and mathematics their trophies have not been so great. But it may be said, perhaps, that they have not put forth any efforts in these departments. And it may be as well that they should not. For other and indispensable duties seldom allow them the leisure for such severe application.

108. THE USE OF FRUIT.-Instead of standing in any fear of a generous consumption of ripe fruit, we regard them as positively conducive to health. The very maladies commonly assumed to have their origin in a free use of apples, peaches, cherries, melons, and wild berries, have been quite as prevalent, if not equally destructive, in seasons of scarcity. There are so many erroneous notions entertained of fruit, that it is quite time a counter-acting impression should be promulgated, having its foundation in common sense, and based on the common observation of the intelligent. We have no patience in reading rules to be observed in this particular department of physical comfort. No one, we imagine, ever lived longer, or freer from the paroxysms of disease, by discarding the delicious fruits of the land in which he finds a home. On the contrary, they are necessary to the preservation of health, and are therefore caused to make their appearance at the very time when the condition of the body, operated upon by deteriorating causes not always understood, requires their grateful, renovating influences.

109. CULTIVATION OF HYACINTHS.-To grow Hyacinths in Beds. -For convenience the beds should not exceed five feet in width. Three feet of soil should be dug out, and again filled up to nearly one foot above the surface with compost, consisting of two-thirds sandy loom, and one-third thoroughly decomposed cow-dung, to which may be added a small portion of sea sand or salt. Plant the bulbs from six to nine inches apart, each way, and three or four inches deep. To grow Hyacinths in Pots, Hyacinths succeed under pot-culture only when their roots are allowed plenty of room; and with this view, a kind of pot called the hyacinth-pot, is manu

factured for the purpose. Plant the bulbs so as to leave a small portion of the top above the surface. Give a supply of water, and place the pots in a cool shady situation where the sun cannot reach to stimulate the plants into LEAF before they have made good roots; or they may be covered to the depth of three or four inches with sandy soil for a month or six weeks. They may then be removed to a greenhouse, or to a light and airy room away from the fire. To bloom Hyacinths in Water Glasses.— Hyacinths in water are more liable to rot before they have formed roots than when grown in soil, and even in a more advanced state, unless they be carefully tended, the roots will sometimes show symptoms of decay; the result being a poor flower or no flower at all. The glasses should be filled till the water nearly touches the base of the bulb ; rain or river water is to be preferred. They are then to be placed in a cool dark situation for eight or ten days, when the water should be changed, and the thick brown musty substance removed from the crown or base. The decayed portion of the onion-like skin may also be cleared away, taking care not to injure the root-fibres. As roots naturally avoid exposure to light, the glasses should again be placed in a dark place for a considerable time: indeed the larger and finer the roots have become previously to the plants being forced into leaf, the greater the probability of an excellent flower. Fresh water should be given once a week or oftener according to convenience, but with the chill taken off, so that it may not be under the temperature of that in which the plants have been growing, otherwise they will receive a check.

110. COCOA-NUT CAKES.- Three eggs, ten ounces of sugar, as much grated cocoa-nut as will form a stiff paste. Whisk the eggs very light and dry, add the sugar gradually, and when the sugar is in, stir in the cocoa-nut. Roll a tablespoonful of the mixture in your hands in the form of a pyramid, place them on paper, put the paper on tins, and bake in a rather cool oven till they are just a little brown.

111. COFFEE. Choose the coffee of a very nice brown colour, but not black (which would denote that it is burnt, and impart a bitter flavour); grind it at home, if possible, as you may then depend upon the quality. If ground in any quantity, keep it in a jar, hermetically sealed. Put two ounces of ground coffee into a stewpan, which set upon the fire, stirring the powder round with a spoon until quite hot, when pour over a pint of boiling water; cover over closely for five minutes, when pass it through a cloth, warm again, and serve.-Soyer.

112. RICE CUP CAKE.-Two cups of sugar, two cups of butter, one cup and a half of rice-flour, half a cup of wheat-flour, ten eggs, a teaspoonful of nutmeg, half a pound of currants, half a gill of rose-water. Beat the butter and sugar very light; whisk the eggs till they are very thick, and stir in, add the nutmeg and the flour gradually, then the rose-water. Beat the whole very hard for ten minutes. Stir in the fruit, which must be floured, to prevent it from sinking to the bottom of the cake. Butter a pan, line it with thick paper, well buttered, and bake it in a moderate oven. Or you may bake the batter in small pans.

