MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Jornestuf d^onamg. 
ABOUT HOUSEKEEPING. 
ROMs SUSOtSTIOtiS Fi?0M A FARMER'S WIFE. 
In the Rural of Dec. 12th, I fiud an in¬ 
quiry from Zela about overworked women, 
asking for notes oil the subject. As no one 
has responded yet, I venture to give a few 
of my ideas, which I have found to be a help 
■when doiug my own work with small 
children. 
I never made any progress trying to work 
at irregular hours, such as rising at three or 
four o’clock and getting a washing nearly 
done by sunrise, as some do. Let none but 
those who have a great deal of vitality try 
that. Regular hours for work are exhaust¬ 
ing enough. Directly after breakfast, put 
over the wash boiler and while the watdr is 
heating, wash the dishes, pub the clothes 
soaking and so forth. Then rub out the 
white clothes, and while they are boiling 
make the bed, jmt the house in order and 
prepare for dinner; then finish getting your 
clothes on the line. I have found this way 
les3 tiresome than leaving everything else 
until the washing was done, and when tired 
out have the liouso to put to rights. Where 
there is more than one to work, of course 
the labor can be divided. 
Another help Is, on ordinary days, to have 
the cake, sauce, or whatever is to be had for 
supper, prepared In the forenoon while the 
fire i3 kept up for the morning’s work. It 
makes a great difference in the length of the 
afternoons, when you wish to sit down to 
sewing or other work. 
Another tiling, but perhaps I ought to 
think twice before 1 say it: Do not attempt 
to do things that you are unable to do, just 
because your husband expects it of you, or 
don't know but what you can as well as not. 
Most men, however amiable they may be, 
acem unable to comprehend the amount of 
labor and care that falls on women who do 
their own work, and have the charge of 
young children besides. It is the truest kind¬ 
ness to husband and children both, to de¬ 
cline to do extra work which is too much for 
your strength. Better leave some things 
unclono than wear yourself out prematurely, 
and leave your place vacant. 
If possible have a plan in your mind, what 
work you have to do for the week, and keep 
ahead of it if you can ; it is so discouraging 
to feel that you are behind. 
Another important item ; Read the Rural. 
You will find many things that will be a help 
there. I have practised for years many 
things which I have found in its pages, con¬ 
tributed by some good housekeepers. Every 
one must have her own way of arranging 
work, but a new idea now and then gives us 
new life. 
Get your magazines bound ; I should like 
to say this to every young housekeeper in 
the land. If you like literature and dream 
of over having a library, take some good 
magazino or illustrated paper, that will bo 
worth something to keep, and have them 
bound yearly. The expense then is small, 
and you will have books before you know it; 
but if you wait you will either get discour¬ 
aged at tho accumulations, or your maga¬ 
zines will be defaced or destroyed. The 
children’s papers too should be preserved and 
■will be worth a great deal to them. 
-•-*-«>- 
SELECTED RECIPES. 
Roast Haunch of Venison .—The flavor of 
venison is improved by being kept as long as 
possible and yet remaining perfectly sweet. 
Choose a haunch with clear, bright, and 
thick fat. The more fat the better the meat. 
Wash it in warm water and dry it well with 
a cloth ; butter a sheet of white paper and 
put over tho fat; lay the venison in a deep 
baking-dish with a very little boiling water, 
and cover with either a closely-fitting lid or 
a ooarse paste one-half incti thick. Cook in 
a moderately hot oven for from three to 
four hours, according to the size of the 
haunch. About twenty minutes before it is 
done, quicken the fire, remove the paste, or 
the dish cover, dredge the joint with flour, 
and baste well with butter until it is nicely 
frothed and of a fine delicate brown color. 
Garnish the knuckle-bone with a frill of 
white paper, and serve with a gravy made 
from its own dripping—from which the fat 
has been removed—placed in a tureen. Cur¬ 
rant jelly always accompanies venison. 
Raised Connecticut Doughnuts.—Heat a 
pint of milk just lukewarm, and stir into a 
small cup of melted lard and sifted flour, till 
it is a thick batter, add a small cup of do¬ 
mestic yeast, and keep it warm till t he batter 
ia light, then work into four beaten eggs, 
two cups of sugar rolled, free from lumps', a 
teaspoonful of salt, and two of cinnamon. 
