2 4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January, 
writing of numbers, and then simple, graded 
examples in addition, subtraction, multiplication, 
and division. There are no rules and no explana¬ 
tions, because the young child, for whom this in¬ 
troductory book is designed, is supposed to depend 
upon its teacher for oral instruction and explana¬ 
tion. Here is simply something to do, in the doing 
of which the learning comes of itself. This is the 
modern theory of learning rules: learn to do a 
thing, and then tell us how you did it, or how it 
can be done. It was the old way to make the child 
first painfully commit the rule to memory, whose 
sense it could hardly see, until it afterwards learned 
how to apply the rule by familiarity with examples. 
I don’t know where the book mentioned above can 
be obtained, but mothers who see and like the idea, 
can act upon the same theory by using any book, 
and omitting rules and explanations (or not requir¬ 
ing that they be committed to memory, but teach¬ 
ing how, and explaining why, in her own way), or 
without using any book at all. 
Tine Spoiled Bread. 
I thought the fire was going down, and I would 
not need any more for two hours ; so 1 set the 
bread-pan in the oven, with the batch of kneaded 
dough in it, and went up-stairs to work. I was de¬ 
tained longer than I expected, and when I came 
back to the kitchen, there was a hot fire (kindled 
up just before I set the pan in the oven, it seems, - ) 
and I supposed that my bread was spoiled. 1 
pulled off the upper half of it upon my floured- 
kneading board, and picked out the remainder, 
which was half baked, as carefully as I could, and 
set the rough bits on a baking-pan back into the 
hot oven. At noon, when the children came hun¬ 
gry from school, they pounced upon these crusty 
browu-baked bits as something quite rare and good, 
either alone or in milk, and so not any of that batch 
of bread was wasted. 
Simple Dessert Dislics. 
Almost everybody knows “ Brown Betty,” made 
with chopped apples and bread crumbs. “How 
came it to be called “ Brown Betty ?”—I know how 
“Joanna” came to be called, so.. My great aunt 
Joanna told mother how to make it, a plain, but 
good cake, made with some milk, without eggs, 
and from being called “Aunt Joanna’s cake,” it 
came to be “ Joanna.” I turned aside right here to 
ask my mother, now sojourning with me, if she 
remembered how to make 
Joanna Cake.— Here is the rule : One cup of lop- 
pered milk, one cup of sugar, one tablespoonful of 
butter, half teaspoonful of soda. Flavor with nut¬ 
meg, or spice to suit, and use flour to make a rather 
stiff batter. 
This cake would do well to use for a dessert, 
which may be made of any plain cake, with canned 
berries. Split open the warm cake, and spread 
upon each half canned or stewed berries of any 
kind, laying one layer of cake, when spread, above 
the other. A plain sponge cake is very nice treated 
in this way, and makes a rich dessert when served 
with sweetened cream. 
A common cream short-cake, split as for a straw¬ 
berry short-cake, and dressed with sweetened 
cream, makes a delicious dessert. 
To come back to “ Brown Betty.” This can be 
made with almost any kind of fruit. Not long ago, 
a recipe for Brown Betty, made with pie-plant, ap¬ 
peared in the Basket items of the American Agri¬ 
culturist. The idea is to place alternate layers of 
crumbed bread (buttered or not) and fruit in a pud¬ 
ding dish, and bake or steam the whole. The other 
day, I used up a quantity of dried peach sauce, 
which had become rather tiresome, by making a 
dessert, which gave satisfaction, in the shape of 
Dried Peach Brown Betty.— A layer of peach 
sauce in the bottom of the pudding-dish, a layer of 
bread crumbs about an inch thick, sprinkled with 
sugar; another layer of stewed peaches, and a sec¬ 
ond layer of bread crumbs and sugar, with enough 
thin, sweet cream poured over the top to wet the 
upper layer of crumbs. Bake from half an hour to 
an hour, according to the heat of the oven. This 
was eaten with good milk, but sweetened cream 
would not have spoiled it. A similar plain every¬ 
day dessert can be made with dried apple sauce. 
A Hanging Basket for a Cool Room. 
sponged occasionally, to free them from dust, and 
if possible a good showering should now and then 
be given to the whole basket. 
