*1 
Sontfsttc (i’camnuji. 
CONDUCTED BY MARY A. E. WAOEIt. 
SOMETHING ABOUT APPLES. 
BY JULIA COLMAN. 
While we covet, the earlmcss of more 
Southern fruits, wc are apt to prize too 
lightly the more solid and enduring qualities 
of our abundant and serviceable apple. It 
is the most wholesome of all the fruits for 
us, unless, perhaps, wo may except the grape. 
It follows in this respect a general law of 
nature that the productions of each climate 
archest suited for consumption in that cli¬ 
mate. Tt. affords ail agreeable acid much 
needed in the system, and w hen eaten, either 
cooked or raw, with other food, it promotes 
digestion and tends to clear the system of 
the debris and worn-out particles with which 
it is too often clogged by our careless habits 
of eating. 
Liebig says that the importance of apples 
as food is not appreciated; that “ when 
freely used at the season of ripeness they 
prevent debility, strengthen digestion, cor¬ 
rect the putrefactive tendencies of nitro¬ 
genous food, avert scurvy, and probably 
maintain and strengthen the power of pro¬ 
ductive labor." Besides this, limy, as well 
as other fruits, furnish large proportions of 
the lluids so much needed in the system, and 
in their beat, form, so that if people in those 
sections of the country where the water is 
unwholesome, would eat freely and regularly 
of apples and other fruit, instead of drinking 
the water, they would often find it the best 
means of averting febrile diseases. It. be¬ 
comes, then, a matter of importance for 
those who prepare the food of the house¬ 
hold to be able to present the apple in such 
a variety of ways that, it may he as much as 
possible on the table without, weariness. 
In heallhfulness, ripe, mellow apples can¬ 
not well be improved ; but they should not 
he eaten between meals, nor when the 
stomach has had enough food in some other 
form. It is best to eat them with the other 
food; and many kinds, especially mellow, 
sweet apples, are easily relished with bread 
and butter, fresh, wheat meal (Graham) 
bread, or with other food, to suit the fancy. 
It is well, then, to keep a dish well filled 
with an agreeable variety of apples con¬ 
stantly on the table. 
But usually, with cooked food, the taste 
prefers the cooked apples; and of the differ¬ 
ent styles of rooking baking is the best, be¬ 
cause it. is simple, and because baked apples 
can be eaten without any additions what¬ 
ever. Sweet apples are the most nutritious, 
either baked or raw. They require a hotter 
oven than the more tender, acid apples, and 
should not he left in so long as to dry up. If 
not juicy, water may be poured into the pan 
before cooking. Hour apples require less lire, 
and should not be baked to pieces. Neither 
apples nor any other fruit should be cooked 
in metal of any kind. Earthen pie dishes 
are suitable for linking them. 
A more delicate dish is made by paring 
tender, juicy apples, quartering, arranging 
them on the plate, adding a little water and 
sugar If needed, and baking them quickly in 
a hot oven. For distinction, 1 call these 
browned apples. They can be served on the 
plate in which they were baked. 
A more showy dish is made by coring 
(with a com) the whole pared apples, stuff¬ 
ing them With sugar and stewed raisins, and 
baking quickly in the same way. Pile them 
up before serving, en pyr amide, and they will 
he an ornament lit for any dinner table. 
But the most complete mode of halting is 
to seal them up, (pared or not, whole or cut,) 
and bake them, if juicy, without water or 
other additions, slowly, in a moderate oven, 
until perfectly tender. The best mode of 
sealing them is to place in a pipkin or earth¬ 
en jar, put a strip of paste in the shoulder 
and crowd the cover down into it. A little 
experience will teach liow long they should 
he cooked. 
The quickest mode of cooking apples is by 
boiling. Simply wipe, place them in a porce¬ 
lain kettle, with half water enough to cover 
them, put in sections of lemon if you have 
them, stew till tender, dish on a plate, put¬ 
ting tiie lemon around the edge of the plate; 
add sugar to the juice, simmer a minute, 
pour over the fruit, and serve warm or cold. 
