S BUBAL MEW-YOB 
<§omcsitt([ dittoing. 
A TOMATO CHAPTER. 
•Julia Colman, whilom contributor to the 
Rural New-Yorker, furnishes the Science 
of Health with the following seasonable 
notes on tomatoes, which will interest and 
profit our readers. She saysTomatoes 
stand first in variety of use and in general 
availability—if nob in wliolcsoiueness. In 
the latter respect they have, we believe, been 
greatly belied. In spite of the most extra¬ 
ordinary stories about their deleterious char¬ 
acter, we have yet to be convinced of any 
serious injury done by their use, whatever 
may be said of the effects of the red pepper, 
butter and salt with which they are frequent¬ 
ly seasoned. It is to me very amusing to 
hear them called a “vegetable,” and see 
them treated with pepper and salt, -when 
they are so palpably a big juicy berry. 
I consider them a valuable addition to our 
list of fruits; and all the more so from the 
fact that they come to maturity in one sea¬ 
son. The settler on a new farm is not obliged 
to wait until fruit trees and berry bushes 
grow before he can have fruits of his own 
raiding. If the soil be not too heavy and the 
manure not too rank, and if the season be 
rt ( her warm and dry, tomatoes may be pro¬ 
duced of a quality quite fine enough to eat 
from the hand without dressing. Certainly 
the appearance of the fruit is handsome 
enough to give it a place in any fruit-basket. 
When perfectly ripe, they peel readily, 
and are more delicate without scalding. To 
a simple taste they are very nice for “sauce,” 
peeled and cut up without seasoning ; and if 
so placed upon the table, each one can season 
them in his own dish if he prefers to do so, 
and then all will be si lited. Or you can place 
them on the. table whole, as is often done at 
public tables, letting each dross them for 
himself, though you will need to provide an 
extra plate for the waste. The most natural 
seasoning for this, us for all other fruits, is 
sugar. Sugar and lemon-juice is a delicious 
dressing ; so is sugar and corn cream. Those 
who barbarously treat; them as a “vegeta¬ 
ble,” prefer salt, or salt and vinegar, while 
others add to this a little minced raw onion, 
but that is not to our taste. Cut up with 
lino ripe peaches in equal parts, or with oue- 
tliird peaches, and sweetened, they produce 
a charming dish. In this case they are better 
to be prepared half an horn' beforehand, 
being kept cool and covered. 
For cooking, tomatoes may lie scalded and 
skinned. Then slice and stew gently in their 
own juice for thirty minutes or more. Sea¬ 
son with sugar, or with sugar and lemon or 
lime-juice ; or, better still, with nothing at 
all. Thicken, if desired, with Graham bread 
crumbs, or pounded cracker, or with boiled 
rice, or w ith good oat-meal; one large spoon¬ 
ful of the latter to one quart of tomatoes. 
The oat-meal will cook sufficiently in ten or 
fifteen minutes. Grated or shaved green 
com is another excellent thickening ; one 
gill of the corn to one quart of tomatoes. 
Cook fifteen minutes after putting in the 
corn, salt slightly, and serve warm. Again, 
cook with one-third green or tart apples, 
slicing in the latter with their skins when the 
tomatoes are half done, and cooking until 
the apples are not quite tender enough to fall 
to pieces. Season with cither sugar or sail;. 
They arc also very nice cooked with pie-plant 
or with green grapes—seeding the latter if 
desired ; seasoning with sugar, and thicken¬ 
ing -with oat-meal. For a dinner dish, slice 
up one part onions, cooking gently in a little 
water for fifteen minutes, and then adding 
two parts sliced tomatoes with their juice, 
and cook half an hour longer. Season with 
salt, and serve warm or cold. Tin's dish, and 
the one with apples, often become great 
favorites. 
Tomatoes should never be cooked in metal 
of any kind. Pipkins and porcelain lined 
ware produce much more palatable dishes, 
and save the tin ware. 
Baked Tomatoes make a choice dish. Se¬ 
lect those of good size and ripe, wash, and 
bake unr easoned on a pie-dish in a hot oven 
for forty minutes, or until quite tender. They 
are best to bake them on the top first, and 
then set down to bake on the bottom and to 
reduce the juice. If there is danger of drying 
up the bottom before the fruit is done, add 
water or more tomato juice. A little of the 
thick juice should be served with each toma¬ 
to. These harmonize nicely with beaus, for 
a dinner side dish. If desired, the skins can 
be removed before they are sent to the table. 
