1SG3.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
247 
finally fastened to the last pole. The poles may 
be in a straight line or around a square, as desirable. 
Having fastened the end securely, put down the 
stop to the ratchet -wheel and wind up tight. To 
take in the line, simply untie the further end, and 
■wind up with the crank inside. Where no build¬ 
ing is convenient, a box containing the wheel or 
axle, with a water tight, projecting roof may be set 
upon a post, and will answer the same purpose. 
An illustration of such an apparatus was published 
in the Agriculturist , vol. xx, page 277, (Sept. No.) 
-—■.— n et - — —m. - 
Value of Illuminating Oils. 
A few years have shown a wonderful change in 
our methods of illuminations. Outside of cities 
and towns where gas is furnished, we, as a general 
thing, depend upon some form of mineral oil. Un¬ 
der the names of Kerosene, Carbon oil, etc., a 
great number of products are sold and used, and 
as these are of various prices, it is a matter of 
interest to know which of them gives the most light 
for the money. The cheapest oil does not of necess¬ 
ity give the cheapest light, and unfortunately there 
is no ready way in which people in general can set¬ 
tle this point for themselves. The only way in 
which the relative value of two specimens of oil 
can be determined, is by ascertaining the quantity 
required to produce an equal amount of light. The 
following is the plan used by those who practically 
test these oils, and may be practised by those who 
have the means, and are curious in such matters : 
Take two lamps, the wicks of which are of equal 
size, place them upon a table which stands a few 
feet from the wall, set a broom or stick against the 
edge of the table nearest the wall, in such a way 
that the lamps will cast a shadow of the broom 
handle or stick upon the wall. The lamps being at 
equal distances from the object, the strongest flame 
will cast the strongest shadow upon the wall; turn 
down or raise the wicks until both lamps throw 
shadow’s of equal strength. The lamps being 
weighed at the beginning of the experiment, and 
being so adjusted that they give an equal amount 
of light as determined by .the shadows, of the stick, 
are allowed to burn for some hours and then weigh¬ 
ed again. Of course the lamp which has lost least, 
contains oil of the greatest illuminating power. 
--a-«---- 
Hints for the Sick Room. 
The body enfeebled by disease is disturbed by in¬ 
fluences so slight as to be unnoticed by a person in 
health, and hence there is much suffering in the 
sick room, which might be alleviated by attention 
to a few particulars which are often overlooked. 
The invalid should occupy the most capacious, airy 
and cheerful apartment in the house, if possible 
away from the noise made by household operations, 
and where the odors from cooking can be excluded. 
The smell of food is nauseating in many instances, 
and in others it stimulates a craving which it would 
be improper to gratify. Usually there is too great 
dread of fresh air for the sick. We have seen every 
crack in the doors and windows carefully stopped, 
when the hurried breathing, flushed cheeks and 
uneasy restlessness of the fevered sufferer plainly 
showed that the disease was aggravated by breath¬ 
ing the poisoned atmosphere. Draughts of air di¬ 
rectly upon the person are to be avoided, but the 
sick, even more than those in health, require abund¬ 
ance of fresh pure air. 
Plain ceilings are always preferable to papered 
walls for sleeping rooms, and especially for the sick 
room. The eye of the nervous invalid will be 
fatigued by following the figures of the paper, and 
very often the disturbed imagination of the sufferer 
will see in them the most grotesque and hideous 
forms. The room should be carpeted, or in summer 
it may be covered with India matting, which gives 
the appearance of coolness. The furniture should 
be convenient without superflous articles, to avoid 
much dusting and arranging. Medicines and other 
articles incident to sickness shuuld be kept out of 
sight; it is almost enough to make a well person 
sick to see a long array of bottles, tea cu^, etc., 
upon the mantel shelf, or on chairs about the room. 
Kind friends are frequently a great hindrance to 
convalescence of a patient. They want to see him, 
to express their sympathy, cheer him up, or per¬ 
haps to recommend some new remedy. Very few 
if any visits should be allowed in severe cases of 
indisposition, and none except with the consent of 
the attending physician. Such calls should be 
made in the morning, before the patient is fatigued, 
and the visitor should introduce only pleasant top¬ 
ics of conversation if talking be allowable. None 
but the most thoughtless would remark upon 
the ill appearance of the sick person, or endeavor 
to entertain him with an account of the visitor’s 
sufferings under similar circumstances. The nurse 
especially, should maintain a quiet but cheerful de¬ 
meanor. All unnecessary motions, such as rocking 
in the chair, trotting with the foot, and noise of rat¬ 
tling paper, coughing, blowing the nose, etc., 
should be avoided. The aim should be in every 
way to administer to the comfort of the sufferer, 
and thus keep him in the most favorable circum¬ 
stances for recovery. 
Aerated or Unfermented Bread. 
A friend asks us what is the character of this 
bread which is so generally sold in cities. The 
Aerated bread is made by machinery. The dough 
of flour, water, and salt is worked in a cylinder in 
such a manner that the carbonic acid gas which 
the cylinder contains, is completely incorporated 
with it. The dough is then baked, and the gas 
which is entangled with it, expands by the heat and 
renders the bread - very light. To those who like 
unfermented bread this is very palatable, though it 
is not at all to our taste, any more than the bread 
raised by the use of soda and cream of tartar. In 
this as in the aerated bread, the lightness is obtain¬ 
ed without any change in the flour. When bread 
is fermented by means of yeast or leaven, the flour 
undergoes a change and gives off carbonic acid, and 
if the fermentation is arrested at the proper point 
by baking, the resulting bread has a sweetness and 
a peculiar flavor which all the substitutes lack. It 
is only from the fact that bread making is a rare 
accomplishment, that these substitutes are wel¬ 
comed, they being preferred to poorly made fer¬ 
mented bread. In half the families where yeast 
bread is used, it is allowed to ferment until it gets 
sour, and then saleratus or soda added to correct 
the acidity, making a compoirud unfit to eat. We 
entreat those mothers who know how to make 
good bread, to teach their daughters how to do it, 
else in a few generations bread making will be one 
of the lost arts. 
