1864.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
183 
Pickled or Spiced Csarraiats.— Con¬ 
tributed to the American Agriculturist by “F. I. T.,” 
Staten Island, N. Y. Take 8 qts. ripe currants, 4 
■ lbs. sugar, 1 pint vinegar, and ground spices to taste. 
Boil about an hour, put in jars and cover as other 
preserves. After a few months it is quite equal to 
cranberry jelly. 
Pudding; Sauce. —“ Buckeye ” wishes to 
know, what is the sauce of the consistence of ice 
cream which is served with puddings in city restau¬ 
rants. It is, what, is known as hard sauce, and is 
made by beating butter with twice its weight of 
powdered white sugar,until the whole is brought 
to a smoth mass. It may be flavored by stirring in 
a little wine, some lemon juice with grated rind, or 
nutmeg. In cold weather it is necessary to let the 
butter soften, but not melt, in a warm place. 
Cream Muffins.— Contributed to the Amer¬ 
ican Agriculturist by a Lady: Mix 1 pt. sour cream, 
(but not very sour) 1 pint flour, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoon¬ 
ful salt, X teaspoonful soda or saleratus, whites 
and yolks of eggs beaten separately. Stir in the 
whites the last thing. They are much nicer baked 
in new cups, which can be bought of a cheap 
kind. Wipe them clean with a dry cloth, never wet 
or grease them; in a short time the muffin will 
6hine like varnish on the side next the cup. 
Fritters.— Contributed to the American Agri¬ 
culturist by Mrs. Frances W. B. Robbins, Suffolk 
Co., New-York. Beat ten eggs thoroughly, mix 
with two quarts cold water, one teaspoonful of salt, 
add flour to make a batter the thickness of griddle 
cakes ; fry by the tablespoonful in fresh hot lard. 
Excellent, especially if eaten with maple molasses. 
Corn. Starch Cake. —Contributed to the 
American Agriculturist by “Young Housekeeper.” 
Mix 1 egg, 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of milk, 1 cup of 
sugar, 1 teaspoonful of soda, 2 of cream of tartar, 
piece of butter half the size of hen’s egg, melted ; 
bake the same as for jelly cake, in shallow tins, and 
when cold, pile in layers, with a custard between 
made as follows: Take 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, sugar 
to taste, 2 teaspooufuls of vanilla extract, 1 tea¬ 
spoonful of corn starch. Boil the milk, beat the 
egg and corn starch together, and stir into the 
boiling milk which must previously be sweetened; 
when cold, stir in the vanilla; the custard must 
cool before being put with the cake. 
4s ©mw msmsm.. 
Xlie Insects and the Birds. 
Robert was very fond of hunting. In the neighborhood 
were he lived there was no game worth shooting, except 
now and then a fox, a rabbit, a partridge or a wild pigeon, 
and these were too shy for his skill. There where how¬ 
ever plenty of robins, bobolinks, meadow larks, yellow 
birds and sparrows, (chipping birds he called them) and 
it was his great delight to bring them down with stones, 
or with shot when he could coax some unthinking per¬ 
son to lend him a gun. 
One warm day in June, Robert had been very success¬ 
ful in shooting birds ; he had silenced the sweet song of 
many a little warbler, and left many a poor fledgling to 
perish in its nest for want of its mother’s care. Being 
warm and tired he lay down on the grass, in the shade of 
a large elm, and soon saw some very curious things. A 
monstrous mosquito came and perched on a limb over¬ 
head, and began to blow a horn which he carried. Im¬ 
mediately a great crowd of insects, flies, bugs, beetles, 
grasshoppers and crickets came swarming to the place, 
filling the branches of the tree and the ground around it. 
