260 
AMERICAN AG-RIOULTURIST. 
[July, 
as they began to turn red we used them freely on 
the table, and et there are a great many on the 
bushes that are gi’owing dead ripe. Yesterday I 
picked several quarts of them, and made my cur¬ 
rant jellj-. I intend to dry some of the nicest and 
largest of tliem for cake, and the rest will make 
me live or six gallons of wine. I shall be certain, 
in offering wine of my owu manufacture to my 
guests, that it contains neither logwood uor Elder¬ 
berry, or any other dirty drug,aud it will be perfectly 
harmless, as well as in the last degree palatable, if 
I succeed well. I have put up fifteen pounds of 
cherries. I prepared them in the Shaker style, 
taking out all the stones and boiling my syrup 
down until it was quite thick. 
July 11^7i.—Yesterday afternoon I had my house 
full of compau}^ and of course, took a great deal 
of pride in my tea-table. I have had so much plain 
cooking to do for the workmen, that it was a real 
Xdeasure to try my skill in cakes and custards. I. 
find that good cake depends, first, upon the quality 
of the materials, then upon the order in which 
the ingredients are mixed, and then upon thorough 
combination. When Eliza was liere she told me of 
a contrivance for sale in New York, for stirring 
cake and bread. If Edward goes dowji to the me- 
ti-opolis next winter, I guess he will buy one for 
me. It consists of a funnel-shaped, tin vessel, large 
enough to hold two or three gallons, and fastened 
securely in a hole in the shelf, or set in a block 
which is screwed to the shelf. In the middle, and 
fastened to the bottom, is a round piece of wood 
about the size of a broomstick, terminating in a 
handle at the top. A small as well as a large quan¬ 
tity can be stirred in this, and with vastly more ease, 
Eliza says, than can be done in the ordinary way. 
I think that this, and all other labor-saving in¬ 
ventions in woman’s department, should be patron¬ 
ized. The time and strength I could save by having 
such a bread and cake stirrer, I could invest in 
enterprises in and around the house that would I’e- 
pay the outlay. It is only within a fe^v yeai’s that 
-wringers, washers, sewing aud knitting machines 
have been invented, but what a vast amount of toil 
they have already saved, aud the movement of in¬ 
vention in this direction is still onward. When I 
get this bread-stirrer, we shall observe the difier- 
ence in the quality of the bread, for kneading a 
long time is essential to good bread. 
Jtdy 15t/n—The weather is very sultry and oppres¬ 
sive, and I have had a great deal of trouble with my 
butter aud cream. I find that when the thermom¬ 
eter is above 90°, it is very difficult to make a su¬ 
perior quality of butter without the best arrange¬ 
ments. So Edward suggests that during the re¬ 
mainder of this month, and the next, I make only 
enough butter for family use, and make the rest of 
the milk into cheese. I have no xaractical experi¬ 
ence in this line, but fortunately our Irish dairy¬ 
man has been familiar from boyhood with the pro¬ 
cess, as conducted in the old country. Edward has 
bought me a neat little jaress, and Farmer Jones’ 
wife will let me have a rennet. It will impose 
some adciiiional labor upon me, but Sue is doing a 
great deal of my housework, and I have an ambition 
to master every department of domestic industry. 
Jidy 17(571.—Amid all my other engagements 
have not been obliged entirely to neglect my flo'^ 
ers, and lam surprised to see how much can 1 
accomplished in keeping a flower garden in fli 
condition, by a little labor every day. My morj 
ings have been so occupied that I have devoted 
few moments every evening after tea, to my rosi 
and verbenas. I make it a rule never to x^ass 
weed without pulling it up, and I have placed it e 
a reward for rapid kitchen-work, that Sue sha 
have a half hour in the garden if she will mak 
time for it. With such girls as Sue, whose inter 
lions are always good,, is it not best to stimr 
a e by rewards of this sort, as much as possibh 
and not discourage aud dishearten ■ them by cor 
? I make it a rule to praise he 
rapidly an 
iie as sparing of censure as I may. 
2077i.--Sue reports that the cucumbers ar 
b g enough toprckle. l tell her that she may g 
out early every other morning and pick all that ar 
of the length of her forefinger; in that way I will 
prevent any from getting too large, and have my 
Xrickles 'of uniform size, which improves their ap¬ 
pearance and their valire in market. Those that 
accidentally eseaxae her notice and reach a large 
size, we can use on the table, or let them rixien and 
make them into sweet xiickle, for which my sister 
Emeline gave me an excellent receipt. 
