46 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ Marct, 



of family comfort. Farmers, as a rale, are entirely 

 too careless about their gardens, their whole minds 

 being placed upon their field-crop, stock, &c. The 

 women would in most cases be competent and gladly 

 willing to take charge of a large portion of the labor 

 necessary to the proper culti%-aliou of the garden, if 

 the men would prepare the ground to their hands. 

 Indeed, it is a fact that those who pursue the culti- 

 vation of the soil as their business, rarely enjoy 

 garden products in perfection, just because they ap- 

 pear to insist upon the error that they don't pay. 

 Now is the time to think about how the garden can 

 be enlarged and the number and quantity of the 

 crops increased. The stuff can also be got ready 

 for the additional fence, and the fence itself erected 

 as soon as the weather will permit. 



The little hot beds in which to raise your tomato, 

 cabbage plants and egg plants should now be re- 

 paired and got ready for sowing the seed as soon as 

 the time arrives and tliat will be from the '20th to the 

 end of this month. One thing must be remembered, 

 that there should be no sparing of the underlaying 

 stratum of horse manure in preparing the beds. — 

 Germaittoion Telerfraph. 



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What to Put in the Garden. 



Of the many hundred of sorts of Peas, Beans, 

 Cabbages, Corn, Sweet Corn, Lettuce, Potatoes, To- 

 matoes, Beets, Carrots, Cucumbers, Melons, Rad- 

 ishes, Turnips, Onions, etc., etc. (each variety piais- 

 ed by its seller), is an important question. A right 

 choice of kinds will return many dollars worth more 

 for the same labor and expense, even in a small gar- 

 den. To help all in deciding, Peter Henderson, 

 the highest authority in such matters, has tested, 

 tide by side, over tOO varieties of the above garden 

 products, and he gives the results in the American 

 AgriculturiU for March 1st. Tbis number has much 

 other practical, seasonable information, illustrated 

 with over 100 engravings, and is alone worth the 

 cost of a whole year's subscription, which is only 

 $1.50, or 4 copies for 85. Okange Jncn Company, 

 New York, are the publishers. 



Apples. 



Apples, in addition to being a delicious fruit, 

 make a pleasant medicine. A raw, mellow apple 

 Is digested in an hour and a-half; while boiled cab- 

 bage requires five hours. The most healthy dessert 

 that can be placed on a table is a baked apple. If 

 eaten frequently at breakfast, with coarse bread and 

 butter, without meat or fiesh of any kind, it has an 

 admirable effect on the general system, often remov- 

 ing constipation, correcting acidities, and cooling off 

 febrile conditions more efl'ectually than the most 

 approved medicines. If families could be induced 

 to substitute them for pies, cakes and sweetmeats, 

 with which their children are frequently stuffed, 

 there would be a diminution in the total sum of 

 doctors' bills in a single year sufficient to lay in a 

 stock of this delicious fruit for the whole season's 

 use. 



Domestic Economy. 



Ventilation of Sleeping Rooms. 

 One must use judgment in the ventilation of bed- 

 rooms, not to let in too much air at a time, to avoid 

 all drafts, and in the coldest nights not to allow the 

 room to become as cold as the outside atmosphere, 

 but there must be an inlet for pure air, and an outlet 

 for bad air, from some source. If two persons are 

 to occupy a bedroom during a night, let them step 

 upon weighing scales as they retire, and then again 

 in the morning, and they will find their actual 

 weight is at least a pound less in the morning. Fre 

 quently there will be a loss of two or more pounds, 

 and the average loss throughout the year will be 

 more than one pound — that is; during the night 

 there is a loss of a pound of matter which has gone 

 oflT from their bodies, partly from the lungs and 

 partly through the pores of the skin. The es- 

 caped matter is carbonic acid and decayed animal 

 matter of poisonous exhalations. This is diflused 

 through the air, and in part absorbed by the bed 

 clothes. If a single ounce ol wool or cotton be burn- 

 ed in the room, it will so completely saturate the 

 air with smoke that one can hardly breathe, though 

 there can only be an ounce of foreign matter in the 

 air. If an ounce be burned every half hour during 

 the night, the air will be kept continually saturated 

 with the smoke, unless there be an open door or 

 window for it to escape. Now, the sixteen ounces 

 of smoke thus formed is far less poisonous than the 

 sixteen ounces of exhalation from the lungs and 

 bodies of the two persons who have lost a pound in 

 weight during the eight hours of sleeping, for while 

 the dry smoke is mainly taken into the lungs, the 

 damp odors from the body are absorbed into the 

 lungs and into the pores of the whole body. — Ex. 



