1453 
■Ghe  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
A  Bunch  of  Problems 
Food  Notes  from  Alaska 
Canning  Vegetables. — On  page  1112 
Mrs.  L.  M.  I?,  asks  how  to  can  vege¬ 
tables.  When  on  the  farm  I  always 
canned  tomatoes,  string  beans,  shell 
beans,  corn,  beets  and  peas.  I  picked 
them  when  they  were  in  the  best  condi¬ 
tion  for  the  table  and  used  the  cans  with 
glass  covers.  I  had  a  sheet  of  galvan¬ 
ized  iron  cut  to  fit  my  wash  boiler  to  set 
the  cans  on.  It  was  perforated  with 
holes  and  rested  on  several  little  logs.  I 
could  put  in  14  quart  cans  at  one  time. 
Prepare  the  vegetables  and  pack  as  many 
as  possible  into  the  jars,  fill  with  cold 
water  and  a  teaspoonful  of  salt  to  each 
quart  can.  Put  the  rubbers  (new  ones) 
on  the  jars  and  the  glass  covers,  slip 
wire  over  cover  into  place  leaving  the 
other  wire  loose.  Place  in  boiler  and  till 
with  cold  water  to  the  shoulder  of  cans. 
Cover  the  boiler  tight  so  the  steam  will 
cook  the  vegetables  iu  top  of  can.  After 
they  come  to  the  boil  let  them  boil  stead¬ 
ily  for  throe  hours.  Simply  remove  from 
the  boiler  and  snap  down  the  loose  wire. 
Never  remove  the  cover  to  fill  the  empty 
space  with  boiling  water.  The  steam  has 
formed  a  perfect,  vacuum  and  if  the  cover 
is  removed  the  air  gets  in.  This  is  the 
chief  secret  iu  canning  vegetables. 
Preventing  Loss. — T  think  Mrs.  D.  C. 
B.  will  find  that  it  is  not  the  fault  of  her 
cellar  that  peas  will  not  keep.  If  auy 
kind  of  canned  fruit  or  vegetables  will 
keep  peas  will  also.  It  is  because  she  re¬ 
moves  the  cover  to  fill  the  empty  space 
with  boiling  water.  I  had  several  fine 
cooks  and  housekeepers  tell  me  it  was  im¬ 
possible  to  can  peas  at  home.  They  said 
they  had  always  filled  the  cans  up  with 
boiling  water.  I  have  never  lost  a  can 
since  I  stopped  that  practice.  They  do 
not  look  so  well  when  not  quite  full,  but 
that  is  immaterial.  I  do  not  can  toma¬ 
toes  in  this  way,  for  I  don’t  like  so  much 
liquid  in  the  cans.  I  always  cook  them 
in  a  large  preserving  kettle,  adding  salt. 
It  is  important  that  they  be  thoroughly 
cooked.  I  cook  them  slowly  two  or  three 
hours  and  fill  the  cans  on  the  stove  so 
they  will  keep  boiling  all  the  time.  If- 
one  has  large  cans  corn  may  he  canned 
right  on  the  cob.  I,  always  pack  the  corn 
solid  into  cans  after  cutting  from  the  cob 
till  the  milk  from  the  corn  covers  it.  I 
never  add  any  water  to  corn. 
Canned  Meat. — When  I  was  living  in 
the  Olympic  Mountains  it  was  almost  im¬ 
possible  to  got  fresh  meat,  and  if  the  men 
brought  in  venison  it  was  canned  in  this 
way.  In  this  country  we  get  fresh  meat 
only  three  or  four  times  during  the  year 
and  when  the  salmon  run  is  on  and  the 
season  of  wild  ducks,  a  good  quantity  of 
these  may  be  canned  at  home.  They  cost 
nothing  hut  the  cans,  and  are  a  great  help 
when  one  has  to  pay  55c.  for  a  can  of 
either  roast  or  corned  beef — the  same 
sized  can  I  used  to  pay  25c.  for  hack  in 
New  England.  Below  I  give  a  few 
recipes.  , 
Mincemeat. — My  husband  had  told  me 
I  never  made  mincemeat  to  suit  him,  and 
he  had  never  had  any  hut  once  that  did. 
I  was  going  to  make  some  at  one  time 
and  had  a  dozen  different  recipes  by  mo. 
He  stood  around  and  kept  tasting  and 
telling  me  to  add  a  little  of  this  and  a 
little  of  that  and  a  dozen  other  things. 
