American agriculturist. 
23 
chemical substances, as in making soda-water, 
or by fermenting, that is, the decaying of vege¬ 
table matters. All vegetable substances, after 
being deprived of life, if kept warm, com¬ 
mence undergoing a change in the arrangement 
of their particles. Most such substances con¬ 
tain starch, and this starch, if kept warm and 
moist, soon changes to sugar, and the sugar 
immediately changes to alcohol and carbonic 
acid. 
Two distinct processes are pursued in raising 
dough. If cream of tartar or tartaric acid 
and common soda (which is made up of soda 
and carbonic acid combined in a solid state) are 
thoroughly mingled with the dough, so that a 
particle of each is found in every part of it, the 
cream of tartar, or tartaric acid, will take the 
soda away from the carbonic acid, and this lat¬ 
ter substance will immediately spring into an 
air-like form, and produce a little opening in the 
dough. If the dough is left standing for some 
time, this gas will escape out into the air, and 
the dough will sink back together again; but if 
the gluten of the dough is immediately hardened 
by a quick heat while it is thus expanded by 
the bubbles of gas, it will remain so, and the 
bread will be light, or filled with little holes 
which have broken it up and made it tender. 
Two practical things can be learned from this : 
1st. In making bread or biscuit with cream 
of tartar and soda, care should be taken to mix 
the substances so thoroughly that a particle of 
each shall be found in as many places as possi¬ 
ble in the dough, for then it will rise more uni¬ 
formly and evenly. If this mixing is not tho¬ 
rough, in some places there will be too much 
gas formed, and large holes will be produced, 
while in other places there will be too little, and 
heavy spots in the bread will be the result. 
2d. Always bake the bread in a very hot oven, 
and as soon as possible .after mixing, before the 
little bubbles of gas can escape into the air. If 
the baking is slow, the gas will slowly escape 
into the air before the bread is hard enough to 
remain light. Where baking is slow, there will 
generally be found a heavy layer near the out¬ 
side of the loaf, because there the gas has most 
easily escaped into the air. This is prevented 
if the oven is very hot before the bread is mixed 
and put in; for the quick heat immediately 
crusts over the outside, and thus, in part, pre¬ 
vents the escape of gas. 
We repeat, then, mix the soda and cream of 
tartar (which is more healthful than tartaric 
acid) thoroughly with the flour; after wetting, 
knead the cold dough well and as rapidly as pos¬ 
sible, and quickly put it into an oven previously 
made hot. Chemistry, without practice, teaches 
us this, and we are certain that those who 
practise will say that we are taught rightly. 
The other method of raising bread, which is 
the more common one, is to get the gas (carbonic 
acid) for raising from the starch of the flour, in¬ 
stead of adding foreign nhp.min.al snhstfl.nn.es: to 
produce it. We have before explained that 
decay or fermentation of vegetable substances 
containing starch produces alcohol and carbonic 
acid. It takes some hours for this change to 
commence, but after it has commenced at any 
point, it rapidly spreads over a large mass. On 
this account, the bread-maker, instead of mix¬ 
ing up a batch of bread and waiting a long time 
for it to ferment, during which time much would 
escape, prepares at first a little yeast, (or buys 
it from the distillery,) and when it has com¬ 
menced fermenting well, she adds it to a large 
quantity of dough, and the fermentation rapidly 
spreads to the whole mass. As fast as the alco¬ 
hol and carbonic acid are formed in the dough, 
the alcohol evaporates and goes off, and the gas 
expands and makes the bread light. Here we 
again see the benefit of kneading well, so as to 
mix some of the yeast with every part of the 
dough, even to the smallest particles; for then 
the raising will be thorough and uniform. 
Before the bread is put into the oven, time 
must be given for the yeast to act. There is no 
need of haste here, as the dough itself keeps up 
a supply of gas. If the bread becomes too light 
before being put into the oven, it will not bake 
as well, because the gas-bubbles are noncon¬ 
ductors of heat, and the heat does not penetrate 
uniformly through the loaf. We are told that 
some of the best Scotch bakers let their dough 
rise and knead it down again three times before 
putting it into the oven. This makes it more 
tender and uniform. 
In baking bread raised by yeast, it must not 
be done too slowly ; for a dull heat will stop the 
production of new gas, while it will allow that 
already formed to escape, and leave the bread 
heavy. The hotter the oven can be made with¬ 
out burning, the better will be the bread. Yeast 
bread will blacken quicker than that made with 
cream of tartar and soda. 
Bread is generally not baked enough to be 
healthy. A sufficient elevation of heat in every 
part of the loaf will effectually kill the fermenta¬ 
tion, and at the same time change the starch to 
another substance (gum) which is more easily 
dissolved and digested in the stomach. If the 
tendency to fermentation is not destroyed, the 
bread will not keep half as long; but it soon 
sours, and what is worse, when eaten, new or 
old, it ferments and sours more readily in the 
system before it is digested, producing acidity 
or sourness of the stomach, and indigestion. 
After bread is baked, owing to a peculiar phi¬ 
losophical principle, the gas gradually escapes, 
and air enters and fills the little holes. This, 
however, does not make the bread more healthy, 
because the carbonic acid is not injurious when 
taken into the stomach, though it would destroy 
life if inhaled freely into the lungs. But in 
masticating, or chewing, all this gas is removed, 
so that new bread cannot be unhealthy from 
this cause, as some have supposed. Experience, 
however, has shown that, from some cause, not 
well understood, new bread is not as healthful 
as that which is twenty or twenty-four hours 
old. Probably one principal reason of this un- 
healthfulness is, that a person will always eat 
much more new than old bread, and the stomach 
is too severely taxed in digesting the larger 
quantity. 
