AMERICAS' AGRICULTURIST. 
Ill 
1881 .] 
will furnish many an horn of amusement for 
the children, and the grown people too.” 
Stove-Pipe Made Portable. 
On an Upper Missouri River steamboat, last 
summer, we noticed a method of transport¬ 
ing bulky stove-pipes, which may be common, 
but we never happened to see it before. The 
o 
Fig. 1.— SINGLE SECTION. 2. —PIECES TELESCOPED. 
sheet-iron is all prepared ready for use, ex¬ 
cept the final locking, a section of which is 
shown in figure 1. Then 15 to 20 pieces are 
telescoped together, as in figure 2, tied in a 
bundle, and covered with sacking or paper, 
if to be exposed to much dampness. In this 
way they can be stored or carried in a tenth 
or twentieth part of the space required by the 
completed pipes. When wanted, any one 
can finish them by bringing the locking edges 
together, and slipping them over a round 
iron rod or crow-bar, and hammering along 
the joint. As the locking is close enough for 
ordinary use without much hammering, mil¬ 
itary men, hunters, and others frequently 
changing camp, can use them without ham¬ 
mering, taking them down and packing them 
together as often as this may be needed. 
Home Topics. 
BY FAITII ROCHESTER. 
Time Wanted. 
Time is “a good thing”—time enough to do 
one’s proper work and do it well. What can 
we do when we seem to have two or three 
times as much work to do as can be done in 
a day ? There are some people much at leis¬ 
ure, and some even find time hanging heavy 
on their hands. This is not often the case 
with mothers. Mrs. Diaz made her “School¬ 
master” suggest a new society “ for the fur¬ 
nishing of more time to mothers.” The main 
idea proposed was simplicity, in house ap¬ 
pointments, dress, diet, and social cere¬ 
monies. But, my dear school-master, when 
you have simplified things about as near back 
to barbarism as you can decently, and still 
feel nearly driven to distraction by the 
amount of work you ought to do and can’t, 
then what? But why cannot one do any 
amount of work if one really tries ? Let an¬ 
other of Mrs. Diaz’s characters reply—a man 
who undertook for a day to supply the place 
of his wife in the home circle, she being sick. 
She told him in the morning all that ought 
to be done that day, and he was confident 
that he could do it all. Night found him 
sadly behind, and much perplexed because he 
had failed in his expectations. “I could do 
every identical thing on that list,” said he, 
“ if there was only time enough ! ” 
Many and many a woman has gone to her 
grave wearied out more by what she couldn’t 
do than what she actually did. Really sensible 
women do not kill themselves, I suppose, and 
I should like to be one of the sensible ones; but 
until within the last hour I have not been able 
to study out a way of escape from overdoing. 
Our present situation is such that it seems 
impossible to keep a hired girl, and the two 
eldest children go to school. I thought if the 
rooms were few and near together I could do 
the work more easily, but the dirt is all the 
thicker and the confusion worse when there 
is no room to spread it. Yesterday I saw a 
ghd who has formerly been in my service, 
and I shall try to engage her to come and 
help me three days in the week from nine 
o’clock until two or three. I will still have the 
washing done out of the house, but Polly 
shall (if she will come) do some of the iron¬ 
ing, knead the huge batches of bread which I 
find it necessary to make in order to satisfy 
seven healthy stomachs, and, when there is 
no house work more pressing, she can help 
with the sewing* as she used to do. And 
then, perhaps, I shall find time to sew on all 
the family buttons, to keep stockings for 
seven persons always well darned, and cloth¬ 
ing properly made or patched, floors and 
windows clean, drawers and closets and 
trunks all in order, and time to answer 
children’s questions as they ought to be an¬ 
swered, to teach them patiently, to read with 
the children, and, perhaps, to answer my let¬ 
ters and also read an occasional good book. 
A Spool “What-Not.” 
