The Dominions of Flora. om — The Lilac. I feel too tired nnd too old Long rambles in the woods to take. To seek the cowslip s early gold And search for violets in the drake; Nor can 1, as I used to, bend My little bed of flowers to tend; Where grew my scented pinks, to-day The creeping witch-gi ass pa its way. But when my door I open wide To breathe the warm, sweet air of spring, The fragrance comes in like a tide, Great purple plumes before me swing; For looking in, close by the door, The lilac blossoms us of yore; The enrliest lower my childhood knew Is to the gray, worn woman true. Dear common tree, that needs no care, Whose root in any soil will live, How many & dreary spot grows fair With the spring charm their clusters give! “The narrow couri-yard in the town Knows thy sweet fragrance, and the brown, Low, hillside farmhouse, hides its eaves Beneath the gray-green of thy leaves. L.oosed by the south wind's gentle touch, In perfumed showers thy blossoms fall; Thou askest little, givest much ; Thy lavish bloom is free to all; And even |, shut in, shut out From all the sunny world about Find the first lower my childhood knew Ts to the gray, worn woman true. The Rose. The rose is the type of a large family f plants known as Rosacee. To this family belong our finest flower and our most valuable fruits, The apple, pear, plum, cherry, almond, quince, peach, blackberry, raspberry and strawberry all belong to this family, with many varieties of desirable flowers, besides the queen of the garden. Of the rose itself there are many species, beginning with the common dog or wild rose of the firlds and woods up to the delicate china rose, the odorous damask rose of | Province, which yields the fragrant and costly attar, and the delicious roses of our gardens, the hybrid or remontant, with their gorgeous color, and the moss rose with its beautiful buds. The dog rose, with its single flower, consisting f five petals, is the type of the whole family, including even the cultivated kinds, which have a great number of but which are really changed stamens and pistils that go to make double The rose is extremely long-lived, and trees and bushes still exist in vigor which are ronsiderably hundred years old, 1t is propagated by seed and by all the arts known to the gardener, so-called petals, Ty up the blossoms, more than one as by layering, by cuttings of the stem ; yr Toots, by grafting and by budding. It has been the theme of the most an- ‘ient poets and has been used to adorn the gardens of civilized man from the most remote periods. All the ancient writers upon husbandry have treated of the culture of roses, The Greek Theo phrastus, aud the Latins Varro, Colu- mella, Virgil and Pliny have all written more or less fully upon this subject. The twentieth book of Pliny’s ** Natu- ral History ”’ they are rete: the is devoted to roses, and ed to in other portions of work. ‘1.e cultivation of the dower must Lave been quite extensi e in those days; for roses were used in profusion in the ancient religious cere- menies, but, while were extensively cultivated, the art of propa- gating them, producing new varieties, was almost unknown, Still, while modern rose-cultivators have greatly increased the varieties and have im- proved the formu and color of the flow- ers, vet all our present profusion in quantity is far less than that which the tomas produced in their gardens from the tew kinds which they cultivated. =o enormous was the quantity of tlow- ers grown and used that the stories of the voluptuousness of the Sylarites, who were not satisfied with a less luxu- rious bed than one of rose-leaves, and used these flowers abundantly for this purpose, are not at all incredible. It is certain, however, that the Roman gar- devers possessed some varieties now lost and unknown excepting in history, andi which have been sought for by en emterprising florists without success throughout all Italy, A kina which is said by Pliny and Virgil to have bloomed semi-annually, for instance, has not been discovered, although it has been closely searched for, the flowers The Roman gardeners possessed the secret of forcing and retarding the blooming of their roses, and in this sontinued the blooming season during mearly the whole year, Florists did not svant for patromage in those days, al zhough the same complaints which we mow hear of were made then about the wwtravagant expenditures of the Em- werors and nobles of Rome, Nero spent $10,000 of our money for roses alone for one féte, while a tenth part of the sum spent by our modern Croesus very recently was considered a most extravagant outlay, even for an extraordinary oceasion, for all the floral decorations, All the rose-houses in the world at this day