420 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
DEC. 28 
Ilonwstic (groitomg, 
CONDUCTED 2Y EMILY MAFLE 
SIFTINGS FROM THE KITCHEN FIRE. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
I was standing at the table cutting cut trian¬ 
gles and squares and loops in doughnuts when 
Lucretia came in. 
“ Indigestible!” said she, sternly. 
I don't know,” I replied, “ for they are made 
nearly according to Maiuon Haklani/s best ro- 
cipo and I think you will find them light and 
eatable.” 
“How do you manage it ?” she inquired ?” 
“ Well 1 just make them up like biscuits only 
put in sugar and mix with cold milk with as 
little handling as possible and they are quite 
harmless!” 
'• How many things we try to see in that 
light!" she sighed: 
“ No matter,” said I, ‘-half the troubles of our 
lives come from calculating that it must be so, 
or from an intemperate use of the good things 
given us.” 
” I think I should bo very sick if I believed 
every doughnut I ate would make me so, or if I 
took too many, or if 1 neglected fresh air and 
exercise as many do, and then blamed the food 
for my headache. There are some things money 
cannot buy, ” 
“ Not many,” said Lucretia. “ I cannot name 
one." 
“ I can name three" said I, “ that are not in 
the market- - health., brains and love, and those 
united are happiness.'” 
“ Do you really think so?” with a sigh. 
“ Think so!” I repeated. “ I know it." 
You go through the world saying that money 
can buy everything, when you know how many 
invalids rolling in wealth, would give all they 
possess for a life of health for enjoyment. You 
see the children of a millionaire often imbecile 
and weak In brain. Will money remedy that? 
And I know of those who have all of this world's 
goods they can spend ; yes, and added to this 
friends and position with fame, as a reward for 
their brain-work, who lack the highest blessing a 
woman can enjoy, pure domestic affection, be¬ 
fore which all else becomes as nothing. 
“So you seel am right when I affirm that money 
cannot buy the three things I have mentioned. 
It is a mistaken idea to suppose that only the 
rich are happy. Many a family united by ties 
of affeotiou, and in comfortable circumstances 
surrounded by an atmosphere of love, reach 
nearer to the bight we call happiness, than the 
wealthy man and woman, who often meet only 
at meal times or in society with no loving words 
or looks to cheer each other in the battle of life. 
No! no! Lucretia, do not let mo boar you say 
again that money can buy everything,” and as I 
finished the last of the doughnuts in the form of 
a ring and fried it successfully unbroken, the 
family poet stepped in and while appropriating 
the last mentioned specimen of my culinary art 
handed mo these lines: 
Life without health! the blooming cheek 
Cannot be had for gold. 
The sparkling eyes, that health bespeak 
Are neither bought nor sold. 
Life without thought 1 fair reasons power 
No riches can control; 
The gift of knowledge Is a dower 
For mind, and heart, aud soul. 
Life without love! not wealth I choose 
Nor fame, nor honor mine. 
If life’s best gifts my heart must lose 
Love, human and divine, 
■--— 
PUMPKIN PIES. 
Will Emily Maple oblige mo by giving a 
recipe for malting pumpkin pies? Our pies at 
borne are good, yet I think they could bo im¬ 
proved. I should judge, from the taste and 
light color of the pumpkin pies made by con¬ 
fectioners in New York City, that sugar was 
used instead of molasses, which I fancy is not 
done by all good pie-makers. Iu the New En¬ 
gland States I think they use molasses, also gin- 
8 er - R W, Ludlow. 
My recipe for pumpkin pies is as follows: 
Steam instead of boil the pumpkin—which be 
sure is a fine-grained one—and when cool enough 
press through a sieve or colander. For each pie 
I allow one good-sized teacup of the strained 
pumpkin, two teacups of rich, sweet milk, one 
egg, one-half teuenpful of sugar and u little 
salt; stir well together sad flavor with cinnamon 
or nutmeg—we prefer nutmeg. Mauy like the 
inside Of the pie thick, others cream-like; this 
the cook can regulate by adding more or less 
pumpkin, I am told that confectioners do not 
use molasses and but few or uo eggs, thickening 
with a spoonful of corn-starch. I prefer baking 
the undorcrusi before filling of such pies as 
pumpkin, custard, or lemon, believing it the 
only way to prevent the undercrust from becom¬ 
ing soaked. For pumpkin, I also heat the batter 
scalding hot before filling. 
DOMESTIC RECIPES. 
Cocoa-nut Fie. 
