1803.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
119 
wlicat shells,) and moisten two pounds of it with 
about a half pint of good molasses mixed with the 
same amout of water. Then roast slowly in a pan 
until well browned. He adds the suggestion, which 
we think a good one, that the flavor will be im- 
proved by using sugar instead of molasses ; that is, 
moisten the. bran with sugar syrup. For use, take 
Bbont double the quantity that would be required 
of geuuine coffee. Some chicory or real coffee may- 
be added, when a less quautity will be needed. 
Bran is cheap, about a cent a pound, and there is a 
good deal of " nourishment " in it, as well as a pe- 
culiar oil, that when roasted has an agreeable fla- 
vor. Indeed, it is the skin or shell of grain, as rye, 
bailey, etc., that gives the chief flavor to the liquids 
made from them ; theinnerportion is mainly starch, 
which, when burned brown, is similar to charcoal, 
or the same as burned bread coffee. 
Judging from several trials of the box kindly 
forwarded (express paid) by Mr. Latham, we think 
he has done good service to those desiring a palat- 
able, cheap, and safe substitute for coffee. His sug- 
gestions about using sugar instead of molasses, is 
worth noting, as we detect a little of the disagreea- 
ble flavor of the molasses in the sample. We rec- 
comuiend the "Long Island Coffee," to general 
use, at least until something better is found. Several 
trials may be requireito get the right proportion 
of sugar, aud the proper degree of parching or 
roasting. A little overturning of even a small 
part of a bat-eb, may render the whole bitter or dis- 
agreeable, tl.e same a6 is the ease with the real coffee. 
What Shall I do with the Rats ? 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I come to you for help. First I will state my 
case. I am living in the city, and I find even the 
rats congregate there two. They have taken pos- 
session of a house next door to me, aud, having 
dispossessed the occupants and eaten up every thing 
obtainable, they come upon me in hungry swarms. 
They have undermined the hearth, gnawed through 
the floor aud waiuscotting and even made holes 
through the plaster ceiling. The question now is, 
shall I decamp and leave them in possession or, as 
my house is my castle, shall I defend it, and if so, 
how ? I have had two steel traps set, and manage to 
get a young inexperienced rat in occasionally, but 
the old settlers wink at me from their hiding places, 
and even contrive to get the tempting morsels from 
the trencher, and escape with a whole skin. I sus- 
pect they dig through the bran under the trap, 
spring it from beneath aud coolly walk off with the 
cheese or meat. They appear to be on the most 
friendly terms with the cat, as much so as those 
composing the happy family at Barnums. I do not 
like to poison them, fearing they will die iu the walls 
and create a stench. Now Mr. Editor, is there not 
some way of getting rid of the " varmiuts " with- 
out leaving their dead carcasses to breed disease in 
the walls, or must I make the best terms I can with 
them and be at peace ? Tabitha. 
[Reply. — Tabitha comes to a poor source for aid, 
though we can abundantly sympathize with her. As 
we have a good many seeds about our office, house, 
barn, etc., the rats are of course very neighborly. 
The terrier keeps them within moderate bounds at 
the outhouses, and the cats still maintain their su- 
premacy at the house aud office rooms, but what 
can a cat do inside of the narrow retreats of rats and 
mice ? We have tried traps of almost all kinds, but 
for every rat killed, a dozen more came to the fu- 
neral. Just now, howevtsr, we are having a respite. 
Two months since we bought a large box of patent 
"phosphorous salve" such as most druggists offer 
for sale as a rat destroyer. It was spread upon a 
large slice of bread which was cut into twenty 
pieces and put around where the rats " most did 
congregate." The pieces were all gone in the 
morning. The rations were dealt out again, and 
about half consumed or carried off. A third supply 
was left untouched, and the rats aud mice disap- 
peared one by one, until all v were gone. Whether 
they are absent at a " convention " to return in ten- 
fold numbers we can not yet tell. A few years ago 
we tried a similar phosphorous salve, and was rid 
of rats for six mouths, after which time they re- 
turned, aud all the salve we could buy did not 
trouble them. Having occasion to move, we left 
them iu possession. This may be the result now, 
but six months relief is worth the cost of at least as 
many boxes of salve. — Ed.] 
