Inquiries ani) Answers. 
Culture or Strawhekriks. —As it seems to be one 
of your duties (?) to an-wer the questions of your sub¬ 
scribers. allow me to m-k nue or two. I have read of 
cultivating straw bet ties in bills, and wish to know 
whether the motion are all tukuu olt eacli year, uud the 
same plant cultivated year after j ear, or whether enough 
runners should be left to supply the pIsco of tire old ones, 
and then the old ones removed; and, it tho latter is the 
case, how often should it Ire done? 
Again, amidst ilie cries of '• humbug," " fizzle," " fiddle¬ 
sticks," ike . I bare ret out. a plantation of dwarf pears, to 
which 1 intend to give good treatment, arid pro*", if poB- 
sildn, that “ he laughs best who laughs lust." Now, how 
much should they he allowed to hear the second year 
after planting?-0 J ii., Farmington, ti. ) , I860, 
I wish to make a few inquiries in regard to strawberries 
Is sawdust good to mulch them with? Is there danger of 
mulching them too deep, if the plants are not covered 
over entirely ? Would it injure the plsnts to cover them 
entirely over iu the fall, and lot them remaiu an until 
spring, to protect in winter? If they were so covered iu 
the Call, would it he necessary to remove the mulching in 
tho spring, or would thsy grow through it, it not covered 
too deep?—1? R. 8., Hudson, ^ Y, 18(10. 
When strawberries are grown in hills, the runners are 
entirely removed. The original plants become old anil 
worthless after about two or three years. Then a few 
A WASHING MACHINE. 
THE FLO WEE GAEDEN. 
Ens. RtritAi. Nrw-Yorkkk: — Tbo opinion ia 
now becoming general, that the proper way to 
wash clothes is to alternately (ill them with water 
and press it out, avoiding friction as much as 
possible. 1 would here like to give your readers 
a description or a machine of my own invention, 
constructed on this principle. The figure is a 
sectional view. A is a cylinder 2 fcot in diame¬ 
ter, made of any suitable material. In the middle 
of the cylinder will be seen a stationary cylinder 
head, B, which is perforated with holes. C C aro 
two moveable pistons, working water tight In the 
cylinder,—both of them fastened rigidly to the 
rod D. On tho top part of tho rod is a rack, 
which gears into the pinion E, worked by the 
crank P. 
The Chinese Peonies are coming into flower, 
and in another week will be in perfection. This 
has become a most interesting class of flowers, 
and a great many varieties are cultivated by our 
nurserymen. Next week we will describe a few 
of the best. The Flows it iso Suhcbs and Trees 
are now the principal ornament of the garden, 
and among these the Thorns are most conspicu¬ 
ous. This class of small trees deserve far more 
attention than they receive from ornamental 
planters. Nothing looks more beantiful upon the 
lawn, being neat in form, the foliage bright and 
glossy, und wbc-n in flower they elicit universal 
admiration. There are few trees or shrubs more 
worthy of general cultivation, and we would be 
glad to sec them in every garden. The best vari¬ 
eties are the Single Pink and Single Red, and the 
Double Red and Double White. 
The Horse Chestnuts are well deserving of all 
the attention they recoive. The single common 
variety iB just passing out of flower. The Red 
Flowering is now exceedingly fine. The flowers 
of the Yellow varie'y are poor, not differing 
mnch from the Buckeye . The Double White is 
one of the best. The flowerB are white, prettily 
spotted with red, like the common variety, but 
perfectly double. There is a variegated leaved 
variety, with red flowers. 
Several varieties of the Spiraea are in flower, 
and we took notes of the S. trilobata and S. 
crenala, both very neat shrubs of rather dwarfish 
habit, with trusses of small flowers almost cover¬ 
ing the plant. S. ulmifuliu is of larger growth, 
with larger flowers. 8. Innceolata is the finest of 
the class—of the purest whiteness. Its branches 
are floral snow - wreaths. Everybody should 
plant it. 
The African Tamarix is a very delicate and a 
very beautiful shrub. It has very small, slender 
leaves, somewhat resembling Juniper or the 
Heath. The flowers are very small, heath-like, of 
a delicate pink color, and growing thickly on 
small spikes an inch or so in length; and these 
spikes cover almost the entire plant It is one of 
the most delicate and graceful plants grown; and 
yet wc scarcely ever see it, even in our best gar¬ 
dens. Next fall or spring purchase the African 
Tamarix, of your nurserymen, and you will be 
pleased with the investment There are several 
other varieties flowering in autumn. 
