1877.] 
305 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
before breakfast. This brings the baking late in 
the day, and most of us do not like it. At night, 
or in the evening, we make a soft batter of warm 
water and flour and yeast, the quantity of each de¬ 
pending upon the number of loaves desired. The 
proportions ^re generally the same, though no pre¬ 
cise rule can be given, as flour and yeast differ ki 
their properties. 
Miss Beecher says that it takes about a quart of 
flour to make each loaf, and for four loaves a quart 
of wetting. But loaves vary in size. For a baking 
of this size, you need about three-fourths of a cake 
of good dry yeast in summer, in winter a whole 
cake. This yeast must be soaked in warm water 
half an hour or less before using. The yeast will 
not work if scalded. A gill of lively, soft, or bak¬ 
er’s yeast, answers for the same sized baking. Take 
a portion of your flour, (say two quarts), and (if 
you do as 1 do) pour half of your wetting into it 
boiling hot, only scalding about half of the flour 
you use in the sponge. Use the other half of the 
wetting lukewarm, and see that the batter is below 
the scalding point when you add the yeast. In 
summer you may make the spoDgo at a lower tem¬ 
perature than in winter, but it should never be cold. 
Make it of such thickness that it will not separate 
or become watery over the top, but thin enough to 
stir and pour easily. Set in a warm place, covered 
loosely—wrapped up warm in winter. 
In a warm kitchen this sponge rises in from three 
to five hours; if the materials are good, it seldom 
sours during the night, but must be looked after 
very early, and if light, must be kneaded without 
delay. Some housekeepers stir dissolved soda into 
it, always, at this point, whether it is sour or not, but 
this is sheer folly. If the flour and yeast are good, 
it is very seldom that a good housekeeper has oc¬ 
casion to put any soda into her bread. If the bread 
smells sour, (not simply yeasty), or tastes sour, put 
in dissolved soda in the proportion of a teaspoonful 
to a quart of wetting used in the sponge. Dissolve 
the soda in warm water or sweet milk, (and I add 
to it two heaping teaspoonfuls of sugar), and stirit 
into the sponge before kneading. Stir in flour un¬ 
til your batter is too stiff for your strong spoon, 
then begin to work with your hands, keeping flour 
between your hands and the soft dough, and always 
between the dough and board. As soon as the 
bread is stiff enough to knead without sticking, 
cease to work in flour, but knead with as little flour 
as possible upon the board, and work i( hard with 
the hands for at least half an hour. The “ Parker 
House ” baker says he kneads two hours, but of 
course he makes larger “ batches.” Put the dough 
back into the pan or tray, and keep it warm. 
The dough should now rise until it doubles in 
size. It must rise enough, or it will not be light 
and elastic in texture. It must not rise too much, 
or it will lose the natural sweetness of the wheat, 
and about all that one can say here is, “ cultivate 
judgment.” If, at this stage the bread turns sour 
in any degree, it is still possible to neutralize tbe 
acidity by the rise of soda, and this is the best way 
to do it: mix soda and dry flour together, and 
knead them into your loaves very thoroughly. The 
dough requires a very thorough kneading, without 
more flour, when made into loaves, in order to se¬ 
cure a uniform texture. If you plan four loaves, 
you may knead half of it for a few minutes, then 
work the other half as long, and then divide into 
separate loaves, and knead each one well before 
putting it into the well-buttered tins. If the dough 
is sour, half a teaspoonful of soda for each loaf 
should be mixed with a little flour and kneaded in. 
Though the bread may be nice, I never feel that 
I have been very successful when I have had to use 
soda. The loaves should be set in a warm place, 
and allowed to rise light, or double in size, before 
they go into the oven—not too light, as they are 
pretty sure to rise a little more after they go into 
the oven, unless the oven is too hot for bread. 
Prick the loaves on the top with a fork or knife, 
when light, before baking, to prevent a loose upper 
crust. Bake steadily for an hour or a little longer, 
according to the size of the loaves. 
Repairing Bed Comforters. 
Complaint is made of our “ heavy ” cotton com¬ 
forters. Wherefore “heavy”? They are not so 
when new, but the cotton becomes packed by pres¬ 
sure, and especially by washing. Comforters, which 
are used as coverings in winter, should not be used 
as mattresses over straw-beds in summer. This, of 
course, makes them hard and heavy. Before put¬ 
ting them away for the summer, they need some 
cleansing, but, unless the covering is really soiled, 
the sunshine and fresh air will freshen and sweeten 
them properly. Hang them out during the whole 
of at least one sunny day, then put them away, not 
packingthem too closely. If they must be washed, 
untack them and wash only the covering, laying the 
cotton out in the hot sunshine for a day or more, 
then tacking the whole together as before. 