When stewed, apples, as well as all other 
fruit, should be cooked slowly and gently. 
Rapid ebullition drives off much of the 
aroma of the fruit with the steam, and it is 
also more likely to burn. If, however, you 
are in haste, you can, by having the slices 
of apples very thin, and the water hot, stew 
them very quickly without much loss. Green¬ 
ings can lie cooked in this way in seven to 
ten minutes, and they will he very delicate. 
A better way is to quarter them and sim¬ 
mer slowly in a close vessel; the richer the 
Iruit the more juice yon may allow. If the 
fruit is poor and abundant, cook one mess, 
pared or not, strain it through a cloth, and 
cook the next mess in the juice. Perfectly 
fresh cider may also he used, but not, after it 
is two or three days old. If the apples are 
so tender that they will break, mash them 
tip evenly, and if you choose pass them 
through a colander. It improves their flavor 
to add a little lemon juice, but not the 
essence or skin, both of which contain the 
unwholesome acrid oil. These are the best 
modes of cooking apples alone. 
FERMENTED BREAD. 
Is fermented bread wholesome and nu¬ 
tritious? Miss Cot man, in her lectures, as¬ 
serts that it is not; that “yeast makes it de¬ 
cay, rot." I am thus precise in stating the 
question under discussion to spare her the 
pains of creating new ones, and of writing a 
discourse on my “ ability,” “ gallantry ” and 
“wit.” It was my endeavor, in an article 
over my signature, made by misprint "P” 
instead of V. Devinny, to coniravert this 
theory of Miss Cot. man, who now favors 
her readers with :l response branching off 
into topics not pertaining to the subject, and 
a discussion on the definition of words and 
no discussion of the argument presented by 
me. Miss Colmar says “his most preten¬ 
tious assertion is, that fermentation is life, 
&e." and gives the. definition, in substance, 
precisely as T had already given it, in italics, 
that none might err as to my meaning, 8hc 
then adds, “ But these (the starch, gluten, 
when changed Into sugar, «&e., by fermenta¬ 
tion,) are lifeless 1 ” Wonderful! I reply 
no more lifeless limn before, nor any more 
innutritions; for sugar, the first production 
of fen nr illation, which is the only produc¬ 
tion in goad bread, contains more carbon 
than starch or gluten. My “most, preten¬ 
tious” and important assertion, and one 
which Miss Colmar was pleased to shun, 
though written in italics, was-*-” Fermenta¬ 
tion. is a changing of the material of organism 
for the creation of'new ones for the nourishing 
of life." “ It is the progenitor of all life, from 
the germination of the smallest seed to the hatch - 
ing of the largest egg.' I have italicised in 
this last, sentence wlmt Miss Coi-man was 
glad to leave out. Now, T ask what is there 
in this to cause any sane person to think 1 
referred to parent and child, from which as¬ 
sumption she makes a silly argument not at 
all complimentary to the “ability" of her 
readers? 
Now, I beg the indulgence of my readers 
in this repetition—made necessary' by my 
being misrepresented—for it must he obvious 
to every one that my definition of fermenta¬ 
tion and quotation from Wood’s Botany was 
to prove the identity of germination and fer¬ 
mentation—for I wrote, “ Without it (fer¬ 
mentation) no life could begin, no life could 
continue." Was this not clear enough? It, 
is the process of fermentation in a grain of 
wheat which prepares the food in the kernel 
for the nourishment of the embryo which 
necessarily, then, by a law of Goo, springs 
into life; otherwise it would lie dormant for 
ages, as the kernels found in the Egyptian 
mummy which gave us a new sort of wheat. 
