A QUIETUS ON BED-BUGS 
Bed-Boos! not a very delicate subject for “ears 
polite,” and yet many a Blender woman has toil¬ 
ed in laborious and vain attempts to exterminate 
these annoying insects. 1 have known bedsteads 
taken apart, carried out doors, scalded and re¬ 
scalded with boiling water, and tho bodcords 
boiled in lye, with only temporary relief, because 
the knits survive the treatment. Upon the re¬ 
turn, in a short lime, of the bugs in full force, the 
conviction would lie strong in the mind of the 
discouraged operator that the “ conflict” was not 
only “irrepressible” but interminable. Yet the 
following remedy, cheap, safe, inoffensive to the 
senses, and easy of application, will put a final 
quietus on bed-bugs. For thirty years past I 
have known it tested by a large number of 
families. 
Beat up an ounce of quicksilver with the 
whites of two eggs, wash the bedstead with cold 
water, jarring and picking out such bugs as are 
accessible, then, when the bedstead is dry, with a 
feather apply the mixture to every hole, joiut 
Small glistening particles of quick- 
As promised last week, we conclude the dis¬ 
cussion before the American Pomological So¬ 
ciety on the subject of strawberries: 
BARTLETT. 
Dewet—I would ask if gentlemen are ac¬ 
quainted with the Bartlett strawberry? 
Bergen —It is a seedling which Mr. Fuller 
has raised, and seems to think very highly of. 
I have seen it in bearing, and did not think 
much of it. 
Prince —It is very unproductive indeed, un¬ 
less you grow it in hills, and then it does not 
bear very well. I have had it four years in cul¬ 
tivation, but I have thrown it away, and I don’t 
know any person who cares to keep it I have 
examined it critically, and I believe it is the 
Brighton Pine. I told Mr. Fuller so, and he 
agreed that it was not a seedling. 
Bucklin— The Brighton Pine is very produc¬ 
tive here. 
Prince—O h, no, sir. 
Parsons —The Bartlett is of a very high fla¬ 
vor; very similar to the Boston Pine. 
Beroen— It is a seedling; Mr. Fuller brought 
it into notice, 
Elliott— As we have it, the foliage neither 
resembles the Boston nor the Brighton Pine. 
The fruit resembles the Boston Pine. We re¬ 
gard it as nothing remarkable. 
President—I have that strawberry growing. 
It is a good fruit There is a resemblance be¬ 
tween the foliage of these plants, but I have 
never given the subject that study that would 
make me willing to give an opinion, whether it 
was the Boston or Brighton Pine. 
cutler’s seedling. 
Bergen— I would like to inquire about Cut¬ 
ler's Seedling. 
Prince —It originated in Massachusetts. 
Manning— By testing it with other kinds, I 
found it would hear more bad treatment than I 
any other strawberry. It bore the winter well, 
gave a greater crop than any other, and hulled 
easily. I don’t want to part with it now. 1 have 
tried nnmerous kinds, and still consider it among 
the very best. 
Htdk—T he folks in my neighborhood have 
plowed it up, and will not have It, in comparison 
with other varieties. 
Prince—I consider it a very good plant; it 
bears remarkably well; any person who con¬ 
demns it must have got hold of a different va¬ 
riety. I have watched over it critically. It is a 
hermaphrodite, and bears well. 
Parsons- 
and crevice, 
silver are by this remedy lodged in the joints and 
crevices of the bedstead, where they remain a 
great length of time unimpaired in efficacy. 
Only one case has occurred, to my knowledge, 
where a second application, in after years, to a 
bedstead was necessary. Of course, this mixture 
Bhould be kept from children and careless 
people. Peter Hathaway. 
Milan, Erie Co., O., 1863. 
nate ratherJ[stowly, and ilfttie [soil [is wet, cold and stiff, 
will rot. A little heat la of great advantage, and those 
who sow in a hot-bed will have no diUieulty, unless they 
allow the soil to become too dry after the seeds have ger¬ 
minated. Those who sow in tho open ground should 
preprae a sandy bed in us warm a situation an possible, 
nate or hermaphrodite, and yet I did not get, j 
this year, on a bed four rods square, twenty ber¬ 
ries. Last year I picked an immense crop— 
larger than from any other variety I cultivated. 
