318 



THE ILLIlSrOIS ir_A.R]>d:ER. 



adding say two quarts of water to prevent it 

 from burning in the kettle. Tlie pulp is 

 then put into a bag and the juice readily 

 separates from it. Some prefer this mode of 

 extracting the juice. 



llhubarb is said to afford a greater quan- 

 tity of juice than any other plant, and it is 

 also considered a better quality than any but 

 grape juice to make domestic wine. The 

 process is simple and has this to recommend 

 it; moreover, it is said by those who have 

 tested the merits of rhubarb wine, that it is 

 equal to American sherry. 



Dried Rliubarh. A capital article for 

 pies can be had by taking ott" the skin of the 

 stalks, cutting them into pieces about an 

 inch audahalf long and drying them. They 

 dry best if these pieces are strung on strings, 

 in the manner in which apples arc often 

 dried. 



Labor Savmr/ Soap. To each pound of 

 common hard soap, add from one half to 

 three-quarters of an ounce of common borax, 

 with one quart of water. Put the water in 

 any convenient vessel on the stove, add the 

 borax, somewhat pulverized, and then put 

 in the soap cut up in thin pieces. Keep 

 them hot, but not boiling, for two or three 

 hours, or until the whole is well dissolved, 

 and then set it aside to cool, when a solid 

 luass will be formed. If the vessel is pet 

 upon a wav\n stone at night, the operation 

 will be completed in the morning, though 

 we think it better to stir the mass just be 

 fore it is cooled. The night before washing 

 rub the clothes where most soiled, with the 

 soap, and soak ifi water till morning. The 

 boiling and washing to be performed in the 

 usual manner, but it will be found the labor 

 of rubbing is diminished three-fourths. — 

 This preparation is adapted to all kinds of 

 iubrics, colored or unculorcd, including 

 flannels, and is thought to increase their 

 whiteness. 



Wliiit is Expectrd of the Farmer. 



The great problem which our farmers 

 are called uporv to solve, is this : How 

 to produce large crops at a fair profit, 

 and at the same time increase the fertili- 

 ty of the soil. A farmer's best capital 

 is the productiveness of his farm. The 

 process, now we hopo fast disappearing 

 from practice in New England, of "skin- 

 ning the land," is like paying compound 

 interest on the money one loans; where- 

 as, so treating the soil as to add to its 

 productive power, is putting money into 

 a bank that never breaks, never repudi- 

 ates, and not only pays its interest 

 promptly, but adds every year to its 

 principal. 



•'A farm," says Beeclicr, "is a vast 

 manufactory. Instead of buildings and 

 machinery, you are to carry on manufac- 

 turing operations through the agency of 

 the soil. No laboratory turns out a 

 greater variety of products; none re- 

 quires for its highest success more 

 knowledge, skill, and business tact. If 

 a chemist were obliged to evolve his var- 

 ious products in such a way as at the 

 same time to build his houses, create his 

 furnaces and implements, his task would 



be like the farmer's; who, while niisiiig 

 crops, is also bringing up the condition 

 of his ground, and fitting it for its best 

 functions.'' 



The brief statement of conditions like 

 these, is evidence sufficient to show that 

 the farmer who hopes to perform success- 

 fully all that is here indicated, must add 

 to a native common-sense and a ready 

 practical talent, all the best scientific 

 processes of the times. He must avail 

 himself of the experience of the past, and 

 the wisdom of the present. He must 

 search for information in the channels 

 where it flows. He must be a patient 

 seeker after informaticn, also, in those 

 points wherein others' experience, by 

 reason of different circumstances, slips 

 over him. From all these sources he 

 must be able rapidly to educe general 

 laws from particular instances, and fit 

 the same to his own practice in a variety 

 of circumstances as various as the points 

 of the compass. If he does all this and 

 puts money in his pocket, and fertility 

 into his soil at the same time, he is the 

 model farmer of the age, and just the 

 kind. The Ilomestaad is striving to 

 make such farmers. 



