August 14. 
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION. 
357 
A Piece of Plate, a Silver Cup, given by the Committee, was awarded 
to T. P. Mew, Esq., of Cowes, as being the most successful exhibitor. 
A Piece of Plate, a pair of Silver Salt Cellars, for the best Pen of 
Turkeys, was awarded to Mr. Saunders, of Egypt House, Cowes. 
THE HOUSEHOLD. 
The great use of a public journal is to communicate the 
thoughts and actions not only of individuals, but of commu- | 
nities and people from one to another; and its great aim 
should be that the substance of its communications should 
be such as will conduce to the comfort, the pleasure, . 
or the advantage of all. We are most anxious to bring our 
readers into communication with each other on matters con¬ 
nected with the household, believing that much good and I 
profit may arise from such intercourse. We have already 
furnished some receipts for preserving fruits, and we have 
to-day some from a correspondent on the same subject of a 
very interesting character. On all matters which pertain to i 
the household, we shall be glad to have the experience of : 
our readers, wdio, being so numerous and so widely-distri¬ 
buted, might make this department of our journal a medium : 
for information on these subjects, such as is to be found in 
no other quarter. 
Preserving Fruits. —I shall, at least, give pleasure to 
some of our juvenile readers, if I can persuade their mamas 
that Preserves and Jams are not quite so expensive as they 
are sometimes thought to be. I make mine according to 
rule, and carefully weigh and measure, thereby proving that 
ordinary Jams may be made (irrespective of the cost of fuel 
and labour) at from 3d. to 4jd. per lb., which, used in mode¬ 
ration, are cheaper than butter. Two years since, I made a 
Jam, thus—121b. Red Currants, 4 lb. ditto Raspberries, 10 lb. 
Loaf Sugar; boiling it tliree-quarters-of-an-hour (by-the-by, 
fifteen minutes too long) with a loss of 1 lb. on the whole 
quantity, purchasing fruit at the then current Hath prices 
—the cost of which Jam was 3|d. per lb. I have this 
year preserved a bushel of unripe Gooseberries without 
sugar, thus,—the fruit of the Cockspur kind carefully picked i 
and placed in ordinary quart bottles, without water; the 
bottles suspended, uncorked, by twine and sticks, in a boiler of i 
cold water—the water reaching to the bottom of the necks 
of the bottles, the fire gently brought on until the water , 
is just below boiling point, and kept at this heat one hour; j 
the bottles then filled with water which has been boiling 
some time in another vessel; corked and sealed with wax 
while hot; laid on their sides; to be turned daily for a few 
weeks, then once a w r eek for a time, and then once a month, 
until used. Thus, at l£d. per quart (purchasing Goose- , 
berries by the bushel, and irrespective of fuel and labom-,) ! 
may gooseberries for pies and puddings be had throughout 
the winter, when fruit is so much desired and needed by 
adults as well as children. I have Gooseberries in house 
now thus preserved about three years since, some of which 
lot, when eaten last winter, were said by my friends to be as 
good in flavour as if but just picked from the trees. Cherries 
T have had, similarly preserved, three or four years. Ido not 
mention other things, such as Green Peas, lest they should 
prove only “ may he’s "—the above are “has beens.” I pro¬ 
pose, however, trying this season to preserve Scarlet Runners, j 
Jfcc., ’in the same way; and if it succeeds, it will only be I 
necessary to place the bottles or jars containing them in 
cold water, bring it to the boiling point, and they are 
cooked fit for table—J. W. C. W., Nightingale Cottage, 
Bath. 
THE GOOSEBERRY CATERPILLAR. 
Several letters having lately appeared in different 
horticultural periodicals, recommending various modes of 
destroying this devastating scourge, but none having had 
exactly the desired effect, I would suggest, with the fullest 
confidence in its success, the following receipt, which I can 
vouch to be an infallible remedy, having applied it for thirty 
years, and never known it fail. 
