1878.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
65 
insist still more upon sitting up another time. He 
has his reward for early retiring, as he is the only 
child always sure of eating a six o’clock breakfast 
with papa. However the others may lag behind, 
there he sits in his high chair aud bib, holding ani¬ 
mated discourse with one who is to his imagination 
the personification of all the virtues and graces de¬ 
sirable in man. 
Cheap Living for Mary and John. 
They did get married, it seems ; and now Mary 
inquires of me, how they can economize in the 
dietetic department to the best advantage of health 
and general comfort, as well as purse. This Mary 
has so much natural good sense, that I would not 
venture to advise her, did I not believe that she 
will take my advice, or not, just as suits her own 
judgment. I do not positively know, but I suspect 
that her John will not be very hard to suit. He has 
not been greatly pampered in his childhood, and 
will not think it hardship to live without the dain¬ 
ties, which needlessly consume money and time, 
and health, in many families. He has not taken 
enough meals at the best hotels and high-priced 
restaurants, to give him a hankering for choice 
porter-house steak, with an expectation that his 
home cook can give him equally palatable beef¬ 
steak, skillfully prepared from any scrawny bit of 
beef, which he can find at the nearest butcher’s 
shop. Economy is absolutely necessary for this 
young couple, for though John is, as he says, 
“ chock full of day’s works,” having good health 
aud energy, and industrious habits—we have come 
to such a pass in this fine and happy land, that 
many a man, who is williug and eager to work, 
seems forced to stand idle a part of the time. And 
then everyone should prepare for rainy days ahead. 
Meats, Costly and Cheap. 
Speaking of meat—the best beefsteaks are extrav¬ 
agant for all but the wealthy. The seeming neces¬ 
sity for more or less beefsteak at breakfast, to give 
one strength for the duties of the day, is a result of 
habit. People suppose that it possesses uncom¬ 
mon strengthening power, because it acts so quick¬ 
ly upon the system. A bit of juicy beefsteak yields 
us nourishment already 60 nearly assimilated to our 
own flesh and blood, that we begin almost im¬ 
mediately to feel its help, but many—women and 
children especially—are over-stimulated by the 
meat they eat, and receive more harm than bene¬ 
fit from its use. This is a question for individual 
or family judgment; but when good meat is dear, 
we may be 6ure that it is not necessary to the 
health, if other good food be supplied. In select¬ 
ing meat, it is by no means cheapest in the end, to 
“get the best,” if this means that which is highest 
in price. The neck and brisket (breast or breast- 
piece next to the ribs) are low in price, but long 
cooking makes them tender and good. A common 
way now-a-days, and an excellent way, of boiling 
beef, so as to make it tender, and to save all the 
juices of the meat, is to “ smother it down in the 
pot,” or “ roast it in the kettle.” Pieces of the 
leg and shin are also cheap, and from these good 
Soups can be made ; and the soup-meat, cut into 
small bits, or hashed, wilh or without chopped po¬ 
tatoes, will make good breakfast dishes, warmed 
with a little butter, salt, and pepper. More than 
once, one ten-cent soup-bone has helped to make 
two or three meals at our house, and a fifteen-cent 
shin-bone has been worked into four meals for six 
of us—all of which I am not ashamed (as some 
would be) to confess. Why not brag of it ? 
Vegetables—Bread. 
Vegetables are usually cheap, and good as food. 
The earliest in market are of course the dearest, 
but poor folks can wait a little, and enjoy their 
vegetables just as well, when they have become 
plenty, and consequently cheap. Potatoes are dear 
in a time of scarcity, aud though I like to see them 
freely in the family, I do not consider them as 
necessary as some housekeepers do. Bread is, 
after all, the staff of life—the best and cheapest 
food in the end, provided it is good bread. It must 
be sweet with the natural sweetness of the grain, 
as well as light and tender. It must contain the 
bone-building and muscle-making, as well as fat- 
producing elements. Good meat (especially beef), 
good grain (especially wheat), and good milk, each 
give us all the elements required for the building 
up and repairing the waste of the human body, yet 
only milk will do for sole and steady diet, and that 
only for infants. A “ generous diet ” embraces a 
wide variety, and this some of us wish to get with 
as little expense as possible. We want something 
to eat with our bread. “Bread and with it," my 
friend’s brother used to say, when in dry times she 
used to say, “ What in the world shall I get for 
dinner.” Concerning the “with it” part, I may 
write further another time. 
Beef Smothered Down. 
Two, three, or four hours before dinner, (accord¬ 
ing to the size of your piece of meat,) put the beef 
into boiling water, and keep it boiling gently until 
it is cooked very tender. By this time the water in 
the kettle should have all boiled away. Season with 
salt, (and pepper, if you choose,) when the water is 
mostly boiled away, and turn the meat about in the 
kettle frequently toward the last. If at any time 
more water must be added, let it be boiling water. 
