YOEEEE, 
PLAIN MINCE PIES, 
GARDENS AT RAILWAY STATIONS. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorke r: — My wa y~of 
making plain mince pies and I make no other) 
is this:—Take two-thirds finely chopped sour 
apples, green or dried, (if dried, they should be 
soaked till swollen, in tepid water, and then 
chopped,) to one-third chopped beef, and to this 
add the broth boiled from the meat, taking off a 
large share of the tallow which may have risen 
on it. Then add the juice of dried currants, 
raspberries, grapes, or almost any kind of small 
fruit, sufficient to make the parcel considerably 
Rour. "W arm all together, sweetening to your 
taste with half nice molasses and half sugar. 
To this I sometimes A' id a littlo ground cinna¬ 
mon, as it agrees better with me than any other 
kind of spice: but it may be omitted altogether, 
and have a good pie, if made as juicy as it cau 
be baked without running over. If the meat 
and broth do not make it salt enough to my 
taste, I also add a little salt. 
Now for the crust. Half thick sweet cream 
and half warm water mixed with flour and a 
little salt will make as nice and. wholesome a 
crust as can be made. Next to it is good, sweet 
butter and warm water to mix with. Some¬ 
times I make a biscuit crust, with sour milk and 
soda, shortened with c^enm or butter. 
Pies made in this way have been pronounced 
good by those who have been in the habit of 
eating them much more highly seasoned. I am 
an invalid, and can eat them without percepti¬ 
ble injury. 
Care should be taken to have all the articles 
used in making these pies of first quality, as a 
good article plainly cooked might he relished, 
even by an epicure, while an inferior article 
would taste insipid without condiments. 
Wisconsin, Dec. 22,1S63. S. B. M. 
Tuts is the title of an article in a London 
paper commending gardens found at the stations 
on the lines of some of the railways in the 
mother country. It suggests the propriety of 
saying something on this subject here in these 
United States. It is important that our railway 
corporations should more completely and practi¬ 
cally recognize the; influence of the distribution 
of horticultural knowledge and facts; of the 
value to them of the cultivation of horticultural 
all the classes which in any degree 
taste among 
minister to their prosperity. 
Those who have traveled have not failed to 
notice how qtliekly the American’s eye takes in 
and notes whatever is symmetrical and beautiful, 
either in landscape or architecture. The writer 
has had occasion to pass through Hamilton. 
Canada, on the line of Die Great Western Rail¬ 
way, often, aud has noted with no little pleasure 
the effect upon the passengers of the sight of the 
grassy, well shaven slopes that liue the deep cut 
just east of this station, and the pretty parterres 
of flowers set like brilliants in the area about 
the Station House. No man who has onco 
passed and seen this evidence of good taste and 
good management on the part Of this corpora¬ 
tion. but anticipates with enhanced pleasure 
his uext visit there. Wo are always impatient 
to get to Hamilton on account of the flowers; 
and it is one of the pleasures pertaining to this 
route to the Great West which we place to its 
credit. 
There is a station on the line of the Illinois 
Central Railway, whose resident agent is a man 
possessed of horticultural taste and skill; and 
each nook of corporate ground unoccupied by 
the business of the road, is made to blossom like 
the rose. And thus, although in the midst of a 
marsh, Calumet Station is a pleasant place—the 
traveler leaves it with pleasant remembrances 
of good coffee and bright blossoms of beauty. 
At the stations of many of the roads trees 
have been planted and inclosed. During the 
past season this has been done to a considerable 
extent. It is well; it will be better if floricul¬ 
ture is included. We hope the time will come 
HOW TO MAKE A FOOT-MTJFF. 
