184; 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Mat, 
camplior is usually preferred. It is said that pow¬ 
dered black pepper, scattered under the edge of car¬ 
pets, will preserve them from attacks. Dr. Harris 
says that “ the cloth lining of carriages can be 
secured forever from their ravages by being washed 
or sponged on both sides by a solution of Corrosive 
Sublimate in alcohol, made just strong enough to 
leave a white stain on a black feather.”—I have 
lived most of my life where none of these precau¬ 
tions were necessary, but I shall never forget the 
shame'I felt, during the first year of my house-keep¬ 
ing, when 1 discovered the wide-spread damage 
done in my house, before I had even thought of 
such a thing as moths. 
Care of Winter Bcd-clotlies In Summer. 
In a sister’s letter I find some good suggestions 
about the proper keeping of unused bedding. Be¬ 
fore she came West she had plenty of good roomy- 
closets, but now she lives in a house with only one 
small clothes-room. So she manufactures closet- 
room out of dry goods boxes. A medium sized 
box, turned up on one side, with cleats nailed on 
the ends inside the box, for two shelves, affords 
room to pile away her bed quilts nicely folded ; and 
then she covers them with newspapers, tucked un¬ 
der all across the front, so as to exclude dust. From 
the top of the box she hangs a curtain, and covers 
the whole with a cloth or with paper, using the flat 
top for a table to lay piles of papers and magazines 
which she wishes to preserve. I have previously 
described a table made of a drygoods box, by turn¬ 
ing it on its side and elevating it on legs. Such 
tables are excellent places for packing comforters 
and quilts The bed-clothes should be well aired 
on the clothes-line in the sunshine, before putting 
them away. If blankets are packed away in these 
box tables, they must be especially guarded from 
moths, as previously directed. 
JfSeaia Soup. 
A friend recommends this as the best: Soak the 
beans over night. Boil three hours, or until very 
soft. Strain them through a colander and, after 
placing the soup again over the fire (to heat, but not 
to boil more than a minute), season for one pint of 
beans as follows : One teaspoonful each of sugar 
and salt, half teaspoonful pepper, teacupful of milk, 
one tablespooufuj of butter, and one beaten egg. 
IPottecl 55am. 
In warm weather it is difficult to keep ham that 
has been cut. The following plar, is safe and good. 
Cut all that will make gool slices, and fry as for 
the table Lay the pieces close aud even in a 
stone jar, packing them snugly and pressing them 
down. Pour all the hot fat over them, to fill the 
spaces and exclude air. Lay a plate over the top 
with a stone upon it Keep in a cool, dry place, 
and you will find it nice and convenient all through 
warm weather. When wanted for the table, lay 
slices in the frying-pan, and only heat them 
through without more cooking. Be careful to 
keep the top of the jar covered carefully, so that 
flies may never gain an entrance. 
How to Bake a Mam. 
A good way to cook a ham, is to bake it. Soak 
about twelve hours. Wash very clean, trimming 
away any rusty parts. Wipe dry, and cover 
the part not protected with skin, with a paste, or 
dough made of flour and hot water. Lay in a drip¬ 
ping-pan, with the paste-covered side upwards, 
with enough water to keep it from burning. Bake 
until a fork pierces it easily, allowing about twenty- 
five minutes to each pound of the ham. Baste oc¬ 
casionally with the drippings, to prevent the crust 
of paste from cracking off. When done, peel oft 
this crust and remove the skin of the ham It may 
be served as it is, or it may be glazed. 
To Glaze a Ham, 
Brush the ham over with beaten egg. To a cup 
of finely powdered cracker, allow enough rich milk 
or cream to make into a thick paste, add a little 
salt, and work in a teaspoonful of softened butter. 
Spread this evenly over the ham, a quarter of an 
inch thick, and set it in a moderate oven to brown. 
Rliuba rb Pie. 
Some very early Rhubarb, with tender red stems, 
does not need scraping or skinning, or anything but 
simply washing ; but usually the first thing to be 
done, is to strip the stems of the tough skins. Cut 
into half inch slices, and lay them evenly on the 
undercrust. Scatter over this a teacupful of sugar 
and a tablespoonful of flour. Wet the edge of the 
undercrust all around, and press the edge of the 
uppercrust neatly to it. Dip the fingers in flour and 
pass around the cut edge, to make it close well, so 
that the juice will not be lost. Care is needed that 
it does not bake too fast (the most common cause 
of running over), yet it does not want a slow oven. 
Gardening for a House-keeper. 
“Mrs. J. R. S.” goes to the country in May, and 
stays until October. They keep a man to care for 
the horse and cow and the vegetable garden. “ Mr. 
S.” comes from the city at evening, and goes back 
Fig. 1.— DESIGN FOR FLOWER-BEDS. 
in the morning; and whatever of flower gardening 
is done, must be done by the Madame herself, with 
such help as the man can afford. The cottage has 
a fair-sized front-yard, with grass in very good condi¬ 
tion ; there are a few shrubs, but they all flower 
early, and are soon done with, and she wishes to 
break up the uniform green, and put a spot of 
bright color on the lawn, hut she would do this at 
a very little expense, and with the least possible la¬ 
bor. No doubt this is the case with many other 
house-keepers—they would like to know how they 
can do a bit of ornamental gardening inexpensively, 
both as to outlay of money and labor. For such 
purposes, they must rely upon Annuals, and to pro¬ 
duce the best effect, these should be in masses. 