But it is onlv the Avide-awake men 

 who ever become such farmerb; it is on- 

 ly they who aspire to become such. But 

 we want to say to all farmers' boys who 

 mav chance to read this, that farming 

 carried on in the way we have here indi- 

 cated, will give scope and employment to 

 all their powers to an extent no other 

 profession can. Let it be your ambition 

 to be a good farmer, and then work for 

 it as men woik to be ministers, or law- 

 yers, or merchants, and no career has so 

 many possibilities of a true and a happy 

 life as may be included within the scope 

 of yours. — The Homestead. 



Pctatoe Bread. 



To make good yeast, take a handful of 

 hops, put them in two quarts of boiling 

 water, let them boil a few minutes, 

 strain in Hour enough to make a thick 

 batter, stir it frequently till it is cooled 

 ofl', then put in yeast enough to raise it. 

 The oftener you stir it the lighter it 



gets 



ter, let it rise till it is light, then knead 

 it up and mould in loaves. Do not get 

 it stiff, when it is light brown, and you 

 will have good, light and wholesom 

 bread. — Ohio Ciiltitmtor. 



-•»- 



Take some twenty small potatoes 

 wash them clean and boil them soft, put 

 them in a ])ail or jar, mash t'.iem fine, 

 then put in as much warm and cold water 

 as will make five or six loaves with the 

 mashed potatoes, a pint of the above 

 yeast, stir well together, be careful not 

 to scald it when you put in the yeast, 

 let it stand till next morning, and you 

 will see how nicjit has raised and how 

 the froth has come on the top. Have 

 your flour ready and warm (this should 

 set in the evening before you bake), 

 then warm your rising, keep stirring it 

 till warm enough, strain through a ! 

 seive on your Hour, stir till a thick bat- 



Dccp Culture a Means of Warming tlic Soil. 

 A correspondent of the 3Iark Lane 

 Express furnishes an able article upon 

 this subject, from which we make the 

 following extract : 



"We all know that heat and moisture 

 are the two elements of decomposition 

 and rapid growth, as shown in tropical 

 countries. Deep and loose cultivation 

 tends to this result. Possibly the action 

 of light may also be important. One 

 cause of the rapid growth of market- 

 garden vegetation, is depth of cultivation 

 combined with the subterranean heat of 

 the decomposing manure; and wherever 

 there is heat, moisture is attracted. — 

 The nece.-sity for a more perf«>ct cultiva- 

 tion is obvious; even on a fallow you 

 may pick up small, hard knobs of clods, 

 which on breaking into fragments, ex- 

 hibit a little treasure of unexnlored and 

 unavailed of territory, confirming the 

 great Jethko Tull's principle ofinfin- 

 itessimability in cultivation. I have 

 great faith in the us« of Cr^skill's clod- 

 crusher in very dry wearfier, for the 

 breading of obstinate clods.'' 



Editor of the Farmer : — I am get- 

 ting to be an old man and am anxious 

 to let my light shine before men. 



The main point in forming is the point 

 of the plow, perhaps. And the next 

 thing of most importance is strength — 

 force of power; but, as the Bible says, 

 "Wisdom is profitable to direct." The 

 economy of human life requires knowl- 

 edge, prudence, judgment. When lask 

 a man to take an agricultural paper, he 

 says he knows now a heap more than he 

 can practice, but I think they might 

 know a little more without damage. Do 

 they all know what crops are best to 

 put on their ground ? Some crops are 

 as sure to grow as weeds are; as Millet 

 and Hungarian Grass, and beets and 

 artichokes are sure crops with me; so is 

 broom-corn; but because they are sure, 

 shall we cultivate nothing also ? Shall 

 we plant a hedge ? and how thick ? and 

 when shall we cut it ? and how much? 

 Shall we try any experiments with cane 

 or rice, or berries of any kind? Will it 

 be necessary to make any improvements 

 in our old modes of practice to keep up 

 with the progress of the age ? Do we 

 wish our sons to be any wiser than wo 

 are, or would we have them go through 

 life in the same tracks ? Would we 

 dress this beautiful prairie land with all 

 the useful plants and fruitful trees that 

 it is capable of producing, or shall we 

 sufi"(!rittoproducethe troublesome James- 

 town, May weeds and cucklc burr ? — 



