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376 
gomrsiir (Eronomii. 
SALICYLIC ACID IN THE HOUSEHOLD. 
Whethke all that has been claimed for salicylic 
acid as a preservative anil bold good in practice 
or not, must be determined by experience, still 
it is, no doubt, useful for many purposes. Dr. 
Von Heyden tells what may be done with it in 
the preservation of different, articles employed in 
domestic economy, as follows: 
1. Itaw Meat. —It frequently happens, especi¬ 
ally in the warm Beason, that meat which is 
otherwise good, emits an unpleasant smell on 
boiling. This is often tho case with certain 
kinds of meat, liko tongues, etc., which contain 
readily decomposing particles of fat and blood. 
This iB easily romodied by laying the meat, be¬ 
fore cooking, in warm water which contains from 
half to one tcaspoonful of Balicylic acid to the 
quart; or by putting a little acid in the water in 
which it is boiled. 
To protect meat from spoiling for a few days, 
either of the following methods may be em¬ 
ployed : — Place it in water containing from one- 
lialf to one teaapoonful of acid in a quart of 
water; or rub it with dry Balicylic acid, especially 
near the bone and fat. The manner of keeping 
it, as well as the previous cleansing, is as usual. 
Although raw meat, when treated with salicylic 
acid, loses its fine red color on the surface, it 
suffers no change within. The meat also cooks 
soft in a short time. It is also advantageous to 
add one and a*)iaif tcaspoonfuls of tho acid to a 
quart of brine used in pickling meats. 
2. Pure Vote's Milk. —The addition of one- 
half to one tcaspoonful to a quart (or about one- 
half to one gramme por liter ) of dry crystalized 
acid—not in aqueous solution—prevents curdling 
for thirty-six hours longer than otherwise, and 
yet it retains tho property of yielding cream and 
bitter perfectly. 
3. Butter. —If butter be worked with water 
containing ono teaspoonful of acid to the quart, 
and kept in such water, or packed in cloths 
soaked in an aqueous solution of the acid it 
keeps much longer. Even butter which has be¬ 
gun to bo rancid can be improved by carefully 
washing with salicylic water, two or three spoon¬ 
fuls to the quart, and washing in clean water. 
4. Preserved. Fruits.— Cherries, currants, rasp¬ 
berries, plums, apricots and peaches may, as ex¬ 
perience has proved, be very advantageously 
treated in the following mannerThe fruit is 
placed in a preserve jar, with not a very wide 
mouth, layers of fruit alternating with layers of 
sugar, but no water ; and slrewing over it a 
piuch of salicylic acid (}4 gramme to tho kilo¬ 
gramme, or 3’£ grains to the pound.) and cover¬ 
ing the jar with parchment paper which has 
been softened in salicylic acid solution, and then 
boiling as usual in a water bath. Bilberries, or 
blue berries are better boiled without sugar, 
allowed to cool, and put into narrow-mouthed 
bottles (some crystals of salicylic acid being 
strewed over them), corked and sealed. Fruit 
preserved in this way has kept well for two sea¬ 
sons. Others have recommended covering the 
fruit iu the jar with a close-fitting strip of 
blotting-paper, which has been saturated with a 
solution of salicylic acid in rum. 
For cucumber pickles, and those put up with 
vinegar and sugar, a corresponding process is 
recommended; the aoid being boiled in the vine¬ 
gar, and when cold poured over the pickles. 
For salted cucumbers, salicylic acid is put iu the 
water during the boiliug (one-half to one tea- 
spoonful to one quart), and otherwise treated as 
usual. It is recommended to sprinkle ealicylio 
acid in the barrel on the surface of the pickles. 
5. Boiled Vegetables. —An equally small amount 
of dry salicylic acid may be added to these to 
prevent their spoiling. 
6. For disinfecting and pnrifjing the air and 
walls of closed rooms, salicylic acid may be 
evaporatod on a hot sheet of iron or tin. 
