G64 
March 7, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
The Coming of the Seed Catalogues. 
“I’m not going to have much of a 
garden this year.” 
“You are not?” This last with sur¬ 
prise and some dismay. 
"No, I am not.” At the note of de¬ 
cision in these words the husbandman 
looked alarmed—and with reason. That 
I should thus deliver myself—most en¬ 
thusiastic and indefatigable of gardeners 
—was indeed alarming, even to myself. 
for two Christmases now the sewing into 
little bags of the Summer’s crop of laven¬ 
der flowers has been among the most en¬ 
joyable of my holiday preparations, while 
the friends who received them were de¬ 
lighted with the old-fashioned fragrance. 
This trying of new things we find 
adds immeasurably to the interest and 
enjoyment of our work. The ability to 
wonder, to have in our daily lives an 
eager interest in something that is new 
In more senses than one, what would we * u ^ lem > though a special prerogative of 
do for a living? For besides being the yollth ’ is not impossible to any of us : 
mainstay of our table, the garden work 
was a recreation too, and sometimes a 
door of escape that I could hardly afford 
to have closed. 
“Oh, you’ll feel better about it before 
long,” was the hopeful suggestion finally. 
But I thought not. The last Summer 
and is an invaluable help in lightening 
the burdens and brightening the aspect 
of those same daily lives. H. B. T. 
Pot-pourri for Rose Jar. 
Can you give me a recipe for making 
an old-fashioned rose jar? In these days 
had been a hard one, and I had over- awakened interest in gardens, I note 
done the gardening. It was too much— tdso a rctital find the disposition to pre- 
.,•* 1 . 4 -u v. , ., , serve the sweet odors. a. b. p. 
with the housework, the little children 
and all—I couldn’t afford to wear my- The follo ' viu g directions were given by 
self out in that way another Summer. an Gl ' egou correspondent last year: 
Thus I reasoned gloomily. And here it Gather the petals in the morning after 
was January, whose forward looking face bas diied the dew; for rose 
had hitherto been the one it turned to petnls absorb rahl au<1 dew like so 
us and in other years with the garden many silken sponges. Pull the petals 
zest awakening fresh and ready for the from tbe calyx and scatter them over 
Spring. And here was I remembering a piece of tbiu cheesecloth or mosquito 
chiefly the weariness of the Summer ncd * ba ^ bas been tacked to a frame so 
that was past, and shrinking from all ifc hangs loose,y - Suspend the frame on 
thought of a garden. Even the appear- a porch or in a dry room - wher ® tbe air 
ance of the seed catalogues—usually re- cau roa<b * be petals from all sides. If 
ceived with acclamations and accorded 
the place of honor in the living room— 
aroused no interest. It looked as though 
there would not be, this year, that de¬ 
lightful evening with paper, pencil and 
“list.” You know the sort of evening- 
you wish to get best results do not let the 
sun get to them. Keep spread out as 
much as possible and stir quite often. 
When the petals curl they are dry. The 
next step is to “salt down” the petals. 
