310 
AMERICAN AGEICULTURIST. 
[ 0CTO It 1£ R , 
iA g-" go OT — " ”■ - —o ,. .- — 
A Chat about Eats. 
Could the census of the rats be taken, it would 
undoubtedly show that their numbers greatly 
exceed those of any other stock kept. This too, 
is in spite of cats, terriers, traps, poison, and all 
the contrivances with which they are hunted, for 
by universal consent the rat is voted an outcast, 
whose life is to he forfeited at sight, provided 
you can catch him. Other races of animals have 
almost disappeared under like persecution. To 
say nothing of larger game—raccoons, black and 
grey squirrels, the hateful rattlesnake, and cop¬ 
per head, and many minor creatures have long 
been unknown in the more thickly settled dis¬ 
tricts. But the rat takes up his bed and board 
under the very roof of his enemies, he forages 
boldly in the kitchen and larder, confidently rears 
his young in the partition adjoining our living 
rooms, and leads them forth in nightly and right 
merry gambols through the wainscoting. 
This persistence of the race is due principally 
to two causes. Rats are outrageously prolific. 
They commence breeding at the age of three 
months, and bring forth a litter of from eight to 
fourteen, and even more, five or six times a year ! 
At the ordinary rate of increase, a single pair 
and their progeny if all should live, would in three 
years number 650,000. Truly, but for the vigor¬ 
ous crusade continually carried on against them, 
there would in a few years be nothing left but 
rats. Another fortunate circumstance—for them 
—is their easy adaptation to every kind of life. 
A rat is a true cosmopolitan. He can feast with 
a lord, or with a peasant. He revels in the tempt¬ 
ing luxuries of the pastry-cook, but will with 
equal gusto feed on a Hitch of bacon in the store¬ 
room, or a sack of corn in the barn ; nor does he 
hesitate, upon good opportunity, to attack the 
poultry, the feeble lambs, and in numerous in¬ 
stances even children have been mutilated by 
these daring marauders. He is not particular as 
to climate or locality—he nibbles at the fruit in 
the tropics, and shares the train oil of the Esqui¬ 
maux. There was no necessity that the progen¬ 
itors of the existing race should receive special 
command to seek shelter in the ark ; long before 
its completion, no doubt, they had found snug 
quarters, and laid in their stock—every sailor 
will tell you that his berth in the forecastle has 
been their favorite lurking place. 
You will seldom see one of these animals lame 
or diseased, or in any way infirm. When one is 
injured by any accident, his companions fall upon 
him, kill him without mercy, and make a com¬ 
plete finish of the work by eating him. The anx¬ 
ious mother rat has continually to watch, not only 
against tfie prowling cat, for the young are fa¬ 
vorite morsels with the insatiable male, who fre¬ 
quently feasts upon his own descendants. 
Although the veriest coward when alone, and 
when there is a chance to run, the rat when driv¬ 
en to a corner, or emboldened by numbers of his 
tribe, is quite a formidable enemy. A cat will 
hesitate to attack one unless she may take him 
at a disadvantage by springing upon him una¬ 
wares; several instances have occurred of an 
attack upon persons by a horde of rats, from 
whom escape was made with difficulty ; and it is 
related of a poor pie baker in London, that hav¬ 
ing missed a quantity of his pastry, lie one night 
set himself to watch for the thief, and was over¬ 
powered and partially devoured by them. 
The tools of the rat, which also serve as for¬ 
midable weapons, are four long sharp teeth, two 
in the front of the upper, and two in the lower 
jaw. These are set like wedges, the outer part 
is covered with hard enamel, the inner is a softer, 
bony composition. This softer part is worn away 
in gnawing, which gives a sharp cutting edge to 
the front, with which the animal can readily 
make his way through the hardest wood. Indeed, 
he must keep gnawing from necessity ; for the 
teeth grow so rapidly, that if unemployed, they 
would soon protrude far beyond the mouth, and 
become useless. A rat was caught, which had 
lost one of his upper teeth, and the lower one 
had continued to grow until it formed a curved 
tusk reaching over to the side of his ear, and 
threatened to pierce his head. 
Until within a few years, excepting among the 
Chinese and a few other Eastern nations, the rat 
has been turned to no account. Some genius at 
length discovered that the skin of the rat could 
be tanned into a very pliable and fine leather, 
little inferior to kid, since which, the skins have 
in Paris, and London also we believe, a regular 
market value; and the capture of these ani¬ 
mals has been quite a profitable business for that 
class of inhabitants who are not above descend¬ 
ing to the sewers and other rally places in pur¬ 
suit of a livelihood. We might iuclude also in 
the profits of the ratting business, the sales made 
to “fancy men” who purchase large numbers 
for training dogs, particularly the terrier, to de¬ 
stroy them—not so much with a view to exter¬ 
minating the species, as to afford “ sport ” to the 
roughs that gather around the rat pits and bet 
upon the rat-destroying powers ol their favorite 
dogs. 