Grate one large cocoanut and add one pint 
of milk, four eggs—beaten separately—on© ta¬ 
blespoonful of roBe-water, two tablespoonfuls 
of butter, sugar to the taste, two tablespoonfuls 
of corn-starch, nutmeg to taste. Liao the tins 
with pastry, pour in the mixture and bake at 
once. 
Lemon Cream. 
Beat the yelks of eight eggs light and mix 
with them eight tablespoonfuls of sugar, the 
grated peel of one lemon aud the juice of two, 
one wine-glass of wine; simmer—but not boil— 
until it thickens; take off and stir iu the beaten 
whites of the eggs. Pour over slices of sponge¬ 
cake, and serve cold. 
Dover Cake. 
Six eggs, one-half pound of butter, one pound 
of sugar, one cup of milk, one-half teaspoonful 
of soda and one of cream-tartar, one pound of 
tlour, wineglass of brandy; nutmeg if liked. 
Raw Cabbage. 
A nice way to prepare raw cabbage is as fol¬ 
lows (Select a firm, good head, chop finely in 
a bowl what you think will be needed, and to 
every quart add one-half teacupful of thick 
sweat cream ; two tablespoonfuls of strong vin¬ 
egar or lemon Juice ; one cupful of white sugar, 
and mix thoroughly. 
Cooked Cabbage - 
Cut fin© as for raw ; put into a kettle and add 
water to cook until tender; then add one-half 
cup of sweet cream; one half cup of vinegar, 
in which mix one tablespoonful of flour ; season 
with pepper and salt to suit the taste ; let it boil 
up and serve. 
Number Cake. 
One cup of butter ; two cups of sugar; three 
cups of flour; four eggs; one cup of sweet 
milk ; one teaspoonful of soda and two of cream- 
of-tar tar. Flavor with lemon. 
Oooldes, 
Three eggs; two cups of sugar; one cup of 
sour cream ; two-thirds of a cup of butter ; one 
teaspoonlul of seda. Mix hard enough to handle 
easily. 
Ginger Snaps. 
One cap of brown sugar; one cup of molasses; 
two eggs; one cup of fried meat gravy; one 
tablespoonful of cider vinegar ; two Leaping tea- 
spoonfuls of 6oda; one teaspoonful of ginger. 
Flour enough to roll. Mite Nettie Bkeels. 
— ♦ » ♦- 
TO COLOR BLUE AND RED. 
The following recipes I have used for coloring 
woolen carpot-rags dark blue and cardinal red 
with most satisfactory results. In ooloriDg, use 
plenty of water, never crowding the goods ; the 
same holds good when rinsing. 
Blue. 
For fifty pounds of wool, boil about one hour 
in a liquor of five pounds of oxalic acid j two 
and a half pounds of alum ; two and a half 
pounds of tartar. Wash, and finish with twelve 
pounds of logwood aud one quart of ammonia ; 
then wash again. 
Red. 
For fifty pounds of wool take one-half pound 
of tin crystals; one and three-fourths pound 
oxalic acid; four pounds of cochineal and a 
quart of ammonia. Boil the ingredients first 
together, then add the wool. 
Mas. Clayton. 
-- -- 4 » » 
SOUP, 
Mbs. “ C." wishes a recipe for split peas and 
bean Boup, like that eaten at restaurants in New 
York city, We give the following recipes know¬ 
ing them to be good, but cannot vouch as to 
their being the same as those used in the New 
York eating-houses. 
Pea Soup. 
Soak one quart of split peas over night; boil 
tender in just enough water to prevent scorch¬ 
ing ; when tender pass through a sieve and add 
two quarts of good stock ; add pepper, salt, aud 
a little parsley; simmer gently for one half 
hour, and just before serving stir in a table- 
spoon'ul of batter, in which has been rubbed 
a teaspoonful of corn-Btareh. 
Bean Soup. 
Soak a coffee-cupful of w hite beans over night; 
in the morning boil until tender—they should 
bo then quite dry ; pass through a sieve and add 
two and a half quarts of stock, made by boiling 
a small soup-bone until the meat separates from 
the bone ; three potatoes cut fine t parsley, pep¬ 
per and salt to the taste ; simmer about one- 
half hour and serve hot. Should the soup he 
liked thinner or thicker, add more or less stock 
accordingly. 
♦ ♦♦-■ 
Note. —The editors of the Rural New’ Yorker 
request that those interested in Domestic Econ¬ 
omy will communicate to Mrs. Emily Maple any 
facts either of approval or .disapproval they may 
have obtained from a trial of the recipes pub¬ 
lished in this department. 
