104 



POPULAR SCIEN"OE I^EWS. 



[July, 1888. 



extensively used as a medicine. Salicylate of 

 methyl occurs in the oil of wintergreen (clieck- 

 erberrj'), and was one of the first vegetable 

 products prepared artificiallj'. 



With the exception of nitro-benzol, all the 

 artificial flavors mentioned above are composed 

 of three elements onl^-, — carbon, hydrogen, 

 and ox3-gen. All the wide differences in odor, 

 taste, and chemical behavior are due to slight 

 variations in the proportions of these elements, 

 and probabh", also, to the position in which 

 their atoms are arranged in the molecule. 

 Strictly speaking, the onlj- difllerence between 

 the odorless glucose and the fragrant pine- 

 apple oil is, that the latter contains four atoms 

 less of oxj'gen ; and the relation between the 

 chemical composition and the ph3-sical proper- 

 ties of the organic bodies is a most important 

 but still unsolved chemical problem. We may 

 hope to know much more in the future, as 

 many skilful and patient investigators are 

 hard at work upon this verj' subject. 



Although many of the above flavors are so 

 strong that only a very small quantity is neces- 

 sary to flavor a large amount of food, j-et their 

 use cannot be recommended. They are un- 

 wholesome, to saj' the least, and some are 

 actually poisonous. Onlj' natural fruit flavors 

 should ever be allowed in the kitchen ; and the 

 cheap artificial essences should be left in their 

 proper place, — on the shelves of the chemist's 

 laboratory'. ^ f 



LAUNDRY SUGGESTIONS. 

 Among numerous suggestions for the laundry 

 that come to mind, the following are jotted down: 

 Perspiration stains in collars can be removed by 

 using a very light bleach. For general laundry 

 work, ten ounces of wheat-starch and six ounces of 

 corn-starch to every gallon of water give excellent 

 results. • For. the cold starch, wheat is the best 

 material, especially for fine work, because corn- 

 starch has a tendency to deposit blue, dust-like 

 particles. 



Gloss and stiffness can be produced on collars, 

 cuffs, and shirt- bosoms by first putting them through 

 a pretty stiff clear-boiled starch, and then drying 

 them, after which they should be dampened with 

 the following solution: One ounce of fine raw 

 starch, one-quarter ounce of gum-arabic, one pint 

 of water; heat the water to dissolve the gum, let 

 it cool, and then stir in the starch, and add the 

 white of one egg; beat the whole well together 

 before using. Apply lightly with a sponge, and 

 use a polishing iron to properly develop the gloss. 



To keep flannels as much as possible from shrink- 

 ing and felting, dissolve one ounce of potash in a 

 bucket of water, and leave the fabric in it for 

 twelve hours. Next *arm the water, with the 

 fabric in it, and wash without rubbing; also draw 

 through the water repeatedly. Next immerse the 

 flannel in another liquid containing one spoonful 

 of wheat-flour to one pailful of water, and wash in 

 a similar manner. Thus treated, the flannel be- 

 comes nice and clean, has barely shrunk, and is 

 almost not at all felted. 



The tendency of hot starch to adhere to the iron 

 may be avoided by putting kerosene or spermaceti 

 into it. A bit of white soap dissolved in the water 

 used to prepare the cold starch each week will have 

 the same effect. 



A lau; dress of large experience writes .that the 

 doing of that most diflicult thing of all in laimdry 

 work — the doing-up of shirt-bosoms — may be 



made highly successful by observing the following 

 procedure: Enough cold starch to last several months 

 may be made of one ounce of white laundry-wax, 

 two ounces of borax, one teacupful of water, and 

 three teacupfuls of starch. The borax and wax 

 are dissolved in water sufficiently heated for the 

 purpose, but not hot enough to scald the starch ; 

 into this mix the pulverized starch after passing it 

 through a flour-sieve. In using, take a teaspoon- 

 ful of this prepared starch, and dissolve in water 

 that is not cold enough to prevent the wax from 

 softening. 



The hot starch is made, not very thick, and a 

 teaspoonf ul is allowed to a shirt-bosom : the hotter 

 the liquid is, the better. Apply a tablespoontul at 

 a time, rubbing in well before putting on more; 

 and after the right side will take up no more, apply 

 to the under side. Unless the starch is well rubbed 

 in, the iron will stick, and specks and blisters will 

 appear. The hot starching is done first, the bosom 

 is allowed to dry, and then the cold starching is 

 done by dipping the bosoms in the liquid, wringing 

 out, and rubbing slightly. After an hour or so, 

 iron, first rubbing the bosom carefully with a cloth 

 wrung out in hot water, to equalize the starch on 

 the surface. 



A thin cloth is to be laid over the bosom the first 

 time the iron is passed over it. When this is re- 

 moved, dampen the surface of the bosom a little, 

 and finally iron carefully until the finish is satis- 

 factory. Let the outside cover of the ii-oning- 

 board be woollen cloth, and the bosom will not 

 stick to it. — Good Housekeeping. 



YANKEE VERSUS EUROPEAN COOKERY. 

 Dr. William C. Prince sums up his experi- 

 ences as a traveller at home and abroad, in regard 

 to food and cooking, that the reported excellence 

 of English and European inns as a whole is all 

 moonshine, and that, after Arab cooks, the best in 

 the world are the farmers' wives of New England. 

