1864 .] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
55 
wash clean with hot, and rinse with cold water, and 
let it stand in the open air two or three days. If 
the cask or vessel be very foul, repeat the process. 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
H.iebig-’* Soup.— Chop lean beef fine as for 
mince meat. Mix it uniformly with its own weight 
of cold water, heat it sloxoly up to the boiling point, 
and let it boil briskly for one or two minutes. Strain 
the liquor through coarse linen, add salt and other 
seasoning, and it is said to form the strongest and 
best soup that can be extracted from the meat. 
Soup from Mince I*Ic Meat.—It may 
be new to some young housekeepers, that the li¬ 
quor in which beef has been boiled for making 
mince pies, is worth something. We have known 
experienced cooks to throw it away. It contains 
materials for a good soup. After the meat is taken 
out, boil the water if necessary until it is strength¬ 
ened by evaporation of the superfluous moisture, 
add vegetables and seasoning, and you little a good 
dish for the following meal. 
To finish a ltalu'd Potalo.— A house¬ 
keeper suggests to the readers of the American 
Agriculturist , that baking or roasting in the oven is 
the best way of cooking potatoes, with which all will 
doubtless agree. In the days of wood fires, roast¬ 
ing them in the hot ashes, was thought the best. 
She says that when they are sufficiently cooked, 
the quality will be greatly improved by cracking 
the skins open, and then allowing them to dry out 
a few minutes before taking them to the table. 
Staked Squash.— Have any of the readers 
of the Agriculturist tried this ? We suggested this 
method of cooking squash to a friend who had 
never heard of it before, and in a few days he came 
in to thank us for having given him a “new 
wrinkle.” It may be new to some others, and to 
such we would say, cut up the Hubbard, or other 
fine-grained varieties, into convenient pieces, and 
ualce as you would sweet potatoes. Children are 
very fond of it, and it is not bad for older people. 
Scalded Cream.— In answer to an inquiry 
in January American Agriculturist , page 0, “E. H.,” 
of Staten Island, writes : Strain the milk into tin 
pans, (those holding 8 or 10 quarts are the most 
convenient,) and let it stand 10 or 13 hours. Then 
carefully place it on the stove, or to prevent the 
milk from burning, on a pot of boiling water, until 
it is scalding hot, but not made to boil. Carefully 
carry it back to the dairy or milk room, and let it 
stand 10 or 13 hours longer, skim it, and you will 
have cream equal to any in Cornwall. This process 
is generally used in Devonshire, in dairies of 6 or 8 
cows, and the cream finds a ready market in Lon¬ 
don, at the same price as butter. 
Snow-ball Cake— Contributed to the Agri- 
cv.lturist by Mrs. A. W. Newell: 1 cup of white 
sugar, J -2 cup of butter, the whites of 5 eggs, 1 
teaspoonful of soda, and a little nutmeg; add flour 
enough to make a stiff batter; bake in patty tins. 
Sponge Cake— Contributed to the Agricul¬ 
turist by a subscriber: Equal weights of eggs and 
sugar (pulverized,) half weight of flour; beat the 
yolks and whites separately (very light;) mix the 
sugar and yolks first, then add one grated lemon 
and beat for 15 minutes, then add the whites and 
mix well; lastly stir in the flour and mix gently. 
Home-made Candy— Contributed to the 
Agriculturist by Mrs. I. S. Kaler : To one cup sugar 
(New-Orleans is best), add one cup cider vinegar. 
If the vinegar be very sour, put in one-third water. 
Boil 15 to 30 minutes, then work till white. This is 
very nice, and when thus made at home you 
know that it contains no poisonous substance. 
To Remove Rust Stains.— Mary A. Al¬ 
ter, Jasper Co., Ind., writes to the American Agri¬ 
culturist that stains of iron rust may be re¬ 
moved from linen or cotton thus : Wash the cloth 
through one suds, and rinse. While wet, rub ripe 
tomato juice on the spofs. Expose it to hot sun¬ 
shine until nearly dry, and wash in another suds. 
A Talk about the Snow. 
The snow that now whitens the fields looks like a great 
blank page, but if observed attentively, it will furnish 
many most interesting lessons. What makes it white ? 
It has nothing mixed with it to give it so dazzling an ap¬ 
pearance. When melted, it yields only pure and almost 
transparent water. If you carefully look at one of the' 
small particles which make up a snow flake, it will be 
found as clear as glass. You know a sheet or block of ice 
looks much like glass, and that snow is composed of small 
bits of ice thrown loosely together. If we scrape shav¬ 
ings from a block of ice, they will be white like snow ; 
if ice be pounded fine it will also show whiteness, and 
clear glass broken very fine presents the same appearance. 
Then this whiteness must in some way be caused by the 
fineness of the ice particles composing the snow-flake. 
Let us see if it can be explained. Light from the sun is 
white. When a beam of light strikes upon an object, 
part of it is thrown off again, or reflected as it is termed. 
The rest of it passes through the object if the substance 
be transparent, or is taken into it (absorbed) if the matter 
be opaque. Striking upon smooth polished ice, some of 
the light passes through, but much of it is reflected, as 
shown in fig. 1, where L, represents the direction of the 
ray falling upon the ice, and E, the course it takes when 
passing off. You observe that the angles or corners made 
by these two lines with the ice, are just alike ; so that to 
perceive the beam of reflected light the eye must be in the 
line E. If the eye were in the dolled line, C, the direct 
ray from the sun or other light would not be perceived. 
Children sometimes amuse themselves with a bit of glass 
__ by flashing the light of 
C the sun into the eyes of 
their companions, and 
to do this they must 
turn the glass so that 
the proper angle be 
made between the sun 
and the person’s eye. 
