22 4 = 
AMKRICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[June, 
may be used for cooking any kind of cold meat, 
and when crackers can not conveniently be had, a 
good dish may be made of it, by substituting bread 
crumbs for cracker crumbs. Put a layer of Cracker 
Crumbs in the bottom of a pudding dish. Wet this 
with Milk. Cover with a layer of finely chopped 
Boast Veal. Season the Meat with Salt and Pepper 
tand other flavoring if you choose), and scatter bits 
of Butter over it. Then put a layer of Cracker 
Crumbs wet with Milk, another of Seasoned Meat, 
and so on alternately, finishing with a layer of 
Crackers, mixed with a Beaten Egg. Cover, and 
place it in the oven for about half an hour. Then 
remove the cover, and allow it to bake a nice brown. 
This recipe is highly recommended as an excellent 
way for warming over almost any kind of cold meat. 
A sister, who makes doughnuts (I never do), 
offers me the following recipe for 
SSaised Douglmiits, 
One pint of New Milk, four teaspoonfuls of 
Sugar, one half cup of Yeast, and a little Salt. Stir 
thick with Flour, and let it rise over night. In the 
morning add as little Flour as will make the dough 
thick enough to roll out about an inch thick. Cut 
in squares of an inch and a half. As you drop 
them into the hot fat, stretch them out longer, and 
fry them thoroughly. They are (said to be) excel¬ 
lent with coffee for breakfast. Lard and suet, in 
equal proportions, boiling hot, is is said to be bet¬ 
ter for frying cakes than either alone. 
Ginger-Snaps,, 
Boil together one pint of Molasses (Sorghum is 
excellent for this), one teacup of Shortening (some 
consider Beef Suet the “ snappiest ”), a pinch of 
Salt, a tablespoonful of Ginger. Let it really boil 
for about two minutes, then set aside to cool. 
When cool, add two level teaspoonfuls of Soda, 
and beat all together thoroughly. Add Flour to 
make a dough as soft as you can roll out very thin. 
Cut into shapes, and bake in an oven not too hot, 
as they scorch very easily. 
Care of Cliildren’s Foet. 
I sympathize much with country-bred children in 
their scorn of the notions of city-bred children 
about going bare-foot in warm summer weather. 
“ It will make the feet grow large !” Thus the little 
feet, that ought to grow in proportion as the rest of 
the body grows, are kept in shoes that fit as snugly 
as possible, hence when the body reaches maturity 
it is really deformed, because the little feet dressed 
in “number two,” are not proportioned to the 
figure of medium bight and weight. The Chinese 
plan is the same, only more so. The use of tight 
corsets is on the same principle of false art. So is 
the flat-board used by the “ Flat-head ” Indians to 
“improve” the natural shape of the head. I am 
making no plea now for undressed feet, but I would 
protest against tight shoes for anybody—least of 
all for growing children. 1 know of children who 
have corns on their feet in consequence of this 
abuse. Children should not wear shoes that hurt 
them. A little girl, who turns in her toes when 
walking, acquired the habit by wearing, when three 
years old, a shoe that so hurt her that she could 
only walk easily by turning in her toes. Corns on 
the bottom of the feet are often caused by shoes 
with obtruding pegs, or hard bunches in the thread 
or leather, which press into the sole of the foot. 
ma -O-a-- 
A Screen at the House. 
It is especially the case in sparsely settled por¬ 
tions of the country, that the house is placed quite 
near the public road. This is done to avoid a sense 
of loneliness, and to allow the inmates a glimpse of 
the few passers by, that they may not feel quite iso¬ 
lated. It generally happens that this advantage, as 
it is regarded, is offset by the exposure of the rear of 
the house, the back-door, and the back-door yard, to 
the gaze of all who pass, and it becomes desirable 
to 6but off this view of the premises by a screen, 
which isnecessary also, to allow the inmates to pass 
to the dairy-house, wood-shed, or other out-build- 
lings, unobserved. Houses, where it can be afford¬ 
ed, are often provided with screens of lattice-work, 
of two-ineh slats, crossing one another, with a bot¬ 
tom board below, and cornice above, which are in¬ 
variably painted white, while the lattice itself is 
green. Such a screen, while well enough in a vil¬ 
lage, is quite too artificial and conspicuous for a 
country home. The best screen for the country, 
whether for shutting out the view, or for the shel- 
SCREEN FOR A BACK YARD. 
ter it affords, is a living one of evergreen trees. 
This, however, can not be had at once—time is re¬ 
quired to produce it, and while this is growing 
some other may be supplied. Mr. L. D. Snook, of 
Yates Co., N. Y., sends us a design for a screen, 
which may be used as a permanent one, or to serve 
until one of evergreens has reached high enough 
to take its place. This, shown in the engraving, 
has posts, 7 or 8 feet high, which are connected 
by a cap-piece of boards, cut as there shown, and 
strands of galvanized iron wire (No. 13 or 14), are 
passed from post to post, every 13 or 18 inches, ac¬ 
cording to the kind of plant to be used. One of 
the best plants for such a screen is a rampant grow¬ 
ing grape-vine, such as the “Clinton,” or “Tay¬ 
lor,” and until this gets established, some annuals, 
such as Morning-glories, or such quick-growing 
plants as the Maderia-vine may be used. 
