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Good Bread. —In the July number I find Emily’s 
request for a receipt for making good bread. I have 
had such good success with the following that I send 
it, hoping she will give it a fair trial, and let me know 
the result. For the yeast I take a double handful of 
hops and boil them in a thin bag, in about five quarts 
of water, about fifteen minutes (when I can, I get a 
few roots of burdock, wash and scrape them, then slice 
or bruise them, and with some of the younger leaves 
boil them with part of the hops, which I think makes 
the bread more spongy than when all hops are used); 
then pare ten rather large potatoes and put them in 
with the hops and boil till quite done; have ready, in 
an earthen dish or crock, one teacupful of brown sugar 
and half a teacupful of salt, dip the potatoes on the 
sugar and salt, give them a thorough, mashing and 
stirring; then turn on the liquor, pressing the hops to 
get all the strength from them; when cool, add a tea¬ 
cupful of good yeast; it will keep perfectly sweet six 
weeks in a cellar in summer. For the bread, I set a 
sponge in the evening with about a pint of warm water; 
I make a stiff batter with flour and a teacupful of the 
yeast, which must be well stirred before any is taken 
out; then cover close and let it stand till morning. I 
then scald a pan of sour milk till I can dip out all the 
curd (which makes good feed for young turkeys and 
chickens), and with about two quarts of the whey I 
make a batter in the flour where I am going to mix 
my bread, and put my sponge in, and let it stand from 
one to two hours, when it should be ready to mix in a 
dough; let it rise again till light, then make into loaves 
and let it rise again a short time; then bake. I think 
two very important items to be observed in making 
good bread is to work it thoroughly and not have the 
loaves too large. Mrs. F. H. 
Morris, Ill. 
Canning Fruit, &c.—The season has arrived when 
housekeepers are busy “laying by like the thrifty ant” 
for the following winter. I should like to give our 
young housekeepers my mode of canning, etc., if they 
will take advice from Aunt Carry. Use only nice 
fresh fruit, and see that berries are well examined, all 
decayed or imperfect ones excluded, and in large fruit 
that each one is perfect or all blemishes cut away. 
The cherry stoners, fruit parers and corers, etc., are a 
great blessing, and save much time (and the hands as 
well, which are worthy of care if we do our own fine 
needle and fancy work). If glass jars are used, fill 
them full of fruit. Take a large boiler, and placing 
a number of iron rings or inverted pans in the bottom, 
place your jars upon them ; fill up to the necks with 
cool water, and place over the fire. While the fruit is 
heating, make a clear syrup, allowing for all sweet 
fruit a half pound of nice clean sugar to a quart of 
fruit, putting in barely water enough to prevent scorch¬ 
ing, and if there is sufficient fruit juice I use no water. 
Tart fruit requires a pound, or three-quarters at least, 
to the quart of fruit. (Fruit must be sufficiently sweet¬ 
ened, and to do it in the commencement saves time, 
and frequently the jars!) Cook half gallon jars nearly 
an hour; quarts, twenty or thirty minutes; using dis¬ 
cretion according to the ripeness of fruit, etc. I mean 
I boil this king; cold water takes often an hour or 
more before this process commences. Watch the jars, 
and fill up with fruit if they diminish. As soon as 
done, seal up or screw down your covers, and set away 
to cool. The following morning take each can and 
hold it in an inverted position for a few moments—if 
juice oozes out you will be obliged to reboil for a few 
moments, adding a little more cooked fruit. This pro¬ 
cess has never yet failed. Tin cans are not proper for 
tart fruit or vegetables after the first season. C. S. J. 
Spongy Bread. —To make spongy bread: pare six 
potatoes; boil, and mash fine; take the water they 
were boiled in (have a quart of it), let it cool, and 
then stir in flour to make a thin batter; then put in 
three tablespoonfuls of good hop yeast, and let it stand 
in a cool place over night; then make your bread; 
put in a tablespoonful of salt and one egg; make the 
dough stiff—knead it half an hour; then let it raise; 
then make in rolls or loaves. 
Afton, Iowa. H. Devolt. 
Small Savings in the Kitchen. — Every American 
who makes a study of French home life is struck with 
the remarkable contrast their domestic economy pre¬ 
sents to our own. Mr. Medill, writing to the Chicago 
Tribune, says: 
“Compared with these French people, our Ameri¬ 
cans are wastefully improvident and extravagant. It 
seems to me they live on just about one-half w r hat the 
Americans do. They have a knack, so to speak, of 
making a little go a great way, and of extracting sub¬ 
sistence or comfort from things an American would 
throw away or never notice. It may be instructive to 
point out a few of the matters to which reference is 
here made. In the first place, not an ounce of food is 
wasted in harvesting or preparing for market. In the 
next place, not an ounce more of vegetables, flesh, fish 
or fowl, groceries or liquids, than is really needed ever 
goes into the pot or kettle, or is placed on the table. 
