E RUSAL 
V-Y08KER. 
came to the boiling point, then I took it from 
the fire and set it in a cool place to harden. 
When cold I removed the butter carefully 
from the water into the butter tray and 
worked a littlesalt into if, and packed it away 
iu the jar again. Of course, the grain was 
spoiled, but the objectionable quality was 
gone—it was perfectly sweet. I use it for 
everything except for the table, and would not 
object to it there if I had no other. Phil (the 
“gude tnou”) calls it new-orocess olpotnarge- 
riue, and says I am liable to a fine for not 
stampiug it. 
Sometime I will tell the Rural, 'readers how 
I pack butter to keep all summer. We are 
eating June butter now ami it is as sweet and 
good q* that made in October.—[We will be 
glad to publish your practical experiences.— 
Eds.]. 
1 have been trying out lard this week and 
cleared it.with sal soda. I put in about two 
teaspoonfuls to a common pailful. It takes 
away any rank smell and clears it beautifully. 
I remember the first time I ever tried using it. 
I put in so much that it boiled up thick like 
soft soap, and L thought it was certainly 
spoiled, but it boiled clear after a while. We 
have a large open fire-place iu the woodhouse, 
where we do all such work, and I tiud it the 
handiest thing about the house. 
FANNY FLETCHER. 
SUNDRIES. 
Among the “ Brevities’’ of the Rural a few 
weeks ago was an item on “the old household 
notion of putting a pan of water on the stove 
in a close room to purify the air.” I want the 
pan of water not to purify the air, but to 
moisten it, that it may be pleasanter to 
breathe, and not give such ail unpleasant dry¬ 
ness to the skin. 
As for close rooms: well as houses to rent 
are built nowadays, I fancy it would be a vast 
deal of trouble and expense, to render the 
rooms in many of tnem so—that is close. 
Yes, Palmetto, 1 agree with you about the 
kitchen sink; too much care cauuot be taken 
to keep it clean aud sweet, and the dish cloths 
and towels; look to it that they are clean and 
are not allowed to get sour. After washing 
out aud rinsing the dish-cloth, wring it very 
dry, and shake it out well, then hang it where 
it will dry very quickly and you will never be 
troubled with that abomination, a sour dish 
cloth. Teach your daughters to do these 
things too, and tell them the whys and where¬ 
fores. 
I have giveu up washing my lamp wicks. I 
take them from the burner, lay them on a 
smooth board aud rub them very hard length¬ 
wise. with a clean cloth, and it is surprising 
how quickly they are cleaned and ready to go 
in the burners again. 
How about getting kerosene by the barrel? 
I know it ivould be much cheaper, but I am 
told it, would spoil one's insurance if kept in 
the house, and it injures it to be anywhere 
near frozen. 
Anne Thrifty mentions making mittens of 
cottoii flannel for her uncle. 1 used to make 
them in the same way years ago, for my boys 
to use in coasting, only I used the good parts 
of old pants. They liked them better than 
those 1 bought them. 
Does it make you weep to peel ouions' Put 
them in water while peeling them. This I 
learned from my young daughter-in-law, show¬ 
ing that all the wisdom is not with the elders. 
AUNT EM. 
OUR CHRISTMAS TURKEY ANI) CAKE. 
Our turkey was treated to a very simply made 
“stuffing,” the general family taste, rejecting 
the complicated aud variously seasoned arti¬ 
cle used by many. We take some cold bis¬ 
cuits, split them, spread thickly with butter, 
sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper, cut 
them into small bits and with this fill the tur¬ 
key; if deemed advisable to moisten this 
dressing a lit r le sweet cream or rich milk is 
used; but it is excellent w ithout. Close well 
by sewing with strong cotton yarn or w ith 
twine; tie the wiugs down and the legs to¬ 
gether, then put tho fowl into a kettle of boil-’ 
ing water, add some salt mid pepper aud boil 
till perfectly tender, having occasionally add¬ 
ed more water if necessary. 
