JLU)& 
EABLY spring flowers-notes in the 
GARDEN. 
DOCltLK THUDS, 
The Tournesol Tulips ft re now passing out of 
flower, and the early double varieties are open¬ 
ing finely. The early single varieties are in 
perfection. The Narchsus |family, too, are 
splendid —never finer. The PolyanthuB varie¬ 
ties are charming, and in a well drained mellow 
soil will always succeed. In fact, many plants 
considered tender [ prove quite the contrary 
whenjjplanted in a warm, dry 6oil. The Giant 
IMy, which wo left out for experiment, is now 
up and growing nicely —almost, or^quite as vig¬ 
orously as those kept in the house during the 
winter. The Iblyanthus beds are entirely unin¬ 
jured—not a plant, lost, and a better 6how of 
flowers cannot be desired. 
Some persons complain of losing Carnations 
and Pinks in winter, bnt we never lose a young 
plant, and cannot think there is any danger in a 
dry soil. Old plants will suffer, and never should 
be relied upon. Always have new plants from 
seed or layers. Of the Double Tulips, now in 
flower, (May 15th,) we notice the following: 
Bonaparte , rich, reddish brown. 
Blue Mag, a fine, tall tulip, as near blue as any, 
though somewhat purplish. 
Compte dc Pompadour , large and showy, red, 
bordered with, yellow. 
Duke of York, reddish^ strictly pfiVi Perhaps, 
broadly bordcredT.with White' A magnificent 
flower. 
Grand Alexander ^ yellowjground, beautifully 
striped with red. 
Incomparable, dark rose, bordered with white. 
Item Edatante, fine, deep crimson. 
Purple Grown, splcndid’dark velvety crimson. 
Hardly the color that the name would indicate, 
bnt a fine, rich flower. 
Paony Rose , flower small, tine scarlet. 
Pcrony Gold, deep yellow, striped with red. 
Hilton., large, purple, 
Nosor, rich, purplish chocolate. 
R>sine, beautiful rose and white. This is one 
of the earliest of the double varieties, and very 
delicate and attractive. 
William Ilex , brownish purple, tall and ex¬ 
cellent. 
Xenophon , dark crimson, striped with yellow. 
Dwarf. 
Whitt and Bed Bordered, reddish lilac, beauti¬ 
fully bordered with white, a very early and line 
variety. 
Yellow Hose, bright yellow, perfectly double. 
One variety has finely striped foliage. 
Bex Kubrorum, a magnificent flower of the 
deepest scarlet. 
The Late Tulips and the Parrots will probably 
be in flower in time to allow of some notes in 
our next. 
or the Hkiujaceous and Perennial Plants 
we notice the following: 
Phlox Proeumbus Is a very pretty spring flower. 
As its name indicates, it is procumbent in 
habit, keeping close to the ground and send¬ 
ing np flower stalks about four inches in height, 
with tine clusters of flowers. 
The Didytra SjwdabalLs is really one of the 
most valuable of all our early flowers. It is 
os hardy as an oak, an exceedingly free bloomer, 
without a fault that wc know of, and good every¬ 
where; in the parlor, the greenhouse and the 
garden. The flowers are curious in form, some¬ 
thing like a purse, and some twenty of these 
curious bells are attached to a gracefully pen¬ 
dant footstalk. 
The Sweet Seented Violet is the sweetest of 
all the early spring flowers, and, like the 
Sweet Mignionctte, it is a general favorite on 
account of its fragrance. A slDgle flower will 
perfume a room; and often have we entered a 
room with a violet concealed, when in a rniuute 
the exclamation would bo— “ what a delightful 
fragrance.” A cluster or two which any person 
can procure at a nursery for 25 cents, will make 
the garden deliciously fragrant. There are white 
and blue varieties, both single and double, but 
the double blue is the best. We give an engrav¬ 
ing of this plant and flower. Herbaceous plants 
should be set out, if possible, in the autumn. 
