AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
247 
it forms a pleasant broth very easily digested. It 
is difficult to prevent its souring if made, or kept 
many hours, in warm weather. 
BOILING CORNED BEEF AND MUTTON. 
An Iowa Housekeeper writes : “ In last volume 
(page 265) you gave directions for boiling corned 
beef, which my 1 good man’ says are worth more 
than the cost of 50 subscriptions—we have sent 
only twenty-eight of them yet, but the rest will 
come. We have loaned that November number 
until it is all worn out in showing it, and I write 
to ask for another copy. Allow me also to ask 
you to repeat in substance the remarks you then 
made, for I think every new subscriber should 
have the benefit of them.--” 
The directions for cooking corned beef, and 
also corned mutton, are: Soak it in cold or 
slightly warm, not hot, water until no more salt 
remains than will season it for the table. Then 
put it into a kettle, and cover it so that all the 
steam will cool and condense upon the under side 
of the cover and fall back. Every particle of 
steam that escapes carries away some of the 
aroma or flavor of the meat, and leaves it less 
palatable and juicy. A tin pan set into the top of 
the cooking vessel and kept filled with water, is 
a very simple arrangement for condensing the 
steam and causing it to fall back. The water in 
the pan keeps the bottom cool enough to condense 
the steam. Any shallow vessel, or a common tin 
cover with the edges turned up to hold water, 
will answer the purpose. Cook the meat in only 
water enough to cover it well; if protected as 
above, the water will not boil away. 
Cook the meat until it is entirely tender, so much 
so that the hones, if there he any, will drop out of 
themselves. This cooking may take four or five 
hours, but no matter, let the meat be reduced to 
a tender condition. 
Take out the meat, removing the bones. Skim 
off any fat floating upon the liquor, and then boil 
it down slowly to a thin gravy. Mix the fat and 
lean meat together and put into a deep dish, say 
a three-pint or two-quart basin. Then pour in the 
liquid, and lay over the whole a plate or round 
tin; place upon the top twenty or thirty 
pounds weight of some kind, and set aside to cool. 
In this way you will get a solid mass containing 
all the nutriment of the meat, and “ as tender as 
chicken,” no matter how coarse and cheap the 
original beef or mutton. The gelatine in the 
gravy will harden the mass enough to allow it to 
be cut into thin slices, which will present a fine 
marbled appearance if there was a proportion of 
fat and lean. 
Meat prepared in this way forms an excellent 
substitute for dried beef or cold boiled tongue. 
Try this plan two or three times, and you will 
prize it as highly as does our fair correspondent at 
the West. Let us add that the cheaper, coarser 
portions of meat, cooked as above, are really better 
than the choicest cuts boiled in the usual manner. 
SALTING OR PICKLING MEAT. 
Salting, corning or pickling meat more than 
two or three days, would never be desirable, 
could it be avoided, for salt preserves by a kind 
of drying process, that is, it extracts the juices 
of the flesh, leaving chiefly the dry fibers. This 
juicy portion goes into the brine and is necessarily 
thrown away. The effect of salting is much like 
that of soaking meat in water, and boiling to ex¬ 
tract soup. If dry salt be thrown over meat, it 
will in a short time extract fluids enough to give 
a large quantity of brine, and this brine is very 
rich in nutritive elements, but is worthless for 
Ibod. It is, however, an excellent fertilizer, and 
should therefore always go to the compost heap, 
or be diluted with water and thrown upon the gar¬ 
den. It is especially valuable for asparagus beds, 
though a large quantity thrown upon one spot 
may be injurious to the plants. 
We advise to salt as little meat as possible. 
But in the country homestead, where meat is not 
procured daily from the butcher’s cart, pickling is 
indispensable. Let it be kept in mind that the 
chemical character of meat is always changed by 
salting, and that it is rendered far less digestable ; 
and especial care should be taken to have it well 
masticated, or ground, before it is swallowed. 
The process of cooking recommended above as¬ 
sists the mastication by diminishing toughness. 
If the housewife, after preparing it for the table 
will cut it into very thin slices, she will then obvi¬ 
ate the usual danger, that young or grown up 
children will swallow it in lumps too large for 
easy digestion—a matter of no little importance, 
as was shown in our last number, page 214. 
A Fly Trap. 
