ADS. 29 
©ORE'S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
U3 
gomcstt^ <£ con amt). 
BOTTLED GINGER BEER. 
The Journal of Chemistry gives a season¬ 
able recipe, and one that affords a. harmless 
and refreshing substitute for beverages that 
owe their stimulating properties to alcohol. 
It is made thus: Lump sugar, one pound ; 
good, unbleached Jamaica ginger (well 
bruised), one ounce ; cream of tartar, three- 
fourths of an ounce (or tartaric acid, one-half 
of an ounce) ; two or three lemons, sliced ; 
boiling water, one gallon. Macerate with 
frequent stirring, in a covered vessel, until 
bar 'ly lukewarm, then add of yeast one and 
a half or two ounces (about two thirds of a 
wineglassfull, and keep it in a moderately 
warm place to excite a brisk fermentation ; 
the next day rack or decant the liquor and 
strain it through a jellv-bag or flannel ; allow 
it to work for another clay or two, according 
to the weat her ; then skim it, again decant 
or strain and put it into bottles, the corks of 
which should be “wired” down. 
-- 
EXTERMINATION OF BED-BUGS. 
A correspondent of the Country Gentle¬ 
man says : “ We moved into a frame house, 
about two years old, and my consternation 
was very great to find it thoroughly stocked 
with these pests ; there was not a crack or 
ore vice that was free ; they were under the 
base boards and over them. After lighting 
them eight years r learned from a girl that 
had served as a chamber-maid in a largo 
boarding house, that bugs can be entirely ex¬ 
terminated for all time. I immediately 
followed her direction, which was to take 
grease that was cooked out of salt pork, to 
melt it, and to keep it molted (the vessel can 
be kept in a pan of coals) and to put it with 
the feather end of a quill in every place 1 
could find a bug. It is necessary to see that 
the bed cords are entirely free from the pests, 
and I will warrant there will be no more 
trouble. It is more than thirty years since a 
bug has been seen in my hopse.” 
retain it. The wax is to prevent the starch 
from sticking to the iron. If the flat irou 
still sticks to the starch, rub hard soap gently 
over the bottom of then-on. Put the collars, 
cuffs, etc., into a tin pan and place in ti warm 
spot by the stove or range, to become very 
dry before putting away,— Daisy Eyebright. 
--- 
CHEAP VINEGAR. 
Take a quantity of common Irish potatoes, 
wash them until they are thoroughly clean, 
place them in a large vessel and hoil them 
until done. Drain oil carefully the water 
that they were cooked in, straining it, if 
necessary, in order to remove every particle 
of the potato. Then put this potato water 
in a jug or keg, which set near the stove, or 
in Rome place where it will be kept warm, 
and add one pound of sugar to about two 
gallons and a half of the water, some hop 
yeast, or a small portion of whisky. Let it 
stand three or four weeks, and you will have 
excellent vinegar, at a cost of six or seven 
cents per gallon. —Jo urn rtf of Chemistry. 
-♦♦♦- 
CURING SWEET COEN. 
Shave from the cob, then pack hi a stone 
jar or other earthen vessel impervious to 
light, beginning with about half an inch of 
salt in the bottom of the jar ; then pack 
closely from three to four inches of coni; 
then another layer of salt from a quarter to 
half an inch, and so continue until you reach 
the top of the jar, where you will put about 
one Inch of salt: then cover the jar with any¬ 
thing that will keep out the dirt, and you 
have a good article for the table auy time 
during the year, by soaking a short time, in 
cold water before using. 
-- 
SELECTED RECIPES. 
TO BOIL 
HAM. 
Take u ham weighing about, eight or ten 
pounds, soak it for twelve or twenty-four 
hours in cold water, then cover it with hoil- 
ing water ; add one pint of vinegar, two or 
three bay leaves, a little bunch of thyme and 
parsley. The dried and sifted will do, or 
even the seeds of paisley may lie used, if the 
fresh cannot be procured. Boil very slowly 
two hours and a half, take it out, skim it, 
remove all the fat except a layer about half 
an mch thick, cut off with a sharp knife all 
the black-looking outside ; put the ham into 
your dripping-pan. fab side uppermost, grate 
bread-crust over it and sprinkle a teaspoon¬ 
ful of powdered sugar over it; put it in the 
oven for half an hour, until it is a beautiful 
brown. Eat cold. Cut the nicest pox*tion in 
slices ; the ragged and little odds and ends 
can be chopped fine and used for sandwiches ; 
or by adding three eggs to one pint of the 
chopped ham and frying brown, you have a 
delicious omelette for breakfast or lunch. 