The wife of every French family knows to a nicety 
what quantity of each kind of food is the least that 
will suffice to make a comfortable meal, and not a par¬ 
ticle more or less is served. There are no slop-buckets 
full of broken victuals left on the table after breakfast 
or dinner, to be thrown in the street or manure-heap, or 
flung to dogs or swine, as in America. No pieces of 
bread or meat, or vegetables, are thrown away; such 
quantities are not bought as to become stale or spoiled 
in the cellar or pantry. Servants are never permitted 
to waste or steal food for poor relations, as in America. 
The lady of the house looks after her marketing, her 
kitchen and her pantry with sharp eyes and unflagging 
care. The economy in the consumption of fuel for 
cooking and house-warming is immense as compared 
with that in our wasteful country. One reason, of 
course, is that wood and coal in France are scarce and 
dear. They cost at least double the price paid there¬ 
for in the United States; but the domestic consumption 
is not one-quarter as much.” 
Clogged Lamp Wicks. —The light often is unsatis¬ 
factory while all is apparently in good order. It 
should be borne in mind that, though the wick is but 
very gradually burned, it is constantly becoming less 
able to conduct the oil. During several weeks some 
quarts of oil are slowly filtered through the wick, 
which stops every particle of dust or other matter that 
will with the utmost care be in the best kinds of oil. 
The result is that the wick, though it is of sufficient 
length and looks as good as ever, has its conducting 
power greatly impaired) as its pores, so to speak, or 
the minute channels by which the oil reaches the place 
to be burned, become gradually obstructed. It is often 
economy to substitute a new wick for an old one, even 
if that be plenty long enough to serve for some time to 
come. —A griculturist. 
Carpets having considerable pile should never be 
swept with a broom. If a sweeping machine is not 
available, the dirt should be picked up or brushed up 
with a soft brush, or the carpet taken up and shaken. 
About Beds. —“Considering that about a third of 
our lives is passed in beds, they deserve much more 
attention than they get. France has long been in ad¬ 
vance of the rest of the civilized world in this, having 
really paid as careful attention to excellence in this 
respect as to that of cookery. The grand secret of the 
superiority of French bedding is to be found not merely 
in the existence of good springs and well-filled mat¬ 
tresses, but in the fact that these mattresses are pulled 
and re-made annually. This is the reason why beds 
in other countries are generally such a mockery of the 
French beds which they are intended to imitate. 
French houses usually have a courtyard behind, in 
which carpets are beaten and various other domestic 
business is transacted, and here, in fine weather, may 
be seen the practice of mattress-stuffing. An old mat¬ 
tress, on which heavy bodies have lain for a series of 
years, becomes, no matter how well filled with horse 
hair, nearly as springy as street-car cushions. If' you 
want a comfortable bed, here is the unfailing recipe: 
Firstly, very good springs; secondly, a thick hair mat¬ 
tress over them; thirdly, a thick -wool mattress over 
that. Both mattresses should be re-made every two 
years.” Who loves not the comfort and ease from a 
good bed? Why not have less show out of doors and 
more comfort? Some people have all their pleasure 
in dress, show, glitter, pinchbeck. Shoddyism! 
Oatmeal for the Complexion. —Oatmeal contains 
a small amount of oil that is good for the skin. To 
make the hands soft and white one of the best things 
is to wear at night large mittens of cloth filled with 
wet bran or oatmeal, and tied closely at the wrist. A 
lady who had the whitest, softest hands in the country 
confessed that she had a great deal of housework to 
do, and kept them white as any idler’s by wearing 
bran mittens every night. The paste and poultices for 
the face owe much of their efficacy to their moisture, 
which dissolves the old coarse skin, and to their pro¬ 
tection from the air, which allows the new skin to be¬ 
come tender and delicate. Oatmeal and paste is as 
efficacious as anything, though less agreeable than the 
pastes made with the white of eggs, alum and rose¬ 
water. The alum astriuges the flesh and makes it 
firm, while the eggs keep it sufficiently soft, and the 
rosewater perfumes the mixture and makes the curd 
not so hard. 
To Stop the Ravages of Moths.— Camphor will 
not stop the ravages of moths in carpets after they 
have commenced eating. Then they pay no regard 
to the presence of camphor, cedar, or tobacco. A good 
way to kill them is, to take a coarse crash towel and 
wring it out of clean water. Spread it smoothly on 
the carpet, then iron it dry with a good hot iron, re¬ 
peating the operation on all suspected places and those 
least used. It does not injure the pile or color of the 
carpet in the least; it is not necessary to press hard, 
heat and steam being the agents, and they do the work 
effectually on worms and eggs. The camphor will 
doubtless prevent future depredations of the miller. 
To Clear a Room of Mosquitoes. —Take of gum 
camphor a piece about one-third the size of an egg, 
and evaporate it by placing it in a tin vessel and hold¬ 
ing it over a lamp or candle—taking care that it does 
not ignite. The smoke will soon fill the room and 
expel the mosquitoes. 
Borax, half a teaspoonful in half a teacup of water, 
makes the mildest and most efficient hair and scalp 
cleaner in the world. Bub it into the hair and scalp 
with the balls of the fingers, head held over a wash¬ 
basin, eyes shut, until the entire scalp is in a foam, 
then rinse with warm water. 