Make a strong decoction of Digitalis (Foxglove), and 
syringe the leaves of the tree affected with a common Mac 
Dougal's syringe, or a watering can; the former is prefer¬ 
able, particularly if an inverted one, so that the liquid may 
get under the leaves, as then there will be less chance of 
the rain washing it off. A dry day must, of course, be 
chosen for the application, and in two days after the grub will 
be found destroyed, the fruit remaining perfectly uninjured. 
The decoction is made by roughly gathering the Foxgloves, 
leaves and flowers, indiscriminately, and boiling them about 
a-quarter of an hour in water. One dressing suffices for the 
year.— Richard Underhill, Edgbaston, Birmingham. 
DERIVATION OF NEMOPHILA. 
I relieve that your correspondents have been severally 
both right and wrong with regard to the orthography and j 
derivation of Nemophila. 
Looking only to the laws of language, I should be inclined 
to adopt the form “ Nemophyllum.” 
There is, it is true, the Greek word vegos (nemos), but it 
does not signify “a grove,” or “wood;” but rather, like 
Virgil’s “ saltus,” a “ woodland pasture " or “forest-glade,” 
in which cattle-feed. It occurs in Homer’s Iliad, XI., 480. 
The most serious objection to the common derivation (if, 
at least, botanists entertain, as they do not always, a due 
respect for the laws of language) is this, that “ Nemophila” 
would not signify “loving a glade;” but “beloved by a 
glade.” That is, if “ philos ” in Greek is transitive, it is 
placed at the beginning ; if passive, at the end of a word. A 
“ lover of the Gods,” for instance, is “ Philotheus," a “ fa¬ 
vourite of the Gods,” Theopliilus, or, “ Theophiles.” 
While on this subject, I will notice a sad travestie of the 
original in a late number of The Cottage Gardener. 
Here it is, literally transcribed, punctuation and all : — 
“ Principiis obsta sero medicina paratur; 
Per longas morbi quando crevere moras.” 
Instead of 
“ Quum mala per longas convaluere moras.” 
“ Quando ” is next door to a false quantity; “ crevere ” a 
gross one. 
Such blunders may, certainly, plead the high authority of 
Lord Lyndhurst, who (receiving thereon a due meed of 
parliamentary applause) made Virgil speak thus of Fame— 
“ Ingrediturque solo, et caput in set here condit.” 
Truly the Iron Duke was not far wrong when he advised 
a young nobleman not to quote Latin.— Robert Blackburn, 
Selham Rectory. 
[We do not remember the quotation. Will our corre¬ 
spondent oblige us by naming the page ? Ed.—C. G.] 
VINEGAR-MAKING ANIMAL. 
I copy the following remarks from a book recently 
published, entitled a The Chinese Empire, by M. Hue," they 
may serve to throw’ some light on similar subjects which 
have been already introduced into The Cottage Gardener. 
The first relates to the Vinegar Animal. The writer, whilst 
staying at one of his lodgings in the province of Kiang-si, 
enquired if they had any vinegar; “ I have some,” replied the 
landlord, “but I am afraid you will not like it, it is the 
Polypus vinegar, made by the animal itself.” “ Polypus 
vinegar! oh, we are acquainted with that; it is the best 
vinegar that can be got. But how’ does it happen that you 
possess such a treasure as a tsou-no-dze (vinegar Polypus)? 
Were you ever on the cost of Leao-tong ? ” “ Yes; some years 
ago, I was sent on an expedition into that country, and I 
brought back a tsou-no-dze with me.” This tsou-no-dze is a 
creature that, on account* of its extraordinary property of 
making excellent vinegar, merits particular mention. It is 
a monstrous assemblage of fleshy and glutinous membranes, 
tubes, and shapeless appendages, that give it a very ugly 
and repulsive appearance; you would take it for an inert, 
dead mass; but when touched it contracts and dilates and 
assumes various forms. It is an animal w'hose structure and 
character are not better known than that of the other 
Polypi. This tsou-no-dze is found in the Yellow Sea, and 
the Chinese fish for it on the coasts of Leao-tong, but 
