1914. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
Q©7 
Catering for a Small Income. 
W HILE the writer has in mind the 
middle-aged woman retired on a 
small income, this article is not based 
upon any special allowance, but instead 
it has to do with economic business prin¬ 
ciples which may be applied to general 
purveying by the housewife in town, or 
on the farm—anywhere the small income 
exists, and that is everywhere. It has 
been stated that the greater number of 
failures in the United States—bank¬ 
ruptcy—have been among men who have 
become involved financially, not in busi 
ness adventures, but by general indebted¬ 
ness for the necessities and the super¬ 
fluities of life—by living beyond their 
income, by overestimating their ability 
to pay. If this statement is true the 
American homemakers should become sys¬ 
tematic and apply economic principles to 
purveying for themselves. 
In order to handle a small income 
judiciously, a housewife must know just 
what she needs, when she needs it and 
how much. To know how much is to 
know how long a special amount will 
last. The small income means buying in 
small amounts, if the income is weekly, 
but if monthly or quarterly, larger 
amounts are possible. With a known 
amount of money for the weekly food 
supply, a housewife should on Saturday 
evening of each week make out a list, an 
itemized bill of actual necessities for the 
coming week, with estimated costs, the 
footing of which must be made to harmon¬ 
ize with the cash in hand for that pur¬ 
pose, either by omitting one or more 
items, or "by reducing the amount of one 
or more, and this can be easily done with 
supplies that are weighed, measured or 
counted. There must be constant over¬ 
sight of the food supply kept in stock, in 
order to prevent too many items coming 
together—too great a dearth during any 
one week. For instance, 25 pounds of 
bread flour will make all of the bread, 
pie and cake that two people should eat 
during one month. Wheat flour in this 
amount should be the largest single cash 
item for any one week ; that is, all other 
stock commodities such as lard, rice, 
beans, etc., should be in just sufficient 
amounts to last from two to three weeks, 
leaving one week for flour and the usual 
weekly necessities, such as the daily sup¬ 
ply of milk, fresh eggs, fruit, vegetables, 
meat and butter. When possible to get 
good new butter once a week, there is 
little economy in getting a larger amount 
and taking chances on the butter and its 
keeping qualities, for on the average one 
pound and a half a week will suffice two 
people. 
As soon as a housewife knows how 
much she needs of any one food com¬ 
modity for one week and its cost then 
she can adjust amounts so that the total 
costs will harmonize with her weekly 
allowance. In adjusting an estimated 
food supply to a money allowance there 
should always be a cash margin held in 
reserve for the unexpected. Food, the 
kind and amount, for an individual, is 
a matter for personal regulation, and 
each one is free to experiment, although 
three temperate meals a day are rec¬ 
ommended. To understand the compara¬ 
tive value of foods is a help—it helps 
one to be resigned if not satisfied with 
a quart and a half of milk, knowing that 
it contains as much nutriment as one 
quart of oysters costing from 35 to 40 
cents per quart, although it might not 
help one to eat oatmeal and beans for¬ 
ever. The small income and the normal 
appetite should go hand in hand; the 
appetite that -relishes good homemade 
breads—the small all-over browned loaves 
of wheat bread, white and brown, also 
corn bread; milk, eggs, the cheaper but 
nutritious cuts of meats for kettle roasts 
and stews; baked and boiled potatoes, ap¬ 
ples and dried prunes, peaches and apri¬ 
cots. Apricots cost from 15 to 20 cents 
a pound, but one pound will—soaked over 
night and stewed slowly—make four 
stewings for two people. The lasting 
qualities of a given amount of food must 
always be considered in connection with 
its cost. 
Women living and eating alone are in 
danger of extremes—undereating and 
then overeating. They have not the in¬ 
clination to cook for themselves as they 
would for others, and after skipping one 
or more meals, or taking just enough to 
satisfy the pressing demand, they later 
in the day eat two meals at one sitting— 
put two feet into one shoe, so to speak. 
To feed a pig or a calf in that way would 
result in a one-sided development—un¬ 
dersized. The lone woman with a small 
income is in danger of undereating 
through her desire to avoid indebtedness, 
if she invests her money blindly. She 
has no occasion to despair and think her¬ 
self doomed to slow starvation—malnu¬ 
tritions—if she will only be consistent in 
her selections and combinations of food. 
MEDORA CORBETT. 
Tomato Catsup and Preserve. 
W ILL you give a reliable catsup re¬ 
cipe, and also different ways of 
pickling and preserving red plum 
and yellow pear tomatoes? MRS. b. c. 
