MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER: AN AGRICULTURAL AND FAMILY NEWSPAPER 
Eds. Rural: — I am desirous of ascertaining the 
best mode of culture for Dahlias, and also what 
kind of soil they require. Any information on the 
subject will be thankfully received by an old sub¬ 
scriber.— Mbs. W. H. G'., Brantford, C. W. 
Remarks. —Those who live near cities generally 
get their Dahlia plants in pots from the green¬ 
houses; but, farmers’ wives and daughters in most 
places must depend upon the tubers for their plants. 
The general way, ,<b most of our readers know, is 
to plant the dry tubers about the first of June— 
The objection to this is that a great many shoots 
start from the crown, which must be cut away, or 
the plant is nothing but a mass of weak and strag¬ 
gling branches. The better way is to moisten the 
tubers, and place them in a basket in a, warm room. 
Here they may be kept, being occasionally sprink¬ 
led, until the eyes have started. Then cut the 
tubers into as many pieceB as there are strong 
shoots from the eyes, and plant in the gronnd, 
covering with from four to six inches of earth.— 
Planting may be done any time during the latter 
part of May, and all of June. 
The Dahlia will grow well in almost any good 
garden soil. If the ground is poor, well rotted 
manure should be used. Before planting, a neat 
and strong Btake should be driven into the ground 
for each plant, to which it must be tied to prevent 
injury by the wiud. Any very weak and straggling 
Bhoots may be cut off as the plant develops itself. 
Before planting, have the ground deeply and 
thoroughly pulverized. 
A correspondent requests 
us to call the attention of our 
readers to this apple, which he 
considers the best early apple 
in cultivation. The form and 
size of ttie Red Astrachau is MBmS. 
shown in the engraving. It is MmM 
of a fine crimson color, and is 
certainly the most beautiful 
early apple we have. It is 
quite acid, and therefore is not Vw Mwm 
liked by some, yet we know of ' ' 
nothing in the way of an ap- , 
pie more refreshing on a warm ’|||kl MijOjUi; 
August day than this sprightly \iW ! 
flavored fruit The tree is vig- 
orous, shoots stout, and the 
foliage broad and dark. It 
succeeds well both in the north 
and west. Nothing can be 
prettier than a dwarf tree of ’ 
this variety. It is thus de¬ 
scribed by Mr. Downing: —“A ™ 
fruit of extraordinary beauty, 
first imported into England with the White Astra- 
chan, from Sweden, in 1816. Tt bears abundantly, 
and its singular richness of color is heightened 
by an exquisite bloom on the surface of the fruit, 
like that of a plum. It is one of the handsomest 
dessert fruits, and its quality ia good, but if not 
taken from the tree as soon as ripe, it is liable to 
become mealy, Sipcng from the last of July to 
the middle of August. 
Fruit pretty large, rather above the middle size, 
Before this number of the Rural reaches its 
readers, almost all the seed will be sown in the 
Vegetable Garden. The principal labor will 
now be the care of the growing crop, and the 
eradication of weeds. Radishes, Peas, Spinach, 
and Dwarf Beana for a succession may still be 
sown, and Caoambera and Melons often do better, 
if planted in the open ground in this section, 
about the tenth of June than at any other time.— 
Tomato and Early Cabbage plants should now be 
ready to plant out, and Cauliflower and Late Cab¬ 
bage in a week or two after. 
In the Flowku Garden Annuals may still be 
sown, and beddiDg plants, such as Petunias, Ver¬ 
benas, &c., should bo transplanted by about the 
tenth of this month, or as soon as all danger of 
frost ia past Grass will now bo making its most 
rapid growth, and should be kept closely cut, and 
the weeds removed from all gravel walks. A 
dressing of salt will kill them. 
