MAY 8. 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
151 
PRUNING, 
Having given in onr last some thoughts on the 
principles of pruning, we now purpose to furnish 
a few brief hints to aid in the mechanical perform¬ 
ance of the work, although in doing so we are 
repeating an already twice-told tale. When a tree 
has been properly pruned from the time of plant¬ 
ing. there will be no necessity for taking off large 
limbs at any time. Where it becomes necessary, 
however, from previous neglect, to remove large 
limbs, they should not be cut so close to the main 
branch or trunk, as to remove a portion of the 
wood belonging to the latter, as if this is done a 
large wound is made which is very difficult to heal. 
We have seen trees almost ruined in this way.— 
The air and moisture often causes a black rot, 
which, when once commenced, is not easily cured. 
Neither should the limb be taken off too far from 
the trunk, as a mass of small shoots will most 
likely start out from the stump remaining, which 
will require constant attention to subdue, and per¬ 
haps after all, another cut will have to be made 
before the difficulty is overcome. 
In figure 1 we have endeavored 
I to show by a crossline the proper 
way in which the cut should be 
made to remove a limb. A shoul¬ 
der will be found at the union of 
the branch with the main stem» 
or with a larger branch; place 
the knife at the bottom of this 
shoulder, close to the tree; then 
cut directly upwards. By this 
Fio. L course the wound made is not 
larger than necessary, yet it is cut so close as to 
prevent shoots from starting, and in such a direc¬ 
tion as to prevent, as much as possible, water from 
lodging on and around the wound. Where it is 
necessary to use the saw the surface should be 
pared smooth with a sharp knife. Gum shellac 
dissolved in alcohol, and made thick enough to put 
on conveniently with a brush, is an excellent prep¬ 
aration for coating all wounds made in pruning, or 
in any other way, as it excludes both air and mois¬ 
ture. 
Taking off small branches is a very simple ope¬ 
ration, and yet a little knowledge and care is neces¬ 
sary to do this work well. To secure prompt 
healing of the wound is an important consideration, 
and to effect this object a sharp knife must be 
always used—one that will make a clean out. If a 
cut is made close to a bud the healing is very rapid 
generally. 
RHUBARB—AGAIN. 
PLANTING MAPLE TREES. 
Onb of your readers inquired last spring if 
rhubarb could be freed from the disagreeable 
roughness that so often spoils it As I have seen 
no satisfactory answer, perhaps the Yankee treat¬ 
ment may be read with interest. It can be made 
as smooth as blanc mange by observing three 
points: 1st, the kind; 2d, the cultivation; and 3d, 
the cookery. The varieties may have had the same 
parent, but there is as much difference as in the 
potato—some being coarse, green, and watery, 
under any treatment, while others, with ordinary 
care, will be delicate and rich in juice. There is a 
large kind seen in the Philadelphia market, that is 
smooth and rich, but the Wilmot's Early and the 
Victoria, both common, are fine varieties. But, 
take a stalk from each kind, in the same bed, with 
the same treatment, and there will be a difference. 
The Wilmot stalks are of a beautiful cherry and 
white, particularly at the but. The test is this: — 
Throw a stalk of each into cold water, and in two 
minutes the nice ones will be covered with a clear, 
gelatinous juice. Cultivate these plants and root 
out the others. A slight wound in the stalk will 
cause an exudation like white cherry gum if the 
plant is worth cultivating. 
As to the cultivation, if the object is to raise 
prize stalks, dig a pit six or seven feet deep, fill it 
with manure, ashes, sand and rich garden loam, and 
in three seasons the roots will find their way to the 
bottom. This is not the object with all gardeners; 
therefore a more simple mode may be taken; but 
this shows the plant to be a gross feeder, and one 
that will not be stinted without punishing its mas¬ 
ter. Give it plenty of room, (5 feet at least,) deep 
digging, and a thick covering of stable manure in 
the fall, and boughs or litter. In the spring, erect 
a protection on the north to force some of the plants 
for early use, add ashes and dig in the manure. 
The last and easiest point is the cooking. Pull 
the stalks down in such a way as to get a piece of 
the white but, wash and wipe quick, as the water 
draws the juice out; cut in short pieces, without 
peeling, and put into a nice stone or crockery 
pitcher, (never into earthenware for fear of poison.) 
