DOWNING says that "fine fruit is the most perfect union of the useful and beautiful, that earth knows." It is alike the luxury of prince and peasant-of the President and the pathmaster. If we include pumpkins and watermelons, it is the cheapest kind of food. Nothing is more wholesome than well ripened fruit, in moderate quantities. Many words, however, are not wanted, to convince any one of the excellence or deliciousness of fruit, if we can only present him a dish of apricots, or a quart of strawberries and cream. ECONOMY OF FRUIT.-Every manwho keeps a good || supply of stewing and baking apples, of his own raising, saves a great many hard dollars yearly, otherwise to be paid to the miller or butcher. Or, if he raises his own meat and grain, an equal amount is thus reserved for market. Then, what a valuable addition to the comfort, variety, and luxury of the table! By the first of summer, the thick trusses of strawberries begin to redden in the sun; and half a dozen quarts of this melting crimson fruit may be had each day for the table, from as many half-rod beds. Cherries, currants, and rasp. berries, continue through the first half of summer, followed by early, juicy apples; rich, bloom-dusted plums; golden, perfumed apricots; and buttery and melting pears. Now, we do not say, as some most mistakenly remark, that this fine and delicious supply costs nothing after the trees are planted; for good fruit cannot be relied on, unless the ground is well cultivated and manured. But it does not cost half so much to cultivate an acre of fruit, as an acre of potatoes or corn; while the amount obtained is greater than either; and all ready for the table, without going through the process which the grain crop requires, of threshing, and winnowing, and grinding, and kneading, and baking. By planting rich, high-flavored apples, for stewing and 66 for pies, instead of poor and insipid ones, each family may save fifty or a hundred, or two hundred pounds of sugar annually, in sweetening and spices. A friend of ours finds cheaper to buy good fall pippins for fifty cents a bushel, than poor sorts sold as cooking ap ples," for fifteen cents a bushel. He uses the Talman Sweetings largely, for baking and for puddings, and thinks that an Indian apple pudding, made by this natural sweetening, the cheapest and best pudding in the world. He estimates that he saves from $75 to $100 annually in the cost of his table, by his fruit. FRUIT FOR MARKET.-The man who wishes to make a business of marketing fruit, and obtain a regular yearly income, must plant many kinds. Some kinds will succeed best this year, and others next. An acquaintance in western New-York sold, in 1849, twentyfive hundred dollars worth of peaches from about 12 acres. Fruit was scarce that year, and peaches sold at a high price. A large cultivator of the grape, on the Hudson, sells sometimes $5000 or $6000 worth of grapes. Richard J. Hand, of Monroe co., N. Y., sold in 1845, $440 worth of Northern Spy and Roxbury Russet apples from one acre. Now, a general assortment of the best kinds of fruit, will be likely to furnish every year, with good culture, one or more highly profitable crops. of summer, and two weeks earlier at Philadelphia and New-York. Three varieties of the cherry-the Early May, May Bigarreau, and Early Purple Guigne-mature simultaneously with the Duke of Kent and Large Early Scarlet Strawberries; a host of other fine varieties of both these kinds immediately succeed them. Currants and Raspberries soon join the list; the Primordian plum, the Amire Joannet and Madeleine pears, and several delicious apricots are on hand by wheat harvest. After which the profusion of peaches, pears, apples, plums, grapes, &c., furnish the richest supplies through autumn. Grapes and pears may be kept till spring, and apples till the succeeding summer. But, let it be remembered, that if the long-keepers are not laid in in very liberal quantities, the stores will soon be exhausted. The loss by unavoidable decay, as well as by consumption, must be allowed for An excellent mode of keeping winter and spring apples, in the absence of a better, was this: "Lock them up in a cool, dry cellar, and hide the key." The error was in the limited supply; its correction, is to supersede the necessity by an abundant store. Every cultivator, therefore, while he plants liberally of the earliest ripening varieties, must plant still more liberally of long-keepers; for while the former are soon succeeded by others, the latter must extend their benefits through a long and otherwise dreary period. Red Antwerp. RAISING QUINCES.-A correspondent of the HORTICULTURIST, who raises this fruit of extraordinary excellence, pursues the following course: He selects good, deep, dry, rich soil, which is deepened by a thorough use of the subsoil plow, and manure applied copiously and deeply, by dropping it in the bottom of each furrow as the plowing proceeds. Large and deep holes are dug for the trees; each receives half a barrel of good compost; the branches are shortened onehalf, before setting, and the soil well settled among the roots by drenching with water before the hole is quite filled. All fruit trees, by the way, should receive this good treatment. He does not lose one tree in a hundred, by this excellent practice. Dwarf Pear Tree. OF FRUITS. The pruning is given in autumn, and consists of cutting out, as sparingly as possible, and only old, crooked, crowded, and decayed branches. Every autumn, manure is spread round each tree, and after a light plowing in spring, salt is spread broadcast at the rate of ten bushels per acre. The salt is regarded of very great Black Prince. consequence, but it must be applied in connexion with free manuring every year. The ground is kept mellow and clean by constant cultivation,potatoes,sugar beets, &c., being found well adapt. ed to the purpose. The principal secret of success, it will thus be perceived, consists in cultivating and doing every thing in the best manner; while others, who do not succeed, do not cultivate their trees at all. The writer states that a good crop of quinces may be obtained three years after transplanting, and the trees will continue in a productive state thirty years. RASPBERRIES.