THE CURRANT WORM. 
GEN. WM. H. NOBLE. 
Before the Scientific Association of this city of 
Bridgeport, Mr. Clarence Sterling, a member, 
recently detailed some observations on the cur¬ 
rant-worm, and on our friends its parasites. 
Doubtless most of the Bubal readers, have 
sadly missed that refreshing, fruit acid, through 
the gnawing of this “ remorseless worm.” All 
know of the peet and many very likely know its 
wavs. 
Currants and currant-wine, have been hardly 
possible for several years in my neighborhood. 
Powdered hellebore, or fine air-slaked lime, or 
dry wood-ashcB, have proved safe and measura¬ 
bly sure remedies. Dusted on in the dew of the 
morning, or just after a shower, they fasten to 
the wet hide of the rascal and bo dies. Helle¬ 
bore will do at almost any time, if blown on 
from a bellows, with a reservoir nozzle. But, 
after all, the remedies have proved with mo 
only partial—doubtless because the work has 
not been thoroughly faithful and persistent. 
It’s hard to get your help to do the needful work 
and watch. It’s both tiresome and distasteful. 
To detect the first hatchings of the tiny crawlers 
yon must go among and around your bushes, 
scanning them closely, go in the wet of the dew, 
or after the drizzle of a shower. Moreover, a 
good many other hindrances help the pests. More 
urgent or profitable labor on the farm, in the 
office, or in trade, makes numberless calls on 
your attention, so that between the i>ressuro on 
your time, and the indifference of your em¬ 
ployes, the currant-worm that came for that 
very thing, and knows his *• biz,” gets ahead of 
yot. gome fine morning you go ont to mako a 
roconnoisance of the enemy, aud lo! the tireless 
and remorselcfs eaters have half stripped your 
choice bushes of their raiment. The well-swoll¬ 
en, partly colored fruit, hangs stark and limp, 
and will ripen prematurely; and in a year or so, 
if you thus give up your bushes to the foe, 
root and branch will die. Plants, so bereft of 
the shade and nurture of the leaves, will not 
tucker from the root, as they do at any season 
when you boldly ont them back, even to the 
ground. 
It’s therefore, a joy to us big humans, beaten 
out by a tiny worm, and robbed by liis tireless 
maw, to find that our Blucher ally parasite, a 
mite of a fly, is coming in the diatanoe, with a 
Lilliputian army on wings. This was the thing 
noted by our friend, Mr. Sterling. He saw 
some disabled currant-worms lying on the field 
of fight, on whose pelts—clustered thickly—were 
little white cones. These cones he found hollow. 
A kind of air-shaft, going down into the careasB 
of the worm, whose whole inside was alive with 
little flies or their chrysalides. This fly, a tiny 
thing, ho saw in full-fledged life. It is without 
doubt the parasite of the currant-worm to whose 
Lilliputian swarms we shall owe the safety of 
this fruit, as surely as does the coral reef owe 
its ascent above the waters, to the il innumera¬ 
ble caravan " of the “ Toilers of the Sea.” Now 
the moral of tins record seems to be, faithful 
study of oue parasite, and cultivation of a close 
alliance with him. Iu ails and cures, things, both 
in the animal aud vegetable world, just as un¬ 
heeded, aud oft unseen by human eye unaided, 
have more to do with the life and death of men 
and fruits, than has yet been given weight, or 
found out in our philosophy. 
Fairfield Co, Conn. 
(£lifr3)i»|m. 
NOTES FROM TEXAS. 
Your worthy correspondent W. C. L- D. from 
Eldorado, Cal., in Rural' & issue of Dec. 1st, 
thinks, in regard to Mespilns prumis of which a 
short note was given in a former issue of the 
Rural, that they had the same thing over there, 
but it was a persimmon and I must be mistaken 
in the botanical name. Now, between my med¬ 
lar and his persimmon there is as much differ¬ 
ence as between an apple-tree and a hickory. 
The botanical term I had given, I learned from 
a nurseryman and florist. It is, however oftener 
given as Eriobotrya Japouica. It is no newly 
introduced plant and I doubt not they might 
have it on the Pacific coast, iu which locality, I 
should think, it should do well, since it is har¬ 
dier than either the Orange or Eucalyptus. 
