66 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[February, 
IEOTS <fe (SUMS’ OILOTISo 
Cayenne an acceptable addition, but unless this is 
generally liked let each one add it “to taste.” 
Saltpeter.— “ W. C. G.” It is very doubtful if 
Saltpeter has any preservative effect upon meats ; 
we never use it for curing hams, salt and sugar be¬ 
ing sufficient. Saltpeter is used to heighten the 
color, or rather to prevent the red color of the 
meat from changing to a dark brownish one. 
“Hygienic” Buckwheat Cakes. —A correspond¬ 
ent asks us if we can give a method of cooking buck¬ 
wheat cakes that is “strictly hygienic.”—We must 
know in the first place in what sense “ hygienic ” is 
used. Among all the sects or stripes, or “ schools,” 
as they term it, of medicine, there is one that calls 
itself “Hygienic,” and if our correspondent has 
this in view we must say that we do not know their 
method of administering buckwheat cakes. Hygi¬ 
ene, as we understand it, relates to the laws of 
health. Buckwheat cakes are a vehicle for eating 
good butter, rich gravy, or maple or other syrup ; 
they are nothing without some addition of this 
kind, and nothing if not hot. Whether such a com¬ 
bination can be regarded as “hygienic,” is a ques¬ 
tion that each one must decide for himself. 
Baked Apple Dumplings. —By Mrs. K. Xenia, O. 
Pare and slice good tart apples. Make a pie-crust, 
using half the usual amount of lard, adding the re¬ 
quisite quantity of baking powder. ' For each 
dumpling, take a piece of the dough the size of an 
egg, roll it into a ball with the hands, and press into 
It five or six slices of apple, closing the dough over 
them carefully. Place in a deep pan, and bake. 
Serve hot, with cream or other suitable sauce. 
Plate Glass and Common Glass.— Mrs. “ S. D.,” 
Minn. It is very proper for a lady to know about 
such things, and if she does not know, it is proper 
for her to ask, so no apology is needed in this or 
any similar case. The most common window-glass 
is made by first blowing a cylinder—like a large jar 
with straight sides; this, while yet hot, is cut open 
lengthwise, and flattened out, to form a sheet. 
Plate glass is not blown at all, but the molten glass 
is poured out upon a flat iron table, and the mass 
rolled by a heavy iron roller, until thin enough, 
much as you would roll out pie-crust. When cool, 
the surfaces are rough and dull, and they are after¬ 
wards made very smooth and polished by rubbing 
with emery and other polishing materials. 
Rte Bread. —The name of the lady who sent 
this is mislaid.—Make a sponge the evening be¬ 
fore, using tofoaf-flour and dry hop yeast. Early 
the next morning mix the bread with rye flour, the 
same as ordinary bread, kneading thoroughly, and 
6 et in a warm place to rise. Take care that it does 
not rise too much, as it sours much quicker than 
wheaten dough; when raised sufficiently, knead 
again, put into pans, and when the loaves begin to 
crack on the top, bake in a moderate oven. I 
make bread of equal parts of rye and wheat-flour, 
which is preferred by some tc bread of wheat alone. 
Fruit Stains vary in the ease with which they 
may be removed. Some yield to pouring boiling 
water over tbe spot, others require some bleaching 
agent. Wetting the stain, and holding it in the 
fumes of a brimstone match will sometimes answer. 
The most convenient material is Javelle Water, 
generally kept by druggists. To make it, dissolve 
one pound of saleratus in a pint of water ; mix four 
ounces of fresh chloride of lime, with one pint of 
water, stirring to remove the lumps—it will not 
all dissolve. Pour the two liquids together, stir 
or shake thoroughly, set aside, and when the de¬ 
posit has settled, pour off the perfectly clear liquid 
and bottle for use. Glass or earthem vessels should 
be used in preparing it. Wet the stains with this 
and rinse well, just before washing the articles. 
It can of course only be used on white articles, 
as it would bleach colored ones. 
Bptter Crackers, By “J. B. F.,” Chicopee, 
Wis. 1 quart flour ; 3 table-spopns butter rubbed 
into the flour; 1 salt-spoonful salt; 2 cups sweet 
milk ; i tea-spoon soda dissolved in hot water. 
Work into a ball, lay on a floured board and beat 
with a rolling-pin half an hour. Boll out 1 of an 
inch thick, prick deeply with a fork and bake hard. 
Hang up in a bag near a stove for two days to dry. 
The Doctor’s Talks. 
“ L. W. L.,” of Fort Smith, Ark., asks me to tell 
how to make pictures of flowers with stencils. I do not 
think it worth while for any one to bother with this, for 
tile pictures are very poor, and it is somehing that I 
do not care to encourage. This used to be called 
poonah painting. 
Patterns are cut in stiff paper or card-board, and the 
color rubbed with a brush through these patterns—just as 
you can see boys in our shipping department, and other 
business places, marking boxes, with stencil plates. It 
is a very poor way of making pictures; the rudest sketch 
is greatly to be preferred to this machine painting. 
tricks with mirrors 
are of various kinds. One is made use of by those “for¬ 
tune-tellers,” and other swindlers, that pretend (if suffi¬ 
cient money is paid) to show silly girls their future hus¬ 
bands. The manner of doing this is shown by the dia¬ 
gram,below. Here a sort of telescope is fitted up, through 
which the victims think they look iD to the “great future,” 
when they really only look into the next room, where 
the man who plays the part of the “ future husband,” is 
concealed. It will be seen that his image will fall upon 
the mirror U, nicely concealed in the stand, which covers 
the hole in the wall; this will be reflected upon another 
mirror, A , placed at the proper angle, and seen by the 
innocent, who pays her money to see the image of a 
rascal, who would be most appropriately seen through the 
bars of a prison. A darkened room on one side of the 
partition, and a brightly lighted one on the other, with 
much ceremony, nonsensical talk, and mummery on 
the part of the fortune-teller, help out the deception. 
BOYS THAT DON’T LIKE GREEK. 
One of our boys says, his father wants him to study 
Greek and Latin, for he wants him to go through college 
bye and bye, because it will make him a better farmer. He 
“ likes his Latin lessons very well,” but “ wishes we 
would write something against Greek,” for my father 
believes in everything he sees in the American Agricul¬ 
turist , which he has read since before I was born.”—We 
would like to oblige our young friend, but we must agree 
with his father. First let ns tell him that the harder a 
study comes to one, the more important it is to push into 
it. Study is not so valuable for the mere knowledge 
it gives, as for the training, the discipline of mind it sup¬ 
plies. If any study comes harder than another, it shows 
a weakness of the mind in that direction, and study will 
strengthen it, where it most needs it. Mathematics and 
languages are capital studies, to give the mind develop¬ 
ment, power, persistence. Then, the Greek and Latin are 
the foundation languages of our own, and they greatly 
help to understand our own better. Moreover, as they 
are “ dead,” unchangeable languages, and are understood 
by most nations, they are largely used to furnish names 
or terms for the sciences. But we cannot take room here 
to discuss this matter. We will only tell our young cor¬ 
respondent that if he lives he will in after-life be very 
thankful to his father for every day and every hour he 
urges or even compels him to devote to the hardest study, 
whether it be Greek or anything else. 
How lie Spelled Ills Name.— A friend of ours 
who keeps a wholesale store, had a customer who came 
from the country every three months, paid his bill and 
ordered a new lot of goods. One day this customer came 
when the book-keeper was out, and according to custom, 
asked for his last quarter’s bill. The merchant could not 
recollect the name of his customer, but as he had kept up 
his habit so regularly for many years, and was such a 
good and prompt buyer, our friend felt ashamed to let the 
other know that his name was forgotten. He fumbled 
over the ledger in the hope his eye might catch the name 
when he would recognize it. All in vain—the more he 
tried, the more he could not think of it. At last he hit 
upon, as he thought, a capital plan, so taking up a bill 
sheet as if to make the account, he said: “ By the way, 
my friend, I think you spell your name a little different 
from common, and I do not exactly remember just how 
you spell it. —“ Spell it,” replied the customer, “ Why I 
always spell it S-m-i-t-h 1 ” There was one person 
then present who felt cheap, and it was not Mr. Smith, 
Our l*uzzle»lIox. 
CLASSICAL DOUBLE ACROSTIC. 
Initials and finals, read downwards, give the names of 
two Grecians noted for their wisdom and learning; 
whilst the father of one was a felon, the mother of the 
other a midwife. 
1. A musician who sang before Ulysses. 
2. Nursed the infant Bacchus, and after became the 
second wife ofiEolus. 
3. A religious festival of the Greeks was thus entitled, 
4. Ptolemy says was a river of Africa. 
5. A Goddess, whose fondness for flowers and animals 
had a curious result. 
6. Is the English name of one of the most ancient 
deities ; a daughter of Chaos. 
7. Was a faithless wife of a forgiving husband. 
8. Has been termed “the Egyptian Alexander.” J.A. B, 
HIDDEN RIVERS. 
1. Are dandelion roots good to eat? 
2. Do you two ever agree, now, about that dog. 
3. What a pig 1 I laid it flat with a stone. 
4. Oh 1 I owe you fifty cents for it, do I ? 
5. Neither this nor that will suit the man. 
6. He takes offence at the least provocation. Louie, 
NUMERICAL ENIGMAS. 
1. I am composed of 9 letters: 
My 4, 3, 6, 5, is a ravenous beast. 
My 1. 2, 7, 8, 9, is a reptile. 
My 1, 7, 4. is a carpenter’s tool. 
My 1, 2, 9, 7, 8, is a mean fellow. 
My 5, 7, (1, 6, 3, 4, is a species of deer. 
My 6, 7, 4, holds men in subjection. 
My 1, 9, (i, 5, is what most persons too much esteem. 
My 6, 7, 4, 2, is generally seen around or in front of a 
house. 
My whole is seen in winter. Perry A. Mel. 
BIBLICAL ENIGMA. 
2. I am composed of 19 letters : 
My 5,10,10, 8, was the father of a mighty hunter. 
My 1, 18, 13, 4, was a mount mentioned in Genesis. 
My 6, 3, 17, 9, is a small wild animal. 
My 8, 2, 15, 6, was the ancestor of a tribe. 
My 14, 8, 16, 7, was a grandson of Noah. 
My 19, 6, 16,12, was a wilderness in wiiich the chil¬ 
dren oflsraal travelled. 
My 11, 3, 17, is a vehicle. 
My whole is a divine command. Isola,. 
MELANGE. 
Behead a river in the United States and find a title. 
Curtail the river and leave a fruit. 
Syncopate the river and leave a Sound. 
Transpose the title and leave one of'Shakspeare’s 
characters. 
Transpose the fruit and leave “ to gather; ” again, and 
get “ to diminish.” 
Transpose the Sound and find a jump; again, and get 
an enclosure; again, and give an excuse. 
Behead the excuse and leave a meadow. 
Curtail the title and leave part of the body. 
Syncopate “ to gather ” and get a blow. 
Behead the enclosure and get a beverage. 
Curtail the fruit and leave a vegetable. Isola. 
STAR PUZZLE. 
ft ft 
*** *% 
ft} * * 
ft- 
# 
* 
ft* 
* 
ft 
# 
* ft 
* 
* 
Fill each side of the points of the star with words of 
four letters. Let the last letter of each word make the 
commencement of the next one. Let the words be such 
that you can read the star around either to the left or to 
the right. 
To the Bight. 
1. An animal. 2. Part of a house. 3. An African. 4. 
A musical instrument. 5. An avenue. 6. Blows. 7. A 
mark. 8. A snare. 9. A body of water. 10. To sail 
nearer to the wind. 11. Abundance. 12. To guard. 
To the Left. 
1. Draught. 2. An animal. 3. To trifle. 4. A small, 
narrow opening. 5. To allot. 6. Play-things. 7. Along 
beam. S. A measure. 9. An animal. 10. Space, 11. A 
pen. 12. Bamboo. 
ANAGRAMS. 
1. Got ten men in. 6. Cane stairs. 
2. At neat office. 7. Is poor ditch. 
3. Ice! ice 1 Mrs. Enns. 8. I treat rule. 
4. Don’t nab cars. 9. He tore maps. 
5. Ma screen corn. 10. The bay lace. 
