286 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Sbptembek, 
rule, aud I never knew it to fiiil. I've got pickles 
two years old now, and they are jest as good as 
ever. Ye see I aller's keeps my barrel open at the 
top, with a round board and a stone to keep the 
pickles in the brine. For a barrel of pickles yon 
want jest about a peck of coarse salt. Turk's Island 
is the best, dissolved in water. That will jest about 
float an es:?. If I want to keep them a long time 
in the brine, I look at 'era occa.^ionally, and add 
a little more salt, if Itliink they need it." 
" And what is to be done when you want to put 
them into vinegar ?" I enquired. 
"Oh, that is easy enough. You jest scald the 
cucumbers in a bra.ss kettle, and let them stand a 
few hours, changing the water two or three times 
to take the salt out. You can tell by the taste 
when they are fresh enough." 
" What do yon have a brass kettle for?" 
" They say it makes 'em green. My mother al- 
ways used a brass kettle." 
" And how is it about the poison ?" 
" Well, I never heard of it's hurting any body. 
If you have good cider vinegar, the green pickles 
will be wholesome enough. Every body in Hook- 
ertown cures 'em in this way, and we are not an 
ailin' set of people." 
Aunt Polly is right ahont the ves?el for freshen- 
ing the pickles. A good deal more depends upon 
the vinegar than upon the vessel, and I suspect the 
br.ass kettle with its trace of verdigris is made to 
answer for all the atrocious compounds they put 
into the vinegar. The slops of the rum shops and 
drinking saloons, sulphuric, aud other mineral 
acids, are put in lilierally to give sharpness to the 
vinegar. This mu.'it be injurious to the stomach, 
and I suspect it is to prevent the public from learn- 
ing the composition of the vinegar, that the pickle 
men affect so much mystery about their business. 
Farmers have no apology for using any thing but 
home made vinegar and pickles. They can .always 
have the best, .and plenty. A cucumber is little else 
than thickened water, a sort of sponge to hold vin- 
egar. If good, it supplies the vegetable acid for 
which tlie system has so strong a craviug in hot 
weather. The doctors tell us it regulates the bile, 
and for once I guess the doctors are about right. 
In the absence of fruits, whidi are not always to be 
h.ad, keep pickles on your table the year round. 
Hookertovm, Conn., \ Yours to command, 
July lOtli, 18S5. 1 Timothy Bunker Es<j. 
Substitute for Glass Windows. 
It sometimes happens that one would be glad to 
close a window so as to admit light, and yet has no 
glazed sash that he can use, and it may be he does 
not consider the object worthy the expense. A 
simple piece of stout muslin tacked upon a frame 
makes a very fair substitute. It excludes the wind 
and insects, and admits the light. After tacking it 
upon the frame it may be varnished with a mixture 
of boiled linseed oil and copal varnish, thinned 
with tui'pentine. This will make it water tight, so 
th.at rains will not wet through, and more translu- 
cent. Where there is sucli a window, and no dan- 
ger of violence, very thin, cheap muslin may be 
used. When it is tacked on, the edges should be 
tucked under and a tape laid over them, through 
which the tacks are driven quite close together. 
Preserving Flowers in their Natural Form. 
In the Affricidlui-ist for June, 1864, page 181, w.is 
given an account of a method of drying flowers in 
sand which we had practised with moderate suc- 
cess, hut as our results were not equal iu beauty 
to the imported dried flowers, or to those prepared 
here by persons wlio make it a business, we stated 
that there were some details of the process that 
were kept secret. We find the following account 
iu one of our European exchanges, from the Jour- 
nal of the Society of Arts, which is said to he the 
process followed by those who prepare the dried 
flowers for sale. The sand used for the purpose 
should be passed through a seive to remove the 
coarse particles, then thoroughly washed until the 
water passes off clean, aud be completely dried be- 
fore adding the steariue. Stearine is tlie substance 
from which the hard or " Adamantine " candles are 
made, and may be had at llie large di'ug stores, 
and candle maimfactories, or stearine candles them- 
selves may be used for this purpose. 
" A vessel, with a movable cover is provided, 
and having removed the cover from it, a piece of 
metallic gauze of moderate tiueness is fixed over it, 
.and the cover replaced. A quantity of sand is 
then t.aken, sufficient to fill the vessel, and passed 
through a sieve into an iron pot, where it is heated, 
with the addition of a small quantity of steariue, 
carefully stirred, so as to thoroughly mix the in- 
gredients. The qn.antity of stearine to be added 
is at the rate of >^ lb. to 100 lbs. of sand. Care 
must be taken not to add too much, as it would 
sinlc to the bottom aud injure the flowers. The 
vessel, with its cover on, and the gauze beneath it, 
is then turned upside down, and the bottom being 
removed, the flowers to be operated upon are care- 
fully placed on the gauze and the sand gently 
poured in, so as to cover the flowers entirely, the 
leaves being thus prevented from touching each 
other The vessel is then put in a hot place, such, 
for inst.ance, as the top of a b.aker's oven, where it 
is left for 48 hours. The flowers thus become dried, 
aud they retain their natural colors. The vessel 
still remaining bottom upwards, the lid is taken off, 
aud the sand runs away through the gauze, leaving 
the flowers uninjured in their natur.al sh.ape." 
Preserving' Green Corn, 
There are three w.ays recommended for preserv- 
ing green corn for winter use. The Jir.s^ and sim- 
plest is jiackiug the husked ears, picked while in 
the milk, iu barrels, and filling them up with good 
clear strong brine, (best m.ade by first dissolving 
the salt, then scalding, skimming and cooling.) The 
second way is to pick corn a little older than most 
people prefer for eating green, and parboil ; then 
split the rows with a sharp knife, cut or scrape the 
kernels off, and dry them either in the sun or some 
drying-room. The top of a stove in which there is 
little fire, a slat frame suspended high above the 
kitchen stove, an oven which is not liot enough to 
scorch, are the drying places usually employed. 
