Even the Canada thistle can be rooted out by cutting off the stalks very near, but not below the surface of the ground, and putting salt on them. Old brine, not fit for any other purpose, is good for this.
Use to be made of Ashes, Sawdust, etc.
To spread ashes upon grass makes it thrifty, and of a richer green. Those which have been first used for making soap, are as good for the purpose as new ashes. Let them be scattered just before a rain.
If you cultivate raspberries and blackberries, have sawdust from the wood-house put around them once a year. Where these berries grow wild, the largest ones are found near decayed stumps and logs.
To purify a Well.
When a well is cleared out, if any offensive substance is found in it, have the bottom sprinkled with two or three quarts of quick-lime.
As a general rule, it is most economical to buy the best articles. The price is, of course, always a little higher; but good articles spend best. It is a sacrifice of money to buy poor flour, meat, sugar, molasses, butter, cheese, lard, &c., to say nothing of the injurious effect upon the health.
Of West India sugar and molasses, the Santa Cruz and Porto Rico are considered the best. The Havana is seldom clean. White sugar from Brazil is sometimes very good. Refined sugars usually contain most of the saccharine substance, therefore there is probably more economy in using loaf, crushed, and granulated sugars, than we should at first suppose.