DEC. 5 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
S67 
§cmcstu( (Broitoma. 
HOW TO OCCUPY WINTER LEISURE. 
BT DORR HAMILTON. 
As soon as the holidays are over, with 
their gayety and their many cares, the 
house-mother will have a breathing space, I 
hope. Woolens and warm fixings of all 
kinds are much easier kept in order than the 
ruffles and tucks into which even the most 
sensible mothers will be betrayed for sum¬ 
mer clothing. Pood, too, is so much more 
easily managed when the weather is com¬ 
fortably cold that one can graciously submit 
to minor inconveniences. The boys and 
men become more intimate with stoves, and 
may be found handy in sundry ways. If 
you are not n. carpenter yourself then insist 
upon having somebody doctor all the locks, 
bolts, catches, stops, etc., that have been 
ailing so long. It is a good time to get a new 
shelf here and there, or the cupboard that 
you need so much, and new conveniences of 
any kind. The boys can pare the apples for 
jelly, and will usually like the privilege. In 
fact almost every boy enjoys domestic labor, 
and if a mother is wise she will foster the 
taste. 
Memory shows me, not seldom, a sunny 
old kitchen where half a dozen boys and 
girls made the wintry nights merry enough 
with fun and work and study. There was 
always a bee to pare the apples and pota¬ 
toes, chop the mince meat or wash the 
dishes. The mother was not strong, and 
“ironing day came in the evening” when all 
the half dozen were not in school. Quite as 
often it was Will as M a Gore who ironed 
the “ straight things,” as they called the 
sheets, pillow cases and towels ; and quite as 
often it was M,\ootk as Will who mended 
the halter straps, using the waxed end like a 
saddler. Thoy all went to the weekly sing¬ 
ing school, and the lessons were well re¬ 
hearsed as work went on. It was not un¬ 
common for WILL, the wag of the family, to 
put the lessons into ridiculous rhymes, which 
were readily kept in mind. Nan, the young¬ 
est, learned '‘hie., hepe, hoc," and a deal of 
Latin besides, by hearing it so much from 
the others. 
Some of their fun took them out of doors. 
Glorious times they had sliding down the 
hill behind the house, and on the pond where 
the hill ended ; in the sugar hush, too, when 
the maples were set flowing ; in the orchard, 
when October ripened red and golden fruit¬ 
age. 
Things were a good deal mixed up in that 
household, people thought, but the results 
were splendid. The boys did not domineer, 
but were kind and helpful to their sisters 
and mother first, and then to all women for 
their sake*. The girls were self-reliant, and 
the abundant exercise gave them a good 
stock of health to begin the battle with, and 
happy memories to keep their hearts always 
young. 
I understand perfectly why ministers fail 
to stick to the text. It is an extremely dif- 
ficut matter. I meant, when I began, to urge 
upon housekeepers the duty of enjoying this 
blessed winter time by all means in their 
power. Social intercourse should not be neg¬ 
lected, books and papers ought to be read, 
bits of faneywork done by whomsoever is 
rested in the doing thereof, and between 
times get next spring’s cutting, making and 
mending planned out, and perhaps partly 
done, so that the lovely days of tlie summer 
coming may not be made in vain. 
SELECTED RECIPES. 
Something Better than Short.-Cake— Make 
nice, light, white gems by mixing flour and 
milk nearly as soft as for griddle cakes, and 
bake quickly in hot gem pans. Break, not 
cut them open and lay In a deep platter and 
pour over strawberries, raspberries, black 
berries, jjeaehes, (or even ntcesLewed apples) 
mixed with sugar and a little rich cream if 
you have it. Ten times better than any 
pastry or short-cake, and you get rid of soda 
or baking powder and shortening.— Laws of 
Life. 
Boiled Flour for Invalids. —Take a pound 
of fine flour and tie it in a linen cloth as tight 
as possible ; after frequently dipping it in 
cold water, dredge the outside with flour till 
a crust is formed round it, which will prevent 
the water soaking into it while boiling. 