A Humbug "Healing Association." 
A good many inquiries have been received, re- 
specting a so-called "People's Healing Association," 
advertising from this city ; and from what we can 
learn, this swindle is getting considerable patron- 
age, though not from the readers, of the American 
Agriculturist, who have been forewarned so fre- 
quently that they forward the circulars and letters 
to us by way of amusement. The fellow at the 
bottom of this, by means of advertisements and 
circulars, gets a silly, or nervous class of persons to 
forward a description of their " case " to him, aud 
theu sends back a quasi letter like the following. 
(The letter is a lithograph. It seems that he has 
too much patronage to admit of writing to his 
" patients," and so he prints letters off iu close im- 
itation of actual writing. Of course the directions 
lit each case, just as well as if written out for it — 
an easy way of earning SS for an adult, and S3 for a 
child. A printed circular, with this, offers more 
powders for more Dollars, if the first don't cure.) 
[Literal Copy] New- York City, N. Y. Febr. I8H1, 1863. 
Respected friend. — Your kind letter is received and 
your case fully examined. We'find it a very bad one. in- 
deed much more critical than you have yet believed, and 
If notspeetlily arrested you must die from its ravages. 
We find the digestive organs blood liver lungs &c are 
in a bad state chemically and functionally causing a con- 
dition of much danger. 
You may doubtless feel that death is not so near, and 
that you will escape. But believe us kind mortal, we 
know for a certainty that your doom is sealed and a fatal 
termination will take place before you are aware. — There 
is yet hope. — We find the combination of symptoms such 
that we not only believe, but know that you can be cured 
by a prompt and skillful combination of our new Reme- 
dies. As friends we beg you not to delay & thus die a 
horrid death when you can be saved. Send us by mail 
eight dollars and the remedies will be immediately sent. 
May God bless you and the means for your cure and hap- 
piness. In the mean time, knowing your condition — the 
danger of a fatal issue and the risk of a delay, v» c take the 
liberty to send in this a Remedy for you to use till you have 
time to send and obtain of us the fidl combination. This 
will prepare the system for the others and prevent any 
ajiange for the worse for a few days. We do this for 
your good & at our expense, for we wish to do by you as 
we would have you do by us, under (he same condition. 
Again we say do not delay. Respectfully Yours, 
A. ACKI.EY ThURBER. 
P. S. We can speedily cure your child. Send 3 dollars 
for him. A. A. T. 
My Bottled Fruits. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I was a careful reader of your directions for put- 
ting up fruits last Summer, aud experimented not 
a little myself with the following results: I have 
discarded tin cans entirely of late years, as danger- 
ous, and use only glass aud earthenware. The most 
of my fruits were put up iu Potter & Bodine's glass 
bottles having a rubber ring fastened to the tin cov- 
er, and an iron clamp, which, by turning, secures 
the cover on tightly. These all kept well, and for 
simplicity, ease of putting up, and cheapuess, when 
compared with other patents, I give them the pref- 
erence. Several new forms were used, but with 
indifferent success, though I will not entirely con- 
demn them yet. I tried the regular black wine, or 
junk bottles, and followed your directions on page 
215 July Agriculturist, putting strawberries, grapes, 
etc., (the last a nice thing for raisins iu mince pics 
during the Winter,) iu the bottles, filling them 
with cold water, driving the soft corks in tight and 
tying them firmly. They were then put in cold wa- 
ter, set on the stove, aud boiled for perhaps half an 
hour. I noticed the steam forced its way through 
the corks, so I dippedVthem in melted wax and laid 
them away. They kept well, and we think the 
strawberry flavor more perfect than in the others. 
Of course they were sugared when eaten. 
I kept cherries and other fruit very well in stone 
jars, pouring them in while boiling hot, with a lit- 
tle sugar, then covering with cloth before laying 
on the lid, aud pouring melted cement around its 
edges. They opened well. The jars may hold one 
half to one gallon each. This is the cheapest meth- 
od I have tried. I also kept tomatoes in glass bot- 
tles with nothing but cemented cloth tied securely 
over the mouths. The cloth was strong muslin', 
coated ou both sides with cement, and when it 
shrunk iu cooliug, more cement was poured on. 
