398 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
cabbage leaves with a flannel cloth. Pickles thus pre¬ 
pared, keep a j'ear well.—TFriier’s name unknown. 
No. 21.— Lakd and Rosin.— Some 12 or 14 
years ago, the late Prof. Olmstead, of Yale College, 
read a paper before the American Scientific Asso¬ 
ciation, describing the great value of a mixture of 
lard and common rosin melted together, for cover¬ 
ing metals liable to rust. Just lard enough is ad¬ 
ded to the rosin to make it soft or semi-fiuid at 
common temperatures. This may be applied to 
any metal surface, and, if desirable, be wiped off 
nearly clean, yet the thin film left will prevent 
rusting or o.vidization. It is cheap, and useful for 
all farm and household implements, as well as for 
the most delicate philosophical apparatus. Tiie 
mixture can be kept, ready for use, for a long time. 
IVe do not remember the best proportions. Can 
anyone give them? Almost any proportion not 
too soft, but that will be fluid enough to apply 
without heating, will answer the purpose. 
No. 25.— To Keep Sad Irons Smooth and free 
FROM Rust. —Rub the flat-iron on a paper, and 
when this is hot, rub it with beeswax. The same pa¬ 
per may be used several times.— E. M. IL [With 
care, the film of beeswax may be so thin that it 
will not come otT to any troublesome degree at the 
next ironing. The lard and rosin mixture, No. 24, 
applied and wiped off, will still leave coating 
enough to prevent rust. “ Cousin Marion” writes, 
“ Keep the irons in a dry place and they will not 
rust.” Poor sad irons will rust anywhere, in damp, 
foggy weather.— Ed.] 
--— M-O— < ■ 
Moisten the Air. 
It is important to remember, at all times, when 
artificial warmth is needed, that heating the air has 
the peeuliar and remarkable effect of causing it to 
take up and secrete a large amount of water. Air 
that at the freezing point is damp, when heated to 
70°, or a comfortable condition, so hides away all 
the moisture, that it is unpleasantly dry ; it then 
absorbs the moisture from our bodies, and from 
our lungs, and produces a feeling of uneasiness. It 
sucks out the moistnre of the furniture, causing it 
to warp or crack, if not fall to pieces. When it 
comes in contact with the cold glass, and is reduced 
in tempei'iiture, it gives up the hidden vapor, and 
thus cold windows and wails tend to still further 
dry out the air. To make the atmosphere health¬ 
ful, as well as agreeable, always keep upon the 
stoves, or over the heating furnaces, a full supply 
of water in wide open-top or loosely covered ves¬ 
sels, to constantly evaporate moisture to saturate 
the air. This is equally important for all living 
organisms in a room, for plants as well as animals, 
and in churches and school-rooms, as well as in 
private dwellings. 
Original Contributions to the American Agriculturist, 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
BSecipe vs. KeceSpt.— Many writers, in¬ 
cluding some editors, use these words indiscrimi¬ 
nately. Though Webster gives the .authority of 
Dryden .and Arbuthnot for this custom, it would 
seem preferable to confine the use of the word 
"■receipt ” to its proper sense, the receiving of some¬ 
thing, or flic acknowledgment of its reception, and 
use "recipe" only for directions for making com¬ 
pounds in cooking and medicines. 
Clrosmi DBecr. —Prepare a syrup thus : Into 3 
pints of water, put 2}^ lbs. white sugar, 2 ounces 
tartaric acid, tlie juice of half a lemon, .and boil 
together five minutes. Then stir into it X oup of 
flour previously mixed up with some water. When 
nearly cold, add tlie whiles of 3 eggs well beaten, 
and )4 ounce essence of wintergreen. Put into a 
bottle and keep in a cool place. It is ready for use 
at once, but improves with age. To use, dissolve 
2 tablespoonfuls of this in a tumbler of water, and 
stir in teaspoonful of soda. Alw.ays shake the 
bottle WKjll before using the syrup.— M. L. .B.—[A 
little white of egg beaten and added to the com¬ 
mon soda-water syrups gives a peculiar foaming or 
froth-like consistence to the fluid when the gas w.a- 
ter is drawn in. We saw the directions for adding 
tlie egg sold in the West a few years ago, at $1 to 
$5 each to owners of soda water fountains.— Ed.] 
