1866.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
327 
tioii ill most places. The Golden Dwarf may 
prove to be the founder of a race of peaches of 
such humble stature, that they may be protect¬ 
ed as easily as raspberry bushes, and thus allow 
peaehes to be raised in localities where it is not 
now practicable. It is well known that the peach 
is more nearly reproduced from seed, than any 
other of our cultivated fruits. It would be in¬ 
teresting to know if this dwarf habit is inher¬ 
ited by any of the seedlings of this variety. 
Something’ About Indigo. 
It is well known that linen and other white fli- 
brics will not be perfcctlj' white, no matter how 
thoi-oughly they may be washed. They acquire a 
yellowish tinge which is counteracted by difFusing 
a small quantity of Indigo through the rinsing 
water. This is about the only common domestic 
use of Indigo, and though the amount consumed 
in each household is small, it in the aggregate 
amounts to a large sum aunuall}'. Indigo is a re¬ 
markable product, usually obtained from species 
of Indigofcra^ shrubby plants of the Pea-Family. 
The engraving shows the general aspect of the 
plant, which grows from three to six feet high, and 
has compound leaves much like those of the locust 
tree. The flowers aresm.all, blue, and have the gen¬ 
eral shape of the pea blossom ; they arc followed 
by a small pod. The plant is cultivated in various 
warm countries, especially in the East Indies. The 
foliage of the Indigo plant is green, and no one 
would suspect it c.apable of yielding such a dark 
blue coloring matter. Indeed indigo, as such, does 
not exist in the plant, but is contained in juices in 
a colorless and soluble form. To obtain indigo, 
the plants are steeped in water, and the liquid, or 
tea thus obtained run off into vats where it is stir¬ 
red and beaten with rods for the purpose of bring¬ 
ing the air freely in contact with the liquid. By 
this treatment, the oxygen of the air combines 
with the colorless and soluble matter, and converts 
it into blue and insoluble indigo, which is allowed 
to settle, and is then made into cakes. The product 
of different countries varies considerably in hard¬ 
ness and intensity of color, but all of it when rub¬ 
bed by any hard substance, such as the finger-nail, 
takes on a peculiar metallic luster. Indigo is sol¬ 
uble in strong oil of vitriol, and in this condition 
it is the “ sulphate of indigo,” or liquid blue of the 
druggist and dyer. In the common way of dyeing 
with indigo, it is first changed from its blue and in¬ 
soluble state. There are several substances that 
effect this change; a mi.xture of lime and copper¬ 
as is often used in setting the vat. Fabrics im¬ 
mersed in this solution of colorless indigo and then 
exposed to the air become dyed by the change of 
the indigo, back to its blue condition. It has been 
found that turnips contain a principle (pectine) 
which converts indigo into the soluble form, and 
in France, turnips are largely used by the dyers. 
Remember 
1st.—That before food can be of any benefit to 
the body, it must be dissolved in the stomach, so 
that it can be absorbed into the blood in a liquid 
state, and be thus carried to the parts of the body 
needing to be nourished or strengthened, or re¬ 
newed by it. Bemenibcv 
Snd.—That the human stomach is not like the 
gizzard of a fowl—a hard, tough membrane, filled 
with gravel-stones, to break or grind up the food— 
but that it is a soft bag, so to speak, which merely 
holds the food and shakes it about, so that the gas¬ 
tric juice can better dissolve and work it into a 
liquid state; therefore, Hcmember 
Sd.—That nothing should go into the stomach 
which has not first been masticated (chewed) venj 
fine, or cut or mashed fine before it is taken into 
the mouth, so that it can be easily dissolved. 
Lumps of potato, or of fruit not well ripened and 
mellow, pieces of meat as large as chestnuts, lumps 
of dough or new bread, small fruits with skin un¬ 
broken, etc., etc.—anything that will be slowly dis¬ 
solved—causes an uneasy feeling, and often irri¬ 
tates and inflames the stomach itself. Further, if 
they arc not fully dissolved, these things pass down 
through the whole twenty-five feet or more of the 
alimentary canal, causing pain, colic, diarrhoea, 
and often dysentery'. Bcmember 
4th.—That the saliva of the mouth mixed willi 
the food, greatly aids Ihe dissolving or digestion of 
the food in the stomach, and that even soft food 
should be chewed or worked over in the mouth, 
until well mixed with saliva. Bemember 
5th.—That children can not appreciate the impor¬ 
tance of masticating food, and that great care 
should be taken, either to see that they do masti¬ 
cate it well, or that it be so thoroughly prepared 
for them that it can not go into the stomach in an 
undigestable form. Proper care in this single 
thing would save the lives of half the children that 
now die ymmg, and a very large proportion of all 
“pains under the apron,” the diarrhoeas, and 
bowel complaints, that children, and grown pco- 
l)le as well, suffer. Bcmember 
0th.—That, as all food aftergoinginto the stomach 
must either be properly digested, or piroduce inju¬ 
rious results, it is the bight of folly to crowd down 
into the stomach two or three quarts of food and 
drink, and expect that organ to work it all up 
readily. Suppose that for every article you eat at 
a meal, you put, or imagine you put, precisely a 
similar amount into a dish—the meat, bread, pota¬ 
toes, vegetables, tea, coffee, or water, and the pile 
or pudding—what a mixture you would have both 
in kind and bulk; yet that is what is given the 
stomach to dissolve, or try to dissolve. Bcmember 
Ith.—That the stomach keeps at work while it 
has any undissolved food in it, and that if you 
“ lunch ” or “ p^iece ” between meals you give that 
organ no time to rest, and it will in time be weak¬ 
ened if it do not give out. Bcmember 
8th.—That sleep is far more quiet and refreshing, 
if the stomach sleeps with the rest of the body, 
and that it is better to eat nothing which can not 
be digested before retiring to rest. Children, who 
retire early, or ought to, should have only light 
suppers of simple, digestible food. 
