against the rot; indeed, it is the only precaution of the least value, so far as our experience goes. We deem the subject of so much importance, that we repeat the injunction, plant early. In regard to the best kinds, we would name the Washington, Peach Blow, and Prince Albert, as being very fair and productive varieties, and far less subject to the rot than the Mercer and some others. For an early potato we would name the Dykeman: it is early, good, and productive. The best soil for the potato, in our opinion, is a well-drained, dry sandy or gravelly loam; if planted on a sod, so much the better, but use no manure except good old, well-rotted barn-yard manure; above all, eschew guano; have nothing to do with it. Not standing in awe of some individuals we wot of, we do not fear to say that the use and abuse of guano have been an evil to the agricultural interests of this country, much greater than any benefit that has been derived from it. The reasons for this belief we may put upon record some other time; for the present we say, use well-rotted barn-yard manure for your potatoes, and mix it well with the soil. We would say still further in the way of advice, plant in drills, and pursue flat culture. A drill may be made six inches deep with a light double-mold board plow; the set may at first be covered about three inches; subsequent culture with the cultivator will level the soil about right. This is not only a better mode than hilling or drawing the earth to the plants, but it is less laborious. Where the practice has been adopted its manifest advantages have been fully admitted. It is a matter of pride with us, that for many years we have strenuously advocated flat culture; and in this respect we think we have been instrumental in accomplishing some good.

SELECT LIST OF FRUIT.-In our last two numbers, we gave select lists of Apples and Pears. In the present number we purpose giving a further list. Those who purpose planting will be greatly aided by having before them a valuable list of choice fruits; and frequent requests to prepare such a list make us aware how much it is desired. We would add a caution to such as purpose growing fruit for market, not to grow too many varieties of the same kind; this caution is particularly needed where the quantity of fruit grown is small. As the season for planting is near at hand, we purpose making the list comparatively complete in the present number.

Peaches: Large Early York, Bergen's Yellow, Cooledge's Favorite, Crawford's Early, Crawford's Late, Early York, George IV., Grosse Migonne, Morris White, Oldmixon Free, Oldmixon Cling, Double Montagne, Early Sweet Water, Heath Cling. We would also add here. Carpenter's Large White, which we have had opportunities of testing fully during the past four years. We are glad to know that this splendid peach will be sent out during the coming season.

Plums: Washington, Jefferson, Golden Drop, Green Gage, Lawrence's Favorite, Bleecker's Gage, Monroe, Purple Favorite, Reine Claude de Bevay, Prince's Yellow Gage, Purple Gage, M'Laughlin, Imperial Gage.

reau, Napoleon Bigarreau, Belle Magnifique, Coe's Transparent, Black Eagle, Downer's Late, May Duke, Reine Hortense, Elton, Belle d'Orleans, Governor Wood, Early Purple Guigne, Hovey.

Apricots: Breda, Moorpark, Large Early, Early Golden.

Nectarines: Elruge, Downton, Early Violet. Grapes: Isabella, Catawba, Diana, Rebecca, Delaware, Concord. There are other promising varieties, but they have not been sufficiently tested. The Catawba is very uncertain even in the eastern part of New York; south of New York it will do well.

Gooseberries: Houghton's Seedling is an American variety, and though small, it is very desirable, owing to its freedom from mildew. To this may be added almost any of the foreign varieties, such as Crown Bob, Whitesmith Red Champagne, Warrington, Ironmonger.

Currants: Red Dutch, White Dutch, Cherry, White Grape, Victoria, Prince Albert, Longbunched Red, Attractor. Of the black, Bang Up, and Black Naples.

Blackberries: Dorchester, New Rochelle, Newman's Thornless.

Raspberries: Red Antwerp, Yellow Antwerp, Brinckle's Orange, Franconia, Fastolff.

