1869 .] 
101 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
TOffi TOUSETOm 
(33’” For other Household Items, see “ Fasket ” pages.) 
A Family Festival. 
BY MRS. L. LAMB. 
It being John’s birthday, and having nothing 
prepared for a present or a remembrancer, I was 
obliged to set mother wit to work to improvise a 
celebration of some description in honor of the day. 
John went to his office after breakfast, and there 
was no time for me to lose after he had gone. I 
decided to make a cake, aNew Tear’s pudding, and 
cook my nice turkey, which we had been fattening 
for a couple of weeks, and which was dressed and 
hung up in the carriage-house a week ago. There 
was no school, and the two older children could as¬ 
sist me, while the younger two would be useful in 
amusing the baby, a busy, active, two-year-old boy. 
As soon as the breakfast things were cleared 
away and the beds made, I went again to the kitchen 
and left the children to put the sitting-room in 
order. I have taught them to sweep, by first wet¬ 
ting the broom and shaking or striking off the 
surplus water. In this way no dust rises, and the 
carpet looks bright and clean. If the room is large, 
the broom should 'be dampened several times. 
Charlie pared and sliced six medium-sized Bald¬ 
win apples, one-third of which I placed on the bot¬ 
tom of a pudding pan, then scattered over a few 
slices of canned quince, some raisins, cut in two, 
a tablespoonful of raw rice, and two tablespoonfuls 
of sugar; this was one layer. Two more layers 
were made in the same manner, and at lastapinch 
of salt and a very little nutmeg were added. The 
pan was filled up with new, rich milk, and the 
whole baked slowly from two to three hours. It 
is a dish fit for a prince and perfectly healthful. 
My cake was a medium-sized sponge cake, made 
from a tried recipe of my own. This is the recipe : 
Take one-third of a half pound ball of butter, two 
cups of light brown sugar, rolled fine and beaten with 
the butter. While I am doing this, Charlie beats 
the yolks of six eggs, which I add to the sugar and 
butter, and beat with a fork, while he beats the six 
whites to a stiff froth with the beater. It takes bijt 
a minute. Mix one spoonful of baking powder 
with two cups of flour, add half a cup of sweet 
milk, a little mace or lemon extract, and stir all 
lightly and quickly together. Pour into a baking 
pan that has a tube in the center, and bake as 
quickly as possible without burning. 
One of the children chopped the bread for the 
dressing, and I seasoned and stuffed the turkey 
while the cake was baking. As soon as the cake 
came out of the oven the turkey went in. Then I 
took the whites of two eggs and made an icing for 
the cake, allowing nine teaspoonfuls of powdered 
sugar and one of corn starch to each egg, flavoring 
with extract of lemon. Two coats of the icing 
covered the cake nicely; I saved about a spoonful 
and colored it with a bit of cochiueal the size of a 
pea, and wrote with a knife blade my husband’s 
initials, and the date, with a dotted vine around the 
edge. The children gathered a few sprays of pine 
and some scarlet berries from the wild rose bushes, 
to put in the center, and it looked very pretty. 
My good little Charlie dressed the potatoes and 
turnips, and Carrie set the table, placing Papa’s 
cake in the center upon a tall, glass cake-plate, and 
a bouquet of evergreen and scarlet berries at either 
end. As soon as the potatoes were done I poured 
off the water, set them over the fire with the cover 
off a minute, then putting the turnips into a basin 
for Charlie to mash, I mashed the potatoes fine and 
quickly, seasoned with salt, butter, and cream, and 
then with a knife and spoon made them into oval 
shapes,dipped each one into batter made of egg-yolks 
and flour, with a bit of salt, and set them in the 
oven for ten minutes, when they came out a golden 
brown, delightful to look at and delicious to taste. 
The children kept watch for Papa, so that I could 
have every thing in order at the right time. I 
changed my dress as soon as the turkey was put in, 
and wore an apron until just as the little watchers 
saw Papa coming up the steps. When he came in, 
every thing was as it should be. The bird was a 
most perfect success ; the potatoes looked almost 
too nice to eat; and the cake, with its crimson 
direction, “ J. L., Jan. 1, 1869,” could not be 
intended for anybody else. Papa was surprised 
and delighted. The children looked at each other 
across the table, radiant with the conciousness of 
having contributed to the general success of the 
festival, and I was more than repaid for my labor. 
fig. 1.—FRAME COVERED WITH IVY. 
A Living Ornament—Ivy. 