A friend of mine living two miles from me, 
whose soil is entirely different, never fails to get 
a large crop every year, with nothing but the 
Early Virginias for fertilizers. Every cultivator 
on the river alluvial soil iu our locality gets a 
crop, and every cultivator on the hills fails to 
get a crop, except once in two or three years. 
Bergen— I confirm what the gentleman from 
Vermont has said. At Flushing it does not suc¬ 
ceed. I have tried all kinds of fertilizers, and 
have got but one good crop in several years. 
Houghton —Hovey’s Seedling has been the 
leading berry for the Philadelphia market, which 
is very large. Muuy of the old strawberry grow¬ 
ers are somewhat ignorant of the character of 
the plant; they set it out with some sort of a fer¬ 
tilizer mixed up with it, and consider them to be 
male and female plants; they think they can tell 
the male and female plants. 
prettiest variety now in flower is V(rulea, the 
leaves being of a lively green, and the flowers of 
the most delicate azure blue, thickly set and 
forming a pendant raceme. The buds somewhat 
resemble the Lilac in color and form. 
Phlox Prownibus is a very pretty Spring 
flower, procumbent in habit, and sending up 
flower stems about four inches in height, with 
fine clusters of red flowers. 
The Dielytra SpeCtabalis is one of the most 
valuable of our herbaceous plants. It is per¬ 
fectly hardy, soon forma a large plant, and 
blooms abundantly. The flowers are curious in 
form, somewhat resembling a purse, and some 
twenty or more of these curious bells are at¬ 
tached to a gracefully pendant foot-stalk. 
The Bwet'Scenled Violet, is the sweetest of 
all the early Spring (lowers, and, like tho Siecet 
Mbmoneite, iB a general favorite on account of 
ince. A single flower will 
There aro several varieties, 
Veal Cutlets with Tomatoes. —Wash two 
or three pounds of cutlets, and season them with 
salt and pepper. Have some lard und butter hot 
in a pan; put them in and fry brown on both 
sides. When done, take it up on ft plate. Have 
ready a quarter peck of tomatoes; drain and 
season them with pepper and salt. Pour the 
tomatoes into the pan with the gravy, and stir 
them well together. Pour them over the cut¬ 
lets, and serve. 
Cocoa-Nut Cheesecakes.— Take the white 
part of ft cocoa-nut, three ounces of lump sugar, 
and one-half a gill of water. The sugar must 
be first dissolved in the water, and the cocoa-nut 
(grated) to tie added to it- Let all boil for a 
few minutes over a slow lire; let it get cold, and 
then add the yolks ol' three eggs, and tho white 
of one well beaten up, 
If, for instance, i 
they get tho Early Scarlet iu they call them 
“ he ” plants, and get. them out as fast as they 
can; and many of them who are not careful 
about that, have failed. So stroug is their 
attachment to the Hovey, that although 1 have 
shown them the Triomphe do Gand growing 
beautifully on my place, I cannot Induce them to 
plant, it. We don’t fail to get, good crops, and 
immense quantities are sent to the city from 
New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Triomphe 
dc Gand brings a higher price, and is getting to 
be a favorite berry with the more intelligent cul¬ 
tivators. 
Hovkv — I would say that at Belmot the 
novey is cultivated with the same success on 
high and on low land. I can see easily enough 
where these gentlemen have failed who say they 
have not got good crops. The fact that tills 
strawberry has succeeded in localities most 
widely separated, is proof that it does not de¬ 
pend upon locality. A report made to the Cin¬ 
cinnati Horticultural Society, six or seven years 
ago, shows that it has taken prizes in New Oi¬ 
lcans, in California, and all along the Atlantic 
coast, as far south as Carolina. The cause of 
failure is, that they have not been cultivated 
properly. They have not been properly fed on 
dry lands, or were set out in the Fall, or allowed 
to run too thick together. The beds want to be 
renewed; they don’t like to be kept on the same 
piece of ground a long time. 