113. DUTCH LOAF.-A quarter of a pound of butter, half a pound of sugar, one pound of dried currants, two tablespoonfuls of cinnamon, a pint of sponge, as much flour as would form a dough. Make a sponge the evening before you wish to bake the cake, of a teacupful and a half of milk, and as much flour stirred into it as will form a thick batter, with a little salt, and one gill of good yeast. In the morning this sponge should be light. Then beat the butter and sugar together, add the cinnamon, currants, and sponge, with flour enough to form a dough. Butter a pan, and when it is light, bake it an oven about as hot as for bread.

114. THINGS TO BE FOUND OUT.-Nature is not exhausted. Within her fertile bosom there may be thousands of substances, yet unknown, as precious as the only recently found gutta percha. To doubt this would be

to repudiate the most logical inference afforded by the whole history of the earth. Corn and grapes excepted, nearly all our staples in vegetable food are of comparatively modern discovery. Society had a long existence without tea, cotton, sugar, and potatoes. Who shall say there is not a more nutritious plant than the sugar-cane-a finer root than the potatoe-a more useful tree than the cotton? Buried wealth lies everywhere in the bowels of the earth.

115. HOW TO MAKE A FORTUNE. -Take earnestly hold of life, as capacitated for, and destined to, a high and noble purpose. Study closely the mind's bent for labour or a profession. Adopt it early, and pursue it steadily, never looking back to the turning furrow, but forward, to the new ground that ever remains to be broken. Means and ways are abundant to every man's success, if will and actions are rightly adapted to them. Our rich men and our great men have carved their paths to fortune, and by this internal principle-a principle that cannot fail to reward its votary, if it be resolutely pursued. To sigh or repine over the lack of inheritance, is unmanly. Every man should strive to be a creator instead of an inheritor. He should bequeath instead of borrow. The human race, in this respect, want dignity and discipline. They prefer to wield the sword of valorous forefathers, to forging their own weapons. This is a mean and ignoble spirit. Let every man be conscious of the power in him and the Providence over him, and fight his own battles with his own good lance. Let him feel that it is better to earn a crust than to inherit coffers of gold. This spirit of self-nobility once learned, and every man will discover within himself, under God, the elements and capacities of wealth. He will be rich, inestimably rich in self-resources, and can lift his face proudly to meet the noblest among men.

116. HORSERADISH-Horse radish should be grown for cattle. It is as good a condiment for them as it is for man.

117. SILVERING IVORY.-To silver ivory fancy work, prepare a strong solution (a drachm to two ounces) of lunar caustic; protect such parts as are not required to be acted on by copal varnish; then immerse the ivory-work in the solution; when it becomes yellow, remove it to a glass vessel containing distilled water, and expose to the rays of the sun. In a short time it will become black in those parts that are not protected; it should then be removed from the water, wiped dry, and rubbed well with a piece of soft leather, when the design will appear on the ivory in a metallic state, and burnished; the varnish should then be removed. We particularly recommend the last process for such purposes as ornamenting tablets, paper-knives, &c.; marking crests on table knives, or, in fact, anything that requires ornament or cypher.

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118. JAPANNING.-TO PREPARE WOOD OR METAL.-For japanning, the surface should be rubbed smooth and clean with sun-paper or fish-skin, and rushes. Papier maché requires to have any prominent parts removed with pumice-stone, then rubbed smooth, the same as wood, and lastly, a coat of strong size applied. Leather must be securely strained, either on frames or boards. The materials required consist of common size or parchment size, fish-skin, sand, or glass paper, Dutch rushes, rotten stone, whiting, varnishes, various pigments for grounding and colouring, oil, spirits of turpentine, mother-o'-pearl, and gold. The instru ments are simply some old linen and woollen rags, a little wool or cotton, and different sized brushes of hog's and camel's hair. Japanning may be divided into spurious japanning and real japanning. Spurious japanning comprises three varieties, the first of which consists in painting in watercolours on an under-coat of sizing or opaque grounding, laid on the wood or other substance, and then finishing with the proper coats of varnish. The colours are tempered with very strong isinglass, size, and honey, and laid on very flat and even. This kind of work is only applicable to such articles as are not

exposed to much wear or violence, and generally lasts for a considerable time. The same method is pursued when painting with water-colours on gold grounding, to imitate the Indian-work. The second consists in colouring prints, glueing them to wood-work, and varnishing with copal or mastic varnish. The third is simply employing a solution of sealing wax in spirits of wine as the vehicle, which is laid on smoothly, and allowed to dry gradually; the proportion of wax being two ounces to a pint of spirits.

