144 r 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
[While this is an excellent breakfast-dish, it is 
hardly to be called an omelette—an omelette is al¬ 
ways cooked in a frying-pan, wion —Ed.] 
Custards, well made, are not only delicious, but 
they are nutritious and wholesome for most people. 
In making boiled custards, much stirring increases 
the lightness and apparent richness of the product. 
A custard should be boiled in a farina kettle, or 
something corresponding—that is in a water-bath, 
made by setting a pail or other vessel into a kettle 
of boiling water, to avoid all danger of burning. 
Boiled custards may be made with one or two eggs 
and two table-spoonfuls of corn-starch to a quart 
of milk; or from four to six eggs to a quart 
without the starch. 
Kindergarten Tracts and Occupations. 
Some months ago I learned, through the “ House¬ 
hold” of the American Agriculturist, that tracts 
SWEET POTATO VINE. 
about the Kindergarten could be obtained gratis 
from E. Steiger, 22 Frankfort St., New York. After 
considerable delay, I sent for them, and a package 
of gayly-colored leaves came promptly in return. 
They are so good that I want more to scatter where 
they will be appreciated. One set of these tracts 
is offered gratis to any applicant. More sets can 
be obtained at the rate of five cents a set. As the 
Kindergarten Association is anxious to extend a 
knowledge of the Kindergarten, and as its members 
act with considerable missionary spirit, no one 
obliged to look sharply after the pennies, need hesi¬ 
tate to ask free copies of the tracts. But somebody 
has to pay for them, and persons of means who 
are iu sympathy with the movement, will of course 
be glad to help it financially ever 60 little. 
The bright-colored leaves are coveted by little 
children, to number among their own treasures. To 
preserve them, and to make them do duty as long 
and as widely as possible, I stitched them together, 
with a neat, strong paper cover, and on the outside 
I wrote my name, so that when I lend them they 
may be less likely to get lost. If I get more sets, 
as I now intend, to send to friends, I mean to stitch 
each set of those together before I part with them. 
The tracts contain considerable variety and on mat¬ 
ters by various authors. 
“Kindergarten Occupations for the Family,” are 
now offered. These are selections from the series 
of gifts used in the Kindergarten, with directions 
for their use. They are attractive playthings, and, 
better than that, they are charming means of edu¬ 
cation. It will not pay to get them for any child 
who has no mother, or other elderly friend, suffi¬ 
ciently at leisure to see that proper care is taken of 
the occupation material, and that it is properly 
used. Tract No. 1 answers the question, “What is 
the purpose of Kindergarten education ? ” Among 
other things it aims “to make the conscientious 
mother in easy circumstances about her child’s best edu¬ 
cation during its tenderest years.” So far so good. 
Now bring along the “ easy circumstances,” else 
what becomes of the “child in itstenderest years,” 
and what is the lot of the ‘ ‘ conscientious mother ? ’ ’ 
Some years ago I obtained a set of Kindergarten 
gifts, and began to use them with my eldest child, 
then four years old. We got along finely with them 
during the few months while his little sister was 
with her grandmother, but so soon as I had both 
children together, the little one interrupted all 
systematic work. Soon there was another babe in 
my arms, and I had no chance to do any technical 
kindergartening, and so it has been from that day 
to this. I put away the books (Weibe’s Paradise 
of Childhood) and most of the gifts, and tried to 
make the best of circumstances. A few weeks ago 
a little ransacker came across the books, and 
brought them to me for explanations. The eldest 
child told what happy times he had when mamma 
used to give him Kindergarten lessons, and won¬ 
dered why they were discontinued. The next two 
in age felt that they had been somehow defrauded 
of their rights, as they looked over the diagrams, 
showing what beautiful work may be done in the 
Kindergarten. All this was too much for my equa¬ 
nimity, and (weak and contemptable as it may have 
been), I had more than one hearty crying spell over 
these tokens of my former hopes and disappoint¬ 
ments. I found, however, that the children were 
now old enough to study out some of the designs 
for themselves, and a new impetus was given to 
paper cutting, and the tablets especially came again 
into favor. I ruled large sheets of paper into inch 
squares, and three children employ themselves very 
happily sometimes, laying tablets in pretty designs 
upon these squares; while the fourth child also 
“plays with tablets,” but without much regard to 
designs. 
