1877.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
25 
it, and boU it slowly until quite soft, adding hot 
water when necessary, and stirring frequently. 
When quite soft salt it— a large table-spoonful for 
six quarts of soft com. To be eaten with milk 
or cream, or sweetened cream, or sugar, or butter. 
Some HoTisehold Conveniences. 
BY L. D. SXCOK, YATES CO., ^^ Y.^ 
Wherever wood is burned, something to hold it is 
necessary, as a matter of neatness as well as to pro- 
tect the floor and wall where the wood is placed. 
In former volumes we have given designs for rus- 
tic and other wood-boxes, suitable for a sitting- 
room, and here give one from our ingenious corre- 
spondent, Mr. Snook, which, though intended for 
the kitchen, with a little care in finishing, may be 
made to serve for other rooms. This box, which is 
shown in figure 1, should be of stufl not less than 
i-inch thich, and all the better if of inch boards. 
The large compartment, for holding wood, is 23 
inches high, 14 in. wide, and 23 in. long, inside 
measurement. The side portion, B, with sloping 
lid, is 10 inches deep, the same wide, and of course 
as long as the other portion. Below this is the 
drawer, E, shown partly open. For the kitchen 
the bos may be painted, to conform to the general 
woodwork, but for other rooms a pleasing finish 
may be given by papering the exterior with wall- 
paper. Very clever imitations of oak, walnut, and 
other woods, are now made in wall-paper, some of 
which would be appropriate for such a use as this. 
Of course the large division is for wood, and it 
should be recollected that the durabOty of the box 
will depend much upon the care taken by the per- 
son who keeps it supplied. If the wood is dumped 
by the armful into the bos with a crash, it wUl last 
but a short time. There is a right and a wrong 
way in so simple an operation as dropping an arm- 
ful of wood. The drawer may be used for kind- 
lings, and the compartment above as a receptacle 
for dust-pan and brush, stove-blacking, etc. ; or 
these may go below and the kindlings above. 
An ImproTcd Qailtinir Frame. 
On rare occasions a quilting frame is in demand 
in a family, but when not in use it is very much in 
the way, especially if people are so short-sighted 
as to build a country house without a garret. The 
old style of quilting frame, in which the sides and 
ends are tied together, or insecurely held by pins, 
and the whole set upon the backs of four chairs^ is 
still in use. It is a bungling aflfair, with nothing 
but cheapness to recommend it. The frame pro- 
posed by Mr. Snook, aod represented in figures 3 
and 3, is a great improvement over the common 
Fig. 2. — GAME WITH SWINGING STRIKER. 
one, especially as it can " stand alone," it being 
provided with legs of its own. Figure 2 shows the 
frame as set up ; the side pieces, If, 31, are 20 ft. 
long, 2t in. wide, and I inch thick ; several slots, 
an inch wide, and 30 in. long, are cut In these, as 
seen in the engraving. The end pieces, B, B, are 
about 8 feet long, the other dimensions being the 
same as for the sides. The legs, P, F, are 3 ft. i or 
6 in. long, of square 2-inch stufE, and are worked 
down to one inch square at the bottom. In the 
top of each leg is firmly driven or screwed a half- 
inch iron bolt, which projects three inches, and up- 
on the upper half of which is a thread, upon which 
a winged nut, i, easUy turns. Figure S gives one 
comer of the frame, and shows the manner in which 
the parts are held together by the screw and winged 
nut ; the slots in the side and end pieces allow the 
frame to be quickly adjusted to a small or large 
quilt. Strips of list, or thick woolen cloth, are 
tacked upon the inner edges of the frame, to which 
the edges of the quilt are attached by basting, or, 
if preferred, smaU screw-eyes maybe inserted every 
five inches, to which the edge of the quUt may be 
fastened by a few stitches. 
SDTS 4 inmiS' iBDILirMilSo 
Indoor frames of ?£2ii-1>les. 
BT L. D, S2sOOK, TATES CO., ^^ T. 
[Girls do not often play at out-door games of marbles, 
but here are some games at which girls as well as boys 
may play. These are given by our frieud^Ir. 
Snook, who invents so many useful thin^^s 
for older people, but does not forget the 
young folks. — Ed.] 
A Makbu:-Boakd "vtith SIallet Stktkek. 
