1884. J 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



75 



will leave the edge smooth. After it has been 

 for a few days in tlie brine tlie latter should 

 be poured off and boiled. The boilin!» will 

 cause all the impurities to rise to the surface 

 while tlie blood will be coagulated. These 

 substances should then be skimmed off, and 

 when the brine is cold it can be returned to 

 the barrel. If the brine does not continue 

 pure tlie operation of boiling should be re- 

 peated. Special pains should be taken to keep 

 the meat under the brine at all times. A per- 

 forated top or false cover, or a frame work, 

 should rest on the meat and be weighted down 

 by a clean stone. If these precautions are 

 employed the liability of spoiling will be very 

 slight. 



IN THE HAY AND HARVEST FIELD. 

 People drink toocopiouisly of ice-cold water, 

 and every summer the list of deaths from this 

 cause is a long one. Excessive drinking of 

 ice-cold water becomes as much of a habit as 

 some other forms of drinking. If ice-cold 

 water be used to reduce the temperature of 

 ordinary well-water, "half-and-half," it will 

 be found to quench thirst just as readily as 

 when taken into the stomach at the melting 

 point of ice (32-), and there will be no danger 

 of sunstroke and " sudden prostration in the 

 hay field." Still betterHlian ice-water is some 

 prepared drink, to be taken in moderate quan- 

 tities. Nothiug is better for those who work 

 in the hay aud harvest field than the old- 

 fashioned "Switchell." This is water, sweet- 

 ened with molasses, to which are added vine- 

 gar and ground ginger. We do not know of 

 any definite proportions, as the ingredients 

 are usually mi,\ed "according to the taste." 

 It is a most refreshing draught, and if cooled 

 by adding a moderate quantity of ice, the 

 ginger prevents any unpleasant effects. An- 

 other capital drink for workmen in the field is 

 "Tea Punch." Make strong tea, sweeten it 

 and then squeeze into it the juice of one more 

 lemons. This may also be cooled by adding 

 ice in moderate quantities, and those who like 

 tea at all will prefer it to any other harvest 

 drink. Strong coffee, "with sugar and milk, 

 placed on ice until well cooled. Is an excellent 

 drink for the he\i.— American Agriculturist. 



IMPROVING FARM HOUSES. 



It is a source of great satisfaction to notice 

 as we have within the last lialf dozen years 

 the improvement which has been making in 

 the appearance of farm dwellings. It is be- 

 ing done in various ways and after various 

 plans. It seems that every one. no matter 

 what the exact meiusure of his means may be, 

 is doing something in beautifying his home. 

 It makes no difference what is the particular 

 nature of it, the aim is to add to its attrac- 

 tivenes.s, and in this effort it has the support 

 and assistance of the wife and daughters, 

 whose share in the work is given freely and 

 ungrudgingly, and all equally enjoy the happy 

 result. How much, for instance, does a neat- 

 ly fenced-in front yard, filled with fiowers of 

 various kinds, with trellises for climbing 

 vines, add to the general appearance ? Every 

 house should have a comfortable porch or 

 piazza, which is a protection against sun and 

 rain, and in summer evenings, when the en- 

 tire family is gathered there, it proves to be 

 the best room in the house. Every dwelling, 

 however humble, should also have a little 



parlor, nicely furnished, •though it may take 

 years to comjilete it, which should be opened 

 daily whether used or not. It is the pride of 

 the good wife and daughters in increasing its 

 neatness and beauty, as well as in receiving 

 in it on special occasions their neighbors and 

 friends. In a word, to increase the attrac- 

 tiveness of one's liome is a real labor of love, 

 and it can be done at such times when other 

 duties are not pressing, while the expense of 

 it is so trifling as not to lie fell. — Gcrmantown 

 Tekyriipli. 



IVY POISONING. 

 The "Poison Ivy," also called " Poi.son 

 Oak," and in some localities known as " Mar- 

 cury," is often the cause of great distress. 

 The vine is abundant all over the country, 

 one form being low, running along on banks 

 and rambling over stone walls. Another 

 form climbs the highest trees, clinging to the 

 bark by its many rootlets. It is often con- 

 founded with the Virginia Creeper ; indeed, 

 we have known it to be planted as an orna- 

 mental vine, it having been mistaken for that. 

 The two are readily told apart, the Virginia 

 Creeper having its dark-green, shiny leaves 

 five-parted, while the light-green leaves of the 

 poison vine are three-parted. The Poison Ivy 

 is so very abundant, that were all equally sus- 

 ceptible to its influence, we should hear ranch 

 more of its effects than we do at the present. 

 With many the poi.son produces only a slight 

 eruption on the skin and an intense itching. 

