1884.J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



47 



Bedsteads.— If a bedstead creaks at each 

 ment of the sleeper, remove the slats and wrap the 

 ends of each in old newspaper. This will prove a 

 complete silencer, and is well worth the trouble. 



The iRONiNii Blanket.— Before bei;inuinB to 

 iron, sprinkle the table plentifully with water and 

 lay on the ironing blanket. This will hold it flrmly 

 In place and prevent all wrinkling and shovinjf 

 about. Never try to iron with a blanket having 

 wrinkles or bunches. 



Oatmeai, wafers are relished by babies and older 

 children, too. Take a pint of oatmeal and a pint of 

 water, with almost a teaspoonful of salt. Mix, and 

 spread on buttered pans. Make it just as thin as 

 possible, and yet have the bottom of the pan cov- 

 ered. Bake slowly. 



Broken Needles. — A small vial, with a tightly 

 flttiug cork, can be kept in the work-basket or sew- 

 ing machine and all broken needles put into it. It 

 saves the annoyance of getting up from your work 

 to take care of them, and if left lying around, they 

 often cause serious trouble. 



If it is necessary that the clothes of the Monday's 

 wash should be left in water all night, do not leave 

 them In suds, but after taking them from the boiler 

 and draining them, put them in a tub and pour over 

 them scalding water and let them lie in this ; from 

 this they can be wrung out, and after blueing slight- 

 ly will look much whiter, and certainly will have a 

 more pleasing and cleaner odor than if left all night 

 in suds. 



Brightening Tinware. — For scouring this ce- 

 ment (water lime) is most excellent. Rub with a 

 damp cloth dipped in the cement, then wash off with 

 soap and water and dry thoroughly ; then with a 

 dry woolen cloth polish with the cement and rub off 

 all adhering particles with another cloth. This 

 method is much more satisfactory that if the ware is 

 merely scoured without polishing, while it is really 

 very little work to one who knows exactly how to do 

 it, and instead of running about to hunt up clothes, 

 has them hung up in a convenient place ready for 

 use. 



Cecils. — Mince Sne one cupful of rare roast beef, 

 add one-lourth cupful of dry bread-crumbs, one- 

 fourth of a small onion, grated, one teaspoonful of 

 chopped parsley, one-fourth teaspoonful of pepper, 

 and one teaspoonful of salt ; stir in a little good 

 stock and one egg, beaten. The mixture should be 

 as soft as you can handle it. Hoat altogether, and 

 vhen it is cool, mould in the bowl of a spoon into 

 egg-shaped balls, roll in fine crumbs and fry a light 

 brown in hot lard. Make a gravy of one cup of 

 stock, thickened with browned flour, and flavored 

 with one teaspoonful of Halford sauce, and pour 

 over the ceciis. 



Crumbed Haddock.— Remove the bones and 

 skin from cold boiled haddock and put them on to 

 boll with half a email onion. Pick the flsh into 

 flakes and mix with a pint of flsh, one teaspoonful of 

 salt, half a teaspoonful of pepper, and one cupful of 

 dry bread crumbs ; fill a butter dish half-full of the 

 mixture, then pour in what remains of your drawn 

 butter, add the rest of the fish, sprinkle crumbs over 

 the top, moisten with the water in which you have 

 boiled the bones, and bake about twenty minutes. 

 It must be more moist than scalloped oysters. 



Celery Mayonnaise.— The yelks of two eggs, 

 B very little mustard, salt, pepper, the juice of a 

 lemon and some water. Beat all together. To pre- 

 vent the same curdling, the eggs must be well beat- 

 en before adding the oil. Pour in the oil slowly, a 

 few drops at a lime, stirring until of the consistency 

 of jelly. A few .drops of vinegar may be added, or a 

 small spoonful of boiling water. The celery must be 

 well washed and then thoroughly dried in a towel ; 

 cut in small pieces in a salad bowl, throw the may- 

 onnaise over the celery, mix all together and serve. 

 Bread (Jakes. — Soak some crusts of bread in 

 milk, strain them through the cullender very fine, 

 beat In four eggs and a little flour, just sufficient to 

 thicken the substance ; add one teaspoonful of saler- 

 atus. Mix all to make a thin batter, and bake on 

 the griddle. 



