236 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
THIS ecOTiEIHKDm 
(gjT” For other Household Items see “ Basket ” pages. 
A Cocoanut Flower Bracket. 
The hard shell of the cocoanut in the country 
where it grows is put to a number of important uses 
by the natives. To them the cocoanut tree fur¬ 
nishes most of the necessities, and many of the so- 
called luxuries of their simple and indolent exist¬ 
ence. If we should enumerate the uses to which 
the shell is put it would be a long list, and possibly 
not without interest; but the point now is to call 
attention to its employment as a Bracket Pot for 
the growth of such plants as are usually seen in 
hanging baskets. The engraving gives an idea of 
A NEAT COCOANUT PLANT BBACKET. 
the end to be gained. The contents of the shell 
are removed by taking off a small portion at the 
top. A bracket board, that is, the back piece of an 
ordinary ornamental wall bracket, is then attached 
to it near the middle by means of three screws, 
which pass through the bracket and into the shell. 
With a hook or a brass-headed nail driven in a con¬ 
venient place, the bracket can be hung up, and is 
ready to be stocked with suitable plants. The 
whole construction is simple, and with the plants 
in good order, there are few things in home decora¬ 
tion that are neater, easier to make, and more satis¬ 
factory than this same cocoanut shell bracket. 
Home Topics. 
BT FAITH ROCHESTER. 
-<S>- 
Early Breakfasts. 
I find macaroni an excellent thing for an early 
breakfast, the macaroni being boiled the previous 
day. I learned to use macaroni from the American 
Agriculturist, and it is now a very common dish in 
our family, and very popular too. The simplest 
method is the one most used by us. The macaroni 
is broken into short lengths and thrown into boil¬ 
ing water, boiled with a little salt until quite soft, 
then turned out into a little stone jar—(how handy 
these 6mall jars are !) and set aside until next 
morning. I do not drain it (as the recipe says, and 
as I tried at first), but the liquor in which the 
macaroni is boiled forms a jelly when cool and dis¬ 
solves again when heated in milk. In the morn¬ 
ing, heat a pint of milk, a tablespoonful of butter, 
and a little salt and pepper, and turn the macaroni 
into it to heat, loosening it with your spoon as it 
heats. We cook about three-fourths of a pound at 
a time in this way, for a family of six. A little in 
a tea-cup in a school dinner pail gives great satis¬ 
faction. Stewed tomato is a good accompaniment. 
Codfish Balls 
are another convenient dish for early breakfast— 
the balls all made ready to fry on the previous day. 
I speak of them now in order to say that I do not 
find it necessary to soak the fish over night when I 
boil it. Wash it well in three or four waters, put 
it over the fire with a good deal of cold water, let 
this heat pretty hot (boiling or not), and pour off 
this water and add more of as high tempera¬ 
ture as that poured off. Boil very gently ten or 
fifteen minutes longer, but be sure that the fish is 
thoroughly boiled through. Mix the fish (well 
picked up) and the mashed potatoes while the po¬ 
tato is yet warm, seasoning with butter and (if the 
weather is not too warm) a little milk. Make into 
biscuit-shaped balls ready to fry. Tney should be 
fried in only just enough hot butter to brown well. 
The Baby Jumper. 
About five years ago I told all about my baby’s 
jumper, and a picture of the same appeared in the 
American Agriculturist. Another one has served 
the present baby, giving great enjoyment to all of 
the family. The first was attached to a long hick¬ 
ory “spring-pole.” Perhaps there is nothing bet¬ 
ter, if you can fasten it securely to the ceiling and 
give it room to play up and down, passing through 
some kind of a 6trong staple placed a few feet from 
the end of the pole, which is fastened to the ceil¬ 
ing. This time we tried first a spiral bed spring, 
which we bought for five cents; it worked pretty 
well for some time and then was broken. A strong 
rubber band does very nicely ; and may be fastened 
anywhere into the 6trap from the ceiling by which 
the jumper is suspended. Perhaps I had better 
tell once more, briefly, how the jumper is 
made. The seat in which the baby sits is a strong 
little jacket with a strap 3 inches wide fastened 
securely to the bottom of the waist behind, usually 
cut in the same piece. The waist of the jacket is 
buttoned together in front, the baby’s skirts are 
laid smoothly, so as to 
cover and protect its 
legs like little trousers, 
and the strap attached 
to the waist passed be¬ 
tween them and button¬ 
ed up to the front of the 
waist. This waist has 
no sleeves or arm-holes. 