The bone should be put into the soup kettle. 
The rind and fat should be rendered and 
strained for frying potatoes or crullers. 
-- 
HOUSEHOLD MEASURES. 
As all families are not provided with scales 
and weights, referring to ingredients in 
general use by every housewife, the follow¬ 
ing information may be useful: 
Wheat flour, one quart is one pound. 
Indian meal, one quart is one pound and 
two ounces. 
Butter, when soft, one quart is one pound 
one ounce. 
Loaf sugar, broken, one quart is one pound. 
White sugar, powdered, one quart is one 
pound one ounce. 
Beit brown sugar, one quart is one pound 
two ounces. 
Eggs, average size, ten eggs are one pound. 
Sixteen large tablespoonfuls are a half a 
pint, eight are a gill, four are a half gill, etc. 
TO STIFFEN LINEN. 
Such articles as collars, cuffs, etc., which 
require to be made very stiff, should be 
starched in the following way:—Mix a table¬ 
spoonful of starch with enough cold water to 
make it smooth, then tu rn on enough boiling 
water and boil it ten minutes; then add a 
bit of white wax the siz x of a three cent 
piece and a teaspooxxful of alcohol. The 
spirit is to increase the stillness and help to 
Currant Jelly.—O ob of the best recipes for 
currant jelly is the following :—If those who 
have an abundance of this most healthful 
beriy, would make what they do not need 
for present use, do tunic duty next winter, 
there would be less loss of this fruit, and 
more health in the families of t hose who raise 
it. Take x-ipe. freshly - gathered currants, 
and (ill up a gallon jar with them, and set it 
in boiling water for an hour ; then turn out 
the juice carefully, not letting the berries fall 
into it. To each pint of juice take three- 
quarters of a pound of the best lutnp sugar ; 
boil all together for twenty minutes ; strain 
through xt jelly strainer into cups or glasses 
which have beeu dipped into cold water. 
When perfectly stiff, dip a thin paper the 
size of the gla.-s iuto the white of an egg, and 
lay Over the jelly ; then paste over the glass 
a piece of stiff bi-own paper, anti write the 
kind of jelly and the date upon It. 
Removing Grease Spots .—In taking out 
grease from clothing with benzole or turpen¬ 
tine, people generally make the mistake of 
wetting the cloth with the turpentine and 
then rubbing it with a sponge or piece of 
cloth. Lu this way the fat is dissolved, but 
is spread over a greater space and is not re¬ 
moved ; the benzole or turpentine evaporates, 
and the fat covers a greater surface than be¬ 
fore. The only way to remove grease-spots 
is to place soft blotting-paper beneath and on 
top of the spot, which is to bo first thorough¬ 
ly saturated with the benzole and then well 
pressed. The fat is then dissolved and ab¬ 
solved by the paper, and entirely removed 
from the clothing. 
Bleaching Flannel .—Flannel which has be¬ 
come yellow with use may be bleached by 
putting it for some days in a solution of hard 
soap to which strong ammonia has been 
added. The best proportions are one pound 
aud a half of hard curd soap, fifty pounds of 
soft water, and two thirds of a pound of 
strong ammonia solution. The same object 
may be attained in a shorter time by placing 
the flannel for a quarter of an hour in a weak 
solution of bisulphite of sodium, to which a 
little hydrochloric acid has been added. 
Gilding and Silvering Silk Thread .—Lu a 
process that has been patented in England, 
gold or silver leaf is rubbed on a stone with 
honey until reduced to tine powder. The 
silk thread i3 soaked or boiled in a solution 
of chloride of zinc, aud, after being washed, 
it is boiled in water with which the gold or 
silver powder has been mixed. When washed 
and dried, it will be found coated with a tine 
layer of gold or silver, which may even be 
polished in the usual manner. 
To Bleach Laces, &c.— Soak in soap suds 
over night, then turn boiling water over 
them, and let them lie in it until cool. 
Squeeze out the water, and put in vei’y 
sti-oug blue watei-. At night put them on 
to the grass in the dew. If not white enough, 
repeat the process. 
