EXCELSIOR 
S2.50 I*ER X EAR. 
fejlugle iVo. t Eight Cents, 
5 Rnehman 8t., IVetv York, 
82 liulTaiu St, Koclieiter. 
FOR THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, DECEMDER ID, 1871 
[Entered according to Act of Congress, In the year 1871, by D. D. T. Moore, in the office of the Librarian of Congreaa. at Washington.] 
finished, there is a deep * 
ditch at its termination, A\ 
which serves as a fence. M x 
If the piece of ground, is j ||tak 
somewhat isolated from the j GSjA 
otlier bull) ground, there ^—> 3 ^ 
may be a ditch made on ^_ 
two or three sides, and of 
course the soil from Uiese 
helps to raise the surface, . ju 
The first year potatoes are 
planted on this ground, and . 
they grow of wonderful . 
size, willi haulms yards in r _ ~ 
length. They are, of course, 
worthless for eat ing, and arc — " j b 
either sold to the Govern¬ 
ment to feed the poor sol¬ 
diers or given to cattle. The 
bull) soil is manured with 
cow manure every other year, and the manu¬ 
ring is always followed by potatoes, so that a 
crop of bulbs is grown only every alternate 
year. Fresh manure wili ruin the bulbs. 
Three classes of soil are prepared, and for 
different purposes. I brought home with 
me :i Imttle of each variety, which, I hope, 
Mr. Editor, some time to show you. It takes 
at least, three years for a young bulb to be¬ 
come ol flowering nr sala! tie size, and each 
l0ricnlt«r£ 
size and symmetrical form 
to the bight of forty and 
sometimes fifty feet. The 
edges of the grooves run- 
; ' ning perpendicular from top 
V to bottom of the gigantic 
plant are thickly studded 
with long thorns, hard as 
steel and as sharp as a cam- 
■ 2 jfig&|djPHpP brie needle. Not a limb or 
a loaf mars its artistic con- 
f" tour, and were it not for 
P J; . their dark green color and 
4' the corona of crimson flow- 
T- ers at their top, one might 
think them to be the pro- 
ductions of art rather than 
' natural vegetable growth.” 
Wrc are well acquainted 
with this giant of the cac¬ 
tus family, and have often wished that it 
was practicable to introduce it into our 
northern conservatories. But its immense 
size would necessitate a very lofty building 
to allow a full development, and if kept 
dwarfed the natural beauty would be cur¬ 
tailed accordingly.— [Ed. Rural. 
coitamg 
PUTTING UP SI DE PORK. 
Noticing in the Rural New-Yorker of 
Nov. 18th, an Inquiry by W. A. H., for“tho 
best method of putting up side pork so as to 
have sweet pickled meat during summer,” I 
thought I would send you mine, which, al¬ 
though it may not the best, will I think he 
found entirely satisfactory. 
In order to have good meat of any kind it 
is important that the animals from which it 
is taken should have been properly cared for 
and treated. Let the hogs be provided with 
good, warm, dry, clean, comfortable quarters 
and let them he well fattened with some 
kind of grain ; corn is probably the best. No 
method of curing will ever make good pork 
from hogs tlmt have been fattened on beech 
nuts, acorns, butcher's offal, or any such 
articles, or from those that have been con¬ 
fined in dirty, tilihy pens, as too many are. 
After being killed, let the hogs hang three 
or four hours; then split them down the 
back, so that they may cool more readily. 
If the weather is very cold, the surface of the 
hog sometimes becomes frozen in a very 
short time after being bung up, thereby 
closing the pores and stopping evaporation, 
and preventing the escape of the animal heat, 
which being confined in the pork will, in 
some cases, cause it to become tainted in a 
very few hours. Let them remain until per¬ 
fectly cold, then cut them up, making the 
pieces of side pork of a uniform width, for 
convenience in packing. Procure some fine 
and some coarse salt, and a good, sweet, oak 
barrel, which should be well scalded before 
being used. For fine salt, use either the 
“Ashton” or “Syracuse Factory Filled 
Dairy.” The latter is not very expensive 
when purchased by tho barrel, and is much 
The coarse should 
HOLLAND AND HOLLAND BULBS, 
BY JAMES VICK 
Holland was to me the most interesting 
country visited during my recent travels. 