SPRING GARDEN FARM ONION CULTURE- 
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The garden of Daniel Odeucubk Is situated 
three miles south-west of Newark. Here are 
two lovely springs, situated upon elevated beds 
of rocks; these arc similar to each other, the 
lower one, however, being two or three times 
larger thau the upper one, and in every way 
more beautiful and picturesque. The springs 
are separated by a space of at least filly feet. 
For many rods around, the same reddish grey, 
porouB rock prevails. Naturalists suppose that 
this rock was formed through the accumulation 
of ages by the water. The streams which Issue 
from the upper spring, or source, ruu along 
their deep worn rocky beds, perhaps ten feet, 
wheru there is a fall of four or five feet. Here a 
natural spout is formed in the rock, under which 
thu kitchen maid can set her pail and fill it in a 
lew seconds. The spriugs arc surrounded by 
forest trees and wild flowers. The little forget 
me not and climbing honeysuckle flourish here. 
The lower spring Is so hedged iu by the sur¬ 
rounding shrubbery, foliage, and trees, that no 
one could wish for a more retired or lovely 
retreat. 
Mr. Odehcurk, the proprietor, has kept a 
market garden a number of year*; he was the 
pioneer uf the onion bed iu these parts. Hun¬ 
dreds of people have, during a single summer, 
stopped to admire Mr. O.’e great swamp of 
oulous, exclaiming “I never saw so many he 
fore!” “ Did you ever see such large oues?” 
“They’re as big as tea saucers," exclaimed one 
old lady who sent tweuty miles for her winter 
others embarked in the same enterprise. Five | 
times as many onions were raised as before, and 
nearly all met with home consumption. Some 
prospered, bnt many, from lack of knowledge ‘ 
and adaptability to their business, failed. For 1 
instance, an enterprising tailor hired two acres 1 
of green-sward, ripped it up and sent off for < 
guano; hired largely and failed completely,— I 
not making enough to pay his expenses. A 
wealthy farmer’s sod, obstinate and fractious, 
overleaped his father's advice, hired five acres 
and emerged into onion raising. He, too, 
hired largely and failed,—departing in the fall 
for the gold regions, and leaving his father to 
pay up arrearages. 
Good seed Is of the first importance in onion 
growing. It is possible that all persons who 
engage in this business do not know that not 
one seed in ten will ever germinate that is more 
than one year old. It is wise to raise one’s 
own seed. The seed often rots in the ground. 
This occurs mostly from spring drouth. Onion 
seed should he sown as early as the 20th or 25th 
of April. I have known a fine fall of snow after 
Mr. O.’s onions were all sown, and as the sun 
shone out and the snow disappeared, long row's 
of onions were soon seen shooting up, followed 
by weeds, weeds, weeds; then the laborers pro¬ 
ceeded to work, some upon theirknee.% thinning 
out, others with the hoe. By the regular process 
of sowing onions with a drill, five times as much 
seed is sown as is needed,—but this is a fast age, 
and who now would think of dropping acres of 
small seeds by the slow, bent-hack, finger and- 
thumb process? The first weeding, then, is a 
mere thinning out process, wasteful and useless, 
except that the stirring of the ground thus 
early facilitates the growth of the slight infant 
bulb. I have seen boiling water thrown upon 
onion seed before sowing; if a few seeds chance 
to remain in the vessel over night some would 
be slightly sprouted. 
Some persons ask through the Rural if onions 
will grow upon green-award. I would answer 
that land for this purpose should be well plowed 
and thoroughly subdued the previous year. 
The soil of Mr. O., who has been most success¬ 
ful, is a sandy loam. First a good coating of 
manure is plowed in, and as the onions make 
their appearance they are top-dressed from the 
muck and manure compost heap.’ I have 
witnessed a similar process from my window 
at the approach of a lovely May shower, aud the 
following day the onions would seem to have 
grown half. Muck is the great onion feeder. 
