334 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
NOV. 23 
domestic (Bconomn. 
TO MAKE COFFEE. 
I AM a little girl of twelve years. I know 
Low to make good coffee, such as we have 
every day for breakfast. Do not parch at 
one time more than one pint—two cups full; 
parch it in an oven moderately hot—not 
hot enough to burn it; parch it to a dark 
brown, until it will break in pieces by press¬ 
ing between your thumb and linger; then 
empty it in u pan to cool. IVhen it is cool 
enough to permit you t o rub your hands 
through it, break an egg, and pour the white 
in the pun of coffee, rubbing with the hands 
until it is mixed thoroughly with the coffee; 
it the heat of the coffee does not dry it, set 
it by the fire and it will soon dry; then put 
it in a canister and keep it air tight, if you 
can, and grind it as you use it. 
Now, for the making the coffee. Have 
the coffee pot clean washed ; scald it ■with 
boiling water before you put the ground 
coffee in it; then put in the coffee, ground 
fine; pour the boiling water in it and set 
tbe coffee pot on the stove; set a saucer of 
cold water on top of the coffee pot to con¬ 
dense it; when it begins to boil set it off; 
don’t let it boil a minute; if you do you will 
lose the flavor of the coffee. M ollie M. 
ODDS AND ENDS. 
Chow-Chow Recipe.— Julia A. Pow¬ 
ell, wishes a recipe for chow-chow. I have 
one, taken from an old CrODEv’s Book, 
which 1 think very nice:—To one peck of 
green tomatooBadd three good sized onions, 
six peppers (with the seeds taken out); 
chop together and boil three minutes in 
three quarts of good older vinegar. Throw 
this vinegar away after straining. Then to 
three quarts of nice now vinegar, when 
scalding hot, add two cups of sugar, one 
tablespoonful of cloves, ground, one of all¬ 
spice, two of cinnamon, three of table salt; 
pour over the tomatoes hot. You can omit 
part or the whole of the onions and peppers 
and still have a very nice pickle. 
Will some of your readers give a good 
easj r recipe for making soft soup with pot¬ 
ash ?—s. __ 
Ornamenting Lamps. — I wonder if 
many readers of tbe Rural are aware what 
a pretty effect may be produced by pasting 
with mucilage, Autumn leaves and ferns 
on the inside of porcelain shades. I refer 
particularly to those belonging to the 
Student Lamps. Of course thy should lie 
the brightest, smallest specimens, and may 
be arranged either in clusters or a wreath 
all the way around. They should be pre¬ 
pared in the usual way, pressed or ironed, 
I brushed mine with linseed oil, but I’m 
not sure that is essential. They will re¬ 
main bright two or three months, and when 
faded can easily be soaked off with warm 
water and replaced with others.— h. h. k. 
Potato Salad is a favorite dish in our 
family, but quite different from the Kr- 
ral's recipe. Take four large Irish pota¬ 
toes, boil soft and mealy ; masli with a fork 
until entirely free from lumps; season with 
salt and pepper quite strong. Boil three 
eggs hard ; mash the yolks toa paste with a 
little vinegar, then till the cup about half 
full of vinegar and mix it in the potatoes 
thoroughly. Blice the whites over t he top 
when the salad is placed in a dish, and your 
inquirer will have an article, of food with 
which she will be much pleased. — Mas. L. 
T. D., Griffin, Ga. 
Orange Mince.— Did any of your read¬ 
ers ever eat it? It is delicious. Peel and 
remove the seeds from sweet Havana 
oranges; slice, and cut the slices into small 
pieces with a sharp kuife; to these add 
lemon chopped line, without the peel, in 
the proportion of half a lemon to six 
oranges; and a llnely-grated cocoanut may 
be added if available nud desired; make a 
thick sirup by dissolving and boiling for 
ten minutes, a pound of sugar in a pint of 
water; pour this sirup ou the fruit; let it 
cool, and serve in a glass dish.—M bs. Fan¬ 
nie W. Gleason. 
Cucumber Dickies—To one gallon of 
cucumbers take a teacup of molasses, half 
the quantity of salt, a handful of mustard 
seed, one red pepper; put this mixture in 
a little vinegar and beat it to boiling, and 
while hot pour over the pickles; then cover 
with cold vinegar. In the jar put a piece 
of horseradish; they will keep a year. 
