224r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Juke, 
■weave, and go through all the routine of household 
industry on a farm. She could bake and brew, 
scour and dye, and she is very proud of repeating 
almost the only compliment that my Puritan grand- 
father ever paid her. She had been away three or 
four mouths teaching a district school, at nine 
shillings a week, and upon her return the old gen- 
tleman quietly remarked: "Now, Hannah's got 
back, and all the dye pots will be going." Father 
was a merchant who kept a cow and a horse, and 
lived in a snug way, so we children knew little 
of mother's farming accomplishments. 
I am sure we modern housekeepers cannot be 
too grateful to the inventors of the Cotton Gin, 
the Spinning Jennies, and Power Looms, for re- 
lieving us from the endless task of manufacturing 
all the domestic fabrics, and giving us so much 
more time for the improvement of our minds and 
the elegant accomplishments of modern society. 
"We have quite a flock of sheep that were clipped 
a short time since, and mother suggests that before 
the wool is taken to market, I look it over and se- 
lect a few of the coarsest fleeces and all the ragged 
and unsightly ends, to make me a wool mattress 
for next winter. This laid upon the shuck mat- 
tress, which Jcanette and I manufactured last 
spring, will give me another excellent bed, almost 
as luxurious as a feather bed, equally warm, and 
more wholesome. By winter, my six geese will have 
yielded feathers enough for a bolster and pillows. 
June Villi, — My poultry has been interesting me a 
good deal of late. I have three broods of chickens 
now, one, three, and five weeks old, and another 
hen will be off in a few days. Sue finds her pastime 
in egg-huuting, and her sagacity amuses me. I 
believe she knows the cackle of every individual 
biddy on the place, and from which one every egg 
comes. My oldest chickens, two or three of them, 
began to have the gapes, and farmer Jones' wife, 
who has a genius for raising chickens, told me to 
give them black pepper, and the worst cases to 
treat with a pretty strong dose of black pepper and 
sweet oil. She always mixes pepper with their 
meal, and never loses any, she says, from gapes. I 
tried her remedy and have lost no chickens yet, ex- 
cept one, that a weasel caught. 
June 20th. — Such a lively time as we have had. A 
day or two after mother went home, cousin Eliza 
and her husband paid me a visit. They live in New 
York, and while John was off fishing, an amuse- 
ment which he pursued with wonderful zest, Eliza 
and I were comparing city with rural housekeep- 
ing. She was very much, and very favorably, im- 
pressed with the abundance of eggs, butter and 
milk, which, in the city, are so expensive, but with 
us are matters of course ; and she was constantly 
remarking the immense advantage I enjoyed in 
confining all, or nearly all, my work to one floor. 
"Whether one has servants, or does the work herself, 
this is a grand desideratum. In the former case 
she can look after them so much better, and know 
how everything is going on ; and in the latter case, 
she is saved so many trips up and down stairs. 
"While Eliza enjoyed the abundance of eggs, 
cream and butter, and their compounds, John was 
particularly delighted with my brown bread. He 
says he can't get used to baker's bread, or learn to 
like it, or even consider it wholesome ; but none 
of their city domestics know how to make good 
bread, and he has been enjoining upon Eliza to take 
lessons of me in the sacred art. I have taught her 
especially how to make Boston brown bread and 
Graham, and no doubt, the use of these plain, but 
palatable and nutritious compounds will add years 
to John's life, as well as money to his Bank account. 
He kept the table supplied with trout and perch 
while he was here, and Edward killed a fat wether. 
I never liked mutton till now, and I think Edward's 
way of butchering accounts for the difference in 
flavor between this and all I have ever eaten. As 
soon as the animal is dead, he makes all haste to cut 
him open and remove the entrails, and then to take 
off the skin as quickly as possible. The sheep 
have been ranging in a wild and rocky pasture on 
the back part of the farm, which probably accounts 
for the very fine flavor of the mutton. John said 
it tasted almost as good as venison. I find the best 
way to cook mutton is to bake it. I generally cut 
little gashes in it, and fill them with bread crumbs, 
moistened with milk and spiced with garden thyme. 
After reading a good deal on the subject in the 
books Sue White lent me, we have decided never 
to butcher a calf or a lamb for our table. Veal is 
said to be the most indigestible and least nutritious 
of all the meats, and my author says, the young of 
any animal is less wholesome and far less nutritive, 
than when it has attained its growth. 