These baked tomatoes arc nice to dry, 
pouring the juice over them as the dry* n g 
proceeds. If put away in a close jar, these 
can be used to good advantage for soups 
when it is not desirable to open a can, or they 
may be gently soaked out in hot water and 
used as baked tomatoes. For the lat ter pur¬ 
pose, however, it is better to can them as 
soon as baked. Have an abundance of juice, 
pour some of it into the can, fill up with the 
hot tomatoes, then boil the can a little while 
to expel the air, and seal up as you do other 
fruit. 
Stuffed Tomatoes make a more showy and 
a more substantial dish, an excellent accom¬ 
paniment to lima beans. Select one dozen 
large, smooth tomatoes, wash and cut a lid 
fiom the stem end, and scoop out the seeds. 
Stew the latter with the juice in a saucepan 
twenty minutes with one medium sized-onion 
minced line, a salt spoon of suit, a spoonful 
of lemon juice, if at hand—a tcaZpOonful of 
thyme leaves, and bread crumbs are an im¬ 
provement. Mix thoroughly ; cook altogeth¬ 
er ten minutes, and with this fill the empty 
tomatoes, replace the lids, and bake on a pie 
dish in a hot oven one hour, or until they are 
quite tender, but not broken down. Serve 
warm. 
Tomatoes are much used in vegetable and 
meat soups, though here their taste is fre¬ 
quently injured by the metal in which they 
are cooked. The proper remedy for this is 
to cook the soup In a porcelain-lined kettle. 
Stewed Tomatoes whole, make a nice and 
a handsome dish. Select the smaller and 
prime sorts, the plum tomato if you have it. 
First take the juice from large tomatoes, say 
one pint; shred into it one large onion ; 
cover and stew gently fifteen minutes ; then 
strain and put the juice back into the stew- 
pan. Add to this small tomatoes unpeeled 
enough to fill up the juice aud stew gently 
half an hour, or until tender ; then slum out 
the fruit, thicken the juice to taste with 
wheat meal, salt slightly, add a teaspoonful 
of lemon juice, if at hand, and thyme or bay- 
leaves if you like, pour over the tomatoes and 
serve warm. Sir all tomatoes may be canned 
whole for tills and other dishes, by putting 
them uncooked into the cans, filling with 
water or tomato juice, boiling them half an 
hour, and then sealing after the manner of 
other fruit. 
Tomato Puddings. —Several nice puddings 
can be made of tomatoes, but 1 have observed 
that people who commonly eat their toma¬ 
toes with salt, cannot appreciate Sweetened 
tomato puddings. They would prefer toma¬ 
toes and rice ; a side, dish, made by cooking 
gently one part dry rice into three parts 
peeled and sliced tomatoes in a pipkin, with 
two parts water for forty minutes. This 
may be seasoned with either salt or sugar. 
The more delicious puddings could be 
salted, I suppose, but then they would be 
less delicious. For a rice pudding, take the 
best large tomatoes, peel and slice them one- 
fourth of an inch thick, and lay them in a 
pipkin, strewing between them layers of 
rice; taking Luthe whole by measure—one 
pan rice and one part sugar to seven parts 
sliced tomato. Cover closely and simmer in 
a moderate oven, two or three hours, or until 
the rice is thoroughly swelled out, aud al¬ 
most converted into a jelly, by the juice of 
the tomatoes. Serve warm or cold, with 
sugar or sweetened cream. 
For a tomato bread pudding take one part 
thinly sliced Graham bread or batter biscuit, 
and four parts sliced tomatoes ; place them 
in alternate layers, with a little sugar, cover 
close, and bake one hour. Serve with sweet¬ 
ened milk or cream, or with a syrup of white 
sugar. T have already given in the last num¬ 
ber a green corn custard, with tomatoes, 
which is good enough without dressing. 
With these recipes, I must lay aside tomatoes 
for the present, although their availability 
in cooking is by no means exhausted. Few 
materials are so tempting for experiment. 
--- 
SELECTED RECIPES. 
Tomato Honey. —To each pound of toma¬ 
to allow the grated peei of a lemon and six 
fresh peach leaves, lloil them slowly till 
they are all to nieces, then squeeze them 
through a bag. To each pound of liquid al¬ 
low a pound of sugar and the juice of one 
lemon. Boil them together half an hour, or 
till they become a thick jelly. Then put 
them into glasses, and lay double tissue pa¬ 
per over the top. It will be scarcely distin-. 
guished from real honey. 
Lettuce Salad. —1 very seldom use vinegar, 
vinegar and sugar, vinegar and meat gravy, 
as nearly ail do, but instead, 1 take sour 
cream from olf clobbered milk, and sugar, 
tti id the lettuce cut up line. It js far superi r, 
in my estimation, to any other preparation 
1 have tested, and, I believe, healthier. 
