96 



creasf ; and "letter prices rule. My plan of cultiva- 

 tion which 1 do not claim as the beet, but which 



has always succeeded with me— is simply this : As 

 soon as the leaves are oiT the bushes in the fall, I go 

 through them with a sharp knife and trim out the 

 old branches, and any of the new that show signs of 

 borer, and cut back all new shoots one-third. I then 

 rake up all the wood that has been cut out, and 

 burn it to make sure of destroying all insects that 

 might cling thereto. This done, I work in deep- 

 usually with the spade— three or four shovelfuls of 

 good, well-rotted barn manure around each bush, to 

 the space of about three feet ; the ground between 

 the rows is now either plowed or spaded, and the 

 whole given a liberal top dressing of light manure, 

 and the work is done for the winter. 



As soon as th« first worms appear in the Spring— 

 which is early— I take a heaping tablespoonful of 

 powdered white hellebore, and thoroughly wet it 

 with boiling water— a quart or so. I now turn this 

 to a pail of clean cold water, stirring constantly all 

 the while, till every particle of the powder is well 

 mixed. It is ready now for application to the 

 bushes, which is done with a large watering pot, 

 taking great care to thoroughly sprinkle every bush; 

 repeal this as often as the worms reappear. Usually 

 two applications, one early in the Spring, and the 

 other just before the fruit ripens, are sufficient to 

 keep down the worms. Keep the ground around 

 them mellow and free from weeds, and if at any 

 time through the summer a branch is seen to wilt, 

 it is immediately cut away and burned, as such is the 

 " sign of the borer." 



Following this method of cultivation, I have never 

 lost a bush or had a poor crop of fruit. And I be 

 speak the same success to any who will take the 

 same trouble for the sake of this delicious fruit. It 

 will peLy.—rracticiil Fanner. 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[June, 1884 



Household recipes. 



Milk Toast.— Saturate stale bread with hot milk 

 ( and cream ;, lay out the slices on a platter and pour 

 over them a white sauce, made by thickening milk 

 with a little sifted Graham flour, cooked five minutes. 



Milk Toast with Eggs. — Make the toast as 

 above, with or without the white sauce, and break 

 upon each silice of bread after it is laid upon the 

 platter or after it is served on the plate, an egg 

 cooked in the shell from seven to ten minutes in hot 

 water, but not boiled. The yelk may be stiff or soft, 

 but the white should be as soft as custard. "Practice 

 makes perfect" in cooking eggs after this fashion, 

 and there is no better known fashion of cooking eggs 

 for food. 



Oatmeal Crackers.— Put one pint of fine oat- 

 meal (Schumacher's A, preferred), with one gill plus 

 one spoonful of cold water. Braid thoroughly, let 

 it stand five minutes, and roll out carefully on a 

 well floured board, to one-fourth of an inch in thick- 

 ness, keeping it together as much as posssible ; cut 

 in squares with a knife, and bake in a very moderate 

 oven until quite dry. Some add a spoonful of sugar. 



Strawberrt Blanc Mauge. — Take a quart of 

 hulled strawberries and spread them on a dish, 

 sprinkling over them about a quarter of a pound of 

 pulverized sugar, letting them stand for six or seven 

 hours, or suflicient time to allow the juice to flow 

 from them. Then have made of gelatine a good 

 stiff blanc mange, sweetened to taste, and stir into it 

 the juice which has oozed from the berries. When 

 all is mixed thoroughly, put it into a damp mould 

 and set it in a cold place till needed for serving. 



Stkawherry Salad. — Strawberry salad is simply 

 a mixture of strawberries and red and white cur- 

 rants, equal portions of each, or raspberries and 

 cherries may be added to it. It is to be eaten with 

 sugar and cream, but these should only be put on the 

 fruit at the last moment. 



Stkawberhy Ice Cream. — Take one pound of 

 fully ripe, fresh strawberries. Add half a pound of 

 pulverized sugar. Mash them well with a wooden 

 spooQ and rub them through a Hue hair sieve. Take 



the juice and mix with it a pint of rich cream and 

 the juice of a lemon (or the lemon may be omitted). 

