263 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[ J UI.Y, 
sliady cherry tree gently wafting in through the 
half-closed window blind, as they stretch them¬ 
selves on the lounge, they think, “Well now, this 
is pleasant! How cool it is here! How clean 
everything looks, and how quiet and neat the 
children are ! I wish I had nothing to do but stay 
at home and take it easy. Don’t the women have 
a jolly time of it, though!” Now, my dear sir, 
don’t go to napping with that unjust thought in 
your mind, but think a little further. Who was it 
hurried with the morning’s baking that she might 
have time to set that pleasant table ? Who was 
it made that long row of pies and cakes you 
saw through the half-open pantry door ? Who 
made those doughnuts of which you are so fond ? 
Who skimmed the milk, and made the butter for 
market and table ? Who put up those eggs for 
winter use? And who washed the children, and 
combed their hair, and buttoned their shoes, and 
made the beds, and swept the stairs and hall, the 
sitting-room and stoops, and bottled the pie¬ 
plant and made the ice-water ready, and did up 
your shirts and collars because Peggy can’t do 
them well enough for you ? And who sat down to 
talk for over half an hour with Neighbor Ander¬ 
son’s wife, who came in because you were so press¬ 
ing in your invitation last Sunday, when you 
might have known she would come when your 
wife was full of business, and could no more spare 
the time to sit down than you could let your best 
worker go fishing when the hay was ready to 
carry, and your weather-wise head told you it was 
going to rain before night? Who was it, think 
you, closed the blinds, drove out the flies, and 
kept the kitchen door carefully shut all the morn¬ 
ing, so that the rooms should be cool and pleasant 
for this yery nooning of yours ? And who promised 
the children something good after dinner if they 
would keep their aprons clean, and be quiet while 
papa was in the house? Who? Who but the 
thoughtful little woman whom you call wife, who, 
you think, has such an easy time of it, and who is 
even now dishing up the dinner so briskly. “ But,” 
you say, “there is Peggy; what has she done?” 
Done ? What can she do ? A new girl, two years 
from Tipperary, three weeks from the bush in 
Canada, who never baked a loaf of bread in her 
life, who doesn’t know how to set a table, and who 
knows nothing about making butter, except to 
turn the crank or lift the churn dasher. But she 
is capital with the baby, and has done a good deal 
this morning. She has peeled the potatoes, pre¬ 
pared the roasting-piece, and put it in the oven, has 
done up the dishes and kettles used in preparing 
breakfast, has washed olf the stove, put wood on 
the lire, and helped wash and polish the silver, has 
skinned the pie-plant, held the baby, carried water, 
scalded the milk-pans,washed the nursery windows, 
swept the walks before breakfast, cleaned the oil¬ 
cloth in the hall, dusted, carried out slops, scrub¬ 
bed the kitchen floor, and attended to the children. 
Thcu she has ironed the children’s clothes, the 
table-cloths, and some of the sheets; she has fed 
the chickens with breakfast table scraps, given 
them water, and brought in the eggs; and, lastly, 
tried to blow the horn to call you to dinner. And, 
bless you, after dinner, what will that wife of yours 
do? Well, if she doesn’t have to take the baby, 
she will help clear away the table, making the best 
of everything, placing the cold meat on a clean 
dish, and putting away any bread or pie. Then, 
while Peggy is washing the dishes, she will brush 
up the dining-room, and wipe the fingers and lips 
of the children, and give them the something good 
she promised. Then she will straighten up gener¬ 
ally around the kitchen, finish up the ironing that 
Peggy left, make a johnny cake, hull strawberries, 
and make a custard for tea. Then, after her dress 
is changed for the afternoon, she will cut out, 
make up, and finish a dress or an apron for one 
of the children, receive calls, and do nobody knows 
what, from rise up until bedtime. But perhaps you 
will say, “Nonsense! my wife doesn’t work like 
that.” My dear sir, let me help you a little. If 
you come home at noon and find the dinner ready, 
the parlor cool and pleasant, bread baked, butter 
churned, pies to eat, doughnuts to crack, and 
cookies to munch, if the children are clean and 
well behaved, you may depend upon it, a woman 
has been at the bottom of it all, and it is not 
Peggy, and if it is not Peggy, why, it must be I. 