Those who take long rides in winter, are 
often obliged to resort to artificial means to 
keep their feet warm—hence hot bricks, heated 
blocks of wood, and jugs filled with hot water, 
are variously used. The foot-muff is a great 
improvement on all these. It, may be made in 
different ways, one of the cheapest and most 
simple of which is as follows:—Let the tinman 
make a square box, about one foot square and 
two inches thick, so as to hold water. A screw, 
turned by a button.ris inserted into one of the 
narrow sides—the screw-hole should be large 
enough to admit a funnel. The box should he 
perfectly water-tight, the screw-hole being the 
only place for the admission and egress of the 
water. If a suitable screw cannot be procured, 
solder in a short tin tube about an inch long, to 
receive a cork, which is to he tightly pressed 
in. This box, when filled with hot water, 
which may be done in a few seconds, will retain 
heat a long time; but its efficiency may be 
greatly increased by encasing it with the muff'. 
The box itself may be first covered with apiece 
of coarse carpeting, and then a sheep-skin, tan¬ 
ned with the wool on, sewed on the upper large 
flat side of the box, somewhat in the form of a 
broad shoe, with the wool inwards, and large 
enough to receive both feet. This essentially 
completes the foot-muff. The more expensive 
ones are covered with furs, instead of sheep- 
OAK-LEAVED MOUNTAIN ASH, 
ORNAMENTAL TREES-NO. H 
THE MOVNTAIN ASH 
The Mountain Ash is one of the most popu¬ 
lar and generally planted of all hardy orna¬ 
mental trees in the Northern States. In the 
smallest gardens, if there be room for but one 
shade tree, it is likely to he either a Mountain 
A ah or a Horse Chestnut. It belongs to the 
genus Fgrus, which includes the Apple, Pear, 
Ac., aud to the natural order of botanist’s Rose* 
ceo. Its great beauties are a stately and regular 
grownb, a profusion of white fragrant flowers 
in May or June, succeeded in Autumn by clus¬ 
ters of brilliant orango and scarlet berries, 
when it really has no rival. 
The well knowu common species arc the 
European (Aucupaiia) aiulthc American .Amer¬ 
icana.) The former attains the largest size, and 
is the most compact and regular in growth; the 
latter has larger leaves, stronger shoots, and 
larger and lighter colored berries. They are 
both, emphatically, Northern trees. The Euro¬ 
pean species thrives and flourishes at an altitude 
where most other species perish. The Ameri¬ 
can species is found with the Birch to our most 
northern regions. 
Both are propagated from seed, which ripens 
in the Autumn. The berries are gathered and 
mixed with sand or sandy earth, and left to rot 
for a year, when they are sown in dry soil and 
pcveral varieties have been 
General Cultivation '* in Northern Illinois. 
Poison for rabbits! Who that has suffered from 
the pest will not be glad to know of hi- success 
and try the same thing I F. K. PHcenix. 
Bloomington, Ill.. Jan., 1$G4. 
Remarks.— It must be an oversight which 
placed the Duchess of Oldenburg on the list for 
trial at Alton: for it is in the list recommended 
for general cultivation in Northern Illinois in 
I860; and its position there was confirmed at 
the meeting of 1801; aud in 1862 no one meddled 
with it.’’ Its value 3 s a hardy, productive tree, 
aud as a brilliant and successful market apple, and 
an excellent cooking or pie apple, is too well 
knowu to require “ further trial.” Of the Fall 
Orange we know less, as adapted to that 
KEEPING PEARS IN THE FRUIT ROOM. 
subject demands. Many late autumn aud winter 
pears have no doubt been condemned by growers 
from want of knowledge of the art of keeping 
ami ripening them, and it is probable that we 
shall never succeed in the production of such 
pears until we learn move of this art than is at 
present possessed by the public at large. 
Late autumn and winter pears, when kept in 
the ordinary way, in drawers or boxes, in com¬ 
mon rooms or cellars, shrivel, rot, and fail to 
ripen satisfactorily. “What shall he done ? IIow 
shall they be kept? In a fruit, room or in a cel¬ 
lar? If kept in a room, lale in the .-cuson, we 
must have a tire in the room, as they will be 
frosted, and a fire creates too much dry air; if in 
a cellar, it may be difficult to keep the temper¬ 
ature low enough, (on account of the earth-heat), 
without inducing dangerous currents of air. 