7. Vessels, corks, etc., which have a disagree¬ 
able odor or taste, will be renderod perfectly 
sweet by washing with a solution of salicylic 
acid, a fact that deserves special attention. 
Tho best method of preparing these salicylic 
acid solutions is to put two or three teaspoonfuls 
of acid in a quart of water, heat rapidly to boil¬ 
ing, aud let cool. What separates ou cooling is 
an excess of pure acid which may be kept for 
subsequent use, or it may be well stirred up and 
used in suspension when more of the acid is 
wanted than will go into solution. 
In this connection we may add that the purest 
form of salicylic acid is that obtained by dialysis, 
as it is impossible to remove all the tarry and 
resinous matter by recrystallization. 
-- 
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED RECIPES. 
Baked Quartet' of Lamb. —Lard it slightly 
with salt pork, and sprinkle it. with bread-crumbs 
and finely-chcppod paisley. Put the lamb in a 
rather quiok oven, aud carefully aud plentifully 
baste it from the lime it becomes warm, until it 
THE BUBAL ft 
is ready for tho table. Serve with mint sauce, 
and green peas, witli which a little bunch of 
mint has been boiled. 
Mint Sauce. —With three heaped tablespoon- 
fuls of finely chopped young mint, mix two of 
powdered sugar, and six of vinegar ; stir it until 
the sugar is dissolved. 
Stewed leg of Lamb. —ChooBe a small plump 
leg of lamb; put it into a sauce-pan with a few 
trimmings, or a bone or two of veal; cover it 
with cold water, bring it slowly to a boil, clean 
off the scum with great care when it is first 
thrown to the surface, and when it has all been 
skimmed off, add a bunch of thyme and parsley 
and two carrots of moderate size. Let the lamb 
simmer only, but without ceasing, for an hour, 
or until thoroughly cooked. Serve it covered 
with bechamel. 
Bechamel.— Cut half a pound of veal and a 
slice of lean ham into dice, and stew them in 
butter with a few green onions and some sprigs 
of par«ley; then add ono pint of sweet milk; 
one tablesp )onful of ilour, made smooth in a 
little cold a ilk ; let the sauce Bimmer gently for 
an hour. S irain before it is sent to the table, or 
poured over meat. 
Anottur Way. —Mix cold, aud well together, 
in a tin Bat co-pan two ounces of butter and a 
tablcspoonf il of ilour; theu add a pint of sweet 
milk and a. t on the fire; stir constantly, and 
when gettifl j ratter thick remove from the fire; 
heat the yel. of an egg in a cup with a teaspoonful 
of water; tom St into tho sauce and mix well to¬ 
gether ; season with salt and white pepper to 
taste, and it is ready for use. 
Munich Cream Pudding. —Stir in one quart 
of rich milk when boiling, four ounces of corn 
starch dissolved iu a little cold milk; when done, 
stir in five well-beaten eggs with seven ounces of 
sugar, a little salt, flavoring to suit the taste. 
To Make Vinegar Qtnckiy. —To one gallon of 
water add V.{ pounds of raw sugar and one gill 
of yeast; stir well together and keep at a tem¬ 
perature of 80-’; after three or four days, add an 
ounce of cream tartar and an ounce of cut rais¬ 
ins. Aftor a few woeks, or when the sweet taste 
has entirely disappeared, it may be drawn off 
and bottled. This vinegar is to bo recommondod 
only when pure cider vinegar cannot bo obtainod. 
