Judging of the Flavor of Fruit. "Who shall decide when doctors disagree" on the flavor of certain fruits? There is a great deal of contention and dispute in the pomological world, on the merits of certain new sorts, and the reading public is often very much at a loss to know how to decide in cases thus made difficult Hence, at least in part, the differences of opinion in relation to the quality of such new famous varieties as the Concord and Diana grapes, the Onondaga and Monarch pears, &c. We have had occasion often to observe the great difference of estimate, resulting from external circumstances. In one case, an individual atterids one of our fairs, after traveling a long journey where no fruit is to be had, and by which his appetite is sharpened to a high degree. A third rate fruit is handed to him, and hunger gives it a delicious flavor. Another individual on the fruit committee, examines every thing delicious, and becoming thoroughly sated, the same fruit is pronounced by him utterly detestable. Both are perhaps editors or reporters, and their readers are of course very much puzzled, when they see such contradictory statements. We observe a statement in a late number of one of our best papers, that the Newtown pippin is the only variety of apple that improves in flavor by crossing the Atlantic. An American in passing through Marseilles, observed some Newtown pippins for sale, which had found their way from New-York through Liverpool. He paid fifteen cents each for them, and on tasting them, found them more delicious than any he had ever met with in America-he was a good judge of fruit. Can any one doubt that a sharpened appetite imparted to them much of this fine flavor ? The men attached to Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, found a wild grape which they regarded as far superior to the finest Hamburghs and Sweetwaters. A plant was procured and placed in the hands of a skillful cultivator at Philadelphia. When it bore, every one who tasted it pronounced it utterly unworthy of cultivation. So much for the difference between the starvation of the western wilds and the luxuries of the east. In another instance, a botanical friend found a superb wild grape as he was traversing the Alleghany mountains, where he had not tasted any fruit for days. When it fruited in a garden in western New-York, it was found no better than the wild austere frost grape. The reason, then, that doctors disagree in their estimates of new and rare fruits, is owing to the difference in circumstances in which they perform their examinations. And the way to prevent such disagreements, is a very simple one. Always provide specimens of standard sorts, to taste side by side, before undertaking to pronounce with precision on the relative quality of those that are new and untried. This will prevent many blunders, if always followed. A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, and 28 inches deep, will contain a barrel, (5 bushels.) The Schuyler Gage and New Plums. MR. TUCKER-As I promised to furnish you with the history and description of the new varieties of plums exhibited by me at the State Fair held at New-York, I commence first with the MADISON PLUM.-This fine seedling, so highly recommended by the Fruit Congress which met at Philadelphia I think in 1849, was raised by that celebrated plum grower, the late Isaac Denniston of Albany. It came into bearing in 1848, and on the 16th Oct., 1849, I saw and ate its fruit, in company with Mr. Sanford Howard, who then remarked to me that it was a plum which, if grown for market, would pay enormously, being go late and beautiful a variety. I accordingly procur ed scions the following spring-very fortunately too,as the succeeding summer the tree from an unknown cause, died. Its size rather above medium; color, rich yellow with carmine cheek; bloom whitish; freestone; flavor, very rich, sugary, sprightly and fine. Season, October. A fine grower. SCHUYLER GAGE-This is one of the most beautiful being eaten by me the past season when the snow covand desirable of plums, on account of its latenessered the ground. It never suffers from the attacks of the curculio, like most other varieties, which fact immeasurably enhances its value with me, being always sure of a crop. It was raised by Gen. SCHUYLER, of Revolutionary memory, from the Green Gage, and was esteemed by him so great an acquisition that he never disseminated it; but gave to his rival fruit-grower, ISAAC DENNISTON, buds of the Green Gage as it. Mr. Denniston always believed it the Green Gage, saying he obtained buds of Gen. Schuyler himself, which, when fruited, was none other than the Green Gage. So choice was this variety with the General, that none but his intimate friends were at his table served with them, and when solicited by them for scions, some other variety was substituted Mr. Dennisthe days of Gen. S., to obtain and exclusively possess ton frequently alluded to the strife which prevailed in varieties of choice fruit, and the petty tricks resorted to when applied to for them-he having been for years duped by them. After the death of Gen. S., the late JOHN BRYAN purchased the