AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
545 
1882 .] 
royal dish to “set before a king.” For those 
who care to try one of these early English con¬ 
fections for their Christmas feast, we give a 
quotation with recipe for the ordinary pie, taken 
from an ancient book. “Every family against 
Christmass, makes a famous pye, which they call 
Christmass-pye. It is a great nostrum, the compo¬ 
sition of this pasty; it is a learned mixture of 
neat’s (cow’s; tongue, chicken, eggs, sugar, raisins, 
lemon and orange peel, various kinds of spicery, 
etc.,” and in the North of England, a goose was al¬ 
ways considered a necessary ingredient. These 
pies were baked in long, deep dishes, representing 
the manger in which the infant Jesus was laid. 
A Christmas Stocking Puzzle. 
Little Tommy hung up his stocking on Christ¬ 
mas Eve, and in the morning found it stuffed to 
overflowing. The first thing he pulled out was 
part of the ear; the next a pinnacle; then a package 
of recent eras, and a blow on the side of the head, 
filled with sweet fruits. These were followed by an 
Ancient Murderer; an immense name of a celebrated 
prince; two divisions of the Bible; a handful of screw 
fasteners; a pair of fish; a stick of a pungent medi¬ 
cine, and a writing implement and table utensil com¬ 
bined, while hidden away in the toe was a bright, 
precious metal girl's toy, with two letters attached. 
The Round Robin. 
Something; for Every Boy and Girl. 
Dear Boys and Girls : For all who are readers in 
your Department in the American Agriculturist, this 
letter is especially intended. We propose in the com¬ 
ing months, to make your share of the paper very 
attractive and instructive, with beautiful pictures, 
and entertaining stories, sketches, and puzzles, and 
if possible, we would like to introduce some of the 
little folks who live in the South, to those whose 
home is at the North, and the young agriculturists 
at the East, to those in the West, so 1 suggest that 
you all write me some nice little letters, telling all 
about your pets, and what you are doing, and from 
these I will make up a big letter, a sort of “ round 
robin,” in which all have a share, and print it each 
month in the American Agriculturist. Thus Mary, 
who lives in New York, will hear of the pet cow 
owned by little Sarah in Kansas, and James, far up 
in Michigan, can become interested in the work 
and play of Harry, whose home is way down in Flor¬ 
ida, and I am sure all will enjoy these chats upon 
paper. Now Christmas will soon be here, and 
the way you spend it will be a capital thing to 
write about for one thing. So children, let us hear 
from you, and be sure and mention how many of 
the enigmas, and puzzles you can make out.— 
Address your communications to “ Round Robin,” 
care of American Agriculturist, No. 751 Broadway, 
New York. Round Robin. 
A Poor Little Girl. 
BY FAITH ROCHESTER. 
She is poorer—that is, more to be pitied in some 
respects—because she is rich. If her mother 
could not afford a hired girl, Mattie would be re¬ 
quired to perform various domestic duties, and 
that would develop both her muscles and her prac¬ 
tical judgment. It would also prevent her giv¬ 
ing steady attention to books, while over-working 
her brains during the period of physical growth. 
If her father could not afford her music lessons, she 
would not spend her evenings, after school, practis¬ 
ing on the piano. She would have escaped near¬ 
sightedness, brought on by the music lessons, and 
unlimited reading added to study. She prob¬ 
ably would have had rosy cheeks, and a- vigorous 
well-formed body, instead of a sallow skin, and 
round shoulders, if £he had been obliged to wash 
dishes, sweep and dust the rooms, make her own 
bed, and walk when she wished to go anywhere. 