When the whole is well mixed, knead in 
wheat flour until about as stiff as biscuit, 
dough. Hob where it will keep warm, till of 
spongy lightness, then roll the dough out 
half an inch thick, and cut into cakes. Let 
them remain till light, then fry them in hot 
lard. 
Crusted Apple Pudding. —Pare, core and 
stew slightly, two quarts of tart, mellow ap¬ 
ples, and place them in a pudding-dish ; then, 
to one and a half pints of wheatmeal, add 
one gill <>f Zante currants, and boiling water 
enough to make a dough, stirring lightly 
until mixed ; roll it out one-third of an inch 
thick, and spread over the apples. Bake it 
in a quick oven forty or fifty minutes, take 
out, reverse on a hot plate, mash the apples 
with a spoon, and sweeten. If desired ; cut 
in pieces like a pie, and serve warm, with 
some fruit sauce. 
lints to Feii Chicken. —The best fried 
chickens are thus prepared: The chickens 
are killed, scalded, picked and. washed out 
cleanly in water, then quartered and thrown 
into boiling lard. In a few minutes they arc 
done brown, and are then lobe removed and 
served up hot and dry, not put, into grease 
again. In this way tho fowl is “ tender as 
chicken,” and is a great delicacy. If you 
don’t believe it, try it, aud if you do believe 
it, try it. 
Cracker Pies, or Mock Mince. —Take 
seventeen butter crackers, one enp of suet 
chopped very line, one and one half cups mo¬ 
lasses, one and one-half sugar, one enp of 
raisins, one and a half cups of vinegar, one 
and a half water, half a cup of cider or 
whisky, one nutmeg, two tablespoon fills of 
cinnamon, and one plot, of hot water. Roll 
the crackers fine. 
While Coke. —One cup of sugar; one-half 
cup of butter ; one-lialf cup sweet milk ; 
two cups of flour ; the whites of three eggs ; 
one-half a to,a.spoonful of soda ; one teaspofin¬ 
fill of cream of tartar sifted with the flour. 
Beat butter and sugar thoroughly together, 
add the whites of eggs beaten to a stiff foam, 
then the flour and milk, and soda the last. 
(Information. 
SENSIBLE HYGIENIC SUGGESTIONS. 
The Herald of Health for January is n 
capital number of an excellent magazine. 
The Questions and Answers in the “ Editor's 
Studies in Hygienic ” are generally both 
sensible and seasonable. We ropy several 
for the benefit of Rural, readers : 
lime to Avoid Colds.— Is there any 
method of living by which one can avoid 
colds and coughs in winter and spring ? 
Ans.—O h yes. These ailments may be 
largely avoided by proper care. The follow¬ 
ing hints will perhaps serve you. Never wear 
wet clothes after active muscular exertion 
has ceased, but change them at once ; always 
meet t he loss of body beat by warm fluids 
and dry clothes ; avoid long sustained loss of 
heat which is not counteracted by increased 
production of heat ; increase the tonicity of 
the vessels of tho skin by cold baths, so 
educating them to contract readily on ex¬ 
posure; avoid too warm and debilitating 
rooms and temperatures : take especial care 
against too great loss of heat when the skin 
is glowing, and to prevent the inspiration of 
cold air by the mouth by some protecting 
agent, as a respirator. We can readily 
understand how a respirator should be an 
effective protection against winter bronchitis 
in those so disposed. 
Precaution against Infection. —When one 
watches with the sick who have such dis¬ 
eases as are likely to be spread, what pre¬ 
cautions are to be taken to prevent the 
spread of the disease from one person to 
another ? 
Ans. —1, Be careful to have the air of the 
sick-room pure and frequently changed. 2, 
See that all the secretions are disinfected 
properly. 8, Have the patient properly bath¬ 
ed. The bath swallows up much poisonous 
matter, and a little carbolic acid in It will lie 
advantageous. 1, Never eat, drink, or sleep 
in the sick room, or go into it if not needed ; 
or go in when tired, or exhausted, or ill, or 
hungry. 
Scurvy Head. —Will you bo kind enough to 
inform me what is good for scurf iu the 
head 1 
Ans. —Have your head thoroughly cleaned 
every week, and wear your hair short, so 
tho light and air can get. in and the scurf get 
out. It is no wonder that so many complain 
of scurfy heads. 
