74 
THE BUBAL NEW-YORKER. 
2 
Bomcstic (tcciiomi). 
OONDUOTED BY EMILY MAPLE 
SIFTINGS FROM THE KITCHEN FIKE. 
ANNIE L. .TACK. 
“ The cows keep up tbeir milk well,” said 
Willie, as with an air of prido he brought in 
and strained the evening's supply. “ And the 
butter is of a good color too," said one of the 
“girls," while Willie added, “ Oh yes, that is 
because we feed thorn oom-sfrflwi." It is a good 
tiling to teach little boys to rni’k, and our lad of 
ten can attend to two cows as well as a roan, and 
understands the duty of rinsiug the pans, strain¬ 
ing carefu 11 v and putting iuto tbe milk-room 
without troubling his sisters if they are other¬ 
wise engaged. This article of milk I thiuk is not 
sufficiently appreciated by farmers, and I often 
wonder to see 60 many half-grown boys and 
girls fond of tbeir cup of tea. and owning to a 
disregard for milk from having too much of it, 
as the Scotch would say, “ Amoug their hands." 
Milk is the type of all food, and one pint from a 
good cow contains two drachms of mineral Halts, 
six. drachms of sugar, half an ounce of butter, 
six drachms of cheese (caeeiue), and nearly 
fourteen ounces of water. It is the only article 
ou which adult, as well as infaut life can be sup¬ 
ported exclusively, unaided by any other aliment. 
For a delicate stomach it is also easy of digestion 
either hot or cold, boiled milk requiring two, and 
raw rniilt two and a quarter hours for that pur¬ 
pose. As a supper for growing boys and girls, 
nothing is better than good, wholesome bread 
scalded, but not boiled, iu plenty of sweet milk. 
While iu daily uso but few people stop to think 
in how many ways this wonderful fluid is used 
and if it were valued, and always upon the table 
as a beverage or in some pleasant form of food, 
we should see far more rosy cheeks and bright 
eyes among our pallid young people. A very 
nutritious and easily prep ired dish for lunch or 
tea is as follows: 
CM) lk Toast ^ 
Toast stale bread quickly and a delicate brown; 
take off tbe crust, and dip each slice, while hot, 
into boiling water; salt slightly and lay in a 
covered dish. Boil some now milk in a saucepan, 
adding a little salt and a tablespoonful of sweet 
cream; pour over the toast and cover closely. 
It will be ready to serve by tbe time you are all 
seated and ready to pass tbe first plate. 
DOMESTIC RECIPES. 
To Dye Scarlet 
One and one-half ounce of muriate of tin; 
one ounce of cochineal; one ounce of cream-of- 
tartar. To one pouud of cloth or yarn allow 
three gallons of water ; when blood-warm, add 
one ounce of croam-of-tartar; increase the heat 
a little and add one teaspoonful of the pulver¬ 
ized cocbiueal and three-fourths of an ounce of 
muriate of tin; wet the goods in warm water; 
put into the dye aud boil one hour, turning 
often; take out and rinse iu cold water; then 
add the remaining eochiueal and tin liquid to 
three gallons of warm water; put in the goods 
and proceed as before. This recipe for scarlet 
is the beat I have ever kuown. It does not fade 
or turn dark when washed with soap. 
Fruit Cake 
One aud one-half pint of milk; one cup of 
cream; two cups of sugar; one-half cup of 
butter; one-lialf pint of molasses; one and one- 
half cup of hop yeast; add Hour to make a 
thick batter aud let rise all night. In the 
morning add ono cup of butter; six cups of 
sugar; live eggs; one tableapoonful of soda; 
one-half cup of win© ; seven pounds of raisins ; 
spice to taste; stir to a thick batter; put into 
tins and let rise again; bake as you would 
bread. 
Sponge or Jelly Cake. 
Two eggs; one cup of sugar; five table- 
spooufula of water: one and oue-half cup of 
flour ; one and one-half teaspoonful of baking 
powder. For jelly cake, bake in layers. 
Mrs. Maple : Those who use the pen so much 
can have little idea how hard it is for one who 
handles the broom, mop and dish-cloth continu¬ 
ally to take pen and ink and write her thoughts 
upon paper. How I wiBh that it might come to 
pasB that fanners’ wives could use then 1 hands 
less and their brains more! All that I know is 
to work hard from morning until night with 
scarce time to read a newsnaper, while those 
who have time for mental improvement seem 
to care nothing for it Mbs. D. W. Johnson, 
tiowanda, N. Y. 