Get the driest salt you can. Bay salt is 
no matter if you order identically the besd and Liverpool table-salt next, but 
same things one year as the year before ^ these are not convenient, dry the best 
and the year before that, you do it with table-salt jou have in the oven, roll 
the same eager study and comparison of 01 grind bue and put * n a coarse 
the new varieties and the old, the same sbaber * a * ayer petals in a glass 
earnest “Would you get two packets of ° r candy jar or a covered stone 
this?” and “Won’t we need another pint jar and sprinkle ^ uite Orally with the 
of that?” Just as when we greet the sa ^> au °ther layer of petals and more 
blossoming of the apple trees it is with salt ’ keep adding layers of petals as 
ever fresh wonder, as though the same you dry tbem and tbe salt. The salt is 
thing did not occur every Spring of our to absorb any moisture wbicb ma y 
li ves have been dried out. Stir the mass well 
One day we received the catalogue aach time before adding more petals 
which had always been the one at my old ™ be pebaks aft® 1 ’ a week or so in the salt, 
home. I had not seen it for several niay be baken Bom ^ be J' ar ’ * be l°° se salt 
years, and it brought to mind now the Wel1 sbaken out and bo used to fiU rose 
little flower-gardens of many Summers pillows or may be P acked in a permanent 
and, above all, my very first one. I can rose jar and kept covered for a month or 
see it yet, a narrow strip by the front more ’ then ’ wben tbe lid is removed ’ ifc 
fence of a city yard. Phlox, Petunias, wiU emit a delicate ros e perfume. But 
candytuft, sweet Alyssum-these were lf you wisb to raake Potpourri, the pre- 
the flowers my mother planted in that P aratl ons are somewhat more elaborate 
little garden for me, and though they Besides tbe petals of tbe rose s, dry pinks 
are not my favorites to-day, by any caraatl ons, leaves of rose geranium, lem- 
rneans, there is about them, even ‘in the on verbeua ’ rosemary, lavender, in fact 
very sound of their names, an indescrib- any 8picy or sw eet-smelling plant that 
able charm, the magic that lingers about retains its fragra ? ce wbea dried. The 
the memory of so many “first” things, ordinary potpourri smells too strongly 
Perhaps there is some of that same magic of spices ’ 80 bave . a care as to bow you 
in the old-time catalogue, dressed in use tbom ’ Po s * x Q uar ts of the dried 
modern fashion though it is—the “odor¬ 
ous” echo of a score of dead Summers” 
evoked by the familiar name of it. At 
any rate, something stirred in me and 
wakened at the touch, the doubts and 
petals and leaves use one-fourth of an 
ounce each of mace, cloves, cinnamon 
and allspice ground very coarse, so the 
oil will not all evaporate so quickly. To 
these add one ounce each of gum benzoin 
fears which had been clouding my hori- pounded coarse and of orris root chipped > 
zon vanished as by magic, and there a Ilttle dried and P ulverize d orange and 
was, after all, that annual event, the lemon pee1 ’ a]so some sandalwood saw¬ 
evening when we made out our seed 
order! 
“When Winter seems most like to Death, 
So cold it is, so still and bare, 
There comes under the skv a breath, 
w;.. *-.. i-.c _ _ 
dust, if you can get it, and some pow¬ 
dered gum myrrh. Mix all these ingre¬ 
dients well and the mass is ready to be 
packed into the rose jar. In the bottom 
of the jar put a few drops of oil of roses 
Winter grows wistful, life grows fair: and a grain of musk and shake well, then 
pack in and press down the fragrant mix¬ 
ture. About every four inches pour in 
some of the best bay rum, scented with 
wild orange, just enough to moisten the 
mass a little but not wet it. When you 
can crowd no more into the jar cover 
A perfume from the quickening earth, 
A balmy waft in snowy air, 
A thought, a hope of greening birth. 
New life—and Spring is there!” 
Apropos of the “greening birth” it 
might be well to remark here, that the 
next Summer’s garden was the best we 
have ever had, though * probably the closely and leave for tbree montbs witb ‘ 
smallest in amount of space included. out opemng ’ 80 the Perfumes may blend 
By being planted more judiciously, with and work upon c ‘ acb otbor ‘ . 
less at one time but with greater regard * 0010 dneetions advise salting the pet- 
for an unbroken succession through the als as 80011 as tbey are gatbered > without 
season of vegetables that we knew we the prehmmary drying ’ bllt tbis bas ab 
ways caused molding in our experience. 
The quantity and variety of spices may 
be varied to suit personal taste. 
should want to use constantly, the garden 
reached a high degree of efficiency with 
a minimum of time and strength be¬ 
stowed upon it. - 
In spite of the necessity for economy We have not wings, we can not soar; 
in these ways, one of our gardening rules But we have feet to scale and climb 
is to try every year in both the vegetable By slow degrees, by more and more, 
and flower gardens at least one thing The cloudy summits of our time, 
that is new to us. Last year it was The heights by great men reached and kept 
English marrow in jdace of our usual Were not attained by sudden flight, 
Summer squash, and Japanese Iris, and But they, while their companions slept, 
in both cases we were paid a high rate of Were toiling upward in the night, 
interest. One year it was lavender, and . —Longfellow. 
Buy it by the box of 
twenty 5 cent packages 
for 85 cents—at 
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Lg o4 
Farmers’ 
wives and city 
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Chew it after 
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It’s the 
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ideal to have in the 
house for family or 
friends. It stays fresh until 
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