66 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[February, 
THE HtMiEMtOm 
For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
A Useful Paper Holder. 
While visiting some friends recently, we 
saw a Paper Holder, so neat in its appearance 
that we give an engraving of it for the bene¬ 
fit of other friends in the country and else¬ 
where. It consists of a thin piece of wood 
cut into a pleasing 
shape, with a bevel¬ 
led edge. Narrow 
slits are made in 
four places in the 
back piece, for the 
passage of ribbon, 
as shown. The 
whole is hung to a 
hook by the ribbon, 
which continues 
above and from the 
rear of the board. 
The space between 
the ribbon and the 
back furnishes a 
place for putting 
the papers. This 
holder is easily 
a wall paper holder, made, and may be 
of light or dark wood, with plain or bright 
colored ribbon, to suit the taste of the maker. 
Some Easily Made Hanging Baskets. 
One can purchase most elaborate hanging 
baskets, and very elegant some of them are. 
But it has always been the aim of the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist to show that the adorn¬ 
ment of the homes of its readers need not 
depend upon the possession of wealth to ex¬ 
pend upon them. A basket for plants is of 
less consequence than its contents; if costly, 
the beauty of the plants should conceal that 
of the receptacle, and if homely, the plant 
will exalt it, and make the whole beautiful. 
We have in times 
past given engrav¬ 
ings of very simple 
baskets, but of none 
more simple or easily 
made than that in 
figure 1. Almost any 
straight sticks or 
twigs, all the better 
if they have a rough 
bark, are laid up in 
cob-house style. Such 
a basket is best put 
together with bits of 
strong wire at the 
corners. Holes are 
bored, the wires pass¬ 
ed through, making 
a twist or knot be¬ 
low, and above twist¬ 
ing to form an eye 
to serve to attach the 
cord or chain by 
which to hang it. Of 
course similar strips, or even pieces of lath, 
should be used for the bottom. Such a bas¬ 
ket is best lined with the moss that is found 
growing at the base of trees in moist woods; 
this can be pulled off in large sheets, and is 
easily fitted to the interior of such a basket. 
While it keeps the soil in place, it allows 
ferns and other plants to grow through it. 
ING BASKET. 
Figure 2 shows a similar basket filled with 
common wild ferns, but it will answer equally 
well for exotics. The winter is the time in 
which to prepare such baskets for summer 
use on the veranda. Though these examples 
are square, it is equally easy to make six- 
sided baskets of similar materials. A window 
Fig. 2. —A HANGING BASKET FILLED WITH PLANTS. 
box may be easily constructed in the same 
manner, to be furnished with a zinc lining. 
Home Topics. 
BT FAITH ROCHESTER. 
Bread-making’ in Winter. 
House-keepers sometimes object to the use 
of the dry yeast-cakes purchased at groceries, 
because bread made with them is so slow to 
rise, especially in winter. I like to use these 
cakes in hot weather on that very account. 
The bread sponge never sours on the hottest 
nights. But in winter it is advisable to set a 
small sponge in the afternoon—about four 
o’clock—in this way : A scant pint of flour is 
mixed with a pint and a half of warm water. 
To this add a cake of yeast previously soaked 
in a little warm water (taking care not to 
scald the yeast), and beat all well together. 
By seven o'clock this, if kept covered in a 
warm place near the stove, will be very light. 
Now set your bread sponge as usual, using 
this smaller sponge for your yeast. Cover 
warm, and in the morning you will be almost 
sure to find it very light and entirely sweet. 
Now, if you have a good deal to attend to, 
you can defer kneading the dough until after 
breakfast, provided you stir in considerable 
flour and mix it thoroughly with the spoon. 
House-keeping Schools. 
I hear that the cooking schools already 
established in some of our principal cities, are 
being enlarged in their scope, so as to teach 
all of the branches of house-keeping. These 
schools are especially designed to fit young 
girls for domestic service. The University 
of Iowa deserves much praise for its efforts 
to make accomplished house-keepers of its 
lady graduates. This is all well, and gives 
hope that the noble arts of the housewife, 
the cook, the laundress, the chamber-maid, 
may all rise in dignity and respect as they 
improve in thoroughness and adaptation to 
human needs. I should like to put my 
daughters through a course of lessons in 
domestic art under the best of teachers. I 
suppose they would then know how to cook 
everything properly. But I do not suppose, 
as do some of the editors who write pretty 
paragraphs on this subject, should those 
same daughters of ours come to have two or 
three small children clinging to their gowns, 
and no hired help here in the West, for love or 
money, that each dish, and a variety of dishes 
too, will come to every meal, each one just 
“ done to a turn.” Neither do I believe that 
all the instruction given in cleaning and 
scrubbing will make it easy—I may say pos¬ 
sible —for a farmer’s wife to keep her floors 
clean when, as is sometimes the case, there 
is no grass about the house, and no good, 
clean walks of boards, or graved, or cement. 
Especially is this so if a plenty of soft water 
is not easily obtained. 
Not an Unusual Case. 
Take an average American girl, who has 
learned how to keep house from her mother. 
Put her and her little family into a small 
house with neither closets nor bureaus. Let 
the plowed ground come up all around the 
doors and remain without seeding or sodding 
with grass for years. Let there be no water 
within many rods of the house, and perhaps 
make it necessary to have all that she uses 
brought by a small boy in two or three quart 
pails, and often hard-water at that. Let 
there be always a babe less than three years 
old in the family. Make it necessary for her 
to aid in the financial support of the family, 
by sewing, teaching, or other labor, trying to 
do all of her house work at the same time, 
and if her health fails—will you say that it is 
all because she was not properly instructed 
how to do the work of three women with 
only one pair of hands ! 
I wanted to say this because I think that 
one thing, one of the things that breaks down 
some overworked women (I have seen a 
good many of them), is because they feel 
that their husbands think that they ought to 
cook everything as nice as it can be found at 
first-class restaurants and hotels, for instance, 
make juicy porter-house broiled steak, when 
only tough round-steak is provided, and 
their stoves have no suitable broiling-place; 
make delicious soup with no sweet herbs for 
seasoning and with no suitable soup kettle. 
It is a good thing to speak out plainly. 
There certainly is something wrong some¬ 
where, and if we will all be frank and 
charitable, we may find a cure, or at least 
some way to mend these important matters. 
A Neat, Rustic Flower Stand. 
The engraving shows how a crotched stick,, 
such as any one can 
find in the forest,, 
may be turned to 
good service in mak¬ 
ing a stand for hold¬ 
ing a pot of window 
plants. The three 
branches, serving as 
legs of the tripod, 
should come from 
the main trunk at 
nearly the same 
point, and be about 
equally distant from 
each other at their 
lower ends. The size, 
both as regards higl 1 1 
and thickness of the 
trunk and legs, will 
be determined by 
the space allowed 
for the stand, the size of the pot it is desired 
to hold, etc. The whole “make up” of this, 
rustic stand is made clear by the engravings 
A RUSTIC FLOWER STAND. 