 A few drops of cochineal may be added to heighten 

 the color. It is then ready for the freezer. 



Strawberry Water Ice.- To one pound of 

 ripe strawberries add half the quantity of red cur- 

 rants. Bruise them well, adding a pint of clarified 

 sugar. Kub all through a hair sieve and freeze. 



The Ideal Ice Cream.— The ideal and almost 

 unattainable ice cream is made by the following this 

 recipe : Two quarts of Cream (not milk), one pound 

 of pulverized sugar, two eggs. Beat the eggs ; then 

 beat the sugar with them ; then the cream. Let 

 this just come to a boil ; then remove from the fire, 

 fiavor with vanilla, strain it through a very fine 

 sieve, or, if you have none, a clern new piece of 

 cheese cloth will answer in place of one. When cool 

 put it in the freezer and freeze, stirring until it is too 

 hard to turn any longer. 



An AppETizing Salad.— An appetizing salad is 

 easily made of cucumbers and tomatoes'. Peel and 

 slice the cucumbers and let them stand in cold salted 

 water while you prepare a plain salad dressing. 

 Line the salad bowl with lettuce, if possible, and 

 slice the tomatoes and put a layer in the bowl ; sea- 

 son with salt, sugar and pepper ; then put a layer of 

 cucumbers in seasoned in the same way, and so on 

 until the bowl is full. Pour the dressing over the 

 top, or you may put all the sliced cucumbers in one 

 layer in the bowl, and lay the sliced tomatoes over 

 the top, just as you prefer. 



Mrs. Babcock's Company Cake.— A cupful and 

 a half of sugar, a half cupful each of butter and 

 sweet milk, three eggs ; beaten separately and then 

 together, two cupfuls of flour with a teaspoonful of 

 cream of tartar, and a half teaspoonful of soda sifted 

 through it ; flavor with extract ef lemon. 



Frdit Jumbles.— One pound of sugar, one pound 

 of butter, one pound and a quarter of flour, six 

 eggs, half a pound of currants, a little soda and 

 nutmeg. Mix the butter, sugar, spice and eggs, 

 then the currants, next the soda, and lastly the flour. 



Cream Pie. — Bake a crust in a large pie pan ; lifj, 

 it out on a plate ; for filling take one pint of very 

 rich milk ; boil three-fourths of it ; with the remain, 

 ing one-fouith stir two tablespoonfuls of cornstarch ; 

 add to the boiling milk, stirring all the time ; then 

 add one-half teacup of sugar, then the yolks of two 

 eggs, well beaten and thinned with a little milk. 

 Remove from the fire ; flavor with vanilla and nut- 

 meg, and pour into the crust. Whip the whites ; 

 add one-half teacup of sugar ; frost the pie and 

 and place in the oven to brown slightly. Serve cold. 



Strawberry Cheesecakes. — Take a quarter of 

 a pint of hulled strawberries, selecting those which 

 are of good flavor. Put them in a bowl and, after 

 mashing them thoroughly with the back of a wood- 

 en spoon, sweeten with a tablespoonful of pulver- 

 ized sugar (if the berries are very tart more sugar 

 maybe required); then stir in the mixture two well- 

 beaten eggs. Now line your patty-pans with good 

 pastry and fill them two-thirds or three-quarters full 

 with the mixture. See that your oven is hot when 

 you put them in, and let them bake for ten minutes. 



Strawberry FoOL.--Take one quart of fully 

 ripe hulled strawberries and put them into saucepan 

 with a quarter of a pound of white sugar. Put them 

 on a moderate fire wheae they may stew gently, cov 

 ering the saucepan closely and stirring them occa- 

 sionally to keep them from burning. When the fruit 

 has stewed for ten minutes, remove it from the fire 

 and rub it through a fine hair sieve with the hack of 

 a wood spoon. Then set it away, and when it be- 

 comes cold stir in enough new milk — or, what is bet- 

 ter still, cream— to make it about as thick as cus- 

 tard. Place on the ice till thoroughly cold and 

 serve. 



Sardines picked up fine and mixed with cold 

 boiled ham, also minced fine, and all well seasoned 

 with a regular mayonnaise dressing, make a delicious 

 filling for sandwiches. 