One of the most useful inventions positively 
wanted by the gas light-using community, is some 
method of positively preventing the gas jets from 
flickering. Gas regulators have been invented to 
graduate the quantity passing through the tabes 
under varying pressures of the gas, but none that 
we have seen provides for a steady flow to the 
burners. Those who read and write much by gas 
light, aoon injure their eyes. Many persons have 
spoken to ns on this subject, and their testimony 
is uniform in reference to the evil effects of flicker¬ 
ing gas light The vibrations of the gas light 
produce similar vibrations in the retina of the 
eye, and thereby unduly excite it. According to 
the computations of Dr. Young, there are as many 
as 535,000,000 of undulations in yellow light—the 
ray which prevails in gas jets—produced in a sin¬ 
gle second. It is very evident, therefore, that the 
disturbed vibrations by flickering gn 3 tights, must 
effect the eye injuriously. It has been found t at 
a person can study and write a great deal longer, 
and with greater ease, by the light of a sperm 
candle or an oil lamp than with gas; but this 
would not be the case were gas lights remedied of 
the flickering. Here is a field for invention.— 
We are positive that a remedy can be provided 
for this evil, and it will be one of no small impor¬ 
tance and bentfi t.— Scientifir American. 
and very smooth and fair, roundish, a little nar¬ 
rowed towards the eye. Skin almost entirely cov¬ 
ered with deep crimson, with sometimes a little 
geenish yellow in the shade, and occasionally a 
little russet near the stalk, and covered with a pale 
white bloom. Stalk rather short and deeply in¬ 
serted. Calyx let in a slight basin, which is some¬ 
times a little irregular. Flesh quite white, crisp, 
moderately juicy, with an agreeable rich acid 
flavor.” 
It is quite commonly asserted that farmers have 
no taste, as a general thing. This remark we often 
hear, and we often read it in the letters wo receive. 
It is not only made by those who do not belong to 
the standard class, and who may be supposed to be 
somewhat prejudiced against them, but it is often 
made by farmers themselves. We were led to 
make these remarks by a letter just received, and 
from which we give only a brief extract: 
“ I have been much pleased in rwidlog your articles on 
the lawn, flower garden, &c, but don’t you think all this will 
be Greek to nine-tenths ot your readers? 1 do not mean 
that they cannot understand, but they will not. What do 
(annerB rare generally about beautiful flowers, and shady 
trees, and green lawns. A hill of potatoes, or a good 
" porker” in the pen, or a lew gold dollars in the band, 
possess far more beauty to the mass of farmers titan any 
treo, or shrub, or flower you can describe." 
There are many farmers doubtless such as our 
correspondent had iu his mind when writing the 
above, but it is folly to reproach a class for the 
sins of a few of its members. We have seen noth¬ 
ing to cause ns to think that farmers have less 
taste than an equal number of any other calling.— 
Generally they have not the means nor the dispo¬ 
sition to make a very great Bhow, and therefore 
they arc considered by many careless observers as 
lacking in taste. It is not every owner of a beau¬ 
tiful mansion and well kept grounds, with conser¬ 
vatories, and all the other accompaniments that 
wealth and taste can supply to make a place de¬ 
sirable, that possesses sufficient taste to appreciate 
and enjoy the beauties with which he is surround¬ 
ed. Many such places are kept up for ostentatious 
display. The passer-by of coarse considers the 
owner a man of the greatest liberality and the 
most exquisite taste—a model of refinement. Not 
long since we visited a truly magnificent place, 
the lawn was well kept, the trees and shrubs of the 
choicest varieties, and the conservatories were 
filled with the rarest plants. As the enthusiastic 
gardener pointed out to us his finest things, and 
seemed to feast upon the commendation we be¬ 
stowed upon bis favorite plants, and the order in 
which they were kept, we made a remark about his 
very pleasant situation,when he replied somewhat 
as follows: — “I have anything I ask for—every¬ 
thing that is new and rare; but what is the use of 
it? I call Mr.-in to see a fine plant in bloom, 
perhaps he hasn't time to come until it is gone, or 
if he does come don’t notice it any more tbau he 
would a potato blossom. He thinks more of a pet 
horse than of all the plants on the place.” Thns 
the good gardener with whom the love of flowers 
was an absorbing passion, mourned over the neg¬ 
lect of his favorites. His love for them was like 
that of the parent for the child, and he seemed to 
feel ns keenly any indifference; while his eyes 
glowed, and a smile played over his countenance 
at any expressions of praise, any word or look that 
Bhowed that their beauty was appreciated. A 
costly establishment, therefore, is no evidence that 
its owner is a man of taste, yet good judgment is 
shown in thus keeping up appearances, by employ¬ 
ing the good taste of others. It Bhows an appre¬ 
ciation of what a man of wealth and leisure should 
Roots forming from Cuttings. —We are all 
aware that a branch cut from several kinds of 
trees and shrubs, if properly set out, will take root 
and grow. Now I wish to inquire if it ha3 ever 
been satisfactorily ascertained that the branch of 
any tree will not grow. A very intelligent old gen¬ 
tleman, with whom I was conversing upon the 
subject a few days since, was of the opinion that a 
branch of any living tree or shrub, if properly 
planted would send forth roots, and grow. As 
proof of his position he cited an instance of the 
growth of several young hickory trees near to¬ 
gether in a cultivated field of his. Being a little 
curious to know from what they originated, he dug 
down eight or ten inches, when he came to an ox 
goad, the end of which was all slivered up by use. 