Then boil it until it becomes a hard, dry 
mass. Grato two or three spoonfuls of this 
and prepare it as you would arrowroot, for 
which it is an excellent substitute, 
“ Apple John.”— Pare, quarter and core 
enough apples to fill a three or four quart 
crock. Make a batter a little thicker than 
for pancakes ; put a layer of apples on the 
bottom of the crock, then pour over some of 
the batter; then another layer of apples, 
then batter, and so ou till all is used ; then 
put a thick soda crust on the top, and bake 
three hours. To be eaten with a sweet I 
sauce. Very nice. 
To Stuff a Ham. —Parboil and placo the 
ham on a tray ; make incisions overit with n 
sharp knife some two or three Inches deep, 
and stuff these with a dressing made of 
crackers cooked to a brown crisp and crumb¬ 
led fine ; add salt, pepper, egg, butter, pars¬ 
ley and onion chopped fine, then bake it 
brown in a moderate heat and serve when 
cold. 
Recipe for Blue for Ready Use. —To any 
quantity of glue use common whisky instead 
of water. Put both together in a bottle ; 
cork tight, and set it away for three or four 
days. It will then be fit for use, without the 
application of heat. I will lie found a useful 
and handy article in every household. 
Hair Oil.—One pint of alcohol ; two ounces 
castor oil ; a few drops of perfume. Shake 
well, so as to cut the oil. It softens the hair, 
promotes its growth, and prevents its falling 
out. 
Snow, or Bride's Cake. —A pound each of 
flour and sugar, half a pound of butter, and 
the whites of sixteen eggs beaten to a stiff 
froth. Flavor it with rose. 
Who will teach us l—Faith Rochester, in 
Laws of Life. 
-«•♦.*- 
HOW TO AVOID COLDS. 
An editorial in the British Medical Journal, 
on catching cold, concludes thus:—“The 
practical considerations which are the out¬ 
comes of this review of the pathology of 
colds are those :—Never to wear wet clothes 
after active muscular exertion has ceased, 
but to change them at once ; to meet the 
loss of the body heat by warm fluids and dry 
clothes; to avoid long sustained loss of heat 
which is not met by iucroasod production of 
heat; to increase the tonicity of the vessels 
of the skin by cold baths, etc., so educating 
them to contract readily on exposure, by a 
partial adoption, indeed, of the ‘hardening’ 
plan ; to avoid too warm and debilitating 
rooms and temperatures; to tnkq especial 
care against too great loss of heat when the 
skin is glowing ; and to prevent the inspira¬ 
tion of cold air by the mouth by some pro¬ 
tecting agent., as a respirator. We can 
readily understand how a respirator should 
be an effective protection against winter 
bronchitis in those so disposed.” 
Hggiittrin Jfnformittiflit. 
BREATHING THROUGH 
MOUTH. 
MARTHA’S BABY’S COLIC. 
Yesterday Martha was in our kitchen 
about one o’clock. She said she had been 
washing, was rubbing at the tub from eight 
o'clock till almost noon, only stopping once 
to nurse her baby. I remembered that, upon 
the few occasions when 1 had tried to do my 
own washing while I had an unweaned babe 
to nurse, the wearying heating process, even 
when I was careful not to put my hands in 
cold water, had spoiled the baby’s food in 
such a way as to cause it to suffoi from colic. 
I wondered if Martha, being much more ac¬ 
customed to washing than I, would be able 
to serve as a washerwoman and as a nurse, 
without apparent injury to her babe. 
This morning Martha was in our kitchen 
again. She told about the baby’s hard cry¬ 
ing last night and said that she noticed that 
her baby always had a hard crying spell, as 
though it had colic, after she had been wash¬ 
ing. Other mothers have noticed the same 
connection between cause and effect. 
“ But what can 1 do 1” said Martha. “ I 
must do our washing, whether I nurse baby 
or not.” Then she concluded that it would 
be safest for her to wean her baby, eight 
months old, very soon, a3 she is obliged to do 
considerable hard work. Should she give 
the baby peppermint tea ? And did we think 
that warm cloths applied to the bowels were 
good ? 
I wouldn’t give the peppermint tea. The 
warm cloths are excellent, and in most eases 
nothing more will be needed. Let the baby 
lie upon its bowels, with its clothes loose— 
they should always be loose—and with the 
warm flannels applied by your hand under¬ 
neath and changed as often as it cools, for 
another warm cloth. A very gentle kneading 
of the bowels with your hand at the same 
time may hasten the cure, and he sure that 
baby’s feet are warm. If it seems necessary 
to give a warm drink warm water alone is 
quite as efficacious os any herb tea, and far 
safer. 