After them crawled an innumerable host of worms, large 
and small—such a surprising collection was never before 
seen. Presently a huge locust sitting in a fork of the 
tree, for a chair, called this strange meeting to order and 
said: “ It is well known to all of you that our lives are 
in constant danger from ihe ferocious birds which abound 
in this neighborhood. Not a day passes but thousands 
of our unlucky tribes are remorselessly snapped up by 
these singing robbers, who are the greatest helps of our 
other enemies, the human race, in our destruction. But 
I have the pleasure to announce to you, that we have at 
last found a friend, where we least expected it. This 
young man whom you see near you lias come to our 
rescue. He saved my head this morning by instantly 
killing a black-bird that was just about to dart down upon 
me, and he has slain dozens of the robins, cat-birds, spar¬ 
rows and other wretches that have picked up so many of 
our unlucky relatives. If he continues this good work 
we shall soon have the best of times. The farmers have 
sowed plenty of grain, the gardeners are raising abund¬ 
ance of vegetables, fruit and flowers, and we shall have 
nothing to do but live on these fine things and enjoy our¬ 
selves on the fat of the land. Now then I propose that 
we all do him honor. “ Agreed! agreed !” shouted the 
whole multitude together. “ We’ll spin handsome webs 
all over his bed room,” said the spiders ; “We’ll build 
beautiful -mounds in his front yard.” cried the ants ; 
“ We’ll sing for him all night,” chimed in the musquitoes ; 
“ We’ll dance around him all day,” put in the fleas ; 
“ We’ll make a nest and spin our finest yarns in his trees,” 
added the caterpillars, and so the whole throng of insects 
agreed show their regard, A huge green tobacco worm 
was particularly delighted. “ I want to embrace him,” 
said the frightful creature, and “I too,” said all the others ; 
and with that they all made toward the poor boy, who 
was too much astonished to move. One company craw¬ 
led up to his face, another buzzed around his ears, and 
others scrambled over his naked feet, until he gave a loud 
cry of disgust and horror, and awoke from his curious 
dream, to find a mosquito singing at his ear, a caterpillar 
crawling over his hand, and several large red ants creep¬ 
ing up the legs of his pantaloons. He has never shot a 
bird since that day, and we commend his experience and 
his resolution to the boys of the American Agriculturist. 
About threat Men an«l Hoys. 
Among the mountains of California stand some of the 
most wonderful trees ever discovered. They tower up 
more than three hundred feet, or taller than the highest 
steeple In this country. There they stood hundreds of 
years before civilized men ever saw them. But they 
were just as grand while alone in the solitude of the un¬ 
broken wilderness! when only visited by the winds, 
the wild beasts, and birds and the equally wild Indians, 
as they are now, when travellers flock to admire their 
stateliness. So all tr uly great men possess the same noble¬ 
ness of nature before, that they do after the world has 
discovered, acknowledged, and applauded it. Those who 
long for opportunities of becoming great, forget that great¬ 
ness is in the man, not in the opportunity. The oppor¬ 
tunity only gives occasion for greatness to exhibit itself. 
Washington possessed the same high qualities when he 
told the truth and loved his mother, as when he headed 
the American armies, and presided over the councils of 
the nation. A man may be great, though circumstances 
confine him to a narrow sphere, just as a ray of light is as 
pure, as cheerful, and as much the child ot the sun when 
shining in a rude hovel, as when flashing from the mirrors 
of a palace. Goodness, courage, devotion, manliness, 
patience, perseverance, reverence, and love, will make a 
boy great, though he live on the most secluded farm in 
the back-woods. There are thousands of such boys— 
many of them will read these words written for their en¬ 
couragement. The day may come when their noble 
qualities will be wanted in the public service, and all 
men shall see and acknowledge their worth. But if not, 
they are still rich in enduring wealth, and let them re¬ 
member also, that life only begins in this world. 
Mow the Soldier Sleeps. 
B. F. Taylor in the Chicago Journal gives the follow¬ 
ing graphic description of what he often witnessed in 
camp. “You would, I think, wonder to see men lie 
right down in the dusty road, under the noon sun of Ten¬ 
nessee and Alabama, and fall asleep in a minute. I have 
passed hundreds of such sleepers. A dry spot is a good 
mattress ; the flap of a blanket quite a downy pillow. 
You would wonder to see a whole army corps without 
a shred of a tent to bless themselves with, lying any¬ 
where and everywhere in an all-night rain, and not a 
growl nor a grumble. I was curious to see whether the 
pluck and good nature were washed out of them, and so 
I made my way out of the snug, dry quarters I am quite 
ashamed to say I occupied, at five in the morning, to see 
what water had done with them. Nothing! Each soak¬ 
ed blanket hatched out as jolly a fellow as you would 
wish to see—muddy, dripping, half floundered, forth they 
came; wringing themselves out as they went, with the 
look of a troop of “ wet down ” but hearts trumps every 
time. If they swore—and some did—it was with a laugh ; 
the sleepy fires were stirred up ; then came the coffee', 
and they were as good as new.” 
Answers to Problems and Puzzles. 
The following are the answers to the puzzles in the 
May number, page 151. No. 80 Illustrated Rebus.—Awl 
weighs bee pre ( paired ) /cur change; that is, always be 
prepared for change. No. 81. Word Puzzle —Man¬ 
slaughter, which, cut in two, gives man's laughter. No. 
