1882.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
of dishes is out of place. There is a great 
deal in the way of doing little things, and 
one house-keeper will have her table neat and 
attractive, while that of another, with ex¬ 
actly the same means, will be the reverse. 
For example, a handful of radishes, thrown 
higledy-pigledy upon a plate, all heads and 
points, looks careless. The very same rad¬ 
ishes, placed in a tumbler or other glass, 
with the neatly cut tops all uppermost, make 
a pleasing ornament for the table. If cold 
meat is to be served for supper or tea, it 
makes a wonderful difference whether the 
remains of the leg of mutton is put on as 
they were left at dinner, and perhaps in the 
same dish-, or a few thin slices cut off, and 
neatly laid upon a plate. But these things, 
it may be said, come under the head of order 
and neatness, and have nothing to do with 
garnishing. With many house-keepers order 
and neatness are all that they can hope to 
secure, and fortunate is the hard-worked 
farmer’s wife, if she can always welcome her 
husband after his day’s work, to a table 
adorned by these. There are, however, many 
among our readers who can go a step in the 
direction of ornamentation of the table. If 
there are strawberries for tea—as there should 
be in every farm house in the season, the 
farmer’s wife may well spend a few minutes 
in placing strawberry leaves around the edge 
of the dish, no matter how common the ware. 
If there are grapes for dessert, a few leaves 
and tendrils among the clusters give an easily 
added beauty. A house-keeper who cares to 
make her table attractive will find it a great 
help to have a few roots of Parsley in the 
garden in summer, or in a box of earth in the 
kitchen window in winter. It is a small 
matter, to be sure, but the brightness that a 
few green leaves, contrasted with the white 
china and white table-cloth, bring to the 
table, is worth just the little trouble required 
to secure it. A few leaves of Parsley around 
any dish of cold meats converts it into an 
object of beauty. We mention Parsley, be¬ 
cause it is the green the most generally used 
and the most easily provided. The seeds take 
a long while to come up, but the plants, when 
established, grow freely in any garden soil. 
Of late, a variety has been introduced called 
‘ ‘ Fern-leaved, ” of which a single leaf is shown 
in the engraving. This is as easily grown as 
the common Parsley, but it is so beautifully 
cut and frilled and fringed, that it is hand¬ 
some enough to serve as the green to the 
finest bouquet. A box of it in the kitchen 
forms a cheerful ornament, and its leaves 
will be at hand when wanted. Of course 
Parsley is not the only material that may be 
used for garnishing dishes. A few slices of 
beet and carrot, cut crosswise, will set off a 
dish of sliced corned beef; sliced hard-boiled 
eggs may be used to ornament a salad, etc. 
Household Notes and Queries. 
Home-Made Graham Flour. —Observing 
the complaint of our “Minnesota House¬ 
keeper,” of the difficulty in procuring 
satisfactory Graham flour, “ J. H. K.,” Bel¬ 
fry, Pa., suggests as a remedy that she 
grind it herself, “A good coffee mill may be 
bought for from $3 to $5, and the grinding of 
a peck of wheat will be a pleasant exercise. 
The bran may be sifted out if desired, but if 
ground fine it is better when not sifted. We 
formerly had trouble to get good Graham, 
but the coffee mill solved the difficulty. We 
now have the meal fresh at all times, and its 
purity is assured. It should never be bought 
or ground in large quantities, as it soon be¬ 
comes stale and has a bad flavor.” 
Bed-Bugs in Australia.— These insects are 
apparently found wherever civilized man 
makes his home. They are well fitted to 
make long journeys, as they have been known 
to live more than 10 years without feeding. 
“C. S.” writes from Wellington, South Aus¬ 
tralia, that on two occasions he has moved 
into houses badly infested with bugs, and in 
both cases cleaned them out by the use of a 
strong hot solution of soft soap. For reach¬ 
ing the bugs behind the skirting a garden 
watering can was used.—We would suggest 
as adding to the efficacy of the application, 
to stir a quantity of benzine or kerosene with 
the soap before dissolving it. 