-These should be pruned as soon as the surface of the ground becomes thawed in spring. All the old stems, and all the smaller young shoots, should be cleared away to the ground, and about half a dozen of the largest stems of last year's growth left for bearing. Their upper extremities, for a foot or two, should be cut off, being weak and useless, and detrimental, from their weight and shade. The remaining stems, if not of a stiff and upright variety, should be loosely tied to stakes. Fastolff. HARDY GRAPES need prun ing early, before the sap flows and bleeding commences. A moderate bleeding need not be feared, but if profuse, it is detrimental. The sooner the work is done in the spring the better. The Isabella, Bland, Catawba, and other American varieties, are of such rampant growth, that when only a few years old, they bear most abun dantly, and hence the inexperienced cultivator concludes that pruning is not neces sary, and that they do better without it. A most erroneous conclusion-for the vines by such neglect, soon become a mass of thickly matted stems and branches, their vigor is exhausted, and diminutive crops of poor fruit are the result. But by good pruning they may be kept in perennial vigor and undiminished productiveness. CULTIVATING DWARF PEARS.-Every intelligent fruit raiser is aware of the necessity of cultivating and manuring the soil well, for dwarf pear trees. S. B. Parsons states that he has 1700 trees on four acres that he applied to this orchard last spring, $150 worth of manure, and gathered in the autumn 275 bushels of potatoes, 30 tons Spur pruning, sugar beets, and a large quantity of turneps and cabbage-paying the expenses of manure and cultivation, and giving the pear trees a vigorous impulse. FRUIT TREES which lack vigor of growth, should be stimulated with a good coating of old manure, spaded in as soon as the frost leaves the ground. Soapsuds is good for any tree, and especially for the peach. MANAGEMENT OF POULTRY. We know of no one who has better described the ad- worst of all things in the wrong place. Like the harpies of old, they are sure to defile all they do not destroy. But with proper conveniencies for managing them, they are among the most agreeaable, profitable, and useful objects in country life. 6 To children, especially, fowls are objects of exceeding interest, and form an almost necessary part of the means of developing the moral and industrial energies of a country household. See that little fellow toppling along with his cap full of eggs for mamma,' or patting his favorite chicken on the back. He who will educate a boy in the country without a chicken,' is already a semi-barbarian; and he who leaves his chickens to make a hen-roost of all things, sacred and profane, visible and invisible, is still worse; to say nothing of the good housewife's flower patch in the garden, the very mention of which excites no small fear of a shower of oven brooms and brick-bats, while the whole welkin rings again with the discordant 'shew there! shew there!" On large farms, where the barns and stables are remote from the house, carriage-house, garden, &c., hens may be kept with very little trouble. If not very numerous, little inconvenience will be experienced in per HINTS FOR NURSING THE SICK. 1. Let the nurse help the patient in giving an account of himself to the physician. 2. Make it a point of conscience to follow punctually all prescriptions-if the patient is placed in the physician's hands, let not the nurse thwart his aims by assuming to know best. 3. Wear a cheerful countenance, and be gentle and noiseless. 4. Never burden the sick with unnecessary attentions, nor allow him to suffer for want of care. 5. Attend strictly to and prevent every little annoyance, which a well person would not heed, as slamming doors, treading heavily, talking too much, or leaving articles displaced in the room. 6. Use great care to prevent colds or chills in changing beds or linen. Let linen be well aired and warmed. Place a warm blanket or shawl round the shoulders when sitting up in bed. Smooth the pillows, straighten the bed clothes, and keep every thing as neat, comfortable, and refreshing as possible, to the weary sufferer. || mitting them to run at large. They should be excluded from the grain, and suffered to eat refuse grain, weed seeds, and scatterings. But they must not be allowed to roost on the plows, sleds, horse-rakes, nor any other tools which may chance to be housed in any other part of the barn, but be specially provided with a sleeping apartment. It will be much cheaper than to build a separate henhouse, to devote a portion of the upper story of the barn to an apartment for their use, which should, as an indispensible requisite face the south. It should be well lighted with glass windows, protected by wire gratings-the windows to be thrown open in summer.The partitions should be or ashes, to secure warmth in winter. Rough poles for roosting should be placed overhead, with a sloping board roof immediately under, extending part way across the room, to receive the droppings, which are easily scraped down into a basket. This apartment is ascended by a small flight of steps, which the hens will soon learn to travel, if they receive a part of their food for a time in feeding boxes above. Where it has been found necessary to confine them to a picketed or wired hen yard, instead of allowing them unlimited range, a covered way of light lath work, extending directly from the apartment, in a sloping direction to the yard, at some rods distance, has been found to answer the purpose completely. COLIC IN HORSES.-External remedies, as well as internal, should not be neglected. One of the best external applications is turpentine, applied freely. 