82. Pictorial Proverb.—Bear and for-bcar. No. 83. Geo¬ 
graphical Question.—Washington. No. 84. Illustrated 
Rebus.—Types and the. steam engine were pie (on) ears of 
ass t (on) ish (in) g chain ges ; that is ; Types and the 
steam engine wqre. pioneers of astonishing changes. No. 
85. Puzzling Dinner.—!, Turkey; 2, Spare rib; 3, A 
goose ; 4, Onions ; 5, Pears ; 6, Greens; 7, Po-tatoes. 
The dessert; Pies of gooseberry, currant, dried pears, and 
pump-kin. The following have sent correct answers up • 
to May 5th. “Katie and Mattie,” 77. 78, 79; C. N. Good- 
lander, 77; Frank, B. Bourne, 77, 79; Lorenzo Ayres> 
79 , John J. Weeks, 79; Eliza A. Kayes, 79 ; II. H. Os¬ 
good, 77, 79 ; Geor.ge I. Richardson, 77 ; “Erastus,” 79; 
II. Martin Kellogg, 79; Henry C. Fox, 79; W. A. V., 
77; Charles J. Cook, 78, 79 ; G. G. Cantner, 77 ; Amos 
H. Rogers, 79; S. B. Marks, 79; J. H. Griffith, 79; R. 
D. C. Van Antwerp, 79 ; Fanny Horton, 77 ; H. S. W., 
79; J. M. Sanford, 79 ; O. J. Sigon, 77, 79, 80 ; L. How¬ 
ell, 78, 1 9 ; C. H. St. John, 79 ; B. B. Beeson, 79 ; James 
Dills, 79 ; Mary W. Mason, 79 ; William Bright, 77 ; Jno. 
H; Peelle, 76: Solomon Boneer, 79; James Reid, 79; 
Herbert F-risbie, 79; Mary E. Metcalf, 77;. Henry See, 
79; Martin Morrison, 79; George M. Gould, 79 : Albert 
S. Gifford, 79 ; “A Reader,” 79 ; Lucy and Ida M. La- 
zear, 77, 79; Miner S. Baldwin, 79; L. L. Fisher, 78, 79; 
D. J. Ellworth, 79; John T. Marvin, 79 , Daniel I. Rowe, 
70, 77, 79 ; Wesley Harvey, 79 ; John C. Green, 79 : M. 
Amelia Hough, 77, 79; C. A. Kaufman, 79 ; P. A. Ross, 
79 ; Maggie Campbell, 79 ; David L. Reed, 77 ; D. VV. 
Bottorf, 79; S. O. Downe, 79 ; Eusebius K. Hersey, 79; 
H. Hudgens, 77; Jacob H. Van Ness, 79 ; Levi M. Fris- 
bie, 79 ; Amos Dean, 79; Lester Barnes, 79; O. P. Ergen- 
bright, 79 ; Eddie Dickinson, 79; Wm. Yates, 77, 79 ; J. 
H. Simpkins, 79 ; John W. Day, 79 ; Daniel Arney, 77; 
John Persing, 79 ; Jonathan S. Cook, 79 ; F. A. Saun¬ 
ders, 77 ; Edward V. Gilman, 79 ; Etty Beyea. 79; Tlios. 
E. Morris, 78; Elbert M. Smith, 77,78, 79 ; Lizzie Vaugh, 
79 ; Charles S. Edgar, 79 ; G. R. Palmer, 77, 79 ; Selden 
A. Smith, 79; Emory B. Curtis, 79 ; J. Boyd, 79; F. P. 
Wilbur, 79; John W. Emery, 79 ; Clora M. Stephens, ■ 
83; James Parmlee, 81, 82, 84; Erastus Murphy, 83; 
New Puzzles to l»e Answered. 
No. 86 Pictorial Proverb .—A truth frequently noticed. 
No. 88. Illustrated Rebus .—Worth remembering. 
No. 89. Grammatical Puzzle .—-Contributed to the 
American Agriculturist by G. A. Draper, Essex Co., N. J. 
“Let the rich, great, and noble, banquet in their halls 
And pass the hours away, as the most thoughtless revel.” 
Take away one letter from a word in the verse and 
substitute another, and by that change, totally alter the 
syntactical construction of the whole sentence, chang¬ 
ing the moods and tenses of verbs, turning verbs into 
nouns, nouns into adjectives, and adjectives into ad 
verbs, etc., and so make the entire stanza bear quite a 
different meaning from that which it has as it is above. 
