94 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ June, 



DOMESTIC ECONOMY. 



Household Recipes. 



CiiOf'Oi.ATE Cakamei.s. — One cup of milk ; t wo 

 i-ups of sugar ; two cupK of niolas-scs ; oue cake of 

 chocolate grated tine. Boil till it camlies. Pour out 

 on a Hat dish and cut in scpiares. 



One ounce lemon juice mixed ^\'itll a quarter of a 

 drachm of sugar will remove freckles. Keep this 

 lotion in a glass bottle corked tightly a few days be- 

 fore using, and apply to the i'rccklcs oecasioually, 

 and it will soon remove ttiem. 



One of the most gentle and useful kiuds of exer- 

 cise is friction of the body, either by the naked 

 hand, a piece of flannel, or, what is still better, a 

 flesli-brush. This was in great esteem among tlie 

 ancients, and is to-day a universal resort with the 

 people of the East Indies. 



To Cleanse a Meehschaum. — We fear that the 

 husbands of some of our housekeepers will smoke ; 

 and, if so, tliey might as well be as clean as possible 

 about it, so we will tell tbem how to keep their 

 meerschaums wholesome. Wasli tljcm with alcohol. 

 Allow the alcohol to remain in the bowl for a few 

 moments, and then rub them gently with a sponge 

 attached to a small stick. — Cor. ^\'egtc)■)l Rural. 



Soup ou Tomato Oysteks.— Five ripe tomatoes 

 cut fine, or the canned tomatoes will answer ; boil in 

 one pint of water with a small teaspoonful of soda ; 

 add one quart of milk ; butter and salt to taste ; oue 

 or two pounded crackers, as you like it thick or tliin. 

 — £vxto/tlun . 



Oyster Plant. — Boil it well, then grate it, and 

 mix with it a little beateu-up egg, salt, and pepper. 

 Form in little cakes the size of a large oyster, and 

 fry in liot lard. — <S'. C. 



Minced Veal. — Cut, liutdo not chop, cold veal in 

 small pieces ; rub some butter and flour together to a 

 cream, according to the quantity of your veal, and 

 stir it into a sufficient quantity of boiling milk ; also 

 the grated rind of a lemon ; let these boil together 

 until the consistency of cream ; sprinkle a little flour, 

 salt and white pepper over the cut veal and add it to 

 the cream ; stand it where it will keep up to the boil- 

 ing point, but not boil ; when thoroughly heated 

 through squeeze the juice of a lemon over it, and 

 serve quickly on bits of dry toast. — Amit Addie. 



Ten drops of carbolic acid were put into a pint of 

 water and pots watered with tlie solution. It killed 

 the worms and the plants began to improve at once. 

 — rift's Floral Gaidt. 



To THICKEN the hair and prevent it from turning 

 gray, pour Ijoiling water on a quantity of sage leaves, 

 and" let tliem remain some time in the oven, or near a 

 stove ; strain and apply to the roots of the hair daily. 

 If any pomade be needed, an equal mixture of cocoa- 

 nut and olive oils, with a lillle perfume, is very 

 efficacious. 



BuTTEii Sauce fou Mackerel. — ITalf-cup of 

 flour mixed with cold water till a smooth paste ; stir 

 enough of this paste into a half-pint of boiling water 

 over tlie fire to form a thick cream ; add a little salt, 

 and stir steadily with an egg-whip for two minutes-; 

 then remove from the fire and stir in a quarter-pound 

 of butter, two tablespoonsful of chopped parsley 

 and the juice of half a lemon. Set it on the back 

 part of the stove to keep warm, but on no account 

 let it boil. (No sauce should be boiled after the 

 butter has been added, or it will have a rancid taste; 

 and to boil after lemon juice has been beaten in will 

 turn the lemon bitter.) Uaving broiled the fish, lay 

 it carefully into a hot pl.itter with parsley, water 

 cress, or a slice of lemon upon it, and serve. Do 

 not put the sauce over the fish, but send it to the 

 table in a sauce boat. 