grounds, and finding an aged tree of this variety, grafted from it. Soon after the death of Mr. Bryan, the grounds came into the possession of Mr. E. C. M'INTOSH, to whom we are indebted for making known this long heard of variety. In the fall of 1847 or 1848, Mr. M'Intosh brought to Mr. Howard and myself, some plums to identify. Being unknown, we visited Mr. Denniston to have them named, but without avail. At the request of Mr. M'Intosh we soon after visited his grounds to learn more of this variety, and there learned from a daughter of the late John Bryan, stated above,) from the Green Gage. During the lifeits name and history. It was raised about 1800, (as time of her father, he never disseminated it, nor would he permit it to be done. We thus see why this choice fruit never was made known while possessed by two such peculiar men-remaining in their possession full half a century; and why all pomologists have erred in calling it a synonym of the Green Gage. The fruit is medium size, long oval; skin golden yellow, dotted and washed with carmine; bloom white; stem 1 inches long. Flesh yellowish, quite juicy, high-flavored, luscious, sprightly, fine. Stone free. Season from 15th Oct, to 15th Nov. An erect grower. The WAX PLUM is a new seedling raised by me and shown at the State Fair in New-York. It is a quite late variety, ripening during the month of Oct., when light-colored plums are gone. Its parents I believe to have been Bleecker's Yellow and Denniston's Superb, favoring more in its outline and stem, the Bleecker than the Superb, and in the growth and productiveness of the tree. Fruit large size, slightly oval; stem quite 2 inches long and hairy; color the richest yellow, mostly covered with carmine; bloom lilac; flesh greenish yellow, juicy, firm, saccharine, with a sprightly, very pleasant flavor. Free stone. Season October. HOWARD'S FAVORITE, is another seedling raised by me, and named after SANFORD HOWARD, from the preference shown by him for it, whenever he visited my grounds. What either of its parents were, I am unable to tell. It is a profuse bearer, yielding me this dry season, 2 barrels of fruit. It possesses a peculiarity which greatly enhances its value for my bleak grounds, that of resisting the gales of summer. Indeed so great is its tenacity, that it is impossible to knock them off without breaking the fruit spurs. It is a continuous ripener for some six weeks. A very handsome grower, forming a fine rounded head. Leaves deep green, very large and crumply. Quite ornamental. Fruit large sized, jug-shaped; stem 14 inches long, inserted in a rim like the egg plum; color rich yellow, dotted and shaded with carmine; bloo:n lilac; skin thick; flesh rather coarse, but very sugary, rich and delicious, clinging somewhat to the stone. Season Sept. HENRY CLAY-another seedling raised by me, and bore fruit first in 1852. It was raised from pits of Howard's Favorite. Of large size, considerably more so than its parent, being broader and heavier. Color bright yellow on sunny side, with carmine cheek. Stem quite long, near 2 inches in length, slightly sunken; bloom whitish; skin tough; flesh yellow, rich, sugary, delicious. A noble plum, both in size, quality and beauty. Half cling and balf free, like its great namesake. It was named by Dr. WARDER of Cincinnati-deeming it worthy of so honorable a name, and so appropriate to his character. Season 1st Sept. The five preceding are not excelled for productive ness. For beauty I know of none that can compare with them. For quality they are not excelled by any, and for lateness, where can five varieties be found that will furnish fruit for a period of 24 months? LADY PLUM is another seedling raised froin the Mirabile. It is quite a pretty fruit, esteemed highly for preserving this being its chief quality. It is a rampant grower-leaves small and pointed. An abundant bearer. Fruit quite small, oval; stem short and stout; color greenish yellow, spotted with brown; stone free and small; flavor acid. Season last of Sept. ELISHA DORR. Albany, Dec., 1854. Sheds for Cattle. Where farmers have been obliged to stack out fodder, and feed it to cattle without any shelter, I would recommend the following: Enclose a yard of suitable size for the amount of stock to be kept, (as small as possible recollect,) by the side of your stacks, with a temporary shed made by running a tight board fence for the back, and some old boards or rails shingled with straw for the roof, which may be supported in front by putting down in front a good stout rail once in 10 or 12 feet. Let this stand on the north side of your yard, and if possible get water enclosed in it, so the cattle can remain in all winter. Keep the yard well littered, and i will warrant you just 5 times the quantity of manure in the spring to draw out and put where you want it, than you could have had to let your cattle run at stacks, dropping their manure promiscuously, and probably just where you don't want it--saying nothing about their more comfortable quarters. Such a shed can be built in a short time-my man and I put one up 60 ft. long and 12 wide in one day. W. J. PETTEE. Salisbury, Conn. Ashes