46 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[March, 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



A Return to Economy. 



This is an age of extravasance. Men are living be- 

 yond their means — expending beyond their income. 

 Universal indebtedness prevails; individual indebted- 

 ness, town, city, county. State and national indebted- 

 ness. The linnest, ec(momical days of the new re- 

 public have been forgotten. We are all in trouble. 

 Taxes are so high and burdensome as to be almost 

 insupportable. The annual running expenses of the 

 government, that were ?t;0,00n,000 in 1860, have run 

 up to $340,000,000 in 187.5— and this without includ- 

 ing the interest on our national debt, or taking that 

 into account at all. This expenditure must be lessened 

 materially in some way. Something is wrong some- 

 where. The blame lav-s at somebody's door. Letus 

 find it. It cannot be laid upon the farmer — for not a 

 farmer is in Congress. There are about twenty-five 

 so-called farmers in Congress, or have been — but they 

 were men of wealth, and were not in sympathy with 

 the toiling masses. Although by their numbers far- 

 mers are entitled to half the members of the House 

 and Senate — they have not one in either to-day to 

 speak for them. The politicians want all the places 

 of honor and emolument, and they are pretty apt to 

 get them. None of the wrongs or frauds that have 

 been perpetrated in Congress can, be charged to the 

 farmer. The Credit Mobilier swindles, the salary 

 grabs, the steals in the Indiail department, the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia rings, the navy contracts, the rail- 

 road subsidies, the whisky rings, and all other simi- 

 lar transactions — are not traced to the door of the 

 farmer. 



An important question comes up, and that is, shall 

 we ever be free from such disgraceful transactions, 

 till farmers take a more active part in taking care of 

 their interests ? Is it not their duty to look out for 

 themselves, to strive to have economy prevail, to les- 

 sen taxation that their burdens may be lessened ? We 

 have got to get back into the old rut, so far as ad- 

 ministering the government is concerned; and far- 

 mers are untrue to themselves and their families, un- 

 true to their interests — unless they take a leading 

 part in this matter. 



Look at the public buildings the people have to pay 

 for. In Macoupin county. 111., the toiling tax-payers 

 have got to i)ay a million and a half of dollars for a 

 county court house, when one could have been built 

 for S25,000 that would have answered every purpose. 

 A court house ring was formed, that imposed this 

 heavy burden on the farmers there. The State House 

 of Illinois will cost the tax-payers of that State over 

 $3,000,000. Manv other States are erecting nearly as 

 expensive ones. The Custom Houseof St. Louis will 

 cost at least five or six millions of dollars. And to 

 get an appropriation through Congress, a ring must 

 be formed with various sections of the country, with 

 appropriations enough for each section to carry votes 

 enough to put the whole thing through; and when 

 an appropriation is wanted for one, twenty or thirty 

 others must have it, too — and will not vote for the 

 others unless they get a slice. And this is the way 

 matters work. 



Magnificent palaces are erected for paupers and 

 criminals. The study seems to be, not how little 

 shall we spend, but how much can we make it cost? 



Is there no relief from such a pernicious system ? 

 We must each begin at home to put down extrava- 

 gance, whether private or public. We must not be 

 afraid to take a bold, strong stand against it, and, by 

 positive and united action, we may get back to the 

 honest and economical ways of our forefathers. — 

 Cohnan's li. IT. 



Farmers' Sons and Daughters Must Work. 



To the sons and daughters of many farmers this 

 injunction is unnecessary. They do work. They take 

 a lively interest in what is going on in the household 

 and on the farm. They feel personally interested in 

 the success of everything appertaining tfiereto. They 

 are co-workers, and everything moves on harmoni- 

 ou.sly and in order. They are not drawbacks, hind- 

 rances, clogs, but active and efficient helpers. 



But there are the sons and daughters of other 

 farmers that feel above work. They are willing to 

 see father and mother slave their lives away, to keep 

 them in idleness . Great, strapping boys lie abed till the 

 sun is high in the heavens, keeping back the house- 

 work, because they are too lazy to get up and eat 

 with the other members of the family. When break- 

 fast is eaten, the next thing in order is to get ready 

 to go to town, where they spend their time loafing 

 about grogshops and other bad places, returning per- 

 haps late at night, unless hunger drives them home 

 sooner. And one day is but the repetition of another. 

 Such worthless boys make worthless men, without 

 exception. And then there are the ruddy-cheeked, 

 healthy girls. Late rising suits them much the best. 

 Breakfast must be ready and on the table before they 

 appear. They have nothing to do in preparing it. As 

 soon as breakfast is over they apply themselves dili- 

 gently till dinner time in reading some love-sick 

 novel. They imbibe false ideas, and live in an unreal 

 atmosphere. Their minds dwell upon fine dresses, 

 parties, beaux. Ac. They dress extravagantly, and 

 are a heavy tax upon their hard-working parents. 



They help put nothing into the exchequer, but are 

 very efficient in taking out all that thrift and indus- 

 try putsin. And sometimes thisdon't end here. When 

 such girls get married they are a millstone about their 

 husband's necks. Everything is left to hired servants. 

