SEPT. 18 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 
303 
THE AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
This Society holds its next meeting, as we have 
before announced, in New York, on the 14th inst. 
Our journal, which is dated on Saturday, goes to 
press on the Tuesday previous. Our large circula¬ 
tion renders this necessary. This will he on the 
first day of the meeting, and, of course, we shall be 
able to give no report this week. On Monday 
morning we start for New York to take part in the 
Convention as well as to report the proceedings for 
our pages. The New York Stale Agricultural So¬ 
ciety has appointed the following delegates: — 
Chas. Downing, George Ellwanger, E. C. Frost, 
Louis Menand, Herman Wendell, John C. Jack- 
son, R. H. Ludlow, L. G. Morris, Joseph Frost, 
and James Vick. The Genesee Valley Horticul¬ 
tural Society appointed H. E. Hooker, Charles M. 
Hooker and James Vick, delegates; and the Fruit 
Growers' Society of Western New York the follow¬ 
ing:— P. Barry, Rochester; H. E. Hooker, Roch¬ 
ester; T. C. Maxwell, Geneva; Dr. Sylvester, 
Lyons; J. B. Eaton, Buffalo; W. B. Smith, Syra¬ 
cuse; W. P. Townsend, Lockport. 
HORTICULTURAL GOSSIP. 
The weather for the past week or two has been 
extremely warm, and for the last three or four 
days the thermometer has reached ninety degrees. 
The result is that all our fall fruits are ripening 
very fast—the pears, perhaps, a little too fast, for 
unless they are closely watched, where a good 
many varieties are grown, some specimens will be 
found fallen or spoiled on the trees. We never 
saw bo great a progress in the ripening of fruits, 
in so short a time, as has been made in three or 
four days of the past week. Isabella Grapes 
are now as near maturity as they were last year at 
the setting in of winter. There will be no diffi¬ 
culty in ripening Isabellas perfectly, and Catawbas 
would ripen this season, we think, with fair treat¬ 
ment We did think of describing a few varieties 
of pears now in perfection, but as the list is a long 
one, and this fruit will be pretty freely talked 
about at the Pomological Convention, we forbear. 
A. Frost & Co. presented us with several fine 
specimens grown on their beautiful dwarf trees, 
and Ellwanger & Barry did the same. Pears 
are now plenty in our market, but we cannot say 
they are cheap. They sell readily for from three 
to four dollars per bushel; peaches are scarce, and 
bring about the same price. 
More than a dozen varieties of plums are now 
ripe, and among them we notice the Victoria, Coe's 
Golden Drop, and Pond's Seedling —the latter a 
mammoth, as will be seen by the engraving: 
In making our visits to the fruit gardens last 
week, we found ourselves, one warm afternoon, 
at the grounds of H. N. Langworthy, about 
five miles from the city, on the Ridge Road. 
This place consists of about ten acres, and when 
it came into the possession of its present owner, 
about three years since, it was in a very dilapidated 
condition, as it had been for a long time, although 
some very good things had been planted, and in 
spite of bad treatment bore tolerable fruit. Not 
having visited the grounds under Mr. Lang- 
worthy’s administration, we were surprised and 
pleased at the wonderful change. The house had 
been repaired or rebuilt, carriage house erected, 
new fences made, and all painted, and as neat as 
possible. The old Isabella vines that had rambled 
unchecked for years were pruned and trained, and 
loaded with magnificent clusters; the old apple 
orchard had been renovated, and the trees appeared 
to have taken a new leas/® life. Here, too, we 
found a vigorous young pea^'brchard, an orchard 
of dwarf pears consisting of about two hundred 
trees, and a good many standards, some of them 
loaded with fruit, and this was particularly the 
case with the Bartlett and Flemish Beauty. We 
don’t wish the fact to be generally known, for fear 
it might cause too great a rush of visitors, but we 
will just say that if any one who can appreciate a 
good melon wants a feast, just let him call on H. 