My investigations in this department of knowl- 
edge have led me to these conclusions : That veni- 
son is the most perfect of all meats, being the 
easiest of digestion, and at the same time the most 
delicious and the most nourishing. Next to this 
ranks good mutton, and for mutton, wethers are the 
best. Third in value for the table is beef; tender 
roasting pieces and broiled sirloin steaks being the 
choice parts. Turkey and chicken are very highly 
esteemed and their flavor is delicious, as is especi- 
ally that of partridge and quail; but they are not 
so readily digested as the first three. 
June 21th. — The memorable litter of pigs that 
Jenny and I took so much pains with last spring, 
has suffered a divison. Edward had promised five 
of them to one of our neighbors, and he came to- 
day for them. They have been running wild for 
two months in the pasture, and it was no easy task 
to catch them. Edward has some pleasant surprise 
in store for me I know, by the way he speaks of 
those pigs. He is duly alive to the fact, that Jenny 
and I saved him at least fifty dollars by our assidu- 
ous care aud devotion to that interesting family. 
I have learned something new about butter fate- 
ly, from an old farmer's wife. Now I* weigh my 
butter before salting, and allow an ounce of salt to 
a pound of butter ; I roll my salt, and dry it thor- 
oughly in the oven before putting it into the but- 
ter. I find, too, that a little crushed sugar and 
saltpetre, worked in with the salt, improve the 
flavor aud preserve the butter. I have a fifty 
pound firkin nearly full, aud I am very ambitious 
that in market it shall rank as "prime." The 
firkin is of hemlock, a wood that imparts no taste, 
and it was perfectly new. I rinsed it with scalding 
hot water, and placed it in the sun until it was en- 
tirely dry. Next October, I mean to try for the 
prize in butter at our County Fair. Edward think* 
he'll take one on these Chester "White Pigs. 
June 30tt. — To-day I have been busy all day in 
putting up strawberries. Sue picked several quarts, 
having a fine flavor, though they were not large, in 
a pasture which has recently been cleared. These 
I preserved, allowing pound for pound. Those 
which I gathered from our strawberry bed, being 
large and very fine looking as well as delicious, I 
put up "in their own juice." I allowed three- 
quarters of a pound of sugar to a pint of water, 
and when it was boiling, put in my strawberries 
and let them scald through ; then skimmed them 
out and put them into glass jars, placed in my tin 
boiler with water in it, which I raised gradually to 
the boiling point to prevent the jars from breaking. 
"When I had filled each jar, I poured juice enough 
in it to cover the berries, and then put on the rub- 
ber cover which had a screw in it, which I turned 
until the mouth was perfectly sealed. Mother 
has kept strawberries in this way for two years. 
Fashion Gossip. 
BT AH EXPERT. 
The authority that prophesied walking-dresses were to 
be a short lived caprice of Gothamite fashiouables, has 
proved at fault. " Cleanliness is next to godliness," 
sayeth wisdom, and this virtue of the new mode must 
compensate for its want of grace and style. Gray, Bis- 
marck, and green poplins or Alpacas, are pretty for tins 
month, aud serviceable for travelling suits. TVe advise 
short dresses for country wear. Muslins, with sacques or 
peplums to match, will look simple, neat and rustic. 
Suits have been adapted for carnage costume. They 
should be enriched with effective trimmings. The most 
casual observer must have remarked that for elegance, 
evening dresses, and a toilet for any ceremonial occasion, 
require trains and the peculiar flow of drapery produced 
by the fashionable gored skirts. 
Gored robes are destined for such a lengthened exist- 
ence, that one need not hesitate about cutting up even 
the richest materials in this style. The idea is certainly 
more economical than a preponderance of folds about the 
hips, which in no wise added to the symmetry of the fig- 
ure. Much less material is required, and a plain surface 
will outwear one that has innumerable creases. A walk- 
ing-dress is not complete without its accompanying pe- 
plum, but a well provided wardrobe should have a cloak 
of black silk for extra times. Make fine qualities into 
loose sacques, deeply dented, or otherwise cut around the 
bottom, and trim profusely with jet galloons and lace. 
Jet embroideries are more distingue than passementerie. 
Amber is not sufficiently chaste and elegant for mantles. 
