1880 .] 
437 
AMERICAN AGRICTTLTITRIST. 
praised up to us as more nutritious than the com¬ 
mon “ grade,” or “straight,” or “family” flour. 
They tell us it “goes farther ” and is really cheaper 
than the “ straight ” flour, though it costs us con¬ 
siderably more than a dollar higher on the hun¬ 
dred-pound sack. From two men, proprietors of 
two different first-class mills, I have received testi¬ 
mony to the contrary. So I shall go on using the 
best straight or family flour. Here it is the “ White 
Rose” or “Snow Flake,” or these are the kinds I 
usually get, thougn I know there are others just as 
good. I fancy that light, sweet bread made of 
this really tastes better than the whiter bread, 
made of the liner flour, and 1 am convinced that 
we get quite as much, if not more, nourishment 
from it, while in our family it is a saving of at 
least $10 a year—perhaps $15—which would make 
quite a valuable yearly addition to our library. 
There is no doubt, however, that this new-pro¬ 
cess “ gilt-edged ” flour is better in every way as 
food than the old-fashioned superfine fiohr, a flour 
equally fine and white, by the old process. The 
other was simply elegant starvation diet, as it con¬ 
tained very little except pure starch. By the new 
process of bolting the middlings, a much larger 
per centage of gluten is obtained, and this is the 
real muscle-making, strength-producing part of 
the wheat. As graham is compounded nowadays, 
it may be doubtful whether it contains, bran and 
all, pound for pound, any more gluten than the 
fine flour. Were the great prophet of grahamism, 
Sylvester Graham, after whom unbolted flour takes 
its name, now alive, he would utter a strong pro¬ 
test against the use of his name upon the majority 
of the products that are now called “graham." 
Grass Stain Removed. 
I thought grass staiu was hopeless. I have asked 
experienced people several times if anything would 
take the stain of green grass from children’s clothes, 
but without gaining the desired information until 
within the last month. Lo ! boiling water will re¬ 
move the color. Pour boiling water through the 
stain and it sets the green coloring matter loose, 
rinsing it away. I tried it on a large staiu upon 
the front of my little girl’s white dress, and easily 
removed every trace of the grass, rubbing it a lit¬ 
tle in the hot water. Grass stain, after washing 
with soap-suds, makes a dirt-colored mark, and 
remains an ugly blot on children’s white clothing. 
Iron Rust Stains. 
Squeeze lemon juice into a cup, add a pinch of 
salt, and rub the stain in this. Then wash in clear, 
tepid water. Sponge goods that cannot be rubbed. 
Lately I saw a black cashmere dress badly stained 
with yellow spots of iron rust, on the black silk 
trimming as well as upon the cashmere. The color 
was entirely restored by sponging with lemon 
juice and salt.—[With some blacks the matter 
would be made worse. A piece of the material 
having iron rust should be tried first.— Eds.] 
More Mouse Traps. 
“ R. B. K.,” Columbia Co., Wis., has tried several 
devices or traps for catching mice, and finds the 
one that he has contrived himself the best of them 
all. Our Wisconsin friend’s trap is shown in figure 
1, and is a “ dead fall,” so made as to do away 
with the uncertainty of catching the mouse when 
the ordinary “ figure four ” is used. The trap is 
made of two boards 8 inches wide and a foot or so 
in length, fastened together at one end by a leather 
hinge. A slot is cut in the middle of the bottom 
board for the spindle to rest in. A piece of lath 
with a hole in one end for the passage of the spin¬ 
dle, is nailed on one end of the bottom board. The 
other parts are arranged as in the engraving, which 
shows the trap set. The bait is placed on the end 
of the spindle near the center of the bottom board. 
Another form 
of trap is shown 
in figure 2, and 
consists of an 
inverted glass 
drinkinggoblet, 
with one side 
raised a little 
distance by 
placing a lady’s 
thimble under 
it. The thimble 
should be so 
placed that the 
glass will rest 
upon it near the 
tip, that the 
least, movement 
of the thimble 
Fig. 2. goblet trap. will cause the 
goblet to fall. A piece of meat is crowded into the 
thimble, so that it can not be reached by the mouse 
until he has passed under the goblet, when by its 
nibbing the thimble is moved, the glass falls and the 
mouse is caught. This description came from a lady 
whose letter and address, we regret, is not at hand. 
Grasses for Decoration. 
A bouquet or vase of properly dried and tastefully 
arranged grasses of the more graceful sorts, is a very 
pleasing decoration for the parlor or sitting-room 
in winter. The beauty of a grass depends largely 
upon the delicacy of its flower clusters, and their 
graceful and orderly arrangement in the panicle or 
“head.” As a type of beauty among the larger 
grasses, a long feathery plume of the Pampas Grass 
may be chosen, and indeed it is a very pleasing ob¬ 
ject when preserved of its original shape and color. 
