454 
THE RURAL MEW-YORRER 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS. 
Jlomesiir (Eton out]). 
CONDDOTED BY EMILY MAPLE. 
SIFTINGS FROM THE KITCHEN FIRE. 
ANNIE L. JACK. 
We enjoyed a very pleasant afternoon at Mrs. 
Rutherford's last week, the discussion of the 
“ Kitchen Club" being chiefly a paper read by 
Mrs. Wn. 80 N, entitled 
"Culture in the Kitchen.” 
“Culture" laid the reader, “may seem a 
hackneyed word to use in this place, for many 
people consider this part of a home simply a 
place to cook, and wash dishes in. or a sort of 
penal colony for tho children when meriting 
punishment. * Go into the kitchen,' is a sen¬ 
tence we have often hoard addressed to a child, 
as if the threat waB intended to carry terror 
with it. But I appeal to every housekeeper, 
especially to those who do their own work, to 
tell me if they do not often wish the apartment 
where they spend their time, could be improved 
and adorned." 
“ Wheu I get my lounge re-covered, I shall put 
it in the kitchen " I said the the other day, and 
tho party to whom I was speaking evidently 
thought me given to indolence, as the answer 
came, ‘ What in the world do you want a lounge 
in the kitchen for?” in the same indescribable 
tone I sometimes have people say to me, “Pic¬ 
tures in the kitebon!” aH if the cheap but pretty 
cliromos were a crime, and the walls of a kitchen 
must be condemned to remain bare and unin¬ 
viting. 
Some women expend all their surplus energy 
in stove-polishing, others in scrubbing the floor; 
and these things are necessary for neatness and 
comfort. But the hanging Bholves where a few 
books and papers can be placed, the useful 
clock, the cosy rooking chair, as well as bright 
pictures, with shining utensils fur kitchen use, 
are signs of culture in the kitchen that are to be 
admired aud copied. A little painting or oiling 
of our woodwork, a few flowers on a bracket and 
curtains at the windows are simple things iu 
themselves but they show the taste of the owner 
more than mere words. Why should the broken 
chairs and discarded tables bo “ good enough for 
the kitchen ?” Let us determine that no more 
of our time and money shall be spent to adorn 
the closed and darkened parlor uutil our kitebeu 
is furnished with the best conveniences for our 
work, and kept fit for any lady iu the land to 
work in. 
Mrs. Wilson then went on to name many useful 
labor-saving helps that have been mentioned 
before in these “ Siftings” and advocated a neat 
closet with pegs for hats and coats that often 
are left about by children or hired hands, and 
are needed too frequently to have a place in 
the front hall or wardrobe. Plenty of light, and 
to have it so arranged as to save woi k, and yet 
keep up a neat appearance, are the first Bteps 
toward culture in the kitchen. 
-- 
DOMESTIC RECIPES. 
Cure for Hoarseness. 
The juioo and pulp of lemons, stirred thick 
with white sugar, will relieve hoarseness—be¬ 
sides being an agreeable remedy. 
For Croup. 
A piece of lard as large as a butternut, rubbed 
up with sugar, and divided into three equal parts 
and given at intervals of twenty minutes, will 
often work well. 
For Bronchitis. 
A residence in a sugar-house from tho first of 
August until January, has been known to give 
relief. 
For Toothache. 
Put a piece of lime as large as a hickory-nut 
into a quart bottle filled with water, and rinse 
the mouth with it frequently. 
For a Cold. 
Drink a tea made by steeping together equal 
parts of catnip, spearmint, and sassafras. Steep, 
but do cot let the tea boil; put the feet also in 
hot water. u. o. d. 
Moths. 
Let me discloae to my Rural sisters a secret 
well worth knowing : namely, that simply wrap¬ 
ping furs and woolens in common brown paper 
will prevent the ravages of the clolhes-moth. I 
have been told that professional furriers adopt 
this simple method with their goods and guard 
their secret well. k. m. b. 
Answer to an Inquiry. 
To make paste for a scrap book, nothing 
equals boiled starch. I have tried mucilage and 
flour paste but prefer starch to anything else. 
Prepare as for starching linen and let it cool be¬ 
fore using. Farmer’s Wife. 
Veal Cake. 
Chop fine three pounds of veal steak; roll 
three crackers and beat well three eggs; to these 
ingredients add a pint can of tomatoes; juice 
and chopped peel of one lemon ; two table- 
spoonfuls of butter; one toaspoonful each of 
ground cloves and sage; pepper and salt to 
taste; mix well together and form into a loaf; 
place it on a dripping pan; strew bread crumbs 
over the top and bake about two hours; keep a 
cup of water and butter on the back of the 
range and baste tho loaf frequently with it. It 
is better not to cut the loaf until the day after it 
is made. Nice for tea. 