could not supply the demand of ancient Rome alone, The Greeks were the first to extract perfumes from roses, and this art was acquired by the Romans and has con- tinued in the East to the present day, where large plantations are cultivated expressly for the production of the cost- iy attar, The island of Rhodes was chiefly occupied by rose gardens, and its ‘mame signities the isle of roses, Rhodon a of collections which were struck in Rhodes having a rose on one side and a sunflower on the other, The Moors in Spain followed the Romans in this special culture, and, if we may believe history. possessed a variety which exists now only in the imagination of the swindling flower peddlers, who offer for sale blue roses and tree strawberries. The Moor- ish historians mentioned rose culture as a prominent pursuit, and said : “There are roses of many colors— carnation, white, yellow and sky blue ; some of the ast being blue outside and yellow with- in.’’ This story is, however, most likely a fiction of a reporter of those days who desired to create a sensation ; for an- other writer states that there were only four kinds of roses—white, yellow, pur- ple and flesh color. The Moors prac- ticed some curious arts, such as filling hollow pipes like stems of trees with earth, and planting roses at the top, so as to form a blooming head, which, by pruning, they loaded with flowers, They may serve as a hint to modern growers, who might thus produce var- ious ornawnental and picturesque devices for the adornment of gardens and lawns, As regards the blue rose of this period it may after all be no myth, for the yellow rose then written of was not known or believed in until quite recent- ly. So that ardent and hopeful rose- growers may continue to seedlings in the expectation of gaining a fortune by means of a sky-blue rose. But though I lo still gIOow we have not blue have green which than the Moors had, and so modern times may justly claim to be ahead of the ancients. Everywhere in tl e East is the land of roses. Dainascus gives us the exquisite damask rose, Cashmere, Barbary and Egypt all con- tribute the rose oil or a we a one, is more essence, and in India at the present day the rose is | grown in fields of hundreds of acres {or the extraction of the attar. The rose fields of Bengal are described occasion- ally by modern writers in terms glowing as the colors exhibited on the broad fields. grown as lrees as Here the rose bushes are **full fourteen feet high, | laden with thousands of flowers in all states of expansion and filling the air with exquisite perfume.’” Inthe noted Valley of Cashimere the people hold a feast of roses atl the most abundant sea- | of the flowers, they the ground, with amid great mounds of them, upon which son when upon strewn roses, | they recline when weary. At the present day roses are culti- | vated all over the world, but the gardens | of Italy, Spain and France excel in their culture. The moist, climate of England favors their growth, and stand. ard roses are grown there to perfection cool in many a cottager’s humble garden as | weil as in the broad grounds of the wealthy people. In America, the rose has been too much neglected, but it is becoming more popular, partly through the enterprise of the florist and partly through the lib rality of the wealthy citizens, who spend thousands of dollars for the flowers. To complain of expenditure wicked waste and | re kles: extravagance is foolish and mistaken, If any complaint is due it is because of the rather than the spending of the money, for it is then scattered usefully among the laborers who have planted and teaded the roses and the workmen who have built the rose-houses, Money so spent is like “the gentle rain from heaven ; it blesses him who givesand him who takes." In this way a man of wealth is a mere agent for the circulation of money, for he can not enjoy a dollar of his wealth without sharing its enjoyment with some fellow-creature. This con- stantly increasing demand for flowers encourages their production, and thus cheapens them, and enables the floc- ist to offer a whole dozen of rooted plants, packed, ready to go safely by mail, for a single dollar, to every per son who can find the dollar, and what in- dustriouns person can not? And this business late years increased that there are several rose-growers who buve dozens, and some more than a hundred, propagating houses, which they fill with newest varie- ties from the grower who make a specialty of producing seedlings and new kinds, and so spread them broad- cast in the mail-bags from t) Florida and from fords, this a8 aA possession has of 50 enormously Uregon Maine to Cali- There are now in cultivation hund- reds of named varieties from