for Old Orchards. JAN. Will you or some correspondent of the Country Gentleman, who may have had practical experience in the sand from a foundery as a top dressing for crops, and application of the best portion of the waste ashes and more especially to an orchard-state its properties on an old orchard requiring renovation? Truly yours, B. J. WHITNEY. Worcester, Mass. We have always found a moderate application of ashes, or still better its successive application as each is dissolved and carried into the ground, very beneficial to apple trees, increasing their growth and the size of the fruit. And this we believe is the experience of others. On poor or moderately fertile land, a free use of yard manure must not be forgotten as a main reliance. There may be portions of the country where from peculiarity of soil, ashes may be of little or no use, which can be only learned by making the trial. Shipping Apples to Europe. It is familiar to at least a portion of our readers that the most successful exporter of apples from this country, R. L. PELL, of Ulster Co., N. Y., owes a considerable portion of his success to careful picking and careful handling. The fruit is picked, one apple at a time, from the tree-when transferred from the hand-basket to the larger one, only two are taken at a time by hand. These baskets are then drawn, not even on a spring wagon, but on a sled to the building for storing, so as to secure them from jolting. When packed in barrels, they are again taken two at a time by hand. They are drawn on a sled to the North River, and lifted by two men on board the steamboat to be taken to New-York and shipped. When lowered on ship-board, they are caught, one at a time, on men's shoulders, and carried carefully to the coolest part of the ship At London, they are carried by two men on a handbarrow with the same care that we carry a costly looking-glass. With these precautions they arrive in London in better order than market apples usually reach our own cities, and having been carefully selected, sell for ten dollars per barrel, and sometimes as high as twenty. Few of our farmers, it is true, send their apples across the Atlantic; but would it not repay them well to exercise the same care in handling them for home market or domestic use? Why are so many compelled to pick over their apples several times in the winter, their infection? Plainly, because they are hammerand remove the decayed ones to save the rest from ed and bruised so carelessly during gathering, and during the process of tumbling them from basket to barrel, and barrel to basket. So much for a passing suggestion. The American Agriculturist furnishes in a lato number, some facts in relation to shipping apples. The deck of the vessel is found the best place to deposit them; under deck they do not keep well-and to secure them from the dashing of the salt water, the barrel should be tight. Three or four quarter inch holes 1 are to be bored into the head for the circulation of air and escape of moisture. Sail vessels usually chargement, but I have no doubt of its correctness, and com30 to 50 cents per barrel for freight, and steamers four times as much. Commission and charges in England are about $1,00 per barrel. The same paper states that next to the Newtown Pippin, the following varieties succeed best for shipping, which may be borne in mind by those planting orchards with this view:-Baldwin, Esopus Spitzenburgh, Tompking County King, Lady apple, and Red Canada Rhode Island Greening, Roxbury Russet, and Swaar, have not succeeded so well. The Apple Worm. EDITORS OF THE COUNTRY GENTLEMAN—I am glad that the subject of wormy apples is attracting attention, and am pleased to see a communication on it In a recent number of your paper, as the views of your correspondent accord with a theory of my own, formed some years ago. The subject is one of great importance. In the northern parts of New England, where the apple does not grow to the same perfection that it does in more genial latitudes, apples are only occasionally wormy. But in the western part of New-York, and particularly in the county of Chautauque, on the south shore of lake Erie, where it grows to large size and of the best flavor, its enemy the apple worm, or the insect which produces it, seems to be correspondingly vigorous and destruciive, so that sometimes out of the produce of a whole tree of apples that for size and flavor would astonish a Vermonter, hardly one apple can be found not perforated by the worm. Some years ago I observed, that of the apples furnished me by a farmer on whom I was dependent for my supply, not one was wormy, and I expressed to him my gratification and surprise. He assured me he never had wormy apples, and that others need not here, if they would manure their trees as he did. He said that his practice was, in the spring of the year, to carry out his straw and refuse hay, and spread it under his apple trees and about his orchard, and then turn on his cattle, let them eat what they would, and tread the rest into the ground, where it decomposed and made manure. I saw at once the importance of the fact, but concluded my friend mistaken