Louis Figuieu in hiB “ Vegetable World " says 
of it, alluding to the sub-order of the Pomace.c, 
“ the genus Cratn-gus or Hawthorn ; the Med¬ 
lar of Japan (Eriobotrya Japoniea) which fur¬ 
nishes a yellow, melting, sweet and add, comes¬ 
tible, fleshy fruit, and the Strawberry (Fragaria) 
—all belong to it. ” The same author, treating of 
the most remarkable Japanese trees and shrubs 
mentions, beside the Japan medlar, which, in 
this instance, he terms Mespilns Japoniea. the 
Ebony-tree, (Diospyros) as having white flowers, 
berries of a cherry-red, and of a delicious flavor. 
So much to clear up that Japan plum question! 
G. Marti. 
[The plant in question is variously called Pho- 
tinia Japoniea, Cotoneaster Japoniea and Erio¬ 
botrya.— Eds.] 
-♦-*-*- 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Jefferson Co., N. Y., Dec. 10 . 
Tins has been, on the whole, a prosperous 
season for the fanners of this section. The 
amount of hay cut was above the average, and 
the crops of grain were generally good. Pota¬ 
toes, although not planted very extensively, 
were a fair crop. They are selling at 35 cents. 
Apples have been more abundant than for many 
years ; common apples are selling from the or¬ 
chards at 25 cents, and grafted at 50 to fiO cents 
per bushels. It was very dry here late in the 
summer, and all through the autumn, lessening 
the fall make of butter and cheese, and causing 
much inconvenience, springs and wells having 
failed that have seldom or never failed before. 
We havo bad no heavy rains as yet aud but little 
snow. s. w. jj. 
Murray Co., Minn., Dec. 7. LS77. 
We have had a very pleasant fall so far, and 
this last summer has been one of the most pro¬ 
lific for several years. During the previous four 
years in succession, our crops were destroyed by 
grasshoppers. Wheat is worth 93 cents per bushel; 
corn and oats, 25 cents per bushel; potatoes, 10 
cents ; barley, 10 cents. Our county is newly set¬ 
tled, but we have a railroad two or three miles 
South, and one two miles North of our county 
line. We now have about sixteen hundred in¬ 
habitants, and quite a number of homesteads 
vacant yet, but wo have no doctor ; one is needed 
badly. W. W. Calkins. 
Rural Grounds, Dec. 21, ’77. 
Our spring work is well along. The effects of 
the frosts which occur nightly, disappear early 
in the morning, and work goes on. We are sod¬ 
ding, repairing paths and roads, manuring bor¬ 
ders, constructing drains, protecting vines, 
pruning, etc., with little interruption by the 
weather. As we never before experienced so 
glorious a spring aud summer—so the fall is 
warm, healthy, and all that could bo desired. 
It has proven a season long to be remembered. 
gkeensburo, ind , Dec. 18,1877. 
Fruit crop quite short this seaeou. A few 
varieties of apples, however, did well: such as 
Milan, Smith’s Cider, and Yellow Belleflower. 
We would mako special mention of the Yellow 
Belleflower as having done exceedingly well, pro¬ 
ducing the finest and most perfect sjiecimens 
ever grown in this region. It has not been con¬ 
sidered hardly a staple in central Indiana for 
some years. Young & Lawrence. 
Dodge Co., Neb., Dec. is. 
Thermometer here at 3 P. M. 74°. s. u. m. 
Bryn, Penn., Dec. 19,1877. 
Weather extremely mild. m. w. f. 
gairg fjuskitlirg. 
DAIRYING, 
GEORGE GARDNER. 
At the present moment there are so many dif¬ 
ferent systems of setting milk, of keeping it till 
the cream has risen, and of churning, that a 
novice in dairying is bewildered, and after read¬ 
ing the plausible theories advanced by the advo¬ 
cates of the various methods, he is undecided 
and puzzled as to what he had best do. 
There should not be so much hesitation, for 
it is best to follow the old and approved ways, 
and let others test the new systems, and wait till 
the results of several peoples’ trials have proved 
if there are any real advantages in them. From 
experience there do not appear to be any dis¬ 
coveries amounting to much, and if an impar¬ 
tial trial were made, it would probably be found 
that if the same care and as much pains were 
taken in the old as in the new system, there 
Avonld be so little difference in the profits, that 
when all the items of expense etc., were reckon¬ 
ed, it would be clearly shown the new plans 
availed nothing. 
A great deal depends upon a good dairy, and 
the next desideratum is a good dairy-maid, but 
these cannot turn out genuine first-class batter, 
unless the cows are managed rightly, and their 
pasture is thoroughly suitable for butter pro¬ 
duction. 
Some people are so ingorant or careless, as to 
give their cows no better chance than the rest 
