fHE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
73i 
idOi 
House Plants for Wmterl 
It Is the hardest thing in the world 
not to gather in too many. Such a lot 
of plants are in the beds, which we 
know would do well in the house, under 
proper treatment, that we are tempted 
to nip off slip after slip, cheating Jack 
Frost of his lawful hai'vest. I raised a 
dozen different kinds of Coleus from a 
packet of seed planted in the Spring. 
They were about the tiniest seedlings I 
ever saw, but made a fine show by the 
first of August; rather late, of course, 
but learn to labor and to wait. One 
specimen leads the others by a long 
stretch, being in color a rich, glowing 
crimson or cherry, with leaves like 
thickest velvet. “I must have a slip of 
that,” said a friend; “won’t it make a 
fine show in my south window this Win¬ 
ter!” 
I have gathered in 14 Abutilons, or 
flowering maples, raised from seed and 
kept in pots in a half-shaded place dur¬ 
ing the Summer. Two have blossomed, 
one yellow and one white, and most of 
the other plants are budded. They 
make pretty graceful window plants, 
and are continuous bloomers. A rose- 
colored one planted in a shady border 
last Summer has grown to be a fine lit¬ 
tle tree. I shall try to lift it carefully, 
but am very much afraid that the ex¬ 
periment will prove unsuccessful. 
Ceraniums, slipped in July, are now 
budded. A great deal of advice is given 
to amateurs not to bother with geran¬ 
iums for Winter, but where can we get 
such bright masses of color as the scar¬ 
let and pink geraniums give us? It is 
useless to try to grow them in a little, 
close room without much sunshine. 
They must have air and light. They do 
best in rather small pots, and must be 
watered sparingly. A pink Winter¬ 
blooming Verbena grown in a southwest 
window was beautiful, as were also some 
double white and purple and white Pe¬ 
tunias. Pelargoniums, commonly called 
Lady Washington geraniums, are beau¬ 
tiful early Spring bloomers, the pink 
and white variety, known as Apple Blos¬ 
som, outdoing the others in profuseness 
of flower, sometimes literally blooming 
itself to death; but the scarlet are love¬ 
ly, as are also the rich dark pink, and 
white blotched with crimson. The pink 
ivy geranium is another lovely plant for 
the window. Another pretty addition to 
a window is what we call a mosquito 
plant—neighborhood name. It is neither 
a vine nor a creeper, but a twiner, with 
very smail leaves and tiny, red-winged 
blossoms. It is a rapid grower, and is 
prettiest when given a round support of 
wire upon which it can twist and turn 
to its heart’s content. The Manettia 
vine with its dark green foliage and tiny 
fire-cracker blossoms is also a standard 
plant for the sitting room. The lobster 
claw cactus is a pretty October bloomer. 
I have seen specimens that were truly 
gorgeous for a week, or, perhaps, 10 
days, and then one must wait a year for 
another show. I have two of these pe¬ 
culiar individuals; sometimes they are 
lovely and sometimes not—just as it 
happens. 
A rubber plant that in 1898 was about 
12 inches in height has now grown to 
be a fine, strapping six-footer. I “be¬ 
headed” it in 1899, and in 1900 it put out 
two branches that have made a pretty 
even growth ever since; a third branch 
has started lower down, and I think I 
shall have to cut off the buds of tbe two 
older branches and give the new one a 
chance to catch up with them; also, force 
more side growth. But you’ve got to 
dust your rubber plant every morning, 
just like a chair or table, or it will tell 
everyone who notices it that its mis¬ 
tress doesn’t really care for it. Some 
one has called dust “the bloom of time,” 
but is there, in the whole, wide world, a 
neighbor who would look at it in that 
MOTHERS.—Be sure to use“Mrs.Win8- 
low’s Soothing Syrup” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best.— Adv. 
poetical light? Civilization just means 
neighbors, that’s all! 
A half dozen or more bulbs of Oxalis 
planted in a broad, shallow pan or in a 
hanging basket will bloom continuously 
throughout the season. I like the pink 
ones best. Lantanas are also desirable 
Winter bloomers, aiid 1 saw some lovely 
pots of Phlox last Winter, four or five 
little plants in one pot; about Easter 
they were a mass of lovely color. The 
Plumed asparagus (A. plumosus nanus) 
is a favorite with my friends; I like 
ferns better. A well-grown Boston fern 
is simply grand, and requires a grand 
amount of space. An umbrella plant 
keeps you busy dancing attendance with 
the watering pot, or the leaves will 
shrivel up and must be cut off, and it’s 
very provoking to have a fine, artistic 
piece of greenery go back on you that 
way. Begonias require a whole chapter, 
and lilies and hyacinths another. The 
Fall catalogues are as tempting to a 
country girl as bargain counters are to 
her city cousins. docia dykens. 
Scraps and Carpet Rags. 
'Mary has been fitting up her room, 
says a writer in the Kansas City Star, 
and her rugs particularly pleased me. 
Three were plain white, one white with 
a dull blue border, and the fifth a shaded 
blue. 
