December 8. 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
189 
but very little trouble, which would make excellent litter for 
the pig, and even the cow, besides making the best of 
manure. I have often been surprised that this matter has 
not been more attended to by cottagers. I know well, from 
experience, the value of them as a manure, besides their 
use for litter, and instead of their being a nuisance, in 
blowing about the roads, and laying ancle deep in plan¬ 
tations, they would prove of great value to those who have 
leisure to collect them, and are not too indolent to do so. 
When I kept cows, and grew but little straw, I have collected 
nearly a sufficient quantity of leaves to bed them down the 
whole winter. 
Where a portion of a rood of ground is cropped with 
Wheat, it should be carefully watched at this time, to see if 
the mice are getting it, which they are very apt to do just as 
it is making its appearance above ground, which I find to be 
the case with mine at this present time. The best method 
of destroying them is by setting brick-traps to catch them ; 
the mode of setting the traps is very simple,—the plan is by 
placing a board flat on the ground, and set a single brick 
(or fiat tile) on one end, a little slanting, and then support 
it with three sticks, in the form of a figure of four, with a 
soaked bean or pea fixed on one end of one of the sticks for a 
bait, which, as soon as the mouse touches, the brick will fall 
and kill it. 
Since the publication of my pamphlets on Spade Hus¬ 
bandry, Pigs, &c., I noticed a report in The Cottage Gar¬ 
dener,* of a tool which struck my attention as being a very 
useful one, and, to the best of my recollection, it was called 
a mute, meaning, I suppose, that it was something between 
a fork and a spade. The description of it was so simple, 
and the cost so trifling, that I was induced to have one 
made to try the effect of it. The following is a description 
of it:—Having an old three-pronged fork nearly worn out, 
I had a plate fixed on the end of the prongs, about five 
inches w r ide at the bottom, and about five inches deep, so 
that the upper part being left open the same as when a fork, 
only being narrower at the bottom than at the top. I find 
this tool to be very useful to dig with where the soil is of a 
very stiff nature, and where the fork cannot penetrate; and 
the great advantage it has over the spade, is, that however 
moist the ground is this tool never clogs, the top part being 
open the same as the fork. Having found this tool of great 
service I have ventured to recommend it; but, in con¬ 
clusion, I must not forget to mention that I have a long 
handle to it, the same as I have to my digging-fork, having 
a great objection to the back-ache, besides, in using the 
long handle, 1 find I have a greater power in lifting the 
soil. The particulars of the advantages I have found in 
using a long-handled tool, the make, (fee., I have given in 
my little work on Pig-feeeding, (fee. 
Rice Bread. —Having noticed the economy of using rice 
with flour in making bread, we were induced to try the ex¬ 
periment, and having found it to answer exceedingly well, 
and finding a great saving, I have ventured to give the 
result of our trial, thinking it might be of some little 
service to cottagers with large families, at the present time, 
bread being at such a high price. The following is the way 
we used it:—One-and-alialf pounds of rice put into a 
gallon of water, and stewed till it becomes quite soft, then 
mix it, while warm, with fourteen pounds of flour, and at 
the same time add a tablespoonful of salt, and the usual 
quantity of yeast. Let it stand to rise, and then make it 
into loaves and bake it in the usual way. We have found 
the above quantity of flour and rice to have made us twenty- 
eight pounds of excellent bread, and, independent of the 
great saving, we like it better than bread made in the 
ordinary way. 
Bees. —We have been feeding our light stocks of bees 
with the lo^f-sugar and honey, as noticed in my notes for 
last month, and find it to answer well, and they appear to 
take it with as much avidity as though it were all honey, and 
in consideration of honey being so scarce and expensive we 
find it a great saving. John Sili.ett. 
* An engraving of this tool was attached to the account given in The 
Cottage Gardener ; the exact date I cannot recollect, hut I think it is 
some three or four years since. 
i 
COTTAGE BREWING. 
(Continued from page 108.) 
Next in order, comes the fermentation; the placing of 
the tub for which purpose should be carefully considered. 