The Calocanthus is becoming a favorite. There 
the place of the old ones. Tho hotter way, however, is 
to form a new bed, und liavo it ready for bearing by tho 
time the old one allows signs of decay. 
Sawdust will answer as a mulching material for straw¬ 
berries, hut it should uot be more than ao inch in depth, 
particularly around the crown of tho plants. A little 
straw is better If sawdust, or oven tan-bark, Is put'on 
several inches iu depth, tho plants become smothered, 
mildewed, and ruined. For a wiuter coveriug, we alto¬ 
gether prefer a little straw. 
Anv iilntw iu vpjmnl t«* tiw footer, will b(j UumkfuUy 
received by- W. W. C., Pauling, Dutchess Co , R. Y. 
Titm Apple Tree Borer ia ouu i>t the worst enemies 
against which our apple trees have to contend. It is 
quite common throughout tho country and the injury it 
does is often charged to an unsuitableness of soil or 
climate or the nursetynnn is blamed for selling un¬ 
healthy trees. The egg which produces the borer is laid 
by a winged insect, which makes its appearance every 
season in June, and fliesonly in tho night. Duriug Juno 
and July, the Tomalo beetle deposits her eggs, one at a 
place, upon the bark, generally wl.ure it is tender, near 
tho surface or tho earth Sometimes, when they are 
very numerous, they deposit, eggs higher up, particularly 
• «!,„ ..ri.tehea formed by I he lower limbs. From each 
The operation is as follows:—Tho upper piston 
Is raised above the top of the cylinder, and tho 
clothes to be washed aro placed therein, with ft 
sufficient quantity of soap and water. On de¬ 
pressing tho piston, by menus of the crank, tho 
upper piston presses all the water out of the 
clothes, passing through the cylinder head B, 
thence following the lower piston to tho bottom 
of tho cylinder. Thus all the water is squeezed 
out of tiie clothes. On reversing the direction 
of the crank, the pistons rise, and the lower one 
forces the water through the stationary head 
again into tho clothes. It ia thus depressed and 
raised alternately, soaking and squeezing the 
water out of the clothes. A stopcock should be 
placed in the side of the cylinder, to let oil the 
water when not required. I would hero state 
that any one is at liberty to use my invention, 
and it would highly please the inventor to see it 
made an article of manufacture. 
Darien, N. Y., 1860. Wh. Brooks, Jr. 
on the farm of Jonathan Tyson, of JenkintowD, 
near Philadelphia. 
Fruit medium, considerably ranging in shape 
from conic, to pyramidal, and pyriform. Skin 
clear, deep yellow at full maturity, slightly rus- 
seted, with a fine crimson cheek. Btalk long and 
curved, generally inserted by a fleshy ring or lip. 
Calyx open, basin shallow. Flesh rather fine, 
juicy, melting, very sugary, and somewhat aro¬ 
matic. Ripens last of August and flrst, of Sopt. 
In a few weeks we shall at least begin to think 
and talk about summer pears, and perhaps taste 
them. One of the very best is the Tyson. We 
give an engraving of a brunch with the pears, as 
it was taken from the tree. It is an upright, 
vigorous grower, but very tardy iu fruiting on 
the pear root, yet when it begins to bear it is 
very productive. On tbo quince it succeeds well, 
bears early, and makes a good growth of wood, 
ft is a native seedling, being found in a hedge 
tho lust of August, or foro part of September, so as to 
toepoNo the clean white bark beneath, as can easily he 
(lone Without any injury to the tree, wherever there Is a 
young worm, it can readily be detected. A littlo blscklsh 
spot, rather larger than a kernel of wheat, will he discover- 
ed whet aver an egg ba» been deposited, and by cutting 
slightly into the hark, the worm will he found. It gradu¬ 
ally works ltd way onward through the bark, increasing 
in size as it advances, until It reaches the sap-wood; 
here its lakes up its abode, f _1 - "Wnncv. 