Set the pitcher in a kettle of boiling water till it 
shrinks as much as it will, keeping it well covered. 
Then pour all the juice away and restore the 
pitcher to the kettle, adding at once, all the sugar 
you wish, and let it be nice, hard lumps, and when 
done and cool, it will be perfectly smooth, if your 
plants are good, and in a cool place. This will 
keep Borne time, and once a week is often enough 
to replenish the supply. After the warm weather 
dries the juice somewhat, it is as well to pour boil¬ 
ing water enough to cover the pieces once and 
perhaps twice, which shrinks them, as well as the 
boiling process, and then, adding the sugar, finish 
the cooking. This is as important with rhubarb as 
with apples, which are far smoother and richer 
stewed with the sugar than sweetened after the 
cooking. In the one case add it dry, but for 
apples melt it in the water before you add the 
frnit. t. b. f. 
Hallowell, Maine, 1858. 
THE STRAWBERRY—FACTS FOR AMATEURS. 
As the question is often asked, how to set maple 
trees, I have thought that perhaps my experience 
might be of some use. Take a large wagon with 
plenty of straw, an abundance of help, good sharp 
tools, and go to the woods. Select such as stand 
most exposed to the sun, about two inches in diam¬ 
eter, but less or larger will do. Dig up with care; 
cut off every limb, and saw them off eight feet 
from the roots; load with plenty of straw so none 
will get bruised, and set out the same day or cover 
the roots with dirt. If to be set in rows where the 
ground is hard use a good plow and subsoil.— 
Otherwise make large holes, fill with mellow earth 
and set about one or two inches deeper than they 
stood before. Not a limb left on them; when set 
they look like short hop poles, but soon grow fine 
tops, and a little trimming will shape them to suit. 
Cover the ends or top after setting with grafting 
wax or clay. I have not lost a single tree set as 
above, while hundreds have died around me set in 
the usual way. I have now been on my farm 
almost 21 years, and have made sugar from my 
maples for many years, often equal in appearance 
to the purest honey. 
For a neat home grove I would recommend the 
following trees and form:—To break the prevailing 
wind set white oaks; they hold their leaves in win¬ 
ter and look warm and sunny. In the back ground, 
or oul of the way, set black walnuts, and butternuts 
and maples intermixed. Fill up according to room, 
make of ground, Ac., with shrubs, and other trees. 
You will soon have the sweets of life, and nuts as 
well as jokes to crack — a home for birds and one 
your children will love. I had forgot to name the 
chestnut which I consider a valuable addition to a 
grove. I have one that has blossomed and borne 
burrs some time, and the past season produced some 
fine fruit. o. c. H. 
Grove Farm, Kalamazoo Co., Mich., 1858. 
IMPROVING AN ORCHARD. 
Fig. 2. 
Fig. S. 
Fio. 4. 
If a cut is made between two buds, as shown in 
figure 2, the wood above the bud will die, will be 
in the way of the growing bud which is to form the 
new branch, or the continuation of the old one, 
look bad, and must be removed by a second cutting. 
In pruning such pithy, soft-wooded plants as the 
grape vine, it is right to leave half an inch or so of 
wood above the bud, as shown in figure 2. If the 
cut is made too close to the bud, as seen in figure 3 ( 
it will make a very feeble growth. Figure 4 shows 
the proper way of pruning to a bud. The bud will 
make a strong growth, new bark will form over the 
wound, and in a short time, to an unpracticed eye 
it will look like a continuation of the same branch. 
The stone fruits are more injured by injudicious 
pruning than any other class of fruits. The gum¬ 
ming so often seen is genera’ly the result of bad 
management in this respect 
The best time for winter pruning, which we are 
now considering, is late in the winter, generally 
about the first of March, or as soon as the severe 
frosts are past, for the more hardy varieties. If 
pruned in the fall very hard frosts are apt to injure 
the parts cut, so as to make the terminal bud weak, 
and perhaps destroy it altogether, and thus make 
another cutting necessary. Peaches we would not 
prune until the buds begin to swell in the spring. 
The first of April is the best time, usually. Grapes 
should not be touched with the knife after the sap 
begins to flow > which will be as early as the first of 
March, 
--- 
The Curculio. —Tn a recent number of your 
valuable paper many good suggestions were made 
for saving the plums from the ravages of the Cur- 
Culio. The jarring of the tree and killing of the 
pest is excellent, and if well followed for a month 
from about the first of June instead of a week as 
therein recommended, will insure a crop of plums. 
