232 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[JCXT, 
centrated Lemonade, whicU we have before noticed 
as a most convenient substitute for fresh lemons. 
Those who live where lemons are not obtainable, 
or where they are too expensive, make use of sub- 
stitutes. A kind of " switchel " is made in some lo- 
calities, which serves as a very good summer drink, 
and is much used in the hay field. It is made of 
vinecar, molasses and water, and flavored with 
ginger— a homely substitute for lemonade, but 
very good and much better than many things that 
are drank. Some of the acid fruits may be made to 
furnish cooling and pleasant beverages, and we 
allude to the m.atter now to suggest providing 
a stock for another summer. Currants, dried as 
described in another article, will be found very con- 
venient, as their acid is very refreshing, and a large 
supply may be put up with very little expenditure 
for sugar. Where the Barberry is common, a most 
excellent material for summer beverages may be 
stored np. The fruit simply preserved in sugar, 
makes a sort of conserve, which, infused in boiling 
water gives a palatable drink ; but the best way is 
to make a syrup by boiling the fruit in water and 
convert the strained liquid into syrup by adding a 
pound .and a half of sugar to the pint. If bottled 
and set in a cool place it will keep a long time. 
Added to water in palatable quantity, it is not only 
pleasant in health but very useful as a drink in 
fevers. Raspberry Vinegar or Raspberry Shrub is 
one of the pleasant and nice articles that can be 
made in the family. Raspberries are pl.aced in a 
jar and covered with strong vinegar, and set in a 
cool place for 24 hours. The next day as many 
more berries are .added as the vinegar will cover, 
and so for a third day. After the last berries have 
been in fora day, set the jar in a kettle of water, 
and bring it to a scald, and then strain out the juice 
through a flannel. Add one pound of white sugar 
to each 1}{ pint of juice, and heat in a tin or por- 
cclaia vessel to the boiling point, skim, and bottle. 
Do not boil any longer than necessary to remove 
the scum. Thus prepared it will keep for years. 
Soap and Soap-Making'. 
A "Housekeeper" writes to the AgrkuUiirist : 
" As the season has arrived for making this neces- 
sary article of domestic use among farmers, I wish 
to offer a few suggestions and relate a little of my 
experieuee in that line. Like most new house- 
keepers I thought it did not require any great 
amount of skill or experimental knowledge to 
m.ake soap — for, thought I — there is nothing more 
natural than for oil and alkali to unite. So every 
thing all ready, in the " New of the Moon " I com- 
menced operations. But my lye and grease would 
not combine in spite of all my efforts. So I repair- 
ed to an old housekeeper to divine the cause. "0 !" 
said she, " You did not make in the new of the 
moon." Tes I did though I I made the same day 
that many of my neighbors made, and they had 
" good luck." Then she assigned several other rea- 
sons as foolish as that. In my school-d.ays I had 
picked up a little Chemistry. While reflecting 
upon it I concluded that some other substance vinst 
be in the mixture that prevented it from uniting. 
And here I would remark that if farmers' daugh- 
ters, and young ladies generally, would study less 
Algebra and other (to them) comparatively useless 
branches, and turn their attention more to Chemis- 
try, Nat. Philosophy, Botany, etc., they would find 
it of far more practical benefit. So while I pon- 
dered, it appeared to me that even if the moon had 
some influence upon animal and vegetable life, she 
cert.ainly could not control oils .and alkalies. Fi- 
nally, another individunl told me to "put water in 
it and the soap would come." I did so, but that 
made it very weak. After diligent inquiry and 
many absurd reasons " why the soap would not 
come," I at last ascertained that the woman who 
assisted in trying the lard, etc., at " killing time " 
had salted the grease profiiseJy/ So it was the salt 
that prevented the oil and alkali from uniting. 
Putting in water weakened the solution. The result 
was, — in common parlance — "the 6o.ap come." I 
would say to all housekeepers — old and young, 
keep salt out of your grease .as much as possible 
if you would have no difficulty ih m.aking soap. 
The best way for keepiug the grease for that pur- 
pose is to have a vessel of weak lye into which 
the grease can be dropped as fast as it accumulates. 
Their it is safe from mold, rats and worms." 
Strawberry Time in New York. 
A stranger visiting New York for the first time 
in the month of June, would think th.at a large part 
of the community were engaged in either selling, 
buying, or eating strawberries. The markets and 
stores are crowded with them ; traveliug venders 
hawk them through the streets ; p-assengers in cars 
and on foot carry baskets of them ; signs hang across 
the street announcing strawberry short-cake; all 
these as well as the exhibitions of the fruit at the 
office of the Agriculturist, and the rooms of the 
American Institute, indicate New York believes in 
strawberries. Early in spriug, the windows of the 
restaurants show fruit raised under glass, which 
those who don't mind expense may taste — the 
general public can only look at it — but it satisfies 
them to know th.it strawberries are coming. In 
May, the southern counties of New Jersey send 
.along their tribute of fruit, but very little of it 
gets into the mouth of the great public, and it is 
only when the warm suns of June are felt, th.at 
the fruit becomes abundant and cheap enough for 
everybody to have some. The best fruit, sent with 
care in neat boxes, never gets very cheap, and is 
only sold by the regular dealers, while the more 
common varieties in small baskets holding from a 
wine-gl.ass-ful to a half pint, are sold by the venders 
who traverse the most remote streets. " Here 
they air, three cents a bairskit" — (with a long 
drawl on the " a-i r," for the rcgnl.ar vender never 
says basket) is heard from morning till night. 
