336 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
an hour before cooking. Some omit the paring as 
well as the previous salting, but there is apt to be a 
slight acridity unless these are done. The slices 
are dipped in a thin batter, or in egg, and covered 
with powdered cracker, and fried until quite soft. 
Sometimes the batter, etc., are omitted, and the 
■slices fried without any covering; in this way they 
soak fat and are very greasy. It is said that they 
arc good stuffed with spiced bread crumbs, and 
baked, but we have never tried them in this way. 
Okra.— The pods of a plant related to the Holly¬ 
hock are eaten, especiallygit the South. They are 
from two to four inches long, several sided, and 
pointed at the tip. These should be taken before 
they become at all tough or fibrous, at which time 
they abound in a thick mucilage, which has no very 
positive flavor. Their chief use is in soups; the 
pods being sliced and added to the soup impart a 
richness and thickness. The “ Gumbo ” of the 
South is a thick soup or stew made with chicken 
and Okra. The whole pods boiled plain and dressed 
with drawn butter are fancied by many, and are 
considered a very nutritious and wholesome dish. 
Salsify. —A white root, shaped somewhat like a 
diminutive parsnip, often called Oyster-plant or 
Vegetable-oyster. In season from the time the 
roots are as large as one’s finger until spring. May 
be kept in the ground or in the cellar. In whatever 
way the root is used it is first to be scraped to re¬ 
move the skin, and immediately thrown into water. 
If allowed to remain exposed to the air after scrap¬ 
ing, the milky juice the root contains would soon 
turn to a disagreeable brown color. One of the 
simplest ways of cooking is to cut the roots in 
small pieces, stew in water until tender, make a 
sauce by adding'butter and a little flour to thicken, 
and season with salt, and pepper. To fry Salsify, 
boil the roots whole until tender, dip each one in 
batter, and fry; or mash the boiled roots, and make 
small cakes, which are dipped in batter and fried. 
Salsify soup, which is considered by some to bear 
a resemblance to oyster soup, is made by boiling 
the sliced root in water; when tender, add milk, 
butter, pepper, salt, and thicken with a little 
pounded cracker. A little picked codfish is added 
by some cooks to increase the resemblance to 
oysters, but for ourselves we like salsify too well as 
salsify to wish to make it appear like anything else. 
Household Talks. 
BY AUNT HATTIE. 
One of the nicest desserts for dinner this warm 
weather, I think, is ice cream. If properly man¬ 
aged, it is as cheap if not cheaper than most of the 
rich pastries and puddings usually found on our side 
table, and if not made of rich custard and pure 
cream, is much healthier. I often make mine of 
new milk only, flavoring with white sugar and 
vanilla. Of course if I have company or wish it 
extra nice, I add a considerable quantity of fresh 
cream. The freezing process is extremely simple. 
If one has a patent freezer or uses merely a tin 
pail, the method is much the same. Let the cream 
or prepared milk or custard be put into the tin, and 
placed in a cool cellar where it may get as cold as 
possible before trying to freeze. When ready, ad¬ 
just the cream tin in the center of the wooden pail. 
If a patent is used, be careful to fasten the little 
hooks found on the bottom of the tin into the 
latches on the bottom of the wooden pail. Break up 
into qjiite small pieces about 5 pounds of ice, and 
allow to that quantity a little over a pound of salt; 
put into the outside pail a layer of ice and a good 
“sprinkling of salt, another quantity of ice and salt, 
until all is used. Let it stand a minute or two, and 
then commence to turn the handle for the purpose 
of stirring the cream and the freezing agents. Rap¬ 
id freezing depends upon the ice and salt being 
brought constantly together. This can only be done 
by constant agitation. In the patents the agitator 
and cream-dasher work in unison. If the cream is 
long in coming to ice, put more salt in the outer 
pail. To an experienced operator, 5 pounds of ice 
and 1 of salt fs quite sufficient to freeze 2 quarts of 
cream, and I have often placed more cream in the 
tin after the first was used, and allowing it to re¬ 
main, stirring occasionally, have had a pleasant 
surprise for callers in the afternoon and evening. 
I think that I am justly proud of my ingenuity 
in inventing a drying frame. Its extreme simplic¬ 
ity puts it within the reach of every housekeeper. 
I got Edward to bring me from the carpenter a 
wooden frame, made light, but strong, and about 5 
feet square. Also a small ball of white, but strong 
twine. I cut a quantity into lengths of 7 feet, and 
to one end of each fastened a tack, which was ham¬ 
mered firmly on one 
side of the frame. 
About an inch and a 
half from this an¬ 
other string was se¬ 
cured in the same 
way, and exactly op¬ 
posite to each tack 
a shingle-nail was 
driven firmly into 
the frame. When 
stringing apples or 
peaches for the purpose of drying I use a darning- 
needle, threading the loose end of the string, and 
when a sufficient quantity is threaded, take off 
the needle and wind the string around the sliingle- 
nail opposite. As the fruit dries it may be slipped 
along the thread and more added until the frame is 
full of dried fruit. This is a very convenient frame 
ns it may be taken in at night or during a rain 
storm without disturbing the fruit, and may also 
be adjusted over the kitchen stove and used for 
drying apples during the winter months. 
A favorite dish for tea, I make as follows: Set to 
boil a quart of milk, beat the whites of three eggs to 
a foam, adding a very little white sugar, and a lit¬ 
tle lemon; put this to float on the milk. As soon as 
the milk boils, take off the foam and stir in the 
whites of two, and the yolks of five eggs, well beat¬ 
en, with sufficient sugar to sweeten pleasantly. Take 
from the fire immediately', and set to cool. When 
nearly or quite cold, season the custard with lemon 
or vanilla, and pour into custard cups, or into a 
glass dish, and place the foam on the surface. It is 
a very handsome dish and eats as good as it looks. 