Bowditcii—T he cultivators at Belmot, plant 
a new piece of ground every two years. They 
find it cheaper to plant a new bed than to weed 
the old one. 
Hyde—I understand that the beds really fruit 
but one year; the plants have two years’ growth. 
President—T hat Is the fact 
Bergen— That has been my experience; we 
get the best results by letting the plants fruit but 
one year. Mr. novey has not given the reason 
of the failures, because I invariahly plant in the 
Spring and not in the Fall, and where the ground 
has been highly manured, the Hovey has failed; 
and I planted them among twenty other kinds, 
so that his remark in regard to fertilizers does 
not hold good. 
Put the mixture into 
small tins with thin paste at the bottom, and 
bake in a hIow oven. 
Sarsaparilla Mead— Four pounds of sugar; 
1 pint of honey; 3 pints of water; 1 ounce of sar¬ 
saparilla. Simmer them together; add I ounces 
tartaric acid after taken from the fire; when cool, 
bottle it- Extract of sassafras may be used in¬ 
stead of sarsaparilla. To one-half tumbler of 
water put about 2 spoonfuls of syrup and half a 
teaspoon of soda.- Jionton Cultivator. 
With us It was our main reliance 
this year, as an earlier strawberry than any 
other, and bearing most abundantly; we con¬ 
sider it one of our most valuable kinds. 
Clement, of Massachusetts—Mr. Cutler is a 
neighbor of mine; I have known the strawberry 
for some years, and 1 know lie sella a larger crop 
of it than any other; and it ia the most profita¬ 
ble berry tor me iu the Lowell market. It ia 
very prolific; a little pale, to lie sure, but yet it 
is very profitable, in my opinion, as a market 
strawberry. 
Hovey— The Bunce is the same as the Cutler. 
Manning —That is the fact, I believe. 
hovey’s seedling. 
Moore, of Conn.—I would like to call up 
Hovey’s Seedling. I think very highly of it; it 
is productive with us, and we should not know 
how to give it, up; we don’t feel that we have 
got anything bettor. 
Gold, of Conn.—I don’t know that that va¬ 
riety is cultivated in our section of the State 
(Litchfield Co.) very successfully, but, in fact, 
strawberries are very much neglected there. 
I)ewky-I should confirm what Mr. Moore 
says, that we could hardly get along without it; 
that is, we have nothing reliable that we could 
set out in the place of it 
Prince — I will undertake to say, that the 
Hovey will not be given up by those who un¬ 
derstand it. One gentleman here from Roches¬ 
ter says it is very unproductive, and useless to 
him; well, at Rochester they use the Early Scar¬ 
let as a fertilizer, which matures most of its 
blossoms before the Hovey expands. At Bel¬ 
mot they use the Brighton Pine, which blooms 
about the same time. That Is the reason it does 
well at Belmot and does not do well at Roches¬ 
ter. We don’t want strawberries for 
Saxipuaga.— This genus of plants are great 
favorites in English gardens, but are not common 
in this country. Our winters sometimes seem to 
injure the plants, but they are very fine this 
Spring. 8. Cuve.ifolia and 8, Crassifolia we 
have never seen better. The flower stem is from 
eight to twelve inches in length, bearing large 
clusters of reddish lilac flowers. 
To Grow good Rabisurh.— Lining a render of your ex¬ 
cellent paper, and seeing in Its columns an inquiry as to 
the best way ol' raising good radishes, and as I huv» been 
ii gardener, or at Icaat havo bceu in (lie habit of tending 
to my garden for more than forty years, 1 semi to tho Ru¬ 
ral my mode ol' raising good, tender radishes. The 
ground must lie good and mellow, and made line, Cover 
the surfare to the depth of one inch with buckwheat bran, 
then rake well and mix it in. Plant the seed one In a 
place, and I think you will ho pleased with the result, 
as the radishes wUl he free from the maggot and every 
other pest, t think the bran feeds tho insect which would 
otherwise feed on the radish, and also hastens the growth 
of the radish.—Arovt., Emmet, Midi,. 
A Good Pentrjktce Wanted. — Will not 
some of the readers of the household depart¬ 
ment, of the Rural name a good and harmless 
dentrifico—something they have tested and can 
recommend from experience?— Sai.lie J. 