A few of them I shall pickle at once, but most of 
them will be xiut down in rock salt until s])ring, 
when we shall have abundance of vinegar, and 
time to ijrepare them for maiket. 
July 22d .—I’ve been having some experience 
in sickness within a day or two. One of our 
■workmen came in at noon, with a terrible headache 
from the heat of the sun, amounting almost to sun¬ 
stroke. I made a pallet on the floor for him, in a 
cool, dark room, upstairs, x^ut a cloth wrung from 
cold water, over his forehead and eyes, Eind left a 
basin of cold water beside him, to be used in keexD- 
ing the cloth cool and moist. Perfect quiet and 
rest will restore him sooner tliEiu anything else. He 
was not very well in the morning, and ate a light 
breakfsist, then, just before noon, he pitched on a 
big load of hay, with the thermometer at 96°. Poor 
fellow ! I feel so sorry for him, and my symx^athy 
seems to be as grateful to him as the cold water to 
his forehead. I have just carried him a glass of 
iced lemonade, which he received very thankfully. 
He says he has never been the same lUEin since that 
summer at Vicksburg. Edward has told him not 
to worry about his loss of time, that a few days 
illness shall make no difference with his wages. 
July 27th .—My patient is recovering. His head¬ 
ache Eind giddiness lasted two or three days, during 
which time I guve him gruel, toasted bread, soft 
boiled eggs, and lemonade. Now that the head¬ 
ache is gone, I have put him on a rich diet, for that 
is what he wants to build up his strength. We 
got three or four pounds of sirloin steak, which I' 
keep hung in the well, giving him a nice cut of it, 
broiled, twice a day, Avith just eis much Graham 
bread and as many boiled eggs as he Avill eat, and 
all the buttermilk he wants to drink. 
----►-•I- 
Leaves from My Journal.—Ifo. V. 
PKIZB ESSAY BY MBS. B. M’CLELLAN, OF OHIO. 
While seated at our sewing this morning, I said 
to Lizzie : “I never told you of a Ausit we made to 
our friends many years ago. I don’t often speak of 
it now, though in all its details it is as.fresh in my 
mind as the events of yesterday. Mr. Frisby Avas 
Avorn AAuth incessant business, and Alice, the x^ct 
lamb of our flock, Avas teething and delicate. We 
liroposed to take our oAvn conve^uiuce, and thus at 
our leisure, visit friends scattered here and there in 
the beautiful Valley of the Connecticut. Carrie 
Avas now live, aud for these tAvo little ones, I had 
all a fond mother’s pride and ambition. How un- 
Aveariedly I labored by day and night, to have all in 
readiness for our outfit! I remember esjAccially one 
afternoon, feeling really impatient, Avhile hurrying 
to finish some garments, assisted bj' a sewing girl, 
Avhen my husband came in and proposed that we 
should lay by our Avork and attend a church lecture. 
—Ah, how did the cares of this Avorld choke the 
Word, till it became unfruitful! But everything 
being in readiness, and quite to my liking, we com¬ 
menced the journey. It was in June. Golden 
days, transparent in brightness and beauty. The first 
drive brought us to a friend’s Avhere Ave purposed 
to stox) a Avhile. That night Mr. Frisby Avas taken 
sick, and for two Aveeks lay prostrate with disease. 
Alice, the Avhile, needed tender care and nursing, so 
unlike her former playful self. When Mr. Frisby 
w'’as able to ride, w’^e started for my former moun¬ 
tain home. Its clear bracing air Avould cure both 
the sick ones, I said. But Alice still di'ooped, and 
after three weeks lingering, painful sickness, ‘ slept 
that sleep that knows no waking.’ We robed her 
in the Avhite muslin I had so carefully wrought, 
and which she had never worn till now, and laid 
her to rest by ‘the graves of our fathers.’ With 
sorrowing hearts Ave retraced our Avay. As Ave drcAV 
near home, the words of Naomi came to my mind: 
‘lAventout full, and the Lord hath brought me 
home again empt}-.’ Then looking at the dear ones 
still siiared, I exclaimed: Oh no, not empty, not 
empty! The Lord hath dealt very mercifully with 
me. Blessed be His name. 