It must be away from cold draughts, and close to the cask 
intended to be filled. Tilt the tub, by placing something 
for the edge of its bottom to rest upon, and then pour into 
it the five or six gallons of beer previously set apart to cool. 
Plunge the thermometer in the beer, which must be lowered 
in temperature to 70°, at the least. This (milk warm) is 
the proper point of heat to apply the barm, which must be 
thoroughly mixed with the beer; then place the lading 
bucket, with its handle inverted, in the midst of it, and this 
will be found to expedite the fermentation considerably, as 
it invariably begins in close contact with the bucket first. 
Separate double the quantity of beer, just set to work, from 
the cooler into the small tubs, to be added to it in about an 
hour-and-a-lialf, when, if all is as it should be, a white 
head,—in brewing parlance, called the helvet,—will have 
formed upon its surface ; be very particular as to this; until 
the helvet is perfectly formed over, do not add more beer, 
otherwise fermentation maybe checked in the beginning, 
and the working prove precarious afterwards. Let this form¬ 
ation of the helvet act as a guide for future additions; 
each time you do so, separate more beer to cool, and each 
time double the quantity. Untilt the working tub. 
The boiling period for the beer in the copper having again 
expired, strain its contents through the sieve, (fee., as before, 
and take the hops to the manure-heap ; reserving a double¬ 
handful, or so; spread these to dry, and see that they do 
not become mouldy: for what purpose, anon; clean the 
slime from the copper, and fill it with water, to become 
heated for washing-down the brewhouse, or other purposes. 
If the beer in the coolers become too cold before it can be 
all got together, warm a portion, and enter it to the working- 
tub at its proper heat. All prospering, the beer will be 
ready to tun before bedtime (viz., supposing the brewing to 
have began the evening before) ; previous to which opera¬ 
tion, make sure that no piece of cork, or other extraneous 
matter, remain withinside the barrel, for, should this be 
the case, it might stop up the working-hole, and prove a 
difficulty. 
Place the cask to be filled firmly and level on a skeleton 
tram, elevated a foot or so from the floor, so that, by a free 
circulation of air beneath, it may be preserved from damp 
and injury; drive two new r corks—one below, the other in 
the centre of the barrel; secure a working-tube in the top 
hole; fasten in the vent-peg; adjust the tun-pail in the 
bung-hole, and the vessel is ready to fill. When the cask 
is about three-parts full froth will issue from the working- 
tube ; place a tub to catch it, and continue filling until beer 
is perceived to escape; then remove the tun-pail; lay a 
piece of hop-bagging, about six inches diameter, over the 
bung-hole, and fasten down the bung to a degree that will 
ensure its removal with a good tug; remove the tub from 
under the tube, and put an empty one in its place; pour 
what beer and froth the former contains into the working- 
tub, and retire to rest for five or six hours; contrive then 
to awaken, or request some one to arouse you, as the beer 
will, in all probability, require your further attendance. If 
by that time you perceive it has not long began working, do 
not interfere with it; but if it shows no sign, it will be 
necessary to jog its memory a little. I never but once had 
a bad case of this description, still, as there is no telling 
what may happen, it is well to be provided with a remedy, 
so far it lies in one’s power. Take a large double-handful 
of flour, place it on a plate before a fire, stir to prevent its 
burning; grate about an ounce of ginger, mix, and when 
quite dry and hot, enter it by degrees, with your left hand, 
in at the bung-hole ; stir; round about with a walking-stick 
quickly with the right hand, so as thoroughly to conglome¬ 
rate the mass, and, doubtless, it will soon return from the 
error it had made. But we will not suppose this to be our 
caso in the present instance, therefore, after five or six 
hours’ sleep, rub your eyes, slip on something slightly, for 
the cask will merely require attendance a few minutes, to 
fill it up from the working-tub; adjust the tun-pail, and 
continue to fill until beer escapes from the tube, (fee., and 
do this at intervals of every two or three hours during the 
