1911. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
243 
The Plant of Purity. 
In many German and Swedish fami¬ 
lies you will find a certain little green 
shrub cherished as a household treasure. 
It is called myrtle and certainly has 
better claim to the name than have 
either our Vincas or moneywort. Indeed 
I am not sure but it is the true myrtle 
of southern Europe, but have never seen 
it in bloom or fruit. It has small dark 
green leaves which are pleasantly aro¬ 
matic when bruised. Of smaller, finer 
growth tharu the old-fashioned box used 
as garden borders, it yet resembles that 
plant somewhat. [This is the classic 
myrtle, Myrtus communis of southern 
Europe. The running vine, commonly 
called myrtle in America, Vinca minor, 
is called periwinkle in England. Eds.] 
By much pinching back the housemother 
makes her myrtle grow green and dense, 
round-topped and symmetrical. A six- 
inch pot will hold a plant several years 
old, but I suppose more root-room has 
gradually to be given as the myrtle be¬ 
comes venerable. Not a little sentiment 
clings about these plants so faithfully 
cherished. Often one is brought as a 
birthday gift to the baby daughter, and 
for her is tended and trained and ex¬ 
hibited to callers with pride. Sprays 
are plucked to carry to the house of 
mourning when any other mother loses a 
baby, and the bride wears a wreath of 
its shining green to fasten her veil. The 
plant is considered a symbol of purity, 
and no one may wear it unworthily. 
Noticing some tall, unhandsome speci¬ 
mens at a florist’s I was told that so 
much in demand for wedding wreaths 
was this sort of green that his patrons 
of foreign extraction kept the plants 
shorn of fresh sprays almost as fast as 
the old plants could produce them. 
Though not a particularly showy plant, 
this pretty myrtle is well worth a place 
in any plant collection, its ease of cul¬ 
ture, neatness, hidden fragrance and 
heritage of sentiment all combining in 
its favor. It will be found to need 
plenty of water, but may be left in the 
same pot Summer and Winter with no 
further care than frequent nipping off 
of the outer twigs to insure a dense and 
bushy growth. prudence primrose. 
Some Items of Country Fare. 
In some households the “pork fry” 
that comes with butchering season is so 
well liked that the cook has only to see 
that liver, pork steaks and sweetbreads 
are nicely browned together with 
“streaks of lean and fat” and the only 
cry will be that there is not enough of 
it. On other tables pork liver is less 
well received. Yet if it is from healthy, 
home-grown porkers it should be capable 
of adding its touch of variety to the 
Winter’s bill of fare. Greater care in 
cooking may bring it into better favor, 
for any sort of liver fried hard and dry 
becomes a food stuff from which any¬ 
one is excusable for asking to be de¬ 
livered. 
All liver larger than that from poultry 
should, of course, be sliced to half-inch 
thickness and then have boiling water 
turned over it. Cooking in the oven 
dries it less than frying. Lay the slices 
in a tin or dripping pan, add some salt 
pork cut thin and a little hot water. 
Set it in a hot oven till partly cooked, 
keeping the pan upon the upper rack if 
the oven has one. In half an hour or 
less take out and cut both liver and 
pork into small, cross-wise shreds, re¬ 
turn to the pan and add salt and pepper 
as needed. Replace in the oven and see 
that it is well cooked but not overdone 
before serving. It may come to the 
table in a separate platter but accom¬ 
panying the fresh fry of pork. 
Calves’ liver gives the best material 
for a breakfast of liver and bacon, but 
pork liver is also given flavor if some 
thin slices of smoked bacon be first 
fried in the pan where it is to be cooked. 
After scalding the liver pat it between 
the folds of a towel to dry off the mois¬ 
ture, then lay it in the hot fat with the 
bacon. After it is browned a little on 
both sides it may be taken off the fire 
and it and the bacon cut small as recom¬ 
mended in oven cooking. Make a nice 
browned gravy in the pan, first turning 
off part of the bacon fat, then dredging 
in flour and finally turning in a cupful 
or more of hot water. When it has 
cooked clear season with salt and a 
touch of onion if liked, or a sprinkle of 
celery salt. Return the liver and bacon, 
cover the pan and draw to the back of 
the range where it will simmer slowly 
till needed. 
There seem to be right and wrong 
ways of preparing even so simple a dish 
as bacon and eggs. To be sure some 
palates demand that bacon shall be 
curled and crisp, and like to have a 
good deal of it sliced very thin and 
tossed and frizzled over a brisk fire till 
crumply and ready to be drained upon 
brown paper or tossed into a paper bag 
and kept hot in the oven till served. 
This is one way. Another way, which 
certainly makes more food of a given 
quantity of bacon, is to dip the slices in 
a little milk or cream and then sprinkle 
them with flour before laying in the 
heated fry pan. Not much milk adheres, 
but enough to make a difference about 
the flour clinging to the slices. Use a 
cake turner as they cook, for the 
browned surface ought not to be left 
sticking to the pan when. the bacon is 
turned. When browned both sides but 
not too shriveled pile the bacon on a 
hot plate and keep in the warming oven 
while cooking the eggs. 
Now an egg may be eatable if turned 
and fried upon both sides, but it is 
tougher and does not look half as pretty 
as when the yoke is soft enough to run 
when punctured, but coated with a thin 
film of the white well cooked. It is a 
good plan to keep bacon fat clear and 
by itself after each cooking, for more is 
needed for frying the eggs than will 
come from one panful of bacon. Before 
dropping in the eggs add enough fat to 
give nearly a half inch of depth, and if 
it is not quite hot some say the eggs 
spread less. But a poker laid upon the 
range will help to tilt the pan a little 
and dropping the first eggs on the down¬ 
hill side will keep the albumen more 
compact, and others settling against 
these will hold their shape sufficiently. 
As soon as the eggs are cooked enough 
to be somewhat “set” tilt the pan the 
other way and with a large spoon ladle 
the boiling grease over their tops. Keep 
this up till each has its veil of cooked 
albumen, but cook only long enough to 
have the whites just lose their colorless 
state. If cooked too long they become 
tough, and even letting the pan stand 
on the back of the range waiting to be 
served will rob the eggs of their tasti¬ 
ness, therefore leave their frying till the 
last task of the meal getting. Transfer 
with the cake turner to the central part 
of a flat platter and place the bacon as a 
border around the eggs. Garnish with 
parsley if you have it. 
An old-fashioned way of serving ham 
and eggs is to fry them as usual and 
then cut both ham and eggs into small 
pieces, tossing them well together. This 
dish used to appear upon the breakfact 
table and was a favorite with the “men 
folks.” The ham was first cut up in 
the platter in which it was served, then 
the fried eggs laid upon it and lightly 
sliced and mixed through the whole. 
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