But cutting off a limb near the body and striking 
against the end of the stub, is far better than bruis¬ 
ing the bark in striking the body to jar the tree.— 
S. N. Holmes, Syracuse, N. Y. 
Remarks. — Where a limb is so situated that it 
can be cut off without disfiguring the tree, it is wel* 
to do as recommended. Otherwise a piece of hard 
wood covered on one side with some soft material 
may be placed against the trunk of the tree to 
receive the blow from the mallet. Every one who 
undertakes this work will have sufficient ingenuity 
to contrive a way of giving a tree a sudden, sharp 
jar without injuring it. No one can set the time 
necessary to fight curculios, as this depends a good 
deal on their abundance. As we before stated, we 
have generally found the number so decreased 
after one week’s attention, that a search once or 
twice a w r eek has only resulted in finding a stray 
one or two occasionally. 
Fruit Growers’ Society of Western New 
York.— The Summer Meeting of this Society will 
be held in Rochester about the 25th of June. The 
precise day we will announce as soon as appointed. 
Eds. Rural: —The amateur aims at splendid 
success. Few are aware how large and productive 
single plants can be made by proper management 
I picked, last summer, at one time, from seven 
plants of Longworth's Prolific, two quarts and half 
a pint of ripe fruit fairly measured. There were 
several other pickings during the season, making 
the yield from each plant nearly a quart in alL 
Young plants begin to take root in the fore part 
of June. I spade up (very deep) a strip of ground 
two feet wide, from which I have taken a crop of 
early peas, spading in well-rotted manure. I take 
up (in June) the young plants when the roots are 
not more than three inches long, with a trowel, and 
set, by a line, fifteen inches apart, (they will bear 
setting as closely as this, as it is not intended to 
have any other row near it,) and cover, for a few 
days, with boards laid flat over the plants, and sup 
ported by sticks laid across the row, taking the 
boards off at night and water thoroughly. Any 
runners that start are pinched off during the sea¬ 
son, and of course, the weeds kept down. 
If the soil is a favorable one, it need not be 
touched with the hoe during the season, and it is 
best not to do it, as the ground is full of roots to 
the surface, eight inches around the plants. Du 
ring the season they grow to an enormous size, and 
the next year bear a crop that astonishes my neigh 
borhood. They do not, however, attain their full 
size and greatest bearing capacity ’till the second 
bearing, no runners ever being allowed to take root, 
The seven plants above mentioned, were at least 
six inches in diameter, an inch above the ground 
Plants set in this way, if the weather is unusually 
wet, and the variety, McAvoy's Superior, will run 
and cover the ground four feet in width the same 
season, as thick as they can stand, and the next sea¬ 
son bear well if properly thinned, but I do not 
recommend it. It requires some years experience 
to be fully aware of the advantage of having the 
young plants established as early as June, and the 
long time from then till December to grow large in. 
Large plants, large fruit, and plenty of it. I have 
set young plants in the first days of June, when the 
roots were two inches long, and they grew without 
being checked by'removal. I obtained some old 
plants of a choice variety, in the summer of 1855, 
and set them on the day the rain commenced that 
injured the harvest, and some runners that were 
broken off and thrown away because they were not 
rooted at all, grew and made fine plants. Keep 
shaded from the sun, and the ground moist, and 
anything will grow,—the heat of the atmosphere is 
an advantage. There are other varieties that I 
prefer to those I have mentioned, and that will 
produce as well S. Boughton. 
Pittsford, N. Y., April, 1858. 
PROSPECTS OF FRUIT. 
Since our last issue we have had dry, cold weather, 
with considerable sun, and vegetation has made but 
little progress. In fact* the change during the past 
week has been scarcely perceptible. We have had 
no hard frosts, but cold winds and white frost for 
several nights. Our prospects for fruit are very 
good. Apricots are the only fruit trees in blossom, 
and they are at present uninjured. It is now the 
4th of May, and it will take ten or twelve days of 
mild weather to bring our fruit trees to a point 
where they would be likely to be injured by ordin¬ 
ary frosts. 