Glycerine Hair Wash. —Glycerine, 2 fluid 
ounces ; water, 6 fluid ounces ; oil of rose¬ 
mary, 6 drops. Mix together. This is an 
excellent remedy against dandruff. 
Prevent ing Mold in Ink. —Add some acetic 
acid or strong vinegar ; but mercurial subli¬ 
mate is the best. A few grains in a quart is 
sufficient. 
JfijqiciM (Information. 
FISH, CHEMICALLY CONSIDERED. 
Prof. W. A. Wetiierbhe, M. D., in Jour¬ 
nal of Applied Chemistry says : 
By chemical analysis it is found that fish 
contains a greater proportion of phosphorus 
than any other class of animal food, and 
therefore must be considered the richest 
“ brain food.” In land animals the phospho¬ 
rus is contained for the most part in the 
bones, in combination with lime, as a phos¬ 
phate, while the muscle is rich iu fibrin, &c. 
But, on the other hand, the various genera 
of fish, although not abounding in fibrin, are 
much richer iu phosphorus, aud this element, 
as a general rule, varies according as the fish 
is lively or slow iu its movements and habits. 
Upon this difference depends, in a great 
measure, the relat ive value of different kinds, 
those containing the greatest proportion of 
phosphorus, and consequently those of the 
most rapid movement, commanding the 
greatest prices. Thus, the salmon, a fish of 
remarkable agility in its movements, and its 
nearest relative, the trout, are among the. 
most expensive of the varieties in our mar¬ 
ket, while the less active kinds command lull, 
inferior prices. But an exception to this 
rule, due only to ignorance or prejudice, is 
exemplified in the Now England farmers of 
the lost century, who were often bound by 
legal obligation* not to feed their Apprentices 
more than three meals a week upon salmon, 
as it was exceedingly plenty, and, therefore, 
tit only for those who were too poor to obtain 
anything else. The same, worthy farmers 
were wont to consider Oysters a mere luxury 
for the epicure, and they were .generally 
associated with champagne, late suppers, and 
high living generally. But in our seaport 
towns they are undoubtedly among the 
cheapest, mid by no means the least nutri¬ 
tious articles of flint, although we have re¬ 
cently seen it asserted that they contain no 
nutriment. We have also scon philosophers 
who contended that cheese was only a luxury, 
and contained none of the elements of nutri¬ 
tion, being ignorant of the chemical fact that 
the casein of the cheese and the fibrin of 
inerts are almost the same, and are both 
resolved by constructive assimilation into 
muscle. 
Those nations who eat fish with one meal 
each day are undoubtedly the most active in 
intellect, and the most capable of brain labor 
without exhaustion or fatigue. Even those 
savage tribes who subsist in a great measure, 
upon fish no doubt possess very active, quick 
minds, although they are uncultivated aud 
ignorant, and other causes may also tend to 
keep them in a deplorable aud degraded 
condition. But when once civilized and 
Christianized these tribes of IcMIiyophagl 
become quick and active in intellect, even to 
put to shame the more stolid beef eaters of 
our inland towns of Christian lauds. Not 
only is such phospluitie food conducive to the 
activity of the brain, but it promotes fecun¬ 
dity and increases the ability to endure cold, 
fatigue, &c., and, while the facilities for 
obtaining it are constantly Increasing, it 
would be well for the rising generation were 
they made to partake of aud to realize it as 
second only in many respects to the staff of 
hie, and tile husband and father who occa¬ 
sionally takes half a day from his legitimate 
business to fill his basket with delicious fish 
should not be considered as a mere “.sports¬ 
man,” but a “ good provider” for his family 
of those things of vital utility. 
- - - 
HYGIENIC NOTES. 
Hygienic Use of Tea. —Dr. Adam Smith, 
in a paper read before the London Society of 
Arts, recommends the use of tea in the fol¬ 
lowing cases; after a full meal, when the 
system is oppressed ; for the corpulent and 
the old; for hot climates, and especially for 
those who, living there, cat freely, or drink 
milk or alcohol ; in cases of suspended ani¬ 
mation ; for soldiers who, in time of peace, 
take too much food in relation to the waste 
proceeding in the body ; for soldiers and 
others marching in hot climates, for then, by 
promoting evaporation and cooling the body, 
it prevents in a degree the effects of too much 
food, as of too great heat. 
Remedy for Sick Headache. —A corres¬ 
pondent gays ;—T have invariably, both win¬ 
ter and summer, for more than forty years, 
bathed my head with cold water ; then 
rubbed it effectualy with a rough towel. 
Many times has ice been frozen on my hair. 
