148 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[April, 
other with red. Then cut two pieces of black silk 
of the same shape, and baste on the under side of 
each leaf as a lining-; finish the edge of each in but¬ 
ton-hole stitch with worsted or beads. Cut half 
a dozen leaves of some soft, black material, and lay 
between the two covers, fastening at the stem 
with a bow of narrow ribbon, or covered wire.” 
Variety at the Table—Two “Bills of Fare.” 
Variety is said to be the spice of life. Our good 
housewives seem to believe the adage, so far as it re¬ 
spects food, for what one of them is there who is not 
always worrying herself over the question, “what 
shall I get for breakfast, or dinner, for a variety ?” 
Sometime since we referred to the experience of a 
lady who kept three cards on which she had written 
down, 1st, The names of articles always at hand, 
and good for breakfast at all seasons ; 2d, Those 
not so common or not always to be desired. The 
other two cards, one for noon, and the other for 
evening, contained similar lists for those meals. 
She stated that it was often a relief or help to run 
her eye over the cards, and select what she would 
have, without delay_ Mrs. A. M. Hoffman sends 
to the American Agriculturist the following pro¬ 
gramme, or bill of fare, for a week’s meals during 
two seasons of the year, which we print as sugges¬ 
tive. Such a variety can only be provided at the 
tables of well-to-do families, and with plenty of 
room and help, but every housekeeper can change’ 
and modify it to suit her own circumstances. 
IF ©a* Spring-. 
Monday. — Breakfast: Minced veal, omelette, fried po¬ 
tatoes, milk toast, coffee.— Dinner: Beefsteak, mashed 
potatoes, salsify, horseradish, custards.— Tea: Dried beef, 
biscuits, canned fruit, Sally cake. [As Monday is “wash¬ 
ing day,” would not the variety proposed for breakfast 
occupy the whole stove or range, to the exclusion of the 
boiler, which should be early at work heating water ? And 
would not the preparation occupy too much time of the 
help, if the cook also does the washing ? —Ed.] 
Tuesday. — Breakfast: Ham and eggs, potatoes warmed 
in cream, Indian cakes, maple syrup.— Dinner: Veal pie, 
boiled potatoes, spinach, fried parsnips, baked batter 
pudding, with sauce of butter and sugar stirred to a cream, 
flavored to suit the taste.— Tea: Waffles, maple syrup, 
or maple sugar shaved fine. 
Wednesday. — Breakfast: Dried beef cooked with eggs 
and cream, baked potatoes, muffins, coffee.— Dinner : 
Beef soup, baked fish, vinegar sauce, potatoes mashed, 
fried parsnips, horseradish, Marlborough pie.— Tea: 
Canned cherries, egg puffs, New England gingerbread. 
Thursday. — Breakfast: Fried liver, fried potatoes, 
scrambled eggs, mush of Graham flour, eaten witli syrup 
or cream and sugar.— Dinner: Beef pie of Wednesday’s 
soup-meat, spinach, asparagus, boiled potatoes, roly- 
poly pudding.— Tea: Boiled custards, stewed or canned 
raspberries, Graham bread, sponge cake. 
Friday. — Breakfast: Veal cutlet,fried potatoes, horse¬ 
radish, cresses, corn bread, coffee.— Dinner: Boiled cod¬ 
fish, egg sauce, mashed potatoes, fried parsnips, salsify, 
bread pudding.— Tea: Biscuits, currants canned or 
stewed, radishes, soft jumbles. 
Saturday.— Breakfast : Codfish balls, poached eggs, 
toast, coffee.— Dinner: Pea soup, boiled pork or ham 
with greens, kale, horseradish, mustard, rhubarb pie.— 
Tea: Fresh rye and Indian bread, pot cheese, cresses, 
dried apple sauce, cookies. 
Sunday.— Breakfast: Bread and butter, boiled eggs, 
pepper-grass or cresses, coffee.— Dinner: Veal stuffed and 
baked, mashed potatoes, lettuce, asparagus, spinach, 
pickled plums, lemon pie, cocoanut pie.— Tea: Biscuits, 
warm maple sugar, cold veal, radishes, Queen’s cake. 
Stewed fruits are always suitable for spring breakfasts. 
For Ssassssiaci*. 
Monday.— Breakfast: Broiled mackerel, fried potatoes, 
cucumbers, bread and butter, coffee.— Dinner: Cold ham, 
boiled potatoes, string beans, lettuce, minute pudding.— 
Tea: Stewed gooseberries, bread and butter, radishes, 
pot-cheese, soft jumbles. 
