their best estate ; and whenever'the batter 
becomes sour and much fermented, it is all 
used, and we proceed as at first, thus start¬ 
ing it anew quite often. Experienced cooks 
will not need these directions, but we trust 
they will aid some “young housekeeper.'’ 
Ruth Lee. 
the time with the hand to prevent scorching 
the leaves. Each turn was dried five minutes, 
then taken ®ut! and rolled again. This pro¬ 
cess of rolling and drying was continued un¬ 
til they appeared perfectly dry. It was then 
put. in gloss jars and kept well secured from 
the air. In about three months’ .time we 
began using it, and were delighted with our 
success. Of course all our friends must have 
a drawing and each on® pronounced it most 
excellent. Since that time, we have made 
our own tea every spring and we consider it 
so far superior to t he imported tea, that we 
find no pleasure in drinking the latter. 
We made quite a mistake iu placing our 
tea plants five feet apart, for they have 
grown so large that it is impossible to walk 
between them, and they arc about, ton feet 
high. Those bushes produce seed every sea¬ 
son in great abundance. From these seeds 
we now have between fifteen and twenty 
thousand plants of various sizes, and we con¬ 
tinue to plant the seeds out, every fall, as 
soon as they ripen. Many of them fall to 
the ground, and come up thickly under the 
parent tree. We have quite a grove set out, 
ten feet apart, and from these we are now 
collecting the most of our leaves. 
The climate in this latitude suits them 
perfectly, and there is no more trouble in 
cultivating them than there is with the 
apple or peach. When a plantation is once 
established it lasts a life time, and after the 
bushes are three years old, they require only 
the weeds to be kept out of them for’t hey 
shade around their roots so perfectly as to 
kill out the grass. If our Government, would 
again become interested in making tea one 
of our staple productions, we would in a few 
years be quite independent of Chinese pro¬ 
duction. Mbs. R. I. Screven. 
McIntosh, Liberty Co., Georgia. 
A RURAL SANTA CLAUS 
OUR BUCKWHEAT CAKES 
BY BOSE GERANIUM, 
What a wonderful difference there is in 
people’s opinions and ways of doing their 
work. Only the other day, we resolved that 
“Young Housekeeper” should have our 
method of making buckwheat cakes, wlieu 
lo ! Geraijdine Germane takes .m ay some 
of our conceit, and the main plank from the 
griddle-cake platform, when she hints to 
the Ruralists what a miserable set, we, of 
the hop rising sisterhood must be, to aid and 
abet a rank-smelling ally of indigestion, 
when whole barrels of buttermilk might be 
pressed into service by country housewives. 
Buttermilk is good iu its way, and, with its 
adjunct, sour cream, not lo be despised when 
we want nice, light biscuit; but it has no 
part or lot in our buckwheat*, which John 
declares “ are good enough to set before a 
king.” Supported by such high authority, 
we shall tell you how we make excellent 
cakes wit h not the least unsavory odor about 
them : and which require but little soda, an 
article of doubtful repute nowadays, when 
used to excess in our food. 
To be sure, we put off, as long as possible, 
the evil mom when Homebody must stand 
at, her post like a patient and watchful sen¬ 
tinel, with one eye on the griddle, and the 
other on the voracious beiugs at the table, 
who, at the least symptoms of remissness on 
the part of the cook, renew their efforts to 
adjust the question ®f supply and demand ! 
at least when no arguments of ours con con¬ 
vince the men folks that standing over a hot 
stove to fry cakes for a large family Is not a 
very delightful employment, and a sack of 
nice buckwheat flour is set. right before our 
eyes in the pantry, we know our duty and 
prepare to bear the cross meekly, and to the 
entire satisfaction of those reckless mortals 
who will cut what ttiey like, regardless of 
consequences. 
Nothing shall beguile us into saying that 
our way is the best one out of ten thousand, 
but here it is, and if, after following the di¬ 
rections, you shall find it unsatisfactory, why 
then you will have the buttermilk basis to 
fallback upon. 
The night before the pancakes aro to be 
served for breakfast, make the batter in this 
wise :—For a family of eight persons, take 
about three quarts of water slightly warm, 
one-half cup of sweet milk and a teaspoonflii 
of salt. Into this, Btir one large yeast cake, 
previously soaked in a little water or half a 
cupful of soft yeast, a tablespoonful of corn 
meal, and sufficient buckwheat, flour to make 
a stiff batter. For convenience, we use a six 
quart tin pail with a cover—not an old, rusty 
affair, but either a uew one, or one kept so 
bright with soap and saud that it cannot im¬ 
part any impleasant taste to the cakes. This 
pail, with its contents thoroughly mixed just 
before bedtime, is placed near the stove, or 
where it will not be very cold during the 
night. By daylight, the hatter should nearly 
fill the pail, though it should not run over it, 
as, like good bread, it requires close atten¬ 
tion, and should be used at the right stage 
of lightness. When the griddle is nearly 
ready for use, dissolve an even teaspoouful 
of soda, which stir into the batter, and some 
tastes would like the addition of another 
teaspoonful of salt. 
