Whale Oil Soap—Remedy fob thk Curculio.— Noticing 
in the Rural of this week a call for a remedy against the 
Curculio, I give you a recipe taken from the iWto York 
Observer two years ago, which I, as well as many others, 
have found an •‘fftetwtl remedy, not only against the ravages 
of the Curculio, but worms and slugs. It Is also a good 
fertilizer: 
Ileripe .—To olio pound of whale oil soap, add four ounces 
of sulphur. Mix thoroughly, and dissolve in twelve gallons 
of water. Take one-half peek of quick linn*, and when well 
slaked, add four gallons of water, aud stir well together. 
When settled and clear, pour ofT the transparent part ami 
add it to the soap and sulphur mixture. To this, add four 
gallons of strong tobacco water. Apply I his coin pound, when 
thus Incorporated, with a garden syringe, to your plum and 
other fruit trees, so as to drench all parts of the foliage. If 
no rain succeeds for three weeks, one application will be 
sufficient. If washed by raiua, it should be renewed. 
Iu preparing this mixture, some are troubled to obtain 
whale nil map. Many do not know what it is. Every drug 
store iu the country should keep the article for sale. It can 
be obtained bv the quantity of all whale oil bleachers. This 
soap is the result of a deposit from mixing potash ley or 
soda-ash with whale oil. The alkali has an affinity for the 
discoloration and impurities of the oil, and the precipitate 
from this combination constitutes whale oil soap.— Janet, 
Lexviston. A r . Y., 1861. 
A correspondent of the Gardeners' Monthly gives the 
following recipe for making whalu oil soap:—“ Render com¬ 
mon ley caustic, by boiling it at full strength on quick lime, 
then take the ley, poured oil from the lime, and boil with it 
as much whale, oil foot as it will saponify, (this is readily 
seen,) pour oil into forms, and when cold it is tolerably hard. 
That sold by the manufacturers is highly adulterated with 
common rosin, which remains as a varnish on the trees, and 
is detrimental. Whale oil fool is the sediment produced in 
the refining of whale oil, and worth $2 per barrel.” 
Uhobauu Wink.— Will yon, or some of your numerous 
readers, be so kind as to give a recipe, through the Ri;rai,, 
for making rhubarb or pie-plnnt wine?—C. A., Allen's Grove , 
WU„ 1861. 
The stalks are usually ground and pressed tri the small 
portable elder mills, or the juice may he expressed in any way 
most convenient One hundred pounds of stalks will make 
about ten gallons of juice. The custom is, we believe, to add 
about a gallon of water to each gallon of juice, and some six 
Or seven pounds of sugar Put into a cask, leaving the bung 
out, aud fill up a* fermentation progresses. When suffi¬ 
ciently worked, bung up. It may then bo bottled off at 
leisure. Isinglass is sometimes used for refining. 
Angle Worms. — W. I). Smith makes the inquiry in your 
paper, how to rid hi* garden of the common angle or earth 
worm. Your advice as to drainage and lightening of the 
soil is good, and to this l would only add that ft little line 
salt sown broadcast over the ground, nt the time Of spading 
or plowing, and after showers, while the worms are on the 
top of the ground, will be found a great help, as the smallest 
particle of salt, dropped on a worm. Is sure death to it.—W, 
H., JK., Port Ihjrnn, AT. Y ;, 1 S 61 . 
ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES 
Kao Mats. — In answer to the inquiry about rag 
mats, I will give ray way of using small bits of cloth 
of any kind. Cut, the size of a half dollar or less, 
then, with a needle and strong thread, sow through 
the center of the piece on the foundation, which 
ought to be thick woolen cloth. The more pieces 
you sew on, the longer it will last. Old stockings 
can be used tip in this way. Another mode is to 
take seams and hems of old garments, and braid 
them three strand, then commeno * at one end and 
sew in a circle, or square. This will do without a 
foundation. 
Knitting Heel and Toe. — My way is, when the 
heel is long enough I knit one stlcth over the middle 
of the needle, on the wrong side, take two stitches 
together, knit one, then turn back, knit, the right 
way one stitch over the middle, take one stitch off 
without knitting; knit one, draw tin* other over, knit 
one, then turn the wrong side and knit back to the 
first narrowing. Knit the same as first. When about 
half done you may omit the one stitch after each 
narrowing. If it ia done right, you will finish on the 
right side in a proper manner for taking up stitches 
on the side. For the toe, commence at the begin¬ 
ning of one needle, Unit six stitches, narrow six 
stitches, narrow once around, Unit six times five 
stitches, live times around, one less each time till you 
are doue.— Mary, Amhuy, M. K, I mil. 
