AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
9 
Albany, at Bethlehem, - - 
Seneca, at Waterloo, - - 
Chemung - , at Horseheads, 
Monroe Domestic and Horti¬ 
cultural Soc’ty, Rochester, 
AN OWL FOR A FOWL. 
4, 5, 6 
12, 13, 14 
7, 8 
1 
over matters and things in general. His ap¬ 
pearance was a signal for a general adjournment 
to the nearest saloon, at the expense of the 
Captain.— New- York Spirit of the Times. 
Safe' ieprtmeitt. 
Captain H., of a certain propeller that used 
to ply between here and Chicago, is a lover of 
the good things of this life, especially in the 
way of eating and drinking. He is withal a 
good fellow, round-faced, rosy-cheeked; his 
figure indicates that he is no stranger to good 
living. Once, while his vessel lay at Detroit, 
some time ago, one of his particular friends, 
being aware of his peculiar penchant for know¬ 
ing what was good, presented him with a fine 
fat young fowl, for his own private eating. 
Captain H. took it as an especial favor, at the 
same time regaling his mind’s eye with the 
vision of what a lordly feast said fowl would 
make, when accompanied with cranberry sauce, 
&c. He handed over the fowl to his cook, with 
injunctions to take good care of him, and kill 
him when the vessel arrived at Buffalo. The 
Doctor did as directed. On the way down some 
wags discovered the “Shanghai,” and looked 
upon him with longing eyes; upon being told 
that he was to grace the Captain’s private table, 
they resolved to sell Captain H. One of the 
party had with him a “ six-year”-old owl. He 
had caught it out West, and was bringing it 
down as a curiosity. It probably was the 
“ father of many an owl.” This they deter¬ 
mined to substitute in place of the fowl. So, 
awaiting their opportunity, when the cook had 
prepared the fowl all ready, even to being in the 
pan for roasting, and having his back turned, 
they slipped Mr. Owl (all ready prepared tolook 
like the fowl as near as possible) into the pan, 
and “mizzled” with “Shanghai.” The cook, 
suspecting nothing, immediately put the pan 
nto the oven, and in due time Mr. Owl came 
♦ut done to a turn. Captain H. had determined 
fo dine alone; and so, when the dinner-hour 
arrived, he sat himself down to the “goodly 
feast that was spread before him” with an ap¬ 
petite “some.” He plunged his knife into the 
fovl, or rather tried to, but “somehow” it 
would not go in; he, however, concluded his 
krife wanted sharpening, and reaching for the 
steel, he gave it several smart turns, and again 
applied it, with no better success than before ; 
bj this time his ire began to rise, and calling 
foi the cook, he said — 
|‘ Doctor, what is the matter with this fowl ? 
it’s tougher than bull-beef.” 
“Donno, Capen,” said Ebony; “kill him 
myself—tink he be berry fine, Sar.” 
The Captain, thinking he might have been a 
little hasty, again made a vigorous assault upon 
the owl, attended with the same results as be¬ 
fore. The Cook was again summoned. 
“I say, Doctor,” said he, “is this the same 
fowl that B. gave me at Detroit ? Are you sure 
this is the same one ?” 
“ ’Pon me ’onor, Capen, he be berry same 
one—I kill him myself! ’Pose you let me carve 
him?” 
Hereupon the cook took the knife and com¬ 
menced such an onslaught as was never heard 
of before or since, but all to no purpose. He 
at length threw down the knife in despair, and 
rolling up the whites of his eyes, said— 
“ Capen, dat fowl am tuff, and no mistake.” 
“Choke the fowl, and B. too! When I take 
a present of a rooster again, it will be when the 
hot spring freezes over!” So saying, Captain 
H. took up the fowl by one of the legs, and 
stepping to the door of the cabin, soon made it 
“ food for the fishes:” at the same time a hearty 
“ha! ha! ha!" from some invisible source, at 
once convinced him that he had been “ sold.” 
Our wags had stationed themselves where they 
could see the “manoeuvring:” they, however, 
did not show themselves to the Captain, but 
were not slow in making the story known. 
Next day, Captain H. happened into one of 
the numerous counting-rooms on the wharf, 
where about a dozen lake captains sat talking 
Under this head we shall give valuable arti¬ 
cles from time to time, and a number of good 
recipes in each paper. 
Next week we intend giving a good original 
article on making bread. 
- • • • - 
Burdock Coffee. — At the breakfast-table of a 
friend, a few mornings since, we were treated 
to a cup of what seemed to us to be a new and 
(to our unpractised taste) a very fine kind of 
home-made coffee. We learned from the good 
housewife that it was prepared from the roots 
of the common burdock. The tender roots are 
gathered, washed, scraped, cut into small pieces 
of the size of a common coffee kernel, and then 
burned, and afterwards ground when wanted, 
and treated just like common coffee. A less 
quantity is required than of coffee. To us there 
was a little peculiarity in the taste, but we were 
assured by our friends who arc good judges 
that after a little time this peculiar aroma is 
relished more than that of the best Old Java. 
The trouble of preparing the roots makes this 
less convenient than the common coffee ; but it 
is claimed that it is less narcotic, and that it is 
peculiarly adapted to keeping the blood pure, 
and the digestive organs in good tone. How 
this may be we do not know, but we have long 
known that a tea made by soaking the un¬ 
burned burdock roots in cold water is an ex¬ 
cellent remedy for boils and other eruptions of 
the skin. 
