373 
[December, 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
which remain after the “ can-get-along-withouts” 
are blown away, we find the Agriculturist, and one 
religious paper, and perhaps one or two others, 
for all of which we will try to be thankful, and 
now all join hands and sing with cheerful hearts, 
“ Many days you have lingered around ray cabin door, 
Oh 1 “ Hard times ” come again no more.” 
I can assure you Mr. Editor, that like Thomas’ 
towering cabbage in the Eighteenth Book of 
Chronicles {Agriculturist, Vol. 18, page 68.) 
“ This is not all a dream.” Mrs. 0. G. Is. 
[A true picture, but while the inconve¬ 
niences of “Hard times” are recounted, let 
11 not forget the benefits. As a people, Ameri¬ 
cans are more given to extravagance than 
any other nation, and a salutary lesson from 
“Hard times” is needed occasionally to check 
thoughtless indulgence and wasteful expendi¬ 
ture. Let the lessons now learned be remem¬ 
bered when prosperity returns, and then we 
shall be fortified against future reverses.— Ed.] 
A Very Bad Practice. 
A recent letter, incidentally referring to a bright 
12-year old girl, in whom we have a relative’s 
interest, says: “... .She is trying hard to keep 
up with an advanced class, so as to get her 
diploma with them after another year.... She 
studies four hours every night, and is up at her 
lessons early in the morning....” 
Now, for her benefit, and for that of thousands 
of others, we wish to say to parents, that no 
growing child, no one not having nearly attained 
full physical development, can endure such 
study without serious danger. Six hours a day at 
hooks, in school and out of it, are enough for any child 
under sixteen. At the risk of losing friends, we 
say positively that any teacher is at fault who 
does not so time the amount and length of stud 
ies and the exercises of the school, that schol¬ 
ars shall not be required to ‘learn their lessons 
at home,’ or else lose caste and standing in the 
school. If the exercises are varied so that only 
three or four hours of mental application, reci¬ 
tations included, are required at the school rooms, 
then an hour or two, according to age, may 
be devoted to study at home, but never after 
sundown. It is not possible for a healthy, vigor¬ 
ous development of the body to go on at the 
same time with close mental effort. As the 
mind acts through the physical machine—the 
body—it is all important to secure a good ma¬ 
chine first. After this is built up, perfect in all 
its parts, you may make almost unlimited drafts 
upon it. Give the children light suppers, with 
no mental work in the evening, and they will 
sleep well, digest well, grow well, be well, and 
by and by they will do well. The reason why 
the farm, and the lowly walks of life, have fur¬ 
nished so large a proportion of our successful 
men and women, is because the children there 
grow up with less of mental labor, and more of 
physical stamina. Your quiet studious children 
make nice pets—little earthly angels—but they 
never grow into active energetic men and women. 
We oficr no apology for lazy scholars. Give 
the children short lessons, and few of them, 
and require them to learn these well, and study 
while they do study; let them get their own les¬ 
sons, and not have them all simplified and ex¬ 
plained so as to require no effort on their own 
part; then let them devote 17 or 18 hours out 
of 24 to sleeping, eating, and especially to active 
exercise of some kind, and you thus develop 
habits of close application and self reliance, and 
build up a body that is not a candidate for a 
punj' existence, or an early grave. Please stop ] 
that little 12-year old from night study. It is 
not all important that she “.finish her studies’ 
at any particular time. One year more devoted 
to acquiring the same amount of mental disci¬ 
pline, will add many years to her life, orat least 
make the years of her womanhood far more 
effective ones. 
A Corn Bread Exhibition. 
premiums offered. 
We desire to learn how to make the best Corn 
Meal Bread for general use, and to publish the 
directions. A great desideratum is a Corn Meal 
Bread that will be good when cold, and about 
three days old, and which can be made at the 
cheapest rate; that is, one which shall not cost 
so much for the ingredients as to make it as dear 
as wheat bread. We therefore offer 
A premium of 'STesa E>o3!aa*§ for the best 
loaf of Corn Meal Bread baked on Thursday, De¬ 
cember 12tli, and sent to the office of the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist , 41 Park Row, on or before Sa¬ 
turday Noon, December 14. 
Also a Premium of Five HoSSras’s for the 
second best Loaf. 
Also a Premium of Tiv# IJoShtrs for the 
third best Loaf. 
CONDITIONS. 
1. The loaf is to be made wholly of Corn 
Meal, or to contain not more than one part of 
wheat flour to five parts of corn meal. 
2. The loaf to be of fair size for family use. 
3. The least expense per pound of the loaf 
will be an important consideration. 
4. The amount of waste in hard crust will be 
taken into account. 
