228 
AMERICAN AORICULTURIST. 
[JlJKE, 
to the memory. Now, this looks well at first, and 
it may answer for old peoi^le, whose memories are 
failing, but it is a bad practice for the young, and 
those in active life. It weakens the memory. With 
the faculties of the mhid, or with the organs of the 
body, whatever we wish to strengthen, we must 
exerclie. If an able-bodied man should use crutches, 
or carry his right arm in a sling, he would soon 
cease to be able-bodied. So with the memory, or 
reason, or imagination. By uo means employ an 
artificial memory, be it slate, piece of paper, or 
tablet, but write everything on the tablet of your 
mind clearly and distinctly, and learn to hold it 
there firmly, and then to recall it when needed. It 
will make one more self reliant and strong every 
way. We speak from au experience of the injury 
of trusting to an artilicial memory, and would cau- 
tion others against it. 
"Information Wanted." 
Under this head we throw together sundry 
queries taken as we find them in a bundle of letters 
in the " Housekeeping Drawer." The questions 
are "open to the meeting" for discussions and re- 
plies. Please let answers refer to the numbers : 
1— Best kind of salt for butter? 
3 — How much salt to a pound of butter? 
3_How to color kid gloves? 
4— Patterns (sketches) for making cone frames ? 
5— How best to get rid of flies ? 
6— A cement for fastening knives in handles ? 
7 — Best pork brine ? 
8— Best mode of hulling corn ? 
9^A good home-made ink ? 
10 — To extract wheel-grease from unwashable gar- 
ments ? 
11 — Best home-made binding for copies of this 
paper ? 
13 — To preserve bacon from flies in summer ? 
13 — Labor-saving soap that will not cause garments 
trt fade or rot? 
1 1— To restore faded Buflalo robes ? 
1.5 — To remove mildew from muslin? 
10 — To color cotton and flax warp green for carpets ? 
17 — Best economical icing for cakes ? 
18 — ^Is scalded brine as good as fresh ? 
19 — Best mode of pickling martyuias ? 
20 — To make a good home-made toilet soap ? 
31 — Best mode of bottling and barreling pickles ? 
22 — How to make the " Free and Easy Soap" ? 
33 — Best way of making salsify soup ? 
34 — Best proportion of lard and rosin for protect- 
ing metals ? 
85 — To keep sad-irons smooth, and free from rust ? 
26 — When to cut wood for rustic work, so as to 
have it retain the bark most firmly ? 
37 — Best mode of cooking egg plant ? 
88 — Best mode of boiling potatoes ? 
"Salt Rising" Bread. 
■ — 
[We have never quite got over the liking for the old 
fashioned " salt rising bread " so common in our tioyhood 
days, at the West, before the times of brewers and brew- 
er's yeast. The writer of the following gives llie modus 
operandi very clearly. — Ed.] 
I saw in a recent number of the Ameriemi Agri- 
culturist a request for a process of making bread 
■when yeast cannot be obtained. There seems to be 
a prevailing idea that bread eanuot be made with- 
out " Hop yeast." — I have been a housekeeper for 
over twenty years, and for the most of the time 
have made my bread after the following j^rocess. 
My neighbors also use the same, and we pride our- 
selves on being good bread makers — : Take a pint 
bowl about one-third full of quite warm water, put 
in a bit of soda as large as lialf a pea and a small 
pinch of salt ; thicken the water with flour until 
as stiff as batter foi- )iaucakes, then set the bowl in 
a vessel of very warm water and jilace it where it 
will keep about the same temperature, taking care 
not to scald, as that will spoil it. lu from five to 
geven hours this will ferment ; let it rise until the 
bowl is nearly full, then warm about three piuts of 
milk (water will do very well, but the bread will 
not be as white and tender), stir in flour enough to 
make a stiff batter, and add the above yeast, mixing 
it all thoroughly together, and set where it will keep 
quite warm. In about an hour it will be light 
enough to mould into loaves by adding more flour. 
The above quautity will make three good sized 
loaves. Mould, and put in tins, and set them again 
where they will keep warm until they rise to about 
double size, then bake in a quick oven. If any 
one will follow this process in every respect, Itliink 
they cannot fail to make a wholesome and healthy 
bread. — I sometimes use a part Canaille to make 
the yeast, as it will ferment quicker, but of course 
the broad will not be as white. The yea.st should 
be stirred occasionally for the flrst two or three 
hours, but never after it begins to ferment. K 
3^. C. Lyndon, Wmooski^ Wis, 
•-. — -^^^— — >-« 
Sundry Notes on Cooking, etc. 
[The following extracts from letters to the American 
Agriculturist are selected by a lady assistant in this de- 
partment, in whose judgment we rely, but who wishes us 
I<» say tiiat while each selection appears good, she could 
not [msitively recommend everything here given with- 
out a more thorough trial.— Eds.] 
T'onialo Soup a la Oystcr.s, — To one 
quart of canned tomatoes, or others which have 
been boiled about 1.5 minutes, add 2 quarts water 
and boil 1.5 minutes more ; then drop in carefully, 
a little at a time, enougli pulverized ealeratus or 
soda to neutralize the acidity, which you may know 
by its ceasing to foam — usually about au even tea- 
s])00nful to a quart. Then add one quart of rich 
milk, six or eight crackers pounded finely; butter, 
salt, and pepper as for oysters ; let it boil up and 
serve immediately. It strongly reminds one of 
oysters, and is very nice for sick jiei'sous as well as 
highly palatable for well ones. — Mrs. M. Jngalls, 
Muscatine, Iowa. 
