1 S 60 ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Q3 
these little blocks unite together so as to leave a 
hollow in the center, which contains water. 
When you heat salt on the stove, or on the hot 
iron, these little drops of enclosed water expand 
into steam, and burst open with a crackling noise, 
like so many little steam boilers exploding. 
Into 100 pounds of water, put 37 pounds of pure 
salt, and it will all dissolve and apparently dis¬ 
appear, but add another pound, anti the excess 
will not dissolve by heating or long standing. 
The cubes or crystals are all destroyed. Now 
heat the water so as to drive some of it off in va¬ 
por, and the little blocks (crystals) will begin to 
appear upon the surface, hardly perceptible at 
first, and grow larger and larger, and finally sink 
down in grains to the bottom. Keep up the heat 
until all the water is driven off, and you will get 
all the salt back. If the boiling be rapid a fine 
grained salt is obtained. Let the evaporation be 
done slowly, so as not to agitate the brine, and 
a greater number of the little blocks will unite 
together and form larger crystals, or coarse salt. 
Sea water, when evaporated in the sun, or by 
boiling, leaves its salt behind, and we thus get 
sea'salt, or bay salt. Much salt is made from 
sea water at Turks Island, 200 miles eastofCuba. 
Many springs, and wells, contain salt which can 
be obtained by boiling away the^vater, or drying 
it off in large shallow pans or wooden boxes. 
Millions of pounds of salt are thus obtained at 
and near Syracuse, N. Y.,where hundreds of acres 
are covered with boxes or vats, and boiling es¬ 
tablishments. The water is obtained there from 
natural springs, and especially from deep artificial 
wells. At many other places, smaller quantities 
are made from spring or well water. 
Large beds of solid salt, ready formed, are found 
in some parts of the world, and salt is dug out 
from these, just, as coal is dug up from the earth. 
This is usually called “ rock salt,” though salt 
manufactured from sea water, when in large crys¬ 
tals, is frequently called rock salt. 
Most salt, especially that boiled down at the 
springs, contains a mixture of magnesia, lime, 
etc., (in the form of chlorides.) These give it a 
bitter taste, and injure its value, especially for 
salting butter. These impurities attract moisture 
from the atmosphere, and you can generally de¬ 
termine the purity of salt, by observing whether 
it is dry and crisp, or damp and soggy to the hand, 
especially in damp weather. 
It is easy to remove the magnesia and lime, for 
the chlorides of these are more soluble than the 
pure.salt. To do this, pour about three quarts of 
boiling water upon 18 or 20 pounds of salt in a 
pail, stir it quickly and thoroughly ; let it stand 
for an hour or two, pour off the water, and hang 
the salt in a bag, or lay it on a cloth upon slats to 
drain and dry. One washing will nearly purify 
it, but two washings may be made, when the very 
best salt is desired. The water from the second 
washing inay be left to evaporate, and the salt 
obtained, used for animals. A quart of water will 
wash out about -f pound of salt. 
So much for the general character of salt. In 
another article we will speak particularly of its 
use in food, its good and bad effects upon the 
human system, the proper quantity to be consum¬ 
ed in food, its use in preserving meat, etc. 
-«a>-* -»( & »■' 
Hints on Cooking 1 , etc. 
CURING HAMS. 
Mr. I. Lamborn, Chester Co., Pa., writes that 
he has cured hams and rounds of beef (for smok¬ 
ing) by the accompanying directions, for thirty 
years past, and with the best success : Apply as 
much good molasses to the fleshy part, as will 
adhere without running off, lay them on a table 
in a cool place, and put upon and around them as 
much good ground salt as will stick to them, 
pushing some of it into the ends of the hocks. Re¬ 
new this during three weeks as often as it dis¬ 
solves. Use no saltpeter. 'Then clean off the 
salt, sprinkle lightly with a mixture of black and 
red pepper, and smoke. It is of much import¬ 
ance that the smoke should be cool when coming 
in contact with the meat, to secure which the 
lire should be at some distance from the hams.” 
OYSTER SOUP. 
