SEPT. 28 
MOORE’S RURAL N£W-¥ORK£R, 
20? 
Domestic (Knonamg. 
SUGAR-CURING HAMS, 
The New York Tribune thus summarizes 
the mode of converting hams into “sugar- 
cured’’ ill Chicago :—About a million sugar 
cured hams are put up in one western city 
The manufacture, or the art of curing them, 
and their successful packing for preservation, 
is so nice an operation and requires so much 
care and skill that an export manager readily 
commands $250 a month for his services. 
The hams chosen are. of an average weight 
of fourteen pounds each, and they lose in the 
curing two or three pounds each of this 
weight. Tho brine is carefully preserved 
from one season to another, and is supposed 
to increase in strength as it increases in age. 
One packer uses brine seven years old, and 
another who removed to a distant city had 
his brine barreled and shipped to his new 
plaeo of business withhis other stock in trade. 
The waste of salt, sugar and other substance 
absorbed by the meat is of course replaced 
by constant additions. One packer is said to 
use 18,000 gallons of sirup yearly in the pre¬ 
paration of hi3 pickle. Tho brine is formed 
of water, sugar-house sirup, saltpeter, salt 
and certain other ingredients, in proportion 
as the experience and tastes of the packers 
differ. Casks are filled with this brine in 
which green hams, assorted by weight, are 
soaked from tliirty-five to fifty days, accord¬ 
ing to the differing weight of tho hams. 
When tho hams are removed from the 
pickle they are immersed for a short time in 
clear water, and hung up in the smoking 
house for drying, which is an important part, 
in the process of preserving as well as flavor¬ 
ing. In this process the use of hickory 
timber is considered indispensable. This 
finishes the curing process. Next they have 
to be prepared for market in such a manner 
that they will be preserved indefinitely. 
This preparation is as follows Each ham is 
immersed in a thick paste wash, largely 
composed of chrome yellow, which fills up 
every interstice of the subsequent under and 
outer garments carefully wrapped and sewed 
upon it. Then comes the wrapping in thick 
brown paper and the stitching upon it of the 
closely fitting case of stout cotton cloth. 
Next tho brand is placed upon it and tho 
ham is ready for market. These hams are 
an extensive article of export, and are shipped 
to Europe, Canada, Mexico, the West Indies 
and South America. The largest market in 
the United States is Philadelphia ; New York 
is next, and then Boston. 
MAKING DUTCH CHEESE. 
“That’s a funny way of making Dutch 
cheese,” said a little Miss to me the other 
day, as she watched me draining the hot 
whey from the side of the new tin pail in 
which I was making it, 
“I think it is a very nice, cleanly, speedy 
way,” Ireplied. “Tell me how your mother 
makes it.” “Oh, she makes it in a little 
poke,” said the child. “Hangs it up in a 
dooryard tree,” said I, "so it will hit your 
father’s he ad or be bn mped by the big boys ?” 
“Yes, ma’am,” was the pleased reply, “and 
then sometimes she hangs it up agin’ the side 
of the house with an old fork or on a nail.” 
“Yes, I know all about it,” said I, and T 
felt ray eyes snap as L thought of the un¬ 
sightly wallet hanging dripping from a 
beautiful door-yard tree aud coming in con¬ 
tact with the children’s heads u, dozen times 
a day. 
I don’t want to boast, but there is poetry in 
the way I make Dutch cheese, and I’ll tell 
you how to do it. I take some sweet milk 
and stand it on top of the stove in a new tin 
pail, or pan, shaking it Occasionally that the 
forming curd may not settle to the bottom. 
I turn the edges gently that the curd may 
form evenly, taking care not to break it, and 
not to let it cook too fast. If the heat is 
about right it will be done in half an hour. 
Then I draiu off the whey slowly, pressing 
down on the curd until only whey enough re¬ 
mains in it so that the cheese will not be too 
( ’ry, just moist enough to mix well. Then I 
salt, to taste, add a good lump of butter and 
work well with my hand, then pack it down 
in a crock, leaving all the moisture in it. 
This is better than to press it into dry balls. 
Set away in the coolest corner of the cellar 
or spring house. The poetry comes in when 
preparing it for the table. Take it out into 
a deep white disk and very carefully dip out 
and lay over the top of it a few spoonfuls of 
thick cream, sweet or sour, but the sour is 
preferable. Lay a clean, bright spoon beside 
the dish, and your wholesome poem is ready 
for criticism. Cold, and white, and pretty, 
and one of the nicest dishes known for tea. 