To Prevent Pie- Crust Becoming Soaked 
Having myself received rouoh information 
from the “ Domestic Economy" department, I 
should like to tell my Bubal sisters of an excel¬ 
lent way to prevent pie-crust from becoming 
soaked or “soggy," which is as follows:—Itub 
over the under crust well with the beaten white 
of an egg, before filling tbe pie. Should the 
upper crust be brushed with the egg, it will do 
no barm. If pie-crust is mixed with good, sweet 
cream, and prepared as above, I can s ee no rea¬ 
son why it is not perfectly healthy. 
Linn Co., Mo. Mrs. F. M. Beers. 
Pound Cake. 
Eight eggs beaten separately; not quite one 
pound of butter; one pound of powdered sugar ; 
Dot quite one pouud of prepared flour, or flour 
with two heaping tea spoonfuls of baking pow¬ 
der. Beat tbe yelks, sugar and butter together, 
then add the beaten whites and flour by degrees, 
alternating nutil both are stirred in ; flavor with 
lemon. 
Chocolate Cake. 
Two cups of sugar; one cup of butter; four 
eggs; one cup of milk; scant three cups of flour; 
two heaping toaspoonfuls of baking powder; 
bake iu layers. For the chocolate mixture: 
Grate one oake of sweet chocolate; beat the' 
whites of two eggs to a stiff froth and add a cup 
of powdered sugar. Mbs. Isaac Carman. 
Hempstead, L. I. 
Veal Cake. 
Cut slices of cold roast veal and boiled ham, 
very thin—there should be as many sgaiu slices 
of veal as of ham ; cut three or four hard-boiled 
eggs into slices ; chop a few sprigs of parsley 
tine ; butter a mold, and put iu alternate layers 
of veal, ham, eggs and parsley—seasoning each 
layer with pepper and salt; fill up with good 
stock, aud bake iu a brisk oven about oue-balf 
hour ; when cold, turn out and garnish with 
parsley. This is nice for tea. 
Curry of Cold Meal. 
Cut thin slices of cold roast beef into rather 
small pieces; slice thinly, and fry an onion in 
about two tablespoonsfuls of butter until nicely 
browned; then pour iu as much good broth as re¬ 
quired for the gruvy ; add a little salt aud a 
tablcspoouful of curry powder ; let boil up aud 
add tho beef ; stir constantly for ten minutes ; 
make a border or wall of boiled rice around a 
dish and pour the meat and gravy in the center. 
To Curry Eggs. 
Wash and slice thinly an onion ; fry to a nice 
brown iu two tablespoonfuls of butter ; add a 
tablespoonful of curry powder : one pint of good 
broth, and a little salt; let cook until the onions 
are tender; thicken one-fourth pint of cream 
with a little corn-stareh, aud stir into the other 
ingredients ; let simmer a few minutes ; theu 
add twelve hard-boiled eggs cut into halves; 
warm through and arrange the eggs upon a 
platter with the gravy poured over them. 
Simple Peach] Pudding. 
Split open milk crackers and butter slightly; 
put a layer of crackers upon the bottom of a 
pudding disli; then a layer of hot, stewed 
peaches wi*h plenty of juice, and sweetened to 
taste ; thus alternate the layers, leaving a layer 
of fruit for tho last; make a meriugue, flavor 
with lemon and spread over the top of tbe pud¬ 
ding ; lot brown in tho oven for a momc-nt. To 
be eaten when cold. e. m. 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Neosho Valley, Kan., Jan. 9. 
While reading the Rural, I find a good 
many pieces from different parts of the country, 
but it is not often that I see anything from 
Kansas, and thinking the readers would like to 
see notes from this section of the country as 
well as I do from other sections, I Bend you a 
note or so. 
I live about seventy miles south of Topeka, 
eight miles from Burlington, the country seat of 
Coffee County, which is on the line of the Mis¬ 
souri, Kansas and Texas Bail Iload, and is the 
terminus of a rail road that is being built from 
Kansas City, Missouri, aud is to bo completed 
by March 1st. It is juBt wbat Neosho Valley 
has been in need of for a long time—a direct 
outlet to the East for its products. The crops 
were very good the past season. Oats extra 
good. Corn is worth 20c.; oats, 10c.; wheat, 
80c.1.00; pork, 53.25 per 100 pounds; hay, 
52.50 per ton. Stock raising is the principal 
occupation of the farmers in this section. It 
is well watered by creeks, and there is excellent 
range for thousands of head of cattle aud sheep. 
Coal underlies nearly the wh”lo county. 
e. c. f. 
Cortland, N. Y„ Jan. 15. 
