130 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March. 
Holder for Brooms. 
Every house-keeper knows that it is ruin to a good 
broom to stand it on the floor, brush-end dowu, and 
that it is equally hard on the wall to stand the 
broom so that the brush, fresh from contact with 
the dusty floor, is leaued against it. But even if 
the broom is provided with a string at the top of 
the handle, the servant is usually in too great a 
hurry, or too careless 
to hang it up, and 
prefers to stand it up 
against the wall in 
such a way that it is 
ready to tumble down 
at the least jar. A 
holder like the one il¬ 
lustrated in figs. 1 and 
2, will therefore be 
found a very useful lit¬ 
tle contrivance. To 
make one, cut a small 
piece of board into 
the shape given in fig. 
2, and fasten it to the 
wall by two screws 
through the back. It 
is quite as easy to 
place the broom in 
the holder as to stand 
it on the floor, and a 
few such holders, 
placed in the kitchen, on the back porch, and in 
other places through the house where brooms are 
kept, will be found very convenient. If space will 
admit, it is desirable to have a small closet open¬ 
ing out of the hall, where all the brooms, dust- 
brushes, pans and dusters used in sweeping and 
cleaning the front rooms of the house can be kept, 
and a similar closet opening from the upper hall, 
where everything needed for the upper floor has its 
place. It is much more convenient than to carry 
the broom, pan and brush from a kitchen closet 
every time they are needed. D. W. S. 
Small Economies. 
It is economy to provide small butter dishes for 
each individual at table. In this case no butter is 
wasted by melting on the hot plate, or by mixing 
with the crumbs or other food upon the plate. 
Among people who do not put their knives in their 
mouths, the portions left upon these little plates 
are uninjured, and may still serve as food. Every 
particle of good butter should be carefully scraped 
up and saved for shortening, or frying, or for 
greasing baking pans. 
Rub corn-meal over very greasy plates, and give 
it to the chickens. This is a help alike to the 
chickens and to the dish-washer. 
Sprinkle salt immediately over any spot where 
something has boiled over on the stove, and the 
place may be more easily cleaned. This also coun¬ 
teracts the bad odor. 
Pins disappear very mysteriously in most fam¬ 
ilies—-very much faster in those where the buttons 
are not promptly sewed on when needed. It is 
certainly wise economy to take the “stitch in 
time,” and to finish all garments before they are 
worn. Plenty of convenient pin-cushions in a house 
are a help toward economy. If no cushion is at 
hand, a pin picked up is laid down on the window¬ 
sill, or stuck upon the dress—to fall out, perhaps, 
into the next batch of bread kneaded. Each child 
should be taught to pick up every pin it sees 
dropped, and to put it in a proper place. 
It is a good plan to have only a few needles of a 
size upon the family needle-book, and not to allow 
■children to help themselves. Do not refuse a nee¬ 
dle to a child who wishes to use it, but keep track 
of it, and require it to be returned in good order, 
and placed where it belongs. Teach the child never 
to stick the needle upon the clothing, but, if obliged 
to lay it down, to place it upon the work, or 
upon its needle-book or cushion. A common, 
much-used pin-cushion is not a good place for nee¬ 
dles. A leaf of flannel or fine woolen cloth is 
better. They are more hopelessly and dangerously 
lost by sticking them upon the dress or apron, so 
that they drop out after awhile, as one goes about. 
Careful housekeepers save every scrap of cloth 
and paper—to sell, if for no other purpose. They 
use only the rumpled, soiled papers for kindling 
fires, and small scraps even then. The wrappers 
that come on magazines and papers are saved for 
scribbling, for ciphering, or for wrappers again 
when turned the other side out. Put the clean 
wrappings of dry goods bundles away for use. 
A rag-bag is a necessity, hung by a strong strap 
in some convenient place, and a few smaller, and 
possibly ornamental, scrap- 
bags in other parts of the 
house, help toward econo¬ 
my. Every sewing machine 
needs one. Do not put into 
the rag-bag good, strong 
patches, though small, such 
as you will need for patch¬ 
ing clothing, or may use for 
stocking heels or mitten 
patches. These should have 
a separate place. All long 
strips and pieces suitable, 
should go in with the carpet 
rags. The tiniest scraps of 
woolen cloth are valuable 
for rugs. Every bit of silk 
or velvet shoidd be saved by itself. Some one may 
be glad to make a silk bed-quilt or sofa-cushions 
of them, and they often prove great treasures 
for button-covers or for making fancy articles. 
Home-Made Trellisses for Vines. 