To get rid of Cockroaches. — The editor of 
the Bucks County Intelligencer supplies us with 
the following valuable information. He says: 
Many housekeepers are grievously annoyed by 
these troublesome creatures, and in vain try 
various methods for their extermination. A 
few days ago, General Rogers invited us in, to 
see how he manages them. He had a wash¬ 
basin (of crockery-ware) a fourth part filled 
with water, well sweetened with molasses, in 
which, during the night, some hundreds, per¬ 
haps thousands, of cockroaches had been 
drowned, by crawling up a stick laid upon the 
edge of the basin, and thence into the liquid, 
being unable to crawl up the glazed sides 
and get out again. He informed us that the 
number he had caught in this way would 
scarcely be credited It is a simple contrivance. 
Try it. 
Boil tour Molasses. —When molasses is used 
in cooking, it is a very great improvement to 
boil and skim it before you use it. It takes out 
the raw taste, and makes it almost as good as 
sugar. Where molasses is used much in this 
way for cooking, it is well to prepare one or two 
gallons in this way at a time. 
Syrup for Preserves. —An excellent syrup 
is made in the following manner: Take eight 
pounds of bright, clear New-Orleans molasses 
or sugar-house syrup, and mix it with eight 
pounds of pure water and one pound of 
coarsely-broken clean charcoal. Stir and boil 
the mixture fifteen or twenty minutes, and 
strain while hot through double flannel. Wipe 
the kettle clean, and boil again with the white 
of an egg, till the syrup would form a candy in 
cooling; then strain again and put in the fruit, 
and cook as usual. Preserves made in this way 
have a peculiar pleasant flavor, and keep better 
than when made with sugar. 
How to Dry Peaches. —Do our readers 
know how to dry peaches ? Take those of the 
best quality, just as they are ripe enough to eat, 
halve them, remove the stones, and sprinkle 
over them, in the hollow from which the pit was 
taken, a little nice sugar; dry them in a brick 
oven after the bread, &c., is withdrawn. They 
are far better than if dried in the sun, retaining 
then' aroma and flavor, and besides, arc totally 
free from insects. Prepared in this way, from 
peaches fully ripe, they need no cooking, but 
are simply soaked in cold water. All the sugar 
they require (ranging of course with the variety) 
is added while drying. Peaches thus dried and 
prepared are only inferior to the fresh fruit, of 
which they retain the flavor in a remarkable 
degree. If you prefer, take them not quite so 
ripe, and peel the fruit; but the flavor is not so 
good as when fully ripe, and is dissipated more 
in the process of drying.— Exchange Paper. 
PEAcn Preserve. —Take enough clarified 
sugar to cover the fruit, boil it till the syrup 
blubbers on the opposite side of the skimmer, 
then put in the fruit, and let it boil lively two 
minutes ; remove the same, let it stand from the 
fire till the next day; then take out the fruit, 
boil the syrup again, and as soon as the fruit 
boils, take them from the fire, and when cold 
put into jars, and keep free from heat or moist¬ 
ure.— New- York Times. 
PEAcn Jelly. —Take free-stones, not too ripe, 
wipe them, and cut into quarters; crack the 
stones and break the kernels small; put the 
peaches and kernels into a covered jar, set them 
in boiling water, and let them do till soft; strain 
them through a jelly-bag till the juice is squeezed 
out; allow a pint of white sugar to a pint of 
juice; put the sugar and juice into a preserving 
kettle, and boil them twenty minutes, skimming 
very carefully; put the jelly warm into glasses 
or jars, and when cold, tie up with brandied 
papers.— Ibid. 
Peach Jam. —Gather the fruit when ripe, peel 
and stone them, put into the pan, and mash 
them over the fire till hot; rub them through a 
sieve, and to each pound of pulp add a pound 
of white sugar and half an ounce of bitter 
almonds, blanched and pounded; let it boil ten 
or fifteen minutes; stir and skim it well.— Ibid. 
Scalloped Tomatoes. —Peel fine ripe toma¬ 
toes, cut them up in small pieces, and put in a 
pan a layer of bread crumbs, then a layer of 
tomatoes, with pepper, salt, and some pieces of 
butter; then put another layer of bread crumbs 
and tomatoes, and so on till the dish is full. 
Spread some beaten egg over the top, and set in 
the oven and bake it. 
Fried Tomatoes. —Wash them, cut them in 
half, take out the seeds, and season them with 
pepper and salt. Have ready some melted but¬ 
ter in a pan, put them into it, and fry them 
slowly till very soft. 
Dried Tomatoes. —Take fruit fully ripe, strain 
through a sieve, cook slowly half an hour, 
spread on clean plates, and dry in an oven 
twelve hours. It is capital, when carefully pre¬ 
pared. 
Singular Phenomenon. —A writer in the In¬ 
telligencer communicates a curious incident. A 
little girl was standing at a window, before 
which was a young maple tree. After a bril¬ 
liant flash of lightning, a complete image of the 
tree was found imprinted on her body. This is 
not the first instance of the kind.— Newark 
Advertiser. 
The Sorrowful Tree. —At Goa, near Bom¬ 
bay, there is a singular vegetable, the sorrow¬ 
ful tree ; called thus because it only flourishes 
in the night. At sunset, no flowers are to be 
seen, and yet, half an hour after, it is quite full 
of them. They yield a sweet smell, but the 
sun no sooner shines upon them than some of 
them fall off, and others close up; and thus it 
continues flowering in the night all the year. 
Missouri is the second (if not the first) State 
in the Union in producing hemp. The crop of 
iast year is estimated at 60,000 bales, or 12,000 
tons. The crop of the present year is estimated 
at 70,000 bales. 