feeding upon and consuming 
the soft wood, thereby form - I WKffll 
ing a smooth, round, Hat | j 
cavity, tho size of a dollar jk Bams 'it/, TO 
or larger, immediately under Jj d O // ill 
the bark. It keeps its bur- r ■% || |'j 
row clean by pushing its |j| , 
excrements out of n small \j\| jr 7j iii 
crevice or opening through , w ' J 
the hark, which it makes at \ r / L“| ‘j 
the lower part of its burrow, V.-T M B Era |\ 
and if this orifice becomes wJ HEW ] % 
clogged up, it opens another. fill' ! ijffl Ml® 
The workings of tho maggot uL ' Kjjl 'Qj I'.j 
are shown in the engraving, Afi! fj® I EM llr 
the hark being removed for J ! 4$ S$l ' ll/ 
this purpose. This excre- ,■ 'iSg l j ‘ / 
ment resembles new fine I I ' 
enables us / Fq&SwMflrh'il 
DRIED CURRANTS AND APPLES. 
grow more cotton, sugar, rice, than you can, and 
I believe a temperate climate of 30” to 40", or 
perhaps 35“ to 45°, is better suited to even man, 
than is a northern one from GO" to 70'. 
i will finish planting cotton to-day, or in three 
hours on Monday. Most planters have worked 
over corn. I have designedly been late In plant¬ 
ing. Will begin corn on the 1st of - May, which is 
early enough. I will have 170 to 230 acres in 
corn, 10 in millet and Hungarian grass, 10 in 
sweet potatoes, 2 in Irish, about 300 in cotton. 
Can show as good red clover as is this day in 
Kentucky or New York. 
1 urn very anxious to see that Spergula; have 
seen account of nothing yet that i am so anxious 
to see. 1 would rather give $10 to see one foot 
square in growth, than pay $1 to see and hear 
Oi.e Bull. Dianthus Heddewigii is what 7 I 
can't conceive. Roses in full bloom. Bulbs all 
gone, with tho Spirmas. Magnolia purpurea, or 
tripetala, and others, swelling. Pears will he 
very scarce,—late frostB cut them off. Peaches 
not a lair crop. Apples pretty fair. m. w. f. 
Edwards, Miss., April 38, 1860. 
ton batting on the top of a pole, saturate it with 
kerosene or coal oil, set it on lire, and hold it 
under the nest, or if windy, so that the smoke and 
flame will he directed toward tho nest, ami all will 
be burned up. Scarcely one will fall to the ground 
alive. In this way an orchard of considerable 
size could be passed over in a few hours. 
Tho best time to do this work is in the morn¬ 
ing, after a cool night, as then nearly all of the 
caterpillars are at home. 
Ens. Rural New-Yorker: —Allow me to pre¬ 
sent to your numerous readers two valuable 
recipeB. Lust year, to preserve our currents from 
the multitude of birds, we were obliged to take 
them while green, and the apples from the equally 
rapacious hoys in this country, where there is so 
little fruit, wo must take them before they were 
ripe. 
Dried Currants.— Pat in your dish, over tho 
fire, a handful of sugar; when dissolved, having 
your currants gathered and washed, put them in, 
and boil until all will break, take the scum out 
on plates, boil all the water out, and pour on the 
juice, thou put to dry, and pack iu jars for winter 
use. Yon will find them far superior to ripe ones 
preserved in tho same way. 
To DryAitleb for Home the. —In the early 
fall take the best tart apples, stew them as for the 
table, spread on plates and dry, then pack in jarg 
and you can have them all winter as fresh and 
good as the first early apples. a. a. t. 
Cherry Valley, Ill., 1860. 
HORTICULTURE, &c„ AT THE SOUTH. 
sawdust, and 
readily to detect the pres- I yftr I,iff, 'N 
eoco of the worm by the BA; jbo M; •,£>; 
little heap of this substance l*. 
which is accumulated on the Eg'/V?’) i® 
ground, commonly covering •'</' 
the hole out of which it is 
extruded, and by particles 
of It which adhere around KMi' c 1 ll/il 
the orifice where it is higher UHl; 4| |! | j ™Twv 
up, or in the fork ol' the MRli 1 ?]v pilftiMjJj j] 
tree; the outer Burfitce of 
the bark also often becomes slightly depressed, or flat¬ 
tened, over this cavity. 
The moat efficient enemy of these borers is the com¬ 
mon wood-pecker, so frequently seen in our orchards. 
They should never he molested in their work. Various 
experiments for killing the worm have been proposed, 
such as plugging up the hole, thrusting a wire into it, 
&c., hut the nature of the burrow, which wo have de¬ 
scribed, makes this very difficult. Perhaps there Is no 
better wsy of dislodging the iusect than by cutting him 
out with a strong knife. The wounds thus made will 
generally heal readily, and it is much better than to 
allow the insect to continue his course of mischief. 