Apple Jam. 
The following is an excellent way to preserve 
winter apples for spring and summer use. Peel 
and remove the cores from juicy apples; slice 
thinly and put into a preserving pan with three- 
quarters of a pound of white sugar to each pound 
of the fruit; add a little w ater to prevent their 
burning, and a few cloves, a little ginger and 
tho rind of a lemon tied up in a piece of coarse 
muslin ; stir with a wooden spoou over a quick 
lire for from twenty to twenty-five infinites— 
careful that the jam does not burn. When cold, 
put into jars and paste or tie down with thick 
paper, or it may be put into cans and sealed. 
Spinach and Eggs. 
Carefully look over and wash the Bpinach in 
several waters ; boil for about ten minutes in 
salted water ; take up and place on tho back of 
a sieve that it may drain ; press any remaining 
water from the spinach, and pat into a fryiug- 
pau with two or three tablespoon!ills of butter, 
a little salt and pepper; keep constantly stirring 
and cutting with a knife uutil quite dry. 
Poach some eggs ; lay them on the spinach aud 
serve at once. K. M. 
MORE “FACTS” FROM MISSISSIPPI. 
In the year 18C7 there originated at Wash¬ 
ington, D. C , through the efforts of O. H. 
Kelly, Wm. Saunkeiis and W. M. Ireland, an 
organisation called the “ National Grange,” or 
Patrons of Husbandry. The Order spread over 
the WoBt. like fire in the woods in lime of a 
drought. At one time tho secretary of tho Na¬ 
tional Grange reported an aggregate of one 
million seven hundred and fifty thousand mem¬ 
bers iu the United States. The always hard-up 
farming population thought they had found in it 
a solution of all their difficulties, financial and po¬ 
litical,and a means of eseapefroui inadequate rep¬ 
resentation and the miseries attendant upon 
mortgages, liens and executions. 
And, indeed, were the principles underlying 
the Order strictly put in praotico, all these de¬ 
sirable ends might,in whole or part, be achieved ; 
but people hereabouts join the “ Grangers” and 
then go on in tho same old well-beaten path ; 
that is, they go to their old merchants for “ ad¬ 
vances ” on a strained crodit, plant more cotton 
than they can “ tend ” or gather to any advan¬ 
tage ; aud elect lawyers, village politicians and 
demagogues to office. The Grange exhorts its 
members to “raise provisions, aud “grow eot- 
tou as uu extra.'' It bids its members “ to pay 
as they go,” or “do without what they cannot 
pay for." It urges upon them the importance 
of co-operating iu the purchase of necessary sup¬ 
plies, and so getting their goods at wholesale 
prices. But, this co-operating business is w hat 
“ no fellah” can induce a hard-headed old farmer 
to do. Ho baa an idea that he can make his indi¬ 
vidual ten dollars go farther by his own shrewd 
manner of “ trading ” than by lumping it with 
iho ninety dollars of his brother Grangers, and 
you cau no more drive the notion out of of his 
bead than if it had been hatched in the cranium 
of “ bard-koppig Peto ” of New Amsterdam. 
Not only so, but after “resolving” in the Grange 
that he will “ stand by men of his own vocation,” 
he will go to the next convention and vote for 
cilice for some plausible wirewoiker who never 
handled a plow or a hoo in bis life. This he will 
do after a “ big talk" regarding tho Agricultural 
Endowment Fund of Mississippi, amounting to 
forty thousand dollars still lying idle, or the in¬ 
terest on it applied to alien uses. It tickled the 
Grangers greatly that tho “Department of Agri¬ 
culture at the Mississippi University at Oxford, 
consisted of fifteen acres of worn-out laud, 
“tended” by an old “darkey" and a “blind 
horse.” The Grange requires from its officers 
“ reports on crops, system of culture and amount 
produced;" but such “reports” are eliminated 
to a greater degree in the after dinner meetings, 
through social chats, than in formal written 
presentments. 
There is a class of farmers iu this country, who 
aro slowly accumulating property. These are the 
men who were called “poor - ' lu slavery times, 
because they owned no slaves, or very few, and 
worked themselves. Sach men knew how to 
“take hold ” when self-support was thrust upon 
them by tho results of the war. They not only 
knew’ how r to work themselves, but their wives 
and children had definite ideas on the subject, 
and now these 1 4 practical Grangers" aro the 
men who have the biggest “ hog killings,” who 
raiBG corn as well as moat to “ do them,” also 
wheat, rye, oats, sorghum and rice. They are 
the men who put up flour mills, who understand 
tho process of making syrup from sorghum, as 
the “Chinese sugar-cane” is oalled, aud grind 
their neighbors’ cane, and turn many an honest 
penny at a pinch, by carrying around portable 
threshing machines aud cotton gins. These 
practical Grangers have large flocks of Bbeep, 
and their little daughters knit tho wool into socks 
and stockings enough to supply the family. 