Strawberries: Longworth's Prolific, Hovey's Seedling, Wilson's or Albany Seedling, Trollope's Victoria, M'Avoy's Superior, Hooker's Seedling, Boston Pine, Walker's Seedling, Burr's New Pine, Jenny Lind, Brighton Pine. Others might be added, but the above will do for the present.

The above list embraces the choicest varieties of fruit known in this country. Others might be added, but the lists are sufficiently large for all practical purposes. In conclusion we say again, as we do whenever an opportunity presents itself, plant fruit-trees.

GRAFTING CHERRY-TREES.-Many complain of want of success in grafting the cherry. The operation is very generally performed under unpropitious circumstances, such as great disparity of size between the stock and scion, unfavorable weather, etc.; but we suspect a large number of failures is owing to the lateness at which the operation is performed. The cherry should be grafted earlier than any other fruit we have, in order to secure the greatest success. The scions should be taken off in February or March, and grafting performed before the sap begins to circulate, or before the frost is out of the ground. Graft early, and use due care in making clean cuts, using none but sharp instruments, and a reasonable amount of success will attend the operation. We are sustained in this opinion by Dr. Kirtland of Cincinnati, than whom there is no better authority on the subject of cherries. There is a modified mode of budding which may be performed in the spring, but we have no hope of making it understood without the aid of a drawing, and so pass it by for the present.

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at the bottom of the trenches, we deem a great mistake. We cannot, with our limited space, discuss at length matters of practice; the most we can do is to state in few and plain words what we consider the best mode of procedure. In regard to an asparagus bed, we recommend the following plan, which we have proved to our satisfaction, and so have others at our suggestion. The best soil for asparagus is a sandy loam. Select a good warm spot, and have at hand a heap of good short manure, which will be improved by being composted with ashes. The ground should be trenched two spades deep, and the manure worked in as the trenching proceeds, so as to insure its being well mixed all through the soil. The manure should be used very liberally, if fine large stalks are expected. Having finished trenching, rake the plot over thoroughly and finely; the more the soil is stirred the better. All this should be done very early in spring. Having procured good seed, separate them from the capsule, so that not more than one seed will be dropped in the same place. Next draw drills two inches deep and eighteen inches apart, and sow the seed three or four inches apart in the drills. After the seeds are well up, they are to be thinned out to twelve inches apart in the rows. Between each three drills leave a walk a couple of feet wide. This will allow room for cutting the asparagus without the necessity of trampling upon the beds. The plants having been thinned out as above, are to remain as a permanent bed; and if the soil has been well prepared, the plants thinned out in due season, and kept free from weeds by repeated hoeings, the asparagus may be cut at the end of the second year; and the stalks will be as strong as those from a bed three years old made in the usual way. The cutting, especially the first year, should not be carried too far, or the plants will be weakened. In the fall of the year the beds may be covered with manure, which should be forked in the following spring; at which time a liberal dressing of salt may be given with great advantage. When the tops are cut down in the fall, they should be burned as soon as dry, and the ashes spread over the beds. An asparagus bed, when well made, will last a lifetime; and it is so great a luxury, that no place, however small, should be without one.

SPINACH. As soon as the ground can be spaded, a piece should be prepared for an early bed of spinach. It must be borne in mind that this vegetable requires an abundance of manure; on a poor soil it will prove a failure. After the spinach has been taken off, the ground will answer for a root crop of some kind. Plant in drills twelve inches apart, and keep the ground free from weeds. The best kind is the broadleaved savoy.

RADISH.-A warm border should be selected for early radishes as soon as the frost is out of the ground. Dig in a little manure, pulverize the soil finely, and sow the seed in drills about six inches apart. The best early kinds are the Strap-leaved Red-top, Early Turnip, Long Salmon, and Early Olive. Subsequent crops may be grown among beets, carrots, etc., as described hereafter.

