1868.] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
263 
THE H®HJ§!lH[@m 
For other Household Items, see “ Basket ” pages.) 
Sea-side Fare—The Lobster. 
Those who live near the sea-coast have a number 
of articles of food quite unknown to those who 
dwell inland. A visit from the West to one of the 
Atlantic States owes much of its novelty to the dif¬ 
ferent fare that these sections present. Thinking 
that it will interest our inland friends to see what 
same time give us a chance to say a word upon the 
proper use of the things themselves, we begin a se¬ 
ries of articles on sea-side fare with the lobster. 
Railroads are great levellers, and they take our 
sea-coast things so far iulaud that our western 
friends often get lobsters, oysters, and the like, in 
exchange for the prairie-hens and pigeons they send 
us. But to the lobster. The engraving gives the 
general look of this, the largest of our crustaceans. 
Students of Natural History know that crusta¬ 
ceans include lobsters, crabs, spiders, and all those 
animals that have their skeletons on the outside of 
their bodies. We will not discuss the lobster scien¬ 
tifically, but merely as an article of food, and de¬ 
scribing it thus, we shall use terms that will shock 
the naturalist—but we won’t mind about that. 
What is popularly known as the “body,” has the 
head, eyes, and long feelers, at one end, and at its 
lower side bears the feet, the two forward ones of 
which are enormously developed into “claws.” 
These the lobster uses to catch and hold its food, 
and they give a formidable look to the animal. One 
member of the “claw” or pincer only is movable, 
and this, as soon as the animal is captured, is pre¬ 
vented from doing mischief by means of a wooden 
plug put in at the joint. The remaining legs are 
small. The “ tail,” or rear end, is jointed, and bends 
as shown in the engraving. It is furnished below 
with appendages which serve the animal in loco¬ 
motion, and are used by the female for holding the 
eggs. Lobsters are found all alongtheNew England 
coast to New York, and are taken iu simple traps 
baited with stale meat or fish. When alive, they arc 
olive-green, and are very pugnacious. They are kept 
from injuring one another by plugging their claws, 
as already mentioned. It is only in its living state 
that the lobster should be purchased as food—un¬ 
less one is sure of the person who cooks them. 
There is probably no article of food which grows 
stale so soon as the lobster. Healthful when fresh, 
it is most pernicious when stale—and it becomes 
stale very rapidly. Buy the lobster alive and kick¬ 
ing. Never purchase a dead lobster, and never a 
boiled one, unless the reputation of the seller is 
established. Having the lobster all alive, dump him 
suddenly into a large kettle of boiling water, well 
salted. Of course the crustacean will kick a little, 
but it is the quickest way to dispose of him,and much 
better than the English one of putting him on in 
cold water and gradually bringing it to a boil. Half 
an hour’s boiling will be sufficient iu most cases. 
Tbe olive-green will be turned to a bright scarlet. 
■» - 
and the animal is ready to be opened. Break off the 
“ claws,” and crack them edgewise with a mallet, 
and takeout all the Meat. Separate the “tail” 
from the “body,” and then by breaking off the 
edges the upper thick shell will be easily removed 
from the lower and thinner encasement. The solid 
“tail” meat will then be exposed. It will be found 
that there is a longitudinal strip at the upper suf¬ 
fice of the tail part, which will readily separate, 
and beneath this there is a dark intestine, which 
can be easily removed; all the rest is clean meat. 
Now we come to the body part; a pull separates 
the upper shell from the 
portion to which the legs 
are attached, and there is 
nice picking for those who 
will take the trouble to re¬ 
move the meat from the 
encumbrances which sur¬ 
round it. In this part of 
the lobster is found a 
greenish mass, consisting 
of the liver surrounded by 
fat; this is by many highly 
prized, and by others re¬ 
jected altogether. What 
is called the “ lady ” is the 
stomach, which has the re¬ 
putation of being poisonous 
—an error, as the “ lady ” is 
so unattractive that we can¬ 
not conceive that any one 
would be tempted to eat 
her. So much for opening 
the lobster; but we should add that in the female is 
found the undeveloped spawn as a red mass, called 
the coral—which is highly valued by many. As an 
article of food the lobster cannot be called highly 
nutritious, but when fresh there is no doubt of its 
healthfulness. All along the New England coast, 
it is, in its season, a very common Sunday dinner. 
