24 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[January. 
A Doll Panel. 
A rosy-cheeked little girl upon a black panel is 
one of the novelties of the season. The face, and 
perhaps figure, are cut from one of the infinite va¬ 
riety of scrap pictures, and pasted on. Then the 
puppet is dressed in a real costume ; tiny little lace 
cap, or beaver hat, white skirt, silk dress, cloth 
sack, even a collar round her neck, and wee bits of 
slippers, or shoes, made from an old kid glove, on 
her feet. All is as complete as the outfit of any 
mother’s darling on Broadway, excepting only that 
her clothes are fastened with mucilage, instead of 
being sewed and buttoned. It requires very skill¬ 
ful fingers to make these panels nicely, but when 
finished, they are a charming rememorance for 
the children for New Year’s and birthdays. 
About Quinine. 
No other single medical preparation is in so gen¬ 
eral use among the people of civilized nations as 
Quinine, and probably no other is doing as much 
to ward off disease and restore health. It is one 
of the very small number of medicines that ap¬ 
proach the character of a “ specific.” Rightly used, 
under intelligent direction, it is, as a general rule, 
an antidote for that 6courge of the human race, 
malaria, which prevails in most newly settled re¬ 
gions, not far elevated above the level of the 
sea. About four-fifths of the inhabitants of the 
United States live on land under 1,000 feet above 
the sea level, two-fifths under 500 feet, and about 
one-fifth just at the sea level, or under 100 feet 
above it. But malaria is also prevalent in many 
elevated localities — indeed, wherever vegetable 
matter is exposed to somewhat rapid decay. 
Recent published statements estimate the annual 
use of Quinine at 31 to 4 million avoirdupois 
ounces, or a quarter million pounds. A medium 
estimate of 34 million ounces is equivalent to 
1,640,625,000 grains, which would be about 33 
grains for every inhabitant of the United States. 
Quinine is obtained by a somewhat compli¬ 
cated chemical operation from Cinchona bark, of 
which there are many varieties, as the Calisaya, 
etc. The bark is gathered from the trees, which, 
in their varieties, grow of different forms, from 
mere shrubs to trees 40 to 50 feet high, and two 
feet or more in diameter. It flourishes in countries 
extending over 30 degrees of latitude in South 
America. The bark is peeled off from trunks and 
branches, dried, and sent to market. Quinine is 
used as a tonic, and an antidote for fevers, etc. ; 
it is the chief resort in yellow fever, and especially 
in malaria. A grain or two before each meal, 
when one is much exposed to malaria, to cold and 
wet, is often very useful, and seldom harmful. It 
was formerly sold at $4 to $5 an ounce, while it has 
fallen to §1.75 to $2 per ounce in large quantities. 
Recipes for Cheap, Healthful, and Easily 
Prepared Puddings- 
Rice Pudding.— One teacup of rice washed in 
several waters ; 2 qts. milk, 2 teaspoonfule salt. 
Sweeten to taste, and bake 2 hours. This makes 
the best rice pudding I ever tasted. 
Bread Pudding. —One pt. bread crumbs to 1 qt. 
milk. Set it on the stove until the bread is soft. 
Add 4 eggs, 1 teaspoonful salt, a few raisins if con¬ 
venient, and bake as long as for custard. A good 
sauce is made of a pint of boiling water poured on 
a mixture of a tablespoonful of butter, nearly the 
same amount of flour, and 4 cup sugar well stirred 
together. A little vinegar may be added, or the 
pudding can be sweetened. 
Indian Meal Pudding. —Boil 2 qts. of milk; 
while it is heating, mix together 1 teacupful of 
corn meal and enough molasses to moisten it all. 
Pour the boiling milk on this, let it stand until par¬ 
tially cool, add a half teacup cold milk, and bake 
two hours in a stove, or all night in a brick oven. 
It is improved by adding sweet cream when eaten. 
Custard Pudding.— One qt. milk, 5 eggs, 1 tea¬ 
spoonful salt, and sugar to taste. It is better to 
bake in a slow oven an hour or so. 
Corn Starch Pudding is good, made without 
eggs, but better with 3 eggs to 3 tablespoonfuls of 
corn starch and 1 qt. milk. Boil the milk, mix the 
starch thoroughly with a small quantity of cold 
milk ; beat the eggs well and add 1 teaspoonful salt. 