A piece with much bone is not suitable for this 
method of boiling, as too much water is required 
to cover it. 
Soup Bones. 
Any good lean meat may be used for soup, for it 
is the juice of the meat that is the essential princi¬ 
ple of meat soup. But bones contain gelatine, 
which is chiefly useful in giving body to the soup. 
Bones, also, contain actual nourishment, according 
to Dr. Smith, author of “Foods.” Those best 
adapted to soup, are pieces of the leg and shin. 
They should be well washed, and subjected to a 
long, steady boiling. So far as the meat is con¬ 
cerned, it need not be boiled longer than until it is 
cooked tender, which may be in three hours ; but 
the bones do not yield their best contribution to 
the soup without longer boiling—from six to eight 
hours, or all day if you like. As poor folks can not 
afford to give the soup-meat to the dogs aud 
chickens, it is well enough to remove the meat 
from the kettle when it is done tender, without al¬ 
lowing it to yield allot its goodness to the soup. 
If you have all of the juice of the meat in the 
broth and the meat, you can use both as you see 
fit, without any waste. But if excellent soup is the 
main object, boil the meat with the bones until all 
are “ in rags,” and you can still use the meat. Of 
course soup-meat must be put into cold water, 
heated slowly, and boiled very gently, but steadily. 
I did not mean to tell now all about soup making. 
- — ». — - 
A Neat and Useful Wood-Box. 
BY JOS. E. TOWNSEND, PAYSON, TJ. T. 
Wherever wood is burned, as it still is, at least in 
the kitchen, in many localities, a box of some kind, 
to hold the day’s supply 
of fuel, is necessaiy. Of 
course a common rough 
box will answer the pur¬ 
pose, so far as to hold 
the wood, but if the box, 
while none the less useful, 
can be made ornamental 
also, two ends are gained. 
Mr. J. L. Townsend, of 
Utah, sends us very neat 
drawings of a wood-box 
of his contrivance, with 
the following description. 
“Materials required in 
construction are : about 30 
ft. 1-ineh white pine, 6 
li-inch No. 8 screws, i lb. 
6-penny nails, a few brads, 
and b lb. glue. Figure 1 
shows an end view with 
center, from which the cir¬ 
cle is drawn at a. Fig. 2 is a front view, from which 
the ornamental back can easily be reproduced, 
figures 1 and 2 both being one-sixteenth of the 
actual size. Figure 3 is a perspective view not 
drawn to scale. Size of box, outside measure, 26 
in. long, 17 in. wide, 15 in. high in front, and 23 in. 
high behind to underside of shelf, 6. Shelf is 28 in. 
Fig. 2.— FRONT VIEW OF WOOD-BOX. 
long, aud 9 in. wide, moulded on ends and front 
edge, projecting 1 inch. Ornamental back is cut 
from a piece 271 in. long, and 131 in. wide. Ate, 
figure 3, is shown a drawer, 4 in. deep on face. 
Fig. 3.— PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF WOOD-BOX. 
sliding under the shelf, b, on cleats fastened to the 
ends of box, inside. At d is a movable till or box, 
which rests in place on shelf 6, and is secured from 
slipping off by pins fastened in the shelf, which en¬ 
ter corresponding holes in the ends of the till. 
Handles to drawer and till are turned from black- 
walnut, and fastened securely by screws from inside. 
The box is securely dove-tailed together, front and 
back, as high as shelf b. The ornamental back- 
piece is then fastened by dowels and glue in place. 
The shelf is then nailed on, nailing through the 
back into the edge of the shelf. The bottom of the 
box is then nailed on, and the drawer, constructed 
of the usual pattern, is fitted to its place, so as to 
slide in and out easily. The till is constructed the 
same as the drawer, except the front, which is made 
from i-inch clear, straight-grained pine, steamed, 
and nailed with i-inch brads, while hot, into its 
place. I designed and made one which we have 
uow r used for three years. It holds enough wood, 
filled morning and evening, to supply our “Charter 
Oak” cook stove. The movable till is very con¬ 
venient to use in gathering chips, or as a receptacle 
for kindlings. It being as light and portable as a 
chip-basket, and Dever in the way. The drawer is 
used to hold a stove-brush, shovel, blacking, stove- 
hook, kindling-hatchet, kindling-saw, hearth- 
broom, etc., being a place for the stove utensils 
that are usually scattered under foot and out of 
place. Our wood box is very neatly painted and 
grained in oak, and combines more usefulness and 
ornament than any like piece of kitchen furniture 
in the market. The drawer is not in the way of 
putting in or taking out fuel, and the boys or men 
who keep the box supplied, should be taught to 
place the wood in quietly and regularly, and not 
to throw it into the box in a careless manner. 
