AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
947 
them in the street or added them to the fire. 
They were an open untruth. I wore them till I 
could bear it no longer. I can wear a cotton 
glove, but it must fit me as well as a cotton glove 
can. I would rather be gloveless than again 
compelled to wear such annoying kids. 
[We do not like to call in question so good au¬ 
thority on the glove question as our contributor, 
Anna Hope, so we will grant what she says is in 
accordance with custom and the general taste; but 
we do enter a protest against the customary im¬ 
portance attributed to the gloves. We confess 
we think the hand is seldom improved by a glove. 
The face might as well be covered. Nothing looks 
to us more foolish than to see any person pulling 
and straining by the half-hour to get on a close- 
fitting kid (sheep-skin). For footmen it may do — 
they have nothing higher to aim at, and their van¬ 
ity may as well be gratified this way as any other. 
. Women who have little to do but dress, may per¬ 
haps be allowed to devote an hour in straining on 
a pair of gloves, but we seldom see one of them 
dressed in “white kids,” to be spoiled in an evening, 
without mentally inquiring how many hours of 
toil a husband or father has endured to earn the 
dollar to buy them. We may be notional, but de¬ 
liver our hands from the abomination, except on 
extraordinary occasions, when we should hurt 
somebody’s feelings by appearing without “kids.” 
Our hands are no more tender than the face, and 
they need as little covering, summer or winter, un¬ 
less when handling ice or frozen articles. — Ed.] 
Wonian’s Wages Again. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
I noticed in the June Agriculturist, page 183, an 
article entitled “ Woman’s Wages,” which seems 
to me, to be slightly unjust, as sarcastic remarks 
are apt to be, though no one can deny that they 
contain much truth. It is certaii^, that as a gen¬ 
eral rule, woman’s labor does not receive equal 
remuneration with man’s ; and I know of no good 
reason that can be given why it should not ; but 
there are some noble exceptions, and though I 
know of an Institution where women wear out 
body and mind in an occupation that is peculiarly 
harrassing, for the same sum per year that a gen- 
'tleman receives monthly for a few hours’ service — 
and such cases are common— “ yet there is a bet¬ 
ter time coming,” and in no phase of society is it 
more apparent, than in this whole matter of wom¬ 
en's wages. 
1 know of a gentleman who employs several 
persons all the time copying; for years the work 
had been done entirely by men, but the gentle¬ 
man concluded to try how a woman would suc¬ 
ceed in the employment. As all were paid by the 
piece, of course each had what she could make. 
The result proved that women were as rapid and 
accurate copyists as men, and that they could 
earn as much at this work, ai d now more wom¬ 
en and fewer men are employed by the gentle¬ 
man of whom I speak. The constant applica¬ 
tions for vacancies in this business, is a sad com¬ 
ment on the provision of remunerative employ¬ 
ment for women. But how much public opinion 
has changed upon this matter within a very few 
years ! And it is the doing of a few talented and 
noble women which has contributed more to bring 
about this change, than all the speeches of 
‘Women’s Rights Conventions ; though even they 
have had their use. 
But all women may look forward to a brighter 
future for their sex when they read the sensible, 
gentlemanly criticisms upon Miss Hosmer’s ar¬ 
tistic productions, the just appreciation of Mrs. 
Stowe, as an authoress, the tenderness which is 
exhibited in every line which has been written of 
Florence Nightingale, the devotion to Jenny Lind. 
These all, and many more who might be enumer¬ 
ated, have their meed of praise, as their several 
talents or qualities demand, not because “ they 
have done well for women.” I think no one 
ever made that remark of the authoress of “ Au¬ 
rora Leigh,” and I am not sure, that even now, 
the verdict of the literary world would not be, 
that upon her brow should be placed the wreath 
that crowns a nation’s poet, rather than upon 
England’s present laureate, whose latest pro¬ 
duction will draw forth the remark from many, 
that it is not well for a man. We may be sure 
the time is rapidly coming when woman's work, 
in whatever department, will be viewed and 
judged by men according to its value as a produc¬ 
tion ; not as the performance of a grown child 
who must be fed on praise, because she can bear 
nothing else, or crushed by rebuke, because she 
must be taught to know and keep her place. 
When that time comes, women will be paid for 
their time as men are, according to the value of 
that time to the employer, not as a favor because 
she is a woman, or because her labor can be ob¬ 
tained at soul-and-body-ruinous prices. Women 
have only to do, not talk, and men will be ready 
to accept both them and their doings on their own 
terms. If, as we say, we can be what we choose 
if we have the opportunity, let us set about it; 
if there are obstacles in the way, they have been 
overcome in almost all the paths in which men 
walk, by women ; and what woman has done 
woman can do. As we advance, mountains de¬ 
crease, if not to mole hills, at least to such insig¬ 
nificant acclivities that the ascent is only health¬ 
ful exercise. Agatha Bowen. 
She Vinegar Plant. 