Thus Avithout long and Aveary pilgrimage, 
Through devious paths of pain, and tears and sin, 
Her little feet have reached the Home of Best 
And stand forever safe on Zion's hill.” 
Sabbath. —“ Our Father” knew AAffiat these rest¬ 
less, grovelling, grasping natures needed, and gave 
us this sweet day, forcA'cr pointing from the dust 
aud din of earth to heavenly mansions and immor¬ 
tal life. The sermon this morning Avas from those 
words of Jesus : “ She hath done what she could.” 
Precious testimony, to that grateful penitent, Avhose 
costly offering avexs esteemed a sacrifice of love. I 
saw the teai-s gather in Lizzie’s eyes, and believe I 
read her thoughts. To the young housekeexAer 
Avhose time and strength are taxed to the utmost in 
her own little circle, those ever recurring ques¬ 
tions, ‘‘What shall Ave eat, Avhat shall Ave drink, 
and AvhereAvithal shall Ave be clothed,” seem to be 
absorbing every other. Her life appears so barren 
of fruit to the Saviour’s xiraise, that despondency 
may Avrap its dark folds about her heart and shut 
out the bright light and hoxie of heaven. How 
little does she estimate at its real value the simple 
routine of her daily life! To make one more happy 
home in the land, one more center of healthful sav¬ 
ing influence, from Avhich may go forth “streams 
to make glad the city of our God’ ’—are not angels 
even “ ministering spirits ” in such a Avork'as this ? 
I passed a humble home to-day, and though en¬ 
tirely a stranger.to its occupants, decided in my 
OAvu mind that it was bright and happy Avithin. 
That flue running rose, “ The Queen of the Prairie,” 
had been trained over one side of the house, till it 
had surrounded the chamber AvindoAvs. It Avas 
loEided with roses. Every spot of ground avus turn¬ 
ed to the best account. Vegetables Avere more 
forward thixn I had seen before, with flowers here 
aud there interspersed. Under an elm tree Avas ;i 
rude swing for the children; a martin box sur¬ 
mounted the wood-shed, Avhile about the Av.hole 
place Avas that indescribable air of order and thrift, 
Avhich we so surely connect Avith true enjoyment. 
We are having a heavy rain. I have had a feather 
bed aud pilloAvs put out on the grass. The feathers 
are getting heavy, the pilloAA^s somcAvhat yelloAv. 
If the rain is long enough, it Avill do them as much 
good as the corn in the meadoAV. They Avill need 
turning over two or three times, and take some 
days to dry, but Avill then be Exbout as nice as ne-w. 
F eather beds are out of date noAV, but for old people, 
in cold Aveather, they are a comfort, aud, rencAved in 
this way, and properly aired, need not be unhealthy. 
Sour milk is an excellent bleacher. Place the 
garment in an earthen boAvl or Avooden x>ail. and 
cover entirely with the milk. Let it remain two or 
three days, taking xiains uoav aud then to shake it 
thoroughly. Then after washing aud boiling, it Avill 
be found of the purest white. For table-cloths and 
napkins, thsit have become stained and yelloAV, this 
is a good cure. Iron rust needs more severe treat¬ 
ment, aud can be removed Avith oxalic acid dissolv¬ 
ed in Avater, and axxplied to the spot in the strong 
sunlight. It is a powerful poison, and aauII take 
the color out of anything on Avhich it is carelessly 
dropped. Mildevv I had supposed past remed 3 q but 
haA^e tried the cure found in the Ayr'amlturist for 
Sexitember, 1866. Stir lb. of chloride of lime in 
a gallon of cold Avater. After settling an hour, 
Xiour off the clear liquid, aud soak the mildcAved ’ 
cotton or linen in it tAvo hours; Avash Avell and ex¬ 
pose to the sun—and it Avorks like a charm. I only 
fear that leaving a garment of delicate material so 
long in the solution of lime, may rot it; but of this 
I cannot yet judge. The same fear has been ex¬ 
pressed in regard to the oxalic acid, but I have 
often used it Avithout the least injury to the linen. 
-B—--- 
Oreeii Com Grate the corn 
off from 6 ears, and mix Avith 3^ pint sAveet milk, 
3^ cuxi sugar, 1 tablespoonful flour, 2 eggs besxten, 
1 tablespoouful butter, and add a little, salt. 
