MOOBE’S BUBAL NEW-YOBKEB. 
JULY 6 
“Tiie utipardoimblc sin in man is from 
good grain to make poor whisky; and in 
woman, from good Hour to make poor 
bread.” The latter is a crime of frequent 
occurrence, and has nothing to excuse it, 
for it is just as easy to always have sweet, 
light, wholesome bread, as to ruin one’s di¬ 
gestive organs with hot saleratus biscuit, or 
to disgust one’s olfactories with “ salt ris¬ 
ings.” After several years of trying bread 
recipes, taking advice from other housekeep¬ 
ers and experimenting myself in the matter 
of bread making, I have finally a recipe that 
never fails. It may not be new to many 
Rural readers, but I have never seen it 
published. 
To commence with, good yeast and (lour 
are, of course, essential. If you use dry 
yeast cakes, have them thoroughly soaked 
in tepid water. At night, boll half a dozen 
potatoes, put them through a colander, 
with the water iu which they are boiled. 
Pour iu cold water until the potato water 
is lukewarm, add the yeast, cover, and put 
in a warm place over night. You observe 
that no flour is put in at night. This is the 
peculiarity of t his recipe. Iu the morning, 
heat the potato water, stirring constantly, 
and being careful not to scakl it. Stir in 
Hour till it is a thick batter, and let it rise. 
When sulliciently light , knead in all the Hour 
you can. It is at this stage that kneading 
is most effective; so knead it just one hour. 
Don’t gay you haven't the time to spare; 
jam had belter on that “ baking day ” make 
only three kinds of cake, instead of the 
usual six, or even omit the inevitable 
“pies” altogether, rather than have the 
“staff of life ” anything short of perfect. 
After it has again risen, mold into loaves, 
and when light, bake. The result will be 
bread that is white, with t he pure wheaten 
taste, that can be pressed into one-half its 
bulk, and will immediately expand to its 
original size, and when broken apart, can 
be peeled off in Hakes or layers. This is one 
of the results of long kneading, and is proof 
that the 1 tread has “ at tained unto perfec¬ 
tion.” 
It is surprising how few people know 
what really good bread is. So long as their 
bread is not positively sour or heavy they 
eat it, blissfully ignorant that it can be 
made better. 
A few days since a young housekeeper 
showed me, with evident pride, a loaf of 
bread of her making, remarking that the 
ability to make good bread was her one ac¬ 
complishment, of which she was justly 
proud. Said bread was hard, dark and 
coarse-grained. Mr. Rural, what could I 
say? To the class of housekeepers which 
she represents, who consider their method 
of doing anything right, simply because it 
is “ their way,” it is useless to try to teach 
anything; but to those who are trying to 
learn, the above, recipe may contain some 
useful suggestions.—u. u. u. 
-- - 
ODDS AND ENDS. - 
Keeping Eggs Fresli. — Eggs cannot 
spoil if the air is thoroughly excluded; in 
other words, if their shells are made air 
tight. But this is a very difficult thing to 
do; for an egg-shell is as porous as a mineral 
(liter, as is shown by the manner in which 
the egg itself is affected when placed, as is 
the common practice, in a lime solution to 
preserve it. An old French custom is to 
rub the egg with melted butter; but if a 
spot the size of a pin-point is overlooked 
the treatment, does no good. Paraffine has 
more recently been suggested, and is better 
than butter, because it will not become 
rancid; but the same excessive care is re¬ 
quired as with the other. Still another 
mode is to dip the eggs.for a moment in 
boiling water, which coagulates a thin film 
of t he albumen or “ white " next the shell. 
This is stated to have proved very success¬ 
ful, but it is manifest that the eggs should 
be kept in a cool, dry place; for even 
coagulated albumen will decompose under 
the influence of moderate warmth and 
moisture. Shellac varnish has also been 
suggested for coating the shells; and, per¬ 
haps, if two or three successive coatings 
were given to insure against even the 
slightest neglect of any part of the surface, 
this would prove superior to any of the 
other plans proposed with more or less 
plausibility, and tried with more or less, 
but never with absolute success.—J. A. w. 
