88 
AMERICAN AaRICULTURIST. 
[Makch, 
quence, and though I may let off a little harmless 
fun at some of them, I trust none will think it ill- 
natured. Oue great cause of our indifferent cook- 
ery, as a people, is, that we have regarded eating as 
a necessity of our nature, but something unworthy 
of any serious thought. Now, as we are obliged to 
have three meals a clay, I consider that they should 
not merely serve the wants of the system and ap- 
pease hunger, but that they should be made actually 
■ enjoyable. The whole family are gathered at the 
table ; indeed in many cases the hours spent there 
are the only ones of family reunion. Here is the 
family council, the place where lessons of wisdom 
are taught, and all home ties strengthened, and it is 
too much to expect of poor human nature to be 
good, wise, or happy over poor and indigestible 
food. If some Girard or Cooper would found a 
school for ladies, in which cookery should be raised, 
if not to the dignity of an o.'cact science, at least to 
that of a useful art, it would be a national blessing. 
Ton ask me to contribute occasionally to the 
columns of your department. I make no promises, 
but if I do write for you sometimes, I must have 
leave to say my say in my own way, and no lady 
must bo offended. "j 
.m-. — ♦» I » 
What Shall I get for Variety 1 
— • 
" Are you awake ?" said I to my wife, as the clock 
struck five. "Yes," she replied quickly ; and, "I 
have been thinking for nearly two hours what I can 
get up for a variety on the table. It is nothing 
but beef, pork, mutton, fish, and chicken ; and 
then, chicken, fish, mutton, pork and beef." — "Do 
you need a better variety than that?" — "If our 
boarders (two bachelors) were not so observing 
and very particular about every dish that would do." 
" Let me give you a programme for a week. Now, 
if you have beefsteak and mutton for breakfast, 
make a meat pie, just as a chicken pie is made, for 
dinner; and, slice up some cold ham, or mutton, for 
those who think meat pie is not enough. For a 
dessert, make apple dumplings instead of so much 
pie, pie, pie, at every me.al. That's good enough 
fur one day. To-morrow, for breakfast, cook fresh 
fish, and make fresh-pork dumpling, by dipping 
the thin slices in a batter made of eggs and flour. 
This dish may be varied by using salt pork, some- 
times, instead of fresh. For dinner, have roast 
beef, or mutton, with baked beans, and salt pork. 
" Wh.at shall we have for supper ?" — " In addition 
to good white bread, and Graham bread, have white 
biscuit one evening; Graham biscuit the next 
evening ; the next evening make buckwheat cakes ; 
the next, make Canaille cakes. (Canaille is the 
coarse part of wheat flour.) At another time, make 
cakes of equal quantities of Indian meal and Gra- 
ham flour, and bake on a griddle, and serve with 
butter, or cream and syrup. For variety in the line 
of sweetening, dissolve a few pounds of maple su- 
gar, in hot water. These dishes will always be ex- 
cellent. One day have .apple pie; the next, mince 
pie; the next, pumpkin pie; the next, custard pie ; 
and, for Sunday, nothing will eat better th.an a pie 
made of a Hubbard squash. The next morning 
fried chicken, and baked potatoes, and pork, .and, 
if potatoes will not be enough, add turnip, or 
squash. At noon, make a meat pie. It appe.ars to 
me, that so many good dishes can be varied so that 
none of us need get tired of either of them. T. 
v-< ■»» . ■ 
Suggestions about Houses. 
m 
Molly Greenfield writes to the American Agricul- 
turist: "Published plans of houses arc all well 
enough, .as being suggestive, but a person should 
not follow them heedlessly. A house well adapted 
to one situation, may be very illy suited for another. 