Everything is so netc, so entirely different 
from what I had seen either at home or 
abroad, that J was delighted. Then I saw 
Holland under very favorable circumstances. 
A friend and correspondent, one of the most 
exteusive growers of bulbs in Haarlem, yet 
one whom I had never before seen, met me 
at Rotterdam, and the reception was so in¬ 
genious and so singularly pleasant, that it, 
put me in excellent humor with myself and 
Holland for several days. I did not expect 
to meet any one I know in Rotterdam, and 
felt, as all feel on entering a strange coun¬ 
try, without any knowledge of the language 
spoken. On leaving the boat I noticed a 
gentleman standing on the dock with a piece 
of paper held conspicuously in his hands. 
I had passed him in the crowd and rush for 
the shore, but. as the mass cleared away a 
little, thought I would return and see what 
it meant. You may imagine how surprised 
and pleased I was to observe printed in this 
paper the name of my Haarlem friend. From 
that moment, my first entry into Holland, 
until I left it for Germany, some days after, 
1 had the most considerate attention and the 
best possible opportunity for gaining all the 
information desired. 
Holland, as all know, is exceedingly flat, 
with no natural drainage, and the water is 
pumped out of the country and into the sea 
by windmills. The sea is prevented over¬ 
flowing the low count ries, by dykes, or banks 
of earth. The water seemed to stand gene¬ 
rally within eighteen inches of the surface, 
though in winter it. is allowed to overflow 
the land. The fields are divided by ditches 
of water, ami it seemed to me very strange 
tlmt cattle were kept within desired bonds 
by such a narrow channel. Little portable 
bridges furnish the necessary gates, or means 
of passage from one field to the other. Most 
of the carting is done by boats, and it is no 
strange thing, as you look across the fields 
among the hay makers; to see a sail, ap¬ 
parently springing up fiom the mown grass, 
but really attached to a boat in some broad 
channel or ditch. 
'The soil is a black, peaty muck, somewhat 
freely supplied with sand There are a few 
low hills, having very much tho appearance 
of sand bars, composed almost entirely of 
clean sen sand and shells. 
'I he favorite place for growing Hyacinths, 
Tulips, Crocuses, and the bulbs known ns 
Holland Bulbs, is in ITaarlcm and ils neigh¬ 
borhood. Hyacinth crow in ir. I indrre. is tim 
Figure 4. 
cut scales, but not as large in size as by the 
previous process. (See Fig.4.) This plan gives 
the greatest number, but it takes longer to 
bring them to perfection—usually four years, 
and occasionally longer. Some varieties suc¬ 
ceed best by one process and some by the 
otlier. New sorts are, of course, jvnwn from 
seed, and seedlings bloom tluf fourth year, 
and it takes many years to get up a stock of 
any new variety. 
The soil is so porous that no tool or im¬ 
plement is used in digging, and experienced 
workmen rake the bulbs out of the mellow 
soil with their hands much faster than one 
could count. 
I will some time give your readers inter¬ 
esting facts about growing Cauliflower and 
Water Cresses in Germany. 
Portnlucns. 
There is scarcely any one variety of 
flowers more cultivated as a generality by all 
TLORIOULTURAL NOTES, 
Rook on Floriculture. 
I want a book on Flower Culture. Not 
one that, to follow its directions, I must have 
a green-house, with hot-beds and cold frames 
by the dozen, but one which will give plain 
directions, Hint a poor man can follow. Tell 
me in the good Rural New-Yorker what 
book I want, and the price, and I’ll remit.— 
Ku-Ki.ux. 
One of the very best books of this kind is 
“ Greek’s New Book of Flowers,” price $ 1 . 75 . 
For sale at. this office. 