Pies -witlioiit Fruit. — Mix 1 teacupful 
each of sugar, molasses, and water, ^o teacupful of 
vinegar, and butter the size of a walnut ; stew 
together 10 minutes, and spice to your taste. Then 
tliicken with crumbs of bread [or better of crackers. 
Ed.], adding a few raisins if convenient or desira- 
ble, and bake in crusts. — Jersey Fanner's Daughter. 
Rice Pu<1<1in;!f -without Esgrs. — Cook 
one cup of rice thoroughly ; add 1 cup of sugar, 3 
cups milk, 1 tablespoonful butter, witli spice and 
fruit to the taste.— Jlfcs. P. F. Mather, Victoria, 111. 
Cooking Beef Steak. — Prepare the steak 
by pounding and otherwise, as for broiling. Have 
ready a pan qtiite hot ; grease it as for bread, lay iu 
the steak, turn frequently to prevent its adhering 
to the pan imtil the juice is extracted. AVheu 
cooked through, turn the gravy upon a platter iu 
which has been previously put about 7ia?/tbe usual 
quantity of butter, with a little water. Slightly 
brown the steaks on both sides, then take up, and 
boil up a little water in the pan to secure any re- 
maining juices; season as desired. By this method 
a much larger and richer amount of gravy is ob- 
tained, with less butter, than by the usual process. — 
Mrs. C. M. H., Ilawkesburg, Canada. 
dooA Home-made Yeast. — The follow- 
ing is in general use in the community where I 
reside: Boil a handful of hops in two quarts of 
water about 20 minutes. Pare and grate three good 
sized potatoes. Add 2 tablespoonfuls of wheat 
flour, 1 do. of sugar, 1 do. of s.alt; strain the hop 
water hot into this mixture, stirring well together; 
then boil about 5 minutes. Set away to cool to 
milk warmth, then add a cup of yeast, and keep in 
a warm iilace until ligiit and foaming. Put away iu 
a jar or close vessel in a cool place. It will keep 
some weeks. — Mrs. L. B. Bradford, Montague, 3fass. 
Caudy from Sorgltiiin Syrup. — Boil 
the syrup 20 to 40 minutes according to its jirevious 
thickness, until a little dropped into water will 
harden to brittleucss in a minute or two. Then 
pour it into large dinner plates previously well but- 
tered, leaving it not more than J^ inch thick. 
Cnt out from wood the 
like the one here given. 
When cool enough, work and stretch it well with 
two Augers of each hand, smeared with butter to 
prevent its adhering. It can thus be made beauti- 
fully light and porous. When worked enough, 
stretch it out and cut it into sticks ; it thus m.akes 
a very nice candy. — F. C. Smith, Fairfield Co., Conn. 
Fly l»cstroyer.— C. P. of FalUtou, Mo., 
writes that the following simple prepar.ation, 
originating with her servant, has proved very effec- 
tive : " Beat up the yolk of an egg witli a table- 
spoonful each of molasses and finely ground black 
pepper; set about in shallow plates every two or 
three days for a week, and the flies be rapidly 
destroyed, and may be swept up in handfuls." 
For Red Auts. — John H. Ferguson, of 
Kensselaer Co., N. Y., writes, that he has thr>roughly 
cleared an old house of this pest twice, within the 
past 15 years, thus: "Grease a plate with hog's 
lard, and set it where the .ants are troublesome; 
they will desert the sugar bowl for the lard. Place 
a few sticks around the jdate for the ants to climb 
up on. Occasionally turn the jjlate bottom up over 
a flre, where there is no smoke, and the ants will 
drop off into the fire. Reset the ])latc, and in a 
few repetitions you will catch all the ants. They 
trouble nothing else while lard is accessible." 
Ainnsin^ Xoy Tor tlie Spittle Ones. 
figure of a d;mper, somewhat 
It will be easier to form tiie 
liead. body, and arms sep- 
arately, and afterwaid glue 
them together. The legs 
should be quite thin, and 
Ining so us to play loosely 
upon a wire running across 
a hollow place cut in the 
bottom of the body, as shown 
by the dotted lines In the 
figure. Keep them separated 
by a small slip of wood 
placed between them on the 
wire. When this is done, 
take four strong bristles, 
each about an inch long, and 
insert them as pins for the 
image to stand upon. They 
slioiild be long enough to 
just keep the feel of the im- 
age from touching the floor, 
or whaiever it is set upon. 
It will improve the image to 
Place it upon a tea-tray or tin- 
pan, letting it stand upon the bristles, then whistle or 
sing a tune, and at the same time ilrutn with the fingers 
u[)on tlie pan, and the image will dance about in a way 
to give great amusement to the little folks. 
Puzzle ibr the Eye, 
Persons, by practice, may become very expert in judg- 
ing of distances, and measuring by the eye. It will often 
afford considerable amusement to test this ability in a 
person by asking him to mark on the side of a room the 
higlit of a man's silk (stove-pipe) hat, measuring from 
the floor. Very few will come within an inch of it. As 
another plea-'^ant experiment of the same kind, request 
some one to draw the size of a teu-cenl coin — most per- 
-^^ 
paint it in bright colors. 
sons will give very full measure. The above illustration 
will also fuiiiish a sumewhat similar test. Look at ihe 
parts A and B, and judge for yourself how much longer 
the lower one is than the upper one. Then to prove how 
near you have come, cut out two pieces of paper of the 
same size and shape as the figures, and lay one upon the 
other. The difference in length, when found, will sur- 
prise tliose who have never tried the experiment. 
