37 
AMERICAN AGRICUETCRIST. 
Thee! 0, bountiful God of Nature, we offer 
our first thanks that Thou hast given us the 
great seed bed whereon we live and move, 
and whence we have our being. To Industry 
be given our next tribute, and then let us 
thank Art and Science that teach us how to 
make the best uses of the means so bounti¬ 
fully placed at our disposal.” 
Apple Bread. —A very light pleasant bread 
is made in France by a mixture of apples and 
flour, in the proportion of one of the former 
to two of the latter. The usual quantity of 
yeast is employed as in making common 
bread, and is beaten with flour and warm 
pulp of the apples after they have been boiled, 
and the dough is then considered as set; it 
is then put into a proper vessel, and allowed 
to rise for eight or twelve hours, and then 
baked in long loaves. Very little water is 
requisite ; none, generally, if the apples are 
very fresh. 
To Preserve Apples.— Pare and core, and 
cut them in halves or quarters ; take as 
many pounds of the best brown sugar; put 
a teacup of water to each pound. When it 
is dissolved set it over the fire ; and when 
boiling hot, put in the fruit, and let it boil 
gently until it is clear, and the syrup thick ; 
take the fruit with a skimmer on to flat 
dishes, spread it to cool, then put it in pots 
or jars, and pour the jelly over. Lemons 
boiled tender in water, and sliced thin, may 
be boiled with the apples. 
To Restore the Drowned.*— Convey the 
body to the nearest house or shelter, with the 
head raised. Strip and rub it dry. Wrap in 
warm blankets. Inflate the lungs by closing 
the nostrils with thumb and finger, while you 
blow forcibly into the mouth, and then press 
on the chest with the hand. Again blow 
into the mouth, and again press ; and so on 
for ten minutes, or until the patient breathes 
naturally. Keep the body warm and the 
extremities also. Continue to rub, and do 
not give up for an hour or more, if there is 
the least reason to hope. Indeed persons 
have been restoredafier two hours. 
Manufacture of Superphosphate of Lime. 
—C. F. Bernard, of Plymouth, England, has 
taken out a patent for the manufacture of 
dry phosphate of lime, suitable for agricul¬ 
tural purposes as a manure, by submitting 
calcined bones, or animal charcoal, to the 
action of sulphuric acid in a reverberatory 
furnace. The mass thus obtained is then 
dissolved in water, and that which is soluble 
is taken up, but the insoluble is not. It is 
concentrated by boiling to drive off the wa¬ 
ter, so as to produce a granular mass of 
high fertilizing power. 
To Clean Paint.— Smear a piece of flan¬ 
nel with the best whiting, mixed to the con¬ 
sistency of common paste, in warm water. 
Rub the surface to be cleaned quite briskly, 
and wash off with pure cold water. Grease 
spots will in this way be almost instantly 
removed, as well as otl;er filth, and the paint 
will retain its brilliancy and beauty unim¬ 
paired. 
COOKING MEATS. 
A well-cooked piece of meat should be full 
of its own juice and gravy. In roasting, 
therefore, it should be exposed to a quick 
fire, that, its external surface may be made 
to contract at once, and the albumen to coag¬ 
ulate, before the juice has had time to es¬ 
cape from within. And so in boiling. When 
a piece of beef or mutton is plunged into 
water, the outer part contracts, the albumen 
which is near the surface coagulates, and the 
interna] juice is prevented either from es¬ 
caping into the water by which it is sur¬ 
rounded, or from being diluted or weakened 
by the admission of water among it. When 
cut up, therefore, the meat yields much 
gravy, and is rich in flavor. Hence a beef¬ 
steak or a mutton-chop is done quickly, and 
over a quick fire, that the natural juices may 
be retained. On the other hand, if the meat 
be exposed to a slow fire, its pores remain 
open, the juice continues to flow from within 
as it has dried from the surface, and the 
flesh pines, and becomes hard dry and unsa¬ 
vory. Or if it be put into cold or tepid water, 
which is afterwards gradually brought to a 
boil, much of the Albumen is extracted be¬ 
fore it coagulates, the natural juices for the 
most part flow out, and the meat is served 
in a nearly tasteless state. Hence to pro¬ 
cure good boiled meat, it should be put at 
once into water already brought to a boil. 