At the south-west, where the season is more for¬ 
ward, we hear of much injury to the fruit crop 
from late frosts. Indeed, some of the papers talk 
of total destruction. The Pittsburgh Gazette says— 
“ The Board of Managers of the Allegany County 
Agricultural Society, at their meeting on Wednes¬ 
day, gave in the result of their individual examin¬ 
ation of the fruit crop, since the late frosts. The 
body is a very intelligent one, and competent to ex¬ 
press an intelligent opinion upon this or any other 
matter. The unanimous opinion of the members 
of the board is that the fruit crop is killed in this 
region. Peaches, pears, plums, and cherries en¬ 
tirely, and apples, gooseberries and grapes in part 
We are very sorry to be assured of this fact, but 
consider this conclusive testimony.” 
The Evansville Journal, of Indiana, gives the fol¬ 
lowing gloomy report of the destruction in that 
vicinity. The prospect certainly looks gloomy 
enough:—“We learn from all our visitors from the 
surrounding country, that the blossoms and fruit 
of the peach, apple, cherry and grape vines, were 
all destroyed by the frost on Monday night Only 
a few trees—that were protected by buildings or 
stood in the shade of the forest—were but partially 
injured. On all others the fruit seems to have been 
entirely cut off, and our hopes of rich treats from 
the orchards during the coming summer, are blast¬ 
ed. In some places immediately on the river, a 
few trees have apparently escaped.” 
LEMON PIE-SUET PUDDING, &c. 
Our orchard has been planted about forty years, 
but the trees are most of them yet thrifty, or at 
least show no signs of disease. It is very con¬ 
veniently situated for pasturing sheep, calves or 
swine, and we would like to keep it in grass, as it 
has been for some time, and yet do something for 
increasing its growth, and also the product of 
apples. The orchard has, in great part, been graft¬ 
ed; the soil is a gravelly loam. What say you 
and your horticultural correspondents to the pro¬ 
posed course of procedure? 
Let the whole orchard be grafted, and all the 
trees pruned, where the operation is needed. Ap¬ 
ply a top-dressing of swamp muck and ashes, com¬ 
posted together, about twenty loads per acre. — 
Harrow thoroughly afterward (in May) with a 
heavy, sharp-toothed harrow. Pasture with sheep 
the fore part of the season— putting in a sufficient 
number to graze it down pretty closely, and all 
over, and changing them to other pastures occa¬ 
sionally for ten days or a fortnight. When the 
apples begin to fall in any quantity use it as a pas¬ 
ture for pigs and calves —keep them in until the 
apples are fit for gathering. Turn in sheep again 
after gathering the apples, but do not feed down 
very closely in autumn. 
If this course does not increase the product of 
pasture and frnit, plow it up, give a good dressing 
of manure, harrow or cultivate cleanly through the 
season, seed to mixed herds-grass and clover in 
early autumn, and use for pasturing sheep, pigs and 
calves as before. 
— The trees, though large, are not very near 
together—hence they do not shade the whole 
ground, and we think there is room, for more than 
the mere crop of apples. J. h. 
Royalton, N. Y., 1858. 
Is the Lawton Blackberry Hardy? — I pro¬ 
cured a few plants last spring; they made a good 
growth, but to my disappointment they winter- 
killed down to the ground, hence I get no fruit this 
year. Now, is this a common failing with them? 
If so, they are comparatively worthless. The ther¬ 
mometer was as low at one time as 20° below zero. 
I have peach trees in the same garden not injured; 
also the Fastolff raspberry, plum, cherry and pear 
trees all stood the winter without injury. I have 
known but one instance where our wild blackberry 
winter-killed, and that was in the winter of 1856.— 
N. B. Hale, Norwich, Chen. Co., N. Y. 
Remarks. —Some cultivators recommend cover¬ 
ing the New Rochelle blackberry, on the ground 
that it bears better when thus treated. We have 
never known a plant injured with the cold here, 
although we have seen thousands pass the winter 
without the least protection. We would be much 
surprised to find it more tender than the Fastolff' 
raspberry or the peach. Your plants may have 
been made tender from some cause that we cannot 
explain. We would like to know if any other of 
pur readers have bad a similar experience. 
CULTURE OF THE GRAPE. 
