THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
583 
i89i 
PRUDENCE PRIMROSE'S DIARY. 
XJLY 20th.— I always mean to make a 
note of any particularly good combina- 
atlon of dishes we may happen to hit upon. 
Sunday’s dinner of a cold jelly and cold 
meat dressed with lettuce leaves seemed to 
fit the heat as well as the capricious appe¬ 
tite of the family. There were besides, iced 
tea and milk, cream cookies and lemon 
tarts. It may be that the crisp lettuce leaf 
and thin slice of pink roast, with a trifle of 
French mustard, pleased the eye as much 
as the palate. 
The jelly is made as follows: one glass of 
currant jelly put in a saucepan with two 
tumblerfuls of hot water; five teaspoonfuls 
of gelatine in a cup of cold water. After 
the gelatine has soaked 15 minutes add it 
to the boiling jelly and water, let it dis¬ 
solve aDd strain it into a mold or shallow 
dish previously rinsed in cold water. Leave 
it on the ice for several hours. It is better 
if made the day before it is used, as it is 
more sure of being firm, and the less gela¬ 
tine used in producing the right consistency, 
the more delicate the result. Ou these 
warm days when rich cakes and sweets do 
not attract, these cool, simple things are 
very welcome; they also make acceptable 
desserts after a heavy dinner at any time of 
the year. 
July 21st.— Our pretty neighbors, the 
swallows, will soon be gone, and their mud 
huts under the eaves will be lonely and de¬ 
serted. Already the babies are full-grown 
and nearly as strong on the wing as any 
“ swimmer through the waves of air.” 
Especially of a morning or evening a per¬ 
fect cloud of them fills the air back of our 
barn, which is their front yard and play 
ground Few round, inquisitive heads peep 
from the rows of nozzle like doorways, for 
every feathered sailor of them all is on the 
wing, and to say that they are taking solid 
pleasure has a literal significance; for is not 
their play ground measured in cubic feet f 
By threes and fours they gather in chatty 
groups upon the telegraph wires; callow 
fledglings no doubt, full of eager questions 
and anticipations of the southward jour¬ 
ney, impatient to see and know for them¬ 
selves the scenes of which their brooding 
mothers have sung, and the neighbors have 
gossiped, sitting in their mud doorways on 
summer evenings. Of all things short 
of a human soul, who would not be a 
swallow I 
It is past comprehension how people can 
allow thoughtless boys to stone the quaint 
nests from under their eaves and drive 
away a settlement of pretty creatures who 
will work for them from dawn till dark 
skimming the air of p stlferous gnats and 
mosquitoes. Would that all our neigh¬ 
bors were as harmless and industrious and 
attractive! When their nests began to 
crumble and fall because our roads did not 
furnish mud of the right sort, le pere 
climbed a ladder and nailed a cleat to the 
under side of the projecting rafters to make 
things more secure and to prevent our be¬ 
loved colony from leaving us. It seems so 
short a time since we welcomed them in 
the springtime and now we bid them a re¬ 
luctant farewell and look for mosquitoes to 
soon erow plentiful and troublesome. 
JULY 25th. —The visitor who has just left 
us made unconscious returns for the pleas¬ 
ant drives, fresh fruits and cool shadiness 
she found so enjoyable, when she wore her 
pretty city made gowns, talked upon fresh 
topics and helped us to see the ideal side of 
our country-bound lives. Silk gowns upon 
a farmer’s family in the afternoon have no 
charm for me, but it was a real treat to my 
eyes to see her strolling about the newly 
mown fields at sunset, wearing a soft black 
surah with a front of pink silk and lace, a 
white merino shawl over her shoulders and 
the embroidered square of a dainty French 
handkerchief on her head, while I, clad in 
gingham, picked raspberries near by. 