This had, after being used awhile, been dropped in 
the furrow and plowed under, and then sent forth 
its shoots. Now if this grew after such usage, won’t 
the branch of any tree or shrub grow if rightly 
planted? Can any one tell.—A, H., Avon, 1857. 
The Toronto Globe understands that ” for the 
last few nights, after the dose of the regular busi¬ 
ness of the line, the Montreal Telegraph Company, 
in conjunction with the American Telegraph Com¬ 
panies through the States of Ohio, Michigan and 
Illinois, have been working direct from Chicago 
to Quebec, via Buffalo, Toronto and Montreal, a 
distance by the telegraphic route of some 1,300 or 
1,400 miles. The object of this lengthy communi¬ 
cation is to establish the correct longitude, by 
solar observations, of the different places. Lieut 
Ashe, of Quebec, conducted the observations at 
Chicago. The operators there, say that the lines 
worked beautifully on fine nights, and the signals 
went through as instantaneously as though the 
distance was 14 instead of 1,400 miles. The long¬ 
est stretch of the great submarine cable between 
England and America, will be about 1,900 miles; 
so that if the difficulties of laying down the cable 
can be successfully overcome, there appears to be, 
as far as human reason can foresee, no difficulty 
as to the working of it. The opinion of the op¬ 
erators in Toronto, who watched the signals from 
Chicago to Quebec, was, that if the distance had 
been twice as great, the electric fluid would have 
bounded over it as quickly — i. e. literally in leas 
than no time, as th: signals leaving Quebec at 10£ 
-Chica- 
say the farmer is kind and considerate, willing to 
gratify hia wife and family—a man that we can es¬ 
teem. But, when we see on the farm a well kept 
orchard, a good vegetable garden, with plenty of 
the small fruits, Buch as raspberries and currants, 
a nice grass plot in front of the house, with a 
few ornamental trees, and a good collection of 
flowers, we say here lives the tasteful farmer — 
here is a happy home, where husband, wife and 
children are one — all loving the beautiful and 
the true. To diffuse taste, to increase the num¬ 
ber of these pleasant abodes—to cause many a 
wilderness to blossom as the rose, is one great 
object for which we labor. 
are dear) — an immense show of meats — nothing 
but pork! A pail of flour, in the hands of a skillful 
cook, will take almost as many shapes as a Con- 
gressman canvassing for a re-election. 