These venders are great institutions ; a two-forty 
($3.40) horse, a rickety wagon, a rough looking 
man with a strong voice, and one or two small boys 
with shrill, high voices, make up the est.ablishment. 
If one goes to the market or grocers, and buys ber- 
ries, he will soon after reaching home hear the ven- 
ders, otTering them for a cent or two less by the 
b.askct than he has jnst paid — but let him buy of the 
peddler .and he will find that a bairskit is a very in- 
definite quantity. There are tricks even in the ven- 
ders' trade, and if one has the curiosity to know how 
berries can be retailed at wholesale prices, he must 
go to Washington market early in the morning, 
when the dealers get their supplies, and he will 
see how two baskets as put up by the grower are 
turned into three in the hands of the vender, by 
either transferring to smaller baskets kept for the 
purpose, or by a judicious division and shaking up 
of the ordinary baskets. The fruit in good seasons 
is reasonably che.ap, but we wish that it might be 
still cheaper, so that the poorer people could get a 
chance at this great luxury without being obliged 
to pay even as much as " Three cents a bairskit." 
« I j»» •-» — ■ 
Preserving Currants. 
Generally those who have currants at all, have so 
many that they cannot well be used in the fresh 
st.ate, and many go to w.iste, consequently we have 
frequent inquiries how they can be dried and made 
like those sold in the stores. We have more than 
once stated in the "Basket" that the imported 
fruit was not a currant, but a very small kind of 
grape, and that there was no process by which the 
currant we cultivate could be converted into a sim- 
ilar preserve. There is a way, however, in which 
currants can be preserved without the use of so 
much sugar as is required in making jelly. L.ast 
summer we saw a quantity put up by a lady for the 
use of the soldiers, and it seemed to us the best 
thing that could be made from the fruit. It was 
prepared in this way : Seven pounds of currants 
were cooked with one pound of sugar until the 
berries were well broken np, the whole was then 
put upon a colander and drained, and the juice 
which was obt.ainod in this way put .again over the 
fire and evaporated to a thick syrup. The currants 
which remained upon the colander were then put 
into this syrup and cooked as dry .as practicable 
without scorching. This was then spre.ad upon 
plates and put in the sun to dry. Usually the 
upper surface dries in one day sufficient to allow 
the m.ass to be cut in small pieces and turned; 
the drying is continued until the pieces will not 
stick together. Prepared thus it will keep well if 
packed in a box in a dry place, and is most excel- 
lent for making a refreshing drink, .as it has all the 
grateful acid of the fruit without the accompani- 
ment of an excess of sugar. By soaking this dried 
fruit .and cooking it with more sugar, an agreeable 
preserve may be made for the labia. In making 
jelly the currants should not be over ripe, as taken 
when fairly red they give a better qu.ality of jelly, 
and do not require so much boiling. It is much 
better to squeeze the juice from the currants be- 
fore cooking, than it is to cook both sugar and cur- 
rants together and then strain. In obtaining the 
juice, a clothes wringer, now found in every well 
regulated household, will save a great deal of labor. 
The berries are put rather loosely iuto a bag and 
the whole passed between the rollers of the 
wringer. The amount of sugar varies according to 
the character of the currants and individual taste, 
from 1 pound to 1 pound 3 oz. to the pint of juice. 
The juice is boiled or simmered and skimmed be- 
fore adding the sugar, and then the evapor.ation 
continued until it will harden upon cooling. Upon 
this point no precise directions can be given, .as 
juice from currants at the right st.age of ripeness 
will form a jelly with scarcely any boiling, while 
that from riper berries will require to be boiled 15 
minutes or longer. This is a point which cjcpe- 
rience only can determine. 
A Home-made Hearth Rug. 
A lady subscriber to the American AgricuUttrisi 
writes: "Procure a coffee sack, tack it tightly on 
a frame of the size you wish your rug. Get a black 
smith to make yon a crochet-needle .about the size 
of a husking-pcg, tapering rather more. With char- 
coal and rule 'lay out' on the sack the figure you 
wish for your rug. Gather all the old woolen rugs 
such as are too much worn for carpet, 'Thrums, 
bits of wool, etc. Tear these in strips and with 
the hook in the right hand, hold the strip beneath 
in the left, thrust the hook through the meshes ol 
the sack, catch the rag and pull it through about 
a half inch, then through again as near to the first 
as possible. By sorting the different colors and 
following the patterns, a very beautiful article can 
be made. After it is all filled up in this way, take 
a pair of sheep-shears or common scissors, large 
size, and shear it all off to an even surf^ice. Old 
dresses are the best; heavy cloth will not work in 
well. I have seen such rugs in handsome p.arlors, 
and when tastefully made they are equal to any." 
Cooking without a Fire. 
In summer, it is a great comfort to be able to do 
most of the necessary cooking without a fire, we 
don't say without heat — for we haven't reached that 
point as yet — but without making a fire in the stove, 
generating many times more heat than is necessary, 
thus rendering the apartment uncomfortable, the 
cook overheated, and it may be cross. Some one 
has said that all human afiTections cc.ase to exist 
above or below a certain degree of the thermome- 
ter, and it must indeed be more than an ordinary 
mort.al who can cook over a large fire on a hot 
July day, and rem.aiu perfectly sweet tempered and 
lovely. Now .as a saver of temper, and in many 
places of fuel, as well as a promoter of comfort, 
we remind our readers, of what we have before al- 
luded to, that a good amount of the family cook- 
ing can be done by means of kerosene or gas. In 
those localities where gas is in use, a sm.all gas stove 
will prepare breakfast and tea with the greatest 
case and comfort. Some families use large gas 
stoves for all their summer cooking, but we have 
