342 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[November, 
that all the readers of the American Agriculturist 
are so sensible as not to follow the absurd whims 
of fashion,yet some of their neighbors maybe ben- 
efitted by the hints above given, if conveyed to 
them. A single layer of leather under the heel 
to receive the extra wear, is all that should be 
allowed, excepting in the cases of those very 
short people who can rise in the world by no 
other means; they may be permitted to suffer 
corns and risk their necks if they insist upon it. 
Down Spreads Better than Cotton Com¬ 
forters. 
' To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
In a former number of the Agriculturist I no¬ 
ticed an objection to cotton comforters on ac¬ 
count of their weight and bulk in washing, and 
lamb’s wool blankets were recommended instead. 
I object to blankets because it takes so many to 
render a bed comfortable in cold weather. I 
would recommend down spreads, both for cheap¬ 
ness and convenience. Last winter I experi¬ 
mented with one down spread, containing one 
pound and a quarter of down, and two cotton 
comforters, each containing six bunches of cot¬ 
ton batting, and the result was, the down spread 
kept our bed warmer than the two comforters. 
Now let us count the cost of each, saying 
nothing about the extra work to make the two. 
IK lbs. down $1.00 per lb. 1-25 
16 yds. calico, 12K cts. per yd. 2.00 
1 bunch cotton batting. 60 
Total of one down spread.$d.os 
6 bunches batting 60 cts. each.$3.60 
16 yds. calico 12K cts. per yd. 2.00 
Lamb’s wool blankets enough to make a bed 
comfortable in extreme cold weather, of course 
would cost more than either. A down spread 
is as easily washed as a single blanket, for when 
the down is wet there seems to be nothing of it. 
For the benefit of such as may never have seen 
this article, I give the directions for making. 
Prepare the cloth as for any comforter, tack 
the lining upon the quilt frames, lay a border of 
cotton batting; now put on the outside, and tack 
it down around the edge; then quilt a line along 
the upper edge of the border to keep the down 
out of the cotton. Finish the border according 
to your taste, take it off the frames and bind it. 
Then baste the mouth of the sack containing the 
down around the space left in one of the seams 
of the spread shake the down from the sack in¬ 
to the spread, and when the sack is ripped off 
and the seam sewed up, the comforter is done. 
In spreading it upon the bed, much trouble 
will be saved by shaking the down all to the 
front side, then spread it smoothly and put the 
outside quilt on before shaping the down; then 
gently pat it to its proper place as in shaping a 
light feather bed. A Farmer’s Wife. 
When to Peel Potatoes. 
A subscriber asks of the American Agriculturist 
the decision of a mooted point between himself and 
wife, as to whether potatoes should be peeled be¬ 
fore or after cooking. One party argues that it is 
necessary to remove the skins before boiling, to 
permit hurtful gases to escape, and to allow the wa¬ 
ter to enter the potato, to eOok it thoroughly. 
As to the gases, there need be no fear. Good 
sound potatoes contain no gas that is noxious. In¬ 
stead of opening a way for the-AYater to readily en¬ 
ter the potato, we think it desirable to keep it out 
as much as practicable,- Potatoes,.contain water 
enough in their composition to answer all purposes 
for cooking',’.as is'scon in the' moist substance of a 
baked potato, which is generally conceded by al¬ 
most every body to be better than the boiled article. 
YOumans, in his “Hand-book of Household Sci¬ 
ence,!’ states that a pound of the substance of this 
vegetable is composed of about three quarters of a 
pound of watery juice, to two or. two-and-a-half 
ounces of starch. The tissue of the potato consists 
of a mass of cells, each of which contains some 10 
or 12 starch grains loosely situated and surrounded 
by the potato juice, which contains albumen. In 
cooking, the water of the juice is absorbed by the 
starch grains, which swell and.often burst the cells. 
The albumen coagulates and forms irregular fibers. 
There is, then, no necessity for letting water enter 
the potato through openings made in the skin. 
Even if potatoes boiled whole were no betterthan 
those peeled before cooking, economy would decide 
in favor of the former practice. Part of the sub¬ 
stance is necessarily wasted by peeling raw. It also 
takes more time than after cooking. From these 
considerations we decide in favor of leaving the 
skins uncut until removing them from the pot. 
They will keep hot much longer if the skins are left 
until used at the table; but it is generally thought 
preferable to mash and otherwise prepare them be¬ 
fore placing them before guests. * 
Use More Corn in Cooking. 
IMPORTANT hints to economical housekeepers. 
Will the ladies please look a moment at the Mar¬ 
ket Report, and note the difference in the selling 
price of a bushel of Wheat and a bushel of Indian 
Corn. In the New-York market, at the time of this 
writing, the best white wheat is quoted at $1.47 
per bushel; the best corn at 64 cents per bushel.— 
Now we hesitate not to say that; after grinding and 
bolting, a bushel of com will furnish fully as much 
solid nutriment as a bushel of wheat; that is, $1 
expended in corn will buy as much nutriment as 
$2.30 expended in wheat. As the cost of transport¬ 
ing a bushel of corn is about the same as for a 
bushel of wheat, the difference in favor of the corn 
is much greater at the West. Thus, at a point dis¬ 
tant enough to make the cost for transporting a 
bushel 47 cents, the wheat would be worth $1, and 
the corn 17 cents—a difference of nearly six to one 
in favor of consuming corn and selling wheat. 
Another fact should be remembered. Europeans 
want all the wheat -we can spare, and will pay a 
fair price for it. As they have grown little corn, 
they have not yet become accustomed to its use. 