■----—--- 
Beef Tea. 
Nothing is more nourishing than properly pre¬ 
pared beef tea, and it is usually acceptable to the 
convalescent. The lives of many of our wounded 
might be saved, could they be sustained by this 
concentrated nutriment. To make it in perfection, 
select perfectly lean beef, cut it into small pieces, 
rejecting every particle of fat; put the meat into a 
bottle, a common junk bottle will do, set it into a 
kettle of cold water, put it on the fire and let the 
water boil for two hours. The juice of the meat 
will be extracted by this method in a very concen¬ 
trated form. It may then be strained off and sea¬ 
soned with salt, and other condiments to suit the 
taste or condition of the patient. 
Plants in Sleeping Rooms. 
A lady subscriber wishes toknowifit is injurious 
to sleep in a room where plants are kept. Plants 
in the absence of sunlight give off a small amount 
of carbonic acid, and any considerable amount of 
this renders the air unfit for breathing. If the 
sleeping room is as well ventilated as every room 
of the kind ought to be, we should not apprehend 
any danger. A single additional person or child 
even, would tend to vitiate the air vastly more than 
the ordinary number of plants kept in rooms. 
Sealing Fruit Bottles with Putty. 
J. C. Emory, Luzerne Co., Pa., writes to the Ag¬ 
riculturist that having tried the plan recommended 
in this journal of sealing the mouths of fruit bot¬ 
tles with a cement of rosin and tallow, he found it 
sticky and troublesome to manage, and hit upon 
the following substitute. From the small patty 
pans he cut a circular piece just large enough to en¬ 
ter the mouth of the jar and rest upon the shoul¬ 
der. When the fruit was prepared, one of these 
tin covers was introduced, and confined in its place 
by a roll of putty about the size of a pipe-stem, 
pressed down tight around the edge of the tin and 
against the sides of the neck of the bottle. He 
found this method entirely satisfactory, as the fruit 
was well preserved, and it was much more expe¬ 
ditious and less troublesome than cementing with 
the ordinary preparation. [We doubt the general 
utility of this. The putty would not be strong 
enough to resist a little outward pressure that may 
chance to result from slight fermentation. The 
“Baker. Jar” (made by Bodine) saves all cement¬ 
ing, and as it may be used year after year, it is 
cheaper in the end.— Ed.] 
Hints on Cooking, etc. 
©reesi'-Tomato F’Iclile.— Contributed to 
the Agriculturist by Mrs. Mary A. G. Weeks, Essex 
Co., N. J.: Slice the tomatoes, with one-eighth to 
one-sixth as many onions : lay them down in jars, 
sprinkling in fine salt at the rate of about an ordi¬ 
nary teacupfull to 8 gallons of the sliced fruit. Let 
them stand over night, drain ; add a few green caj’- 
anne pepper podsand nasturtiums. Chop until not 
larger than grains of corn; drain thoroughly; 
pack in jars, adding white mustard seed, ungrouud 
cinnamon, and bruised (not ground) clover. Pour 
on cold vinegar, cover with a plate within the jar, 
to keep the pickle under the vinegar. 
IPIclkled- Cahhag-e. —Contributed to the 
Agriculturist by “ Aunt Mary,” Rochester, N. T. 
Cut the heads into quarters, let them stand a short 
time in cold water. Chop them fine, together with 
nice celery, sufficient to season it. Fill small jars 
or glass cans, with these ingredients ; make a sweet 
pickle of molasses and vinegar, season with plenty 
of red pepper and cinnamon, and other spices to 
the taste, boil all together a few moments and pour 
over the cabbage while hot. Cork the cans and 
place in the cellar. This should not be eaten under 
three or four weeks. It is a nice relish at any time 
after sufficient pickling, with cold meats, etc. 
To IPiclcIe BSipe Cncnml»ers. —Corn- 
tributed to the Agriculturist by “ Olivia.” Pare the 
fruit, and cut it to any shape that may be fancied, 
and let it soak in salt water forty eight hours ; then 
boil in pure water until quite tender. Thrust bits 
of cinnamon, mace, and cloves into each piece of 
fruit, pack in an earthen jar, and fill with boiling 
vinegar sweetened to the taste. 
E5oloI« I*o(cJi.—Take any cold meat, chop 
or slice fine, season with salt and pepper or sage, if 
if liked. Add to this half as much stale bread, or 
potatoes that have been boiled. Stir the whole to¬ 
gether and enclose it in a crust as for chicken pie, 
and put up the same way. Bake one half hour. 
SSome-isiatle Marti Soap.— The folio-w¬ 
ing directions are communicated to the American 
Agriculturist , by Mrs. Abraham Brower, of N. Y. 
City : Boil together 9 quarts of water, 5 lbs., of 
clean grease, 1 tablespoonful of salt, and 1 lb. 
“ Concentrated Lye,” to be had at any large drug 
store. Continue to boil until a little tried on a 
cool plate is found to be sufficiently hard. The 
above makes about 18 pounds of good hard soap. 
It can be cooled over night in a wooden tub or 
other vessel, then cut into cakes of convenient size. 
