Sweet Pickled Cucumbers

Select ripe cucumbers of uniform size, pare, and remove the seeds. Make brine strong enough to support an egg, pour over the cucumbers and let them stand nine days, stirring every day. Then soak them in clear water in which has been stirred a teaspoonful of alum to each gallon of water, for thirty-six hours. Make a syrup of one pint of good vinegar, one pint sugar, half a teacupful of water, two tablespoonfuls each of broken cinnamon bark, mace and pepper grains. Let the mixture boil, and drop in the pieces of cucumbers ; cook till tender, but be careful not to let them get soft. Remove to a jar; when all are cooked, pour the syrup over them and tie closely.

Symphoricarpus Racemosus

The long pendulous branches of this elegant deciduous shrub are well clothed early in the fall with the large and beautiful white berries that give it the appropriate name of Snowberry. It seldom exceeds four feet in height. The drooping habit of the branches gives it a graceful appearance, but the large white berries are its most attractive feature, as their beauty is fully developed during the fall and early winter, when most other hardy shrubs present anything but a pleasing appearance. The berries are retained upon the plant long after the leaves have fallen.

Tabernaemontana Utilis (Apocyneae)

The cow-tree of British Guiana and Demerara is called hya-hya by the natives. The lactescent juice is said to be bland and wholesome, resembling cow's milk in appearance, but rather sticky. Brown says : "The Indians showed us the milk tree, from an incision in the bark of which we obtained a good flow of thick, white, creamy sap, of a rich nutty flavor, but a little of it went a long way." This tree was described by Arnott in 1830.

Tas Manian Apples

These apples seem to bear the long sea transport splendidly, and if they can be sent over in sufficient quantity, we ought to be able to procure sound good apples throughout the summer months. The flavor is quite up to the mark. The quality of Fearn's Pippin and Rosemary Russet is superior to any specimens of these sorts I have ever come across in England. The Ribstons are fine looking, firm fruits. - C.

A. M. Cartnichael in The Gardeners' Chronicle.

Tested Russian Fruits At The West

IN THE September number of American Garden the careful and thoughtful Dr. Hoskins gives some notes on the Russian apples of the Department importation which have been tested in the north-eastern states, and expresses regrets that the plan of distribution had resulted in the loss, or at least the hiding from public view, of a large part of the 250 varieties imported, and the mixing of names and numbers to a confusing extent.

In connection with his statements permit me very briefly to give a historical sketch of our importations of Russian fruits and collections from other sources, with some notes on the results of a very extended trial of the varieties on varied soils and in varied latitudes during twelve of the most trying years known to the history of the west and northwest.