Small trellisses for supporting vines growing in 
pots, can be bought in a great variety of shapes 
and styles, but those that will answer the purpose 
quite as well, can be made at home with little 
trouble and at a very trifling expense. The form 
illustrated by tig. 1 is very easily made. Take two 
pieces of thin wood, tig. 2, an inch wide, and six¬ 
teen inches long, round off the top and sharpen the 
lower edges; with a gimlet make small holes 
an inch and a quarter apart, and rub them smooth 
Fan Cover for Flower Pot. 
A green, thrifty, growing plant, even in a com¬ 
mon pot, is in itself an ornament to any room, but 
some kind of a cover to put on over the plain pot, 
is often an addition that does much to increase its 
beauty. Very pretty covers can be made out of 
the Japanese fans which can be so cheaply bought. 
Remove the fastening which holds the sticks to¬ 
gether at the bottom, and cut them off close to the 
lower edge of the fan. Make two holes in the 
sticks at each side of the fan, one an inch from the 
upper edge, and the other the same distance from 
Fig. 1.— COVER FOR FLOWER POT. 
the lower. Run a fine thread through each fold of 
the fan at the top and bottom, and fasten at each 
end after drawing it up to the right size to lit 
around the pot it is to cover. If very fine thread is 
used, and small stitches taken, they will show but 
little. Put a coarser thread through the holes in 
the sticks, and 
fasten the cover 
on the pot by put¬ 
ting the thread 
through the op¬ 
posite holes and 
tying it. It is well 
to select the fan 
with some regard 
to the color of 
the flowers of the 
plants it is to be 
near. For the cov¬ 
er of a pot hold¬ 
ing a geranium 
with bright scar¬ 
let flowers, a fan 
with a gray ground, covered with figures in which 
black, blue and gilt predominate, would look best, 
but for a rose geranium or an ivy,a bright colored fan 
could be used with good effect. Mrs. Busyhand. 
Fig. 2.— POT WITH COVER. 
with a piece of sand paper or a knife. Next take 
a piece of twine and thread it back and forth 
through the holes ; fasten each end of the twine 
by tying in it a neat knot just large enough not to 
slip through the holes. After the trellis is drawn 
into the right shape, thrust it into a pot filled with 
earth to hold it at the right angle, and give it a 
coat of stiff varnish. When that is dry. add a coat 
of green paint. The trellis will be almost as firm, 
and last quite as well as if made altogether of wood. 
The trellis shown in figure 3, is made by cutting 
square notches an inch and a half apart in a piece 
of wood twenty inches long, half an inch thick, 
and three quarters of an inch wide. The supports 
are of medium sized wire put on as illustrated, and 
held firmly in place, by binding once around the 
stick where the notches are cut out. After the 
wire is on, it is all painted green. Figure 4 is 
made in the same way, but the wire is put on in a 
different shape. Instead of green the trellis may 
be painted a dark brown, or a light yellowish 
gray or brown, to look like cane or rattan. The 
sizes given are for trellisses to be used in ordi¬ 
nary sized pots, and they can be made smaller 
or larger to suit the plant for which they are used. 
Some Good, Cheap Eecipes. 
Centennial Muffins.— Take 1 qt. of flour, 1 
small tablespoonful of lard, salt and yeast pow¬ 
ders (use the last, according to the directions for 
one quart of flour. Some take more, some less). 
Mix the flour, salt, yeast powders and lard; take 
about a pint of water (milk is better if you have it), 
and mix dough as stiff as you can stir it. Have 
your gem pans “sizzing” hot, put in the batter, 
and bake in a hot oven. The muffins are improved 
by the addition of eggs and milk, but are good 
made as above. 
Batter Cakes Without Eggs. —Take one small 
saucer full of oatmeal porridge (or mush) and 1 qt.of 
flour ; mix as for other batter cakes, with the addi¬ 
tion of one tablespoonful of molasses, and about 
a teaspoonful of lard ; bake brown. 
Jacky Cakes.— Take seven tablespoonfuls of 
corn rneal, sifted, put in salt and a teaspoonful of 
lard ; scald with boiling water ; mix with half a tea¬ 
cupful of milk, till the batter is thin enough to drop 
from a spoon ; fry in boiling hot lard, just as you 
do fritters. Fry brown, dropping the batter from 
the spoon. Mrs. J. J. R. 
Old Bread as Good as New.—Dip thick slices 
or square piecesof old breadquickly into cold water, 
put them in a hot oven, and thoroughly heat 
through. Cold gems and cold biscuit should not be 
wet. A quick and thorough warming with a dry¬ 
ing makes the old bread very tender and fresh. 