When done place it iu a baking-pan, put the 
remainder of the “stuffing” in one end of the 
pan with the heart, gizzard aud liver (this 
part of the “stuffing” should have been 
mixed with cream or rich milk to “ bind” it) 
gjRijscrUaueouo 
When Baby was sick, we gave her Castorla 
When she was a Child, she erleil for Castorla, 
When she became Miss, she clung to Castorla, 
When she had Children, she gave them Castorla 
fill the pan nearly half full of the broth, sav¬ 
ing the remainder to thicken with a little flour 
stirred smooth with butter, for a bowl of 
gravy. Bake the fowl till nicely browned, 
both sides, meanwhile occasionally dipping 
upon it of the broth iu the pan. When prop¬ 
erly browned and the string removed it is 
ready for the table and will be found very 
unlike a turkey baked without the previous 
boiling—not dry aud “chippy,” but juicy 
tender—in fact a dish fit for Christmas dinner. 
PLUM CAKE. 
The children never thought the Christmas 
dinner complete without the plum cake. Five 
cups of flour, three of sugar, one of sour but¬ 
termilk or thick milk, one cup of butter, three 
eggs, one tcaspoonful of saleratus. preserved 
plums pitted aud drained, and nutmeg for 
flavor. Beat the butter and sugar to a cream: 
beat in the yelks of the eggs, add the milk, 
then the flour aud beat well; add the uutmeg, 
then the saleratus dissolved in a little water, 
beat till smooth, aud lastly stir in the well 
beaten whites of the eggs. Put a layer of 
this in a deep,buttered cake-tin,and ou it place 
plums (firstrolled in flour), at. intervals of an 
inch or less, add another layer of the dough, 
another layer of plums, and then a third layer 
of cake. This makes two loaves. Bake till 
done and ice the top and sides. 
In cake making, if superlative, or like 
grades of flour are used, the measures of flour 
should be seauted, else it will not prove a suc¬ 
cess. GLADDYS WAYNE. 
ONIONS WITH TOMATO SAUCE 
Choose some large-sized onions, peel and 
parboil them until about half done. Take 
them out, scoop out a little of the center 
enough to make a cavity large enough to hold 
a tablespoouful of stuffing. Mince the centers 
of the onious w ith a very small quantity of 
finely minced ham, bread crumbs and season¬ 
ing, moistening with tomato sauce- Fill the 
onions with this and put them iq a saucepan 
with a little stock, a bundle of sweet herbs 
and a slice of bacon. Stew uutil done. Re¬ 
move to a hot dish, clear the gravy of any fat, 
add an equal quantity of tomato sauce and 
pour around the onions. If the family are 
fond of onions, this dish, w hich is very health¬ 
ful and nutritious, wdl help out a scanty meal 
on a busy day. cook, 
CELERY SLAW. 
Cut up into pieces about three-fourths of 
an inch long, enough celery to make a quart, 
then cook in weakened vinegar for one hour. 
Should it not be tender then add a very little 
more vinegar. When done season with one 
tablespoouful of sugar, the same of butter and 
salt to taste. Adding two tablespoonfuls of 
sour cream improves the dish, but is not real¬ 
ly necessary. It is almost impossible to cook 
celery tender, but by using vinegar it can 
readily be accomplished. The outside steins 
may be used, that at other times would be 
throwm away, thus making the dish cheaper. 
MRS. WILLARD BAUMYEK. 
CHRISTMAS PIES. 
We read that in olden time the mince pie 
was made in a deep aud narrow shape to sym¬ 
bolize the manger and the mixed ingredients, 
fruits and spices, the offerings made to the in¬ 
fant Jesus.by the Wise Men of the East. Bun- 
yan while in prison received one of them, it 
being much doubted it’ he would eut. How¬ 
ever, lie did cat with hearty relish, saying he 
was neither troubled with suporetitkm or dys¬ 
pepsia. They eau be made without over sea¬ 
soning so they are very nice. The usual pro¬ 
portions are two parts meat and suet, to one 
of chopped apple, raisins, currants aud citron. 
We omit the suet, and use the pure apple jelly 
in place of cider, wine or brandy. This jelly 
is made by tho new method of evaporation 
and is a wholesome art tele, housekeepers please 
make a note of this as Captain Buusby would 
say. Avoid the use of lard in the crust, make 
it of cream as rich as you wish preparing your 
flour by sifting with each quart, one tcaspoon¬ 
ful soda aud two of cream-of-Uirtar. We find 
this more economical tliuu baking powders 
and more uniform in quality. Wo buy u five 
pouud box of cream-of-tartar, Horsford's, for 
115 cents. It comes iu n wooden box similar to 
tho dairy salt boxes. We take it out of this 
box into glass jure and cork it. tight. Three 
pounds of English baking soda costs but 18 
cents. This will last a longtime. We think 
it cheaper and better than baking powder. 