Eds. Rural: — Having read several opinions 
about the culture of the grape, in your justly valua¬ 
ble paper, I thought that I would give my experi¬ 
ence, in raising both vines and grapes. We have 
about one thousand bearing vines, and some five 
hundred more coming on. Some of them are 
planted 8 feet by 12 feet, some 10 feet by 12 feet 
and some 10 feet by 10 feet, with trellis 6 feet high. 
Our grapes last year came to perfection, (ripened) 
with the exception of about half a dozen vines.— 
These half dozen vines, we thought were over¬ 
taxed. You may think, Messrs. Editors, that they 
were good, for some brought 20 cents per pound, 
by the box, before the panic came on. 
Now this is a great vine-growing place,— on the 
west bank of the Hudson river, 30 miles from New 
York city. There are acres and acres of vines cul¬ 
tivated with the greatest of success. We find by 
experience that the best method of planting out the 
vines, is 10 feet each way, with the trellis 6 feet 
high. I think the greatest art in raising good 
grapes, is in proper trimming. —Tunis De Pew, 
Nyack, Rockland Co., N. Y. 
Large Camellia Tree. —I have just returned 
from Beddgelert, about 14 miles from here, a place 
which must be well known to many of your readers, 
who may remember that in the garden there is a 
double white Camellia which has frequently had 
abundance of bloom on it; but this year it is quite 
a wonder (or rather will be in about three weeks, 
if the weather continue warm,) for there are already 
some few expanded flowers, and it is literally cov¬ 
ered with buds in various stages of forwardness, 
scarcely expect to be believed when I state that 
there are 2,000 buds on it, most of which being 
about the same size will probably be open about 
the same time. The gardeher and another person 
at my request on Tuesday last counted the buds, 
and there were considerably above 2,000. This tree 
has been many years in the same situation, and the 
only attention paid to it is that a little before 
Christmas a few stakes, on which are hung a few 
ragged mats, are put about it on two sides; the 
others are entirely open. It has been entirely un 
protected several winters, but I believe on those 
occasions it has not blossomed.— A Florist, in 
London Gardeners' 1 C/.ronicle, March 25. 
Eds. Rural: —Believing that we are all bound to 
follow the dying advice of John Rogers to his 
children, “ Give of your portion to the poor,” and, 
that it should be applied not only to dollars and 
cents, but to good recipes, I send you a few, which I 
know to be first rate, to be distributed for the bene¬ 
fit of those who need them. I hope every good 
housewife, who knows anything worth practicing, 
will contribute her mite to the “Domestic ” column 
of the Rural. 
To Dye Cotton Green. —For 5 lbs. cloth, take £ 
a bushel yellow oak bark; boil it l£ hours, then 
skim out the bark, add 1 lb. alum; have ready your 
composition, previously prepared by putting into a 
bottle 3 oz. oil of vitrol, and l£ oz. well pulverized 
Indigo; set the bottle into a kettle of cold water, 
boil it 1 hour, leaving it uncorked—stir it well, then 
put it carefully into the dye; mix thoroughly before 
putting in the cloth; let it simmer an hour or two 
after the cloth is in; stir often. 
Suet Pudding. —1 cup suet chopped fine; 1 cup 
•sweet milk; 1 cup molasses; 1 cup raisins, or dried 
cherries which are nearly as fine] 1 teaspoon salt; 
£ teaspoon soda; flour to make it about as thick as 
pound cake—boil it in a bag, or form, 3 hours—eat 
with wine sauce. 
Poor Mans’ Pudding. —Scald 1 qt. sweet milk; 
stir in 7 heaping tablespoons corn meal; 1 tea cup 
molasses; £ a teaspoon salt; 1 teaspoon ginger,— 
bake 3 hours—eat with butter. 
A Delicious Lemon Pie. —Take 1 lemon, grate 
off the yellow, but do not use the white part of the 
rind; squeeze out the juice and cut the pulp fine; 
take 1 teacup white, or coffee sugar; 1 teacup wa¬ 
ter; 1 well beaten egg; 1 tablespoon flour; 2 table¬ 
spoons sweet cream—or if you have not cream, 
milk will answer—mix all well together—bake 
with two crusts of nice paste; and if you have a 
relish for good pies, you will desire to “ repeat the 
dose.” 