The same process occurs in the hatching of 
an egg. The food stored up in the shell is 
not available t ill by fermentation it is changed 
into the proper food for the nourishment of 
the embryo, which then starts into life and 
grows; the matter supplying merely the heat 
to keep up the process and continue the life 
of the young chick. 
Fermentation is necessary in the prepara¬ 
tion of many kinds of food. It is necessary 
because it is in the order of nature, and by it 
food is brought to the proper—yes, more, to 
the natural condition for the nourishment of 
both animals and plants. But enough. 
V. DevinNY. 
Denver City, Cut. Ter. 
—- 
K«rmers' whirls.—I agree with At. Qrm?T»YOn 
the subject of “decent, clean shirts" for farm¬ 
ers, and 1 tun still stnmgr-r in the fnitli, my 
opinion betng that any fanner who is too good 
to wear colored shirts during tlm summer sea¬ 
son and make two or three do a week, (with ins 
tine shirts,) don’t deserve to havo his shirts 
washed at nil, Mint WOOD to the contrary. I 
cannot be made to believe that there is that, man 
living who has from six to u doffon shirts a week 
regularly in the washing. That’s too large a 
story.—A. At., Linkhto Go., <>. 
It don’t matter whether you believe it or not; 
we happen to know it to lie true. 
-»♦*- 
flow to Candy Citrons.— Can you, or any of 
the subscribers to the Rural, tell me how to 
camly citrons? I have grown a few lids season, 
and would like to candy some of them and save 
lmying from the store for use in spice bread. 
You will understand what I mean, I lippe, in 
saying candled citron; some people call It can¬ 
died lemon.— Jambs P. Burgers, Des Moines, 
Iowa. 
-o*- 
llurd Soap.— Clara Cleveland sends the 
following:—“Throe pounds unshtked lime; six 
pounds sal soda; Seven pounds of grease; four 
gallons of soft warm water, Alix lime and soda; 
Jet the water stand on thorn over night, drain 
otr, add grease, ami boil until thick. Turn out to 
cool and then cut in blocks and dry.” 
--H*-- 
IteoiiH! for Corn Ilrcad Wanted,—Will some 
one favor us with a recipe for corn bread—not 
Johnny cake, but thegenuine yeast-raised Indian 
bread that can be baked in a stove oven?— 
Anonymous. 
Flowered Coverlets.—A correspondent Informs 
us that flowered coverlets and carpets are woven 
at Gowunda, Cattaraugus Co., N. Y. 
DUCKS. 
About the Aylesbury Breed. 
In a former article we gave a partial his¬ 
tory and description of the Rouen duck, to¬ 
gether with such facts relative to the breed 
as came under our own observation. Bee- 
ton says it is becoming now quite a habit 
with breeders in England to cross the Rouen 
with the Aylesbury duck, rmd gives as a 
reason for so doing that “ the result is an in¬ 
crease of size and strength of the latter 
breed.” However this may be, we tire at a 
loss to say, never having seen or heard of 
the cross before. 
sophisticated amateur for the latter, we here¬ 
with give an engraving of the “ Call Duok,” 
so that the casual observer may at once see 
the difference between the two. 
J, Brace. 
-- 
BRAHMAS AND BLACK SPANISH. 
I visited a celebrated poulterer in Geauga 
County, Ohio, last week. 1 ie had tried cross¬ 
ing Brahmas with Black Spanish for several 
years, atul is heartily sick of them. IIu is 
going to return to breeding Brahmas pure 
again. He regards them tile best breed for 
all purposes that he; has ever raised. 
I wish to ask if any of your readers have 
satisfied themselves that, in setting pure 
Brahma eggs under liens which were black, 
or speckled, it would not change the color 
THE AYLESBURY DRAKE. 
The Aylesbury, next to the Rouen duck, 
is a general favorite with most breeders in 
this country and England. Their beautiful 
white plumage presents to the beholder a 
good contrast when placed beside the Rouens, 
with their somber hue and line peucillings. 