 Others are more seriously affected, and the 

 face swells up to such an extent that the 

 features are hardly visible. Nearly every 

 locality has its popular remedies for the poison, 

 and new ones are frequently proposed. As a 

 general thing, most cases are relieved by keep- 

 ing the bowels open by the use of .salts, and 

 washing the eruptions with a strong solution 

 of sugar of lead. The latest remedy, which 

 is now going the rounds, is to bathe the 

 affected parts with lime water, applied as hot 

 as it can be borne. This is simple, the remedy 

 is usually at hand, and is worth trying, as 

 other alkaline washes have been found useful. 

 No harm can result. — American Aaricultrcrist. 



A DISH OF STRAWBERRIES. 



As it is getting late in the season and we 

 feel in earnest about this subject we refer to 

 it for the last time now, for sonic months at 

 least, and bring forward to assist us the ser- 

 vices and experience of a correspondent of the 

 Country Gentleman as a sort of closing argu- 

 ment. This is the way he puts it : 



I wish I could induce every farmer reader 

 of this paper who does not grow strawberries, 

 to appreciate the value of a strawberry patch. 

 I believe there is no fruit which combines so 

 many excellent qualities. Delicious, health- 

 ful, comparatively free from insect pests, and 

 easily produced in all kinds of soil— what 

 other luxury so cheap and yet so good ? It is 

 perhaps creditable to farmers that the use of 

 strawberries is rapidly growing popular 

 among them; yet it seems unjust that any 

 person having a patch of land should deprive 

 himself and family of a full allowance of this 

 delicious fruit during its fruiting season. 



The chief reason that strawberries are not 

 more generally grown by farmers, is that the 

 term "strawberry bed" often signifies some- 



thing which the ordinary, pushing farmer 

 cannot afford. The "strawberry bed" is asso- 

 ciated with the flower garden, the lawn and 

 the grapery, rather than the cabbage patcli 

 and the onion bed. In other words, most 

 farmers who do not raise strawberries for 

 family use believe that their production re- 

 quires a vast amount of skill, patience and 

 labor— more than they Ciin afford. This 

 is by no means the case. Every person who 

 can have a cabbage patch can also have a 

 strawberry patch, and the latter requires no 

 more brains, patience or labor than the former. 

 Indeed those who are accustomed to growing 

 strawberries in plenty for home use would 

 drop the cabbage patcli rather, than the straw- 

 berry patch. 



The modern strawberry bed, instead of 

 meaning a very small, raised plat of ground 

 in the garden among the flowers and shrub- 

 bery, as it often existed in old fiishioned gar- 

 dens, signifies a good-sized inece of ground 

 where the strawberry plants are set out and 

 cultivated with a horse as we cultivate the 

 corn and cabbages. As labor is the chief item 

 of expense in growing garden products, it is 

 important to practice a cheap system of grow- 

 ing strawberries. My system— the chief mer- 

 it of which is economy and cheapness— is as 

 follows : 



I set out a strawberry patch every year in 

 the spring as early as practicable, usually dur- 

 ing April. I do not expect to obtain but one 

 crop from a planting, although occasionally 

 the plants are left to bear two crops. The ad- 

 vantages of this " one crop plau " are that 

 the first crop is nearly always the best, and 

 that to preserve a bed to produce more than 

 one crop requires too much labor in order to 

 thoroughly clean the soil of grass and weeds, 

 and loosen the soil between the rows and 

 about the plants. By setting out a patch 

 every spring, and plowing down another one 

 every after it has fruited, a fresh bed is always 

 ready to produce a full crop of fine, large ber- 

 ries, and the expense for weeding and culti- 

 vating is trifling. 



I plant in rows 3i feet apart, and the plants 

 are one foot apart in the row. I keep the soil 

 clean, loose and open by frequent cultivation 

 and the use of the hoe. No runners are cut, 

 but they are allowed to take root along the 

 line of the rows. Late in the season the cul- 

 tivator teeth are narrowed up, and the run- 

 ners allowed to form matted rows a foot or 

 eighteen inches wide. Late in autumn after 

 the ground freezes hard enough to hold up a 

 team, the entire bed iscovered over with clean 

 wheat or rye straw. My rule is to cover just 

 enough to hide the soil and plants from view. 

 In the spring, after the frost is out of the 

 ground, the straw covering is raked into a 

 light winrow between each two rows of plants, 

 and there left to remain to keep down grass 

 and weeds, and prevent the soil from becom- 

 ing dry. This is all the labor required before 

 the fruit ripens, unless it be to pass over the 

 bed and pull out the few weeds which may 

 make their appearance. I believe this to be 

 the best system for those who have plenty of 

 land, and on heavy soils. 



Menced oblives are relished by many, and 

 are considered a delectable addition to salads 

 of any kind. 