N. Langwohthy. We don’t know any one that 
gets up melons in so good a style. He don't allow 
his friends to eat anything but the u best," and his 
White Imperials and Black Spanish, are unequaled 
to say nothing about the Nutmegs. Then the 
eloquent manner in which your host will dilate on 
their qualities will cause you to relish a few more 
slices of the same sort after you have had enough, 
as he will very confidently assure you that a 
good melon never hurts any one—a doctrine not 
hard to believe. Among the many new things we 
found here, was the Eutaw Cucumber, a very large, 
nearly white cucumber, very sweet and good for 
eating in the ordinary way, but solid and rather 
difficult of digestion. It makes an excellent pre. 
serve, much better than the Citron, being clear and 
transparent. 
We have not space to notice many other things, 
but we will call attention to the mode adopted by 
Mr. L. for training Tomatoes, which is very easy 
and simple, keeps the fruit from the ground, and 
exposes it to the sun and air, thus securing early 
ripening. It is simply four forked stakes,less than 
three feet long, driven into the ground. Across 
these are laid two round poles. These poles run 
parallel, and are about eighteen inches apart, and 
of course the stakes are driven so as to accommo¬ 
date the length of the poles. Between the poles 
the tomatoes are planted, and supported by a stake 
until they reach the poles, when the branches are 
laid over them, in the manner shown in the en¬ 
graving. 
langworthy's method of training tomatoes. 
Speaking of training Tomatoes reminds us of 
one trained in thi3 city so as to make it a very 
ornamental object Taste will show itself, in some 
way, and we have seen the old gardener, or the 
lady with a love of flowers, when confined to the 
city by uncontrollable circumstances, raise in a 
flower-pot, or even a broken tea pot, flowers that 
would not disgrace the most costly conservatory. 
The gentleman that raised this plant is confined 
to a small city lot shaded by old trees—a most un¬ 
forbidding place for growing an object worthy of 
notice, and yet he has succeeded with the unpre¬ 
tending tomato in growing a plant so beautiful 
that it has been viewed with astonishment and 
delight by hundreds. Indeed, great has been 
the demand for seed of this new variety. But, 
alas! in the hands of the careless and unskillful 
it will be only the poor old trailing plant, 
covered with tomatoes that will never ripen, and 
the few that do ripen coated with dirt We have 
had our artist take an engraving of this plant, 
which we present to our readers as a model. We 
counted one hundred and thirty tomatoes, of 
various sizes, over twenty had been picked and 
about a dozen more were fully ripe, while a score 
or so more were coloring. The plant covers a 
space ten feet in height and about nine in width. 
A MODEL TOMATO PLANT. 
One of our market gardeners informed us that 
he had picked 450 bushels of tomatoes from the 
plants grown on three-quarters of an acre. 
The White Grub is doing a good deal of mischief 
to strawberry plants in some locations, as well as 
to potatoes. We fear we must give up all hopes of 
a show of Dahlias this fall, as the insect that 
injures the potato tops is killing the buds as 
fast as they appear. At first the mischief was 
charged to the grasshoppers, but a close examina¬ 
tion proved the enemy to be the Phytocoris, which 
has been charged in the Rural and other papers 
by Mr. Henderson with being the cause of tbo 
potato rot This little mischievous insect, we 
think, is beginning to tread on dangerous ground. 
The florists will find something to give him 
“fits” if he persists in destroying their,flowers. 
Mr. Jeffreys, of Canandaigua, informs us that the 
borer is destroying the Mountain Ash trees in that 
village; that of late they are suffering more than 
the locusts. 
The Large White Grub. —Will you be so kind 
as to inform me through your paper if there is any 
means by which the large white ground grub can 
be destroyed? They have been very destructive for 
the last two years to the strawberry plants in this 
vicinity. Last spring I set out some choice varie¬ 
ties, for which, it would seem, they show a decided 
taste. They work under the ground, eating off the 
roots of the plants. I have thought that they live 
on the roots of weeds also, and therefore the 
cleaner the ground is kept, the more they will con¬ 
centrate about the plants.— C. Clark, Turner, Du¬ 
page Co., III., 1858. 