I don’t think Martha had heard anything 
about the late topic of conversation, so inter¬ 
esting in some circles, (“ Sex in Education,”) 
so I said nothing to her of what I was think¬ 
ing, as we talked about her hard work and 
her baby. 
The fact is, I am a good deal pleased by all 
this discussion. I am glad to get so much 
public recognition, in any shape, of the neces¬ 
sity for taking good care of mothers, if it 
seems wise and prudent to limit the educa¬ 
tional advantages of girls and women by the 
wholesale for the sake of the human race in 
general, cannot something be done to put 
this big burden of laundry work, for instance, 
where it will not oppress mothers and cause 
suffering and sickness to the washerwomen’s 
and housekeeper’s babies ? How will the 
doctors, who would keep the colleges closed 
against the future mothers, prov ide us such 
physical, mental and moral education as will 
make U8 and our daughters healthy, wise 
and good mothers f The wisest of us know 
so little about the proper training of children. 
dtetutyn:. 
A fact which cannot be too frequently 
impressed on the mind, says the Science of 
Health, is “ that the pernicious habit of 
breathing through the mouth while sleeping 
or waking is very hurtful. There arc many 
persons who sleep with the mouth open, and 
do not know it. They may go to sleep with 
it closed, and awake with (t closed but if 
the mouth is dry and parched on waking, it 
is a sign that it has been open during sleep. 
Snoriug Is another sure sign. This habit 
should bo overcome. At till times, except 
when eating, drinking, or speaking, keep 
the mouth firmly closed, and breathe thr<mgh 
the nostrils, and retire with a firm determi¬ 
nation to conquer. The nostrils are the 
proper breathing apparatus—not the mouth. 
A man may inhale poisonous gases through 
the mouth without being aware of it, but 
not through the nose.” 
DR. PLAYFAIR ON HEALTH. 
The eminent Dr. Playfair, in his recent 
great address on health before the Health 
Congress, in Glasgow, Scotland, declared 
that the one great hygienic agent was clean¬ 
liness. Keep everything clean everywhere, 
and typhoid fever, scarlet fever and all the 
other contagious diseases would forever dis¬ 
appear. Cleanliness is hygiene in a nutshell. 
Give us clean air, clean water, clean food, 
clean houses, clean gutters, clean streets, 
clean stomachs and clean bowels, as well as 
clean hands and clear consciences, and most 
of our diseases would trouble us no more. 
Now how can a race of people who shall 
keep everything dean be inaugurated ? Can 
Dr. Playfair answer this questiou. 
HYGIENIC NOTES. 
For Wounds. —In the absence of the or¬ 
dinary applications, such as adhesive piaster, 
&e., use cotton wool, which is more gener¬ 
ally at hand. It has many advantages over 
other dressings; in being light it does not 
pain, but relieves it ; it is a protect ion to the 
wound from other injury, and need not be 
removed as soon or as often as other appli¬ 
cations. It should be applied in quantity 
and with, a bandage. 
Bone Felon. —The London Lancet suggests 
the following simple treatmentAs soon as 
the disease is felt, put directly over the spot 
a fly-blister, about the size of your thumb 
nail, and let it remain for six hours, at the 
expiration of which time, directly under the 
surface of the blister, may be seen the felon, 
which can instantly be taken out with the 
point of a needle or a lancet. 
To Conceal Bad Tastes of Medicines. —The 
bitter taste of quinia, colocynth, aloes, quas¬ 
sia and other bitter medicines is said to be 
instantly removed by chewing a piece of 
licorice root. To disguise castor oil rub two 
drops oil of cinnamon with an ounce of 
glycerine and add an ounce of castor oil. 
Children will take it and ask for more. 
Treatment of Erysipelas.— The Medical 
Record states that in the Brooklyn City 
Hospital the following has proved efficacious 
as a local application in erysipelas :—Acetate 
of lead, carbonate of magnesia, camphor, 
each twenty grains, water one pint. 