Keeping Eggs. —“Mrs. J. H.,” Humboldt, 
Kans., writes that she is very successful in 
keeping eggs in dry salt. A layer of salt is 
placed in the bottom of a stone jar, and the 
eggs are laid in this, the small end down ; 
the spaces are to be filled with salt, and the 
eggs well covered, then another layer is put 
in, and so on until the jar is filled. Place the 
jar in a dry place, and our correspondent 
says the eggs will keep a year. This is one 
of the oldest methods of preserving eggs, 
but it may be new to some house-keepers. 
The Disposal of House Slops. 
“ Improvement ” sends from Antigonishe, 
Nova Scotia, the following, accompanied by a 
drawing : “ You frequently urge, and rightly 
so, that the premises around the back door of 
a farm or country house should be kept as 
clean and neat as those at the front door. To 
accomplish this is the difficulty. Where no 
provision is made by means of a sink and 
proper drainage to carry off the waste water 
of a house, it will always be thrown by ser¬ 
vants and others in the most ‘ convenient ’ 
spot, and this is usually about the back door. 
We can hardly expect girls to carry waste 
slops any distance on a cold day, particularly 
to empty them on a manure heap. My plan 
is to provide a good sized cask mounted on 
wheels in summer, and on runners in winter, 
which can be drawn up for use not far from 
the back door. Into this the slops can be 
thrown, and when necessary the whole can 
be drawn to the proper spot and easily emp¬ 
tied, to be returned to its place for future 
use. The cask should be hung by means of 
pivots in such a manner that it can be easily 
upset, and when released will return to a 
perpendicular position. Placing the pivots 
slightly above the center of the cask on each 
side will do this. I append a rough drawing 
to explain my meaning. It may be used in a 
garden to carry water about in dry seasons.” 
1.1 5 
A Home-Made Desk, 
L D. SNOOK, TATES COTJNTT, N. Y. 
Nearly all persons have papers, letters, and 
other documents, important and otherwise, 
which they desire to keep and preserve in 
good condition. They also need a place in 
A CONVENIENT WRITING DESK. 
some part of the house where letters can be 
written and other matters jotted down. For 
this purpose nothing is equal to a good desk, 
and to be useful it need not be expensive. 
Any person at all skillful with tools cancon- 
struct, in two day’s time, a desk similar to 
the one shown in the engraving, and it will 
answer the purpose quite as well as a desk 
costing from 10 to 15 dollars. It is shown so 
plainly that a short description will answer. 
The lid is 2 feet 8 inches long and 16 inches 
wide; when open it rests upon supports, e, that 
are hinged to the front of the desk, and fall 
inward out of the way when not in use. The 
width of the desk is 28 in., and 2 feet 8 in. 
long. The upper portion, at p, may be firmly 
attached to the body of the desk or left loose 
as desired; it is one foot high, ten inches wide, 
with large and small shelves and pigeon-holes. 
A row of small pigeon-holes is made in the 
desk, and should be four inches wide, to 
readily admit an envelope. It is also best to 
have one or two small drawers, with keys 
fitted to them, for the better security of im¬ 
portant documents. Papers, magazines, and 
other printed matter may be placed in the 
open space in the center. A paper holder is 
also attached to the side, in which place, 
papers you have unfinished and other reading 
matter may be kept. The legs of the desk 
maybe rounded or left square. The lid when 
open is, of course, intended to be used as a 
place for writing. 
Cottage Cheese.-Wherever a cow or 
cows are kept, the cream is regarded as the 
important part of the milk, while the skim 
milk goes to the pigs or the poultry. Of 
course it is thus utilized and ultimately comes 
around as food, but it may be better to make 
a more direct use of it. The skim milk 
contains a valuable portion of that most 
nutritious food ; in taking the cream, only 
a part of the nutriment is removed. The 
skim-milk is allowed to become slightly sour 
or “ clabbered.” The pan is then set upon a 
cool part of the stove to warm gently, or 
upon the top of a kettle of boiling water. It 
should get no warmer than the heat of new 
milk, when the whey will appear clear and 
separate from the curd. When this separa¬ 
tion takes place pour the whole into a bag of 
thin material, and hang it up to drain. When 
it ceases to drip, turn the curd from the bag 
and mix with salt and a little sweet cream. 
