Vol. XI.-No. 2. 



AND HORTICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



IS 



ITEMS OF RURAL ECONOMY, 



Original and Selected, by ^he Editor. 



House Keeping in Germany. — The ibllowing in- 

 teresting and amusing notices are from tlie pen of 

 the Conihictor of the Gardener's Magazine : " Few 

 things in the doinestic economy of the Germans 

 stril<e an English resident more than the prepara- 

 tion, far exceeding tliat in liis own country, 

 which they maky for the winter consumption 

 of vegetahles. Sauerkraut is a kind of food, 

 of which every family stores upin propor- 

 tion to its size, one or more large casks ; and 

 in October and November the market-places 

 are crowded with huge white pyramids of cab- 

 bages (all heart) for sale ; and in every court 

 and yard into which an accidental peep is obtain- 

 ed, is seen the bustle of preparing them for use, 

 and the baskets of shredded cabbage, which in 

 lliat state resemble mountains of green-tinged froth 

 or syllabub. Kidney beans are another vegetable 

 of which, at an earlier period of the year, the 

 Germans store up large quantities for winter con- 

 sumption ; a circumstance which accounts for the 

 number of acres of this plant, which at first ex- 

 cite the traveller's surprise, cultivated in the open 

 fields, in the neighborhood even of tov/ns not very 

 large. Of the quantity of Kidney beans thus 

 stored in inns and some families, an idea may be 

 formed from the following fact: During two days 

 that we spent in the latter end of August, at the 

 Trierische Hof, the principal hotel at Coblentz, 

 from eight to ten women were constantly employ- 

 ed in the yard, (as they probably had been before 

 our arrival, and continued to be after our depart- 

 ure) in trimming and slicing [the pods of] kidney 

 beans, of which besides a large basket full next to 

 each, there stood another in the midst of the cir- 

 cle that would have filled a good sized cart. The 

 beans thus prepared are plunged into hot water 

 for a few minutes, then drained, and closely pack- 

 ed with salt in jars or barrels. 



" In a similar manner are stored in October, 

 considerable quantities of the leaf-stalks and dried 

 ribs of the leaves of young turnips, (after the thin 

 part of the leaf has been cut oft',) and a portion 

 of the bull), all cut into lengths of about an inch. 

 Without this provision of sauerkraut, kidney 

 beans, and turnips, added to an ample stock of 

 potatoes, onions, carrots, (kept in sand,) &c, all 

 deposited in the spacious cellars with which every 

 decent house is provided ; and moreover abund- 

 ance of apples, pears and quinces, both fresh and 

 dried (by being pared, cut into slices and hung on 

 strings near a.fire ;) a German family would think 

 itself badly fortified against the approach of win- 

 ter, and would relish very badly l)cing put, at this 

 season, on the short and unvaried English com- 

 mons of potatoes, with an occasional change of 

 borecole or Savoy cabbage. In fact, no German 

 conceives he has dined tolerably, at any season, 

 without having eaten of three or four kinds of 

 vegetables. To decide which is the best system 

 the German or the English would require a long 

 discussion ; but two points seem clear : first, that 

 the adoption of the varied German vegetable fare 

 in England would lead to a greater extension of 

 its horticulture; and secondly, that the English 

 cannot fairly determine how far they would pre- 

 fer the German system until they have tried it. 

 Many English residents in Germany are as loud 

 OB the natives in the praise of sauerkrant when 

 properly cooked, which is everything. For these 



reasons it might be worth while for some of our 

 horticultural societies to procure from the foreign 

 ones, fidl and precise directions for preparing and 

 storing their winter vegetables, and then offer 

 premiums for the most successful imitation of the 

 practice at home, giving a fair trial to sauerkraut, 

 salted kidney beans, &c, by having them served 

 at their anniversary dinners, cooked in the most 

 approved foreign modes, as there seems no good 

 ground why vegetables preserved and cooked in 

 new ways should not be tasted and decided on at 

 such dinners, as well as fruits grown or kept by 

 new processes." 



Horse-chesnuts — The powder of horse-ches- 

 nuts being mixed with a third of flour, is found to 

 make better paste than that made from flour only. 

 (Mech. Mag. viii.) We are glad to observe that 

 these nuts can be applied to some useful purpose, 

 and hope country shoe-makers and book-binders 

 will take the hint. — Conductor of Gard. Mng. 



Heating Hot-houses by Hot Air, ifc. — The Con- 

 ductor of the Gardener's Magazine states as fol- 

 lows : " Having had some experience in making 

 attempts to heat hot-houses by hot air, we have 

 been reduced to the opinion, that it is the worst 

 of all modes of heating, on account of its liability 

 to produce extremes ; the difiiculty of putting air 

 in motion, and its dryness. If heat is to be con- 

 veyed from a kitchen fire to a green house, or to 

 any part of a dwelling house, a going and return- 

 ing pipe of water is by fitr the best mode. There 

 can be no doubt that something is to be done in 

 this way ; and one thing, which we should like to 

 see adopted in every house, is the heating of a 

 bath. A bath might be so contrived in the alcove 

 of an ornamental green-house as to serve both as 

 a bath and a stove. A revolution in the mode of 

 heating, both in domestic and hot-house economy, 

 is in commencement, in consequence of the hot- 

 water system." 



