THE FARMER AT HOME. 471 



situations, or even under the eaves of houses. The winter v/ren, which 

 visits us in the winter season, and sometimes remains till spring, is 

 considered identical with the European species. Our house wren is 

 distinguished by its longer tail. It is one of our most familiar birds, 

 from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, taking up its abode in the vicinity 

 of dwellings ; and its note is well known even in the midst of our most 

 populous cities. The habits of all the wrens are more or less similar. 



YAM. This a slender herbaceous vine, having large tuberous 

 roots, which are much used for food in Africa and the East and West 

 Indies. They are mealy and esteemed to be easy of digestion, are 

 palatable, and not inferior to any roots now in use, either for delicacy 

 of flavor or nutriment. They are eaten either roasted or boiled, and 

 the flour is also made into bread and puddings. The juice of the 

 roots, when fresh, is acrid, and excites an itching on the skin. There 

 are many varieties of the roots ; some spreading out like the fingers ; 

 others twisted like a serpent ; others, again, very small, scarcely 

 weighing more than a pound, with a whitish, ash-colored bark, 

 whereas the bark is usually black. The flesh of the yam is white or 

 purplish, and viscid, but becomes ferinaceous or mealy when cooked. 

 One variety of the yam sometimes has roots three feet in length, and 

 weighing thirty pounds. All the varieties are propagated like the 

 potato. 



YEAST. Yeast, or barm, as it is sometimes called, is the froth 

 of beer and other malt liquors when in a state of fermentation. 

 When thrown up by a quantity of malt or vinous liquid, it may be 

 preserved to be put into another at a future period, an which it will 

 exert a similar fermentative action. Yeast is used in making bread, 

 which, without such action, would be heavy and unwholesome. 

 Yeast for bread making is also prepared in families in the following 

 manner. Boil twelve clean-washed potatoes ; and at the same time 

 boil, in another vessel, a handful of hops in a quart of water ; peel 

 and mash the potatoes fine ; pour part of the hop water, while hot, 

 upon the potatoes, and mix them well ; then add the remainder 

 of the hop water and a spoonful of sugar ; beat all well ; add a small 

 portion of leaven to bring on fermentation, and set it in a cool place. 

 One cupful of the potato yeast will answer for two quarts of flour. 



YEW. This is an evergreen tree, belonging to the family of the 

 pines, arid which is common in many parts of the north of Europe. 

 The foliage somewhat resembles that of the hemlock-spruce, except 

 that the leaves are larger. The fruit, however, is not a cone, but a 

 small red berry, in the hollow part of the extremity of which the 

 green seed appears. The yew was formerly extensively cultivated in 

 Great Britain, and, on account of its gloomy and funereal aspect, was 

 usually planted in church-yards. The wood, which is peculiarly 

 hard, smooth and tough, was manufactured into bows ; but since the 

 introduction of fire arms, the tree is no longer planted except for oraa 



