536 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Nov. 



five acres of land, two hundred bushels of wheat, 

 ("Kloss Blue Stem" or banner, I have raised it,) 

 and you have equal in value to fifty barrels of flour. 

 For such information you should "ihank God and 

 take courage," and go and do likewise. 



JVew York, Oct. oth, 1857. H. Poor. 



TO MAKE A SOUND SHINGLE ROOF. 



As I have had something to do with the carpen- 

 ter's trade, I thought that I would give some of my 

 ideas about that kind of work, i have often noticed 

 the roofs of buildings that had some holes through 

 them. The question occurred to me to find out 

 what the reason was that a hole should come in 

 one place and not in another, and on examination, 

 I found the fault to be in the laying of the shingles, 

 and that nine-tenths of the mechanics make the 

 same mistake in laying shingles. I presume that 

 some of my old friends will think that I am a little 

 green to think of teaching them how to do as sim- 

 ple a piece of work as to lay a shingle, but perhaps 

 I shall give them a new idea. I now ask any of 

 them to examine their roofs, and see if they cannot 

 find some of the very places that I shall describe. 

 I shall commence to describe the bad places by ta- 

 king four courses and numbering them. No. 1 is 

 five shingles long. The first and last shingle of the 

 course are four inches wide ; the three middle shin- 

 gles are eight inches wide. This will form the first 

 course. The next course is 4 shingles 8 inches wide. 

 These cover the same length and make No. 2. No. 

 3 is the same as No. 1, and No. 4 as No. 2. Now, 

 many at the first sight will say we have a good roof 

 and the joints well broke. But let us examine a 

 little and see. The second course in the joint of 

 the third course is but one thickness of shingle 

 through to the roof-board, (and that, too, at the 

 second space of the shingle, as a shingle is usually 

 divided into three spaces,) and in process of time, 

 the shingle, will wear through and leave a hole 

 through the roof, while the rest of the roof is good. 



I am aware that shingles are of varied widths, 

 and do not come all in the form that I have shown : 

 but 1 take this way to show how to find the bad 

 places. I shall now give my rule for laying shin- 

 gles, and how to avoid such bad places in a roof, 

 for they occur in most of roofs, if the workmen do 

 not know how to avoid them. You must be care- 

 ful not to make a joint directly over the joint of the 

 second course below the one you are laying ; or in 

 other words, to break joints with the two last cour- 

 ses that you have lain. — Michigan Fanner. 



Wall Roses. — The secret of growing roses 

 against a wall might be packed in a lady's thimble. 

 A two feet deep border of strong loam, four or five 

 feet wide, to be as rich as rotton dung can make it ; 

 the border to be thoroughly soaked with soft pond- 

 water twice a week in dry weather, and when the 

 roses are in bloom, to keep them thin in the branch- 

 es, as if they were peach trees, and to play the 

 water-engine against them as for a house on fire, 

 from the first appearance of insects till no more 

 come. There is a reason for everything under the 

 sun, and the reason for insects attacking roses in 

 general, and those on walls more particularly, is 

 from too much dryness at the roots, causing the 

 juices to be more palatable through the action of 

 the leaves. — Lon. Hort. Journal. 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



DOMESTIC RECEIPTS. 



Tomato Figs. — Pour boiling water over the to- 

 matoes in order to remove the skin ; then weigh 

 them, and place them in a stone jar with as much 

 sugar as jou have tomatoes, and let them stand two 

 days ; then pour ofi" the syrup and boil and skim it 

 until no .scum rises; then pour it over the tomatoe.s, 

 and let them stand two days, as before; then boil 

 and skim again. After the third i»»:e, they are fit 

 to dry, if the weather is good ; if not, let them stand 

 in the syrup until drying weather ; then place on 

 large earthen plates or dishes, and put them in the 

 sun to dry, which will take about a week, after 

 which, pack them down in small wooden boxes, with 

 fine white sugar between every layer. Tomatoes 

 prepared in this manner will keep for years. 



Apple Jelly. — Apples make an excellent jelly. 

 The process is as follows : They are pared, quar- 

 tered, and the core completely removed, and put 

 into a pot without water, closely covered, and put 

 into an oven or over a fire. When pretty well 

 stewed, the juice is to be squeezed out through a 

 cloth to which a little white of an egg is added, and 

 then the sugar ; skim it previous to boiling, then 

 reduce it to a proper consistency,^nd an excellent 

 jelly will be the product. 



To Dry Pears. — Pare them very thin before 

 they are quite ripe and simmer in a thin syrup ; let 

 them lie a day or two, then make the syrup richer 

 and simmer again. Repeat this till they are clear, 

 then drain, and dry them in the sun or a cool oven 

 for a short time. They may be kept in the syrup 

 and dried as wanted, which makes them more moist 

 and rich. 



Another way. — Take some fine pears before they 

 are ripe, pare them and set them over the fire in 

 cold water; let them stew till tender; lift them 

 gently out and put them into cold water for a 

 quarter of an hour, then drain on a sieve into a 

 pound of sugar and two quarts of water for every 

 hfty pears ; pot the fruit, and let it stand two hours. 

 The pears must then be taken out and suspended 

 in a slow o^en, with the large end down, for twelve 

 hours. Clarify the syrup in which the fruit has 

 stood, and boil it ; when quite cold, the pears must 

 again remain in the syrup, and be transferred to the 

 oven for the same time as before. Boil the syrup 

 and continue the process till the pears are perfect- 

 ly dry.* 



Sweet Crab-Apple Pickles. — Boil the fruit in 

 clear water until it becomes a little soft ; then draia 

 them on a large diteh ; then to every pound of fruit 

 add one of sugar ; and boil hard until they are 

 preserved. 



To make the pickles, take one-half syrup and one- 

 half vinegar; fill the jar with the preserves, and 

 pour on the syrup and vinegar ; add spices to suit 

 the taste. 



Poor Man's Puddlvg. — One cup of molasses, 

 one cup of water, one cup of chopped suet, one cup 

 of raisins, one teaspoonlul of .saleratus, a little salt, 

 flour enough to make a stiff" batter ; tie up in a cloth, 

 put into boiling water, boil two hours ; use wine or 

 brandy sauce ; leave in boiling water till needed. — 

 Godey's Book. 



