316 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 

 Household Department 



[Chicago Union Agriculturist, 2:30; Mar., 1842] 



[March ?, 1842] 



Coffee. — If you would have it good, roast it in a cov- 

 ered vessel, or in the oven of a stove, but don't burn it. — 

 The grains should never be black. 



Keeping Hams. — This is one of the easiest arts in 

 housekeeping, and yet I hear of no one complaint more 

 than this. "How do you keep your hams?" is an every 

 day question. Perhaps the easiest and cheapest way is 

 the one which I have last adopted. Take common cotton 

 sheeting and make a bag large enough for the ham to 

 slip in quite loose, put it in when well smoked, and be- 

 fore the meat bug makes its appearance in the spring — 

 tie the mouth of the bag around the string of the ham, 

 so that it will hang by that, while the bag hangs loose 

 around it — hang them up in a cool dry room, and you 

 can have as good bacon as I have 18 months old, without 

 a worm, or the least waste, and scarcely any trouble, 

 and the bags will answer a good purpose year after year. 



Solon Robinson. 



Notes upon Articles in the Feb'y No. 



[Albany Cultivator, 9:85; May, 1842] 



[May ?, 1842] 



Styptic. — One of the most efficacious that I ever tried 

 is common gun powder, reduced to a very fine powder 

 and applied to the wound. The ingredients composing 

 that article appear to be in the proper combination to 

 have a speedy and good effect. It is better than puff 

 ball, and more easily procured at all times. I have known 

 it applied so as to reach a deep wound, (the cavity where 

 a tooth had been drawn for instance,) with the best 

 effect, by putting a little of it in a quill and forcing it 

 into the wound by blowing. 