They came out fresh and good. I used in addition, 
the patty pan arrangement you originated, and with 
uuiform success. The cement used is the same as 
formerly described iu the Agriculturist, Viz.: about 
14 to 10 ounces of common resin and 1 ouuee of 
tallow, melted and stirred together. 
Brooklyn, March 10th, 1663. Housekeeper, 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
Railroad Cake— Contributed by Mrs. C. A. 
Williams, Litchfield Co., Conn. Mixl cup of white 
sugar, 1 of sifted flour, 3 beaten eggs, 2 tablespoon- 
fuls milk, a piece of butter the size of a hen's egg, 
1 teaspoouful cream tartar, J-o teaspoonful soda, and 
)4 teaspoonful extract ot lemon. 
Soda lliscuit. — Contributed to the American 
Agriculturist by a subscriber at Emerald Grove, 
Wis. Take 1 pt. sweet cream, 1 teaspoonful soda, 2 
of cream tartar, a little salt, and flour sufficient to 
mix the ingredients quite soft. Bake iu a quick oven 
Apple Pudding- : by the same. Fill a pud- 
ding dish with acid apples pared and quartered. 
Cover them with a thick crust, made as directed 
for soda biscuit, aud bake half an hour ; serve with 
sugar aud cream. 
Corn ICread Coffee.— Contributed to the 
American Agriculturist by Anna Woodruff, West- 
chester Co., N. Y. Make a simple corn bread, of 
meal, salt and water. Mix the meal, either yellow 
or white, with just water enough to wet it; the 
water may be cither warm or cold, then bake it to 
a dark brown, or as dark as real coffee when burn- 
ed. A piece of the bread as large as one's hand, will 
make coffee several times. Pour water on the bread 
unbroken, aud boil an hour or so. Add more water 
for another time. [A rather weak liquid. — Ed.] 
Eeonomieal Wl»eat Uread. — A sub- 
scriber to the Agriculturist at Scltszer's Store Pa. 
sends the following directions for making good 
bread : Take 2 qts. of small potatoes, wash thor- 
oughly, boil soft, and mash. Then pour 5 pints of 
warm water on the potatoes, stirthem up aud si rain 
through a colander; this will separate the potato 
from the skin. Add flour until it becomes very 
stiff; stir iu 1 pt. of yeast, aud 1 tablespoonful of salt. 
Let it rise until light, or three or four hours, then 
add Hour, and knead well. Set it to rise again ; 
when light, knead iu loaves, and when sufficiently 
light, place in the oven and bake 1 hour. This will 
make 3 good sized loaves. 
Potato Yeast. — Contributed by Anua Wood- 
ruff, Westchester Co., N. T. Boil twelve peeled 
potatoes, and mash them well. Add a quart of the 
water they were boiled in, while hot, aud a cup of 
sugar. When cool, add a quart of cold water, and 
a half pint of fresh yeast. Let it stand in a worm 
place twelve hours, after that shut it uptightly, and 
keep it in a cool place. It will rise quickly and 
make delightful bread. [We would say do hot add 
the water the potatoes were boiied in. — Ed.] 
Ifoiled Wheat.— Mrs. D. Tuttle, Mendocina 
Co., Cal., writes that boiled wheat as described in 
the Agriculturist, page 23, (Jan. No.) forms a fre- 
quent dish iu that vicinity, which is more than 
twenty miles from the nearest grist-mill. She says 
it is improved by first boiling it in weak lye to sep- 
arate the hulls. After this, wash it with cold water 
several times, theu cook for the table. It is con- 
sidered nearly or quite equal to rice. 
To Boil Eggs.-M. B., Blainsville, Pa., 
writes that the best way to boil eggs is to place them 
in sold water and set them over the fire. In this 
manner the center of the egg will cook as soon as 
the outer part. If they are preferred soft, the water 
should not come to a boiling point. 