Remarks. —This large white grub has been quite 
troublesome here in some places. Last week we 
saw a plantation of strawberries of about an acre, 
in which three-fourths of the plants were destroyed 
by the grub. Potatoes, also, in the same lot were 
much injured by them. They are difficult to 
destroy. Salt, or anything that will kill them will 
also kill the plants. When anything is placed on 
the surface that they dislike they go deeper in the 
soil. Has any of our readers succeeded in destroy¬ 
ing them? 
Apples—Their Names. — I am somewhat in the 
nursery business, and have the following apples in 
my nursery that I am entirely unacquainted with: 
Crow Sweet, Orange Russet, Red Cheek Pippin and 
Saxton. Now, if through the Rural I can be 
made acquainted with their character you will 
confer a favor upon your subscriber.—J. R, Hock¬ 
ing Port, Ohio, 1858. 
Remarks.— Don’t know the Crow Sweet. There 
is an old sweet variety called the Crow Egg. It is 
a fall apple, not very good, oblong oval, greenish- 
yellow, tender, large core. Another apple is called 
by the same name in Kentucky. It is a winter 
fruit, sub-acid, conical form, yellow, striped with 
dull red. Know no Orange Russel. There is an 
Orange Apple, with skin of an orange-yellow, 
sometimes partially covered with blotches of rus¬ 
set. Red Cheek Pippin is a synonym of Monmouth 
Pippin. We never before heard of a Saxton apple. 
DO QUINCES PRODUCE BLIGHT? 
Messrs. Editors: —Having seen in the Rural of 
the 4th inst, the observations of one of your cor¬ 
respondents in respect to whether blight upon 
quinces produce a similar effect upon pears, and as 
my experience partly resembles that of Mr. Clarke, 
and from your solicitation in the matter I will en¬ 
deavor to bring forward my case as intelligibly as 
my humble powers of description will permit 
The case is this:—At each end of my garden I 
have a quince tree, both of which this spring had 
their annual visits from an insect which attacks 
the extreme points of the young shoots. The 
effect is at the point of the shoot, which shrivels 
up and acts as an encasement for the egg deposited 
therein, where it finds protection until the process 
of life and maturity shall have ripened the inhabi¬ 
tants’ instinct to “ move on.” This blight, as many 
know, is quite distinct in appearance and effect, 
from the one of which Mr. Clarke finds his 
quinces affected; for the attacks of the latter does 
not make its appearance until the fruit has set, 
while the other takes place just previous to the ex¬ 
pansion of the blossom buds. 
However, to come to the point, I may say that 
both these quince trees have been attacked this 
year with the blight your correspondent has been 
troubled with. And now for their position.— 
Quince tree No. 1 is within two paces of a fine thriv¬ 
ing Siberian crab apple which has evidently been 
infected with the same blight This tree wa3 at¬ 
tacked six or eight weeks since, and but little notice 
taken of it until lately, when the blight was mak¬ 
ing rapid progress to the main stem; the side 
branches were, therefore, immediately cut out, and 
on examination the discoloration had almost 
reached the point referred to. I have also a young 
standard Sheldon pear scarcely two paces from the 
same quince tree, and I have had the greatest diffi¬ 
culty to preserve its wood of this year’s growth.— 
This tree I have very closely watched, and have 
nipped off (to a healthy bud) all the young shoots 
twice, and in some cases three times. These shoots 
had evidently been punctured by some insect near 
the extreme point of the shoot, and the discolora¬ 
tion made rapid progress to the base of the shoot, 
but whether this may be attributed to the same 
cause as that in which the quince suffers, it did not 
occur to me at the time. Within the past two or 
three weeks, however, I have more matured evi¬ 
dences of the same discoloration precisely, upon a 
dwarf Doyenne and Steven’s Genesee; and on a 
close examination, I find the same punctures pre¬ 
viously mentioned in the case of the Sheldon pear, 
while on other shoots could be traced specimens 
of the insect world in various stages of progress— 
on others neither insect or punctures could be 
seen. These observations, it will be seen, are 
necessarily incomplete, as my attention has not 
probably been called to it until the various stages 
of the blight had progressed too far. Thus far, 
however, they coincide with the experience of Mr. 