—Ohio Farmer. 
HOW TO EAT GREEN CORN. 
A Connecticut farmer thus speaks on the 
manner of eating green corn “ With green 
corn comes the annual discussion as to the 
way of eating it politely. I don’t remember 
that the late Professor Blot had anything to 
say about it., and suspect a purely American 
dish—so independent for flavor of the cook’s 
art—might be given the go-by by such an 
expert, except he were one of those super 
human cooks who had tho grace to leave 
well enough alone. If the wild Indian were 
but extinct, aud become classic—if we were 
not being scalped by him all the time—we 
might assume his way, or assumo he had a 
way—in the lack of forcigu precedents. As 
it is, there is no standard for table behavior 
in green corn time, and a distressing lack of 
uniformity. There are as many methods as 
people around the board. Of those who cut 
the corn from the cob, some cut, from and 
others to themselves—holding tho car at all 
possible angles, and either end uppermost. 
Of those who go for the kernels, tooth and 
nail, some eat one, two, three or four rows 
horizontally ; others eat round and pound, 
directly or spirally, perhaps following iu 
unseemly haste the drip of tho butter. Un¬ 
less the hot ear can bo kept constantly turn¬ 
ing—like a spitted fowl being basted—would 
it not bo as well to eat the necessary butter 
upon cold bread ? for It. is next loan impossi¬ 
bility to make the under Up or chin do 
efficient and comely dripping-pan service. 
Yet we must acknowledge, however, that 
people lick their chops and enjoy their corn 
in their own way—perhaps quite as much 
as if there were less liberty and more estab¬ 
lished method. 
WET BOOTS. 
A friend writes from Europe What an 
amount of discomfort wet boots entail, to be 
sure ; and how well we all recaU the fretful 
efforts we have now and then made to draw 
on a pair of hard baked ones which were put 
by the fire over night to dry. Damp and 
adhesive within, they are without Btiff and 
unyielding as horn. Once on, they are a sort 
of modem stocks, destructive of all comfort, 
and entirely demoralizing to the temper. 
The following simple device will rob the 
cold, wet barn-yard of a slushy winter or 
spring evening of half its promise of discom¬ 
fort for the next morning : 
When the boots are taken off, fill them 
quite full with dry oats. This grain has a 
great fondness for damp, and will rapidly 
absorb the last vestige of it from the wet 
leather. As it takes up tho moisture It swells 
and fiUs the boot with a tightly-fitting last, 
keeping its form good, and drying the 1 it her 
without hardening it. Iu the morning, suuke 
out the oats and hang them in a bag near the 
lire to dry, ready for tho next wet night, 
draw on the boots, aud go happily about tne 
day’s work.—Hat. Agrioulturist. 
STAIR CARPETS. 
To prevent the pile from separating at the 
edge of the stair and wearing off, pads are 
used. These are made of a low grade of 
cotton, covered with tho cheapest muslin. 
A quilt or comfort that has seen service will 
answer the purpose of stair pads. In ad¬ 
dition to increasing tho lease of usefulness of 
the carpet, the pads prevent noisy clattering 
of feet, and in case the baby should fall down 
stairs the injury received would bo materi¬ 
ally lessened. When first laid down the 
carpet should bo several inches longer than 
is needed, that it may bo disposed after each 
shaking so that a fresh place may come to 
all the edges. A wisp or small dusting broom 
is the best for sweeping stair carpets. After 
thorough sweeping, a wet cloth may be used 
to good advantage in removing all dust. 
GREEN TOMATO PICKLES. 
One peck of green tomatoes, half a head of 
a good sized cabbage, two bunches of celery, 
or what is better, a little celery seed, half a 
pint of white mustard seed; also three or 
four small carrots, using only ti.e red part, 
six onions, five large bell peppex-s. Chop 
them and inix them together, spiinkle over 
a cup of fine salt, let it remain over night; 
drain well, sprinkle in the seeds and pour 
over one pint ol molasses. Take three pints 
of viuegar, two tablespoons of ground all¬ 
spice, two tablespoons of ground cloves, two 
tablespoons of ground Cinnamon, two table- 
spoons of ground yellow mustard. Heat the 
spices in the vinegar aud pour over scalding 
hot. This should be kept four or five months 
befox-e using. 
iirpmn Jiifurmattmt. 
