306 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[August, 
•which I extract the above recipe, I find something 
else which may furnish a hint to some one who has 
a tough fowl to cook: 
“ There were three turkeys on the place when we 
came here, also half a dozen hens and a rooster. 
The gobbler persisted in fighting the rooster, and 
one day C. thought to separate them by catching 
the gobbler. <T. was using the ax near by, and 
after a brief consultation the old fighter’s head 
separated from his body. All this was duly re¬ 
ported indoors. Mother and I took him in hand, 
and gained two nice wings,which are very handy in 
the kitchen. We soon stripped him of his feathers. 
He looked pretty tough. He was large, but not 
fatted to kill, and I thought we should all get tired 
of turkey before we should get him eaten, if ever 
he could be cooked tender. After breakfast next 
morning I put over the wash-boiler with a pail of 
water, and when it came to a boil laid in the 
turkey.” [Better not tell this to our esteemed 
countryman “ T. W. H.,” for I see he does not 
know that a tin wash-boiler can be made clean 
enough even for fish-chowder.] 
“ Just then I weighed him. Sixteen pounds said 
the scales. For two hours he boiled and steamed. 
I made ready some bread-and-butter stuffing, 
moistening it with the water in which the turkey 
had been boiled, and then baked it two hours more. 
It made a fine appearance on the table, and six of us 
did our duty by him at dinner, the children being 
at school. For the next three days wc had turkey 
once a day, and to-day we had a good ‘chicken- 
pie’ of the fragments, with enough left from it 
for washing-day dinner, for we are not tired of 
turkey yet.” 
Babies Troubled with Constipation. — A 
mother writes to me about her baby, four months 
old, who has been troubled with constipation for a 
month past so that she has to give it daily injec¬ 
tions. Change its diet. You need not wean it yet, 
but begin feeding it Graham gruel seasoned with 
milk. When it is time to nurse it, feed it as much 
of the gruel as it is inclined to take. It will not take 
much at first, but that little will very soon correct 
its bowels. I had the same experience with my 
youngest nestling. The water injections kept her 
in health, but I soon saw that her bowels were de¬ 
pending upon that assistance too much, and I tried 
the gruel with speedy success. I sifted out the 
coarsest part of the bran with a very coarse sieve, 
but now I usually take the whole meal, and do not 
find it too coarse for her. She is very jolly over 
her gruel. I thin it with considerable milk, but 
never add sugar, and seldom use salt in it. 
Habitual constipation is a result and a cause of 
disease. The habit can never be overcome by 
physic. Careful habits in respect to exercise, rest, 
cleanliness, pure air, and especially wholesome 
diet, are the reasonable methods of cure. All 
these things should be carefully looked after in 
baby’s case. 
If unsifted Graham seems to irritate the child’s 
bowels, sift the meal. It is still quite different 
from common fine flour. 
[The types made me say in June: “In this re¬ 
gion kind household helpers are very difficult to 
get.” It should have been “ hired household 
helpers.” Kindness is no more scarce in Minne¬ 
sota than elsewhere. It is almost impossible to 
hire a girl at all—one at least who would really 
be a helper.'] 
Another Way to Cook Egg-Plants. 
BY MRS. G. A. W. 31., TRENTON, N. J. 
In your March number of the Agriculturist I 
noticed a short article headed “ Cooking the Egg- 
Plant.” Now, of the three ways there given, the 
first in my estimation is the best; but they need a 
slow fire and cooking thoroughly. Many persons 
do not like the taste of egg-plants, simply for the 
reason that they are not cooked enough or not pre¬ 
pared right. Our family prefer them to meat on a 
hot summer’s day, provided mother cooks them in 
her okl-fashioncd way—the way I used to cook 
them when I was a little maiden at home with my 
parents. Now I am at the head of my own little 
family, and I still think I must be at the head of 
egg-plants when they are being cooked. No one 
can get them “ just as mother does;” either too 
much flour or not enough spoils them—they want 
to be “just so.” 
I take a large-sized egg-plant, leave the stem and 
skin on, and boil it in a porcelain kettle until very 
soft, just so you can get it out with the aid of a 
fork and spoon. Then take all the skin off, and 
mash it very fine in a bowl (not tin or earthen). 
Add a teaspoouful of salt, plenty of pepper, a large 
iron spoonful of flour (when it is cold), a half¬ 
teacupful of milk or cream, and three eggs. This 
forms a nice batter. Now have some butter and 
lard brown-hot, and drop the batter in with a 
spoon, as you would fritters, and brown them 
nicely each side. 
My husband would not taste egg-plants before 
we were married; now he and the children can 
hardly get enough. Girls should learn the differ¬ 
ent modes of cooking while they are at their 
fathers’ homes. Alas ! too many in these days are 
brought up young ladies for the parlor, but let 
them get married, and go into the kitchen to give 
their orders to Biddy for dinner, and what do they 
know themselves ? Do they know how to tell her 
to cook such and such dishes? No, no! Sorry I 
am for the poor husbands of such wives,, but you 
see them every day. I shall instruct all my 
daughters well iu housekeeping, and have the 
graceful accomplishments come afterwards. 
Squash or mashed potatoes mixed the same as 
the egg-plants are nice fried for breakfast. 
Best Way to Prepare Salt-Fish Dinners. 
Bt Mbs. W. 
Cut the fish in rather small pieces, wash it thor¬ 
oughly in warm water, and leave it in cold water 
over night. Early iu the morning remove the skin 
from the pieces, wash again, and put them in cold 
water over a -fire, and let come very gradually to a 
boil. Then remove the vessel farther back on the 
stove, and let it remain at an almost boiling point. 
