302 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
domestic (Kconorntt. 
HOW I MAKE SOFT SOAP. 
I keep my ashes dry, and when put in 
the hopper prepatory to making soap, ] 
have from a half tol peck of unslackcd lime 
put In with the ashes. lJefore putting the 
grease in, I swing the kettle off the fire and 
let it hang a few moments. If there is any 
potash in it, I take a shovel and take it out. 
For if there is much potash in, it will not 
make good soap. 
I pack the ashes well, adding water 
enough to dampen them. Then I put three 
or four buckets of water mi each day for 
two or throe days, until I think it sufficient¬ 
ly soaked. And lastly 1 pour on boiling 
water to run the lye off. As soon as 1 have 
enough rt»i off to commence boiling, I put 
nwy kettle over the fire, and boil the lye as 
fast as it will boil, Htill adding more lye as 
it boils down. In this way T continuo 
for a whole day. By evening it will prob¬ 
ably he sufficiently strong to cat a feather 
in passing it throe times across the liquid. 
1 now put my grease in (all T think it will 
eat), still boiling as fast as I can without its 
running over, if it eats the grease all up 
I add more. I now leave my kettle to hang 
over the fire all night. In the morning if 
there are any scraps of grease that are not 
eaten up, I boil again for an hour or t wo, 
and if they do not dissolve I take them out. 
Then 1 take out a few spoonfuls of the soap 
and set it away a little while to cool. 
When OOld, if there is no lye under it and 
it appears free from grease, 1 set my kettle 
off, and hang another one to boil more lye. 
Managing in t his way, T generally can make 
from sixteen to eighteen gallons of nioe 
w hite soap in two days, and often in one 
day and a night. 
I think that by pursuing this plan or a 
similar one, any one can make strong, nice 
Boap .—A Farmer’s Wife, in ClndnnaU 
Gazette. 
- -- 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
Boiled Lettuce,— This, to our taste, is a 
delicious vegetable, and the gout is some¬ 
thing indescribable, resembling asparagus 
or seakale, and yet, not quite like either. 
Lettuces may be simply boiled and eaten as 
other greens, but they can bo boiled and 
served as entrc-mcts in a variety of ways. 
Have ready some neatly-cut pieces of toast, 
a pale brown color; lay them on a dish, a 
lint 00 C; let esioh piece be of u size to hold 
the lettuce and one poached egg; pour over 
the toast a little of the water and some good 
gravy; if t he latter be not handy, a little 
fresh butter should be spread on the toast 
previous to pouring the water from the let¬ 
tuce; place on each piece of toast enough of 
the boiled lettuce to form a flat, layer; neat¬ 
ly trim the edges of the vegetable, and place 
a poached egg on the top; or, prepare some 
toast as above, and Spread over each piece 
a thin layer of anchovy or bloater paste, on 
which lay the lvttuoe; then season to taste, i 
To prepare the lettuces for boiling they i 
should be well cleansed, and the top of the i 
leaves, if they have the slightest appearance 1 
of fading, cut, off; leave as much of the stalk 
as possible, outtlng off the strong outer skin. 
The stalk is, when boiled, the most de- 1 
licious part. The large cos lettuce makes ' 
the handsomest dish, but, we prefer the 
flavor of the drumhead.— Knife and Fork. 
godliness.” We think it should be a matter 
of principle to have everything as pure, as 
sweet and clean Sabbath morning as possi¬ 
ble, All one's clothes are put on fresh, ta¬ 
ble-cloths and napkins ootnc right from the 
drawer, and If these are all brought out 
spotless in their purity In honor of the 
Lord’s day, why should not our beds also 
shine out in the whitest of linen? Wethihk 
it a pleasant and appropriate way of begin¬ 
ning our Sabbath. 
Curing Ham8. — Cn a ijl.es Jessoi* fur¬ 
nished the Maryland Ag’l Society the fol¬ 
lowing recipe;—lbs. saltpeter, dried and 
finely powdered, % bushel best Liverpool 
salt, 3 lbs. brown sugar, and gallon mo¬ 
lasses. Mix all in a vessel, rub the meat 
well with same, and pack with skin down. 
The above is the exact amount required 
for 1000 lbs. of pork. After being in salt 
three to four weeks, take out, wash clean 
the pieces, dry, and hang it up for smoking. 
Three weeks js sufficient to smoko them 
thoroughly—by Are made of hickory wood. 
When smoked, take down and bag, or pack 
away in dry chaff or cut. straw. Examine 
them occasionally, and if found to bo at all 
damp, renew the packing with dry material. 
