1S62. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



391 



LADIES' DEPARTMENT. 



OUK KECEIPT TO MAKE CURRANT 

 WINE. 



For several years we have made a ten gallon 

 keg of cvirrant wine, which is of as good quality as 

 any we have tasted, and is generally so pronounced 

 by those who have had an opportunity to judge. 

 The mode of manufacture is simple, and can be 

 easily followed by any family having the currants 

 and the disposition to make the wine. For gen- 

 eral information as well as in reply to private in- 

 quiries, we give the receipt after which we make 

 it, and cordially recommend it. 



The currants should be fully ripe when picked ; 

 put them into a large tub, in which they may re- 

 main a day or two ; then crush them with the 

 hands, unless you have a small patent wine-press, 

 in which they should not be pressed too much, or 

 the stems will be bruised and impart a disagree- 

 able taste to the juice. If the hands are used, put 

 the crushed fruit, after the juice has been poured 

 off, in a cloth or sack, and press out the remaining 

 juice. Put the juice back in the tub after cleans- 

 ing it, where it should remain aboul three days, 

 until the first stages of fermentation are over, and 

 removing once or twice a day the scum copiously 

 arising to the top. Then put the juice into a ves- 

 sel — a demijohn, keg or barrel — of a size to suit 

 the quantity to be made, and, 



To each quart of juice add 

 Three pounds of the best .sugar, 

 And water sufficient to make a gallon. 



Thus, ten quarts of juice and thirty pounds of 

 sugar will give you ten gallons of wine, and so on 

 in that proportion. Those who do not like very 

 sweet wine can reduce the quantity of sugar to 2^ 

 or 2 pounds per gallon. 



The cask must be full, and the bung or stopper 

 left off until fermentation ceases, which will be in 

 twelve or fifteen days. Meanwhile the cask must 

 be filled up daily with water, or what is better, 

 currant juice left over, as fermentation throws out 

 the impure matter. When fermentation ceases, 

 rack the Avine off carefully, either from the spiggot 

 or by a syphon, and keep running all the time. 

 Cleanse the cask thoroughly with boiling water, 

 then return the wine, bung up tightly, and let 

 stand for four or five months, when it will be fit to 

 drink, and can be bottled if desired. 



All the vessels, casks, &c., should be perfectly 

 sweet, and the whole operation should be done 

 with an eye to cleanliness. In such event, every 

 drop of brandy or other spirituous liquors added 

 will detract from the flavor of the wine, and will 

 not in the least degree increase its keeping qual- 

 ities. Currant wine made in this way will keep 

 for an age, unless it is — drank. — Germantown 

 Telegraph. 



Nice Tea Cakes.— Sift from a pint and a half 

 to a quart of flour, and mix thoroughly through it 

 two teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar and a little salt, 

 then rub in a clever lump of butter. Have ready 

 one pint of new milk with a teaspoon of soda dis- 

 solved in it, and pour this on the floor and work 

 up as soft as you can manage to roll, and cut with 

 cake-cutter ; add more flour, if necessary, and bake 

 in a quick oven. They soon bake, and are not so 

 good if the dough is stiff. 



DRYING THE COMMON RED CURRANT. 



V/e copy the following method for drj'ing the 

 red currant. It is highly recommended, and is 

 just in time to give it a trial. 



The currants should be quite ripe when gath- 

 ered, with the stems attached, and washed or rinsed 

 efiectually and drained off. Then stem them and 

 wash them thoroughly, and to each pound of cur- 

 rants add a quarter of a pound of good Havana 

 sugar ; then place them in a preserving kettle over 

 a fire until they come to a scald heat, when they 

 are turned out into white earthen dishes, and ex- 

 posed to the action of the sun until, by evapora- 

 tion, they become hardened on the upper side. 

 Then they are turned over, and there remain un- 

 til they become so on the other side, and so alter- 

 nate until they become a sort of leathery texture, 

 when they are put away in earthen jars or boxes 

 until wanted for use. Care must be taken to keep 

 them from the dews of night and rains during the 

 process of drying ; finally, the utmost cleanliness 

 should be observed from first to last. 



When used, enough hot water is required to 

 dissolve them or render them to any consistency 

 suitable for tarts, jelly, &c. At the same time, 

 more sugar is required to make them quite pala- 

 table, which must of course be governed by taste. 

 Currants in this way have kept well with us for 

 three years, and the presumption is that they will 

 keep for a longer time, if weU cared for. 



AMERICAN GENTILITY. 



In European countries the aim at anything like 

 gentility implies keeping one or more domestics 

 to perform household labors ; but in om- free 

 States every family aims at gentility, while not one 

 in five keeps a domestic. The aim is not a fool- 

 ish one, though follies may accompany it—for the 

 average ambition of our people includes a certain 

 amount of refined cultivation ; it is only that the 

 process is exhausting. Every woman must have 

 a best parlor, with hair-cloth furniture and a pho- 

 tographic book ; she must have a piano, or some 

 cheaper substitute ; her little girls must have em- 

 broidered skirts and much mathematical knowl- 

 edge ; her husband must have two or even three 

 hot meals every day of his life ; and yet her house 

 must be in perfect order early in the afternoon, 

 and she prepared to go out and pay calls, with a 

 black silk dress and card case. In the evening 

 she will go to a concert or a lecture, and then, at 

 the end of all, she will very possibly sit up after 

 midnight with her sewing-machine, doing extra 

 shop-work to pay for little Ella's music-lessons. 

 All this every "capable" New England woman 

 will do, or die. She does it, and dies ; and tlien 

 we are astonished that her vital energy gives out 

 sooner than that of an Irishwoman in a shanty, 

 with no ambition on earth but to supply her 

 young Patricks with adequate potatoes. — T. W. 

 Higginson. 



FnriT "Wafers for Dessert. — Take currants, 

 cherries, apricots, or any other fruit ; put them 

 into an earthen jar in a kettle of water, and when 

 scalded strain them through a sieve ; to every pint 

 of juice add the same weight of finely sifted sugar 

 and the white of a small egg ; beat all together 