The former’s snowy plumage and comfortable 
comportment also make it a credit to any 
poultry-yard, while its broad, deep breast 
and ample back convey to the breeder and 
epicurean the pleasing assurance that their 
satisfaction will not cease at. its death. We 
herewith give a, life-like engraving of an 
Aylesbury drake. 
We believe that. John Giles of Wood¬ 
stock, Conn., imported the first of this breed 
of ducks, in 1854, and lias had more experi¬ 
ence in their breeding and management than 
any other breeder in this country. Those he 
brought out from England were white, with 
white bills, their flesh also being of a beauti¬ 
ful white color—the ducks weighing from 
eight to ten pounds the pair when full grown. 
The pure breed of this bird lias plumage of 
unspotted whiteness; a pale, flesh-colored 
bill; a dark, prominent eye, with orange 
legs. It is said they derive their name from 
the town of Aylesbury, England, where they 
are bred in large numbers for the London 
market. 
Mowbray says:—“The white Aylesbury 
ducks are a beautiful and ornamental stock, 
matching, in color, with the Embdcn (Bre¬ 
men) geese,” while Browne Buys though 
handsome and strong, they are inferior in 
flavor, tin- flesh being too light-colored and 
“ chickeny.” Another argument that is ad¬ 
duced in their favor, however, is the con¬ 
sumption of food—they consuming far less 
than the common duck, and attain greater 
weight in less time. They are prolific lay¬ 
ers-—the average weight of their eggs being 
three ounces. 
The carriage of the Aylesbury duck is more 
upright than that of the Rouen, and from its 
great powers of locomotion the bird is by 
no means addicted to such stay-at-home 
habits as the latter. It is not uncommon to 
see Llie bill of these ducks turn black or be¬ 
come stained with dark spots us they ad¬ 
vance in life. This disfigurement has been 
greatly commented upon, but no definite 
conclusion arrived at, still many are dis 
posed 10 regard it liereditaty. It is averred 
that the Aylesbury, being a lighter breed, arc 
better sitters and nurses than the Rouens, 
after the experience of two or three years. 
THE WHITE CALL DUCK. 
The purchaser should be carefhl not to 
confound the Aylesbury with another breed 
of white ducks bred in this country, that 
were originally imported from Holland; the 
chief merit of which consists in their inces¬ 
sant quacking; and js termed the “Call 
duck.” The white Call duck has a yellow, 
orange-colored bill, while it should be recol¬ 
lected the bill of the Aylesbury should be 
flesh-colored. However, for fear that the 
former breed may be palmed off on the uu- 
of the chickens. I have tried it to my satis¬ 
faction tliis year. I had a very few nice 
light Brahmas, from the nicest of which 1 
selected eggs and set them under t wo dark 
grey Chittagong hens, and every chick Is 
colored like (ho mothers. I set two hens 
with eggs selected from the same fowls, and 
all of their chicks are a nice Brahma color. 
Is not that one reason why eggs shipped as 
pure, hatched by other hens, arc not more 
uniform in their markings V 
I had no other cock with my liens, and 
the other liens wore kept, shut up ly them¬ 
selves, so that there was no possibility of 
their mixing in that way. I would like to 
hear from others on this subject. 
PaiiiesvJIlc. Ohio. Daniel Dennett. 
-.*. ■*..<>- 
How Fowls nro Mmli> Impure.—In Rural of 
October Olh.I’, of tft&hlxan complains that lio 
does not rCOuivo ifemii ie fancy fowls from a 
poultry dealer In New York. Now while t have 
no doubt there uro dishonest men don tin if in ' 