Pound Cake.— 1 lb. butter; 1 5>. crust sugar pul¬ 
verized, and stirred with the butter until it is light 
and creamy; 12 eggs; J lb. of flour—beat the yolks 
well, add them to the butter and sugar, then sift 
and stir in the flour—and, lastly, add the whites of 
the eggs, beaten to a firm froth—hurry into the oven. 
A Nice Plain Cake.—5 eggs; 1 cup butter; 2 
cups sugar; 2£ cups flour; £ a nutmeg; 1 wine 
glass of buttermilk; soda sufficient to sweeten it 
Will Nellie C. L., of Charlotte, N. Y., acknow¬ 
ledge “prompt pay” and full measure? 
Jamesville, Onon. Co., N. Y., 1858. Mrs. A. P. G. 
POUND CAKE AND PIE. 
Eds. Rural:— Seeing an inquiry in your valua¬ 
ble paper for the best “ Pound Cake,” I thought I 
I would send you mine, also a recipe for a good 
pie. 
Pound Cake. —One pound of flour; 1 of sugar; 
three-fourths of a pound of butter; the whites of 
twelve eggs; the yolks of six; one nutmeg. Sift 
the flour and sugar together, wash the butter and 
beat to a cream, put all in a pan and beat fifteen 
minutes, or until thoroughly mixed. 
An Excellent Pie. —Take two-thirds cranber¬ 
ries and one-third elderberries; stew them separa- 
ly; mix and sweeten to your taste, and bake with 
a top and bottom crust of rich paste. 
Shakopee, Scott Co., Min., 1868. Mrs. H. Clark. 
The Genesee Yalley Horticultural Society. 
—The Summer Exhibition will be held on the 25th 
of June, at Corinthian Hall, in this city. 
Cucumbers for Pickling. —Will you have the 
kindness to inform me through the columns of 
your valuable paper, the time of planting and mode 
of cultivating gherkins for pickling, and oblige a 
subscriber?—D. Stbiibins, Gowanda, Cat. Co., N. Y. 
Remarks. —There is a very small cucumber that 
grows in clusters, called Gherkins by seedsmen and 
gardeners. The name is commonly given to any 
small pickled cucumber. To raise cucumbers for 
pickling, plant from the first to the middle of July. 
Pick as fast as the fruit gets large enough. The 
Long Green, from its slender form and solidity is a 
good sort for this purpose. 
Rose Caterpillars. — Last season I observed a 
line of these mischief-makers down the stem of a 
high bush, and a further examination showed the 
whole family preparing for their exodus. I mulch¬ 
ed the bush directly with two quarts of good lime. 
The next morning the bush was clear and the lime 
looked like plum pudding, so many caterpillars had 
found their last resting place there. So, I scraped 
it all away. I then examined the other bushes and 
found every insect gone, although at ten o’clock 
the day before, they were quietly feeding, as if the 
thought of a journey had never entered theirheads. 
Please let us know if they are always of one mind 
as to the time of their departure. It was the 17th 
of July. Harris. 
Vitality of Garden Seeds. —Will you please 
inform me in your valuable Rural, the kind of 
garden seeds that are good for only one year, also 
those that are good two or three years or more?— 
I am at quite a loss to know every spring what old 
seed I have on hand that will grow.—A Friend 
and Subscriber, Coventry, N. Y., 1858. 
Remarks.— Most seeds if kept in good condition 
will grow the second year. If kept damp and 
warm they will spoil. Many gardeners think cu¬ 
cumber, melon, and in fact all vine seed are better 
for being kept at least two years,—giving less vine 
but more fruit Parsnip and Onion seed we would 
never plant when two years old if we could get 
fresh seed. Radish, Carrot and Turnip seed will 
do the second season. We would advise every 
one to grow their own seed, as far as possible. Our 
seedsmen are far behind those of Europe or the 
nurserymen here, in intelligence and enterprise, 
Horticultural Societies. — In every village 
where there are a dozen amateurs, men and women 
of taste, who love fruits and flowers, a Horticultu 
ral Society Bhould be established. Some hall, or 
large room could be secured for the exhibitions 
at a very little cost, the list of premiums need not 
be large, and most persons will be satisfied by the 
simple award, the announcement that their pears 
or roses are the best on exhibition, without desiring 
money premiums. Indeed, money need not he of¬ 
fered in small societies. The editor of your village 
paper will do all he can to facilitate the matter, as 
these editors are men of taste and progress. A few 
dollars will pay him for advertising exhibitions, 
premium list, &U., and a bouquet, and a basket of 
fruit, occasionally, will keep him in excellent hu¬ 
mor with himself and the rest of mankind. 