Will some one please tell how to Blip to¬ 
matoes in the Fall in order to have early 
ones in the Summer?—T. E. O., Millport, 
N. Y. _ 
Recipe for Potato Salad. —My wife 
has used the following one to my satisfac¬ 
tion for a number of years:—Cut cold boil¬ 
ed potatoes in slices, and also one onion 
and Bin nil garlick; then season with two 
tablespoonfuls of salad oil, half-pint of 
vinegar; popper and salt to taste; to be 
mixed three hours before serving ; serve 
cold.—M. II. Parcels. 
Pickled Peppers.— Use the. peppers 
green. Cut the stem end off and remove 
the seeds carefully; soak in salt and water 
twenty-four hours. Take them out. and 
rinse them. Take good cabbage, cut very 
fine, and stuff them; sew the stem end on 
and put them into vinegar. In two weeks 
they will he ready for use.— Loretta E. 
Knapp. 
To Fry Potatoes.—Place some slices of 
salt pork upon the bottom of a frying-pan, 
and after paring your potatoes and slicing 
them quite thin, place them over the meat 
and cover tightly; fry them about a half 
hour, stirring them over frequently after 
they begin to brown.—J. A. T., Boone Co., 
1U. _ 
Lemon Butter for Tarts is made by 
using one pound of pulverized white sugar, 
the whites of six eggs and yolks of two to¬ 
gether with three lemons, including grated 
rind and juice; cook twenty minutes over 
a slow fire, stirring it constantly. It is 
splendid.— Mary P. Slocum. 
Domestic Inquiries.— Cornelia F>. asks 
how to tell good flour from poor, since she 
finds so much flour only fit for hogs. 
§ Mil nil! Information. 
HYGIENIC NOTES AND QUERIES. 
Carbolic Acid and Small Pox. —Dr. 
Alexander Watson, in the Lancet (an 
English medical journal) lias leoorded sev¬ 
eral cases of small-pox and scarlet fever, 
in which the external application of carbol¬ 
ic acid met with marked success. In the 
case of one patient with small-pox whom 
he saw at the period when pa pulse appeared, 
he ordered an enema, and then ho had the 
patient -a. girl of eleven year.. -.^.ged 
sill over with carbolic acid soapsuds. On 
tbe next day a severe attack of confluent 
small-pox w r as threatened, but the child 
was sponged as she had previously been, 
and then her whole body was painted with 
the carbolic acid glycerine of the British 
Pharmacopoeia. Five grains of Dover’s 
powder were then given to allay irritabili¬ 
ty, and the little girl slept quietly for sev¬ 
eral hours, when she was sponged again. 
No vesicles formed, and the patient was 
convalescent, in a few days. Carbolic acid 
was, in the meantime, plentifully used 
about the room. 
Chronic Diarrhea Remedy.—Say to 
your correspondent, E. Fitz Simmons, that 
chronic diarrhea can and has been cured 
by wearing a cotton orwoolen flannel band¬ 
age night and day around tbe stomach 
and bowels. To make the bandage, take 
two strips of flannel (woolen preferred) 
ten or twelve inches wide, and long enough 
to go around the body and lap a few- inch¬ 
es; quilt them together. This can be fast¬ 
ened in place with hooks and eyes or tape, 
as the wearer prefers. The above is also a 
great aid to weak digestion and dyspepsia. 
The writer, while in the army, was greatly 
afflioted with dysentery until he found re¬ 
lief and cure by tbe above simple remedy. 
Can any of your readers give a remedy for 
a bronchial trouble known as “ minister’s 
sore throat ?” —Champlain, Yeryennes, 
Vermont. 
Remedy for Chronic Diarrhea.—In 
reply to E. Fitz Simmons, who asks for a 
remedy for chronic diarrhea, I would say 
that I have been cured of that difficulty of 
several years standing, by taking two table¬ 
spoonfuls of molasses, one teaspoonful of 
castor oil, and ten drops of laudanum; stir 
them all well together, so that theyare t hor¬ 
oughly mixed; one tablespoonful three 
times a day, until the diarrhea is checked. 
1 continued taking it once a day some time 
after.—A Constant Reader. 
I will give E. Fitz Simmons a recipe 
for chronic diarrhea which cured me, and 
I think, in all probability, will cure any 
body: — 1 take one ounce of deodorized 
tincture of opium and two ounces of fluid 
extract of blackberry root, mixed; for a 
grown person, one teaspoonful as often as 
necessary.—W. H. S., Peru, Til. 