'fVeddirag- Csilse.—(Pronounced excellent 
at a great many weddings, says the contributor, 
whose name is not on the sheet with this and sundry 
other recipes kept for publication as we have room): 
1 lb. flour, 2 lbs. raisins seeded and chopped, 2 lbs. 
currants, % lb. citron, 1 lb. sugar, % lb. butter, 10 
eggs, 2 wine glasses brandy. Stir sugar and butter 
to a cream, add yolks of eggs, then spices, then the 
flour in which has been rubbed 2 teaspooufuls 
cream of tartar and 1 of soda; then the fruit, and 
lastly the whites of the eggs beaten to a froth. 
The spices are, 1 tablespoonful ground cinnamon, 1 
grated nutmeg, and 1 teaspoonful cloves. The 
loaves require from one to two hours baking. 
JTelly Hake.— Mix 2 cups flour, 1 cup of 
milk, 1 cup sugar, cup butter, 2 eggs, 1 tea¬ 
spoonful soda and 2 of cre.am of tartar. Divide 
into six p.arts, and spread each as thin as possible 
in pans of uniform size. Bake about 3 minutes; 
when done, lay together with layers of jelly be¬ 
tween ; cover the upper layer witli plenty of sugar 
sprinkled on, or with a thin frosting.— Contribu¬ 
tor's name not given. 
IBacIselor’s Posie.—Stir well together 1 
quart sweet milk or sour milk with soda, 2 table¬ 
spoonfuls lard, 2 eggs, 4 teacups white corn meal, or 
enough to make a moder.ately stiff batter. Bake in 
a loaf in a quick oven.— Subscriber, Kent Co., Ild. 
Soft CSingferkrcad. —Two cups molasses, 
% cup water, cup butter or lard, 1 teaspoonful 
soda, ginger and salt as desired; mix thin with 
flour.— Housekeeper, Worcester, Mass. 
“ Blasty Piiddiii"-.”—A housekeeper di¬ 
rects : ‘‘ Nine tablespoonfuls of flour, six eggs 
beaten light, one quart milk ; h.ave a hot oven, and 
bake 20 minutes. Eat wdth sauce; butter and 
sugar rubbed to a cream, and flavored to your 
taste, is very nice.”—Such a hasty pudding must be 
nice, if one has plenty of cheap eggs. We should 
want some sugar in it. Our home manuscript 
book calls this recipe “ Sunderland Pudding.” 
Indian IBleal Pudding-. —Put a teacupful 
of meal into a quart of hot milk. Add 3 beaten 
eggs, tablespoonful ginger and cloves, butter 
half the size of an egg. Boil 2 or 3 hours in a 
boiler.— Miss Belle, Cattskill, N. Y. 
Best Com Bread.— I think none of all the 
good corn bread recipes printed in your invaluable 
Agriculturist, are quite equal to ours, made thus; 
Make a thick batter of 1 quart of sweet milk and 1 
quart of butter-milk, 1 tablespoonful of saleratus 
and 1 of salt, 1 teacup molasses, 2 teacupfuls of 
wheat flour (or shorts), and corn meal enough to 
thicken it. Bake two houi-s in an oven a little 
hotter than for wheat bread.—A loaf still nicer, 
especially for poor teeth, is made by using half the 
above quantity, steaming it three hours, and then 
baking enough to just brown the top nicely,— 
“ Laura," Cooper, Mich. 
Brown. Bread. —Mix 3 cups corn meal, 3 
cups rye flour, cup molasses with a teaspoonful 
of soda dissolved in it, with a sufficiency of cold 
water. Bake in a covered dish, about 3 hours, in a 
slow oven.— A Friend. 
Corn Bodg-ers. —Salt and scald sifted corn 
meal. When cool wet the hands in cold water and 
mould into cakes like biscuits, but not very thick. 
Bake rather slowly, on a griddle, in hot fat, brown¬ 
ing first one side and then the other. Split open 
and eat while hot, with butter or syrup, or with 
meat and gravy.— Contributor's name not given. 
Preserving CMrecn Corn. —To E. F. 
Green, Kalamazoo, Mich. Wc have tried various 
methods of bottling and canning green corn, but 
never with satisfactory results. Wc have also eaten 
that put up by those who make a business of can¬ 
ning fruits and vegetables, but the corn was always 
poor, to our taste. We know of no way to put up 
green corn successful!}-, except to cook it on the 
eai s, then sliave off and dry it in a strong sunlight, 
or by the fire, or in the oven. Preserved in this 
way it is very palatable at a season when green 
vegetables are scarce. 