Potato Bread. —Since, as shown above, the 
tenderness of bread depends upon the relative 
amount of starch, this shortness can be increased 
by adding to the flour a quantity of pure starch. 
Potatoes contain a large proportion of starch. 
11 good pouiluca H 1 C .»ell LA: 0 a, - 1 
mashed, and then added in considerable quanti¬ 
ties to the flour before mixing, the result will be 
a delicious, sweet, and tender bread, that will 
be relished better than that made from flour 
alone. This will contain less gluten, and is bet¬ 
ter adapted to the wants of the system in winter 
than in summer, when more muscle and less 
heat is required. 
Hints for Ladies. —Let the ladies observe 
the following rules:—In the morning use pure 
water as a preparatory ablution; after which 
they must abstain from all sudden gusts of pas¬ 
sion, particularly envy, as that gives the skin a 
sallow paleness. It may seem trifling to speak 
of temperance, yet this must be attended to, 
both in eating and drinking, if they would avoid 
pimples. Instead of rouge, let them use mode¬ 
rate exercise, which will raise a natural bloom 
in their cheek, inimitable by art. Ingenuous 
candor and unaffected good-humor will give an 
openness to their countenance that will make 
them universally agreeable. A desire of pleas¬ 
ing will add fire to their eyes, and breathing the 
air of sunrise will give their lips a vermilion 
hue. That amiable vivacity which they now 
possess may be highly hoightoned and pre¬ 
served, if they would avoid late hours and card¬ 
playing, as well as novel-reading by candle¬ 
light, but not otherwise ; for the first gives the 
face a drowsy, disagreeable aspect; the second 
is the mother of wrinkles; and the third is a 
fruitful source of weak eyes and a sallow com¬ 
plexion. A white hand is a very desirable orna¬ 
ment ; and a hand can never be white unless it 
be kept clean; nor is this all, for if a young 
lady excels her companions in this respect, she 
must keep her bands in constant motion, which 
will occasion the blood to circulate freely, and 
have a wonderful effect. The motion recom¬ 
mended is working at her needle, brushing up 
the house, and making herself as useful as pos- 
5lljlc ill tllO pcvforxwcvwoA aP nil cl Am oof !r> rllltioc 
— Mrs. Jameson. 
Egg Dumplings. —Make a batter of a pint of 
milk, two well-beaten eggs, a teaspoonful of 
salt, and flour enough to make a batter as thick 
as for pound-cake; have a clean saucepan of 
boiling water, let the water boil fast, drop in 
the batter by the tablespoonful; four or five 
minutes will boil them; take them with a skim¬ 
mer on to a dish, put a bit of butter and pepper 
over, and serve with meat. 
House Ants. —The best w r ay to get rid of 
ants is to set a quantity of cracked w r alnuts or 
shell-barks on plates, and put them in the closet 
and places where the ants “ most do congre¬ 
gate.” They are very fond of these, and will 
collect on them in myriads. When they have 
collected on them, make a general auto-da-fe by 
turning nuts and ants together into the fire, and 
then replenishing the plates with fresh nuts. 
After they have become so much thinned off as 
to cease collecting on the plates, powder some 
gum camphor, and put it into the holes and cre¬ 
vices, whereupon the remnants of them will 
speedily vamose. It may help the process of 
getting them to assemble on the shell-barks, to 
remove all edibles out of the way. 
A Country Pudding. —Mix the yolks of three 
eggs smoothly with three heaped tablespoonfuls 
of flour; thin the butter with new milk till it is 
of the consistency of cream; whisk the whites 
of the eggs separately, stir them into the butter, 
and boil the pudding in a floured cloth or basin 
for an hour. Before it is served, cut the top 
quickly in cross-bars, pour over it a small pot 
of raspberry or strawberry jelly or jam, and 
send it quickly to table. 
To try out Beeswax. —Put the'comb into a 
cullender, or a tin pan with the bottom punched 
full of small holes, and place it in a warm oven 
over another pan partly filled with water. The 
wax will melt and drop into the water below, 
perfectly clear. 
Easy Washing. —Make suds as usual, then 
add a teaspoonful of spirits of turpentine to each 
bucket of water, stir it up, put in the clothes, 
and let them soak an hour and o half, and Ikon 
hull Ihom .OS usual. Unless very dirty, they 
will need no rubbing, the turpentine having ttie 
effect to loosen the dirt. A lady of our acquaint¬ 
ance says she has proved this to be a good re¬ 
cipe. We should recommend not to soak the 
hands long in the suds before boiling. 
Dried Tomatoes. —Take ripe tomatoes and 
scald them in the usual way, and strip off the 
skins, or mash and squeeze them through a 
sieve ; then stew the pulp slowly, so as to evapo¬ 
rate as much juice as possible without burning; 
then spread it on plates and dry it in a slow 
oven or hot sun. When wanted for use, you 
have only to soak it soft, and cook a few min¬ 
utes, and serve it up just as you would toma¬ 
toes stewed fresh from the garden. 