Instead of meeting over 
the shoulders, it has 
four button-holes, two 
at each shoulder, one in 
front and one behind. 
Long straps,with strong 
buttons on the ends, 
button into these holes, 
two at each half arm¬ 
hole. These straps sus¬ 
pend the jacket seat, 
and are kept apart by be¬ 
ing wound once around 
a barrel hoop and fast¬ 
ened there, half way up 
their length, leaving 
four even spaces on 
the hoop between them. The jacket may be as 
pretty as you like. Mine is made of strong, striped 
shirting, with a skirt 8 inches deep pleated around 
it—all bound with turkey-red. The hoop is wound 
with plain drab calico and turkey-red. The four 
straps, each about 2 feet long, are made of drab 
calico, quadruple in thickness. Above all this is 
the rubber strap and a small hemp rope—the whole 
is tied to a stout hook screwed through the plaster 
into a beam overhead.—[We reproduce the cut.] 
This jumper is an excellent baby tender. We 
put it up when baby was six months old, but did 
not use it much until the baby’s limbs seemed 
strong enough to bear his weight, fearing crooked 
legs as a result. Soon it was just the exercise he 
needed for strengthening his limbs, and afterwards 
for helping him to learn to walk. He made un¬ 
usually rapid progress in learning to run alone, but 
even after he had the ruu of the house, he delighted 
to be put into the jumper, and would go through 
his funny little gymnastics with great relish. 
Little Girls’ Underclothes. 
A lady asks me how I make the underclothes 
“ for girl6 eight or ten years old,” just the ages I 
have to work for at present. I have often written 
on the subject, and my testimony is still the same. 
Perhaps the lady is a new subscriber to the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist, and I briefly give the method : A 
long-sleeved moderately high-necked strong cotton 
waist, buttoned behind, with whole drawers but¬ 
toned to the bottom of this waist, seems most 
reasonable for moderate weather. Two or three 
thin, low-necked sleeveless waists are useful for 
the very hottest weather. The drawers should 
be large and loose in the seat, the waist loose 
in every part. Skirts can be buttoned to the 
same waist by a separate row of buttons. Flannel 
underclothes are more suitable for winter than now. 
A Screen for the Bird Cage. 
An ordinary Canary bird can make a great dear 
of work in proportion to its size, if no precautions 
are taken to keep his litter from being thrown out 
of the cage. Much of the food given to a caged 
bird consists of 
seeds with coarse 
hulls, and the 
seed-coats, after 
the bird has re¬ 
moved the ker¬ 
nel, are light and 
readily scattered 
to a considerable 
distance upon the 
carpet, table, or 
whatever may be 
below the hang¬ 
ing cage. To 
avoid the trouble 
of frequent 
sweeping and 
dusting, a screen 
of fine mosquito 
netting is now 
used by many 
lovers of caged 
pets. The net¬ 
ting—that of a 
pink color is per¬ 
haps the most at¬ 
tractive—is fast- SCREEN FOR BIRD CAGE, 
ened around the 
cage, about midway between the top and bot¬ 
tom, by means of a ribbon, which can be easily un¬ 
tied when the cage is to be cleaned and the bird 
fed. The lower portion of the netting is brought 
together below the cage and also secured by asmall 
tie. This latter does not need to be enclosed, as 
the netting opens down one side from the top, when 
the screen is easily removed. The accompanying 
engraving show's a cage thus decorated—for when 
neatly done it adds to the beauty of the whole. In 
the writer’s home two birds are thus kept from 
throwing all sorts of litter upon the surrounding 
objects, and it is therefore from an actual experience 
that this cheap and neat screen is recommended 
for general use as a labor-saving contrivance. 
A Novel Pin-Cusliion. 
An old, broken lamp stand has often served a 
good purpose as the standard for a very useful, as 
well as ornamental pin-cushion. So, many other lit- 
A NOVEL PIN-CUSHION. 
tie household articles, that have lost their original 
usefulness by missing some of their parts, have 
been put to a new service by some change which 
the mind of the housewife readily suggests. The 
case in hand is the construction of a cushion for 
pins upon the back of a worn out hair brush. A 
neat cushion is put where the bristles were inserted, 
into which the pins can be set in a manner to sug- 
