39-i 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[AUGtBT, 
pose. The victim of this perpetual change eilent- 
ly acquiesces in the inevitable arrangement ; and 
what is better, he has learned to do the thing him- 
Belf. There is a shirt hanging over a chair in his 
chamber at this moment. I have had the curiosity 
to go in and examine it, as I have been writing. I 
find it is the pinning over ■weak. — Hours atSome. 
Information Given. 
(In June, page 22S, under " Informalioii Wanted," 28 
questions were given. We begin witli some of the an- 
swers received, as-Uing otliers to respond. No one writes 
about questions 1, 2, 4, 8, 13, 14, 17, 19, 22, 23, 26, 27.— Ed.] 
Original Contributions to the Amtrican Agriculturist. 
No. 3. — To CoLOit Kid Gloves— Cleaning them. 
(a) Put 3a ounce extract of logwood into a 2 oz. 
phial, and fill up with good brandy. This dye will 
keep for years if well corked. Put the gloves on 
the hand, sand with a small swab (a piece of sponge 
tied to a sticlv U best,) apply the dye evenly all over 
them. Then nib one hand with the other, smooth- 
ly and firmly, until the gloves are dry — a few min- 
utes only, as the siiirit soon evaporates. More log- 
wood gives a nearly black color ; less produces a 
delicate lilac. — Mr.t. S. J. TT'uof?, Xorth JMadison, Ind. 
... .(6) Dissolve India ink iu water and apply with 
a camel's hair brush. — A flue brown may be obtain- 
ed by rubbing lightly with a strong decoction of 
tea. (c) Gloves m.ay bo cleaned thus : Wrap a fine 
cloth around your liuger, dip it in new milk, then 
rub on fine soap, and rub the glove lightly. In all 
the above operations, the glove must be on the 
hand. — " K J/". H." Grand Mnpid^, Michigan. 
No. 5. — To Get Rld of Flies. — When the flies 
settle on the ceiling, as they nsually do at night, re- 
duce the light iu the room so you can just see them, 
and take atumbler, or wider vessel, two-thirds full 
of warm soap-suds, and place it quickly over each 
group of the flies, when they will fall into the suds. 
With a chair or form to stand upon, you can soon 
clear a whole loom, entirely destroying the pests. 
I have caught a pint of them thus in a very few 
minutes. — E. D. Gibson, As7iburn?iani, Mass. 
No. 6. — Cejient FOii Knife Handles. — (a) Lay 
a piece of alum ou the stove, .and when melted 
roll the knife shank in it and iiumediately thrust it 
firmly into the handle. It will soon bo ready for 
use.— & M. Farh-er, Wilton, X IT. (6) Fine 
brick dust stirred into melted rosin aud used hot 
will fix knife aud fork liaudles firmly. — Farmer's 
Daughter, liichmoytd, Indiana (c) Mix equal parts 
of wood ashes and common salt, witli water 
enough to make a mortar. Fill the handles with 
this, and then drive in the shank, aud let it dry. I 
also fixed a stove spud iu this way, and it is very 
tight. — Joel II. Stillenton, Orleans Co., S. Y. 
No. 7. — Pork Brine. — (n) The " best pork I ever 
ate" was the unsolicited compliment paid by many 
who ate of the I'ork I put up as follows : For 200 
lbs. pork, }.< gallon of sorghum syrup iu the bot- 
tom of barrel, aud a good layer of salt sprinkled 
into it. Pork packed as u~ual, well salted with 
rock salt, and covered with strong brine containing 
an ounce of saltpetre and sweeteued with sorghum. 
—L. A. Gihlersleeve, Wibninglon, III (f^) To 
have good sweet pork, first, have the cask sweet 
aud clean ; second, Iha meat must not be frozen; 
ihird, use plenty of salt, rock salt is best. Put in 
a layer of salt, then one of meat packed in as close- 
ly as it can be; then alternate layers of salt and 
meat, until the cask is nearly full. Cover with 
about 3 inches of strong cold brine, .alw.ays keeping 
lire meat under brine. — "X.," Shelter Island, y. Y. 
No. 9.— Good Home-made Ink.— (a) Take 1'.^ 
ounces nutg.alls, fine ground; 1 oz. gum arable; 
1 oz. copperas (sulphate of iron) ; 3 gills rain water ; 
?2 gill cider vinegar. Put the nntgalls, water, and 
vinegar iu a quart bottle ; let it stand 2 or 3 days, 
shaking it well several times each day. Strain the 
mixture, rinse the bottle, return the strained liquid, 
.and add the gum and copperas. Two or three 
pieces of crushed sugar, the size of a hickory uut, 
will give the iulc a gloss. [JIuch sugar will make 
it sticky. — Ed.] This letter is written with ink 
made by the above recipe. [It is beautiful. — Ed.] 