But to make beef-tea, mutton-broth, and other 
meat soups, the flesh should be put into cold 
water, and this afterwards very slowly 
warmed, and finally boiled. The advantage 
derived from simmering—a term not unfre¬ 
quent in cookery books, depends very much 
upqn the effects of slow boiling, as above 
explained. 
Hint on Household Management.— Have 
you ever observed what a dislike servants 
have to anything cheap 1 They hate saving 
their master’s money. I tried this experi¬ 
ment with great success the other day. Find¬ 
ing we consumed a vast deal of soap. * I sat 
down in my thinking chair, and took the 
soap question into consideration, having 
reason to suspect we were using a rather 
expensive article, where a much cheaper one 
would serve the purpose better. I ordered 
half-a-dozen pounds of both sorts, but took 
the precaution of changing the papers on 
which the prices weie marked before giving 
them into the hands of Betty ! 
“ Well, Betty, which soap do you find 
washes best 1” 
“ Oh, please, sir, the dearest in the blue 
paper, it makes the lather as well again as 
the other.” 
“Well, Betty, you shall always have it 
then.” 
And thus the unsuspecting Betty saved 
me some pounds a year, and washed the 
clothes better.—Sydney Smith. 
Four Hunrred Years Ago. —The first book 
ever printed with a date appeared in 1455, 
just, four centuries ago this very year. Nine 
years after, the Koran began to be publicly 
read at Constantinople, aad about the same 
time the Bible was sent forth on the wings 
of the press. 
SHAPING CATTLE’S HOBNS. 
My first attempt to correct the freaks of 
nature in this matter, was upon the horns of 
a pair of steers then owned by my father. 
Without giving the details, suffice it to say 
that I compelled the horns of one steer to 
take a more upright position, and at the 
same time a broader view, so as to corre¬ 
spond with those of the other. Since that 
time I have had several cases, and have 
never failed of success. In my own opinion 
the best time is to commence in the month 
of March, and continue the operation till the 
horns become hardened for the winter. The 
process is simply this : if you wish the horns 
to grow more upright, you must take a knife 
or other instrument, and by shaving or 
scraping, reduce the shell of the horn to 
about one half the original thickness, as a 
general rule, (but this must depend on the 
amount you wish to alter the horn) upon the 
under side of the horn. And if at the same 
time you wish to spread or contract, always 
upon the opposite side of the horn from the 
direction in which you wish it to turn. The 
horn should always be left perfectly smooth, 
and occasionally oiled over with some pene¬ 
trating oil. If the horns are to be corrected 
but little, the operation of thinning once 
may be sufficient, but if they are more im¬ 
perfect it may be necessary to follow them 
up with more thinning till they are made to 
yield 1 
How to Plow under Tall Weeds.— 
Where weeds have not been kept down by 
other crops, or by close pasturing, they 
have, as might be expected, made a most 
luxuriant growth; and as many such fields 
will have to be plowed for wheat, and other 
fall crops, it becomes a matter of much im¬ 
portance to know how we can best turn them 
under with the plow, so as to be completely 
out of the way of the harrow and drill. An 
excellent way to do this, is to fasten one end 
of a heavy log-chain to the end of a double- 
tree to which the farrow, or off-horse is at¬ 
tached, bringing the other under the beam of 
the plow, just before the share, and confin¬ 
ing it there. The chain should lag enough 
to touch the ground, or nearly so. A little 
practice will teach how tight it should be. 
By this plan the weeds are drawn into the 
furrow and completely covered by the fur- 
row-slice falling on them while there. Will 
somebody tell us of a better way? 
Quick Work. —It was once the fashion to 
wear coats, the material for which had not 
long before been on the back of the sheep. 
For rapidity of work in this way, I know 
nothing that can compete with the achieve¬ 
ment of Coxeter, of Greenham Mills, near 
Newbury. He had a couple of South Down 
sheep shorn at his factory, at five o’clock in 
the morning; the wool thus produced was 
put through the usual processes ; and by a 
quarter past six in the evening, it resulted in 
a complete damson-eolored coat, which \tfas 
worn at an evening party by Sir John 
Throckmorton. A wager for a thousand 
guineas was won by this feat, with three- 
quarters of an hour to spear. The sheep 