Glycerine Hair Tonic.—Glycerine, 2 fluid 
ounces ; alcohol deodorized, 12 fluid ounces ; 
castor oil, 2 fluid ounces ; oil of rosemary, or 
any other perfume, 20 drops. Dissolve the 
castor oil and oil of rosemary' in the alcohol 
and add gradually the glycerine. 
Castor Oil for Corns .—The Southern Medi¬ 
cal Record says that castor oil applied to the 
corn, after paring closely, each night before 
going to bed, softens the com, and it becomes 
as the other flesh. 
UNCERTAINTY OF AGRICULTURAL EF¬ 
FORTS. 
It is the uncertainty of of agricultural un¬ 
dertakings being permanent, and the fact of 
every engagement being very doubtful as to 
its being of long continuance, which causes 
such lack of forecast and so little system be¬ 
ing adopted in fanning ; and it is most deci¬ 
dedly this general doubtfulness ns to any 
contract relative to the renting or manage¬ 
ment of land being aught hut temporary, 
which gives rise to the cultivation aud crop¬ 
ping of the soil with an eye to the present 
Only. If a farmer rents n. farm he does not 
expect to hold it on from the owner very 
long, a year or two, and at the longest live 
years, which in most districts is much longer 
than an average connection between land¬ 
lord and tenant; thus what can be expected 
with regard to future fruitfulness of the 
soil 'i For, naturally, every ouan iu posses¬ 
sion of a farm for a short period will got out 
of the land all that he possibly can, particu¬ 
larly as there is no customary paying for un¬ 
exhausted manuring* or .Headings, Ac., the 
same as there are In England, which are uni¬ 
versally paid for under the name of “Acts 
of Husbandry.” 
Then consider how void of any real view 
to the welfare of future generations even 
gentlemen’s estates are managed ; for the 
majority of buildings are still wooden ones, 
and the cultivation of the soil and attention 
to the live stock is in the hands of men who 
have no idea of remaining long iu charge; 
and thus, as far as they are concerned in the 
management, it is conducted for entirely 
present purposes. If the growing of a hun¬ 
dred bushels of corn ext ra would lessen fu¬ 
ture growth of a thousand, or the selling of 
ewe lambs and heifer calves should injure 
the flock and impair the value of the hel d of 
dairy cows for the next few years, the credit 
Of having made a few dollars more by dis¬ 
posing of them, would weigh against all fu¬ 
ture loss; and nine out of ten American 
foremen would always contrive to escape the 
trouble of raising young stock, independent 
of other considerations. 
Then the numerous class of “well to do” 
farmers, owning their farms, are seldom for¬ 
tunate in being succeeded by their brightest 
son—often by no son at all; for in this coun¬ 
try hard labor by the farmer’s family is con¬ 
sidered essential; and this continual daily 
toil often tells on the growing frame of young 
men, depressing the spirits and causing a dis¬ 
like for such a weary way of making a liv¬ 
ing. Those who have muscle and strength 
to endure call those who have not, lazy ; 
which often ends by the latter taking to mer¬ 
cantile pursuits, and frequently in becoming 
independent of business, while the former 
remain working farmers, complaining of the 
times, and the little or loss than no profit de¬ 
rived from the cultivation of the soil. 
The uncertainty of the farm continuing to 
descend to members of the family, produces 
future, and thus general uncertainty accounts 
in some measure for the diminishing of fer¬ 
tility, and the poverty look i ig districts where 
farm alter farm can be passed, every one of 
whieli would bo sold for less t han the cost of 
the ” improvements,” as homesteads and 
feneeR are termed. 
There is another kind of uncertainty prev¬ 
alent which leads to a complete indifference 
to success attending the labor of the em¬ 
ployes and the foreman, who is equally un¬ 
certain as to the intentions of his principal, 
becomes as careless to what the future may 
have in store on the farm, as if he was un¬ 
connected with it; for, in consequence of the 
senseless pride and absurd self conceit of the 
employer, he does not place any confidence 
in his chief farmer, keeping him merely to 
act as a machine, not even telling him what 
ho wishes done any longer before doing it 
than is positively necessary, Some idiotic, 
would-bc-mcu-of-bUsincss boast that their 
workmen, the overseer included, never krow 
for certain what will be the next, job, and 
have not the most remote idea as to his views 
on any subject relative to his farming—as if 
this was something to be proud of ! The 
stupidity thus practised acts entirely against 
the man’s prosperity ; for however good a 
man may be in charge of the business, or of 
the men, live stock, &o., he wiii lose all in¬ 
terest in the results of what he has had no 
chance to gain credit for, and he becomes 
disheartened, as it always occurs in such 
cases that, he can see where ho could have 
done much better if he had been allowed a 
voice in the direction of the management. 
A Working Farmer. 
