1864 
AM i i;K'AN AGRICULfl fRIST. 
183 
Pickled or Spiced t'ui-i-aiU-.. I i 
luted to the i arislby "K. [. i.," 
Slateo Island, N. Y. Take 8 qts. ripe currants, l 
. l pint vinegar, and ground apices to taste. 
Boil about an hour, put in Jars and cover as other 
r\cs. Alter a few months II is quite equal to 
cranberry jelly. 
l*ii«ltiin^ Sauce. — " Buckeye " Irishes to 
know, what is the sauce ol the consistence of ice 
eream which i* served with puddlngsln city restau- 
rants. It is, what la known as hard sauce, and is 
made by beating butter with twice its weight of 
rdered white sngar,untli the whole is brought 
smotta ln.i-s. [| may bo flavored by stirring in 
n little wine, sume lemon juice witli grated rind, or 
nutmeg. Iu cold weather it is necessary to let the 
soften, but not melt, in n warm place. 
Crcuni M it ilin w. — Contributed to the Amer- 
Agriculturist by a Lady : Mix 1 pt. sour eream, 
(but not very sour) 1 pint flour, 8 eggs, 1 teaspoon- 
I'ul salt, '-.j teaspoonful soda or saleratus, whites 
aud yolks of eggs beaten separately. Stir in the 
whites the last thing. They are much nicer baked 
in new cups, which can be bought of a cheap 
kind. Wipe them clean with a dry cloth, never wet 
or grease them; in a short time the muffin will 
shine like varnish on the side next the cup. 
Fritters. — Contributed to the American Agri- 
culturist by Mrs. Frances W. B. Robhins, Suffolk 
Co., New- York. Beat ten eggs thoroughly, mix 
with two quarts cold water, one teaspoonful of salt, 
add flour to make a batter the thickness of griddle 
cakes ; fry by the tablespoonful in fresh hot lard. 
Excellent, especially if eaten with maple molasses. 
Corn Starch Cake. — Contributed to the 
American Agriculturist by "Young Housekeeper." 
Mix 1 eig, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of 
sugar, 1 teaspoonful of soda, 2 of cream of tartar, 
piece of butter half the size of hen's egg, melted ; 
bake the same .is for jelly eake, in shallow tins, and 
when cold, pile in layers, with a custard between 
trade as follows : Take 1 egg, 1 enp of milk, sugar 
to taste, 3 teaspooufuls of vanilla extract, 1 teo- 
ifnlof cornstarch. Boil the milk, heat the 
nd corn starch together, and stir into the 
boiling milk which must previously be sweeteued ; 
when cold, stir in the vanilla ; the custard must 
eool before being put with the eake. 
bcdys 4 <rai3 ; sdxu 
The Insects and the Birds. 
Robert was very fond of hunting. In the neighborhood 
were he lived there was nn game worth shooting, except 
now and then a fox, a rabbit, a partridge or a wild pigeon, 
and these were too shy for his skill. There where how- 
ever plenty of robins, bobolinks, meadow larks, yellow 
birds and sparrows, (chipping birds he ealled them) and 
it was his great delight to bring them down with stones, 
or with shot when he could coax some unthinking per- 
o lend him a gun. 
One warm day in June, Robert had been very success- 
ful in shooting birds ; he had silenced the sweet song of 
many a little warbler, and left many a poor fledgling to 
perish in its nest for want of its mother's care. Being 
warm and tired he lay down on the grass, in the shade of 
a large elm, and soon saw some very curious things. A 
monstrous mosquito came and perched on a limb over- 
head, and began, to blow a horn which he carried. Im- 
mediately a great crowd of insects, flies, bugs, beetles, 
grasshoppers and crickets ram* swarming to the place, 
filling the branches of the tree and the ground around it. 