— This board (fig. 1) is made ofpiue or other 
light wood, an inch and a half thick, thirty 
inches long, and about fifteen inches wide, 
with strips one-quarter inch thick, nailed 
around the edge, to project an inch and a half 
above the surface of the board. Near the 
center of the board is placed one end of the 
guard-strip, jB, which is one-quarter of an 
inch thick, one inch wide, and sis iiiches 
long, nailed or glued at the angle shown iu 
the engraving. With a compass strike sis 
circles, each six inches in diameter, marking 
them with a pencil, or paint, and number 
from 10 to 100, in the manner shown at figure 
1. The game is to place the marble or small 
ball at J., and with a little mallet strike it a 
light blow, so that it will take a course simi- 
lar to the dotted lines. Each player is allow- 
ed five shots, or the use of five marbles. A 
marble stopping within a circle, is counted 
the number of the circle, but if it rests upon 
the line, or outside of a circle, the stroke 
is lost, and no number counted. It will require con- 
siderable skill to strike the marble just hard enough to 
stop within the circle numbered SO or 100, which all will 
play for. A game requiring more skill on the part of 
the players to gain the highest number, is shown in the 
PonTABLE Marble-Board with Swikginq Stkikkb.— 
In this, (fig. 2) the di- 
mensions of the board 7^ - 
are as in fiirare 1. 
■Within five inches of 
one end there is placed 
an arch of wood or wire, 
one foot in higlit. and 
should be so nri-angt-d 
as to be readily re- 
moved, or fold down 
upon the board when 
not in use. A leaden 
ball half-inch in diame- 
ter, is suspended by a 
string from the top of 
the arch ; the lower 
part of the ball should 
just miss the board 
when swinginjr. Circles 
and a triangle arc drawn 
upon the board and 
Dunibcred as in figure 
2. A common - sized 
marble is placed one 
inch toward the center 
from the ball. The 
jrame is played by tak- 
ing the swuiginff ball in 
one hand, and holding it ont ovrr the end of the board, 
and, when the proper position is thoneht to he reached, 
to let it swing inward: it will he quite likely to strike 
the niarble, and that will come at rest perhaps near the 
opposite end of the board. Five strokes arc allowed 
each player; a stroke is the firsi swiuging movement of 
the ball after leaving the hand, and two strokes in suc- 
cession missing the marble, is called on^stroke, and is to 
be so counted, also should the marble be moved just to 
or a little beyond tlie dotted lines, E, it is counted as a 
stroke. The point is to so strike the marble that it will 
stop within one of the circles or triangles, of course the 
player having the greatest number of connis wins the 
game. A game much simpler, yet requiring skill to win 
repeatedly, we call the 
Set Marble Gajie, in which all the marbles are placed 
in position before a stroke is made. The board is of the 
same size as in the other games, only the strip is left off 
at one end. Three inches from the end, and at equal 
distances apart, are placed fonr marbles; two inchea 
from this row, and equally distant from one another, is 
placed another row, containing five marbles ; five inches 
from the open end is placed a row containing four mar- 
bles. After measuring ofi' the distances here given, a 
small indentation is made at each point, which is easily 
done by striking a marble or bullet with a hammer at the 
point desired, and should be iust deep enough to keep 
the marble from rolling about. With the mallet each 
player strikes in succession the four marbles near the 
open end of the board, which, when rolling, should dis- 
place as many as possible at the opposite end ; after the 
four marbles have been knocked to the opposite end of 
the hoard, the vacant numbered places are counted up, if 
all are vacant, a count of 100 will be made, but there will 
usually be less, unless the players are skillful. Afier one 
has taken his four shots, the marbles are set for the nest, 
Thtjse games m;iy bt; played by iwo or several persons ; 
Fjo:. 1. — G-iME OF MARBLES WITH MAT.T.ET. 
each playing in turn, which may be decided by drawing 
lots, or by agreement among themselves. 
The Doctor"!* Correspondence. 
As usual, I hare a budget of letters asking questions. 
Fig. 8. — SET GAME OF MARBLES. 
andasnsnal. T fear that I shall disappoint some of my 
young friends, who ^ri^ eagerly look for answers, and 
not find th-m. A bright boy org'rl will in a few minutes 
ask more questions than the wisest man can answer in a 
long while. Indeed, a great many of the questions that 
come to me are unanswerable. Every year people are 