The onions are always larger where a black 
streak of muck is observed. Last year Mr. O. 
fenced off a part of his barn-yard for onions, 
expecting enormous sized ones. Communica¬ 
ting with this the laud runs down to a level plain 
of dark rich earth; hero the onions grew very 
large; those upon the barn-yard were a size 
larger than a lady’s thimble. The ground, 
although rich, was hard and cold, and needed 
working aud exposure to rain and sun. Most 
persons when buying onions, will speak rap¬ 
turously Of the large ones. Who don’t know 
that the smaller ones are always the finer 
grained and the sw’cetest ? So with almost the 
w'hole vegetable kingdom. 
About the middle of August the ouiou tops 
are rolled dowu to die, and in a few weeks the 
larger ones are ready for market. As soon as 
the onions ripen they are pulled and left upon 
the ground to dry. Then the barn floors, wagon 
house, sheds aud all available spaces are vacated, 
and the onions wheeled in aud spread us thinly 
as possible. They are then trimmed, sorted aud 
carried to market. If onions are not gathered 
before the fall rains set in, they arc pretty sure 
, to rot or take on a second growth. 
Newark, N. Y„ May, 1866. L. 
DOUBLE SWEET SCENTED VIOLET. 
LITTLE THINGS IN A GARDEN. 
In planting the family garden, all the stand¬ 
ard vegetables will suggest themselves as things 
necessary to he provided for, hut much of the 
comfort afforded by the garden consists ot the 
numerous little things it affords—things which 
lu themselves cau hardly be considered as food, 
but which add to the attraction of the table by 
rendering other food more palatable. Those 
who arc fond of pickles will in time provide 
for Cucumbers, Marty ntas. Peppers, Green Musk 
Melons, Refugee Beans, and all those things 
which are used for pickling, uot forgetting the 
spicy Nasturtium. Parsely is valued by mo6t 
people as a flavoring herb, aud It is very handy 
to dress a dish of cold meat. The seeds are 
very slow in germinating, and should be sowed 
early. Majoram, Savory and Thyme, are the 
popular flavoriugB for soups and stuffings, and 
wheu cut In flower and carefully dried, and then 
rubbed up and put into an air-tight box or bot¬ 
tle, may be had in greater perfection than any 
that can be bought at the stores. The first two 
are annuals: sow the seeds in drills a foot apart 
and thin or transplant to 6ix inches in the rows. 
Thyme Is a small shrubby perennial which may 
be raised from seed or propagated by dividing 
old plants. There are very few who know what 
an excellent flavor a pinch oS8pearmint gives to 
soup, or it would he more sKw-rally grown. In 
the older parts of’ the eouiij^it is found natu¬ 
ralized in wet places, but i* do perfectly well 
In the garden and then weMlways know where 
to find it, as once *. i >tabl!sh^ it will remain for 
years. Suge is always in demand in the family 
for culinary or medical uses, and cau be had in 
the garden with but little trouble. Seeds sown 
this spring will give a fair cutting by autumn. 
been suffered to breed for a succession of years, 
become prematurely old, in consequence of the 
efforts they are obliged to make to repair, at an 
unseasonable time, the loss of their foliage, and 
are rendered unfruitful, and consequently un¬ 
profitable. But this is not all; these pernicious 
insects spread in every direction, from the trees 
of the cart less and indolent to those of their more 
careful and industrious neighbors, whose labors are 
thereby greatly increased, aud have to he followed 
np year after year, without any prospect of 
permanent relief. 
Now is the time to destroy them. Use a pole 
with a brush, spoDge, or rag on the end of it. 
Dip in a bucket of strong soapsuds, and poke it 
into the midst of the nest, turning it round so 
as to wet them all, and rub the branch about 
the nest. Wherever the suds touches, it will kill 
them. 
We wish there were a law fixing a penalty 
upon any person upon whose premises a dozen 
nests could be found in the month of July, and 
that it was made imperative upon the selectmen 
or assessors of every town to see that the law 
was enforced! Every farmer knows that the 
destruction caused by caterpillars is a serious 
annoyanee and evil to the community, and yet 
there are some—alas, too many—who take little 
or no pains to do their duty In this particular. 