Lemon Pie.— Take one lemon, grate the rind, 

 squeeze the juice and chop the pulp very flue ; a tea- 

 pful of sugar ; the yelks of two eggs ; beat well 

 together, and add one cup of eweet milk ; bake im- 

 mediately ; beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff 

 froth, with two tablespoonfuls of sugar; spread on 

 the pie when done, and put liack in the oven to 

 brown. 



Boiled Indian Puddinc! .— ''lir inio three pints 

 of scalding liot milk enoui<h Inilian meal to make a 

 stiff batter. If milk la not abundant water may be 

 submitted. Stir in three spoonfuls of sugar and two 

 of wheat flower, two level teaspoonfuls of ground 

 cinnamon and one of salt ; also three eggs well 

 beaten with a little melted butter or a half teacupful 

 of chopped suet. This makes a large pudding. Do 

 not have the pudding bag much more than half 

 full of the batter, as it needs considerable room to 

 swell. It should be boiled three hours at least. 

 Serve with butter and sugar, or a sour sauce if pre- 

 ferred. 



Baked Indian Pudding.- Boil a quart of milk, 

 and add to it gradually one pint of sifted Indian 

 meal. Stir it well, so that it will not lump. Xdd 

 three heaping spoonfuls of sugar, one heaping tea- 

 spoonful of butter, melted, one teaspoonful of salt, 

 and two of cinnamon or a grated nutmeg. Mix three 

 spoonfuls of wheat flour gradually with a pint of 

 sweet milk, having it free from lumps, and stir if, 

 into the pudding. When the whole is just luke- 

 warm, add three well-beaten eggs. If you wish a 

 rich pudding, when it has been in the oven half an 

 hour stir in a cupful of raisins, first dredging them 

 well with flour, so t hey will not; sink to the bot- 

 tom. The raisins absorb the milk, and when they 

 are used, an additional cupful of milk will be re- 

 quired. Bake two hours in a moderately hot oven. 



Indian Loaf Cake.— Mix a teacupful of pow- 

 dered white sugar with a quart of rich milk, and cut 

 up in the milk two ounces of butter, adding a salt- 

 spoonful of salt. Put this mixture in a covered 

 skillet and set it over the fire until it is scalding hot. 

 Then take It from the fire and scald with it as much 

 yellow corn meal (previously sifted) as will make it 

 of the consistency of stifl' boiled mush. Beat the 

 whole very hard for a quarter of an hour more, and 

 then set it away to cool. While it is cooling beat 

 three eggs very light and stir them gradually into 

 the mixture when it is about as warm as new milk. 

 Add a cake of condensed yeast or a cupful of good 

 strong yeast or a cupful of good strong yeast and 

 beat the whole another quarter of an hour or more. 

 Put the mixture in a turban mould or an earthen dish 

 with a pipe in the centre, and be sure to have it 

 greased well, as Indian meal has a most uncomfort- 

 able fashion of sticking. Cover the pan and set it in 

 a warm place to rise, which (if all things are equal) 

 it will do in about four hours. Bake it, when quile 

 light, two hours in a moderately heated oven. When 

 done, turn it out with the broad side down, and send 

 it to a table hot and whole. Cut in slices and eat 

 with butter. It can be made and left to rise over 

 night, and will be just as good, if properly made. 



Mrs. Brown's Cup Cake.— Three cups fiour, two 

 cups butler, one pound sugar, seven eggs ; beat the 

 whiles separately ; fiavor with vanilla. 



Cbullars. — Six tablespoons melted butter, six 

 tablespoons sugar, six eggs, fiour to roll. Fry in hot 

 lard. 



Waffles.— One pound of flour, half a pound of 

 butler, four eggs, one quart of milk, one tablespoon 

 ful of yeast ; boil the milk ; stir in the butter ; beat 

 up warm, and rise them. 