Our meals, I admit, are very often pretentious, 
varied, delectable, exquisite, but I shrewdly sus¬ 
pect that if Prof. Dewey, or my friend Prof. Wf.ed. 
of Middlebnry Academy, should subject them to 
chemical analysis, they would reduce them very 
nearly to my mathematical formula—bread-i-pork 
+ potatoes. I know that appearances are against 
me—Gentlemen, I tell yon plainly I am done with 
appearances, I call for scientific investigation.— 
But I will not undertake to say vfho will display 
most science and 9kill, the women iu putting the 
dishes together, or those learned chemists in tak¬ 
ing them apart. Circumstantial evidence has 
much weight in courts of law—yon were helped 
at table to quince and citron—how could that be 
when you find nothing growing in the garden but 
pig weed and potatoes? I don't say these women 
can work miracles, bat they will come as near to it 
as Brigham Young, or any of his apostles—coun¬ 
terfeits are so common that potatoes, not unlikely, 
are “preserved” and pass under various names.— 
But can that fellow, with a cigar in his mouth, 
that gentleman talking politics, that dignitary 
with his boot3 on the bar-room table, reconcile it 
with his conscience, (if he keeps one) to torture 
the extras out, ol the women, when they would 
grow better in their natural state if he would put 
them to growiit.. What a world ol shrewd fiaan- 
ceering it would save, if our wives had a full as¬ 
sortment of excellent fruit to go to—the thought 
is overwhelming. h. t. b. 
In a former communication, without speaking 
evil of “ pork, potatoes and bread,” I compliment¬ 
ed fruit — I affirmed that strawberries and cream 
were good. Of course, I meant that the cream 
should be sweet and the strawberries fresh. I 
haven’t been exactly dispated on that, or rather I 
should say, the proposition hasn’t been unquali¬ 
fiedly denied, which affords me great enourage- 
ment, and is a gronnd of much thankfulness on 
oiy part. It is true, wood-choppers and that sort 
of people have been specifically exempted from 
this diet, but I live in hopes that if we get the 
berries started, they will go through the whole 
population. I Btated that a bargain for “board” 
was a bargain for “ pork, potatoes and bread,” and 
so understood. I will admit that other things up 
pear on our tables, hut they are all of " grace ” — 
they are out side of the bond. “Will yon be help¬ 
ed to some of this melon, Mr. Basswood?” "Shall 
I pass you the peaches and cream?” is said with 
the air of a patroD, and a certain consciousness of 
doing something handsome—you accept them as 
you accept anything else that you haven't paid for, 
you Biuerk and are “ very much obliged.” Now my 
doctrine is that apples, choice apples, pears, plums, 
raspberries, strawberries, Ac., Ac., Bhonld form a 
part of oar daily food — not all at once, but iu 
proper order—just as certainly as “ pork, potatoes 
and bread ”—a man should feel just as much dis¬ 
graced to be caught without fruit as he would to 
be caught without four. Is it so now? Haven't I 
heal’d twenty persons say the last winter—“I don’t 
know what I shall do for pork, it is so scarce and 
high,” without one single allusion to the exhaust¬ 
ed stock of Newtown Pippins, Vicar ot Winkfields, 
dried peaches and hermetically sealed strawberries. 
Docs any man suppose that pork is the only good 
thing which these people lack? No, but pork is 
an essential and pears are not, as public opinion 
now stands—but public opinion must be switched 
into propriety. 
Does a dissatisfied hoarder say that “ yon spread 
your cloth without ‘Antwerps’” — he would he 
laughed at—no, but you rung him to dinner when 
you “.had no meat” 
If C. B. C. and I cp.n’t settle the question, “ What 
constitutes a meal of victuals,” of course it will 
have to be referred to Justice Taney and the Su¬ 
preme Court I stated my views in a previous ar¬ 
ticle with mathematical precision—Bread + pota¬ 
toes -f pork, and I added an explanatory para¬ 
graph, that butter was expected when it could be 
had, and I might have added that tea and coffee 
came iu with greater frequency than 1 could wish. 
Now, if the constitution aud the laws do require 
fruit aa a part of the meal, and if “immemorial 
usage” backs up that interpretation, then I will 
cease to be a revolutionist, I will take back what 
I have said, and leave this matter of diet alone. 
