126 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[August, 



% 



dispense with it whenever possible. My experience 

 in mai'liet pardeninc;: has proved that ail liinds of 

 garden trucic can beii:ro\vu and cultivated bj' a man 

 or boy, with a one-horse single shovel cultivator far 

 more successfully and at far less expenseof time and 

 wages than by tlie employment of any three jtrood 

 men with hoes. A i^arden for vegetables should 

 have no bushes, trees or perennial plants in it, but 

 should be convenient for the plow and teams at all 

 times. It should be lontr, to save time in turninc;, 

 and wide enouifb to supply the family demand. It 

 should be covered with ffood,old, well-rotted manure 

 six inches deep, plowed under twelve inches. 



Fig Culture. 



The subject of our headinj; is attracting^ much at- 

 tention, both South and North. The people are 

 waking up to the idea that the fig is of great com- 

 mercial value, and the Press are stimulating the 

 people to go aiiead in the introduction and prepara- 

 tion for home use and the market. 



In former years Virginians cultivated this delicious 

 fruit quite extensively, but as it wouM not grow 

 without some little care and attention, its old time, 

 general cultivation has been (un\\isely) discon 

 tinned. 



" Eternal vigilance is the price" of fruit of all 

 kinds. The grub destroys the peach tree, the cur- 

 culio robs us of our plums, the blight kills our pear 

 and quince trees, and yet we replant and fight the 

 foe, and enjoy as our laurels the wholesome fruits of 

 summer and autumn. 



There are very many reasons why fig culture 

 should become a fixed fact, with every one having a 

 few rods of land. 



1. The trees give two crops annually. 



2. They commence bearing early — say at two 

 years from the cutting. 



S. The fruit is very delicious and healthful and 

 better than medicine in malarial and febrile diseases. 



4. The cultivation is at once simple, easy and 

 profitable. 



Now for the other side. 



For the Middle States and, say, north of 36°, 

 winter protection is necessary. And as a matter of 

 fact, the same is true of all the Southern States. 



In the autumn of l.s79, tig trees were cut down to 

 the ground by the frost in November ; and in the 

 winter of 1880-81 the coid made a clean sweep all 

 over the South. 



I have said that " a little care " is necessary, but 

 the fig must have (hat ; and that care is protection 

 from the cold of winter. 



Well, really, there is no other trouble; there is 

 neither blight nor insect trouble. 



I could wish that our American women would find 

 " a field of labor " in this pure fruit, for to them it 

 would be a "joy forever I" 



Household Recipes. 



Cdcumbeb Mangoes. — Select the largest sized 

 pickling cucumbers and put them into a strong 

 brine for two weeks : then take them out, drain 

 well, and heat the brine to a boiling point. Pour it 

 over the pickles immediately, and let them stand 

 until the next day. Repeat this process nine times 

 and after they are cold the last time throw them 

 into pump water for eight hours. Drain them well, 

 and dry each one upon a coarse towl, then with a 

 sharp knife make a slit in the side and remove the 

 seeds. Make each one perfectly dry, and fill with 

 the following mixture ; To three dozen cucumbers 

 take six large onions, chop them very fine, and add 

 half an ounce celery seed, one ounce turmeric, one 

 pound while mustard seed, one ounce chopped mace, 

 half an ounce powdered nutmeg, half a pound 

 grated horse radish and a quarter of a pound of 

 ground mustard. Mis all into a paste wilh a cup of 

 salad oil. Tie a string around each pickle in order 

 to keep the filling in, and pack them down into a 

 stone jar. Take as much vinegar as will be neces 

 sary to cover them, and let it boil up once with a 

 handful of cloves, a head of garlie, and a table 

 spoonlul of sugar. Pour this over the pickles while 

 it is ho!, and lie the jar closely. Donotiopeu for five 

 or six weeks and they will be ready for use. 



