1869.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
181 
toe KOT§ra©yo). 
(Z^- For other Household Items, nee B Basket " pages.) 
Insects and Flowers. 
Some odd things have been ingeniously worked 
into the forms of flowers. We hare seen flowers 
FLOWERS MADE OF INSECTS WIXGS. 
made of shells, feathers, seeds, etc., and now one 
of our friends has made them of insects' wings. He 
probably had the notion that a great many flowers 
are destroyed by insects, and it is only fair that in- 
sects should be used to make flowers. The engrav- 
ing shows the grotesque appearance of these imi- 
tations. The flower made from butterflies' wings 
looks something like a strangely shaped orchid, 
while the other, made of the wing-cases of beetles, 
presents a more regular form. In both flowers the 
foundation is a small disk of card-board, to which 
the wings are gummed. Butterflies' wings should 
be carefully haudled with a delicate pair of 
forceps or tweezers, to prevent injuring them. 
Experience in Soap-making. 
BY MRS. M. L. GAGE, ROSS CO., OHIO. 
Whatever may be said about the advantages of 
selling ashes and grease and buying soap, it is best 
for most living in a farming community to make 
their own soap, and in a new country there is no 
alternative. I came into Ohio from Eastern Mass., 
on one of the first through Ohio canal-boats. Every- 
one, of course, practised soap-making in the spring, 
and I feared they would think little of the person 
who could not do what they had always done, aud 
so was unwilling to ask questions, and thus expose 
my ignorance. My husband said it was a pity that 
though I had studied chemistry and he had been 
through college we could not make soap. I knew, 
however, that bookiug and cooking were two things; 
so I sent for information to some of my aunts at 
the East, who I knew made soap, aud was kindly 
referred back to my neighbors. I wanted a rule, 
but I could not get one. I got hints, blundered, 
sometimes had "luck," and sometimes not, until 
I had experience enough to make a rule for myself. 
The fact is, there is a great deal of good soap made, 
and uniformly too, for which the makers have a 
rule, but do not know it. They burn the same 
kind of wood, kill the same number of hogs, and 
make the soap in the same kettles, year after year, 
and it comes out right. I start the lye to boiling, 
and then while boiling, if the lye is not strong 
enough to eat the feather off a quill, boil it down 
until it is. When it will just eat the feather, let 
the kettle be a little more than one-third full of lye, 
and put in grease, skins of the hogs, bacon rinds, 
meat fryings, and the like, until the kettle is about 
two-thirds full. The kettle must not be full, for 
with the least bit too much fire, over the soap 
goes. It is better to put in a little less thau the 
necessary amount of greas*. Lye and grease com- 
bine in certain proportions, but pass the limit, aud 
no amount of boiling will take up an excess of 
grease. It will remain on top, hot or cold, and 
will be very troublesome; whereas a little too 
much lye will sink to the bottom when the soap 
comes. If the proportions are good, a little fire 
only is required to keep it boiling, and in a few 
hours it is done. Then take a bucket of weak lye, 
and let it boil up with the soap once. This will 
not disturb the already made soap, but will wash 
the dirt out that was in the grease, and with it set- 
tle to the bottom. When the soap is cold it can 
be cut out in cakes. Exposure to the air will soften 
it down until it is of about the consistence of mush, 
and little darker, growing fairer aud fairer. Some, 
iustead of putting in lye to wash the dirt out of 
the soap, put in salt and water. The soap thus 
made is whiter, but is apt to be too stiff to use 
easily in the wash-tub. It makes excellent ball 
soap for washing dirty hands. I take some weaker 
lye and the clean part of that which is left in the 
bottom of the soap kettles, and enough to half till 
one of the kettles or more, setting it in some con- 
venient place outdoors. I put a stick of wood on 
the north side of the top of the kettle, lay on some 
boards, making a roof which is easily managed to 
shed rain, and lay another stick ou top to keep the 
roof in place. By lifting one of the boards a little, 
I can put in from time to time whatever soap-fat 
is gathered in the family through the summer. 
Whenever the sun shines, I remove the cover and 
stir the lye. I facilitate the business a little in this 
way, aud I have by fall a half kettle of decent 
soap, and no trouble with soap-fat iu hot weather. 
Bags for Shoes and Slippers. 