Recipe for Johnny Cake,—In the Ru¬ 
ral New-Yorker of June 3d, 1871, is a reci¬ 
pe for a Johnny cake. I have improved on 
it, and will send the altered recipe as I use 
it“ ()nc-half pint of meal, one-half pint of 
flour, one-half pint of canolle, 114 pints of 
buttermilk, two eggs, one cup of sugar, or a 
half a cup of molasses, one heaping teaspoon 
of saleratus or soda, one salt-spoon of salt; 
bake in two tins for half au hour, or till 
done.” I have made after this recipe a 
good many times and have not failed. I wish 
some of the Rural houscheeperswould try 
it. 1 never baked bread but once, until 
after 1 was married. Now, for a farmer’s 
wife, I t hink I can show as good loaves as an 
experienced housekeeper. Brown bread, 
white bread, and Johnny cakes disappear 
like hot buckwheat cakes tit our house now. 
—Mrs. A. Do axe. 
Tomato Catsup,— Minnie R. asks some 
one to give her a recipe for tomato catsup. 
A friend of ours having excellent catsup 
furnishes the following:—To a peck of toma¬ 
toes, boiled soft, and strained through a 
sieve that will allow a little of the pulp to 
pass through, add four tablespoonfuls of 
salt, four of ground pepper, four of ground 
mustard, two of ground allspice, two of 
ground cloves, one of Cayenne pepper and 
one quart of strong vinegar; boil gently 
several hours; cool and bottle. 
Granulation of .Maple Sugar.— I do 
not presume to answer Lucy Linseed’s 
question as to the best method of getting a 
cake of sugar out of a bottle, but would 
simply say that I tried the experiment sug¬ 
gested by W. A. Graham, page 134of Rural 
New-Yorker, Feb. filth, and found it a per¬ 
fect. success. 1 put alum in the sirup, and 
sat it away, leaving it exposed to the air, 
and it has no more appearance of crystallza- 
lion now than when first made.— Charley 
F., Wilmington, III. 
Graham Bread.—“Keep it before the. 
people,” and on the table, till dyspeptics 
are no more. One quart of new milk, half 
a cup of new yeast, and half a cup of molas¬ 
ses, or one pint of bread sponge, with milk 
and molasses. Stir in Graham meal until 
stiff; lei rise, and bake three-quarters of an 
hour; never mold as for lino Hour bread. 
When I he meal is course, as is best for pad¬ 
ding, stirring in a cun of shorts, or Hue flour, 
will make it less harsh. 
Covered Broiler.—Set in the stoife as 
other stove furniture, ablaze underneath; 
no heat or smoke iu flu* room. Where and 
by whom manufactured? Let them adver¬ 
tise in the Rural New-Yorker. — Mrs. 
Z. 8 ., Madison. Ohio. 
Domestic Inquiries,—What will remove 
iron rust from white linen? Will some one 
give a good method of preserving Siberian 
crabs?— Western Mountain Girl. . . . 
Will some one tell me how to pickle cucum¬ 
bers in whiskey and water S—m. j. w. m. 
Smoking Griddles.—Keep the griddle 
smooth and clean; use no grease; all kinds 
of griddle cakes will turn without it. Try 
it and see. Polish with suit. 
^rborkitfttiraT. 
Weeping Cedar.—is there such a thing 
as weeping cedar? There is a tree near 
here the branches of which are from two to 
four feel long and Very slender, the termini 
of which are composed of smaller ones 
clad with leaves, causing it to hang in 
festoons which, when moved by the wind 
give it a graceful and beautiful appearance. 
Is it a freak of nature, or is it a common 
occurrence ? 
There are a few varieties of Weeping 
Cedars, but there is room for more. These 
Weeping Cedars are freaks of Nature, and 
may be perpetuated by the usual methods 
of propagation. You had better call the at¬ 
tention of some nurseryman or other gen¬ 
tleman acquainted with such trees to the 
specimen referred to, as it may be distinct 
and better than auy of the varieties now in 
cultivation. 
- T~ — 
Sugar-Producing Trees. —The Sugar 
Maple (-dec/ - Sacclairinum) has hitherto 
been regarded as the best sugar producing 
tree. A few years since it was discovered 
that the Ash-leaved Maple or Box Elder 
(A ’cijundo accrokles) is quite equal to the 
Rock or Sugar Maple. Now we have the 
Black Walnut Juylanx Miyra) added to the 
list; and a Kansas farmer asserts sugar has 
been madefrom the sap of “Blue Eye” 
(what is that ?t and Hickory. We know that 
sugar has been made from the Birch and 
other trees, but not profitably. The three 
trees first named seetu to be the only ones, 
as 3 -et, that may be regarded as yielding 
sugar in profitable quantity among our 
native forest trees—at least that have been 
discovered. 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES. 
