Flowers In Windows

There are no surer tests of a happy home within, than the flower-decorated window and neatly-kept garden; and there is no occupation for the leisure hours more calculated to keep it so, or to soothe the mind. It yields pleasure without surfeit; the more we advance, the more eager we become. And how unlike this to most of our worldly engagements. To those blest with children, how delightful it is to bend their young minds to a pursuit so full of utility and intellectual instruction, combined with the advantages usually accompanying industry; and in children, carefulness and thought about their plants will lead to the same feelings respecting other matters. - Correspondent of the Builder.

Fondante De Charneuse

Mr. Cabot: Same as Duke de Brabant; think well of it It is fine this season, and a good grower. Ripens first October to November. Mr. Prince and Mr. Hovey: Called Ex cell en tissima and Waterloo, and other names for fifteen years. Mr. Berckmans: It was originally named after the daughter of Van Mons. Now known in Belgium as Duke de Brabant.

Fondante De Noel

Mr. Cabot; Moves to strike it from the list. It is not melting; have cultivated it for fifteen years. Mr. Wilder: Same opinion. Mr. Saul: A very excellent pear. Mr. Berckmans: Fine on the quince in Belgium, on the pear not good.

Fondante Des Pres

Size - medium. Form - turbinate, inclining to pyriform; quite broad across the middle. Stem - one inch in length, set obliquely in a narrow-folded cavity, resembling at its junction the Passe Colmar, from which it was raised. Color - dull green, becoming, when ripe, clear lemon-yellow, red on the sunny side, coarsely stippled, and slightly spotted with russet Flesh - white, melting, and juicy. Flavor - sweetish, agreeable, with considerable aroma. Quality - "very good" Season October to November. This is one of Professor Van Mons' seedlings. It does not appear to set its fruit so readily on the Pear as on the Quince root.

BEURRE SOULAKGE. ALEXANDRE LAMBRE.

Fondants Agreeable

Size - medium. Form - roundish, obovate. Stem - one inch in length, planted on one side, and fleshy at the junction with the fruit. Calyx - open, in broad, shallow basin. Color - dull yellowish-green, slightly russeted. Flesh - tender, juicy, and melting. Flavor - very pleasant and refreshing, with delicate aroma. Quality - "very good," excellent Season - last of August. Core - large. Seeds - large, plump.

Food For Chickens

A writer recommends for chickens, for the first week after hatching, hard-boiled eggs, to be given, chopped fine, at least twice a day, wheat steeped in milk, and coarse Indian meal, bread crumbs, etc. A change of food is necessary twice a week, substituting cracked corn for wheat.

Food For Grape-Verbs

(W. B.) You have, on your own premises, excellent manure for your grape-vines. Make a basin round the roots, get the sweepings or manure of the poultry-yard, and keep it constantly diluted or dissolved in a barrel, at the rate of a peck to a barrel of water. Every week, on washing day, empty a pailful of the manure-water upon the roots of the vine, and, afterwards, as much "suds" as the vine will take up. The result will be a healthy vine, and fine crops, the fruit about twice the size of a neglected vine.