368 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



Dec. 



Presei'vation of Eggs for Cooking. 



" Preserved eggs;" says Gobbet, " are things to 

 run froT!, not after." Perhaps so, perhaps not, 

 as the ease niny be At any rate, many articles 

 of cookery, wLich cannot be made without eggs, 

 are not tluugs to run from. A large proporiion of 

 the eggs bronght to the marktt during iLe winter, 

 are ceriaiiily di.-pleasing enough, quite uneatable 

 as eggs, but only not oflensivf to the smell They 

 are saved from putrefaction by imra' rsion in lime 

 water, to which salt is added by some house- 

 wives. When wanted, they are fi-hed out of the 

 tub, wiped, and sometimes rubbed with a liltle 

 sand to gives a fre-h-louking roughness to the 

 shell. 



Cooks say they answer thi^ir purpose, but it is 

 assuredly wurili while to try fur something bet 

 ter. 



The three following arc cheap and easy modes 

 of preserving eggs for culinary purposes: 



No. 1. — Pack the eggs in an upright water- 

 tight cask, with their small ends down. Take 

 eight quarts of unslackod lime, one-half pound 

 of common salt, two ounces of cream tar av; 

 mix up in water so as to bear up an 'gg with its 

 top just above the surface ; pour the mixture into 

 the cask containing the eggs, and they will ktep 

 sound aud good for two years. 



No. 2. — Pack the eggs in an upright earthen 

 vessel or tub, with their small ends down. Melt 

 ar.d strain a quantity of cheap tallow or lard, 

 and pour, while warm, not hot, over the egss in 

 the jar till they are completely covered. When 

 all is cold and firm set this vessel in a cool, dry 

 place till required for use. After the eggs are 

 taken out, the grease need not be wasted, as it 

 will serve for making soap, or many other house- 

 hold uses. 



No. 3. — Pack the eggs in common snlt, with 

 small ends down, and they will keep tolerably 

 good for eight or nine months. 



It has been stated by Reaumer, who is high 

 authority, that clear and unfertile eegs will keep 

 good loriger than those that would be productive ; 

 but it is doubtful whether the difl'ereuce is so 

 great as to make it justifiable kccfdng the hens 

 in a moh'noholy widowhood on this account. — 

 American FouUry Yard. 



Flax Culture. — Jaraes Sloan, of Winnebago, 

 raised a fraction under two acres of flix the pre- 

 sent year, with encouraging results. It was sown 

 on Old laud about the middle of May, and started 

 nicely, but the dry summer made it rather a short 

 crop, yet the yitld of seed whs twelve bushels to 

 the ante, anl a out a ton of straw. He has sold 

 for 87 cciits per bushel, which gives §10 24 per 

 acre. The cultivation and cutting with a reaper 

 and threst ing by machine is about the same as 

 wheat. 



Compare this statement of flax with wheat this 

 this ye-'r, and the preference is given to flax. 

 Call the avercge of wheat fifteen bushels, which 

 is too high, and wheat at 70 cents per bushel is 

 $10 50 ag-.inst $14 34 for flax. 



The in ti'-aiioiis are that it is safe for farmers 

 to expe.imeiit, at least, more largely with flax. 



Pain and Death. 



It is a comfort to know that insects have no 

 nerves of sensation. The idea that every insect 

 and reptile, and even myr.ads of animalcu'as that 

 we are obliged to crush and destroy day Vy day 

 suffer pain, is a terrible one. The poets have 

 taught us the idea; it is left to naturalists to 

 set MS right. 



Insects may be cut and pulled to pieces with- 

 out giving any indication of pain. When 

 they lose a leg or two, they go about thtir busi- 

 ness without seeming to mind it at all. Cut a 

 wa?p in two, so that his tbroax is s>parated from 

 his stomach and abdomen, ami he walks about 

 merily, and eats with an unusually good appe- 

 tite. In fact, as his food pt^sses tiirough him at 

 once, it gives him no inconvenience, and he can 

 eat any quiintity. The injoyment does not last 

 very long, becau-e the process of nuitritiou can- 

 not go on without the organs of digestion ; but 

 Mr. Wasp does not appear to suffer in the least. 



Insects, in certain cases, show muscular con- 

 tractions, but these are not proof of pain. We 

 know th'it there may be the most spasmodic ac- 

 tion in the human body without the least suffer- 

 ing. Pome years ago we knew of a little boy 

 whose lower extremities were thrown into sptisms 

 I'.y an injury to the spine. The little fellow had 

 no feeling t elow the point of injury, and was 

 greatly amused to lie and see himself kick. So, 

 the convulvine spasms of men who are hanged 

 are no proof. When the neck i.s broken there 

 can be none below the point of dislocation. When 

 the neck is not broken, the pressure of blood 

 on the brain produces insensibility almost instant- 

 ly. All men who have recoverei! from hanging, 

 after it was supposed they were dead, give the 

 same testimony as to its painlessness. When 

 men die slowly, nnd with strong musculnr con- 

 cular contractions there is probably no sufl'ering* 



Additions to Arctic Science. — According 

 to the New York 1 oat Dr. Hayes' recent scien- 

 tific ( xploring expedition to the arctic ocean vpas 

 highly successful. Its results are, brit fly, the 

 completion of the survey of Smith's Strait; the 

 discovery of a nevr channel to the westward of 

 ^^mith's ^' trait; the confirmation of Dr. Kane's 

 theory respecting an open polar sea ; the deter- 

 mination of the magnetic dip, and of the de- 

 clination at many points within the arctic circle; 

 surveys of glaciers by which their rate of move- 

 ment is determined ; pendulum experiments 

 and hydrographic surveys ; a continuous set of 

 meteorolgical observations ; a large collection of 

 specimens of natural hiBtory ; a valuable collec- 

 tion of geological specimens ; the accomplish- 

 ment of a higher north latitude than ever be- 

 fore attained upon land ; and, lastly, a larg,e 

 collection of photographic views of the country, 

 icebergs, and of the natives and their settle- 

 ments. There are thus two hundred potographs 

 of arctic scenery, the same number of sketches, 

 and the statistics of about seventeen hundred 

 miles of coast scenery — results which show 

 that the Doctor's time must have been wholly 

 occupied and his duties arduous. 



