SOUTHERN CITLTIVATOE. 
67 
BEmE A P0ISC2J. 
M. Reynal, of the Veterinary School at Ayort, France, 
communicated to the imperial Academy of Medicine, in 
May last, the results of investigations upon the poisonous 
properties acquired by brine, after a considerable length 
of time, in which pork or other meats had been salted or 
pickled. Although the nature of the poison is involved 
in considerable obscurity, its existence is clearly demon 
strated. The poisonous properties are a^uired in two or 
three months after the preparation of the brine, and its 
use then, mixed with food for any length of time, even 
although in small quantities, may produce death. A 
simple solution of salt and water, after the same length of 
lime, does not produce the same effect. The poison acts 
as a local irritant, exciting violent intestinal congestion 
and inflamation. It likewise increases the secretion of the 
skin and kidneys, and exerts a direct effect upon the ner- 
vous system, giving rise t® trembling, loss of sensation, 
convulsions, &c. Experiments were tried with it in the 
Veterinary School, upon horses, dogs and pigs. As 
brine is sometimes used a second time for pickling, and 
for other purposes, these facts should be remembered. 
A Trout Living in a Well Twenty-Five Years. — 
Mr. F. Hoyt, a correspondent of the Ccmntry Gentleman, 
writing from South Fast, New York, Nov. 19th, says: 
“Can any one tell how long a trout fish will live ? 
Twenty-five years the past summer I came on the farm 
where I now am. Almost the first work that I did after 
getting in my spring crops was to drain a bog sv/amp, 
the outlet of which leads to the Croton River. 1 had an old 
Scotchman to do the ditching. One day he brought up a 
trout fish about the size of a man’s little finger in his 
whisky jug, (by the by, used a little on the farm then, and 
not since then.) 1 put it in the well near the house, and 
it is there now, grown to a goodly size — say about a foot 
long and large in proportion. It has been fed but very 
little ; once in a while some one throws in a grasshopper 
or cricket, to see him catch it. The well is thirty leet 
deep and watei hard, and settles down nearly to the bot- 
tom, and then again rises to near the top. He has been 
taken out a lew times to clean the well, but not for the last 
five years. 
“Friday last, I got a grasshopper, thelastone T expect lo 
see this fall, and gave it to him. The water is now 25 
feet deep, but it hardly touched the surface before he had 
it. Ifany one has a fish older than mine I would like to 
know it.” 
Snintstic Cconomij nnli 
Soup of any kind of ot.d Fowl. — Tiie only \eay in 
which they are eatable . — Put tlie fowls in a coop and feed 
them moderately for a fortnight; kill one and cleanse it, 
cutoff the legs and wings, and separate the breast from 
the ribs, which, together with the whole back, must be 
thrown away, being too gross and strong for use. — 
l ake the skin and fat from the parts cut off, which are 
also gross. Wash the pieces nicely, and put them on 
the fire with about pound of bacon, a large onion chop- 
ped small, some pepper and salt, a few blades of mace, 
a handlul of parsley, cut up very fine, and two quarts of 
■water, if it be a common fowl or duck — a turkey will re- 
quire more water. Boil it gently for three hours, tie up a 
small bunch of thyme, and let it boil in it half an hour, 
then take it out. Thicken your soup with a large spoon- 
ful of butter rubbed into two of flour, the yelks of two 
eggs, and half pint of milk. Be careful not to let it curdle 
in the soup. 
Mock Turtle 1>oup of Calf's HEAD--Htive a large 
head cleaned nicely without taking off the skin; divide 
ihe chn[) from the front of the head ; take out the tongue, 
(^which IS best when sailed); ])iu on the head with a gal- 
lon of water; the hock ofa ham or a piece of nice pork; 
tour or five onions, thyme, parsley, cloves and nutmeg, 
pepper and salt ; boil all those together until the flesh on 
the head is qtii^ lender, then take it up ; cut all into small 
pieces; take the eyes out carel'ully ; strain the water in 
which it was boiled ; add Jialf a pint of wine and a gill of 
mushroom catsup; let it boil .slowly till reduced to two 
quarts; thicken it with two spoonfuls of browned flour 
1 Libbed into four ounces of butter ; put the meat in, and 
after stewing it a short lime, serve it up. The eyes are a 
great delicacy. 
Beef Steaks. — The best part of the beef for steaks, ia 
the seventh and eighth ribs, the fat and lean are better 
mixed, and it is more tender than the rump, if it be kept 
long enough; cut the steaks half an inch thick; beat them 
a little ; have fine clear coals ; rub the bars of the gridiron 
with a cloth dipped in lard before you put it over the 
coals, that none may drip to cause a bad smell; put no 
salt on till you dish them ; broil them quick, turning them 
frequently ; the dish must be very hot; put some slices of 
onion in it; lay in the steaks ; sprinkle a little salt, and 
pour over them a spoonful of water and one of mushroom 
catsup, both made boiling hot; garnish with scraped 
horse-radish, and put on a hot dish cover. Everything 
must be in readiness, for the great excellence of a beef 
steak lies in having it immediately from the gridiron. 
To Preserve Chab-Apples.— Take off the stem, and 
core them with a pen-knife, without cutting them open; 
weigh a pound of white sugar for each pound of prepared 
fruit; put a teacup of water to each pound of sugar; put 
it over a moderate fire. When the sugar is all dissolved, 
and hot, put the apples in, let their boil gently until they 
are clear, then skirn them out, and spread them on flai 
dishes. Boil the syrup until it is thick; put the apples 
in whatever they are to be kept, and when the syrup is 
cooled and settled, pour it carefully over the fruit. Slices 
of lemon boiled with the fruit may be considered an im- 
provement; one lemon is enough for several pounds of 
fruit. Crab-Apples may be preserved whole, with only 
half an inch of the stem on ; three quaiters of a pound of 
sugar to each pound of fruit. — Godeifs Lady's Back. 
Catfish Soup. — An excellent dish for those who have nci 
imbibed a needless prejudice against those deliciov s fish.~ 
Take two large or four small white catfish that have been 
caught in deep water ; cutoff the heads, and skin and 
clean the bodies; cut each in three parts; put them in a 
pot Avith a pound of lean bacon, a large onion cut up, a 
handful of parsley chopped small, some pepper and salt, 
pour in a sufficient quantity of water, and slew them till 
the fish are quite tender but not broken ; beat the yelks 
of four eggs, and add to them a large spoonful of butter, 
two of flour, and half a pint of rich milk; make all these 
warm and thicken the soup; takeout the bacon, and pui 
some of the fish in your tureen ; pour in the soup, and 
serve it up. 
Wheat Bread. — Mrs. Elliot Smith, of Norway, received 
a premium at the Agricultural Fair for the best specimen 
of Wheat Bread. The following is her process for mak- 
ing it : 
“One third of a leaspoonful of dry powdered hop yeast 
was soaked in a tea-cupful of milk, twenty minutes, to 
this one-sixth of a teaspoonful of dry saleraetus was add- 
ed. This was mixed with two-thirds of a quart 'of new 