Fitch recommends that the course of the burrow be 
ascertained by puncturing the bark with an awl, and 
then the bark at the top he cut away, so that scalding 
water can he poured from a teapot, or other vessel, into 
the burrow, which will kill Ihe varmint. 
As n preventive, washing the hark with strong lye. In 
August, when the newly hatched grubs are hut slightly 
sunk in the hark, la useful, lion. A B. DICKINSON recom¬ 
mends tho placing of soft soap in the crotch of the tree 
for this ho other Insects. The soap will wash down the 
truuk with tho rains. Wooden boxes placed around 
large trees, and two pie cog of drain tile around small ones, 
will, in a great measure, prevent. the eggs from being 
deposited iu the hark. But in this, as in must other coses, 
enough to write for the Noitb. At least give us 
the work of u mail living in the South. I was 
personally acquainted with N. Hekbemont and 
Jas. S. Guiunakd, of South Carolina, and knew 
long ago their management, which is certainly 
uot at all suitable to the SeuppcrnODg. I knew 
Noyes, of this State, and his system was totally 
different. The one would plant deep, and keep 
superficial roots cut off; the other plant shallow, 
in poor land, and manure superficially with vege¬ 
table manure. Who is to judge? Are all, natives 
and foreigners, to he treated alike? If so, we 
cannot equally succeed. 
We Southern people have been so long in pu¬ 
pilage, that 1 fear we will never be men. The 
North manufacture for us all we need, and they 
treat us, deservedly, with contempt We have 
men among us, who instruct, and all their ’ore is 
a few months’ residence among us, and ft little 
of this and that called from some very communi¬ 
cative men who desire to be patrons. 
The idea has^not gone yet, that this climate, 
say 32° north, is not adapted for fine wool, corn, 
small grains generally, fruits, and the vine. The 
North is the country. Yet the largest crop of 
com,—reliably substantiated, too,— was grown 
on my early homcBtead in South Carolina, by a 
brother doctor, too,—212 bushels. Wheat from 
Mississippi has sold at the highest figure in St. 
Louis. 1 am most heartily tired of this thing, 
sectionality, comparisons, and such like. 
The North has her climate, and best for some 
things; the South hers, and best for some things. 
Northmen, by education, have their fitness,—not 
because they are North men; and South men 
have their fitness, and because they are men. 
Meaner men never lived or died, than are now 
equally born to the North and the South. Edu¬ 
cation,—training,—makes a vast difference, and 
just so in climate. Prepare land on my planta¬ 
tion, and cultivate as well aB upon your rich 
lauds in Western New York, and I can show 
bushel for bushel of corn with you. Provide 
food and shelter here as you do there, and I will 
with same sheep and same attention grow as fine 
and as many lbs. of wool as you do. We can 
THE APPLE TREE CATERPILLAR. 
Never have we seen the Apple Tree Caterpillar 
so numerous us the present season. There is 
scarcely an orchard, so far as our observation 
goeB, in which more or less of the webs of this 
insect are not to be seen; and in many they ore 
so numerous as to threaten the entire destruction 
of the foliage in a short time. It is now too late 
to prevent injury by caterpillars, but their work 
may he brought to a sudden termination if all 
farmerB and lruit growers would give them a few 
hours of serious attention. The proper time to 
commence the war against the caterpillar is early 
in the spring, when their eggs are found in clus¬ 
ters entirely circling the young limbs. These 
should be removed before the leaves appear, and 
burned. Those that escape this process will 
hatch out just about the time the leaf buds are 
bursting, and form themselves nest-like webs, in 
which they take shelter during cool nights, wet 
dayB, Ac. These nests, as soon as discovered, 
should he destroyed. 
There are various processes recomended in the 
papers for doing this work, most of them useless, 
and others quite ridiculous. Among the, new 
things proposed, we find the following, which is 
receiving pretty general circulation: 
Imi'Orta-vt to Farmers and Others.—A gentleman 
of Elmira, who has tried the experiment, informs the 
Tress that a few drops of kerosene oil, poured upon the 
nest of the worms that infest apple and other fruit trees, 
will completely destroy them. The experiment is worth 
a trial by all persons engaged in raising fruit. 