the purest white to a deep dark crimson almost black in its velvety shading. We have even a striped rose and a pure green one, and others with shaded colors and mixed tints and pure yellows and reds with every intervening shade and mix- ture of colors, as saffron, dreamy yel- lows and whites, pinks, blush and fesh- color, A selection of a hundred varie- ties costing but eight dollars offers one of the most exquisite delights of the garden for a mere trifle ; while in a few years, by a littie pains in propagating by layers or by cuttings, a large stock may be accuraulated, sufficient to plant large beds and fill the whole space which are grown as easily as a curs rant bush or a raspberry or grapevine. And considering the beauty and delight- fal fragrance of the rose and its easy culture, who would not wish to have his premises overflowing with them 7— N. Y. Times. Revolutionary Reminiscences. ——— In Frankford, Pa, a suburb of Phila delphia, back of an old anti-revolution- ary mansion, stands a little octagonal Summer house, to which tradition cor- rectly points as the spot where the first Fourth of July was celebrated. On the 6th of July, 1776, after the Declara- tion of Independence had been signed, Thomas snd several other patriots met there to talk over the inci- dents of the six days just passed. ferson was a relative of Dr. Enoch Ed- wards, who owned the house, and dur- during his stay at Philadelphia, especi- ally while writing the famous Declara- tion of Independence, he frequently rode out to Frankford and spent the night with his maternal relative. There ar no records to show who it was that Jefferson accompanied Jefferson to Frankford on the 6th of July, The old citizens of the place say it was Benjawin Rush, Robert Treat Paine and t .e poet Hopkinson, of Bordentown, N. J. Dr. Enoch Ed- wards, who was a brother of the great theologian Jonathan Edwar is of Prince- ton, afterwards joined the party, and informed them that Mrs, Edwards had still some cherry wine left from last year, which he thought could be pro- cured, In the the doctor produced the bottle that be kept * medicinal use only,’ meantime, for and the thirsty patriots began a free discussion of the memorable events of the most exciting week in American history. no little They de- ved merriment in retailing the account of Cesar Rodney's ride of ride of eighty miles from New Castle, Delaware, on a mule, so that he might be present on the 2d of July and cast his vote, It was even asserted that the mule was so anxious to reach Philadel- phia by morning that it would not stop to let Rodney get a mug of beer, The story-telling continued long after drunk, rst longer, unable to Edwar us the w Was and, Dr. ine endure the t standing ofi the street, Frankford, and procured some il came an then averred were British flies, on the the siguers. Rush declared that ki looked so quizzical as when he coughed and said “We must or we shall hang separately for this week's work.’ while Hopkinson declared he didn't think Hancock had so much fun hang together else most assuredly ir ill bim as when he made a great elbow signed his name to the “There, said he, flourish and document. throw- down, “Johnuy Ball can read my name without spectacles,’” It was long after sundown before the party adjourned, The house in which this Frankford people call it, “eight-square.”’ It is of Corinthian style, elaborate work. manship, costing as much in its time as would build a modern cottage, It covers an area of eighty feet ; it has a porch and eight Corinthian columns, feet, with the porch, ten feet, Little of the original house remains, through all the patehing and renovating the original pattern has been preserved. The summer-house stands in the rear of the residence of FF. K. Wamroth, which is off from the main street, Jefferson was fond of visiting here ; it afforded him a pleasant retreat from the excitement of the day. The walk that led from the t of the mansion to the little summer-house was shaded by huge Lombardy poplsrs, which was called by the writer of the “title deed of our liberties,’ the “Dark Walk.» In those days the house stood close to the road, which was known as the “King's Highway," and was the eom- mon thoroughfare between Philadel phia and Bristol. The New England who used this road, regarded Dr. Enoch Edwards’ home as a ‘half-way house, "’ The first public observance of the signing of the Declaration of Indepen- dence was made in 177%, when a portion city Tavern. The city had just been evacuated by the British, so thut the rejoicing bad a double signiticance, After the banquet the people gathered. noon, and fireworks in the evening, the cold collation and the hurtals of the people, . ii —Watcrmelon trains are 88 COlGMoOn pow in Georgia, Tennesse¢ and Ken- tucky as peach trains will soon be in being the Greek word for rose, while around the homestead with hardy roses, Maryland and New Jersey. The Caterer, Raspberries. Rasppenrny VINEGAR. Place in an earthen or stoneware vessel bruised ripe raspberries and vinegar ; of each two quarts, Cover and let stand for twenty-four hours ; then strain and press through a fine hair sieve, each pint of liquor add one pound of white sugar. Place on a moderate {ire and stir with a wooden spatula until the sugar is entirely dissolved. scum. When cold add to each gnart two ounces of proof spirits. CONCENTRATED RASPBERRY VINE- GAR.