After them crawled an innumerable host of worms, large 
and small — such a surprising collection was never before 
Presently a huge locust sitting in a fork of the 
»ree. for a chair, called this strange meeting to order and 
" It is well known to all of you that our lives are 
In constant danger from the ferocious birds which abound 
in this neighborhood. Not a day passes but thousands 
of our unlucky tribes are remorselessly snapped up by 
these singing robbers, who are the greatest helps of our 
other enemies, the human race, in our destruction. But 
I have the pleasure to announce to you. that we have at 
last found a friend, where we least expected it. This 
young man whom you see near yon has come to our 
rescue. He saved my head this morning by instantly 
killing a blaek-bird that was just about to dart down upon 
me, and he tins slul cat 'birds, Bpai - 
and other wretched that li n my "i 
ourun as, n he continues this good work 
we shall soon have the bast of limes. The fanners have 
sowed plenty of grain, (hi are raising abund- 
ance of vegetables, (rail arid Dowers, and we shall have 
nothing to do but live mi these fine tntj v onr- 
on the fat of the land. Now then I propose that 
we all do him honor. "Agreed! agreed!* 1 shouted the 
whole multitude together. ■■ We'll spin handsome webs 
all over his bed roi " sai.l the spiders , "We'll botld 
■Hi .mounds In his front yard." cried the ants i 
"We'll sing for him all night," chimed In the musqultoes ; 
" We'll dance around him all day." put In the dens; 
•• We'll mai,,' n nest ami sp'.n out I'm- si yarns In his trees," 
added saterplllars, and so the whole tl g of Insects 
agreed show their regard, A huge green tobacco worm 
was particularly delighted. "I want to embrace him," 
said the frightful creature, and "I tun," said all the others ; 
and with that they all made toward ihe poor boy. who 
was too much astonished to move. One company craw- 
led np lo his face, another buzzed around his ears, and 
others scrambled over his naked feet, until he gave a loud 
cry of diseiist and horror, and awoke from his curious 
dream, to find a mosqnilo singing at his ear, a caterpillar 
crawling over his hand, and several large red anls creep- 
ing up the I. -us oi his pantaloons. He has never shot a 
bird since that day, and we commend his experience and 
his resolution to the boys of the .4 merican Agriculturist. 
About Cireat Men and Boys. 
Among the mountains of California stand some of the 
most wonderful trees ever discovered. They tower tip 
more than three hundred feet, or taller than the highest 
steeple in this country. There they stood hundreds of 
years before civilized men ever saw them. But they 
were just as grand while alone in Ihe solitude of the un- 
broken wilderness, when only visited by the winds, 
the wild beasts and birds and the equally wild Indians, 
as they are now, when travellers flock to admire their 
stateliness. So all truly great men possess the same noble- 
ness of nature before, that they do after the world has 
discovered, acknowledged, and applauded it. Those who 
long for opportunities of becoming great, forget that great- 
ness ii in the man, not in the opportunity. The oppor- 
tunity only gives occasion for greatness to exhibit itself. 
Washington possessed the same high qualities when he 
told the truth and loved his mother, as when he headed 
the American armies, and presided over the councils of 
the nation. A man may be great, though circumstances 
confine him to a narrow sphere, just as a ray of light is as 
pure, as cheerful, and as much the child ol the sun when 
shining in aracle hovel, as when flashing from the mirrors 
of a palace. Goodness, courage, devotion, manliness, 
patience, perseverance, reverence, and love, will make a 
boy great, though he live on the most secluded farm in 
the back-woods. There are thousands of such boys- 
many of them will read these words written for their en- 
couragement. The day may come when their noble 
qualities will be wanted in the public service, and all 
men shall see and acknowledge their worth. But if not, 
they are slill rich in enduring wealth, aud let them re- 
member also, that life only begins in this world. 
How the Soldier Sleeps. 
B. F. Taylor in the Chicago Journal gives the follow- 
ing graphic description of what he often witnessed in 
camp. •' You would, I think, wonder to see men lie 
right down in the dusty road, under the noonsun of Ten- 
nessee and Alabama, and fall asleep in a minute. I have 
passed hundreds of such sleepers. A dry spot is a good 
mattress ; the flap of a blanket quile a downy pillow. 
You would wonder to see a whole army corps without 
a shred of a tent to bless themselves with, lying any- 
where and everywhere in an all-night rain, and not a 
growl nor a grumble. I was curious to see whether the 
pluck and good nature were washed out of them, and so 
I made my way orrt of the snug, dry quarters I am quite 
ashamed to say I occupied, at five in the morning, to see 
what water had 'lone with them. Nothing ! Each soak- 
ed blanket hatched out as jolly a fellow as yon would 
wish to see— muddy, dripping, half floundered, forth they 
came, wringing themselves out as they went, with the 
look of a troop of •• wet down " but hearts trumps every 
time. If they swore— and some did— it was with a laugh ; 
the sleepy fires were stirred up ; then came the coffee, 
and they were as good as new." 
Answers to Problems and Puzzles. 
The following are the answers to the puzzles in the 
May number, page IS1. Nn. SO Illustrated Rebus.— Au>l 
weighs bee pre (paired) four change; that is, always be 
prepared for change. No. 81. IVord Puzzle —Man- 
slaughter, which, crrt in two. gives man's laughter. No. 