NEW LIFE TO AN ORCHARD, 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker: — Having been 
very much benefited by a little advice in the 
Rural, which I had the good sense to follow, 1 
desire simply to state the fads, in hopes that, 
others who are Buffering for the lack of fruit, 
while they have trees enough to supply all their 
Wftnt-3, will take courage ami do likewise. 1 had 
an old orchard, though the old age was prema¬ 
ture, I think, and brought on by neglect, for 1 
have seen trees much older, and yet vigorous 
and fruitful, 
Angu: Worms.— Will yon please inform mo through 
the columns of the RURAL what Ilf anything,) will destroy 
angle worms In our day gardeus?—E. C. L,, East Trum¬ 
bull, Ohio. 
Have your soil well drained, give a coating of ashes oc 
caaionally, cither wood or coal ashes, with a little lime, 
and cultivate deep. Dig or plow in the fall, leaving it 
rough, or in ridges, which Is better. Tills course will 
gradually lessen the evil, and much improve the Boil. 
FLAX AND HEMP CULTURE 
The treeH however wore mossy, 
crooked, and contained a good many dead limbs, 
and parts of limbs, for the pruning had not been 
well done, and here and there a dead stump 
could be seen. The fruit was scarce and poor, 
wormy, covered with black spots, and a great 
portion fell to the ground before maturity, so 
that I concluded something must be done, be¬ 
cause the orchard was not paying for the ground 
occupied. Those who had known it In other 
days, said that when young it bore fine fruit, and 
a pretty good crop. 
Everybody loves apples, and although the 
orchard bore but little, I could not bear to give 
it up, and wait for a young orchard to come into 
bearing, so 1 applied for advice. It. was given 
very freely, and seemed reasonable enough. 
The soil was rather heavy, and a little low, not 
just the place I should select for an orchard. I 
ran a lew tiles through, and made a good outlet, 
gave the trees a good pruning, and scrubbed and 
scraped the mossy trunks and limbs, and washed 
them with a kind of Hoft soap, though pretty 
strong with lye. Then I plowed up the old sod, 
and as the ground seemed wet and soapy, spread 
over the surface a few barrels of lime, and drag¬ 
ged it in. 
This at the start made quite an improvement 
in the looks of the trees, and when the leaves 
put out it would hardly be known. A very fair 
growth of wood was made the first summer, and 
I had a little very good fruit. The next summer 
gave a good dressing of stable manure. The 
result was a very fine growth of new wood, and 
some fine fruit. This season I see no reason 
why I should not have a fine crop. At any rate, 
the trees look fifteen years younger than they did 
Atliree years since. Let those who have poor old 
orchards try this plan. b. w. 
ButnniR.— If “ sulphur properly applied” will prevent 
mildew on grapes, please iuform me how to apply It. I 
have a fine Isabella vine, the fruit Of which baa been 
worthless for two years, whilst, a Catawba, done by, was 
wholly free from mould.— A. Knikfbn, East Kendall. 
Dust it on the fruit and leaves when moist with dew. 
gortifuttttval 
Horticultural Association ok Monror, Mich.— 
We havo Just received a neat pamphlet of about fifty pa¬ 
ges containing the proceedings of Uie Horticultural Asso¬ 
ciation of Monroe, Michigan, and we have uo more inter¬ 
esting and profitable pamphlet on our tuble, as it coutaiim 
practical hints in culture, brought out at the discussions, 
which are held weekly, of the greateiit importance to the 
cultivators of flowers. The most, singular feature of the 
affair ts, however, that all the officers and members arc 
ladies. Perhaps the men hure tried and managed so badly 
that they failed, and the ladies becoming disgusted with 
their inefficiency have taken the work in their own hands. 
Snccnw to the ladles of Monroe, and may they have many 
imitators 
persons 
who happen to have undue wealth, but plants 
so productive that the million can have them; 
we want plants eminently productive, and not 
like the Triomphe de Gand, that will produce 
only one-third of a crop. There was not one 
blossom that failed in my garden, and the reason 
was, that my beds are in a promiscuous mass, 
and if one fertilizer did not suit, they would take 
another. You may put. the male plants one hun¬ 
dred or two hundred feet off, if you please, and 
they will perform their duty. 
