304 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
JUNE 23 
Jlomcsfic (Eroitomi), 
PHILOSOPHIES IN COOKING. 
A whiter in the Amoricivn Cultivator Bays: 
The various processes of cooking often determine 
both tho taste for food and its ultimate beneficial 
effect on the system. In the case of animal food, 
whatever renders its fiber harder, makes the 
meat loss digestible ; the flesh of young animals, 
or those that have never been overworked, is 
easily distinguished from that of older, tougher 
cattle. Keeping tends very much to improve the 
tenderness of meat. Few animals are fit to be 
oaten the day they are killed, and yet, for the 
lack of a supply of ice and other conveniences of 
trifling cost and troublo, immense quantities of 
tough and unfit meat are annually consumed in 
country places. By tho action of salt on lean 
moat, a considerable quantity of tho natural 
juices and flavor is extracted and absorbed, ren¬ 
dering tho fiber harder, drier and more indigesti¬ 
ble. Occasionally salt meat is agreeable, but as 
a regular article of diet, if is objectionable, since 
the introduction of so much salt into the system 
is prejudicial to health, lessens tho relish for 
food, induces cravings for fluids, produces indi¬ 
gestion and skin disease. Fats form an excep¬ 
tion; they have no water to lose, hence salt 
makes them no harder, and in fact, fat pork is 
rendered more digestible by salting and will di¬ 
gest quicker than fresh pork, while beef, long 
salted, requires two hours longer for digestion 
than roast fresh hoof. 
In boiling, beef loses .15 of its weight; roast¬ 
ed, .20; boiled mutton shrinks .10, and roasted 
.24; fowl cooked by boiling .13, and they show 
.25 loss by roasting. To boil meat properly, it 
should be plunged at once into boiling water; If 
intended for soup, uso cold water and gradually 
boat it. Boiled meat eaten without tho soup 
formed in boiling, loses part of its nutrition. 
Broiling meat seals up tho pores through which 
the juices might escape. Roast moat is more di¬ 
gestible than boiled, because tho coating on the 
outside, produced by sudden contact with groat 
heat, retains the savory and soluble elements. 
Frying is most objootlonable, and unless handled 
with great skill, it not only renders tho meat 
harder and more indigestible, but It imbues it 
with boiling fat and destroys tho flavor. No 
meat diet is so economical as the preparation of 
soups and stews, since even shin-bones, broken 
up, have a nutritive value of one-third that of 
beef in carbon and one-sixth in nitrogen. 
-• ♦ » - - - 
ORIGINAL AND SELECTED RECIPES. 
Strawberry Jam. —Pick over the fruit care¬ 
fully, and if sandy, wash quickly and drain thor¬ 
oughly : weigh, and boil them for thirty minutes, 
stirring them constantly; then add half a pound 
of sugar to each pound of fruit, mix them well, 
and then boil the preserve again quickly for 
twenty minutes. One pint of currant juice to 
every four pounds of fruit will be a decided im¬ 
provement to tho flavor of the jam. When the 
jam is done, put it into air-tight jars, and seal 
while hot. 
Strawberry Acid Royal. —Dissolve in a quart 
of water two ounces of citric add, aud pour it on 
as many ripe strawberries—carefully looked over 
—as it will cover; in twenty-four hours drain 
the liquid from the fruit, and pour it over the 
same quantity of fresh berries ; lot it stand an¬ 
other twenty-four hours ; tbon drain it again 
from tho fruit, and boil it gently for five min¬ 
utes with its weight of very fine sugar, which 
should be dissolved in it before it is placed over 
the fire ; when perfectly cold, put it into small 
bottles and seal air-tight. Htoru in a cool, dry, 
dark closet. It in one or the most delicious fla¬ 
voring preparations, and of a beautiful color. 
Strawberry Vinegar. —Tako the hulls from the 
fruit, which should bo of a highly flavored varie¬ 
ty, very ripe, fresh l'rotu the hods, and pick ml in 
dry weather ; weigh the berries, and put them 
into wide-necked bottles, and to each pound of 
fruit, pour about a pint and a half of white wine 
vinegar. Cork tbo bottles, and lot tho strawber¬ 
ries remain three or four days; then pour off tfie 
vinegar and empty tho fruit into a jelly-bag, that 
all the liquid may drop from them without pres¬ 
sure ; pour the vinegar over tho same quantity 
of fresh fruit; three days afterwards repeat the 
same process; thou drain off all tho liquid, strain 
through a jelly-hag, woigh it, and mix with it an 
equal quantity of highly-refined sugar; when 
this is nearly dissolved, stir tiro sirup over a very 
good fire until it has boiled five minutes, and 
skim it thoroughly. When perfectly cold, put tt 
into half-pint bottles and cork them lightly, for 
if these be pressed in tightly at first, the bottles 
would be liable to burst. In a week they may be 
closely corked and put in a dark, dry, cool place. 
