AEOUT STRAWBERRIES. 
TO MAKE HARD SOAP, COOKIES, &c. 
IIakd Soap.—N oticing; an inquiry in vour 
THE GARDEN. 
Os Saturday evening, June 4*li, we were visited 
with a severe frost, doing much damage in the 
garden. The fruit, we think was sufficently pro¬ 
tected by foliage to prevent injury, but the tender 
ghoo's of the grapevines in many places are de¬ 
stroyed. Beans, melons, cucumbers and other ten¬ 
der things, are destroyed in many gardens, while 
in others, from some cause, they are uninjured. 
Where there was a free exposute to the wind the 
frost appealed to be less severe than in sheltered 
positions. The coro and potatoes are nipped in 
the tops, but not sufficiently to do permanent 
injury. By telegraph reports we see that the fiost 
was even more severe in Northern Ohio, Bulfalo, 
and in the Southern counties of this State. We 
fear further reports will be even more gloomy. 
The Thorns are a very beautiful class of small 
trees, now, (June 6th,) in full flower, and deserve 
and receive general admiration. There are few 
trees or shrubs more worthy of general cultivation, 
aDd we would be glad to see them in every gardeD. 
The best varieties are the Single Pink and Single 
Red, and the Double Red and Double White. 
Several varieties of the Spirea are just gone out 
of flower, aDd we took notes of the S. trilobata, and 
S. crenata, both very neat shrubs of rather dwarfish 
habit, with trusses of small flowers almost cover¬ 
ing the plant. S. ulmifolia is of larger growth, 
with larger flowers. £j. lanceolata is the finest of 
the class — of the purest whiteness. Its branches 
are floral snow-wreaths. Every body should plant it. 
Tug Calycanthus is becoming a great favorite, 
as the demand for it at the nurseries shows. There 
are several varieties, sweet scented shrubs, with 
large flowers of a cinnamon color. 
The Rose-Colored Wigelia is in full bloom. It 
is a magnificent shrub, when covered with its rosy 
flowers, blooms profusely, and is as hardy as a 
lilac. Plant it next fall or spring, by all means. 
That old favorite, the Snowball, is now a little 
post perfection. There is nothing better. Every¬ 
body has it, or should have it. It is a crooked, 
rambling grower, and the wood is tender; the 
consequence is, many plants are broken with the 
weight of the flowers, especially in wet weather. 
Young plants should be pruned, so as to secure a 
stiff stem and a compact bead. 
The Horse Chestnuts are just passing out of 
bloom. The common variety, and the Red Flow¬ 
ering are fine. The flowers of the Yellow variety 
are poor, not differing much from the Buckeye. 
The Double White, an engraving of which we give, 
is the finest of them all. The flowers are white, 
prettily spotted with red, like the common variety, 
but perfectly double. There is a variegated-leaved 
variety, with red flowers, but it is not much dis¬ 
seminated. 
Our no^es on Herbaceous Plants in flower we 
must reserve until next work. 
damaged my strawberry plunts materially. But 
this dozen was increased to about 100 good plants 
now in bearing. The Wilson —the most hardy— 
the most prolific, the best and most perfect berry, 
all things considered, has gone far beyond the 
marvelous. From the dozen small plants set last 
spring, we had perhaps a pint of good berries, not 
one of which would have been suffered to mature, 
had I been as well as posted then as now in their 
culture. 
These plants, though permitted to bear fruit the 
first season, gave me an incredible number of fine 
healthy youog plants, or runners as they are com¬ 
monly termed. I commenced removing them the 
latter part of July', to a patch of sweet corn, near 
by, which l followed up till the new strawberry 
bed was tilled with setts, (5 rows, 100 in each row). 
These plants expanded their roots after the remov¬ 
al of the corn, as well as before; so that these 
very plants, not yet a year old, promise a bounti¬ 
ful supply of berries, some at this moment, (30th 
of May) are over two inches in circumference.— 
The largest berries ate on the young plants. At a 
safe estimate, the 12 old plauts will average 100 
berries each, and the yoimg plants 50 each. One 
dozen plants of ih>s variety as a beginning, will 
give an increase of 1000 the first season, with or¬ 
dinary attention in a good soil, so that in the fall 
of the next season after planting the first dozen, a 
person may set his acres if he wishes, or supply 
all his neighbors with enough for a garden bed. 