A house just right on a North-and-South road, 
might be just wrong on an East-and-West one, or 
even on the opposite side of the same road. One 
thing, I think, receives less attention than it de- 
serves, that is, the lighting of various parts of a 
dwelling. Now I want a kitchen with light from 
the East. I would like it to be bright and sunshiny 
In the morning, when I have to work there. I want 
no room that is to be much used for sitting or 
sleeping, to have only North windows. A pantry, 
if to be used for milk iu summer, should be lighted 
from the North, and the next preference is from 
the East. From the South and West the sun is 
very hot on summer afternoons. If only for a 
winter milk room, it may be lighted from those 
directions. I would have opportunity to enjoy the 
glories of sunset from a Western window in my 
sitting room or parlor, and would have the soft 
dawn of morning enter my sleeping room. A little 
right calculation will make a great difference in the 
pleas.antness of a house.— The family sleeping 
room should be large enough for two beds, or have 
a second bedroom adjoining, and be arranged for 
warming. I would prefer a fire-place. It ought 
also to have, as adjuncts, at least a small dressing 
room, with clothes-press, and a bath closet. Ad- 
joining the sitting room, I would have a small study, 
and somewhere, if I could, a convenient place for 
house plants, and, when building, would get in all 
the closets possible, at least one for every large room. 
About the wood-house. My plan is to have this 
located at a little distance from the dwelling, say 
a rod or two, connected, perhaps, with a d.airy, or 
other workhouse, and with the dwelling by a 
covered passage. The wood yard is to be on the 
opposite side, away from the dwelling, and filled 
from that side, but with a door toward the house, 
through which to carry the prepared wood. This 
might take some more steps than the usual method, 
but would they not be fully repaid by the tidiness 
around the dwelling, and, perhaps, its increased 
healthfulness? Who knows what disease may 
not have found its way to the household from the 
decaying chip manure, at the very back door? 
With this plan, you can have flowers and shrub- 
bery, and vines, all around your house." 
it boil up thoroughly, set it .away to cool, when it 
can be cut out and dried ready for use." 
I\o. 4. Take about 13 quarts good soft soap, 
add 1 teacupful of fine salt, bring it to a boil while 
stirring, and set away until cold; then take off the 
top, bring it up to a simmer, then strain, put it on 
a board to dry. Cut it up and turn while drying. 
Practical Odds and Ends. 
How to Make Hard Soap- 
The request in the February Agriculturist for 
directions to make hard soap, has been answered 
by a generous pile of letters, for which our thanks 
and those of our readers are due. More than a 
dozen send No. 1, following ; one sends a sample 
of the article, which is superior to much that is 
sold at the stores, and is quite cheaply made. 
No. 1. Pour 4 g.allons of boiling water over 6 
pounds of washing soda (sal sod.i) and 3 pounds of 
unsl.icked lime. Stir the mixture well, and let it 
settle until it is perfectly clear. It is better to let 
it stand all night, as it takes some time for the 
sediment to settle. When clear, strain the water, 
put 6 pounds of fat with it and boil for 2 hours, 
stirring it most of the time. If it does not seem 
thin enough, put another g.allon of water on the 
grounds, stir and drain off, and add as is wanted to 
the boiling mixture. Its thickness can be tried by 
occasionally putt'ug a little on a plate to cool. Stir 
in a h.andful of salt just before t.aking off the fire. 
Have a tub ready soaked, to prevent the soap from 
sticking, pour it in, and let it settle until solid, 
when you will have from the above quantity of in- 
gredients about forty pounds of nice white soap. 
No. 3. Dissolve 1 pound concentrated potash, 
in 2 quarts of boiling water, in a small kettle by 
itself In another kettle, boil about 5 pounds of 
clean fat, or tallow, or its equivalent of soap grease, 
with 2 gallons of soft water. As soon as the grease 
is melted, gradually add the dissolved lye from the 
small kettle, about a gill at a time, until all the lye 
is used, constantly boiling and stirring over a slow 
fire until the whole becomes thick and as trans- 
parent as honey. During this process, sufficient 
water should be added occasionally to replace what 
has boiled out. If using fresh grease, add 4 ounces 
of salt. Let it stand till it gets cold, then cut into 
bars, and put .away to dry. The concentrated pot- 
ash, oriye, can be obtained at any drug store, and 
usually in country stores where medicines are kept. 