Hooker—W e have various staminate plants 
near at hand, so that the explanation of a want 
of fertilizers cannot be the correct one. The 
great difficulty with us is, we cannot secure a 
vigorous growth of the plants. 
It seems to me that there is 
SEASONABLE NOTES 
The Magnolias are the only ornamental trees 
in flower. 
The Conspicua, or Chandalier Mag- 
nolia , is a Chinese variety, quite hardy in the 
Middle States, and is a beautiful free that should 
have a conspicuous place among every collec¬ 
tion of ornamental trees, and nothing can be 
better for the lawn. It branches low, has a fine 
form, and now is magnificent with its white 
flowers, larger than Tulips. The Purpurea is 
a smaller Chinese variety, bearing its flowers 
before the leaves, and of a purplish color. The 
8oulanjeana is a variety produced by crossing 
the two preceding sorts. Flowers white, tinged 
with purple; hardy, and a profuse bloomer. It 
is now in full flower, and roost magnificent. 
The Japan Quince is now the gayest of all the 
shrubs. There are two varieties, bright red and 
rose-colored. When planted together, the effect 
ia very fine. 
The Early Tulips are finely in flower, and the 
later varieties are showing buds, but we will 
defer notice of Bulbous Flowers until next 
week. 
Among Herbaceous and Perennial Plants 
we notice the following in bloom: 
Pulmonaria, or Lungwort , of which there are 
Nkw Hardy Shrub kkom Japan. —The variegated 
Holly has been justly considered one of the best of our 
hardy variegated shrubs, but it is very difficult to grow in 
many soils; for such, therefore, a plant that would grow 
freely anywhere and still preserve the general aspect of 
the Holly would prove extremely useful. This want it is 
expected, will he supplied by the new Osmanthusa from 
Japan, which have all the appearsuce of a Holly, and are 
•aid to grow a» freely A* tho Privet 
There are, in the first place, the green leaved species, 
Osmanthus ilicifolius, which a casual observer might 
easily mistake for a Holly and its dwarf variety. 
Then there is the Osmanthus illeifolius varlcgatus, like 
a variegated Holly, hut having leaves of a brighter green 
with while variegations. This kind attains the height of 
20 or 30 feet, and altogether very effective. 
Osmanthus ilicifolius varlcgatus nanus is a dwarf vari¬ 
ety, with foliage like that of the preceding, and closely 
resembling a miniature Holly. It is likely to prove^a 
most useful substitute for the Holly, and to make capital 
edgings. 
The gold-variegated Osmanthus is another beautiful 
dwarf plant, the foliage being very dark green with gold¬ 
en-yellow variegations. 
Osmanthus dlversifolius is a plant more curious than 
beautiful, the leaves being of all shapes, with whitish va¬ 
riegations. It is very dwarf.— C. Gard. 
Worcester 
something about this strawberry question which 
is too much overlooked. There will always be 
these disagreements in regard to the merits of 
strawberries, so long as we leave out of consid- 
b eration the difference in locality, I have culti- 
. i '’ated Hovey’s Seedling for eighteen or twenty 
years, and have had to get plants three different 
5 times, in order to keep my beds along, though I 
have taken more pains with it than with almost 
any variety. I don’t get a good crop oftoner 
^ than once in three years. I have fertilized it 
Pi with the fertilizer which Mr. Hovey gave me the 
K/ first and second times, the Boston Pine, and with 
all other varieties. I am cultivating it with 
twenty or thirty varieties, half of them stami- 
ippiriejs attfl gtapwsf 
Gompurkna—Pkrkn.yials.— Will you please inform 
me, through the Rural, how to prepare the soil for 
Gomphrena, and at what time the seed should be sown ? 
—A Nkw Subsoribkr, Schodac, N. F. 
8eed of the Gomphrena should not be sown until the 
soil is quite warm, which in this locality is not usually 
the case until about the 20th of May. The seeds germi- 