They are even “ long-headed " enough to invest 
their hard-earned gains in improved breeds of 
cattle, and some of them have a few “ ehort- 
bornB ” of the Durham breed among their cows, 
and even a pair of Merinos among their sheep. 
I’erle Perbu. 
- -+.»■+- 
NOTES FROM CALIFORNIA. 
February will soon be growing weak ; time is 
fleeting fast; the sun, in all his glory, beams 
down on the greenest, of carpets ; rain has come 
in plenty; the ground is literally Boakcd, being 
wetter than it has been for several years. Glad 
tidings come from all sections of the State. 
Almonds are in full bloom ; cherries and other 
trees are swelling, and will soon bo covered with 
masses of snowy bloom. Pruning and graftiug 
are now in order, and must be pushed vigorously 
forward. Strawberries in many sections, are in 
full bloom ; half-ripe fruit is frequent in some 
lots. 
In the vegetable garden, there is work in abun¬ 
dance ; a few of the best kinds for California are - 
of Tomatoes, Hathaway and Canada Victor; of 
Beaus, Ferry's Golden Wax aud Royal Kidney; 
of Lettuce, Hanson and Silesian succeed well; 
of Radishes, I like the French Breakfast the 
best; always tender, tubers w'oll and nevor with 
the Btrong. rank taste so frequent in other 
sorts. Blood Turnip and Pine - apple Beet 
are both good, and are the best varieties I have 
ever grown. Tailby's Hybrid Cucumber is the 
finest in cultivation ; it is tender; even in large 
specimens it is free from bitterness, aud being a 
pretty fruit, it should be very popular. 
El Dorado, Cal. W. C. L. Drew. 
[We are rejoiced at last to find somebody that 
indorses what wo have said of Tailby’s Hybrid. 
Feb. 27. Millious of dollars of damago have 
since been done by floods.— Eds.] 
-**--•- 
NOTES FROM NORTH CAROLINA. 
For the last two months we have had all sorts 
of weather. Early in January we had a freeze- 
up for a few days ; since then the roads have 
been in a very bad condition, notwithstanding 
the annual repairs, which consist iu putting pine 
brush iu tho worst mud-holes w hen they become 
impassable. Oar supervisor, wheu remonstrated 
with, replied that, “ we must do something, and 
as the roads were good during summer, w o could 
only repair them in winter.". 
No snow until yesterday; just enough then to 
whiten the roofs. Stock of all kinds arc winter¬ 
ing well. Plowrng commenced, aud next week 
a good deal of oats will bo sown. Horses and 
mules from the West are in plenty ; prices low 
and sales slow. Farm products aro iu good de¬ 
mand and at fair prices for these dull times. 
Corn, 55@(55o.; oats, 50c.; corn-fodder, £1 per 
hundred; Northern hay £30; North Carolina hay, 
£20 per ton; sweet potatoes, 50o. bu«b.; Irish, 
£1.25; tobacco ranges all the way from 30c. per 
hundred fur inferior lugs to £05 for blight Hue- 
cured wrappers. Peaches are safe, as yet. Al¬ 
though this has been a mild winter, the temper¬ 
ature has been even, aud we have had no such 
warm days in succession as to swell the buds. 
Two yearB ago, at this date, many trees were in 
full bloom. M. B. Prince. 
Brookston, N. C., Feb. la, i$7S. 
- 
WHAT KANSAS NEEDS. 
I no not know how many readers the Rural 
has in the great Mississippi basin, but it must 
have many that are looking to some part of this 
vast region for homes, in the future. There 
are a thousand conditions that arc peculiar to 
the West, so that recommendations that may 
be profitably followed by Eastern ruen, would 
often utterly fail among us. For example, one 
of our great interests is tree culture, but our 
people have followed the rules laid down by 
Europeans and Eastern men who knew nothing 
of our climate until hundreds of thousands of 
treasure and years of precious time have been 
wasted. Eastern men have given nd, again, a 
“timber act” that is more useless than a firth 
wheel to a carriuge. But an “ act ” embracing 
even a few elements of possible buoccsh would 
have conferred a great blessing upon the whole 
country. What we want now’ is more light for 
the people upon the subjects of tree-planting 
and fruit culture, where our conditions and 
practice are essentially different from yours in 
the East. How’ to get this before the people is 
now the question E. o. 
^Rlley Co., Kan. 
Humboldt, Tenn., Feb. 22, ’78. 
It is now about twelve hours since the rains 
commenced, and the down-pour still continues. 