—Put two quarts raspberries, whole, into a jar and pour over them one quart of the best white wine or apple-cider vinegar ; cork up the jar closely and let them stand to infuse for one week. Then pour all sieve and strain off the hair Put into a liquor. over them, cork up closely and again let stand for another week, after which filter the infusion and add six pounds of the finest white pulverized sugar, Place on moderate fire until the sugar is completely dissolved. Now re- move from the fire, take off the scum, and bottle, a and stir loth these vinegars, when agreeable and which is peculiarly grateful in fevers, RASPBERRY DYRUP. Mash fow quarts of raspberries in an earthen pan ; set in a warm place until fermentation commences, This fermentation, I will here say. is desirable in order to destroy the pectin or mncilage contained in the fruit, and which would cause { to jelly after being bottled, Le syrup Now filter the juice and add the sugar-—two pounds of sugar to each pint of juice, Place on a moderate fire and stir constantly until the sugar is entirely dissolved. Then the bottle, This syrup, like the vinegar, makes a very remove scum and delicious flavor for various bever Ages, RaspBERRY JAaM.——Mash a quantity of raspberries in an earthen pan and add | pulverized sugar pintiol pulp constantly wits a long-handied wooden one of sugar to each Place on the tire and stir spatula for twenty-five minutes. Then fill your glasses or jars with the warm of | died paper, cut to suit, over tl the fruit (this the Hee jam, und when cold lay a | bran- i top of is done to prevent old, ii Lv Ih aver jars tightly with paper or bladder and set away for use, RASPBERRY CREAM. —A quart of the richest cream will be required for one pint of mash the fruit through fine raspberries ; amd rub aA hair to Boil the cream and add it to the pulp while | extract.the seeds, it remains hot, Sweeten with powdered sugar to f#t it become quite cold. Now raise 4 goth by béating with a wh Fake off the froth with | skimmer, and lay ur taste, sk. a perforated iton a hair sieve to | drain. Then fill your glasses with the | residue of the cream and top off each glass with froth. Rasrserey RBartaria.—To four quarts of raspberries add two quarts of | proof spirits and one pound of white | sugar. Infuse in a close vessel for one week. Now strain and press through a bair sieve, after which flter through a flannel bag and bottle, RASPBERRY BRANDY, Mix together equal parts of mashed raspberiies and | brandy. Cover closely and allow to stand for twenty-four hours Strain and press, Sweeten to taste, Flavor with | cinnamon and cloves, Filter through a flannel bag, and bottle, Currants. Rep CURRANT JELLY.—Free the fruit from all stalks and leaves aml add to them one-fourth their weight or measure of red raspberries, Mash them all 8» as to crush every berry, This | operation of mashing will be greatly | facilitated by making the fruit scalding ' hot. Now pour the pulp into a flannel jel- ly bag to filter, placing a wooden or earth- | en vessel underneath to catch the juice | as it trickles through. Boil the filtered p juice ina bright copper preserving pan, Fallowing one pound of white sugar to ‘euch pint of juice: remove the scum us it forms on the surface. A very few minutes will suffice to Lil this to a jelly, which may be ascertained by placing a little on a cold saucer in cold | water or on jee, If it congeals in a {moment it is done, but if it remains ‘quite fluid the boiling should Le con- tinued. We will here say that the all-prevailing mistake by our howse- wives in making currant jelly is that { currant jelly is made still move delicious iby the addition to it of a fourth part {he currants, BLACK CURRANT JELLY is made § precisely as the above, except that the “fruit being hard and dry, a little red cur- it juice must be added. In the absence of juice water may be used, ANOTHER METHOD of making red ‘currant jelly is as follows: Pick the berries from the stalks into a stone jar; when you have the desired ' quantity cover the jar closely and eid cold