Stir all together, boil a few minutes, and eat with 
6auce of sweet cream and sugar, and a little nutmeg. 
Bird’s Nest Pudding is made with apples 
pared and cored ; put these in a pudding dish, and 
having filled the hollow in each with sugar, pour a 
custard over all, and bake slowly until done. 
Apple Dumplings, either baked or boiled, are 
nicest and healthiest if the crust is made of cream. 
Pare and core an apple, cover it with cru6t; put 
several such dumplings in a baking dish (earthen 
is much better than tin), add sugar between them, 
and a little water. Eat with the same sauce given 
for bread pudding. If preferred, use sugar and 
butter beaten together. Anna Woodruff. 
Feathers and Fancy Articles. 
It is a sorry time for the poor birds when Dame 
Fashion decrees that “ feathers are to be the style,” 
and such has been her mandate this winter. Flowers 
are very fresh and pretty in the spring and sum¬ 
mer, but the gracefully curling ostrich plumes are 
certainly more appropriate on the beaver pokes 
and large plush hats now so extensively worn, and 
for those that can afford it, a brim of closely curl¬ 
ing tips is a thing greatly to be desired, as they are 
too expensive to become common. It is not only 
the ostrich that is obliged to sacrifice his beautiful 
plumage. The fashionable turban is generally 
trimmed with a sweeping cock’s plume, or band of 
peacock feathers, while entire birds, and, if small, 
a number of them, often appear upon one bonnet; 
and this, in spite the protest of an English lady 
of fashion, who wrote to the London Times, “ beg¬ 
ging all women to set their faces against wearing 
birds on their bonnets or costumes.” Feather 
bands are handsome trimmings for walking suits, 
and the long, stylish market coats, while noth¬ 
ing is more charming for an evening or dressy 
morning wrapper, than a border of fluffy white- 
swan’s-down, which is so soft and becoming. The 
furriers show small feather muffs, that areas pretty 
as they are costly, and for full dress, fancy feathers- 
have taken the place of flowers in the hair. Little 
birds too, are frequently used for household decora¬ 
tion, and a Broadway store gives a conspicuous 
place in its window to a rustic basket, from which 
half-fledged chickens are emerging; one little 
fellow having gained the top, looks as natural 
as though he had never been stuffed. Owls too, 
are skillfully flattened, with outstretched wings, 
and mounted as mantel lambrequins. A handsome 
gray and white crane on a background of crimson- 
cloth, makes a most effective hanging screen. 
The newest thing in embroidery is worked with 
ribbon upon cloth,satin,or plush, and it is very beau¬ 
tiful and effective. For small flowers, such as daisies 
and clematis, the narrowest ribbon—that comes by 
the piece—is threaded in a long-eyed needle and 
drawn through the material; but for roses and larger 
blossoms, inch-wide satin, or plain ribbon, is used. 
This is gathered into the proper shaped leaves, and 
appliqued on the folds in the ribbon forming the 
shades in the flowers. We have seen some exquisite 
moss rose buds, made of two shades of delicate pink 
silk, closely gathered, the mossy calyx, outside 
leaves, and stems, being worked in green material.. 
They were scattered over a square of olive plush. 
for a sofa pillow, or clock screen, and were perfect 
enough to pluck. This w r ork is extremely pretty 
for a baby’6-carriage blanket, scattered sprays be¬ 
ing newer than a set pattern ; but it is also used as 
trimming for evening dresses. 
The designs for Christmas and New Year’s cards 
were never more quaint and fanciful than this 
year, and we even have a souvenir for Washing¬ 
ton’s Birthday, in a hatchet, upon which appear 
scenes in the life of the “Father of his Country.” 
A Convenient Wood-Box. 
The old-fashioned wood-box is a clumsy, inel¬ 
egant, and generally inconvenient affair. It takes 
up a great deal more room than can be readily 
afforded in most kitchens, and is always in the way 
of the broom and the mop. The labor of bringing; 
in wood to fill the box, night and morning, is con¬ 
siderable, especially if done by the cook. If the 
children perform this labor, there is a good deal of 
tracking in of snow or dust that might be avoided 
by having a different receptacle for wood. 
Such an article I have in practical operation, and 
the women of the household count it a daily 
blessing. All there is to be seen, from the kitchen,, 
is a box about two feet from the floor, supported 
by brackets. This box is about two and a half feet 
long, a foot wide, and eight inches deep. On top> 