Now, about the griddle and greaser: 
Nearly all of the soapstone griddles of our 
acquaintance are humbugs, and the cakes 
cooked thereon forget to be crispy and 
brown, so we adhere to the orthodox iron 
griddle. Not much smoke need arise from 
it, if there is the right understanding be¬ 
tween it and the cook, who should use only 
a small quantity of butter, applied with a 
cloth tied to a stick or the tines of a steel 
fork. This is much better than a xljce of 
pork, and the difference iu expense is trifling ; 
as in our family, not more than a pound of 
butter is used for frying eakes during the 
winter. 
A large coffeecupful of the batter should 
be reserved, and emptied immediately into 
an earthern dish, covered and set in a cool 
place where it will not freeze, until it is 
wanted again at night for mixing with a 
new supply ; which will not require a yeast 
cake. A teaspoonful of sugar stirred into 
tins reserve, when it is set away will arrest 
fermentation, and after the first morning, a 
little more soda is required each time ; but 
our own is to use only just enough to coun¬ 
teract the acidity. Some housekeepers add 
all the. cold cakes left in the morning to the 
next batch, but we think one or two is an 
improvement, while more would make the 
cakes sticky’ and liable to brown too much. 
Pancakes, like good people, may fall from 
One night, when the ground was all covered with 
snow, 
Old Santa Claus saddled bis reindeer to go— 
For the hills were so covered with sleet and with 
frost, 
That he knew if he went In his sleigh he’d be lost. 
So he saddled his reindeer and put ou hi# peek, 
And then ho sprang upon the animal's back; 
(I will toll Just hero whut 1 found out lit. school— 
That the gentleman's reindeer, translated, means 
mult,)] 
The night was a cold one—uncommonly dark— 
The steed was unbroken, and kept crying " Hark I" 
And San ta kept tolling himself, all along, 
That lie never found matters so dreadful y wrong. 
Afar on a hill, through the comfortless night, 
Some broad parlor windows burst, gleaming and 
bright; 
Then Santa’s kind bosom beat, warm with content, 
For right to that dwelling of course ho was bout. 
Tie brushed with his mitten the frost from his chin, 
Then pushed the door open and softly stole In; 
The little folks spraug from their corners—ha, ha ! 
And caught the old fellow, and he was—papa ! 
December, 1873. 
DOMESTIC BREVITIES, 
Recipe for Cooking Dried Green Corn .— 
Put in a basin two-thirds of a cup dried corn 
(wash first) ; add a quart of water ; let it 
stand back ou the stove, tv here it tv ill keep 
hot, but not boil, for four hours. Add more 
water, if needed, during this time. When 
wanted, pour in milk t ill you have a quart 
of simp; salt, pepper, a lump of butter, and 
thicken with a spoonful of flour. Breakup 
a few crackers in a tureen; pour over the 
coni and serve. There may be some one 
that serves corn tills way, but I never ate 
any so before I cooked it myself. Please try 
it.— Mrs. C. 
Excellent Recipe for Potato Soup. —Take 
six potatoes, medium size, and one onion; 
pare and put, iu one quart of water ; boil 
one hour and then strain through a colander, 
filling up if the water has boiled away; add 
a piece of butter as large ns an egg ; pepper 
and salt to taste, and, last, a quart of sweet 
cream ; as soon as hot, serve with crackers or 
bread. It. is splendid.— L. M. K. 
An Excellent Recipe for Sausage. —To ten 
pounds of meat take throe ounces of salt, 
one of black popper, one-half ounce sage, if 
desired; mix the seasoning well, and sprin¬ 
kle it over the meat before it is chopped, as 
no after-mixing will blend the whole so 
nicely. Will some reader of the Rural tell 
me of some pretty way to make a card 
basket Virginia. 
Refining Lard. —I should be much obliged 
to know of some of your rnauy readers how 
1 can refine my lard so as to get the highest 
market, price. I find that the refined is very 
white and tough, where our country lard is 
darker and grainy. By an early answer in 
your paper you will much oblige.— John W. 
Naum, Hamburg, St- Charles Co., Mo. 
