1015 
eervation of everything of this kind a 
plain dnty. 
Whenever I am preparing potatoes for 
a meal in such a way that it is necessary 
to slice them, I first wash the potatoes 
thoroughly after paring them, and slice 
in clear, cold water. I let this stand 
until the starch has settled to the bot¬ 
tom and then pour off the water. This 
I repeat several times, so that the 
starch may be clear and white. lastly, 
I pour it on shallow plates to dry. This 
starch is the equal of any laundry starch 
you can buy, and since I am again us¬ 
ing it, I almost wonder if I have not 
been rather wasteful in the past to throw 
av/ay this by-product that can be util¬ 
ized so successfully. 
MRS. CIIAS. JOHNSTON. 
A Farmer’s Wife on Food Conservation 
These are hard days for the farm wife. 
There are either a number of» extra 
helpers in the harvest fields, or the men 
in the family are in a terrible strain 
with their work. In either case the 
woman who is “on her job” helps a very 
great deal. She has to think and to 
work. Early in the morning, before the 
breakfast dishes are washed is the best 
time to gatber the vegetables, if there 
has not been time in the cool of the 
evening before. 
Meat is less necessary for these har- 
vc.sters than some women seem to think. 
They like a meal of a variety of boiled 
vegetables, with a fruit sauce and 
some simple dessert. They will appre¬ 
ciate a frozen dessert or even ice-cold 
lemonade more than a roast of meat. 
Fish, eggs, fried egg plant or squash, 
with an uncooked cei'cal and fresh fruit 
make the breakfast not so hard to pre¬ 
pare. Supper should be a cold meal, 
and should be prepared while the din¬ 
ner is cooking. 
I have become very tired of the end¬ 
less “saving food” articles in the news¬ 
papers and magazines, but I find that 
they have helped .me in spite of my 
feeling. For instance, we are buying our 
pork this year and I surprise myself in 
the way I make use of every bit of 
the meat that I buy, and it is a pleas¬ 
ure to do it. If I take the string end 
of a ham for boiling, I first cut away the 
end down as far as the good slicing 
commences. With a cleaver I split this 
end into four pieces which season vgee- 
tablcs four times. (In our locality the 
taste of harvesters seems to demand the 
pork seasoning with such vegetables as 
cabbage, string beans, etc.) After I have 
boiled and cooled the larger piece of 
meat, it served several meals, sliced thin. 
The bone of this part, with the skins, 
makes another seasoning, as did also the 
liquor in Avhich the large piece of ham 
was boiled. Every odd scrap of the un¬ 
used lean meat W’as ground and used in 
omelets or croquettes. 
I do not serve ham meal after meal 
until it is gone, then buy more meat, but 
I alternate it with other meats or meat 
substitutes. One of these meat sub¬ 
stitutes is a “poor man’s pie,” which 
yesterday contained onions and potatoes 
cooked and seasoned together. Some 
good left-over chicken-gravy was add¬ 
ed. All of this was poured into a large, 
round baking pan and covered with a 
crust made from one pint of flour, two 
heaping teaspoons of baking powder, one 
teaspoon of salt, four tablespoons of 
lard, and moistened with skim-milk. This 
is much appreciated. This same crust, 
with two tablespoons of sugar added 
when mixing is very good put over a 
quart of blackberries which have been 
sweetened and cooked a few minutes. It 
it is not nearly so much trouble as pie, 
as it is rolled or patted thick and there 
is no undercrust. This will serve seven 
persons, and is best eaten with milk. 
Speaking of alternating the ham with 
other meats, a neighbor said this to me 
the other day: “I declare I become dis¬ 
couraged trying to please my family’s 
appetite. They are so finicky. They 
won’t touch eggs any more, and today 
I boiled another piece of the nicest ham 
I ever tasted, and I know I shall have 
to throw a good part of it away.” The 
same woman said further: “I wish I 
could afford to keep ice all the week. 
I get it on Friday to keep my butter 
firm until Saturday’s market, and I 
RURAL NEW-YORKER 
know it would be nice to have it all 
the time.” Now, many a family’s appe¬ 
tite would be finicky if the housewives 
iised ham as much as some farmers’ 
wives use it. They cook pork meat too 
often because it is at hand and saves 
buying! Why, it is an extravagant 
method! At the present price of ham and 
bacon, if the farm-wife would sell half 
that she cured and buy other foods for 
variety, she would save more than 
enough money to buy the ice that she 
could use, and her family would be 
healthier. It is often possible to have 
an ice-house, but my refrigerator, a large 
one, requires only 70 cents’ worth of ice 
for a week, and I am sure that it 
saves food equal to a great deal more 
than that amount, not counting the joy 
and relief in being able to take care of 
food in a proper manner. Another great 
help in being able to cook well for a 
large family in Summer is an oil or 
gas stove, and there is as much differ¬ 
ence between a three and a four burn- 
ner stove as between a walking and a 
sulky plow. 