Snowing and growing colder again. We have 
had good sleighing for the past week. The 
second annual show of the Cortland County 
Poultry Association opened hero to-day. We 
have a flue exhibition, the largest that has ever 
been held in this section, over 400 coops are iu 
—and it promises to be a financial success. In 
the show, Asiatios take the lead with a largo 
exhibit of Games and Bantams. All the promi¬ 
nent varieties are to bo seen with some exhibits 
of very- fine birds. Plymouth Rocks, which 
seem to be tbe coming fowl in this region, are 
largely represented. A fifty pound pair of 
Geese attract a great deal of uotioe as does also 
the fine exhibit of fancy pigeons made by 
Messrs. White and tbe Hauls bury Co. The 
Association is in a prosperous condition. Poultry 
is quite an item in the products of this county; 
one of our large raisers shipped ov6r twenty 
tons to market this last season. k- 
El Dorado, Cal., Jau. T. 
We have had the coldest weather ever known 
in this section, for tbe last ten days—frost 
every night, and on several nights ice formed 
on water, over half an inch thick. In many 
places water pipes were burst open from tbe 
effects of tho frost. To-day it looks like rain. 
It is predicted by an old Mexican that we are 
going to have a flood that will destroy all the 
grain in low sections, while on high plaoes and 
the foot-lulls we"shall turn out tho best harvest 
ever known. Apples are decaying badly. Fruit 
trees are being set out. Sowing and plowing 
are in rapid progress. 
Watertown, N. Y., Jan. 14. 
We had some oold weather and snow the 
early part of tbe month, but it has moderated 
again—and tbis is our fourth day of rain; mud 
is shutting off all communication with the 
country. Farmers cannot got tbeir produce to 
market, and hauling logs Is out of question. 
This is the most remarkable winter wo have 
ever had in this region. w. 
Little Falls, Jam 21. 
Weather here waim and pleasant. Snow 
nearly all gone from fields and it looks more 
like first part of April weather than January. 
There has been scarcely any sleighing here 
during the winter, which is most remarkable as 
the snow generally falls early and deep. 
X. A. W. 
Geneva, N. Y., Jan. 21. 
We have had a very open winter. Thermom¬ 
eter to-day, at noon, stauds at fifty degrees. 
There is a larger acreage of winter wheat here 
than usual: it looks well, the Hessiau fly having 
done but little damage in this section. Nursery 
stock is in good condition. w. l. c. 
HOW SHALL WE EXPERIMENT 1 
We have been favored with MSS of portions 
of tbe report of Chas. W. Garfield, tho ac¬ 
complished Secretary of the State Pomological 
Society, Grand Rapids, Michigan, to bo issued 
next month, and from it we are glad to make 
the following interesting extracts: 
Our people want facts that are the result of 
careful observation aud experiment. These 
they can take hold of and incorporate into their 
own methods. Ono may, however, start out 
with an honest intention of conducting a care¬ 
ful experiment, and after following it for a 
time, tho final result seems so evident that tho 
temptation to “run across lots," thus gaining 
time, id too strong, and a portion of unexplored 
territory remains behind. The great majority 
of “I believes" among farmers and fruit¬ 
growers are made up of justj'such experiments 
and nearly the whole of them are entirely 
worthless, because of the lack of tho connecting 
Units of careful observation that were lost by 
“ running across lots” or in other words jump¬ 
ing at conclusions. 
It is tho fact that there are experiments 
without end— rb Been from the reoords ol agri¬ 
cultural papers—aud so little real progress as 
the result of them all, that gives emphasis to 
our leading interrogation. Tho fact is that the 
larger portion of these so-called experiments are 
worth nothing— worse than this, their value is a 
miuuH quantity because they are calculated to 
mislead. They are nearly all of very short 
duration, and they are thrown upon the public 
to be swallowed by open mouths—yes, so very 
wide open that the eyes are shut against the 
theory that dangles to each one and that goeB 
down too. 
Glauoing over the papers that have come to 
my table the past week, I find three remedies 
for pear blight, the result of careful experiment. 
For each is claimed originality, perfectly satis¬ 
factory results, and each is recommended to 
pear culturists everywhere as a discovery long 
Hought and finally found. Two of these start¬ 
ling disclosures are made after one year’s trial, 
the other has had doublo that time to prove its 
worth. All of them to my certain knowledge, 
have been iu print before aud were lost sight of 
because valneloss. Other experiments of a 
similar character have been the use of nut lime 
to drive away the codling-moth, burning coal 
tar to drive away tbe curculio, and spriukling 
salt on the garden to destroy the cut-worm. 
So much for the literature of experiments. 