Mrs. Crowen’s JBook gives the following 
good directions for making it : Heat together 
three pints each of milk and water. While boil¬ 
ing, add half a pound of butter crackers pounded, 
and a pint of oysters chopped fine. Cook until 
the Soup is well flavored by the oysters, and the 
crackers are well swelled ; salt and pepper to the 
taste, add three pints of whole oysters, and 
quarter a pound of sweet butter. Keep covered, 
and ccok ten minutes more, and it is ready. [We 
would leave out a part of the butter at least.] 
TIP TOP CAKE. 
A lady reader recently sent us a neat box of 
cake, and accompanied it with the directions for 
making. We endorse the name, the cake 
was tip-top : Dissolve 1 teaspoonful soda in 1 
cup of sweep milk; add 1$ cups sugar, 2 eggs 
beaten, and 1 tablespoonful of butter, with spice 
to taste ; stir 1 tablespoonful cream of tartar in 
2$- cups flour; then mix the whole, and bake in a 
quick oven. 
HONEY DEW BISCUIT. 
Mix thoroughly one cup of fresh butter, one 
of loaf sugar, one ounce of strained honey, one 
cup sour cream, two of flour, one teaspoonful 
soda (rubbed dry in the flour), half a teaspoon¬ 
ful salt in the cream, and one egg. Bake in a hot 
oven 25 minutes. We have frequently seen it 
recommended, and it reads well, though we 
have not yet had it tried. 
Ham Toast. —Mrs. C. O. Brown, Calhoun Co., 
Mich., directs : Boil Jib. of lean ham, and chop it 
fine. Add the yolks of 3 eggs, J oz butter, 2 
tablespoonfuls cream, and a little red pepper [not 
for us— Ed.] ; stir it over the fire until it begins 
to thicken, and spread it over hot toast. 
Salting Bed-bugs. —Mrs. F. E. Dixon, Mon¬ 
roe Co., Mich., recommends washing bed-steads 
with strong brine, and then rubbing them with 
salt, which she says will infallibly expel bugs. 
DIRECTIONS WANTED. 
Some subscribers inquire for directions for 
making the genuine soda crackers ; others de¬ 
sire to know how to get up the best Graham 
biscuit, or such as are sold by bakers. Will 
some retired baker or other person fully com¬ 
petent to do so, please respond to the above for 
the benefit of a multitute of ladies, taking their 
thanks for pay, or part pay I 
-■*» i -*-«»- 
Familiar Talks by the Doctor—Eo. I. 
[Farmers, as a class, are pretty healthy, yet even they 
and their families suffer much needlessly. The various 
ills and doctor’s “bills,” they ever stand in fear of, would, 
we believe, be greatly lessened, and their comfort 
be much promoted, were there a better understanding of 
the laws of health, and the methods of avoiding sickness 
and pain. It is with pleasure, therefore, that we begin in 
this number a series of familiar chapters, by one abun¬ 
dantly able to give sound practical advice. With this 
simple endorsement of the writer’s ability, and we might 
add, reliability, we will leave his chapters to speak for 
themselves, as they will doubtless do in a manner both 
interesting and instructive.— Ed.] 
Mr. Editor : It is said that the Chinese pay their 
doctors a certain sum so long as they have no 
need of professional attendance, but as soon as 
they fall sick, the doctor’s pay stops. Such a 
system would have some advantages, and labor 
under some inconveniences. For instance, one 
might suppose that the doctor would try to cure 
his patient as soon as possible (which indeed 
every honest man in the profession now does), 
and thus save him some time ; while on the 
other hand the patient might feign sickness, or 
even get himself a little out of heaith, as a matter 
of economy , to lessen the doctor’s bill. 
It is a very natural question for you now to 
put to me : “Why all this talk about Chinamen 
and doctors 1 Can you be coming round to Dios- 
corea Batatas or Sorghum1" True, both the sugar 
cane and the potatoes, so called, which bear these 
names, come from China, (some think that the 
Dioscoreas are big enough to come right straight 
through, without going round by sea), but I do 
not propose to talk of them. Neither have I got 
any ‘ax to grind,’ any selfish purpose, in addressing 
you, but I desire to talk as a Doctor to Farmers. 
Perhaps you may think I desire to talk of 
pills, either big or little, of mustard plasters, of 
iiomeopathy or hydropathy, or some other pa thy. 
