.800.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULT URL ST. 
87 
of butter ; flavor with extract of Ginger ; add a 
scant i pint of water or milk in which is dissolved 
1 ounce of saleratus, then add enough flour to 
enable it to he rolled out. Cut in cakes, and 
bake in a hot oven. Too much flour will spoil it. 
By using only a little more than half the flour, an 
excellent soft ginger cake can be made. 
Ginger Nuts. —To of a pound of butte* mix 
1 quart best molasses ; add 2 eggs ; flavor with 
extract of Ginger, and add l£ ounces of saleratus 
dissolved in £ pint of water or milk ; then add 
about 3J pounds of flour. After mixing, make 
them up into small balls ; put on greased pans ; 
flat them slightly, and bake in a moderate heat. 
Spice Nuts. —Mix together 1 quart of the best 
molasses and£ a pound of butter or lard ; flavor 
with extract of Clove—extract of Ginger will im¬ 
prove it; then add £ a pint of water in which is 
dissolved 1£ ounces of saleratus ; then add about 
3£ pounds of flour. Make the dough up in small 
round balls ; put un pans, flat them slightly, and 
bake them in a moderate heat. 
Delicate Cake.— Mix 1£ pounds of fine white 
sugar, and 1 pound of good solid butter, until light, 
then beat up to a stiff froth 1 pint of white of 
eggs, and add few at a time, and mix carefully ; 
flavor with extract of Vanilla, and add 1£ pounds 
of sifted flour, and mix it through very carefully. 
If made in small cakes, bake in a hot oven, or 
stove. If made in one cake, a cooler oven is 
required. 
Jackson Snaps.— Mix together £ a pound of 
butter or lard, and £ pound of brown sugar ; 
then add gradually 1 pint best molasses; 
flavor with extract of Pimento; a little 
extract of Clove or Ginger will improve it; add 
J of a pint of water or milk, and enough flour to 
make it middling stiff. Make the dough up in 
small lumps, put them on greased pans, and press 
them very flat, and bake in a moderately hot oven 
or stove. 
Domestic Cake.— Mix together 8 ounces of su 
gar and 6 ounces of butter; add 2 eggs ; mix 
and flavor with extract of Cinnamon ; add £ of a 
gill of water, in which is dissolved £ a teaspoon¬ 
ful of saleratus, then sufficient flour to have it 
rolled out and cut invcakes. Pan close, and bake 
in a hot oven or stove. Too much flour will 
spoil either of these recipes. 
Tea Cake.— Mix together 1 pound of sugar and 
£ a pound of butter; add 2 eggs ; mix. and flavor 
with extract of Celery, or other articles to suit the 
t-.iste, add £ a pint of milk in which is dissolved a 
teaspoonful of saleratus ; then add flour until stiff 
enough to roll out. Cut in small cakes ; put on 
greased pans, a little distance apart, and bake in 
a very hot oven or stove. Be careful not to 
get too much flour. 
Spanish Biscuit.— Mix £ a pound of sugar and 
f> ounces of butter together, add 3 eggs, and whe'h 
well beaten add £ of a pint of milk or water in 
which is dissolved £ of an ounce of saleratus; 
work this well in, and flavor with extract of 
Lemon, then add 14 ounces of flour; work it in 
well, then drop the dough on greased pans, in 
small lumps, a little distance apart, flat them 
slightly, and bake in an oven hot enough for 
bread. 
Lemon Pie.— The best we have tasted, made 
by Mrs. H. M. B., Kings Co., N. Y„ after the fol¬ 
lowing recipe, and contributed by her to the 
Agriculturist. Take two lemons, four eggs, 
two spoonfuls melted butter, eight spoonfuls 
white sugar. Squeeze the juice of all the lem¬ 
ons, and grate the rind of one. Stir together 
the yolks, sugar, butter, juice and rind. Cover a 
p'ate with pastry, pour the mixture in, and bake 
till the pastry is done. Then beat the whites of 
the eggs to a stiff froth, stir into it four spoonfuls 
of sugar, put it on the pie, and bake a delicate 
brown. This quantity makes two common sized 
pies. 
Pelicious Corn Bread.— By the same. Boil 
a tea-cup of rice. While scalding hot mix it with 
a little less than a quart of corn meal, four eggs 
well beaten, a tablespoonful of lard, a teaspoon ful 
of soda, a little salt, and enough sour milk to 
make a thin batter. Bake quick. 
Label the Poisons. —If arsenic, strychnine, 
or other poisons are kept in the house, let the 
word Poison, be distinctly printed upon the vial 
(paper packages are not safe receptacles for such 
articles). Keep them locked up, and the key in 
your own pocket, and burn all that you have no 
use for. These precautions might have saved 
thousands of lives. 
Familiar Talks by the Doctor.III. 
