Two Flavors for Apple Jelly 



"T^OR jelly made of astrachans or crab 

 ■1 apples, or of any tart apple, an old 

 Pennsylvania custom advises the use of 

 lemon verbena or rose geranium for 

 flavoring. If properly made and not too 

 strong, the jelly so treated is most delicious. 



To the clear apple juice, add very nearly 

 pound for pint of sugar. (The juice 

 should have been measured cold as it 

 dripped from the jelly bag and the sugar 

 computed on this volume; but the juice 

 should boil hard fifteen minutes and be 

 skimmed, before the sugar is put in.) Stir 

 to dissolve the sugar, and bring the syrup 

 to boiling. A pint of juice, with its added 

 fourteen ounces of sugar, makes three 

 good glasses of jelly, or four if the glasses 

 are small. 



To estimate rose geranium for flavor, 

 the best rule is "half a leaf a glass, dropped 

 in branch and all." This may sound 

 rather more like forestry than cookery; 

 but as the leaves run on a geranium plant, 

 large and small and middling, big branches 

 and little branches, this rule averages to a 

 delicate satisfactory flavor in the jelly. 

 After sugaring, boil five minutes to thor- 

 oughly incorporate all the sugar with the 

 fruit acid. During the last two minutes 

 drop in the gera- 

 inum branches. Allow 

 them to cook limp 

 and brown, then re- 

 move with a fork at 

 once; a coarse and bit- 

 ter taste results from 

 too much steeping. 

 Herein, probably, lies 

 the secret magic of 

 "branch and all"; 

 loose leaves could not 

 all be fished out of the 

 kettle at the psycho- 

 logical instant. Then, 

 as soon as the flavor- 

 ing is done, draw back 

 the kettle, cool a lit- 

 tle, remove the last 

 froth, and pour into 

 glasses. Seal with par- 

 affin as soon as the 

 jelly is cold. 



For lemon verbena 

 flavoring, which is 

 more delicate and 

 fragrant than any 



lemon-peel in the world, use the fresh 

 herb just as in the case of geranium. The 

 proportion is "two leaves a glass"; i. e., 

 six leaves of medium size, on their branch, 

 should be allowed to every pint of the 

 unsweetened apple juice. If the lemon 

 verbena is old growth, use twice this 

 allowance to get the necessary quantity 

 of aromatic sap into the hot jelly. Fine 

 young juicy twigs give proportionately 

 more than the average per leaf. With 

 geranium the flavor may be overdone and 

 seem sickish; lemon verbena is not likely 

 to be strong or cloying. Do not "guess" 

 at the finished result by tasting the warm 

 jelly. Both leaf-flavors come out triple 

 strength when the jelly is cold. 

 Pennsylvania. E. S. Johnson. 



Plants in a North Window 



TT IS generally supposed that a north 

 -■■ window is unsuitable for plants, par- 

 ticularly if plants are to be started from 

 seeds and cuttings. But I was forced 

 to utilize such a window and was suc- 

 cessful owing, I think to furnace heat 

 and the depth of loam that is used in 

 the bed. 



I first had a box made to fill the entire 

 space of the window. It was nine inches 



A flower box in a north window which by furnace heat was transformed into a propagating box 



175 



deep and lined with zinc; the flooring 

 was inclined and in one corner was a vent 

 to let out superfluous water. I ran a 

 pipe from the furnace to a register that 

 opened under the box and close to the 

 window. This gave me what was prac- 

 tically a propagating bed and by regulating 

 the heat I grow about anything. I save 

 a number of my plants from year to year, 

 and early in the spring I plunge them into 

 this bed. They are of good size when 

 transplanting time comes along. 



Massachusetts. D. F. O'Connell. 



Two "Discoveries" 



TT IS hard to remove stains from white 

 A lined cooking utensils, but this little 

 suggestion may save considerable labor 

 and time. 



When a dish is scorched, one can dig 

 the stain off with a chain dish cloth: but 

 that leaves marks. 



When stains from string beans, spinach, 

 etc., and scorching are to be removed, 

 we take one part lime (which is bought 

 in ten cent cans) and five parts of washing 

 soda, dissolved in boiling water, and let the 

 mixture stand a few hours, in the dish that 

 is to be cleansed. After this the dish is 

 found to be perfectly white and clean. 



About once a week 

 it is a good plan to 

 place one dish within 

 another, fill them all 

 up with hot water, 

 and so clean all, in- 

 side and out. 



H. E. M. 



To keep the inside 

 of a carafe or water 

 bottle perfectly clean, 

 empty the contents of 

 the teapot into it after 

 luncheon. Shake the 

 carafe well, so that 

 the tea leaves touch 

 every part of it; then 

 let it stand for a few 

 hours. Add water if 

 the tea does not fill 

 the bottle. When 

 emptied and rinsed 

 with clean water the 

 glass will be quite 

 clear. 



M. E. Jackson. 