Grauam Suort-Cake. — One cup sour milk, one 

 half euj) cream, one teaspoonful soda, one teaspoon- 

 ful salt ; make a batter as thick as can be stirred 

 with a spoon, spread a layerof it in a baking-tin, put 

 bits of butter over it, then another layer of butter. 

 Bake in a moderate oven until well browned. When 

 cool enough to handle, open between the layers Ihid 

 put in berries, peaches, stewed apples or any kind of 

 juicy fruit ; let stand a few minutes and you will 

 have a "dainty dish to set before a king." 



Grauam Tea-Cake. — One cup sugar, two eggs, 

 beaten together, one cup sour cream, two-thirds 

 teaspoonful soda, one teaspoonful salt, two slightly 

 heaped cups tirahani flour, one teaspoonful lemon 

 extract or half a nutmeg. Bake in a moderate oven. 

 To Phei'aue Sheep's Head. — Take a large sheejj's 

 head, cleanse, trim and wipe it well ; place it in a 

 well-buttered, oval, flat, well-tinned copper baking- 

 pan, with salt, grated nutmeg, two onions and a 

 green pepper chopped fine, two ladlefuls of stewed 

 tomatoes, a highly garnished bunch of parsley, a few- 

 bits of butter on tlie lop, and place a buttered paper 

 over all; set on tlie tire, start, slowly, let simmer 

 gently for about forty minutes, taking care 

 to occasionally sprinkle the fish with its gravy ; when 

 done, place the fish on a dish, and keep it warm ; 

 take out the parsley and transfer the tomato sauce, 

 etc., to a saucepan, with a pint of i'spUfinoU sauce ; 

 reduce to a proper consistency ; add tlie juice of a 

 lemon and a tablespoonful of chopped parsley ; serve 

 up the fish in a large dish ; pour the sauce over ; and 

 serve a dish of plain boiled rice with the fish. 



Dried Potatoes. 

 A German journal thus describes the manufacture 

 of "dried potatoes,'' as conducted at Carsten's works 

 in Lubeck : The potatoes are peeled with the hand, 

 and cut into disks by a machine. Tliese are put into 

 a basket, and this into a lioiler, where the potatoes 

 are nearly but not quite boiled. The disks are then 

 put on wire frames in a dry oven, where they are 

 dried c|Hite hard. It is important to preserve the 

 color (if the potatoes, and to prevent them from 

 turning grey, as they would by the process alone. 

 The material, after slieing is treated with cold water, 

 to which has been added one per cent, of sulphuric 

 acid, or one or two per cent, of muriatic acid. The 

 preparation obtained, whieli has lost none of its 

 starch, is of a slightly citron-yellow tint, and ti-ans- 

 parent like gum. Boiled with water and a littleisalt, 

 it is said to resume the natural color and fibrous 

 structure of potatoes, and is not distiuguishable in 

 taste from the newly boiled vegetable. 



Enjoyment of Work, 



Farmers' wives, as a general thing, work entirely 

 too hard. Let tliem moderate their labors to the 

 proportion of their strength, and even if help lias to 

 be obtained to make up the deficit, it were surely 

 better than to wear out prematurely from exposure 

 and overwork, and leave your children at a tender 

 age without a mother's care. A good womau witli a 

 good husband, can be happier nowhere than on a 

 farm ; but let not a sense of duty in the one, nor a 

 false economy in the other, deprive the wife of all 

 heeded assistance. It is far better to enjoy life in old 

 age with your children than to have slaved througli 

 life to leave them a fortune, while you lie down in a 

 premature grave, ere life's great tasks be fully done. 

 Let tlie duties and responsibilities usually devolved 

 upon farmers' wives be lessened, and furnish abun- 

 dant help for the work to be done. — Southern Farmer. 



LIVE STOCK. 



About Milk. 



