mm & 
moo'RWB rural www-mmwm* 
omcsttc (Ecottown. 
CONDUCTED DY MARY A. E. WAGER. 
DRIED APPLE PIES. 
I loathe! abhor! detest! despise! 
Abominate dried apple pies; 
I like good bread, I like good meat. 
Or anything that's (It to cat; 
But of all poor grub beneath the skies, 
The poorest is dric*d apple pies. 
Give me toothache or sore eyes 
In preference to such kind of pies. 
The farmer takes his gnnrliest fruit, 
’Tls wormy, bitter, and Intrd to boot; 
They leave the hulls to make us cough, 
And don't take half the peeling oft. 
Then on a dirty cord they're strung. 
And from some chamber window hung; 
And there they serve a roost for ilios 
Until they’re ready to make pics. 
Tread on my corns, or toll me lies, 
But don't pass me dried apple pies, 
[ Selected. 
-» ♦ » 
For 
HOUSEKEEPING, 
Mothers, Girls and Roys. 
Mrs. John IIall is not aremarkablycon¬ 
tented woman. Something lias gone wrong 
in her life, and instead of swallowing tile 
evil and going on cheerfully, she frets, and 
worries, and scolds in that indefinite manner 
particularly exasperating to her hearers. 
One of her grievances is, that, she is under 
the necessity of providing,or, rather, prepar¬ 
ing, food for her household, which numbers 
only lour, herself included; and considering 
that she lives in a village, I’m afraid I didn’t 
sympathize very warmly when I heard her 
complaints the other day. 
One thing is sure,” said Mrs. Hall, “ I’ll 
never teach my Jennie to do housework; 
for if she doesn't know how to do it, she’ll 
never have it to do. I wish I hadn’t known 
anything about housekeeping!” 
I’m aware that some foolish mothers, out 
of mistaken kindness, or out of false pride, 
rear their daughters in total ignorance of 
kitchen-craft, while some really good and 
sensible mothers “can't, he bothered to in¬ 
struct their girls;" and so the years slip 
away—the mothers too, it may he—and the 
girl learns by painful experience, what she 
should have been thoroughly versed in long 
before. Or, imbibing a dislike to what she 
considers a drudgery, she gets along as easi¬ 
ly as she can, and her home lacks the care 
and comfort which she ought to furnish. I 
hold that every wise mother will no more 
neglect the careful training of her gills in 
things domestic, than she would omit to 
provide for their mental and moral furnish¬ 
ing, preparing them fully for the possibility, 
not to say probability, of one day being the 
center of a new home. 
When Mrs. IIall spoke of her little girl, I 
remembered another Jennie who, tenderly 
reared and highly educated, was married 
soon after her graduation, to a young engi¬ 
neer. She lived at home for a couple of 
years, receiving and paying calls, sewing a 
little, and sometimes making a loaf of cake, 
but of course she would never be obliged to 
trouble herself about the homely details of 
every-day life. After three yearn spent thus, 
her husband went to the far West, and short¬ 
ly after sent for her to meet him at Chicago, 
and go to Choir new home. So, with her 
six-months-old baby, she went to Chicago, 
and found a telegram announcing the illness 
of tier husband, at a small village hundreds 
of miles away. 
Nothing daunted she went on the long 
journey and found him at last in a poor 
“ hotel,” utterly devoid of the elegancies to 
which she had been used, to say nothing of 
the convcnieneies. What could slm do, poor 
child, who had never had the whole care of 
her babe till now. Here was her husband, 
ill of a low fever, nothing properly cooked 
and no care for him save her own. They 
stayed a month, and then the property 
changed hands, and she sought in vain to 
find another place, till an infirm old lady 
who had helped Jennie some by her kind¬ 
ness, offered two upper rooms, un plastered 
and almost unfurnished; but Jennie must 
do all her work; she could only give the 
shelter. So six weary months dragged slow¬ 
ly by, Jennie cooking and washing, and 
nursing her two helpless dear ones, and only 
God knows what suffering she secretly bore 
—tortured by anxiety for him she loved, 
whose reason returned but tardily, and hin¬ 
dered everywhere by her inexperience; with¬ 
out friends at hand and after a while with¬ 
out money, till she sold some of her bridal 
presents. 
She told me afterwards when the bloom 
bad crept back to her cheek, and the lines of 
care had almost vanished, that the most 
truly thankful moment she ever saw was 
when she made a howl of gruel that her 
invalid could eat. “It seemed when 1 was 
put to the test,” said she, “ that I knew just 
nothing at all. I could play the piano, talk 
and read French, sketch and paint, but I 
could’ut even make gruel. I don’t know 
how I could have been so short-sighted, and 
I made it my first business as soon as ever I 
reached civilization to take a thorough 
course of lessons, which ought to have been 
i—JL/J- 
Pv «Vr ^37® 
in our Seminary course I think. 1 learned 
to cook for the sick, to make bread and cook 
a steak, to wash, and iron, and if the trial 
ever comes again I shall he mistress of the 
situation as far as skill is concerned.” 