when properly prepared for the table. I do not like 

 the fish in warm weather as do some people, but 

 when winter sets in and I can obtain good specimens, 

 caught at what may be called at sea, there are few 

 dishes to be compared to it. When rightly boiled, 

 such a fish exhibits the flesh separately from the 

 hone in solid flakes that retain their white curvature 

 after they are distributed by the carver. Even the 

 scraps left from such cod are never wasted, but can 

 be made into a palatable dish by removing the flakes 

 from the bones and skin before becoming cold, and 

 when wanted placing them in a stew-pan with what 

 is left of the sauce; then add a dozen or more fresh 

 oysters with their liquor, and if these do not moisten 

 the fish enough, and it requires to be only moistened, 

 add a spoonful or two of melted butter. Warm 

 carefully over a gentle fire and when once thoroughly 

 hot through set aside. Get your dish, warm it, and 

 surround it with fine mashed potatoes. In the mid- 

 dle of the dish place the warmed-up fish with its 

 sauce; crumble over the fish grated bread-crumbs, 

 and set In a hot oven for a few minutes until nicely 

 browned on the top. It will prove a most desirable 

 dish. Fresh cod cut into slices two inches thick, 

 dressed plentifully with eggs and bread-crumbs, 

 and fried a light brown in plenty of lard, is really 

 delicious. At least so think some of our best fami- 

 lies and even fastidious epicures out here in Massa- 

 chusetts. — Oermantown Telegraph. 



Milk— What is It ? 



How to Cook Codfish. 

 Many people, knowing little about codfish and 

 perhaps only having eaten them when spoiled by 

 cooking, have but a faint idea of their excellence 



The natural food for the young of all mammals is 

 milk — a rather complex fluid, the physical proper- 

 ties of which it is not necessary to describe. The 

 principal constituents are water, sugar, caseine, al- 

 bumin, fat, and several salts. The sugar, when 

 separated, looks much like the ordinary kind from 

 the cane, but is much less sweet. Caseine is one of 

 the leading constituents, and is the part which, when 

 removed from the milk, becomes the cheese. The 

 caseine exists in small particles in the milk, and is 

 contracted or gathered into large masses by the ac- 

 tion of acids or rennet. The albumin remains in 

 solution after the caseine is removed, and is separat- 

 ed by boiling, when it appears as white curds, some- 

 what resembling the white of eggs in appearance, as 

 it does also in composition. The fat is not dissolved 

 in the milk, but suspended as little globules 

 with thin coverings. In the process of churning, 

 these globules are broken, and the fat collects in 

 lumps of various sizes. This fat, when worked, 

 salted, etc., is the butter of the market and table. 

 The ash is but a small part of the milk, and consists 

 of a number of substances, which are left behind 

 when the milk is dried down and burned. There are 

 many things to influence the percentage of these va- 

 rious ingredients of milk. It is unlike in different 

 species, and among cows, the breed, feed, genera] 

 treatment, age of animals, etc., all have a modify, 

 ing influence. — American Agriculturist for March 1. 



Strange Taste in the Butter. 



The principal causes why butter is found to be 

 badly "off' flavor" are, first, browse and weeds in 

 the pastures, or in the hay, or coarse roots and other 

 unsuitable feed in the stable ; second, bad water, or 

 too little of it; third, heating the cow's blood by 

 running or abuse; fourth, uncleanly milking; fifth, 

 setting the milk in open pans which are exposed to 

 the fumes of cooking, or to stove-smoke or tobacco- 

 smoke, or to cold victules set near; sixth, to keeping 

 the cream in uncleansed vessels, or too long before 

 churning; seventh, the use of impure salt ; eighth, 

 putting down the butter in unsuitable or ill-prepared 

 tubs or other packages; ninth, storing it in dirty 

 cellars, or beside kerosene, salt or smoked meat, or 

 fish, or any other strong-odored thing. Butter is the 

 most susceptible of taint of any article of food, 

 and when tainted, even slightly, has lost its value. 

 A person may have every other qualification for the 

 business that can be thought of, yet if lacking in 

 scrupulous neatness, is utterly unfit to be employed 

 in butter-making. A farmer whose wife is a slattern 

 may succeed in sheep or hogs, but never as a dairy- 

 man. Tet let every man remember that at least 

 half our bad butter was made before the milk left 

 the stable. 



To Cure Hams or Beef. 



Lay the hams on a slanting board and rub with 

 fine salt. Let them lay forty-eight hours; then wipe 

 off the salt with a dry towel, and to each ham take 

 a teaspoonful of powdered saltpetre and a dessert- 

 spoonful of coarse brown sugar and red pepper 

 rubbed well into the fleshy part; then pack in a tub, 

 skins down, sprinkling between each layer with fine 

 salt. In five days cover them with pickle made as 

 follows; To one "gallon water take one and a half 

 pounds coarse salt, one-quarter to one ounce saltpe- 

 tre, and one-quarter to one-half pound brown sugar. 

 Lat them lay five, six or seven weeks, according to 

 size; beef, either ten days or two weeks. Hang them 

 up to dry several days before smoking. 



The pickle should stand and be skimmed, and must 

 be c Id. In Virginia they use no pickle, only plenty 

 of salt rubbed on. 