Peach Mangoes.— Take one peck of large Morris 

 white peaches, or large firm yellow freestone peaches 

 and cover them wilh brine for twenty-four hours. 

 Take them out and remove the seed by making a 

 slit in the side and partially opening the peach, then 

 throw them back into the brine and let them remain 

 another 'H hours. Drain them, wipe dry inside and 

 outside, and fill them with the following mixture : 

 One pint of chopped onions, a teaspoonful of chopped 

 green ginger, half an once of celery seed, one ounce 

 of white mustard seed, half an ounce of tumeric, 

 and one ounce el black mustard seed. Tie a string 

 around each peach, pack them in a strong jar, and 

 cover them with cold vinegar, adding a tablespoonful 

 of oil, head of garlic, and a tablespoonful of sugar. 

 Keady for use in three weeks. 



Veal a la Mode.— Wipe with a wet cloth a solid 

 piece > f lean veal weighing five or six pounds; make 

 half a dozen holes in it bj running the knife steel 



through it, parallel with the fibre of meat, and work- 

 ing it about to make holes large enough to admit the 

 forefinger, fill the holes with a forcemeat made as 

 directed in the recipe for roast chicken, omittins the 

 chicken liver, lay the veal in a saucepan just large 

 enough to hold it, pour over it boiling water, sprin 

 kle in a teaspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful 

 of pepper, cover it steam tight, and stew it gently 

 for two hours; if the gravy is not thick enough stir 

 in a little flour mixed with cold water, and boil it 

 for two minutes; remove the meat before adding the 

 flour. 



Bkeast of Veal Baked with Tomatoes. — After 

 wiping a breast of veal with a wet cloth lay it in a 

 small dripping-pan, and brown it quickly in a hot 

 oven. Meantime peel and slice a pint ol tomatoes; 

 or use those which have been canned ; when the 

 veal is brown season it highly with pepper and salt, 

 pour the tomatoes over it, and bake it until the meat 

 is well done., Serve it with the tomatoes on the 

 same dish. ' 



Breast of Veal Bbaised. — After wiping a breast 

 of veal with a wet towel remove the bones with a 

 sharp knife, season it with salt and pepper, roll it 

 and tie it compact y ; put it over the fire in boiling 

 water enough to cover it, with a small onion and 

 turnip peeled, a small carrot scraped, a dozen whole 

 cloves, half a teaspoonful pepper-corns, and a tea- 

 spoonful of salt ; fasten the cover of the sauce-pan 

 with a thick paste of flour and water, and gently 

 cook the veal for two hours. Then take it up, re- 

 move the string, and keep it hot ; strain the broth, 

 and use it to make a white sauce as follows : 



White Sauce.— For each pint desired mix to- 

 gether over the fire a tablespoonful each of butter 

 and flour until they bubble; then gradually stir in a 

 pint of boiling broth or water, stirring constantly 

 until all lumps are removed, season palatably with 

 pepper and salt, and let the sauce boil before usiugit. 

 Before takiugup the meat peel a pint of potatoes, 

 cut them in half inch dice, throw them iulo salted 

 boiling water and boil them until tender, then mix 

 them with the white sauce, put them on a platter, 

 and serve the veal on them. 



Veal with Bhovvn Sauce.- Cut cold veal in two 

 inch pieces, brown them over the fire in sufficient hot 

 butter to prevent burning, dust flour over them, 

 about a tablespoonful for two pounds of meat; when 

 the flour is brown cover the meat with boiling water, 

 season the stew highly with salt and pepper, add to 

 it sufficient nice table sauce to flavor it, and when it 

 has boiled five minutes serve it on toast. 



Boiled Tongue. — Proceed according to the direc- 

 tions given in the recipe for boiling salt meats. 

 When the tongue s done the skin can easily be strip 

 ped off and the rough parts about the root trimmed 

 away; these parts, freed from bone and gristle, make 

 excellent hash. 



