americaN^;^^^ 
to4 
194 
IN A MEXIOAH KITCHBN. 
A Mexican kitchen is a 
THE __ 
The brass spoons youi- face in, 
are kept bright euoug_are 
A iUBAiu«:u --- . .gtice would re 
and all its queer ^,e „o cook- 
quire a .column s space. nnvthing Hhe 
ing stoves in Mexico, or even an g 
thf fire-places of our' 
One side of the room is occupied .V 
2f built into the wall about b^c^^>t lugl - 
in the center of which a small wood Ine 
kept burning. ,. , „ -ntpw Ensr- 
There is no wood here * I burn- 
land housewife would consider fit o b un 
only the gnarled and twisted u ,, 
ILtain toees, and around a little heap^of 
these the earthen cookiug-pots aie o 
If the family is small, soinetimes tos smojo^ 
process is improved upon hybrnldiu^ ‘ 
eoal fire in a lai-ge earthen pot, and setting 
the smaller cooking vessels inthin i . 
many houses a mud oven is built at one end 
of this shelf, or somewhere ou^of-doors, to 
heat the oven, a fire must be built inside 
of it. and the entrance closed with a hot 
stone. However, as baked food-“ pies and 
things,” according to the Englishman’s ad¬ 
vertisement — enters not into the household 
economy, an oven is altogether a superfluous 
luxury. 
In the center of the kitchen stands its most 
important factor, the metate for tortilla¬ 
making. It is a hollowed stone, the size of 
an ordinary bread-bowl, having two stone 
legs, about six inches high at one end, which 
inclines it at an angle of forty-five degi'ees. 
The tortilla-maker kneels on the dirt floor 
at the elevated end of the metate, and the 
Corn, having been preifloiisly boiled in weak 
lye, and still quite wet, she crushes into 
paste with a stone rolling-pin, the mixture 
gradually sliding down the inclined plane 
into a dish placed to receive it. When a 
quantity has been thus crushed, it is rolled 
into balls and left until required. It is aston¬ 
ishing what an amount of Corn a fainil.v of 
ordinary size ivill consume in a day, in the 
form of tortillas, the Mexican “ staff of life.” 
When a meal is on the tapis, the last act in 
the drama — the tragedy, we feel inclined to 
say, when siiffering the pangs of indigestion 
— is to heat the gi-iddle, or more commonly 
a smooth flat stone. Then the cook takes a 
very small lump at once of the prepared 
Corn paste and shapes it into thin round 
cakes, with a little water and much loud 
patting of the hands. The cakes are then 
baked brown in a jiffy, and as a substitute for 
bread, one might go farther and fare a great 
deal worse than subsist on tortillas. 
Whatever else American housekeepers 
may find worthy of imitation • in Mexican 
methods, I arn sure that dish-washing, as 
that disagreeable duty is practiced hero, will 
not be one of them. The Mexican dish-washer 
does not bother with a table, and thereby 
saves her arms from scrubbing and her legs 
from standing, but seats herself serenely 
on the floor beside a pail of hot or cold water. 
She has no soap, but a little sliced amole 
root makes stronger and cleaner siuls, and 
in lieu of a dish-cloth she uses a tiny broom- 
brush, like our smallest whisk-briishes. Tlie 
dishes are never wiped, but are turned np to 
dry, sometimes in a tray or on an adobe shelf, 
but generally on the hard dirt floor leaned 
against the wall. Strange to say, they al¬ 
ways come to the table eleaii and shining. 
But fancy their condition if the average 
Irish or negro servants were allowed to do 
likewise I 
iglit enoug*. g lire 
though nothing but 
employed m ^^ The servant whose 
..loi-aoo-.. 
aiilj 11 >«. . „ Iiitle Iresli otrU'. 
upon the ground, dig I ^ j^,.mly on a 
and holding the kni 
stone, polishes a conven- 
floors and absence of ^ ^ 
ieiiees which we ” ^itchen in 
have never J ! as indght and 
Me.xico. Everything TnaL it, even 
fresh as hands and amole can ^1 
to the cooking pottery, which is of nece 
smoked black Jt,: ourini- 
coiiibiiie their iiiiiate n ije that 
proved iiiothods, the lesu iifipj,, to 
Laiiliness which we are told is akin 
godliness.”— Pnnsij. 
against this pernicious indulgence b 
ually filling themselves up, day’b“‘*'t- 
ivith the hot and poisonous gases^ 
oven. This servant of the housewif 
be made as terrible a stomaeh-dest* 
as the distillery, and the sworn 
the latter are apt to be its best paf 
Dyspepsia paints the nose and sours th 
per as dram-drinking, and many gJ 
from the former, though by their own 
nets, inveigh the most loudly against 
latter.” ' 
It is nothing new to And “reform „ 
among those who have not reformed 1^*" 
selves. But all gi-own persons should hr* 
knowledge enough to know, and coura? 
enough to practice, what is good for them 
selves. 
