2Q8 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[June, 
to the memory. No’sv, this looks well at first; and 
it may answer for old people, whose memories are 
failing, but it is a bad practice for the young, and 
those in active life. It weakens the memory. With 
the faculties of the mind, or with the organs of the 
body, whatever we wish to strengthen, we must 
exercise. If an able-bodied man shouid use crutches, 
or carry his right arm in a sling, he would soon 
cease to be able-bodied. So with the memory, or 
reason, or imagination. By no means employ an 
artificial memory, be it slate, piece of paper, or 
tablet, but write everything on the tablet of your 
mind clearly and distinct!}', and learn to hold it 
there firmly, and then to recall it when needed. It 
will make one more self-reliant and strong every 
way. We speak from an experience of the injury 
of trusting to an artificial memory, and would cau¬ 
tion others against it. 
—^--— ■ - 
“Information Wanted.” 
Under this head we throw together sundry 
queries taken as we find them in a bundle of letters 
in the “ Housekeeping Drawer.” The questions 
are “open to the meeting” for discussions and re¬ 
plies. Please let answers refer to the numbers: 
1— Best kind of salt for butter ? 
2— How much salt to a pound of butter ? 
3— How to color kid gloves ? 
4— Patterns (sketches) for making cone frames ? 
5— How best to get rid of flies ? 
6— A cement for fastening knives in handles ? 
7— Best pork brine ? 
8— Best mode of hulling corn ? 
9— A good home-made ink ? 
10— To extract wheel-grease from unwashable gar¬ 
ments ? 
11— Best home-made binding for copies of this 
paper ? 
12— To preserve bacon from flies in summer ? 
13— Labor-saving soap that will not cause garments 
to fade or rot ? 
14— To restore faded Buffalo robes ? 
15— To remove mildew from muslin ? 
16— To color cotton and flax warp green for carpets ? 
17— Best economical icing for cakes ? 
18— ^Is scalded brine as good as fresh ? 
19— Best mode of pickling martynias ? 
20— To make a good home-made toilet soap ? 
21— Best mode of bottling and barreling pickles ? 
22— How to make the “ Free and Easy Soap” ? 
23— Best way of making salsify soup ? 
24— Best proportion of lard and rosin for protect¬ 
ing metals ? 
25— To keep sad-irons smooth, and free from rust? 
26— When to cut wood for rustic work, so as to 
have it retain tlie bark most firmly ? 
27— Best mode of cooking egg plant ? 
28— Best mode of boiling potatoes ? 
■■■ 
“Salt Rising” Bread. 
[We have never quite got over the liking for the old 
fashioned “ salt rising bread ” so common in our boyhood 
days, at the West, before the times of brewers and brew¬ 
er’s yeast. The writer of the foilowing gives the modus 
operandi very ciearly.—E d.] 
I saw in a recent number of the Aineriran Agri¬ 
culturist a request for a process of making bread 
when yeast cannot be obtained. There seems to be 
a prevailing idea that bread cannot be made with¬ 
out “ Hop yeast.”—I have been a housekeeper for 
over twenty years, and for the most of the' time 
have made my bread after the following process. 
My neighbors also use the same, and we pride our¬ 
selves on being good bread makers—: Take a pint 
bowl about one-third full of quite warm w.ater, put 
in a bit of soda as large as half a pea and a small 
pinch of salt ; thicken the water with flour until 
as stiff as batter for pancakes, then set the bowl in 
a vessel of very warm water and place it where it 
will keep .about the same temperature, taking c.are 
not to scald, as that will spoil it. In from five to 
seven hours this will ferment; let it rise until the 
bowl is nearly full, theu warm about three pints of 
milk (water will do very well, but the bread will 
not be as white and tender), stir in flour enough to 
make a stiff batter, and add the above yeast, mixing 
it all thoroughly together, and set where it will keep 
quite warm. In about an hour it will be light 
enough to mould into loaves by adding more flour. 
The above quantity will make three good sized 
loaves. Mould, and put in tins, and set them again 
where they will keep warm until they rise to about 
double size, then bake in a quick oven.—^— If any 
one will follow this process in every respect, I think 
they cannot fail to make a wholesome and healthy 
bread.—I sometimes use a part Canaille to make 
the yeast, as it will ferment quicker, but of course 
the bread will not be as white. The yeast should 
be stirred occasionally for the first two or three 
hours, but never after it begins to ferment.- E. 
E. C. I/ynclon, Winooski, Wis, 
Sundry Notes pn Cooking, etc. 
[The following extracts from letters to the American 
Agriculturist are selected by a lady assistant in this de¬ 
partment, in whose judgment we rely, but who wishes us 
to say that while each selection appears good, she could 
not positively recommend everything here given with¬ 
out a more thorougii trial.— Eds.] 
Toanat© Sonp a. la Oysters.—To one 
quart of c.anned tomatoes, or others which have 
been boiled about 15 minutes, add 2 quarts water 
and boil 15 minutes more ; then drop in carefully, 
a little at a time, enough pulverized saleratus or 
soda to neutralize the acidity, which you may know 
by its ceasing to foam—usually about .an even tea- 
spoonful to a quart. Then add one quart of rich 
milk, six or eight crackers pounded finely; butter, 
salt, and pepper as for oysters ; let it boil up and 
serve immediately. It strongly reminds one of 
oysters, and is very nice for sick persons as well as 
highly palatable for well ones.— Mrs. M. Ingalls, 
Muscatine, Iowa, 
I®ies witlaoiit Fruit. — Mix 1 teacupful 
each of sugar, molasses, and water, teacupful of 
vinegar, and butter the size of a walnut; stew 
together 10 minutes, and spice to your taste. Then 
thicken with crumbs of bread [or better of crackers. 
