Set SD OP RP rhntings =e SS aon ieee ; beh ip oe hcg pee oe aie ¢ TSF DD EAH a Et ae ome = ar aS roca _ nae, Se Pe hme Pe et AS A Gt Peat aS a alee tae nee aes Pe tm nae SAS EP Sate AS See a hens vB r ’ ‘y nt i) . | iy ‘i I e NG ae Ki Fe ae , 1 7" y ie pe yi an y oe) 7 ae )| OUD i ani i) , | f { 4 wt da) iy ' t 5 nie on > VV a poe ite _———., 1 - = * POG Ore Be Oe Wee ee ee , UN Pia Fe, eA Oa) Af i a. Ae li nha et Feo x 3 Oe Ley Po eee “i d ~ * : uy in i * i THE HOUSEKEEPER AND GARDENER. BY REBECCA A.\ UPTON. “In every form of government the enduring element is in the cultivation of the soil.”? — Quarterly Review, Vol. XLIV. No. II. Art. VIII. BOSTON: CROSBY, NICHOLS, AND COMPANY, : 117 WASHINGTON STREET. CINCINNATI: GEORGE S. BLANCHARD.. 1858. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by A aA. 0) PAO in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. ZG SO# CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY METCALF AND COMPANY. O PREFACE. THE present volume is made up from the gleanings of a lifetime. Whenever facts and every-day phenomena have forced themselves on my attention, whether in books or ac- tual experience, I have noted them down in a commonplace- book. These gleanings have nothing but plain language and practical usefulness to recommend them, verbal nicety and literary ornament being no way suited to my purpose. My principal objects have been to bring into the compass of one small volume such information as may be useful to both housekeeper and gardener, whether residing in village, coun- try, or city, and to keep in mind through the whole work the various fortunes of the American woman, whose life is often partly spent in cities, partly on Western prairies, and partly on Southern plantations,— perhaps begun in affluence, to be finally shorn of all but health, hands, and unfailing courage. The receipts I have given I know to be good. Almost all are original, that is, of family origin, — not taken from books. A few have been given me by friends. If the work should have any influence, however small, on the tendencies of the present day, not only to increase the iv PREFACE. number of manual employments, but also to widen the hort zon of observation, for woman, [shall be happy. The imagi- nations and feelings of women are sufficiently cultivated; but perhaps common sense is less so, because it finds less stimu- lus for action in the present partial education and cramped position of women. Novels, poetry, and excitement-meetings may all be very well as occasional mental condiments, but when offered as the only diet to the sex whose nervous con- stitution is proverbially sensitive, it may lead the physician and philanthropist to doubt whether these kinds of mental dietetics do not produce much of that nervousness, insanity, and hopeless hypochondriasis, which cause humanity to war with itself both within and without. R. A. UPTON. WOE Ie Fi: Tus work was first issued under the title of “Home Studies,” and passed through two editions, receiving the most complimentary notices from the press. The present title is now given it as better expressing the design of the book. HOME STUDIES. ACATER, ». An old English word. 168 FISH. dead. Fish, however, is almost invariably presented in the United States in a fresh and wholesome state. The male lobster has the tail narrower, the upper fins stiffer, and the whole body smaller, than the hen-lobster ; its meat is considered the richer, but the female is sometimes preferred for ornamental dishes, on account of the spawn and coral. They are generally bought already boiled, being thrown by fishermen, as soon as caught, into boiling water, and boiled from thirty to fifty minutes, according to their size; boiled too long, they become tough; if not long enough, the spawn will not have an agreeable color. On being taken from the water, they are wiped with a damp cloth rubbed over with butter or sweet olive-oil, which is wiped off afterward. Lobster and Crab served Cold. Take off the claws and crack them at the joints, lay the body and tail open neatly with a sharp knife, removing the dark vein, and what is vulgarly known as the lady, and then dispose the eatable portions neatly on the dish. Serve ina salad bowl the following sauce. Rub the hard-boiled yolks of three eggs and the spawn of the lobster together to a paste, add a salt-spoonful of salt, a little cayenne, two large spoonfuls of sweet olive-oil, a teaspoonful of made mustard, three table-spoonfuls of good cider vinegar, and a teaspoon- ful of anchovy-sauce. The same sauce will serve for plain boiled crabs. . Crabs in the Shell. Take the meat from the claws and body, mince it very fine, and season it with salt, white pepper, and a little pounded mace. Have the shell nicely cleaned, and sprinkle. bread- crumbs into it with