At what temperature will fruit keep best? 
We are told by some w riters 36 to -10 degrees. 
Now’ in a cellar it will be fouud difficult, with¬ 
out admitting air from without, to get a 
temperature in winter lower than 50 to 55 
degrees. It is very desirable, so the writers 
generally tell us, to prevent fresh air (fresh 
oxygen) from coming in contact with the fruit: 
the less it is ventilated the better, if the atmos¬ 
phere is not too damp. 
But w r ho knows that a temperature of 50 to 
55 degrees will not answer? Is a temperature 
of 30 to 40 degrees indispensable to success? If 
so, how can it bo attained most conveniently 
and economically? Then what shall be the 
degree of humidity or dryness of the atmosphere, 
as shown by the hygrometer? It has been pro¬ 
posed to reduce the temperature of the fruit 
room by means of an ice-chamber over the 
room, (N vce’s plan), and by means of currents 
of cold air from an ice-box. But here the dan¬ 
ger of excessive moisture is evident, audit is 
then proposed to absorb the moisture with lime. 
All these are troublesome operations, and 
demand much care and expense. 
We should he glad to hear some reports of 
the experience of fruit-growers through the 
columns of the Rural, on this subject. AVe 
trust, also, that the new horticultural contribu¬ 
tor will give us the benefit of his knowledge. 
Wo want to know how to keep late winter 
pears, easily and cheaply, not till late in the 
spring, or beyond the usual period of ripeuing, 
but till February and March. A neighbor of 
ours, who grows a few pears, says he thinks 
there is no such thing as a winter pear: all pears, 
so called, he contends, are ouly fall pears that 
never ripened. If we were to judge only by the 
specimens of winter pears we commonly see, 
we should say that our neighbor was not far 
smticuUural |tote$ 
Nursery Catalogues Criticised. — There exists 
among Nurserymen generally, and Rochester Arms 
especially, the great and growing fault of trying to gain 
a reputation through an extensive and showy catalogue, 
made up more properly of what they have not than 
what they have. This is a troublesome nuisance to the 
purchaser who is guided by, aud makes his selections 
from the catalogue, with the expectation of having his 
order filled from the very elaborate stock which the Nur¬ 
seryman assures him he has, hut who, upon application, 
informs him that about nine-tenths of it cannot be 
supplied, among which are of course the majority of 
things that he really wants. It strikes me that it would 
be for the benefit of Nurserymen to obviate this state 
of things, and only advertise what they expect to fur¬ 
nish, entirely Independent of their neighbors. As it 
now is St is useless to order from catalogues, as it will 
ouly subject you to disappointment, and the only way 
left is to submit yourself to tho “tender mercies” of 
the Nurseryman, sending him the amount you wish to 
invest, and accepting anything he may send in return. 
Rochester is getting a ••good " reputation for this kind 
of business, which cannot hut be hurtful.—H exkt D. 
Morton", .IuJijcu, .V. 1'. 
We cannot say how far this reported practice applies 
to Rochester Nurserymen as distinguished from their 
brethren elsewhere; but.we do know there is too much 
cause for complaints of this character, aud that parties 
addicted to this practice lose far more than they make, 
both of trade and reputation. 
thinly covered, 
produced, from the European species, particu¬ 
larly—some of which prove to bo valuable con¬ 
tributions to our lists of ornamental trees. 
Among these we shall at present notice: 
T. The Oak-l aved Mountain Ash , (quercifolia.i 
a variety with larger leaves and leaflets than the 
Bread Cake.—O ne cup of butter; 3 cups of 
sugar; 1 bowl of light sponge; 3 eggs; 1 tea¬ 
spoon of salerutus; spices and raisins. Flour 
euough to make stiff'. 
"White Cake. — One cup of sugar; half cup 
of butter; 3 cups of sweet cream; whites of 3 
eggs; two teaspoons of cream tartar; 1 of soda; 
one and a half cups of flour. 
