12 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



October, 



"^e Household 



About Our Beds. 



On an average we spend more than one-third 

 of Hfe in our beds; let us study the comfort and 

 healthfulness of these more. The best bed of 

 all is the woven wire mattress.in which comfort 

 is chiefly secured by the peculiar construction 

 of the web, without the intervention of any 

 body of elastic material, which must tend to 

 prevent the circulation of air upwards through 

 the bed. In the summer a single blanket over j 

 the wire makes it a cool and easy couch ; while 

 as the season advances, additions are required 

 only to correspond with the colder atmosphere. 



Ne.\t to a wire mattress a husk or straw tick 

 is the best, either one being preferable to 

 hair. Of the two first named, the husk bed 

 is the favorite usually. Husks are very com- 

 fortable, it the tick is not filled so full as to ren- 

 der it hard — a common fault. Before putting 

 in the husks, split them with a fork for making 

 a softer bed. It is well to prepare these before 

 using, by soaking them in water; drying after- 

 wards on sheets spread in the sun. A slit 

 should be formed in the top of every husk bed 

 for daily stirring up the contents; fasten with 

 buttons. By washing and scalding husks every 

 other summer, they will last for years. Feather 

 beds are now recognized to be a nuisance. Bed- 

 ding should be kept very clean, it is our night 

 clothes. Woolen blankets are the healthiest 

 covering, and much better than quilts. The latter 

 tend to confine the exhalations of the body, the 

 former to release them, an important point. To 

 convince yourself of the difference between the 

 two as to this, place one and then the other 

 over a kettle of hot water, and notice how the 

 steam goes up through the wool but not through 

 the other. To wash a quilt properly you have 

 first to loosen up the pressed cotton in it; a 

 woolen blanket can, with very slight labor, be 

 washed and dried in a few hours time. 



cause we have underrated the taste of Americans 

 for flower culture and kindred matters. We do 

 not believe we have. Will you support our ef- 

 fort to place the best matter on these subjects 

 before the public at the lowest possible price, by 

 becoming one of the first 50,000 subscribers? 



Tea-Drinking Delusions. 



Tea having been in use asadrinkforages,it is 

 not strange that some delusions should be asso- 

 ciated with its use. It does not possess all the 

 virtues popularly ascribed to it, while in a pure 

 state — to say nothing of very harmful adulter- 

 ations that are common — it holds some object- 

 ionable properties. Tea contains a quantity of 

 tannin, as is shown when a drop is allowed to 

 remain on a steel knife, by its leaving a black 

 spot. The presence of tannin in the stomach 

 after one has eaten fresh meat, tends to interfere 

 with digestion. As to the value of tea for food, 

 wrong ideas prevail. Dr. Wilson of London, 

 England, has the following on this point: 



Tea is a stimulant. It is not a food in itself; and 

 those who spend money upon tea. in the delusion 

 that they are purchasing a food, really illustrate a 

 practice which is comparable to that ot the man 

 who swallows whiskey or brandy under a like de- 

 lu.sion. The only persons who can really afford to 

 take tea, are those who have plenty of true food to 

 eat. The sooner the common delusion regarding 

 the place of tea as a food is exploded, the better 

 will it be for the national health at large. Tea- 

 drinking, as ordinarily practiced, is really at the 

 bottom of as much illness, and of as many cases of 

 disordered digestion, as alcohol; and this for the 

 reason that, though probably not so rapidly injuri- 

 ous in its action, the habit of drinking tea at all 

 hours is more widely practiced than alcoholic im- 

 bibition. 



Brieflets. 



The less spice, the better health. 

 A feverish patient cannot take cold. 

 Employment is the true remedy for troubles. 

 Brighten the house with plants in every favor- 

 able window. 



Chew thoroughly; you cannot have the good ot 

 food, without. 



Cocaine the new pain reliever, affords instant 

 relief in bad burns or scalds. 



With the first chilly nights, get around the extra 

 flannels, for old and young. Were this practice 

 common, you would hear less of "this is the worst 

 season to take cold." 



Many families never use arrowroot. It must be 

 from ignorance ef its value. The article gives rich- 

 ness to sauces, rendering less butter necessary, 

 than when flour is used for thickening. 



Lemon jelly is delicious. Grate the rind and 

 take the juice; add one cup sugar and three eggs 

 for each lemon; beat together thoroughly, boil, 

 setting the vessel in water on the stove. 



For a layer cake, this receipt can bg perfectly 

 rehed upon:— One cup sugar; one-half cup butter, 

 one and a half cups flour; whites of three eggs; 

 one half cup sweet milk ; two teaspoonf uls of baking 

 powder. Makes three layers. 



Don't place any reliance on steady warm whether 

 after this date, and you may save a bad cold or 

 intermittent fever. In our uncertain climate , the 

 stoves and fire-places should now be in order, for 

 starting up heat on short orders. 



Sidney Smith made it a rule of his life to cause 

 each day to be a happy one for some fellow crea- 

 ture, as a result of a special act of his. He said " if 

 you send one person, only one, happily through 

 each day, that is three hundred and sixty-five in 

 the course of a year; and suppose you live forty 

 years only after you commence thatcourseof med- 

 icine, you have made 14,600 beings happy— at all 

 events, for a time." 



This is Orra Raymond's receipt for frying oysters 

 in batter "as we get them at hotels"— Put the 

 oysters in a colander to drain off. Then roll each 

 oyster in cracker dust and dip in beaten eggs 

 seasoneb with salt and pepper, next into the 

 cracker dust again. Have ready a kettle of good 

 hot lard, the same as for doughnuts. Drop 

 in each oyster thus prepared, and when a light 

 brown, they are done. Put on a platter on which 

 a napkin or cloth has been spread to saturate what 

 grease will cling to the oysters. 



