1877 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
265 
blowing a child to have its own way contrary to 
the parents’ judgment, for the sake of temporary 
peace. Whether “Dr. Spanxter ” should be sum¬ 
moned, wise parents must decide for themselves. 
Like most other doctors, (except one!), he is in 
danger of coming too often if you call him at all. 
Still, there are emergencies when ho does seem ab¬ 
solutely necessary. One child of mine led me 
many an hour of weary effort to “pacify” it, and 
restore its equanimity, at the expense of my own. 
But a sound spanking, when it got to the throwing- 
Itself-on-the-floor point, amid its cries, was exactly 
the dose needed for the cure of such spasms. To 
spank a baby for waking up with fright and scream¬ 
ing in the night, is a barbarous practice, which I 
have over heard With extreme indignation. Of 
course that is not common. 
1 have known more than one child, who learned 
how to get its own way every time, by screaming 
if denied, and holding its breath, until the frighten¬ 
ed parents were ready to do anything to have it 
breathe once more. But no child ever died from 
any such voluntary breathlessness. Fortunately, 
our breathing is not wholly under our own control, 
and if a child should hold its breath until it became 
unconscious, the lungs, released from the power of 
the vicious will, would go about their work again, 
and save the child. 
Home Binding of Papers and Magazines. 
We know what handsome books are made by 
getting old magazines bound up in yearly or half- 
yearly volumes. Many of us can not afford to have 
all of the old magazines and papers, which we wish 
to preserve in order, bound by the regular book¬ 
binders. It is possible to bind them together so as 
to preserve them in a convenient form, with very 
little trouble, and with no expense to speak of. 
Sew them together with strong cord or twine. 
Don’t sew them “ over and over,” like the seam in 
a sheet, as papers sewed in this way tear out badly, 
and the book loses its shape. To make a thick 
book, a good strong awl is needed. Lay the num¬ 
bers in order, removing the covers, if they are cov¬ 
ered. Fit the backs ; evenly,’ and make awl holes 
from half to three-quarters of an inch from the 
back edge, through the whole pile, not more than 
two or three inches apart. Sew through these with 
a darning needle and twine, back and forth, until 
the book is firm, fastening the ends of the twine 
securely. If a good strong cover be desired, it is 
best to bind the backs with strong cloth. This 
may be done by folding a strip of cloth over the 
backs (the whole pile together) before piercing the 
holes. To this strip, on front and back, paste pa¬ 
per, one thickness over another,, until a thick board 
is formed, drying it with a warm flat-iron as you 
proceed, so as to keep a smooth and even surface. 
Trim the edges, paste something strong over the 
back, line the covers neatly, and embellish the out¬ 
side according to taste. 
This is a good way to bind children’s magazines, 
but the covers are quite essential, as without them 
the leaves roll up and wear away fast with children’s 
usage. I have found it a good way to treat the 
American Agriculturist. My father used to prepare 
neat little wooden slats, about half an inch wide, 
and less than half as thick, with little gimlet holes, 
sewing through these, as he bound a pile of papers, 
one slat at the top and one at the bottom of the 
pile. These held the papers firm and preserved 
them, by preventing the folding of the volume. 
The firmer and thicker the sewing, the less danger 
is there of folding, which wears out a home-bound 
volume faster than anything else. 
Two Bread Recipes. 
In a diary for 1874,1 find, two recipes for bread, 
given me by a careful housekeeper, who assured 
me of their merits. I was not keeping house at 
that time, and the diary gave place to another one, 
and the recipes have never been tried by me. But 
I doubt not their goodness, especially the one for 
Brown Bread.— Three even cups of corn-meal, 
one heaping cup of white flour, three cups of sweet 
milk, one cup of sour milk, one-half teaspoonful of 
soda, one-half cup of molasses. This fills a two 
quart basin. Steam 3 hours, and bake 15 minutes. 
Graham Bread. —Four and one-half cups gra¬ 
ham flour, one and a half eup wheat flour, two- 
thirds cup molasses, two-thirds cup yeast, one pint 
water, one teaspoon salt. Stir thick at night. Steam 
three hours next day, and bake fifteen minutes— 
in the same buttered basin where it was raised. 
Sending Postage Stamps. —When wafers came 
into use, in place of sealing wax, some one—proba¬ 
bly Lord Chesterfield—protested against fastening 
letters with them, because it was vulgar to “ send 
spittle to our friends,” The general use of gum¬ 
med envelopes at the 
present time make it 
necessary to disregard 
this, and we moisten 
our envelopes with the 
mouth, even if it may 
be thought vulgar. 
There is one way, how¬ 
ever, in which we “send 
spittle to friends,” 
which is unpleasant, 
and may be avoided. 