It is a mistake to say that they have to time to 
destroy them. They have all the time there is 
for any of us, and they cannot afford to incur 
t he cost of raising trees and then suffer them to 
die before their time, through the agency of cater¬ 
pillars. 
This thing ought to be a matter of duty and 
conscience. Some persons complain of the en¬ 
croachments of a neighbor’s dogs, or cattle, and 
very justly, too, perhaps, while they allow their 
$tmm g. 
ITEMS FOR HOUSEKEEPERS. 
Do every thing at the proper time. 
Keep every thing in its place. 
Always mend clothes before washing them. 
Alum or vinegar is good to set colors, red, 
green, or yellow. 
Sal-soda will bleach; one spoonful is enough 
for a kettle of clothes. 
Save your suds for the garden and plants or to 
harden yards when sandy. 
A hot shovel held over varnished furniture 
will take out white spots: 
A bit of glue, dissolved in skim milk and wa¬ 
ter, will restore old crape. 
Ribbons of any kind should be washed in cold 
suds, and not rinsed. 
If flat irons are rough, rub them well with fine 
salt, and it will muke them smooth. 
If you are buying a carpet for durability, you 
must choose small figures. 
A bit of soap rubbed on the hinges of doors 
will provent them from creaking. 
Scotch snuff put iu holes where crickets run 
will destroy them. 
Wood ashes and common salt, wet with water, 
will Btop the cracks of the stove and smoke 
from escaping. 
Green should be the prevailing color for bed 
hangings and window drapery. 
TO MAKE HARD SOAP. 
Pour four gallons of boiling water over six 
pounds of washing soda (sal soda) and three 
pounds of unslacked lime. Stir the mixture well, 
and let it settle until it is perfectly clear. It is 
better to let it stand all night, as it takes some 
lime for the sediment to settle. When clear, 
strain the water, pot six pounds of fat with it, 
and boil for two hours, stirring it most of the 
time. If It does not seem thin enough, put an¬ 
other gallon of water on the grounds, stir and 
drain off, ami add as is wanted to the boiling 
mixture. Its thickness can be tried by occa¬ 
sionally putting a little on a plate to cool. Stir 
in a handful of salt just before taking it off the 
fire. Have a tub ready soaked, to prevent the 
soap from sticking, pour it in, and let it settle 
until solid, when you will have from the above 
quautity of ingredients about forty pounds of 
nice white soap.— Selected. 
To Keep Eggs. — M. Burnouf recommends, 
in Le Belier, a French journal of agriculture, the 
following method of preserving eggs -.—Dissolve 
in two-thirds of warm olive oil one-third of bees¬ 
wax, and cover each egg completely with a thin 
layer of this pomade with the end of the linger. 
The egg-shell by degrees absorbs the oil, and 
, each of its pores becomes tilled with the wax, 
which hermetically seals them. M. Burnouf 
i affirms that he has eaten eggs kept two years in 
this manner, in a place not exposed to too great 
extremes of temperature. He thinks also that 
[ the germ may iu this manner be preserved for a 
. considerable time. 
It is very readily raised from cuttings of old apple or wild cherry trees to be covered with 
supply. After Mr. 0. went into business many > barrel.” 
TO RAISE MELONS. 
A correspondent writes the New Euglaud 
Farmer the following, us his mode of success¬ 
fully growing melons:—“ Take a barrel with 
both heads out, set it up ou the surface of the 
ground and fill iu as much mauure as you please 
it will do on harm to fill it full — then raise a 
mound of earth around it, and plant the seeds 
ou the sides of the mound. If too ranch rain 
falls, cover the barrel, but in dry weather turn 
water into the barrel, and it will soak out atnoug 
the roots without baking the surface. A little 
old straw should be placed iu the top of the 
plants. Slip off the young shoots vhich start 
this spring from near the base of the plant, and 
set them iu sandy soil aud put over them a frame 
covered with common muslin; they will thus 
be kept moist and shady and will strike root 
readily.— American Agriculturist. 