A Gigantic Mexican Cactus. 
“ There is :i species of Cactus," says a cor¬ 
respondent of the Alta Californian, “crow- 
nicer than common salt 
he solar or rock salt. 
Put a layer of coarse salt on the bottom of 
the barrel sufficient to cover it. Then put 
in a layer of pork, setting the pieces edge¬ 
wise, with the skin side outward, next the 
staves, crowding them in as tightly as possi¬ 
ble. After the layer is completed, fill all the 
spaces between the piece# of pork with fine 
salt, and then cover the meat witli a layer of 
coarse salt. Then put in another layer of 
meat, filling the spaces with the flue salt, 
and covering witii coarse salt, as before; 
and so continue till the barrel is filled, put- 
tiug sufficient coarse salt on the Inst layer to 
entirely cover it. Cover the barrel and let it 
stand about two weeks, then make a brine 
by dissolving some of the tine salt in cold 
water, using all the salt the water will dis¬ 
solve. Pour on sufficient to cover the meat. 
Then put on enough more course salt, so 
that the surface of the salt shall be above 
the surface of the brine. 
When the pork is needed for use, provide 
a small tub or cask, into which put a strong 
brine, and into this put a few pieces of pork 
from the barrel. Always use from these, 
and when they are gone more can be taken 
from the larger barrel. After removing pork 
from the barrel, always see that what re¬ 
mains is covered witli brine; also tlmt there 
is salt enough to cover the brine. If at any 
time there is not enough salt to cover it, 
part of the brine should be dipped out, or 
more salt added. 
I have no rule in regard to the quantity of 
salt to he used. There is no danger of using 
too much, as the meat will only absorb as 
much as it requires and the rest will remain 
in the barrel. There should always be some 
umiissolved salt in the barrel. I forgot to 
state in theproper place that a weight should 
be placed on the meat before the brine 13 
poured on it. 
If your correspondent will follow the 
above directions lie will have no difficulty 
in keeping lu 3 pork sweet. 
Henrietta, N. Y. Wm. Newton. 
Figure l. 
year a different soil is required, so Hie ground 
is prepared to suit one or the other stages of 
growth. The soil for the youngest lias a 
largo proportion of sand, and as I examine 
it now, it seems quite two-thirds sand and 
one-third black muck. The soil for the 
second year’s growth seems about half-and- 
half; and that for the third year oidy about 
one-third sand. 
All who have lmd experience with Hya¬ 
cinths, know that little pointed bulbs are 
formed at the base of the large bulbs. 
Figure a. 
lovers of flowers than the old single portu- 
laca. But it is fast disappearing, and the 
double portulaca is taking its place. This 
is really a gem in the flower garden, and 
seldom is ils true beauty seen, unless grown 
in a mass, where its several colors inter¬ 
mingle. Such neat and really double bloom 
can be truly called miniature roses. But 
there are ninny objections to this genus of 
plants, as its bloom opens only for a short 
time during the middle of 
the day. But this is one of 
^ its best points, for when 
nearly all other flowers 
HK have closed, it is in all of 
its glory. How easily it is 
+ cultivated, and with so lit- 
/ tie care! I could occupy 
more space in its praise, but 
V will refrain, hoping tlmt all 
Avho do not cultivate it will 
give it a trial and admire 
) * ls 1)eailt y-— M - J - m. 
^5wter\J|l Please give the botani* 
VjjAu cal name of the inclosed 
T ' i |j yp plant through your paper 
feauAfiand oblige, H. L. St. Clair, 
. Orleans Co., N. 7. 
Mmmhryantliermm or 
fig-marigold. The particu¬ 
lar species it would be cliffi- 
cult to determine without 
the flowers, but presume 
from the leaves sent it is 
M. spectabile, the flowers of 
which are a deep pink and 
about two inches broad. 
The common ice-plant M. crystallinum also 
belongs to this family. We are glad to re¬ 
ceive plants for name, but like them put in 
such shape that they can be preserved. 
REvans Agt 
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