A Warning to Every Housekeeper- 
including husband as well as wife—is the account 
published last month (page 169) of the deaths, at 
Newport, B. L, of six persons in a family of eight, 
all occurring in rapid succession. The important 
portion of this account, is the almost absolute trac¬ 
ing of this mortality to 
its cause — utter and 
shocking neglect to re¬ 
move the wastes of the 
bodies of those eight 
persons. Here, in the 
famed city of Newport 
—the resort of wealthy 
pleasure seekers, and 
the permanent resi¬ 
dence of a community 
widely known for its 
intelligence and refine¬ 
ment—was a state of 
affairs which could 
not be found in the 
poorest “ huddle ” of holes and huts, that answers 
for houses to the lowest of all our tribes of savages, 
the Digger Indians. This condition was not due to 
poverty, but, let us hope, to ignorance rather than 
indifference. There are some subjects that, we 
would prefer not to write upon, but when, as in 
this case, it is one not only involving health, but 
life, we feel it a duty to our readers, to call things 
by their plain names, and to ask them to put aside 
all squeamishness, while we beg them to look to 
the condition of their closets and privy-vaults. 
There are occasional exceptions, but we know that, 
take the country through, outside of villages and 
cities, where there is public provision for carrying 
off fcecal matters, this is the one weak point in our 
domestic arrangements, and a disgrace to our civili¬ 
zation. Several years ago we made a carriage 
journey of several days, with a party of well 
known pomologists, through one of the most noted 
fruit-growing districts in the country. A region 
not only famed for the variety and excellence of its 
fruits, and the beauty of its rural scenery, but also 
for the refinement and hospitality of its people. 
Everything conspired to make the visit in all re¬ 
spects most charming—save one. A large share of 
our enjoyment was neutralized by the horrid con¬ 
dition of the outbuildings—a few at private places 
were bad enough, but those at the three or four 
hotels where we were guests, were of a kind and in 
a condition which need not be described. Were 
some enemy to human health, comfort, and de¬ 
cency, to offer a prize for the very worst affair of 
this kind that human ingenuity could devise, we 
arc quite sure that one of these hotels would win 
it, though the competition among themselves 
would be close. We do not mention this fruit¬ 
growing district as exceptionally bad, but as an in¬ 
stance of a neglect of sanitary matters in a com¬ 
munity where we should least expect to find it. If 
such can occur in the very oldest settlements of 
generally well-to-do people, we may expect newer 
localities, where men are struggling to make a 
home, to be even worse. Diphtheria, as in the 
Newport case, is a disease less frequently traced to 
such causes than Typhoid, and other low forms of 
fever, Scarlet-fever, etc. That any disease can 
originate from neglect of the out-building, should 
alarm the whole community. We frequently read 
in the papers, that “the funeral was attended by 
the most substantial and influential citizens from 
miles around,” and that “the sermon was most 
impressive, and well calculated to comfort the af¬ 
flicted family,” but these, and similar obituary no¬ 
tices, are often quite incomplete for the lack of the 
statement—“the privy-vault and sink-drain remain 
as heretofore.” It is probable that there would be 
less of this neglect, were it not that the subject is 
commonly regarded as taboo —one not to be men¬ 
tioned. “ Water-closet ” is tolerated, but “ privy” 
shocks many very nice people, who w ill hear abso¬ 
lute profanity without protest. In this case we do 
not mean “ water-closets,” but privies, and we say 
that, take them throughout the country, from top 
to bottom, shore to shore, they are a disgrace to a 
people called “ civilized,” not only in the matter of 
decency and comfort, but in the vastly more im¬ 
portant one of health ; and when we hear of certain 
deaths as “ mysterious dispensations of Provi¬ 
dence,” we feel that it would be much more to the 
point to call them “God’s protest againt the viola¬ 
tion of His natural laws ”—laws which many brutes 
observe more closely than do many men. Th-e ex¬ 
istence of this danger is absolutely inexcusable, as 
it can be avoided, almost without trouble and with¬ 
out cost. Now, before w'eather becomes settled at 
raid-summer heat, every common privy should be 
substituted by, or converted into, an ‘ Earth-Closet. v 
Dry Earth, not Sand, 
but good loamy soil, the stiffer the better, and per¬ 
fectly dry, is all that is needed to destroy every of¬ 
fensive odor, and every unhealthful emanation. 
Earth-Closets, or “Commodes,” are very con¬ 
venient, and are commended to those who can af¬ 
ford them. They may be placed in any out-build¬ 
ing, in any vacant closet or other room in the house, 
and for invalids and delicate persons, are the great¬ 
est imaginable comfort. But to secure all the bene¬ 
fits of dry earth, these are not necessary. An Earth- 
