1878 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
425 
the Winter-berry, or Black Alder, and those who 
live where Holly grows, will not fail to secure the 
berries of that. It will be proper to make the pul¬ 
pit or desk, the center or most prominent point of 
the decorations, placing the most elaborate work 
there, and making the rest subordinate to that. The 
most generally useful decorations are wreaths, as 
they may he employed in a variety of ways; they 
may entwine pillars, surround arches and window- 
frames, and used in festoons anywhere. Next to 
wreaths, circles, or garlands ; and then come in 
various ornamental designs more or less elaborate. 
To Make a Wreath. 
A cord or rope, according to the size of the 
wreath, is required, some small but strong twine, 
and the green broken into bits, large or small, as 
may be needed, as the wreath is to be thick or 
slender. In a division of labor, some will prepare 
the material, while others make it up. Hemlock, 
Aborvitee, Box, or Ground Pine, is to be broken 
into bits of the needed size, the last named, being 
often used whole ; a loop is made in the rope or 
cord, by which it may be hung to some convenient 
door-knob nail, or other support; a piece of the 
green is laid upon the rope and tied fast with the 
twine, which, for conveni¬ 
ence, should be in small 
halls, or better wound 
upon a stick as boys wind 
a kite string. Another 
piece of green is laid on 
to lap over the first, and 
made fast with a simple 
loop of the twine, or './hat 
the sailors call a “ half- 
hitch.” The work is con¬ 
tinued in this manner, 
each bit over-lapping the tied end of the one before 
it, and each fastened with a loop. The size of the 
wreath is governed by the size of the twigs and the 
manner of lapping ; in every case, the work should 
be even and alike. When the wreath is of the 
proper length, fasten the last pieces by several 
turns of the twine, and tying it very securely. 
To Make Garlands and Stars. 
Split a barrel hoop, or whittle it down, or form 
circles of willow wands or whatever shoots will 
answer, and make them fast by tying the ends with 
twine, or what is better, fine copper wire. The 
frame-work being made, it. is to be covered in the 
same manner as-the green is fastened to the cord 
to make a wreath. A star may often be used with 
good effect, alternating with garlands, or by itself. 
These are easily made with two triangles of com¬ 
mon lath placed across one another as shown in 
figure 1, they may be made narrow and covered in 
the manner already described. If large leaves, like 
those of Holly, Ivy etc., are to be used, the star 
may be made of stiff, brown paper, and the leaves 
sewed to it with black or green thread ; this may 
then be stiffened by tacking it to a lath frame. 
Ornamental Designs 
can be made in great variety and as elaborate as one 
chooses. A simple design is shown in fig. 2 ; a tri¬ 
angle within a circle. To make this, get a circular 
board—a barrel head having the pieces fastened 
together with battens will answer; cover this 
neatly with white, crimson, scarlet, or blue cloth. 
Make the circle and triangle of willow with small 
twigs bound on, to cover one side only, or use 
large leaves, sewed to shapes of stiff, brown paper 
or thin paste-board ; these may then be attached to 
the circular base by means of nails. The large 
design, fig. 3, is intended for the front of the pulpit 
•or desk, or similar place. It consists of a Maltese 
•Cross, a circle, within this a star, and inside 
•of the star the accepted monogram to repre¬ 
sent the name of The Saviour, I. II. S. (Jesus Homi- 
num Salvator ), as used in church decorations. 
The cross and star are best made of some thin 
wood ; the circle may be of stiff pasteboard ; the 
cross and star are covered with white or colored 
cloth ; paper may be used, but the effect is not so 
vieh ; the edgings to the cross, star, and the circle, 
iare made with Holly, Ivy, or other leaves sewed to 
stiff paper shapes, and afterwards tacked on ; the 
monogram, if used, may be made of card-board, 
and covered with gilt or silvered paper. We give 
in fig. 4 another form of monogram, which may be 
easily constructed from the hints already given. 
Where berries or dried flowers are to be used on 
any of these designs, the fine iron wire known at 
the hardware stores as “binding wire,” or a still 
finer kind, kept by dealers in florist’s requisites, as 
bouquet wire, will be useful; it is very strong, 
and so fine as to be invisible at a little distance. 
Household Notes and Queries. 
Banged Hair.— We are glad that Faith Roches¬ 
ter records her protest against a fashion which, as 
with other styles, is 
new in her far West¬ 
ern home, while in 
Eastern cities it has 
run its course and is 
on its decline. There 
may be some of our 
readers, we trust 
there are many, who 
have never seen or 
Fig. 3. DESIGN FOR PULPIT. 
heard of the horror 
of “Banged Hair.” 
Enough hair is brought 
down directly over the 
forehead to make a thin 
fringe, and is then cut 
straight across on a line 
with the eyebrows. The 
writer’s first knowledge 
of the style spoiled 
a good dinner for him. 
We were dining at the house of a well known 
gentleman, where the surroundings indicated cul¬ 
ture and travel; after we were seated at the table, 
two young ladies of the family took seats on the 
opposite side, both having their hair thus disfigured. 