Spruce Beer. — Early in the spring cut off the 

 young branches of the pine or fir three or four 

 inches in length, and break them into small pieces ; 

 boil them in water, and after filtering the extract 

 through a sieve, add to sixteen gallons of it about 

 six pounds of sugar. It may then by boiling, or 

 evaporating in a hot-house, be reduced to a syriij), 

 which will keep in bottles for a length of time. 

 For beer, mix three pints of this extract with thir- 

 ty of water: boil it for about two hours, and, when 

 cold put it into a cask and ferment it in the usual 

 method. — Gard. Mag. 



Bread from Turnips. — Let the turnips first be 

 pealed, and boiled in water till soft and tender ; 

 then, strongly pressing out the juice, mix them 

 together, and, when dry (beaten or pounded very 

 fine,) with, their weight of wheat meal, season it 

 as you do other bread, and knead it up; then, let- 

 ting the dough remain a little to ferment, fashion 

 the paste into loaves, and bake it .like common 

 bread. Some roast turnips in a paper under em- 

 bers, and eat them with sugar and butter. — Eve- 

 lyn's Misc. Writings, p. 756. 



in the morning for the space of 40 years, suppos- 

 ing a man to go to bed at the same hour at night, 

 is nearly equivalent to an addition of 10 years to 

 a man's life. — Doddridge. 



The aim of Education should be to teach us 

 rather how to think, than what to think — rather to 

 improve our minds, so as to enable us to think 

 for ourselves, than to load the memory with the 

 thoughts of other men. — Beattie. 



A virtuous mind in a fair body, is indeed a fine 

 pictm-e in a good light, and therefore it is no won- 

 der that it makes the beautiful sex all over charms. 

 — Addison. 



You may depend on it, he is a good man, whose 

 friends are all good, and whose enemies are char- 

 acters decidedly bad. — Lavater. 



The greatest wits have their ebbs and flows ; 

 they are sometimes as it were exhausted; then let 

 them neither write nor talk, nor aim at entertain- 

 ing. Should a man sing, when he has a cold ? 

 Should he not rather wait till he recovers bis 

 voice ?'—Bruyere. 



Small causes are sufiicient to make a man un- 

 easy, when great ones are not in the way ; for 

 want of a block he will stumble at a straw. — Swijt. 



The greatest part of mankind employ their 

 first years to make their last miserable. 



Poverty has, in large cities, very different ap- 

 pearances. It is often concealed in splendor, and 

 often in extravagance. It is the care of a very 

 great part of mankind to conceal their indigence 

 from the rest. They support themselves by tem- 

 porary expedients, and every day is lost in con- 

 triving for toinorrow. — Johnson. 



I find by experience, that the mind and the 

 body are more than married, for they are most in- 

 timately united : and when one suffers, the other 

 sympathizes. — Chesteifeld. 



Simplicity of all things is hardest to be copied ; 

 and ease to be acquired with the greatest labor. — 

 Steele. 



Surmise is the gossamer, that malice blows on 

 fair reputations : the corroding dew, that destroys 

 the choice blossom. Surmise is primarily the 

 squint of suspicion, and suspicion is established 

 before it is confirmed. — Zimmerman. 



From the United States Gazette. 



MULTUM IN PARVO. 



A man whose great qualities want the orn 

 inent of exterior attractions is like a naked moun-' 

 tain with mines of gold, which will be frequent- 

 ed only till the treasure is exhausted. — Johnson, 



The difi'erence between rising at 5 and 7 o'clock 



FOGS. 



As some of our readers may wish to know the 

 cause of mists, which has been a subject of dis- 

 pute between meteorologists, we insert the follow- 

 lowing opinion of this phenomenon given by the 

 learned Dr Davy, brother of Sir Humphrey, late 

 President of the Royal Society. He says, 1. Fogs 

 will be most frequent in autumn, after the earth 

 has been heated during the summer, the air cool- 

 ing faster than the earth. 2. Fogs will be great- 

 est after the hottest summer. 3. Fogs show that 

 the air has become suddenly colder, and, therefore, 

 are a sign of snow. 4. Fogs are in hot climates, 

 where the air is usually very hot. 5. Fogs will 

 be very frequent in the arctic regions, where the 

 sudden depressions of temperature are enormous- 

 ly below the mean temperature. 6. Fogs will be 

 most fre(iuent over shallow water, which sooner 

 partakes of the temperature of the bottom than of 

 the deep water. The end of the deep water is 

 known near the Banks of Newfoundland, by the 

 •sudden commencement of the fogs. The thick 

 fogs which appeared during Captain Faulkland's 

 first expedition, prove that the sea is very shallow, 

 and the mean temperature not very low, upon 

 that part of the Arctic coast. 



