450 
THE cottage gardener. 
September IS. 
i 
I 
Scarlet Oaks, Scotch Firs, and nothing better than Silver 
Fir, if protected when young ; Scarlet Chestnuts, the large- 
leaved Weeping Elm, and Lime. All these will do well in a 
low, damp, situation ; and, if arranged with judgment, will 
make a splendid whole, and will require little trouble after 
established.—D. Ferguson, Stowe, Buckinyham. 
THE HOUSEHOLD. 
(We shall be much obliged by any of our readers 
sending us approved receipts in cookery, hints for house¬ 
hold management, or any other domestic utilities, for 
insertion in this department of our columns.) 
Curd Cheese. —A light, delicious, and nourishing dish 
for children, invalids, or company, may be made with a large 
dessert-spoonful of rennet added to a pint-and-a-half of new 
milk, either fresh from the cow or heated lukewarm. In 
the latter way it is best and pleasantest for children or 
invalids. For company, a perforated tin shape may be used. 
With fruit pies it will be found a pleasant substitute for 
custard. When turned out of the mould into a dish, fresh 
fruit may be placed round, to be eaten with it instead of 
pie. Pounded loaf-sugar and cream should be served in 
separate basins, as an accompaniment, to be eaten with it. 
In this way it will be found an excellent second course 
dish for dinner. If the cheese is to be eaten without fresh 
fruit or pie, it may be served with cream and pounded sugar, 
and be flavoured with ground nutmeg, brandy, ratafia, 
essence of lemon-peel, or any other flavouring. The essence 
may be had of any of the grocers or oilmen. The perfor¬ 
ated moulds may be occasionally met with at old-fashioned 
ironmongers’, Ac., and in the kitchens of old families. 
To Prevent Rust. —Melt together three parts of lard 
and one part of rosin. A very thin coating will preserve 
ironwork, such as stoves and grates, from rusting during 
summer, even in damp situations. 
Writing Inks. —The scientific journals have lately con 
tained some account of a paper recently read in the Society 
of Arts, Edinburgh, on the subject of writing inks or 
fluids. In 1842, the author of the paper, Dr. J. Stark, com¬ 
menced a series of experiments on writing inks, and in the j 
course of these has manufactured 229 different inks, and 
tested the durability of writings made with these on all j 
kinds of paper. As the result of his experiments, he has 
satisfactorily ascertained tiiat the browning and fading of 
inks is the consequence of various causes, but in ordinary 
inks chiefly from the iron becoming peroxygenated and 
separating as a precipitate. Many inks, therefore, when j 
fresh made, yielded durable writings; but when the ink 
became old, the tanno-gallate of iron separated, and the 
durability of the ink was destroyed. The liability of com¬ 
mon inks to be injured by using steel pens in them is 
pretty well known. Dr. Stark exhibited a series of 18 inks 
which had either been made with metallic iron or in which 
metallic iron bad been immersed, and directed attention to 
the fact, that though the depth and body of colour seemed 
to be deepened, yet in every case the durability of writings 
made with such inks was so impaired that they became 
brown and faded in a few months. The most permanent 
ordinary inks were shown to be composed of the best blue 
gall nuts, with copperas and gum, and the proportions found 
by experiment to yield the most persistent black, were six 
parts of the best blue galls to four parts of copperas. 
Writings made with such an ink stood exposure to sun and 
air for twelve months without exhibiting any change of 
colour; while those made with inks of every other pro¬ 
portion or composition had more or less of their colour 
discharged when similarly tested. This ink, therefore, if 
kept from moulding and from depositing its tanno-gallate of 
iron, would afford writings perfectly durable. 
Dr. Stark has ascertained, by 1 'epeated experiments, that 
the addition of logwood, in any way, only tends to destroy 
the colour sooner. All inks made with logwood in them 
laded sooner than pure gall inks. Even the addition of 
logwood to.a good durable ink from galls will cause the ink 
to fade rapidly. Sugar has also been ascertained to have a 
bad effect on all inks, and especially on such as have any 
logwood in them. Dr. Stark has also ascertained that 
immersing iron wire or filings in the very best inks, 
destroyed their durability as much as similar treatment did 
ordinary inks. He, therefore, recommends that all legal 
deeds or documents should be written with quill pens, as 
the contact of steel invariably destroys more or less the 
durability of every ink. 