Jennie’s experience is not rare, by any 
means, and therefore l always urge girls to 
be versed in housework, even if it, cost them 
the loss of " practice.” Girls should he 
made “handy” by the early doing of little 
household labors. They should lie taught 
to care for their own rooms; to look after 
their own clothes; and when they are old 
enough, they should superintend the whole 
house for weeks at a time. It gives them 
ample scope to exercise their executive abil¬ 
ity; it cultivates their judgment; it gives 
them valuable, practical knowledge, that 
they might otherwise gain only at Lhe price 
of suffering; it gives the mother an oppor¬ 
tunity to correct mistakes that might lead to 
grave results. ITow long will it be before 
women learn that labor is not degrading ? 
Certainly no labor is unimportant that affects 
the happiness of those who are dearest to 
them. 
Boys ought to be taught a part of the kitch¬ 
en mysteries, too, every one of them. It 
is not at all “ out of place” for them to help 
mother. “ The bravest are the temlerest;” 
but, as I started to say, it will do no harm 
for them to be enlightened concerning the 
rudiments, and it may be very convenient. 
Do I not remember that I once broke my 
collar-bone, at a time when help was not to 
he obtained for any consideration whatever ? 
Paterfamilias turned the matter over philo¬ 
sophically, laid down the implements of ag¬ 
riculture, and gallantly devoted himself to 
the house. If I had been really ill, I can’t 
say how I should have taken it; bill, as it 
was, I did a deal of laughing to see him 
serenely march about, putting everything 
out of order, and blundering over the simple 
things lie had seen me do daily for years. 
Once ho steeped the tea without, any water, 
and the next time he steeped water minus 
the tea; and as for bread making, he could 
not he induced to a second trial of that pro¬ 
cess, but kept us on hominy, mush, griddle- 
cukes, muffins, and other soft, concoctions of 
the bread tribe, till I could manage it for 
myself lie took ton times as many steps a 
day as was necessary, and then was always 
running away from the tabic after things lie 
had forgotten. Before his apprenticeship 
was over, lie solemnly charged me to train 
up the boys SO that they needn’t he so in- 
isfficlenl, and so I have taught them how to 
lay the table properly, to wash dishes, sweep, 
etc. I have luken pains never to make my 
instructions burdensome, but to mix in a 
good deal of pleasant information about 
whatever we happen to bo doing. Some¬ 
times we all sing together, and' sometimes 
we tell stories, riddles, etc. We don’t find 
it so very dreadful to do our own work 
when it is necessary. Sometimes we do it 
from choice ; for we put our whole hearts in 
it., use our heads as well as our hands, and 
everything moves on as harmoniously as one 
need desire. Dore Hamilton. 
-- 
LIGHT 
D. W. E., Peoria Co., Ill., writes “ I 
have read with a great deal of interest the 
articles ou Light Brahma fowls as they have 
appeared in the columns of the Rural 
New-Yorker. I purchased some eggs, 
which were said to be pure, of an Eastern 
breeder, last year, and fear that 1 have been 
victimized. 1 would like to Iuiyc you, if 
consistent on your part, to give through 
tracts universal commendation by both the 
amateur and breeder.— l. 
-- 
POULTRY NOTES. 
To Keep BrcciN of Fowls Pure. 
II. Robinson, Allegany Co., Md., writes; 
“Through the influence of the Rural New- 
Yorker, I have been led tor try some pure 
bred poultry, and as the Brahmas have such 
a good name, T sent, to a breeder and had one. 
cock and three hens forwarded to me. They 
came, and were beauties; they laid seventy 
one eggs before they wanted to sit. I then 
set them on thirteen eggs each; after a time 
- ( 
A. PREMIUM lACrlia' HUATIMA. cock. 
port through the Rural of our success 
The eggs were packed in the English man¬ 
ner, wrapped in two or three thicknesses of 
paper and then put between layers of cut, 
hay. It, strikes ns that, the packing is not as 
good as tlw mode practiced by Rennet & 
Co., still we hope in due time to report on 
both modes. 
Ten Goslings from Eight Eggs. 
W. IT. Wood of Slate llill, Orange Co., 
N. Y., informs the Middletown Mercury 
that he. had this spring ten goslings produced 
from eight, eggs. The eggs were hatched by 
hens. The goslings hatched from the double 
yolkod eggs were hardly to bo distinguished 
from the others in regard to size, and are yet 
alive and doing well. They w ere not con¬ 
nected together as is always said to be ilia 
case with birds hatched from such eggs, and 
are believed to be the only ones on record 
that have lived beyond the process of iueu- 
bation. 