Substitute for Coffee. —Another substitute 
is suggested for coffee, which is said to be 
better than chiccory. Wo hope it is. Grape 
stones or seeds, when roasted or ground, 
possess an aroma very much like East India 
coffee, and the beverage made from them, 
though inferior in quality, is not unlike cof¬ 
fee in taste. 
ETTERS FROM BOYS AND GIRLS 
Lively” Wants Funny Thing*. 
Dear. Rural. —Please toll i.\>usln Johnnie 
that 1 like to road her letters to her little 
friends who rood the Rural, am! coant. myself 
one of them. “ Young Naturalist," I have been 
thinking of forming a cabinet, and jour let.tor 
felling how you kept your specimens will help 
me very much. Hoys ami girls, won't you tell 
us in I be Itc iiai. some of the “ funny things” 
that you know? Just so that r and the rest of 
your friends cun have a rhaneo to shake our 
sides once in n while, you know. “To start the 
ball rolling,” I will tell you something. I have 
a cousin who, when two or three years old, 
went to church. While there she whispered, 
and her mother told her that she must be very’ 
quiet. After she hail reached home, she said 
loher mother that “ every time she yvhlspored 
( Ion said * A men."’ She thought the minister 
was Goo. At another time, when ftvo or six 
years old, she visited at, a school where they 
sang while practicing gymnastics, and the 
chorus of the song was this: 
“ Be lively, boy# ; bo lively, boys; 
Be lively.” 
But aftoryvards she sang It, thus: 
“ We like the boyH, wo like the boys. 
We like ’em.* 
And though corrected insisted that it was so. 
I have two sinter, younger than myself, one 
or whom we will call Happy and Mm otner 
Merry, (who yvas 2‘-j years old.) One. day 
Happy had been out. doors watching the hired 
man transplant turnips. Afterwards, yvhile 
yvalklng yvttli mamma, they saw a rose bush, 
full of beautiful blossoms, and while miking 
about them mamum said that (inn made them. 
“ Yes,” was the ready reply, "Gnu made the 
roses, but A.ybkl (the hired man) made the 
turnips.” 
The other night yvhile mamma yvas away from 
home, I repeated John Burns, of Gettysburg, 
to amuse Merry; and yesterday she said to 
mamma, “ Ma, can’t Lively speak her work?” 
We did not know what she meant until 1 
asked her what it yvas about, and she said, 
“old John Firm!” 
Now, boys and girls, from my letter you 
might, suppose that 1 was a wild Indian, or per¬ 
haps a Feejee. 1 atu neither, but like your¬ 
selves, a little white school-girl, tyvelve years 
old,- Lj vuly, Jamestown, N. Y. 
COAL ASHES ABOUT PLUM TREES 
I had a very pretty plum tree iu my yard 
a year ago last summer. It had but a few 
plums on it. It looked healthy but the fruit 
fell off until only seven very imperfect, 
plums remained. That fail 1 dug about the 
tree, cut away the grass, and spread coal 
ashes, from the grates and stoves, around it 
for two or throe feet and about, t,yvo or three 
inches deep and tramped the ashes lightly 
down. The following spring the tree leaved 
out nicely, was full of plums and nearly all 
remained on it until ripe—so full wore the 
branches that I had to tie them up to support, 
the weight. The fruit was quite perfect in 
size and shape, and l am sure the manner of 
treatment was the cause of the improve¬ 
ment. I think many fruit trees could be 
tllUS improved—both in the quantity and 
quality of fruit they would produce. 
Madison, Ind. M. H. Wooden. 
TEA CULTURE IN GEORGIA 
Eds. Rural New-Yorker I was very 
much gratified on hearing that you were 
pleased with the sample of tea I sent you. 
As you requested me lo write to you again, 
I have thought that an account of our ex¬ 
perience in tea culture might, be interesting 
to you, and to some of your readers, as 
several persons, since reading your notice of 
my tea, have sent to me tor seed, and in¬ 
quired as to how the plant was cultivated. 
When the United States Government, 
through the agency of Mr. Fortune, intro¬ 
duced the Chinese tea plant (Then ISohen) 
into this country, aud distributed them by 
the aid of its Senators into various sections 
of Hie land, my father had fifty plants sent 
to him. They arrived iu good order, grow¬ 
ing in genuine Chinese soil, aud were from 
three to four inches high. We put them at 
ouce in larger pots, with fresh, rich soil 
around them, but were very careful not to 
disturb the ball of earth which surrounded 
their roots. During the first summer, they 
were kept in partial shade and watered freely 
whenever necessary. They grew off beauti¬ 
fully, and by the next winter were from 
eighteen to twenty-four inches high, and 
looked very healthy. In the month of Jan¬ 
uary we planted them out in our vegetable 
garden, five feet apart each way. They grew 
remarkably well, not one dying, and stood 
both the cold of winter, and the heat of 
summer as well as our native plants. When 
three 3 'cal’s old, we made our first gathering 
of leaves. We had the directions Mr. For¬ 
tune gave, for the preparation of tea, and we 
were particular in following them closely. 
