210 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
Comfort and convenience ought not to be sac¬ 
rificed to show in the city ; but in the country, 
they must not. There are some things about a 
house, which are worth all the carved rose wood 
and gilt hangings in the world, for they are abso¬ 
lutely indispensable to your living with comfort, 
elegance or economy. 
In the city, where you can buy your stores as 
you need them, it matters little where you keep 
them; but where you may provide each day 
something which you will eat for dinner six 
months hence, it makes a great difference indeed. 
Without a dry, cool cellar, convenient pantries 
and closets, an ice-house, or its best substitute, 
you cannot expect any satisfaction or comfort, 
unless your talents for management and contriv¬ 
ance are extraordinary indeed. Nor should these 
additions to a house be over-ruled on the score of 
economy. The price of one carved arm-chair 
will build an ice-house, and the interest on the 
cost of a set of lace curtains will fill it every 
year. It cannot be so great a trial to a house¬ 
keeper to live in a house furnished ever so sim¬ 
ply, as it is to endure such constant waste, con¬ 
fusion and annoyance in the kitchen department. 
I have seen some things in my time. 
A good ice-house is the greatest of luxuries; 
so great, that I would say to those of competent 
fortune, have it at any cost: but if it is impractica¬ 
ble, and you cannot depend upon your cellar, a 
spring-house or well-house will serve as a tolera¬ 
bly good substitute, costing as much to build, but 
nothing to fill. I suppose everybody knows what 
a spring-house is 1 A well-house is for those 
who have no spring, and is built in the same 
manner, of brick or stone, with a paved floor, and 
a channel through which runs the water from the 
pump. The channel must be shallow enough to 
stand the milk-pans in, and if the building is 
shaded and kept dark, it will keep milk and butter 
very cool and fresh. If you have a good drain¬ 
age, such an arrangement could be easily made 
in the cellar. 
A well-box is another substitute for an ice¬ 
house on a small scale. With four or five strong 
nails firmly driven in the side, and as many ropes, 
you may have butter, yeast, fruit, meat, and the 
cream-kettle all swinging in it at once, as we 
have had many a time. Butter that has “ come 
hard” will stay as hard in it as in ice. There are 
few cellars in which bread and flour will not mold 
in warm weather. They should be kept in a dry 
place on the ground floor, the first wrapped in a 
cloth, or in a tin box, the other in a wooden bin. 
Preserves, if made rightly, will never ferment 
in a closet on the north side of the house. Of 
course, it ought not to be next a chimney, where 
a fire is kept up. 
Your cellar should be either paved, or limed 
and sanded through its whole extent; the milk- 
cellar partitioned off, white-washed, well aired, 
darkened most of the day, and as clean as hands 
can make it. You may think, perhaps, that to 
those who keep but one cow, and make only but¬ 
ter for the family, all this care will not be neces¬ 
sary. In fact, it is rather more so ; for it is need¬ 
ful to turn a little to the utmost advantage. 
I have mentioned these things, not so much as 
directions for preserving stores, for you can find 
these in any domestic receipt book, but as hints to 
those intending to build or buy in the country what 
conveniences they should make sure of securing. 
Without these, you may dwell in the most pic¬ 
turesque of Gothic cottages ; your columns may 
be wreathed with ever-blooming roses, and your 
windows overlook the Vale of Arcadia itself, but 
Contentment will never nestle under your vines, 
or Peace make her home in your bosom. 
Windholme, Pa., July 18, 1857. Emily. 
CHAPTERS OH COOKING, &c. 
“JOHNNY CAKE” COOKED BY STEAM. 
We brought home from “ out West,” a recipe 
for cooking corn meal, which is preferable to the 
old-fashioned Johnny-cake—that is to our liking. 
The “ Editress ” has tried it several times, and 
it is “ universally liked,” that is, in one family. 
It’s very simple, and plenty of good housewives 
will exclaim, “lasuz! that’s •nothing new; we 
knew it long ago.” Well, probably you did, but 
we did not, and we suspect there are at least a 
fewotherreaders of'thc Agriculturist like ourselves. 
And so we might say of a hundred other recipes 
which we publish from time to time 
Directions .—To one pint of sour cream, add one 
teaspoonful of soda, and one of salt, and stir in a 
handful of wheat flour mixed with corn meal 
enough to make a stiff batter. Put it into a tin 
basin ; set this into a bread steamer and keep the 
steam up for one hour, more or less, according to 
the size of the cake—the longer the better, how¬ 
ever. Set this on the table with cream and 
sugar, by the side of pound cake, and your crust- 
less Johnny-cake will disappear first. Mem. If 
you have not a cow to furnish the cream, then 
make the Johnny-cake in any way you choose, 
but bake it in the steamer instead of an oven. If 
you have no regular steamer, put a deep tin-basin, 
upside down, in the bottom of an iron kettle partly 
filled with water, and upon this set your basin of 
batter and cover the kettle. Query 1 Why would 
not any kind of cake be better if cooked by sur¬ 
rounding it with steam. This secures a uin¬ 
form heat and saves hard crusts, to say nothing of 
the quality of the food. We know biscuits are 
nice thus baked. 
GREEN CORN CAKE. 
