374 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
ently held in any desired position, without burning 
the fingers. A ring may be added to the end, by 
whieh to hang up the apparatus when not in use. 
It is an unpatented article, originated by one of the 
Editors of the Agriculturist, and is free to all. 
-»-. — — — ■»-» i ■ 
Costume for the Garden, etc. 
A " Farmer's wife" writes to the American Agri- 
culturist : I have just been reading an article in the 
October number, page 307, wherein "Gardener," 
calls upon the ladies to devise a dress, in which 
they can visit the green-house to admire his beauti- 
ful plants, or work in the garden without destroy- 
ing all with which they come in contact. Perhaps, 
he and others interested, would be pleased to know 
that such a dress has been devised, and is now 
worn by hundreds of ladies all through the East- 
ern and Western States. The " American Cos- 
tume," which consist of a dress made in the ordi- 
nary way, except that the skirt is shortened so 
that it comes below the kuees, with pants of the 
same material as the dress, forms a costume iu 
which ladies can go up and down stairs with both 
hands full, work in the house or garden, or take 
morning walks when the dew is on the grass, with- 
out all the trouble and inconvenience attendant 
upon trailing robes. " After wearing the American 
Costume as a working dress, for over two years, I 
can say, that I find it very comfortable and conveni- 
ent, and it has been pronounced by many sensible 
people as neat, modest, tasteful, and becoming." 
About Starting Thirteen Million Fires- 
An old adage, and a pretty true oue, is, that "It 
takes a fool or a philosopher to build a fire well" — 
which, we suppose, means that the fool will blun- 
der into the right way, the philosopher will reason 
himself into it, while others make bungling work 
of it. As nine-tenths of people belong to neither 
of the two classes, there is a deal of worry and 
bother. The ninety thousand families who receive 
this number of the American Agriculturist will need 
a fire started at least, once a day, for the .next five 
months, or in all over thirteen million times/ How 
much time would be saved, if these fires could all 
be started so as to heat up the house, and get the 
breakfast and other things going, in half an hour, 
instead of the average time of an hour. (\3}{ million 
half hours equals 075,000 days of 10 hours each, or 
nearly 2,000 years. This multiplied by five in a 
family, amounts to 'considerable'.) How mauy 
colds would be prevented if the houses were warm- 
ed early for the children to wash and dress. So 
the subject of kindling fires is not so insignificant 
after all, even confining it to our own read- 
ers. Let us study the science of the matter a lit- 
tle, and try to increase the number of philosophers. 
Heat results from the rapid union of the oxy- 
gen of the air with the carbon (coal) of wood or 
other combustible material. The more air, the more 
heat. We blow the fire with the natural bellows 
(lungs), or an artificial one, to drive more air upon 
it, and thus supply more oxygen. Stoves and chim- 
neys are constructed to make the fire blow itself. 
Heated air expands, becomes lighter, rises up, and 
draws a current of fresh air after it. The longer or 
higher the stove pipe or chimney, the greater the 
upward draught. Open a hole in the side of a 
chimney, or stove, or stove-pipe, and part of the 
air drawn in comes through the hole instead of 
through the lire where it is wanted. Put the fire 
close to the front opening of the stove, or directly 
at the throat of the chimney, and it gets the full 
force of the in-rushing current of air, and oxidiza- 
tion or burning is intensified. Put the fire back in 
the stove, or low down on the hearth, and much of 
of the current of air passes above it. The secret of 
starting a lire quickly is, to so arrange the kindling 
that it will receive the greatest possible draught 
at the very point where the first spark is applied ; 
then arrange the fuel closely around it so as to 
allow it to spread rapidly. Throw a lot of kind- 
lings loosely over a grate in the bottom of a coal 
stove, and the draught is diffused all over the grate, 
and is not strong at any point. But cut the kind- 
lings short, pack them closely iu a little heap, and 
cover the rest of the grate with coal so as to par- 
tially 6top the air current, except through the 
kindlings, and the latter will burn more intensely, 
and soon communicate fire to the rest. To secure 
this latter end, all fuel should be placed close to- 
gether, with just space for the passage of air be- 
tween the pieces. The finer the kindlings, the great- 
er will be the surface exposed to the air, and the 
more rapid the burning. The best way is, to have 
a little fine or nut coal to put around the kindling. 
The small lumps will quickly heat through and take 
fire, and heat to the burning point the larger lumps 
placed in contact above and around them. A sin- 
gle handful of kindlings placed together and the 
draught of air concentrated at that point, is more 
effective in quickly starting a fire, than a large 
basketful thrown in at random. It is often well to 
close up all the grate with ashes underneath, except 
just under at the point where the match is applied, 
and then open more room for air as the fire spreads. 
The above is the general principle, which may be 
applied in various ways. If the draught hole in 
the stove be in front, put the kindlings compactly 
close to the hole, and arrange the larger fuel upon 
and against them. In the wood fire-place, arrange 
the larger sticks to form a sort of pipe or narrow 
opening between them, for the kindlings. This 
will concentrate the air draught whieh is weak at 
first, directly upon the starting tire. The larger 
fuel placed above, in the line of the draught, will be 
rapidly ignited. The best chimney fire-places are 
those which have the throat placed high up, be- 
cause the larger back surface thus exposed, acts as 
a radiator to throw heat out into the room. But 
to start the fire quickly, a blower (curved piece of 
sheet iron) is extended down from the throat to 
throw the draught through the fuel. The closer 
this iron fits to the throat and to the jams, the 
more effective will it be in directing all the air cur- 
rent through the fire. 
There are several points relating to the best or 
cheapest fuel, modes of economizing it, best stoves 
and grates, best mode of conducting heat through 
buildings, best forms for fire-places and chimneys, 
smoking chimneys, etc., whieh may well occupy 
our attention, in the coming Winter numbers, 
especially in these times of high priced fuel. 