How to Cook Poultry. 

 Old poultry may be made tender and savory by 

 the following method : Soak it in cold water with a 

 handful or two of ashes thrown in for twenty-four 

 hours; pick off the feathers and let it hang for twenty- 

 four hours longer. Then let it boil for a quarter of 

 an hour in veal broth or water; take it out, lard and 

 bake it; when nearly done baste it with hot butter. 

 By this method the flavor of a young chicken may 

 be imparted to an old fowl. Poultry of all kinds 

 requires thorough cooking, as when undergone it is 

 tasteless. A turkey weighing eight pounds should 

 be baked three hours and hasted every ten or fifteen 

 minutes with its own drippings and with melted but- 

 ter. If proper care is taken in dressing poultry it 

 will not need washing. A wet cloth may be used to 

 wipe it clean if necessary, but soaking it in water 

 takes out the flavor. Young poultry may be known 

 by having smooth legs and supple feet. If the legs 

 are rough and the feet are stiff, the poultry is old 



and stale. 



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Extra Good Sausage. 



This receipt was fortunately obtained in time for 

 our own benefit this winter. The friend who gave 

 it to me said she originated it, and I think I never 

 tasted any better cooking or seasoning than she can 

 do. 



To every eighteen pounds of saussage-meat add 

 three good tablespoonfuls black pepper, four table- 

 spoonfuls salt, a little heaped, and six tablespoon- 

 fuls sage. After measuring the pepper for all your 

 meat, weigh it, and to every half pound of black 

 pepper put a heaping teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, 

 and to every fifty pounds of meat put one teacupful 

 of pulverized sugar. 



As to sausage-meat, we aim to have one-third of it 

 fat, the rest lean, but guess at it, and it is best to 

 season the meat before the first chopping. We always 

 chop twice and take out the stringy pieces. The 

 second chopping also stuifs it in the skins. 



This is by far the best sausage that we ever had, 

 and can safely recommend it. — Nellie, Germantown 

 Telegraph. 



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To Boil a Ham. 



Scrape and wash carefully in plenty of cold water. 

 Put it to cook in boiling water enough to cover it en- 

 tirely, hock end up; let it remain on the front of the 

 stove till the ham begins to boil.; then put it back 

 and let it simmer steadily for three hours. Take It 

 off the fire, and let the ham remain in the water it is 

 boiled in till cool enough to handle; then skin it; put 

 in a baking pan and sprinkle with about three ounces 

 of brown sugar; run your pan in a hot oven, and let 

 it remain a half hour, or until the sugar has formed 

 a brown crust. This not only improves the flavor of 

 the ham, but preserves its juices. 



Household Recipes. 



Apple Sauce is the form in which the fruit most 

 frequently appears. There is apple sauce, and 

 apple sauce. To make the best, requires the best 

 apples. Select high flavored fruit, such as the R. I. 

 Greening, or Spitzenberg, pare, and slice in thick 

 slices, and put, with the needed quantity of sugar, 

 in a dish with a tight fitting cover. Some have a 

 dish made for the purpose, but a tin pail with a 

 good cover will answer. Set in a moderate oven, 

 and allow it to stew slowly, until thoroughly done; 

 good apples will need no water. Apple sauce so 

 prepared, is far superior to that made in the usual 

 way. Next in popularity to apple sauce is 



Apple Pie. — Stewed apples half an inch thick, 

 between two fiabby crusts, is a caricature on apple 

 pie. The apple pie is made with sliced raw apples, 

 in a very deep plate, and as few plates are deep 

 enough, the sliced apple should be heaped up ia 

 generous measure. It is a mistake to spoil good 

 apples with much seasoning. Cloves and allspice 

 overcome the natural flavor; a very little cinnamon, 

 or minute bits of the dried peel of a sweet orange, 

 develop it. In many families, sauce and pie end the 

 changes, while they are really but the beginning of 

 the list. What can he better for a dessert, than 



Baked Apples. — Either sweet or sour? Many 

 have a notion that sweet apples are the only kinJs 

 proper for baking. They are indeed exellent— when 

 sour ones cannot be had. But for the perfection of 

 baked apples K.I. Greenings are required : RemoTe 

 the centers with a "corer," fill the cavities with 

 sugar, set in a baking dish with a little water, and 

 bake rather briskly. Apples so treated, are better 

 than most of us deserve; but if we add, as they are 

 eaten, a liberal supply of Jersey cream i 



It is but a step from apples to 



Apple Dumplings. That person is not to be en- 

 vied, whose recollections of childhood does not In- 

 clude apple dumplings— "such as mother used to 

 make." That kind will never be found again, but 

 a fair approach to it may be hoped for. Her's were 

 both boiled and baked, and we never could tell 

 which were best. Isn't the making of the crust for 

 boiled dumplingB a lost art ! Well, we can minage 