Eating the Banana.—There is a way we 
have of eating them in the East which is 
worth knowing, thus—take a soup plate. 
Strip half a dozen bananas, and with a sil¬ 
ver fork mash them up, adding sufficient 
sherry and sugar to make the whole of 
about the consistency of a thick soup. 
When so treated there is a flavor which 
may almost vie with that, of the most deli¬ 
cious fruit in the world—t he Mangoatevn. 
There is a great difference in bananas 
abroad; the best 1 remember eating were 
at Singapore. They were also particularly 
good at the Cape de Vcrd Isles; in China 
and Japan not so good, the slightly pink al¬ 
ways preferred .—Screw Propeller. 
llow to Preserve Vegetable Mar¬ 
rows.—Peel the maiTows, take away the 
seeds, cut the vegetable into small pieces. 
To every pound of marrowadd half a pound 
of sifted loaf sugar, the rind and juice of a 
lemon, half an ounce of grated ginger. Put 
these into a basin and let them stand all 
night. The next day pour the juice Into a 
pan and let it boil up, then add the vegeta¬ 
ble. Boil all together an hour and a half, 
or until it becomes thick and transparent. 
If put. into a mould which will not affect 
the aoid, the preserve will look very nice 
when turned out for use. Most vegetables 
may be prepared the same way.— r. 
To Detect Sulphuric Aeid in Vinegar 
the following process is said to be effective, 
and is simple.—Boil a few grains of starch 
with an ounce or two of the suspected vine¬ 
gar, for a few minutes in a glass vessel; 
when it has become cold, add a drop of 
tincture of iodine. If t he vinegar oontalus 
no sulphuric acid, a beautiful blue color will 
bo produced by the reaction of the iodine 
on the starch. But if a small quantity of 
sulphuric acid be present, no color will be , 
developed, for the acid will have changed 
the starch to dextrin, which is not colored 
by iodine. 
HiCK 
SALMON CULTURE. 
At a meeting of the State Commissioners 
in this city, Oct. 10, Prof. S. F. Baird, Uni¬ 
ted States Commissioners of Fish and 
Fisheries stated that he had, in accordance 
with suggestions of the Commissioners of 
several States, at a meeting held iu Boston 
on the 13th of June, made an arrangement 
with Mr. Atkins, of Bucksport, Me., to pro¬ 
cure for the United States a large number 
of eggs from the saliu<ui of the Penobscot 
River. This gentleman, by thoaid afforded 
him by the United States Commissioners, 
had been enabled greatly to extend the op¬ 
erations originally undertaken in the inter¬ 
est of the New England States, and now 
has about 600 large, healthy salmon in an en¬ 
closure staked off in the centre of a pond of 
150 acres. From these fish the eggs are to 
be taken at tho proper time; and, impreg¬ 
nated, the salmon themselves then to he 
again set. free. From this source he hoped 
to receive several million eggs. 
Wishing to increase the certainty of se¬ 
curing a supply of eggH. ho entered into 
correspondence with the officers of the 
Deutsche Flsherei Verein in Germany, and 
through their influence the German Gov¬ 
ernment had kindly offered to present to 
tho United States a quarter of a million of 
eggs of salmon from the Rhine, on the sole 
condition that the United States should 
employ an ejxpert to accompany the eggs to 
the place of shipment. This condition was 
gladly accepted, and subsequently a con¬ 
tract was made with Mr. Schuster of Frei¬ 
burg, for a quarter of a million more eggs 
of the same variety of salmon. These it is 
expected will be cared for and transported 
to the coast by Mr. Runoi.rn IlEl’KU, an 
experienced fish cullurist, and it is even 
hoped that he may accompany the valuable 
cargo (which will weigh 5,000 pounds) to 
America. In accordance with the sugges¬ 
tions of the meeting at Boston it was de¬ 
cided to try to secure an additional supply 
of eggs from California, and Mr. LivrNO- 
BTON Stone was despatched for that object 
early in August. He established himself 
on tho Mount (’loud River, a tributary of 
the Sacramento, but contrary to the ex¬ 
pectation derived from the most, trustwor¬ 
thy information, found be was a little too 
late, the spawning season having already 
passed. A report by Mr. Stone of his work 
was read, in which he expresses the opinion 
that, inasmuch as he has already erected a 
hatching - house, and solved many of tho 
problems which were necessary to be de¬ 
cided, the prospeot for securing many mil¬ 
lions of eggs next year is excellent, pro¬ 
vided the grouud be occupied as early as 
the 30th of July. Some 10,000 or 15,000 eggs 
were obtained this season, and may be ex¬ 
pected before long. 
