PROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 113 



•without meal for several weeks, that when we get a little fresh, and the 

 breakfast table is supplied with a disli of hot cakes, instead of coming in to 

 dinner hungry, at or a little before noon, my husband would work until 

 one or two o'clock, unless called sooner, and then, if summoned to dinner, 

 he will say, ' Why, it can't be noon yet ; I am not at all hungry.' Now, 

 hot corn cakes are in easy reach of every farmer's family in America. I 

 think they are best made with fresh buttermilk, and that is fresh (accord- 

 ing to the weather), until it takes an undue proportion of soda to correct 

 the acid. You truly say, corn meal needs a great deal of cooking, and 

 therein consists the inconvenience, for firewood is becoming of consequence; 

 but a little forecast will obviate much of that difficulty ; for what with 

 washing day, ironing day, baking day, and dinner to cook every day, an 

 abundant supply of corn bread might be baked with little or no extra fire. 

 And let me tell you what to do with the bits that are left. Make them into 

 a bread pudding ; and corn cakes or pan cakes are equally good, made 

 just as you would make a common bread pudding, only season to suit the 

 taste. I prefer ginger. The dry corn bread soaks so thoroughly and uni- 

 formly that there is a danger of getting the batter too thick ; but a very 

 little practice will enable you to get it right, and you will be surprised at 

 its superiority over wheat bread puddings. It ought to be^ the most 

 common dish on the farmer's dinner table; being baked twice, it has 

 that thoroughly cooked taste which is so essential. Now, I will 

 stake my reputation on the assertion (as people say who have a pub- 

 lic reputation which they prize), if cold corn cakes were muddled up in 

 China or Brazil, and rechristened and sold by the pound, no ' respectable 

 family' could do without pudding made of them. The matter of domestic 

 economy, as a virtue, has no hold on the moral perceptions of the great 

 majority of the American people. Indeed, they are rather ashamed to be 

 thought saving ; therefore nothing cheap, notwithstanding its utility, 

 becomes popular. I want to see a little more conscience in this matter. 

 Why should not the housewife feel just as badly, if she has been needless- 

 ly wasteful, as if she had committed any other wrong ?" 



Prof Nash approved its sentiments highly, and he thought the hit at 

 the American people about economy a verj just one, because it is true 

 that many people are afraid of being calk' d penurious if they practice 

 economy. There is no doubt, he said, of I'le fact that our soldiers who 

 come from districts where corn enters largely'ihto the food consumed are 

 the strongest, hardiest men. Consumers of corn naturally make good 

 warriors, for it makes strong arms, and consequently brave men; and, as 

 a matter of economy and hj'giene, it should enter more largely into the 

 food of the masses of the people. At the taverns of the south and west he 

 had always found corn cooked in various ways, and he wished the same 

 custom prevailed all over the country, so that it might become fashionable. 

 He would not recommend families to use corn exclusively, but give every 

 one a chance to choose corn bread if preferred to wheat. 



Ml-. N. C. Ely. — I must take exceptions to the remarks of the Professor, 

 I do not think corn should be eat regularly in families, it is heating to the 

 blood and makes the body feel logy. Nearly all the corn that comes to 



[Am. Inst.J H 