Strawberry Cakes. —Sift a Bmall quart of floor 
into a pan, stir through it two teaspoocfuls of 
baking powder aud a piuch of salt; thee cut up 
among the flour half a pouud of good sweet 
butter. Rub with your hands the butter into 
the flour till the whole is crumbled fine. Beat 
three eggs very light; then mix with them three 
tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, wet the flour 
and butter with the beaten eggs and sugar bo as 
to form a dough. If it should be too stiff add a 
little cold water, spread some flour on your 
paste-board and roll out the dough into a rather 
thick sheet. Cut it into round cakes with a 
cake-cutter—or if you have not one, use a tum¬ 
bler. dipping it frequently into flour to prevent 
its slicking. Butter a large dripping-pan; lay 
the cakes in, not too close to each other, Bet 
them in a brisk oven aud bake them a light 
brown. Have ready a sufficient quantity of 
strawberries, maehel and made sweet with 
powdered sugar. When the oakes are cool, split 
them open and cover the bottom piece of each 
with the mashed strawberries, put on thickly, 
then lay on the top pieces, pressing them down. 
Have re inly Borne icing and spread it thickly 
over the top and down the sides of each cake so 
as to enclose both the upper and lower pieces. 
Before the icing has quite dried, ornament the 
top of every cake with whole strawberries, a 
large one in the center aud smaller ones round 
in a close circle. 
Strawberry-water Tee. —Is made of ripe straw¬ 
berries put into a bag and the juice squeezed out. 
Then measure it and allow half a pound of pow¬ 
dered loaf-sugar to each pint of juice. Having 
mixed thoroughly the juice and sugar put it into 
a freezer and freeze it in the same manner as 
ice-cream. It will be found delicious in warm 
weather. Mbs. Rustic. 
fyjunir Information:, 
ASTHMA AND ITS TREATMENT. 
Asthma as is well known is a disease of the 
air-tubes, and is of all diseases tho most capri¬ 
cious. Dr. F ullreton, in his medical guide, says 
that it is evidently spasmodic, and in some in¬ 
stances entirely nervous in its origin, as iu many 
persons who had suffored from it during life no 
trace of organic disease could be discovered after 
death. But in a few instances it has been found 
associated with disease of the lungs or the heart, to 
to which its attacks might reasonably be attrib¬ 
uted. 
For patients suffering from other affections 
we can generally recommend a place of rosidenoe 
suited to the constitution and the malady, but no 
experience can enable us to do so generally for 
EW-YORKER. 
astlimatic patients; for one will be free from at¬ 
tacks while in a low damp locality; another on 
the summit of a hill, m a dry, bracing atmos¬ 
phere ; one can enjoy be*t health iu a crowded 
city; another in the open couutry; one is im¬ 
proved by traveling, and variety of scene and 
air; another dreads the idea of changing his 
lied, even for a night; while some suffer by re¬ 
moval from one side of the same street to tho 
opposite, or from a back to a front room in tho 
same house. 
Trial atone can assure us of what will best suit 
any asthmatic subject; and the safest direction, in 
every instance is to advise the opposite of that 
wliioli has been formerly found to disagree with 
the patient. 
Although asthma is a nervous disease, yet men 
suffer from it oftener than women. 
Treatment .—This disease follows the general 
rule, and If the attack be anticipated, it can be 
warded off ; but if it has been fairly established, 
it is among the most difficult to control, aud our 
remedies aro too often ineffectual. 
Some of my patients being instructed, when 
feeling at evening the lumal premonitory symp¬ 
toms, to take a hot batli at 102 deg. Fahr., Bleep 
between blaukets, and take ten grains of Dover's 
powder to encourage perspiration during the 
night, have escaped the attack, and returned 
next day to their wonted pursuits. But 6ome 
persons do not like thiB trouble, and many get 
no previous notice or warning. 
To these my advice was to be very careful of 
their digestive organs; never to eat indigestible 
food; not to allow the stomach or bowels to be 
overloaded; strictly to avoid suppers; to abstain 
from alcoholic drinks, especially ale and porter; 
to sleep in an airy apartment, the bed being out of 
tho draught; to eschew exposure to sudden 
changes of temperature, and musty, disagreeable 
odors; and to have a shower bath every morn¬ 
ing, tepid in winter, and cold in summer, with 
plenty of friction. 