Remedy for Sour Stomach. —I know a per¬ 
son who was in the habit of takiug a tea¬ 
spoonful of pine charcoal pulverized, for sour 
stomach, and thought it an excellent remedy. 
It was taken mixed with sweet milled 
MUSHROOM CULTURE. 
We find the following In the Canada 
Parmer :—There is no reason why any one 
who lias the use of a dark cellar should not 
raise mushrooms on a small scale. Even 
city cellars will answer if the temperature is 
in the neighborhood of 50 degrees. The 
other condition is the procuring of well- 
fermented manure, thoroughly turned and 
beaten down. Flour barrels sawn in two 
make good tubs. Four or five holes for 
drainage should be bored in the bottoms. 
Three inches of good garden soil covered 
with the prepared manure until the tub is 
half full gives a surface suitable for the 
spawn, half-a-dozen pieces of which, each tho 
size of a hen’s egg, arc placed thereon. Then 
fill the tub with manure, founding it off at 
the top In the shape of a dome. The tem¬ 
perature of the bed at the time of tho inser¬ 
tion of the spawn should be about 7tl degrees. 
When the spawn takes if. will develop fine 
thread-like filaments. This should take place 
at the end of ten days. It should then be 
covered with an inch of fresh, fine-sifted 
soil, and in a few days tho mushrooms will 
show themselves. They should be gathered 
every other day, breaking them off in the 
soil, not cutting them. One planting will 
last three or four weeks, and a second crop 
can be obtained by giving another dressing 
of fresh soil, half an inch thick, beating it 
down well with a spade, and watering lb 
with water about 100 degrees temperature. 
ONIONS AND CELERY. 
Would you kindly answer these two ques¬ 
tions ? 1. Will onions that have failed to 
bottom sufficiently to sell for sets make 
onions if planted out next spring, and how 
shall I best keep them through the winter f 
2. What is the best method to blanch celery ? 
Subscriber. 
1. Onions which fail to make good bulbs 
the first season are seldom worth saving for 
planting the next. Perhaps if you keop them 
quite dry through winter they may answer 
for the purpose ; but we would not like to 
depend upon such stock for a crop. 
2. There is no better way than banking up 
with earth in the field. But if set out too 
late in the season to secure good stems in 
time for this, the blanching can to continued 
after storing for winter. To do this, set in 
trenches a foot wide and deep enough to re¬ 
ceive the plants. Pack closely together and 
then cover with straw, leaves, or similar se¬ 
cure material, and put ou boards over all to 
keep out the water. The blanching willcou- 
tiuue more or less rapidly, according to the 
temperature ; but if kept too warm, there 
will be danger of rotting. 
PURSLANE 
PARIS 
DENS. 
MARKET GAR- 
Of this herb, two varieties are cultivated, 
viz., the green and the yellow. It is sown in 
January in a hot-bed under a frame, no 
other crop beiug sown along with it. The 
crop is cut with a knife, and the bed being 
immediately afterward trimmed and cleaned 
and the walks made over afresh, a second 
crop may be gathered. It is also gown in the 
open ground from March to August. In sum¬ 
mer it is sown in a shady place. A few seeds 
may be sown in open beds umong other 
plants fond of water, but the Purslane should 
always be pulled up before these are incom¬ 
moded by It. It is always better, however 
to sow it by itself. Each sowing should have 
a good covering of spent manure, and, as tho 
seed is very small, it should be mixed with 
soil to avoid sowing it too thick. Seed is ob¬ 
tained by allowing soma of the plants sown 
in spring to run. It should be gathered a 
short time before it is completely ripe, other¬ 
wise, from its - smallness, it is liable to be lost. 
It will keep good for eight, years. This plant 
is eaten either as a salad or cooked. 
GARDENERS’ NOTES. 
Nasturtiums and Tomatoes among Orch¬ 
ards and Vines.—V an Hulle, a Belgian hor¬ 
ticulturist, states that they grow nasturtiums 
in their apple orchards and let, them climb 
up the trees to keep off the American Blight. 
Also, tomatoes are planted among the grape 
vines to keep off wasps ; it is said that they 
do so effectually. 
Two Best Tomatoes for England.— The 
London Garden says “ VVe believe it is now 
conceded that the Trophy is the best late 
tomato and Canada Victor the best early 
both of American origin. 
