Stray Leaves from a Border Garden 
make loose teeth firm if the juice mixed with Mutton-broth 
be used as a Gargle ! As for the “ Ripe Berries, they refresh 
weak and Fainting Spirits.” Some people eat Pepper with 
Strawberries ; this is said to be practised both by Mexicans 
and Scotch ! Our American cousins have a recipe for a 
most attractive dainty, Strawberry Short Cake, which I must 
try. The dish is of New England origin, but the recipe 
sent me comes from Virginia. This is it. Strawberry 
Shortcake : Take i quart flour ; i teaspoonful of salt ; 2 
teaspoonfuls yeast powder ; 3 tablespoonfuls butter ; 1 egg ; 
1 tablespoonful white sugar; J pint sweet milk. Sift 
the flour, powder and salt together rub in the butter cold, 
add the egg slightly beaten, then the sugar, and milk; 
mix into a smooth dough, just soft enough to be easily 
handled. Roll out in two pieces, thin to size required ; 
lay one on top of the other, and bake in a hot oven in a 
well-greased pan, about fifteen minutes. Separate while yet 
warm, not hot, use one for bottom crust with a layer of nice 
ripe berries on it, well sugared, then lay on the other piece, 
and cover with berries as before, sprinkled well with sugar. 
Serve with cream ; whipped cream is preferable. The berries 
should not be cooked. Slice the cake in pieces about two 
inches by two and a half inches in size, before covering 
with cream and sending to the table. Ordinary sponge- 
cake made in layers can be used in this way, and black- 
berries or raspberries instead of strawberries. 
June 23. — We have been very busy to-day weeding. It is 
extraordinary how swiftly weeds grow and how slowly in 
comparison flowers. I feel I should like to have a Franken- 
stein’s Monster solely for weeding. I should never need 
to say the word that would stop its work, I should think. 
There is an old saying, “ The frost hurts no weeds,” and 
another, sadly true, “ One year’s seeding is seven years weed- 
ing.” The Saxons rightly in deed called June the Weed month. 
I heard a most interesting description to-day of a 
Japanese miniature garden brought home by a lady, who 
had visited Japan, to her house in England. It was a 
garden in a sort of large teatray, containing tiny Azaleas 
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