The ink is not jet black at first, but becomes so on 
cxjiosiiig the bottle to the sun a few days. — " iSI," 
Shelter Island, X Y. (6) Take 6 ozs. finely 
powdered nutgalls, 4 ozs. gum arable, 4 ozs. cop; 
per.as, and 3 piuts rain water. Put all into a bottle 
and shake often for a weelc. This letter is written 
with ink, made by the recipe, 8 years ago, and it is 
as good as the day it was made. , Erie Co., 
N. Y. [The ink shows very clear, but is not quite 
60 brilli.ant as (a) which is the same except the vin- 
eg.ar added.— Ed.] (c) To make a good black 
ink, that flow's well, th.at #111 not corrode a steel 
pen, will not cast a precipitate, or grow gummy ; 
is not injured by freezing : To one gallon of hot 
rain water add one ounce extract of logwood ; }^ 
ounce gum ai-abic, aud ^ ounce of biduomate of 
potash, and heat in an iron kettle. The first part 
of this letter is written with some of the ink thus 
made, which was frozen half a dozen times last 
winter. The second part is written with some new 
made. [Both are good ; we see no difference. — 
Ed.] — Americtis, Perry Centre, N. Y. 
No. 10. — Extracting Wheel-Grease from 
Unw.vshable Garments. — (a) Use kerosene with 
a sponge or flannel, putting a clean cloth under the 
greased spot. It is necessary to change sponge and 
under cloth several times. " , Shelter Island, 
X. Y." "(6) Coal oil, similar to the above. — 
Farmer's Daughter, liiclirnond, Ind." (<•) Rub the 
grease .spot faithfully with a cloth wet with Benzine, 
if necessary wetting the spot with Benzine also. 
This is good for other grease and paint, for coat 
collars, etc.— S. 31. Parker, Wilton, X. H [Beu- 
ziue is very good for extracting grease of any kind. 
Wheel grease varies, but the chief difliculty is the 
iron worn off into it from the wheel boxes, which 
is troublesome to remove, though the above direc- 
tions will usually take most of it out. — Ed.] 
No. 12. — Preserving Bacon or Ham in Sum- 
mer. — (a) Cut iu slices, half fry it, p.ack in stone 
jars, cover with the fat fried out, or if that is not 
enough, add sweet lard. I have tried it for 2 years. 
A few have failed from not putting it down 
early enough, and especially from not completely 
covering every piece remaining after removing a 
portion for a meal. — Mrs. S. J. Wood, North Madi- 
son, Ind (i) Similar to (a) above.— i?. 31. H., 
Grand liapids, Mich (e) On a fine dry day in 
April or May, wrap each piece in paper ; then put 
in bags, 2 or 3 pieces in each, tie them tightly, and 
liang iu an airy place. , Shelter Island, A"". Y. 
(<f) Spriukle the flesh side with black pepper 
from a box ; hang in the smoke house, and flies will 
uot trouble the bacon. — W. A. Harold, Moline, !!!■<. 
(e) Salt and smoke early, before flics appear; 
coat well with black pepper ; pack in tight boxes, 
filling iu around, and 3 or 4 inches on top, with 
clean, fine ashes. — Samuel C. Wilson, Fairmount, 
Ind (/) I have seen hams kept successfully 
through the summer, in Alabama, by rubbing them 
thoroughly with ground black pepper, when taken 
out of the brine, after draining, previous to smok- 
ing. The brine was sweetened with brown sugar, 
and cleansed by boiling and skimming. No flies 
or bugs ever troubled them. Never ate better hams 
or pork than the above. When smoked, the hams 
were hung up without canvas or further treatment. 
—L. I. Gildersleeve, Wilmington, III (j) Some 
one (name lost) suggests packing the half salted 
hams in a heap or box of dry salt (A) Having 
hams that appeared hardly salt cuough to keep 
through summer, I cut them in slices and cooked 
them through thoroughly in a dripping pan in the 
oven ; then packed the pieces iu a stone crock, and 
poured over the fried-out fat, and they kept in ex- 
cellent order. There is the convenieuee also, that 
you always have cooked ham ready for an emer- 
gency. — 3Irs. E. Tirin, 3IcLean Co., Id. 