Tuesday. — Breakfast : Fried liver, fried mush, new 
potatoes warmed with cream, young onions, coffee.— 
Dinner: Broiled veal, mashed potatoes, summer squash, 
fried egg plant, peas, lettuce, cherry pudding.— Tea: 
Strawberry short-cake, strawberries and cream, and 
plenty of strawberries. 
Wednesday.— Breakfast : Griddle-cakes, omelette, 
fried potatoes, pepper-grass, currants in sugar, chocolate. 
— Dinner: An old fowl boiled whole, then browned in 
the oven and chicken soup made from the liquor, lima 
beans, cucumbers, mashed potatoes, raspberry pie.— T$a: 
Fresh bread, radishes, blanc-mange and berries, cookies. 
Thursday. — Breakfast: Fish broiled or fried, baked 
potatoes, hominy balls, cucumbers, horseradish, mush 
made of “grits” or cracked wheat.— Dinner: Roast lamb 
with mint sauce, peas, egg plant, stewed tomatoes, new 
potatoes cooked with cream, muskmelons.— Tea: Black¬ 
berries, bread and milk, huckleberry cake. 
Friday. — Breakfast: Cold iamb warmed up in gravy, 
fried potatoes, sliced tomatoes and onions, coffee.— Din¬ 
ner : Boiled beefsteak pudding, beans, early cabbage or 
cauliflower boiled with cream, stewed tomatoes, boiled 
green corn, potatoes, boiled blackberry pudding, suet 
crust.— Tea: Stewed plums, biscuits and butter, cup 
cake, tea. 
Saturday. — Breakfast: Mock-oysters or green corn 
cakes, fried, potatoes, cucumbers, radishes, hot rolls, cof¬ 
fee.— Dinner: Vegetable soup of beef, Irish stew of the 
soup-meat, boiled potatoes, French turnips with cream, 
green apple pie.— Tea: Rusks, cheese, blackberries, 
baked sweet apples. 
Sunday. — Breakfast: Minced codfish with hard boiled 
eggs, potatoes in cream, corn bread, coffee.— Dinner: 
Roast pig, cold, currant jelly, stewed apples, succotash, 
hot slaugh, boiled onions, potatoes, watermelons, plums 
and peaches, raspberry shrub.— Tea: Biscuits, peaches 
and cream, fruit cake, jelly cake, lemonade instead of 
tea (the day being very hot). 
Hulled Corn, 
The old-fashioned hulled corn is prepared as 
follows : To make lye enough for three quarts 
of com, take about 4 quarts of ashes and boil them 
an hour in about 8 quarts of water. Hard wood 
ashes are best. After the ashes have settled, turn 
off the lye, which will be about six quarts. Put 
-the corn into the lye and boil three hours, or until 
the hulls begin to come off freely. Then take out 
the corn, put it into cold water and boil again. 
Keep boiling and changing the water until it is per¬ 
fectly clear, rubbing the corn with the hands as the 
water is poured off, to clean off the hulls. The wa¬ 
ter will need to be changed a half dozen times or 
more. This will remove all the lye and make the 
com white and soft. It is now ready for use and 
will keep in cold weather several weeks. It is fried 
with salt pork gravy and makes a nice dish. It is 
also warmed up and eaten with milk, or like hominy, 
with syrup. The white dent corn of the South 
is the best for this purpose. Potash lye is some¬ 
times used, but does not leave the com so white. 
To Clean Tripe. 
“X. Y. Z.,” Amenia, N. Y., writes as follows: 
Take the paunch out on clean straw, empty with 
care, turning it inside out. Rinse thoroughly ; cut 
in convenient pieces; have ready a kettle containing 
3 or 4 gallons of hot, but not boiling water, with a 
tablespoonful of slaked lime to each gallon. Scald 
one piece at a time, lay it on a smooth board or 
table, and with a smooth-edged knife scrape the in¬ 
side perfectly clean. Wipe off the board or table 
before scalding another piece, and be careful to 
keep the scalding water at the right temperature. 
Soak in cold water a few days, changing the 
water daily, until the tripe is clean. To make 
the best possible use of the tripe, take coarse 
pieces of beef, both fat and lean, from the flank, 
shoulder, and neck. Cut into pieces of not more 
than one inch in thickness, season highly with salt 
and pepper, and sew it up in pieces of tripe with a 
coarse needle and strong thread; have the balls of 
meat, when sown up, moderately compact and of 
about five inches diameter more or less, round, 
oval, or any other shape. Boil until they can be 
easily pierced with a straw. Put them into a tub, 
or stone-ware pot, and add vinegar, and they will 
keep a long time. When wanted, cut in slices % 
inch thick, and fry in some of the gravy that boiled 
out, to a delicate brown; serve witli fried apples. 