We remember to have amused ourselves, when 
a boy, in “ catching flies ” with a home-made trap, 
consisting of a tumbler, part full of water, and 
covered with a slice of bread, having a hole in 
the centre, and molasses on the under side. The 
flies crawled through, and when satisfied with the 
sweets, they attempted to fly instead of crawling 
out where they came in, (foolish flies 1) they 
came in contact with the water, and of course 
were drowned. We were forcibly reminded of 
this primitive fly-trap, recently, by noticing an in¬ 
vention of Mr. Clough, one of the forms of which 
is shown herewith. It consists of a double band 
of tin, placed between two tumblers—the lower 
one partly filled with water. On the inside is a 
trough for holding molasses, to which the flies 
approach through the side openings, as seen in 
the cut. When satisfied with the bait, orwhen 
startled, they fly against the sides of the clear 
glass, and ultimately come in contact with the 
water. Without the tumblers, the apparatus costs 
only 25 cents. Larger implements are made on 
the same principle, with a tin vessel below, and a 
wire gauze cover. 
---—HP-*--«—- 
A Batch of Recipes- 
Fly Powder. 
Mrs. Olive Yorce, McHenry Co., Ill., writes 
that by the continued use of “cobalt” for five 
years, the flies have beea so entirely destroyed 
that no eggs have been laid and these pests have 
disappeared entirely this year. The cobalt is put 
into small round baking tins, two-thirds filled with 
boiling water and a heaping table-spoonful of 
sugar added to each. This is an effectual de¬ 
stroyer of flies we are aware, but the cobalt is 
neither more nor less than arsenic, and if used 
great care must be exercised. We have heard 
of children being poisoned with it. 
To sc* rid. of Anls, 
Wm. Ades, Greenbush, N. Y., writes: “ Plant 
in the arbor a root of Southern-wood, or lay a sprig 
of it on the pantry shelf and I can assure you that 
the ants will heed the admonition that it is time 
to leave.” (We are not sure what plant Mr. A. 
refers to. An Associate at our elbow says, he 
lias a Southern-wood Tree on his grounds, and 
the ants are abundant among a lot of clam shells 
lying around the base of the tree.— Ed.) 
Raspberry “ SJirufo.” 
Jeanne, Lancaster, Erie Co., N. Y., sends us 
the following directions : Fill a jar two-thirds 
full of red raspberries, and cover them with pure 
cider vinegar or other good vinegar, and set in a 
cool place 24 hours. The second, and again the 
third day, put in fresh berries, enough to have them 
just covered with the' accumulated syrup, keep¬ 
ing all the while in a cool place. The fourth day 
bring the whole to a scalding heat in a tin or 
porcelain vessel; then strain through a flannel 
bag, and add 1 lb. of loaf sugar to each 11 pints of 
strained syrup; boil 10 to 15 minutes; skim, 
and when partly cooled put into bottles. Let the 
corks be loosely put in for the first day or two. 
To use it, put an inch or so in depth in a tumbler, 
add sugar, and when dissolved fill up with water. 
It makes a delicious beverage, far superior to 
champagne. We have it on hand 2 years old, and 
it is better, if possible, than when first made. 
Uryiiig- 5*!e-plant. 
Cynthia Stanley, Jefferson Co., Mich., writes 
Peel and slice the same as for pies ; then put 
on plates and dry in the sun—the oven turns them 
dark. The dried plant soaked, and stewed with 
sugar makes even a better pie than the green 
stalks... .She recommends planting corn around 
the Pie-plant to keep it shaded. 
Substitute for Icc Cream. 
S. A. P., Carroll Co., Ind., writes: If you 
chance to have dry mealy apples, skin and core 
them ; mash very fine, and add cream and sugar, 
and spice to taste. You thus get a dish little in 
ferior in taste to ice-cream—if not so cool. 
Curd Pic. 
Mary Ann B., Pike Co., Ill., gives the follow¬ 
ing directions: Take 1 pint of curd made from 
milk just drawn ; strain well from the whey ana 
beat it fine ; add 1 pint of new milk sweetened to 
the taste, and 3 or 5 eggs well beaten. Mix the 
whole well together, and bake with an under¬ 
crust, the same as custard-pie, in pie-pans, about 
an inch deep. 
ISoly Poly Pudding'. 
Contributed also by Mary Ann B. (This is ths 
same, or similar to what is sometimes called 
Bolster Pudding— Ed.) Take 1 lb. of flour ; a 
little over £ lb. of beef or mutton suet chopped 
tolerably fine—or an equivalent of butter. Mix 
well together and make into dough with water. 
Work it smooth, and roll to £ inch in thickness. 
Then spread on about £ inch of any kind of pre¬ 
serves and roll it up, closing the ends well. Sew 
it tightly in a cloth, and boil it 2£ 1 rours. To be 
eaten warm with cream. 
UEP 3 We have oiher contributed recipes on 
hand which will find room in due time, but our 
drawer will hold still more good ones. 
Many have suffered by talking, but few by si¬ 
lence. 