The doctor says he likes my ripe tomato pickle 
better than any other kind. It is certainly the 
most easily' made of any. I boil up a quantity of vin¬ 
egar, spicing well with red peppers, allspice, mace, 
mustard seed, whole ginger, and horseradish, to 
about a gallon of vinegar, adding alum the size of 
a butternut, and a small quantity of salt; pour into 
a crock, and every morning as the tomatoes are 
gathered, select the smooth skinned, firm fleshed, 
and small sized ones, wipe and place gently in the vin¬ 
egar, allowing a small plate over them to keep them 
under. The vinegar should be very strong and 
good. This pickle will keep all winter if stored 
in a cool cellar. Small cucumbers, small green 
tomatoes, radish pods, button onions, beans, and 
nasturtium buds, I gather from day to day, throw¬ 
ing them into a brine not too strong. In nine or 
ten days I drain from the brine, allowing them to 
stand in the colander four or five hours before 
pickling. After wiping dry and placing compactly 
in a crock or jar, I pour over a vinegar pickle made 
the same as for the ripe tomatoes, omitting the salt, 
however. On no account use cloves or cinnamon 
for green pickle, as it will discolor it sadly. Re¬ 
serve those kinds of spices for peaches, plums, and 
all kinds of sweet pickle. 
A Good Word for the Cabbage. 
Cabbages, in cooking will leave an odor behind 
them, but ventilation is a ready remedy for this 
and other ills. The whole tribe is wholesome— 
Early York, Flat Dutch, Bergen, Green Savoy, 
Stone Mason, and Mammoth. Gregory of Marble¬ 
head ought to have a monument for growing them 
of 00 lbs. weight. - For laboring people the cabbage 
is a great sustainer of muscle. For this reason 
it is universally popular among our Irish and Ger¬ 
man fellow-citizens. By some it is thought to be 
indigestible, but this depends more upon tiie mode 
of cooking than upon the article. As cold slaw it 
agrees with delicate stomachs, if they are in health. 
If not, vegetables and fruits of all kinds give 
trouble. Though an admirable accompaniment 
of a boiled dinner, it should not be boiled with the 
corned meats, and it should be thoroughly cooked. 
There is a difference, too, in the article. Green 
Savoy stands at the head of the list, and for those 
who cannot have cauliflower, is good enough. 
Ladies at the Fall Fairs. 
The best part of any agricultural exhibition is 
the people, and the best part of the people are the 
ladies. The legitimate aim of the fair is the in¬ 
struction of the people in the details of their call¬ 
ing. We very properly measure the success of an 
agricultural exhibition, not by the multitudes that 
throng it, and the entrance fees, but by the instruc¬ 
tion it affords to those who come. There should 
first be something to see, and then the more that 
come the better. No part of the exhibition is more 
instructive than that which appropriately comes 
under woman’s supervision. The dairy belongs 
to her, and the bread, the needle-work and the fine 
arts, the flowers and the poultry. We are very far 
from perfection in any of these departments, and 
we should like to see the skill and enterprise of 
our fair countrywomen fully represented in the 
fairs that are just before us. The prizes are worth 
contending for, aside from those offered by the 
committees. “The best bread maker in the 
country ” is an honor that would sit gracefully on 
any woman. The finest butter neatly stamped in 
golden balls is certain to be looked at, and the 
maker to be inquired for. Bouquets tastefully ar¬ 
ranged will draw something better than the pre¬ 
miums offered. They will draw out the skill, and 
cultivate the taste of the makers, and give 
pleasure to the thousands who study them. Of 
course it will take time and labor to prepare for the 
fair, but could the labor be more worthily bestow¬ 
ed ? These fairs, notwithstanding their perversions, 
are doing a good work in the education of the 
people. We have followed them for a score of 
years, and never attended one but wc carried away 
new ideas and useful hints. It does us all good to 
come in contact with our fellows, and study their 
handiwork. It is a duty we owe to society to con¬ 
tribute our share to these exhibitions and make 
them successful and worthy of general patronage. 
Sunshine in Sleeping Rooms. —Sunshine is as 
necessary to the health of animals as plants, and 
we should contrive, if possible, to have our sleeping 
rooms upon the east and south sides of the house. 
We want more sunlight of the material kind, as 
well as the spiritual, in our houses. “Faded car¬ 
pets!” you exclaim. Then out with them, or let 
them fade. Better a thousand times than have the 
roses fade from the cheeks of wives and children. 
. ... t — ■ — 
Preserving Crab Apples. 
A beautiful sight is the crab apple tree, loaded 
with its ruddy or golden fruit, which loses none of 
its charms when well preserved upon the table. 
Core them with a penknife, leaving the hole as 
small as possible. Put a pound of refined sugar 
for every pound of prepared fruit in the preserving 
vessel, and add one cup of water to each pound of 
fruit and cook over a slow fire. When the sugar 
is all dissolved, and hot, put in the apples and boil 
gently until they are clear. Take out the apples, 
boil the syrup until it is thick, and pour into the 
vessels in which the fruit is to be kept. A few 
slices of lemon boiled with the fruit improves the 
preserves for those who like that flavor. The 
apples arc sometimes preserved whole with % of a 
lb. of sugar to 1 lb. of fruit, but they are not so 
nice. For immediate use, a % lb. of sugar to one' 
of cored fruit makes a nice sauce for roast meats. 
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DRYING FRAME. 
