* 
Hominy or Cracked Corn. 
Perhaps if, could better be called “ hulled 
corti;” for hulling is all the preparation it 
really needs. We have it in our market un¬ 
der the name of “ samp and the nicest is 
that which is the least broken. There is no 
reason why all our farmers might not get, it 
as readily as they get rice. It is cooked 
precisely in the same way as the wheat. 
When I first ate tins, seasoned with salt and 
pepper and butter and sauced with fowl 
gravy, I thought it most delicious. I have 
since found it more delicate and more easily 
digested with less seasoning. It goes well 
with any kind of meats and with eggs (see 
Rural May 21st,) as also with squashes, 
beets, cabbage and sweet potatoes. Of course 
the season is too early for the latter unless 
you have them dried — a very desirable 
article. 
Pens 
are far too wholesome and agreeable to be so 
much neglected as they are. Dried peas of 
all kinds and especially of the choice kinds 
arc very desirable cooked until tender, very 
much after the fashion of the wheat above 
mentioned 
now a drawing of a specimen I met with 
sunning itselt on a hoard fence, a tew years 
ago, which, I suspect strongly, is the insect 
in question; and yet I had no knowledge 
that this species is recognized as found 
within the United States. 1 hope Mr. Mar¬ 
tin will send us a perfect insect in the 
beetle form, to confirm cither Its identity or 
close proximity to the European species. 
Lancaster, Pa., May, 18(59. T. Stauffbr. 
onwsfre (Kcanamn 
l}t JuitimrUst 
mttr aWful 
CONDUCTED BY MARY A. E. WAGER, 
THE WIRE-WORM, 
TIN FRUIT CANS: 
Are They a Source ol’ Metallic Poisoning. 
Tiie Scientific American of June 18th 
FARMER’S DINNERS, 
Yoitr8 of the 37th inst., inclosing a larva 
from J. B. Martin, Kingston, East Tennes¬ 
see, which he found infesting the roots of 
lettuce, is a veritable wire-worm, the larva? 
of a spring beetle, or skip-jack—the genus 
Agnates, among the Elaterida. Harris, 
Ed. 1862, pp. 56, Fig. 29, Elater (Affriotee) 
Obesus of Say, which Dr. Lecont is inclined 
to believe is not the E. Obesus, hut that of 
the Elator Manats of Say. It, does not sig¬ 
nify which species it is. It is remarkable 
that neither Harris nor Fitch give us the 
history of this or any allied species so cele¬ 
brated in Europe for its ravages aud destruc¬ 
tive habits. Harris observes, n. 57:—“In 
BY JULIA COLMAN. 
Standard Dishes. 
Early summer is by far the most “ trying ” 
season of the year for getting up a variety in 
our dinners, and indeed for getting anything 
wholesome, palatable aud refreshing. The 
old vegetables arc nearly all gone, and the 
new ones are yet scarce. Many have not 
yet acquired the habit of canning vegetables, 
and many who do can use them up in the 
winter. That, by the way, I consider a 
great, mistake. In the winter we have still 
some fresh fruits and a much greater variety 
of other food; wh ile there is no season of the 
year when we need the resources of canned 
vegetables aud fruits, too, so much as in the 
spring and early summer. So I always keep 
by far the larger proportion of my cans 
for that season, unless, indeed, I have all I 
want and to spare. The latter is a very de¬ 
sirable state of things always to bo aimed at, 
and in the course of years it may be attained 
in most families by increasing in some de¬ 
gree the number of cans every year. 
But what to have for dinner! The men 
folks are tired of greens and I don’t wonder; 
for they are worth little in themselves, ami 
still less when boiled up in essence of pork. 
“ They will not have them any other way I” 
Have you tried them V 
Beet Salad. 
I ate yesterday of a very palatable dish of 
young beets, about as big as your finger, tops 
and all. They were boiled tender, the water 
drained oil, then about an equal bulk of 
sliced pie-plant, with two or three spoonsful 
of water put into the kettle, (which was por¬ 
celain, of course,) the beet tops placed over 
them, all covered close, and cooked till the 
pie-plant was done. All was then mixed 
intimately and served. No other dressing 
was required. You may call this beet salad ; 
but if you call if “ greens ” the old greasy 
taste will he expected, and you will probably 
get your labor for your pains. However, 
this is only one of the side dishes, and we 
propose to treat of more solid matters—for 
example, the 
Potatoes. 