Mrs. 8. J. J., Bergen Co., N. J., wishes to know 
how to fill her hanging basket with plants suited 
to a cool room ; the house is moderately warmed 
throughout, and while the room in which she 
would place the basket is seldom very warm, it 
never gets cool enough to freeze. It is quite late 
BASKET WITH IVY AND HARDY FERNS. 
in the season to start baskets of this kind. We 
might tell our correspondent to 6end it to a florist’s 
to be filled, but the chances are that most florist’s 
plants, being accustomed to heat, would fail to 
flourish in a cool room. If Mrs. J. can get from a 
florist a couple of strong vigorous plants of Europe¬ 
an Ivy, the rest will not be difficult. Most florists 
keep Ivy in pots, as there is considerable demand 
for it during the holidays, and we notice that it is 
generally on sale at all seasons in the stores of the 
city florists. But you can, no doubt, get the plants 
at the florist nearest to you. For the rest, you 
had better go to the woods. It will not be difficult 
to find in almost any rocky ravine, or wooded hill¬ 
side, our largest Evergreen fern, the Evergreen 
Shield fern, Aspidium acrostichoidcs, a vigorous spe¬ 
cies, a foot or more high ; take up some clumps of 
this. You will be very likely to find in the same 
woods the Mitchella, or Partridge-berry, also called 
One-berry, as its fruit is produced by two flowers. 
This is a capital plant for a cool place. Some 
sheets of moss, such as is found at the lower part 
of trees, will be useful. Of course, you can not 
get these if the ground is frozen, any more than 
you can soil from the woods, with which (and some 
sand) to fill the basket. If lucky enough to secure 
all the materials, set a clump of the fern in the 
centre, an Ivy opposite each half of the handle, and 
bits of the Partridge-berry around the edges, so 
that the vine will hang over the sides of the basket. 
Probably each Ivy plant will have several stems ; 
train one or more of these around the handle of 
the basket, and the others to the outside of the 
basket itself, loosely tying the stems in place with 
coarse thread. When all are planted, and the sur¬ 
face of the earth leveled, then place on the sheets 
of moss to quite cover the soil. The moss can 
be tom or cut into bits to fill spaces between the 
larger pieces, and all made to look like an entire 
sheet of green. Press the moss down firmly, to be 
sure that it will be in close contact with the earth. 
The engraving shows a basket we filled with just 
these materials some while ago, and we never had 
one, even when furnished with expensive exotics, 
that gave us more satisfaction. These are all 
shade-loving plants, and do perfectly well in a cool 
room, where there is but little direct sunlight. Of 
course, the soil must be watered when it needs it, 
and the Ivy will be all the healthier if its leaves arq 
A Home-made Work-Table and Basket. 
In former volumns we have given quite a numbei 
of illustrations of articles of furniture to be made 
from available materials, and we now add one more 
to the list—a combined work-table and work-basket, 
from a design sent some time ago. This home¬ 
made furniture, if well put together, will be quite 
as serviceable as that purchased from the cabinet¬ 
maker and upholsterer, and may be made at a cost 
quite insignificant as compared with the other. In 
the matter of appearance, there is a cosy home-like 
look about these home-made articles, that is much 
more in keeping with the surroundings of those in 
moderate circumstances, than any showily uphols¬ 
tered work of the shops. Those of our readers 
who find themselves, as many of them do, at a dis¬ 
tance from cities, can, by the exercise of a little 
mechanical tact, provide themselves with articles 
of use and comfort, which they could not otherwise 
obtain. A barrel, and a few pieces of lumber, will 
furnish the materials for the frame-work of this 
table. The heads of the barrel answer for the base 
and the cover; these being in two or three pieces, 
are fastened together by two strips nailed on in the 
mannerof cleats. To the center of one of these fast¬ 
en an upright standard of a convenient hight, as in 
figure 1; this may be done by putting several strong 
nails through the base, and it would add greatly to 
its strength to place two of four short braces be¬ 
tween the base and the standard; these are not 
shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. The strongest 
and best hoop of the 
barrel is selected, and 
four braces, of staves 
split in halves, or 
other material, are 
attached at half way 
up the standard, one 
end of each being 
firmly nailed to the 
standard, and the 
other end to the 
hoop. The frame be¬ 
ing finished, as in 
figure 1, it is to be 
covered with such 
material as may be 
desired, or may be at hand. Glazed cambric of some 
bright color, covered with Swiss muslin, laid on in 
plaits, makes a very pretty covering ; but the mat¬ 
ter of covering is one that admits of a wide variety, 
and most house-keepers will be inclined to utilize 
some material at 
hand. The covering 
should be put on 
with small tacks, and 
left full enough to 
allow of its being 
gathered in at the 
middle, by means of 
a cord or band, as in 
figure 2. The second 
barrel-head is to be 
covered on both sides 
with the material, 
and may be fastened 
by a hinge to one of 
the braces, or left 
loose. A ruffle or a 
plaited strip should 
be put around the 
cover, and around the 
top and bottom, to 
hide the edges of the 
covering material, 
and give a finish to the whole. If the cover¬ 
ing is not sewed together, but the edges mere¬ 
ly lapped over where they meet, the lower part of 
the table may be used to hold slippers or other ar¬ 
ticles, which may be put in through the opening 
thus left. If desired, the table may have casters 
Fig. 1.— FRAME OF TABLE. 
I 
1 ®^ 
Fig. 2.— TABLE COMPLETE. 