Washing: Compound,—The use of soda 
for washing linen is very injurious to the 
tissue and imparts to it a yellow color. In 
Germany and Belgium the following mix¬ 
ture is now extensively and beneficially 
used; 2 lbs. of soap are dissolved in about 
5 gallons water as hot as the hand can bear 
it; then next is added to this fiuid throe 
large sized tnblcspoonfuls of liquid ammo¬ 
nia ami one spoonful of best oil of turpen¬ 
tine. Those fluids are incorporated rapidly 
by means of beating I hem together with a 
small birch broom. The linen ie then 
soaked in this liquid for three hours, care 
being taken to cover the washing-tub by a 
closely fitting wooden cover. By this 
means the linen is thoroughly cleaned, sav¬ 
ing much rubbing, time and fuel. Ammo¬ 
nia does affect the linen or woolen goods, 
and is largely used as a liquor in the North 
of England. _ 
Changing Bed Linen ►Saturday.—Mrs 
Beecher says-.—Many are In the habit of 
changing bed-linen Saturday, to avoid what 
may seem like extra labor Sunday morning, 
in accordance with their ideas of a strict 
observance of the Sabbath. We cannot 
think this wise. It certainly does not meet 
our idea of that “ cleanliness that is next to 
Cauliflower Salad.—Boil a cauliflower 
in salted water till tender, but not over¬ 
done; when cold, cut it up neatly in small 
sprigs. Beat up together three tablespoon¬ 
fuls of oil and one tablospoouful of tarragon 
vinegar, with pepper and salt to taste; 
rub the dish very slightly with garlic, ar¬ 
range the pieces of cauliflower on it, strew' 
over them some capers, a little tarragon, 
chervil, and parsley all fliudy minced, and 
the least bit of dried thyme and marjoram, 
powdered. Pour the oil and vinegar over, 
and serve.— Y. N. 
Preserving Fish with Sugar.—A 
method adopted in Portugal for preserving 
fish consists in removing the viscera and 
sprinkling sugar over the interior, keeping 
the flsh in a horizontal position, so that, 
the sugar may penetrate as much as possi¬ 
ble. It is said that fish prepared in this 
way can be kept completely' fresh for along 
time, the flavor being as perfect as if re¬ 
cently caught. One tablespoonful of sugar 
is sufficient for a live pound flsh. 
Canning Corn.—Out the corn off tho 
cub, and bull till nearly done; then take 
the same amouut of tomatoes, and boil tho 
two together till done, and then can it up. 
In tliis way you oan have a good dish the 
year round, T have tried canning corn by 
itself, but it would not keep.—M rs. N. A. 
Dillman. 
Domestic Inquiries.—Mrs. Jane T. asks 
how to make good apple butter. 
Pacific Slope Fisheries.— Something 
, may he learned <>f the exteut of the com¬ 
mercial salmon-flRhltlg in the Columbia 
river and Oregon and the Territory of 
Washington, from the following statement; 
—According to the Portland Oregonian, 
there were taken between April 1 and 
August 1, 1872. for canning purposes, 170,000 
fish, weighing, when dressed, 2,700,000 
pounds, making 56,250 boxes of forty-eight 
pounds each, and worth, at wholesale mar¬ 
ket prices, 8432,000. The salmon taken for 
curing purposes during the same season 
amounted iu number to 162,500, ^weighing, 
when dressed, 2,600.000 pounds, making 18,- 
000 barrels of 200 pounds each, and worth 
$117,000, Tke total number of salmon taken 
on the lower Columbia river duringthe sea¬ 
son of four months, amounted to 332,500, 
weighing 5,300,000 pounds, and worth 8549,- 
000. There are also large numbers sent 
to market for sale fresh. 
Marking Salmon in England.—The 
Board of Conservators of Fisheries in some 
of the districts of England cause a stiver 
label to be attached to salmon taken from 
certain rivers when they are replaced in 
the stream. Then any one taking these fish, 
subsequently', is requested to forward it at 
once to the Chairman of the Board in the 
same state as when taken, with full partic¬ 
ulars of date, place of capture and weight 
when taken. The party sending it gets five 
shillings for his trouble and all expenses 
paid. 