Boiled Corned Beef.— Follow the directions for 

 boiling salt meats. When vegetables are to be 

 served with corned beef they may be boiled with it 

 until tender, allowing them to cook only long enough 

 to make them tender. Cabbage is usually boiled 

 several hours, when it will sometimes boil tender in a 

 quarter or half an hour; by unnecessary boiling it 

 becomes watery, and emits an unpleasant and pene- 

 trating vapor. 



Boiled Ham.— Follow the directions for Boiliiig 

 Salt xMeats. When the ham is done, if it is to be 

 served hot, take it up, srrip off the skin, dust it with 

 fine bread-crumbs or cracker dust, and brown it in a 

 quick ov n. 



Fork Chops, Spanish Sttle.— Trim off nearly 

 all the fat, chop it and put it into a hot frying pan 

 over the fire until it is brown ; then fry the chops 

 brown in the same fat, season them with salt and 

 pepper, squeeze over them the juice of a sour orange, 

 and keep them hot while some eggs, one for each 

 chop, are being fried in the same fat ; when the eggs 

 are cooked to the desired degree lay them on the 

 chops, pour the fat over them, and serve at once. 



KOAST PcBK.— Use the chine or loin of fresh pork; 

 cut out the bone, replace it with a stuffing of stale 

 bread soaked soft in cold water and seasoned highly 

 with salt, pepper, powdered sage, and a little chop 

 ped onion; sew up the cut to keep in the stuffing, and 

 bake the pork in a moderate oven half an hour to 

 each pound; season it when brown with salt, pepper, 

 and powdered sage. More than all other meats pork 

 requires thorough cooking. 



Pork Tenderloins.— Stuff and roast them ac- 

 cording to the preceding recipe; or split them open, 

 and fry, or broil them very brown: season them with 

 salt, pepper, and powiiered sage; or in place of the 

 sage, when they are fried, mix some chopped pickle 

 with gravy, and pour it over them. Cook them 

 thoroughly. 



Irish Stew.— Cut three pounds of breast of mut- 

 ton in two-inch pieces, put it into a saucepan with a 

 quart of boiling water, two teaspooufuls of salt, and 

 a saltspoonful of pepper, and stew all together gen 

 lly for an hour; then add a piut of onions peeled and 

 sliced, and a quart of potatoes, peeled and cut in 

 inch pieces, and again stew gently for an hour; the 

 stew should be kept closely covered while cooking. 



Persillade of .Mutton.— Slice cold mutton, lay 

 it on a dish which can be sent to the table, sprinkle 

 the surface thinly with salt and pepper, cover it 



^1 



with cold gravy, dust the surface with bread or 

 cracker crumbs, and brown it in the oven; serve it at 

 once. 



Fried Breast of Mutton. — Boil a breast of 

 mutton, according to the directions for boiling meat, 

 until it is tender enough to permit the bones to be 

 pulled out ; lay it between two platters, under a 

 weight, until it is quite cold ; then roll it in bread- 

 crumbs and fry it whole in a dripping-pan large 

 enough to hold it flat, in sufficient sinoking-hot fat 

 to cover it ; or cut it in small pieces, before breading 

 it, and fry it in an ordinary frying-kettle. Fried 

 onions or tomatoes may be used to garnish this dish. 

 Breading. — The ''breading" of any article con- 

 sists of simply rolling its moist surface in sifted 

 bread crumbs or cracker dust ; if the crumbs are 

 unlikely to stick the article is next dipped in beaten 

 egg, and then again rolled in crumbs. The crumbs 

 should always be sifted so that they may be of one 

 size, and as tine as possible, or they will be apt to 

 fall off during frying. They are made by drying 

 stale bread, rolling it fine, and sifting it through a 

 fine sieve ; the coarser crumbs may again be rolled 

 and sifted, or kept for stuffing or puddings. Crackers 

 can be rolled in the same way ; cracker dust is sold 

 ready for use. 