A 66 'Fitly.”—The following directions make 
a simple and elegant one. Take a piece of thin 
muslin, ten inches square; in the center draw any 
design you choose—a palm leaf or other simple 
figure—and work it in chain stitch with scarlet wool; 
turn down the edge, as if for a hem, and work 
around in button-hole stitch with the same wool; 
finish with a ruffle (not too full) an inch and a half 
wide. The ruffle should be fluted. Double zephyr 
is the most suitable wool to use, and a half oudcc 
will be a great abundance for an ordinary tidy. 
Mmstlmg - Metals IPmevesateciL—Lard or • 
auy kind of grease entirely free from salt will shut 
out air and moisture, both of which are essential 
to oxidization or rusting. A little resin (common 
“ rosin ”) melted with lard makes the best coating 
for all kinds of iron and steel surfaces. It can be 
rubbed on table knives and forks, and other fine 
instruments, and then mostly wiped off, still leav¬ 
ing enough to protect the surface. The resin pre¬ 
vents rancidity of the lard, and is itself a protec¬ 
tion. This mixture is cheap, and good for plow¬ 
shares, and all farm or mechanical implements 
of iron or steel. Two or three ounces, or more, 
of resin maj r be added to a pound of lard. 
Mow to ITalicc Care of a Watoli, 
by 11. L. IT., Ind. Delicate time-keepers would not 
get out of repair so 6ften, rflid would last much 
longer, if the following rules were observed. 
1. While winding, hold the watch perfectly still. 
2. Have a key that fits closely to the winding post, 
so that there can be no slipping. 8. Have it 
cleaned once in a year or 18 months, to save fric¬ 
tion. 4. Never trust it to a poor workman. 5. 
In regulating it, always compare it with the same 
time-piece, one that can be relied on, and if it does 
not gain or lose more than half a minute a day, do 
not touch the regulator at all. 6. Open it only 
when necessary, as small particles of dust will get 
in and injure it. 1. If it stops, do not try to re¬ 
move the obstacle, but take it to an approved 
watch-maker. Many valuable watches are annual¬ 
ly spoiled by careless handling and tinkering. 
Ice Creasaa CaJce.—1 cup sugar, 2 cups 
flour, 34 cup milk, 3 eggs, (beat the whites sepa¬ 
rately), 34 cup butter, 1 teaspoonful cream of tartar, 
34 teaspoonful soda. Flavor with vanilla. Appro¬ 
priately named.— Miss Libbie Lefftngwell, Borne, Jf. T. 
Apple Merisag-aacs. (Pronounced me- 
rangsi)—Pare 6 pleasant apples, corein halves ; put 
in a dish, witli the juice of one lemon. Stew in the 
oven until tender, and cover with the whites of 3 
eggs beaten to a stiff froth, with 34 CU P of sugar. 
Brown in the oven. To be eaten with boiled cus¬ 
tard made of the yolks.— Miss Leffingwell. 
The following are contributed by Mrs. D. 
W. Sutton, of Westchester County, New York. 
.Jelly Clalie.—One cup of sugar, 1 cup of 
flour, 3 eggs, 34 cup of cream, 34 teaspoonful soda. 
l 7 'sM*Bas.ea*§ , JSVaait dalie.—Chop and soak 
3 cups of dried apples over night; simmer 2 hours 
in 2 cups of molasses, add 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup 
milk, % cup butter, heaping teaspoonful of soda; 
make a rather thick batter, and bake in a quick oven. 
Prop Cals®. —Six cups of flour, 3 cups sugar, 
2 cups butter, 1 cup milk, 3 to 5 eggs ; flavor with 
nutmeg; drop on tins and bake. 
IProtSay Cream aracl No IBalter.— 
Mrs. S. writes: “We have churned here for twelve 
hours without getting butter or having any sign of it. 
The cream indicated over sixty-four by the thermometer, 
it foamed, and we applied warm water; but it did no good, 
the more we churned the worse it got. We would like a 
remedy.” Cream once frozen is very likely to froth when 
churned, especially if churned too warm. In this case 
we have little doubt the cream was too warm— 11 over C4° ” 
is rather indefinite, and too hot at any rate. The butter 
probably came and was whipped into froth without gath¬ 
ering at all. Warm water and more churning only made 
it worse, of course. Much cold water would have chilled 
it so that it would have gathered in small, granular 
masses, not much bigger than mustard seed, and so it 
would have long remained. A small quantity of cold 
water added every few minutes while churning would 
probably have caused the butter to gather uniformly by 
the time the temperature reached 63°, or soon after; hut 
it would probably have been without color or fine flavor. 
Standing till cooled down to about G0° would-probably 
have produced a similar effect, and perhaps more easily. 