This directly reflected 
light when coming from the sun, combines all colors and 
appears white. Now suppose that a multitude of small 
bits of ice, polished on every side, were thrown together 
promiscuously, the sunlight striking on the mass would 
be reflected in every direction. If there were enough of 
them, the eye looking at them from any point would re¬ 
ceive many of the directly reflected rays, and the ice 
wmuld look white. And this is just what occurs with the 
snow. It is made up of innumerable minute polished 
crystals of ice, as you can easily see by inspecting a new¬ 
ly fallen flake. The surfaces are turned in every direc¬ 
tion, and each side or face of the crystal sends out its lit¬ 
tle beam of light; these enter the eye and the whole sur¬ 
face of the snow looks brilliantly white. The clear, per¬ 
fect crystals will not, however, be found during every 
fall of snow. Certain conditions of atmosphere are 
necessary for their appearance. 
These snow crystals are very beautiful. They are of 
very many different forms, though all are made on the 
same general plan. Scoresby, a celebrated Arctic Navi¬ 
gator, observed six hundred variations. Several varieties 
Fig. 1—ANGLE OF REFLECTION. 
may be detected with the eye alone, but they can be seen 
to the best advantage with a good microscope. To ob¬ 
serve them, choose a time when snow is falling through 
a still atmosphere, not warm enough to melt them. Catch 
a flake gently upon some cold surface, and in looking at 
it, be careful not to breathe upon it, as very slight warmth 
will destroy the structure. Fig. 2, shows some of the en¬ 
larged forms as viewed through a strong microscope. 
Many more very pleasing and instructive topics are 
suggested by snow, as for example, how it is formed; 
what benefits come from its being white, and from its be¬ 
ing so loosely thrown together; why it is always found 
on high mountains, even in the hottest countries; what 
becomes of it in such situations, where it frequently falls 
but never melts, etc. We must leave these, for the pres 
ent, for you to think of, and read about in books treat 
ing these subjects more fully than we have space for. 
As 4Joo«l sts a Puzzle. 
A schoolmaster is much needed in the neighborhood 
where the following handbill was posted up. The “Edu 
cator” from which we copy, vouches for its authenticity: 
“bup Lick Sale for Land 
Cun taining I’4l) Acres of Land that Land Lace in Cum 
ber Land County in Dickensan township that Land Lace 
between Wits town ami liulley furnace near at gattes 
burger roat that Land Chins Jacob rich Wins Land that 
Land Lace ner at Myers Saw Mill good Wortur on that 
Land good Matto on that Land 25 Acres of good Malto 
Crown on that Land good orget on that Land good Sim¬ 
mer Apels and good Vinter Apels on that Land good 
Citeres and good biches on that Laud good Saw Mill Seet 
on that Land 3 houses on that Land one Cuchen Stove to 
Sale oxens to sale.” 
New Puzzles to be Answered. 
No. 60. Mathematical Problem.— Divide the number 45 
into 4 such parts, that if 2 be added to the first part, 2 
subtracted from the second part, the third part be multi¬ 
plied by 2, and the fourth part divided by 2, the sum of 
the addition, the remainderof the subtraction, the product 
of the multiplication, and the quotient of the division 
will all be equal. 
M cl 
ww\ mis a visciu. Roi 
No. 67. Illustrated French Rebus. The above is intend¬ 
ed for those of our young readers who may have some 
acquaintance with the French language. 
No. 68. A Curious Word. —What word of four syllables 
includes nine shorter words, which can be made without 
transposing any letters ? 
No. 69. Mathematical Problem. —A rich man gave to 
his oldest daughter a square plot of land, and a circular 
piece to his youngest. Each plot was worth $40 per acre. 
Reckoning a silver dollar to be 1)4 inches in diameter, 
the number of dollars required to surround each would 
just pay for it. Which daughter received the best po •• 
tion, and how much was it worth more than her sister’f * 
No. 70. Illustrated Rebus. Specialty for the unmarried. 
No. 71. Genealogical Puzzle. —Contributed to the 
Agriculturist by Milden Luther, Broome Co., Iowa: In 
a certain company were present a grandfather, grand¬ 
mother, two fathers, two motiiers, two brothers, two sis¬ 
ters, two husbands, two wives, two uncles, an aunt, two 
sons, a daughter, two cousins, a nephew, a niece, and a 
grandson; and yet the whole company consisted of but 
five persons. How could this be ? 
Answers to Problems and Puzzles. 
The following is the solution to the Illustrated Rebus , 
No. 65, January No., page 23. “ Man y a man turning a 
little pail before the cannon’s mouth eye snow cow ard,” 
or, “ Many a man turning a little pale before the can¬ 
non’s mouth, is no coward.” As we go to press earlier 
than formerly, we defer giving the solutions to the mathe¬ 
matical problems until next month, in order to give more 
time for sending in answers. The following have sent in 
correct answers up to the date of Jan. 8th. The number* 
indicate the problems, etc., answered by each ; Edwin 
Hill 59 ; Henry Martin Kellogg, 55 ; George F. B;-«er- 
worth, 55 ; M. F. Moore, 61. 
A Careless Printer.—T he lady principal of a school, 
in her advertisement mentioned her female assistant, 
and the “reputation for teaching which she bears,” but 
the printer—a careless fellow—left out the “which,” so 
the advertisement went forth, commending the lady’s 
“ reputation, for teaching she bears.” 
How can jhe trees put on a new dress without opening 
their trunks ? They leave out their Summer clothing 