Si i a pi no Stocking-Toed. —A friend wishes some 
of our grandmothers to stat** how to make a good 
shaped toe on a stocking. I am not a grandmother, 
or yet a mother, but I like my style very well. First 
place tin* stitches equally on the needles and narrow 
in each corner; knit one stitch, then narrow, and on 
the Inst corner of the needle leave three; then narrow, 
and one remains. Narrow, every other time around 
at first; when nearly toed, every time around. This 
makes a good toe.— Kate Wild, Conquest, N. V., 
I Ml. 
from Elliott's Fruit Grower's Guide: — bruit , medium 
to large; form, roundish; color, dull greenish white 
or yellow, with greenish white, or sometimes pale 
russet dots: stem, varying; cavity, narrow, russeted; 
calyx, above medium size for the fruit, closed; basin, 
medium, slightly furrowed; flesh, greenish white, 
tender, juicy, aud quite sweet; core, medium, round; 
seeds, ovate. Season, December to March. Grown 
in Indiana, it is large, has a brownish cheek, and 
matures in October and November. 
Very fine specimens of the Green Sweet Apple 
were sent ns last season from Indiana. The speci¬ 
mens were of large size. The tree is represented as 
hardy, productive, half-spreading, shoots rather slen¬ 
der, fruit exceedingly valuable for cooking and stock, 
and always fair. It suoceeds best in a deep, rich, 
strong soil. In eating from December to March. It 
originated, we believe, in Indiana. The engraving 
we take from the Transactions of the American Po- 
mological Society. The following description ia 
Grave Decorations.— It is known to some of our renders 
tbnt, tho French grow immenso quantities of Immortal 
Flowers, for the formation of wreaths for tho decoration of 
the tombs of their friends and the statues of departed heroes. 
A Paris correspondent of tho Gardeners' Monthly thus alludes 
to this national custom:—“Tho comntory differs from those 
at home in nothing more than In tho abundance of wrenths 
of Immortelle Dowers, Tho French lovo to visit cemctorin*. 
Their gay nature here, perhaps, finds that reaction which 
everything in rreatiou seems to require. Even distant 
friends and relations are visited by them, when dead, with a 
feeling of kind remembrance, which these, when alive, 
unhappily do not enjoy, and for all there is the wreath of 
Immortals. 
“ Busts and statues, on anniversaries of the death of their 
originals, are wreathed in the same way. Napoleon I, cast 
In bronze, standing on a high column made of iron ordnance 
taken In battles and recast, on every recurring day of his 
death get* profusely bewreathed, mostly by the few veterans 
still living. Or, if one of his old followers, living iu the 
provinces, happens to come.to Paris, ho will not fail to buug 
up Ills wreath on the Iron railing round his idol's column iu 
tho Pisco Yondome. Of course, tho cultivation and stile of 
such wreaths has become a distinct trade. Numbers of girls 
are employed to make them, and they are sent, from Paris all 
over France, selling by the dozen, the gross, and the hun¬ 
dreds of gross.” 
Thk New Perfected Tomato. — Having noticed in the 
Farmer of the 2d a valuable onimiiunication from the pen of 
M>. 0. E. I,ester, upon the cultivation of the tomato, refer¬ 
ring to hi* new valuable variety, and having experimented 
with it the past, summer, T herewith give you my experience 
iu the cultivation of this tomato, compared with other kinds. 
i obtained and planted the seeds of Lester’s Perfected 
Tomato In pots, the 20lh of March, and placed them iu the 
grcen liouso, transplanting six plants into the open ground 
the 20th of June, at the same time placiug six plants of the 
large early Red Premium Tomato, at the other extreme eud 
of my garden. I manured, aud served them alike through 
the summer. The Premium Tomatoes were much larger 
than the Perfected, when set out, but the latter soon out 
grew the former, and ripened their fruit 10 days earlier. 
The quality of the fruit wa* superior, an described by Mr. 
Lester. Thin skin, very solid, large, and very prolific in 
heaving, 1 sent a dish of the tomatoes to the Essex <to. Ag. 