Sophistication of Sngar.—“Sanding” 
the sugar is an old joke and an old practice 
with grocers, but in recent times the trade 
has improved upon the clumsy old-fashion¬ 
ed method. To make it look better the 
merchant frequently runs the substance 
through a crushing mill, which destroys the 
lumps and mingles the impurities more in¬ 
timately wit h the mass so that they cannot 
be so readily distinguished. The finely 
pounded while sugars are mixed with terra 
alba, a white earth imported from Ireland. 
But there are other and more scientific 
methods of deceiving the purchaser as to 
the quality of the saccharine product, it is 
well known that, as in blueing clothes in 
the wash, a slight blue tinge will increase 
the apparent whiteness of a material, and 
hence in Europe manufacturers have been 
ill the habit of mixing a little indigo, and 
sometimes even ultra-marine and aniline 
blue in their sugar. These are different 
from most- adulterations, however, in being 
quite harmless in their nature. 
Flour from Wood.—Chemists know that 
cellulose, the clean fibrous portions of wood, 
have the same chemical composition as 
starch. If the cellulose, therefore, was 
equally soft and capable of digestion it 
could be made into flour from which bread 
could be made. The softest and most easily 
reduced variety <>f this material is found In 
the inner portion of the bark of trees, and, 
indeed, in Norway, where iu past times ter¬ 
rible famines have frequently occurred, pine 
bark has been often made Into tt line pow¬ 
der and mingled with rye Hour for baking. 
If we choose to be attlietronble to separate 
the other components of the wood we can 
dry and powder the cellulose and make 
bread of it without the addition of flour. 
In au old book we find directions for this 
which we condense as follows:—Take beech 
wood, or some other that contains no tur¬ 
pentine; pound it iu si mortar with water; 
Then wash and dry in an oven alternately 
several times iu succession until all the for¬ 
eign matter is removed, and then grind ns 
line as possible, in a mill. The Hour thus 
produced has a yellow color, and if boiled 
yields a jelly-like boiled starch, and like 
starch is capable, under certain conditions, 
of fermentat ion. Leaves of spongy and eat¬ 
able bread have been made from it. Being 
pretty much the same as starch it could of 
course be converted into grape sugar by 
chemical means, and also be fermented and 
dist illed into alcohol. Ho we see that if we 
choose we could make biscuit, sirup and 
brandy out of a st ick of common cord-wood. 
—j. a. w. 
-♦»» 
Sawing Wood Without a Saw.—Dr. 
George Robinson, of this city, has in¬ 
vented it process of cutting wood bj' passing 
a galvanic current over a platinum wire iu 
sufficient quantity to raise its temperature 
to a red heat. He has found that gently 
pressing a piece of wood against a red-hot 
platinum wire, especially when aided by a 
slight sawing movement, the wood was 
divided iu any required direction us by a 
handsaw, and, of course, without any effort 
of skill or appreciable expenditure of muscu¬ 
lar power. The Scientific American says; 
“By arranging the wire with handles or 
other means, so as to guide it readily, t he 
lumber, whether iu trees, log>, or planks 
may be cut easily as desired. There is here, 
therefore, a simple and easily applied force, 
which, in a child’s hands, may be employed 
to fell trees, divide them into logs, and, iu 
short, perform all the operations of t he saw 
and the ax. The surface of the wood where 
thus divided is, of course, slightly charred, 
but the black layer is very thin, and for 
many purposes not disadvantageous, as it is 
known to preserve timber. The battery 
employed need only be of the simplest 
character, as quantity, and not intensity, of 
current is required.” 
Liquifying Dead Bodies.— M. Donac 
has laid before the French Academy of 
Sciences, a project by which he proposes to 
Convert a dead body into a sirup without 
color or smell. He claims that a moderate- 
sized man can be got into six bottles; he 
don’t say of what size. This mnj’ answer 
the morbid moods of some people, but we 
think the best tvay of disposing of dead 
bodies, of whatever sort, is to bury or burn 
them. 