CHRISTMAS PUMPKIN PIE. 
Stew the pumpkin down very slowly, stir¬ 
ring frequently towards the last, Do not take 
it from the water as soon as soft, you loose the 
sweet juice by so doing. Take to one heaping 
cup of the pumpkin one cup of cream and one- 
half cup of milk, two-thirds of a cup of sugar 
aud one egg, one tcaspoonful of ginger, one- 
half teaspoonful of cinnamon, one-half tea- 
poonful of nutmeg; this flavoring when 
cooked is similar to vanilla. If preferred, use 
a dash of every kind of spice used in sweet 
baking, but do not omit the ginger, that be¬ 
longs to pumpkin pies. Work the pumpkin 
smooth with a spoon, it will be easily done 
while it is still warm without straining 
through a colander, add to the pumpkin the 
sugar and spices, then the cream, and lastly 
tye beaten egg and milk, and as you place in 
the oven, mix two tablespoonfuls of maple 
sirup with two of cream, pour over the pie, 
stirring lightly; this is to pumpkin pie what 
the meringue is to the lemon pie—gives a rich, 
brown crust. Make the pic crust of three 
tablespoon fills rich cream, three of warm 
water and a pinch of salt. Let it come up 
above the plate (which must be deep), press it 
with a fork aud having poured in the mixture, 
bind a strip two inches wide (of white muslin), 
pin it tightly around, to keep it up whilebak¬ 
ing. Bake three-quarters of an hour with a 
alow, steady' heat. For the crust we used 
sweet cream, water and flour with a little salt, 
it was more crisp and tender than that made 
of prepared flour ; either is good. 
FRESH TOMATOES IN DECEMBER. 
This season our tomato vines were loaded 
with well-grown green fruit, when the Sep¬ 
tember frost, which rarely passes us by here 
in the mountains of New England, came with 
great severity, preceded by a fierce, cold wind 
in the early part of the night that seut all the 
coverings placed over our plants flying hither 
aud you, We gathered the fruit in baskets 
and brought it into the house, distributing it 
about in sunny windows and warm chimney- 
corners, wherever it would be most out of the 
way, aud have sunlight and warmth to ripen 
in. We put lines across our south windows 
and suspended the large clusters of fruit there¬ 
from. If they had somewhat the appearance 
of a grocery window where fruit is for sale, 
no matter ; they were nearly as cheery look¬ 
ing as a window of plants, with their rich, 
warm color, and we daily picked off the ripest 
for use and "threw away the hopeless and de¬ 
caying ones. We were amply repaid for our 
trouble, besides the satisfaction of having 
“ circumvented’* the weather and saved our 
tomatoes in spite of Jack Frost. Two dozen 
glasses of preserved fruit and fresh ripe toma¬ 
toes until the middle of December. Thus we 
made our sunny windows both useful and or¬ 
namental. c. J. s. 
EXCESSIVE TEA DRINKING. 
The officials of the Board of Charities state 
that the habit of tea drinking among the 
poorer classes is very hurtful. The poorest 
quality of tea is used in great quantities, in 
many cases the mixture is not tea at all. but 
vile, cheap leaves that will stain the kettle. 
Think of the effect they must have upon the 
stomach! It is a fail* question whether such 
stuff does more harm than beer would. How 
few realize that the common tea of the stores 
offers a tine chance for the adulteration or 
the conveyance of disease. e. w. c. 
Boston, Mass. 
illi.srrllum'ou.si SUlrmt.stniv 
THE “COMMON SENSE” MILK PAIL. 
lib. Thls ls the 
\fcl\Vr jfw front to ranch 
wit illIlKB the dirt. It has 
Ml JjSm a perfectly flt- 
111; HIHK which cun Of- 
I/, i us tant]>- re- 
^wlmj moved, so that 
m .JlV tic quickly anil 
Extra strain - 
PA.TE.VTED. ers call bp Ob. 
talned at any time. 
The Hail Is made from heavy XX tin, and is in all 
I respects the best in the world. 
Send for special circular. Agents wanted. 
MILKING TUBES. 
FOR MILKING COWS WITH SORE TEATS. 