“You see, I couldn’t afford to buy 
new rugs, so I gathered all the clean, 
white scraps I could find, cut them into 
strips in the usual way, and got old 
Becky Martin to weave them these es¬ 
pecial sizes. This white fringe on the 
edge is knotted warp. 
“The blue rug is of wool strips, it 
took me a long while to collect so many 
shades of blue, and Becky wove them, 
‘hit or miss,’ as she called it, with bright 
blue warp.” 
“But the white ones will soil quickly, 
will they not?” 
“What if they do? They can go into 
the washtub every week if necessary. 
See that one by the bed? Would you 
believe it has been washed twice? And 
it is so pleasant to step out of bed on 
a dainty white rug.” 
“What is that divan cover made of?” 
I asked. 
“Oh, old ribbons and silk pieces. I 
had seen silk portieres, and thought a 
couch cover would be pretty. The strips 
are cut only a half inch wide, and woven 
very loosely.” 
I lifted it and found it was as light 
as eiderdown. She had had it woven 
with black warp. On each end was a 
stripe of plain blue a foot wide, then a 
mingled narrower one, and next an inch 
wide black. Then yellow and red. The 
body of it was “hit or miss.” The old 
weaver had done her work well. 
“But did you not grow tired of sewing 
rags?” 
“No, indeed. I’ll tell you how I sew 
them. Say I have a piece of goods a 
yard square. I cut it into a number of 
equal strips, and lapping the end edges, 
sew them twice on the machine. Then 
I go round and round with sharp scis¬ 
sors, cutting spirally, as it were, and it 
comes out in one long strip. It is lazy 
girl’s carpet rags!” 
She took me into the hall. 
“Do you see that rug? What do you 
say it is made of?” 
I bent to examine a beautiful square 
of dull red, woven with a black warp, 
which had an expensive look. 
“That is made of an old chenille por¬ 
tiere. I cut it into long, even strips, 
sewed them together on the machine, 
and the cutting did not take me long. 
It only cost me 35 cents to have it woven 
and the warp was 25 cents. It is a splen¬ 
did way to use up half worn chenille 
curtains or table covers. The. strips are 
to be cut almost an inch wide for rugs, 
and narrower for divan covers.” 
“You clever girl, tell me about that 
pretty pillow I see there, of as many 
colors as Joseph’s coat.” 
“Well, I’m tired of crazy quilt and log 
cabin silk work, and I wondered what to 
do with my scrap silk. I cut silk into 
pieces two inches square; fold them 
once in the middle—now, that makes a 
long strip. Then I bring the two ends 
down to meet the folded bottom edge, 
and this forms a triangle like a cocked 
hat. I sew a row of these, points up¬ 
ward, on a foundation, and the next row 
overlaps it, the points alternating with 
those of the first row. The whole pil¬ 
low, then, is of vari-colored silk points 
lying flat. It makes a pretty pillow to 
brighten a corner.” 
“And they’re quite as pretty when they 
get a little ruffled,” I said. 
“Now, before you go, come and see 
my bookcase. I didn’t have room in my 
shelves for the volumes of the Century 
Dictionary, so I got a box that just fit 
the set, and another one just as long, 
but narrower, for the top box. I nailed 
them together and covered them with 
tea matting, inside and out.” 
Sure enough, the dictionary was in the 
lower shelf, and the upper space held 
reference books, and she had them set 
against her writing desk to save space. 
Rural Recipes. 
Panned Guinea Fowl.—Dress as you 
would a chicken, cutting the fowl up as 
for fricassee; place in covered baking 
pan with a large tablespoonful of but¬ 
ter, a cupful of boiling water, teaspoon¬ 
ful of salt and one-fourth teaspoonful 
pepper; cook until tender, basting fre¬ 
quently. Remove cover to brown, then 
take up the meat on to a warm platter; 
thicken the gravy in pan with table¬ 
spoonful of flour, add water enough to 
make a pint of gravy and pour it over 
the meat. A garnish of parsley is ap¬ 
propriate. 'Serve creamed potatoes with 
this dish. 
Mutton Ragout.—Cut the mutton into 
two-inch lengths (three cupfuis in all), 
season with a small teaspoonful of salt 
and one saltspoonful of pepper and dust 
lightly with flour; place two tablespoon¬ 
fuls of butter in a pan, heat very hot 
and place in the meat; brown well, 
shaking often; draw the pan to the back 
o.’ the range; lift the meat out with a 
skimmer and place it on the serving 
dish; add one medium-sized onion and 
a sprig of parsley minced; cook for five 
minutes and add one cupful of milk; 
when hot add a saltspoonful of salt and 
two tablespoonfuls of flour stirred to a 
paste with a little cold water (about one 
cupful), cook for 20 minutes and stir 
frequently to prevent scorching; add a 
pint of chopped oysters 10 minutes be¬ 
fore serving, then pour it over the mut¬ 
ton and serve at once. The oysters must 
be drained well before adding to the 
gravy. Excellent. Serve with grated 
cheese. 