All thoughtful per¬ 
sons in writing for a 
favor, or expecting an answer, which will be of 
benefit to themselves only, enclose a stamp for re¬ 
turn postage. The usual custom is to wet a corner 
of the stamp, just sufficient to hold it, and attach 
it to the letter. Some, by the way, to make it sure, 
wet the whole stamp, and stick it fast, so that it 
takes more time to remove it than it is worth. One 
does not like to use a stamp that has been partly 
wetted by another, and the necessity for doing so, 
may be readily avoided. When we get a lot of 
stamps we put by those from the margin of the 
sheet, for enclosing in letters. These stamps have 
a blank margin, which is partly gummed; and by 
means of this the stamp is attached to a letter and 
may be removed by tearing through the punched 
holes. When we have no stamp with a marginal 
piece, we then make two 
cuts through the letter, 
and put the stamp under 
the band or slip, thus 
furnished, as shown in the 
engraving. While some 
persons do hot notice 
such things, others are ex¬ 
tremely sensitive, and 
would prefer throwing 
away a stamp to wetting 
it, after it had been touch¬ 
ed by another, and it is 
safe to assume that all 
prefer clean stamps. 
How to Serve Eggs.— 
“ G. T. E.” has an abund¬ 
ance of eggs, but is tired 
of boiled, dropped, scram¬ 
bled, and omelette, and 
asks if there are not other 
ways of cooking, to make 
a variety. We were once 
in a foreign city with a 
companion who was most 
fastidious with respect to 
his food, and had, above 
all else, a special horror 
of garlic; to be sure, he 
had never tasted it, but 
the smell was enough, and 
he was—it being where 
Spanish customs prevailed 
—constantly in dread of 
garlic. Both were served 
one morning at breakfast, to a dish consisting of 
hard-boiled eggs, quartered, and covered with some 
kind of sauce. We tasted the eggs, and found them 
delicious, and that their excellence was due to a 
judicious flavoring with garlic. We said nothing, 
but waited for the out-break ; quarter after quarter 
of egg disappeared, and our friend’s plate was 
passed for more. We asked him if he liked it, and 
had him committed most thoroughly to the fine 
flavor of the sauce. Afterwards we told him that 
it was garlic that had made the dish so acceptable 
—and never after heard any more about garlic. 
We occasionally imitate this dish, in a manner. 
The eggs are boiled hard, shelled and cut length¬ 
wise into quarters, while hot; drawn butter is ready 
to pour over them, which is first flavored by stir¬ 
ring in sufficient “Worcestershire sauce” to suit 
the taste. Many are not aware that the peculiar 
flavor for which they prefer “ Worcestershire ” to 
all other sauces, is the trace of garlic it contains, 
and we use it as a handy way of imparting that 
flavor to this sauce. Garlic should never be trusted 
to incautious hands ; a mere suspicion of it is as 
pleasant as its full force is repulsive ; it is eminent¬ 
ly one of the good gifts to be used, but not 
abused. As to hard-boiled eggs, they are, it is 
true, less digestible than soft-boiled, but except for 
very delicate persons, are not objectionable. 
IDYS 4 (BmTtJMMSo 
Tlic Alkec JFVviIt. 
So many steamers run between New York and the va¬ 
rious West India ports, that the various tropical fruits 
are abundant and cheap in the city. Besides pineapples, 
bananas, and such well known fruits, the steamers some¬ 
times bring small quantities of the rarer kinds, which 
are sold at the fruit stores. It is not unusual to find Gu¬ 
avas, Avocado Pears, Mamee Apples', Mangoes, and such 
tropical fruits offered for sale, and sometimes, though 
very rarely, the fruit of the Alice. Some time ago one of 
our artists came across the Alice at a fruit store, and 
made a drawing of it for an engraving, which we give 
here, that yon may see what an odd-looking fruit it is. 
The Akee grows in most of the West India islands, and 
is a tree about 30 feet high. The fruit is yellowish and 
ribbed, and when quite ripe breaks open, as shown in 
the engraving. It is then very showy, as the seeds are 
jet black, and each, like the one shown separate, has at¬ 
tached to it a pure white appendage, which is the eatable 
portion. This has a very pleasant taste ; most of the 
tropical fruit are very sweet, but this is somewhat acid, 
and those who live in the countries where it is abundant, 
become very fond of it.' Or course it is very rarely seen 
at the stores, and only known as a curiosity. 
The Doctor’s Correspondence. 
I wish to say a word to my young friends who write to 
me. I intend to answer here the questions asked by 
Boys and Girls, but only those that I think will be of in¬ 
terest to ail the other Boys and Girls. Some send me 
puzzles, and others problems in arithmetic to which 