The sight of a pretty gown Is always an 
inspiration to home dressmaking. I saw 
that a skiit arrangement added to an old 
short basque made it into a fashionable 
coat and that a deep ruffle or pleating on 
the bottom of the waist of a cotton dress 
Please mention The R. N.-Y. to our adver¬ 
tisers. 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla, 
When she was a Child, she cried for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castorla. 
was a decided improvement. Into an old 
summer silk I am going to put just such a 
vest as our visitor wore, made of surah of 
a soft pale pink, slightly draped and fulled 
and covered with a black net upon which 
appeared little discs of jet beads the size of 
a silver three-cent piece. A fold of the silk 
was basted into the neck and sleeves, and a 
line of jet trimming finished the edges of 
the skirt panels and the waist fronts on 
each side of the vest. Small jet ornaments 
were on the front ends of the collar and ap¬ 
peared to clasp the bodice together at the 
waist line where the vest ended. 
How pretty some girl could make her 
gray haired mother in such an arrange¬ 
ment over lavender silk. I wish country 
girls would take more pains with their 
mothers. “ Mother ” is always so ready to 
spend her butter and egg money for “ the 
girls,” and wear the old bonnet and gown. 
Too ready, is she not ? 
Our best dresses get so little wear—in¬ 
deed we must make them last so long—that 
they are constantly falling out of sty e, 
though as good as new ; so I find it advis¬ 
able never to choose the most popular cut, 
the fashion th it everybody is following and 
that everybody, except me, will be ready to 
throw aside by another season, but to select 
some quiet design not unlike the general 
effect of fashion, but not so pronounced as 
to proclaim the date of its origin. 
July 27th. —When some one was envy¬ 
ing the pretty face of a new acquaintance, 
ma sceur brought forth for her consolation 
this bit of personal observation : 
‘‘In meeting new people we notice and 
are influenced to like or dislike by, first, 
the personal appearance, then the manner, 
and, laqt, the character ; but in real value 
these attributes rank with us in just the 
opposite order—character first, manner 
second and looks last and least. Naturally 
we notice a lady’s face first, and at once 
decide her to be handsome, homely, inter¬ 
esting or wholesome looking, or whatever 
adjective she suggests; but immediately 
upon her being introduced this idea is sup¬ 
plemented by one concerning her manner. 
Thus a homely face may at once be forgot¬ 
ten in a charming address, or the opposite 
behavior spoil for us a pretty face. An at¬ 
tractive manner makes a desirable ac¬ 
quaintance, but only a lovable character 
makes a friend. Often a closer knowledge 
of the character of the pleasant acquaint¬ 
ance leads us to relinquish any desire for 
real intimacy, though we still value her as 
before for superficial intercourse.” 
Of course, ma sceur had in mind only 
“ nice people,” and spoke of the subtle at¬ 
tractions we all exert and experience in so¬ 
ciety. 
ANOTHER SIDE OF THE BEE STORY. 
ONEY Making at Home,” in The 
Rural New-Yorker of June 
20 , reads like a delightful story ; there isn’t 
a single drawback from beginning to end. 
“ Mrs. Hinton ” certainly must have been 
under the guiding influence of some fairy. 
Certain it is that not many women, or men 
either, are so successful. But no doubt 
many of our rural women will be so won¬ 
derfully enthused by reading the article 
that they will wish to invest immediately 
in two, three or four hives of bees, accord¬ 
ing to the length of their purses. For if, 
by beginning with one hive so much can 
be accomplished, why not work for still 
larger profits ? The more bees ther are to 
work for us while we “ rest.” the better. 
Ah! my friends, a i old saying, “ There is 
no excellence without labor,” is just as 
true of bee culture as of any other culture. 
There are always two sides to a house—a 
shady side as well as a sunny one; and it 
Is even so with the work among bees. My 
experience teaches me that bees are very 
much like human beings—they have ways 
and wills of their own, and sometimes they 
are pretty stubborn and altogether spite¬ 
ful about being brought into subjection. 
Not many bee keepers are so fortunate as 
never to let a swarm escape. With regard 
to large yields of honey, much depends 
upon localities, and the weather has as 
much to do with the product of the hive as 
with the produce of the grain. Cold, wet 
weather during the spring cuts off the 
chances of honey gathering in numerous 
ways. Droughts in summer are equally 
bad, and some years in some localities it is 
a matter of close calculation for the little 
workers to gather enough for their winter 
supplies. Weak swarms must be helped, 
or starve. The winter generally thins out 
apiaries that are not well supplied, or that 
are left to gather damp and mold. During 
the last winter one of our apiarians lost 
90 swarms out of 100 that were put in the 
cellar. 