DAHLIA ROOTS.-These should be kept from growing as long as possible; but when this can no longer be done, select a warm, sheltered spot for them, and cover them with earth. If signs of frost should appear, cover them well with straw. It is.only when they have been kept in a warm place that they will begin to grow thus early. In our next we shall describe the best modes of propagating them.

THE LAST WINTER appears to have been as remarkable in England as in this country. A London periodical, under date of January first, says:

The year begins wonderfully out of season, with a calm and quiet day, and a temperature of forty eight or thereby, in the shade too, and all sorts of flowers blooming, and fruit trees blossoming most unnaturally in this central day of our strange winter. A great many of the general public are said to indulge in sea

bathing on the coast of Northumberland. Strawberries and cream have been enjoyed to dessert after dinner in Aberdeenshire. The broom blooms beautifully in Surrey. Apples, like nuts in size, are common in Herefordshire. Bewildered linnets have been caught making nests, and attempting to rear families in a dozen of counties. Roses are superabundant, and hyacinths are a drug in the flower gardens on New Year's day. Devonshire, the Devon paragraphists say. is a rush of blossoms; and a certified list of botanical lished. wonders in full show at Bournemouth has been pubWhat all this unnatural weather portends and prognosticates we cannot guess; but it comes before something.

PROFIT OF CULTIVATING PEARS.-On this subject we made some remarks in a former number of THE NATIONAL. The Country Gentleman of a recent date gives some facts and figures which abundantly confirm our statements:

The following instances of the large profits of raising pears, are from the proceedings of the Fruit Growers Society of Western New York, and are not to be re garded as unusual or extraordinary instances, or not easily attainable, for in most of the instances little or no cultivation was given. Mrs. George, of Victor, sold

them.

$24 worth of White Doyenne pears from one tree eighteen years old, on the tree, and the buyer picked Marshall Phinley, of Canandaigua, has three White Doyenne pear-trees, one quite small; sells the pears on the trees for from $50 to $60 yearly; has been offered $100 per tree for the trees; they are constant bearers. Judge Howell has a tree of this variety of pear, seventy years of age, which has not failed of a good erop for forty years, and has averaged about twenty bushels a year for the last twenty years, which have sold on the tree at the average of $3 per bushel, or $60 a year. This tree has produced for the New York market $3,750 worth of pears. Judge Taylor has three large trees of this pear of the same age; yielded in 1854 eleven barrols; sold for $137. T. Chapin has a young orchard of this variety, of four hundred trees, some eight years from planting. He sold thirty barrels in New York, in the fall of 1853. for $15 per barrel-$450. In 1854 his crop amounted to fifty barrels, which he sold in New York, for from $18 to $22 per barrel-average $20-equal to $1000.

HORSE TAMING.-An American in England has been astonishing the nobility and gentry, royalty too, in fact, by his wonderful skill in training and subduing horses, however wild and ungovernable. He has given several illustrations of his skill, and to two or three English noblemen has revealed his method, under the pledge of the most inviolable secrecy. A writer in the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, professes to have discovered the secret; and as it may be of use to some of our readers, we copy the material portion of his article:

We believe that the peculiarity and secret in the treatment by Mr. Rarey, like that by his "confrères" who profess equal secrecy, consists in raising one of the fore feet of the horse, doubling the knee and keeping a strap around the fetlock, fastening the foot close to the arm or shoulder. The horse then stands upon three legs. Having next put on a surcingle, pass a long strap or rein through the surcingle, and fastening one end of it around the fetlock of the other fore foot, attach the other to the surcingle after the animal is thrown. so closely as to deprive it of the use of the limb. In this item the treatment may be varied by fastening the second fetlock to the arm or shoulder after the animal is down.

When the above course has been adopted the horse, confined to the ground, is entirely powerless. He should previously, if practicable, have been halterbroke, and a bridle should be kept on during the operation we have described. If he has shown much fear of any particular object, a buffalo-skin for instance, bring it before him, present it closely to his nose, wrap his head up in it, and by every practicable method teach him what men and horses are slow to learn, that imaginary dangers cause more fear than realities. This may also be done by opening and shutting an umbrella close to his face, by beating a drum or firing a pistol near his head, or many other experiments.

