dip another hour, then run through the tub 
of lime water fifteen minutes; now make 
new dye with logwood, two ami a-hatf 
pounds; boll one hour; dip in three hours; 
add bi-chromate of potash, two ounces, to 
logwood dye, and clip one hour. Wash in 
clear cold water and dry in shade. — Mbs. 
R. W. H._ 
Beef Tomato IMe. 
I can recommend this to all lovers of to¬ 
matoes Take cold roast beef, cut. in small 
thin slices; have the tomatoes ripe and 
peeled ; line a deep dish with a light biscuit 
crust; put a layer of beef, then a layer of 
sliced tomatoes; salt, butter and pepper to 
taste, until the dish is nearly full; put on 
the top crust, culling a gash from the top to 
the bottom of the dish that il. may not burn, 
Bake two hours in a slow oven,—M. c. 
ered with wire or wire cloth, and D is the 
lid of the bait box, fastened down by the 
pin E. 
Either of the traps herewith illustrated 
will answer the purpose of our correspon¬ 
dent, and are a desirable, cheap and useful 
implement to have always conveniently at 
hand, and ready for use when needed. 
ggumc Informaiicrn 
mxtsiit ®<ran0mg 
CARE OF CHILDREN 
CONDUCTED BY MAKY A. E. WAGER 
POULTRY ENEMIES: 
Weasel, Rut and Vermin Trnps. 
M. L. S., Milo Center, N. Y., writes:—I 
have been troubled this spring by what I 
think is a weasel among my bens. I find 
the hens lying derul under their roosts in the 
morning, with a hole about three-fourths of 
an inch iu diameter eaten under the wing. 
If you, or any of your numerous readers can 
inform me how to catch them, I shall feel 
under lasting obligations.” 
We have seen the common steel rat-trap 
used with good success in destroying these 
vermin; also the common box-trap. Geye- 
lin’s “Poultry Breeding," gives a description 
and engraving of a trap which we give in this 
To mothers who anxiously inquire how to 
make children healthy, I would say, com¬ 
mence aright. Tt. is a senseless and cruel 
thing to take a young, feeble anti tender in¬ 
fant and drOss it, even in cold weather, in a 
manner that Would chill and nearly freeze a 
hardy, older person. No matter how in¬ 
clement the season, the silly mother must 
have her tender infant dressed in style, with 
its little throat, lungs and shoulders uncov¬ 
ered, and Uic arms bare, with oidy a string 
of gauze looped up on the shoulder; be¬ 
cause any other garb would look “ pokish" 
and old-fashioned. A young infant has but 
little means for circulating the blood, and 
the loose blanket about it is on one moment 
and oft the next, by that very means doing 
more hurt than good. There the helpless 
creature lies, getting first, red and tlieu pur¬ 
ple with the cold, ami laying ample founda¬ 
tions for the diseases that are sure to come, 
I repeat again, that a strong, rugged per¬ 
son could not bear the exposure to which 
tender infants of a few weeks’ or months’ 
age are subjected, simply through the igno¬ 
rance of their mothers, or for silly pride. 
My two little boys, whom I now hear 
yelling like moss troopers, ns they navigate 
some slate rocks across the ledges for their 
miniature fort, I claim, obtained the power 
of lungs by being clothed , not trimmed, when 
infants. 
I don’t believe in cheese, mince pies and 
hot doughnuts for anybody’s supper, let 
alone for children’s; hut some people feed 
such things to the darlings because they will 
cry for it. I know scores of little girls, 
white or sallow-faced, thin and sickly, who, 
from early spring until fall, have their necks, 
lungs and shoulders senselessly exposed to 
the winds, the drafts and dews; and in 
winter they wear cotton or “ Portsmouth” 
stockings, with those hateful, hateful high 
hoots, which I abominate aud anathematize; 
and between the frill of the drawers and the 
tops of the stockings a gleam of blue llesk 
b discoverable at. any time. 
One more hit at those hateful boots, and I 
! am done for the present—those high-heeled, 
high-legged, with that endless ladder of 
siring, up which no angel ever climbed! 
