1863. 



THE rLLDTOIS FAEMEE. 



m 



duction. By looking over the market reports of 

 the three cities of Boston, Philadelphia and New 

 York, it will be found that the average price of 

 first-class mutton is higher at all times than the 

 average price of first-class beef,but the largest profit 

 in growing of sheep in our country is realized in 

 the clip. In Canada, where the Leicester and 

 Cotswold are the favorite breeds, the average 

 weight of the fleece is full six pounds after being 

 washed. It is estimated that in all sheep-growing 

 countries that the increase of the flock will fully 

 ofiset the cost of keeping, so that the clip is clear 

 profit." 



It advises the farmers of the West to import 

 Leicester and Cotswold breeds from Canada as 

 largely as possible. 



m 



Chemical Erasive Hard Soap. 



4 lbs. grease, 2 lbs. rosin, 3 lbs. sal soda, 1 lb. 

 caustic soda, 4 oz. borax, 1 lb. lime. 



DIRECTIONS. 



Mix grease, rosin, salsoda and borax, and melt 

 in kettle; dissolve caustic soda and lime in 6 gal- 

 lons of hot water: add this lye into kettle slowly, 

 and boil three hours — the soap is made. — Domestic 

 Economy. 



— The above is being peddled about the country 

 for a dollar a copy, and has been handed us by a 

 lady friend. It must be valuable and truthful for 

 it is from an old soap maker who is the seller, and 

 who has spent the best part of his days in the 

 saponary. 



Of late however, it is not so valuable on ac- 

 count of the high price of rosin, and besides the 

 use of silicate of soda has somewhat changed the 

 programme, and the old soap maker will be com- 

 pelled to get up a new dollar receipt. 



Let u3 see how cheap this soap is : 



4 lbs. grease, 8 cts 32 



2 " rosin, 20 cts 40 



3" sal soda, 10 cts 30 



1 " caustic soda. 25 cts 25 



i " borax, and 1 lb. lime 10 



Cost of 30 lbs. soap $1,ST 



Or less than three cents a pound. This looks all 

 well enough on paper, but the trouble is our lady 

 friend has failed to get up the soap at all, but has 

 a prospect of a saponaceous compound, of inferi- 

 or value, by doubling the ingredients, which will 

 bring the cost up to that of good soap by the box. 

 The morale of this is, not to purchase recipes of 

 " old soap boilers," when good bar soap can be 

 had at reasonable rates by the box, which is the 

 only way in which the farmer should purchase his 

 hard soap. Many of our lady friends are great on 

 making cheap bar soap, and we suggest that they 



will get more and better soap for their money to 

 purchase by the box, to say nothing 'of the frej 

 and furor over it. 



If one has good hard wood aShes, soft soap can 

 be easily and cheaply made, but when we come to 

 hard soap we prefer to give the "old soap boiler" 

 a chance to work in the factory, and take our soap 

 by the box. { , v 



From the Cincinnati Commercial. 



The Prost in Indiana. 



The frost last week appears to have done a 

 vast deal of mischief. We hear that the corn, far 

 advanced as it is, has been ruined in many places, 

 and damaged in all, between this city and the Up- 

 per Wabash. In Hendricks county we hear of one 

 field of seventy acres, in which the stalks were four 

 to six feet high, which was actually frozen to death, 

 not a hill a green or healthy blade. This, though 

 probably, a worse case than the average, indicates 

 a severity which, at the mildest, cannot have failed 

 to cut down the crops in all the affected region se- 

 riously. Potatoes, especialy sweet potatoes and 

 melons, are badly and widely injured, and the co- 

 operetion of the drouth, which has pervaded in 

 the central portion of the State for nearly a month 

 now, will undoubtedly leave us but a trifling yield 

 of either. We have seen no estimate as yet of the 

 amount of frozen territory or tke injury inflicted. 



— The frost of July 14th did considerable dam- 

 age in many places ; corn in this county in the low 

 grounds is damaged.J 



About thirty years since a severe frost visited 

 this portion of the part of the State in June, kill- 

 ing nearly all the leaves in the forest, and on the 

 4th of June three or four years since the whole -j; 

 country was white with frost, doing an immense 

 amount of damage, in all low situations. Ed. 



How to Select Flour. 



1. Look at the color, if it is white, with a slight- 

 ly yellowish, or straw colored tint, buy it. If it is 

 very white, with a bluish cast, or with white specks 

 in it, refuse it. 



2. Examine its adhesiveness ; wet and kneed a 

 little of it between your fingers ; if it works soft 

 and stick, it is poor. 



3. Throw a little lump of dry flour against a dry, 

 smooth, perpendicular surface; if it falls like pow- 

 der, it is bad. 



4. Squeeze some of the flour in your hand ; if it 

 retains the shape given by the pressure, that, too, 

 is a good sign. Flour that will stand all these 

 tests, it is safe to buy. These modes are given by 

 old flour dealers, and they pertain to a matter tbat 

 concerns every body, namely the staff of life. 



I^The Indiana State Fairfor 1863, will be held 

 on the old fair grounds, in Indianapolis, commen«- v 

 ing September 28th, and continuing to October 3d.' 1^; 

 The premium list is liberal, amounting to $8,000. ,' ' 

 ur State fair comes off at the same time. 



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