1873.1 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
25 
{For ether Houseliold Items, see "Basket" pages.) 
Wall Decorations. 
A book on Household Taste, by Sir Charles East- 
lake, ail eminent English painter, has been rcpro- 
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Figs. 1 and 2.— two wats of hanging a picture. 
duced in this country, in elegant style, by Osgood 
& Co. The work is a vigorous light against shams 
in architecture, furniture, and all household adorn- 
ments. Most of his suggestions are so excellent 
that one would like to follow them, if it could be 
afforded, but (or the present we must accept ma- 
chine-made furniture instead of hiiud-madc, and 
must use veneered art icles because we can not afford 
the solid. I!c ii vorj radical in his proposed re- 
forms in household furnishings of all kinds, and 
while we can not follow him in all things, we can 
accept and make use of many of his hints. In his 
chapter on wall decorations he insists that, the 
wall being a flat surface, all ornamentation should 
be flat, and iu this we agree with him. Shaded fig- 
ures upon wall paper, which have the effect to make 
the figure 6tand out from the wall, are not so ap- 
propriate as a figure that is flat, without any shading. 
Il the hanging of pictures he advises that each be 
hung by two cords which shall hang from nails at 
the border of the paper or the cornice of the wall. 
The reason for this is, that it does away with the 
triangle formed by a cord attached to two sides of 
a picture and suspended by a single nail. This 
triangle formed by the cord and frame does not 
agiee with any other lines in the room, and the 
effect is inharmonious This we consider eminently 
sensible. The difference in effect is seen by com- 
When there are many pictures in a room he sug- 
gests that the monotony bo broken by introducing 
brackets here and there for the reception of a statu- 
ette, vase, or other object. Brackets are now in 
very common use, -and are sold in various styles in 
the fancy stores. Ml'. Eastlako finds the ordinary 
brackets too unsubstantial, and gives an engraving 
of one made according to his views, which we hero 
reproduce. This is certainly a good, honest, solid 
.a 5 m bracket, and able to bear 
J any reasonable weight, 
j Moreover it is more easily 
J" made than the more fia- 
C- gilc ones. Ordinarily a 
V portion of the bracket is 
% cut in open-work orna- 
£;■ mental figures, this being 
I especially the case with 
|p the center-piece that sup- 
ports the shelf. Our 
author objects to this, and 
insists that all ornament 
shall be subordinate to 
the thing itself, and what- 
ever ornament there is, 
should be cut out of the 
work, as shown in the 
engraving. It will be seen 
that when the work is 
done he does not hang it 
by any concealed hooks, 
but puts it up with good, 
honest screws. This idea 
of honesty in construction runs all through the 
book, and we hope the work will lead to something 
tt reform iu our household decorations. 
(it 
if 
Fig. 3. —BRACKET. 
naring figures 1 and 2. It is customary to hang 
pictures from nails with brass or porcelain heads, 
but unless one can find a "stud "in the right place, 
the nail will not hold, and a bad break will be made 
in the plastering. A good screw, put into a lath, 
will hold a much greater weight than any ordinary 
picture, and by boring carefully through the plaster- 
ing it can be put in without defacing the wall. If 
it be desired to hide the screw, knots may be made 
ot the picture-cord, or some other device used. 
Where to Sat tie Bread to Rise. 
I suspect that a good mauy of my failures and 
partial failures in bread-making during the first half- 
year of my housekeeping, arose from the fact that 
the dough had not the right degree of heat when 
set to rise. My stove had no hearth worth speak- 
ing of, and if I set the sponge in the oven, it was 
pretty sure to get too hot, and so scald the yeast 
and kill its life. The fire was in the upper and 
middle part of the stove, and did not heat the floor 
underneath enough to keep the bread warm there. 
I used to open the oven-door and set the bread-pan 
on a stool close to the oven, covering it with a 
cloth. But how slow it would be in rising all that 
winter ! In vain did I try different kinds of yeast, 
all well recommended. 
I have never had a stove with a warming closet, 
and the reservoir is not large enough to set the 
bread-pan upon it, though I regularly set the 
kneaded loaves there to rise before putting them to 
bake. On cold days I dare not risk setting the 
dough in the oven to rise. 
But 1 have learned a way which serves my pur- 
pose very well. I set an empty kettle upon the 
stove, put a short and narrow board across the top, 
not covering the kettle with it, and set my bread 
sponge atop of that, moving the kettle from the 
hot to the cooler parts of the stove, as the fire is 
fust ot slow, or as the dough requires. A friend of 
mine has a rack hung from the ceiling, above her 
stove, where she dries fruit, etc., in the drying sea- 
son, and she finds this convenient for raising bread. 