If they had been too poor to employ a dress¬ 
maker, perhaps Mattie would have worn simpler 
gowns of her mother’s making, and have already 
begun to help make her own clothes, and she might 
have been left without corsets a little longer. But 
the fashionable dress-maker says it is time to be 
moulding her form, and she has selected suitable 
corsets for that purpose. “ Tight lacing ” is not 
proposed, there is none of that existing now, if we 
may believe the poor victims themselves, but they 
put the corsets on Mattie to prevent her form from 
expanding, according to nature’s own vulgar meth¬ 
od, and to keep it within the proportions of the 
fashionable ideal. 
Already her anxious mamma has begun to con¬ 
sult the doctor about her weakness and her pale¬ 
ness. He says she needs more iron in her blood, 
and they are giving it to her every day with a little 
wine, hopiug thus to make her rosy and strong. 
But the prospect does not look hopeful. Do I 
think, then, that wealth in itself is an evil, and 
poverty a blessing ? No indeed 1 There is her 
school-mate, Jenny, whom I pity because she can 
not afford comfortable clothing, and has no warm 
under-flannels—though with all their money, Mat¬ 
tie’s parents have never dressed her limbs warm 
enough in winter. Jenny has no comfortable win¬ 
ter cloak, no rubbers, and no umbrella when it rains. 
Her wretched home is in an unsanitary spot, 
where little good water is to be had. The whole 
family is sickly for lack of good air, good food, 
good water, good protection from the cold. Jenny 
works hard, and she is stronger than Mattie, but 
she has no better health on the whole. It is evi¬ 
dent that poverty is not to be desired for the sake 
of good health. We do want more intelligence, 
and common sense put in practice. 
I know another little girl, who has the pity of 
6ome of her friends, because her parents have just 
removed her from school, where she was doing well, 
but was not in apparent ill health. They said the 
mental work of her “ grade,” required more study 
than the school hours allowed, and she had too 
little time for genuine recreation and physical ed¬ 
ucation. They were too wise to wait the results of 
overwork of the brain, during the years of growth, 
believing that “an ounce of prevention is better 
than a pound of cure.” She has only lately entered 
her teens, and they deemed it not well for the fu¬ 
ture woman, that the vital currents should be 
directed mainly to the brain. They want her to 
have enough “iron in the blood,” to make her 
strong, and plump, and rosy, and they know that 
nature will attend to that, if pure air, and good food 
are supplied her, with a fair chance for the bones, 
and muscles, and nerves, to appropriate their share 
of the blood’s building material. Education, tech¬ 
nically speaking, will not stand still, though it may 
go on more slowly, than the schools prescribe. 
The Vitality of Seeds, and tlie Influence 
of Eight and Soils upon Germination.— 
Prof. W. W. Tracy, Detroit, Mich., has shown by the 
result of tests of 3,600 samples of garden vegeta¬ 
bles that there is a marked difference in the usual 
vitality of different varieties of the same species, 
and that low vitality usually accompanies and is 
proportioned to the departures of the variety from 
the normal type of the species. Some 400 of those 
tests have been made simultaneously in test plates, 
and in paper, and by planting in mixed soil. With 
the exception of the grasses, which did the best in 
paper, and peas, beans, wheat, clover, and corn, 
which did equally well in the plates, all gave bet¬ 
ter and more uniform results in soil. A second 6et 
of trials showed that while seeds of strong vitality 
germinated quicker in the absence of light, clear 
light and abundant circulation of air were neces¬ 
sary to the best results when the seeds were weak. 
A third set showed that there is a marked differ¬ 
ence in the germination of a given sample accord¬ 
ing to the soil used, and that the best results were 
obtained in proportion to its permeability to air. 
Mr. Tracy has not only given the average results of 
a large number of tests (in the last set, 15 samples 
were planted in each of 4 soils, and the entire 
experiment repeated 4 times), but has also pre¬ 
pared a table of frequency, which agreed so per¬ 
fectly with averages of all the trials, as to leave 
little doubt that the tests indicate a general ten¬ 
dency rather than an accidental \ariation. 
A Variety of Food. 