5. Each loaf must he accompanied with a particu¬ 
lar statement of the exact amount of the ingredients 
used, and of the entire process of mixing, time and 
manner of baking, etc.—all so plainly stated that others 
can follow the directions when printed. 
6. The process must be such a one as can be 
adopted in families generally. 
7. No package will he received on which there are 
expenses for carriage to he paid by us. 
We have placed the time (Dec. 14,) rather ear¬ 
ly, but we desire to publish the results in the 
January Agriculturist. A committee of compe¬ 
tent judges will be selected to examine the 
loaves contributed, and upon their award the 
premiums offered will be paid in cash. 
We invite such of our readers as are accus¬ 
tomed to make good corn bread of the kind in¬ 
dicated above, to send in a loaf of one or more 
kinds. Those who do not chance to secure a 
premium, will not lose much, while they will 
help to increase the interest of the exhibition. 
Those living at a distance can send by Ex¬ 
press at little expense. If the object be stated, 
the Express Companies will charge very mod¬ 
erately. A package started on Thursday even¬ 
ing or Friday morning, can be sent several hun¬ 
dred miles and be delivered here Saturday fore¬ 
noon. After the •exhibition, the loaves con¬ 
tributed will be sent to the Five Points’ Mission, 
or be distributed to the needy elsewhere, so 
that the contributors will have the satisfaction 
of benefiting the needy, whether they obtain the 
credit and cash for the best specimen, or not. 
If the above plan works well, we shall proba¬ 
bly offer premiums in other departments of 
household labor, for the purpose of drawing out 
information for the benefit of all. 
Extra Presiiaaan. 
All the above are for bread of a particular de¬ 
scription, adapted to the general wants of fami¬ 
lies who desire to economize by substituting 
corn for wheat as a daily diet. In addition we 
offer: An extra Premium of Fosur DolEars 
for the best Loaf or Cake of any kind in which 
corn meal is one of the chief ingredients. 
This premium will be awarded mainly with 
reference to the quality of the bread or cake, 
though economy will be one of the items taken 
into consideration. The recipe or specifications 
for making, will be required the same as for the 
first named class. 
We hope the ladies will lend their aid to this 
enterprise, and make the first effort of the kind 
a highly successful one. 
Buckwheat Cakes. 
Contributed to the American Agriculturist by 
Mrs. S. H. Ingalls, Muscatine Co., Iowa. “ As 
inquiries have been made, and much has been 
said about making these indispensables for the 
breakfast table, without soda, or “ detestable ” 
salcratus, I would recommend the following 
recipe, in using which there need be no necessi¬ 
ty for “sweetening the sour batter.” for it 
will never he sour, if the cook does her duty. 
Take one quart of warm water, and add suffi¬ 
cient buckwheat flour to make a rather thin bat¬ 
ter; stir in half a teacupful of good sweet hop 
yeast, and a little salt; beat well together, cover 
up, and set in a warm place, or where it will 
not freeze over night. If it is very cold, the bat¬ 
ter should be mixed early in the evening, that it 
may have time to rise before the fires are put 
out, otherwise it will not ferment, and rise suf¬ 
ficiently. If these directions are followed, and 
fresh batter be made every night in a clean pan, 
you will have delicious light cakes every morn¬ 
ing, without either saleratus or cream of tartar. 
Judgment must decide about the thickness of 
the batter; if too thin, it will not be light, if too 
thick, the cakes will be rather dry. Many 
cooks leave a little batter in the pan for “ rising” 
as they say, because it will not take so much 
yeast, and day after day the batter is mixed in 
the same pan without cleansing! No w'onder 
“ soda ” is needed to purify its acidity! My 
own taste prefers the clean pan, and fresh bat¬ 
ter. If yeast is properly made, it will keep per¬ 
fectly sweet and light, without settling, for two 
or three weeks in Winter; yeast that settles, 
leaving water on the top, soon sours, hence the 
need of soda.” 
-- i — ---- 
How to Cook Parsneps. 
These vegetables, as is generally know'll, are 
of better flavor after being left in the ground 
through the Winter. As they are much 
used, liow'ever, during the Winter months, w r e 
publish the following directions for cooking 
them in various ways, some of which we know 
to be excellent. They w r ere contributed to the 
A merican Agriculturist by Mrs. E. F. Haskell. 
Parsntp Fritters. —Boil parsneps until tender; 
mash and season with butter, pepper and salt; 
make them in pats, dip them in butter, and fry 
in very little fat until brown. Or cover them 
with egg and cook gently. 
Boiled Parsneps — Good .— After they are boiled 
and peeled, chop them as fine as green corn cut 
from the cob, and season w'hile hot, with butter, 
pepper, and salt. 
Parsneps Broiled .— After they are boiled, slice 
the roots and broil brown. Make a gravy as for 
beefsteak 