Hagoct of Cold Beef and Vegetables. — Cut 

 cold beef in inch squares, brown it in hot drippings, 

 sprinkle it with flour and let it brown, cover it with 

 boiling water, and season it with salt and pepper; 

 add to it any cold vegetables cut in similar pieces, 

 be.at them, and serve the stew. 



Roast Leg of Lamb or Mutton. — Wipe a leg of 

 lamb or mutton with a wet cloth ; run a sharp thin- 

 bladed knife between the skin and flesh where the 

 leg is thickest, in such a manner as to form a pouch 

 for the stuffing ; into this pouch put the flesh of a 

 red herring, highly seasoned with pepper, and 

 pounded to a paste, forcing it as far as possible under 

 the skin ; roast the les according to the directions 

 given for ro..sting all kinds of meat. French cooks 

 put a clove of garlic into the flesh close to the end of 

 the shank bone of a leg of mutton before roasting it. 

 Garlic Cloves. — Garlic, when marketed, looks 

 somewhat like a dried tuberose root ; it divides when 

 broken into many small lobes called "cloves"; 

 each clove is covered with an inner skin which must 

 be removed before the clove is used for flavoring. 



Live Stock. 



Advice of a Lancaster County Blacksmith 

 on How to Shoe Horses. 



A Lancaster county subscriber sends to the Ger- 

 mantown Telegraph the following statement from a 

 noted horseshoer in liis vicinity, as t.~» his mode of 

 shoeing. It strikes the Telegraph as being about as 

 nearly perfection as it could be, and it therefore com- 

 mends it to the attention of every shoer. The shoer 

 some years ago was asked to write down his mode, 

 and did so, and thinks that it might have been pub- 

 lished in a Western paper where he formerly resided: 



" The way I shoe a horse is this: First, see that the 

 animal stands in a natural position, so that it is per- 

 fectly upright. If so, level the wall of the foot to re- 

 ceive the shoe, and nothing more. Never cut the frog, 

 braces or sole, nor the heels; let nature do its own 

 work. If let alone, once in six weeks or two months, 

 the frog-braces and sole will shed. Make the shoe 

 tight at the toe, heavy at the heels, (for the heels 

 are the tenderest part of the foot). Put the nails 

 well forward of the quarters. Use light nails. Con- 

 cave the shoe until you get to the quarters to pro- 

 tect the soles. Then convex the heels a little, 

 and you cannot make narrow heels, corns, 

 quarter cracks or contracted feet. Fit 

 the shoe cold and fit it to the foot and not the 

 foot to the shoe Follow the wall carefully; fit the 

 shoe as broad as you can; bring the heels around to 

 the frog, but do not touch it. Never make the shoe 

 longer than the foot; never use bar-shoes, as in every 

 case they are wrong and hurtful. Never rasp the 

 uutside wall, for you destroy the glass or enamel that 

 protects it against decay, and prevents it from grow- 

 ing rough and ridged. This improper method of 

 shoeing is the cause of more lameness than any one 

 thing. I causes corns, quater-eracks and contracted 

 feet. Whoever pares ot allows to be pared, a horse's 

 sole, brace or frog, and burnes the foot with a shoe, 

 or puts clips od the shoes in front or sides, is by such 

 useless, harmful and outrageous multilation guilty 

 of cruelty to the noble beast. No frog, no foot; ?io 

 foot, no horse. 



Training Horns. 



If it is desirable to straighten a horn you may fre- 

 quently scrape with a piece of glass, or a knife, the 

 hollow side, which will cause it to grow faster on 

 that side ; but in that case it must not be scraped 

 deeply, for then it becomes weaker on that side, and 

 will be turned toward the weaker siee. Some scrape 

 the side toward which they wish to turn the horn 

 quite thin, and then scrape the opposite side just 

 enough to make it grow faster, and that will turn it 

 toward the thinly scraped side. If you wish to turn 