DESTROY THE CATERPILLARS. 
If dogs are a nuisance, if drunkenness, small 
pox, and kindred scourges, are fit subjects for 
regulation by legislatures, caterpillars certainly 
are! They are a plague of uo ordinary character. 
We believe the annual loss in Massachusetts 
occasioned by caterpillars is fifty times as much 
as that caused by dogs! And yet the fathers of 
the commonwealth have never put a line upon 
the statute book in relation to them; have sug¬ 
gested no remedy, passed no resolution, inter¬ 
dicted no man from raising and scattering 
through the land as many legions as he pleases 
each coming year! Horn pouts aud pickerel! 
Shad ale wives! Robins and woodcock! Crows 
and wild cats, what can they all do to bartu or 
benefit mankind, compared with the wide-spread 
destruction caused by caterpillars! 
Iu August, when the nests of the vermiu are 
old and filled with their debris, thousands of the 
orchards of New Euglaud are objects of disgust 
and loathing, rather than one of the most 
beautiful features of our unrivalled landscapes. 
Tattered nests dangle from the branches of the 
trees, filled with the cast-off skins and exuvia: 
of millions of worms, and, moistened by rains, 
are rotting in the atmosphere and shedding their 
foul contents upon what little fruit Is permitted 
to grow, and poisoning the grass beneath the 
trees! 
In assisting in gathering several hundred bar 
rols of apples within a few years, where we had 
ample opportunity of noticing their quality, we 
do not believe that more thau one barrel of them 
iu twenty were suuud. This mischief, and great 
loss is occasioned by our fruit-growers neglect¬ 
ing to destroy caterpillars, of one kind and 
auotker, as fast as their nests appear. We speak 
now of one kind only,—of those that have 
obtained such notoriety that they are almost 
exclusively kuowu among us by the name of the 
caterpillar, and they are the tcorsl enemies of the 
orchard. Harris says:—Where proper atten¬ 
tion had not beeu paid to the destruction of 
there, they prevailed to such an extent as almost 
entirely to strip the apple and cherry trees of 
their foliage, by their attacks continued daring 
the seven weeks of their life in the cuterplllai 
form. 
very justly, too, perhaps, wtnle they allow their Indian Muffins. —One pint of Indian meal, 
apple or wild cherry trees to be covered with one pint of wheat Hour, four eggs, one gill of 
caterpillars enough to destroy half the orchards yeast, a little salt, as much warm milk as will 
in the land! “Consistency is a jewel.” We make the whole into a thick hatter. Mix the 
suggest to such, a story about a mote and a Indian and wheat flour together, stir in the 
beam iu the eye.-iVew England Farmer. milk, then the yeast, and lastly the eggs, after 
-- they have been well beaten. When the batter is 
govtiniltural biotas and (JjUCVttf $. ''Skt* grease the griddle and muffin rings ; place 
^ _ the rings on the griddle; pour in the batter, but 
The trees, iu those gardens where they have I dealer In seeds I 
Rafid Growth of VE6Stabi.es. — Rapid growth 
makes a mild flavor, slow growth a strong one; there¬ 
fore grow vegetables quick and fruit moderately. The 
exceptions are only where size is valued higher thau 
flavor. 
Look to your Currant and Gooseberry Bushes. 
—People who desire to save their currant bashes from 
destruction should attend to them oarefnlly now, as it 
will be found much easier to destroy the eggs of cat¬ 
erpillars as soon as they are deposited on the leaves, 
than it will to destroy the caterpillars themselves. 
Tux Old Stutybsant Pear Tree which stands in 
the city ol New York, and which has borne fruit for 
more than ‘300 years, flrst blossomed this spring, on 
the day President Lincoln died; and on the 17th of 
April waB in full bloom. This Is tho earliest time of 
blooming that is remembered. 