Red Spider. — Have any of the readers of your 
valuable paper had any experience with an enemy 
of the Monthly rosebush, namely, a little brown in¬ 
sect which resembles a very small spider? It is so 
small you can scarcely discern it, and it webs over 
the whole bush and destroys the entire foliage. I 
had a very fine healthy bush which is almost en¬ 
tirely destroyed by this enemy. Cannot some one 
give a preventive, or some plan whereby they may 
be destroyed?— Mrs. N. J. Skinner, Sherburne, N. Y. 
Remarks. —As soon as these insects make their 
appearance burn a little sulphur under them. Then 
give the plant a good sprinkling from the water- 
pot with the rose attached, or with the syringe. 
Number of Plants to the Acre.—I t is often 
very convenient to know how many plants will 
grow on an acre at certain distances. For refer¬ 
ence, therefore, we give the following table: 
Dist. apart. No of plants. 
1 foot_43,560 
1% feet_19,360 
.10,890 
6,969 
4.840 
2,722 
1,742 
1,210 
Dist. apart. No. of plants. 
9 feet __ 537 
362 
193 
134 
110 
70 
50 
Floating Island. —Place a vessel containing 1 
quart of milk in one of convenient size containing 
water, and set on the stove to heat. Whip the 
whites of 3 eggs until they will adhere to a plate if 
turned upside down, then with a knife pile into a 
pyramidal form. Into the yolks beat 3 tablespoon¬ 
ful sugar, and a little lemon, when the milk comes 
to a scalding heat pour the yolks into it, and stir 
10 minutes; then dip it, while hot, on the whites, 
taking care to touch every part with the hot 
liquid. The whites, after being whipped, should 
be piled into a deep dish of some sort. This is 
excellent. 
Crackers.— Take 1 pint thin sweet cream, add 
£ teaspoon of salt, and flour (either superfine or 
unbolted) enough to roll—roll thin, cut, prick, and 
bake with moderate heat until done. For simplic 
ity and excellence this is unsurpassed.— Myra 
Agnew, Fulton Co., N. Y., 1858. 
To Color Blue on Cotton. —For 5 lbs. of cloth 
take 2 oz. of copperas; put it in water sufficient to 
cover the cloth; keep it scalding hot two hours; 
take out the cloth; turn out the copperas water; 
rinse the kettle; put 1 oz. of prussiate of potash in 
soft water; when dissolved, put in the cloth; let it 
lie two hours; then take out the cloth and add 1 
spoonful of oil of vitrol; stir it well; then again 
put in the cloth; let it lie a few minutes; take it 
out; rinse thoroughly in cold water.— Carrie B., 
Poplar Ridge. N. Y., 1858. 
Rheumatic Liniment.—As liniments are in order 
I send you mine, which has been tried and found to 
be good for sprains, swellings, rheumatism, &c.,for 
man or beast 1 oz. spirits hartshorn; 2 oz. cam¬ 
phor gum; £ oz. organum oil; 1 gill spirits turpen¬ 
tine; £ pint sweet oil; 1 pint of alcohol—mix to.-, 
gethcr and shake well—apply thoroughly rubbing, 
with the hand. This will be found, as a cheap.lini¬ 
ment, to be as good as any extant.— James Smith, 
Ray, Macomb Co., Mich., 1858. 
How to Cool Water.—I f it is desired to cool 
water for drinking in warm weather, and ice can¬ 
not be obtained for this purpose, let it be kept in 
an unglazed earthenware pitcher, wrapt around 
with two or three folds of coarse cotton cloth, kept 
constantly wet. The theory of cooling water in 
this manner is the absorption of heat from it by 
the evaporation of the moisture in the cotton cloth. 
—expansion produces cold, compression heat. 
An Inquiry.—P lease allow me to inquire, through 
the columns of your highly esteemed paper, for a 
recipe for coloring red on cotton that will not fade; 
and oblige—A Farmer's Daughter, North Fair- 
field, Huron Co., Ohio. 
To Clean Pictures.— Dust them lightly with 
cotton wool, or a feather brush. 
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