A Cheap Poultry House Wanted. 
A Cortlandville, Cortland Co., N. Y., 
subscriber wishes information as to the best 
and cheapest mode of building a poultry 
house for hens, ducks, geese, etc. lie does 
not give the dimensions of the house he 
wishes to build. Will some of our readers, 
who have the experience, give us their mode 
through the columns of the Rural New- 
Yorker ? 
Chickens Drooping and Dying. 
Chickens are very often seen in the poul¬ 
try-yard drooping and moping about, and 
finally die before any attention is paid to 
them; and then breeders are profuse in 
their queries as to wlial, ails their fowls. 
One reason is that the chicks are either loo 
highly fed or become lousy. In the former 
Case, the food should be chopped eggs, bread 
and milk, scraps from the table chopped 
fine, and let them have plenty of fresh 
mold and road sand, or gravel. In the latter 
case, put some worm-wood in their water 
and grease the head thoroughly with lard or 
fresh butter. In our youthful days the first 
thing we did after tho chicken was out of 
the shell was to saturate its head well with 
fresh bill lor. This precaution, in our opin¬ 
ion, has saved us many a brood.—L. 
Transportation of F.ugs lor llntching. 
I HAVE this season sold light Brahma eggs 
for hatching to parties very distant, and the 
result has been more successful than many 
would believe. One dozen sent from Lock- 
port, N. Y., to Stanton, Kansas, by railroad 
about tiro thousand miles, arrived sound, and 
, six of them batched. The report adds, “ are 
doing first-rate.” I have had eggs brought 
(100 miles by railroad, but only one third 
hatched and in some cases none, i now 
believe fresh laid e;/y$, (and no other should 
lie packed,) may be carried three thousand 
miles and hatch. The idea has prevailed 
that the jar of the railroad would shake up 
the eggs so much that they could not hatch, 
but tIns is proved not to be so. Tlio failure 
to hatch is from other causes than the dis¬ 
tance carried.—L. A. 8., Lockport , N. Y, 
IVY FOR ROOM BORDER. 
Not far from New York city is a house 
with one charming room in it. One of the 
charms is the border created by two pots of 
ivy. It has been growing three or four 
years, and now runs entirely around the 
room, over the tops of the windows, and is 
beautiful beyond description. Plants and 
flowers may be made to furnish a room be¬ 
yond the reach of satin and rosewood, and 
at small cost. Will not the readers of the 
Rural New-Yorker profit by this? and 
If any have pretty home adornments of any 
kind or sort, do please tell us about, them. 
This Department, is democratic from Lop to 
bottom, always open to conviction, and 
eager to give everybody a welcome. So 
oiieii your hearts at once, and come in and 
empty them! 
Kitchen nt the l’«i> of the House. 
Tue distinctive feature of a hotel in New 
York, now in the process of erection, Is hav¬ 
ing the kitchen on the top floor, thus dis¬ 
pensing with the odor of cookery, &c. By 
means of elevators, the work becomes quite 
as easy ; and then, how cooks and cookery 
will be elevated ’ 
-- 
TO COOK KOHL RABI. 
Tins vegetable, known as Turnip-Rooted 
Cabbage, is not grown ns extensively as its 
merits warrant; but as they are now just 
coming into market, I will give you my 
method of cooking, in answer to un’inquiry 
in a late number of the Rural Jnew- 
YouitEtt. I pare and cut them as T would 
a turnip, and boil in the same maimer, 
having them cook quick, with very little 
salt. Pour oti’thc water and mash in a bowl 
while hot, being particular to make them 
fine as possible. They are very full of fibers 
or strings, from the leaves growing down on 
the sides. Pass fork tines briskly through 
them to remove the strings, and butter and 
season as for turnips. Their flavor is a 
compound of turnip and cabbage, or more 
correctly, cauliflower; and if cooked while 
Voting and tender make a delicious dish.— 
*! 
Mrs. D. W. White, Alden, N. Y. 
your paper a portrait, of a pure bred Light 
Brahma cock, with such other information 
as may lead me to determine on the purity 
of my fowls. After paying a large price for 
eggs, and taking great care to have them 
hatched, I dislike to be cheated in the end, 
by having Other than the pure breed thrust 
upon me. By complying with my request 
you will much oblige not only myself, but 
numerous of my neighbors and readers of 
your valuable journal.” 
