crocus. 
Spring Snowflalce. —This is a very modest 
hardy bulb and is called in the catalogues 
Leucoium vermim. It has flowers of the size 
and shape of fig. 2, (on the preceding page,) pure 
white, with a green spot on each of the petals. 
Snow Drop. —Smaller flowers than the Snow¬ 
flake, very early, delicate and drooping. It 
blooms in March, often when surrounded by 
snow. Galanthus nivalis is its botanical name. 
A Ifew Sijuash—The Custard Marrow. 
This season our attention has been called, by 
Messrs. Henderson & Fleming, Seedsmen, to a 
new variety of squash to which they give the 
name of Custard Marrow. It is said to be from 
Japan, the seeds having come to this country 
by the way of England. From the shape of 
the fruit one would suppose that it was a bush 
variety, and we were surprised to find it a vig¬ 
orous and quite prolific runner. The fruit is 
somewhat variable in shape, one o£ the most 
common forms being shown below; the oth¬ 
ers vary from this in being much shorter above 
or below the row of scallops, The skin is 
cream colored, or nearly white, and soon be¬ 
comes very hard. The section, fig. 2, shows 
that the flesh is very thick and that the space 
occupied by the seeds and their surrounding 
pulp is very small. The fruit should be taken 
for use while the rind is still so soft as to be 
easily pierced by the finger-nail. It cooks more 
dry than the scalloped bush squashes, and has 
very fine and delicate flavor. Having made but 
a [single trial of this new variety we are not 
able to say how it compares with other kinds, 
but taken by itself we were very favoi'abl}’’ im¬ 
pressed with it. As the seeds were sown rath¬ 
er late we can not speak as to its earliness. 
AVe bring it to notice as one of the novelties, 
and await the trial of another season to estab¬ 
lish its rank in the already long list of varieties. 
Fig. 3.— SECTION OF CUSTARD MARROW. 
flEIE_lEIOT™®IL®o 
Hints on Painting old Wood Work. 
As soon as there have been one or two hard frosts 
to kill most of the flies, it will be an excellent time 
to paint wood work in the kitchen, or any other 
part of the house. Saying nothing of the economy 
of painting, it is an excellent ijractice to apply a 
thin coat of paint to all the wood work of the 
kitchen, once in 3 or 3 years. Good paint always 
saves much hard labor in keeping such parts of a 
house clean. Some doors tliat are used often, need 
painting every year, to keep them at all decent. It 
is not best to put on thick, heavy coats, as these 
are needlessly expensive, and after a few years will 
look bad. The same amount of paint, applied often 
in thin coats will look better and cost little more. 
Where wood work is much soiled, especially by 
hands not scrupulously clean, it is sometimes difli- 
cult to make even the best of paint hold well. It 
will dry soon enough, but will afterwards peel off, 
for paint will not adhere well to a dirty, greasy 
surface. This is particularly the case in rooms, 
where washing and cooking are usually carried on. 
In order to make paint stick and become about 
as firm as the wood itself, wash the surface 
thoroughly with moderately strong ley, using a 
short swab, then wipe it off with a cloth wrung out 
in fresh water. This will remove all grease and dirt 
that prevent the paint from taking a firm hold. 
Paint for such places should be made of the best 
white lead, mixed to the consistence of thin cream, 
with two pai'ts of the best boiled linseed oil, and 
one part of good lacquer, or “ liquid drier.” Such 
paint will dry in one day, and become sufficiently 
hard to handle in a few days. A very small quantity 
of lamp black will make a beautiful lead color. 
Yellow ochre may be added until the paint is of the 
desired shade for floors, mop-boards, or wainscoting. 
Pure white lead for the body will make a much 
more durable paint for floors, than most other 
kinds. The use of zinc-white, which is much 
superior to white lead in some situations, as for 
instance in privies, is attented by a little difficulty, 
because it must be applied very thick to cover well, 
when used alone ; but a second coat, not so thick, 
may be put on over other paint, and it will give 
greater brilliancy and will not tarnish from sulphu¬ 
rous gases frequently rising from sink-drains, etc., 
nor from the exclusion of light, which causes white 
lead paint to turn yellow. 
About Olives and Olive Oil. 
The Olive-tree furnishes two articles of com¬ 
merce which are more or less used as food—Olives 
and Olive oil. The tree has been in cultivation 
from time immemorial, and it is difficult to trace 
it to its native country, though it is believed to be 
from Asia. In the Bible it is the earliest mention¬ 
ed of any tree, save (lie fig; it was the branch 
I of the Olive that the Dove bore to Noah, as a sign 
that the waters of the flood had receded—and tlie 
branch has been used as the emblem of iieacc 
through many ages. The tree seldom grows more 
than 30 or 80 feet high, though it lives to a great' 
age; it is an evergreen, with loaves of tlic Bhai)o 
shown in the engraving, but twice as large, and 
of a dull brownish green above, and very light col¬ 
ored beneath. This peculiar color gives to a grove 
of Olive trees a very sad aspect. The flowers are 
white and inconspicuous, borne in clusters in tlie 
axils of the leaves, and these are succeeded by a 
purple fruit which, m size and shape, resembles a 
damson plum, and contains a single nut. The 
fruit is remarkable for containing a large amount 
of oil in its fleshy portion, that being an unusual 
place for oil to occur. It is found to flourish in 
some of our Southern States and we have seen a 
BRANCH OF OLIVE TREE. 
fine row of the trees near San Diego, in California, 
where they were planted by the early Jesuit Mis¬ 
sionaries. The green fruit is picked, steeped for a 
while in ley to remove a portion of the bitterness, 
and preserved in salt and water ; in this state they 
are imported in casks and in bottles, and are the 
Olives sold in the shops. They are salt, bitterish, 
and have a flavor peculiar to themselves ; we doubt 
if any one ever relished them at first trial, and yet 
most persons soon become very fond of them. 
They may be regarded wholly as a luxury for the 
wealthy, and are considered as useful to provoke 
an appetite—a purpose for which we trust our 
readers do not need to try them. The oil is a much 
more important product than the pickled olives, 
and is obtained by crushing and pressing the fruit. 
The quality of the oil depends upon the degree of 
maturity of the fruit, and the care used in its prep¬ 
aration. The finest, or “ Virgin Oil,” is from fruit 
not yet ripe; perfectly ripe fruit yields a larger 
quantity of an inferior oil, .and a still greater 
amount of poor oil is obtained if the ripe fruit be 
allowed to ferment in heaps. The oil is imported 