Cream Tartar Cake. — One cup of sugar; 
half cup of butter; 2 eggs; 1 teaspoonful of soda 
dissolved iu a half cup of sweet milk; 2 teaspoon¬ 
fuls of cream tartar; 2 cups and a quarter of 
flour; nutmeg to suit the taste. 
Sugar Jumbles. — One cup of butter; two 
cups sugar: 1 cup of cream; 1 egg; 1 teaspoon¬ 
ful of soda dissolved in the cream. Do not 
knead very stifl‘. Nutmeg. Bake in a quick 
oven. Julia. 
It Affords Pleasure.— An esteemed correspondent 
of the Rural (L. L. F., of Dodge Co., Wis.D writes:— 
“It is with much pleasure that we learn that Mr. 
Barrt— whom we consider one of the very best writers 
in tho United St at os.on Horticulture, and a most relia¬ 
ble man—contributes regularly for the R. N. Y, for 
lStii. If white paper, labor, and the like, do leave 
profits a minus quantity for 1364, the public will reward 
you in the end. We trust, though, that you will receive 
something substantial, in return for your efforts to ben¬ 
efit the public, without • casting your bread upon the 
waters. But it will he sure to • return after many 
days.’ ” 
GRAHAM BREAD. POT-PIE CRUST, ETC. 
Excellent Remedy for Burns. —Take 
oil and stir iu sulphur enough to make a paste. 
Bind this on the bum and renew it as often as 
the sulphur gets dry. It acts like a charm in 
removing the pain. Almost any kind of oil will 
answer. 
Graham Bread.— One quart Graham flour; 
l pint milk; 1 teaspoonful cream tartar; half 
teaspoonful soda; 3 tablespoous of molasses. 
Hub tho cream tartar into the flour, and dissolve 
the soda iu the milk. Salt to the taste. 
Light CRUST for Pot-Pie.— One egg; 2 
tablespoons of cream; a tea-cup of buttermilk. 
Stir in tts much dour as you can with a spoon, 
and drop iu from the spoon without moulding. 
Cook half an hour. Keep covered if possible. 
Elkhorn, Wis.. 1S(H. Betty Wrinkle. 
Catalogues Received —1. J. M. Thorhurn a Co., 
(New York City.) Annual Descriptive Catalogue of 
Vegetable, Agricultural Seeds, Ac., for 1861. This 
Catalogue coutaius many very valuable suggestions— 
especially to the inexperienced amateur —relating to 
tiie planting of seeds and treatment of crops resulting 
If horticulturists —professional —in their catalogues 
would append such specific directions to their lists of 
trees aud shrubs as they may briefly and easily give, 
their trade would be greatly increased thereby. 
2. Elwanger & Barry’s (Rochester, N Y.,) De 
scriptivo Catalogue of Ornamental Trees and Shrubs, 
Roses, Flowering Plants, Ac., Ac. This is one of the 
best arranged aud most concise catalogues that has 
come to our uotice. Added, it has the finest engravings 
of ornamental trees we ever saw in a catalogue or any- 
HU 
/VMMStr- 
W KEPI NO MOUNTAIN ASH. 
ORCHARD GOSSIP FROM ILLINOIS. 
from correct. Can we not inaugurate a better 
management of winter pears? Poirier. 
Remarks. —This is one of the most important 
topics connected with fruit culture, for present 
discussion, stud we solicit those of our fruit- 
growing readers who have experience, to favor 
us with it. We shall give our own iu a short 
time.—it. 
low-topped trees. 
Em. Rural New-Yorker: —A friend 
writes from Northern Illinois substantially as 
follows: 
** I have 40 acres of orchard—25 of which are 
[SPECIAL NOTICE. ] 
An American Product.—' The article about which so 
much baa been said of late iu consequence of its being 
counterfeited—the Chemical Saleratns—is an American 
production, and stands peerless and alone with good 
American housewives who make nice and wholesome 
bread. That is a fact. 