Meat Balls. —A good way to use bits of cold 
meat. Cold beef or pork, chopped very fine, put 
into a di;h with an egg to each lb., crumbs of 
bread soaked and mashed fine, 2 onions [if liked] 
chopjied well; season well with salt if fresh, and 
with pepper. Make into smali cakes and fry in 
plenty of lard.—il/ L. B. 
Carvot Sauce. — Scrape and thoroughly 
clean the carrots, slice in very thin round pieces, 
boil tender, and then cook dry. For eaeli quart of 
slices pour over a cup of sweet cream, season with 
salt and pepper and let them boil up for a moment. 
Serve hot. Thus prepared they will be relished 
highly, even by those who do not like carrots any 
other way. — Mrs. M. Ingalls, 3Iuscatine, Iowa. 
Heating Bottles for IFrnit. —“Sub¬ 
scriber,” of Columbus, N J , writes that she washes 
and wipes the jars dry, and then sets them in the 
oven until too hot to handle without a cloth. As 
wanted they are taken out, set on a warm board, 
and the hot fruit poured in. In this way she has 
broken only one bottle in three years. By the hot 
water plan, described on page 262 (July), we have 
not broken one in putting up the last four hundred. 
Claret Wine Stains. —A Wilbraham 
(Mass.) subscriber says that these may be removed 
from a table cloth by rubbing the spot, as soon as 
made, thoroughly with common salt. When 
washed, the stain will entirely disappear. 
To Color Scarlet. —For one pound of cloth 
or yarn, mix in warm water, )4 ounce cream of tar¬ 
tar and 1 ounce pulverized cochineal; add 2 ounces 
muriate of tin. Stir until it scalds, then put in 
the cloth or yarn.— Housekeeper, name unknown. 
Bed Ant-s. —After our safes, cupboards, etc., 
are washed and wiped as dry as they can be with a 
wrung out cloth, we sprinkle on salt and rub it 
w-ell into the wood and all the cracks and crevices 
with the same damp cloth, and have found it effec¬ 
tual against the ants.— E. Carr, Camden, N. J. 
■ -- - - 
A Ready Answer.— That eccentric preacher, Lo¬ 
renzo Dow, was once stopping at a hotel in New York, 
kept by a man named Bush. Among the guests was a 
General Root. They occasionally made tliemselves 
merry at Lorenzo’s expense. One day General Root be¬ 
gan upon him thus ; “ Mr. Dow, you tell us a great deal 
about heaven. Now, I want you to tell me plainly what 
sort of a place heaven is.” With imperturabie gravity, 
the preacher replied : “ Heaven, gentlemen, is a smooth, 
rich, fertile country ; there isn’t a bush or a root in it, 
and there never will be.” The Root and Bush subsided, 
and Mr. Dow wasn’t further troubled. 
An OLD FELLOW of the ultra-inquisitive order asked a 
little girl on board a train, w ho was silting by her mother, 
as to her name, destination, etc. After learning that she 
was going to Philadelphia, he asked ; “ What motive is 
taking you thither, my dear?” “ I believe they call it a 
locomotive, sir,” was the innocent reply. The ‘‘intrusive 
str.anger” was extinguished. 
I Household Note (by a Cockney).—What to do with 
cold mutton. Heat it. 
Little three year old Susie was playing very roughly 
with her kitten—carrying it by the tail. Her mother told 
her that she woidd hurt pussy. ‘‘ Why. no I won't,” 
said she, " I'm carrying her by the handle.” 
Sublimity in Humility. — The soul goes highest whc-i 
the body kneels lowest. 
A Scotch clergyman did not satisfy by his pre.achinga 
certain portion of his flock.” “ Why, sir,” said they, 
“ we think you dinna tell us enough about renouncing 
our own righteousness.” ‘‘ Renouncing your ain right¬ 
eousness !” cried the astonished doctor, ‘‘I ncYer saw any 
you had to renounce !” 
The man who can make his own fire, black his own 
bools, carry his own wood, hoe his own garden, pay his 
own debts, and live without wine and tobacco, need ask 
no favor of him who rides in a coach and four. 