in his deduction. I thought it much more probable that the mischief was done by some insect that burrowed in the ground under the trees in the winter, and that the weight of the ox treading up the ground at the season when it freezes at night and thaws out days, was a means peculiarly fitted to destroy it, and leave the apples free from its ravages. This fact supports the views of your correspondent. The insect is not propagated from the apples that come to maturity, and are gathered and carried away, but from such as fall prematurely and decompose on the ground under the trees. It must find an abiding place somewhere until the next year when it is to begin its ravages. And where so probably as in the ground under the tree, nearest the point where its future operations are to commence? mend it to the consideration and trial of all farmers, whose orchards are visited by the pest. Hogs running in the orchard in the summer and fall to eat up the immature fruit as it falls, would protect no doubt an orchard to some extent, but not entirely, ae probably some portion of the apples infected, fall so early that they would escape the notice of swine. I would also suggest whether the curculio and other destructive insects may not be destroyed in the same way. E. WARD. Silver Creek, N. Y. Nov. 15, 1854. Work for the Winter. When spring comes every good farmer will have a plot or field or garden, or orchard where he can profitably apply all the manure he can save or make during the winter. Every shovelful of manure judiciousy applied will increase the amount of his harvest. Now is the time to think of this, and to make arrangements and preparations accordingly. Let all manures be put under cover or sheltered as much as possible. Save carefully all the droppings of hen roosts and poultry as this makes a near approach to guano. By the use of methods more than once named in this paper deodorize the contents of privies, &c., and convert into rich poudrette. Let those near the seashore collect sea-weed and if they use it on their crops of potatoes report the result. Let those who live near saw-mills draw home and put under cover loads of sawdust. This may be used, to good advantage, in absorbing the urine of horses and cattle, and retaining the fertilizing ammonia which they contain. Sawdust and dry meadow muck well saturated with urine will be a fertilizer almost equal to guano. It may be mixed, when spread on the crops, with plaster. Lastly, at present, save all the bones you can and make your own superphosphate. Your next harvest will pay you for all your trouble. Killing Canada Thistles by Deep Fall Plowing. MESSRS. EDITORS-More than twenty years ago, I undertook to plow a field of ten acres in the fall, for the purpose of killing Canada thistles. It was a light gravelly soil, having an easterly descent of about five degrees. I plowed one half of it in the fall as deep as could well be done without subsoiling. The other half I plowed in the spring, and then cross-plowed the whole field and planted it to corn. On the half plowed in the fall, the thistles were very few the next season. But for the effect of fall plowing on the corn. During the growth of the corn, there was but little perceptible difference in the two parts of the field. But when the corn was picked, the ears of corn were found to be more numerous and much better filled out on the part of the field plowed in the fall. I now unhesitatingly advise farmers to plow their light lands in the fall for the double purpose of killing thistles and of enriching the soil. All gravelly soils as well as clay, contain more or less of vegetable food in a latent and unprepared state for the use of the vegetable. The effect of freezing and thawing, during the fall, winter and spring, together with the action of atmospheric agents, prepares these latent elements for the use of the plant Unless the land is hilly and steep, the washing will not do as much hurt as the fall plowing will good. J. L. I have never been able to test my theory by experi- EDGERTON. Georgia, Vt., Nov. 15, 1854. The Food of Plants. MESSRS. EDITORS.-In a late number of your paper, I read an article signed " W.," which touched upon a problem I have never yet seen entirely solved. The problem is this:-How is it that farms, treated as farms generally are, and undergoing the drain that they do of both organic and inorganic materials, are enabled to maintain so long, so fair a degree of fertility? Several reasons have been given, but no one singly, nor all combined, can fully account for the strange fact that our fathers and grandfathers have raised and sold off of their farms, thousands of bushels of grain, and tons of butter, pork and beef; and after having applied the merest trifle of foreign manure, and often exhibiting the greatest carelessness in husbanding even their own resources, are able to transmit those farms to us with harvests nigh as golden, and meadows covered with nigh as rich a verdure. Your correspondent makes a still stronger statement, for he says that, judging from census returns, "the soil of the state is not running out but improving a little." And even this