The old spools that accumulate in a house¬ 
hold are sometimes made useful in the con¬ 
struction of a hanging “ What-Not.” Three 
or four thin strips of board serve as the shelves. 
They have a hole bored in each comer for the 
passage of the supporting cords. The spools 
are strung upon the cords, and keep the shelf- 
boards at the desired 
distance from each 
other. Care should 
be taken that all the 
spools used on the 
four cords between 
any two shelves are 
of the same length, 
or at least are so 
arranged that the 
shelves will be level. 
“I. J. H.,” who 
sends the sketch 
from which the ac¬ 
companying engrav¬ 
ing is made, writes 
that his shelves were 
made from the thin 
pieces of board upon 
which dress goods 
are wrapped. A stain with a coat of varnish 
will give a pleasing finish to this cheaply 
made and handy household convenience. 
To Ulake a Chicken I*ie. —Faith Roch¬ 
ester writes : A friend who makes delicious 
chicken pie gives me her recipe : Cut up or 
disjoint the chickens—two for a pie in a six- 
quart pan—into small parts. Cover with 
water, rather more than enough to cover the 
pieces as they lie in the kettle, as much gravy 
will be called for. Stew until tender, or from 
one to two hours. When done, take up the 
meat and make a gravy in the kettle by 
adding cream, or, in its absence, milk, with 
warmed butter and flour well stirred together, 
and salt, pepper, or other seasoning, as pre¬ 
ferred. There should be enough gravy to 
allow a bowlful to be taken out for the table 
and then have enough to nearly fill the pie. 
Make a crust as for biscuit or short cake—a 
good cream short-cake is very nice, but here 
is a good crust made with baking powder : 
One quart of sweet milk for wetting, three- 
fourths of a cup of butter, softened for short¬ 
ening and four teaspoonfuls of baking powder 
for lightening—the latter mixed and sifted 
with the necessary quantity of flour which I 
cannot exactly give. Roll out half an inch 
thick and line a six-quart milk can, put in the 
chickens evenly distributed, fill in with gra¬ 
vy, cover with the rest of the crust with a 
hole cut in the middle. Bake in a rather 
hot oven from half to three-quarters of an 
hour. You can tell when the crust is done 
by sticking a fork under the upper crust and 
pulling up some of the under crust. 
A Home-Made Coal-Sifter. 
If coal ashes are not sifted, there is much 
waste. Sifting is not pleasant work, but with 
a proper apparatus it may be done with com¬ 
parative ease. To 
make a sifter : Bore 
holes near one end of 
any old barrel, put 
two stout wires 
across and tightly 
clinch them upon the 
outside; these make 
a firm rest for a sieve. 
Midway between the 
cross wires on one 
side, make a slot 
in the barrel large 
enough for a handle, which is an inch through 
and fastened to the top edges of the sieve, 
notches having been first made in the handle 
to fit the sieve. Provide a cover, and the sifter, 
as shown in the engraving, is ready for use. 
The ashes are put into the sieve, which, by 
means of the handle, is to be briskly shaken 
back and forth. This sifter is easily made, 
and cheap, and if the cover fits fairly, there 
will be little or no dust in the operation. 
A BARREL ASH-SIFTER. 
A Handy Wood Box. 
When the wood shed adjoins the kitchen, 
a box for holding the fire-wood may be made 
in the partition between the two rooms. Geo. 
A. Badger, Minnehaha Co., Dakota Terr., 
made his as follows: The wood box is V- 
shaped, and hinged at the bottom ; for filling 
it is swung into the wood shed, and when 
loaded is moved back into the kitchen, and 
fastened by an ordinary cupboard spring 
catch or otherwise. In either position the 
opening is entirely closed. A cleat on the 
corners or ends of the box will strike the par¬ 
tition and keep it from going too far on either 
side. The accompanying engraving shows 
this swinging wood box. A small trap-door 
or slide at the bottom of the box will let 
out any accumulation of chips and rubbish. 