REMEDY FOR CHOLERA INFANTUM. 
Mr. G. C. Player sends an account of a 
severe cose of the above disease, attended 
with alarming prostration, which he treated 
by saturating the diaper ol' the child with 
laudanum ; thus giving what amounted to 
“a hip bath of laudanum,” as he expresses 
It. 
He describes tho effect as magical: “ in 
less than an hour the purging had ceased ; 
the eyes were closed in sleep ; the breathing 
had become natural ; the rigor of tho little 
frame was relaxed ; and the child was sound 
asleep.” The treatment was, perhaps, jus¬ 
tifiable under the circumstances described by 
him, when tho child seemed to be in a dying 
condition and tumble to retain anything ad¬ 
ministered by tho stomach, and when he 
knew nothing better. But wo could not re¬ 
commend this treatment in domestic prac¬ 
tice. Tho laudanum, if it acts at all, must 
do so by absorption through the skin, and 
there is great danger of too great an effect 
where the quantity absorbed cannot bo 
known nor regulated. 
In such cases as these, tho safer and better 
plan is to bathe the body all over in water as 
hob as it can bo home, and then to apply 
cold cloths to the abdomen, if hot, and 
warmth to tho foot and hands, using at tho 
same time small injections of simple cold 
water, or gum, or slippery-olm, or starch 
water. 
This is far more safe than opium in any 
form, and we believe as effectual. At any 
rate, nothing but the absence of a physician, 
as in tho xibove case, and tho most urgent 
necessity, could justify tho uso of a drug so 
dangerous to children ns opium, when tho 
quantity cannot be known nor measured, 
nor its effects controlled or limited. 
- 4 -*-*- 
GLUE AS A CURE FOR CUTS. 
A correspondent of the Scientific Ameri¬ 
can writes as follows “ For the last twelve 
or foui’teen years I have been employed in a 
shoo where there are over three hundred 
men at work, ami, as is tho case in fill shops 
of this kind, hardly a day passes without one 
or more of us cut or bruise our limbs. At 
first there were but few who found their way 
to my department to have their wounds 
bound up ; but after awhilo it became gen¬ 
erally known that a rag glued on a flesh 
wound was not only a speedy curative, but 
an effectual protection against further in¬ 
jury. T was soon obliged to keep a supply 
of rags on hand, to bo ready for any emer¬ 
gency. I will here cite one uiuong many of 
the cases cured with glue : A man was run¬ 
ning a boring machine, with an inch and a 
quarter auger attached. By some means the 
sleeve of his shirt caught in the auger, bring¬ 
ing his wrist in contact with the bit, tearing 
the flesh among the muscles iu a frightful 
manner. He was conducted to . my depart¬ 
ment (the pattern shop), and I washed tho 
wound in warm watex-, and glued around it 
a cloth, which, when dry, shrunk into a 
rounded shape, holding the wound tight and 
flrxn. Once or twice a week, for three or 
four weeks, I dressed the wound afi-esh, 
and it was well. The man never lost an 
hour’s time inconsequence. The truth of 
this statement hundreds can testify to. I 
use, of course, the best quality of glue.” 
AN OVERDOSE OF STRYCHNINE. 
Very few persons have survived to tel 
the scientific tale after an overdose of thi: 
deadly poison, but the experience of Dr 
Harris, an assayer at Gold Hill, Nevada, hai 
proved one of these exceptions. He wai 
taking a solution of it for rheumatism. It 
tho bottle only one doso was loft, and i 
included a quantity of sediment at the bot 
tom, all of which Dr. Harris swallowed 
About half an hour later, while in bed, ii 
being about half past ten iu the evening, h< 
was struck senseless and speechless. He wa 
reading at the time, with a candle in liii 
hand, but he recovered from the a xoek ir 
season to pi-event the bod-clothes from taking 
fire. Ho immediately realized that ho h.-u 
taken an overdose of tho poison, and he aooi 
after took two doses of sweet-oil, which hat 
effect. Shooks and convulsions followed 
however, until twelve o’clock, lie says In 
fult like a man broken upon the wheel, am 
tiie last shock left him helpless and stiff 
Then, until six o’clock, lie exptrieuoCi 
shocks like those of a galvanic battery lit 
could not stir hand or foot, and any attemp 
to turn his head brought a new spasm. Soon 
after six o clock he began to recover, and by 
ten o’clock he had written a communication 
to a nowspeper, relating hi 3 experience, as a 
warning against overdoses in settlings. 