A few dyspeptics escape an attack of asthma 
by swallowing one or two of the seeds of garlick, 
familiar in Britain, when going to bed; aud if 
they be not chewed the breath is not affected. 
And ten or a dozen seeds of capsicum, plentiful 
in Australia, when taken at night, serve some. 
For checking the spasm of the air-tubes and 
abating tbe sufferings during the attack, hydro- 
cyanac acid, in two-minim doses, together with a 
tcaspoonful of syrup of squill, taken every two 
hours, and a teaspoonful of the acetate of am¬ 
monia in a teacupful of warm toast-water, taken 
also alternately with tho hydrocyanic, acid every 
two hours, so that one would be taken every 
hour, is the remedy I have found most useful. 
As soon as tho Bufferings abate, the medicine 
should be given less frequently—every four, six, 
eight, or twelve hours, or at night only as re¬ 
quired. The bowels should bo unloaded by an 
enema of soap and warm water every morning 
and evening. Tho food should be very light, aud 
the drink equally so. 
The tinoture of lobelia, twenty minims in a 
winegiassful of coffee, given every two hours, is 
also an efficient medicine, and doeB well in some 
cases. 
Chloroform is a powerful antispasmodic, but 
its use is too hazardous to allow it to be recom¬ 
mended as a family medicine. 
Stramonium, the leaves aud stems being put 
into a pipe and smoked like tobacco, acts admir¬ 
ably iu checking an attack with some persous, 
aud the earlier it is applied the effect is the more 
marked. 
The fumes of nitre also relieve many. For 
this purpose narrow pieces of blotting-paper 
should be dipped into a saturated solution (as 
much as water will dissolve) of nitre, then 
dried aud kept for use ; and one of these pieces 
of paper, burned in the center of the room in 
any eartheru vessel, is sufficient to try tho effect, 
which, if serviceable, can be repeated at pleas¬ 
ure. 
With some a cup of strong coffee acts almost 
like a charm ; while to others it seems rather in¬ 
jurious. No specific has yet been discovered for 
this disease, uor does tho same remedy suit every 
case. In this disease, as in many others exper¬ 
ience is the best guide. 
- . - 
HEALTHFULNESS OF ASPARAGUS. 
It is reportod, on good authority, that those 
who suffer from rheumatism are cured iu a few 
days by feeding on asparagus, while even chronic 
cases are much relieved,especially if they avoid all 
acids, whether in food or drink. The Jerusalem 
Artichoke is reported to have a similar effect in 
relieving rheumatism. Most plants which grow 
naturally near the the sea-coast contain more or 
less iodine, and in all rhematic complaints iodine 
has long been a favorite remedy. Many of the 
patent nostrums for this disease nominally de¬ 
vised merely for philanthropic purposes, but sold 
at an exorbitant figure, consist simply of a few 
cents’ worth of iodine in solution. Care should 
be taken against over-doses of it, however, as it 
is then dangerous, affecting especially the eye. 
♦ 
GREEN CROPS FOR CATTLE FEEDING. 
The importation of American meat into En¬ 
gland is stimulating the native farmers and 
stock raisers to greater efforts in order to meet 
successfully this fresh competitor in their mark¬ 
ets. It also behooves our agriculturists and cat¬ 
tle breeders to pay closer attention to every 
moans by which the quantity and quality of 
their products may be enhanced. For this pur¬ 
pose, many useful lessons may be learnt from 
the large experience and careful study of our 
transatlantic cousins. Yearly the population 
here is becoming denser, more land is daily being 
brought under cultivation, that already worked 
is growing more exhausted, and the necessity is 
becoming more urgent that the economical meth¬ 
ods of agriculture followed in Europe should bo 
practiced by our farmers. In this connection, a 
paper was lately read boforo an English Farm¬ 
ers’ Club by Mr. Sanixjud Jones, on planting 
turnips for feeding stock, and as his remarks are 
equally applicable here, we have condensed them 
from columns of tho Agricultural Gazette : 
Having referred to the presont system of farm¬ 
ing in England, which almost entirely depends 
on the judicious management of green crops in¬ 
tervening between corn crops, which of them¬ 
selves would exhaust land aud make fallowing 
necessary, Mr. STAxronn said that at tho pres¬ 
ent time, when foreigners so successfully com¬ 
peted in tho supply of meat, it behooved them to 
produce in greater abundance those fattening 
and nutritious crops as food for stock, for which 
there is such a ready market. The production 
of wheat was the all-absorbing topic even on ex¬ 
hausted lands while, if root croppings were more 
resorted to, an increased supply of corn would 
be the result, superior in bulk and qnality. 