Abominable feet gear! if laced up, insur¬ 
ing icy cold feed, from lack of circulation; 
, ,il left unlaced, the feet might as well floun- 
f der in post-holes; the heels compelling a 
5 gait similar to that of a turkey walking over 
- hot ashes. Despicable things! I never 
r have worn them, and never w ill; preferring, 
3 if need be, to come to the wooden sandal of 
i tiie ancients. Mrs. C. 
LARD AND SOAP ADULTERATION. 
After reciting the use of twelve thou¬ 
sand dollars’ worth of water a day for the 
adulteration of milk in Now Tork city, the 
Journal of Chemistry saysWe now 
hear of another fraud that is practiced on 
the community in the extension of lard by 
means of water. By stirring melted lard 
with water it can he made to take up as 
much as thirty per cent. The wholesale 
dealers arc aware of the fraud, and always 
demand a discount for water, but even they 
rarely allow for more than eight per cent., 
while the retail buyer pays for the water at 
the highest rates. 
“ In the manufacture of soap it is also 
found convenient to anticipate the laundress 
by adding the water to the bars, and wo 
hear of soaps that contain as much as sixty 
to seventy per cent, water. 
“ It is probable that all articles that will 
hear the admixture are adulterated with 
water, so that we could properly include 
this liquid ou our price list,, and il' wc quoted 
it at the rates frequently paid for it in dis¬ 
guise, we should find water to be one of 
the dearest chemicals in the market.” 
POULTRY NOTES 
Incnbnliou of Turkeys' Knars, 
E. C. S., Plato, Lorain Co., Ohio, asks: 
“ How long does it take for turkeys’ eggs to 
hatch ? I ask this question, as there is a dif¬ 
ference of opinion between some of my neigh¬ 
bors on this subject, and therefore appeal to 
you for a decision.” A turkey hen sits from 
thirty to thirty-t wo days before hatching her 
young. If not disturbed, she generally comes 
off the nest with her brood iu thirty days. 
Chickens’ Nostrils Stopped Up. 
My chicks stand about the yard with their 
eyes closed nearly all the time. On scan¬ 
ning one little fellow I found that his nos¬ 
trils were stopped up. I fed the best of 
wheat screenings three times a week, and 
the rest of the time scalded corn meal and 
scraps from the table. They are from six 
to qjgbt weeks old. How can I cure them ? 
—F. H. F. 
Let some of our correspondents answer. 
Bad I,uck with Youna Turkeys. 
John Lair writes:—“ 1 have been having 
very bad luck with my turkeys. The eggs 
hatch good; the young live till they are 
three or four weeks old, when they get so 
they refuse to eat; their wings hang down, 
they get, very poor, and in a day or two die. 
Have had about sixty hatch; have twenty 
alive. Yet all the nursing will not save 
them. All my neighbors’ go the same way. 
Will not you, or some of your many readers, 
tell me what It is, and if there can he any 
thing done for them V” 
Our correspondent is referred to an article 
in Rural New-Yorker, July 2, page 14. 
Citric. Acid l«r Lemonade. 
Refreshing drinks seem to be a requisite 
of hot weather. Some one says that citric 
acid (prepared from lemons) is an excellent 
substitute for lemons in the making of 
lemonade. One quarter of a pound of acid 
will make “gallons" of lemonade. It is 
preferable by far to tartaric acid, and is a 
fair substitute for lemons in pies. 
SELECTED RECIPES, 
Hummer Drinks. 
The Germantown Telegraph says a phy¬ 
sician of much experience advises to use only 
hot or warm drinks during excessively hot 
weather. He advises the housewife to nl* 
CONTRIBUTED RECIPES, 
draws out, and is provided with a looking- 
glass in the internal side, which attracts the 
vermin on looking in. The entrance of the 
trap is formed of two spring doors made of 
wire, which allow the. vermin to enter with 
the least pressure. These doom have sharp 
points where they meet, which, although 
not felt by the vermin on entcruing, will 
prevent it from withdrawing after having 
once introduced its head. Near to the look¬ 
ing glass a bait is suspended, aud a cage is 
also fixed with a chicken to serve as a de¬ 
coy. These traps arc self-seUiug, simple, in¬ 
expensive, fit for all sizes of vermin, and 
safe for the house, farm-yard, or game pre- 
serve.” 