To Warm Cold Feet. —What would you 
propose to keep the feet warm, when one has 
always kept their lower limbs well clothed, 
and still suffers from cold feet l 
Ans. —The feet remedies are hot footbaths 
at night., exercise of the feet, and care to 
have the blood supplied with, good food. 
Coddling Children. —Is it wise to coddle, or 
tenderly rear our children t 
Ans.—Y es, if you want, to develop hot¬ 
house men and women from them ; other¬ 
wise, no. To coddle means to keep in-doors 
in all but flue weather, to dress too warmly 
in mild weather, to feed ou niokuacks, and 
keep the breath of heaven from touching. A 
hot-house exotic child is never safe from the 
slightest changes, whereas a child accus¬ 
tomed to cold, rarely takes cold. 
Thread Worms. —Please tell mo what will 
| cure thread worm.', which are so prevalent 
i among children. 
Axs.—Feed them on clean, plain, whole¬ 
some food ; plenty of brown bread and milk, 
aud fruit. These worms do not thrive on 
| fruit. 
Marble-toy Stands. —Are marble-top stands 
and tables healthy for invalids who work or 
write near them ? 
Ans.—N o. They are cold, and rapidly 
absorb the heat mid vitality of the body, 
robbing it of its life, Wc have heard of one 
invalid whom the doctor could not cure, till 
one day he noticed sho used a marble stand, 
and suspected- it had something to do with 
her ill health. Ho he forbade her touching 
it. Soon she was cured. We know healthy 
people who feel the twinges of pain in aslioul 
der by sitting near one. They are elegant 
articles Of furniture : but unhealthy for all 
I that. 
City vs. Country Children. —Why are city 
children more precocious than country 
children ? 
Ans—B ecause there is more in a city to 
call into exercise tho brain, and less to 
develop the body. The rustic youth looks 
and acts dull by the side of the city boy ; 
but at middle age he is generally tho bet ter 
man, for the city youth expends his nerve 
force, while the country youth stores his up 
for future use. The precocity of tho city 
youth should bo retarded. Keep them away 
from balls, parties, theaters, evening amuse¬ 
ments. Send them to the country often. 
Give them a year mi it farm now and then, 
or teach them a trade. 
Hardening Children. —If children are 
hardened, are not all the feeble ones kill- 
ed ? 
Ans. —They should not all be hardened 
alike, but brought up as near ».s possible to 
their needs. Lot. tho feeble ones be gently 
but gradually hardened, not suddenly ex¬ 
posed to what may kill them. The harden- 
i mg process, if properly applied, will injure 
none, but, on the contrary, may be made 
1 useful to the most feeble. 
GRASSHOPPERS IN KANSAS. 
Home one in the Rural New-Yorker of 
Jan. 8 wished to know what the grasshop¬ 
pers destroyed and what they did not de¬ 
stroy. The latter would be much the soon¬ 
est answered. The only things that they 
did not eat were castor beans aud sugar 
cane. The corn that had not hardened was 
completely destroyed, cars and blade. A 
field of corn invaded by the locust would in 
forty-eight hours look like a perfect deaden¬ 
ing. Every stalk stripped clean, and in 
many instances the stalk eaten down to two 
or three feet high. Fruit trees were entirely 
stripped of leave.-. Where they invaded a 
peach orchard they would cat all the leaves, 
then the fie-h from the peach, leaving the 
tree with nothing but the seeds ; ill some 
cases the peaches were left, but the leaves 
all gone. The fruit came to no good. 
This country is too new for apples yet, but 
the trees were attacked and leaves eaten. 
Ml yard plants, flowers, garden vegetables 
and hedges were subjected to tho mime fate. 
The chinch bug nurl locust together destroy¬ 
ed the oats and spring wheat. Spring wheat 
i- a failure, here. Full wheat does splendidly, 
and thousands of acres have been sown this 
last fall. Tho prospect, for a good crop of 
wheat the next season Is splendid, and should 
nothing turn up to destroy the wheat, we 
will raise enough in this section to supply 
this and some other States. We have snow 
on the ground, and the thermometer is 10’ 
below zero this A. M. at 7 o’clock. 
Wichita, Kan., Jan. 9. Harry T. 
Scienti|i({ and Useful. 
SHRINKING OF SEASONED TIMBER. 