Lot me say further, that I scarcely go anywhere 
but. (bat I find men are experimenting, in their 
way, and are constantly arriving at valuable re¬ 
sults, that guido them in their practice. Tbis is 
their own statement of the case. These results 
are generally sources of continual error, and act 
as a anaro rather than an assistance in the opera¬ 
tions of tho farm and garden. The worst of it 
is that they have obtained such a firm hold upon 
tho people, (hat there is no possibility of loos¬ 
ening it. Advancement is thus checked, and 
production decreased rathor than augmented. 
The removal of prejudice is one of the happy 
results of thorough and well-directed experi¬ 
ment. The power of facts is supreme. Tho be¬ 
liever in the transformation of wheat to chess 
may doubt your reasoning, when you tell him the 
impossibility or it iu nature’s economy; but 
when hB brings you a sample of tbis chess and 
you show him, after carefully washing the root, 
(ho original chess kernel from which it sprang, 
he will not doubt Bis own vision. 
Experiment, well directed, helps people to 
understand the necessity of going to the bottom 
of processes and methods before too general an 
application. Surface indications are soon seeu 
to be very nntrustwortby, aud it is found to be 
more satisfactory to know a little, and know it, 
than to believe a great deal, with only a shadow 
for a foundation. Satisfactory experiment re¬ 
quires 
ABSOLUTE SIMPLICITY IN METHODS, 
for two prominent reasons: 
1st. Any complication is liable to divert obser¬ 
vation from tbe real work, and tho result will be 
a warped judgment and worthless decision. For 
instance, if one is pruning a tree, at different 
seasons, to observe the relative rapidity with 
which tho wonnds heal, he must not, at the 
same time, be pruning that tree with the idea 
of producing wood on one part and fruit on the 
other. Nor should he try the effeot of tlunuing 
the fruit on that tree, with the expectation of 
watching the result and getting at some princi¬ 
ple. All this complicates tho fir#t experiment 
so mncli as to render the decision at tho end of 
it questionable. 
2d. There is dauger, in trying to establish too 
many facts at once, that we shall got hopelessly 
lost in a labyrinth of testimony, and give the 
theory up in disgust. In experimenting, ono 
may be skillful iu watching a simple process for 
a negative or positive result; but when ho so 
places bis experiment as to bo perturbed to a 
considerable extent, he may be far from suf¬ 
ficient to get at a correct judgment. 
Again : Proof positivo upon never so small a 
point is worth a good deal, as a stepping-stone 
to other judgments of more sweeping applica¬ 
tion ; hence there is great value ia absolute cer¬ 
tainty of little decisions, the result of experiment 
iu reaching out after facts of greater import. 
WHAT IS NEW? 
To bo a successful experimenter, one needs to 
bavo some knowledge of wbat has been accom¬ 
plished in the department he takes up ror inves¬ 
tigation, since the history of any branch of ag¬ 
riculture or horticulture will show that a great 
many things havo beeu tested over and over 
agaiu by persons ignorant of each other's work. 
Glancing over agricultural papers, iu one there 
is a “ new method of cultivating wheat" that at¬ 
tracts tho attention. It may be new to the au¬ 
thor, but to tho world it is old as the Christian 
era, for Viboil describes the same process in 
detail. A scientific man who can lay chum to a 
large amount of general information, is giviug 
iu one of our papers “ A new theory of tillage," 
aud still, after a careful perusal, one who has a 
good library of agricultural works from J ethro 
Tull down to Waring, can open to places, here 
and there, where ho will find, not ouly this same 
theory carefully given, but great quantities of 
facts upon which the hypothetical method rests. 
Iu learning what has been done, we fit our¬ 
selves for better work ; for we can profit by the 
mistakes of those who havo entered the field iu 
advance or us. Several men moving across a 
marsh at intervals, will not be liable to all sink 
in the Bame hole. Those coming later will avoid 
the place where their predecessors sank through. 
So in experimentation ; aceurato knowledge of 
former experiments may save us a groat deal of 
time and expense, and may aid U8 to strike more 
quickly at decided results. 
The fear that the requirements are such as to 
forbid ordinary persons from experimentation, 
need not deter any one from work of this char¬ 
acter. Many simple, yet important experiments 
can be performed by any one iu connection with 
tho work of the farm and orchard ; while the 
more elaborate ones must be undertaken by those 
who are drilled for it, aud who have the ability, 
time, and money to expend. 
The knowledge wo desire to obtain is both sci¬ 
entific and practical, aud one sort should not be 
sought to the exclusion of the other. We want 
to know tho truth first of all, and in all our iu- 