 Mrs. Blank, who cooks the meals for her family of 

 four strong sons and two healthy, hearty daughters, 

 to condense what Dr. Prince .says, cannot make a 

 partridge-pie out of veal and chicken-bones, but 

 she can broil and serve the partridges as they weie 

 never broiled by the Frenchman, and give you a 

 veal or chicken pot-pie which, unless your taste 

 has been vitiated by so-called French cooking, 

 will satisfy your highest gastronomic desires. 

 America surpasses all parts of the world in the 

 abundance and excellence of its meats, fish, game, 

 vegetables, and fruits, says Dr. Prince; and he 

 defies mention of any country in the world where 

 the native population, from house to house, have 

 as good cooking. 



The notion that France is a land where good 

 cooking prevails. Dr. Prince ridicules. Without 

 discussing the merits or demerits of Parisian tables, 

 he says that the provincial towns and villages and 

 the little wayside inns of France are in darkness 

 worse than heathenish on the subject of cooking 

 food. Furthermore, he says that America, in the 

 matter of inns, is the cleanest country in the world. 

 The inns here are, on the average, much superior 

 to European inns, either British or Continental. 

 He asserts that the literature of the last fifty 

 years has a great sin to answer for in the romance 

 which writers have attached to country inns in 

 England and some parts of the Continent. The 

 ideal "old-fashioned inn " of the books is a hum- 

 bug. It has not existed, as a general institution, 

 within the past fifty years, and probably never 

 existed. — Good Housekeeping. 



Bad Drainage has killed more pot-plants than 

 growers have perhaps ever suspected. 



GLEANINGS. 



Greenhouse Str.\wberries take about six 

 weeks to fully ripen. A peculiarity of hothouse 

 ripening is, that, instead of ripening first at the 

 stem, gradually extending to the point, as is the 

 case in the field berry, the greenhouse berry ripens 

 at the point first. 



How TO send Flowers by Mail. — Direc- 

 tions for safe packing are given in the Horticultural 

 Times. A cardboard box about seven inches long 

 by four and a half broad, such as shopkeepers have 

 for crochet cotton, is the convenient size; and 

 though at first sight it may appear too small to 

 contain more than a dozen blooms, it is wonderful 

 how much can be put in with judicious packing. 

 In the bottom of the box lay a little slightly damp 

 moss, then a layer of flowers and a few green 

 leaves, another layer of flowers, and then finish 

 with an upper stratum of moss. Pansies and lilies 

 of the valley travel well, and will come out as fresh 

 after a day's journey, and in almost as good a con- 

 dition, as when first packed. If a difficulty occurs 

 as to the length, the stalk should always be cut, as 

 the bloom will not stand bending. Geranium 

 blooms are too lightly set in the calyx to travel 

 well; but primroses, violets, anemones, sweet peas, 

 verbenas, tulips, mignonette, rosebuds, and forget- 

 me-nots are all treasures to use for this purpose. 

 After unpacking a box of flowers, place the tips 

 of their stalks in boiling water, let them remain 

 for about five minutes, remove them, cut off a tip 

 from each stalk, and put in clear, cold water. 

 Treated in this way, the most faded flowers will 

 generally revive. 



Any soil upon which water does not remain 

 during winter can be made to grow small fruits: in 

 fact, any soil which will produce weeds will grow 

 them ; but as there are few soils which can produce 

 two crops at the same time, it is better not to try 

 to grow a crop of weeds and a crop of strawberries 

 on the same soil together. 



Honey from Apple-Blossoms. — Professor 

 Cook says, in the New York Tribune, that but few 

 kinds of honey are superior to this. The color is 

 light amber; and, though not quite equal in appear- 

 ance to that from clover or basswood, it is not so 

 dark as to be objectionable. The flavor is very 

 characteristic, and reminds one of quince preserves. 

 He has had it sampled many times, and no one has 

 ever expressed any thing but admiration of its 

 quality. The fact that so early in the season there 

 are very few bees in the hives, as there are yet but 

 few pleasant working-days, accounts for the fact 

 that we usually get very little honey from the fruit- 

 blossoms. 



Home-made Ottar of Roses. — A correspond- 

 ent of the Horticultural Times writes : " I took it into 

 my head a short time ago that ray roses might be 

 put to some good use. I had a tin can made. The 

 lid is air-tight, and has in the top a long tin tube 

 of about an eighth of an inch in diameter, which is 

 so bent as to allow of placing the end in a glass 

 jar, at some distance from the can. The can is 

 then filled with fresh roses, picked early in the 

 morning, when the dew is on them, and the water 

 poured in. The can is then placed on a stove, and 

 tlie water made to boil for about an hour, the end 

 of the tin tube being in a jar of water on a table 

 near by; cold water passing about the jar continu- 

 ally, to prevent the steam from over-heating the 

 water, and causing evaporation. The result is the 

 raising to the top of the water in the jar the pure 

 ottar of roses, which we purchase at so much cost. 

 This is a simple contrivance, and can be operated 

 without expense where there is a family of children 

 to pick the roses and keep up a reasonable fire, too 

 much heat not being desirable, on account of over- 

 heating the water in the jar." 