Ed.], adding a few raisins if convenient or desira¬ 
ble, and bake in crusts.— Jersey Farmer's Bawfliter. 
I£ice Pud-tling- witiioiat Egg's.—Cook 
one cup of rice thoroughly ; add 1 cup of sugar, 3 
cups milk, 1 tablespoonful butter, with spice and 
fruit to the taste.—Afrs. P. F. Mather, Victoria, 111. 
Cooking Beef Stenk.—Prepare the steak 
by pounding and otherwise, as for broiling. Have 
ready a pan quite hot; grease it as for bread, lay in 
the steak, turn frequently to prevent its adhering 
to the pan until the juice is extracted. When 
cooked through, turn the gravy upon a platter in 
which has been previously put about half the usual 
quantity of butter, with a little water. Slightly 
brown the steaks on both sides, then take up, and 
boil up a little water in the pan to secure any re¬ 
maining juices ; season as desired. By this method 
a much larger .and richer amount of gravy is ob¬ 
tained, with less butter, than by the usual process.— 
Sirs, 0. SI. II., Eawkesbury, Canada. 
C»oo«l SSoine-inatle 'Weast.—The follow¬ 
ing is in general use in the community where I 
reside: Boil a handful of hops in two quarts of 
w.ater about 20 minutes. Pare and gr.ate three good 
sized potatoes. Add 2 tablespooufuls of wheat 
flour, 1 do. of sugar, 1 do. of salt; strain the hop 
water hot into this mixture, stirring well together; 
then boil about 5 minutes. Set away to cool to 
milk warmth, then add a cup of yeast, and keep in 
a warm place until light and foaming. Put away in 
a jar or close vessel in a cool place. It will keep 
some weeks.— J/rs. L. B. Bradford, Slontague, Slass. 
Csii»«ly fj-oBM Sorg'liUHBi Syrisp.—Boil 
the syrup 20 to 40 minutes according to its previous 
thickness, until a little dropped into water will 
harden to brittleness in a minute or two. Then 
pour it into large dinner plates previously well but¬ 
tered, leaving it not more than inch thick. 
When cool enough, work and stretch it well with 
two fingers of each hand, smeared with butter to 
prevent its adhering. It can thus be made beauti¬ 
fully light and porous. When worked enough, 
stretch it out and cut it into sticks ; it thus makes 
a very nice candy.—i?! C. Smith, Fairfield Co., Conn. 
Fly Bestroyer.— C. P. of Fallston, Mo., 
writes that the following simple prepar.atiou, 
originating with her servant, has proved very effec¬ 
tive ; “ Beat up the yolk of an egg with a table¬ 
spoonful each of molasses and finely ground black 
pepper; set about in shallow plates every two or 
three days fora week, and the flics be rapidly 
destroyed, and may be swept up in handfuls.” 
For Bed Ants. —John H. Ferguson, of 
Rensselaer Co., N. Y., writes, that he has thoroughly 
cleared an old house of this pest twice, within the 
past 15 years, thus; “ Grease a plate with hog’s 
lard, and set it where the ants are troublesome; 
they will desert the sugar bowl for the lard. Place 
a few sticks around the plate for the ants to climb 
up on. Occasionally turn the plate bottom up over 
a fire, where there is no smoke, and the ants will 
drop off into the fire. Reset the plate, and in a 
few repetitions you willfeateh all the ants. They 
trouble nothing else while lard is accessible.” 
1(0)Y§ ^ 
Ajnnsing- Toy for tke Eittle Ones. 
Cut out from wood the figure of a dancer, somewhat 
like the one here given. It will be easier to form the 
head, body, and arms sep¬ 
arately, and afterward glue 
them together. The legs 
should be quite thin, and 
hung so as to play loosely 
upon a wire running across 
a liollow place cut in the 
bottom of the body, as shown 
by the dotted lines in the 
figure. Keep them separated 
by a small slip of wood 
placed between them on the 
wire. When this is done, 
take four strong bristles, 
each about an inch long, and 
insert them as pins for the 
image to stand upon. They 
should be long enough to 
just keep the feet of the im¬ 
age from touching the floor, 
or whatever it is set upon. 
It will improve the image to 
paint it in bright colors. Place it upon a tea-tray or tin- 
pan, letting it stand upon the bristles, then w'histle or 
sing a tune, and at the same time drum with the fingers 
upon the pan, and the image will dance about in a way 
to give great amusement to the little folks. 
Puzzle Ibi* tl»e Eye. 
Persons, by practice, may become very expert in judg¬ 
ing of distances, and measuring by the eye. It will often 
afford considerable amusement to test this ability in a 
person by asking him to mark on the side of a room the 
hight of a man’s silk (stove-pipe) hat, measuring from 
the floor. Very few will come within an inch of it. As 
another pleasant experiment of the same kind, request ■ 
some one to draw the size of a ten-cent coin—most per¬ 
sons will give very full measure. The above illustration 
will also furnish a somewhat similar test. Look at the 
parts A and B, and judge for yourself how much longer 
the lower one is than the upper one. Then to prove how 
near you have come, cut out two pieces of paper of the 
same size and shape as the figures, and lay one upon the 
othe!'. I'he difTerence in length, when found, will sur¬ 
prise those who have never tried the experiment. 