Milk alone suffices for a young infant’s diet, but 
considerable variety seems to be required by 
children of larger growth. Only a few' dishes at 
each meal, but a variety from day to day, and in 
the different meals of each day, is a rule of simplic¬ 
ity, common sense, and of economy also, for small 
families. There is very great waste at the hotels and 
large boarding houses, which have the exten¬ 
sive bills of fare required by the many tastes to be 
gratified, and boarders pay roundly for the variety, 
whether they profit by it or not. But the members- 
of a family, where economy of material, of time, 
and of strength are requisite, should agree upon 
such arrangements, and compromises, as will make 
simplicity possible in the family meals. This is no 
small matter to a housekeeper who has the care of 
young children, and no second pair of hands and 
feet to supplement her own. 
In the use of meats, an agreeable variety is pos¬ 
sible, even when only one kind is obtainable for a 
length of time—the farmer’s quarter of beef for in¬ 
stance. Savory stews and soups are not so com¬ 
mon as they should be among country residents. 
In making and flavoring these soups and stews, the- 
ingredients may be greatly varied at different times, 
if one has on hand an assortment of suitable vege¬ 
tables, as onions, carrots, turnips, potatoes, toma¬ 
toes, cabbage, etc.; or of different flavoring herbs, 
either green or dried, as parsley, thyme, marjoram, 
summer savory, celery ; and uutritious thickening 
materials, like pearl barley, split peas, white beans, 
rice, macaroni, or vermicelli. When a variety of 
fresh meat is not to be had, salt fish, or canned 
fish, and dried beef afford a change. 
There are so many kinds of good bread, that it- 
seems a shame that many families seldom get a 
taste of anything but yeast bread of white flour,, 
and saleratus biscuit. “New process” white flour, 
is “a good thing to have in the house,” but it- 
should never be the only wheat flour in daily use. 
No white flour from wheat can give all of the min¬ 
eral elements needed by the human body. Genuine 
graham flour, and entire wheat flour, and cold- 
blast flour, all afford good bread, and a chance for 
experimenting with loaves, gems, biscuits, crack¬ 
ers, rolls, etc. Then there is oat-meal, and corn- 
meal, and barley, and cracked wheat, and crushed 
“Indian,” and hominy—all good for mush, and 
some of them for bread and cakes. Every kind of 
mush may be sliced cold, and fried brown for break¬ 
fast, and most kinds may be made into nice mush 
balls, by kneading them stiff'with flour and a little 
thick cream, and baking them, or into pancakes by 
mashing them in some milk or butter-milk, adding 
soda (one level teaspoonful for each pint, or one- 
half level teaspoonful for each teacup of sour milk,)- 
with eggs and flour enough to make a proper batter. 
The brown flours are best for this purpose. 
Of dessert dishes—pies, cakes, puddings, blanc 
manges, etc., there is an endless variety, and with 
a good dressing, the plainest mushes make nice 
dessert. For such dressing, there is nothing bet¬ 
ter, in my opinion, than rich sweet cream, or good 
cream sweetened and flavored. Jelly or nice fruit 
sauce makes a fine accompaniment to this dessert. 
Every kind of mush may be moulded like blanc 
mange. For example, dish your graham mush, or 
oat-meal, or “hasty pudding” (not too “hasty,” 
but well cooked,) into teacups. When cool, invert 
these upon saucers, put a little jelly upon each, and 
pour the cream dressing around it. Good cooked 
pudding sauce goes well with any plain mush. 
However nutritious the food, the same thing 
from day to day at last becomes tiresome to the 
stomach, and a change to another kind of good food 
affords relief. Country people who have milk, 
cream, and fresh eggs always at command, have a 
range of excellent dishes within reach, which city 
people can seldom provide, but they are apt to- 
have a much narrower variety of food than those 
who live in town, and have everything to buy. 
Usually it would be better economy to provide a 
larger variety of food materials. Among these, good, 
fruits should have a large place. 
Minnesota Housekeeper. 
