1864.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
397 
To Dye Butternut Color. 
M. Gay, sends to the American Agriculturist the 
followin';; directions : In any convenient vessel (as 
a large trough) place a layer of butternut bark, 
the rough portions being removed, then a layer 
of wool or yarn, another of bark and so on. Fill 
the vessel with water, and weight the goods to 
keep them under. Air the fabric everyday by 
spreading in the sun ; this will set the dye. Goods 
for men’s wear are treated in this manner. For 
plaid dresses and material for children’s wear, 
the bark and yarn in alternate layers are placed in 
an iron kettle, and warmed over a tire once or twice 
a day. The goods are to be aired in the sun every 
day as before. This gives a much darker shade, 
and fs preferable for many purposes. This dye will 
not injure cloth as sumach berries sometimes do. 
Soda and Saleratus in Food. 
“ H. W. W.” inquires; “ What effect soda or sale¬ 
ratus has in a compound of sweet milk, flour, and 
eggs.” No good effect, we should suppose. Many 
of the recipes sent to us contain an inordinate 
amount of these articles, and they are introduced 
into some where they can be of little or no use. 
If the soda and saleratus are well made, they will 
give off a portion of their carbonic acid by heat 
alone, and the escape of this will render the com¬ 
pound somewhat lighter, and a disagreeable alka¬ 
line salt will be left. According to the writer’s 
notion these articles should never be used without 
some acid to combine with them—cream of tartar, 
for Instance. This will set free the carbonic acid 
and make the cooking light, and at the same time 
convert the alkali into a tasteless compound. 
When soda or saleratus is mingled with sour milk, 
its lactic acid unites with the alkali, setting free 
the volatile carbonic acid, which produces the 
“ lightness,” the same as when cream of tartar or 
tartaric acid is used. He is moreover of the opin¬ 
ion that really good cooks use but very little of 
these articles, except to correct the acidity pro¬ 
duced by over-fermentation in raising dough. 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
To Iceep Mince Meat. —George P. Pass- 
more, Chester Co., Pa., writes to the American Ag¬ 
riculturist that mince-meat prepared at any time of 
the year may be kept entirely sweet for months by 
packing it in stone jars, and covering the surface 
with say half an inch of molasses to exclude the 
air. This is worth remembering when at any time 
a larger quantity of beef is cooked than is wanted 
■ immediately. [A layer of lard over it will keep it.] 
Omelet.—Contributed to the American Agri¬ 
culturist by Louisa J. Wilson, Armstrong Co., Pa. 
Beat together four eggs and one cup of sweet 
milk. Have ready a skillet with a piece of butter 
the size of a walnut, on a moderate fire. When 
the eggs are beaten, place them in a skillet and cook 
tea or fifteen miuutes. [A capital addition to the 
above is, parboiled ham cut into small bits and mix¬ 
ed with the omelet when• placed in the skillet.] 
Flake — Contributed to the 
American Agriculturist by Ivy Adams, Clinton Co., 
O.: Take 3 eggs and 3 cups of milk, stir in flour 
until it makes a thin batter, put a small quantity 
in the pans to allow for raising, bake quickly. 
Sponge Cake. —Contributed to the Ameri¬ 
can Agriculturist by Mrs. B. McClellan, Sandusky 
Co., O.: “Mix 6 eggs, thoroughly beaten, with 2 
cups sifted sugar, 2 cups sifted flour, 1 leaspoonfnl 
cream tartar, % teaspoonful soda, and a little salt. 
Salt SSisImjj;.—Mrs. Wm. Jackman, of Wil¬ 
liamsburg (no State given), gives her process of 
raising bread: “ The first thing in the morning 
when the tea-kettle boils, I take a pint of boiling 
water and put a teaspoonful of salt into it, let it 
stand until cold enough to bear my finger in it, then 
stir in flour enough to make a batter (using a quart 
pitcher for the purpose) then set it to rise, by plac¬ 
ing the vescl containing the batter inside of a pot 
of warm water, kept just warm enough to bear the 
finger in. After it has stood 2 or 3 hours, stir in a 
tabic-spoonful of Indian meal, and when the vesel 
runs over, which will be 4 oro hours from the first, 
mix the dough and make into loaves, set them in a 
warm place, and cover to rise. When risen enough, 
bake. The above quantity is for 7 pounds of flour.” 
Cucnmher Catsup is an excellent sauce and 
very readily made. Select large cucumbers just be¬ 
fore they turn yellow, peel and grate them ; let the 
juice drain out through a colander or sieve, then 
rub tiie pulp through a sieve to remove the seeds. 
Half fill bottles with the pulp and then fill up with 
moderately strong vinegar. Keep it corked tight¬ 
ly. Add salt and pepper when used at the table. 
For more Household Items, See Basket. 
toys <& mw 
A SeessirrectioM Tlsli— 1 The Mud JFisIs. 
When the description and illustrations of the “ resur¬ 
rection plants » were made for the August Agriculturist, 
we did' not expect to be able to present an engraving 
of an animal possessing similar powers. There is a fish 
found in Africa which adapts itself in a remarkable way 
to the peculiarities of the legion in which it lives. It is 
found in the river Gambia, a stream which during some 
months of the year spreads over a great extent of coun¬ 
try, but in the dry season gradually diminishes in size and 
occupies a very narrow bed. This peculiar fish enjoys 
itself in the time of higli water, but when the river begins 
to recede, it goes into the mud and covers itself with a 
thick slimy coat. The heat of the sun bakes the mud as 
bard as a brick, and the fish is there enclosed .beyond all 
possibility of escape, and it has only to wait patiently for 
eight or nine months until the annual rise of the waters 
softens the mud and soaks it into renewed life. Mr. 