The Siphon Question.—Will the. old 
subscriber, who had a troublesome siphon, 
please inform the readers of the Rural 
whether he has succeeded in making it 
work, and if so, how l>e did it? In the 
Rural New-Yorker of June 15, page 395, 
tV. II. 8 . gives two reasons why the siphon 
might not operate ; the first of which was 
suggested several weeks ago, and his second 
reason is rather thill. Iu accordance with 
hydraulics, it would not ntakeany difference 
if the well end of the pine was two inches 
in diameter, and the down hill end but 
half au inch iu diameter, or vice versa .— 
a. j. _ 
Carbolic Acid vs. Molds.—We find it 
asserted that the decomposition of paste 
may be prevented by adding to it a small 
quantity of carbolic acid. In the same 
way, the disagreeable smell which glue often 
has may be prevented. If a few drops of 
the solution be added to ink or mucilage, 
they will not mold. For whitewash, es¬ 
pecially when used iu cellars and such 
places, the addition of one ounce of car¬ 
bolic acid to a gallon will prevent mold 
and disagreeable odors. 
Cleaning Ivory.—W. P. It. is informed 
that one method of cleaning ivory is to im¬ 
merse it in a saturated solution of alum for 
an hour, which softens it; then take it out. 
rub with a woolen cloth, wrap in a piece of 
linen to dry throughout, and then polish. 
By another method, the ivory is heated in 
a thin paste of lime until it turns white, 
when it is dried and polished. 
How to Make a Cheap Refrigerator. 
—I would be pleased to hear from some 
Rural reader on the best plan of making a 
cheap refrigerator—one for store use—that 
will hold several hundred pounds of butter. 
My cellar is a poor one in hot weather, and 
1 need some contrivance whereby I may 
keep blitter in good condition until ship¬ 
ping day.—A. o. 
To Drive off Rats and Moles.— A cor¬ 
respondent of the Pomologist lias found 
that potash placed in rat-holes and mole- 
runs will clear the premises of those pests 
in a short time. 
The Largest Ruby in Hie World is 
said to be owned by Prof. Shepard of Am¬ 
herst College. It weighs 31fi lbs., was found 
somewhere in the South, and cost the Pro¬ 
fessor $300. 
To Soften Old Putty,—Wanted—Some¬ 
thing which will soften old putty on win¬ 
dows so that it can easily be removed.— 
Port Hope._ 
To Renew Patent Leather.—A corres¬ 
pondent? asks fur “Something which will 
fill the cracks and renew Patent Leather.” 
(Bntonurlogifal. 
ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES. 
Insects on Currants.—Will you please 
inform me through your paper how to de¬ 
stroy the insects which I inclose. Do they 
make the large worm which was so destruc¬ 
tive in western New York five years ago? 
1 was living there then but have been living 
among the Alieghauies for five years past, 
and this year have the promise of an excel¬ 
lent garden through the help of your 
valuable paper. Our currant bushes werj 
full of fruit, but ’tis all falling off.—F. W, 
Fouster, lieuovo, Pa. 
The worms were so badly smashed when 
received that we could not determine the 
species. But at venture we would suggest 
you apply freshly slaked lime pretty freely 
to the bushes. Apply when they are wet 
with dew or just after a shower. There are 
few iusects that, will thrive where lime is 
freely used._ 
Motli of Salt-Marsh Caterpillar.— 
Please name the inclosed moth and oblige 
—G. D., Conway, Mich. 
The moth is the male of Spilosoma acrcea 
of Drury, and the larva is the well known 
und very troublesome salt-marsh caterpil¬ 
lar. These caterpillars often infest the 
grass on low meadows to such an extent as 
to nearly destroy it, and the best way of 
getting rid of them is to cut the hay very 
carl} - , and thereby cut off the supply of 
food, and expose the young caterpillars to 
their natural enemies. 
Potato Beetle Remedy.—I have found 
an effectual remedy—at least it lias com¬ 
pletely driven the striped and dun-colored 
beetles from all of my potatoes, and off of 
my farm. Dissolve one pound of sulphate 
of copper (blue stone) iu five gallons of 
water and sprinkle vines or other vegeta¬ 
bles iu the morning. Repeat the operation 
after every rain if troubled again.—A. E. 
B., Cleveland, Term. 