This plan is successfully pursued by many skillful horse-breakers among the hills and valleys of Western New York, and the horse yields to the necessities of the case; his spirit of opposition is broken.

THE WORLD AT LARGE. A map of busy life,

Its fluctuations and its vast concerns.-COWPER.

An explosion of gas took place in the basement of the Methodist Protestant Church in Sixthstreet, near Race, Cincinnati, on Friday evening, Feb. 19, occasioned by defective pipes. The floor was torn up, the walls were shattered, and the basement was made a complete wreck. A number of persons were holding a meeting in the place at the time, eight or ten of whom were seriously injured, several of them fatally.

On Saturday night, Feb. 20, the Pacific Hotel, at St. Louis, was burned to the ground. The house was full at the time, and a large number of the inmates perished in the flames or were buried under the ruins. It was supposed to be the act of an incendiary..

Five steamboats were destroyed by fire on the 22d of February, at New Orleans. At one time the whole of the shipping in port was in a precarious condition. . . . Late accounts from Camp Scott, the present headquarters of the Utah expedition, state that the troops are in good spirits and eager for a descent on Salt Lake City. The Mormons, according to reliable evidence received by Col. Johnston, were actively engaged in making preparations for resistance in the spring. Governor Cumming was performing the duties of his office to the best of his ability under the circumstances.. A lad named O'Donnell, who was run over on the Hudson River Railroad, at Troy, last month, and had his leg amputated, states that he feels all the sensations in his foot and the lower part of his leg which he did before the amputation, and describes thom accurately. A strange instance of retention or "memory" in the nerve. Mr. Romaine Dillon, brother of Robert J. Dillon, of this city, has been confirmed by the U. S. Senate as Secretary of Legation to Brazil. An important suit has been instituted by Mr. Aaron Blake, against the Union Ferry Company, to recover property now occupied by them at Hamilton Ferry, and embracing a large part of the lands in use by them at that place. Col. Wolcot, the refractory witness before the Congressional Investigating Committee at Washington, in the Lawrence, Stone, & Co. case, has

answers.

been committed to the custody of the sergeantat-arms, and sent to jail to remain there until he Bills have been reported in the New-York Senate by Mr. Schell, and in the Assembly by Mr. Hanford, to remove the seat of goverument of this state from Albany to this city... Schooner Bloomfield Drummond, a wrecking schooner of this city, belonging to Messrs. Herbert and Bennett, and employed in bringing iron from the ship Clara Brookman, ashore at Squam, sunk last month off Long Branch, and all her crew, eight in number, perished. One man was taken dead from the rigging on Wednesday morning, the rest have not been found. Mrs. Millard Fillmore, the second, to whom ex-President Fillmore was married at Albany in February, proves to have been, before her marriage with Mr. Schuyler, a Miss Carmichael, born at Morristown, New Jersey. The ex-president and his lady will make their residence at Buffalo.... A Southern Steamship Convention was held at Richmond, Va., on the 24th of Feb. Ten railroad companies were represented. The capital stock of the company is arranged to be $3,000,000, and two steamers are to be built at Norfolk and twe in France, if the arrangements can be perfected... Government orders have been received at Brook

lyn Navy Yard, to pay official honors to Mohammed Pasha on his arrival, and to offer him every facility for inspecting naval vessels and yards. .. Capt. Durham and his clipper-ship Adriatic, retaken by the French in the Gulf of Spezzia, and carried into Genoa, after their escape from Marseilles, is reported, by private advices from Europe, to have once more escaped from Genoa, and probably gone off in triumph.. The Freemasons of Virginia have resolved, as a body, to lend their aid toward the purchase of Mount Vernon, and invite the order in other states to follow suit.