The ink which Dr. S. prefers for his own use is composed 
of 12 oz. of best galls, 8 oz. of sulphate of indigo, 8 oz. of 
copperas (sulphate of iron), a few cloves, and 0 or 8 oz. of 
gum arabic, for a gallon of ink. This never moulds, and 
is of an intense pure black, which never fades or changes 
colour.— American Country Gentleman. 
Preserving Summer Fruits. —Such fruits as Straw¬ 
berries, Raspberries, Blackberries and the like, may be 
preserved in the following manner cheaply, and their flavour 
be retained:—Put sugar over the fire, at the rate of half-a- 
pouud to a pound of berries, add a little water, and when 
hot take up the fruit in a skimmer and dip it into the 
sugar, holding it therefor half-a-minute, perhaps ; then take 
it out and spread it on the tins. Go through the whole lot 
in this manner. Then boil down the sugar to a thick syrup, 
and pour it over the fruit. Set the tins either in the sun 
or in a warm oven till the berries are dried through in thin 
gelatinous cakes. When thoroughly dry, put the cakes in 
a bag and hang it out of the way. The cakes will keep as 
long as wanted, and may be used in a few minutes, by the 
addition of a little hot water—more sugar being added if 
necessary. The beauty of this mode is that the flavour of 
the fruit is retained, while there is no danger of its spoiling 
by fermentation. Fruits, when preserved in the usual 
way—pound for pound —are made too sweet, and lose their 
distinctive flavour so much that it differs little whether it is 
preserved Peach or Potato. Besides, without care preserves 
are apt to ferment and spoil.— Prairie Far. 
Tomato Sauce. —There is great difficulty in keeping this 
sauce in the way described in page 414. All sauces made 
in the way there indicated should be subjected to the 
: “ Bain-Marie” for half an hour, that is, to place the bottles, 
I when full and uncorked, in a large fish kettle, fill it with 
cold water, place it on the fire, and allow it to boil for half- 
an-hour, remove it, and cork the bottles whilst hot. But the 
best and easiest way for those persons who grow Tomatoes, 
and who have not a convenient market for them, is to treat 
them as they do in the south of France. When the Tomatoes 
are ripe, pulp them through a sieve to remove the skin and 
seeds, to the pulp add a little salt to prevent fermentation, 
then strain it in a flannel bag, like a jelly- bag, by which all 
the water is removed; then put the pulp into bottles, the 
smaller the better, with two or three allspice to each bottle, 
place the bottles in a “ Bain-Marie,” subject them to one 
hour’s boiling, cork and cement whilst hot. By this plan 
the colour is not destroyed, and the cook can make use of 
the pulp for any sauce he pleases. 
A new Sauce with Tomatoes, exceedingly good. —To 
two quarts of the pulp of the Tomato add the pulp, when 
boiled, of four qumces and two sour apples, or the pulp of a 
middle-sized West Indian pine-apple, to this add one pint 
of Chutnee, as obtained from Crosse and Blackwell, and 
half-a-pint of French mustard (Moutarde de Maille), bottle 
in wide-mouthed bottles, cork and cement. This is excel¬ 
lent when added to curries, or for hashed mutton, beef 
collops, Ac., or with broiled fowl, of course adding gravy to 
it. The above makes a very excellent thin sauce, like the 
Worcestershire Sauce, if to every quart, two quarts of the 
Ne plus ultra Vinaigre (for recipe of which see below) be 
added, and boiled in an earthen pan for twenty minutes and 
bottled. 
Salad oe Cooked Vegetables. —At this season of the 
year it frequently happens that vegetables, such as French 
Beans, Broad Beans, Cauliflowers, Potatoes, Ac., are left 
from the dinner, and, in a general way, these go to feed the 
pigs; but a very nice refreshing salad may be made of them, 
by mixing them together, cutting the cold Potatoe in slices, 
the Brocoli stem, and all likewise into pieces; adding pep¬ 
per and salt, a little oil and vinegar; or use theNe plus ultra 
Vinaigre without oil. 