The old ones are grown, or withered, or 
green from careless exposure, and not very 
desirable in any way; and the new ones are 
less so. I know of few things so unsatisfy¬ 
ing as an unripe potato. It is astonishing 
says: 
—“Our attention has been called to this 
subject by a note of inquiry from a lady in 
Brooklyn, Miss Julia Colman, who 1ms 
achieved considerable popularity as a tem¬ 
perance lecturer, and has made the subjects 
of food and nutrition a favorite study. 
“ The queries she propounds are, Ave think, 
of sufficient importance to merit public at¬ 
tention, which, oucc aroused to the subject, 
will not, we trust, he content until a positivo 
answer is obtained to the query which forms 
the heading of the present article. 
“Tin has long been justly regarded as one 
of the metals from the ordinary uses of 
which mankind have nothing to fear. But 
the present age is characterized by its facti¬ 
tious imitations. That which goes by the 
name of tinfoil is mostly an alloy of tin and 
lead, and it isclmrged that many of the caps 
used for glass fruit jars arc made of zinc in¬ 
stead of tin. It is well known also that lead 
is used in soldering cans, and that this metal 
is attnekod by certain organic acids, which 
are contained in fruits. The tin of com¬ 
merce is also by no means pure, and house¬ 
keepers will vouch that the tin cans are often 
attacked by these acids, and eaten through 
so as to leak their fluid contents. In the 
Case of impurities in the tin used to coat iron 
of the tin plates of commerce, when the 
cans are thus attacked, it. may well lie doubt¬ 
ed whether the cumulated effects of metallic 
poisoning do not sometimes result from this 
cause. 
“Our correspondent writes as follows: 
‘ So far as the evidence of the senses goes, 
housekeepers know that cooking tomatoes 
in tin “ ruins I be basins” as one good woman 
said; and another admitted that she com¬ 
monly used up at least one “basin” in a 
season for this purpose. How much injury 
the partaker receives wo do not know, but 
so much has been said of the sad effects of 
metallic poisoning, even in small though 
long continued doses, that wo would like V 
he assured of safety. Professor Youmans 
thinks it a small matter, but, I find that 
many medical authorities disagree with him. 
One of the latter says:—“It ought to he 
known to housekeepers that acid, fatty, 
saline, and even albuminous substances may 
occasion colic, vomiting, etc., after having 
remained some time in tin vessels.” ’ 
“ Wo seo that the inner surface of the tin 
Can is discolored after having been used for 
fruit, and wo find that the flavors of the 
niora delicate fruits arc injured when they 
have been kept in tin cans, hut whether tho 
acid acts after the expulsion of the free 
oxygen, or only during the canning process, 
we do not know. 
“ Zinc is more readily oxidized thau tin, 
and yet the caps of some of our glass cans 
are made of that, substance. 
“ Many if not all the tin cans are freely 
soldered with lead, and it seems inevitable 
that the usual galvanic action must result 
when they are filled with an acid. 
“ I have no desire to raise a false alarm, 
Indeed I should be much gratified to learn 
that such a use of tin cans is perfectly safe, 
sines many depend on them for all their 
canned fruit. 
“ If the amount of tin that, may enter thosys 
tern, as a result of its domestic use, is not 
likely to prove injurious, the questions aro 
narrowed down to tho purity of the article 
used and the actual results of using the vari¬ 
ous cans prepared for our market. 
“ 1 had an opportunity recently to make 
some inquiries of Professor Edwards, of the 
‘ Woman’s Medical College of the N. Y. In¬ 
firmary,’ and lie said that the tin cans, an 
prepared, arc very unsafe, and that the acids 
dissolve tin: lead solder and sometimes eat 
through the entire plate, making the cans 
leak, (a new fact to ine,) and also that serious 
cases of poisoning had occurred from using 
their contents. If facts like these could be 
called out from scientific men they would 
arrest public attention, and they might sug¬ 
gest to manufacturers of glass cans the de¬ 
sirability of protecting the inner surfaces of 
their metallic caps in some way. Those 
with metallic caps work so much more eas¬ 
ily than others, that they will long be more 
or less in demand. (Professor Edwards, 
however, said that the metal used in them is 
lead.) 1 line mine with stiff white ptiper, a 
small protection of course.” 
“ Wc believe the subject thus broached by 
our correspondent is one of importance. If 
manufacturers arc presuming upon popular 
ignorance, and palming off upon the public 
zinc and lead for tin in vessels intended to 
contain food, the fact ought To he known. 
Acetic acid acts slowly upon lead, hut its 
action is hastened by exposure of tho metal 
to air. Acid fluids act with more violence 
upon zinc. 
