AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
315 
tasks, showing that the energies are not in the 
work. Luncheon is for long days and over-work. 
It is based upon a wrong philosophy of labor. 
With a better arrangement of the meals, and 
the hours of labor, luncheon may be dispensed 
with to the great relief of the women of the 
household, and to the advantage of employer, 
and laborers. The breakfast should be out of 
the way and the men be in the field by seven. 
They can work five hours comfortably, when 
six and a half would be an injurious strain upon 1 
the strength. They come to the noon meal at 
twelve, with a good appetite, and at one, are 
ready to resume work again. They work vigor¬ 
ously until six, when if they knew they were 
not to be dismissed until sunset, or dark, they 
would hold back. We have followed the ten- 
hour system with our laborers upon the farm for 
several years, dispensing with luncheon, and 
have no doubt it is good economy. With good 
calculation, it is seldom necessary to overstep 
these bounds. If a storm threatens, and more 
work is necessary.to get hay into cock, or into 
the barn, men are always ready and filling. 
Suggestions for Health-Preservation. 
The season is now upon us when, owing to the 
summer heats and atmospheric influences, fevers 
prostrate, and diarrhoeas exhaust multitudes who, 
during less debilitating seasons of the year, are 
comparatively exempt from disease. Tet this class 
of complaints maygenerallybeavoided. Thereaders 
of the Agriculturist should be well enough acquaint¬ 
ed with the subject of Health-Preservation to know 
that it does not depend upon medicines. These 
would rarely be necessaiy, if we were as anxious to 
take care of our own health as a thrifty farmer is 
to take care of that of his sheep and hogs. Men 
are apt to employ less common sense in their own 
behalf, in this regard, than in behalf of their swine! 
They will carefully study and profit by information 
relative to the ailments of their herd, and how to 
avoid them, while the preservation of their own 
health, and that of their children, is a subject rare¬ 
ly thought of. Worse stilly sparing neither pains 
nor expense to procure the most wholesome food 
for their animals, they debilitate their own stom¬ 
achs with that which they know to be unwholesome. 
The general rules and requirements of health 
are simple and easily learned. In fact, one has but 
to watch the sensations of his olfactories, skin; and 
stomach, and heed them, to keep clear of all danger 
from ordinary diseases. The sense of smell warns 
him against inhaling impure air ; the skin, by dry¬ 
ness, feverishness, or irritation, indicates a want of 
that frequent bathing, which is so essential to 
health; and the stomach calls for food when need¬ 
ed, repels it when enough has been eaten, and in a 
natural state, betokens generally that which is un¬ 
wholesome. A little extra pains to notice these in¬ 
dications will greatly sharpen the perceptions. 
It may be set down as a general rule that ordi¬ 
nary diseases can not obtain a foothold where only 
pure air is inhaled, the skin is clean and healthy, 
and the stomach kept in good condition. The latter 
involves the most difficulty, owing to the depraved 
habits of diet in “ civilized” society. But a few 
rules, well lived up to, will rarely fail, viz : Be reg¬ 
ular as to time of eating; do not exercise violently 
either immediately before or immediately after 
meals; and let the last meal of the day be light and 
easy of digestion, so that sleep may be undisturbed 
and refreshing. In the morning, any billious dis¬ 
turbance of the stomach is known by the bitter 
taste in the mouth. Seed this warning, by restrict¬ 
ing diet to plain bread, vegetables, and ripe fruits ; 
and if it increases, go without supper, and take a 
thorough warm water bath—rinsing off in cool war 
ter—just before retiring to bed. As a general die¬ 
tetic rule for Summer, persons in any degree delicate 
should use plenty ,of ripe, raw, and cooked fruits 
at meals, and but little, if any, fat meats. Let all 
dietetic changes be gradual; and for the most part 
use food that requires chewing, and chew it well, in 
order to give the stomach the full benefit of the as¬ 
sistance of the saliva in digestion. 
Avoid sudden changes in quantity of clothing, 
cooling off suddenly when heated and perspiring, 
and all sudden changes. In keeping the skin clean, 
do not neglect that most important, part, the scalp. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
Taste in Dress. 
1 Tight sleeves are becoming fashionable now on 
our prairies, where they are so much needed. 
Prairie winds are cold and searching, and loose 
sleeves in Winter, at least, are next to no sleeves at 
all. Plowing sleeves have been so long in fashion, 
however, that people are tardy in giving them up, 
though for housekeepers they are the most sloven¬ 
ly sleeves ever invented, not to speak of the shiver¬ 
ing look they give in church or street, with short 
gloves, and bare arms as red as a lobster. Pur cuffs 
on bare arms is but one remove, but add white un¬ 
dersleeves, whether of muslin, or zephyr, and the 
change to the wearer and looker on is very great. 
It is said that when a French lady, from the coun¬ 
try, comes into Paris to refurnish kerwardrobe, she 
puts herself and purse into the hands of a female 
modiste, who measures her, takes her stature, com¬ 
plexion, etc., into consideration, and to whom, at 
the end of a week, she returns for a complete suit 
of clothes. The French women are not pretty, 
as a general thing, but their charming taste in dress 
makes them queens of fashion the world over. And 
while some women are born with an innate percep¬ 
tion of the beautiful, there are others to whom the 
harmony of colors is a dead letter. The other day 
I was shopping in Lanark, when I met a woman 
who came recently from the East; she had on a 
splendid moire antique dress, with a trail to it, which 
looked anything but at home in the muddy streets 
of Our new prairie town. I glanced upward at her 
bonnet, it was a summer straw, with green trim¬ 
ming outside, pink roses inside, and yellow strings. 