For the past w r eek tho weather has been warm, 
aud we have had but little frost. We had a cold 
snap, however, on the fth of January; during 
which, for a few hours, the mercury dropped 
away dowm to zero. Daring the past year, we 
have certainly had double the amount of rainfall 
usual, desired or beneficial, nor is there to-day 
any prospect of its ceasing. Bottomless mud 
and bottomless slush are everywhere. If tho 
roads were as “ hard” as the times, we could get 
along splendidly. But it is much to be wished 
that the roads were harder or tho times not so 
hard. Provisions are plentif ul and cheap enough, 
Hereabouts, wo would prefer a little more 
“ Greenbacks.” Wdth these we know we would 
feel better, and think we could do better. We 
don’t like a hard money basis. It doesn’t suit 
poor folks. _ B. F. T. 
Poquonoc Bridge, Conn. 
“Old Probability” has been busy enough 
around here celebrating tho birth-day of the 
Father of our Country by one of the hardest 
storms felt for many a long month. The rain 
has been falling iu torrents for twenty-four 
hours, and there are yet no signs of its clearing 
up; the tide is far above ordiuary high-water 
mark; the wind whistles and howls across tho 
channel aud around the house cornea’s with a 
terrible noise. Oar winter has passed without 
any snow to speak of—something new to the old¬ 
est inhabitant. Business is dull, money scarce, 
tramps plentiful, provisions cheap. Pork, 5o. 
per pound ; coal, £•! ton : eggs, 18c. dozen. 
Feb. 22. _ m. w. 
cheruytree, l’a., Feb. 25. 
This has been a remarkable,pleasant winter; so 
far, we have had very little cold weather. On 
January 31st it snowed all day, and then during 
the first week of February we had tip-top sleigh¬ 
ing and weather as pleasant as could be wished 
for. Market prices are low for all kinds of pro¬ 
duce except apples ; they are worth two dollars 
per bushel, feed is plenty aud stock is doing 
well. D. A. K. 
CHAMPION GRAPE AGAIN. 
Your correspondet, E. F. Ellwanger, in 
Rural of Feb. U, gives the correct version of 
the origin of this Grape with two trifling excep¬ 
tions. It originated in the garden of a Mrs. not 
a Mr. Tolman— not Tallman—as ho writes it. I 
wish Mr E. had stated that this Grape was sold 
by Mr. Day, to Mr. SfauCldino, undei the name 
of “Tolman,” for such is the fact. If Mr. 
Sfavlding would “rise and explain” the rea¬ 
son why he sold it under the new name of 
“ Champion,” instead of its original one, by 
which it was well-known aud I may add, gener¬ 
ally condemned in this vicinity, it might be of 
interest to many now iu ignorance as to hiB 
motives. 
Let us hope his object was not to deceive, by 
flashy advertisements of his so-called new grape 
Borne of us into buying, at exborbitant rateB, 
what wo already had loo much of. It was by 
tho merest accident that I was saved from pay¬ 
ing $3 for two or those “ Champions," after I 
had united the Tolman for five years, by which 
time L had become thoroughly disgusted with 
it. Mr. Ei.lwan’GKR thinks that the Champion 
is from “ ton to fifteen days earlier than the 
Hartford, and is as good as, and more productive 
than the Concord. 
With me it is not fifteen minutes earlier than 
the Hartford, aud (to my taste, remember,) it is 
tho poorest grape in quality that I havo ever 
chanced to meet. A Grape “that is ten to fif¬ 
teen days earlier than the Hartford, aud as 
good as, and more productive than the Concord,” 
ought, in ten years, to havo overrun the entire 
country—this State at least like a “wild-fire." 
This is just such a Grape as we are all anxiously 
searching for. I would willingly pay £100 for 
one dozen plants of such a desirable variety. 
The fact is, that iu this vicinity, whero tho 
Tolman originated, where it has been longest 
cultivated aud where it is the best kuown, it iB 
generally condemned. There aro not one-half 
as many bearing vines here as there were five 
years ago. 1 will venture tho prediction that 
both the Hartford and the Concord will be 
grown when the Tolman (Champion) has sunk 
into oblivion. 
It may interest Rural readers to learn that 
this Grape has already assumed a third name, 
under which it is to tie discreetly disguised, 
pioperly puffed and offered to a credulous 
public. My adviso is, to beware of all “ early 
grapes,” offered by unknown or irresponsible 
parties: otherwise some of us will Burely get 
humbugged. We should also refuse to deal 
with any man who knowingly will, in any way, 
oouutenanee this renaming aud selling old, dis¬ 
carded or worthless varieties of fruits, plants, 
seeds etc. Wo should also expose all dealings 
of this kind, as we havo tho opportunity. I 
wish Eugene Glen, or some one else, posted in 
the intricasies of the law, would inform us 
whether or nut suoh practices are not iu viola¬ 
tion of law as well as of sound morality. 
Syracuse, N, Y, Nelson Ritter. 
