266 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
lieve she came to the conclusion that it was useless 
for our small households to expect to equal tbe 
perfection of cookery ami cleansing dune in sucli 
an establishment. It is clear that housekeeping 
can never become a fine art to main' while it 
presses upon them as such a heavy and almost un- 
bearable burden. Tbe work of making and carry- 
ing on healthful and pleasant homes is second to no 
business, art, or profession. Its real beauty and 
use are hardly dreamed of yet, we are so swamped 
in the disorders that beset our common humanity. 
But the need of help in the household labor, and 
the growing home-siekness of everybody, demand 
and will bring some change for the better, and then 
housekeeping and home-making will go on with 
such joyful measure that housekeeping will not be 
drudgery but art. 
Mrs. Beecher's New Book. — Women will find 
an excellent companion ill " Motherly Talks with 
Tounir Housekeepers," by Mrs. II. W. Becchcr. 
These " talks " are upon a great variety of subjects, 
yet all properly within the "household" range. 
The "motherly" face itself, or a fine copy of it, 
appears in t lie front of the volume, and I join my 
thanks with those of thousands of women, I be- 
lieve, for boih book and picture. 
It is one of tbe signs of the " good time coming" 
that so many good house and home books are be- 
ing written. It is a very pleasant thing, 1 think, 
to have a gray-haired grandmother, like Mrs. 
Beeeher, sit down and talk to us from out her 
large experience and observation about the cares 
and duties which surround and sometimes bewilder 
us, as they once did her. This book embraces 
eighty-seven brief articles on topics of home in- 
terest, and nearly five hundred recipes for cooking. 
Beware op Chilliness.— This may seem a 
strange suggestion lor July, but it is not at all un- 
seasonable. M my persons seem to suppose that 
they will keep warm without effort simply because 
it is the summer season, whether the weather is 
really warm or not. There ara *ome cool rainy <lavs 
and many cool evenings and mornings when a little 
fire adds greatly to the general comfort. It is also 
a wise sanitary precaution to take off the chill of 
the early mornings or cool evenings or rain}* days 
by a small fire. Fevers, rheumatisms, and diseases 
of the bowels arc often provoke! by a slow, chilling 
process, when the weather is so moderate t tint no 
one thinks of building a fire or even of putting on 
more clothing. There are some excessively warm 
nights in July and August, but probably it is the 
case that on more than half of the evenings and 
mornings more clothing should be worn by chil- 
dren and adults than is needed between nine a.m. 
and six p.m. Lb_'ht sacks and coats, for use at such 
times, should be in every one's wardrobe. 
Rest Before Eating. — Call your men in to the 
dinner at least a quarter of an hour before you 
want them to sit down to the table. Then they 
can wash up and throw themselves full length on 
the piazza, or on boards in the shade (but not upon 
the ground), and get into some proper condition 
for digesting a hearty meal. They will relish their 
food better, it will "set" better, and they can 
work better all the afternoon in consequence of 
this rest, and they will not be half as likely to get 
sick right in the middle of harvest. Ten minutes 
of good rest before dinner is worth everything to a 
hard-working man. Everybody knows that a season 
of rest after dinner pays well, but it is not more 
important than the rest before eating if one is very 
weary. This rule is of the utmost importance to 
the "business man" or the person engaged in 
brain labor, and its violation is one of the chief 
causes of our national dyspepsia— this and tbe 
rapid eating that is customary. People of strong 
and unimpaired constitution (if any such can be 
found) may not feel how impossible it is for the 
body to carry on the business of digestion when 
greatly fatigued, or while it is being put to bard 
labor in some direction ; but such is the case, and 
the health uf our citizens is all the time beiug de- 
stroyed for lack of knowledge on this point. Tbe 
stomach must have some vitality or nerve force to 
do its work with, and if the body has been using 
this vigorously, with the muscles or with the brain, 
a little time should be allowed for gathering up its 
energies for the task of digestion. 
[The foregoing was unconsciously dictated me 
by Mr. Rochester — and now be goes on.] " A cup 
of coffee — I've felt it myself and seen it in others — 
tlie desire to taste it before beginning to eat, just 
to gather up strength for tlie rest of the meal. The 
plate of soup at dinner answers the same purpose. 
It is like the water you have to put in a pump in 
order to start it. Tlie soup is something that a 
hungry but tired stomach can take without effort, 
and at the same time it gives rapid refreshment, and 
ability to take hold of something more substantial." 
[I hope that all this is correct, hut I " can not bo 
responsible," and Mr. R. was talking for my edifi- 
cation, without expecting to be reported verbatim. 
But as he has been reading Dio Lewis's late book 
on Digestion with considerable satisfaction, and 
certainly witli profit to his own health, I like to 
write down what he said to me when I told him 
the "topic" I had just written down and then 
yawned sleepily. I am "much obliged" to him, 
and I hope you are suited too.] 
More about Dried Corn. — Our Illinois friend 
is right. It does improve the corn very much to 
soak it a long time before cooking it. All tbe last 
winter we soaked ours over-night, and were fully 
satisfied that it is the best way. I did not attend 
to the drying of the corn last year. It was one of 
the self imposed tasks of my " visitor " during my 
absence. She dried it in three ways — scalding 
some of it before cutting it from the cob, and cut- 
ting off some without scalding until she dried it 
rapidly in the oven. I did not discover which of 
these ways was best. A third way was to cut the 
corn through the middle of tbe rows and scrape 
out all of the pulp upon plates, leaving the more 
solid portion of the corn behind. This was dried 
in tlie oven, and it was excellent. Grandpa, whose 
teeth are poor, especially delighted in this, and he 
means hereafter to raise plenty of sweet-corn to be 
dried in the same way. 