Satin folds and piping form a new and beautiful orna- 
mentation. Superb shawls, for Park riding, are made of 
black Cashmere or Ahmure cloth, trimmed with jet and 
Cluny. Amber bijoitterie can be worn by brunettes, but 
never by blondes. Mention has been made of the re-in- 
troduction of cameos. Stone cameos are always valuable, 
and having nearly as much prestige as pearls and dia- 
monds, descend as heirlooms through families of note. 
Each successive era of popularity, however, adds its vari- 
ation of appearance. To-day we have engravings fine 
and transparent as mists, and shapes all stars, angles and 
parallelograms, with a pearl or diamond glittering upon 
every point. Mosaics of a very beautiful order are also 
set in this way. Jasper silks are new, and adapted for 
suits or demi-foilette. The foundation color is dark, and 
overshot with scintillations of purple. Black and white 
striped silks are festooned with jet ornaments over gray 
silk petticoats. Later, piques and muslins will be used as 
substitutes. Organdies are fresh, fair, and lovely to look 
upon. A most effective design simulates a tunic caught 
up at intervals with vines of roses trailing from the belt. 
Knots of blue flowers and grasses form a border upon the 
lower part of the skirt. The waist is all white or sprink- 
led with tiny bouquets. "White organdies for dinner 
toilet are made with bouillons divided by narrow straw 
braids. The under slip should be of taffetas. Lace pe- 
plums are pretty over low corsages. Very wide sleeves arc 
not so well for thin materiafs as half close shapes, because 
with a little wear, the stiffening is lost, and they are apt 
to look " stringy." Tulle sleeves with wide silk ones 
should be puffed lengthwise or crosswise as the fancy 
may dictate. Maltese lace is more worn than Cluny. It 
makes beautiful ruffs for the throat and wrists. We saw 
the following new spring patterns at Mme. Demorest T s : 
The " Nicola Dress," to be made of French poplin in two 
choice shades of green. The under skirt should be the 
lighter, and trimmed around the bottom a finger deep, 
with black braid set on obliquely. The tipper skirt is 
dented, and finished with black cable cord, which is form- 
ed in the same shape up a seam on each side. These side 
dents are connected across the back breadths by chains 
of cord, fastened with loops and tassels. The waist is 
plain, of the color of the upper skirt, and tastefully deco- 
rated with cord. The " Vicky dress " is of orange cham- 
berry. The skirt is divided into shallow scollops by two 
narrow rows of black braid. Below, it is closely barred 
with horizontal stripes of the same. The waist is trim- 
med to simulate a bodice. The sleeves are half close. 
This dress is accompanied with a graceful sacqne, scol- 
loped around the bottom and the edge of the flowing 
sleeves, and ornamented with black braid. The " Cluny 
dress " is made of blue taffetas, with oblique bands of 
black forming a border. A Gabrielle finished with nar- 
row ruffles of Cluny is worn with this. One of the pret- 
tiest of wide sleeves is named the " Juvia." It is opened 
in three diamond shapes upon the outside, each being 
separated by a full rosette. A design full of grace and 
character is called the "Rosa." The bottom is inter- 
sected by deep notches, which are filled with rich loops 
of ribbon, attached by jet or silver buckles, or, if pre- 
ferred, rosettes of straw. If the latter is used, straw 
gimps must be employed as waist and skirt trimmings. 
For young ladies especially, rosettes are more dressy 
for high bodies and belt fastenings than buttons or clasps. 
Many coat sleeves, variously distinguished with bows, 
plaitings, or rows of braid fancifully arranged, are retain- 
ed in vogue. The "Fadette" is most popular. Four 
rows of braid or velvet form a cap at the top and a cuff. 
Two similar sections extend half way across at the elbow. 
Jet buttons separate each band. 
Gold and silver embroideries appear upon parasols. 
Flower patterns are pretty, also Grecian borders. Crimp- 
led fringe and lace serve as a finish. It is noticeable 
that often in a single toilet, fringe, lace and satin pipings 
are used as trimmings. 
This is not good taste, strictly speaking, and it is very 
bad, when one mantle is thus martyred. French taste has 
disfigured in this manner some of the costliest importa- 
tions. Short circles have been adopted by very 3-oung la- 
dies, instead of sacques or basquines. The last named 
should be half fitting, with flowing sleeves. It is a mat- 
ter of individual caprice whether the side pieces shall be 
as long as the front and back, or finished out with flounces 
of lace. Long sash fronts are exceedingly modish. 