The usual methods of keeping these vermin 
within bounds, are too well known to need de¬ 
scription. We can hardly hope to be entirely 
rid of them, but a faithful cat kept in the house, 
and two or more at the barn, will usually make 
the quarters too unsafe to allow any great increase. 
Without some check, they will make serious in¬ 
roads upon the grain mows and bins of the far¬ 
mer, and prove a terrible annoyance to the careful 
housekeeper. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
About Corned Beef. 
Corned beef, properly salted, and cooked as it 
should be, is a dish fit for the sovereign people; 
but to eat salt junk, such as too often exercises 
the muscles of the jaws, is a pennance even for a 
malefactor. Most of the beef put up for Winter 
use, is spoiled by the use of too much salt, which 
destroys the flavor, and makes the meat stringy 
and tough. When beef is fresh, it contains con¬ 
siderable blood, which is drawn out by the brine. 
If the meat is left in this bloody mixture, it will 
require a much larger quantity of salt to preserve 
it, particularly through warm weather. My plan 
is to make a brine by using for every hundred 
pounds of beef, 5 lbs. salt, £ oz. saltpeter, and 1 
lb. brown sugar. This is dissolved in just enough 
water to cover the meat, and poured upon it. 
When it has been in this brine two weeks, I take 
out the meat, let it drain, pour a fresh brine over 
it, and then it will be good, the season through. 
The cook who uses corned beef, should not he so 
ignorant or so indolent as to delay putting it over 
the fire until an hour before dinner. A good sized 
piece requires three or four hours steady boiling 
to do it justice. Insufficient boiling must be 
made up for by extra chewing. Always have 
the water boiling when the meat is dropped in ; 
otherwise the sweetness will all be drawn out into 
the water. A boiling heat hardens the outer sur¬ 
face at once, and thus keeps in the juices which 
give richness, and which contain most of the 
nourishment. An excellent way of cooking corn¬ 
ed beef is, to have a large boiler, with a wire, or 
wooden rack on the bottom, for the meat to rest 
on, over the water. When the water boils, 
place the meat upon the rack, and put on the 
cover of the boiler, with a cloth over it to keep 
in the steam. The heat of the steam will rise 
above the boiling point, and penetrate the meat, 
and cook it more quickly and better than could 
be done by boiling. Martha. 
- m-t -< -- 
Frames for Drying Apples. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I constructed some trays for drying apples, last 
season, which I like so well that I send you a de¬ 
scription of them. They are cheap, easily made, 
convenient in handling, and efficient. 
They are made wholly of laths, the ends being 
a thick lath sawed in two, and the sides strong 
whole laths. For the bottom, nail whole laths 
longitudinally, or half laths across. If whole 
laths are nailed lengthwise, they will need a 
cross support in the middle, which can be nailed 
on afterwards. As the apples, after coring or 
slicing, are to he spread thinly upon these laths, 
the weight will be light. One man can easily 
handle a frame, or two men can carry eight or 
ten, set upon each other. They may be placed in 
any convenient situation for drying, but I find 
two rails set upon benches, in the open sun, a 
very suitable place. A gentle shaking, or stirring 
by hand occasionally, will facilitate the drying. 
Westchester Co., N. Y. A. E. LaTII.I.a. 
Remarks. —We have used similar contrivances 
for drying {.he different fruits. Large frames, 
made of thin board siats, were constructed for 
apples, pears, peaches, pumpkins, string beans, 
etc., to be used out of doors, and smaller ones for 
setting upon each other, were put in a moderate¬ 
ly heated oven to continue or hasten the drying 
process during cloudy or rainy weather. In mak¬ 
ing the lath frames of our correspondent, we 
should prefer thin board sides and ends, which 
would hold the nails much better than the very 
narrow edge of a lath. 
Save the Fruit. 
In nearly every section of the country there is 
a great apple crop. Peaches abound also in a 
few places, but not in New-Jersey, and some 
other localities where the yield was formerly 
abundant. The excess of fruit should not be 
wasted. There are millions of people in our 
cities and villages, and in newer sections where 
fruit trees are not yet planted, who will gladly 
pay good prices for dried apples and peaches—if 
well preserved. We can not do better than to 
repeat our former advice : It pays well and pays 
best to prepare and dry fruit carbfui.i.y. Clean, 
well pared, well cored, and carefully dried apples, 
sell for double the price of those poorly prepared- 
Two shillings worth of time and care in prepar¬ 
ing a bushel will not unfrequently add a dollar or 
more to its marketable value. Apples may be 
quickly dried by shaving t hem wholly into, thin 
parings, and spreading them upon plates or ear¬ 
thenware dishes to dry. “Apple leather,” as it 
is sometimes called, is a convenient article. It 
is made by preparing the fruit as if for sauce, 
and then, after cooking, spreading it thinly on 
earthen dishes and drying it in the hot sun, or in 
ovens kept at so low a temperature as to avoid 
all danger of scorching. The thin dried sheets 
thus prepared will keep a long time in a dry room, 
and he ready for use whenever they are wanted, 
by simply soaking them. Peaches may also bo 
preserved in a similar manner. 