A verdict for $50 has been rendered in favor of Roswell Green, of Brooklyn, against Rev. J. H. Hobart Brown, of the Episcopal Free Church of the Good Angels, for slandering the character of Green in their church relations. Commodore Matthew C. Perry died at his residence in New York on the 4th of March, after a severe attack of chronic rheumatism of about ten days' duration. ... Dictator Comonfort's only daughter accompanied him in his flight to New Orleans from Mexico, and both are expected north to visit the principal cities at an early day.... M. Blondel von Callenbreck has been appointed by the King of the Belgians Minister Resident at Washington. He has recently been Charge at Constantinople, and exchanges places with M. de Brosch Spencer, the present Minister at Washington, who goes to the East. N. B. Tuyl, who kidnapped the free negroes at Geneva, in this state, and sold them in Kentucky, a few months since, has been arrested at New-Orleans, and will be returned to Kentucky for trial. . A bill to increase the army was defeated in the U. S. Senate on the 25th of February, by a vote of 35 to 16. The detention of the Collins steamers from their regular trips, is said to be on account of the taking out of an attachment by Brown, Brothers, & Co., against the company, for nearly seven hundred thousand dollars, on which they are now held by the sheriff of this city. A heavy fire took place on the 29th of February, on Maiden-lane and Libertystreet, doing damage to the amount of nearly a quarter of a million. . . . The Tennessee Senate, by a vote of sixteen to six, have passed resolutions disapproving of Hon. John Bell's course on the Kansas question in the U. S. Senate, and asking for his resignation. A machine

for blacking boots and shoes has been patented by a firm at Newark, N. J. . . Two distinguish

ern coast.

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ed citizens of Binghamton, now in jail there, uamed Samuel Johnson and James Germond, were recently united in marriage to two dulcincas in the same limbo, and set up housekeeping in the cells. The Steamer Magnolia, from Wilmington, N. C., for Fayetteville, exploded last month, at Whitehall, killing from fifteen to twenty persons, most of whose bodies have been recovered. Twenty-five hundred barrels of pork have been ordered shipped at Baltimore for San Francisco, to supply the Utah expedition with provisions by way of the westEx-Governor Wm. Bebb, of Ohio, who was indicted last fall, at Rockford, Illinois, for killing a young man by shooting him with a pistol while engaged in a calathumpian serenade of a marriage party at Governor Bebb's, has been tried and acquitted.... Favorable accounts have been received from Lieut. Ives and his exploring party on the Colorado River. They reached the mouth of that river after an unusually long voyage from San Francisco, put together and launched their steamboat on the 13th of December, and were proceeding with their exploration. The river was found full of crooks, sandbars, and other difficulties. . . . A terrible calamity occurred in the coal mines at Tamaqua, Pa., in February. J. E. Barnes, superintendent of the Little Schuylkill Railroad, and D. Weir, mine agent, went down to make some arrangements, and were both suffocated by gas. Their bodies were recovered next day. The Sheriff of Chicago has seized the portraits of the mayors, and other pictures on the walls of the City Hall, and offered them for sale under an execution against the city.... The Kentucky State Prison, now leased at $8,000 a year, and said to be a profitable contract, has had $12,000 offered for it this year; the best paying criminal institution in the country. The Sugar Plantation of Houmas, near Donaldsonville, La., has been sold, by Col. J. S. Preston, to John Burnside, of the house of Burnside & Co., of New Orleans, for the heavy sum of one million of dollars. It contains 12,000 acres, and is said to be the finest single property in America. The Senate of Texas have passed a bill forbidding the emancipation of slaves by will. The Baptist Church at Middletown Point, New Jersey, with a house adjoining, was burned last month, taking fire from the stove-pipe of the church. The office of the Weekly Times also took fire, but was saved. The church was uninsured, and will be a total loss to the village. An eagle combat of a singular character was witnessed recently by the keeper of a sawmill near Natchez. The combatants were the gray American and the bald eagles, and they fought in the air.. They finally fell into the river and a steamboat passed over them, but both were secured alive by the mill-keeper. A man named Taylor and his wife were burned to death, and eight houses burned last month, in a fire at Fredericton, New Brunswick. Three leading Kentucky banks, the Northern Bank, Bank of Kentucky, and Bank of Louisville, the charters of which were about expiring, have been rechartered by the Legislature for twenty years. Benton County, Alabama, has had its name changed, by a unanimous vote of the Legislature, to "Calhoun County," as a mark of disrespect to Senator Benton. . . . Crawford's Statue of Washington was inaugurated at Richmond on Monday, Feb. 22, according to announcement, with very imposing ceremonies. Some fifteen thousand persons were present, and the whole celebration passed off without the slightest accident. Addresses were made by Governor Wise, Senator Hunter, and Hon. Robert G. Scott, and an ode was delivered by John R. Thompson, Esq.,