Papering. —As many persons living in the coun¬ 
try are obliged to do their own papering, a hint or 
two will be timely. Walls that have been white¬ 
washed should be wet with alum water before ap¬ 
plying the paper. One edge of the paper should 
be removed with the shears before the lengths are 
cut. Remember to match the pattern before cut¬ 
ting the lengths. The paste should always be made 
the day before, as it should be perfectly cold when 
applied to the paper. A very good paste may be 
made as follows: Put into a pot or kettle about a 
gallon of water; it will take nearly that quantity 
for a room requiring from twelve to fourteen rolls. 
Mix about a pint of flour with a very little water, 
just like dough at first, making thinner afterwards ; 
this avoids lumps. When the water boils, pour in 
the thin batter. Stir to prevent burning, and, as 
soon as it boils, turn into a milk-pan or conven¬ 
ient vessel, and let it stand until next day. If it 
should be lumpy you must strain it. 
Raspberry Bread. —It lias sometimes happened 
that having no sauce for tea, and only a very few 
berries, I have been compelled to invent something 
to supply the deficiency. A very pretty and deli¬ 
cious dish I have made as follows: Cut four or five 
slices of the best white bread, trim them, and place 
flat on a dish. Pour over each a small quantity of 
milk or cream, and sweeten well. Then mix to a 
jam a few red or black raspberries, and spread a 
quantity on each slice. Do not place them one 
over the other, but allow them to remain ns before 
the milk was added. Fix it just as you go to table. 
Strawberries may be used, but I prefer raspberries. 
Of course this would be a superfluous dish if the 
fruit could be obtained in any abundance. 
Baked Custard. —Custard cups are of about the 
size of small teacups, and may be obtained at any 
crockery store. They should be thick and heavy. 
If you have no custard cups, you may, if you wish 
to try this recipe, use coffee cups, as the heat re¬ 
quired to bake the custard will not be sufficient to 
iujure the ware in the least. Take a pint of milk, 
and about a tablespoouful of sugar. Beat thor¬ 
oughly two large or three small eggs, and mix into 
the milk. Pour into the cups and bake in a very 
moderate oven. To please the children I add a few 
well-washed currants. If the oven is very hot, put 
a quart of water in a dripping pan, and let the 
cups stand in it, leaving the door open until done. 
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Husk Mats.—A correspondent says : “ To 
make an excellent door mat, take an inch plank of 
the size desired, and bore %-inck holes through it 
with their centers 2 inches apart; into these draw 
dampened corn husks, and trim off about 3 inches 
long on each side. This mat is good either side up. 
Anybody can easily make one, and every one can 
keep his boots clean, much to the gratification of 
good housekeepers.” 
-—>••»-—» ♦- 
Keeping Hams. —My hams are thoroughly dried, 
and I have wrapped them in paper bags and hung 
them in the garret. They are not smoked, and look 
deliciously clean and sweet, as they have been kept 
in paper since coming from the salt. Mary watch¬ 
ed me arrange them with apparent interest. She 
wanted to know when we should have some for the 
table. I told her not yet, as it is my intention to 
keep them until the green peas are ready. Edward 
has always been enthusiastic on the subject of ham 
and green peas, and I think myself that they do go 
excellently well together. I have always kept 
hams and bacon in paper bags, and prefer it to oth¬ 
er methods. It is impossible for flies and other in¬ 
sects to attack them through the paper, and the at¬ 
mosphere cannot have free play as it does through 
the bags of cotton, which of course is an advant¬ 
age. My mother used to keep her hams in a bin 
of malt or barley. Of course that would not be 
practicable with many, as all are not fortunate 
enough to have a bin of barley; but I should think 
they would be very nice if kept in dry bran, oats, 
or wheat. I think broiled ham is much nicer if the 
slices are cut very thin. When ham is very salt a 
little soaking will improve it, but if it has been 
properly salted, this will not be necessary. “A. H." 
