AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
215 
tions at the same time ferment on the surface, and 
form vegetable acids which induce flatulence diar¬ 
rhea, etc. Children seldom masticate food thor¬ 
oughly. If all fruit were mashed finely before al¬ 
lowing it to be eaten, it would very seldom cause 
injury.— Ed. 
Poultry—Flowers—and Hellie’s Troubles. 
Dear Mr. Editor. 
It is quite impossible for me to tell you with 
what glee we all hail the entrance of papa when 
we see a corner of the Agriculturist peeping from 
his pocket, for each is anticipating the pleasure 
its contents will give. Papa is a tanner, but he 
and my older brothers read the articles on farm¬ 
ing with much interest, and consider it good au¬ 
thority. Mamma, I believe, hunts up the instruc¬ 
tions for raising such plants as we have in our 
own garden. As for me, I have learned much 
from grandmother (please give her my love)—from 
a new game of Aunt Sue, and many other things. 
But what has awakened my attention and 
caused me to trouble you with this letter, is the 
suggestions of Minnie May. I am not a house¬ 
keeper yet , I fervently thank my stars, but I assist 
often in household duties. It is as Minnie says, 
tiresome to find the same round waiting us day 
after day. I have found it so, and have tried to 
take care of the poultry, but will you believe it, 
my little geese are so silly as to be afraid of me! 
Now, I’m only sixteen and very petite too, but 
they run off in as disrespectful a manner as if they 
did not know I intended a kindness when I fill 
their tub with water. Is it any wonder that I sing, 
“ If e’er I marry in my life, 
No farmer’s wife I'll be V’ 
Mamma assures me there is no danger, for no 
farmer would want me, nor any other man in his 
senses. Do you know that last grieves rne des¬ 
perately 1 for I’m afraid it is true. But to return. 
The care of poultry evidently being bad for my 
nerves, I have taken to flowers. Here my pei’- 
verse taste inclines to a bed of moss placed on a 
plate. With water to preserve its fresh, green 
appearance, and a few wintergreens with their 
bright berries scattered here and there, and some 
wild violets in the center, I have a beautiful or¬ 
nament for my toilet table. 
But still I love other flowers and spend much 
time in getting them arranged to my fancy. This 
Spring, however, I am in despair! Papa has 
taken my neat pretty flower bed for garden straw¬ 
berries (instigated I suppose by what you have 
said in their favor). Dear Mr. Editor! what 
shall I do? He don’t like flowers in the yard, and 
I had a bed in his garden. Now won’t you ask 
him to let me have my French running rose, 
Four o’clock, Forget-me-not, and a few others in 
the back yard even if it does spoil a little grass? 
If I can get his consent through your means I'll 
give you a famous bouquet when you come to 
Ledgedale—the home of Nellie. 
[We trust “Papa” will not disregard “Nel¬ 
lie's” importunity; she will, without doubt, 
make an ornamental plot that he will be proud 
of.— Ed] 
Strawberry “Sliort-Cake.” 
Having tried the article made after the follow¬ 
ing directions, furnished to the Agriculturist by 
Jennie V. V., of Queens Co., N. Y., we are ready 
to endorse them as first-rate—that is, for a 
“short-cake.” To two teacupfuls of sour milk 
(water will answer where milk is scarce) add one 
teaspoonful saleratus; when this is dissolved 
put in one cup of butter or lard, and flour enough 
to make a soft dough. Roll it out into thin cakes, 
large enough to fill the pan in which they are to 
be baked. Dust a frying pan with flour, and bake 
the cakes over the fire, turning as soon as the 
under side is done, which will require but few 
minutes. Then split them open while hot and 
butter well. Have ready a quantity of straw¬ 
berries well sugared. Lay on a large dish a slice 
of short-cake, then a layer of strawberries, and so 
on alternately for five or six layers, and serve up 
—they will go down easily. 
- - - —« 33 —« -qg=s3 E C-mr. ■ " — 
Ice Cream. 
This article is much talked about, and is sup¬ 
posed to be largely consumed in our cities ; but the 
fact is, comparatively few persons know any 
thing about genuine ice cream. Ice cream is 
chiefly made in cities and large villages—genuine 
cream “ grows ” in the country, and country 
people are the ones to have and enjoy the ‘ simon 
pure article.’ There have been two difficulties in 
the way: first, lack of ice ; and second, the amount 
of apparatus and labor required. But ice-houses 
are becoming quite common, so that in ’many 
places ice is always readily and cheaply access¬ 
ible the year round. As for the apparatus, a good 
freezer is now got up so cheap, as to bring it with¬ 
in the reach of a majority of persons. The best 
freezer we know of, is retailed as low as $3 each 
for the smaller (3 quarts) sizes. The freezer is 
complete in itself, requiring only the ice and salt 
to be put in-and the cream of course. This 
apparatus is so simple, and yet so philosophical, 
that a description will be interesting. 
Fig. 1 shows its outward form ; the smallest 
size, for making 3 quarts of cream at a time, is 
somewhat taller than a large pail. 