The following recipes are from the 
Rural Cook Book; 
Tomato Catsup.—Pare one-half bushel 
tomatoes and cook until very soft, sift 
them, taking all the seeds out. Then 
cook until as thick as you desire the cat¬ 
sup and then add one quart vinegar, 
one-half pint salt, and the following 
spices: One tablespoonful each of cloves, 
ginger and cinnamon, two tablespoonfuls 
each of mustard, black pepper and all¬ 
spice, and one-half teaspoonful cayenne 
pepper. Let it cook 10 minutes, then 
bottle and cork tight, no further sealing 
is needed as it will keep for years simply 
corked. 
Tomato Catsup No. 2.—Wash and cut 
in pieces a half peck of ripe tomatoes. 
Cook in a porcelain-lined or granite iron 
preserving kettle till soft enough to put 
through a sieve, which will remove skins 
and seeds. To the pulp add two table¬ 
spoonfuls of salt, two tablespoonfuls pep¬ 
per, one-half tablespoon allspice, one- 
half tablespoon cloves and one-half 
pint vinegar. Let the tomato cook for 
several hours before adding the spices 
and vinegar. Mix the salt and spices 
dry in a bowl, and blend well before put¬ 
ting into the tomato. Cook till quite 
thick and put in bottles. Store in a cool 
cellar. 
Uncooked Tomato Catsup.—Peel and 
chop a peck of ripe tomatoes and hang in 
bag, to drain for 24 hours. Add to the 
drained tomato four bunches of celery 
(chopped fine) and one large cupful of 
chopped onion. Mix the three vegetables 
thoroughly and then add one-fourth cup 
of salt; one-fourth cup sugar; two table¬ 
spoonfuls mustard seed; two tablespoon¬ 
fuls ground cinnamon; one teaspoonful 
ground allspice, and two large red pep¬ 
pers, chopped fine. Mix very thoroughly; 
cover with good cider vinegar, and put in 
self-sealing cans. 
Egg Tomatoes in Sweet Pickle.—Pour 
scalding water over seven pounds of the 
egg tomatoes, let them stand for a mo¬ 
ment, then remove the skin. Cover them 
with vinegar much diluted with water 
and let them stand twelve hours. Put 
one-half cupful of weak vinegar in the 
preserving kettle and add part of the to¬ 
matoes, then some sugar and any whole 
spices, such as ginger, allspice, cinnamon, 
cloves and mace, using these or even 
more varieties according to taste. Add 
more of the tomatoes, more sugar and 
more spices, alternating the layers thus 
until all the tomatoes and five pounds of 
sugar have been used. Cook very gently, 
stirring just enough to prevent scorch¬ 
ing without breaking the tomatoes. When 
these are quite clear and transparent, re¬ 
move them carefully and boil down the 
syrup. When the syrup is thick strain 
it and add the tomatoes. Boil up once 
and pour into pint jars to be sealed at 
once. 
Tomato Jam.—Select sound, ripe fruit 
and peel and quarter them. Then put 
them into the preserving kettle with an 
equal weight of loaf sugar, the strained 
juice and rind of a lemon for every four 
pounds of the fruit, and a little powdered 
ginger. Cook the mixture slowly until it 
jellies when tried on a spoon. Turn into 
jars and cover. 
Tomato Marmalade.—Remove the 
skin from four quarts of ripe tomatoes 
and slice. Cut six large lemons in halves, 
lengthwise, and slice very thin. Seed 
one cup of raisins. Put the tomatoes, 
raisins and lemons into a preserving 
kettle, in layers, alternating with four 
pounds of granulated sugar. Cook one 
hour on the front of stove. Then set 
the kettle back, and allow contents to 
simmer until it is of the consistency of 
marmalade. Put up, while hot, as jelly. 
This recipe makes about two and one- 
half quarts. When properly prepared no 
one article will be recognizable. The 
small yellow tomatoes are nice for such 
use. 
Tomato Marmalade No. 2.—For every 
two pounds of the tomatoes allow two 
pounds of sugar and the juice and grated 
rind of one lemon. Pour scalding water 
over the tomatoes to loosen the skins. 
After removing the skin, mix the toma¬ 
toes with the sugar and boil slowly for 
one hour, stirring and skimming fre¬ 
quently. At the end of that time add the 
lemon juice and rind and cook another 
hour or until the whole is a thick, smooth 
mass. 
Tomato Mock-Orange Marmalade.— 
Scald and peel large-sized yellow toma¬ 
toes. Cut downward over each seed sec¬ 
tion, press open and remove all seeds 
with the thumb, leaving the pulp com¬ 
paratively whole. To two parts of the 
prepared tomatoes allow one part of 
oranges, slicing thinly. Cover all with 
an equal quantity of sugar and let stand 
over night. In the morning pour off 
syrup and cook down about half, add the 
tomatoes and oranges and cook until the 
orange skins are transparent. Seal in 
jelly glasses. This is an original recipe, 
and is a delightful substitute for the 
genuine orange marmalade, though much 
cheaper. 
