]NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Domestic Kronomo. 



ON BnoiLiNG. Cleanliness is essential in tiiis 

 jde of cookery. 



Keep your griJiron quite clcwn between tiie 

 rs, and bright on the top ; when it is not, 

 pe it well with a linen cloth ; just before yon 

 e it, rub the bars with clean mutton suet, to 

 event the meat from being marked witli the 

 idiron. 



Take care to prepare your fire in time, so 

 it it may burn quite clear ; a brisk and clear 

 e is indispensable ; or you cannot give your 

 at that browning, which constitutes th« per- 

 tion of this mode of cookery, and gives a 

 lish to food which it cannot receive any oth- 

 way. 



Be very attentive to watch the moment any 

 ng is done ; never hasten any thing that is 

 iling, lest you make smoke and spoil it. 

 jCt the bars of the gridiron be all hot 

 ough, but yet not burning hot on the surface ; 

 is the perfect and fine condition of the 

 idiroD. 



IVs the bars keep away as much heat as their 

 ladth covers, it is absolutely necessary they 

 uld be thoroughly hot before any thing to he 

 )ked is laid upon them. 

 The bars of gridirons should be made concave, 

 I terminate in a trough to catch the gravy, 

 i keep the fat from dropping into the fire .nd 



jog a smoke, which will spoil the broil. 

 CHOPS OR .STBL^KS. Those who are nice al ,xi\ 

 Bks, never attempt to have them, except in 

 ther which permits the meat to be hung till 

 tender — and give the butcher some days' 

 ce of their wish for them. 

 The best steaks are those cut from the mid- 

 of a rump, that has been killed at least four 

 (sin moderate weather, — much longer in cold 

 iilatber — when they can be cut about six inch- 

 '■loDg, four inches wide and half an inch thick 

 3llo not beat them unless you suspect they will 

 be tender. 



Pake care to have a very clear brisk fire, 

 ow a little salt on it, make the gridiron hot, 

 set it slanting, to prevent the fat from drop- 

 j into the fire, and making a smoke. It re- 

 res more practice and care than is generally 

 posed to do steaks to a nicety ; and for want 

 these little attentions, this very common dish, 

 icb every body is supposed capable of dres- 

 , seldom comes to the table in perfection, 

 i'he season for steaks, says the Cook's Ora- 

 is from.the 29th of September to the 25th of 

 rch. The same publication gives the fol- 

 ing directions for cooking steaks when tak- 

 out of season, or when there is otherwise 

 son to fear they would prove tough, if broil- 

 .vilhout preparation. 



Pake two pounds of steaks and beat them 

 11 — line the bottom of a three quart stew pan 

 h slices of fattish ham, or bacon, and on this 

 the steaks, (which should be nicely trimmed 

 shaped ;) just cover them with water, a 

 en corns of allspice, the same of black pep- 

 , the red part of carrot, a little bundle of 

 ory and parsley, a large onion, with half a 

 en cloves stuck in it, and a head of celery ; — 



cover them close, and let them simmer gently 

 about an hour and a half, according to their 

 thickness; if they are thin steaks, an hour may 

 be enough ; take care that the meat does not 

 go to rags, by doing (no fasl, or loo much. — 

 When the steaks are tender take them up, flour 

 Ihem, and fiy or broil them, only just to brown 

 them. 



Ask those you cook for, if they like it under, 

 or thoroughly done, and what accompaniments 

 they like best — turn the steak, &:c. it will ba 

 done in about 10 or filteen minutes; rub a bit 

 of butter over it, and send it up, garnished with 

 pickles and finely scraped horse-radish. 



N. B. Macbelh's receipt for dressing a beef 

 steak is the best — 



When ''lis done^ "'twere ivtll 



If "'twere done quickly. 



The Domestic Encyclopedia gives us the 

 following as the most approved mode of cook- 

 ing beef steaks and oyster sauce. 



Strain off the liquor from the oysters and 

 throw them into cold water to take off the grit, 

 while you simmer the liquor with a bit of mace 

 and lemon peal ; then put the oysters in, stew 

 them a few minutes, add a little cream if you 

 have it, and some butter rubbed in a bit of 

 flour ; let them boil up at once ; and have rump 

 steaks, well seasoned and broiled, ready for 

 throwing the oyster sauce over the moment 

 you are to serve. 



WHOLESOME MEATS. All meafs are best when 

 the animal is at maturity. Hence, to delicate 

 persons, chickens, lamb, veal, pig, are not near 

 so wholesome or nutritive as beef, fowl, mut- 

 ton and pork. — Dr. Willich. 