This has been one of our August luxuries, and 
it will be in season all through September. It may 
be made of green sweet corn, or of any other kind ; 
the sweet varieties are best. Husk as many ears 
as may be desired, and without boiling them grate 
off'the corn. Stir into this about two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of flour for every dozen ears, and also one 
egg, previously well beaten. Add a little salt, and 
a very little sugar, if the corn be sweet, if not 
sweet, add about two tablespoonfuls to the dozen 
ears. Let the whole be well stirred, and bake it 
in a greased tin basin, or tin pan, for a full hour, in 
a hot oven. It is good without any dressing, but 
may be eaten with butter, or cream, &e. 
AN EXCELLENT GINGERBREAD. 
A friend on whom we recently called, treated 
us to a nice slice of gingerbread, which was made 
after a little different recipe from any we have 
published, we believe ; to wit: Take one pint 
of molasses, one teacupful of butter, half a tea¬ 
cupful of hot water, one teaspoonful of soda, half 
a teaspooful of pulverized alum dissolved in a 
little water, two tablespoonfuls of ginger; the 
whole mixed thoroughly with enough flour to roll 
out and cut into cards. Bake in a quick oven. 
Mem. The mixing should be done rapidly and not 
until the oven is already hot, so that the baking 
can be done at once and quickly. 
WATERMELON PRESERVES. 
Remove the rind and seeds of watermelons, not 
fully ripe, and cut them into slices about half an 
inch in thickness, Scald these in weak alum 
water which will toughen them, and give them a 
nice green color. Next rinse in cold water and 
lay on platters to cool. To seven pounds of the 
melons thus prepared, take six pounds of sugar. 
Add water enough to the sugar to make a thick 
syrup and boil it, skimming it if brown sugar is 
used. Cook the melons in the syrup until well 
done. Then remove them and pack in jars, laying 
in two sliced lemons for each seven pounds ot 
melons ; next boil the syrup some 15 or 20 minutes 
or until thick and pour it in. Keep in close jars. 
CITRON FOR CAKE. 
Take citrons and treat them exactly as de¬ 
scribed above for watermelons, but instead of 
closing the jars, leave them open. The mass 
will dry down and furnish a material for fruit cake 
far cheaper, and just about as good as the best 
preserved West India citron sold in the market. 
HARD GINGERBREAD-INDIAN BREAKFAST CAKE- 
MOTHER’S SPONGE CAKE-ENGLISH PUDDING. 
Mr. L. W. Nichols, of Concord, N. H., sends 
for the readers of the American Agriculturist, the 
following four recipes, with the remark that “ we 
have proved them. If other readers will contribute 
in like manner it will benefit us all.” 
Hard Gingerbread. —Take H cups sugar ; £■ cup 
butter; $ cup sweet milk; £ teaspoonful of soda 
and 1 of cream of tartar; 1 egg, and ginger to 
suit taste, or cinnamon and nutmeg may take the 
place of ginger. Knead in flour to make a very 
hard dough and roll to thickness of pie-crust. 
With white granulated sugar, an extra nice cake 
is produced. 
Indian Breakfast Cake. —Mix well 2 cups Indian 
meal; 1 sup flour; 1 teaspoonful salt; 3 table¬ 
spoonfuls sugar or molasses. Dissolve alone in 
a little hot water, a heaping teaspoonful of soda ; 
add to it 5 teaspoonfuls of melted lard, and put this 
into the other materials already mixed, adding 
cold water enough to make the whole a little 
thicker than fritters. Just before pouring into the 
pan for baking, stir in 3 teaspoonfuls of vinegar, 
put at once into the oven and bake quickly. This 
is pronounced extra by all who have partaken of it. 
Mother's Sponge Cake. —Mix well: 2 cups flour; 
1 cup sugar ; A cup milk ; 2 eggs previously well 
beaten ; 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar and £ tea¬ 
spoonful of soda. Flavor with rose water, nut¬ 
meg, vanilla, and cinnamon to suit taste. 
English Pudding. —Mix : 1 quart flour ; 2 cups 
milk; 2 cups molasses; 3 well beaten eggs; 1 
pound raisins ; 1 pound suet; 2 teaspoonfuls of 
cream of tartar, and 1 teaspoonful of soda. Steam 
4 hours, which may be done by putting it into a 
covered tin pail, and setting it into a kettle of 
boiling water. Be careful not to let the water 
boil out of the kettle. A farina pail is the best 
for this purpose. 
[The ginger pudding recipe sent with above did 
not state the amount of flour, mode of baking &c,. 
In printing “ recipes ” we prefer to give all par¬ 
ticulars—always going upon the supposition that 
the reader is a ‘ bachelor ’ j ust taking lessons, and 
therefore needing to have the whole operation de¬ 
scribed minutely. This may be tedious to expe¬ 
rienced housewives, but will, on the whole, most 
benefit those needing aid. —Ed.] 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
Hams. —An excellent way to keep bacon hams 
through the Summer, is to put on them a coat of 
molasses, made thick with ground black and red 
pepper; then hang up in a dry cool place. 
New Housekeeper. 
Another. —Pack them in boxes, putting a layer 
of dry leached ashes,and some sticks,chips,or cobs 
between each layer, to keep them from touching. 
Keep it in a dry cool place, off the ground. 
Old Housekeeper. 
(To he Continued.) 
If no sin were punished here, no Providence 
would be believed; if every sin were punished 
here, no judgment would be expected. 
“ Thou rain’st in this bosom,” as the chap said 
when a basin of water was thrown over him by 
the lady he was serenading. 