One of these has been in use in our family for 
some time past, but we have not had opportunity 
to study its character minutely. If any one has 
investigated it and can give any thing definite in 
regard to it we shall be glad to hear the particu¬ 
lars. It is a sort of semi-fleshy substance re¬ 
sembling “ mother,” that floats upon a liquid, and 
constantly increases in thickness by a succession 
of thin layers which can be removed from time 
to time. W r e received from a friend one of these 
layers some seven inches in diameter, and placed 
it in a stone jar of about the same size. Two 
quarts of water in which was stirred two tea¬ 
cupfuls of molasses, were then poured in. Four 
or five weeks afterwards the liquid had become 
very good vinegar. A layer of the plant was re¬ 
moved, the vinegar poured out and more molas¬ 
ses and water added, and the same result as be¬ 
fore followed. Taking into account the value of 
the molasses, the vinegar perhaps costs a little 
less than that of equally good cider vinegar. The 
thing besides being convenient and slightly econ¬ 
omical, is a curiosity, to say the least. 
Mrs. M. J. S., writes: “ Put in a stone jar, 
one gallon of warm rain water, half a pint of mo¬ 
lasses, and half a pound of sugar, mixing the 
whole well. Drop in the plant, cover up the jar 
(not air-tight) and let it stand in the warmest 
place in the house, or in the sun in Summer, 
covered with a black cloth. In eight weeks strain 
off and bottle the vinegar ; wash and divide the 
plant and set again. In this way we have had 
vinegar equal to the best made from cider. Our 
plant has been very healthy, growing to the size 
of the jar and an inch in thickness. We divide 
it as often as we reset it. The smallest piece 
will grow.—Please let us know the origin of it.” 
(We can not.—E d.] 
Recipes. 
Fritoilclla. 
A Lady correspondent, M. B H., Kent Co., 
Del., sends the following, the substance of which 
she says was taken from Soyer’s Cook book, and 
which she has proved to be as good as it is econ¬ 
omical : Take l lb. of bread, odd bits, crusts, 
and remnants, however stale, will answer; put 
in water, (warm if very stale), while it is soak¬ 
ing, cut up with a sharp knife half a lb. of meat, 
beef, mutton, lamb, poultry, or fresh fish—any of 
these, fragments of dinners or breakfasts, nicely 
kept, will answer ; also potatoes, or most kinds 
of vegetables. If many vegetables are added, 
more meat is to be used. Cut up one small onion 
fine and fry it for three minutes over a hot-fire 
with about an ounce of butter in a stew-pan ; then 
add the bread, which should first he squeezed in 
a coarse towel to remove the water, after which 
the meat and vegetables are put in. Stir all well 
together, and mix in tw o eggs, also gravy, or drip¬ 
pings if convenient, and one spoonful of salt, a 
half spoonful of black pepper, a little lemon peel 
grated, and one spoonful of sugar. After these 
are well mixed, pour into a broad dish and when 
cold, work into small cakes, roll them well in 
stale bread crumbs and fry them. They may be 
served up, dressed with a border of mashed pota¬ 
to and will be found good enough to repay the 
trouble of preparing. 
Corn Calseso 
A recipe for these, said to have originated at 
the “ Galt House,” Louisville, Ky., has gone the 
rounds pretty extensively, and received frequent 
commendation. We have not had it tested, but 
give it for trial: Take butter and lard, of each a 
piece about the size of an egg, and mix well in 
1 pint of Indian meal. Add sufficient boiling wa¬ 
ter to scald it, and afterward put in 3 eggs well 
beaten, and thin with sweet milk. Cook on a 
griddle, like buckwheat cakes, and serve up hot. 
JKongk and Heady Cairo, 
Contributed by H. S. Hodgson, Johnsburgh. 
To i pint of flour add ; 1 cup of milk; 1 of sugar; 
1 egg; a lump of butter the size of an egg; 1 
leaspoonful soda; 2 or cream of tartar, with nut¬ 
meg or spice to taste. 
Sponge Cake 
By the same. Beat the whites of 10 eggs to a 
stiff froth, and mix the yolks with 3 cups of sugar. 
Stir the whole quickly with 3 cups of flour ; add 
a little salt; flavor with nutmeg or lemon ; and 
bake in square tins for 20 or 30 minutes. 
’iToniato Money. 
A. J. Gunnell, Rock Island Co., Ill., sends the 
following recipe which he says is a very good 
substitute for honey : Cut sound ripe tomatoes 
in slices and express the juice through a cloth. 
To each pint of the liquid add one pint of sugar 
and boil the whole until of the consistence of 
honey, removing the scum as it rises. It may be 
flavored with lemon or other extract to suit the 
taste. The writer has tasted a very fine prepara¬ 
tion of this kind made from the European 
Winter Cherry or Ground Tomato (physalis alke - 
kengi) which was an excellent sauce for blanc 
mange, puddings, etc. 
A Fickle. 
Take 1 quart of hard cider, some rainy day 
when you can't leave home—and swallow it grad¬ 
ually say i pint at a time. Mix with it at dinner 
time 5 hard boiled eggs ; after which, light your 
pipe in the parlor and put your feet on the table. 
Introduce a good tidy housekeeper, and there will 
be a pickle fit for a family jar. 
