HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 381 



In the home of my childhood the question, "what shall we do for 

 pickles and preserves" was never heard, for hills and valleys 

 abounded with fruits, it would seem, for this very purpose. But 

 when we emigrated to Minnesota all was changed. The prairie 

 stretched away before us one vista of unbroken sod. The prospect 

 for pickles and preserves was indeed discouraging. The sod was 

 to be broken and whatever we had in this line must be raised. 

 What could it be? was the question that was ever presenting itself 

 to the mind of the good house-wife. It not only followed her by 

 day but it haunted her dreams by night until every farm resolved 

 itself into an experimental station. So she planted and sowed and 

 in the fall she had an abundant supply of green tomatoes, onions 

 and cucumbers for pickles, while ripe tomatoes, husk tomatoes, 

 ground cherries, rhubarb, citron and watermelon rinds were found 

 to do very well for preserves, and even the night shade's purple 

 berries were pressed into service for this purpose. But other dif- 

 ficulties had arisen. Where were the cider vinegar and loaf sugar, 

 hitherto considered as necessities? and now the thrifty house-wife 

 discovered that in the barrel of sorghum syrup furnished by her 

 industrious husband, were untold resources. She found by exper- 

 imenting that one pint of this syrup added to one gallon of soft 

 water made a vinegar fully equalling if not surpassing the cider 

 vinegar. 



Perhaps it would be amusing to some of you to know just how 

 we made sauce by using sorghum. Husk tomatoes are small and 

 the color of blue plums. After husking and washing them nicely 

 we poured them into the sorghum pan, added two gallons of syrup 

 to one bushel of fruit and proceeded to stir with mammoth pud- 

 ding sticks until they were done. We made thirty gallons of sauce 

 in this way in a very short time. By adding lemon it made very 

 nice sauce. In the same way we made pumpkin butter. For the 

 benefit of those who have not sorghum pan, I will say, that it could 

 be made on a smaller scale just as well. 



IMPORTANCE OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



By Mrs. Jennie Stager. 



In response to a letter to Mrs. Stager requesting a paper on 

 some pertinent subject, her daughter sent the following communi- 

 cation to t he Secretary : ■ 



My Dear Lillian: — You say you will be glad to see me at home 

 again. Not more so than I shall be to get there. I am very glad 

 to hear you are learning to make bread. I think it is a mistaken 

 idea to keep girls at school, pushing them forward until both men- 

 tal and bodily powers are weakened, yet failing to have them 

 taught the most needful lesson in life to a woman, that of becom- 

 ing a good housekeeper. Indeed, one does not wonder at the in- 



