322 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



either dries out altogether, or becomes dwarfed, and is scarce worth the 

 harvesting-. Now, then, if any of j^ou have ever possessed any such land, 

 and made it a fit place for the growth of anything else than snakes, toads, 

 and the everlasting sickel grass, please give three thousand wolverine 

 farmers the benefit of j-our experience." 



Ventilation, Cooking, and Farmers' Food and Health. 



Mrs. C. J. Pennoycr, of Sharon Station, says: 



" I was reared in a farm-house Avhere there was everything to make life 

 comfortable, with (ire-places in all the rooms, and an abundance of wood, 

 too. Yet it was somctin^es too cold ; but now, Avith stoves, we need ven- 

 tilation. In the kitchen we can always open doors ; and, if need be, a win- 

 dow, too, and yet be much more comfortable than with the old fire-place. 

 The superior advantages of the improved cook-stove over the old-fashioned 

 fire-place for cooking I think no one will deny. No woman who has ever 

 cooked over a fire-place could be prevailed on to leave her stove, yet I do 

 not believe that ' low ceilings and want of ventilation' are the cause of 

 ' pale faces ' as much as the ' food question.' No class of people can live 

 as well as the farmer. He can raise the most he wants to eat. He can 

 have good grain, fresh vegetables, an abundance of fruit, if he is a true 

 mau ; and he ca)i go to his flocks and herds and poultry yards, and have 

 meat that he knows is not diseased ; and that is more than can be said of 

 those who do not raise their own food. The more simple the food and plain 

 the cooking, if well done, the better ; and, in my opinion, much of the ill 

 health and pale faces in farmers' families come of the present modes of 

 cooking, which are songht out in modern ' cook-books,' and by which dishes 

 are formed that would sicken any but a gormand, such are their vile com- 

 pounds, and so unlike the plain food formerly in use in farmers' families, 

 when there was no better ventilation, and very few pale faces. I think the 

 human stomach is something like conscience — the more you sin against it, 

 the harder it becomes. How often you hear the remark, if you object to 

 certain kinds of food, 'It does not hurt me.' The healthiness of pork for 

 food is not sufficiently discussed. Is it wholesome ? We think not, and 

 no pig-pen has been found on our premises for twenty-five years, and no 

 part of the animal has entered into our bill of fare." 



Cheese-Making. 



Mr. Wm. n. Brimmer, Stephentown, Rensselaer county, N. Y., wants the 

 Club to discuss cheese-making. 



Mr. Solon Eobinson— Mr. Brimmer forgets that New York City is a 

 cheese-eating and not a cheese-making locality, and that persons competent 

 to give instruction are seldom in attendance from the country. We append 

 a paragraph from his letter: 



"Some old people think you must kill the calf on a full stomach, and 

 save the curd; but by this method you are sure to have a disagreeable 

 taste, which is commonly called rennety cheese. I have made cheese from 

 fourteen cows, and only used nine rennets in the whole season, making 

 4,000 pounds of cheese, beside what we used in our own family My me- 

 thod is, let the calf stand from fifteen to eighteen hours after he has been 