Osage Oranub Hedges in New Jersey. —Mr. 
CJuinn remarked at a recent meeting of the New York 
Farmers’ Club;—“I was never more gratified in my 
life than by a recent visit to the farm of Mr, Bsix, in 
Monmonth county, N. J., iu seeing his hedges of 
Osage Orange, lie has his farm completely fenced 
with these hedges, from two to eight years old. All 
that are five years old and upward are completely im¬ 
passable by man, boast or bird, I was very much sur¬ 
prised at their success.’’ 
New Variety of the Maple. — The Gardener’s 
Monthly notices a new variety of Maple, which M, 
Putins concluded had been obtained by seeds from 
Acer crlocarpum, one of tho finest of the American 
Maples. The young wood of this new tree is purple 
and glaucous, and its leaves, which arc very much 
laclulatcd, are glabions above and white and downy 
beneath. This variety, the writer observes, from its 
light aud carved foliage, will not fall tp be chosen for 
the ornamentation of parks. 
Great Call fob Flower Seeds I—I think the editor 
of the Rural Nkw-Yorkkr is good at guessing. He 
said (April 8,) I was trying a dangerous experiment 
when l offered to give away ffower seeds. I have re¬ 
ceived over 1,000 orders, and have sent away over 8,000 
papers of flower seeds within a month. If my floral 
friends will wait until 1 can grow seed I will send to 
any one who will pay the postage.—Mas. V. P. Whit- 
beck, East Givveland, Lie. Co., N. Y. 
In thus proposing to furnish a large portion of “all 
tho world and the rest of mankind” flower seeds, 
without charge, Mrs. W. exibits unusual benevolence, 
or (as a friend at our elbow suggestively Intimates) a 
shrewd manner of preparing to become a popular 
do not fill them; hake them brown on both 
sides and serve them hot. If for breakfast, set, 
to rise the night previous. If for tea, about two 
o’clock. 
To Remove the Taste op New Wood. —A 
uew keg, churn, bucket, or other wooden ves¬ 
sel, w ill generally communicate a disagreeable 
taste to anything that is put into it. To prevent 
this inconvenience, first scald the vessel well 
with boiling water, letting the water remain in 
it till cold. Theu dissolve some pearlash or 
soda in lukewarm water, adding a little bit of 
lime to it, and wash the inside of the vessel well 
with this solution. Afterwards scald it well 
with plain hot water, and rinse it with cold 
before you use it. 
Waffles.— Four eggs, one pint of ‘.bilk, two 
ounces of butter, one pound of flour, four table- 
spoonfuls of yeast, a saltspoonful of salt. Beat 
the eggs to a froth. Put the butter in the milk 
and warm it until the butter dissolves* When 
the milk is cooled sufficiently, put In the eggs, 
and stir in the flour, after which add the yeast 
aud salt. When light, pour the hatter In the 
waffle iron, having first greased it well. Bake 
them on both sides by turning the iron. To be 
well buttered and served hot 
Substitute for Butter. — The Baltimore 
Clipper says : — “A lady who is a famous house¬ 
keeper, reeommeuds an economical plan for 
making cakes without, butter, which may be of 
use to our lady readers. Take a piece of fat 
pork, melt it down and strain it through a piece 
of coarse, thin muslin. Set It aside until cold. 
It is then white and firm, and theu may be used 
like butter in auy kind of cake. In pound cake, 
she assures us it is delicious. She says after 
one trial she never used butter.” 
Flannel Cakes.— One pint of fine Indian 
uual, one pint of wheat flour, one teaspoonful 
of salt, two gills of yeast. Mix the wheat and 
Indian meal together, with as much tepid water 
as will make it into a batter, not quite as thin as 
for buckwheat cukes; then add tho salt and 
yeast, and set them in a moderately warm place 
to rise. When light, bake them ou a griddle; 
butter and send to table hot. 