To Color Human Hail* Black, and 
not stain the skin, it is asserted that a 
liquid may bo made by taking one part of 
bay rum, three parts of olive oil, and one 
part of good braudy, by measure. The 
hair must bo washed with the mixture 
every morning, and in a short time the 
use of it will make the hair a beautiful 
black, without injuring it in the least. 
The article must be of the best quality, 
mixed in a bottle, and always shaken be¬ 
fore applied. __ 
Eggs in Case of Trouble.—The white 
of an egg is said to bo a specific for fish bones 
sticking in the throat. It is to be swal¬ 
lowed raw, and will carry down a Lone 
easily* and certainly*. There is another fact 
touching eggs, which it will be well to re¬ 
member. When, as sometimes by accident, 
corruBfli ve sublimate is swallowed, the 
white of one or two eggs taken will neutral¬ 
ize the poison, and change the effect to that 
of a dose of calomel. 
What Causes the Hair to Turn Gray. 
—An English writer has recently asserted 
that an undue proportion of lime in the 
system is tbe cause of premature gray hair, 
and advises to avoid hard water, either for 
drinking pure or when converted into tea, 
coffee or soup, because hard water is al¬ 
ways strongly impregnated with lime. Hard 
water may be softened by boiling it; let it 
become cold, and then use it as a beverage. 
Difficulty in Speaking.—A correspond¬ 
ent whit has a difficulty in speaking, thus 
describes that difficulty, and asks if anyone 
can suggest any remedy. He says:—“A 
disagreeable water gathers in my mouth, 
and when asked a question I cannot get the 
word out for a time; but it is not stammer¬ 
ing. When 1 once begin to talk, I can go ou 
for a considerable leugth of time without 
trouble till I stop again.” Can any of our 
readers suggest a remedy? 
•Recipe for Corns.—The following is an 
English remedy: —Bathe the feet well in 
warm water, then with a sharp instrument 
pare off as much of the corn as can be done 
without pain or causing it to bleed, and 
dress once a day* with the following salve: 
Black oxide of copper, gr. xv.; lard, oz. ss. 
Cold Back and Feet.—Can any of your 
readers give me a remedy for cold back and 
feet. Have been to some good physicians, 
but got no help. I am a machinist and still 
at work at the trade—J. J■ n. 
dhtiomolcginil. 
TALKS WITH CORRESPONDENTS. 
A Handsome Beetle. 
The beetle sent by H. C. Wilson, Coving¬ 
ton, lud., is the Dicaclus purpuratus, 
Bon. it is a very flat thin beetle about an 
inch long, the elytra of violet purplish 
color. It lives under stone, and is supposed 
to be beneficial to the agriculturist. 
Horned Paesalus. 
Several subscribers have sent us speci¬ 
mens of this great, lazy, but handsome, 
beetle, which may be found in abundance 
under old logs and rotten stumps, suppos¬ 
ing it to be the Arnblychila, figured iu the 
Rural New-Yorker of Oct. 12. As we 
have before stated, the Arnblychila, of 
which we desire to obtain specimens, will 
not be found east of the Mississippi River. 
It is also quite a lively insect, running very 
rapidly* w*hen pursued. Of course, w*e have 
no objections to receiving insects from any 
locality—in fact, the more our readers send, 
the better, and we w*ill endeavor to give 
what information we possess in regard to 
the same. 
The three large black shining beetles 
about an inch and a-half long, sent us by 
A. J. II- Btllurook, Ohio, are the Horned 
Paesalus, (PtwalUS cornutus, Fahil.i and 
quite a different insect from the Arnbly- 
chila, figured in the Rural New*-Yorker 
of October 12. We are pleased to know 
that our readers arc on tbe lookout for 
tins rare beetle; but there is not tbe slight¬ 
est chance of any one finding it east of the 
Mississippi River. It may be found on 
either side of the Rocky Mountains south 
of Montana, but we think not elsewhere. 
Minute Dung Beetles. 
Inclosed find specimens of beetles that 
have appeared here in immense numbers, 
the air fairly swarming with them. Please 
give their names and habits.—W. H. Hart¬ 
er, Hall's Corners, lnd, 
The small beetle about an eighth of an 
inch long, with black head and thorax, 
wing cases light brown marked with black 
spots, is one of tbe many species of Aphn- 
flUifi which breed in heaps of old, decaying 
vegetables and manure. The name of this 
particular species is A. hupihuitus, Fabr. 
