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TJlc Country Gcntlavoman 



^Hisccllanea. 



A NEW CExMENT. 



The following directions are given for making cement 

 impermeable by air and steam, which is said to be 

 superior to any in use for steam and gas pipes Six 

 parts of finely-powdered graphite, three parts of slaked 

 lime, and'eight parts of sulphate, are mixed with seven 

 T^arts of boiled oil. The mass must be well kneaded 

 until the mixture is x^Qxi&a.— Mechanics' Magazine. 



MUSHROOMS. 

 The old division of fungi, by the ignorant, 

 Avas into mushrooms and toadstools ; the former 

 to be ranked as delicacies, the latter to be abhorred 

 as poisonous. Modern science shews us that we 

 may make our divisions of fungi by the thousand, 

 and that though, as in other descriptions of plants, 

 there are some that are noxious, yet the bulk are 

 harmless, and many are excellent in a dietary point of 

 view. Botanists of the amateur order have toiled 

 hard among wild flowers, ferns, mosses, and alga, 

 heaths, too, have had their day ; but, for some reason 

 or other, fungi, which can shew among their ranks 

 beauty of form, tints of the most exquisite hue, scents 

 of the sweetest, and flavours that would gratify the 

 most sensual of gourmands, have been neglected, with 

 some fewexceptions, where from theirgastronomic value, 

 they have, as it were, forced their way into notice. 

 We are most of us familiar with the ordinary field 

 mushroom (Agaricus campestris), the morel (Mor- 

 chella esculenta), and the trufile (Tuber cestivum) ; but 

 though they are by no means really in the highest 

 rank, custom and prejudice have assigned them 

 the topmost dignities, while fungi equal to and sur- 

 passing them in flavour, are year by year allowed to 

 rot by the ton in woods and fields, because "my 

 father " said that they were poisonous. The Russians 

 and Italians seem thoroughly to understand these 

 wonderful but neglected productions of nature, evi- 

 dently seeing the peculiar position they hold— par- 

 taking strangely, though vegetable, of the nitro- 

 genous compounds of animal life, that they 

 .are not only highly nutritious, but wonderfully 

 satisfying, and, in many cases, so flesh-like in flavour 

 and odour that he who partakes of the banquet can 

 •easily be deceived. This is no light assertion derived 

 from book lore, but the result of the practical ex- 

 perience of one who is in the habit of feasting right 

 royally, in due season, upon the puff ball's delicate 

 lorain fritters, the hydnum's scalloped oysters, the 

 brown, piquant, juicy steak of the liver fungus, the 

 tender lamb kidneys of Agaricus deliciosus, and so 

 on — delicacies all, and spread bounteously by the 

 lavish hand of nature for her neglectful children. — 

 Once a Week. 



PRESERVATION OF LEATHER. 

 A contributor to the Shoejtnd Leather Reporter gives 

 some valuable hints in relation to the preservation of 

 leather. The extreme heat to which most men and 

 women expose boots and shoes during \\ inter deprives 

 leather of its vitality, rendering it liable to break and 

 crack. Patent leather particularly is often destroyed in 

 this manner. When leather becomes so warm as to 

 give off the smell of leather, it is singed. Next to the 

 singeing caused by fire heat, is the heat and dampness 

 caused by the covering of India rubber. India rubber 

 shoes destroy the life of leather. The practice of 

 ^\•ashing harness in warm water and with soap is very 

 damaging. If a coat of oil is put on immediately after 

 washing the damage is repaired. No harness is ever 

 so soiled that a damp sponge will not remove the dirt ; 

 but, even when the sponge is applied, it is useful to 

 add a slight coat of oil by the use of another sponge. 

 All varnishes and all blacking containing the proper- 

 ties of varnish should be avoided. Ignorant and 

 indolent ostlers are apt to use such substances on 

 their harness as will give the most immediate 

 effect, and these, as a general thing, are most 

 destructive to the leather. When harness loses 

 its lustre and turns brown, which almost any 

 leather Avill do after long exposure to the air, the 

 harness should be given a new coat of grain black. 

 Before using this grain black, the grain surface should 

 be thoroughly washed with potash water until all the 

 grease is killed ; and after the application of the grain 

 black, oil and tallow should be applied to the surface. 

 This will not only "fasten" the colour, but make the 

 leather flexible. Harness which is grained can be 

 cleaned with kerosene or spirits of turpentine, and no 

 harm will result if the parts affected are washed and 

 oiled immediately afterward. Shoe leather is gene- 

 rally abused. Persons kno\\- nothing or care less 

 about the kind of material used than they do about 

 the polish produced. Vitriol blacking is used until 

 every particle of the oil in the leather is destroyed. 

 To remedy this abuse the leather should be washed 

 once a month with warm water, and when about half 

 dry, a coat of oil and tallow should be applied, and 

 the boots set aside for a day or two. This will renew 

 the elasticity and life in the leather, and when thus 

 used upper leather will seldom crack or break. When 

 oil is applied to belting dry it does not spread uni- 

 formly, and does not incorporate itself v.dth the fibre 

 as when partly damped with water. The'best way to 

 oil a belt is to take it from the pulleys and immerse it 

 in a warm solution of tallow and oil. After allowing it 

 to remain a few moments the belt shouM be immersed 

 in water heated to one hundred degrees, and instantly 

 removed. This will drive the oil and tallow all in, 

 and at the same time properly temper the leatlier. 