Fruit should be eaten before dinner, or as a 

 supper. A meal of fruit, after a meal of meat, 

 is more than the stomach can dispense with; es- 

 pecially with a meal of pies and puddings in- 

 tervening. — ibid. 



POISON FOR INSECTS. If waluut leavcs be 

 steeped in water for a few days, the fluid will 

 acquire such a degree of bitterness, as to prove 

 a certain poison for reptiles of every descrip- 

 tion. — ibid. 



CCorrcsponticncr. 



POTATOES. 

 T» the Editor of the JVeic England Farmer, 



Sir, — My neighborhood, generally, and per- 

 haps without exception, have lost their pota- 

 toes as to size for sauce. They have become 

 very watery, of a sweet sickish taste, and black 

 in the middle, and the cause unknown as the 

 like has not been known before. 



Some of my neighbors dug their potatoes ear- 

 ly, and others late, some kept them in cellars, 

 and others buried them in the ground ; and I 

 cannot hear of any but what are affected in a 

 similar way ; they were very good when dug. 



I publish this account by way of inquiry if 

 any gentleman has known such a general cir- 

 cumstance before ; or how to prevent it, he 

 should publish it for the benefit of new settle- 

 ments, where great use is made of potatoes. 

 SAMUEL PRESTON. 



Stockport, Pa. May 1, 1824. 



BV THE EDITOR. It is, -yve believe, a general rule 

 in the economy of vegetation, that plants of all kinds, 

 piop:igaled by rods, slips or cuttings -mill dcgcrcralc, 

 and in time become totally extinct, 'i'he finest fruits 

 will not always last, and some of those formerly most 

 celebrated in America and G. Britain are now known 

 only by name, and their places are supplied by new va- 

 rieties, perhaps of equal excellence. The same prin- 

 ciple applies to potatoes, and probably all other roots, 

 which should occasionally be renewed from seed, or 

 thtiir eventual destruction is inevitable. English far- 

 mers, we are informed, hold it lo be absolutely neces- 

 sary to renew their potatoes from the top seed once in 

 fourteen or fifteen years. We do not pretend, however, 

 to assert that such renewal will prove a complete reme- 

 dy for the evils of which Mr. Preston complains, but 

 (he experiment is easily made, and some benefit will 

 no doubt be the result. 



The process for obtaining new varieties of potatoes is 

 thus described in the Farmer^s Assistant. 



" Gather the apples or balls after the seeds are fully 

 ripe ; mash them in water till they are cleared of the 

 pulp; then dry the seeds; and next spring sow them 

 in a bed which is to be kept clear of weeds. In tlic 

 fall, small potatoes will be found at the roots of the 

 plants ; and the different varieties of these are to be se- 

 parately planted the next season ; when they will pro- 

 duce potatoes of the usual size ; and at this time the 

 respective qualities of each variety can be ascertained." 



An English publication directs to " Take the apples 

 of potatoes^ or potatoe balls, in the beginning of Oclo- 

 , befo.e the frost has hurt them. Haug them up by 

 the foot stalks in a dry closet, where Ihey ^jU un- 

 freeze. Let them hang till March or April. Then 

 mash the apples, wash the seeds from the pulp, and dry 

 them in a sunny window. Sow the seeds in a bed 

 about the first of May. When the plants are four or 

 five inches high, transplant them into ground well pre- 

 pared, one or two plants in a hill. — They will produce 

 full grown apples, and some of the roots will be as large 

 as hen*'s eggs." 



We have no doubt but the general deterioration of the 

 potatoes brought to market in this city, which has been 

 a subject of complaint for some years past may be re- 

 medied in this simple and cheap manner. 



LEACHED ASHES AS A MANURE. 



Indian Hill Farm, West Newbury, ) 

 Essex County, May Sth, 1824. J 

 T. G. Fessenden, Esq. 



Dear Sir, — Seeing an enquiry regarding Leached 

 Ashes in the New England Farmer of this morning, 

 with an appeal to your correspondents, I have conclud- 

 ed to send you my opinion — although 1 can only add 

 two years' experience with that of the enquirer. 



1 would here remark, that enquiries generally made 

 in your paper, though answered with a promptness by 

 you, that subscribers in this quarter admire, receive no 

 answer from your subscribers generally. — When 1 

 think of your long increasing list, and on that see 

 names of men, not only distinguished by rank and for- 

 tune, but for well managed farms, and large crops ; 

 others in more humble life, though equally distinguish- 

 ed as honest men, (and who undoubtedly, have more 

 leisure than the first mentioned,) refusing to answer 

 enquiries, which, truly, to the man of experience may 

 seem of little or no importance, but which in reality 