In Autumn they frequently appear in im¬ 
mense swarms flying about barn yards and 
in gardens. We do not think that they do 
any harm to vegetation, their larvre merely 
aiding the decomposition of vegetable 
matter. 
Vanilla Agraulls. 
I send a butterfly, bred from one of a 
multitude of worms that have been destroy¬ 
ing my Passiflora ceruha. What is it ? 
Can it be prevented '! My plant was so en¬ 
tirely covered I had to tear it down and 
strip the leaves off to get rid of the worms. 
Will the vine die? It was very large and 
in a state of rapid growth, full of buds and 
bloom. If it lives, what can 1 do to prevent 
a return of the worms? Is the Passion vine 
more liable to be eaten by worms than other 
vines? These worms ate no other plant.— 
Acacia, Brownsville, Texas. 
The butterfly is a quite common one in 
the. Southern States, and, as you state, the 
larva or worm feeds upon the Passifloras. 
Its name is AgravllB vanillae, Linn. The 
worms (larva;) are cylindric, pale fulvous, 
with four blackish, longitudinal bands, of 
which its two dorsal are sometimes want¬ 
ing; furnished with ranges of blaoklsh 
spines. The butterflies are quite large, ex¬ 
panding about four inches; the wings are 
dull yellow, ornamented with a great num¬ 
ber of brilliant, silver-colored spots. We 
do not know of any better method of keep¬ 
ing this insect in check than by gathering 
and destroying the worms. Perhaps dust¬ 
ing the vines with lime might prevent their 
attacks; it would bo worth trying even if 
it did no good. Stripping off the leaves 
from the plants while they are growing 
will oertainly injure them, if it does not 
kill outright. The Pass! floras are not more 
liable to attacks of worms than other 
plants, as each has one or more enemies in 
the insect world: bub when we cultivate 
but a few of any particular species, we are 
more likelj* tonotieo the attacks of inflects, 
as you have in this instance. The Agra ulls, 
seeking for its natural food, made havoc 
with your plant of Passiflora; but had there 
been a thousand plants in your garden or 
neighborhood, instead of a small number, 
the ravages of this insect might have passed 
unobserved. 
Spicier for a Name. 
Please name the spider herewith inclosed 
and give a sketch of its habits. Is its bite 
poisonous? It lives in walls of houses and 
does not spin any web.—Auu. 11. Quick, 
Purdy's , N. Y. 
We have not made the study of spiders 
(Arachnida) a specialty, therefore do not 
pretend to know all or any considerable 
number of our native spiders. There arc 
very few spiders in the Northern States 
that are injurious to man or beast; but 
most of them are beneficial, as they aid us 
in destroying noxious insects. The far too 
prevalent notion that our common spiders 
can injure uny one is fallacious. 
Moths From Tennessee. 
We have received a collection of moths 
and a few butterflies from Mrs. C. C. S., 
Columbia, Tenn.. for which we return our 
thanks. They were packed according to 
directions given in the Rural New-York¬ 
er, page 281, April 27; consequently ar¬ 
rived iu good order. 
Hawk Moth. 
Enclosed you will find an iuseeb never 
before seen in this vicinity. You will 
please give me tbe name, and also tell me 
t he name of the best entomological work 
for classification, and oblige, J. B. K., 
Lithapotis, Ohio. 
The name of the insect is Cheer oca mpa 
tersa , Drury. It is one of the Hawk Moths, 
the larva of which is a light green worm 
with a large subdorsal, crimson ocellus on 
the fourth segment, containing a blue ring 
and edged with black and white rings. 
You may have never seen one of these 
moths before, but it is common all over the 
United States. Clemens says it is found 
in South America, Mexico, West Indies, 
Southern States, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas. 
This is certainly a pretty extensive range 
for a moth which you think was never be¬ 
fore seen in your locality. Packard’s 
“ Guide to The Study of Insects” is a good 
work on classification. 
Poisoning Cockroaches. 
The Garden says: —“We are informed 
by Mr. Anderson of Meadow Bank, the 
famous Orchid grower, that he destroys 
cockroaches -with certainty by using a mix¬ 
ture of one part arsenic, one part white 
sugar, and one part lard, all the three to 
be white. It is essential that the arsenic 
be white, or failure will result.” 