To Cook G"een-Corn.— Many cooks boil their 
corn too long. If the corn will prove tender at all, 
it will be so after half an hour's boiling, and twenty 
minutes is usually sufficient. After it is done, it 
only loses in sweetness by longer boiling. Like 
all fresh vegetables, it should be put into boiling 
water to cook. Almost all people prefer lo gnaw 
it directly from the cob, but it may be sliced off as 
soon as done and seasoned witli cream and salt, 
or with a small piece of butter, salt, and pepper. 
'Green Corn Soup.— Cut the corn from the cob, 
and boil the cobs half an hour. Take out the cobs 
and put in the corn, and boil it half an hour. Add 
half as much 6weet milk as you have of the corn 
soup. Season with salt and a little pepper, and 
one or two eggs if you like. Let all boil up toge- 
ther, thiekeuiug with a little flour stirred smooth 
in milk. 
Succotash. — It is customary to use one-third as 
much of beans as of corn. Lima beans are usually 
preferred, but any kind of fresh beans may be 
used. The beans require a longer boiling than the 
corn. Lima beans should be boiled an hour. More 
of tbe corn flavor will be obtained if the cobs are 
boiled with the beans for about twenty minutes 
before putting in the corn sliced from them. Season 
when nearly done with milk, cream, or butter, as 
you prefer, with salt, and perhaps a little pepper. 
How to Cook a Beefsteak. 
BT MRS. F. U. R., CHEROKEE CO., IOWA. 
Don't look aggrieved, old housekeepers — you 
who know how to do everything. It is not to you 
I offer my suggestions, but to the young, inexpe- 
rienced housekeepers who get nervous whenever a 
steak is brought into the house, especially if there 
are cuests expected at table. Some time since, a 
complete encyclopaedia of useful knowledge in 
human form became an inmate of our family. One 
doesn't expect a man to know everything— above 
all, to be learned in all the niceties of cookery. 
Besides, women have an extreme prejudice against 
a masculine invader of those sacred precincts, her 
kitchen — that monster who is fond of lifting the 
covers from the steaming kettles on the stove, 
spluttering on industriously towards the dinner 
hour. She doesn't like to have her oven-doors 
opened and shut mysteriously, the bread rising in 
the tins critically examined, and her rolls of butter 
weighed in the balance of masculine criticism, to 
be found wanting without a lucid explanation of 
the whys and wherefores of the failure. Well, 
when this learned guest came among us, he proved 
so pleasant an exception to the above rule, that we 
consulted him as an oracle in many cases, and 
asked him one morning, " Would he not tell us or 
show us a better way to cook the steak for break- 
fist." He took the thin, long-handled frying-pan 
from its nail, and putting it on the stove heated it 
quite hot. Ill this he put tbe pieces of steak pre- 
viously pounded, but to my surprise did not put 
a particle of butter in the frying-pan, and did not 
salt his steak. He allowed the steak to merely 
glaze over, and then turned it quickly to the other 
side— turning it several times in this manner until 
it was done. Four minutes were not employed on 
the operation, but I think I never ate a jucier 
piece of steak. It was when done laid on the 
platter previously warmed, and was buttered and 
salted and set a moment in the hot oven. Allow- 
ing the steak to heat but a moment on each side 
helped it to retain all its sweet juices, and putting 
on the salt the last moment alter it was on the 
platter drew out its juices. 
» i ■■■ — •-•. 
Mosquito Guards. 
The rest of the laboring man is not always 
sweet, notwithstanding the proverb. One of the 
greatest pests of the farm-house in summer is the 
mosquito, especially in the vicinity of water. For 
those who have the means to buy fine woven wire 
in elegant mahogany frames just fitting the win- 
dows, there is au easy defence against these pests. 
But mosquito-netting, which is very cheap, will 
answer all the purpose of the more costly article, 
and one who can use a jack-knife and a hammer 
can make a frame to fit tbe raised window. If one 
has a plane, they can be made of fine strips, an 
inch square, and nicely painted. These will last a 
great many years. But iu the absence of suitable 
tools common lath will answer a very good pur- 
pose. Cut off two strips to fit the width of the 
window. Cut two more about eighteen inches in 
length for the uprights. Nail these four laths at 
the corners, making a frame to fit nicely into the 
window, and cover the frame with the netting. 
You have a complete mosquito-guard, and can 
sleep with open windows the rest of the summer. 
— -. — .»_ _ 
Lemon Pies.— By Mrs. F. H. R— Those deli- 
cately frosted, rich confections are toothsome af- 
fairs — but oh ! our poor stomachs ! Here is a re- 
cipe (if one is going to patronize lemon pies at all) 
which is really very nice, cheaper, and more health- 
ful. For one pie: One egg; one-half a lemon, cut 
in very thin slices or grated ; enough corn-starch to 
make a cupful of starch, made with boiling hot 
water as if for starching, or more if your pie plates 
are very large. Beat the egg with enough sugar to 
sweeten the mixture to taste. Bake with an upper 
crust. 
Watermelon Vinegar.— By Mrs. F. H. 
R. — Perhaps it is not generally known that a very 
fine white vinegar can be made from the juice of 
watermelons. We had a very great quantity of 
melons last season, and, after we had cut out their 
crimson cores for eating, scraped the 6hells, from 
which we gained a large amount of juice. This we 
carefully strained, and put into jugs with small 
glass bottles in their mouths. We set the jugs 
out into the sun, and in time had a fine-flavored, 
clear, strong, white vinegar. The vinegar at a 
certain 6tage will be very bitter, but, when per- 
fected, loses this and acquires a true vinegar taste. 