water, place on the fire and sim- mer for an hour. Now pour the contents of the jar into a jelly bag ard let the juice filter into an earthen pan, Be particular to avoid pressing the bag, as this forces through what would detract from the brilliant color pulverized white sugar to each pint of juice. Place on the fire and stir stantly until the sugar is dissolved and the scum has risen, This scum must all You have now only to fill your glasses or jars with the warm jelly, and when quite cold lay con- dried bladder and set away for use, CURRANT SYRUP. —Mash three quarts of currants and one quart raspberries together in an earthen pan. Let these stund until fermentation begins; then filter off the juice and add sugar pint two pounds te each of juice. Now sugar is entirely dissolved. Then re- move from the fire, take off the scum, This is a most exquisite ing qualities of summer beverages. Lemons. There is no more wholesome, refresh- and family use or as an offering to a friendly visitor of grateful beverage for a well-made glass lemonade, overtuit, and leaves a powdery taste upon the tongue. Besides, one has not always the ready fruit at hand A little forethought and labor at the proper sea. a fuitht the following directions, will enable one to when wanted, gon, and ul observance of have a delicious beverage ready to serve the whole year round, The midwinter months are the period of the and high quality of most tropical fruits, greatest abundance, cheapness It has long been the in pract fox that with the requisite my family to make up at season a Emons, whole box of number of oranges, into syrup : and so we have a full twelve months’ supply for $ x VOIS, housekold use, as well as for visi- and to send to invalid friends and We [tals ti neighbors, call it by the nape it bears in and the Orient, where it beverage to Italian, ™ is 4 common amin bic, shurbet, Hindoo, French, sorbet | from shereb, shoorb : srhetto English, sherbet, LEMON SHERBET.—The best lemons come to us from Florida, and the next Palermo, those having thin, skin, large and solid, in preference to thick, almost sure to prove spongy and dry. in quality from in Sicily, Choose a smooth rough-skinned ones, which are Select from those that have never been unwrapped, wash them lightly in cold water, wipe dry, wrap in clean, soft paper and keep in a cool, dry place. This treatment removes any stale flavor comimunicaled by decaying fruit or the of this purpese are odor the box. The best oranges for those from Jamaica, and next the Floridas, Buy them, like the lemons, in their original wrappers ; wash and repack in like manner. The materials and proportions for the Three pints lemon juice, one pint orange juice and six pounds granulated sugar. This will require about three dozen lemons and a syrup are as follows : half dozen oranges, all of large size. With a fine grater rub off the thin yel- low rind of the fruit, but none of the white ; the lemons and oranges separ- ately, of course. Mix the gratings well with four times their weight of pulver- jzed white sugar and put into bottles, whsch keep corked when not in use, You have thus two excellent, pure, ever-ready flavorings for cakes, pies, puddings, blanc-manges, ices, and what- ever else you like, Now pare off the white rind, scraping it clean down to the pulp. Cut the fruit in haif, pick out all the seeds, queeze out the juice with a wooden squeezer and strain it as fine as possible through a flannel jelly-bag. Measure it, add to each quart of the mixed juices three pounds of sugar | stir it until it is a perfectly clear syrup, pour into wide- mouthed botlles or jars, brimful, and keep in a dark, cool place until they are clear and free from specks | care- fully remove the scum, cover tightly and keep in a cool cellar or in an ice- chest. Thus made the syrup will retain its freshness for any length of time, The above recipe should yield about four quarts, or sufficient for about sixty glasses of very rich sherbet. It may be may be mixed either with ice-water as # cooling drink, or with hot water as a night-cap. Made in the large way the last trial by the writer was as follows: One box lemons, 300 large and fine ; 50 oranges ; yield, 12 quarts lemon juice ; yield, four quarts orange juice ; add 48 pounds of sugar; product, 30 quarts syrup. It is always welcome and popu. lar at ladies’ Fairs, especially when served by a pretty “Rebecca at the Well,” in turban and flowing robes, with a rockery, ferns and a never fall ing bowl of sherbet at her side. If you desire to give it an Oriental, Arabian Nights’ flavor, add to each quart a tea- — spoonful of rose water or orange flower water, to your taste, All this may seem a needless amount of labor but it is amply