When a “pound of bpes with a queen” 
is bought in June, and “throws off five 
good, strong swarms,” it must be in some 
other country than northern Michigan. 
That one swarm will send out that num 
ber of new ones, if uncared for, I do not 
doubt; but they will naturally become ex¬ 
ceedingly small, perhaps a mere handful. 
If they were mine I would much prefer to 
keep them in one hive the first season, and 
would endeavor to keep them there by go¬ 
ing through the hive and cutting out every 
queen cell, whenever there was any sign of 
swarming. To obtain a hive full of bees 
and the combs full of brood and honey calls 
for close watching. Overlooking one queen 
cell will overthrow one’s calculation, for 
one swarm will surely come out, and then 
there will be a long time to wait for the 
young queen to get to work, and the chances 
are that the surplus honey will be scarce, 
unless the season is remarkably favorable. 
Again, honey does not always find a ready 
sale at home or abroad. When sold on com 
mission, the returns are slow in coming in ; 
for honey is not a necessity in any family ; 
it is a luxury that few, comparatively 
speaking, feel able to purchase for daily 
table use, especially when sugar is less than 
five cents per pound, and artificial honey 
can be had for so much less than the gen¬ 
uine article. 
There is much to contend with in a picul 
ture; but if one has patience and perse¬ 
verance, and a large bump of endurance, 
she may get some pay for her labor, and 
find a good deal of pleasure and some pain 
in taking up the study and culture of bees. 
If she does not get quite $400 a year, she 
will get a good deal of outdoor exercbe 
and experience that may be better for her 
than many times that amount in dollars 
and cents. may maple. 
Manist°e Co., M'ch. 
Experience With Poison Ivy.— Two of 
my family are so susceptible to ivy poison 
that they cannot go near the plant without 
being poisoned by it. Here in Colorado it 
is not the trailing plant it is in the Ea-d, 
owing to the lack of moisture, but it grows 
all over the bottom land no taller than the 
grass and is cut by the mower and raked 
and stacked with the hay. The handling 
of this hay is a source of poison. We were 
directed by a physician to bathe the affect¬ 
ed parts with a solution of copperas, and I 
notice since we used It the two do not seem 
so easily affected by the poison as they used 
to be. The copperas water must be used be¬ 
fore the skin is broken ; put upon raw places 
it caused sores. It stains cloth an ugly, 
unfading color. 
Plantain leaves bruised and bound upon 
poisoned skin form a healing, cooling ap¬ 
plication, very grateful to the sufferer. 
s E. H. 
Readers of The R. N.-Y. will please the 
advertisers and benefit the paper by always 
mentioning it when writing to advertisers. 
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USE BOILING WATER OR MILK. 
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GRATEFUL-COMFORTING. 
COCOA 
SOLD IN LABELLED ^ LB. TINS. 
All the central- 
draft lamps 
gi ve excellent 
dight; and all 
'but one are 
troublesome fil¬ 
thy and smelly. 
That one is the 
“ Pittsburgh. ” 
you like to read a 
primer about it? 
Pittsburgh, Pa. Pittsburgh IIkass Co. 
Would 
FRUIT EVAPORATOR 
“TIIE (JR ANGER. ” For faintly u#p. Cheapest 
in tM- market. *3 5). *6 00 and *U\ Evaporate all the 
fruit you can, the crop mav full next vear. Circular. 
EASTERN M’F’G CO., 2>7 Sou b Kiftn Sr., Phlla , Pa. 
Combination Fruit, Wine and 
Jelly Press. 
This press is nut intended for miking 
cider, but for pressing fruits like grapes, 
strawberries, currants, pineapples, huckle¬ 
berries, etc., for making wine, fruit syrups, 
shrub, jam, jellies, etc. It may be use i as a 
lard press, and also in preparing beef tea 
for the use of invalids In is an excellent 
machine, strong, simple and cheap. It is 
the best small fruit press ou the market. 
Price, $3 Given for two new subscriptions. 
Or for $3 we will send this press and The 
Rural New-Yorker for balance of this 
year. For $3 50 we will send the press and 
also The Rural New-Yorker (or The 
American Garden) for a full year from 
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