Oaessp ^ 3 »«Bsg-c 1 cup sugar, 1 cup 
flour, 3 eggs, 1 teaspoonful cream tartar, X clo- of 
soda dissolved in a little milk. Mix all together 
and bake SO minutes in a quick oven,— A Friend, 
Original Contributions to the American Agriculturist, 
“Information Given.”— {See page 394.) 
No. 9.— Home-made Ink.— (d) The kind I use 
altogether, and it is better than any I can buy', is 
made by boiling maple bark in w'ater for sometime, 
then straining it off through a cloth and boiling 
down until thick enough for use. To make it 
black enough, I add a little pulverized copperas 
(sulpfliate of iron).— Isaao II. Bagc, Otlumwa, Iowa. 
[Mr. Page’s letter is certainly' ■written with good 
ink.— Ed.]- (e) Into one gallon of soft water 
pmt 2 ounces extract of logwood; boil ten minutes, 
and then add 34 grains bi-chromate of ])otash, and 
13 grains of prussiate of potash, stirring a few 
minutes while over the fire. The ingredients cost 
35 to 80 cents. I have used it exclusively for 4 
years.— B. 0. F., of Schodaclc. —[The ink apjpjears 
well on the letter. Would not some gum arable 
improve it?....In a pDrescription from Foxboro, 
one of the figures is blotted out.— Ed.] 
No. 10.—Extracting Wheel-grease, etc.—(<?) 
I have cleaned wheel-grease from a nice silk thus : 
Laying the silk on a clean sheet folded to 8 thick¬ 
nesses, I rubbed the greased part with a soft cloth 
dipiped in lard, moving the silk to a new spot fre¬ 
quently. After a time the whccl-grcase all -went 
through, leaving only clean lard. This -was tlien 
cleaned out in the same 'u'ay, by rubbing it with 
some nice soapi and alcohol, using a clean cloth to 
rub with, and frequently changing to a new spot 
on the under-lying sheet. The silk was then laid 
on a clean cloth, and rubbed dry ivith a soft cloth. 
A friend cleaned a white Canton Crapie in this 
way, and you can not find the place 'where it 'was 
greased.— S. M. Healy, Trempealeau, Mo. 
No. 15.—To Remove IMildew from Muslin. — 
{a) Put the muslin on an earthen pflatter and piour 
over it a strong soap suds, to which a teaspoonful 
of soda is added. Set it in a strong sunlight three 
or four days, or longer if needed, adding moresncls 
to make upj the evaporation, and turning once or 
twice a day to expose all p’)arts of the fabric. I 
have used this with great success for a number of 
y'ears.— 2Irs. S. J Wood, North Aladison, Ind....{b) 
Stir lb. chloride of lime in a gallon of cold wa¬ 
ter After settling an hour, pour off the clear li¬ 
quid, and soak the mildewed cotton or linen in it 
tw'o hours; -^vash ivell and expose to the sun.— 
Farmer's Daughter, Bichmond, Ind, 
No. 18.— Old Brine. —Eight years’ experience 
convinces me that old brine -which has not soured, 
if taken in spiring, or before hot weather, and well 
boiled and thoroughly skimmed, is as good as new, 
when cold.— Z. P. L., Frio Co., Ohio. 
No. 80.— Home-made Toilet Soap. —Boil togeth¬ 
er 3 lbs. soda ash, 1 lb. unslaked lime, and 4 gallons 
of water. When hot, strain it, return to the ket¬ 
tle, add G lbs. clean grease; boil slowly but con¬ 
stantly three hours, and let it cool. Next day take 
off the hard soapi from the top, and put it in 
a clean kettle, adding 16. borax, and any kind of 
pierfumery yqu like; let it melt, stirring it well to¬ 
gether, and piour into a wooden mould or box that 
has been pireviously well soaked in water. Let it 
remain 34 hours, and then cut it into any conve¬ 
nient or fancy shaped cakes desired. Dry these a 
day or two, taking care to bring in at night. 
When do' enough, pack away for use.— Mrs. S. J. 
Woody. [Meeting’s adjourned, only.— Ed.] 
No. 21.— Preparation op Pickles. —For 200 
pickles of moderate size, take 2gallons of cider vine¬ 
gar, or enough to cover them, 1 ounce whole cloves, 
1 oz. allspice, 3 oz. mustard seed, 3 oz. alum, 6 oz. 
horse-radish, and pint salt. Put all together and 
heat in a brass or glazed kettle to near a boiling 
point, and pour it on the previously washed cucum¬ 
bers ; cover them with cabbage leaves and put on a 
weight to keep them down. If they do not look 
green enough in two or three weeks, pour off the 
vinegar, heat it, and return it. Heat it a third time 
if necessary to make the pickles green enough. 
To prevent a white scum on the vinegar, eoVer the 