Rut haven’t I kept house? Haven't I got out of 
tbiugs every now and then, and couldn’t 1 tell 
by the tone aud manner of the cook, what was es 
sential and what was non-essential, what was actual 
and what was incidental . Show me the man whose 
knees don’t smite together, aud who dou’t make 
off as fast as his tremulous supports cau carry 
him, when Sally appears, and in atoue and man¬ 
ner that settles the whole thing without argument 
and without appeal, announces that u the four is all 
gone.'' Would wo imitate a whipped spaniel so 
perfectly if the earner person should volunteer the 
intormatioD that “ the llartletts were gone j month 
ago, the last Seckel was eat up at dinner, and uot 
a Flemish Beauty, a Beurre d’ Anjou, or a i.ouis 
Bonne de Jersey remained for supper ? We should 
laugh, simply. 
Don’t our country folks generally apologise for 
the absence of potatoes when they set you down 
to dinner without them, expressing no regret for 
the lack of Isabellas, Concords, and Catawbas? 
Our lugenious women, God bless them, learn to 
make the most of everything. They will get up 
an imposing meal out of almost nothing — a pig 
will give ham, boiled and fried, tender loin, broad 
Bweet Potato Plants. —Can yon give any in- 1 
formation through the columns of your journal 
as to where Sweet Potato plants can be had—the 
usual time of transplanting, and whether they will 
grow on our common garden soil? And oblige a 
Reader of the Rural.— Etbridge, May 18, 1857. 
Remarks. —Sweet Potatoes succeed best on a 
warm sandy soil. Plants are 3old at the Seed Stores 
in Rochester, and in most other cities, at about SI 
per hundred. They may be planted from the first 
to the twentieth of Jane. Our seedsmen gen¬ 
erally have the potatoes for sale early in the 
Bpring, and the plants by about the first of June. 
In Cincinnati and other Western cities we have 
noticed an abundance of these plants for sale. 
P. M., would reach Chicago about 9J P. M. 
go time being about one hour slower than Quebec.” 
Scenes at the Mint,—The New Cent. — The 
new cent ia so attractive that everybody is besieg¬ 
ing the Mint with sums varying from a quarter 
dollar to fifty dollars, to effect an exchange for the 
pretty offering of 1357. So great was the jam, 
that yesterday morning it was found necessary to 
o»U in the aid of the police to enforce the good 
old barber shop rule—“ First come, first served.” 
The Director of the Mint, now finds himself unable 
to keep up the supply — as there are other cities 
besides Philadelphia to he accommodated — and 
will, therefore, suspend the farther issue for a few 
days. There are a large quantity already in the 
hands of our citizens, and they will soon become 
circulated ubiquitously. The demand for the coin 
in small quantifies yesterday was so lively, that 
the news-boys dropped their regular avocation 
and “ got up a corner,” in selling the new cents to 
the curious, at the rate of three for sixpence. Go 
ahead juveniles, those newsboys. — Philadelphia 
North American, 27 th nit. 
Eds. Rural :—I believe yon are already aware 
of the existence of an embryo Society, for the 
promotion of Horticulture, in this State, The or¬ 
ganization was entered into on the 10th of Octo. 
her last, and more thoroughly consolidated and 
perfected at the First Annual Meeting held in San 
Francisco on the 8th and 9th of April, the pro¬ 
ceedings of which, together with a copy of our 
fundamental laws, are herewith forwarded. Few 
readers of the Rural (and their name is legion) 
are destitute of interest in California— none I trust 
want interest in horticulture. Nearly every nation 
of the civilized world has one or more representa¬ 
tives in our Society. Our field is vast, and its re¬ 
sources unt'athomed. Should success attend our 
efforts, we shall, iu a few years, have made contri¬ 
butions to the cultural (excuse the coining) world 
far surpassing those from our mines. 
Our first monthly exhibition of fruits and flow¬ 
ers will take place at San Francisco ou the 13th 
inst, some account of which I will in due time 
endeavor to forward to you. We want, and hope 
ere long to have, a Magazine or Journal devoted 
to the interests of Horticulture on this coast. 
