THE COTTAGE GARDEN EB AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Athil 21, 18G0. 
G1 
kind i# laid. One flitch is then laid on this as level as it 
well can be, with its fleshy side uppermost, a little salt- 
lic.te is then sprinkled over it and afterwards salt, giving 
rnost to the thick parts, as the ham and shoulder. The 
cheeks are then placed on the belly and served the same, 
and they make the place level for the next flitch, which 
H !a, ' d ll Poa and salted as above; and, last of all, as 
i # * -* uuu* j uuu; idol) Ul clllj as 
mtlcli salt is stuffed under the skin of each leg as it will 
hold easily, and the ends of the cloth being folded over 
the whole, with any other old clean things to keep the 
away irom it. Nothing more is done until ten or 
air 
twelve days, when it is uncovered and the top 
taken ofl and put at the bottom, and a little more 
gii on and covered up. It may remain ten or twelve days 
more ; a large pig requiring nearly a month. They are 
then brought out and a piece of paper being wrapped 
round each shank end, a strong wooden skewer is forced 
through,to which a strong string is tied,and the flitches arc 
hung up by both legs to the ceiling of the kitchen, their 
faces pointing to the fire, a smaller string is also fastened 
to the thin part of the belly ; but this is generally tied 
backwards to keep this part straight, as tying it up seems 
to stretch the part to an inconvenient length. After 
hanging until they are dry, which may be two months, 
more or less, they are then coated over with a thick batter 
composed of flower aud water to prevent the bacon rusting 
in summer; and sometimes it is in summer time carried 
and hung up in some dry, cool loft, where it is as much 
in the dark as possible. Sometimes, however, it is packed 
away in chaff, the best being the husk or shell of Oats 
that are made into oatmeal; but, in a general way, it is 
kept hanging up till wanted. If the pigs be well fed, the 
bacon cured this way is excellent. The quantity of salt 
used in the curing being about one pound to sixteen or 
twenty of bacon. Sugar or spice are seldom used. It is 
rarely, indeed, one hears of any badly managed. It is 
proper to observe, that the pigs are scalded, not by being 
put into a tub of hot water, but by having the water 
poured over them, the carcase lying on a bed of straw. 
Burning the hair would, doubtless, answer as well, but 
Some explanation has been offered on this remarkable subject} 
all, however, that can be said is, we have a few facts, but cannot 
yet understand even the simplest of them.— Timbs' Year-Book 
of Facts, 1859. 
^Beche-de-mer, or Trepang, an article of luxury among the 
Cninese, consisting of the dried bodies of several species of Solo- 
thuria , or Sea Cucumber, which are found in great abundance in 
the shallow waters of lagoons, and on reefs, from the south¬ 
eastern coasts of Asia to New Holland. The traffic in Beche- 
de-mer is very extensive, and the Malays catch the animals, and 
prepare them in large quantities for the Chinese market. They 
flitch ;q i “ re usual, y about eight or nine inches long, but some are two 
, feet in length, and seven or eight inches in girth- They are often 
salt found nearly buried in the coral sand, their feathered tentacula 
alone floating above it. The larger ones are sometimes speared 
in shallow water; but most of them are taken by divers in 
depths of from threo to five futhoms. An expert diver will bring 
up eight or ten at a time. They are split down ono side, boiled, 
pressed flat with stonep, dried in the sun, and afterwards in 
smoke, and packed in bags, in which state they are bought by 
the Chinese, and conveyed in junks to China. Fleets of Malay 
proas are employed in the search for this curious production of 
the sea. Macassar is the great staple-place of the trade, and 
from it above 8000 ewt. of Beche-de-mer are annually sent to 
China, the price varying, according to the kind anil quality, 
from thirty shillings to twenty guineas per cwt. There is also a 
considerable export of Beche-de-mer from Manilla. Beche-de- 
mer is extremoly gelatinous, and is very much used by the 
Chinese as an ingredient in rich soups.— Chambers's Fncyclopccdia. 
smoking ought to be strictly prohibited. 
(To be continued.) 
J. Robson. 
VARIETIES. 
Phenomena op Gemmation. —Professor Huxley has read to 
the Royal Institution a paper giving a detail of the circumstances 
which have more particularly drawn the attention of naturalists 
to the aphides, or plant lice. Between the years 1710 and 1750, 
Bonnet, soling upon a suggestion of Reaumur, isolated an aphis 
immediately alter its birth, “and proved to demonstration that 
not only was it capable of spontaneously bringing forth nume¬ 
rous living young, but that these and their descendants to the 
ninth generation preserved a similar faculty.” Ample testimony 
has since been borne by others to the accuiacy of these obser¬ 
vations ; indeed, it has been shown, “ that under favourable 
conditions of temperature and food, there is practically no limit 
to this power of asexual multiplication, or, as it has been con¬ 
veniently termed, ‘ agamogenesis.’ The aphides thus produced 
are either winged or wingless, and are both viviparous and 
oviparous. The only organic operation with which this mode of 
development can be compared is the process of "budding or gem¬ 
mation, as it takes place in the vegetable kingdom, in the lower 
forms' of animal life, and in the process of formation of the limbs 
and other organs of the higher animals: and the parallel is com¬ 
plete if such a plant as the bulbiferous Lily or the Marcliantia, 
or such an animal as the Hydra, is made the term of comparison.” 