This is the best Tube In the market. Sent, post 
paid to any address, on receipt of price One 
Tube, 25cents; Five Tubes, #1.00, Send for spe¬ 
cial circulars to 
BARTLETT & DOW, 
Please mention this paper. 
LOWELL. MASS. 
EPPS’S 
GRATEFUL-COMFORTING 
COCOA 
Reliable Incubators aud 
Itrooders . Inclose stamp for 
circular with testimonials. It 
tells how ro raise broilers and 
cost of raising. 
A. P. Williams it To.. 
BRISTOL, CONN. 
r P///; AMERICAN BARDEN [seepage S|3 
f of R. -V. t.«$3.u0(t year. 
ANY *151 Bank puhlisheil in I . .S’, as a 
GIFT, or with h\ N.-Y. only $8.00; or any 
$1.00 paper «•> a gift. 
E. H. LIBBY. 47 Dey Street, New York. 
Doctors Prescribe 
Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral, for three 
reasons: — it is perfectly' safe for old or 
young, — can be relied upon iu cases of 
emergency', — and possesses great cura¬ 
tive powers. 
I consider Ayer's Cherry Pectoral a 
medical success and a chemical tri¬ 
umph. I have found this medicine a 
powerful specific for Colds, Coughs, and 
Pulmonary Complaints. I use it in my 
own family and recommend it in my 
practice. — Parker Cleveland, M. D., 
Prof, of Chemistry and Materia Medica, 
Bowduin College, Brunswick, Me. 
Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral is an invalu¬ 
able remedy for Colds, Coughs, and all 
Pulmonary diseases. I use it myself 
and prescribe ir. in my practice.— -V. S. 
Pettenger, M. D., Glen Gardner, N. J. 
Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral, 
Prepared by Dr..T. C. Ayer & Co., Lowell, Mass. 
Sold by allDruggists. Price $1; six bottles, $5. 
We will pay one hundred dollars gold in premiums for 
best results’ from eight weeks' trial of Sheridan’s 
Powder to Make Hens Lay. Sendy, air name and 
post-offlee fnr particulars. I. S. JOHNSON As CO., 
22 CcsTott Hdcsc Strkkt, Rostov, Miss 
Tlic A lliauce Metallic Paint RoofCn. want 
Agents in each county. F. BEISEL. Gleufleld. Pa. 
ORGANS. 
Highest Honors at all Great World's Exhibitions for 
nineteen years. 1(M styles. 322 to g'.HJ. For Cash, Easy 
Payments, or Rented. Catalogue, 16 pp., 4to, free. 
PIANOS. 
The Improved Method of Stringing, introduced and 
perfected by Mason 4c Hamlin, is conceded by com¬ 
petent judges to constitute a radical advance in Piano¬ 
forte construction. 
Do not require onc-<ju3rter as much tuning as Pianos 
generally. Descriptive Catalogue by mail. 
154 Tremont 8t., Borton, 149 Wabash Avq,, Chicago, 
46 E, 14t - St. (Union Eq. ', N, T. 
Cheaper than Paint. 
CREOSOTE WOOD STAINS. 
For Outbuildings. Shingles, Fences, etc. Durable. 
Strong Preservatives of the Wood, v'au In- applied 
■with a Whitewash Brush by any bov. In ah colors. 
SAM I El. VA HOT. Sole B am facti urn. 
Send for Circular. II) KILBY ST . BOSTON. 
THE BEST CATTLE FASTENING! 
SMITH'S 
self-muds™ SWI S STMOI3N, 
Theouly Practical Swing Stanchion Invented. Thou¬ 
sands inuse. Illustrated Circular free. Manufactured 
by F. G. PARSONS & Co.. Addison. Sreubeu Co. N. Y 
IRON 
WATER 
PIPE. 
Send for catalogue. 
THE WELLS RUSTLESS IRON CO.. 
a —. ‘ * 9 CLIFF STREF.T. NEW YORK. 
Kraxax, Dow & Co., Boston, a g'ts for New England 
C L A R K’ S 
ROOT GUTTER. 
Acknowledged by all 
stock raisers to be the*only 
perfect Root cutter. 
Seed for New circular. 
HIGGAN UM 
M’f’g Corporation, 
Sole Manufacturers, 
llitrununiii. Conn. 
Warehouse. So. Market 
st., Boston. Mass. Send for 
general list of Implements 