Aftor some further prefaratory remarks, ho 
said I take ono of the most important of our 
root crops—Uie turnip. Boforo its introduction, 
it must have been diflicult to manage light soils 
to advantage, but with their aid, rotations were 
established which rendered such soils highly fer¬ 
tile, and were the means of making ono of those 
Btridcs in improvement to British agriculture 
which wo now enjoy. Turnips of all varieties 
delight in sandy loam; but their characteristics 
aro such that most soilB will bear thorn, which 
havo been brought to a pulverized and fertile 
state, “remembering that when clods prevail 
the turnips fail.” 
The turnip is a somewhat precarious crop, con¬ 
sequent on the terrible ravages its numerous 
enemies commit, but of them there is nouo 
whose attacks are so disastrous as the fly. It is 
estimated that one-sixth of the total acreage 
under turnips is actually destroyed or injured by 
it. It shonid be our aim, then, either to pre¬ 
vent or alleviate tboso attacks as far as possi¬ 
ble, which is dono by Bound and practical farm¬ 
ing. To this end there are two points to be con¬ 
sidered ;—First, a good autumn to enable the 
frost to pulverize and mellow the soil, aud second, 
the application at the time of sowing of some 
forcing manure to hasten the germination of 
seed and force up the plants in an even crop. To 
attain this last object, many manures are used, 
hut af them all, superphosphate of lime is one 
of the beat stimulants. 
This always applies to swede seed—and it ap¬ 
plies also to turnips—three c-wt. of superphos¬ 
phate and three owt. of dissolved bones per acre 
if they aro to be folded off, but if pulled for yard 
stock, the bones are dispensed with, and 15 loads 
of good rotten dung applied instead, and a crop 
of wheat follows. But, whatever the manure 
applied, several good articles are better than one. 
Of the three varieties of the turnip, the white- 
fleshed are tho heaviest croppers, but in hard- 
uces and nutriment they are far inferior to the 
Swedish. Tbe yellcw-fleshed turnip is an inter¬ 
mediate variety between the whito-floshod aud 
Swedish, and is longer of growth than tho form¬ 
er. Both yellow and white-fleshed varieties come 
to maturity before the Swedish, and are most 
valuable for early winter feeding, and must be 
consumed then, as few varieties preserve their 
soundueaa and nutriment through the winter, 
although if sown as late as August some of the 
yellow varieties will keep through the frost. 
The Swedish is by far the best of the turnips, 
aud in fact it contains the moat nutriment in the 
least compass of any of the roots, and such is its 
hardiness that the winter would have little effect 
upon it if left unpulied, though of course its nu¬ 
triment would bo lessened. I once heard an old 
farmer say that June 10 was his day for swede 
sowing, wet or fine, and I think ho is not far 
wrong. Three pounds per acre should be put 
in. Though this may seem thick sowing, it is 
the main object to obtain a good plant, and these 
not required may be hoed out, as the valuo of a 
pouud of seed is comparatively nothing. After 
the setting out of the plants, constant hoeing is 
necessary, not only to renovate and clean tho 
Boil which constitutes root crops aud also fallow 