If the nest was well soaked in kerosene oil it 
might effect the destruction of the whole, hut a 
few drops would not touch one in a hundred. It 
may cause them to scatter, but no good would 
result from this. The only effectual remedy is to 
Bee that every catepillar is killed. Tear dowu 
the nests with the hand and crush them under the 
feet A swab covered with tar or thick white¬ 
wash placed under the nest and raised np and 
twisted around will bring it down. Another way 
is to burn up the entire nest. Tie a piece of cot- 
Poacked Egos. —The beauty of a poached egg 
is for the yolk to be seen blushing through the 
white, which should only be just sufficiently hard¬ 
ened to form a transparent vail for the egg. Have 
some boiling water lu a tea-kettle; pass as much 
of it through a clean cloth as will half fill a stew- 
pan ; break the egg Into a cup, and when the water 
boils, remove tho stew-pan from the stove, and 
gently slip the egg into it; it must stand till tho 
white iB set; then put it over a very moderate 
fire, and as soon as the wuter bolls, the egg is 
ready; take it up with a slice, and neatly round of 
the ragged edges of the white; send them up on 
bread toasted on one side only, with or without 
butter. 
Removing Grease Scots, Stains, Ac. —For re¬ 
moving grease spots without injury to the colors, 
take the yolk of an egg, and apply a little of it to 
the spots, then place over it a piece ol white linen, 
and wet it with boiling water. Rub the linen 
with the hand, and repeat tho process three or 
four times, at each time applying fresh boiling 
water. The linen ia then to be removed, and the 
part treated to be washed in clean cold water. 
To take stains out of mahogany, spirits of salts, 
six parts; salt of lemons, one part; mix; then drop 
a little on the spots, and rub them till they disap¬ 
pear.—N. M, Todd, Five Corners, N, Y>, I860. 
fjortkultural “Notes, 
ClKNKsBK Valley Uorticci.tcual Society. — The 
spring exhibition oT thiH Society is to he held at Corin¬ 
thian Hall, Lu the city uf Rochester, on the 22d inst. 
Fecit Growers’ Society of Western New York — 
The spring meeting of this Society Is to be held at the 
city of BulTalo on tho 2Tth and 28th inst. 
A Vink Worth Havi.no. —A poor woman in the coun¬ 
try of Santa Barbara, California, has but oue grape vine. 
This bore, iu 1867, five thousand hunches of grapes, each 
bunch weighing over a pound, yielding her the hand- 
rtonae sum of four thousand dollars. When a girl, on 
leaving Monterey for her present home, she picked up a 
vine cutting to drive hurinule. This cutting she planted 
oil her arrival, and after the lapse of seven years, such 
is the result. 8o says an Oregon paper. 
To Save Sqdash Seed Pure.— There have been several 
articles iu the Ki'RaL about keeping squash 6eed pure. 
Some propose planting very early, some protecting the 
blossoms with a net, Ac. Now, in order to devise some 
plan to prevent mixing, it is necessary to know some¬ 
thing of the cause of mixture. There are two kinds of 
flowers on all squash and pumpkin vines—one kind pistt- 
late, (being on long stems, sometimes as high 8S the 
leaves;; the other, staminate, have short stems, with a 
miniature squash at the bottom of the flower, lu order 
to produce a perfect squash, with perfect seeds, the pol¬ 
len, from the pistilate flower, must be introduced into the 
slaminate, and as tho (lowers fbotli piatilato and ataml- 
nute,j are two inches or more deep, the wind cannot 
waft it from one to the other, (as It does with corn;) 
therefore, the only way in which it is transported is by 
bees passing from one flower to another, rolling them- 
in each to collect all the pollen they possibly can. Con¬ 
sequently, if it were uot for the bees, we ehquld have no 
squashes, pumpkins, melons, cucumbers, Ac. I have 
found no difficulty in keeping such things pure by plant¬ 
ing pole beuns between them and all other kiudH, as 
the beans are perpetually in bloom, and the bees will 
naturally stop and roll off ou the bean blossoms the 
pollen previously obtained. If my theory la Incorrect, I 
will be much obliged to any one who will correct me.— 
J. H. Gentleman, Westchester Co., A. Y. 
New Orleans Recite for Corning Beef. —To 
100 pounds of beef take 9 lbs. coarse salt, 4 oz. 
saltpetre, anil 5 lbs. sugar. Pulverize the saltpetre 
and mix the ingredients thoroughly. Pack the 
beef with the mixture, pound it down, and put a 
weight upon it.—I. H. S., Rochester, A'. K, 1860. 
Cheat Far it Cake.—O ne cup sugar; one cup 
butter; 4 cup buttermilk; 1 teaspoon soda; 3 
eggs; 1 cup raisins; 1 cup common currants. 
Chop the raisins and currants very fine.—L ottie, 
Minaville, N. Y., 1860. 