A spoonful or two, in a. glass of water, affords 
an agreeable beverage for invalids. It is also 
fine flavoring for custards and sauces for various 
kinds of puddings. 
Oranges Filled with Jelly. —Take some very 
fine oranges, and with the point of a knife cut 
out from the top of each a round hole about the 
size of a two-cent piece; then with a spoon, 
empty them entirely, taking care not to break 
the rinds. Throw the rinds into cold water and 
make jelly of the juice, which must be well press¬ 
ed from the pulp and strained as c’o&r as possi¬ 
ble. Color one half rod with prepared cochineal 
and leave the other very pale ; when the jelly is 
nearly cold, drain and wipe the rinds, and fill 
them with alternate atripes of the two jellies; 
when they are perfectly cold, cut them In quart¬ 
ers, and dispose them tastefully in a dish, with 
a few bunches of myrtle between them. Differ¬ 
ent blano-mango may bo used to fill the rinds ; 
the colors should contrast as much as possible. 
Pirn-apple Preserve .—Havothe pine-apples as 
ripe as yon can got them ; pare, and cut them 
into thin sliceB; weigh them, and allow one 
pound of double-refined sugar to each pound of 
fruit. Take a porcelain preserving-kettle and in 
it put a layer of fruit and sugar alternately, put¬ 
ting sugar on the top; let it stand over night. 
In tho morning, take out tho fruit and boil the 
simp until it is clear ; whilst it is boiling hot, 
pour it over tho fruit and let it stand uncovered 
until perfectly cold. Then put it into glass jars 
or tumblers, and covor by pasting paper over the 
top. 
Another .—Pool the jiiiie-applea; cut out the 
eyes, slice them, and cut out the hard center. 
Then boil till tender ; skim the liquid and add to 
it three-quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound 
of fruit. Boil it, skim it again and put in the 
fruit; boil till clear or soft, or put in lemons 
and use one pound of sugar instead of three- 
quarters. Mrs. Rustic. 
One needs but to understand that constant 
contact of the whole surface of the body with 
atmospheric air is essential to health, and that 
even a prolonged exclusion of air from the en¬ 
tire exterior of our bodies would be fatal, in or¬ 
der to have confidence In an occasional cold or 
cool air hath unobstructed by our clothing. 
Wherever was man’s original or natural habitat, 
he has become a casmopollte; hut lackiug the 
hirsute protection of the lower animals, lie uoede 
artificial protection from cold if he goes much 
north of tho topics. That protection, however, 
must he of a material pervious to air although it 
be, of necessity, a hindrance to its free circula¬ 
tion. Our dwellings can hardly be made air¬ 
tight, but wc know, through the testimony of 
our sensations, that an occasional full ventila¬ 
tion of our bodies has a kindred effect. 
We all understand the necessity of air to be 
inspired aud expired by the lungs in order to 
vitalize tho blood and maintain the heat, but the 
physiologists toll us that the skin breathes too, 
and though in a less degree and without muscu¬ 
lar effort, it is for the same purpose and has, in 
a measure, the same effect. We learn that when 
uncomfortably cold, vigorous exercise relieves 
us: now how is that brought about except by 
increasing the amount of air inhaled, and there¬ 
by increasing tho internal combustion ? And we 
Hhall find, when sitting of a winter’s evening in 
a room just comfortably warm, that if we denude 
oiu'selves and sit as far from tho lire as possible, 
the chiLlness that first strikes us is soon replaced 
by a vigorous glow of warmth and comfort, the 
complete ventilation of the skin adding to its 
power to generate heat. Dr. Franklin evidently 
appreciated this air bath, as appears in his es¬ 
say entitled “ How to avoid unpleasant dreams.” 
The furor for cold water bathing that raged 
some twenty-five years ago, has abated and the 
thing stands now more on its merits. I have no 
doubt this practice has been beneficial in many 
cases aud injurious in others. This and the air 
hath nmy easily be rimed to excess. I have 
seen a child almost converted into an idiot 
through its dread of the cold douce to which it 
had been daily subjected. 
Habit lias much to do in the relish or disrelish 
of our customary ablutions of tho hands and 
face. The child dreads them, the man finds 
them a pleasure and a necessity. Cleanliness is 
a virtue and a health-promoting practice, but I 
see no more reason iu tho daily water bath, for 
the purpose of keeping the pores of tho skin 
open, as many claim, than there would be in 
inserting a gag to keep the mouth opon. The 
fluid into which man is born, aud in which he is 
destined to live, is the atmosphere. Ho was not 
made amphibious, else ho would have been pro¬ 
vided with flippers like a seal; neither lias he 
been created aquatic, or he would have had web¬ 
bed feet or hands. 1 have no doubt, however, 
that it was foreordained that he should occasion¬ 
ally fall into the water and be caught out in a 
shower, but he does not swim by instinct, as do 
nearly all quadrupeds and birds, when placed iu 
the water either by accident or design. Man iu 
such cases, if beyond his depth, must drown if 
bo has not learned to swim. 