“ According to Miller commercial tin 
may and usually does contain (except the 
Baiica tin, which is not used for tin plates! 
small quantities of copper, arsenic, iron and 
lead. Of these adulterations all but the iron 
are poisonous. The copper as well ns the 
lead is acted upon by vegetable acids. In 
the gradual destruction of vessels made of 
tin plains by culinary use, it would seeinthat 
more or less of tho poisonous salts of the 
metals named must enter the food prepared 
in them. Whether this amount is sufficient 
to affect health is a question that ought to be 
decided.” 
NOTES FOR NATURALISTS. 
Lime for Currant. Worms. 
W. II. Y., Clarketon, Mich., writes the 
Rural New-Yorker: —“I have used with 
complete success air-slaked lime applied 
while hushes aro wet; renew the application 
in about a week to destroy the coming 
generation. It is much cheaper than helle¬ 
bore.” 
A Cheap Grub Destroyer. 
Cabbage, cauliflower and other plants of 
this family are often troubled with grubs to 
the great detriment, of tlm crop. Some one 
lias recommended tho following remedy:— 
Into a good sized watering pot dissolve a 
teacupful of salt, and give tho plants a lib¬ 
eral sprinkling. The saline water sinks into 
the ground, not only killing the grubs, but 
benefiting the crop. Gardeners frequently 
put a spoonful of salt into the leaves of 
Cabbage; which if is claimed aids its heading 
and is also a fertilizer. 
Now is the time to secure a sup¬ 
ply for next winter and spring. 
Bcnim 
of all kinds, but especially white beans, are 
a favorite resort, of tho hard-pushed provider, 
and she lias, of course, her own way of cook¬ 
ing them, and “The men folks don’t like 
them in any other way.” Well, l find that 
we can accustom the men folks to like them 
as wo prepare them, and I have known some 
men folks to become very fond of them 
cooked as follows (suppose you try it, for va¬ 
riety ?):—Prepare and cook them in simple 
pure water, not changing it at all, cooking 
slowly until they begin to fall to pieces and 
keeping closely covered. Serve warm in 
their juice, which should just, fill them, sea¬ 
soned only with a little salt. You will, in 
this way, secure all the delicacy and flavor 
of the bean, much of which is lost in turn¬ 
ing off the waters. Try this fashion, and 
you will be surprised at its excellence. The 
Southern people also frequently uso beans 
with samp about one-fourth or one-fifth of 
the former, putting them in at the proper 
time to finish cooking with the samp. It is 
a very palatable dish. 
Colorado Torino Bin*. 
A. 0. M., Whitewater, Wis., writes the 
Rural New-Yorker that the following is 
“ warranted a sure cure for the old hugs and 
tho hatched grubs. One part dry Paris 
green to three parts dry flour or fine ashes, 
applied to the potato tops while tho dew is 
on. Apply but little, as a large quantity 
may injure the tops; a very little will kill 
the bugs, t uso a salt sack, such as grocers 
sell table Baltin ; put the mixture in thiaand 
shake it on the hills. If the bugs appear a 
second time in two or three weeks apply 
again.” 
To Keen on Insects. 
Inspecting a neighbor’s garden, I ob¬ 
served that, lliero was an onion growing in 
every bill of squashes. It was put i here as a 
preventive and so far it has proven effectual. 
When the vines got so large as to be out. of 
danger from the little pests, the onion will 
be large enough for (lie table. 
Another plan, where there are hut few 
plants which can be well attended to, is to 
go in the cool parts of the day, when the in¬ 
sects are at their work, and piny “ Shoo Fly ” 
by touching the? plants. The disturbance 
frequently repeated is said to prevent their 
ravages to a considerable extent. For the 
striped bug, place a piece of pine bark on 
every hill. In the morning the bugs will be 
found on the under side of it. Rub against 
the ground and kill them.—w. m. 
FRUIT WINES, 
Any fruit, grapes or berries which you 
wish to have wines made from should lie 
gathered full ripe and clean to be mashed, 
so as to extract the juice better, and let fer¬ 
ment. Bring the juice to the strength of 
sixteen degrees to tho sirup scale by adding 
sugar enough. The time of fermentation is 
unlimited; that depends on the weather; if 
above sixty-five degrees Fah., the tempera¬ 
ture will be too high to have a good fermen¬ 
tation. Let your wines ferment until twelve 
degrees of sugar has become alcohol, and 
draw it off immediately into a jar or barrel. 
