1877.] 
AMERICAlSr AG-RICULTURIST. 
1(55 
ity lor sham, and real uxeellence lor show. For- 
tunately this reform has extended to this country, 
and Dowhere is it more needed, as nothing can be 
in worse taste and more unhome-like than the 
gaudy fittlns;8 and furnishings of the homes of some 
of our wealthy people. As Mr. Charles Eastlake is 
one of the prominent advocates of this sensible 
AH " EA3TLABB " TABLE, 
movement, and has written a book on the subject, 
his name has become intimately associated with it, 
and the makers of furniture, etc., commend their 
■wares by calling them in "Eastlake style," or 
"Eastlake patterns." In our modern furniture, a 
table for example, we have a foundation of pine, 
put together mostly with glue ; this is covered with 
a thin veneer of mahogany, walnut, or other wood, 
and ornamented with carvings, which may mean 
something or nothing, and which are glued to the 
work. In a few years the pine framework warps 
and shrinks out of shape, the veneer peels, the 
carving gets chipped, and the whole becomes 
"shabby genteel." Eastlake and his associates 
would have the table honest, and be throughout 
what it appears to be on the surface, hence the table 
is made solid ; if a costly wood can be afforded — 
well ; if not, take a cheaper wood, but let the table 
be just what It pretends to be ; if braces or hars 
are needed for strength, let these show, and indi- 
cate why they are used ; and if ornament is desir- 
able, let It be worked in the material, and not glued 
on. A table of this kind will last, and may servo 
for several generations. Finding that our ancestors 
of a few centuries ago understood the matter of 
furniture better than our cabinet makers of the 
present, Eastlake and the others reproduce many 
of the styles of by-gone times, and with some deal- 
ers " Eastlake " is used for antique. But the mat- 
ter does not depend so much upon antiquity of 
style, as solidity, honesty, and appropriateness. To 
illustrate the matter, which we can not treat more 
in full at present, though heartUy in favor of the 
reform, we give an engraving of a table which a 
furniture dealer would call an " Eastlake pattern." 
Household Notes and Tested Recipes. 
BnOKWHEAT Cakes. — "Mrs. B. S." is troubled 
because her cakes will not brown. The addition of 
a little molasses will remedy the trouble — try a 
table-spoonful to a quart of batter. Much depends 
upon the cooking. Many have the griddle too cool, 
and the cakes are dried rather than cooked. It is 
useless to expect light and good cakes vnless the 
griddle is hot enough to puff them up at once. 
What is a Salmi ?— " Mrs. W. J." The regular 
" salmi " of French cookery, is a sort of stew made 
from the remains of game. The meat is all care- 
fully cut from the bones, and these arc pounded 
into small bits and cooked to make a gi'avy or sauce. 
The bones are strained out, the Bauce variously 
seasoned— usually wlue added— and then the bite 
of meat warmed up in it. In our restaurants a very 
indefinite mixture, and a not very delicate one, is 
served under the high sounding name of salmi. If 
you made it at home, you would call it a stew or a 
hash, as there was more or less gravy with it. 
Very good it Is when properly made at home, and 
served on slices of toast as a breakfast dish. 
CROQtTBTTES— KlOB DITTO.—" Mrs. M. E. B." 
There is no reason why any housekeeper (or other) 
8hould be " almost ashamed to ask " about anything 
that she does not know. If your neighbor calls 
this article of cookery a kro-katj, she Is wrong. That 
is the proper pronunciation of Croquet, the game, 
but according to the rules of French pronunciation, 
the final ein Croquette causes the ( to have its full 
sound, and the name Is kro-ket. — To make them of 
rice. The rice may be boiled for the purpose, or 
cold boiled rice may be used. To two 
cupfuls of this add three well beaten 
eggs, and work together ; if not suf- 
ciently adhesive to make into rolls, add 
a little flour, but only enough to make 
the rice stick together; season with 
salt ; make into rolls, or mold, roll in 
flour, dip in egg and powdered cracker, 
and fry, as directed last month on page 
48. These are intended to be served at 
dinner, in place of vegetables. If 
wished for dessert — and they make an 
excellent one — add to the above quan- 
tity two table-spoonfuls of powdered 
sugar, and flavor with extract of lemon, 
vanilla, or whatever may be preferred. Sift fine 
sugar on them when served; some use a sweet sauce. 
An Apple Meringue. — This is a delicate, quite 
showy dish, easy to make, and good when it Is done. 
It needs good apples, that is, those with a spright- 
ly flavor ; pare, quarter, and remove the cores ; 
stew in a bright tin or enameled sauce-p.in, with 
sugar to taste, and a little cinnamon ; as soon as the 
apples are done through, having kept the quarters 
as whole as possible, turn them Into apulding-dish, 
being careful not to break them up. While the ap- 
ples are cooking, get the meringue (pronounce it 
always mee-rang) ready. For a moderate sized dish, 
use the whites of four eggs, beaten to a firm froth, 
four ounces of sugar, and flavor with lemon ; 
spread this over the apples in the dish, set the dish 
in the oven, and bake until the surface is well and 
My plan is to saw a squash in half, clean out the 
seeds, etc., then place open end down in a pan 
coDtaiuIng an inch or so of boiling water, placing 
small slips of wood or thick wire underneath them, 
60 that the edge will not burn on the pan. Let it 
steam until thoroughly tender. The flesh of the 
squash is then easily scraped out with a spoon, and 
run through a colander, if thought' desirable, 
though It is not neces.^ary, there being no hard 
lump^s In it. By this plan none of the aroma of the 
squash Is lost, whde It greatly reduces the labor of 
preparation. Another plan is to take the two 
halves after cleaning from seeds, etc., join them 
together, and bind firmly with twine, and place in 
the oven to bake until tender. There Is little, if 
any difference In the result, but I give the prefer- 
ence to the first method as being much the easiest. 
The Doctor's Correspondence. 
"Alice" writes thai she wonld like to know about 
THE CUTTLE-FISH 
which she gives to her canary bird; she evidently thinks, 
as do many otliers, that it is some kind of a dried fish. 
In the stores it. is called Cuttle-fish bone, but it is not 
properly a bone, but it is really the shell of the cattle, 
fish, and when I tell yon that the cuttle-fish is not a fish, 
you will begin to think that the names are very much 
mixed. The cuttlo-flsh Is closely related to the animals 
usually called "shell-fish," such as clams, oysters, mns- 
eets and the like ; indeed it belongs to a division of 
these, which have long feelers, or bodies that help 
I hem to move about, arranged on their head, hence the 
class of animals is called cephalopods—A rather big word 
for ytiungsters— but when you know that it is from the 
Greek words for Jiead atd foot, and that it describes the 
peculiar form of these animals, it will perhaps not seem 
too big a word. The naturalists call the cuttle-fish Sepia, 
THE cuttle-fish AND OUTTLE-FISH BONA. 
evenly browned. Serve hot for dessert, but some 
prefer to let it get cold and eat it with cream. 
To Prepare Squash for Pies.— [The following 
comes from " B. L. J.," Buriington Co. The 
method is well suited to the Hubbard and otlicr 
hard-shelled, long keeping squashes, and is equally 
useful for preparing squash for the table. Ed.] 
and there are .30 or more difl'erent kinds found in the sea, 
in all parts of tlie world ; the portrait of the cuttlc-flsh 
liere shown will give yon a belter idea of how they look 
than a long description. Tou see that it has a bag like 
body, with a sort of wing on each side; the round jilace 
near the top is the mouth, and around this arc 10 arms 
or feet, of which two are much longer than the rest, and 
all have little suckers upon them, which allow the animal 