- 
CURE FOR RATTLESNAKE BITES. 
In view of the numerous cases of rat¬ 
tlesnake bites almost daily reported by 
tho interior press, tho following reoipe from 
the Trinity Journal may prove, of somo 
benefitA physician in Texas was recently 
bitten by a rattlesnake, and, in order to test 
ths efficacy of iodine ns a remedy, he waited 
until the swelling in his leg and the pain 
compelled him to lie down—about 20 minutes 
after being bitten—when be took half a tea- 
spoonful of saturated tiucturo of iodine, 
repeating tho dose in diminished quantities, 
at intervals of 15 minutes for an hour. He 
also applied tne tincture to the wounds and 
the whole surface to the swollen log ; and in 
five hours the pain had so far subsided that 
he fell asleep and slept several hours. On 
waking, he was entirely free from pain, 
though his leg was fearfully swollen, and 
tender, to tho touch. He used no other 
remedies, and in a few days was entirely 
well. 
- 4-*-4 -—— 
MEDICAL PROPERTIES OF EGGS. 
The white of an egg has proved of late the 
most, efficacious remedy for bm-ns. Seven ox- 
eight successive applications of this substance 
sooths the pain and effectually excludes the 
burn from theair. Thissimplo remedy seems 
preferable to collodion, or even cotton. Ex¬ 
traordinary Stories arc told of the healing 
properties of a new oil which is oasily made 
irom tho yelks of hens’ eggs. The eggs aro 
first boiled hard, the yelks aro then removed 
Crushed, and placed over a fire, where they 
are carefully stirred until the whole substance 
is just on the point of catching fire, when 
the oil separates and may be poui-ed off. It 
is in general use among the colonists of 
Southern Russia as a moans of curing cuts, 
bruiseB and scratches.— Boston Journal of 
Chemistry. 
■ --. 
HYGIENIC N0TE3. 
Poison Iiair Dyes .—Since attention has 
been directed to the subject, cases of lead 
poisoning, traceable to the use of hair pre¬ 
parations containing load, arc found to be 
very frequent. A case of this sort was re¬ 
cently reported in tho- medical journals 
which was at first mistaken for muscular 
rheumatism, and treated as such with but 
slight amendment. Paralysis of the extensor 
muscles of the fingers and the hands, with 
" (is. drop coming on, the true nature of 
the xiffection was seen, and its cause readily 
found in the free uso of a hair “renewer” 
containing a large proportion of sugar of 
loud. In tlxis instance, no lines were seen 
upon the gums, but attacks of colic had been 
quite frpquent. Discontinuance of the hair¬ 
dressing, and a resort to tho ordinary reme¬ 
dies, effected a cure. 
Hay Fever.—A gentleman who has had this 
hitherto incurable torment for twenty years 
publishes the following certain cure Get a 
saturated solution of sulphate of quinine in 
water, in the proportion of one part of qui¬ 
nine to AJ0 of water, to be well shaken and 
appliexl to the nostrils, while lying down, 
with a camel’s hair brush, [until it is felt in 
the throat; the relief is immediate. My 
wife had it every season for thirty-five years. 
This simple remedy cured her xit once. Our 
phial contains:—water 8 oz.; quinine 3 grains. 
When beginning to use. Glasses, use them 
as shoi-t a time as possible, only in deficient 
light, or on minute objects, and then change 
t he strain to distant or larger objects. By a 
judicious attention to these two points, the 
ago of the sight will be retarded many years. 
And as reading is one of the luxuries of the 
age, aud one of its most delightful pastimes, 
and amusements, we cannot be coo careful 
of the eyesight, and should study how we 
may best husband its powers. 
Ts Hysteria a real Disease ?—As much so 
as cholera or yellow fever, or any other dis¬ 
ease, and much mtii-e ililHt:ul• to cure than 
almost any other disease. And yet, most 
women consider themselves as insulted if 
(oid that they have nothing but “hysterics,” 
knowing lull w dl that they are diseased. 
VVe have seen well marked oases of this dis¬ 
ease in boys. 
Remedy for Diarrhea .—Take one pound 
flour, tie it up in a cloth and boil it six hours, 
then scrape or grate it into boiling sweet 
milk to the consistency of thick soup ; add 
salt and use as a diet. 