Actual boiling hardens the fish. Change the water 
once during the process, adding hot water; keep it 
at the same temperature, letting it boil only once 
for a few minutes when nearly done. While the 
fish is cooking, pare nicely as many potatoes as ne¬ 
cessary, removing carefully every imperfection from 
the surface, and put them ns fast as pared into cold 
water, with a little salt in it. 
Boil in separate utensils small onions, beets, or 
parsnips if in season. Put the potatoes into boil¬ 
ing water half an hour before dinner-time, add a 
little salt to the water, and do not let them remain 
covered after they are fairly boiling. While the 
vegetables are cooking, remove the fish from the 
water, carefully take out every bone, and with a 
sharp chopping-knife mince the fish to an even fine¬ 
ness throughout, then put it into a deep dish, add 
to it half a cupful of hot water with a little butter 
melted in it, cover closely, and place in a hot oven 
until dinner is ready. Prepare drawn butter for 
sauce, being careful not to let the butter boil, as it 
will become oily. Boil eggs hard, if they are liked. 
Some persons prefer the eggs added to the melted 
butter, cut in circles ; others add them to the fish 
as they prepare it on their plates. When the po¬ 
tatoes are just done (not too soft), pour off the 
water, take the kettle to an open door (where the 
wind is blowing) and mash with a wooden pestle. 
Replace the kettle on the fire, and do not cover it. 
The potatoes will keep hot and nice for one or two 
hours, if necessary. When dinner is served, place 
the dish of fish and the hot. potato on the table 
the last things. For dessert after a fish-dinner a 
deep apple-pie without an under-crust is most 
suitable, or ripe apples, if iu season, arc better still. 
If those who dislike fish-dinners because they 
are troublesome iu the preparation, and doubly so 
in the serving at table, especially where there are 
children to be served, will try this way, they will 
find there is no trouble or annoyance at table, as 
all is hot aud easily served, and it becomes a 
dinner desired by all members of the family. 
Domestic Coloring 1 . 
A lady, whose address we have mislaid, sends the 
following: “ Some one has asked about coloring. 
Here is a recipe to color orange: Take copperas a 
half-pound, and two large heaping spoonfuls of 
salsoda. Dissolve in two separate dishes of warm 
water. Wring the material out of the copperas 
solution, and then through the soda, and hang it 
out to air. Let it air a short time, then wring again 
as before, until the cloth has passed through the 
liquids three times. It will make cotton cloth very 
bright if done in a sunny day. This colors several 
pounds. 
“ The bark of the common yellow willow, set 
with copperas, and colored in an iron vessel, makes 
a permanent slate color on cotton. It is very useful 
for coloring linings, cotton stockings, etc.” 
Washing by Dog-Power. 
BT 3IKS. E. J. JOHNS, DYBERRT, PA. 
j. have been reading in the February number of 
the Agricultwist about “ How we Live at our 
House,” and I thought I would write you how we 
wash at our house. You advertise Doty’s Washing 
Machine, but you do not tell your readers that it 
can be made to run by dog-power. I have Doty’s 
washer, aud also a churning machine, and when I 
wash I attach the handle of the washer to the 
churning machine by a pitman. My husband says 
it works like a saw-mill, but suffice it to say the 
dog does the work. The difficulty with the washer 
is, it is hard work to operate it by hand, so hired 
help say. By using the dog this labor is done away 
with. I wash my clothes in boiling-liot suds, and 
they look white, even if they are washed by a black 
dog. I can do a washing for a family of seven in two 
hours or less. I write this in hopes it may reach 
some weakly woman who has a large family, and 
finds it difficult to get along with her.work. 
Vases op Flowers.— What horrid things some 
of the florists do give us in the way of bouquets ! 
They pack the dear little flowers so close together, 
such crowds of sweet faces massed, that you can 
not lialf-enjoy any of them. I should think that 
any one who really loves a flowrnr would do it better 
justice. Each fine blossom or cluster of blossoms 
ought to have some quiet background, to set it 
forth. Green foliage, in delicate sprays or hand¬ 
some leaves, is according to nature’s general plan. 
I remember the exquisite little floral orna¬ 
ments iu that pleasant sitting-room of the B.’s. 
Shells of various kinds were made to do duty as 
vases, here a few geranium-leaves, with rosebuds or 
pansies in a shell turned up, so as to hold water 
enough to preserve the flowers, and there a cluster 
of sweet-pea blossoms, with foliage of some light, 
graceful character. 
One handsome lily, with leaves, is often quite 
enough for a flower-vase. I was not more thau half 
a score of years old when I saw two vases of flowers 
on a mantel, which pleased me better than anything 
I had ever seen before, and their memory is still 
pleasing through all the years since that time. The 
vases were tall, old-fashioned wine-glasses, and the 
flowers were only nasturtiums, a spray in each, with 
their brilliant flowers, odd-looking leaves, aud 
smooth, curling stems. 
We want some large, wide-mouthed vases and 
some big bouquets when flowers are plenty. Some 
large vases wc must have for the children to fill. 
Some flo-wers have such short steins that they 
can not be managed in bouquets without they are 
furnished with artificial stems of wire or straw. 
Hollyhocks and Balsams are of this kind. The 
best way to arrange these is in a plate of clean wefc 
sand. Use plenty of ferns or green leaves with 
the flowers. R. L. F. 