I fancy that bread is more likely to be light and 
tender if it goes through each rising rapidly. A 
slow baking and a thorough one is best. Cultivate 
your judgment in this matter, by close watching, 
until you can bake the bread without its running 
over in the oven, or getting a very thick crust. I 
have been told that an hour is the proper time of 
baking, but my loaves seldom come out right in so 
6hort a time. Something depeuds on the size of 
the loaf, of course. Marmar. 
Moths.— B. F. A. asks : " Will you inform one 
of your subscribers through your valuable journal 
if there is any way to get rid of moths in a house 
after they have once taken possession of youi 
closets and parlors, eating and destroying woolen 
clothes, carpets, etc., that have not been used 
much during the summer months ? " — It is probable 
that the moth that attacks the carpets is not the 
one that injures the clothes. Woolen clothes 
should during summer be kept in a box or barrel 
c.o tightly closed that the female moth can not get 
in to deposit her eggs. When moths are already 
iu the articles and at work, if they are numerous, 
put the things in a tight box and sprinkle abund- 
antly with pure benzine, and keep closed for a day 
or two. Then air, to remove the odor of benzine. 
We have had no experience with carpet moths. 
Sprinkling with salt and with cayenne pepper has 
been recommended. We have no doubt that either 
alcohol or benzine would destroy them. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Two Meals a Day in Wikter.— Some families 
find it necessary to have a 6ix-o'clock breakfast. 
In that case, a dinner at twelve and a five-o'clock 
tea 6eem desirable. But when there is no hurry 
about breakfast, it is much more pleasant and con- 
venient for the household to have only two meals — 
breakfast coming at half-past seven or eight, and 
dinner at two o'clock. This gives more time for 
the daylight labors of the family, and gives a long 
resting spell after the dinner work is done. It is 
a poor plan to pretend to have only two meals and 
really to have four — two regular meals and two ir- 
regular ones. Better three regular meals than that. 
At our house, there is now no hint of the need of 
alunch between breakfast and dinner — not even by 
the baby, who is now not fifteen months old. 
Yesterday, grandpa tool; a long walk and had a 
twelve-o'clock dinner away from heme. At dusk 
he thought he would like a hit of bread and butter 
and a cup of "cambric tea" or "comfort" (I'll 
give you me recipe presently, ii any one nrcas It ! 
Grandpa has his regular "tay-tay," or black tea, 
at dinner, but it would disturb his rest if taken 
later). He ate his little supper iu the presence of 
the children, and they, looking at pictures in the 
nursery, never said one word about being hungry 
or desiring something to cat. Baby has her cup of 
milk at night aud usually a piece of bread in her 
hand — as much as she wants. Lately we had work- 
men here for a week, and had three meals a day 
for them, and the children had supper twice, but 
they were "hungrier" than usual the succeeding 
mornings— that is, they were more impatient for 
breakfast, hut more dissatisfied than usual with it 
when they got it. 1 suppose their stomachs, hav- 
ing had less rest than usual, were more than 
usually exhausted by labor when morning came. 
Winter Evenings at Homz.— Dear mothers 
and sisters, let us get it well iuto our heads and 
hearts that home-making is far, far above mere 
housekeeping. Good housekeeping is of very 
great importance, almost essential ; but the real 
value of the house-work is as it makes home sweet 
aud dear. Love is the essential thing, and it will 
indeed cover a multitude of sins— that is, it will 
lead to mutual forbearance and a desire to make 
others happy. 
In the home-making business, these long winter 
evenings are both seed-time and harvest. During 
the day the children may have been at school, the 
husband and father absent at his business, and 
other members of the family scattered hero and 
there, variously employed. Twilight brings the 
homesick hour for all who love and miss their 
home. If all the home-hearths were glowing then, 
if all the home-lamps were trimmed and burning, 
if all the home-makers (the^ mothers and sisters 
aud daughters in particular — for home-making is 
-woman's especial art) were fresh and loving and 
cheery and tidy, and free from engrossing toil at 
that hour, what a little heaven on earth might 
every home become, aud where, then, would be 
the need of asylums and jails and reform-schools? 
It will not do for us women to make ourselves 
slaves to the "men-folks" of our families, letting 
them feel that home is the place where they are to 