Society, and obtained a pleliiitllo for them; tile Committee 
pronounced them superior to any variety on exhibition.— 
JOHN S. Ives, m IV. E. Fanner. 
ever, in order that shading may not anect we quality 
of the fruit, to expose it when full grown to the 
direct action of the mm. To diminished evaporation 
must be attributed the considerable increase of size 
which always takes place to fruit introduced into 
bottles soon after it is set. The mouth of the bottle 
being closed after the portion of the branch with the 
young fruit is introduced, the latter is secluded 
from the dry action of the air, and is constantly sur¬ 
rounded with a moist, warm atmosphere, which 
keeps the epidermis pliable, and stimulates the 
growth of the tissues. 
8. Moistening the fruit with a solution of sulphate 
of iron (copperas). One of Prof. D.’s pupils, by 
moistening an Easter Beurre pear, from the time it 
was fairly set, once i\ fortnight, obtained a fruit so 
large that it could scarcely be recognized. 
9. Ringing the sbuot or branch immediately below 
the flowers. This should be done when the flowers 
are opening; the longer it is delayed after this pe¬ 
riod, the less is the eiftet produced. The incision 
should penetrate to the wood, and the ring of baric 
removed should have a width equal to half the diam¬ 
eter of the shoot. The width, however, should not 
exceed one-fifth of an inch, otherwise the wood will 
not close up. 
10. Inserting on vigoron9 trees fruit buds, with a 
portion of wood attached. A tree which in conse¬ 
quence of excessive vigor has never produced blos¬ 
som buds, may by this means be made to produce 
fruit of large size, from the abundant supply or sap 
which the inserted blossom buds will receive. Hut 
it will be necessary to pinch the shoots of the tree 
in summer, which would otherwise absorb the larger 
portion of sap, to the injury of the fruit. 
Eds. Rukai. New-Yorker: — An inquiry came 
through the Bubal from II. L. Boss, of C. W,, 
respecting his young apple trees, their bursting the 
bark near the ground, and dying. Th is proceeds fr in 
one of two causes,—either early warm weather in tho 
spring, the sap risiug, and sudden changes to freez¬ 
ing} or they are scalded by the hot sun. If scalded, 
it will be all on the south or southwest side, near the 
ground, where the Bun would strike it in the hottest 
part of the day, a ay from 10 to 2 o’clock. If caused 
by the early rising of the sap and sudden change to 
freezing, the bark will be affected all around the tree 
alike, and become loose, more or less, as high as the 
sap first started. It may leaf out, in a measure, but 
will soon wither aud die. Cut open the bark, and it 
will smell like sour cider. The tree is about worth¬ 
less, but a scalded tree is still more worthless, for only 
one side being effected, the occupant seta his wits to 
work to save it, and keeps the sickly thing along until 
it begins to yield somo fruit, possibly before it is ready 
to tumble, down 
and the spring following, about one half of those still 
remaining, and the third year after grafting take out 
all the natural limbs, leaving only the grafts. During 
the time in which the natural limbs remain upon the 
tree, there will be a production of much natural 
fruit, very mach improved by close pruning, and 
without any injury to the grafts, the tree being much 
beuefltted by a portion of the old limbs remaining 
for the time suggested. 
From the first to the tenth of May is the beat sea- 
season for grafting old trees. 1 would refer him tor 
information to the fruit-growing men at Hanford’s 
Landing, Monroe Co., N. Y. Marshall Howe. 
Grainl Rapids, Midi., April 22, 1861. 
Ens. Rural New-Yorker: — I will answer C. W. 
Turner, concerning grafting the whole or half of a 
large apple tree, by telling somo of my experience in 
grafting. Five years ago I saw a piece in the Rural 
recommending grafting large limbs near the body, 
aud the advantages to he derived therefrom. I had 
never done so belovo, but thought the plan a good 
one; so I went at it without reasoning, and recom¬ 
mend it to others. But^ in grafting orchards over, 
and taking notioe of the different ways, I have come 
to the following conclusions. Never graft the whole 
of a tree that has but few long limbs, when by doing 
so it leaves the rest bare to the hot mm; hut when 
there is plenty of small limbs for shade, and to draw 
the sap, 1 would graft enough to form a now top. 