-O- 
In the columns devoted to horticultural matters, 
the cultivation of Ivy, both in and out of doors, 
has been advocated more than once. It is one of 
the best plants to have in the house, as it bears a 
large amount of neglect and abuse, and gratefully 
repays good treatment. It is not rare to see a pot 
of Ivy placed where it can be trained around 
picture frames and thus border the picture with 
living green. One of our associates has hit upon a 
way of dispensing with the pot, or rather he has a 
substitute for it which is kept out of sight. Figure 
1 shows a picture frame wreathed with Ivy after his 
method. Only a good-sized picture can be treated 
in this way, and as such pictures are usually hung 
so that the top of the frame leans forward, the 
space between the frame and the 
wall is available for the recep¬ 
tacle for the plant. A pot or pan 
of zinc, of a wedge shape, and 
of a size to suit the space be¬ 
tween the frame and the wall, as 
shown in figure 2, can be readily 
made by any tinsmith. This 
is to be hung against the wall so 
as to be quite concealed by the 
picture, and the Ivy tastefully 
trained over the frame. A rustic 
frame is better suited to this pur¬ 
pose, as it not only affords bet¬ 
ter facilities for attaching the 
stems of the plant, but its style 
seems better adapted to this kind 
of decoration than more pretentious ones. Still, a 
gilt frame may be beautified in the same way. Don’t 
forget the water ; the pan holding the plant is out 
of sight and therefore should be kept in mind. In 
summer the pan containing the plants may be 
hung up on the shady side of the house, or the 
plants may be turned out in the open ground. 
Ivy when planted out in the garden, if it is in¬ 
tended to repot it in autumn, should be kept 
tied up to a stake; if the branches are allowed to 
lie upon the ground they will take root at nearly 
every joint. There is no plant easier to start from 
cuttings than Ivy, and none grows more readily if 
it has a good soil and does not suffer from dryness. 
Household Talks. 
BY AUNT HATTIE. 
Roasting Meat. —Many persons seem to sup¬ 
pose that it is an indifferent matter whether meat 
is cooked for a short or a long time, provided only 
that it is cooked enough. I have often seen them 
place the meat for dinner in -the oven as early as 
nine o’clock, making no distinction between beef, 
mutton, lamb, pork, chicken, goose, or duck, or 
three pounds, seven, or fifteen. They rightly con¬ 
sider that it is not necessary to watch it, for a gen¬ 
erous supply of water in the pan effectually pre¬ 
vents its burning. Now, there is as much differ¬ 
ence between a piece of well-cooked or badly cooked 
meat, as between a loaf of good bread or bad bread, 
and perhaps more. Meat of mature (and by ma¬ 
ture I do not mean old) animals, such as beef and 
mutton, requires less time to cook than meat from 
immature animals, such as lamb and veal, which 
needs thorough cooking. The reverse is. the case 
with poultry; all young poultry, such as spring 
chickens, young ducks, and green geese, take far 
less time than tough old fellows that can stand any 
amount of fire. Pork should always be well done. 
These few hints I throw out as a sort of key to the 
methods of roasting that I am about to give you. 
Another thing, mature meat should never be put 
into the oven until the latter is very hot, in order 
that the intense heat may quickly sear or shrivel 
the surface of the meat, winch will prevent the 
juice from escaping. Never stick a fork or skewer 
into a joint of meat while it is cooking, as the gravy 
will ooze out. It is obvious that where water is 
put into the pan, tins quick searing of the surface 
cannot be effected. I think if advocates for water 
as an element in roasting would consider that it 
cannot be raised above a certain temperature; (its 
boiling point,) and that fat is susceptible of a 
much greater degree of heat, their scruples against 
grease as a basting agent would be removed. 
Roast Beef.— A piece of beef to roast for my 
table must come from the sirloin or first or second 
cut. The third cut is near the shoulder, and is not 
as good as the others. A small portion of the 
shoulder-blade is taken with the third cut, which 
the butcher removes, and in its place neatly inserts 
a piece of fat, thereby deceiving the uninitiated; 
but it makes a poor roast. Epicures require that 
beef and mutton should be cooked rare. There 
is a great difference between raw and rare meat; 
raw meat inside of a roast will have a dark purplish 
color, while rare meat is of a delicate crimson. 
The plates should be very warm when rare meat 
is served. Allow no flour or fat in the gravy. 
Carrots chopped fine, turnips mashed, and whole 
potatoes and cabbage, are excellent with roast beef. 
I never mash potatoes for hot roast Ubef or mutton. 
Roast Veal.— A loin of veal should be thor¬ 
oughly cooked; a large piece will require three 
hours in a moderate oven. I should not put 
water in the pan for veal; a few slices of salt 
pork placed upon the top will improve the flavor, 
and will also serve to moisten or baste it. 
Fillet of Veal. —This is cut from the thick part 
of the leg. Insert into the opening a stuffing made 
of crumbs of bread seasoned with summer savory, 
pepper, and salt, and a little lemon juice, if con¬ 
venient ; tie around with a string, making the piece 
the shape of a small cheese. Never use sage or 
onions with delicate meat like veal. Roast thor¬ 
oughly; make a brown gravy by adding flour and 
water to the exuded juice in the pan; serve with 
slices of lemon, and fried or boiled pork. lhe 
loin should be served also with pork and lemcn, 
and flour should always be added to the gravy. 
Lamb should be thoroughly cooked, but will re¬ 
quire less time than veal or pork ; when of a fine 
brown on all sides, you may conclude that it is 
done. Serve with mint sauce, made as follows : To 
one dozen leaves of spearmint chopped to a pulp, 
add two tablespoonfuls of sugar and a half teacup 
Fig. 2. 