Fig. 2 shows the internal portions. The cylin¬ 
der to hold the cream is so arranged, that by 
turning the crank one way, the cylinder itself is 
revolved in the surrounding ice and salt; while 
by turning the crank backward, only the wooden 
Fig. 1. Fig. 2. 
blades within are moved, including a scraper kept 
pressed against the cylinder by a spring, which re¬ 
moves the thin film of frozen cream formed on 
the tin. And just here lies the beauty of 
the invention—got up, not by a Yankee, by the 
way, but by a Pennsylvanian, and an editor at 
that, (H. B. Masser, editor of Sunbury American.) 
In the ordinary mode of freezing, the ice formed 
on the outside of the mass of cream, acts as a 
non-couductor, and the internal portions are slow 
in congealing. In this freezer, the instant a thin 
film is frozen, it is scraped off and mixed with the 
whole mass. The wooden blades also keep the 
whole cream well beaten. The freezing is .of 
course quickly performed, requiring little labor, 
and but little ice and salt around the outside of 
the cylinder. 
The best, cheap, freezing mixture, is about one 
part of common salt to four parts of ice pounded 
very fine—if as fine as peas all the better. 
For cream, good sweet cream, with sugar to 
the taste, and flavored with extract of lemon, 
pine-apple, or vanilla, is all that is necessary. 
About 7 ounces of white sugar is required for a 
quart of cream. 'Those who can not get real 
cream, may use, as a good substitute, sweet milk 
and eggs, well beaten together, say 2 eggs and 
6 to 8 ounces of sugar to a quart of milk. Cook 
carefully for 20 to 30 minutes, then cool, flavor, 
and freeze. 
The following R.ecipe is furnished by Mr. Mas¬ 
ser, by which, he says, superior cream can be 
made for 18 cents per quart: 
“Two quarts good rich milk ; four fresh eggs, three 
quarters pound of white sugar ; six teaspoons of Bermu¬ 
da Arrow Root. Rub the arrow root smooth in a little 
boiled milk ; heat the eggs and sugar together ; bring the 
milk to the boiling point ; then stir in the arrow root; 
remove it then from the fire and immediately add the 
eggs and Sugar, stirring briskly, to keep the eggs from 
cooking, then set aside to cool. If flavored w ith extracts, 
let it be done just before putting it in the freezer. If the 
Vanilla bean is used, it must be boiled m the milk. 
-<a>-- 
. For the American Agriculturist. 
Cook Books—Letter from a Housekeeper. 
Mr. Editor : 
I noticed an article in the April Agriculturist, 
upon the unreliableness of cook-books, which ex¬ 
pressed my views exactly. Now let me ask you 
and all concerned, why somebody does not seize 
the opportunity here presented, to make his for¬ 
tune by compiling a book that can be depended 
on ? I want, and many others want, a manual 
teaching housekeepers how to make various dish¬ 
es which are not used in the common round of 
domestic life. Is there no superannuated baker, 
or retired confectioner, “ whose sands (or sugar) 
of life have nearly run out,” who would like to 
immortalize himself, as well as make money, by 
publishing such a book ? I pause for a reply. 
I should occasionally like hot rolls for break¬ 
fast, or “rabbits in pantalets” for dinner, or 
those nice tea-biscuits and macaroons for sup¬ 
per, and that too of my own making ; but I don’t 
know how to do it, and can get no light on the 
subject from any book on cookery or from my 
neighbors. I have probably wasted flour enough 
to buy a dozen cook-books, just in trying to make 
“ French bread ;” but the hard times forbid any 
further experiments, and now I want a hook. 
Further, as I have a pen in my hand, and not 
flour, let me go on to ask how carpets which have 
once seen better days can he shaken. One of 
ours is what Sam. Weller would call “ ventila¬ 
tion gossamer.” Really, I am afraid to look 
sharply at it, lest I should pierce holes through it. 
As for shaking it in the ordinary way, that would 
completely ruin it. If, as it is said, the most del¬ 
icate perfumes are made from horses’ hoofs and 
dog-tails, why can not some agent he discovered 
that shall extract dust from an old carpet, and 
make it rise in clouds of incense, or in some oth¬ 
er form? Please relieve my anxieties in your 
next. Jemima. 
P. S. My Sewing Machine works wonders. I 
putin the cloth, and lo! in a short time, the 
boy’s pantaloons come out with the knees already 
patched, and the socks darned after the most ap¬ 
proved style. When I have, no important work 
for the machine to do, I employ it to sew up my 
husband’s coat-tails and our bed sheets.—Don't 
forget the cook-book. Jemima. 
Tomato Soup. —A. D. Ferrer, Fergus, C. W., 
writes thata pot of soup even fit for Esq. Bunker, 
may be made as follows : Take about two dozen 
ripe red tomatoes, a large teacupful of cream, 
with a good beef bone for a “ strengthener,” 
season with pepper and salt, and boil in sufficient 
water for two hours. 