7. During night, let the nurse keep well wrapped in warm dress-use food as a substitute for sleep-and place every thing handy, so that little movement or noise shall be needed. 8. Feverish patients are greatly refreshed by a frequent sponging in tepid water, in which a little salæratus has been dissolved, which tends to soften the skin. 9. In dressing a blister, have every thing ready, that it may be exposed as short a time as possible to the air. 10. Give fresh air on every practicable occasion. 11. Let every thing, dishes, medicine, glasses, and all else, be kept clean. 12. Bear patiently every infirmity of the sick-and remember that it is much better to be the nurse than the patient. FALSE ECONOMY.-The American Agriculturist estimates there are ten farmers who waste $50 annually in manure, where there is one who pays a dollar for an agricultural paper, which would show him how to save it. PORK MAKING AND PORKERS. it for one quarter of that sum. Would it not be interesting to know the reasons of this difference? First, in the breed. Some breeds of hogs will yield more than twice the amount of fat and flesh for the food consumed, than other sorts. In other words, they convert a much greater portion of the corn to useful purposes, and let but little of the nutriment escape.The China, Berkshire, or the Suffolk, one of the best things for cooking with little wood. At hogshead, as a steamer, placed closely over the boiler, would probably be an additional improvement. It does not seem to be essential that the corn should be ground. except that it cooks in less time. Prof. Turner de scribes a mode of cooking corn in the ear by steaming, so economical of labor and fuel, that he asserts the labor of steaming to be actually less than feed. ing dry corn in the common way. We can only give a very meagre outline of his plan. A steam vat is made at one corner of the hog-house, 5 feet square and 10 feet high, of a double stud partition, with dry clay rammed in closely be tween, being done while the boards are nailed on from bottom to top. In the bottom of this vat, there is a barrel or box, open at top, with clay also ram. med all round its sides, which is made to serve as a boiler, by means of a sheet iron or sheet copper pipe,, (copper is best) 8 inches in diameter, running through the sides of the box in a horizontal direction. The fire Fig 1. The Suffolk. for instance, (fig. 1,) economize the food they eat, much better than those sorts which approach the Landpike in form, (fig. 2.) Our own experience satisfies us that Berkshires, or even good half-blood Berkshires, would make as much pork out of a hundred bushels of corn, as a majority of the hogs raised in the country would out of two hundred bushels. Thus, without any increased cost, except the trouble of getting the right sort, the farmer who has his wits about him actually saves, clearly and completely saves, five hundred bushels out of every thousand he feeds out. No wonder is built in this pipe, and heats the water on every side. The further end of this pipe is closed, but a smaller pipe, 3 inches in diameter, runs upward as a fire flue. A cover with wooden holes lies over the boiler, and through these holes the steam ascends into the vat, which I will hold about 30 bushels. Corn is shovelled in at the top, till about twothirds full. It is then covered tight, and a fire is built. The steam rises through the cover, and a part is condensed and falls back into the boiler; the corn swells and fills the whole vat. The boiler is supplied with water occasionally through a tube. When the corn is steamed enough, it is let out with ease through a door near the bottom, on the floor or into a self-feeding trough, where the pigs obtain just what they want and no more. Fig. 2. The Landpike. that some men get rich while others grow poor. Another great saving is made by cooking the food. But, to set a large kettle in a common brick or stone "arch," may hardly pay for the fuel consumed. Economy in fuel, as well as in corn, must not be forgotten. Mott's Agricultural Furnace, described on a previous page, is ROOT CROPS AND WEEDS.-Many farmers are deterred from raising ruta bagas, carrots, field beets, &c., by the labor and expense of hoeing and destroying weeds, although these crops often yield from 500 to 800 bushels to the acre. To avoid all this trouble, begin early in the spring, if for ruta bagas; and the year before, if for carrots or beets, and by repeated plowing and harrowing, clear the ground effectually of weeds. This will save much labor. Then, when the young plants are up, hoe them at all hazards, by the time they are an inch high. This will require about one-fifth of the labor needed two weeks later, or when the weeds are a foot high. POTATOES.-To clear these of weeds, where they are planted in drills, pass a fine-toothed harrow over the whole surface, just before the potatoes are up, which mellows the soil and destroys the young weeds. When up, plow from the plants; then a light furrow towards them, leaving the hills or ridges broad. After feeding corn in this way, an occasional change to dry food is useful. Some farmers have found a great saving in cooking their refuse or second-rate apples with corn. Others have made pork very cheaply by allowing their hogs the run of the orchard through autumn, finishing the last two or three weeks with corn. quarters for hogs. A pig is not essentially a dirty ani. A great deal is often lost by not providing comfortable mal-he does not plunge into a pool of muddy water because he has a fancy for it, but a cool bath he wants, and will have, at whatever cost. He will thrive and fatten faster, if kept clean and comfortable, according to careful experiment. GATES -Every gate should be kept in good, self-shutting, self-latching order. A hole should be bored in the post of every gate, and filled with grease, for readily applying to the latch or hinge, when the one does not play freely, or the other creaks. |