We are isolated from those great sources of 
standard information, good libraries, with which 
yon of the older States are favored, and are there¬ 
fore desirous of furnishing ourselves as rapidly as 
possible with every available addition to our in¬ 
cipient library, which is already promising well 
Anything you can do for this object will greatly 
advance our prosperity. A file of the Rural 
would be invaluable, and any good standard work 
or report, or “proceedings” pertaining to the cul¬ 
ture of the soil, will be highly appreciated- Any 
article forwarded to the address of the Secretary, 
per mail or express, will be duly acknowledged. 
Hoping that our new Society may enlist your 
sympathies aud share the influence of the Rurai, 
I am your obedieni servant—0. C. Wukeler, Sec. 
Cal. Hort. Society, Sacramento, May, 1857. 
Remarks. —We hail with peculiar pleasure the 
above official evidence of another organization 
designed to promote improvement in Horticulture. 
Though its field of operations is distant, it comes 
within the limits of our Ru kal parish, and we con 
gratulate our Pacific readers, and the friends of 
Horticulture generally, upon the accession of so 
promising an auxiliary. The Rural has been 
booked to the address of the new Society, and 
other appropriate documents will probably soon be 
forth going in the same direction. And wo would 
suggest to our contemporaries, aud authors and 
publishers of works on Horticulture and Rural 
Affairs, that copies ol their publications, for¬ 
warded to the Infant Society, would not only 
aid in promoting the cause, but perhaps prove 
beneficial to themselves. Though our Pacific 
friends are now struggling against difficulties, we 
trust they will soon be famished with such means 
of pursuing a scientific aud productive coarse of 
development as shall result in vastly enriching the 
world. 
Eds. Rural : — As domestic recipes seem to be 
the rule, and as I can mix up a good batch of bread 
occasionally, as well as play on the piano, I send 
you some of mine for your readers: 
White Cake.— 1 lb. loaf sugar, 1 lb. flour, 10 oz. 
butter, whites of 10 eggs beaten to a froth, i tea¬ 
spoonful cream tartar, t do. of soda. 
Gold Cake. — 1J cups sugar, i cup butter, the 
yolks of 7 eggs, 1 cup sour cream, i teaspoonful 
saleratus; spice 10 your taste. 
Nick Cake.— 2 cups sifted sugar, 1 cup butter, 5 
eggs, 4J cups of flour, 1 teaspoonful saleratus. 
• ustard Pudding.— Milk and eggs the same as 
for any custard, add a little flour. To be eaten 
with sauce. 
Composition Cake.— 1 lb. loaf sugar, 1 do. flour, 
7 eggs, i pint sour cream, 1 lb. butter, 1 teaspoonful 
saleratus, raisins to liking. 
Water Cure Jumbles.— 2 cups sugar, 1 cup 
butter, 2 cups sweet milk, 2 teaspoonfals cream 
tartar, 1 soda. 
Cream Cake. — 2 cups sugar, 1 do. butter, 1 do. 
sour cream, 5 eggs, 4 cups flour, 1 teaspoonful sal¬ 
eratus. 
Lemon Pie.— Grate 1 lemon, 1 teacup sugar, 1 
cup water, 1 tablespoon of flour, 1 egg. 
Dryden, N. Y., 1S57. Farmer’s Daughter. 
Gas made from Water. —All attempts to man¬ 
ufacture gas from water alone, had heretofore been 
a complete failure; Payne's gas turpentine and 
water gas, water and platina gas, and many such 
like, have all proved impracticable, or inferior to 
the coal and wood gas now in nse. A French 
chemist, Mr. Gillard, has at last discovered and 
put into actual use, the gas male from water, not 
in the laboratory or at an exhibition, bat in illu¬ 
minating a whole town; the ancient city Narbonne, 
France, glories in a light, the elements of which 
are drawn from its antique and beautiful canal, 
the flame looking like the electrical light, dazzling 
but not tiresome, as white as can be, without 
vacillation or smell; all burners being similar to 
so many planets.— Courier des Etats Unis. 
The farmer has not the wealth to make a dis¬ 
play, and generally, no disposition, so that the 
appearance of the house aud grounds tells pretty 
truly the character of the farmer and his family. 
