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To Pack Fruit

be allc wed even to touch one another, but should be laid quite single and distinct. Apples, and all ordinary pears, should be laid thin; never tier above tier. Free air should be admitted to the fruitroom always in good weather, for several hours every day; and in damp weather a fire should be kept in it. Be careful at all times to exclude frost from the fruit, and occasionally to turn it when very mellow.

To preserve Fruits or Flowers.

Mix one pound of nitre with two pounds of sal ammoniac and three pounds of clean common sand. In dry weather take fruit of any sort not fully ripe, allowing the stalks to remain, and put them one by one into an open glass, till it is quite full; cover the glass with oiled cloth, closely tied down; put the glass three or four inches into the earth in a dry cellar, and surround it on all sides, to the depth of three or four inches, with the above mixture. This method will preserve the fruit quite fresh all the year round.

To preserve Walnuts.

Walnuts for keeping should be suffered to drop of themselves, and afterwards laid in an open airy place till thoroughly dried; then pack them in jars, boxes or casks, with fine clean sand that has been well dried in the sun, in an oven, or before the fire, in layers of sand and walnuts alternately; set them in a dry place, but not where it is too hot. In this manner they have been kept good till the latter end of April. Before sending them to table wipe the sand clean off: and if they have become shrivelled, steep them in milk and water for six or eight hours before they are used; this will make them plump and fine, and cause them to peel easily.

To preserve Chestnuts and Filberts.

The chestnut is to be treated like the walnut after the husk is removed, which in the chestnut opens of itself. Chestnuts and walnuts may be preserved during the whole winter by covering them with earth, as cottagers do potatoes.

Filberts may always be gathered by hand, and should afterwards be treated as the walnut. Nuts intended for keeping should be packed in jars or boxes of dry sand.

To preserve Medlars and Quinces.

The medlar is not good till rotten ripe. It is generally gathered in the beginning of November, and placed between two layers of straw to forward its maturation. Others put medlars in a box on a three-inch layer of fresh bran, moistened well with soft warm water; then strew a layer of straw between them, and cover with fruit two inches thick, which moisten also, but not so wet as before. In a week or ten days after this operation they will be fit for use.

Quinces are gathered in November, when they are generally ripe. After sweating in a heap for a few days, they are to be wiped dry and placed on the fruit-shelf, at some distance from each other.

To pack Fruit for Carriage.

If fruit is to be sent to any considerable distance, great care should be taken in packing it. It should not be done in baskets, as they are liable to be bruised among heavy luggage, and the fruit of course will be impaired. Forsyth, therefore, recommends boxes made of strong deal, of different sizes, according to the quantity of fruit to be packed. The following are the dimensions of the boxes in which fruit used to be sent by the coach to Windsor and Weymouth, for the use of the royal family:

The larger box is two feet long, fourteen inches broad, and the same in depth. The smaller box is one foot, nine inches long, one foot broad, and the same in depth. These boxes are made of inch deal, and well secured with three iron clamps at each corner; they have two small iron handles, one at each end, by which they are fastened to the roof of the coach. In these boxes are sent melons, cherries, currants, pears, peaches, nectarines, plums and grapes; they are first wrapped in pine leaves, and then in paper. The cherries and currants are first packed in a flat tin box one foot four inches long, ten inches broad and four deep.

In packing, proceed thus: First put a layer of fine, long, dry moss in the bottom of the tin box, then a layer of currants or cherries, then another layer of moss, and so on alternately fruit and moss until the box is so full that when the lid is hasped down the fruit may be so finely packed as to preserve them from friction. Then make a layer of fine moss and short, soft, dry grass, well mixed, in the bottom of the deal box; pack in the melons with some of the same, tight in between all the rows, and also between the melons in the same row, till the layer is finished, choosing the fruit as nearly of a size as possible, filling up every interstice with the moss and grass. When the melons are packed, put a thin layer of moss and grass over them, upon which place the tin box with the currants, packing it firmly all round with moss to prevent it from shaking; then put a thin layer of moss over the box and pack the pears firmly (but so as not to bruise them) on that layer in the same manner as the melons, and so on with the peaches, nectarines, plums, and lastly the grapes, filling up the box with moss, that the lid may shut down so tight as to prevent any friction among the fruit. The boxes should have locks and two keys, which may serve for them all, each of the persons who pack and unpack the fruit having a key. The moss and grass should always be returned in the boxes, which, with a little addition, will serve the whole season, being shaken up and well aired after each journey, and keeping it sweet and clean. After the wooden box is locked cord it firmly.

If fruit be packed according to the above directions, it may be sent to great distances by coaches or wagons with perfect safety.

Other Methods of Packing Fruit.

Fruits of the most delicate sorts are sent from Spain and Italy to England, packed in jars with saw-dust from woods not resinous or otherwise ill tasted. One large branch of grapes is suspended from a twig or pin laid across the mouth of the jar, so that it may not touch either the bottom or sides; saw-dust or bran is then strewed in, and when full the jar is well shaken to cause it to settle; more is then added till it is quite full, when the supporting twig is taken away, and the earthen cover of the jar closely fitted and sealed, generally with fine stucco. In the same way grapes may be sent from the remotest part of Scotland or Ireland to the metropolis. When the distance is less they may be sent enveloped in fine paper and packed in mess.

The simplest mode for short distances is to wrap each bunch in fine, soft paper, and lay them on a bed of moss in a broad, flat basket with a proper cover.

Cherries and plums may be packed in thin layers, with paper and moss between each. Peaches, apricots, and the finer plums may each be wrapped separately in vine or other leaves, or fine paper, and packed in abundance of cotton, flax, fine moss, or dried short grass. Moss is ap to communicate its flavor to fine fruits, and so is short grass, if not thoroughly dried and sweetened. Cotton best preserves the bloom on peaches and plums.