statement is confirmed by the experimental testimony of some of the best farmers throughout our land. But a few days ago I was conversing with a very intelligent and observing friend who said as follows-"Thirty years ago when I commenced on this place of something over a hundred acres, I could scarcely keep a dozen cows although a fair proportion of land was always kept down in grass. Being confident that its resources were not exhausted, I set to work to see what could be done. I endeavored to exercise great care in all respects, according to approved methods, and had the satisfaction of seeing my corn cribs gradually fill up, and each succeeding summer to notice more and more 'hay over.' I began to increase my stock at the rate of a cow every year, and to fat an increase of pork, until now I can keep near thirty cows, and yet raise more grain than I did when I commenced. Almost the only fertilizer I have purchased was plaster, and if called upon to give the secret of it all, I should say it is on account of the miserly care with which in every respect I have husbanded the manure which the farm itself produced." But, ye men of science, this is the question-the inorganic or mineral part of that farm's products for the last five years, where were they when that man began? Do you reply that they were all locked up in the soil, and needed only the key of careful culture to unlock the treasure? If so, I would enquire againif the amount of mineral matter in the soil cannot of itself be made to increase, how came it to happen that the agriculturist whom we have just noticed, by increasing the amount of farm products, and thus making a greater draft at the mineral, did not discover his land gradually running down? The rationale of "W." in regard to spring water holding mineral matters in suspension can explain but little here, for his land is not springy, but mostly good sound loam, and where a spring does burst out it is conveyed immediately off in a good ditch. Now, if called upon to express an opinion in explanation of this point, I should say, first, that by growing long tap-rooted plants mineral matters are brought up from the subsoil. 2d. By the gradual mouldering away in the soil of rocks and stones, caused by the influence of the sun, air and frost, and the abrasions of the plow and harrow, new mineral elements are made ready for plants. 3d. During severe drouths when the ground to some distance below the surface is dry, by the laws of capillary attraction moisture is drawn from a great depth and mineral solutions along with it. For this reason, observing men say that the year after heavy drouths is always productive. I believe that in the air, in a gaseons form, exist all matters that are found in the soil, mostly organic, b but a proportion of inorganic likewise, and that in the great laboratory which nature has established in the earth and sky, there are processes which as yet have eluded scientific research. Phosphoric acid gas has in sinall portions been found in the atmosphere. Now why may not this descend into the bosom of the earth, or be drawn in by the mouth of the plant, and in some (to us) unknown way unite directly with lime and thus form the phosphate of lime so essential to almost all forms of growth? And thus with every form of mine. ral matter required. It may be carried off to fill the hungry mouths of the ten thousands in our cities, but a kind Providence, acting through nature, which is ever bountiful, notwithstanding the improvidence of her children, may ordain it to return to the valley it left, and prepare it to resume its eternal round of errands of mercy. JAMES 0. MILLER JR. Montgomery, Orange County. PLANTING ASPARAGUS. MESERS. EDITORS-Will you please to inform a constant reader of your most valuable paper, which is the best time and best soil for asparagus. H. W. K. Middletown, N. Y. as early in the spring as Set in the autumn, they The plants should be set the work can be performed. are liable to be injured or destroyed by winter. The seeds will grow best if sown in the fall as soon as ripe. The best soil is one made rich by a copious use af manure, well and deeply mixed with the earth. If sufficiently drained or not liable to be water-soaked, either a heavy or light soil will answer. The ground can be scarcely made too rich, the size, sweetness and tenderness depending greatly on this quality. That particular sort of asparagus known as Giant asparagus is nothing more than the common sort on a highly enriched soil, and under good cultivation. The large size of the shoots depends greatly on not crowding the plants together-hence it is better to plant in drills, and not in beds. MARYLAND STATE AG. SOCIETY.