390 DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [Chap. IV. 



cut off tlie grains and spread them in tlie sun till dried. The best way to 

 dry the corn is to nail a piece of cloth of very open texture on a frame ; say 

 two feet wide and live feet long, will be a convenient size to handle. If the 

 corn is spread thinly upon this cloth it will dry quickly without souring. It 

 should be covered with a piece of nmsquito netting to keep off the flies. 

 Another person gives the following directions for drying sweet corn. 



" As soon as the corn is fit for the table, husk and spread the cars in an 

 open oven or some quick drying-place. When the kernels loosen, shell the 

 corn as soon as you can, and spread it npon a cloth to dry in the sun, or on 

 paper in a warm oven ; stir it often that it may dry quickly and not over- 

 beat. Dried in this way, the kernels remain whole, are sweeter, and retain 

 more of the natural flavor by drying faster. Wlien all dried, expose it to 

 the wind by turning it slowly from dish to dish ; the wind blows olf all that 

 troublesome white chaff." 



Another plan has been highly recommended and a machine invented to 

 facilitate the operation ; this is to bore out the pith of the cob and then com- 

 pletely dry the corn on the cob and keep it there till wanted for the table, 

 when it may be shelled first or boiled as it grew. 



Directions for cooking dried sweet corn are very simple. Wash and put 

 it in warm water to soak several hours; then in the same water boil it for 

 a half hour. Just before taking it up, add some sweet milk or cream, pop- 

 per and salt to the taste, and a little sugar if it is not as sweet as would bo 

 agreeable. Sometimes a l)it of soda as large as a pea in a half pint of corn, 

 while soaking, makes it more tender, and corrects any stale taste which it 

 has acquired by long keeping. 



This is a good dish with meat, dressed with gravy, or it maybe eaten with 

 sauce as a dessert dish. It is good enough, eaten any way, to be, and it 

 siioukl be, n})on every American farmer's table. 



40S. llMlIed Com, or Lye Hominy, is another primitive form of preparing 

 an excellent substitute for bread. In the form of " tortillas," it is the almost 

 universal bread of Central America. "\Ve look upon hulled corn as one of 

 the luxuries of American farm life, yet not one in ten of farmers' families 

 ever enjoy it. It is particularly acceptable in the spring of the year, when 

 old vegetables arc on the decline, and new ones have not yet come into use. 

 AVhen the farmer burns wood, a white lye may be made in a few minutes, 

 or cobs may be burned and ashes used to make a lye, into which put the corn 

 to be hulled, which should be large, white-flint corn, and let it remain until 

 the hull M'ill slip easily, and then rinse it thoroughly in cold water, rubbino- 

 it with the hands or stirring it with a stick till all the hulls are washed oft". 

 Feed the hulls and chits which come out to the pigs or hens, and boil the 

 corn for yourself until it swells to three times its original size, and is as soft 

 as bread. You may prepare and boil a gallon at once for si.x persons, and 

 what is not eaten at first may be warmed over just as you would potatoes. 

 Those who have no wood ashes or cobs to make weak lye of, may hull corn 

 by using a teaspoonful of saleratus to a quart of corn, in water enough to 