Never having heard of such a style, the suddenness 
of its appearance in such a place, its incongruity 
with the general appear¬ 
ance, dress, and posi¬ 
tion of the wearers, 
made it a surprise as 
unpleasant as it was 
sudden. When we saw 
the first young lady, the 
thought came that the 
hair had been so treated 
to hide a horrid scar, 
but the appearance of 
the other disposed of 
this idea. Anything 
more out of place, more 
uncouth than this whim 
we have never seen. 
We once lived in a town 
where there was a fami¬ 
ly noted for its number 
of uninteresting chil¬ 
dren. Their circum¬ 
stances did not allow 
of the employment of 
a barber, but when the 
hair of the children 
became too long, the mother cut it in the most 
impartial manner, straight around, front and 
rear alike. Their appearance was so peculiar that 
a waggish friend of ours used to say that Mrs. B. 
put a bowl over the children’s heads as a guide, and 
cut even with the edge of the bowl. We never see 
a case of “ banging ” but we think of the numerous 
young B.’s with their hair cut round by the bowl. 
Fig. 4. —MONOGRAM. 
How to make Scrapple.— Last spring some of 
our house-keeper’s circle asked for a recipe for 
“ scrapple ” ; knowing that the best way to get the 
recipe was to ask here for it, we did so in May last. 
Our answers came just at the beginning of hot 
weather, a time when they would be of no use, so 
we put them aside until cooler weather would bring 
the materials for making it. Over 20 answers 
came, and while we thank all who responded, we 
publish only two of the most unlike: 
The Illinois method with Scrapple.— Mrs. 
H. T. F., Lee Co., Ill., sends the following. “ Soak 
a hog’s head, cleaned, and cut up into four or five 
pieces, in cold water over night, to remove blood; 
boil till the flesh falls from the bones, and can be 
easily made fine without chopping. The water 
should be about three gallons for a whole head, 
and should be kept up to that amount by adding 
more while boiling. Let stand until cool, take off 
and save the fat that rises, to use in frying. Warm 
it over the fire again, remove the bones, sepa¬ 
rate the meat into fine particles, without chopping; 
put the meat, with the liquor, back over the fire, and 
when boiling, stir in equal parts of Indian meal and 
buck wheat flour, to make a mush of the ordinary 
consistence ; season well with salt, pepper, and sage ; 
when done, pour into pans, to cool and keep until 
wanted. When used, slice and fry as you do cold 
hasty-pudding, using the fat jireviously taken off; 
fry to a nice brown on both sides, and serve. In 
cool weather it will keep for weeks.It would 
not be right if we did not give a recipe for 
“Scrappel” from Pennsylvania, as we have 
always understood that it originated among the 
Dutch settlers of that State. The following comes 
from “ W. C. B.,” Media, Pa., who says that recipes 
have appeared in some papers, with hardly a true 
feature in them. “ W. C. B.” (who insists that the 
true spelling is “ scrappel ”) says : “ In Pennsylva¬ 
nia almost every one who raises hogs makes scrap- 
pel, and those who do not, obtain a supply from 
the butchers, who make it in vast quantities. Head¬ 
cheese is very little used here now, and scrappel 
has to a great extent superseded sausage, as it costs 
but half as much, and is considered more whole¬ 
some. The upper part of the pig’s head is used, 
divested of the snout, eyes, and ears. After soak¬ 
ing some hours in salt water, it is boiled, together 
with all the trimmings from the hams and shoul¬ 
ders, and the skins from the portions intended for 
lard. Boil until the whole is very tender, and the 
bones may be readily separated. A portion, but not 
generally the whole of the liver, is boiled tender, 
with the rest, when it is taken out, and crumbled 
up finely. The fat is skimmed from the top, and 
the meat, skins, liver, etc., are chopped with a sau¬ 
sage cutter. The whole is then returned to the 
boiler with a liberal supply of water, and when it 
boils, it is thickened with Indian meal alone, or a 
part buckwheat meal or wheat middlings. These 
are added gradually, as in making mush, with con¬ 
stant stirring. While the mixing is going on, the 
seasoning is added ; usually salt, pepper, and sage. 
When it is so thickened, as to be stirred with dif¬ 
ficulty, it is poured into tin pans or earthen basins 
to cool. It may be eaten without further cooking, 
but it is generally cut, like mush, in slices, and fried. 
Laid settles upon the top of each pan of scrappel, 
so that no other fat is required in cooking it.” 
Over-Doing It. —Aunt Mehitabel thus sensibly 
writes from Penn Tan, N. Y. : “There is a good 
deal of sense and true taste in Faith Rochester’s 
remarks on house decoration in the September 
number of the American Agriculturist; little touches 
here and there do brighten up a room, and make it 
more cheerful and home-like, but the truth is, that 
ladies who have a taste for fancy-work are apt to 
over-decorate their rooms until they too much re¬ 
semble one that my sister saw last year in an inte¬ 
rior town, and which she described to me as 1 mot- 
toed, and bracketed, and wall-pocketed, and dried- 
grassed to death ! ’ Certainly the owner of that 
room did not believe with Michael Angelo, that 
‘ the strictly beautiful is the very purgation of super¬ 
fluities.’ ”—There can be too much of a good thing. 