Barnum of the Museum procured several of. these fish 
which were enclosed in sun-baked mud just as they were 
broken out of the river bed. We had the pleasure of see- 
Fig. 1.—RESURRECTION FISH ENCLOSED IN DRIED ML 
ing one of these opened. The ball of clay was carefully 
sawed apart, and the fish exposed as is shown in the upper 
engraving. It was apparently “as dead as aliening.” 
The thick leathery coat of hardened slime was carefully 
removed, and the fish placed in a tank of water. After 
soaking a few minutes, it gradually began to stretch itself 
and awoke from its sleep of many months, and in less 
than half an hour was swimming around in a lively man¬ 
ner. The below engraving shows the animal after 
awaking. It is about a foot long, of a dark gray color, 
with some black markings, and looks somewhat like an 
eel, and something like a lizard. The four appendages 
which appear like legs are slender fins. Naturalists have 
been puzzled whether to consider the animal as a reptile 
or as a fish, but the best writers decide that it is fishy. 
It is said to have both lungs and gills, and it is probable • 
that during Us long term of sleep it carries on a slow 
breathing. The name given to it by naturalists is Lepido- 
siren, which means scaly siren-siren being the name 
for a kind of reptile. The animal is said to be good as 
food and to be much sought after by the natives of the 
country where it is found. Their summer fishing ex¬ 
cursions must be rather curious affairs, as instead of 
hook and line, each fisherman will need a hoe and shovel, 
or as those implements are scarce in that region, they 
very probably pursue their sport with a sharp stick, 
or some other instrument. Both this and the plant de- 
Fig. 2.—RESURRECTION FISH 
scribed in August, should be thought of as something 
more than mere curiosities. They are remarkableallus- 
tratious of the Wisdom Which endows both plants and 
nimals with powers and instincts to enable them to live 
vherc those with a different organization would perish. 
Too Much IJisplay.-Ati Anecdote. 
Most young people are very fond of display in dress. 
Rings, breastpins, and similar superfluities are all in 
great demand among them. We have known a girl to 
spend a month’s wages for a single article of this kind, 
and a young man to run in debt for a cane when he had 
scarcely clothing enough to appear respectable. The 
following story of a successful merchant will show to 
such, how these things look to sensible people. Said he : 
“ I was seventeen years old when I left the country store 
where I had ‘ tended > for three years, and came to Bos¬ 
ton in search of a place. Anxious of course to appear to 
the best advantage, I spent an unusual amount of time 
and solicitude upon my toilet, and when it was com¬ 
pleted I surveyed my reflection in the glass with no little 
satisfaction, glancing lastly and approvingly upon a seal 
ring which embellished my little finger, and my cane, a 
very pretty affair, which I had purchased with direct 
reference to this occasion. My first day’s experience was 
not encouraging. I traveled street after street, up one 
side and down the oilier, without success. I fancied to¬ 
ward the last, that the clerks all knew my business the 
moment I opened the door,.and that they winked ill-na¬ 
turedly at my discomfiture as I passed out. But nature 
endowed me with a 
good degree of per¬ 
sistency, and the next 
day I started again. 
Toward noon I enter¬ 
ed a store where an 
elderly gentleman was 
talking with a lady 
near by the door. 1 
• waited until the visitor 
had left, and then slat¬ 
ed my errand. ‘ No 
sir,’ was the answer, 
given in a crisp and 
decided manner. Pos¬ 
sibly l looked the dis¬ 
couragement I was be¬ 
ginning to feel, for he 
added, in a kindlier 
tone, ‘ are you good 
at taking a hint?’ ‘I 
don’t know,’ I answer¬ 
ed, and my face flush¬ 
ed painfully. 1 What 
I w ish to say is this,’ 
said he, looking me in the face and smiling at my em¬ 
barrassment, ‘ if I were in want of a clerk, I would not 
engage a young man who came seeking employment 
with a flashy ring upon his finger, and sw inging a cane.’ 
For a moment mortified vanity struggled against com¬ 
mon sense, but sense got the victory, and I replied, w ith 
rather a shaky voice. ‘I’m very much obliged to you,’ 
and then beat a hasty retreat. As soon as 1 got out of 
sight I slipped the ring into my pocket, and walking rap: 
idly to the Worcester depot, I left the cane in charge of 
the baggage-master ‘ until called for.’ It is there now, 
for aught I know. At any rate, I never called for it! 
That afternoon I obtained a situation with the firm of 
which I am now a partner. How much my unfortunate 
finery had injured my prospects on the previous day I 
shall never know, but I never think of the old gentleman 
and his plain dealing with me, without always feeling, 
as 1 told him at the time, ‘ very much obliged to him.’ ’ 
How to See a Hlaost. 
Draw a picture of the object you would like to have 
appear. Let it be made with as few lines as possible, and 
be filled in with plain black, or other color, without light 
shading. Or the picture may be entirely white, sur¬ 
rounded with plain black, with only a few lines to make 
the figure distinct. Hold the object near a strong light, 
and look steadily upon a point near the top 
of it for about a minute, and then imme¬ 
diately look on the wall or other plain sur¬ 
face in a dark part of the room, and the 
figure will appear greatly enlarged. The 
color of the “ghost” will be the opposite, 
or “complementary” as it is called, of that 
of the picture. A blue picture produces 
an orange colored image ; red gives green ; 
green, red, etc. A book of amusing pic¬ 
tures of this kind, for raising ghosts, is ad¬ 
vertised in our columns, and it will afford 
much amusement in a winter evening. 
This experiment shows how many so-cal¬ 
led ghosts may have been caused. When 
I we gaze steadily at an object for a short time, an 
impression is made on the nerve of the eye and through 
I it on the brain and mind, which does not immediately dis- 
I appear ; thus we seem to see the image wherever the eye 
I is turned, and it appears plainest, looking into the dark. 