What to Eat, and When to Eat What ? 
Mr. Editor : — In your article on " Meals for a 
Week," in the November Agriculturist, there are 
some startling propositions — chacun a songout finds 
pat application, and truly "there is no accounting 
for tastes." Tet it is a fact, that men of civilized 
nations have settled down into certain usages and 
proprieties, and consider infringements of these as 
— incongruous with good taste. Custom among re- 
fined people and good livers, banishes pies, molas- 
ses-gingerbread, doughnuts, ordinarily cheese too, 
from the breakfast table, and " crust coffee" from 
anywhere but a sick room. " Sauce" is a much 
abused word — alone, it means nothing, except vul- 
garly, what we none of us like to take from any 
man. Compound condiments (not gravies) to eat 
upon meats or fish, arc called sauces, as Worcester- 
shire sauce, caper sauce, etc. So stewed fruits 
in various forms are called sauces, as apple sauce, 
cranberry sauce; but what sauce is referred to by 
your correspondent, when he mentions "sauce and 
cheese, or broiled 6alt-fish " for breakfast, I do not 
know. Sauce, as a name for table vegetables is 
simply vulgar, if Webster does half authorize it. 
Your correspondent from Rahway has civilized 
notions; but the Andover man shows his utter dis- 
regard for all the proprieties of the table, when he 
says that his breakfasts for a week will, if meat- 
breakfasts are not desired, serve for dinners. 
A few general principles in regard to meals seem 
to be established by convenience and natural pro- 
priety. In this country it is usual to have three 
meals a day— and these at morning, noon, and even- 
ing. For an early breakfast it is inconvenient to 
have those kinds of food which require long pre- 
paration or cooking immediately before. Therefore 
roast, boiled, and baked meats, pastry and confec- 
tionery, and many kinds of vegetables find no place ' 
but broiled, fried, fricaseed, cold or hashed meats 
are appropriate, with sundry preparations of eggs 
fried or stewed and sometimes baked potatoes 
griddle cakes, etc. In hot weather, fruits, musk 
melons, tomatoes, etc., are appropriately placed oi 
the breakfast table. So also may stewed fruit? 
(quite tart) be served. In the private family, pro- 
priety as well as conveuince is outraged by a great 
variety of dishes which do not go well together. 
For example, apple-sauce which is excellent with 
pork-steak, is shocking with fried fish. Kitchener. 
How to Keep Beef. 
In response to an inquiry for practical directions 
how to cure beef, so that it will keep until June, 
and yet not be too salt for the table, W. B. Dryer, 
Douglass Co., 111., writes to the American Agricul- 
turist : For every 100 pounds of beef, use seven 
pounds of salt, well rubbed on. Allow the beef to 
stand in the salt for twenty-four hours ; take it 
from the vessel and pour off the drippings ; then 
pack closely, and cover with brine, made as follows : 
For every 100 pounds of beef, 4 ounces of Salt- 
petre, 4 ounces of Bicarbonate Soda, 1 qt. Molasses. 
E. A. Leonard, Defiance Co., Ohio, says : I allow 
the beef to cool sufficiently after killing, then cut 
it into convenient sized pieces for use, and pack it 
loosely into a barrel in which I have previously 
placed a quantity of weak brine. When the meat 
is all in, or the barrel full, see that the brine covers 
it. Let it stand two or three days, then take out 
the meat, throw away the brine, rinse out the 
barrel, and repack the meat snugly. Make a quan- 
tity of brine sufficient to cover the meat, and 
6trong enough to bear up an egg. Add 2 ounces of 
saltpetre for every 100 pounds of meat, pour it on 
the meat, and it will keep until hot weather. 
A subscriber in Greene Co., 111., writes : To S 
gallons of rain water, add 3 pounds of brown 
sugar, 1 quart of molasses, 4 ounces of saltpetre, 
and enough of common salt to make brine suffi- 
ciently strong to float an egg. Bub the beef well 
with salt before placing it in the barrel. Then 
pour over it the prepared brine, and put on it a 
sufficient weight to keep the beef covered with the 
pickle. — Each of the- above contributors says, that 
the method recommended has been tried by him 
several years, and the result was every way satis- 
factory. Where a considerable quantity of beef is 
to be cured, it might be well to try all the above 
ways on different parcels ; we should like to hear 
whieh produces the best article next May or June. 
Pickled Pork Equal to Fresh- 
A lady contributor at Perry, 111., sends the follow- 
ing directions to the American Agriculturist : " Let 
the meat cool thoroughly, cut it into pieces 4 to 6 
inches wide, weigh them and pack as tight as pos- 
sible in the barrel, salting very lightly. Cover the 
meat with brine made as strong as possible. Pour 
off a gallon of the brine and mix with it one table- 
spoonful of saltpetre for every hundred pounds oi 
meat, and return it to the barrel. Let it stand one 
month, then take out the meat, let it drain twelve 
hours. Put the brine in an iron kettle, add one 
quart of molasses, or two lbs. of sugar, and boil 
until perfectly clear. When it is cold, return the 
meat to the barrel, and pour on the brine. Weight 
it down, and keep it covered close, and you will 
have the sweetest meat that you ever tasted." 
Wire Clo(lto<ii-I^ino.— Geo. E. Pomeroy, of 
Lenawee Co., Mich., says in reference to the use of 
galvanized wire for a clothes-line: "In the first 
days of telegraphing and the introduction of gal- 
vanized wire for telegraph use, I fancied it would 
make a good clothes-line. I used it and it worked 
well. In 1848 I moved to Michigan ; I put up the 