These agamogenetic phenomena were long supposed to be iso¬ 
lated; but numerous cases of a like, and some even more remark¬ 
able, character, aro now known. Among these may be cited the 
circumstances attending the production of the drones of bees, as 
described by Yon Siebold in his work on True Parthenogenesis; 
and attention was also directed to the Coelebogi/ne ilicifolia, the 
male flowers of which have never been seen, and yet for the last 
twenty years it has produced its annual crop of fertile seeds in 
Kew Gardens. Agamogenesis has also bien found to pass by 
insensible gradations into the commonest phenomena of life, 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Botanical Labels (A. /?.).—These, printed only on one side, may bo 
had of Mr. Pamplin, Frith Street, Soho, London. 
Berberis Asiatica—Privet (B. 7 V. B.).— The Bcrberis Asiatica is a 
fast-growing hedge plant of great merit; but it is no more of an orna¬ 
mental character, when used as a hedge, than common Quick. We do not 
know where it is on sale, nor the price. The evergreen Privet is very 
nearly bare now in many places, and generally loses many of its leaves 
every spring. 
Planting Tom TnuMB Nasturtium — Tiiop.eoi.um eleoans (A Sub¬ 
scriber). —Plant Tom 2'humb Nasturtiums twelve inches apart, and plants 
of Tropceolum elegans fifteen or eighteen inches. Neither of them will do 
well under shade. 
SrERGULA PILIFERA {Mrs. S. C. IF.).—Spergula roots very deep, hut 
does not exhaust the soil one-tenth part so much as common Daisies 
would. There is no waterproof shading for plant-houses or pits, or any¬ 
thing more lasting than Frigi Domo. 
Indian Corn {A Very Old Subscriber).—Indian Corn, or Maize, is best 
sown in a gentle hotted during March, and the seedlings planted out at 
the end of May. You might try the plan now, but success is doubtful. 
Sweet-Briar Stocks for Boses (Amateur). —Boses will bud on the 
Sweet Briar as fast as on the Manetti stock, and it is as good as this for a 
temporary expedient, hut most Boses soon die |on both, and there is the 
field Bose of our own banks, which is every whit as bad a stock for 
permanency. But if you are in need of stocks, you can use all the 
three, or any one of them, and work on them very low, and in trans¬ 
planting bury the worked parts. Then the budded Boses will soon root 
there, and be on their own roots at last, as all dwarf Roses ought to be. 
Piftanthus Nepalensis (J. Cross ling), —It is a hardy deciduous shrub. 
Harden oil the seedlings, and then plant them out. 
Variegated Mint ( Carrig Cat hoi). —Your specimen was the Variegated 
Mint, and it will grow' in time, and in good soil, two feet high—say alter 
two years’ growth. The way of propagating the Pampas Grass which you 
mention, we do not think will succeed. 
Flower-stand and Fountain (Aquarium). —We saw specimens for 
sale in the Oxford Street Bazaar, but do not know the price. 
Pygmy Greenhouse (A Lincolnshire Amateur). —We should be very 
glad to assist you ; hut so far as we understand your plan your greenhouse 
would be just a large handlight, three feet square, with half of the sides of 
glass and the lower half wood, a square of that glass being moveable to 
admit moving and attending to the plants inside; the roof to he fixed, wo 
presume, and slightly hipped, so as to have the ventilator in the angle 
between the sides and the apex of the roof. For such a small concern we 
would sooner have the top moveable entire. Such a glass case for tender 
things would be better in a room close to a window than out of doors. 
The Waltonian Case that Mr. Beaton gave an article on the other week 
would suit your purpose in this respect admirably; but then it would not 
be your own, and that might take away a good deal of the pleasure. We 
have no faith in a lamp put inside, if there is no funnel for the smoke and 
gases to escape. We would greatly prefer an earthenware bottle of hot 
water. To make such a thing very nice you should have a double floor 
for your miniature house, and then you could have a drawer to slip in and 
out in your wooden side, that drawer being waterproof—say three or four 
inches deep. Tile upper floor might be galvanised iron, with a few holes 
in it stopped with pegs. When these were pulled out the drainage would 
pass into the drawer and he removed at pleasure. When you wanted a 
dry heat, fill your drawer about half full with boiling water, and leave the 
pegs in. When you want a moist heat, use water about 160°, and have 
the holes open, or keep them shut and sprinkle the floor. For indoors a 
piece of. cloth of any sort might be put over it at night. For out of doors 
the covering should he waterproofed outside, and warm woollen cloths 
inside. The temperature should range from 35° to 15°. To forward things 
in spring you must have from 10° to 15° more. 