In the Rural New-Yorker of August, 
14, page 522, and September 11, page 585, 
Vol. 20, we gave illustrations and descrip¬ 
tions of non-patented vermin traps, which 
we here reproduce for the benefit of our 
.correspondent, which can be easily made by 
any person conversant with the use of a 
saw, hammer aud nails: 
of hot rain water. Let it settle aud pour off. 
Keep in bottles for use. I have whitened 
my table cloths and napkins; it removes all 
fruit stains and took the indelible ink out 
too. Water can be added and the goods al¬ 
lowed to lay in a few minutes longer. 
Til Color Colton Blttcll. 
Tell Ellen to make first a dye of log¬ 
wood and alum; put her cloth in until it is a 
dark purple, then dry and put in the black 
dye. If she has good dyes she will have no 
trouble to get her cotton :i good black. 
To 1’ickle Cucumbers. 
The following is om: of Lhe very best re¬ 
cipes for picklint .-ucumbers. Take three 
gallons of rain water, two gallons cider vine¬ 
gar, half a pound of alum, three quarts of 
salt. Put the cucumbers in and cover with 
horse radish leaves.on' a cloth, and keep a 
weight ou them. I keep my mangoes iu 
the same way. When wanted for the table, 
take them out, rinse them in water, put 
them in vinegar, and scald them in brass if 
you want them to look green. I have kept 
them two years iu this way, and have not 
lost one — Mas. M. Converse .Jordon. 
Pigeon*’ Eggs. 
A. Root, of Chenango Co., N. Y., asks us, 
“ How long pigeons’ eggs intended for sit¬ 
ting, can be kept, prior to their being put 
under ihe hen pigeon,—if they can be trans¬ 
ported for that purpose.” 
We have no doubt, that pigeons’ eggs can 
be transported equally as well as hen’s eggs. 
The eggs will hatch after being two or three 
weeks old, provided they are kept in a cool, 
dry place. Young pigeons usually begin to 
breed when they are six or eight months of 
age, and continue to lav until they are from 
six to eight years old. We have read of ben 
pigeons laying and breeding When twelve 
years of ago, but are of opinion the case was 
a very rare one. 
ORANGE PEEL POISONOUS 
Chickens Dying Oil. 
Will you or some of your correspondents 
inform me the cause of my clucks dying off? 
I have about two hundred in coops of from 
twenty to thirty each. I feed them princi¬ 
pally upon corn meal; they have plenty of 
water to drink, aud I place a board in front 
of the coops nights to help keep them warm, 
but they are dying off more or less every 
day, and by examination I find a blue-black 
spot upon the regiou of the liver. I think it 
is an enlargement of the gall of the liver. 
Now I shall be much obliged to you if you 
can give me, through the Rural New- 
Yorker, any information upon the subject, 
and a cure therefor.—M. F. L., Kelley’s 
Island , 0. _ 
Fnod for Chicken*. 
Daniel Worthington, at a recent meet¬ 
ing of the North Western Poultry Associa¬ 
tion, said he had found boiled rice and milk 
to be the best fur the first lew days of the 
chicken’s life, after which he gave coarse 
meal and wheat screenings. Shrunken 
wheat swelled in the crops. Just before the 
chicks came out he frequently found dipping 
them in warm water of great assistance in 
freeing them from the shell. Sitting-heus 
should use nests made of dry ashes covered 
with hay, and placed in separate coops. 
Thirteen eggs were enough to put under an 
ordinary lieu. The President said that 
nests in his poultry house had been made of 
turf, but from some cause the result was not 
encouraging. _ 
Fowl*’ Combs Turning Black. 
Geo. Bishop asks for the cause and reme¬ 
dy for the combs of fowls turning blaok; 
after drooping a few days they die. 