No. 3. Another correspondent writes : "Hard 
soap is made the same as good soft so.ap, by the 
union of grease and strong lye; the clearer the 
grease, the better the soap. They are boiled up 
together ; when they boil up thick, then add salt in 
the proportion of 3 quarts to 8 gallons of soap. Let 
Contributed by Subscribers to the American Agri- 
culturist. Please send plenty more of the same sort. 
A Black Board should be in every kitchen, 
not to mark with chalk, but to place pots and ket- 
tles on when removing them from the fire. Make 
it about a foot square, and 1 inch thick. It need 
not be washed often merely for looks, as the cor- 
ners will be unsoiled. Its use will save the ta- 
bles, floor, sink, etc., from many unsightly marks. 
To Peel Onions Cheerfully.— Sit before the 
draft of a fire on the hearth, orwith the pan on the 
stove hearth, with the front doors open, and you 
may peel any quantity, without shedding a tear. 
To Keep Sausage Meat.— Prepare it in small, 
round cakes, fry them as for the table, pack them 
closely in an earthen jar, pour the fat from frying 
over them, and put a weight on them to keep them 
down until cold, then remove the weight, and cover 
the top over with lard. Keep in a cool, dry place. 
Geese Eggs carried to the cellar as soon as laid, 
and kept there, will hatch well. They should be 
turned over once a day. Above stairs, the temper- 
ature is uneven. Number the eggs as laid, that the 
first goose setting may have the eggs first laid. 
Varnished Furniture is sometimes disfigured 
by heat, which causes white spots ; to remove these, 
touch them with fiannel slightly dipped in alcohol, 
and rub till the whole surface is dry and warm. 
Apples, quartered and cored, sprinkled with 
sugar, and cooked in a close dish, in the oven, 
require less sweetening, and are preferable to those 
stewed in the ordinary way. 
«-• ^a^i 1 » 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
Cream Pie. — Contributed by A. M. Turner, 
Litchfield Co., Conn. Mix 1 egg beaten, 2 table- 
spoonfuls corn starch (flour will answer,) 2 table- 
spoonfuls sugar, a little salt, a te.ispoonful extract 
of lemon, and 1 pint of milk. Bake the two crusts 
separately ; boil the custard, and when cold lay it 
on one crust and cover with the other. 
Anotlier Cream Pie. — Contributed by 
Mrs. H. Drinker, Susquehanna Co., Pa. Take 6 
eggs, two small cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, 1 tea- 
spoonful of cream of tartar, }^ teaspoonful of 
soda. Dissolve the soda in a little hot water ; mix 
the flour, sugar, and cream of tartar ; whip the 
eggs separately ; mix all the ingredients well to- 
gether, and pour into two plates of moderate size. 
Cream for the Pie. — Take 1 pint new milk, 1 small 
cup of sugar, 2)^ tablespoonfuls of flour, and 3 
eggs. Beat the eggs, sugar, and flour together; 
stir them into the milk when it boils ; let it remain 
over the fire until it thickens, but do not let it boil. 
Flavor with vanilla. A few minutes before dinner, 
split the cake, by cutting around the edge, and 
pulling off the upper half; pour the custard on th« 
lower half, and cover with the other. 
Spanish Cream. — Make a soft custard of 1 
quart of new milk, and the yolks of 6 eggs, with 6 
tablespoonfuls of sugar. Dissolve % ounce of gel- 
atine in 14 pint of water, add it to the custard 
when hot, flavor to the taste, pour into moulds, 
and put in a cold place. 
Oood Bread Pnddiii;;, without eggs, 
mny be made by stirring into it good, tart apples 
(pared and quartered, or sliced), when ready for 
the oven. 
Chocolate Blanc Wlanare. — Take 1 quart 
of milk, and )4 pound of unsweetened chocolate 
made fine; boil together for a few minutes, and 
sweeten to your taste while boiling. Put ini 