82. Pictorial Proverb.— Bear and far-bear. No. 83. Geo- 
graphical Question.— Washington. No. »4. Illustrated 
Rebus. — Types and tht steam rnfinr were pie loniearsof 
■I the 
steam 
fuzzlmg Dinner. — 1, Turluy ; 3, A 
goose; 4, Onions ; 5, Pears; I, Brunt ; 7, Potatoes. 
The dessert; Pies of gooseberry, curr, ml. , tried pears, and 
pump-kin. The follow Ing ho. 
to May Mh. " Katie and Mattie," 77. 78, TO . i 
lander, 77; Frank, B. Bourne, 77, 79; Lorenzo Ayres, 
79 , John J. Weeks, 70 : Eliza A. Bjryet, 79; II. H 
good, 77, 79 ; George I. Richardson, 77 ; " l; 
II. Martin Kellong, 7'J ; Henry C. Fox. 7'J ; W. A. v., 
77; Charles J. Cook, 78, 79 ; G. G. Cantner, 77 ; Amos 
H.Rogers, 79; S. B. Marks, 79; J. II. Griffith, 79; R. 
D. C. Van Antwerp, 70 ; Fanny Morion. 77 ; II. B. W., 
70; J. M. Sanford, 79 ; O. J. Slgon, 77, 79, 80 j L. How- 
ell, 78, 79 ; C. H. St. John, 7'J ; B. tl. Baeaon, 79 ; James 
Dills, 70 ; Mary W. .Mason. 70 ; William Bright, 77 . 
H: Peelle, 76: Solomon Bonecr. 70 ; Jam. 
Herbert Frlsbie, 79 ; Mary E. Metcalf, 77; Henry 
70; Martin Morrison. 70; George M. Gould. 79 ; Albert 
S. Gilford, 70 ; 'A Reader," 79; Lucy and Ida M. Ln- 
zear, 77, 70 ; Miner 5. Baldwin. 79; L. L. Fisher, 7t\ 79 ; 
D. J. Ellworth, 70 ; John T. Marvin. 70 . Daniel I. Rowe, 
70,77,79; Wesley Harvey, 79 : John C. Green. 79; M. 
Amelia Hough, 77, 70 ; C. A. Kaufman. To ; P. A. !. 
79 ; Maggie Campbell, 79 ; David L. Reed, 77 ; D. W 
Bottorf, 79; s. O. Downe, 79 ; Euscbins K. B« By, 79; 
II. Budgens, 77 ; Jacob II. Van Ness. 70 ; Levi M. Frls- 
bie. 79 ; Amos Dean. 79 ; Lester Barnes, 79 ; O. P. Ergen- 
bright. 70 ; Eddie Dickinson, 79 ; Wrn. Yates, 77, To ; J. 
H. Simpkins, TO ; John W. Day, 79 ; Daniel Arncy. TT.- 
John Persing. 79 ; Jonathan S. Cook. 70 ; F. A. Saun- 
ders, 77 ; Edward V. Gilman, 79 ; Etty Beyca. 79 j Thos. 
E. Morris. TS ; Elbert M. Smith, TT, 78, 70 ; Lizzie Vauirh. 
79 ; Charles S. Edgar. 79 ; G. R. Palmer. 77. 70 ; Seidell 
A. Smith, 79 ; Emory B. Curtis. 79 ; J. Boyd. 7« ; F. P. 
Wilbur, 79; John W. Emery, 79 ; Clora M. Stephens, 
83 ; James Parmlee, 81, 82, 84 ; Erastus Murphy, 83 ; 
New Puzzles to be Answered. 
No. 86 Pictorial Proverb.— A truth frequently noticed. 
>%; 
NOR 
I 
^HS4=^ 
No. 87. Illustrated Rebus.— A proverb for the sanguine. 
No. SS. Illustrated Rebus.— Worth remembering. 
No. 89. Grammatical Puzzle Contributed to the 
American AgrtculluristbyG. A. Draper, Essex Co., N.J. 
"Lei the rich. gTeat, and noble, banquet in their halls 
And pass the hours away, as the most thoughtless revel." 
Take away one letter from a word In the verse and 
substitute another, and by that change, totally alter the 
syntactical construction of the whole sentence, chang- 
ing the moods and tenses of verbs, turning verbs into 
nouns, nouns into adjectives, and adjectives into ad 
verbs, etc.. and so make the entire stanza bear quite a 
different meaning from that which It has as it is above. 