Of course we had none of the conveniences 
which are used in China, but we tried to im¬ 
itate them as nearly as possible. We plucked 
the leaves in the afternoon and spread them 
out on a table, until next morning. We 
then rubbed them in our hands, and dried 
them in a common Dutch oven, stirring ail 
From a Kansas Boy-Hunter. 
Mr. Editor t— Lam a liftcen year-old farmer's 
boy, who does nut Intend to “stick to the 
farm." It was that “ Printer’s Devil's ” letter 
that set mo to writing. Though 1 can sympa¬ 
thize with him in his dislike for farming, yet I 
think t hat lie ts mistaken in regard totliooom- 
poratlvo merits of hunting and printing. Ho 
says that he is afraid of a gun. I know lots of 
girls around here who can shoot, and shoot 
well, too. lie likes to live in town, so that, he 
can sec all that is going on, &c. He can easily 
do that and not see very much either. I prefer 
to take my rille and go out In the woods or on 
tho prairies and make something “ go on.” I 
get my spending money by trapping minks, 
muskrats, coons, &c. In a tew years I intend 
to go out about two hundred miles west from 
here, and spend a fall and winter hunting buf¬ 
falo and trapping beavers. T expect not only 
to have considerable sport, but also to make 
mure money than I could by working hero. I 
advise Frank K. to buy a good rifle and go 
West, if he ever gets money enough by printing, 
and leave sueti trades for the girls. Those en¬ 
thusiastic young farmers who write for the 
Rural, anu think that it is such iun to raise 
poultry, food calves, &c., will tlrid, if they try 
It, that there is something else to be done that 
is not. quite so agreeable. But every one has 
his tastes. Farming is not so very unpleasant 
in the spring of the year, but on the whole it is 
distasteful to me.- .1. it. M., HiauMtha, Kansas. 
THE SLEEP OF PLANTS 
Everybody who is at all conversant with 
the habits of flowers is aware that they sleep 
at night. Tliay fold their petals together 
aud hang their heads in repose, to be again 
awakened hy the morning light. There are 
a very few who reverse the order of nature 
and sleep only in the day time, expanding 
their blossoms at night. The fact that plan ts 
sleep is not so apparent without close obser¬ 
vation; but by noticing closely it. is seen that 
there is quite a change in tin* position of the 
leaves at uight from what they assume in 
tho day time. The Mimosa presents the 
most striking instance of this sleep of the 
plants of any that I have observed. The 
branches droop, and the leaves carl up at tho 
approach of evening. This plant is so very 
sensitive that it is not to be wondered at 
that it exhibits this phenomenon in so re¬ 
markable a degree; but there are others that 
change almost as greatly. It is very inter¬ 
esting to watch this change and the different 
ways it effects different plants. 
Mrs. Loretta E. Knapp Turner. 
North Fairfield, Ohio. 
FLORICULTURAL NOTES 
PUZZLER ANSWERS.-Dec. 13 and 20 
Collodion in Horticulture — The Gazette 
des Campngneti recommends dipping the end 
of plant slips in collodion before setting them 
out. The collodion should contain twice as 
much cotton as the ordinary material used 
in photography. Let the first coat dry aud 
then dip again. After planting the slip, the 
development of the root will tak<? place very 
promptly. This method is said to be partic¬ 
ularly efficacious with woody slips, gerani 
urns, fuchsias, and similar plants. 
Problem No. 14. - 
(81.2403086 rods, 
• 51.K730H78 “ 
1 88.5494175 “ 
Word-Puzzle No. 0.—1. Elephant. 2. Croco¬ 
dile. 3. Alligator. 4. Bear. 5. Armadillo. 6. 
Porcupine. 7. Hippopotamus. 
Cross-word Enigma No. 11.— Canton. 
Concealed Flowers No. 2.—1. Pea. 2. As¬ 
ter. 3. Privet. 4. Dill. 5. Germander. 6. El¬ 
der. 7. Teasel. 8. Lavender. 0. Mallow. 10, 
Igi r row. 
Problem No. 16.—4 and 3. 
Illustrated Rer No. 7.—Anti-monopoly. 