The air bath is nature’s bath, and whoever 
tries it will most likely find it one of the best rem¬ 
edies for ennui and sleeplessness, either in cold 
or warm weather, by day or by night. I would 
not detract one iota from tlic merits of water as 
a cleanser iu all cases, as a cooler in fevers, a 
warmer in chills, a universal beverage and a 
most valuable modlcine,—but its administration 
in the latter case is not as well understood by 
the laity as that of calomel or ipecac. 1 have 
always thought that the benefits claimed from 
tbo ordinary water bath, if they were real, were 
due to the air bath, that generally precedes and 
follows tho water bath. s. b. p. 
■- ■ *•♦♦-- 
MAY APPETITE. 
The Golden Rule describes rather facetiously 
what it terms, “The May Appetite,” which with 
some persons continues over into Juno and per¬ 
haps later In tho season. 
About this time of year a largo proportion of 
the people in our Northern climate—evon those 
of pretty vigorous health, begin to lose their 
relish for food. The breakfast boll has nomusic 
iu it. Luuoh Is a boro, and it takes them some 
tune to make up their minds what they can cat 
for dinner. The man charges it to the “ muggy 
Spring weathor,” or else concludes that he is 
“getting bilious.” Whatever the cause, he 
feels, as the old-fashioned folks would say, 
“ kinder gin eout.” And so, in tho American 
fashion, ho goes to dosing. He eats rhubarb or 
takes salts, or drinks ale or “ root-aud-yarb ” tea. 
Or, if ho bo poor and gullible, he swallows two 
or three kinds of patent medicine—anything to 
disturb and punch up, as it wore poor Mother 
Nature. 
Now, this is all a very bad kind of nonsense. 
Even tho physicians have made wonderful pro¬ 
gress within tho past ten years towards a prac¬ 
tical recognition of the fact that Nature rarely 
needs medicine to help her children out of 
trouble. There was a pound given twenty years 
ago where an oauoo sullicos now. Intelligent 
people have learned that a wise regulation of 
diet, with physical warmth and cleanliness, aud 
plenty of either rest or exercise, will provont or 
cure all ordinary disarrangements of tho system. 
No one who has put thought into his eating, aud 
observed the effect of food or drink upon him¬ 
self, as every sensible man should do, need ever 
do violence to his system with physic. But there 
aro men who will indulge heartily in moats and 
boat and fat-making food all Winter- make no 
change when Spring comes, and then wonder 
what is tho matter with their appetite. Tin* air, 
the skieB, the whole race of the earth, all change, 
aud all the conditions of living are altered; but 
they stick to their beef and ham and mutton and 
hearty food just the same in Apiil or May as in 
December and January. Nature brings them up 
with a round turn, and says : “ Give me a fair 
show -if you won’t treat me right, I'll bo re¬ 
venged?” And so the man has a “ Spring ap¬ 
petite, ” and drenches himself with bitters, or 
peppers himself with pills. 
It is a great pity that common sense in those 
matters should be so uncommon. If a man isn’t 
hungry, why should be eat? If ho can eat 
breakfast and relish it at 11 or 12 o’clock, but 
cau only force down a few morsels at 7, why 
shouldn’t ho conform to the situation? Not a 
fifth of the civilized world breakfast iu the arbi¬ 
trary and Bcnsoless fashion iu vogue iu this coun¬ 
try. Many a man and woman would find their 
appetite equal to a plate of orange, or a dish of 
oatmeal and cream, or a plate of hoiuiny and 
sugar in tho morning, who can’t eat chops, fried 
potatoes, aud griddlo cakes. A head of lettuce 
and a slice of broad and butter will often be rel¬ 
ished for luuch where hot soup or cold munis 
would go untouched. Fish and eggs are uow 
plenty and cheap, aud they afford a great va¬ 
riety and combination of dishes especially 
adapted to the season. 
Another point is too often forgotten. Spring 
moans renewed activity. If tho city men who 
have huddled in ill-ventilated cars all winter will 
walk to and from their business, or far enough 
to get up a good glow every day, they w’oukl 
soon notice a change iu their relish for food. 
If tho women would got out into the air—say 
around the markets for nice things to got the 
homo table out of tho old familiar ruts—visit 
thoir children’s schools—walk for tho rim of it, 
or even to see tho Spring openings—the change 
from the nerve-rasping perplexities aud sliding 
air of the house would revive thtir interest iu 
tho bill of fare. 