Mrs. Moulton's New England Brown Bread 

 —To four cups of Indian meal, and two of rye meal 

 add one quart of milk, (skimmed will do if perfectly 

 sweet,) one cup of molasses, one tablespoonful of 

 saleratus, and one dessert-spoonful of salt. Stir with 

 a spoon, and hake without rising. 



Pop Overs. — Four cups of flour, four eggs, four 

 cups of milk, piece of butter size of two nutmegs, 

 half teaspoon of salt ; melt the butter. 



A Nice Way to Cook Chickens.- The following 

 is highly recommended to housekeepers : " Cut the 

 chicken up, put It In a pan and cover It over with 

 water; let It stew as usual, and when done make a 

 thickening of cream and flour, adding a piece of but- 

 ter, and pepper and salt; have made and baked a 

 pair of short cakes, made for piecrust, but roll thin 

 and cut In small squares. This is much belter than 

 chicken pic, and more simple to make. The crusts 

 should be laid on a dish, and the chicken gravy put 

 over it while both arc hot." 



Crackers.- One pint of water, one teacup of but- 

 ter, one teaspoonful of soda, two of cream tartar, 

 flour enough to make as stiff as biscuit. Let them 

 stand in the oven until dried through. They do not 

 need pounding. 



POULTRY. 



Hatching Time 

 The time for batching is now in order, and the 

 most interesting and recreative part of the routine of 

 poultry raising will claim your attention and care. 

 Before the time of hatching it is advisable to save 

 the eggs from your best laying hens, If they are up to 

 the standard requirement. In preference to those laid 

 by pullets. Each egg should be marked with the 

 date it was laid and put away in a safe place where 

 it will not get chilled, and turned every day or two If 

 kept some lime before setting. It is not always safe 

 to trust a valuable setting of eggs to a broody hen 

 until you have proved her starying qualities. The 

 precaution for proving her sincerity is very Import- 

 ant. Broody hens are sometimes fickle and not en- 

 tirely depended on, and most especially If we have 

 choice eggs of our own or high priced one from others 

 that we do not feel disposed to risk by giving them 

 to a hen on her first sign of broodness. When a hen 

 manifests a disposition to set by remaining on the 

 nest over night, by clucking or ruflling hf feathers 

 when touched or approached. It is time that some 

 action be taken to find out if she means business. 

 Select a comfortable place In your hatching room, if 

 you have one ; make a clean nest, and mould and 

 fashion it like the laying one ; remove the hen at 

 night and place her gently on the new nest, with a 

 new porcelain egg under her, and put a cloth or 

 board in front of her to keep her quiet. If she shows 

 a determination to attend to business in the nest 

 twenty-four or thirty hours contentedly the valuable 

 eggs may be intrusted to her keeping. 



Fowls for Eggs and for Market. 

 In raising fowls for market, liberal feeding Is the 

 first requisite, and conflncment does no Injury, pro- 

 vided Ihe yards and quarters are kept clean. The 

 earlier the chicks come in, the higher are the prices 

 obtained, those weighing between one and two 

 pounds being the more salable at first, but later in 

 the season the weights should be in the neighbor- 

 hood of two pounds, and larger still as the season 

 further advances. As high as eighty cents per 

 pound is sometimes obtained for prime early spring 

 broilers, and from forty to flfty cents is not an un- 

 usual price for them when brought to market early, 

 even when not of the best quality. The best breeds 

 for producing market chicks are the Plymouth Rocks, 

 Wyandottes, and Langshans. The last named pos- 

 sess the quality of fineness of grain in the flesh, but 

 have dark legs. This fault Is however compensated 

 for by quickness of growth, and the pullets that 

 may be kept over for laying have been known to he- 

 gin nearly as soon as the Leghorns, which Is a very 

 desirable characteristic in a large breed, for the 

 Langshans are nearly as large as the Brahmas. The 

 WyandotleB are very plump and compact in body, 

 aud the chicks have a round, attractive appearance. 

 Where the cocks are changed every year, and It is 

 desired to combine egg production, weight, and 

 quick growth, a good beginning may be made by 

 using Cochin or Brahma hens with a Plymouth 

 Roch cock, followed the next season with a cock of 

 the Houdan breed. The third year a Langshan may 