We prefer a well-regulated fruit-drying kiln. The 
corn may be spread upon pl.ates or tins, iu the 
small way, or on cotton cloth stretched on frames. 
The bulk and weight of the corn is rapidly i-educ- 
ed, so that the contents of two or more frames or 
tins may be turned together very soon. With a 
very little practice, one can judge quite accurately 
whether it is dry enough not to mold by its rattling, 
and by the feeling of the grains when pressed 
ag:iinst the closed lips. When dry it may be kept 
indefinitely in l)arrels or bags, away from mice and 
moisture. The third way is by canning — a method 
attended with a little difficulty. The corn is apt 
to ferment and bni'st the cans, besides spoiling the 
corn, which has otten a most distressingly corrupt 
odor. This is the chief trouble. It may, however, 
be obviated liy thorough boiling, aided by the ad- 
dition of a little sugar — (just enough to taste.) 
The corn should be scraped from the cob, after 
splitting each row of kernels as before specified, 
either after parboiling or after thoroughly boiling, 
as for the t.able. The pnlp is then salted to taste, 
and sweetened a little, while it is cooking. A little 
water must be added if it is in danger of scorching 
on the fire, and it must be boiled till all the air is 
thoroughly expelled, which it requires some judg- 
ment to delcrmiue. It is tlien put in cans, which 
are closed air tight. When success attends this, it 
is the most satisfactory method. 
To be served for the table, corn prepared by the 
first method must be boiled in two waters ; by 
the second method, it must be soaked and then 
boiled, with the addition of milk, butter and salt, 
(and perhaps beans) ; prepared t»y the thiixl meth- 
od, it needs only to be heated hot in the can, 
turned out, and dressed with butter or cream. 
Wyandot methods of Drying Corn. 
BY TARAH-KOUEHTAH. 
[A subscriber using the signature above given, 
communicates the two following recipes of the 
excellence of which we have no doubt. If Yarah- 
kouehtah is versed in the lore of the red man's and 
squaw's cookery, his pale-faced brothers and sisters 
will be glad to hear from him again, for there are 
many articles of food which the redskins prepare 
in a way to please the most fastidious palate. — Ed.] 
"Shehah." — Take sweet corn, in the I'oasting 
ear state, cut the grains off the cob with a knife, 
scraping the cob clean off the pulp, put it in a 
mortar and pound it a little with a pestle, then 
grease an iron oven, and put the pulpy mass into 
the oven, and bake it by fire placed under the oven 
and on the lid. In place of cutting the corn off 
the cob and pounding it, it may be grated and 
scraped off. After it is baked, it will come out of 
the oven in the form of a loaf, which is excellent 
eaten warm with butter and honey. To he dried, 
this loaf is crumbled up, and dried in the sun by 
being spread on cloths. When wanted for use, it 
can be boiled in fifteen or twenty minutes, and 
when it is stewed down, prepared for the table by 
adding a little butter, salt, and sugar. The Wy- 
andot condiments in old times, were bear's lard 
and maple sugar. One pint of this dried corn is 
enough for a meal for five or six persons. 
" Yah-neh-tow-ee."— Roast the corn on the ear, 
before a quick fire, shell it off the cob and spread 
it out to dry in the sun. This needs to be boiled 
five or six hours. A few beans are often added, 
and sometimes meat — beef, venison, chicken, or 
raccoon. This is improved by pounding it a little. 
The meal obtained by the pounding tliickens the 
soup, which is delicious, and very nourishing to 
the sick. When pounded it is called " Yahneh- 
towee-teh," — 'teh,' signifying pounded. 
Self-Shutting Doors. 
Sometimes doors will always swing shut when 
opened wide, and .at other times will fly open as 
soon as unlatched. The reason is, that the c:ising 
on which a door is hung does not stand perpendi- 
cularly. When a door will swing open of its own 
weight, the casing leans the way the door swings. 
If it swings to, when it has been opened, the 
casing leans in the other direction, provided the 
hinges are alike and put on in the same manner. 
In some cases the casing le.ans so that the door will 
strike the fioor or carpet before it is opened wide. 
By removing the lower hinge and putting on one 
wider by an inch or moi'C, so that the turning point 
of the upper hinge will be exactly over the corres- 
ponding point of the lower hinge, the door will 
swing either way alilvc. In order to hang the door 
so as to shut itself, put on a still wider pair of hin- 
ges at the bottom, so as to make it rise a little as it 
is opened. Then the door may be opened at nearly 
a right angle when it will close itself This ar- 
rangement will often be found more convenient 
than a system of pullies and a weight, or a door 
spring. Gates may be hung ill the same manner, 
so as to close or swing open of their own weight. 
How to Carve Well. 
Study your subject, and have a sharp knife. 
Make your investigations on the piece of meat or 
fowl before it is cooked ; feel with your finger 
where the joints are you wish to strike, and where 
the bones are you wish to avoid; if ncsessary and 
possible, with a heavy knife or cleaver, and a ham- 
mer, open the vertebral joints, or crack any bones 
you know will be in the way of your operations at 
the table; hut do this in such a manner that the 
piece will hold well together on the spit, and come 
in good shape to the platter. Then direct (unless 
the cook knows better than you do) how it shall 
be placed on the platter. As a general rule all 
flesh, (recognizing the distinction between fish, 