 Large bills at the store, at the dressmaker's, milli- 

 ner's, etc., are incurred — and these must he paid in 

 some way. Do not our readers know that we are de- 

 scribing, in many cases, real life? How can the hus- 

 band and father prosper when he sees he has no sym- 

 pathy or assistance (rom those whose lives are linked 

 with his? How dark and gloomy such a life must be I 

 There is not one cheering prospect for him. Alibis 

 earnings are exhausted before they are realized, and 

 perhaps ere long- the farm is sacrificed to support so 

 worthless a family. 



It is true, parents are to blame for bringing up 

 children this way. They have loved their children, 

 and humored them,and when they have seen the error 

 of their ways, it was too late. The habits of the chil- 

 dren had been formed, and no amountof talking could 

 change them. They had brought up idle children, 

 who will make idle and worthless men and women. 

 "We have seen too many such instances. 



So, parents, bring up your children to work. Im- 

 press them from their infancy that they must work. 

 See that they have something to do. Throw responsi- 

 bility upon them, andseethat they properly discharge 

 it. Let no amount of coa.xing or whining, let no ex- 

 cu,ses whatever, if your children are healthy, deteryou 

 from bringing them up to work. If they won't work 

 when they are children, they will not work when they 

 are men and women, and will be a tax upon you while 

 you live, and will be paupers before they die. We 

 know we are speaking plainly and earnestly. But it 

 is necessary, if we would save our children fiom a life 

 of degradation. Labor is heaven's law. — Cohnan's 

 Rural World. 



How Butter is Tainted. 



Winter and spring butter is often very much injured 

 in flavor by allowing cows to eat the litter from horse 

 stables. Cows are not unfrequently very fond of this 

 litter, though it is impregnated with liquid manure 

 from horses, and if allowed, they eat it greedily ; and 

 the effect is that their milk and butter will be tainted 

 with the taste of this kind of food, in the same way 

 that the flavor is injured by eating turnips, but to a 

 more disagreeable degree. If litter is allowed to be 

 eaten, it should only be given to cattle not to milk, 

 and on no account should milch cows be allowed to 

 consume other than the sweetest and purest food. 

 Very nice butter makers are sometimes at a loss to 

 account for stable taints in butter, especially when 

 extraordinary precautions have been taken to have the 

 milking done in the most perfect manner, and so on 

 in all the processes of handling the milk until the but- 

 ter is packed for market. Still the butter has a dis- 

 agreeable taint, and the cause often comes from al- 

 lowing the cows, when turned out to water and exer- 

 cise, to feed about the horse stable, when they con- 

 sume all the litter which, on account of its being 

 soaked with liquid manure, is cast out of the stable. 

 — Rural New Yorker. 



Dried Potatoes. 



A German journal, Der Latidwrilh, thus describes 

 the manufacture of "dried potatoes" as conducted 

 at CrastKJrn's works in Lubeck: The potatoes are 

 peeled with the hand, and cut into disks by a ma- 

 chine. These are put in a basket, and this in a boiler, 

 where the potatoes are nearly but not quite boiled. 

 The disks are next put on wire frames in a dry oven, 

 where they are dried quite hard. It is important to 

 preserve the color of the potatoes, and to prevent 

 them from turning grey, as they would, by the above 

 process alone ; the material, after slicing, is treated 

 with cold water, to which has been added 1 per cent, 

 of sulphuric acid, or 1 to 2 per cent. of muriatic acid. 

 Then it is washed in pure water, and the drying 

 proceeds. The perspiration obtained, which has lost 

 none of his starch, is of a slightly citron-yellow tint, 

 and transparent like gum. Boiled with water and a 

 little salt, it is said to resume the natural color and 

 fibrous structure of pototoes, and is not distinguisha- 

 ble in taste from newlv-boiled potatoes. 



Slovenly 'Women. 



The editor of Appleton's Jour7ia! has no patience 

 with women who are slovenly at home . " Many 

 women have little idea of how greatly they shock the 

 tastes and really endanger the affections of their hus- 

 bands by their unseemly domestic apparel. There is 

 not a man of sense and refined feeling anywhere who 

 would not prefer some simple and chaste adornment 

 for his wife in the morning to any extreme of splendor 

 at the evening ball. Let a woman by all means dress 

 brilliant on those occasions that render it proper ; we 

 have no desire to abridge her privileges nor baffle her 

 instincts in this particular ; but we claim that it is im- 

 portant for her, if she values her household serenity, 

 that she should give equal heed to her customar}' do- 

 mestic attire. Tlie female who goes about the house 

 untidily dressed has no right to the title of woman. 

 She is without those marks and indications by which 

 she can be classified. 



Milk Transmits Infection. 



