1861. 



THE ILLmOIS FAEMEE. 



43 



to the market and bought 'a fine four year old" 

 plant for 37 cents. Now, that his "Rebecca" 

 has proved to be a "fox," he compliiins bitterly 

 of the "frauds of a nurseryman." 



Moral. — Eead the papers ; you w'U not then 

 buy weeds for strawberry p'ants, or four year 

 old vines, from one but two years introduced, — 

 Gardener's Monthly. 



Packing Strawberry Plants. 



A great many strawberry plants are yearly 

 destroyed whilpt being forwarded from one place 

 to the other, through improper package. A few 

 hints, therefore, as to the best method of pre- 

 paring them to be sent a long distance, may be 

 of service !o those who wish to forward plants to 

 their frietids in other places, and who have had 

 no experience to direct them therein. 



Prepare a pail full of thin mud, if of a clayey 

 nature, so much the better. Take up the plants 

 carefully with a trowel or small spade, so that 

 the roots mf»y be preserved as entire as possible, 

 and as soon as taken up, dip the roots in the 

 prepared mud, so that they (the roots) become 

 entirely covered with it. Each plant, in succes- 

 sion, must be treated in like manner, and the 

 one laid upon the other, root upon root, until a 

 dozen are thus coated. They are then tied into 

 bundles with strips of cotton cloth and the roots 

 packed in moss. If a large quantity of plants 

 is to be sent off, the bundles should be packed 

 side bj side in shallow wooden boxes, 'into the 

 lids of which small holes have been made, or the 

 plants may be packed into the boxes, crowns up- 

 permost, without being tied. 



Before planting, the roots should be separated 

 again, to restore them, as nearly as possible, to 

 the same position they were when taken up. 



It is a good plan to treat all strawberries to 

 such a coating of mud, when taken up, even if 

 they are but to be removed for an hour. Their 

 growth is then but very little chQc\&A.— Exchange. 



We would atid to the above : surround 

 the plants with a large body of clay, instead 

 of the moss, and on planting, set the ball in 

 a dish of water, when it will dissolve, and 

 the plants will separate. Ed. 



Items for the Housewife. 



In the last annual report of Secretary Flint, of 

 the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, we find, 

 subjoined to an article upon Indian corn, the fol- 

 lowing remark, which, with such of the recipes 

 as we extract, we commend to the attention of 

 those who, just because the nse of corn meal is 

 familiar, and the food manufactured from it so 

 common, are accustomed to think the mode of its 

 preparation of very little consequence. He 

 says: 



The details of cooking the indefinite variety of 

 delicious dishes which may be made of good In- 

 dian corn meal, are already too familiar, perhaps, 

 to need repetition, but as an example a few of 

 these recipes may be stated as follows : 



Hasty Pudding — The simpleft and most com" 

 mon way of cooking corn meal, is to put two 

 quarts of water into a clean pot or sauce pan, 

 set it over the fire, adding a teaspoon of salt, and 

 when it begins to boil, stir in a lump of fresh 

 butter, say about two ounces, then add (a hand- 

 ful at a time) suflScient Indian meal to make it 

 very thick, stirring it all the time with a mush- 

 stick. Keep it boiling well, and continue to 

 throw in meal till it is so thick that the stick or 

 paddle stands upright in it. Thin send it to the 

 table hot, and eat it with milk, cream or molasses 

 and butter. What is left may be cut.mto slices 

 and fried for breakfast next day. 



Nice Johnny-cake. — Sift a quart of Indian 

 meal into a pan, rub two table-spoonfulls of but- 

 ter into it, add a small tea-cup of molassee, and a 

 teaspoonful of ground sugar, and pour on by de- 

 grees sufficient warm water to make a moderate- 

 ly soft dough ; it may be stirred very hard ; then 

 grease with fresh butter, small tin pfins about 2J 

 inches in diamoter, and f of an inch deep, fill 

 them with the dough and bake with a strong fire. 

 They must be well baked, taking care that the 

 surface does not burn while the inside is soft and 

 raw. 



Corn Bread. — Rub a piece of butter the size 

 of an egg into a pint of corn meal, make it a 

 batter with two eggs and some new milk and a 

 spoonfull of yeast, and set it by the fire an hour 

 to rise ; butter little pans as above, and bake it 

 in an oven with a quick heat. 



Corn Batter Bread. — Take sixtablespoonfuls 

 of flour and three of corn meal, with a little salt, 

 fift them and make a thin batter with four eggs 

 and a sufficient quantity of milk, bake in small 

 pans in a quick oven. 



Indian Corn BisctriT. — Sift a quart of corn 

 meal and a pint of wheat flour into a pan with a 

 teaspoonful of salt and three pints of milk, mix 

 them well, beat the whites of four eggs and the 

 yolks separately in two pans ; the yolks must be 

 beat until very thick and smooth, the whites to 

 stiff froth that will stand alone by itself, then 

 stir the yolk a little at a time into the milk ; but- 

 ter a sufficient number of cups or small deep 

 pans, nearly fill them with the batter, set them 

 immediately into a hot oven and bake them fast ; 

 turn them out of the cups and send them warm 

 to the table, pull them open and eat them with 

 butter. They will puff up finely if at the last 

 you stir iu a teaspoonful of soda, dissolved in a 

 little warm water. 



Farmers' Corn Pudding. — Set on the fire a 

 large pot of water, which must boil hard by the 

 time the pudding is mixed. Put one quart of 

 milk by itself into a sauce pan, and give it a 

 boil ; when it has come to a boil pour it into a 

 deep pan, and stir into it a pint of molasses, then 

 add by degrees three pints of Indian meal, and 

 lastly a teaspoonful of ground ci'amon or gin- 

 ger ; have ready a pudding bag, dip it into boil- 

 ing water, shake it out, then pour the water into 

 the bag, tie firmly, leaving about one-third va- 

 cant, as it requires room to swell ; put the bag 

 into the large pot of boiling water, cover it close- 