Books for Boys. 
T HE Board of Education of this city 
has given out a list of books which, 
they say “no boy from 12 to 14 will go 
to sleep over.” This list will no doubt be 
interesting to those who wish to select 
reading for boys. It is as follows: 
1. Kipling—“Captains Courageous.” 
2. Moffett—“Careers of Danger and 
Daring.” 
3. Pyle—“Jack Ballister’s Fortunes.” 
4. Bostock—“Training of Wild Ani¬ 
mals.” 
5. “Famous Adventures and Prison 
Escapes of the Civil War.” 
6. Hill—“Fighting a Fire.” 
7. L. G. T.—“Three Years Behind the 
Guns.” 
8. Altsheler—“Young Trailers.” 
9. Barbour—“For the Honor of the 
School.” 
10. Barnes—“Yankee Ships and Yankee 
Sailors.” 
11. Brady—“Border Fights and Border 
Fighters.” 
12. Brooks, E. S.—“Master of Strong 
Hearts.” 
13. Carruth—“Track’s End.” 
14. Ivieffer—“Recollections of a Drum¬ 
mer Boy.” 
15. London—“Call of the Wild.” 
16. Macfarlane—“Redney McGraw.” 
17. Masefield—“Jim Davis.” 
IS. Munroe—“Campmates.” 
19. Poe—“Gold Bug.” 
20. Stevenson—“Treasure Island.” 
21. Stockton—“Buccaneers and Pirates 
of Our Coast.” 
22. Stoddard—“Battle of New York.” 
23. Tomlinson—“Search for Andrew 
Field.” 
24. Twain—“Huckleberry Finn.” 
25. Verne—“Twenty Thousand Leagues 
Under the Sea.” 
It will be noted that Alger, Trow¬ 
bridge, Ilenty and other who still thrill 
boy readers are not represented in this 
list. Our own favorites in this list are 
No. 1, No. 19, and No. 20. 
To Darken the Stove. 
T O darken the top of a cook stove form 
a piece of clean old cotton cloth into 
a pad, wet, squeeze and apply any yel¬ 
low laundry soap and rub the top until 
the pad becomes too hot, then dip the 
soap into water, rub the cloth and the 
stove, and continue the process. If a 
stove is soaped twice a day or even once, 
just after dinner, it will be kept in a 
presentable condition during the after¬ 
noon. The soapy odor may be overcome 
by placing a pinch of ground coffee on 
the stove top. There is an old saying 
that a new stove rubbed daily with a 
soaped cloth will never need blackening 
on the top. m. c. 
Green Tomatoe Pickles. —Gather 
full grown green tomatoes; make a strong 
ginger tea (root is strongest) into which 
drop your fruit, scald well; to each 
pound tomatoes take one-half pound 
sugar, one-half pint vinegar, make a 
syrup of this and put tomatoes in, cook 
until perfectly clear, add cinnamon, mace 
and white ginger, cover well with syrup 
and tie up closely. Cut stems out so 
juice will penetrate. MRS. D. s. B. 
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24 Price 
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Complete 
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felt top. weighs GO pounds and is covered 
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Complete Outfit 8hlpped on 30 days’ 
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balance payable 75c monthly. 
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of Pittsburgh 
My Special, easy-credit, 
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H 
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SPEAR 
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Dept. H 
Pittsburgh.Pa. 
r ^ Please send me. 
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placed anywhere, 
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Sold by dealers, or 
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HAROLD SOMERS, 150 DeKalb Ave.. Brooklyn, N. Y. 
CIDER MAKING 
Can be made profitable if the rijtht kind of machinery 
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Semi tor catalogue. Established 1872. 
BOOMER & BOSCHERT PRESS CO. 
312 West Water Street, Syracuse, N. Y. 
JOB 
DniMTIMfi— 230 each of envelopes ami 
r nlll I ll*U letter heads $2. Samples. 
ltytler Print Shop, liariierville, N.Y. 
LEVIN PRUNER 
nptlE best Pruner. Cuts %-inch 
A dry branch. Quick, clean, 
easy cut. We will send it post¬ 
paid for one new yearly subscrip¬ 
tion at 81, or for club of 10 ten- 
week trials at 10 cents each. 
These articles are not given with a sub¬ 
scription to The Rural New-Yorker, but 
are given to the agent as a reward, in 
place of cash, for extending the subscrip¬ 
tion list of The Rural New-Yorker, 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER, 
333 WEST 30th ST., NEW YORK. 
