1864] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
3L9 
clean liquid from the dregs. Dissolve a pound of 
pearlash in a quart of hot water and add this to 
the solution of chloride df lime; the mixture will 
be at first very milky, but will become clear upon 
standing, when it may be poured off and bottled 
for use. The stains may be wet with this prepa¬ 
ration before tine article is put into the wash. 
Sugar Candy for Children. 
Many persons condemn candy as an unhealthy 
article, and entirely prohibit its use by their chil¬ 
dren, while others supply it freely. When pure 
sugar is melted with a little water, and after cook¬ 
ing, is worked or “ pulled” while cooling, to break 
up the regularity of the crystals, it assumes a pe¬ 
culiar brittle texture and white color. If cooled 
without working, it has a tough, s'emi-transparent 
texture. Pure candy is therefore neither more nor 
less than pure sugar.—The fact that the taste for 
sweets is not an acquired one, but is natural from 
infancy, is of itself a strong indication that sugar 
or candy is not unwholesome, if taken at proper 
times and in due quantity. Sugar is similar in com¬ 
position to starch, which makes up much the largest 
proportion of wheat flour and many other common 
articles of healthful food. To swallow bits of 
bread or cake at all times of the day, disturbs the 
digestion and is injurious to health, and the same is 
true of sugar, candy, fruit, or any other article re¬ 
quiring to be digested. Over-eating of bread or 
other solid food may produce indigestion, and 
large amounts of candy will produce the same 
effect. Sweet substances in the stomach, in greater 
quantity than can be readily digested, change to 
acids and thus produce heartburn or dyspepsia and 
derangement of the bowels. Food, and especially 
sweet, substances, if left on or between the teeth, 
acidify and corrode them; hence sugar or candy 
taken at all times of the day will injure the teeth. 
But a moderate quantity of sugar, or pure sugar 
candy consumed at meal time, or at other times if 
not constantly or too frequently, can not be esteem¬ 
ed unhealthful, or injurious to the teeth. Some 
Jrincls of colored candy are as harmless as the white 
or transparent sorts ; but as many of the coloring 
ingredients used are poisonous even in small quan¬ 
tities, the safest rule is, to entirely discard all col¬ 
ored candies. A little flavoring of peppermint, 
vanilla,wintergreen, cinnamon, etc., is not injurious. 
'I'o Make CilooG Mask, or “ Hasty 
Pudding.’’—Corn meal rightly cooked, makes 
an excellent and cheap food. Mush and milk is a 
very good light supper for children or adults. 
Plenty of housekeepers know how to make hasty 
pudding. They bring the water to a boil, throw in 
a handful of salt, often too much or too little; 
then stir in the meal, frequently leaving large or 
small lumps in it, and in less than five minutes 
it is on the table. It is indeed hasty pudding, but 
not good pudding, and no wonder so few people 
like it, for thus made it has a raw, flat taste. The 
fact is, corn meal needs to be always cooked thor¬ 
oughly. For good mush, salt the water just enough, 
allowing for cooking down ; make the mush quite 
thin, stirring it until it is without the smallest 
remnant of a lump ; then boil it down for at least 
20 or 30 minutes, frequently stirring, and taking 
care that it be not scorched. Thus thoroughly 
cooked, it is palatable and relished either in milk, 
or fried after cooling and cutting into slices, when 
the slices are fried brown but not crisped, with just 
enough fat to keep from sticking to the griddle. 
Musk Mullins.—Mr. A. B. Allen, to whom 
the country is indebted for the founding of the 
American Agriculturist, 23 years ago, often remem¬ 
bers us with practical hints. Here is one from him 
which he says is not original, but it makes such 
nice muffins that everybody should try it: “ Make 
the mush the night before. In the morning add 
eggs at the rate of three to a quart of the mush ; 
also 6 or 7 tablespoonfuls of flour, and 2 of lard.” 
For more Household Items, see “Basket/ 
mdys <k ©©OTMm 
A Few Thoughts ior December. 
The year grows old. Snow sprinkles the northern hills, 
like the grey hairs which tell of advancing age, and the 
blasts sweeping among the bare trees remind us of the 
sighs of declining life. A few brief weeks, and 1864 will 
be known only among the records of the past.—No, that 
is not entirely true, for every year makes its mark on 
those which follow it. 1865 will tiring fruit from seed 
both good and bad, sowed in previous time. The Boys 
and Girls of twenty, thirty, and forty years ago, are the 
present men and women, and the characters built up dur¬ 
ing that period make the world what it is now. Every 
child has this year laid up within himself that which will 
help make the history of his own future and the future of 
Society. If thirty years from now there are crimes, re¬ 
bellions, wars and desolation, it will be because the boys 
and girls of to-day have learned and loved to do wrong 
rather than right. If, on the contrary, the children grow 
up truthful and virtuous, a few years will bring the world 
right. This may well cause serious thought. What has 
the year done for us and in us? We are ebristrained 
to ask ourselves, as we look over our pages “ Which way 
has the American Agriculturist led its young readers this 
year ?” Our endeavor has been to guide in the right 
course, and to make the path pleasant. Thousands of 
cheering letters from young and old show that we have 
not wholly failed in this, and we can not well fail while 
sustained by the love of so many strong friends. We may 
therefore confidently ask our young readers to help keep 
up and increase the number of the Agriculturist family. 