The various kinds of oak, and some other 
kinds of valuable timber, will shrink more 
or less every time tho surface is dressed off 
even a small fraction of an inch. Wheel¬ 
wrights, accustomed to work in oak, aro 
well aware of this fact, aud a correct appre¬ 
ciation of it often enables them to turn cut 
work of a, superior character, even of ordin¬ 
ary material?, by flirt blocking out the 
pieces roughly, then allowing the timber to 
season, and afterwards working the various 
parts by degrees, as the seasoning process 
becomes more and more complete. 
While oak spoke timber, for example, msy 
be allowed to remain in rough :-tate for half 
a score of years, under shelter, without be¬ 
coming seasoned so thoroughly thht tho 
timber will not shrink after the ‘pokes havo 
been dressed out. Carriage wheels havo 
often been mado of the choicest quality of 
I oak timber after every spoke had been 
seasoned for several years, ami, to the great 
surprise of tho wheelwright, every spoke 
would work in the joints before the vehiclo 
had run three months. The defect in such 
instances could not bo attributed to inferior 
timber, nor to perfunctory workmanship; 
but simply to this one circumstance—that 
the parts of the wheels were put together 
before the timber had censed to shrink. 
To prove that the "best quality of oak will 
! shrink, after a spoke has been dressed out, 
let a tenon bo made on one end, and bo driv¬ 
en immediately into a mortise ; after a few 
days’ exposure in a warm workshop tho 
spoke may bo withdrawn with little diffi¬ 
culty. Tho same fact will hold good in tho 
manufacture of wood work of any kind 
where oak is employed for tenons. In order 
to make joints that will ne,vcr start, tho 
piece ou which, tho tenons are to be mado 
j should bo dressed over several times, until 
I tho shrinking has ceased. Then lot tho 
tenons be made. After these have shrunk 
! while exposed to the drying influence of a 
| warm workshop, the spokes or other parts, 
may be driven into their respective places, 
with the assurance (especially if they are 
dipped in oil paint previous to driving) that 
tho timber will shrink no more. 
Many kinds of farming implements, in tho 
manufacture of which oat: and ash aro em- 
j ployed, render very unsatisfactory service, 
Bimply because the Reasoned timber was not 
allowed to shrink before tho teuons were 
| driven into the mortises. In like manner, 
oak chairs and other oak furniture, will fro- 
j qnently shrink to such an extent that tho 
! pommels, rungs, dowclpins and banisters 
will all work loose, if the precaution we have 
described is not. observed.—Jm. Builder. 
■ — -»-»♦ - - —— 
MOISTURE AT WILL. 
M, Paraf is said to be the discoverer of a 
i way of doing without rain, if necessary. Ho 
knew that the air is full of moiature, and ho 
j knew that chloride of calcium would attract 
and condense it, for cultural purpose. Ho 
lias applied this chloride on sund-hi’ls end 
| road-beds, on grass, on all sorts of soil?, suc¬ 
cessfully, and he has ascertained that it may 
bo applied iu such proportions as will pro¬ 
duce tho irrigation of land more cheaply and 
efficiently than by means of canals or other 
methods of securing artifical irrigation. 
One of M. Paraf’s applications will produce 
and retain abundant moisture for three 
days, when the same amount of water intro¬ 
duced by the present method will evaporate 
in an hour. He bolives that his preparation 
will not only produce two blades of grass 
where but one now grows, but that it will 
render possible fields, meadows aud pros¬ 
perity, where now there is nothing but sand 
and desert waste. 
SCIENTIFIC AND USEFUL NOTES. 
Vattdir.R a New Petroleum Product—A 
new petroleum product has boon introduced 
into the trade under tho name of vaseline, 
which, according to The English Mechanic, 
promises t,o be useful as a vehicle for 
emollient preparations. It is a solid, semi¬ 
transparent jelly, free from taste or color, 
and becomes liquid at 63’ F. It is obtained 
by evaporating crude petroleum, and filter¬ 
ing the residue through animal charcoal. 
Removal of Acid From the Soil by Oil. 
Producing Plants.— It is said that land in 
the neighborhood of Torgau has been 
rendered fit for the production of wheat l.y 
planting it with rape-seed every two years ; 
the. oil-producing plant-s, like the emciferp B 
1 in general, acting like lime upon the soil in 
the removal of acid from it. 
1 