He  had  paper  and  pen <41  atul  wrote  flown 
everything  that  went  in.  This  is  the  re¬ 
sult:  One  man  said  he  would  be  willing 
to  die  by  eating  the  pies  made  from  it.  I 
call  my  husband  my  official  taster.  Three 
bowls  meat,  seven  bowls  apples,  two  cups 
molasses,  4%  cups  brown  sugar,  three 
cups  white  sugar,  1  \-2  quarts  raisins,  grat¬ 
ed  rind  of  two  and  juice  of  four  large 
lemons,  eight  teaspoonfuls  cinnamon,  four 
rounding  teaspoonfuls  ground  cloves, 
seven  teaspooufuls  salt,  seven  cups  pot 
liquor,  two  cups  grape  juice.  Quart  bowl 
used  in  measuring. 
S  weet  Piccalilli. — One  peck  green  to¬ 
matoes,  one  cup  salt,  two  quarts  water, 
one  gallon  vinegar,  two  poumls  brown 
sugar,  one-half  pound  white  mustard  seed, 
two  tablespoonfuls  allspice,  two  clove, 
two  cinnamon,  two  ginger,  two  mustard, 
one-half  teaspoon  cayenne.  Slice  toma¬ 
toes,  strew  salt  over  them,  and  let  stand 
over  night.  Drain  iu  the  morning,  add 
the  water  and  one  quart  vinegar;  boil  15 
minutes.  Drain  again,  add  the  rest  of 
the  vinegar  and  other  ingredients  and  boil 
15  minutes.  ,  , 
Spiced  Crab  Apple  (or  other  apple) 
Jelly. — One  peck  apples,  10c.  package 
whole  mixed  spice,  water  to  cover  and 
cook  slowly  for  two  hours;  strain  and  add 
one  quart  good  cider  vinegar.  Proceed 
as  with  any  jelly,  using  one  cup  sugar  to 
one  cup  juice.  MRS.  s.  f.  s.  m. 
Afognak,  Alaska. 
A  Busy  Woman’s  Notes 
Pumpkin  Pie. — In  my  oggless  pump¬ 
kin  pie  recipe,  published  on  page  1356, 
there  is  one  error.  About  the  middle  of 
the  recipe  instead  of  four  level  teaspoons 
of  flour  it  should  he  four  level  table¬ 
spoons  of  flour.  Anyone  who  has  done 
much  cooking  would  notice  the  mistake 
and  correct  it,  but  I  should  hate  to  have 
some  young  housekeeper  spoil  her  first 
pumpkin  pie  because  of  her  ignorance  of 
the  relation  of  a  certain  quantity  of 
flour  to  a  certain  quantity  of  liquid. 
As  flours  and  halting  powders  differ 
in  thickening  and  raising  powers  it 
may  be  necessary  for  different  house- 
kepers  to  make  some  change  in  the  quan¬ 
tity  used. 
The  Hired  Man's  View. — Speaking  of 
the  raising  powers  of  baking  powder  re¬ 
minds  me  of  a  funny  story.  We  had  a 
very  ignorant  old  man  working  for  us 
one  time.  My  sister-in-law  put  a  cake 
in  the  oven  just  before  he  came  into 
the  house.  When  he  came  in  he  brought 
in  some  wood,  and  started  to  fill  the 
stove.  She  said  :  “Don’t  touch  the  stove 
now,  Mr.  B.,  or  you  will  make  my  cake 
fall.”  He  waited  a  minute  or  two  and 
then  carefully  opened  the  oven  door  and 
exclaimed  in  a  much  surprised  tone  of 
voice:  “Why,  tain’t  failin’,  it’s  h’istiu’.” 
This  same  man  was  out  at  the  barn  one 
day  when  she  had  occasion  to  want  him. 
£he  called  but  he  didn't  answer.  Then 
she  went  out.  She  found  him  holding  up 
one  of  the  big  barn  doors  which  hud 
slipped  off  of  the  runner,  lie  said:  “Oh 
Miss  Amy,  come  help  me,  Ihe  barn  is  a 
failin’  a  top  o’  me.”  Lots  of  funny 
things  happen  on  a  farm  and  everywhere 
in  fact  if  one  only  has  a  sense  of  humor 
to  see  them.  .We  find  lots  of  things  to 
laugh  at  and  it  is  such  a  help  in  keeping 
away  the  blues  when  things  go  wrong. 