One of the prettiest girls I ever saw was a young- 
lady with curiy, red hair ; some might have thought 
that the color of her hair detracted from her beau¬ 
ty, but I didn’t; her complexion was such a mix¬ 
ture of the rose and lily, that her exquisitely dressed 
hair seemed a fitting accompaniment. She never 
wore distinct green, red, or blue dresses, as I have 
seen so many of her complexion wear. “ What a 
blaze she makes,” she said to me one day as we met 
a red-haired girl with a maroon bonnet and cherry- 
colored strings. There was truth in the remark. 
Dark complexions seldom look well in distinct 
black or white bonnets; if the bonnet is black, 
crimson flowers or ribbon with a white rouehe is a 
great improvement, and pink trimming always re¬ 
lieves a brunette complexion in a white bonnet. 
Carroll Co., 111. Mbs. M. J. STEPHENSON. 
Fruit in Bottles. 
On account of their abundance and cheapness, we 
shall put up a large quantity of berries and other 
fruit this season. With most of them, the plan 
given in the June Agriculturist, page 181, will be 
followed, though we shall try a few of each sort 
simpiy bottled in water raised to the boiling point. 
Some of the pickle and preserve dealers keep them 
thus with entire success. The directions given are 
to procure the regular pickle bottles, with long- 
necks, and without shoulders, and to use long, soft, 
close corks, that will admit no air. The bottles are 
filled with the fruit, and water poured in to within 
half an inch of the top. The corks, softened in hot 
water, are forced with a mallet at least an inch into 
the necks of the bottles. Tie the corks securely 
with two strings crossing each other. Then set the 
bottles upright in a wash-boiler of cold water 
reaching nearly to the corks,’ and heating the water, 
keep it boiling say five minutes, when they may be- 
taken out and set away. We know of raspberries 
and other fruit having kept thus for two years. 
Pleasant and Wholesome Summer Drink. 
The juice of currants, put up in air-tight bottles, 
affords a foundation for a delicious and wholesome 
beverage. Put enough water with ripe currants to 
prevent their burning; heat in a preserve-kettle 
nearly to boiling; transfer to a bag suitable for 
straining and press out tile juice ; add half a pound 
of clean sugar to each pound of juice and boil, skim, 
and put up as recommended for putting up the 
fruit. The juice alone will keep as well, if not bet¬ 
ter than the fruit, and, mixed with from one to two 
parts water, according to the taste, it makes a most 
refreshing drink. Being entirely free from alcohol¬ 
ic or intoxicating properties, there is no danger of 
the creation of an appetite for strong drink result¬ 
ing from its use. It might profitably be kept for 
sale by druggists at all seasons of the year, and we 
presume that putting it up for that purpose may 
be made a source of income worthy of the consid¬ 
eration of currant-raisers who now make wine. 
Those who usually have more of this abundant 
fruit than they know what to do with, may find 
it for their interest to take note of this suggestion. 
Unleavened Bread. 
D. M. Adams of Worcester Co., Mass., writes to 
the Agriculturist endorsing E. W. Knight’s remarks 
on bread-making, and adds : “I am a dyspeptic, and 
must say that I have derived more benefit from the 
change from leavened to unleavened bread than 
from any other dietetic change that I have made. If 
our good Editor can not endorse it, I can to the 
fullest extent, and with his permission should like 
to give my way. I stir as much Graham meal as I 
wish to into water; if I want soft spongy bread to 
eat warm, I stir it quite thin, if to eat cold, I prefer 
it stirred pretty thick; it makes a much lighter, 
sweeter loaf than can be got in a more artificial 
way. [The mixture of flour and water, thus pre¬ 
pared, is, probably, then simply baked.— Ed.] 
Various Recipes. 
Flo, Mr ' The following is the- 
recipe of a delicious^ as well as a cheap pudding: 
1 cupful of white sugar, 8 tablespoonfuls of melted 
butter; 1 egg, 1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar, % 
teaspoonful of soda dissolved in 1 cup of sweet 
milk, and 1 pint of flour. Flavor to the taste, and 
bake in a tin pan. To be eaten with hard or soft 
sauce. Ida J. Raynok. 
1351b jilbavls Wine. — Take 4 lbs. of rhubarb to 
1 gallon of water, squeeze it, put it into a tub, and 
pour the water on it; let it steep 3 days, then strain 
off the liquid ; put 3>£ lbs. of sugar to every gal¬ 
lon, and put it into a barrel, stir it every day for a 
fortnight, then add a few raisins and a small quan¬ 
tity of isinglass, then bung it up for three months. 
Finally bottle it, and in 5 or 6 weeks it will be 
ready for use. 
El«lci*lB<erry The following recipe, 
from ah unknown source, has been tried by an ac¬ 
quaintance, and proved good : 1 quart juice, 3 quarts 
water, 4 lbs. sugar, and 1 tablespoonful yeast to the 
gallon. Put it in a cask, in a cool situation, keep 
ing- the cask full. It soon ferments and discharges 
froth from the bunghole. When the fermentation 
is over, bung up or bottle. Boiling juice injures it. 
Vegetable Sobbjb.— Take a good sized chick¬ 
en, or an equivalent piece of beef or mutton, cut it 
up and put it in water, rather more than enough to 
cover it, adding a tablespoonful of salt; boil until 
nearly tender, skim off the fat; add butter, salt, 
• and pepper, and more water if necessary; then 
slice into the soup , ten large potatoes, one small 
Swedish turnip, one carrot, two parsneps, (an onion 
and a few stalks of celery,) with two or three 
spoonfuls of rice; boil half an hour, or until ten¬ 
der. Before serving, add aspoonful or two of wheat 
flour stirred up with cold water. One or two spoon¬ 
fuls of sweet cream greatly improves the flavor. 