We arc all too prone to Rit still and “see the 
wheels go round " in the Ramo old fashion—in 
matters religious, political, social, industrial and 
gastronomical. If pome of the pretty, pious mot¬ 
toes that adorn our homes could be traded off 
for the “golden text ” “ Variety is the .Spice of 
Life”—and the useful truth it embodies could 
be applied as it ought to he, there would he a 
good deal more fun in the world, aud more good 
digestion, and, therefore, it would be less of “a 
dog kennel of a place ” than tho dyspeptic philo¬ 
sopher declares it to ho. 
-♦♦♦- 
TREATMENT FOR CUTS. 
D. MoAlpin writes to the Builder as follows; 
“ Take a flue needle and a double thread, (No. 60 
to 80,) knot it, and sew up tho wound immedi¬ 
ately after it is cut; do not go deeper than the 
skin. Iffanyonc cun bo induced to try this, they 
will never do anything else for a cut. It re¬ 
quires no wrapping up—just keep it clean. I 
saw it practiced in the workshop by one of the 
workmen 40 years ago, and was recommended to 
try it. I tried it a short time ago and it was 
quite satisfactory. By exposure to the air, the 
matter that oozes sets and hardens in a short 
time.” 
The editor of the Builder notes the above 
writer is partially correct, but not entirely, for 
tho reason that, he overlooks circumstances with 
which only surgical practitioners, by their largo 
experience, cau become familiar. When by a 
deep cut a small artery has been wounded, the 
closing up of the Skin will not stop internal 
bleeding, and a swelling, inflammation and snp- 
puartion may result, which may necessitate the 
opening of the cut again ; therefore, when there 
is much bleeding, it is better to introduce into 
the wound at first some lint or its equivalent, 
and when the bleeding lias subsided, then it may 
be sewn up. Wo ourselves, during our practice 
in former years, have had more than one case 
where a druggist had sown up a cut, when, after 
a week of much swelling and throbbing pain, tbo 
re-opening of the wound, which bad been healed 
on tho surface but not from tbo bottom, became 
necessary. Wounds must heat from tho inside 
outward, and as long as the inside is not healed, 
it is not ouly useless but a positive harm to closo 
the skin. When, on tho contrary, tho wound is 
shallow and only skin-deep, or slightly moro, 
the remedy of our correspondent is correct, and 
it is much hotter to sew up the wound with a few 
stitches than to cover it with a plaster and shut 
off tho access of air, which is decidedly Injurious, 
It is a most hurtriil idea that it is good to shut 
off tho air; on the contrary, the access of air 
must not bo shut off; the skin is made to he in 
contact with the air and it will heal much better 
without covering, if dirt and dust is only kept 
out of it. 
- 4 ~*_»- 
AFTER-DINNER NAPS. 
No wonder if half the world knows how pleas¬ 
ant it is to take an after-dinner nap, and what a 
relief it is to tho overburdened brain—or stom¬ 
ach. We used to know a lawyer who took his 
nap every day after dinner on three chairs ; aud 
that lawyer, if ha continues the practice, will die 
an old mau. If there is any one time when a 
man is forced to exert himself —whether iu mus¬ 
cular or brain labor—to work, it is after tho 
noonday meal. If all men could only rest, not 
one hour, hut two hours, and could put the 
extra time on the closing hours of the day, what 
an improvement would be made in their health! 
Whether he be a farmer, or a mechanic, or a 
professional man, a good rest after dinner leaves 
the man in a better condition for hard labor than 
even in the morning. It was a sensible fanner 
who, iu harvest, always mado an agreement with 
his workmen to work ten hours a day; and from 
twelve o’clock to two o’clock no work was done 
unless in case of emergency, a threatened rain, 
or something that required extra exertion. The 
men had glorious times sleeping under trees 
after dinner. They always used up three-quar¬ 
ters of an hour at the table, and then slept one 
hour and a quarter during tho heat of tho day. 
The result was, they’ were never overworked, and 
tho farmer got more labor from his men than 
did any of his neighbors from theirs, though 
their men often worked twelve hourB a day. 
When two o'clock came the hands were in good 
trim, completely rested, and could do double the 
work with more ease than i f they had commenced 
work at one o’clock. A single hour's rest at tho 
proper time works wonders. 
®jff (Querist, 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Cisterns .—As I am about to build a bouse, I 
am taking into consideration the advisability of 
putting the cistern under tho kitchen. The 
question which arises with me, is, would it be 
healthy ? Would there not be a dampness ai icing, 
which would cause it to be unhealthy ?— Clifton. 
No, never put a cistern or an open well under 
a house as they make tho room damp and the 
water in them is far more likely to become stag¬ 
nant audunhealthy. (A tube well may, however, 
be often sunk in a kitchen without injurious ef¬ 
fect.) Then when either needs cleaning out it 
will he found very inconvenient to do it. It is 
much better to place a cistern outside, and then 
if the water is required in the house at any par¬ 
ticular point, draw it there with a pump. Water 