Family  Feeling. — I  wonder  how  many 
of  “our  family’’  feel  the  same  towards 
The  R.  N.-Y.  as  I  do.  Now  don’t  count 
hands  that  are  raised  for  it  would  take 
too  long.  This  is  how  I  feel:  One  time  a 
question  arose  which  no  one  in  the  company 
could  answer,  and  I  said  “I  will  ask  my 
big  brother  the  next  time  I  write  to  him.” 
All  looked  surprised,  knowing  T  had 
neither  brother  nor  sister.  They  were 
much  amused  when  I  said  my  big  broth¬ 
er's  nayie  was  The  Rural  New-Yorker. 
One  sniffed  and  said  I  must  he  hard  tip 
for  a  brother  when  I  had  to  adopt  some 
paper  and  printer’s  ink.  But  that  is 
where  they  made  a  big  mistake.  Tun  R. 
N.-Y.  is  not  just  paper  and  printer's 
ink;  it  is  human  sympathy,  affection,  un¬ 
derstanding  kindness,  patience,  tolerance 
and  all  those  qualities  which  the  big 
brother  I  never  had,  hut,  always  longed 
for,  would  have  had. 
The  Lonely  Child. — It  is  a  mistake 
to  bring  up  one  child  alone.  I  was  a 
very  lonely  little  girl  and  many  nights 
cried  myself  to  sleep,  after  my  mother 
died,  because  I  had  no  brother  or  sister 
to  comfort  me  or  be  comforted  by  me.  I 
guess  that  is  u  by  I  adopted  Tue  R.  N.- 
Y.  as  my  big  brother.  When  I  read  the 
"Hope  Farm  Notes”  I  fool  a  glow  of 
warmth  all  over  me,  as  if  I  had  received 
a  letter  from  home.  I  have  only  one  let¬ 
ter  from  my  mother.  It  is  one  she  wrote 
to  her  brother  while  he  was  In  the  army 
during  the  Civil  War,  when  she  was  a 
young  girl.  It.  is  put  away  with  my 
treasures.  Now  perhaps  you  can  under¬ 
stand  a  little  of  how  I  feel  towards  “our 
paper.”  Mrs.  w.  D.  c. 
Connecticut. 
Fresh  Cornmeal  for  “Salt  Rising” 
Many  of  us  are  fond  of  the  old  “salt 
rising”  bread  our  grandmothers  Used  to 
make  he  fore  these  modern  yeast  days. 
Miss  Mabel  Ward  of  the  South  Dakota 
College  says : 
According  to  the  latest  authorities  on 
the  subject  salt  rising,  or  properly  speak¬ 
ing  self-rising  bread,  is  leavened  by  the 
action  of  a  certain  species  of  bacteria 
which  is  found  in  cornmeal.  In  the  pro¬ 
cess  of  growth  this  organism  produces  a 
gas  which  makes  the  broad  light,  and  in 
this  respect  it  is  much  like  yeast  bread. 
Contrary  to  the  name,  salt  has  nothing 
to  <lo  with  the  lightness  of  salt-rising 
bread.  The  bread  is  made  by  adding 
scalded  milk  to  cornmeal,  making  a  thin 
hatter.  Siiiuetiiues  soda  is  added  to  this 
batter  but  it  is  not  necessary.  The  corn¬ 
meal  batter  is  allowed  to  stand  in  a 
warm  place  all  night.  In  the  morning, 
flour,  liquid,  salt  and  shortening  are  add¬ 
ed  to  make  a  sponge  and  when  this  has 
risen  flour  is  added  to  make  a  dough. 
The  loaves  are  placed  iu  the  pans  to  rise 
and  when  well  risen,  baked  in  a  steady 
and  moderately  hot  oven.  Made  by  this 
process  the  bread  should  be  out  of  the 
oven  by  noon. 
During  the  process  of  rising  the  bread 
should  never  become  chilled,  the  fireless 
cooker  being  the  best  way  of  maintaining 
an  even  warm  temperature.  The  stone 
of  the  cooker  should  be  slightly  hot  and 
the  bread  placed  in  a  howl  in  the  cooker 
directly  over  the  stone.  A  high  temper¬ 
ature  will  kill  the  organism  and  the 
bread  will  not  rise,  although  the  bread 
can  stand  a  much  higher  temperature 
than  yeast.  The  secret  then  for  the  good 
old-fashioned  leavened  bread  without 
yeast  was  the  starter  of  home  ground 
cornmeal  and  above  all  a  steady  warm 
temperature  for  the  entire  process. 