The Sanitary Record (English) states that in .Jar- 

 row thirty-four cases of typhoid fever suddenly broke 

 out in a limited district, in twenty different families, 

 the cases being mostly confined to children. The 

 houses, with two exceptions, were clean and well sup- 

 plied with pure water. It was discovered that all the 

 families received their milk from the same farm, 

 which was at once visited. Six of the farmer's 

 family were down with the fever. The water used in 

 the dairy was from a well close to a ces.spit, and evi- 

 dently contaminated by soakage, as it became putrid 

 in two days after drawing from the well. The dairy 

 was also used as a washhouse, and the linen of the 

 sick persons of the family were washed in it. The 

 person who milked the cows was in constant .attend- 

 ance upon the sick. The niiisance was promptly de- 

 tected by the health officer and immediately abated. 



How to Use Corn Starch. 



English Blanc Mange. — Four tablespooufuls, or 

 three ounces, of Corn Starch to one quart of milk, 

 two eggs. Dissolve the corn starch in some of the 

 milk . Put into the remainder of the milk four ounces 

 of sugar, a little salt, a piece of lemon rind, or cinna- 

 mon stick, and heat to near boiling. Then add the 

 mixed corn starch, and boil (stirring briskly) four 

 minutes ; take out the rind, and pour into a mould or 

 cup, and keep until cold. When turned out, pour 

 round it any kind of stewed or preserved fruits, or a 

 sauce of milk and sugar. 



Soiled Pudding. — Three tablespooufuls of the corn 

 starch to one quart of milk. Dissolve the corn starch 

 in some of the milk, and mix with it two or three eggn 

 well beaten, and a little salt. Heat the remainder of 

 the milk to near boiling, add the above preparation, 

 and boil four minutes, stirring it briskly. To be eaten 

 warm, with a sauce. 



Dehnoyiico Pudding. — A quart of milk, three table- 

 spoonfuls cornstarch. Mixthe starch with cold water, 

 and stir into the boiling milk. Mix six table- 

 spoonfuls of white sugar with the yolks of five eggs, 

 and pour into the starch. Put into a pudding-dish, 

 and bake. Beat the whites of five eggs with six table- 

 spoonfuls of sugar, and flavor with vanilla ; dropwith 

 a spoon on the pudding, and brown slightly in the 

 oven. 



Oawego Pudding. — One quart of milk, three table- 

 spoonfuls of corn starch, four eggs. Beat the yolks, 

 and mix them with a little of the milk and flour ; 

 sweeten and flavor with vanilla. Scald the milk, and 

 add the otheringrediente; boiling three minutes ; pour 

 into a dish, and set away to cool. Beat the whites 

 with four teaspoonfuls of sugar. Cover the pudding 

 with a layer of currant jelly, and spread the beaten 

 whites over the whole. 



Saratoga Pudding. — Mix four tablesijoonfuls of corn 

 starch in one quart cold milk. Stir until it boils, 

 when cool, stir in two tablespoonfuls white sugar, six 

 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately. Put in a 

 large pudding-dish, place in a pan of water, bake IJj 

 hours. 



Sauce. — One cup of sugar, half cup butter, the yolks 

 of two eggs, one glass wine. Rub sugar and butter 

 to a cream, add eggs and half the wine. Putthedish 

 in boiling water, stir ten minutes, add the rest of the 

 wine, and .serve. 



Boiled Custard. — Two tablespoonfuls of corn starch 

 to one quart of milk ; mix the corn starch with a small 

 quantity of the milk, and flavor it ; beat up two eggs. 

 Heat the remainder of the milk to near boiling, then 

 add the mixed corn starch, the eggs, four tablespoon- 

 fuls of sugar, a little butter and salt. Boil it two 

 minutes, stirring it briskly. 



Jce Cream . — Omitting the butter and salt, the pre- 

 paration for custard will make an excellent ice cream. 



Household Helps. 



Sore Throat. — Dr. Re-snllout states that lemon 

 juice, used as a gargle, is an efficacious specific against 

 diphtheria and similar throat troubles. He has suc- 

 cessfully thus employed it for eighteen years. 



Graham CtJP Cake. — Unbolted wheat meal, two 

 cupfuls ; buttermilk, one cup; molasses, one-half 

 cup ; butter, quarter of a cup ; eggs, two ; soda, half 

 a teaspoonful. Bake half an hour. 



To Clean Furniture. — Take a large cotton rag 

 well saturated with coal oil, rub each article of fur- 

 niture with it until all the mud stains and dust have 

 diappeared, then go over it with a dry cloth, rubbing 

 each piece until it is perfectly dry. Clean once a 

 week. 



Yeast and Homemade Bread. — Boil one pound 

 of good flour, a quarter of a pound of moist sugar, 

 and half an ounce of salt, in two gallons of water, 

 for an hour. When nearly cold, bottle and cork it 

 closely. It will be fit for use in twenty-four hours, 

 and one pint will make eighteen pounds of bread. 



Potatoes are adapted to be eaten with lean meat 

 — the starchy potatoes furnish the fattening and heat- 

 ing elements which lean meat lacks, while the lean 

 meat supplies the bone and muscle-making elements 

 not afforded by potato or fine fiour bread. Fat meat 

 aflibrds heating and fattening elements, like potato, 

 but in a form less easily digested by most persons. 