It is one of those articles that admit of any amount 
of seasoning. Many prefer a freshly boiled lobster 
with only pepper and vinegar—others like it only 
in a highly seasoned salad. To make lobster salad, 
the lobster should be chopped, but not too fine, 
and dressed with the salad dressing given in May. 
In making lobster salad, butter may be substituted 
for oil, and we think with advantage. Hot lobster 
is a favorite dish with many. Cut the meat mod¬ 
erately small, put it in a saucepan with plenty of 
butter and cayenne pepper, and serve when well 
heated through. About canned lobster—that de¬ 
pends. We have seen it perfectly good, and again 
when it has produced serious illness. If one eats 
canned lobster and gets ill, don’t let him ascribe 
it to the lobster, but to the man who canned it. 
Preserving 1 Green Corn for Winter. 
The canning of corn in families so generally fails 
that we cannot recommend the trial. The next 
best thing to canned corn is that which is properly 
dried. The first essential is good corn, and the 
next is to dry it carefully before it gets too old. 
Mrs. M. L. Gage, of Ross Co., Ohio, communicates 
the following sensible ideas about preparing it: 
“ It is a wonder that so few should have any thing 
but field corn for table use; and for drying there 
is a still greater contrast between the common field 
and the garden varieties. I have been used for 
years to drying corn. Boil the green ears a minute 
or two, just to harden the milk, then cut from the 
cob and spread on a cloth iu the sun for two days, 
taking it in at night; it will then keep any where. 
When cooked, it is better to soak it a few hours, 
and boil iu the same water. In cold weather all 
that is wanted for a week or two may be wet. It 
cooks quicker and tastes better. A little milk and 
flour boiled in is almost as good as cream. I have 
not given up drying corn, but for two years past I 
have put some down iu salt, which gives another 
variety, and is more quickly prepared, At first I 
had difficulty in freshening it, and then it was com¬ 
paratively tasteless, but now I boil the corn iu one 
water a minute or two, turn the water off, add a 
lobster —(llomarus Americanus.) 
their salt-water neighbors feed upon, and at the 
few sliced potatoes, boil until they are done, drain 
off the water, and add cream or butter. We think 
this preparation tastes more like summer corn than 
the dried corn does. In salting, I cut the green 
corn without boiling, and pack it, alternating one 
pint of corn and a small handful of salt. When the 
vessel is about full, put on a cover that will fit 
down to the corn, and place a small weight on it, as 
it must be kept under the brine which it makes from 
its own juice. I have for the last two' years been 
canning green corn with tomatoes. I use about 
one-fourth part corn, cooking the two together. I 
have never heard of but one case where green corn 
canned by itself did not spoil, but corn and toma¬ 
toes canned together is a perfect success.” 
Household Ornaments. 
A lady subscriber from Missouri sends us the 
following description of a household ornament, 
which may be made, as she suggests, of an egg shell, 
or, better still, of the shell of a cocoanut. “A pretty 
‘household ornament’ is made of an egg shell by 
breaking off one end carefully, leaving the opening 
an inch and a half or two inches in diameter, ac¬ 
cording to the size of the egg. Protect the edge 
with a narrow strip of paper put on with gum or 
glue. Crochet of any bright worsteds an open¬ 
work basket, just large enough to hold the prepared 
egg shell. Put at the edge of the crochet a stiff 
cord or small wire, and fasten so that the shell may 
pass in and out when necessary. Tie cords which 
will suspend 3 ’our basket from the center of the top 
of the window frame. My basket is made of single 
zephyr worsted, and is finished at the bottom with 
a little tassel of the same, with two or three threads 
of scarlet in it. If you choose, put tassels at the 
ends of the hanging string, and crochet a little 
ruffle over the strong string round the edge of the 
basket. I put some rich dirt in my egg shell, and 
a few kernels of wheat, which grew and freshened 
our 011 c little room long before there was anything 
CROCHET BASKET. 
green out of doors. But now that spring flowers 
have come I must have a fresh bouquet in it every 
day.” A small two-inch pot, or an egg cup, will 
answer quite as well as the egg shell, and may be 
more convenient to those who do not have geese 
or ducks’ eggs. All the grains and grasses look 
beautifully in these hanging baskets, and trailing 
plants have a still more pleasing effect. 
!*elicionas Iienion IPie. —Take 3 lemons, 
grate some of the rind, 1>4 pints of milk, 1 cupful of 
bread crumbs, 4 eggs, 1% cups of sugar, a little salt. Add 
the lemon juice last thing, and bake with an under crust, 