And still further, corn does not bear transportation 
in ships as well as wheat, which operates against 
large exports of the former. Corn contains more oily 
food than wheat, and is therefore quite as well 
adapted for food during the six or seven colder 
months of the year, when heat producing food is 
required. The only difficulties in the way of the 
more general use of corn, is the prejudice against 
it, and the comparatively .little attention given to 
tliebest modes of cooking it in palatable, digestible 
food. We again urge our fair readers.to look into 
this matter. Try different recipes, until some one 
or more methods are found which prove palatable 
to the family, and are economical withal. Some of 
the'methods of cooking com meal in vogue, re¬ 
quire a considerable admixture of eggs, milk, etc., 
which diminishes the economy, though it is to be 
remembered that a larger application of butter,’ or 
gravy, is required on good wheat bread than on good 
corn bread. As a. rule, the butter in a family, costs 
more than the flour..' In the Anierican Agriculturist 
for January and February of this year (1862), may be 
found over a hundred different modes of cooking 
corn meal, including'’ the prize recipes. - Now that 
cold weather is approaching, we urge our readers 
to turn back to those directions and see if they can 
not select some, good methods by which they inay 
largely increase the use . of the more economical 
com in their families. 
<&©©tl sasad. Cheap C©rm Us-easl.—E.‘ 
Dickerman, of Middlesex-Co., Conn., contributes 
the following to .the American Agriculturist, , with 
the remark that‘ire liquids it will be found quite as 
good as anything yet published: (We have had it 
put to practical test, and can endorse it as very 
good.) Mix thoroughly together 5 cups Indian 
meal, 3 cups wheat flour, 5 cups sweet milk, 2 cups 
sour milk, 1 cup molasses, % tablespoonful soda, 
(first dissolved in the sour milk), 1 tablespoonful 
salt. Bake in two deep pans for 2 hours. Half the 
above quantities will be enough for a meal for an 
ordinary family. 
Coi-bi ESreakfasit Cake.—A housekeeper 
contributes the following to the American Agricul¬ 
turist, with a sample of the result for the editor, 
which he pronounces “ not bad to take.” The 
writer says : “ My cook, Kate, is to be credited with 
the mixture if you like it ”: Mix well by sifting-, 
1 pint Indian meal, 2 tablespoonfuls wheat flour, 1 
tablespoonful sugar, 1 teaspoonful salt, 1 teaspoon¬ 
ful soda, and 2 teaspoonfuls cream of tartar. Mix 
rapidly and thoroughly with I pint sweet milk, 1 
beaten egg, and butter the size of an egg. Bake in 
a shallow pan, 20 minutes, in a hot oven. 
Mints ©sa Cakes and. 
ESiscmit Makinag-.—An old contributor ot 
good hints to the American Agriculturist gives the 
following. They stand to reason: My observation 
is, that very few housekeepers are aware of the 
importance of thoroughly mixing the ingredients 
of cakes, biscuits, pie-crust, etc. Where salt, soda, 
and cream of tartar, are used, a little more of one 
material is usually left in one part of the flour than 
in another, and unevenness of taste or lightness, is 
the result. It is always better to put all dry mate¬ 
rials into the flour or meal dry, and mix them well, 
then always run the whole over once or twice through 
a sieve before wetting. All lumps are thus broken 
up, and the mixture is uniform. Let the wetting 
then be done with all materials cold. Let it be 
done rapidly and thoroughly, and just before bak¬ 
ing. If put into a hot oven at once, the outside is 
hardened and retains the gases to make the whole 
light. The after baking should be rapid, but not 
so much so as to burn the crust; the point is to 
harden the shell at first before gases escape. Heat 
liberates these gases rapidly; hence the direction 
to mix the materials cold. 
Miscui jits—Crackers — E&oSls — Annus* 
iiag- Mistake.—An amusing instance occurred 
during our stay-in London, the past Summer. The 
English people do not use the term “ cracker” as 
applied to -food. They use the general word “ bis¬ 
cuit ” for all kinds of hard bread, such as are called 
by us crackers, sea-bread, etc.; while they call our 
biscuits and other small bread by the general term 
of “ roll”—as breakfast rolls, tea rolls; etc.; A lady 
traveling friend of ours sent out the servant to pro¬ 
cure a couple pounds of “ Soda crackers” for tea. 
She was gone a long time, and finally came back 
with her basket saying that she had been all over 
and could find no “ Soda crackers,” but here was 
the nearest thing to them she could get. On open¬ 
ing the basket it contained two pounds of fire 
crackers ! If our friend had sent for soda biscuits, 
the soda crackers would have been quickly procured 
at the nearest baker’s. This happened near the 4th 
of July, so that the mistake was not very mal apro¬ 
pos, after ail. 
©■©©«! Tea ISiscualt -without Milk.— 
The following, contributed to the American Agri¬ 
culturist, we know to be good, having tested excel¬ 
lent samples of the biscuits, or rolls, produced : 
Mix ancl sift .well together, 1 quart flour, 1 teaspoon¬ 
ful soda, and 2 of cream of tartar-, with salt to taste. 
Use butter the.size of an egg, and water only to 
mix it of proper consistence. 
Visaegas* BS-ecipe.—A correspondent of tho 
Scientific American says: “ To one gallon of soft 
water, add a pint of. sugar, or sorghum molasses, 
stir all well, and then add nearly a gallon of toma¬ 
toes, fresh and ripe. Then set the vessel aside, and 
in a few days you will have the sourest pickles I 
ever tasted, and nearly the best vinegar.” 
Cesaesafl, ibr I8.o©isMg-.—“ J. L.” of Setzler’e 
Store, Pa., inquires how to make a good cement for roof¬ 
ing. We suspect a good many manufacturers would 
like to know the same thing. The article is, in the mar¬ 
ket in great variety, but we know of nothing that we 
should like to recommend. A good shingle, slate, or well 
painted metal roof, is generally cheapest in the long run. 
