HOMEMADE FIRELESS COOKER.—­A wooden or tin pail, lined with two thicknesses of paper and provided with a close-fitting cover, may be used for the outside container of the cooker.  Allow for three inches of packing on all sides and at the bottom of the pail.  A gallon oyster can will serve very well for the nest, which should be wrapped on the outside next to the packing with asbestos and a piece of asbestos placed under the bottom to prevent the scorching of the packing when hot soapstones are used.  Shredded newspaper and excelsior make a good packing.  Pack this very tightly around and to the top of the nest, the top of which should be about three inches below the lid of the outside container.  A piece of cardboard cut to fit inside the lard can with a circle cut out of the center around the top of the oyster can or nest will hide the packing and make a neat finish.  Place a three-inch cushion of unbleached muslin, stuffed tightly with excelsior, on top of the lid of the nest.  When the top of the outside container is placed on and hooked down, it will be tight enough to cause a pressure.  If a tin pail is used for the outside container, it may be enameled white, or a wooden pail stained brown, making a neat-looking appliance for any kitchen.  Regular aluminum fireless-cooker utensils may be used for cooking the food in the nest, but any kind of a vessel with a close-fitting top and one that fits closely in the nest is suitable.—­U.S.  Dept.  Agri.

Hardy Perennials.

MISS GRACE E. KIMBALL, WALTHAM.

There has been very little in my work with hardy perennials that seems worth relating.  For many years, in Austin, we had iris, peonies and phlox in our garden.  While my love for flowers and outdoor work led me to spend all my time, outside of office hours, in the garden, the iris and peonies, especially, never gave any trouble but grew and blossomed in the most approved fashion.  With the phlox we have had more trouble, sometimes in dry seasons not getting the bloom we should, and finally, the last year we were there, losing nearly all the roots we had.  I am now inclined to think that had we divided and transplanted them some years before, we would not have lost them.

It was only a few years ago that I began to realize that herbaceous perennials could, with success, be planted in the fall in our climate, and it was not until two years ago that I made any attempt at fall planting.  That year I was quite successful, but last year, wishing to divide as close as possible, especially with the iris, I evidently overdid the matter, with the result that I lost many of my plants.  However, I learned my lesson, and this year they were not divided so closely, and I am hoping that they will come through the winter all right.

With the hardy perennials easily raised from seed my first experience was with the oriental poppy.  I had greatly desired to have some in the garden and, not knowing that the fall was the time to plant them, ordered some one spring.  They failed to grow, so the next year I attempted to raise them from seed, starting them in the house as I did my pansy seed.  But I was far from successful in that way, and having read some articles on the difficulty of raising them from seed, also learning that they should be set out in the fall, I made up my mind they were not worth bothering with.