Not a bit of it. I am a firm believer, (as I have 
reason to be) in the science of medicine as a 
•whole, not split up into any onc-idca kind of doc¬ 
trines, and having a decided opinion, I do not 
hesitate to express it at the proper time, and at 
the proper place, neither of which this is. 
My purpose is to point out to your many read¬ 
ers some ways in which farmers are unnecessa¬ 
rily careless of their health, entailing upon them¬ 
selves much unnecessary suffering, and too fre¬ 
quently allowing their children to drop prema¬ 
turely into their graves. 
It has been my fortune, to see a good deal of 
farmers and of their families in a professional 
way, as well as socially. Of course, the little or 
great errors which they commit in their way of 
life, could not be unnoticed, and yet it is impos¬ 
sible to speak to the individual of some of these 
things. By speaking to the whole class, no one 
will feel personally aggrieved, and yet many may 
lay the lessons to heart. 
It also happens to have been my lot to talk 
to doctors a good deal for the last ten years, 
both by the mouth in the lecture room, and by the 
pen in medical journals, and I have very fre¬ 
quently had occasion to dwell on the health oi 
our agricultural population, and upon those 
things which affect that class injuriously. So 
too, 1 have had occasion to comment on the em¬ 
ployments of various classes of mechanics, and 
to point out some of the injurious influences 
which surround them. But in no professional 
journal can one reach so large a number of 
readers, as through the Agriculturist. 
Should any crusty reader (1 suppose, Mr. 
Editor, that you have some of that class, I 
hope not many,) growl at me for proposing to 
point out to him any error in his mode of life, 
which might be avoided to the benefit of his 
health, I make haste to say to him, that 1 do not 
for a moment think of giving him any informa¬ 
tion. But then, Mr. Crustyman, do you think it 
would be a very bad idea to hint to your neigh 
bor, Jack Tremble, that if he would thoroughly 
drain that boggy meadow just across the road 
from his house, lie would not only make a good 
thing of it agriculturally, but’save a good deal of 
money that he now pays to doctors (perhaps to 
myself,) or for fever and ague remedies; and 
save a good deal of time that he now has lo 
spend dawdling round, doing little or nothing, be¬ 
cause he has a shake coining on, or has one 
going off, or because he has been weakened by 
the doses he has to swallow; to say nothing 
of lengthening his life ten or a dozen years'! He 
has no idea that that boggy hole is what keeps 
him poor, when it is all ready with a little help 
to. make him rich ; but then you and I can sec it 
plainly enough. Suppose we just go over and 
tell Jack what we think! He will take it kindly. 
Between you and me, Mr. Editor, I have got 
something to say to Mr. Crustyman bye and bye, 
as to what gives him so much dyspepsia, as he 
calls it, and makes him a little inclined to bo 
cross. But he will not bear it now. 
An illustration of the way doctors see causes 
of ill health entirely within the patient’s control, 
hut without suspicion of the fact on his part, 1 
draw from my own experience. While a med¬ 
ical student, I was once going with iny precep¬ 
tor to see a case of surgery, when a man stopped 
him, and asked him to come to his house to see 
his mother. We found her a nice person, 
about sixty years old. Everything showed that 
the farm was made to pay, and that the house¬ 
keeping was not neglected. After, hearing the 
patient’s story of pain through her chest and 
about her heart, I was running over in my mind 
the symptoms of various diseases of the heart, 
trying to make out which it was, and hoping 1 
should have an opportunity to listen to the 
sounds which the heart makes. Dr. C. was 
evidently going through a very similar process. 
The result of my thinking was, that I did not 
know what the disease was; and I began to 
think the same was the case with my senior. 
He sat looking at the patient awhile, with a 
peculiar look in his eye, that I had learned to 
rely upon as promising that something odd was 
coming, and then suddenly asked her : “ How 
many times a day do you smoke!” 'Thinks I 
to myself, well, Dr. C., you have made a pretty 
mistake this time, asking this nice old woman 
such a question, when to my astonishment she 
said: “Not usually more than three times” 
Her heart was sound, and all her troubles came 
from smoking, but she had no more idea of it 
than Mr. Crustyman has of the cause of his dys¬ 
pepsia, P. H. E. 