Never cut a limb (while grafting, i without, grafting 
it, if it can be helped, nor cut a limb or sucker for 
one oi- two years after. 1 have killed and seen a 
great many good trees kilLed by cutting the top so as 
to let the atm strike too hot.ou the remaining limbs. 
I have seen large thrifty limbs with^the bark all oil’ 
on top, where the sun hit, and sound on the under 
side, while limbs of the same tree, in the shade, were 
sound, 1 have grafted in every week from tho first 
of March till the bark began to peel in June, with 
about equal success. I use linseed or the new rock 
oil instead oi tallow for the wax, but not quite as 
much oil as tallow. The wax sticks better with the 
oil than the tallow. A. Green. 
Amboy, Ohio, April 18, 1861. 
It leaves a good root full of sprouts, 
but the top and body are gone by the board, and labor 
with it, and the first cost added on is no small item. 
Now, In order that the inquirer may get rid of the 
effect, the cause, whatever it may be, must be removed, 
or the effect will continue the same. Lot him go to 
the same nursery where he got his first trees, and get 
trees just aa near their age and condition ns possi- 
slide, and set them just as he set those he lost, ami 
then stick four stakes around each tree, east, west, 
north, and south, five or six inches from the body, and 
then go to his currant bushes aud cut the longest 
straight brush grown the year previous, and stick 
about two between each stake all around the tree, 
especially on the south side, and keep them trimmed 
up one foot from the bottom and on the inside 
around the hody, to give a free circulation of air and 
not chafe the body. Stay the tops of the trees to 
these stakes, and keep the soil entirely dean from 
grass or weeds around the root within the circle. 
Just, as winter is coming on, take the scrapings of the 
barnyard, or tine rich earth, and fill up around each 
tree as high as the currant brush is trimmed up, or if 
higher all the better. Let it bo thickest on the south 
side, to hold the frost around the roots as long as 
possible, nntil 9pring has fairly set in. It will not 
only keep the sap from too early rising, but the mice 
from girdling it atound the root, and when the cur¬ 
rant bushes leaf out, the body Is protected from being 
scalded by the hot sun. Trees are very seldom 
scalded as high as three feet. The stakes will keep 
off the whillietrees, and currant brush added to them 
is a great barrier against sheep, should they break lu. 
Cultivate trees in this manner four or five years, 
until the rough bark begins to show itself freely at 
the bottom, and then begin to thin out the currant 
brush. Try this plan upon every other row, or every 
other tr^, or one out of five or ten, and then notice 
the difference between those bodies shaded and those 
not shaded. If the inquirer has any doubts as to the 
above course, by the second or third year they will 
all be removed. The body shaded will present a 
dark, rich green, luxurious top, the fruit fair, and 
seldom, if any, sprouts at the bottom, the sap flowing 
all around the body alike into the top. 
As quick as the frost is all out of the ground around 
the roots, spread out the manure outside of the circle. 
In selecting trees to set, get those that will branch 
four feet from the ground. 
Young trees at the present day are grown on soil 
in a high state of cultivation, the bodies more or less 
shaded, the bark thin and tender; and when taken 
from the nurseries before being set, the top is trimmed 
off so the bo !y stands wholly exposed to the sun, and 
should there be a heavy summer crop raised the first 
year where the trees are planted, all the worse. It 
would be up so as to shade the bodies before the 
hottest days come on, and all be at once taken away 
when the thermometer is ranging from 80 to 100 
degrees or over. Thus the first time that the sun 
strikes in full the bodies of the trees, it is in the hot¬ 
test dayB. Hence the disastrous effects. 
Rome, N. Y., 1861. A Subscriber. 
Care of Stoves and Pipes. — When stoves are no 
longer needed, they are quite frequently set aside in 
an out-building, or other out of the way place, with 
no further thought, until again wanted for use. If 
neglected, the rust of the summer may injure them 
more than the whole winter’s wear, particularly the 
parts made of sheet iron. They should be kept as 
free from dampness as possible, and occasionally 
cleaned if rust be observed. It is best to apply a 
coating of linseed oil to the pipes before putting 
them away. It should be done while the pines are 
warm (not hot) and keep a low temperature five or 
six hours. This is said to impart a fine lustre, and 
prevent rusting.— Am. Agriculturist. 