poultry, ns well ns m plants and seeds, J. P.'s 
caso may be similar to one which occurred here 
a few yearn t im e. Somebody North had ordered 
some flue same fowls from a dealer In tho city, 
nud by some means they were mi.ssenl, and the 
error was not noticed until tlie coop arrived at 
this station, where it was put. upon the plat form 
to await the arrival of the first express “oln^ In 
opposite direction. Some smart, clulps, wills a 
keener sense of “sport" than Justice, nothin# 
tho line “points” of tho trio of birds, decided to 
divide with tlm owner. Ho they pried up a slat 
and substituted two common fowls for a like 
unrulier of “flifhtors,” and while they were win¬ 
ning many a hurd-foibiht Held, the consignee 
was dm i ht less scolding about dishonest dealers.— 
M. A. a., Troy, Pa. 
■■ - - ♦ ♦ ♦- 
When to Wean Chicks,—Are chicks a the age 
of one month, old enough to wean ? I have four 
nearly u month old ; till • lien has left them, and 
the rooster takes care of them and at la over thorn 
at night. G.S. It., Burlington, Iowa. 
There is no particular time for weaning chick¬ 
ens, -they can he brought up try hand equally 
as well as with tho hon; all it needs Is a little 
oare and patience. Wo have raised " chicks" 
that were disowned by the “mother hon" before 
they were a week old. Pul them In a dry coop, 
and feed them three times a day with scalded 
Indian moul, giving them water in a shallow tin 
that they can get at. readily, and you nood not 
havo any fear for tho result, for the chicks will 
grow and prosper. 
-444.- 
Early Laying FldckciiM.— I noticed nparagraph 
in Rural about Cochins laying at the ago of six 
months. I can beat that story, all to mgs! April 
101 h I pul some eggs under a hen that was sit¬ 
ting, and at thu end of three weeks she came off 
With a flue hroocl of chicks. They grew and did 
well. August at), one of these pullets laid for 
the first time, and since then more have com¬ 
menced to lay. They nre Sicilian and Spanish ; I 
they me good winter and summer layers, but I 
are not the bens for sitting; they are not in¬ 
clined to sit at all. My old Uruhnius do all the 
hatching.— Lucres Kenipp. 
-♦♦♦- 
Improved vw. Common Fowls.- Titos. B. Smith, 
Stony Brook, N. Y., writes us that from twelve 
Black Spanish hens he obtained in atiii days !i,k't2 
eggs, or an average of each. I to fed with 
corn, incut scraps and vegetable*. IJc urges 
that those who have common barn-yard fowls 
which thuy want to compare with improved 
breeds, should keep a record of their pro¬ 
duct the season through, and not select three of 
the best laying months in the year. So say we. 
-- 
shearing Ocean.- £ do not think it would be 
very profitable to shear geese, as but one crop 
Of feathers per year could be obtained, since 
they do not shed their feathers but once a year; 
and a feather does not grow out, when out off, 
like an asparagus root. The root of the leather 
must tie pulled out or come out before the 
feathers grow again. -Daniel Bennett. 
) 
THE OVERCROWDING OF HORSES. 
W iiat the Scottish Farmer says on this 
subject will apply in this country ns well: 
Comfortable, healthful lodgings are essen¬ 
tial alike for man and beast. Without suffi- 
cient room, pure air and perfect cleanliness 
are unattainable, health is apt to be im¬ 
paired and disease engendered. Amongst 
the horses in most large towns extreme over¬ 
crowding is common. In London, Birming¬ 
ham, Liverpool and Glasgow it. is, however, 
considerably worse than in Edinburgh. In 
nil towns the cab and omnibus horses lie- 
longing to tho poorer proprietors are ihc 
greatest sufferers. In some London and 
Birmingham stables each 1 torse is allowed 
only four hundred and sixty cubic icet of 
space, or about one-third of the amount of 
space really consistent, with comfort and 
health. Frequently do we find hovels,often 
low and dump,surrounded with houses, and 
rendered si ill more impure by the proximity 
of reeking manure heaps,containing twenty 
or thirty horses, when they have not space 
sufficient for ouc-third of their inmates. 