The accompanying diagram, fig. 1, is of some beds 
made a few summers ago by a neighbor of ours, 
which were very successful, indeed more effective 
than the gardens of some of her neighbors, where 
a gardener was kept, and a vastly greater expense 
incurred. Here we have an oval bed, with a curved 
bed at each side, and a small circular bed at each 
end ; the simple outlines are hi much better taste 
than the stars, hearts, and such figures as are often 
attempted. It is not easy to make an oval by the 
eye, but very easy with two sticks and a string, as 
shown in figure 2. At a and 6 are two stout sticks, 
put firmly in the ground. The dotted line is a 
cord, or strong twine, made fast to another stick at 
c, which is to serve as a marker. By moving the 
stick c in either direc¬ 
tion, keeping the cord 
tight all the while, a 
regular oval may be 
traced, which will be 
narrower or broader, as 
the cord is lengthened 
or shortened. On the 
bare ground, the out¬ 
line may be scratched by the stick c.; but as the 
bed is to be made in the grass, a number of sticks, 
one say for each foot or so, will be needed—hits of 
lath, or any twigs, will answer; these sticks are 
to be used to mark the outline, and one is to be 
stuck into the ground every foot or so at the places 
indicated, by moving the stick c. When the out¬ 
line is satisfactory, the turf should be carefully 
cut with a sharp spade, following the sticks as a 
guide, aad taken up and removed. It will then be 
easy to lay out the two curved and two circular 
beds, which should have the turf removed from 
them in the same manner. In the case referred to, 
the oval was four and a half feet wide, the two cir¬ 
cles four feet across, and the curved beds three 
feet wide; the width of grass left between the dif¬ 
ferent beds was two and a half feet, to allow the 
mowing-machine to be readily used. If the turf 
has been neatly taken off, probably no soil need be 
added; some well-rotted manure should be given, 
and the beds well forked over, and the soil made 
fine and mellow with the fork and rake. Now for 
filling the beds. The center one was filled with the 
Petunia , the “ Countess of Ellsmere,” which is one 
of the best bedders; a rather small flower, but of 
good substance, of a deep rose-color, with a white 
throat, and very lively. This may he had of most 
seedsmen, but, of course, any 
other will do, if preferred. For 
the curved beds, two colors of 
Phlox Drwnfnondii, the catalogues 
allow quite a selection. For the 
circles, both may be filled with 
Dwarf Convolvulus, the bright 
blue or purple variety. These 
selections can be varied indefi¬ 
nitely, but those named are of 
annuals that are really effective, 
and, what is quite important, last 
long in bloom. They may be 
sown in the beds, and thinned 
afterwards, but it w'ould be bet¬ 
ter to sow, at least the Petunia 
and Phloxes, in boxes, the seeds 
are so fine ; and when the plants 
are large enough, transplant to 
six or eight inches apart each 
=?<•" wa y t all over the beds. If a 
bolder effect is desired, a Cas¬ 
tor-Oil plant may occupy the 
center of the oval, surrounded by the Striped 
Japanese Maize, the four outer beds being plant¬ 
ed as before suggested. Either of these arrange¬ 
ments will be very brilliant and satisfactory, at 
an outlay of only 50 cents for seeds. 
Fig. 3.— oval. 
Women’s and Children’s Shoes, 
“R. K.,” Hartford, Conu., wishes a recipe to 
make a dressing to use upon the shoes of the 
women and children ; one that “ will polish, will not 
crack, and will be good for the leather.” There 
arc various preparations sold, but R. K. is tired of 
buying them, as their chief expense is for the bot¬ 
tles, which when empty accumulate, aud are not 
useful for any other purpose. The only article of 
the kind with which wc have had much experience, 
is the old-fashioned “ Sponge-Blacking,” which has 
been in use for a half century or more. It is simply 
a Shellac varnish, and is probably not especially 
“ good for the leather”—a matter of not much im¬ 
portance for the shoes of women and children, the 
uppers of which, under any circumstances, outlast 
the usually thin soles. To make this, put half a 
pound of gum shellac in a wide-moutlied bdttle, 
or fruit jar, and cover it with stronq alcohol; loosely 
cork, and set this in a sauce-pan of cold water, 
placing under it a small piece of board, a couple of 
sticks, oi whatever will keep the bottle from di¬ 
rect contact with the bottom of the sauce-pan. Set 
the pan on the stove, and allow it to heat up grad¬ 
ually, and keep the water at the simmering point, 
stirring from time to time with a stick, until the 
shellac is dissolved, which it should be in half 
an hour or less. Recollect that the vapor of 
alcohol is very inflammable, and it must be kept 
from contact with the fire. When the shellac is 
thoroughly dissolved, remove the bottle from the 
sauce-pan, and add one ounce of lamp-black, stir¬ 
ring thoroughly, until all lumps are removed. If 
too thick, as it is likely to be, add more alcohol 
to make it thin enough to apply readily with a 
brush, or by means of a sponge attached to a wire. 
Keep well stopped, and if it becomes thick by the 
evaporation of the alcohol, add more. This applied, 
as a varnish, to leather, rubbers, etc., dries at once, 
