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MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



" You must get out of it ; your duty to your 



family requires it." 



" They bave got the upper baud uow ; if 

 you could persuade them to make a change, 

 I might save myself." 



" You certainly can persuade them, if you 

 tell them just how you are situated." 



" I have told them many a time, and there 

 is a crjing-spell and a reform for a day or 

 two, and then the old story over again." 



Mr. Haidy felt too deep an interest in the 

 welfare of his neighbor to leave matters in 

 their present state. He inquii-ed into the 

 amount of his debt, and proposed several 

 ways by which he might extricate himself. 



" What good would it do ? I should get 

 right in again." 



'• Not if you will just make up your mind 



to buy nothing except what you can afford to 

 buy. I have five hundred dollars that I had. 

 thought of giving to ray son-in-law, Foster, to 

 get him a library, but he can do without for 

 a while. I will give you that lor the wood- 

 lot and pasture adjoining, and pay off the 

 mortgage bonds ; and then you will have 

 more than sixty acres and fi'ee from debt, and 

 if you can't keep out then, why I do n't know 

 what can be done for you." 



" There can't be anythmg done for me, un- 

 less I do for myself I '11 take up with your 

 offer, and will follow yoiur advice to the let- 

 ter, come what may. Let us go and draw 

 writings. I want a good night's sleep, a 

 thing that I have n't had for months, and 

 shan't have till I am out of debt." 



Lyed Hominy. — Every housewife knows that there are two kinds of hominy, the " small" 

 and the " great" hominy ; but aU do not know that there is a third, which, though less 

 known, is the easiest prepared, and in Missouri, where it is much used and esteemed, is 

 called Lyed Hominy, for a reason that will be obvious. It is prepared, says a Missouri 

 housewife, by boiling the white field-corn iu ashes and water until the husk or skin of the 

 grain is loosened, which will happen iu a few minutes, and attention must be paid that it re- 

 main not too long in the ashes, else it will taste of the lye. So soon as the husk is loosened, 

 it must be washed and rubbed tlu'ough the hands, in cold water, until the grain is cleansed 

 from the ashes and husk or bran. It may then be dried, to be used at any time, or boiled 

 immediately, if wanted. When wanted to be cooked for the table, it must be scalded and 

 then put to boil in plenty of water, observing always to keep sufficient hot water to throw 

 in as the first boils down. The grain bursts into a white ball, and becomes soft when suffi- 

 ciently done. This is the manner of boiling to eat it, either warm or cold, %vith milk, or 

 cream if to be had, even fresh Aldemey cream ! This preparation of Indian com is also used 

 in the West, by the Indians and Creole boatmen, who prefer it to anything else in a soup, 

 which they prepare by putting the lyed corn to boil, with a piece of beef or pork, leaving 

 the water in, which makes the soup. In the other case of the lyed hominy, the grain, 

 when done, is separated liom the water. There can be no doubt that a bowl of this lyed 

 hominy and fresh milk would have been as keenly realized by old Rough and Ready, after 

 the battle of Buena Vista, as " a dish of nice strawberries smothered in cream" by us who 

 live at home at ease, and read with admiration of his stoic fortitude and, with a too san- 

 guinary gold, the accounts of all his hard-fought battles. 



To HAVE Good Coffee. — Few things so often test tlie skill and attention of the housewife as 

 the quality of her coffee. The proverbial excellence of French coffee is owing to its being 

 roasted (or scorched) slowly over or near a moderate fire, thus concentrating the aroma or essen- 

 tial oil, instead of rapidly burning the berries, thereby evaporating its high flavor. To make 

 good coffee, when it is boiled, and not percolated through a biggin, 



" it should boil up once only, and then it should be suffered to stew [simmer] in a close vessel or 

 pot on the hob — the longer the better — until wanted, when it will seldom require lining; for 

 which purpose, however, a little pounded isinglass is the best. In France, and most other coun- 

 tries, the berries are mostly fresh scorched or roasted, just before being required, wliich, iu nearly 

 all families, is performed in the frying-pan (rarely in a roasting machine) over a slow fire of char- 

 coal, the berries being kept moist by the addition of a little fresh butter or lard, which prevents 

 all possibility of burning. They are turned out, when finished, on flannel, and rolled up closely 

 till cold." 



Then it should be made very strong, and drank, half coffee, half cream or boiled milk. Some 

 ladies barely color the wat,er. That may do for children, but not for those who know " what 's 

 what," and that 's what the great Pinkney said General Ridgely knew, when he wanted to 

 praise him and his knowledge of what was commc dfaut. 



(see) 