THE POPCORN TRADE. 
The high price of Corn has somewhat dis¬ 
couraged the raanufacturers of Popcorn, who 
are compelled to pay increased money for 
their product while disposing of their goods 
at almost the same figures ns obtained when 
Corn was low. One manufaeturer m Eew- 
York mamifacturesashigh as 70,000 pounds 
of Popcorn a year. He has now on hand a 
single contract for shipping 1000 barrels to 
London. Sbipraents are made regularly to 
Hayti, France, German.v, Japan, China, and 
Italy. The Italians prefer it to Macaroni, i 
and are heavy consumers of Popcorn. | 
“ Man.y physicians,” said the Popcorn man, ^ 
•‘are recommending their patients to use j 
Popcorn as a cure for d.yspepsia. Several \ 
parties who are passing the summer in the 
Catskills have shipped a quantity by direc- , 
tion of their medical adviser, and go about 
munching it at all hours of the day. It is i 
easy to carry about. Ladies can carry it 
in their dress pockets, and gentlemen can 
put it in their coat-tail pockets. No danger 
of soiling anything, you know. Children 
all like it and cry for more. It is far pref¬ 
erable to molasses and other eaiidy.” 
All the manufaeturers of Popcorn liave 
gi-owii ncli. There are but nine in New- 
York. Newark, Jersey City, San Francisco, 
and Chicago all have one. There is one in 
Quebec, Montreal, and Toronto. Two men 
in Lowell, Mass., made independent fortunes 
in the busine.ss. One in Springfield, Mass., 
distinguished liimselt in the same manner.— 
New-York Mail and Exjmiis. 
eatino hot bread, 
M'hat to eat and wliat not to eut is a ques¬ 
tion every one slionkl be able to answer for 
himself. WImt would kill ono person may 
not lmrl auolliorii, the least, A person in 
goo. healM, may eat and thrive on what 
would injure him if not i,, robust; |,o,ii,), 
The Ameneaa Millrr Ihiuku hot. broad verv 
n says: “That hot bread, in 
nine eases out of ten, will produce dyapm^.i 
mno newl.vdiHeoverod fact, lu.d eipLall - 
IS this lerrible result sure to follow perslsl.en't 
mdnlgenee on inu't of U,o«,, ^ J ' 
suits are qn.et, indoors, luidsodonturv!^^,^^^ 
yel the reformers, or those who cull U. 
selves such —iho men mwi Ifiom- 
work themselves into u white Tiori* 
-.0 of u glass Of J'- 
>■ after year not only making n. 
EATS IN CELLARS. 
“ Shortly before winter, as the stores go 
to cribs and cellars,” says Blaireo, in the 
New-Torlc Trihnne, “j'oung rats, raised by 
careful mothers in hollow trees or other safe 
and sheltered corners, busy themselves look¬ 
ing for winter quarters where there will be 
defense from cold, and where food will beat 
hand. 
“ When a cellar is stored with fruit, vege¬ 
tables, etc., it is very diflficult to drive out 
rats, and the damage they do in such a place 
is enormous. All the finest frnits are soon 
bitten into, defiled, and spoiled. A little 
anticipatory care, to prevent their estahhsh- 
ing a colony, pays well. The openings for 
ventilation should have rat-proof screens; 
the floors and walls should be searched for 
holes ; eiiiply barrels or boxes moved, holes 
stopped with glass and mortar, and a fresh 
coat of whitewash given. If doubtful places 
remain, a good sprinkling of copperas and 
lime is hateful and deterrent to these trouhle- 
sonie animals. If from any cause the cellar 
itself cannot be made secure, choice samples 
of fruit may be kept safe in old tin boilers or 
similar vessels, or in boxes suspended from 
the joists above by wire hooks. 
“ The rats that go out to form new colonies 
are mostly young, and much more easily 
caught than older ones. If fed for two or 
three nights on a tray of sawdust a steel 
\ trap placed in the tray will not be seen or 
! suspeetod, and ivill generally catch and ho 
at least one marauder.” 
year 
HOW TO MAKE "KOUMISS." 
Tlie word “ koumiss ” is the name 
favorite beverage of the Tartars. Itise**"*^, 
times called “ Russian Milk 
It is a pleasant drink, and is 
roeommoiided for dyspeptics. Young 
dren ean drink it freely without harm. 
and llcallli gives this recipe for 
“ Info one iiiiiirt of new milk put oim b' 
fresh butterinillv and throe or four liuup 
white sugar. Mix well, and see * 
sugar dissolves. Put it in a warm P 
stami Ion hours, wlieii it will be thick. 
I'i'oiii ono vessel to another until it 
smooth and uniforin in eonsisteiu'y. 
aiul keep in a ivarin place tor twon } 
hours; it takes thirty-six in Qj-ks 
bottles must bo tightly c‘U'k''fi> 
tied down. Shake well five minutes 
oiioning.” A toaspoonful of yenst i 
. Used in the absence of buttermilk. 