Fruit in Ohio. —A subscriber at Gallipoli*, Ohio, writes:— 
“ Thu* fur our fruit looks very promising, and the indications 
of an abundant crop nf apple*, peaches, Aa., are highly 
flattering. This Ohin river valley I* destined to bo one of the 
greatest, fruit producing sections of the Onion, and your 
New York citizens, who contemplate emigrating, would do 
well to give it their attention Our mild climate, line soil, 
ami long summers, are peculiarly adapted to the grape, 
peach, apple, Ate,, and the low price at which good lands can 
he obtained, ought to be a great inducement. During the 
last winter, we did not have, at any time, over one inch of 
snow, and that only for a few hoars.” 
PRUNING FRUIT TREES. 
Eds. Rural New Yorker: —What ) may have to 
say concerniug fruit and fruit growing, will pertain 
more particularly to Michigan. I shall say nothing 
that has not had the test of practice and personal expe¬ 
rience, as I prefer leaving all fancy and theory to those 
who may have time aud taste for them. But, not¬ 
withstanding, 1 shall speak practically of Michigan 
Horticulture or Pomology. Much that is true of one 
section is true of all, which 1 b the case with pruning, 
for instance. A practice is lu vogue, among many 
farmers, of pruning iu March, and in fact I know of 
a nurseryman who has used up 20,000 trees by 
trimming at the wrong season of the year. May and 
June are the months for this business, no matter 
whether your trees be old or young. It is a good 
idea to “gum” all wounds made in removing limbs. 
But on trees large enough to bear, it never should be 
omitted. Common grafting wax that any one can 
readily make, is as good as anything for covering 
such wounds. A good article of grafting wax is 
made by boiling together beeswax, tallow, and rosin, 
in about equal quantities. 
In pruning, some experience is a good thing; but 
good judgment is better, aud essential. Which, 
where, and trow much to cut out is the great thing. 
If pruuiug is done properly on small trees, but little 
will be needed ever after. Some varieties of apples 
and pears need little or no trimming. The Spitzen- 
burgh and Northern Spy are types of the sorts referred 
to. The former needs but little, and the latter must 
have the knife used unsparingly. 
A small tree will seem to be thin in the top, which, 
if left to grow, in years after will be found too full; 
and limbs will then have to be removed, tbuB making 
a large loss, which, had it been taken oil' when small, 
would now have been healed over, and the growth 
taken off’would have been left in the trees and saved. 
In early trimmiug, therefore, reference must be had 
to the appearance the trees will have years hence. 
In pruning, never allow a tree to form a crotch. 
Such trees are liable to split as soon as they begin to 
bear. There are few fruit growers but have lost trees 
in this way. It is an easy thing to avoid, if looked 
to in time, and that time iB when the tree is small, 
and is patting out its first limbs, that are eventually 
to form its head. Whatever is true of apple trees in 
this respects will apply as well to ailjsorts of fruit. 
The height of the top from the ground is also 
determined by early pruniug. You may have it as 
high or low as you please. The general practice 
now,— and it is the true one, — is to form the head 
low. They stand high winds better. The bodies are 
apt to be more healthful, the tree is more easily 
managed, and fruit gathered with less labor than on 
L high tops. J, T. Elliott. 
Grand Rapids, Mich., 1861. 
In some sections evils may result from pruning in 
March or April, hut we have never observed such 
ri results. We prune any time after the severe frosts 
u of winter are past. We do not think the experience 
<3 of fruit growers generally will furnish proof of evils 
V from early spring pruning. The beat composition 
we have ever used for wounds made by pruuiug, is 
’S gum shellac dissolved in alcohol, made about the 
'y thickness of common paint, and put on with a brush. 
Corning Beef. — I find many nice recipes for 
corning beef in the Rural, but no reference is made 
to soaking out the blood. Should the brine be 
changed more than once? If, after changing once, 
it becomes bloody, will boiling cleanse it sufficiently? 
Does boiling and skimming weaken the brine, so that 
it will need more salt and sugar? — A Subscriber, 
Poplar Uidge, i\. K, 1801. 
It Is usual to lay the beef on a table, sprinkle with 
salt, and let drain for two or three days, thus carry¬ 
ing away the blood. Brine need not be changed if 
properly made. Boiling and skimming will remove 
impurities, and strength* ns rather than weakens the 
brine. 
