294 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
m S>€>€)]1 fiMo 
•NOTE TO OUR LA 1) Y HEADERS. 
As intimated in our last number, we shall dur¬ 
ing the progress of our next Volume devote an 
increased degree of attention to the department 
of In door labor. There are very many practical 
hints to be derived from simple philosophical 
principles, which add greatly to the pleasure and 
interest ofhousehold work, while promoting and 
assisting in the performance of the daily drudgery 
of female cares. Among the topics to be thus 
discussed, we may name : preparation and adapta¬ 
bility of various kinds of food, baking, cooking, 
cleansing, coloring, clothing, ventilation, &c. 
These principles we hope to take up and elucidate 
in a series of chapters adapted to the comprehen¬ 
sion of all. We propose also to introduce a va¬ 
riety of illustrations of useful implements. 
We respectfully solicit from our lady readers, 
hints, suggestions, drawings of new articles of 
furniture, convenient house-keeping articles; also 
any improvements in modes of cooking, &c, We 
shall now' have abundance of room to devote not 
only to the out-door, but also to the in-door labor 
of rural life. The space allotted to this depart¬ 
ment is necessarily curtailed in the present num¬ 
ber, by the Index and the extended' reports upon 
the new sugar cane 
A CONVENIENT SPICE BOX. 
The above illustration represents a very conve¬ 
nient spice box, which we have not noticed in 
many families, nor have we seen one of this form 
on sale in house-furnishing stores. We have, 
therefore, made an engraving of it, which is so 
plain as to require little explanation. The box 
may be made square, six or eight-sided, or round 
as here shown. It may be of wood, or plain or 
jappaned tin, or of other material. Any tin-work¬ 
er could make one. The various spices are kept 
in the several divisions, while the grater (1) fits 
into the center. 
TOWEL BARS. 
This is so common a piece of furniture as to 
need no description. We present the above only 
as a good pattern which anybody can take to a 
cabinet-maker to be imitated. It will be noticed 
that two of the bars are outside of the center, 
which allows of several towels being dried at a 
time without their hanging together. We have a 
different pattern which we like still better for com¬ 
mon use, but could not show' its construction by 
an engraving. It is so*rewhat similar to the fold¬ 
ing clothes-dryer described below, but on a 
smaller scale. 
FOLDING FURNITURE. 
Clothes-dryer Open. 
In our visit to the recent Exhibition of the 
American Institute at. the Crystal Palace, w r e saw 
nothing which pleased us more than a lot of 
Cram’s folding chairs, tables, bedsteads, settees, 
clothes-dryers, &e. Almost every variety of 
house-furniture seemed to he constructed for fold¬ 
ing together and packing into the smallest possi¬ 
ble space. Above is an example of one of the 
simplest. When spread out it occupies about as' 
much space as four chairs set together, and yet 
affords hanging room equivalent to a clothes-line 
80 feet in length ; that is, there are 20 rods, each 
4 feet in length, 
no one of which is 
directly under an¬ 
other. In the side 
cut is the same 
implement folded 
together, so as to 
occupy little more 
space than a short 
ladder. They are 
made of various 
sizes, giving from 
15 to 160 feet of 
drying surface,and 
cost at retail from 
60 cents to $6 00. 
With an arrange- Clothes-dryer closed, 
ment like this, 
which could be stored in a corner when not want¬ 
ed, the housewife would be almost independent of 
the weather on washing days, while the cost is 
little more than that of clothes lines enough to 
wear as long as one of the folding dryers. Con¬ 
sidering the advantages of being able to wash 
when one wishes to, and not having to bring in, 
rinse and carry out the clothes if a storm chances 
upon washing days, and also the saving of wear 
upon garments hanging in the wind, we must put 
this dow’n as an economical “ labor-saving ” im¬ 
plement. 
No man ruins his health without bringing the 
consequences down upon himself. Like Samson, 
he destroys the temple, and buries himself in the 
ruins. 
SAUSAGE AND “HASH” CUTTER. 
How many wearisome hours are passed ham¬ 
mering away with the inevitable bowl and chop¬ 
ping knife, from week to week, and month to 
month—not. to mention the days required at the 
sausage making season. There is no better food 
than finely chopped hash, hut how many good house¬ 
wives are absolutely compelled to forego the 
pleasure of serving it up, simply for want of the 
time and strength required to prepare it. This 
labor may be greatly lessened by the use of a sim¬ 
ple, cheap implement, like the one shown above. 
It consists of a plain box, in which a series of 
knives, c, r, are set near each other, between 
which play the square iron pins, d, fastened into 
a roller, b. When the cover is shut down, the 
meat, or meat and potatoes for hash, are dropped 
through the opening, a. The spiral motion of the 
teeth moves the materials along gradually, and 
they are finally dropped out of a hole in the bot 
tom at the other end of the machine. The dis 
charging opening is under b. 
The boxes are made of both wood and iron, and 
cost at retail from $2 to $9, according to the size 
—the latter price being for large machines used 
at sausage manufactories. Those having two 
rows of knives, one row on each side of the box, 
and costing $3^ to $4J- are perhaps the cheapest, 
in the lung run, for family use. To say nothing 
of the saving of labor, it may be added that such 
a machine would contribute to the health of child¬ 
ren, and grown up fast eaters particularly, since 
such persons usually “ bolt ” food in a state whol¬ 
ly unfit for the slow digestion or dissolving pro¬ 
cess carried on in the stomach. If people will not 
masticate their food with the instruments nature 
has provided, it is certainly desirable that ma¬ 
chinery should be used for the purpose, rather 
than that they should tax their digestive organs 
with large pieces of meat, which lie for hours as 
an irritating poultice, before they can be entirely 
worked up by even the strongest stomach. 
“ Stuffing Sausages ” is hard work for the 
“ chest,” as every one knows who lias tried it for 
a few hours. Our engraving shows the construc¬ 
tion of a cheap and effective machine for accom¬ 
plishing this work easily and rapidly. It differs 
little, in general form, from the old-fashioned im¬ 
plement. The tin cylinder is made of large size, 
and rests near the center upon two pivots or ears. 
It is lifted out, or tipped up, when putting in the 
meat. The handle of the follower is fitted" with 
cogs, and is carried forwards and backwards by 