repaid by the superior yield and quality of the syrup, The seeds are bitter, and if any are crushed in the squeezer, or remain a short time in the juice. they impart their flavor to it. So of the peel ; if the fruit is pressed without removing it the juice is embittered by it; more over, it absorbs a portion of the juice and so causes waste, Lastly, the oil of the rind, or zest, tends to cause fermen- tation in the syrup and prevents its keeping, When made for immediate use a small portion of the zest may be mixed in but not when intended for long keeping. A pleasant mixed beverage is made by adding to the syrup an equal portion of raspberry sherbert, five quarts scar- let raspberries, two quarts wine-vinegar and eight pounds granulated sugar, (rently mash the berries, put them into a porerlain-lined kettle, add the vinegar and stir three times a day for a week, keeping the kettle well covered mean- while, Strain through a close flannel cloth, Mix of the sugar with the seed pulp, work it well and one pound 4 via i FATAL. the kettle, Put all the syrup together into add the skim ti rest of the sugar, 11 the scum no lomger hot, and and boil and forms, then bottle while still seal, It is diluted with cold waler drunk like the lemon sherbert, Hes, A delicious sauce for wa and kinds of bot butter, one-fourth muffins all pancakes is the lemon BURATr, yolks of eggs, well beaten One pound pulverized pound butter, six four whites of egg, whipped to a stiff froth lemons, the juice; two rind thinly grated. Melt butter and rub it with the sugar to a smooth cream. Mix the whites and yolks with the juice of the three lemons and the grated rind of two of them, and beat to a smooth paste ; three lemons, the the then mix the whole, put it into an enameled saucepan and boil twenty minutes, stirring well to pre- vent scorching. Pour into jelly tumblers and keep tightly covered, Orange butter is made in like man- ner. The He with Mrs. Langtry respecting her Ameri- has a column interview can tour future, and her country, her plans for the i impressions of the ladies Not felt by our readers in experience no doubt, of this much interest will be Mrs. Langtry’s but the ladies, be pleased to read what the foreign beauty has to say of personal appearance and taste in This part of the interview is follows : “In the first place, | think American women bave very pretiy faves, so bright Of Purposes, will their dress, given as and winning. One sees more pretty faces here than in England, Then I think they have beautiful hair and very pretty hands and feet,” *“*And their figures?" “Well, I must take the liberty to say that 1 think their figures are generally bad. The American standard of figure is altogether too plump to please me.” “Whom oo you consider the most beautiful American woman you have sen?’ “Mary Anderson, decided- 1y.” “Mary Aderson is not over plump.” “She is not. 1 should have said that the over plumpness I spoke of refers prin cipally to the married beauties I have seen.” “In which town did you see the prettiest women ¥' “In Baltimore, It struck me that every woman there was a beauty. And I think that Balti- more was the only town that did not boast of its native Ivauties.” *‘Do you admire the dress of American woman ¥"° “I cannot say candidly that I do ; on the whole, 1 think they dress too smartly on the street and too simply for theater, I think they mix their colors badly and have too many bows and ends on their dresses. To my taste a woman cannot be too simply dressed for the street. A dress of simple, neutral tints pleases me best. I saw a woman on the street the other day wearing a grey ulster, a blue dress and scarlet kid gloves, Just think of that!” und Mrs Langtry almost shudder- ed at the thought of scarlet gloves, “and also she had a bouguet de corsage of daf- fodils. That was rather a gay mixture of colors, was it not ¥*° A ——— A. Fish and Thirst. Mr. M.D. Conway, writing from Lon. don to the Cincinnati Commercial-Gazetts about the Fisheries Exhibition, says: 1 judge by the appearance of the “* Amer. ican bar” thatthe United States under- stand the close connection between fish and thirst, A large framed poster gives in detail the names of ninety-four dif- ferent kinds of American drinks, The fact that the war is ended and the Union restored is delicately shown in the three 18 penny “long drinks,” respectively called “Stonewall Jackson," *‘Presi- dent Lincoln” and “General Grant, » placed side by side. 1t will be interest- ing, perhaps, to your teetotal readers to know that small placards are widely distributed with the names of these ninety-four drinks printed on a brilliant background of stars and stripes,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers