1879.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
14r7 
for use upon the lawn or in the barn. We give it 
as a useful and easily made chair—and very com¬ 
fortable to use, but hardly to be advised for the 
lawn or barn. It is rarely that a chair is needed for 
the lawn proper, though one may be useful under 
the shade of a tree, and in that case, this is hardly 
“rustic” enough to be in keeping with the sur¬ 
roundings.—As to the desirability of a barn chan-— 
we much doubt. It is quite too suggestive. We 
■once knew a celebrated chemist, who never kept 
but one chair in his laboratory, and that was astool. 
His plea was that a chemist never needed to sit 
down, except to make notes, and that no one else 
had any business in a laboratory. Something in 
the same line of reasoning, applies to chairs in 
barns, we don’t think that those belonging there 
need to sit, and others have no reason for being 
there. Still, a chair of this kind will be found very 
useful. It makes an excellent chair for the piazza, 
vastly more comfortable than more costly ones 
made for the purpose. If there is a roomy kitchen, it 
will come in play there, or wherever about the place 
a chair is needed—but not in the barn. At the end of 
an attractive wood-walk, or at some point where a 
fine view is to be obtained, it is common to put a 
rustic seat. Rustic chairs are pleasing to look at., 
and are useful for almost every other purpose thau 
as seats. Chairs of this kind, costing but little, and 
exceedingly comfortable, may be placed in such lo¬ 
calities, and add much to the enjoyment of a land¬ 
scape. The engraving shows the construction of 
the chair so plainly that no description is needed. 
the situation he enjoys it. He can have his play¬ 
things here, and they will not get scattered. He 
can look out of the window, peep through the 
slats, or climb up and learn to walk by their aid.” 
Baby’s Play-House—Fencing in the Baby. 
Mr. H. W. T., of Worcester Co., Mass., sends 
drawings of a Baby’s Play-House that he has con¬ 
structed, and writes very enthusiastically over its 
utility. The eugraving will give an idea of the 
afiair. A corner of the room is penned off by 
means of a light portable fence, to form an iuclos- 
ure where the child can not get into mischief, and 
can amuse itself at will. The fence is made of two 
sections, their length being such as to allow them 
to be hooked to the door casings, while the two 
ends that form the corner are put together with 
Boose butts. Mr. T. gives the following measure¬ 
ments: The top rail, 2 by 21 in.; bottom rail, 2 by 
2Hn.; comer posts, 21 in. square before turning; 
balusters, (bought ready turned for 2 cts. each), 1 
in. in diameter ; bight of posts, 2 ft. 3 in.; bight of 
top rail from floor, 2 ft. The balusters are set into 
VIEW OP BABY’S PLAT-HOUSE. 
the rails at 4 inches from the centers. By unhook¬ 
ing the ends the two parts may be folded together 
and stored away; when it is necessary to sweep it 
may be readily moved as needed by unhooking one 
end. Mr. T. writes: “Should it prove to be of 
as much value to any of your readers as it has been 
to me, it will repay a ten years’ subscription to your 
valuable paper. Baby is ready for the play-house 
as soon as he can creep, and for a year and a half 
afterwards, or until able to climb over the fence, 
the child will occupy the house very contentedly 
many hours in the day, and the mother can feel 
certain that it will not get burned or fall down 
stairs, or otherwise receive injury while she goes to 
another room or elsewhere. After he gets used to 
Household Notes and Queries. 
It maybe well to say here to our new house-keep¬ 
ing readers that this column is theirs, where they* 
can give “ Notes ” on such household matters as 
they would li-ie to convey to other house-keepers, 
and where they can put “Queries” upon those 
matters in their household experience that they 
think others may answer helpfully. 
A Grater for Potatoes, Etc. — “E. A. J.” 
shows how a grater to prepare the potatoes for 
yeast may be made very 
easily. Place an oyster or 
fruit can upon the stove 
or near a fire, until the 
solder is melted ; this will 
allow the top and bottom 
to be removed, and the 
seam to be opened. Open 
the large piece of tin, and 
with a nail punch nu¬ 
merous holes from the in¬ 
side. A nail, which will 
make a ragged hole, is bet¬ 
ter than a regular punch ; 
when punching laythe tin 
upon a block of rather grater. 
hard wood; turn the edges, to give a place for 
tacks and fasten to a board as shown in the engrav¬ 
ing. A hole may be made in the board to hang it 
by. We have used such a grater for horse-radish 
and other purposes, and it works admirably. 
“Excelsior Potato Yeast,” comes all the way 
from “towards sundown,” as “ E. A. J.,” in Lane 
Co., Oregon, sends the recipe. “Pare three pota¬ 
toes ; grate them into a convenient vessel; pour ou 
boiling water, stirring briskly until the mixture is 
of the thickness of starch. [Of course, starch made 
ready for use is intended. Ed.] Add one handful 
each of salt and sugar, and when cooled to ‘milk- 
warm,’ add one teacupful of brewer’s, or other 
good yeast. Set in a warm place to raise. A small 
quantity of hops boiled in water and the liquor 
strained into the yeast adds to its quality.” 
A Nice Bread Pudding, and an economical one. 
—An excellent housekeeper, as we know, furnishes 
the following for the American 
Agriculturist: Any pieces of bread 
or toast, or both, may be used. 
Into a pudding dishful of these 
pour milk enough to fill the 
spaces, and let soak over night. 
Then for each pint of milk used, 
stir in one beaten egg, with a lit¬ 
tle ground cloves and nutmeg, 
and i teaspoonful of ground cin¬ 
namon for each 3 pints of milk. 
Bake slowly II or 2 hours. This 
will give a stiff brown pudding 
resembling plum pudding. Cur¬ 
rants or raisins may be added 
before baking, if desired, though 
it is very good without them, 
and many prefer it without. It 
is to be eaten cold, with cream 
and sugar, or flavored cream. 
H preferred, a hot sauce may be 
prepared with hot water, butter and sugar, slight¬ 
ly thickened with a little corn starch, and flavor¬ 
ed with lemon or other extract. 
Rye Bread.— “ Mrs. B. A. R.,” Matawan, N. J., 
disapproves of a recipe given some months ago, as 
that requires the hands to be put into the dough, 
which she thinks undesirable, as the mass is so 
sticky. She says : “ I set a sponge over night, using 
milk warm from the cow, with rye-flour and yeast, 
the same as with wheat. In the morning when it 
is light, I stir in salt, flour, and more milk, using a 
stout iron spoon ; put it in the tins and set in a 
warm place until nicely light, v/hen it is baked.” 
She uses no wheat flour, and says that the hired 
men prefer rye bread thus made to wheaten bread. 
Wiiy Do We Use Hops?— The remark about 
hops in another recipe shows that the writer, in 
common with many others, supposes that hops add 
to “ the quality ” of yeast, i. e., improves its leaven¬ 
ing property. This is a mistake. The only use of 
hops is to prevent the fermentation from going too 
far, and continuing until the mixture becomes sour. 
Other vegetable bitters are found to have the same 
effect when making yea6t and beer. Indeed the 
use of hops in beer in England is comparatively 
recent—Ale-hoof aud several other bitter herbs 
having been employed in brewing from early times. 
TOYS is M1ILS J OMiUSo 
The Doctor’s Talks, 
In answering some questions about the Center of 
Gravity, last month, I said that I would try to explain 
more in full what was meant by Gravity—but while the 
illustrations given last month arc fresh in your minds, I 
wish to give a few more, showing how we are constantly 
observing some fact about the Center of Gravity. You will 
recollect that the center of gravity is that point in a body 
on every side of which the parts exactly balance one 
another. In a square board, it will be exactly in the 
center, and the method of finding this point in an irregu¬ 
lar body was shown last month. A line drawn from the 
center of gravity directly to the earth, or to whatever a 
body rests upon, is called the Line of Direction , and that 
portion of a body upon which it rests, is its base. So long 
as tlie line of direction falls inside of the base, the body 
will stand firm. This may be illustatcd by a loaded wagon. 
The base of the wagon is that formed by the points 
where the wheels 
touch the ground. 
In fig. 1, c being 
the center of grav¬ 
ity, a line drawn 
from that strikes 
the ground mid¬ 
way between the 
wheels and the Fig. 1. wagon on Fig. 2. 
wagon 61 a n d s level and inclined road. 
firm. But suppose the same wagon be placed upon the 
side of a hill, or upon a much inclined road, as in fig. 
2, the line drawn downwards from the center of gravity 
will strike ground outside of the wheels — that is, 
outside of the base, and the load must fall 
over. Without thinking of this rule—that, the cen¬ 
ter of gravity must always fall within the base, we 
are constantly following it. In loading a wagon, the ar¬ 
ticles are placed in accordance with the law; in getting 
into a small boat, we don’t stop to ask “is the lino of 
direction within the base ?' 
n 
Fig. 5. Fig. 3. 
LINE OF DIRECTION. 
’ hut we at once place our¬ 
selves in such a position that 
it shall be so. Indeed, we 
observe this law very early 
in life; in beginning to 
walk, this is one of the first 
lessons we learn—to so place 
our feet that the base will be 
broad enough to have the 
line of direction fall within 
it. If when older we stand 
with our feet close together, 
the base is very small and 
we may readily fall over; 
hence we turn out the tocsin 
standing or walking, and 
place the feet far apart to 
make a broad base. If yon stand with your heels close 
against the wall of a room, and try to pick up something 
from the floor in front of you, by stooping, you will find it 
impossible. In stooping, the line of direction of the body 
will soon fall outside of the base— your feet—aud over 
you go. Were it not for the wall behind you, you could 
so sloop and arrange the body that its center of gravity 
would be directly above the base, and there would be no 
dungerof falling. In carrying 
a load on one shoulder we 
lean in the opposite direc¬ 
tion, without thinking why, 
but. wo really do it in order 
that the center of gravity 
shall fall within the base 
formed by our feet. So in 
carrying a load upon the. 
shoulder, a bag of grain, 
for example, we place it, 
as in fig. 6, so that it will 
be equally divided, with as much in front as in the 
rear, when the center of gravity will be over the 
base, or the feet. If, instead of this, one should 
place the bag as in fig. 7, the center of gravity would ba 
outside of the base, as shown by the dotted line of di¬ 
rection, and the carrier would have to stoop a great deal 
0. Fig. 7. 
CARRYING A LOAD. 