Early Plantino.—W e would advise our readers not to be 
in a burry about planting, especially seeds of tender plants, 
flower sued*, 4 ml A few hardy things may be sown ns soon as 
tho ground thaw* in tho spring, hut tho 16th of May is as early 
its wo can plant most things with safety in this latitude. A 
few fine, warm days, often tempt the inexperienced amateur 
to commit hi* seeds to the ground in April, aud perhaps iu a 
cold, wet soil; hut these line days are followed by weeks of 
cold and wet, with occasional frosts, and the result is the 
loss of seed, and disappointment. Do every thing well, and 
exercise a little Judgment. 
CULTIVATION OF PEARS 
The Fruit Committee of the Worcester (Mass.) 
Horticultural Society, give the following directions 
for growing fine specimens of pears: 
“1st. Deep, generous tillage — by which is meant 
a trenching and manuring of the soil from one and 
a half to three feet deep. In other countries, where 
labor is cheaper and fruits dearer than they are here, 
this work is often extended to a depth of four feet, 
receiving a profitable return, even from so small a 
fruit-bearing plant as tho strawberry. It is from a 
want of such cultivation that the finest pear trees 
tuken from our nurseries often die, or come to noth¬ 
ing. They have ‘no deepness of earth’—‘no root’— 
and, as a natural consequence, they share the fate of 
the wasted seed of the parable. 
2d. Cultivating or mulching of the surface around 
the trees, for a distance equal, at least, to the drip of 
their branches. But especial care should be taken 
to avoid the slightest bruising of the roots, and the 
mulch must not be so thick and heavy as to smother 
them. 
3d. Uuderdrainage, wherever the subsoil is of a 
retentive nature. But all covered drains, whether of 
tiles or stones, should be not less than throe feet 
deep, nor less than six or eight feet distant from the 
trunks of the trees; for many a fine tree set out 
directly above a shallow underground conduit has 
been poisoned to death by the foul air therein con¬ 
tained. 
4th. Thinning of the fruit, especially of the class 
of trees known as ' great bearers.’ 
Pruning may be performed at any season of the 
year; but the best time is believed to be about the 
longest days of summer, while the worst effects that 
happen arise from using the saw or knife daring the 
full fiow of sap iu the spring. An exception, how¬ 
ever, must be made in cases where it is considered 
necessary to head in a newly planted tree.” 
Boiled Indian Pudding. —Seeing an inquiry in a 
late number of our “Rural” for a recipe to make 
“boiled Indian padding,” I send mine, which 1 think 
very good. Take six cups sour milk; two eggs; one 
teaspoon heuping full salerutus; two tablcspoonfuls 
flour; six cups Indian meal; two tablespoons 
molasses; one-half enp sour cream. Raisins, or 
dried fruit, improve it very ranch. It is good either 
boiled or steamed. If boiled, it requires one cup 
more meal, and one spoon more flour than when 
steamed.—A. L. King, Parma, Mich., 18(51. 
Destroying Tine ApplhTrkic Worms.—A s soon a* the neats 
aru large to ha readily seen, which Ia while the worms enough 
are quite small, make a soap hidIs of the consistence of thin 
cream, take u light pole of length adapted to the height oi 
your trees, tie firmly on the small eud a swab, letting it pro¬ 
ject four or five inches over tho end. With this, apply tho 
suds to the nest*, twisting them around tho swab, and 
thoroughly wetting the worm* and the limb where the nest 
is. Rest assured they will soon be “deadly sick” of “soft 
soaping.” Of various method*, I find this the easiest and 
most effective.—A, Knikfk.v, Fast Kendall , A. K, 1861. 
Cleaning Cellars. — As this is the season when 
people are cleaning their cellars, yards, and sink¬ 
holes, it may not be onto! place to remind them that 
the noxious vapors which arise can be destroyed by 
sprinkling their cellars with copperas water, made by 
dissolving one pound of copperas in a pail of warm 
water, and the sink-ho]e can be rendered innoxious 
by covering with pulverized charcoal.— H. A. C. 
The Great Vincennes Dkak Thick. —Some of our readers 
may have heard of this tree. The following statement of 
one of its crops I» furnished hy a correspondent of the Ohio 
Farmer :—*‘I think 1 have wrltteu you at some time in refer¬ 
ence to the large pear tree in this county, planted wh«ro it 
now stand* in 1804. Iu 1837 it bore one hundred aud forty 
bushels of fruit, and wait seventy-five feet across the top, 
sixty-live feet high, and ten and a half feet girth at the 
smallest place below the limbs; but two years ago it suffered 
severely from a tornado, losing two of its principal branches, 
and ix now fast going to decay.” 
