312 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



currant sherbet, and if it is frozen only to the consistency of mush, 

 it becomes the popular frappe. 



The uses to which this juice may be put are quite varied. A deli- 

 cate dessert is made by stiffening- the diluted juice with gelatine and 

 serving- whipped cream with it. The diluted juice may be thickened 

 with cornstarch and served cold with plain cream, or it may be 

 added to cooked tapioca or sago, making still another dainty des- 

 sert. It may also form the base of a sauce to be served with a 

 steamed or baked batter pudding. 



Spiced fruit is a desirable accompaniment to cold meats. Aa 

 peaches and pears, two fruits preeminently fine for spicing, are not 

 produced in this state, the Minnesota housewife must needs use 

 other fruit, and spiced currants is a dish not to be despised. 



Sometimes very excellent results are obtained by combining two 

 or more fruits. The blueberry is greatly improved by the addition 

 of some currants, as they furnish the tartness the blueberry lacks. 

 The currant also combines well with the raspberry. 



I think our husbands are not alone in recalling with pleasure 

 dishes made by mother. It gives me pleasure to call your attention 

 to a dish that was daily served at my mother's table during the 

 short season of the currant. We would call it a currant pan-dowdy. 

 Into a baking dish was put a layer of currants about an inch in 

 depth. Flour to thicken the juice was mixed with the sugar and 

 added, and the whole covered with a sour milk biscuit dough. The 

 resulting pudding was greatly enjoyed by the entire family. 



Moles as Insect Destroyers. — Moles are generally considered 

 destroyers of lawns and disturbers of the garden. It has been 

 pointed out that these animals do not live upon vegetable matter, 

 but upon insects entirely. An investigation to find out upon what 

 moles subsist was instituted by the Pennsylvania experiment sta- 

 tion. H. Wilson in reporting upon the results of this work stated 

 that the stomachs of 36 moles had been examined. He concludes 

 that vegetable matter is not taken into the mole's stomach inten- 

 tionally as food, and he believes that the inole is an insectivorous 

 animal. Its habit of burrowing among roots of grasses and other 

 plants is induced siniply by a desire to get at worms, beetles and 

 other insects which are found in the vicinity of plant roots. Mr. 

 Wilson thinks the mole is beneficial to the agriculturist, although 

 in some instances considerable annoyance is caused by the moles 

 burrowing under the roots of growing plants while in quest of in- 

 sect food. The damage caused by eating the grain seeds and 

 fibrous roots is due to mice rather than to moles. The runways of 

 the mole are taken possession of and occupied during the summer 

 and autumn by meadow and field mice, and these little animals are 

 undoubtedly responsible for much of the damage thought to be 

 caused by the mole. To keep moles out of lawns and flower beds 

 Mr. Wilson suggests the use of traps and poisons, driving them 

 away by placing such substances as mineral pitch, gas tar and 

 other material of unpleasant odor in their runways. 