Old Bed Quilts. 
These must be washed when much soiled, and a 
washing machine and wringer seem almost indis¬ 
pensable. Plenty of suds should be used, and -a 
thorough rinsing be given. If they happen to hang 
through a good pouring rain, it will do no harm. 
They can be patched up, when very badly worn 
out, more easily than some imagine. If pieced in 
large blocks, they can be patched with dark or 
light, according to the shade of the worn portions, 
so as to look almost as good as new. Of course 
they need not be ironed. 
To Wasli BlanJcets Nicely. 
I have seen various directions for this work, but 
a few things seem essential in every case : to avoid 
hard water and resinous soaps, to wring without 
twisting (i. e., with a wringer), or not to wring at 
all, to use water of the same temperature all 
through, or to increase in heat during the changes, 
not to rub the soap upon the flannel, but mix it 
with the water. Flannel is of so porous texture, 
that it is easily cleansed in good suds without much 
rubbing. Hard rubbing tends to “ full ” the cloth, 
and to rinse in cold water flannel that has been 
washed in warm water, is a sure way to shrink and 
harden it. From cold to warm, but never from 
warm to cold. I have seen the direction to rinse 
flannels in soapy water, but I am sure there is no 
value in this. The clean, warm rinsing water is 
sure to be soapy enough, if good suds have been 
used in the washing. One suds or two may be used, 
according to the degree to which the flannels have 
been soiled. When they have been rinsed, two 
should take them, one at each end, and shake and 
snap them well, to make them more soft and fuzzy. 
IBDYSS 4 
Tlac EJoctor’s Correspondence. 
I do not like to begin (lie answers to my young friends 
vvitli a lecture — perhaps you will think it is a scolding— 
but we had better have the disagreeable part first, and 
there is such frequent cause for it, that I would put it 
where every one of you will see it. I wish that 
EVERT EOT AND GIRL, 
of the whole American Agriculturist family would recol¬ 
lect, that it is regarded as decidedly improper to send 
what is called an anonymous , (that is, nameless), letter 
to any one. It is often done through thoughtlessness— 
as in the case of “ Boy of 12,” but is nevertheless very 
impolite. If you have anything to say, to which you are 
ashamed to put yaur name—don’t write it. But when¬ 
ever you do write a letter to any one—always be careful 
to put your address in full, and your name in full. I 
wish every one of my young friends to begin now, and 
make it a rule through life , to always sign your name to 
every letter, and be equally careful to give your address, 
Post Office, County, and State. One thing be sure of— 
never write anything to any one that you will be ashamed 
to see again, with your name to it. * * * You will recol¬ 
lect that in last June’s “Correspondence” I told you about 
AN INSECT THAT BUILDS A STONE HOUSE, 
a Caddis-worm, the larva of one of the Caddis-flies, that 
makes a neat little case of pebbles, and gave an engrav¬ 
ing of the animal and its case. As the insects were all 
dead when they reached me, having dried in the box, I 
asked for some more, to be sent packed in moss, in a tin 
box. In due time, the box with a nice lot of Caddis- 
worms came; the insects were all alive, but every one 
had left its stone house, and was crawling among the 
moss. I put them in water, hoping that some of them 
would go back to their homes, but not one would do so, 
nor would they make new ones, though I gave them 
building materials. I suppose that the constant jarring 
they had on the railroad frightened them “ out of house 
aud home ”; at any rate, I was quite sorry, as I wished 
to watch their ways and learn more about them, that I 
might tell you. It was very kind of Mr. Albert B. Castle, 
of Frederick, Md., to be at the trouble of getting this 
second lot, and it was no fault of his that they did not 
behave themselves properly... Here is aletter from “ W. 
I. N.,” Hightstown, N. J., who wishes to know about 
“ A FRESH-WATER LOBSTER,” 
which he finds in the streams in his neighborhood. He 
has one that is 3% inches long in his aquarium, and 
thinks that, except in size, it is quite like the common 
lobster, as it moves in the same manner, and snaps at ob¬ 
jects with its claws just as a lobster does. The common 
name for our friend’s “Fresh-water Lobster” is the 
Crawfish, and while it much resembles the Lobster, 
naturalists find abundant differences between the two, so 
No. 461. Puzzle Picture.—By Frank.—This is a patriotic puzzle picture, and was sent by Aunt Sue to 
appear in July, so that you could, very properly, let the making of it out come in as a part of your 4th of July 
celebration. While it would have been more appropriate for July 4th, it is not out of place on August 4th, or any 
other day of that or any other month, as you are to find in the picture the names of 53 men, and men too, whose 
memory should be honored by all Americans for all time. The answers, mind, are to go to Aunt Sue. 