119. HORSE-SHOEING.- Many horses are injured by carelessness, or improper management in shoeing. To learn how to fit a shoe accurately to the horse's foot, so that it shall properly protect the foot, and at the same time avoid the liability to injure it, is no mean acquisition. The smith, to conduct his business properly, should have an accurate knowledge of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the horse's foot, and then he will perform the operation of shoeing, not merely as though he was nailing a piece of iron to a block of wood, but with all the care and nicety which the living structure requires. The feet of horses differ so much, that it requires great judgment and a thorough knowledge of their anatomical structure, to shoe each horse in a manner best calculated to promote the intentions of nature. Smiths generally pare the heel too much, or rather, do not pare the toe enough; the reason is, that it is so much harder to cut. When the horse stands upon the foot, the heel is so much lower than it should be, that the cords of the leg are strained; so, after a night's rest, the legs are stiff and sore, and the horse moves very awkwardly. This, sometimes, is attributed to founder, when in reality it is caused by nothing but bad shoeing. Frequently the toe is burnt off. is also injurious; for, so far as the heat penetrates, the life of the hoof, and the only matter which gives toughness, are destroyed, and the hoof becomes brittle, and liable to crack. Care should be taken to see that the points of the nails are free from defects; for, sometimes, after the nail has entered the hoof, it

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splits, and a part penetrates the quick, causing lameness.

120. CARROTS.-From an experience in their growth, and a close observation of their effects, we are prepared to say that this is one of the best roots grown for the food of milch cows, and are justified in affirming that the carrot is a highly nutritive root; that milch cows, fed properly with it, yield more milk than when fed upon hay alone, yield it of a better quality, and, withal, thrive upon it; but carrots, as well as parsnips, sugar-beets, or mangel-wurtzel, or, indeed, any other roots, when given to milch cows, should be mixed with cut straw, hay, or fodder of some kind; besides which, they should be given other portions of long provender, uncut or cut, as the feeder may see fit, by itself. When given roots, cattle of course consume long food, but still they should receive such portions as, when added to the roots they may receive, will form an equivalent in nutrimental matter to a full feed of hay-fodder, or other long provender.

121. FRUIT-ROOMS.-A very important consideration in the economy of gardening is the construction and proper keeping of fruit-rooms, and we will satisfy the inquiries of several correspondents on this subject:-The fruitroom ought to be well ventilated, for which purpose it ought to have a small fire-place. The room may be of any form; but one long and narrow is generally best adapted for ventilation and heating, and drying, when necessary, by a flue. The system of shelves may be placed along on one side, and may be raised to the height of six feet or more, according to the number wanted. Forsyth directs that all the shelves or floors on which apples are to be kept or sweated should be made of white deal, as when red deal is made use of for these purposes it is liable to give a disagreeable resinous taste to the fruit, and spoil its flavour. When white deal cannot be procured, he advises covering the shelves with canvas.

122. WINTER STORING OF PLANTS.-An evil especially to be guarded against by the gardener is the over-crowding of plants in green houses

during the winter. "Such collections,” observes the Gardeners' Journal, “ are for the most part subject to all the ill effects of damp and its attendants, mildew and rottenness. The free circulation of air becomes impossible; weakness and etiolation are sure to result. Half-ripened shoots have no chance of elaborating and concentrating their fluids; flowers are scanty or ill-formed as an inevitable consequence; and from these circumstances arise the oft-repeated complaint-The winter has played sad havoc among my plants; not the frost, but the damp. Even the tops of the geraniums went black from the effects of it, and many of them have rotten patches in the leaves. The want of sun has done the mischief." "

123. LIQUID MANURE.-We are glad to perceive that the efficacy of liquid manure in the production of vegetable life is becoming appreciated by the intelligent classes who cultivate the soil. A writer in the journal we have quoted above says, "In the cultivation of our finer fruits-pine-apples, as an instance-it is a well-known fact, that the strongest plants, and consequently the finest and heaviest fruits, are to be had by the liberal application of manure in a liquid state. In the kitchen-garden it is turned to immense advantage, considering that heavy and speedy produce is what is most desirable. In order to have fruit-tree borders properly drained, depth of soil is not an object; for obvious reasons, then, we have the roots near the surface of the border; and in consideration of this, liquid manure becomes available." An extensive landed proprietor, in Ayrshire, says: "It is quite wonderful what a quantity of Italian rye-grass, watered with the liquid manure, can be cut from a Scotch acre. It can be cut four times in the year: and the weight of the four cuts is upwards of 40 tons of moist Italian rye-grass."

124. MODE OF PREPARING GUANO FOR USE.-In the "Gardening for the Million," we find the following excellent directions for economising and profitably distributing the valuable manure which has so greatly assisted the labours of the farmer :