Teach your girls the value of exercise in the air 

 and sunlight; they will naturally take to this, unless 

 their minds have become preverted by the notion 

 that life in the parlor with fancy work in the hands, 

 is more " lady like." Nothing will be more helpful 

 in such a direction, than to encourage them in light 

 gardening. Let them have plenty of plants and 

 flowers to look after, both indoors and out. Aid 

 them all you can to become interested in botany 

 and perhaps entomology, insisting that they keep 

 up the study of these when out of school. The ex- 

 ercise such a course will incite, will preserve the 

 bloom on the cheeks, and add strength and enjoy- 

 ment to their lives. Besides an abundance ot air 

 there should be wholesome food, regularity ot diet, 

 and healthful modes of dress, for securing healthy 

 bodies and happy minds. 



Of covjrse you, reader, will subscribe for 

 Popular Gardening. Fifty thousand sub- 

 scribers is the figure down for this paper to reach 

 within a year. If we don't get them it is be- 



Notes on Dress and Home Art. 



Stripes are in great favor. 



Large hats; small bonnets. 



Long veils are fashionable- 



The Polonaise is to be revived . 



Sashes of all sorts are very popular. 



Silver jewelry is worn more every day. 



Screens are always in season for one use or 

 another. 



Lace jackets with silk lining are coming in 

 fashion. 



Imitation stained glass papers are not to be re- 

 commended. 



Trimmings placed on one side only, are now a 

 prominent feature. 



"Bunchy " side draperies for dresses have passed 

 entirely out of style. 



Pale pink, cream and gray receive honers about 

 equally in popular favor, 



Knots,ot everything tied around the neck, should 

 be located just back of the left ear. 



Velvet belts from the side seams forward, are 

 fastened in front by buckles of hammered silver. 



In mounting a deers antlers never decorate them, 



they are handsomer in their own natural beauty. 



For traveling dresses the darker shades ot green 



and blue, lead color and russet brown are much 



represented. 



Jenny June says, English girls carry tight lacing 

 to a much greater degree of absurdity than fash- 

 ionable American girls do. 



A new fabric ot woolen for mourning wear, is 

 called crepe imperial. It looks very much like 

 crepe, but surpasses it in durability. 



Some of the new velvet jackets are crossed in 

 front, the parts being fastened by a single 

 jeweled button of gold, at the waist. 



Chair tidies look well indeed, but they are voted 

 a nuisance by the average man. Let there be one 

 or two comfortable chairs without them. 



The sensible jersey is still retained for home wear 

 in demi-toilette. It is a useful garment to go with 

 black silk skirts that are somewhat worn. 



The shaggy fabrics, the rougher the better, are 

 to be fashionable for day wear this fall; for evening 

 dress elegance must be the prevailing mark 



Ruchings tor neck and sleeve finishings, continue 

 to be very popular, notwithstanding the prediction 

 of their going out of style ; those with edge lines ot 

 gilt and tinsel are worn, also the pretty ruchings of 

 crepe lisse. 



Plomb, or lead, is a leading color in millinery at 

 this time. For tall bonnets, combinations ot red 

 with bronze and moss green are to be in favor. 

 Fancy stuff's of two or three kinds are to be used 

 tor dress bonnets. 



Madras muslin bed spreads are very pretty. They 

 should pass up over the bolster. In fashionable 

 houses pillow shams are not used. For pillows.only 

 the small soft ones used for sleeping on are used, 

 and these should be kept out of sight during the 

 day. 



Madras curtains costing in the large towns from 

 about forty cents a yard and upwards, are inexpen- 

 sive and yet attractive. These however, as do most 

 kinds of cheap curtaining fade somewhat when ex- 

 posed to the full light, but are quite lasting when 

 hung in windows with blinds or shades. 



A wooden screen, oak framed and enclosing frieze 

 panels of wood, on which are painted two symbol- 

 ical figures.are quaint and charming in appearance. 

 The figures may be those of "Luna" and "Aurora" 

 the former reclining on the curve of a cresent 

 moon, and this drawn along the evening sky by a 

 procession of bats; the latter shown wafted in 

 clouds with a back ground ot the rising sun. 



For an inexpensive but neat table cover for a 

 common room choose a square of cretonne with 

 very small figures, and ot not too bright colors; 

 tor a border put a band of linen around it— dark 

 drab linen; fringe this out quite deep; where the 

 row ot linen joins the cretonne, on the seam put 

 a fine feather stitching and on the corners also. 

 Dust does not show on this spread, and can be 

 easily shaken from it. 



The leaves ot the Virginia creeper, when they 

 are turning red and bronze in autumn, are a 

 favorite subject for painting. In speaking ot the 

 paints which should be used tor the purpose. The 

 Art Interchange has the following: 



Use for the red leaves, madder lake, vermilion, 

 light red, white, raw umber and a little ivory black. 

 In the shadows, use burnt sienna, Indian red, raw 

 umber, ivory black, and whatever white is needed. 

 For the high lights, use white, vermilliou, madder 

 lake, yellow ochre and ivory black. The bronze- 

 green leaves are painted with terre verte, burnt 

 sienna, white, yellow ochre and ivory black. For 

 those having a richer, deeper tone ot green, add 

 Antwerp blue, cadmium, and madder lake to the 

 terre verte and other colors already given. To 

 paint the purple berries, use permanent blue, light 

 red, white, ivory black for the general tone. In 

 shading use permanent blue, madder lake, raw 

 umber, ivory black and burnt sienna. In the high 

 Ughts, use permanent blue, madder lake, white 

 1 yellow ochre and ivory black. 