Death of a flORTtOt lturist. —I). P. Cahoon, of Kenosha, 
Wis., died od the 22d nit., at hi* residence in that city. He 
wa* the grower of the Pie Plant called Gaboon’s Mammoth, 
which obtained a good deal of notoriety for its great size. 
To destroy Ants.— Hot water, say about 100”, in which 
liower of sulphur is steeped and poured over, will cause a 
Bpeedy departure, with no disposition, on their part, to return. 
— Gardeners’ Monthly. 
Ham Pie, A good substitute for a Chicken Pie .— 
Make a crust tho same as for soda biscuit, line your 
dish, then put in a layer of potatoes sliced thin, 
pepper, salt, and a little butter, then a layer of lean 
ham, then add pepper and salt and a good deal of 
water, and you will have an excellent pie.—A. G. W., 
Lansingville, 18(51. 
Coloring White Kid Gloves.— Will some one 
please to inform me, through the Rural, how to 
color white kid gloves so they will look well, and 
oblige,—M., Elklwrn, ILL-., 1861. 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: — Inquiry has been 
made by C. W. Turner of Dighton, with reference 
to the grafting of old trees. Having had long, and, 
I think, successful experience, in the cultivation and 
grafting of large bearing apple trees, I will give my 
mode of grafting. 
In regard to the proportion of limbs which should 
be ingrafted, much will depend upon the way in 
which the trees have been pruned. If they have 
been suitably pruned before grafting, I should ingraft 
about one half of the number of bearing limbs, leav¬ 
ing the remainder for one year, which will preserve 
the vitality of the tree better than if all be removed. 
Iu grafting, care should be taken to select such limbs 
as will, when grafted, form a top of sufficient expan¬ 
sion for the body of the tree. 
Hop Yeast,— Is there any known method of mak¬ 
ing hop yeast minus the “ cup of good yeast ” of the 
recipe makers. “ More light” in the woods is wanted. 
— A. G. It., Marquette, Mich., 1861. 
House Plants.— What causes house plants to become 
lousy, and what is the be*t method to yet rid of them, if 
any? The rose is more filthy with this Inwet than other one 
of the plautH. Now, if you. or your contributors, know any 
way to get rid of this evil, please make it known through the 
Rural.—T. E, M., Mt. Vernon, Ohio , 1861. 
It Is probably the Aphis , or Green Fly, that troubles vour 
plants. Place them on a stand of some kind, and cover them 
with a cloth supported by hoops above the plants. Then 
burn Nome tobacco uuder them, producing a good smoke, 
which will be confined by the cloth. Keep up the smoke 
ten minutes, after which wash off the plants. It may be 
necessary to repeat this process occasionally If the insect 
is a little red spider, it may generally be got rid of by wash¬ 
ing the plant*. If this fail*, burn a little sulphur under 
them. This mu*t be carefully done, as it sometimes injures 
the plants. 
Flowering of the Century Plant. — It seems that a 
Century Plant i* to flower in the city of New York the 
present summer. The following notice of the fact wc cut 
from the BtiJfaJo Commercial Adx'niiscr :—“ David Bldweil, of 
New Orleans, is the fortunate possessor of a Century Plant, 
or American Aloe, which is expected to bloom in July or 
August next. Its blossoming spire ha* already attained an 
altitude of twenty feet, and it progresses in height from 
three lu six inches a day. It is expected that the blossom 
will be larger than was ever yet »eon. The plant left New 
Orleans for New York on the 2fith of April, and will be 
exhibited In that city. We glean these facts from a circular 
kindly placed before US by our fellow-townsman, Vincent 
Bidwell, Esq. 
Papering Hard-Finished Walls. —Will some of 
the Rural readers please iuforin me the L-st method 
of making paper stick to a hard-finished wall, and 
oblige—A Subscriber. 
Chicken Salad. Will some of the readers of the 
Rural please send a recipe for making chicken salad 
and oblige— A Subscriber, Webster, N. Y., 1861. 
Rusk. — Will some of the numerous Rural readers 
please inform me bow to make good rusk?—L ide, 
Mattituck, L. /., 1861. 