If we see slovenly cultivation, poor fences and 
barns, and starved cattle, wo all say at once — a 
poor, shiftless farmer. It we see good crops of 
grain, fair cattle, good fences and tolerable apple 
orchards, without an ornamental tree or shrub to 
be seen, we say at once, this is a careful, tight fisted 
farmer, that takes good care of things, and proba¬ 
bly has gold in the chest, or deposits in the bank, 
but he is lacking in good taste and refinement — a 
little love of the beautiful would make him a better 
and a happier man. Then we pass over the road 
to sec if we cannot find soxne flower at the front 
door, planted by a wife’s or a daughter’s hand, 
and if we discover none, we say the family are as 
destitute of good taste as the father. Aud then 
we feel a little Indignant at him for crushing out 
and destroying the finer leeliugs of his family— 
for it is a favorite theory of ours that women and 
children always love the beautiful. If we sec a 
narrow” border of bright flowers by the door, with 
the ground plowed and planted to within an inch 
of the little beauties, we say— a flue wife, a woman 
of good taste; but the husband is selfish and ex¬ 
acting, rather regardless of the feelings, and apt 
to cncroaoh upon the rights and privileges of his 
family. We once know such a man as this, who 
not only begrudged his wife the little strip of 
ground for her flowers, but to show his contempt, 
for such childish trifles, in plowing, drovo his team 
over them. Afterwards when he thought no one 
was observing we saw him trying to fix up the daf¬ 
fodils and hyacinths which he had so wilfully bro¬ 
ken down. The flowers had brought him on his 
knees, and we rejoiced to see it. There is some 
good iu most of men if they would only give it a 
chance. 
When we see iu the front yard a nice collection 
of flowers, provided with proper space, and the 
grouud in good condition, but no other evidences 
ol an appreciation of the beautiful on the farm, we 
Useful Nautical Invention.— The recent in¬ 
vention of a life-preserving 3tate-room door, for 
steamboats, is attracting considerable attention 
among those interested. The construction or ar¬ 
rangement of this door is ia this wise: A sheet of 
India rubber is stretched upon each panel of the 
state room doors, and fastened at the edges. In 
the centre of each sheet is a mouth-piece, similar 
to those by which ordinary life preservers are in 
inflated, and the doors thrown overboard. Around 
the edges of the doors arc rope loops, to which 
the needy persons may cling, and thus be sus¬ 
tained, Each door is said to be capable of hold¬ 
ing four or five persons with ease, under the cir¬ 
cumstances when they would be brought into use 
Vegetable Oyster Soup. —In answer to an in¬ 
quiry in the Rural, I will give my method of 
cooking the Vegetable Oyster. Take a suitable 
piece of beef or veal for a soup, put to it six quarts 
of water; boil it until the mentis sufficiently cook¬ 
ed ; scrape and cut in slices enough vegetable 
oysters to till a quart howl; take out the meat and 
add the oysters with a piece of codfish skin, (a 
large piece, well washed,) let it boil until the oys¬ 
ters are tender; just, before serving, add one quart 
of new milk, when it boils up over, it is done—sea¬ 
son with pepper aud salt only.—S. 
Buckwheat Cake. 
Increase op English Factories.— During the 
past year, according to the report of Inspectors 
of Factories, there has been a ci 
lonsiderable in- 
nt article for crease in the number of such establishmenta— 
I those made Altogether there are 2,210 cotton, 1,505 woolen, 
57. 525 worsted, tl7 flax, aud 470 siik factories in the 
three kingdoms. The cotton factories had in- 
ragus.—I t is creased $1.42 per cent-, silk factories not less than 
kin Contain" ^ P er cenf ” 83,8031480 spindles were in operation, 
II fibrous, but ^ 379.205 power looms, lor all the factories. In 
y. We have 1836, there were only 114,801 power looms running; 
inch cook of thus in twenty years they have tripled ia number. 
ie cook tells There are employed in these factories 46,071 chil- 
tF'cooking 0 — I <5ren above ten years of age and under thirteen, 
of salt pork, I 470,647 women, and 176,400 men; total, 682,517 
peas. • persons. 