Fish Culture iu Germany has beoome 
a very important business. The Prussian 
Minister of Agriculture has commissioned 
Dr. Knocii of St. Petersburg to supply 
from the Volga 100,000 young specimens of 
sterlet for introduction into the rivers of 
Germany. In 1871-72 the breeding estab¬ 
lishments at Hermugue, Germany, distrib¬ 
uted in a fertilized state to the Germany, 
Alsace, Loraine, Holland, France, Switzer¬ 
land, Austria and Italy, eggs as follows: 
Of common trout, 499,000; salmon trout, 
748,000; great lake trout, 228,000; salmon, 
1,051,000; char, 305,000; fern, 1,107,000; hy¬ 
brids, 109,000; Danube salmon, 5,000; gray¬ 
ling, 15.000. Switzerland and Franco are 
also restocking their waters with fish. 
HYACINTHS IN WATER. 
T The cultivator of hyacinths in ^ater 
should not grow large so much as medium- 
f sized solid bulbs. What he wants is a fine- 
) ly-developod spike of flowers crowning a 
- short, healthy growth. Large bulbs—es- 
i pecially of some varieties, such as Lord 
l Wellington and Temple of Apollo, single 
reds—are very apt to throw up two, three, 
. and even four small spikes, the size of the 
, duplicate iff,ikes decreasing as the number 
> is larger. About tho middle of October is 
[ the beBt time to plaoe the hyacinths in 
. glasses. The best type of glass is not unlike 
» in appearance a wide-mouthed small de- 
: canter. Fresh water should be used, and 
i it is a good plan to fill the glasses, and then 
place in each three or four pieces of chav- 
i coal, to keep the water from becoming offen¬ 
sive, therefore obviating tho necessity for 
its being frequently changed. This should 
he done about three days before t he bulbs 
are placed in the glasses, as in the interim 
tho charcoal becomes thoroughly sat urated 
with moisture and sinks to the bottom of 
tho glass. If placed in the water at the 
same time as the bulbs, it will occasionally 
happen, in the case of strong, quick-rooting 
varieties, that the descending roots encir¬ 
cle the charcoal and keep It close under the 
base of the bulbs. There is no real neces¬ 
sity for placing the glasses in the dark to 
induce a fiee root growth. It is r.n old 
practice, but it is not the more necessary' 
to be followed because it is old. 
1 have grown hyacinths in glasses with 
much success for the past ten years, and I 
have for a considerable period discontinued 
placing them in the dark, and that simply 
because it is not necessary. The theory set 
up is that “ roots, as a rule, delight to grow 
in tho dark, the action of light being un¬ 
natural to them.” But the generality of 
hyacinth glasses are of an opaque character, 
aud the newest types in Etruscan ware, 
eto., altogether so. If the theory bo a cor¬ 
rect one, the glasses themselves supply tho 
conditions. When tho bulbs are placed in 
my own glasses, they stand on the mantel¬ 
piece, the Sideboard, etc., and a bulb sel¬ 
dom fails to root very satisfactorily, and 
then invariably because of some inherent 
defect. The roots of the hyacinths make 
growth first, unless it be very late when 
they are placed in water. In its own good 
time tho foliage appears, aud then it be¬ 
comes necessary to keep the glasses in a 
cod!, airy position, so that the leaves do not 
become drawn, as also to keep the glass 
filled with water to Supply that which be¬ 
comes absorbed by the roots and lost 
through evaporation. 
When charcoal is placed In the glasses it 
is rarely necessary that the water be 
changed. 1 have read very elaborate but 
very tiresome rules relating to the culture 
of hyacinths in water, iu which it is urged 
that the water be changed at least once a 
week. S*me of my best flowers have been 
grown in glasses the water in which was not 
once changed. If a brisk fire bo kept in the 
room where the glasses are, there will bo a 
need for fresh water being placed in the 
glasses twice or thrice a week, so that no 
part of the roots be without water. The 
best position for the glasses when the bulbs 
begin to make upward growth is tho most 
airy and lightest part of a sitting-room, but 
as far from the fire as possible. The foliage 
of the plants should be kept free from any 
deposits of dust; a smail piece of damp 
sponge will remove these with but very lit¬ 
tle trouble. As the flower spikes are 
thrown up, pvoper#upports, made on pur¬ 
pose aud sold with the glasses, should be af¬ 
fixed for use. They are neat and elegant in 
appearance, and answer the end for which 
they are designed admirably. If the glass¬ 
es be placed in the window when the spikes 
are iu flower, they should be shaded from 
the action of the sun when bright and warm, 
or removed from their position for a time. 