To preserve Grapes.

Where there are several bunches in one branch, it may be cut off, leaving about six inches in length or more of the wood, according to the distance between the bunches, and a little on the outside of the fruit at each end; seal both ends with common bottle wax, then hang them across a line in a dry room, taking care to clip out with a pair of scissors any of the berries that begin to decay or become mouldy, which, if left, would taint the others. In this way grapes may be kept till February, but if cut before the bunches are too ripe, they may be kept much longer.

Grapes may be kept by packing them in jars (every bunch being first wrapped up in soft paper ), and covering every layer with bran well dried, laying a little of it in the bottom of the jar, then a layer of grapes, and so on, a layer of bran and of grapes alternately till the jar is filled; then shake it gently and fill it to the top with bran, laying some paper over it and covering the top with a bladder tied firmly on to exclude the air; then put on the top or cover of the jar, observing that it fits close. These jars should be placed in a room where a fire can be kept in wet, damp weather.

French Method of Preserving Grapes.

Take a cask or barrel inaccessible to the external air, and put into it a layer of bran dried in an oven, or of ashes well dried and sifted. Upon this place a layer of bunches of grapes , well cleaned, and gathered in the afternoon of a dry day, before they are perfectly ripe. Proceed thus with alternate layers of bran and grapes till the barrel is full, taking care that the grapes do not touch each other, and to let the last layer be of bran; then close the barrel, so that the air may not be able to penetrate , which is an essential point. Grapes thus packed will keep nine or even twelve months. To restore them to their freshness, cut the end of the stalk of each bunch of grapes and put that of white grapes into white wine and that of black grapes into red wine, as flowers are put into water to revive or to keep them fresh.

To pack Young Trees for Exportation.

The long, white moss of the marshes, sphagnum palustre, may be applied for this purpose.

Squeeze one part of the moisture from the moss, and lay courses of it about three inches thick, inwith other courses of the trees, shortened in their branches and roots, stratum above stratum, till the box is filled; then let the whole be trodden down and the lid properly secured.

The trees will want no care even during a voyage of ten or twelve months, the moss being retentive of moisture, and appearing to possess an antiseptic property which prevents fermentation or putrefaction. Vegetation will proceed during the time the trees remain inclosed, shoots arising both from the branches and roots, which, however, are blanched and tender, for want of light aud air, to which the trees require to be gradually inured.

This moss is very common in most parts of Europe and America rope and America.

How to dry Sweet Corn.

When the corn is in good condition for eating, the grains being fully grown, boil a quantity of ears just enough to cook the starch, and then let them dry a few hours, and then shell or cut off the grains and spread them in the sun till dried.

The best way to dry the corn is to nail a piece of cloth of very open texture on a frame, which, if two feet wide and five long, will be of a convenient size to handle. If the corn is spread thinly upon this cloth it will dry quickly without souring. It should be covered with a mosquito netting to keep off the flies. Another person gives the following directions for drying sweet corn:

As soon as the corn is fit for the table, husk and spread the ears in an open oven or some quicklydrying place. When the grains loosen shell the corn, or shell as soon as you can; then spread upon a cloth to dry in the sun, or on paper in a warm oven; stir often, that it may dry quickly, and not overheat. It more resembles the undried by its being whole, is sweeter and retains more of its natural flavor by drying faster. When wholly dried expose it to the wind by turning it slowly from dish to dish; the wind blows off all the troublesome white chaff. Flower Gardening. garden. It should be done once a year, and better in spring (April) than not at all. Lay on four inches deep of well-rotted manure, and dig it in at once. During the summer the earth will need but in May it should always be thoroughly dug now and then to be stirred with a hoe or rake; over with a spade, avoiding of course the plants in the bed. In May transplanting, setting of bulbs, or bedding plants and sowing seeds may be done.

Autumn is the best time to manure a flower morning; letting the sun kill the weeds that are pulled up.

Weeding can be best done by hand, early in the Never water, unless the soil evidently requires it. Clayey soils seldom need it; loose and sandy more often. Use always a watering-pot, with a rose, to sprinkle gently, without pouring or dashin a ing. Rain-water is the best; it may be collected hogshead from a roof-spout. Very cold water should never be used for flowers; better too warm than too cold.

Shade-trees spoil a garden, but it should be protected from a strong wind.

Shrubbery.

To plant shrubs, dig for each a hole two or three feet in diameter; fill with rich loam; set the shrub or small tree in the middle, and tread it firm. If flower-pot near the root and fill it with water to it droop, syringe or sprinkle it at night, or set a soak down. ity of shape or to remove dead parts.

Prune shrubs only to avoid too great irregular- For the winter, tender plants require to be tied covering should be taken off in April. up in cedar boughs or straw, in November. The Berry, Flowering Acacia, Flowering Almond, Li- Favorite shrubs are the following: the June lacs lacs, Laburnum, Siberia Tree-pea, Tree Pæonies, Magnolias, Azaleas, Fringe Tree, Althea, Tartanica, Cranberry Tree. rean Honeysuckle, Spiræas, Syringa, Pyrus Japo- Climbers, which are both hardy and ornamental, ginia Creeper, Clematis, Glycene, and the Honeyare the Trumpet-flower (Bignonia radicans) Virsuckles, Coral, Evergreen, etc.; and the climbing roses, as the Baltimore Belle, Queen of the Prairie, Superba, and Greville Rose.

Rhododendrons are highly ornamental when and the evergreen Ledum. they thrive. So is the Kalmia, or common laurel, Roses.

These require a rich, well-mixed soil, in pots or