No. 13. — So.vp, AND Washing ¥LViT>.—C?iem'ical 
Soap. — Pour 2 gallons of boiling water over 3 lbs. 
s.-il soda and I'.j lbs. unslaked lime; stir up care- 
fully and let it settle some little time. When clear 
drain off the lye into a brass or copper kettle, aud 
add 3 lbs. clear grease, and boil 2}»' hours, stirring 
it most of the time. Try some with a little water, 
aud when douc enough fill up the kettle as full as 
when you commenced boiliug, with a weaker lye 
made by adding another gallon of boiliug w.ater to 
the dregs after turning off the first lye. It should 
turn thick and soapy, when a tablespoonful of s.alt 
is to be stirred into it, and then turn it into moulds 
— drippers answer nicely. When cold, cut up into 
bars and lay them in a jilace to keep when they 
will dry slowly. It improves with age. When dry 
it is superior to the " German Chemical soap," I 
think, and costs only about 4 cents a bar. — E. M. 
H., Grand liapid.i, Mich Washing FLnD. — 
Put info a kettle 1 lb. sal sod.a, }{ lb. unslaked 
lime, and pour over them 1 gallon boiling water. 
Let it settle and pour off into a stone jug. Soalc 
dirty clothes over night iu just enough strong suds 
to thoroughly wet them, and in the morning put 
your boiler over f-l full for boiling suds, and heat 
to boiling point. Wring out your clothes, sorting 
them, aud add to the boiling water 1 teaeupful 
fluid and soap enough to make a good suds ; throw 
in the clothes and boil from ten to twenty minutes 
according to grade, drain well so as to save boiling 
water ; I'ub out of the sudsing water, and rinse 
thoroughly. — E. M. H., Grand Hapids, Mich. 
No. 16.— To Color Cotton and Flax Carpet 
Warp, Green. — The following lias been often tried 
with success ; will not color woolen : Put in a bag 
1 lb. Fustic, with i.j lb. chip logwood, and soak 
over night in 6 gallons rain water. Then boil one 
hour, and add 1 ounce of blue vitriol (sulphate of 
copper), skimming carefully. The clothes or carpet 
warp are to remain iu this a short time, constant- 
ly stirred. — Farmer's Daughter, Hiefimond, Ind. 
Butter Making:.— To "Novice," Mont- 
gomery Co., Pa. Most people making butter from 
one cow have, at sometime, fottnd the same difficul- 
ty in getting good butter, aud even in getting it all, 
especially in summer. The mixture of cream gath- 
ered in each of six or seven successive days, and of 
different degrees of sourness, does not work well. 
The only remedy we can suggest, is to keep the 
daily cream as cool and sweet as possible to pre- 
Tcnt the first gathered from too great souring; then 
mix it all well .and raise the temperature to about 
65°, when beginning to churn. — Do not churn too 
fast. Churning twice or thrice a week will help 
matters. The trouble will probably cease when 
cool weather arrives. "Novice" writes so pleas- 
antly, and is so observant witlial, that we doubt not 
she will find many things in lier new country life 
experience, that we shall be glad to hear about. 
"Pain Perrtii." — Which for an English 
name we may call bread secrets. (The French name 
means lost or hidden bread.) It is an exceedingly 
delicate dish for tea, and served hot with hot wine 
sauce with Zante currants, makes a most delicions 
desert dish. Take half a common loaf of stale 
bread and cut off all the crust. This crust is put 
into a slow oven and dried, and then crushed and 
rolled to fine crums with a rolling pin. Cut the 
bread into slices 1 incli thick, and these into 2-inch 
square pieces. Take 3 cups of milli, and add to it 
2 teaspoonfuls of sugar, and 1 well beaten egg. In 
this, dip the bread aud allowing it to moisten 
through uniformly, dip it into the crumbs of the 
crust, then drop into boiliug lard and brown like 
doughnuts ; while hot, dust with rolled white sugar 
and a little ground cinnamon, and cat at once. 
Safe from tlic Second Coniinaud- 
ment. — The ladies, aud those of the other 
sex who are accustomed to go iuto cxtasies 
over a " love of a bonnet," are often in danger of 
breaking that clause of the second of the Ten Com- 
mandments, which prohibits " bowingdown to any- 
thing made in the likeness of anything in the he.av- 
en above, in the earth beneath, or in the water 
under the earth." Those who adore the present 
latest style of bonnets, m.ay rest assured that they 
do not thus infringe upon this commandment. 
For other Household Items, see " Basket." 