It is proper here to remaik that I com¬ 
menced setting the new plants rather too soon, if 
the object is to obtain the greatest increase of 
plants; but the earlier the young plant can be 
severed and removed from the parent with safety, 
the better, and better will he the prospect of a 
large number of large berries, the following 
season. Several of the younglings that were first 
removed, threw out runners, and gave four or live 
good plants each; the.-e were luken up this spring 
to supply orders by mail. 
It will be recollected by many of the readers of 
the Rural, that Mr. Peabody, of Ga, obtained 
§5,00 per. dozen for his plants, the first sent out 
by mail. No such effort was made by Mr. Wilson 
to introduce his strawbeny; in fact it has been 
left almost to introduce itself, which it is abund¬ 
antly capable of doing. Two or three cents per 
plant is about the highest Cguie that nurserymen 
FROM A ROCHESTER LADY IN MINNESOTA. 
THE ALLEN RASPBERRY. 
your readers are,) G. M. Reynolds, of Michigan, 
who, when about to reach the goal of grapes in his 
experience — Jack Fiost interfered and blighted 
his hopes. Now I would advise my friend not to 
give it up so, hut persevere; and if be will take a 
1 it tie advice, and do works meet for success, he 
will yet have grapes enough and to spate — fori 
speak as one having been through the mill — hav¬ 
ing had my own vines, some years since, ftozen 
down—and yet, I never thought for a moment of 
abandoning my nice sbclicied southern exposure 
for a bleaker one. lh'^»A, natural appetite for 
the best grapes and a plenty of them, and still have 
the pleasure to supply my table (May 10,) with 
grapes in good preservation. The next year suc¬ 
ceeding my misfortune I reasoned upon the sub¬ 
ject, and then mixing faith and works checked the 
growth of my vines, by taking the ends off two or 
three times during the season, and when winter 
approached about the first of December trimmed 
my vmes according to “ Ilulmts,” took them from 
the trellis and laid them on the giound, with a 
block of wood next above to keep them quiet.— 
Then scattered refuse straw or some oilier similar 
substance on them, (not enough to shelter mice,) 
but sufficient to catch the snow and keep their 
temperature uniform, and in so doing have found 
ihe care and labor a cheap insurance, and the vines 
well protected. S. N. Holmes. 
Syracuse, N. Y., 1S59. 
BAKER’S GINGERBREAD, &e. 
Eds. Rural:—N oticing an inquiry in your valu¬ 
able paper for making baker’s gingerbread, I tbo’t 
I would send mine; also a recipe lor cookies with¬ 
out eggs: 
Baker s Gingerbread.— Two cups of molasses, 
and 4 tablespoonsfol of butter stirred together 
without melting; then add 1 enp of flour; 2 table- 
spoonsful of soda dissolved in 1 enp of milk; 2 
teaspooDsful of alum dissolved in % cup of boil¬ 
ing water, and one tablespoonful of ginger. Stir 
all well together, adding floor gradual'y. Roll 
thin, cut iuto cards and bake quick. 
Cookies.— Two cups of sugar; % enp of butter; 
1 cup of thin cream, a teaspoonful of soda. Plenty 
of seeds.—A Young Housekeeper, Herkimer, N. Y. 
Dry, Mealy Potatoes.— In one of the late 
Rurals, Mis. M. A. Rice, of Howe, Franklin Co., 
Mass., gives the following method to secure dry, 
mealy potatoes:—“They should be dropped ioto 
boiling water, and be kept boiling swiftly until 
done. Pour oft' the water and set the kettle on 
the stove. Partially remove the cover for the 
steam to escape. The sooner they are eaten the 
better they are. But, at this season of the year, 
when potatoes are withered, I think she will often 
fail of having mealy potatoes, unless she pares 
them and soaks them in cold water three or four 
hours, or when it is convenient over night, before 
boiling. At least this is my experience.— Sara, 
Pembroke, JY. Y., 1S59. 