Clarke. But when I turn back to quince tree No. 
2, which has been most seriously attacked with the 
same blight, I find quite close to it a young standard 
Flemish Beauty and Bartlett, as well as dwarf vari¬ 
eties of Yan Mousleon le Clerc, Duchesse de An- 
gouleme, &c., upon none of which can I find any 
symptom of the blight. Shall we puzzle our braiDS 
any more in the matter? I think I will promise it 
a thorough investigation next seasoD, and watch 
its earliest stages. 
On another examination, since writing the 
above, I find the standard Bartlett punctured on 
several shoots, but on the second growth of this 
season. The discoloration does not, however, make 
its appearance. Probably the wood s too ripe for 
its downward progress. Wm Creed. 
Quince and Pear Blight. —The observation of 
your correspondent, J. S. Clarke, in relation to 
the blight in quince trees being transferred to 
pear, is new to me, but I must say, very probable. 
As facts, not theories, are wanted in this matter, I 
would state that during the past three years, I have 
set out 25 dwarf pear trees in a small city lot.— 
They all thrive well, and some are bearing very 
well. One, however, which was platted near a 
quince bush afflicted with the blight, has been at¬ 
tacked by the same disease. All the others, being 
further distant, have escaped. If the experience 
of others coincides with this view of the matter, a 
knowledge of the facts will be of the utmost im¬ 
portance, both theoretically and practically. ,j. p. 
FRUIT FOR THE WEST. 
It is very easy to jump at conclusions and say 
this or the other fruit will not do for the West, just 
because somebody failed in the attempt to grow it, 
when perhaps the treatment was such as to cause 
almost anything to fail. On this subji ct we are 
pleased to give all reliable informatior. Verry 
Aldrich, of Arispe, Bureau county, Illinois, in 
Emery's Journal, gives the following list of apples 
“ best adapted to that locality, and most profitable 
for family use or market—all hardy and produc¬ 
tive :” 
Six best apples for orchard of lOO trees. —Summer— 
10 Red June, 10 Summer Pennock. Fall— 15 Snow. 
Winter —20 Dominie, 20 Wagener, 25 Willow Twig. 
Twelve best apples for an orchard of 100 trees .— 
Summer —10 Red June, 6 Sops of Wine, 10 Summer 
Pennock. Fall— 5 Tompkins, 5 Snow, 5 Cloth of 
Gold. Winter— 15 Domine, 15 Wagener, 15 Wil¬ 
low Twig, 5 White Bellflower, 5 Yellow do., 5 N. Y. 
Pippin. 
Twenty best apples for an orchard of 100 trees .— 
Summer —5 Red Jane, 2 Sops of Wine, 5 Sammer 
Pennock, 3 Red Astraclian, 2 Early White (Coop¬ 
er’s,) 2 Leicester Sweeting. Fall—3 Tompkins, 5 
Snow, 2 Fall Wine, 3 Hawley, 2 Sweet Wine, 2 
Cloth of Gold. Winter —10 Dominie, 10 Wage¬ 
ner, 10 Willow Twig, 2 White Bell Flower, 2 Yellow 
do., 10 N. Y. Pippin, 10 Red Seeknofurther, 10 
Swaar. 
1,060 trees for market will depend on hovr near it 
is. If near by and large, 
Summer —200 Red June, 100 Summer Pennock. 
Fall— 50 Snow. Winter— 1G0 Dominie, 150 Wag¬ 
ener, 200 Willow Twig, long keepers; 200 N. Y. 
Pippin, long keepers. 
When the orchard is located too far away from 
market for summer fruit, diminish the sammer and 
add more winter. 
Of pears, have not had experience enough yet 
nor varieties sufficient to make out a list. Among 
what I have, the Onondaga, Flemish Beauty, White 
Doyenne, Louise Bonne of Jersey, Dearborn's Seed¬ 
ling, Buffum, Heathcoat, and Steven’s Genesee, all 
promise well, both as standard and dwarf, (Onon¬ 
daga excepted.) 
TREE MIGNONETTE. 
Having been very successful for some years in 
growing fine specimens of this, the result of my ex¬ 
perience may not be unacceptable to your readers. 