To scald milk fresh from the cow and put it while 

 hot into a shallow vessel for the purpose of letting 

 the cream rise, makes it rich mucli more rapidly 

 than to set the same away without st-alding it : 1. 

 Cream rises faster when cream is hot than when it is 

 cold, all other considerations being the same. 3. 

 Notwithstanding the loss of water by evaporating, 

 heated milk is thinner or of more fluid than tliat 

 which is not scalded, o. Cream rises faster when 

 the temperature of milk is falling than when it is 

 stationary, and milk, set away hot, has a wider range 

 of temperature to fall through than that which is 

 not scalded. 4. The cream from scalded milk churns 

 easier than from not scalded, and hence churns more 

 completely, leaving less cream in the buttermilk. 

 Hence a little more butter is the result of scalding 

 and setting in a shallow vessel. 



Healthy Cattle. 



Notwithstanding the prevalence of rinderpest in 

 the cattle raising districts of the Old World and the 

 consternation produced thereby, our own country is 

 generally I'ree from this scourge. Reports relative 

 to farm animals, as received at the Department of 

 Agriculture, show general exemption from diseases 

 among cattle, with few exceptions, and a more than 

 average healtlifuluess and thrift, especially north of 

 the SCtli degree of latitude. In the milder region, 

 w-herc shelter is not provided, emaciation and 

 death are not unfrequeutly reported. In one countv 

 in Georgia (Taylor) one hundred and fifty of a herd 

 of five hundred were lost. From all the Alleghenies 

 to the great plains not exceeding seven per cent, of 

 the returns indicate low- condition. Cases of pleuro- 

 pneumonia have occurred iu Burlington, New Jersey; 

 Baltimore, Maryland, and Cumberland, Pennsylvania. 

 Cases of abortion are scattered througli the dairy 

 districts in no greater numbers than usual, and local 

 losess are reported in the Soutli from diseases i-esult- 

 ing from miasma and lack of nutr.tion. Such losses 

 vary from two to twenty per cent, iu the counties of 

 the Gulf States, and from five to twenty-five percent, 

 iu certain counties iu Texas. No prevalent disease is 

 reported among horses. Mild forms of catarrhal 

 diseases, with occasional cases of lung fever, are re- 

 ported I'rom Northern latitudes, and from the South 

 more frei|Uenl mention of similar diseases and local 

 losses from blind staggers, and less frequent loss from 

 glanders, and in the Mississippi valley a few cases of 

 cliarbon. Sheep are generally in good condition. 

 In Soutlieru California flocks are dying from 

 drouth, and in .some places are sold to go to Oregon 

 and Nevada for thirty-seven cents per head. 

 The losses of swine have been very heavy in the 

 West and South. 



The Farmer's Grindstone. 



There is no tool as essential on the farm as a good 

 grindstone ; it is therefore necessary that every 

 farmer should have one and know how to take proper 

 care of it. A grindstone should always be kept 

 under cover, as exposure to the sun's rays hardens 

 the grit and injuries the frame. The stone should 

 not stand in water when not in use, as this causes 

 soft places. The water should be allowed to drip 

 from some vessel jilaced above tlie stone, and the 

 drip should be stopped when the stone is not in u.<e. 

 All greasy or rusty tools should be cleaned before 

 sharpened, as grease or rust choke up the grit. The 

 stone should be kept perfectly round. 



Hanging an Axe. 



Get your blacksmilli to make an iron wedge to 

 fasten the handle iu with. It will cost but fifteen or 

 twenty cents. It sliould be about two and a half 

 inches long, aud about two in width, and the head 

 of the wedge should be large enough to cover the 

 eye of the axe. It is much better than the wooden 

 oue generally used for such purposes, as it can be 

 easily knocked out with a cold chisel and hammer. 

 Tlic usual method of burning out a helve after it has 

 been broken softeus the steel of the axe. Another 

 advantage is that sometimes an axe is broken, while 

 the handle remains good, then the iron wedge can be 

 knocked out, and as it is ready to be put in another 

 axe. — WeMern Ihiral. 