Here the poor beast is vainly ex peeled to re¬ 
cruit his exhausted energies after his day’s 
labor, but instead of health ami strength lie 
frequently finds only lassitude and disease. 
in badly constructed stables — and under 
Ihis category come most of those where over¬ 
crowding is great—there is, besides, seldom 
any provision for ventilation. Tho door and 
windows usually furnish the only channels 
cither for the introduction of fresh air or for 
the removal of foul air. To secure warmth, 
these windows and doors are, however, most 
carefully closed during the night. But from 
the lungs and skin of the Utilf-sliffed horses 
there is continuously poured out large quan¬ 
tities of noxious gases, consisting especially 
of carbonic acid, and watery vapor charged 
with the noisome waste produels of the body. 
The dung and urine likewise contribute their 
pungent quota to this heated, pestilent air, 
which the, imprisoned boasts are compelled 
to breathe throughout the weary night. Wc 
do not wonder tit at when the stable door is 
thrown open in the morning the acrid atmos¬ 
pheres inis become almost, irrespirable, and 
that it provokes coughing when it enters 
even the seasoned air passages of the veteran 
stableman, and brings tears to his we ll tried 
eyes. But well may we marvel at the won¬ 
drous conservative power of nature which 
enables the horse to bear up, often for years, 
against treatment so unnatural. From the 
pure fresh air of his rural pastures what a 
dreadful change is this. Often, indeed, suffi¬ 
cient speedily to develop serious disease. 
Many young country horses, when immured 
in such stablest, lake violent colds, or inflam¬ 
mation of the eyes, become permanently 
damaged in their wind, or worse still, fail 
from glanders or farcy. It is generally un¬ 
derstood that it lakes about a year thorough¬ 
ly to inure a young horse to town work, but 
it is the town lodgings quite as much as the 
town work that the animal is with difficulty 
reconciled to. Like many a hard-wrought, 
badly housed human being, tlm horse, poor 
fellow, becomes only very gradually accus¬ 
tomed to his unwholesome quarters. 
--- 
LOOK AT THE HORSE FEED. 
TriE following letter from Mr. J. Beog, 
Manager of the Springhauk Chemical Works, 
Kirkintilloch, in the North British Daily 
Mail, suggests that a horse may have some¬ 
thing worse than llic hots in tlm stomach. 
He writes: — “Sir: From the number of 
horses which pass through our hands in a 
season, 1 have often had occasion to remark 
the gross carelessness of owners or persons 
in charge of horses in regard to deleterious 
substances getting mixed up with their food. 
As an illustration of this, I think it right to 
give publicity to the following ease:—A 
Clydesdale mare, worth about CIO, was 
brought to our works recently, which, on 
coming home from putting in hay, walked 
straight into a well in the farm yard court. In 
stooping down to drink, the weight of the 
earl, had forced her, head first, into thu well, 
and before she could ho relieved, she was 
drowned. My attention having buen called 
to see the contents of her stomach by one of 
the men, 1 took from it the following 
articles, viz.: horse nails, broken, 6 ; round 
nails, from one to two inches long, 8; single 
flooring nails, 10 ; inch nails, 34; broken 
nails, various sizes, 07; 1 3-8th inch nails, 
85; 1 inch zinc nails, II; ®,j to I inch tack 
nails, 55; shoo tuckets, 1(1; slate nails, 3; 
screw nails, 4—total nails, 209. Also, 4 
common pins, (1% inch long,) 1 blue bead, 1 
brass button, 1 pearl button, 5 metal buttons, 
(marked V. M.,) 35 small pieces galvanized 
wire, 3 copper nail heads, 4 small metal 
washers, 1 hook (of hooks and eyes,) 1 hair¬ 
pin, otic-half of a needle, 1 small piece of 
lead, 7 pieces zinc—in all, 55 articles; nails, 
209. Number of tho above, 324 articles, 
weighing 1 lb.; also, round gravel and sand, 
O U,u 11 U l V/ 