I generally sow in four-inch pots about the end 
of March, or beginning of April, according to the 
number of standards required. The soil I use is 
maiden loam and leaf-mould in equal quantities, 
with a little well-rotted manure and sand added.— 
I drain and fill the pots in the usual way, but do 
not press the soil too firmly. I smooth the surface, 
and put a pinch of seed in the centre of each pot. 
I cover thinly with fine sifted soil, water gently 
and remove the pots to the stove, or, if that is not 
available, to a hot-bed, and the plants soon make 
their appearance. As soon as they have grown a 
little I pull out all but three of the strongest near 
the centre of the pot After all danger of their 
damping off has in a great measure passed I re¬ 
move the two weakest, and tie the other to a neat 
stake. I repot as the plants require it, and remove 
the lateral buds as soon as they make their appear¬ 
ance in the axils of the leaves, at the same time 
preserving the leaves on the stem carefully. The 
flower will soon make its appearance on the top of 
the stem. I remove it once, and allow the highest 
lateral bnd to grow to form the next leader to be 
tied to the stake a3 soon as possible. I remove the 
laternal buds as before, and so on, till the stem is 
the desired height. 
When the stem is the height required, I cut off 
the top and allow four or five of the highest lateral 
bud3 to grow. As soon as they have pushed a lit¬ 
tle I pinch them, leaving only two buds on each; I 
allow them to start a little and then remove the 
plants to a cool green house where they get plenty 
of air. I continue to pinch regularly as the plants 
grow till the heads are the desired size (which will 
be about the end of September or the middle of 
October,) when they will require their final shift, 
using 8 or 9 inch pots, according to the size of the 
plants. I procure some iron wire for supports, or 
neat wooden stakes. After being inserted into the 
pots they must stand two or three inches above 
the head of the plant, to allow all the laterals form¬ 
ing the head to be suspended from them with small 
pieces of bast If they are not tied up carefully 
they will as they grow droop down and break, as 
Mignonette is a plant of straggling habit. Treated 
in the above way Mignonette will flower freely till 
the time when there is plenty to be had out of 
doors, when the plants may be thrown away. I 
prefer growing from seed every season. The "little 
extra trouble required is amply compensated by 
the neat compact form of the heads of the young 
plants.—M., in London Gardeners' Chronicle. 
A CHINESE GARDEN. 
Mr. Fortune gives a curious description of a 
Chinese garden in a recent letter, from which we 
make the following extracts: 
“ The plants consist of good specimens of south¬ 
ern Chinese things, all well known in England — 
such, for example, as cymbidium Chinese, olea 
fragans, oranges, roses, camelias, magnolias, etc., 
and, of course, a multitude of dwarf trees, without 
which no Chinese garden would be considered 
compelete. In the alcove alluded to, there are 
some nice stone seats, which look cool in a climate 
like that of southern China. The floor of this 
building is raised a few feet above the ground 
level, so that the visitor gets a good view of the 
water and other objects of interest in the garden. 
That this is a favorite lounge and smoking place 
with the Chinese, the following Chinese notice, 
which we found on one of the pillars, will testify: 
‘A Careful and Earnest Notice—This garden earn¬ 
estly requests that visitors will spit betel outside 
the railing, and knock the ashes off pipes also out¬ 
side.’ Several fine fruit trees and others are grow¬ 
ing near the walks, and afford shade from the rays 
of the sun. On one of these we read the following: 
‘ Ramblers here will be excused plucking the fruit 
on this tree.’ How exceedingly polite! 
“Near the centre of the garden stands a substan¬ 
tial summer house or hall, named the * Hall of Fra¬ 
grant Plants.’ The same notice to smokers and 
chewers of betel-nut is also put up here; and there 
is another and a longer one, which I must not for¬ 
get to quote. It is this:—‘In this garden the 
plants are intended to delight the eyes of all visit 
ors; a great deal has been expended in planting 
and in keeping it in order, and the garden is now 
beginning to yield some return. Those who come 
here to saunter about are earnestly prayed not to 
pluck the fruit or flowers, in order that the beauty 
of the place may be preserved.’ And then follows 
a piece of true Chinese politeness:—' We beg those 
who understand this notice to excuse it!’ Passing 
through the Hall of Fragrant Plants, we approach¬ 
ed, between two rows of Olea fragans, a fine orna¬ 
mental suite of rooms, tastefully furnished and 
decorated, in which visitors are received and en¬ 
tertained. An inscription informs us that this is 
called the ‘Fragrant Hall of the Wochee Tree.’ 