We must here enter a protest against the violation 
of nature by dying the plumes of grasses any color 
whatever. They, to our taste, can not be improved 
upon by being colored a dec-p crimson, an unnatural 
green, unpleasant black, or any other color. Grass¬ 
es for their greatest beauty should be gathered just 
as they are fully in flower, and hung up or spread 
out to dry in a place that is free from dust. If a 
grass is gathered after it is beginning to mature its 
seed, the floral parts will become brittle and soon 
fall to pieces, and fail to be the objects of beauty 
that they would be if gathered when just at the 
opening of the flowers. There are a number of na¬ 
tive grasses that are worthy of a place in such a 
collection. In general, it may be said that any 
grass that is attractive for its delicacy, grace, and 
color while growing in the field, will not be disap¬ 
pointing when it is tastefully arranged in the house. 
Chapped Hands.— The raw winds of late au¬ 
tumn often produce in the hands of those who are 
much exposed to them that roughness and crack¬ 
ing of the skin known as chapping. If nothing is 
done to prevent, and the person is obliged to have 
his hands frequently wet and dried, the cracks will 
often get deep and be painful. Corn husking is 
frequently accompanied by sore hands from this 
cause. As both a precaution and cure for chapped 
hands we have used the following with benefit: 
Wash the hands, and the face also if it is inclined 
to chap, with Borax Water, and afterwards rub 
with an ointment made by melting Mutton-tallow 
(or suet), and then gradually adding an equal quan¬ 
tity of Glycerine, stirring the two together until 
cool. For the hands, this mixture can be best ap¬ 
plied at night, using it freely, and warming it in by 
the fire, after which an old pair of gloves can be 
put on to keep the bedclothes from being soiled, 
and also make the skin of the hands softer. An 
excellent Glycerine ointment for chapped hands is 
made by melting, with a gentle heat, two ounces of 
A HOUSEHOLD FRUIT PRESS. 
Sweet Oil of Almonds, half an ounce of Sperma- 
cetti, and one drachm of White Wax. When melted, 
remove from the stove, and add gradually one ounce 
of Glycerine, and stir until the mixture is cold. 
The ointment can be scented with any perfume to 
suit the fancy. Keep in wide-necked bottles. 
Household Notes and Queries. 
Entertaining Company.— The whole philosophy 
of hospitality is summed up by Emerson in the fol¬ 
lowing : “I pray you, O excellent wife, not to 
. cumber yourself and me to get a rich dinner for 
this man or this woman, w r ho lias alighted at our 
gate nor a bedchamber made ready at too great a 
cost. These things, if they are curious in, they can 
get for a dollar at the village. But let this stranger 
see, if he will, in your looks, in your accent and 
behavior, your heart and earnestness, your thought 
and will, what he cannot buy at any price, at any 
village or city, and which he may well travel fifty 
miles and dine sparingly and sleep hard, in order 
to behold. Certainly let the board be spread and 
the bed be dressed for the traveller but let not the 
emphasis of hospitality be in these things. Honor 
to the house when they are simple to the verge of 
hardship, so that the intellect is awake and sees the 
laws of the universe, the soul worships truth ;aud 
love, honor and courtesy flow into all deeds.” One 
of the greatest comforts of having a home should 
be that in it we have a place for friends and even 
strangers—rooms, more than supply the heeds of 
the family and extra “leaves” to the extension 
table. The secret of true hospitality, as Emer¬ 
son has stated, is in its coming from the heart. 
A Household Press.—A subscriber from Kan¬ 
sas sends sketches and descriptions of a household 
press for obtaining the juice from small fruits and 
for other uses, which he has employed for some 
years. A hard-wood plank 30 inches long and 11 
inches wide serves for the bottom. A hole six or 
seven inches square is made in the plank near its 
middle. The plank is raised upon four legs, and a 
box fitted into the hole, as shown in the accom¬ 
panying engraving. An upright piece is fastened 
at one end of the base piece, and to the upper end 
of this a lever is pinned. The lever carries a 
“pounder,” the head of which is square and just 
fits into the upright, perforated fruit box. In 
using the Press the currants or other fruit are 
placed in a strong cloth and afterwards in the box, 
when the lever and pounder is brought down and 
the juice is quickly and thoroughly expressed. 
A Pot of English Ivy makes one of the most 
agreeable and cheap ornaments for the sitting-room 
in the winter. A common four, or five-inch pot 
with a strong plant can be bought of the florist 
for fifty cents or less. It is easy to make a bas¬ 
ket of interlacing coarse wires to hold the plant. 