To WhiteWooIens. —“A Young 
Housekeeper” writes: “ Put a kettle of clear soft 
water on the stove and shave enough soap into it to 
make a strong suds; let it come to a boil, and pour 
it over the flannels placed in a tub ; let stand until 
they are cool enough to handle, and then rub or 
squeeze slightly and wring out. If they were very 
dirty, repeat the operation ; if not, make a very 
weak suds, boiling hot, and after it is taken off the 
fire put in some blueing and proceed as before; 
theii shake well, and hang up to dry. You will 
find the flannels will not full up and get too small, 
but will be as soft as when new.” 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
Baked versus Coasted SSeef. —“Ex¬ 
perience” says: “ The traditional ‘ Roast Beef of 
Old England,’ the reputation of which is still 
world-wide, was certainly roasted, not baked. Hence 
our friend 1 Aunt Hattie,’ in those instructive 
‘Household Talks,’ probably means baked meats, 
when she speaks of hot ovens, pans, etc., etc. The 
contrast between beef baked, and that which is 
roasted upon a spit made to revolve before the 
glowing coals, is immense, and the most prej¬ 
udiced, I think, will pronounce decidedly in favor 
of the latter method.” 
Short-cake. —By “ Nellie,” Ohio. Take 2 
heaping tablespoonfuls of lard, fried meat fat, or 
butter; 2 heaping teaspoonfuls of saleratus, and 1 
of salt: rub all into 1 and % quarts of flour, and 
mix quickly with 1 and % pints of sour milk 
(a little sour cream ■would greatly improve it). Roll 
out rather thick. 
Japanese Cakes. —(One of the nicest of 
breakfast cakes.) One pint of milk; one and a half 
pints of flour; one egg; half a teaspoonful of salt. 
Stir the milk by degrees into the flour ; then add 
the beaten egg, and beat all thoroughly for a few 
minutes. Bake in 13 earthen teacups, or in a 
French roll pan. 
Cream Pie. —1 pint of sweet cream, 1 egg, 1 
teaspoonful of corn starch ; a pinch of salt ; sugar 
to taste. Bake with an under crust. 
Lemon Mering'iic Pie. —By J. N. Mer¬ 
rill. 1 lemon grated; 1 cup of sugar; 1 cup of 
milk; 1 tablespoonful of flour; the yolks of 8 eggs. 
To make the meringues, take the whites of the 3 
eggs and % of a cup of powdered sugar. Beat the 
whites to a froth and stir in the sugar. Bake the 
pie first, then spread on the meringues, and bake on¬ 
ly five minutes. (Meringue is pronounced Me-rang. ) 
ISice Meringue I'udd5ng.— One qt. of 
milk; one piut of boiled rice (not boiled to a 
pulp, but so that the kernels retain their shape); 
half a teacupful of sugar; the yolks of 3 eggs, and 
the grated rind of a lemon. Bake slowly for a half 
hour. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, 
with 4 tablespoonfuls of white sugar, and the juice 
of the lemon ; and when the pudding has partially 
cooled, spread this meringue over the top, and re¬ 
turn it to the oven a few moments to brown nicely. 
Sti-esid. Meringue Pudding- is made 
in the 6ame way, substituting bread crumbs for 
rice, and adding a piece of butter the size of an 
egg, with one more egg. 
ISlanc Mange.— Very simple recipe and 
easily made. 2 oz. Isinglass, 2 qts. milk. Soak the 
isinglass in the milk one hour, and then set it on 
the back of the stove, where it will heat slowly. 
When nearly boiling, strain into a bowl, sweeten, 
and flavor. Stir often, and when nearly cool, turn 
into moulds that have been first dipped in cold 
water. When Cold, 6erve with cream and sugar. 
Potato Dumplings.— Grate potatoes and 
thicken with flour; one egg is an improvement. 