The Kindergarten drawing lessons, too, have been 
undertaken in earnest, and I am learning to ap¬ 
preciate them. They prove much more attractive 
than I supposed they would. Though they are 
very elementary, they are good discipline for hands 
and eyes. The blocks have been an almost daily 
delight for six years. They are easily lost, and 
they should be packed carefully into the boxes 
each time as soon as their use is over. I pursued 
this plan until within two years, and so long had 
good success in keeping them, but at last they were 
allowed to be gathered up by handfuls and heaped 
in a large box, Crandall blocks, fifth gift and sixth 
gift all together, and now nearly half are lost. But 
every day somebody here plays with the blocks, 
usually to build fences and bams for the care of 
the fine stock, roaming about this establishment in 
the shape of “urkins,” as the youngest child names 
the fruit of the oak. Country children, in summer, 
have no great need of the Kindergarten occupations 
for home use, there are so many pleasant employ¬ 
ments and means of instruction within their reach. 
But in winter they have time and need for these 
things, and the “ Occupations for the Family ” may 
be made very useful. 
To Mend Toy-Boxes. 
Now it is the box that held the dominoes which 
has one end broken out. The Kindergarten boxes 
that held the blocks were very frail for family use 
(perhaps there are stronger boxes now), and before 
they broke down entirely, they gave me some 
bother. I had them mended with glue two or three 
times, and finally matched them together and past¬ 
ed a strip of strong cambric around them in such a 
way as to make them firmer than ever before. 
This is the best way now known to me for mend¬ 
ing thin wooden toy-boxes. 
Children's Shoes. 
Won’t somebody please beg the shoemakers to 
stitch the children’s shoes so that they will not rip 
open in the seams on the least provocation ? The mar 
chine stitching looks very nice, but long before the 
leather wears out (if copper toes or silver tips pre¬ 
serve it, as they always should), the sewing over 
the foot gives way—or so it goes at our house. I 
try to stitch them together again with a needle and 
coarse black thread, but such sewing does not last. 
Children of five or six years of age are sometimes 
attacked with a desire to do their walking about 
the house mostly on their heels. This causes the 
shoes to burst through on the back, and makes the 
heels run over badly. Of course, such gymnastics 
should be discouraged. The feet of Chinese female 
children are bandaged tightly, to prevent their 
growth into the vulgar proportions of nature’s pat¬ 
tern. American children’s feet are sometimes 
dwarfed by keeping them in shoes too small to al¬ 
low of their natural growth during their early grow¬ 
ing years. This, if persisted in, actually causes 
corns on the feet of children two or three years old. 
The Vine in the Window. 
Mrs. H. E. J. The vine you describe as draping 
a window so handsomely, was no doubt the Sweet 
Potato. At all events, that will answer your pur¬ 
pose,' as it will endure the hottest sun, and appear 
to enjoy it. The sweet potato vine is not so often 
used as an ornamental plant, as it would be, were 
the beauty of its dark green foliage generally 
known. It is very easily managed, being usually 
grown in water, though it may be set in earth in a 
pot. A hyacinth-glass, or other glass, or whatever 
may be the most convenient vessel to hold the wa¬ 
ter, may be used, and a good, sound sweet potato 
a corner cupboard. —{See next page.) 
selected, of such size that it will rest upon the edge 
of the vessel, with its lower part just touching the 
water. It requires a considerable heat to start it, 
and should be set in a warm place, where it will 
have a temperature of 75° or 80°. Light is not 
needed until the shoots have started, but when 
growth has begun, then give it a sunny place. If 
many shoots start, remove all but three or four of 
the strongest, or, if the vine is to be trained to run 
up over the window, two will be better than more. 
Grown in a vase set upon a bracket, as shown in 
the engraving, and the branches allowed to fall 
down gracefully, it makes a charming ornament; 
in this case a number of small and slender shoots 
are preferable to a few large ones, and several buds 
may be allowed to grow. All the care needed is to 
add water, which, when the leaves are numerous, 
will be taken up and evaporated very rapidly. 
Hair Dyes.—A few years ago we gave an account 
of the analyses of the various hair dyes, made un¬ 
der the direction of the BoanJ of Health of New-- 