I think it would be a very humdrum 
life to cook and to cater to appetites 
without other interests. One should ar¬ 
range to get away from the routine oc¬ 
casionally, but while one is at it, it 
should certainly be considered as any 
other business which reflects credit when 
conducted successfully. If one is not a 
good cook, one should study to be one, 
if that is one’s “job.” I once saw a 
woman prepare a simple meal of boiled 
potatoes, fried eggs, bread, butter and 
coffee. The coffee was “water bewitched 
and coffee begrudged,” the potatoes 
were unseasoned, and the eggs were in a 
leathery state, due to the fact that they 
had been put on to fry when the po¬ 
tatoes were put on to boil. Isn’t it a 
great deal to ask of one’s family to sub¬ 
mit to such cookery meal after meal, and 
don’t you imagine that that woman’s 
husband would think of some one else 
who could take that same food and pre¬ 
pare a good meal? l, s. 
Apple Syrup from Windfalls 
Last year we gave directions for 
making syrup from apples, the formula 
being \vorked out by the Department of 
Agriculture. A recent circular from the 
Department tells how to make and can 
syrup from the early windfall apples. 
The directions are as follows: 
Wash your jars; wash rubbers; test 
rubbers for quality. Set empty jars with 
rubbers in pan of water to heat and keep 
hot. Fill washboiler to cover jars two 
inches with water. Heat water in wash- 
boiler. 
Put windfall annles through cider 
press. To seven gallons of the cider add 
five ounces of precipitated chalk (car¬ 
bonate of lime) sold at any drugstore. 
Boil in a kettle or vat vigorously for 
five minutes. Pour liquid into glass jars 
or pitchers. Let stand eight hours, or 
until perfectly clear. Pour the clear 
liquid into preserving kettle. Do not al¬ 
low sediment at bottom to enter. Add 
one level teaspoonful of lime carbonate 
and stir thoroughly. Boil down rapidly 
to a clear liquid (one seventh of the or¬ 
iginal volume). Test: Pour a little into 
cold water; should have the consistency 
of maple^ syrup; should not harden. Pour 
into fruit jare or pitchers. Place con- 
tainei-s in bitckets or washboiler of hot 
water, and allow to cool slowly. 
Pour the*syrup in hot jars. Place rub¬ 
bers and tops in position, not airtight. 
I’lace jars on false bottom in washboil- 
er. Keep tops of jars submerged two 
inches. Put cover on washboiler, and 
let water boil 15 minutes. Begin to 
count when water starts to boil. Remove 
jars and make covers airtight. Invert 
jars to discover leaks. If ’f'aks are 
found, change rubbers and boil again 
five minutes. 
Canned Grapes 
Wotild you give a good recipe for can¬ 
ning grapes? E. R. 
For six quarts of stemmed grapes use 
one quart sugar and one gill water. 
Squeeze the pulp out of the skins. Cook 
pulp five minutes and then rub through 
sieve fine enough to hold back the seeds. 
Put the water, skins and pulp into the 
preserving kettle and heat slowly to the 
boiling point. Skim the fruit and then 
add the sugar. Boil 15 minutes, and 
seal in jars. Sweet grapes may be 
canned with a little less sugar; very sour 
fruit may require more. 
Right dress is, therefore, that which 
is fit for the station in life and the work 
to be done in it; and which is otherwise 
graceful, becoming, lasting, healthful, and 
easy; on occasion, splendid; always as 
beautiful as possible. Beautiful dress is 
chiefly beautiful in color, in harmony of 
parts, and in putting on and wearing. 
Rightness of mind is in nothing more 
shown than in the mode of wearing sim¬ 
ple dress.—John Ruskin. 
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It gives 
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This book will be sent to any address prepaid for 
Three Now Yearly Subscriptions to The Rural New- 
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Six Yearly Renewal Subscriptions or One New and 
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the rural NEW-YORKER, 333 W. 30th St.. N. Y. 
Guard Your Ohildren’s Health 
U. S. GOVERNMENT, Surgeon General, War Department 
CITY HEALTH AUTHORITIES. New York, Botton, Norfolk, etc. 
GREAT HOSPITALS all over the country 
Use and recommend Chlorinated Lime as a 
powerful, economical and safe disinfectant. 
Follow their lead and protect your family against 
contagious diseases, especially the little folks who do 
not know how to protect themselves. Use 
daily in your garbage can, sink, toilet bowl, and all 
damp an<i foul smelling places where disease germs 
may be. Kills germs and destroys odors instantly. 
Large can ISc at all first class grocers and druggists. 
Refuse all substitutes which may be stale or worthless. 
A. MENDLESON’S SONS.NewYork and Albany 