In compliance with the request of our 
correspondent, we herewith give an illus¬ 
tration of a premium Light Brahma cock, 
which we consider faultless. We occasion¬ 
ally receive letters from our readers com¬ 
plaining of the want of purity of eggs pur¬ 
chased by them. Where causes for com¬ 
plaint exist they are vexations in the ex¬ 
treme ; for a man who will sell seed or eggs 
that are not true to name, knowingly, is not 
lit to live among honest, people, and should 
be published, far and near, as a swindler 
Pure Light Brahma fowls arc chiefly 
white in color of plumage, but if the feath¬ 
ers are parted, the bottom of the plumage 
will appear of a bluish-gray, showing an im¬ 
portant distinction between them and White 
Cochins, in which the feathers are always 
white down to the skin. The neck lmcklcs 
should be distinctly striped with black down 
the center of each feather. That of the 
cock is often lighter than in the case of the 
hen; the back should be quite white in both 
sexes. The wings should appear white 
when folded, but the flight feathers are 
black; the tail black in both cock and hen ; 
in the cock, however, it is well developed, 
and the coverts show splendid green reflec¬ 
tions in the light; it should stand tolerably 
upright, and open well out laterally, like a 
fan; the legs should be yellow and well 
covered with white feathers, which may or 
may not he very slightly mottled with black; 
car-lobes must be pure red, and every bird 
should have a perfect pea-comb, though 
good birds with a single comb have oc¬ 
casionally been shown with good success ; 
hut, as a general thing, the pea-comb fowl 
shows off to the best advantage, and id- 
I had only nine chickens hatch from the 
thirty-nine eggs. 1 then bought ten common 
hens, and as fast us they desired, I set them 
on the Brahma eggs, and every egg produced 
a chicken. What, is the reason of the Brah¬ 
mas not hatching their own eggs ? Another 
question I want to ask is, Can we not put up 
a cock and two or three liens by them:elves, 
to keep the breed pure?” 
The probability is the reason that the 
Brahmas did not bring off more chicks is be¬ 
cause they were disturbed in their maternal 
duties, and led to leave their nests so fre¬ 
quently that the eggs became chilled. Com¬ 
mon liens prove far better as setters and 
mothers than any other breed we know of, 
and wherever they can, should be selected 
for that purpose. There is no reason why 
fowls cannot he kept pure by placing a 
“cock and two or three hens by themselves.” 
Wo would recommend our correspondent to 
select from Ids flock a cock and, say from 
live to seven hens, and put them in hennery 
by themselves. He can in that way keep his 
breed pure; a cock will serve from five to 
seven liens well, and the product will l>c a 
strong and healthy brood, if the parent bird 
be “ all right.” 
lUusk Duck Eggs. 
We have received from F. W. B., New 
Haven, C'onu., a box of one dozen Musk 
Duck eggs, which arrived in good order, and 
for which the donor will please accept our 
thanks. lie says of this breed of ducks;* 
“I consider them as superior to all other 
breeds, (and I have tried many,) both for 
laying, size and setting. They are from 
birds which received the first premium at 
the Connecticut State [Poultry Show held in 
November, I80U. They were regarded by 
all as the most attractive breed of ducks on 
exhibition. The birds weigh, when grown, 
males twelve and a-half, and females nine 
pounds; lay constantly, and are the best of 
setters. It. requires five weeks to hatch the 
eggs. No water is needed to raise this breed 
with success.” 
We have done as our correspondent de¬ 
sired, i. e., put the eggs received under a 
hen, and hope to be able to make a good rc- 
A You iijr (Jock Crowiug. 
P. Balder, Winona, Mian., writing a busi¬ 
ness letter June loth, says;—■“ While I have 
been writing this, my wife lias been having 
a big laugh at a Leghorn cock, six weeks old, 
crowing under the window.” That must be 
a great place for Leghorns! 
jsdutne- 
PIG-PEN PAPERS. 
Pigs with Hitachi'-, on thole Burks. 
I have two pigs out of twenty-three that 
are losing the use of their hind parts by a 
bunch on the hack, just buck of the shoul¬ 
ders. They have been on the ground ever 
since they were horn—now seven weeks old 
—and these bunches have been on five weeks. 
Will some one give me a remedy ? They eat 
well with the rest, but it is plain they are 
growing weaker.— M. v. b. a. 
M. 8. P., Livingston Co., N. Y., lias swine 
with lice on t hem, aud asks if any one knows 
a remedy. We have been told that hog’s 
lard, melted and poured along the entire 
length of the back, among Lhe bristles, will 
kill them. A Hint to a hog is enough. 
How Georgians Prevent Hog Stealing. 
The Plantation says the fanners of South¬ 
western Georgia prevent hog thieving in this 
way:—“ They feed their hogs on strychnine, 
giving a level teaspoonful to every three 
grown hogs at a time. The strychnine pene¬ 
trates the hog’s flesh and poisons it for three 
weeks thereafter. If eaten during this time 
it is fatal. The owner only has to let it be 
known that he gives his hogs strychnine, and 
they will be safe.” 
An Ailing Pig 
Is thus described by John Peters.: —“In 
the evening the pig could not use the hind 
legs; next morning it was not able to use 
any one leg; was red behind its eyes; the 
body was hot; did not eat and drink, and 
died about 
matter. 
hood 
was 
