ladies’ department. 
259 
Cables’ department. 
SOUTHERN REOIPE FOR OKRA SOUP. 
Very early in the morning, set the pot over 
the fire with a shin of beef, washed and picked 
clean, and ten quarts of cold water; add a table¬ 
spoonful of salt. When it boils, draw it from 
the fire, and carefully take off the scum. If the 
scum should sink, it must be strained through a 
cloth that has been washed in scalding water to 
remove the unpleasant taste, a cloth is apt 
to communicate to hot liquids which pass 
through them. While the soup is boiling, 
throw in a peck of okra cut in slices, and 
three or four small onions. About an hour 
afterwards, add two quarts of tomatoes peeled, 
and cut in slices, throwing out the seeds. 
Season with pepper, and such herbs as suit 
your taste. Let it boil slowly until dinner 
time. Pick the bones and meat carefully out; 
cut up some of the gristle in short pieces, and 
return them to the soup ; and then throw a few 
leaves of fresh parsley on it, after it is in the 
tureen. M. 
Washing Made Easy. —Do not be humbugged 
out of a dollar for anything with this title. Here 
is the whole secret from an English paper:— 
Dissolve fib. of lime, in boiling water, strain¬ 
ing twice through a flannel bag; dissolve 
separately, £ lb. of brown soap and £ lb. of 
soda; boil the three together. Put six gal¬ 
lons of water into the boiler, and when boil¬ 
ing, add the mixture. The linens, which must 
have been steeped in cold water for twelve 
hours, are wrung out, the stains rubbed with 
soap, and put into the boiler, where they must 
boil for thirty-five minutes. They are then 
drawn, (the liquor being preserved, as it can be 
used three times,) placed in a tub, and clear 
boiling water poured over them. Rub them 
out, rinse them well in cold water, and they 
will be ready for drying. 
Corn Bread. —Readers never tire of recipes 
for something good to eat. Here are two for 
corn bread worth trying:— 
Mix three pints of Indian meal in a quart of 
sour milk; add three eggs, a tea-spoonful 
saleratus, and some salt; beat all to a smooth 
batter, and pour in pans half an inch deep, and 
bake quick. This is a sufficient breakfast for 
half a dozen. 
Here is one for family bread:—Six quarts of 
water, one pint of lard, one pint of yeast, and a 
tea-cupful of salt, mixed with meal enough to 
make a batter. Let it rise and then put in pans 
to bake. 
To Prepare Bees’ Wax. —To obtain wax, boil 
the combs in a strong muslin bag, in a sauce¬ 
pan, with water sufficient to keep the bag from 
burning; and whilst boiling, continue to press 
the bag with a wooden slice or spoon, to extract 
the whole, as you skim off the wax. Drop the 
wax into cold water, where it will swim on the 
surface. The wax thus obtained will still want 
refining, to effect which, place it in a clean 
saucepan, and melt it over a slow fire. Then 
pour off the clear wax into proper vessels, and 
let it cool. To whiten it, make it in thin cakes, 
and expose it in the sun. 
Sponge Cake.— Take six eggs; two tea-cup¬ 
fuls of sugar; one and a half of flour; and one 
tea-spoonful of cream of tartar; one tea-spoonful 
of soda; and one tea-spoonful of essence of lemon 
or nutmeg. Beat the whites of the eggs till very 
light, mix the yolks with sugar, and add the 
whites gradually to the yolks and sugar. Mix 
the soda and cream of tartar with the flour, add 
the former mixture, and add the essence of lemon 
or nutmeg. The whole should be stirred slowty 
till the top of the mixture is covered with bub¬ 
bles. Bake in a quick oven. It is eatable, 
you may depend upon it .—Prairie Farmer. 
Sweet Bacon. —This may be a little more dif¬ 
ficult, but there is not much risk if salted im¬ 
mediately, and well rubbed in, first adding a 
table-spoonful of sugar and a tea-spoonful of salt¬ 
petre to each ham, using about six pounds of salt 
to 100 lbs. of meat. Do not make smoke with rot¬ 
ten wood nor old chunks. See that the servant 
who has charge of it, never uses anything but 
sound green wood—hickory, maple, ash, or elm. 
Some use cobs. We cannot recommend them. 
Let the smoke house be open and do not try to 
smoke too fast. 
To Prevent Dampness inWalls.— Use a paint 
made of one part bees’ wax, three parts boiled 
linseed oil, and one tenth part of litharge, put 
on hot. The wall should be entirely dry, and, 
if possible, heated. Three or four coats will 
render a stone or brick wall impervious to 
moisture. 
To Preserve Cut Flowers Fresh.— Add a 
pinch of nitrate of soda, or nitrate of potash, 
(saltpetre,) to a tumbler of water, every time 
you change the water. 
Charcoal in Cisterns. —Two gallons of fine 
charcoal will purify a dozen hogsheads of 
water, when the smell is so unpleasant it cannot 
be used. 
Cement for Alabaster.— Make a paste of 
white of egg and finely-powdered quicklime; 
or else take a little newly-baked and powdered 
plaster of Paris, and wet it slightly, and use im¬ 
mediately. 
Sweet Lard.— To have this at all times, let 
the pork be cut up just as soon after killing as 
you please—render it without water, and be 
sure you cook it till well done; pack it in stone 
jars, or sweet oak tubs. 
To Clean Marble Mantles. —Dip a woolen 
cloth in a weak solution of carbonate of soda. 
Red Ants, can be kept out of closets and other 
places by impregnating the air with camphor, as 
this odor is offensive to all the insect family. 