A barrel is the best to make wine quick; 
but a five or ten gallon glass demijohn is 
the best for family use. Put your wine into 
a place more_warm thau cold. Do not close 
your glass demijohn, but pour in about 
one-quarter inch thick of sweet oil. The 
oil will prevent any air getting into the wine, 
and be a safe-keeping to parties not ac¬ 
quainted with wine. Keep until after the 
wine is clear, which will require weeks or 
months; draw it off; clean your casks or 
demijohns; re-fill again and add to forty 
gallons two pounds of the best loaf sugar, 
and let it remain so for six months. Take 
care to fill your vessel with the same wine 
kept out for this purpose every one, two 
or three weeks, according to weather. So 
long as undecomposed sugar is found in 
your wine there is no risk that acetic fer¬ 
mentation will take place. Never pour any 
kind of brandies into your wine; you will 
destroy it. Sugar is the proper food for 
wine in its raw state. 
After the wine is six months old, draw it 
off and take for every forty gallons the 
whites of four eggs, one tumblerful of salt, 
white sand, a half cup of water; put the 
whole together and pour tho same into your 
cask. Stir thoroughly the wine in the cask; 
let it settle for a fortnight, and draw it off 
into a clean cask, and let it remain again for 
three to six months, adding again two 
pounds of sugar, after which it is ready to 
sell or rack off into bottles. If the wine has 
been well cured, it will be number one in 
Tho Striped Bug:. 
The editor of the Germantown Tele¬ 
graph thus gives his method of protecting 
cucumber, melon and other vines from the de- 
predationsof the striped hug, which, lie says, 
after several years’ trial lias proved a com¬ 
plete success. “ Instead of aiming to drive 
away tho insect by soot, ashes, &c., we pet. 
it or rather furnish it with food better than 
the young melon and cucumber plants. YVe 
sow around each hill at the Lime of each 
planting a few radish seed, and coming up 
about the same time, tho tops supply pasture 
for the hug which it much prefers to i.|j«* vines. 
Lettuce will also answer, but the radish is 
rather liked the best. While our vines are 
untouched by making this little provision 
for it., the young radish tops are completely 
perforated* Should this fait—which is sel¬ 
dom Ilia case, and 1ms never been with us— 
sprinkle tho vines with a solution of whale 
oil soap and water. No other insect hut the 
curculio can stand this soap. Where this 
preparation is not attainable, a weak solut ion 
of carbolic disinfectant soap will answer as 
well.” _ 
Phosphorus for Cu rcnlfo*. 
At a recent meeting of the Cincinnati 
Horticultural Society, Mr. Welsh stated 
that, for some purpose, his wife had procured 
a small quantity Of phosphorus, the odor of 
whicli was so extremely offensive that he 
removed it oat of the house, and by mere 
chance ho placed it in the crotch of a plum 
tree. That season the tree was loaded with 
plums, while other trees had none. Whether 
it was the unpleasant, odor which drove the 
curculios away or not, ho did not pretend 
to say. 
Mr. Buciiaxan had not tried phosphorus, 
but he had tried various things of a “bad 
smelling” nature. His experience was tho 
curculio did not “scare" at, all—they would 
not be driven away by anv “ bad smell" that, 
lie could offer them. Mr. Price said that 
t he way Mr. Keller kept t he curculio away 
from Ills trees was to place damp out, straw 
under the trees once a week and lnirn the 
same. The curculios did not scent to like 
the smoke. 
Mrs. Bickham said that the plum trees 
near her house, around which the dish 
water and kitchen slops were thrown, were 
exempt from the curculio, while others, not 
so treated, boro no fruit. Mr. McWilliams 
had found throwing water daily into the 
plum trews was very beneficial in keeping 
away the curculio. This insect seemed to 
like quiet, and did not fancy such a “ daily” 
disturbance, 
Fig. 1, the natural size of the larva sent 
to me; 2, a magnified view of the upper 
side of head and first four rings; 3, the under 
side, showing the three pairs of short feet; 
4, the upper side of the two terminal joints ; 
5, the under side of the same; 6 , the Elater 
(Agviote*) sputator described by K cellar ; 7, 
t he Enter (Agnates) obesus (or Manats) of Say. 
As the insect sent you from Tennessee is 
unquestionably tho one described by ICcel- 
l.vr, and its ravages arc comparatively un¬ 
known in the United States, since I fail to 
find that notice which the subject domands. 
1 was induced to copy the article, as it. gives 
very important information, and should 
arrest the attention of our gardeners to 
know this new enemy among us. I have 
To Renovate Crape.—I have seen it look “just 
as good as new," by steaming. [ fold my ernpo 
on a board and fix it over a vessel of hot water, 
(bolting. If possible,) throwing over the crape 
and vessel a towel, to confine tho steam as much 
as possible; turn about once or twice, that each 
side may get “a benefit.” In five or ten minutes 
I have new crape—E. A. S., Wadeshnmvgh, N. C. 
’9 
i 