-At the recent meeting of this Society, C. B. CALVERT, Esq., who we believe has been its President from its organization, having positively declined a re-election, J. T. EARLE, Esq., of Queen Anne's County, was elected President for the coming year. J. H. McHenry, Baltimore, is the Cor. Sec'y, Samuel Sands, Rec. Sec'y, and J. II. Luckett, Treas. That Cow Cherry. MESSRS. EDITORS-Cherry of New Scotland is doubtless a very good cow, but St. Lawrence is a very great county, and can beat the state in dairies, and we may add in cows too, Cherry not excepted. The pretensions of this cow have been so often paraded in your columns, that it is proposed to "divide honors" with her. Let us see, she calved Sept. 28th, and commencing thereafter, Oct. 2d, in the full flow of her milk, and very likely fed on slop, roots or extra feed besides grass, she yielded in 28 days 46 lbs. of butter or 1 lb. 10 4-7 oz. of butter per day. At the fair of St. Lawrence county, prizes were offered in three classes for the six best dairy cows owned by any one person, and of the eighteen successful cows, Cherry would have found her match in either of them. Due proofs, as required by law under oath, were submitted and are in my possession, of the products of these cows. Their feed was grass only. The milk of each cow was measured, and weighed at each milking, and the product of each cow was separately churned and weighed where used in butter. The pastures of this county suffered severely the past season from drouth, and the feed was much better from the first of October than from the first day of July to October. Our grounds were parched and red, and yielded scarce any feed during the summer months and September. Also will be borne in mind the time of calving. We take the cows of Edward M. Shepard of Norfolk, being his entire herd. No. 1. Ayrshire, calved in May-yielded 1st week in No. 3. Ayrshire, calved early in May--yielded 1st Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4 gave the second week in September, 11 lbs. 6 oz.; 13 lbs; 12 lbs. and 10 lbs. 10 oz. of butter respectively, from pastures sun-baked as red as "Cherry" herself. The twelve remaining cows, which drew premiums were owned, six by Mr. Moses Tuttle of Canton, and six by his brother Mr. L. Tuttle, either of whom would be pleased to compare with "CHERRY," but as their cows were selected from their large dairies, it is perhaps better to take those cows not holding such chances. Here then we give you the product of six cows, be longing to one man, and taking his whole yard, either of which, (and one farrow) yielded far larger products than this famous cow, CHERRY. We can give through this Society, single cows with which Cherry cannot compare, but the above is better, for the attention of dairymen is here turned to the breed of the cows used, and is not a mere casual or accidental result as may be the case with "CHERRY." Very truly yours, H. G. FOOTE, Sec'y St. Law. Ag. Society. Ogdensburgh, Nov. 27, 1854. Mediterranean Wheat. MR. TUCKER-I noticed an article in your valuable paper, relative to the value and culture of Mediterranean Wheat by F. D. C. Now my experience and observation lead me to differ from him in some respects. I regard it as earlier than most other varieties, especially when grown on heavy soil. I have known it to ripen more than a week earlier than the red Bald (so called among us) or the Canada flint, and think it less liable to the ravages of the weevil. I am aware that it does not yield as greatly as some other varieties, when we are fortunate enough to have them do well, but as a general thing I think it by far the safest for a crop. Three-fourths, if not nine-tenths of the wheat raised in this country is the Mediterranean variety. As to its value now, I view it as quite different from what it was when first grown here. I have the testimony of our millers as well as my own experience to sustain me in saying that this wheat sown on early soil, if cut before fully ripe, will amply repay the farmer with a quality of flour not surpassed in flavor by any in market, and will compare favorably with the best white varieties. I am confident this wheat yields a greater a better quality of flour than it did ten years ago, in this section at least. J. N. A. Duchess County, N. Y. Experiment with Guano on Corn. SIR-"A young farmer of Maryland," inquires in regard to applying guano to "clay land." I have tried it in clay land that had been in grass for five years. On one half the field, I plowed it in to the depth of about seven inches, and on the other half harrowed it in, and planted it all to corn, and staked off an equal number of hills from each part. It all came up equally well, but by the early part of summer there was a marked difference in the two parts of the field, which continued throughout the season; and upon husking, that which had been plowed in (and staked off upon planting,) produced nine bushels, while that which had been harrowed in, produced but five bushels, showing the advantage of plowing it in, even in heavy clay soil. The soil was a slate, and the amount used about two hundred lbs. to the acre. CHESTER CO., PA. Our correspondent has our thanks for the above. It is just such facts that are wanted. We hope he will furnish further results of his experience and observation for our pages. FINE APPLE.-Mr. E. R. BALL of Nassau, has presented us some seedling apples, which are in eating at this time. They are slightly acid, of good flavor, and worthy of preservation. Mr. B. proposes to propagate it, at least so far as to give it a fair trial under favorable circumstances. |