Preserved Citron.—^^Slice the citron 
crosswise in slices one-third of an inch 
thick. Peel and remove the seeds. Cut 
citron into one-third inch dice. Place 
them in a poi-celain kettle. Add one- 
half cupful of salt to each five pounds 
of fruit. Cover with cold water and let 
stand over night. Drain and cover with 
fresh cold water. Soak two hours, 
changing the water four or five times. 
Dissolve one tablespoonful of pulver¬ 
ized alum in two quarts of boiling wa¬ 
ter, pour over citron, and bring to boil¬ 
ing point. Drain. Prepare a syrup of 
2^ pounds of sugar and 1% quart of 
boiling water. Boil and skim. Add cit- 
I'on, and simmer gently until clear and 
tender. Drain citron from syrup. Set 
in the sun for two hours to harden. To 
the syrup add the peel of one large 
lemon, using only the yellow rind 
shaved off as thinly as possible. Add 
the juice of two lemons and a small 
piece of green ginger root (two inches 
long) sliced in thin slices. Boil gently 
for 20 minutes. Set aside. When cit¬ 
ron is hardened, fill into glass jars and 
bring syrup to boiling point and strain 
it over citron. Treat watermelon in the 
same manner. 
Baked Indian Pudding.—One quart of 
scalded milk, with a teaspoonful of salt 
added, cupful oi Indian meal (yel¬ 
low), one tablespoonful ginger, letting 
this stand 20 minutes; one cupful mo¬ 
lasses, two beaten eggs, a piece of but¬ 
ter the size of a common walnut. Bake 
two hours in slow oven. Serve with 
caramel sauce. To make this, put one 
cupful of sugar in a small pan and stir 
on the fire until brown; add one cupful 
of boiling water and simmer 16 minutes. 
Set away to cool slightly and serve with 
the Indian pudding. 
Warm Molasses Ginger Bread.—^^One 
cupful of brown sugar, one-half cupful 
of butter, one cupful of milk, three cup¬ 
fuls of flour, three eggs, one tablespoon¬ 
ful of ground ginger, one, tablespoonful 
of ground cinnamon, one teaspoonful of 
cloves, one teaspoonful of soda. Mix 
butter and sugar to a cream. Then add 
the molasses, eggs beaten separately; 
spices, and then the flour. Dissolve the 
soda in the milk and put into the batter 
just before baking. 
Cream of Celery Soup.—A pint of 
milk, a tablespoonful of flour, a head of 
celery, a large slice of onion and a small 
piece of mace. Boil celery in a pint of 
water from 30 to 45 minutes; boil mace, 
onion and milk together. Mix flour with 
two tablespoonfuls of cold milk and add 
to boiling milk. Cook 10 minutes. Mash 
celery in the water in w'hich it has been 
cooked and stir into boiling milk. Add 
butter and season with salt and pepper. 
Strain and serve immediately. 
EASY TO FIND. 
When you find a medicine 
that makes your regular food 
taste good, when you find a 
medicine that strengthens a 
weak stomach—then you know 
you’re going to put some flesh 
on. 
Scott’s Emulsion does these 
things. We recommend it 
whenever the system needs 
more flesh. If you are thin 
and able to eat begin regular 
doses. That’s your part. 
Scott’s Emulsion will do the 
rest. Not flabby—but solid 
flesh. 
We’ll send you a little to try, if you like. 
SCOTT & BOWNE, 409 Pearl Street, New York. 
At WHOLESALE 
PRICES! 
If your dealer does not 
liandle Mmiarch, Malleable 
Iron and Steel Ranges, we 
will ship the first one or¬ 
dered f rom y on r com mun Ity 
a t the w holesale price, 
vlng you from $10.00 
to$‘-Jj.00. t^B'reight paid 
400 miles. Sk.vt Fhek— 
nandsome catalogue with 
wholesale prices and full 
particulars, flialie-ble 
lion Kaiigo I'o , 
Box 159, Beaver Jjam.Vi’is 
Kocontly St. Louis, Mo. 
jin No’ Crack Nor Warp. 
50 
"^fy/es 
OF 
Of course every little girl loves a 
Doll, but how delighted she would 
be with a whole family of Dolls with 
which to "playhouse.” Besides the 
Boy and Girl Dolls here pictured, 
there is a Grandpa and a Grandma 
Doll, Grandpa in full milita^ uniform, and Grandma In the dainty 
costume of the olden time. The largo dolls are nearly two feet high, 
the small ones 15 inches. They have rosy cheeks, b^utiful hair, heads 
that will not break, eyes that will not fall In, and are handsomely 
dressed in bright colors that will not fade. Words can never express 
the delight which any child will feel in possessing this Doll family. We 
will give these four beautiful dolls absolutely free for selling only five 
boxes of our Laxative Stomach Tablets at 25 cents a box. Write to-day 
and wo will send the Tablets by mail postpaid. When sold send us the 
money.(81.25) and we will send you the family of four dolls at once. 
Address, NATIONAL MEDICINE CO., 
Premium Dept. 134 Kt New Haven, Conn. 