It  seems  that,  some  of  the  modern  sam¬ 
ples  of  cornmeal  will  not  produce  this 
“rising”  since  the  bacteria  are  killed  h.v 
drying.  Home-ground  meal  will  answer 
— a  small  quantity  of  corn  may  be  ground 
in  a  coffee  or  pepper  mill. 
Woman  at  Law 
Widow’s  Share  in  Property 
t.  In  1B84  husband  dies,  leaving  wife 
and  daughter.  No  will.  Wife  works  hard, 
pays  off  mortgage  on  farm.  Girl  marries 
and  dies,  leaving  one  child.  Deed  was  m 
the  husband’s  name.  It  has  never  been 
changed,  but  left  the  same  as  when  he 
(lied.  Wife  is  living  yet,  and  not  remar¬ 
ried.  (’an  husband  or  daughter  have  any 
claim  on  farm,  and  who  owns  farm  in 
New  York  State? 
2.  If  wife  (lies  having  both  real  estate 
and  personal  property  and  no  children, 
with  or  without  will,  what  part  can  her 
husband  hold?  p.  s. 
Pennsylvania. 
1.  The  wife  has  her  dower  interest  of 
a  life  estate  in  one-third  of  it,  the  balance 
belonged  to  the  daughter,  and  in  this  es¬ 
tate  her  husband  would  have  his  courtesy 
of  a  life  interest,  the  remainder  would 
then  vest  iu  the  granddaughter  so  that 
really  the  granddaughter  is  now  the 
Owner  of  the  property  subject  to  the 
dower  of  her  grandmother  and  the  cour¬ 
tesy  of  her  father. 
2.  By  will  a  wife  may  leave  her  real 
or  personal  property  to  anyone  she 
wishes.  If  she  dies  without  a  will  the 
share  her  husband  gets  depends  on 
whether  she  left  any  children  or  other 
relatives.  If  she  left  a  husband  and 
daughter  the  husband  would  have  his 
courtesy  of  a  life  interest  in  the  real  prop¬ 
erty,  balance  to  the  daughter.  The  per¬ 
sonal  property  would  go  one-third  to  hus¬ 
band  and  balance  to  the  daughter. 
Distribution  of  Property 
Will  you  lot  me  know  what  the  law  is 
in  Pennsylvania  for  widow  if  husband  dies, 
leaving  personal  property  and  real  estate, 
no  children,  but  widow  and  brothers  and 
sisters  of  deceased  husband?  ir.  b.  s. 
Pennsylvania. 
Presumably  there  is  no  will.  As  there 
are  no  children,  the  widow  is  entitled  to 
the  real  or  personal  estate,  or  both,  to 
the  aggregate  value  of  $5,000,  in  addition 
to  the  widow’s  exemption  of  $300.  If  the 
value  of  the  estate  exceeds  $5,000.  the 
w'dow  is  entitled  to  that  sum  absolutely 
and  in  addition  one-half  the  remaining 
real  estate  for  life  and  one-half  the  re¬ 
maining  personal  estate  absolutely. 
Tenants  by  Entirety ;  Joint  Owners 
1.  How  should  a  joint  deed  of  land  to 
husband  and  wife  be  worded  so  that  on 
the  death  of  either  the  leal  estate  would 
pass  directly  iuto  the  other's  possession? 
2.  If  a  warranty  deed  to  huband  and  wife 
jointly  be  held,  what  right  does  either 
have  in  farm  stock,  tools,  etc.? 
New  York.  MRS.  L.  if.  w. 
1.  Just  the  same  as  any  other  deed. 
except  it  should  be  to - ■ —  and - , 
his  wife,  and  then  to  what  is  called  the 
habendum  clause  beginning  “to  have  and 
to  hold”  should  he  added  “as  tenants  by 
the  entirety  and  not  as  tenants  iu  com¬ 
mon,” 
2.  Farm  stock,  tools,  etc.,  -are  personal 
property  and  the  deed  would  have  noth¬ 
ing  to  do  with  it.  The  ownership  of  the 
stock,  tools,  etc.,  would  be  a  matter  of 
agreement  or  understanding,  the  same  as 
between  auy  two  parties,  who  paid  for 
them.  If  jointly  paid  for  then  the  pre¬ 
sumption  is  that  they  are  jointly  owned. 
Copyright  by  W.  Ward  Smith 
Left  to  right:  Elizabeth  Brands,  S.  E.  Kleintop.  Mary  Mosier,  winners  of  prize  essay  contest  in  Monroe 
County,  Pa.  1  itle  of  esSay,  “  Why  the  Ayrshire  Breed  is  Best  (or  Monroe  County  ” 