of Virginia. Lieutenant General Scott reviewed the troops, which were out in good force. The Masonic ceremonies were very solemn and impressive, and the city was briliantly illuminated at night. Rev. Samuel Howe, a venerable clergyman of Troy, died suddenly with disease of the heart, and from excitement, while attending the burial of Jesse Anthony at that place, last month. He had just said: "My feet are near those of Brother Anthony, and I shall soon join him!" when he fell and expired.. Rev. James Farquharson, one of the oldest and most successful agents of the American Bible Union, died in Spotsylvania County, Va., on the 18th of February... Hon. John K. Kane, Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, well known from his connection with the Passmore Williamson case, and father of the late Dr. Kane, of Aretic memory, died in Philadelphia on the 21st of February. The Quarantine Committee, of the New-Jersey Legislature, have reported adversely to the application of this state for Sandy Hook; deciding that the demand is not made at all unanimously by the most influential men of the city, and that there is no necessity for such removal. The Legislature have ordered the report to be printed, and it will no doubt be adopted. The United States District Court of Utah, acting under the administration of Gov. Cummings, has indicted Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, and several other leaders of the Mormons, for high treason; so that the final struggle is evidently coming.. Bills have been introduced in the Legislatures of Mississippi and Louisiana, incorporating companies to procure the voluntary immigration of Africans, contracting to labor for a term of years, to pay for their passage. This is an old dodge revamped.... Mohammed Pasha, Rear Admiral of the Turkish Navy, arrived at this port in the steamship Europa, from Liverpool, on Saturday evening, March 6.

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A

The latest news from California is interesting. More than the usual number of murders and affrays had occurred in various parts of the state. At San Diego, Mr. Getman, Sheriff of Los Angelos County, had been killed by an insane man named Reed, from Texas. In a subsequent attempt to arrest the murderer a regular battle ensued, which resulted in the killing of the homicide, his body being riddled with balls. A suicide mania prevailed at San Francisco. No less than thirteen suicides and attempts at selfdestruction were perpetrated during the fortnight previous to the sailing of the steamer. duel had taken place between two French editors. They fought with small swords, and both were wounded. Accounts from Sonora state that Gandara had collected a large force of Indians and had attacked the government troops at Guayamas; but they were repulsed after a two days' fight. An attack on Capt. Stone's surveying party was apprehended. The news from Central America is interesting. Col. Alvarado, of the Costa Rican army, had been degraded from rank, and sentenced to four years' imprisonment, for surrendering to Col. Frank Anderson, the fillibuster, without a battle. The Legislature of San Salvador met on the 22d of January. President Campo's address was very flattering as regarded the prospects of the republic. Internal improvements of the country were fostered by government, and coffee planting on a grand scale was going forward. Spanish American politics were neglected. . . . From the South Pacific we learn that the revolution in Peru was drawing to a close. President Castilla defeated the flower of Vivanco's army in battle on the 13th of January, near Arequipa, when a great many revolu