Leaving this place by a narrow door, we observed 
the following notice:—‘SauntererB here will be 
excused entering.’ This apparently leads to the 
private apartments of the family. In this side of 
the garden there is some artificial rock-work, which 
the Chinese know well how to construct, and vari¬ 
ous summer houses tastefully decorated, one of 
which is called the ‘ Library of Verdant Purity.’ 
Between this part of the garden and the straight 
walk already noticed, there is a small pond or lake 
for fish and water lilies. This is crossed by a zig¬ 
zag wooden bridge of many arches, which looked 
rather dilapidated.” 
Fruits of the Crimea. —New apples of extra¬ 
ordinary excellence, have been discovered in the 
Crimea, which will, no doubt, find their way to 
Europe and America. Paiias speaks of one called 
the Sinup Alma, which keeps till July, and only 
acquires its excellence before the new year.— 
Wagon loads are annually sent to Moscow, and even 
to Sr. Petersburg. There is also an autumn apple, 
thought to be far the best ever tasted in any coun¬ 
try. A larger cobnut than heretofore known, is 
also recorded. Twenty-four varieties of grapes 
are cultivated, either for wine or the table. None 
of them appear to be of importance.— Edinburg 
Phil. Journal. 
CAKE RECIPES-GOOD VINEGAR. 
Eds. Rural:— Having read many valuable re¬ 
cipes for cooking in your excellent paper, I thought 
I, too, might contribute my mite in sending a few 
that I have found to be good: 
Soft Cake. —One cup of sugar; 1 egg; a piece 
of butter the size of an egg; l of a cup ofBweet milk; 
a teaspoon of cream tartar; half as much soda. 
Another.— One cup of sugar; 1 egg; £ cup of 
butter; 1 cup of buttermilk; a teaspoon of soda. 
Cookies.— One and one-half cup of sugar; b cup 
of butter; 5 cup of buttermilk; teaspoon of soda; 
roll them rather thick and bake quick. 
Jumbles. —Two cups of sugar; 1 cup of sour 
cream; 1 cup of butter; 3 eggs; 1 teaspoon soda. 
Crullers.— One pint of milk; 2 cups of sugar; 
1 cup of butter; 3 eggs; 1 teaspoon of soda; 2 of 
cream tartar; salt and spice to your taste. 
If J. S., Mich., wishes to know how to make good 
vinegar that will cost less than 25 cents per gallon, 
please try the following:—One quart of molasses; 
3 gallons of rain-water; 1 pint of yeast,—let it 
stand four weeks. c. s. w. 
Mexico, N. Y., 1868. 
CREAM TARTAR BISCUIT.-TO COLOR DRAB. 
Eds. Rural:— I have read with great interest 
the column devoted to Domestic Economy in your 
paper, as also every other part of it, and have no¬ 
ticed of late the increased interest manifested in it 
by all, in contributing something to it; so I thought 
I would cast in my mite, and perhaps some one 
might be benefited by it. 
Cream Tartar Biscuit. —Take a pint bowl two- 
thirds full of sweet milk, add to it £ tablespoonful 
of soda; then take a small pan half full of flour, 
and add to it two tablespoonfuls of shortening; 
1 of cream tartar, and one half do. of salt; 
mix well and add the milk. Make it hard enough 
to roll out good, and cut in cakes about l£ inches 
thick. Bake very quick. Try it, and if you make 
them right, you will never want to make any other 
kind. 
To Color Drab. —Take plum tree sprouts and 
boil them an hour or more, then add copperas ac¬ 
cording to the shade you wish your articles to bo. 
