380 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



JDomestic fBepartmcnt. 



A Gem. — The sunlight that follows a shipwreck 

 is not less beautiful, though it shines upon the rem- 

 nants of a broken bark; what is saved is so much 

 more precious than that which has been lost. The 

 domestic circle is alwaj'S too small to allow of rup- 

 ture ; it is always too precious to make excusable 

 any neglect to prevent or heal disturbance. There 

 are enough to minister by hints and reproaches to 

 domestic unkindness ; and unfortunately the best, 

 under such circumstances, are much too prone to 

 mistake, and thus misrepresent motives ; and trifles, 

 with no direct object, are magnified into mountains 

 of unintentional offences. It is the same in social 

 life. Let us guard against it. Delicate relations are 

 lilie the polish of costly cutlery ; dampness corrodes, 

 and the rust, though immediately removed, leaves a 

 spot. — Michigan Farmer. 



To swEETEX Bread without Sugar. — It is not 

 generally known that pui-e starch, added to the flour 

 and made into dough, will be partially converted into 

 a species of sugar during the process of fermentation 

 and baking, and produces sweet, wholesome bread. 

 From the experiments of Dr. Colquhoun, it appears 

 that starch, arrow-root, farina of jiotatoes, or similar 

 amjdaccous substances made into a jelly, with hot 

 water, may be employed for this purpose ^with ad- 

 vantage. It is only necessary to mix the flour up 

 with the jelly, instead of mere water, to add yeast 

 and salt, and to bake in the common way. Dr. Pcr- 

 cival has recommended the addition of salep for this 

 purpose. One ounce of salep dissolved in one quart 

 of water, two pounds of flour, eighty grains of salt, 

 and two ounces of yeast, give three pounds two 

 ounces of good bread ; but the same weight of mate- 

 rials, without the salep, gave only two and three 

 quarters pounds. If too much salep be added, how- 

 ever, it will give its flavor to the bread. 



Indian Flap Jacks. — Scald a quart of Indian 

 meal ; when lukewarm, turn, stir in half a pint of 

 flour, half a teacup of yeast, and a little salt. When 

 light, fry them in just fat enough to prevent their 

 Sticking to the frying-pan. — Another method of mak- 

 ing them very nice is, to turn boiling milk and water 

 on the Indian meal, in the proportion of a quart of 

 the former to a pint of the latter ; stir in three table 

 spoonfuls of flour, three eggs well beaten, and a 

 couple of teaspoonfuls of salt. 



Bojis' lUcpartment. 



"What it is to be polite. — Politeness is a trait 

 which every one admires, and which confers upon 

 its possessor a charm that does much to pave the 

 way of life with success. But it is very much mis- 

 understood. Politeness does not consist in wearing 

 a silk glove, and in gracefully lifting your hat when 

 you meet an acquaintance : it does not consist in 

 artificial smiles and flattering speech, but in sincere 

 and honest desires to promote the happiness of those 

 around you ; in the readiness to sacrifice your own 

 ease and comfort to add to the enjoyment of others. 

 The man who lays aside all selfishness in regard to 

 the happiness of others, who is ever ready to confer 

 favors, who speaks in the language of kindness and 

 conciliation, and who studies to manifest those little 

 attentions which gratify the heart, is a polite man, 



though he may wear a homespun coat, and make a 

 very ungraceful bow. And many a fashionable, who 

 dresses genteelh', and enters the most crowded apart- 

 ments with assurance and ease, is a perfect com- 

 pound of rudeness and civility. He who has a heart 

 flowing with kindness and good will towards his 

 fellow-men, and who is guided in the exercise of 

 these feelings by good common sense, is the truly 

 polite man — and he alone. — Michigan Farmer. 



fjealtl). 



Vaccination oftentimes no Vaccination. — Since 

 the facilities of intercommunication with Eurojie by 

 steamships have been established, and with dififcrent 

 parts of our own country by railroads, we have noticed 

 that cases of small-pox and varioloid are much more 

 frequent. This arises from the carelessness of emi- 

 grants, and of others, in not guarding against attacks 

 of small-pox by being vaccinated. But vaccination 

 of the present day is not in all cases what it should 

 be. It does not always protect the person vacci- 

 nated. And wh)'' does it not ? Because impure 

 matter is used for the purpose. Sometimes the mat- 

 ter is taken from the arm of a person who has been 

 revaccinated — sometimes the matter is taken at an 

 improper stage of the pustule, and not unfrcquently 

 from a person who has some other cutaneous disease. 



Now, in all such cases, the matter so used, if it 

 " takes," as the saying is, will make a sore, and ap- 

 parently go through all the stages, leave a scar, and 

 all that, and yet be of little or no efficacy in warding 

 off the small-pox. We have known people become 

 diseased with cutaneous diseases, which were un- 

 doubtedly brought on by the use of virus taken from 

 a person similarly diseased. Too much care cannot 

 be taken in this business. Be sure that the matter 

 to be used is genuine, and collected at the proper 

 stage of its maturitj'. If the patient to be inocu- 

 lated be laboring under any cutaneous disease, or 

 humor, as it is often called, he had better be cured 

 of that first, for we have no doubt that such humor 

 will vitiate the vaccine virus, and render it doubtful, 

 to say the least, whether it will afford any protection 

 to the person who is vaccinated at the time such 

 humor is in full operation. — Maine Farmer. 



iltccljanifs' ^Bepartmcnt, ^rta, ^r. 



Cheap and Valuable Paint. — Editors CuJti rotor : 

 The Ohio mineral paint has been off'ered to the pub- 

 lic as something very valuable, particularly to the 

 farmer, for its durability and cheapness. I send you 

 below the detail of some experiments which I caused 

 to be made a j'car or more since, for cheap paint. I 

 believe it equal to the Ohio article in all particulars, 

 and superior from its greater cheapness, it being 

 within the reach of almost every one. 



Experiment No. 1 was the mixing of water-cement 

 with oil to the consistency of paint, and putting it 

 on immediately. Any drying article, used with oil 

 paint, may be put in, if it be desirable to have it dry 

 at once. 



No. 2. Cement mixed with coal tar, or gos tar, as it 

 is sometimes called, I put in, in the same manner, 

 without any drying mixture. You can vary the color 

 by the addition of any mineral substance. The paint 

 I have put on, is now as hard as stone, and was put 

 upon rough boards that had been exposed to the 

 weather for ten years. I have just had painted a 

 small building of rough boards, battened sides and 