SOCIAL FALLACIES. 
We commit the still greater error of plung¬ 
ing into ice water every morning, then scrub 
all the skin off with a horse-hair brush or a 
coarse board towel; sit down to breakfast of 
oatmeal sawdust; dine off a table spoonful 
of wheat ait I two berries, and make a supper 
on catnip tea. then be put through a Russian 
bath of five hundred degrees ; -deep under an 
open window when the thermometer is at 
zero; wear long hair ; dims the women in 
pantaloons; make all our property over to 
them, then sit down in the kitchen corner 
and nurse the baby, and when it. is asleep 
wash up the tea things, and go to bed at nine 
o’clock to be “out of the way.” What will 
become of us men ! Surely we have fallen 
on evil times. A better and truer mode of 
life is to have plenty of everything that is 
good to eat and di’iixk, which imparts nourish¬ 
ment and sti’ongth, aud as much of it as you 
want. The idea of getting up from the table 
huugiy is unnatural aud absurd and hurtful, 
quite as much so as getting up in the morn¬ 
ing before your sleep is out, on the mischiev¬ 
ous principle that 44 curly to xise makes a man 
healthy wealthy and wise.” 
Early lising, in civilized society, always 
tends to shorten life. Early rising of itself 
never did any good. Many a farmer’s boy 
has been made an invalid for life by being 
made to get up at daylight, befm-o liis sleep 
was out. Many a young girl has been stunt¬ 
ed in body and mind aud constitution by 
being made to get up before the system has 
had its full rest. All who are growing, all 
who work hard, and all weakly persons, 
should not get up until they feel as if they 
would be more comfortable to get up than to 
remain ux bed ; that is the only true measure 
of sufficiency of l est and sleep. Any one who 
gets up in the morning feeling as if ho 44 would 
givB anything in the woi'ld ’’ to remain in bed 
a wlxilo longer does violence to his own na¬ 
ture, and will always suffer from it—not im¬ 
mediately, it may be, but certainly in later 
years, by the cumulative ill effects ol' the 
most unwise practice. In any given case, the 
person who gets up in Ihe morning before he 
is fully rested will lack just that much of the 
energy requisite for the pursuit. 
As a people, we do not get enough sleep, 
we do not. get enough rest, we will not take 
time for these things ; hence our neiwousness 
our instability, our hasty temper, and the 
premature giving out of the stamina of life. 
Half of us are old at three-score, the very 
time a man ought to be lu his mental, moral 
and physical prime. Half of our wives, 
especially in the farming districts, die long- 
before their time, because they do not get 
x-est and sleep proportioned to their labor. 
Nine times out of ten, it would be. better for 
all parties if the farmer should got up and 
light the fires and prepare breakfast for his 
wife, she coming directly from her toilet to 
the breakfast table, because it almost always 
happens that she has to remain up to set 
things right long after the husband has gone 
to bed, when rcaliv he has nothing to do 
after supper bub to go to bed. This is a 
monstrously cruel imposition on wives and 
mothers.— Hull's Journal of Health. 
rapid, it is liable to cause a chill. The same 
is the case if, in addition, some other cooling 
influence is brought to bear, as a cold wind, 
removal to a cool room, or divesture of the 
clothing. Warning is generally given by a 
shiver when the body ia losing heat too 
quickly, but sometimes the warning comes 
too late. 
Every one, therefore, who values his life 
and health, will use bis judgment when he is 
exposed to danger. A single chill will sow 
the seeds of lifelong misery, especially if the 
body is in a. low, depressed state, and ought, 
therefore, to ho counteracted by the use of 
some strong and heating stimulant, which 
may restoi-o the waning vitality, and nip the 
mischief in the bud. 
- -*— 
WET AND DRY BATHING- 
If any one in these days will exercise in 
the open air, so that each day he will per¬ 
spire moderately, and if he will wear thin 
undex'-garmenta, or none at all, and sleep in a 
cold room, the functions of the skin will 
suffer little or no impediment, if water is 
withheld for months. Indeed, bathing is 
not the only way in which its healthful ac¬ 
tion can bo maintained by those living under 
the conditions at present existing. Dxy 
friction over the whole surface of the body, 
once a day, or once in two days, is often of 
more service than the application of watex*. 