The disease which our correspondent’s 
fowls have is undoubtedly a species of 
cholera. Mr. S. J. McIntosh of Massachu¬ 
setts, who is a successful breeder, recom¬ 
mends for this disease gin and molasses. To 
a pint of gin add one gill of molasses; put 
it iu a bottle and keep it well corked ; when 
desired for use, shake the bottle thoroughly 
and give two spoonfuls in the morning and 
afternoon. We trust our correspondent will 
i try the recipe and report his success, as Mr. 
f McIntosh avers he has never known it to 
: fail -when given in the first stages of the 
• disease. 
The top and bottom of the trap are made 
of oak board one inch thick and twenty 
inches square. It is divided into two parts, 
making really two distinct traps. The cor¬ 
ners arc of wire about one-quarter inch di¬ 
ameter aud the sides and partition of No. 7 
wire. Holes are bored both top and bottom 
and the wires inserted. The corner wires 
are riveted, holding the trap firmly together; 
the doors are of oak, three-quarter inch 
thick, and are kept iu place by a cross wire 
on the top board of the trap and by two 
small staples near the bottom edge of the 
door, which slide on the upright wires on 
each side. The treadle, X, is also oak, work¬ 
ing on the upright pin, 0, as a fulcrum, and 
being held fa place by the wire hook, V, 
working on a pivot at P, aud on the lower 
end of which the bai6 is placed. One side of 
the trap is represented as set, the other as 
sprung. , 
ticularlyif the child had lmd an opportunity 
of gulling this substance in its mouth. Wc 
were informed that it had been playing with 
an orange and nibbling at it just before ihe 
attack of the disease. The discharges from 
the bowels were frequent, and consisted of 
blood and mucus. After a week nl severe 
enteric inflammation, the child died. We 
have no doubt Unit the disease was brought 
on by the rind of the orange. Though but 
a small quantity must have been swallowed, 
yet a very small quantity of such an indiges¬ 
tible and irritating gubpianec will often pro¬ 
duce most serious consequences. 
The oil of the rind is highly acrid, and 
adds greatly to the noxious Quality of the in¬ 
digestible mass. We learn that it is a com¬ 
mon practice among the children at some of 
our public schools to eat the rind, and that 
juvenile merchants have been known to 
trade off the inside of the fruit for the skin. 
MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF EGOS, 
We find the following in au exchange: 
“ The white of an egg has proved of late the 
most efficacious remedy for bums. Seven or 
eight applications of this substance soothes 
the pain and effectually excludes lhe burned 
parts from the air. This simple remedy 
seems preferable to collodion or even cot- 
tou. Extraordinary stories are told of the 
healing properties of a new oil which is 
easily made from the yolk of hens’ eggs. 
The eggs are first boiled hard, and the yolks 
are then removed, crushed and placed over 
the fire, where they are carefully stirred 
until the whole substance is just on the 
point of catching tire, when the oil sepa¬ 
rates and may be poured off. One yolk 
will yield nearly two teaspoon lids of oil. It 
is in general use among tbo colonists of 
South Russia as a means of curing cuts, 
bruises and scratches." 
Domestic luqulrle*.— E. Franck asks our read¬ 
ers to tell him how to manufacture hard soap— 
the inirredlfitite, proportions and process from 
commencement to imwiing.—'" Inexperienced 
asks how ” limed eftffa" are prepared, and If It 
is possible to pack ami keep eggs until next win- 
ter.—MKRI a.m asks someone to tell her,explicit¬ 
ly, how to prepare leaves tor skeleton bouquets. 
-S. N. Carman asks for the process of prepar¬ 
ing pickles for market, so that, they may retain 
their natural color and plumpness, as do those 
from pickling houses.—K. J.P. asks the same 
To Color Cotton a Durable Black. 
For five pounds of goods, sumac wood 
and lmrk together, three pounds ; boil half 
an hour; let the goods steep twelve hours; 
then dip in lime water half an hour; take 
out goods, let drip an hour; now add to 
sumac liquor copperas, eight ounces, and 