Mr. Editor : — As the Spring approaches, anu 
there is more and more to be done by the farmer 
in his duty of obtaining from mother earth that 
food on which we all depend, it is not inappro¬ 
priate to say what more I have to add concern¬ 
ing ovencork. Last month it was its effects upon 
the man himself of which I wrote, now it is of its 
effects on the wife and children. It is with no 
disrespect to any one that I have before com¬ 
pared the farmer’s treatment of himself, or ■per¬ 
haps I might even say his neglect of himself, 
with the tender care which he takes of his favor¬ 
ite horse. With as little disrespect, I ask, would 
you think of requiring a four year old colt to do 
as much as a horse of eight years 1 If he is ever 
so free a worker, would you allow it 1 Is it not 
often wise to let the colt grow older before he is 
permitted to do any work at all, breaking being 
the utmost discipline and labor to which he is 
subjected 1 Why should you treat your boys and 
girls with less care than you do your colts I 
The fact is, the human animal is longer in 
maturing than other animals, and we get tired of 
waiting for it to arrive at adult years—the boys 
and girls themselves get tired of waiting, and, in 
this country especially, are anxious to become 
men and women before they have attained the 
necessary age—they strive to undertake the full 
work of men and women, and are allowed to do 
so ; fortunate if they do not suffer for it. I have 
only to shut my eyes and I can see whole troops 
of them that I have known. I seem now to see 
Flora Quick, with whose appearance I was so 
much struck when I first met her. Slender and 
graceful as a young willow, her large blue eyes 
sparkling with life and animation, her flaxen curls 
falling on her shoulders, her lips bright with the 
red blood that rushed through her veins and 
peeped through the delicate skin of her cheeks— 
ah ! she was beautiful. Was it strange I watched 
her as she moved about, now looking after the 
churning, now seeing that the dinner was cook¬ 
ing properly, now spreading the table, now run¬ 
ning into the cool cellar for something that was 
needed, lifting the kettles round as if it was child's 
play, never sitting, never stopping 1 She was an 
only daughter, the pride of her father and moth¬ 
er, the idol of her brothers, the promised wife of 
as fine a young man as I ever saw. Once when 
I saw her thus at work, I said to her : Flora, are 
you always as busy as this? ‘-Oh,” she answer¬ 
ed, “I do not call this being very busy. You 
ought to see us in haying time.” 
I suppose you get very tired by night ? 
“Yes, I am always glad to go to bed”—(she 
was a girl of too much good sense and real re¬ 
finement to pucker up her mouth and call going 
to bed, retiring, as I have known some people do.) 
At what time do you go to bed usually. 
“ About ten o’clock or soon after.” 
How early do you get up ? 
“At this time of year (it was May) at half past 
four.” (Hum, thinks I to myself, six and a half 
hours sleep, too little by at least an hour and a 
half.) 
Do you feel entirely rested in the morning? 
“No, never, unless it is Monday mornings, but 
then after I get up, and get to work I am as live¬ 
ly as ever. But, Doctor, seems to me you are 
growing wonderfully inquisitive. You do not 
think you can get me to take your pills, do you ?” 
Oh no, but I had some curiosity to know how 
much you could do. 
“Do !” said her mother who was standingnear, 
“she is the smartest girl of the whole neighbor¬ 
hood. I have hard work to beat her, and yet to 
look at her you would not think it. I do not won¬ 
der John came here for a wife.” 
Thinks I to myself; neither do I, as I saw the 
beautiful blush that came to her face at her moth¬ 
er’s last remark. 
When I had a fitting opportunity, the daughter 
not being present, I turned to Mrs. Quick, who 
was in the. room and said, I used to think you 
loved Flora, but find I was mistaken. 
‘“Love her’! ‘mistaken’! what do you mean 
Doctor.” 
I am sorry, I say, that you do not love your 
daughter. 
“ Doctor, I do love her; I often fear too well.” 
Oh no you don’t, Mrs. Q , for if you did, you 
never would allow her to overwork herself as 
she does, and it is my duty to tell you plainly that 
if you do not put a stop to it, she will soon 
be my patient, and soon- 
“ Why Doctor you are mistaken. She only 
does what she chooses without any urging, she 
likes to do it and she is perfectly well.” 
The decision rests with you, and I hope I 
am mistaken, but am sure I am not. 
My warning was unheeded. In the Fall of that 
year I had a lovely patient in that house. In the 
Spring there was a funeral there, but no daugh¬ 
ter afterwards. And all this of overwork. She 
was ambitious; she did more than her strength 
was equal to, she died. 
So it is with the boys, though I do not think 
they are so apt to be overworked as the girls. 
They get more recreation as in fishing, and hunt¬ 
ing, and nutting, and skating, while the girls are 
pretty constantly at home, sometimes, but too 
rarely going a berrying. Too seldom arc they 
allowed for a day to stroll in the fresh air, or to 
lay aside any of their round of duties. Let them 
have their recreations, their amusements, their 
resting periods, and especially so, if it is neces¬ 
sary, as I admit it may sometimes be, to over¬ 
work them for a few days. Be more careful of 
them than of your horses, and be sure they will 
repay you abundantly in your old age. 
The same thing holds true with regard to the 
wives. I need not recapitulate what I have.said, 
and only add that they should be especially guard¬ 
ed against too much labor previous to the birth 
of each child. But I can not say the tenth part 
of what might be said on this subject, if more 
room could properly be devoted to it in the Agri¬ 
culturist. I therefore only add that I beg your 
readers to use the same good sense in the physi¬ 
cal education of their children that they do in the 
care of their working cattle It will save much 
suffering from ill health on their part, and on the 
part of their parents, and add greatly to the 
amount of happiness, P. II. E. 