TREES AND FR7IT IN S3UTHERN ILLINOIS, 
tilings. Very little funning has been done, for our 
farmers have learned fiom experience that it is 
worse than useless to disturb our heavy soi's while 
saturated with water. Tnis section of Egypt is 
again threatened with a short corn crop, for the 
usual planting season is at hand, and probably not 
one acre in ten has yet been plowed. But unfa¬ 
vorable as the season is for spring crops, it is grand 
for the newly planted orchards, and no portion of 
the West has set so many as Egypt, it being esti¬ 
mated in this county alone, that from $50,000 to 
MOO,000 worth of tiecs have been set,. Nor have 
our people confined their purchases to fruit trees 
aloue; much lias been done in the way of planting 
choice ornamental trees, shrubs and plants. Ever¬ 
greens are especially popular, and most species 
and varieties seem to thrive admirably in out- 
soil. Here the prospect of a fine fruit crop is be¬ 
yond a doubt certain. Every little dwarf pear tree 
and most of the standards are loaded with fruit 
alteady as large as musket balls. 
Two days since we spent a half day in visiting 
the fruit gardens of the young city of Centralia, a 
place that bids fair to rival even Boston in succe.-s- 
ful pear culture. We are personally pretty well 
acquainted with most of the cities and towns in 
the Northern and Central portions of the State, and 
we know of no place of the same age and size where 
so much attention lias been paid to fruit culture, or 
so much taste displayed in the cultivation of 
flowers.” 
Mr. Kennicott is not only one of the most intel¬ 
ligent Horticulturists of the West, hut a Western 
Nurseryman, who can have no interest in speaking 
a good word for those in the same business at the 
East; and yet he takes occasion, for the sake of 
truth, to contradict some of the slanders so indus- 
tiiously circulated of late. We commend his 
remarks to the attention of our Western readers 
"ho are not afraid of truth, which it is our aim 
always to elicit: 
And here we would remark (in no spirit of 
malice either,) that certain well-known Western 
establishments have furnished our farmers with 
rees ’ ^ ll it any abused Rochester nurseryman 
Wou,d ^ Ulve keen ashamed to send out. Indeed, 
eandor compels OVOrv lihnrol r»l.intAf* f/x rwl.wif + 
PREVENTING THE MAGGOT IN THE ONION. 
Messrs Eds —Having seen numerous inquiries 
in the Rural to prevent maggots in the onion, I 
sem), for the benefit of those interested, what I 
suppose to he a remedy, in part. I have not tried 
it, but intend to in a few days, being in the gar¬ 
dening business, and having suffered a goud deal 
from the maggot. Oue day last fall being in mar¬ 
ket, (Potsdam Village,) I met with Mr. Salmon 
Currier, quite an extensive seed grower of Pots¬ 
dam, and in couvei Sation with him, found he had 
good success in growing onions. He told me how 
it was done, and I have concluded to try it myself 
and give others an opportunity. But to the 
remedy. 
The maggot is the work of a fly. After the 
onions are up and the weather is warm, the fly 
appears and does the mischief. Go to the crockery 
store, get the cheapest howls you can, enough to 
set one on every eight or ten feet square; (ill them 
about two-thirds full of sweetened water, quite 
sweet. Then take small pieces of boards, make 
three holes in them, the same as a milking stool, 
make the legs sharp at the lower ends, and set the 
stools over the howls to keep the storms out, and 
press the legs into the ground to prevent the wind 
from blowing them over. l)o this and you will 
catch flies at such a ra'e that you will have to 
empty your bowls aud fill them with sweetening 
several times. The flies like it better than onions. 
Mr. C. told me he caught millions on a bed where 
lie raised a hundred bushels. You may think this 
quite a process to go through with, but I hope 
Ruralists will try it aud report their success next 
fall* fe G. R. Crandall. 
East Pierpont, St. LawrencqBi, N. Y., 1S59. 
Pie Plant and Gooseberry Pjes.- 
my first summer’s experience at keepi 
any of your kind lady friends will giv 
making Pie Plant, Green Goosebeny 
Pies, they will confer a great favor upi 
East Palmyra, Wayne Co., N. Y. 
inquiries auii ^Insuicvs, 
Insects —Inclosed please find evidences of the rava¬ 
ges of a certain worm which infests my apple orchard. 
