120 



prize animals, and were bought for Mr. f i 

 Dulaney of Jonas Webb at a tall figure. 



The sheep come next in order, and 

 consist of a Ram and twenty-three Ewes 

 — all yearlings of the pure South Down 

 breed ; and such a lot of sheep I am sure 

 have never been seen in the United States. 

 The Ram is certainly the ne plus ultra 

 of sheep ; he is as big as a Cotswold and 

 is a model of symmetry and beauty. He 

 was bred by Jonas Webb, and cost in 

 England £110— about $550. Six of the 

 Ewes received the first premium at the 

 recent meeting of R. A. Society of Eng- 

 land, and are almost as perfect as the 

 Ram ; the other Ewes are also beautiful, 

 and would rake the first premium for that 

 number of sheep at any show lit which I 

 wa6 a judge. 



Next come the Berkshire hogs, of which 

 I will only say, they are as pretty as hogs 

 can be. Mr. Dulaney informs me that he 

 lias satisfied himself, from observation, 

 experience, and enquiry, that the Berk- 

 shires are superior, for our country, to any 

 other variety of hog, and I doubt not he 

 is correct. 



In addition to these, Mr. Dulaney, has 

 quite a number and variety of fine stock, 

 of other importations, which I cannot now 

 particularly notice, as I have extended 

 this communication to a greater length 

 than I designed; and 1 will, therefore, 

 conclude by saying, that the breeders in 

 Yiiginia have now, or will soon have, an 

 opportunity to supply themselves with 

 pure bred stock, and that upon terms so 

 reasonable, as to be within almost every 

 man's reach ; for I understand Mr. Dula- 

 ney 's prices are very far below those of 

 the regular stock raisers; his object being, 

 while he indulges his taste for such 

 things, to disseminate the purest breeds 

 of stock throughout the State. 



Truly yours, N. 



Loudoun Co. Va. 



THE HOUSE WIFeT 



HARDENING TALLOW FOR CANDLES. 



" How can I harden tallow that is rath- 

 er soft, so as to make hard mould candles." 



In reply to the above, you suggest that 

 alum or rosin will harden tallow. If this 

 is all the information which you possess 

 upon that topic, I do not wonder }^ou ask 

 for more light. Having had some little ex- 

 perience in working tallow, I will say that 



neither of the above is useful, but both in- 

 jurious to tallow — rosin particularly so; it 

 will Tio/ harden tallow, and will soften 

 it, strange as it may appear, and will injure 

 the candle made from the mixture, and 

 throw off in burning a real rosin smoke. 



Tallow chandlers never use anything 

 with tallow to harden it. Instead of add- 

 ing, they extract the soft part of it, and 

 their peculiar mode of doing the work 

 would perhaps not be interesting, as the 

 process could not be well adopted by fam- 

 ilies who simply make their own candles. 



Tallow is said to consist of three parts ; 

 siearine, the hardest; ?nargareine, the next 

 hardest ; and o.eine, the limpid, called tal- 

 low oil. By taking out the tallow oil, re- 

 ducing the whole weight about 25 per 

 cent, you have a hard summer candle. By 

 taking out then, the margareine, you have 

 left the siearine, which when made in can- 

 dles, are adamantine in character. This 

 is done by heating, cooling, and pres^ino-, 

 yet it requires a skill which the uninitiated 

 would hardly possess. 



Soft tallow is from fat or stall-fed cat- 

 tle, and usually too soft for summer can- 

 dles, or for candles in warm rooms, and it 

 would be far better for those having such 

 tallow, to dispose of it to chandlers who 

 know how to use it, and buy for them- 

 selves tallow from grass-fed or-lean cattle, 

 with a mixture of mutton tallow, if to be 

 had. 



Thus, the only true way of getting hard 

 tallow, is to disunite the oil or soft part 

 from it ; but as this duty is left for science 

 and mechanism, and, as I presume " L. 

 C." is not engaged in the business, except 

 to make a few pounds for home consump- 

 tion, 1 will state what I have used most 

 successfully, viz : beeswax, at the rate of 

 one of wax to ten of tallow ; more, if you 

 wish to make still harder. There is a dif- 

 ficulty in using tco much wax. The can- 

 dle will, in shrinking, ring or crack consid- 

 erably. I have had them split from one 

 end to the other. Caution is required in 

 using wax, but it will not injure the burn- 

 ing. 



Baberry tallow, (a vegetable product,) 

 is a good article to mix with beef fat, but 

 it is too scarce in this section to be ob- 

 tained. 



Hoping you will excuse the length of 

 this answer to so simple a question, I am 

 yours, &c. # — Country Gentleman. 