If father happens to forget that the time of subscription 
has expired, he will be pleasantly reminded of it by the 
request of a son or daughter for it another year. Now 
we wish you a Merry Christmas in advance, and hope 
next month to salute you with A Happy New Year, 
A Lively 1®I ant. 
No, we did not mean to say a live or living plant, but a 
lively one. Every fine day last summer, not far from 
the office of the Agriculturist, was a man with a num¬ 
ber of pots of plants before him, calling out to the pass¬ 
ers by: “ Here they are, all lively—only 15 cents.” At¬ 
tracted by his cry and the sight of plants, we went to see 
what lively thing he was selling, and found it was our 
old friend the Sensitive Plant. This is a very curious 
plant, a native of Brazil, which grows a foot or more 
high, and has very finely divided leaves. The moment 
these leaves are touched, they .fold up, the leaf stalk 
droops, and the plant appears as if dead. It is not dead, 
however, but only “playing possum,” for if left to itself 
it gradually unfolds its leaves and is as lively as before. 
Our engraving below shows two leaves, rather less 
than the natural size, the lower one being open, and the 
upper one shut up and drooping as it appears after it has 
been touched. The plant of its own accord shuts up its 
leaves and goes to sleep toward sunset, and wakes up 
and spreads them in early morning. This folding of the 
leaves at night-fall is practised byjmany other plants, and 
there are a few others which move rapidly when touched, 
in a similar manner to 
the Sensitive Plant. All 
plants are alive as much 
as animals are, though 
some give stronger evi¬ 
dence of it than others ; 
exactly what kind of life 
a plant has, we are not 
able to say. The Sensi¬ 
tive Plant will grow read¬ 
ily in the garden, and 
Answers to Problems aud Puzzles. 
The following are answers to the puzzles, etc., in the 
November number, page 322. No. 105 : mush ated Pro¬ 
verb. “ Birds of a (.one) feather flock together .” One 
reader gave as the answer: “ Misery loves Company.” 
No. 106.— Card Puzzle.—The card should be cut in the 
manner shown by the lines, in the accompanying engrav¬ 
ing. This may be done most 
expeditiously thus : Fold * 
the card together through 
the middle, as shown by the 
perpendicular line; then cut 
from near the two edges 
clear across through the 
folded side; next turn the 
paper over and cut from 
near the folded side across 
through the edges, and so on 
alternately, making narrow strips; finally open the card" 
and cut down through the middle line, and the card may 
be stretched out to form a large ring.—No. 107 .— Figure 
Puzzle.— The cut shows the 
a/ 
B / 
\ B 
B y 
/ B 
b\ 
\ 3 
b y 
/ a 
proper arrangement. The 
following have sent in cor¬ 
rect answers up to Novem¬ 
ber 7th : II. Martin Kellogg, 
101 ; Claries A. White, 102 ; 
Sara H. Barnard, 102; Ame¬ 
lia W. Thompson, 102; B. 
F. Greene, 104; Clarkson 
Johnston, 103 ; J. S. Brig¬ 
ham, 101, 192 ; W. H. John¬ 
son, 101, 102 ; J. C. La Fetra, 106 ; Eliza A. Heyes, 107: 
“J. G. S.,” 107; Elma M. Taber, 107 ; A. Sampson, 107. 
New Puzzles to l>c Answered. 
No. 108 —Illustrated Rebus. —Read it to your friends. 
GMS^o 
JJOOXLNT 
''WE R 
T i ckle s /m/Th a it w 
Im &Aee l 
No. 109.— Mathematical Puzzle. —The ten letters rep¬ 
resent the ten Arabic digits, E T S N P O 
1, 2, 3, 4, etc. What value 
will you give to each letter 
so that this example of mul¬ 
tiplication will be correct- 
each letter always having 
A L M T N S R 
P P S M N L T 
L E A A P P M 
P S R P N E S _ 
APASIERTER 
the same value. If the mathematicians of the Agricul¬ 
turist family fail to solve this by calculation alone, a clue 
may.be given to another method of finding the answer. 
No. 110. Historical Questions. —Contributed to the 
American Agriculturist by “ A. T.” 1. What name was 
given to California in 1578? 2. By whom was it then 
named ? 3. When in modern times, and where, was gold 
discovered in California? 4. From whom was Delaware 
named ? 5. What European first discovered Florida, 
and what did he name it ? 6. When and where was the 
first English settlement made in Michigan ? 
all the better if the soil be sandy. It is best to sow the 
seeds where the plants are to grow, as they do not bear 
moving well; or they can be sown in a pot. Almostall 1 
seed stores have the seeds at 5 or 10 cents a paper. 
IBoys and Girls Head Premimn Fist. 
Many articles are there offered which our young read¬ 
ers will find very desirable, and which they can obtain by 
a little perseverance, as many others have often done. 