Fbied Potatoes. — A good way to warm over cold 



potatoes is to first chop them, not too fine ; heat some 

 butter in a fryine pan, put the potatoes in a few 

 minutes ; just before taking them from the fire stir 

 in some well beaten eggs ; serve hot ; garnish with 

 parsley. 



For Chicken Toast take the remains of a cold 

 roast or boiled chicken and chop up fine, put in a 

 saucepan, season with salt, pepper and the round of 

 an onion finely minced, add a small piece of butter, 

 one tablespoonful of cream and just enough water 

 to cover the chicken, simmer all together 15 minutes, 

 break over the meat two or three raw eggs, stir all 

 together, pour it upon nicely buttered toast and serve. 



Potato Soup.— A quart of milk, six large pota- 

 toes, one stalk of celery ; pare potatoes and boil 

 thirty minutes, turn off the water and mash fine and 

 light; add the boiling milk and the butter, and pepper 

 and salt to taste ; rub through a strainer, and serve 

 immediately. A cupful of whipped cream, added 

 when in the tureen. Is a great improvement. Tnis 

 soup must not be allowed to stand, even if kept hot. 

 Served as soon as ready it is excellent. 



Apple Snow. — Reduce half a dozen apple to 

 pulp ; press them through a sieve ; add half a cup- 

 ful of powdered sugar and a teaspoonful of powdered 

 sugar and a teaspoonful of lemon extract ; take the 

 whites of six eggs, whip them several minutes, and 

 sprinkle two tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar ever 

 them ; beat the apple pulp to a froth, and add the 

 beaten eggs ; whip the mixture until it looks like 

 stiff snow, then pile it high in rough portions on a 

 glass dish . Garnish with spoonfuls of currant jelly. 



Apple and Orange Pie. — Cover the inside of a 

 tin pie-plate with rich pastry, and lay upon it some 

 oranges cut in thin slices. After removing the peel 

 place over them some thinly sliced tart apples. Fill 

 the plate with alternate slices of apples and oranges, 

 and a layer of white sugar over each, and a table- 

 spoonful of water over the top layer of oranges, 

 unless the apples are very juicy. Cover with pastry 

 and bake for half an hour, and sprinkle white sugar 

 over the top of the pie when it is served. 



Imitation Apple Pie. — One teacupful bread- 

 crumbs ; one teacupful sugar ; one teaspoonful tar- 

 taric acid ; one nutmeg grated into the above ingredi- 

 ents, a little water to mix it. 



Literary and Personal. 



U. S. Department of Agriculture. — Division 

 of Entomology, Bulletin No. 4 ; being reports of ob- 

 servations and experiments in the practical work of 

 the division ; made under the directions of the Esto- 

 mologist, together with extracts and correspondence 

 on miscellaneous insects ; 102 pp. royal octavo, in- 

 eluding index. From the following table of con- 

 tents the scope of the work will become manifest, 

 and approximately also its general usefulness to 

 those who read and understand. 



1. Introduction. 2. Report upon cranberry and 

 hop-insects. 3. Observations on the Rocky Moun- 

 tain locust and other insects in the northwest during 

 the summer of 188.S. 4. Preliminary report of ob- 

 servations upon insects injurious to cotton, orange, 

 and sugar cane in Brazil. 5. Reports on the effects 

 of cold on the scale insects of the orange in Florida. 

 6. Extracts from correspondence. 7. Additional 

 notes on the cultivation of Pyret/trum in the United 

 States. 



This reminds us that we have the Pyrethrum 

 cinerarifoUnm at this time vigorously growing in our 

 garden, from seeds sown there, more than three 

 years ago ; which, in a very few days, will be in ex, 

 panded bloom. We think there is no difficulty in 

 cultivating it any where in the middle and Southern 

 States. That which we Jug up and took into the 

 house in winter, has perished ; but that which re- 

 mained out of doors and has stood the rigors of two 

 winters, is now growing more vigorously than it has 

 grown at any former period ; and has spread to three 

 or four times its original dimension. It seems as 

 sure as the common " Ragweed." 