The reply of the centenarian, to the inquiry 
to what, habit, of life he attrihxited his good 
health and extreme longevity, that he be¬ 
lieved it duo to " rubbing himself all over 
with a cob eveiy night,” is significant of an 
important truth. If invalids and pex-sons of 
lowvita ! ity would use dry friction and Dr. 
Franklin’s “air bath,” every day for a eon- 
side rat do period, wa are confident lh°y 
would often be greatly benefited. Cleanli¬ 
ness Is next to godliness, no doubt, find a 
proper and judicious use of water is bo be 
commended ; but human beings are not 
amphibious. Nature indicates, that the 
’ functions of t he skin should be kept in order 
mainly by muscular exercise, by exciting 
natural perspiration hy labor ; and, delicious 
a3 is the bath, and healthful, under proper 
regulation, it is no substitute for that exer¬ 
cise of the body, without which all the 
fxxnctions become abnormal,— Dr. Nichol. 
TREATMENT 
THE AGED. 
CATCHING COLD. 
According to a recent article in the Sani¬ 
tarian, the popular notion that almost all 
ailments X'esult from catching cold is sub¬ 
stantially coi-recfc. When a person is sudden¬ 
ly sick, he tells the doctor he things he has 
caught cold ; or if, being sick, he is taken 
worse, he attributes the aggravated symp¬ 
toms to the same cause, though how he can¬ 
not tell. 
It is true that the reduction of the temper- 
ature of the body, which is called “ taking 
cold,” produces very different results, accord¬ 
ing to the condition of the body. In one it 
takes the term of oatari-lx, in another of 
bronchial and pulmonary disease. It causes 
neuralgia or rheumatism in one, and in an¬ 
other intermittent, fever. A healthy man 
often escapes with a slight indigestion ; a 
person in a low physical state is still more 
depi-essed. 
A moderate, uniform degree of cold seldom 
causes any trouble unless the person exposed 
to it remains too long without food or exer¬ 
cise. The chief danger an'ses from a too 
rapid reduction of the heat of the body. This 
is most frequently caused by too great heat. 
When a person is heated, nature makes the 
effort to cool him ; he perspires freely, xtnd 
the evapoi-ation or the moisture of the sur¬ 
face cools the bodv. But if this process is too 
At a lecture in London, Mr. Habershon, 
refeiTing to the case of an old man, re¬ 
marked 44 The man died simply from the 
shock pi’oduced by coming out into the cold 
and fog, which, though only an inconvenience 
to us, was sulllcieut, to lead to a fatal result 
on one whose circulation had become en¬ 
feebled, and whose vital force had so nearly 
lost its power, 1 am reminded, by this case, 
of an instance of longevity communicated to 
me by a gentleman the other day. His 
mother, who had died at tho age of one hun¬ 
dred and two, during the winter months ‘had 
refused to get up, saying she was only warm 
in bed.' I have uo doubt that it was owing 
to this uniform, warm temperature that she 
lived so long ; and T mention the instance as 
a recommendation for you, when you have 
to presex-ibe for old people, to advise that 
they be kept warm. You should also look 
carefully after their nourishment. Old peo¬ 
ple cannot eat lax - go meals ; therefore they 
must take them more frequently. Many old 
people will wake up about three or four 
o’clock in the morning. It is a good plan 
that thpy should have some nourishment 
then; otherwise the intervals between tho 
night and morning meals is too long for de¬ 
clining strength. It is by care in suoh minu¬ 
tiae that we may prolong the life of the aged. ” 
SEASONABLE ADVICE. 
The Maine Farmer says : — “We need 
agxiin to ux-ge farmers to have greater regard 
for their personal health and comfort than 
is generally the case. We know just how 
hard farmers have to work, and how press¬ 
ing are the demands of the present season. 
But nothing is gained by hard and long-con¬ 
tinued application. Work in the morning 
and at night, and if possible enjoy a long 
“ nooning”—it will do you no harm. Bathe 
frequently, and never x-epose a night in the 
inner clothing in which yon have worked 
during the day. Have a light, clean night¬ 
shirt, to take the place of that full of per¬ 
spiration and dust, and enjoy to its fullest 
extent the refreshing influence of the night's 
rest. Eat wholesome and well-prepared 
food, but avoid an excessive use of fresh 
meats. Drink sparingly of cold water dui-ing 
warm weathei-—great injury often results 
from this cause. 