White ribbons take a very pretty color in this dye. 
I would like to be informed through your paper 
how to take out ink stains from wood and cloth. 
Tecumseb, Mich , 1859. A Fakmkr’s Daughter. 
To Mend Broken Glass and Earthen ware. — 
I see in the Rural an inquiry for a cement to mend 
glass and earthen-ware. Broken glass may be 
mended quite securely with white paint, such as ia 
used for painting buildings. Put it neatly on both 
edges and press them firmly together. Put them 
away until the paint becomes thoroughly dry and 
hard, when they can be used and washed the same 
as if they were never broken. If earthen is broken 
so that the pieces can be put together and tied se¬ 
curely with a cord, you can by boiling the piece in 
sweet skim-milk, mend it so that it will never come 
apart by using. The fractured edges must not be 
wet with water before mending, and after boiling, 
put away the dish until it shall become thoroughly 
dry before taking off the string.—M. E. P., Pal¬ 
myra, N. Y., 1858. 
Carolina Cake. — Two coffee cups of white 
sugar; 3 of flour; 1 of sweet cream; 2 tablespoons 
of melted butter; whites of 5 eggs, well beaten; £ 
a teaspoon of cream tartar; £ do. of soda; 1 tea¬ 
spoon of extract of lemon,—it is an improvement 
to add citron,—put about half of the mixture in the 
baking dish, cut the citron in thin slices and lay 
them over the mixture pretty plentifully, then pour 
the remainder upon the citron. I think Mrs. 
A. P. G., of Janesville, Onondaga Co., N. Y, will 
acknowledge this to be as good a recipe for cake as 
her recipe for lemon pie, which is equally delicious. 
If any doubt, let thefh try if, and they will find it is 
worth a year’s subscription to the Rural. — M. C., 
Oak Orchard, N. Y, 1858. 
Good Dumplings.—Amelia, of Cayuga, N. Y., 
wishes for a recipe to make Good Dumplings. 
Here is one that we call a good one. Take l£ 
pounds flour; 6 ounces of beef suet, chopped fine; 
i teaspoonful Baleratus; £ pound raisins —mix 
these together with water as stiff as can be stirred 
with a spoon. Put the mixture in a bag, securely 
tied, and boil 1 i hours. To make of preserves in¬ 
stead of raisins, leave out the raisins and mix with 
the hand the same quantity of flour, suet, roll 
like pie crust to the thickness of a quarter of an 
inch and spread on preserves, roll the whole to¬ 
gether and put into a bag and boil as above.—A. 
E. C., Onego, N. Y., 1858. 
Preserving Cucumbers for Winter Use.— 
Some time since I saw in the Rural an inquiry as 
to how we shall preserve cucumbers for winter 
use? I will send you my mode. Put one pound cf 
alum and three quarts of salt to one barrel of 
pickles_water sufficient to cover them, and lay a 
cloth on top. There will a scum rise on top, which 
take off with the cloth and rinse it in cold water. 
When you wish to use them, soak over night, or, if 
you like them pretty salt, just rinse them off, scald 
the vinegar and pour upon them.—C. M. C., Fulton, 
N. Y, 1858. 
Tomatoes and Melons. —Use tomatoes largely,, 
both at breakfast and dinner; take hot or cold, 
cooked or raw, with vinegar or without vinegar, 
fried in sugar and butter, or stewed, with salt and 
pepper. Their healthful properties consists in 
their being nutritious, easily digested, and promo¬ 
tive of that daily regular action of the system, 
without which, health is impossible. Their anti¬ 
constipating quality is in the seeds— on the same 
principle that grapes, raisins and white mustard 
seed have stood high in this respect, the attrition 
of the seeds on the mucous surface of the alimen¬ 
tary canal exciting its peristalic motion, thus caus¬ 
ing regular daily action. 
As to water-melons, they are the only things we 
know which can be eaten with impunity until we 
cannot swallow any more. The best time for tak¬ 
ing them is about eleven o’clock in the morning, 
and about four in the afternoon. They are not safe 
for very young children,—the seeds are especially 
injurious to them.— Hall's Journal of Health. 