Re-cooking Meat. 



T.ake any kind of cold meat, cut into slices, taking 

 care to remove all gristle ; place in a stewpan with 

 sullicient cold water to cover it, and one or two 

 onions, according to the quantity of meat ; season 

 with salt, pepper, cloves and mace, according to 

 taste ; simmer gently until the meat is quite tender, 

 thicken it with flour and a small piece of butter. 

 Take an iron spoon, put a teaspoonful of sugar in it 

 and burn the sugar ; stir quickly into hash. Toast 

 slices of bread brown, cut in squares and lay ihem 

 round a flat dish ; then pour out the hash and serve 

 hot. 



Value of Salt. 



Not moretban twenty-five years ago a learned doe- 

 tor published an elaborate treatise to prove that salt 

 was the " forbidden fruit," through eating- which our 

 first parents fell, and has ever since been the cause of 

 all our diseases and ills, though only a lunatic would 

 deny that salt serves some important aud essential 

 uses in the animal economy. The desire for salt 

 seems an instinct implanted in the animal creation, 

 and there is a natural craving for it when it does not 

 exist in sufficient quantity in food. 



Animals will travel long distances and brave great 

 dangers to get at saline earths, called salt licks; 

 horses and cows are most healthy when provided 

 with lumps of rock salt in their mangers or pastures, 

 and even bees will sip a solution of salt with avidity. 

 Men will barter gold for it in countries where it is 

 scarce, and for it husbands will sell their wives, aud 

 parents their children. In some districts of Africa 

 salt is far more expensive than the purest white sugar 

 in Eiirope, aud children will suck a lump of it in 

 prefe'reuee to sweetmeats. But the existence of a 

 greater or less appetite for salt in all individuals 

 shows that this substance serves more imijortaiit 

 functions than that of merely gratifying the palate. 



Salt being a large constituent of the iiuman body, 

 and forming about half the total weight of the saline 

 matters of the blood, the constant loss of it by the 

 secretions, the bile, and even tears, requires to be 

 made up liy its employment as a condiment. The free 

 acid found in the stomach, and which forms an es- 

 sential constituent of the gastric juice, is obviously 

 derived from the salt taken with our food ; and tb 

 soda of the blood and in some of tlie secretions i 

 doubtless obtained from the decomposition in th 

 system of common salt, which is the only minera. 

 food of man aud the only saline eoudimeut es.sentia. 

 to health. — British Ma/mfacturer . 



Sweet Potatoes for Hogs. 



We doubt whether as firm pork could be mad« of 

 sweet potatoes, or of any other kind of vegetables, as 

 corn will make ; and while many kinds of food may 

 lie profitably used iu the commencement of fattening, 

 there is nothing like corn to solidify pork. 



There is no better hog feed than sweet potatoes, 

 cither raw or cooked. IJogs will fatten rapidly on 

 them raw, and dig them themselves, but will do 

 much better on them if cooked. In this part of 

 Illinois, where the corn crop is uncertain, many far- 

 mers fatten their own pork ou sweet potatoes. Quite 

 a number have planted them the last season, and 

 turned their hogs into the patch, and they will not 

 touch an ear of corn while the potatoes last. But 

 that is not the best plan, as the hogs will waste them 

 more or less. It pays to dig the potatoes and cook 

 them in a large kettle, aud when nearly done mix in 

 a small quantity of corn meal or shipstutf ; mash and 

 stir well, and then cook awhile longer to cook the 

 meal. Feed cool, iu troughs, aud my word for it, 

 you will see hogs grow. It is the best feed for sows 

 and young pigs that can be given them. 



I have never tested the relative value of corn and 

 sweet potatoes as a hog feed ; but here iu the fall of 

 the year, we often have sweet potatoes too large for 

 sale, and feed them to the hogs, as we always do the 

 very small ones. 