The suggestions made iu regard to boxes for boots 
aud shoes have called out several letters, all essen- 
tially the same as that of "G. Ii. S.," which we 
here give: "My arrangement in the shoe line is 
a flat foundation tacked around the edges to the 
iuside of the closet door iu my bedroom. It con- 
tains IS pockets (as shown iu the figure), each of 
which will hold a pair of thin shoes or packages of 
laces ; for thick shoes a pocket each is required. 
This foundation is 27 inches deep by 24 inches wide, 
with a facing around the edge underneath, to 
give strength. For the pockets, take three strips, 7 
inches wide by 42 inches long, aud hem at top ; a 
cord is sewn in the lower part of each to gather it 
to the size of the back. Sew each strip tightly 
across the back, equidistant, commencing at the 
lower edge. Each strip being divided into 6 equal 
BAG FOR SHOES, ETC. 
parts, stitch them upwards in place, of course 4 
inches apart ; the pockets thus formed will receive 
the shoes, the size in all cases being proportioned 
to the requirements. I make these articles with 
two rows for closets in spare rooms, and shallow 
ones for small shoes in nursery and children's 
bedrooms. I put square ones with 6 or 8 pockets 
behind doors in servants' rooms, to prevent their 
shoes being thrown in all directions about the 
room. All of these are made of chintz, figured or 
plain, generally selected to correspond with the col- 
ors of the room. As gentlemen like their changes 
of shoes close at baud, I made for the library 
a square box covered with Brussels carpet, using 
one deep enough for boots, stuffed a scat on the 
lid, and around this put a wide worsted webbing or 
friuge ; inside the lower part, a few inches from the 
top, I tacked a wide piece of tape, so arranged as to 
hold slippers. I am sorry to state, these were often 
torn down by hasty movements, and the slippers 
added to the boots and overshoes in the box. This 
is very useful, aud can be made pretty also. Boxes 
of any form covered with chintz aud muslin de 
lainc, the lids stuffed and ruffles arranged around 
them, are convenient for seats in rooms." 
■ i »♦— — _ 
The Table— Order and Ornament. 
The winter and early spring months do not allow 
most housekeepers to place upon their tables the 
most beautiful of all ornaments — flowers. Only 
those who have green-houses or are remarkably 
successful at window gardening can achieve this. 
Fig. 1. — RADISHES BADLY PREPARED. 
A bouquet of the first wild flowers may now be had 
with a little trouble; but it is not our purpose just 
now to speak of floral ornaments ; we leave those 
until flowers become a little more abundant, and 
attend to leaves instead. Green leaves of them- 
selves are welcome, and all the more so if, besides 
serving to decorate the table, they are eatable. All 
who have water-cresses, — and every ouc who has a 
clear stream should hare them — can give the break- 
Fig. 2. — RADISHES PROPERLY PREPARED. 
fast table an air of freshness by the presence of a 
dish of this pungent salad plaut. There is order to 
be observed even with cresses. The plauts thrown 
promiscuously into a dish, while they are just as 
good to eat, do not do their whole duty in making 
a table ornament. Cresses should be picked over be- 
fore they go upon the table. In doing this, gather 
them in the fingers into little bunches or bouquets, 
cut the stems even, and set them in a deep dish, 
stem end down. The result will be a dense mass 
of bright green, with no light-colored stems in 
sight. Radishes are among the first things the gar- 
den affords. As an article of food they can hardly 
be called nutritious, but they are highly relished by 
most persons. To our notion the radish is more 
valuable to look at than to eat. There is a bril- 
liancy in its scarlet aud a freshness about its greeu 
that are very satisfying, and radishes on the table 
are evidence that the garden has commenced to 
furnish its stores, and a forerunner of many good 
things to come. Sad work is sometimes made in 
preparing radishss for the table. There is a right 
way and a wrong one to do so simple a thing as 
this. We scarcely ever knew a servant who, if un- 
instructed, would not cut off all the tops of the 
radishes. Fig. 1 shows a plate of the early turnip- 
shaped radish as it often appears on the table, the 
tops cut off and the tail-like prolongations of the 
root left, all looking like so many mice. Cut off 
the long portion and trim the leaves so as to leave 
a bit of greeu to each one ; set them regularly in a 
dish, as in fig. 2, aud there is a display of green and 
scarlet, almost as beautiful as a bouquet. The same 
treatment should be given to long radishes ; these 
generally have a few fibres along their sides which 
should be removed and the lower end shortened 