You will perceive on the stem I send you, the egg or 
deposit of the same. They come in droves and strip 
the tree of iis verdure in a very short tune. About 
two-thirds of my orchard is infested in this way. "When 
the apple is formed, they eat through to the core. Can 
you, or the writers of the Rural, give any account of 
i his worm, and the remedies to be used to get rid of the 
same? Please give me some information through the 
columns of the Rural. Tne worm when full grown is 
from one-half to three-fourths of an inch in length, a 
very supple measure worm of dark color. I am fear¬ 
ful ihoy will kill my apple trees. I ask for information 
for the purpose of putting a stop to their ravages.— 
William Kinne, Romulus, N. Y., 1S59. 
The leaf we found inclosed seems to have suf¬ 
fered from the ravages of the Apple Tree Cater¬ 
pillar, but the piece of branch is covered with the 
Apple Bark Louse, which we described, in answer 
to a correspondent in the Rural a few weeks since, 
giving the best known remedies. 
Cocoa Nut Pie.—A friend of mine desires me to 
•k of your numerous readers, a recipe for Cocoa 
r ut Pie. If rightly made it is said to be delicious. 
M. L. P., Lyndonville, N. Y., 1859. 
HOW TO PACK EGGS. 
The following directions are given, by one who 
has had a good deal of egg packing to do, as the 
best method :—“Always use clean oats. First put 
them one inch deep in the bottom of the barrel; 
then a pretty firm sheet of paper; then a half-inch 
of oats again, well pressed; then eggs, end up, 
followed by oafs and eggs as before, but working 
each layer of oats with the baud snugly down 
around the eggs next the barrel, as well as rubbing 
them effectually in between each of the eggs in the 
layer. I use a .board some six or eight inches 
square, with a loop or startle in the center, for 
pressing each layer of oats firmly down. There 
will be something gained by lifting aud droppimi- 
the barrel square on the end, but not by shaking 
as it disturbs the layers. Win n it gets too heavy 
to lift, use a board three-fourths as large as the 
head, and get on it, increasing your weight with a 
spring. Eud as you began, with paper and oats 
getting on the head and driving it in. The secret 
lies all in packing the oats. Oats are bet'er worth 
sending to market than hay, and just as safe I 
have sent ten barrels at a time without losiiio- a 
single egg. You must pack tight. Remember that ” 
GRAPES, SUMMER AND WINTER. 
"HAT a man sows mat shall he also reap.”— 
This adage human experience every day verifies, 
and still, like all rules, it has its exceptions. If a 
man properly plants a grape vine and properly cul¬ 
tivates it, and gives it the necessary protection in 
winter, the fair presumption is, that in due time 
and in the proper season, he will reap grapes to his 
own health and pleasure, and to the gratification 
of his friends. Judging from my own experience 
and observation, I supposed that all whose good 
judgment had led them to become permanent read¬ 
ers and patrons of the Rural would have, ere this, 
not only succeeded in the Alpha, but also iu the 
Omega of grape cultivation. But in this there also 
appears exceptions, and among them one of your 
contributors and readers, my friend, (as I trust all 
Susquehanna and Chemung Valley Horticul 
tural Society.—T he nextExhibitionof this Socie¬ 
ty is to be held at Elmira, Julo 22d and 23d. 
are told there is every prospecT 
The various Committees have 
Raspberries. —Will you, or some of your many thou¬ 
sands of readers, please inform tne whether or not rasp¬ 
berries might be cu'tivated on ground now occupied by 
a young apple orchard, just planted? and whether it 
would be any disadvantage to the growth and health of 
the trees or not? The trees are forty feet apart—A 
Young Farmer, Tyler Co., Fa., 1S59. 
A pe tv rows of raspberries between each row of 
apple trees might be grown to advantage for 
several years and tvithout injury to the trees. 
Only give all good, thorough, clean culture. 
We 
>f a successful show. 
ieen appointed, and 
arrangements made 
w uion. The Elmira 
Gazette says, “ in accordance with a time honoied 
custom of the Society, the Committee on Wines is 
composed exclusively of Editors. We hope, there¬ 
fore, that the exhibition of that article will be made 
a. leading object in the miodsof the Managers, and 
that in fixing their premiums, reference will be had 
to the quantity as well as quality.” 