pieces of butter, put the meat of two crabs into the shell, and bake in a moderate oven. Lobster and crab, as also shrimps and prawns, may have FISH. 169 their meat cut into bits, or minced and stewed in white or brown gravy, seasoning with ‘pepper and salt, and be served on toasted bread. The tail and claws are favorite parts in the lobster. TURTLE. The larger part of the turtles used in the United States are taken off the Florida coast. The turtle should be kept in water till to be killed, then taken out, suspended by the hind fins, and the head taken off with a knife. Allow it to bleed several hours; then take it down, cut off the fins at the joint, and throw them into scalding water; next remove the under shell or callipee, and put it into another vessel with scalding water; remove the entrails, taking care not to break the gall-bag, and throw the entrails and gall away. The en- trails of the turtle are not now used. Remove with a knife the lungs, kidneys, heart, and liver, and throw them into cold water, the liver in a vessel by itself. Put the eggs also, if there be any, into a basin of cold water. Remove the fins and callipee from the hot water, and skin them first, and cut the meat of the callipee into pieces three or four inches square, breaking the shell, and removing the whole of the meat. The callipash, or meat of the upper shell, may be cut smaller, and the green fat into quite small square pieces. Wash and wipe out the upper shell. Having washed every part of it, take the coarser pieces and the bone, and put them, with a piece of ham, a knuckle of veal, or eight calves’ feet, into a large pot of water. Put in two or three onions chopped fine, a little cayenne pepper, and a _table-spoonful of sweet marjoram and summer savory. Let it simmer slowly four or five hours, strain it, and have the pot washed and wiped out. Lay in it some of the reserved delicate pieces, and the liver cut up, and some of the green fat, some forcemeat balls, made of veal, bread-crumbs, and 15 170 FISH. the usual spices, with a little grated lemon-peel and beaten egg ; also the eggs of the turtle, and hard-boiled yolks of eggs. Let the forcemeat-balls and egg-balls be small. Pour the strained soup over the whole, and let it simmer slowly an hour. When it has thus boiled, cut up a lemon or two in slices, removing the seed, and put them into the pot with a pint of Madeira; let it simmer fifteen or twenty minutes, when put it into the tureen. While the soup is being made, let the finer pieces of the turtle be stewing gently in a little broth, or brown gravy, seasoned with salt, cayenne, and a little finely pulverized sweet marjoram and summer savory. Make a rich paste, and line the back shell with the paste, ornamenting the edge with thesame. After the turtle has stewed gently for an hour (add- ing a very little more broth, if it gets too dry), knead a little flour into a pound of butter, and stir into it, with the green fat, some grated lemon-peel; let it simmer another hour, take it up, stir in three or four well-beaten yolks of eggs, and a pint of Madeira wine; let it simmer about a quarter of an hour longer, then take it off, and when cool put it into the shell. Set the shell, propped up at the sides with bricks or stones, into a moderate oven, and let it bake a rich brown. Let it go to the table in the shell on a large dish, at the same time as the soup. Have lemons sliced, and pickles served in small pickle-dishes at the sides of the table. In a turtle pas- try the meat is stewed in a similar manner, and the whole of the top is covered with pastry ornamented by the pastry- cutter. " TERRAPIN. These, like the lobster, are thrown alive into boiling water. Let them remain till the outer shell and toe-nails can be re- moved. Wash them in warm water, and boil them, with a little salt to the water, till the fleshy part of the leg is tender. They should be now removed to a dish, the second shell FLANNEL. 171 taken off, and the sand-bag and the gall carefully removed, and the spongy part be also cut off. After having cut up the meat into small pieces, season it with salt, cayenne, and black pepper, and the yolk of two eggs to a terrapin, and knead a little flour into a piece of butter; let them stew gen- tly for a few minutes, then add a gill of madeira or sherry for every terrapin, and a little browned flour rubbed into a bit of butter; let it remain a few minutes longer in a sauce- pan, then put it hot into the dish over slices of dried toasted bread. FRoa. Grenouilles frites, or fried frogs, is a dish which is sometimes served in New England. The hind-quarters of the frog only are used; soak them, after washing them in warm water, in cold vinegar, with a little salt; let them re- main an hour in the salt and vinegar, then throw them in scalding water, remove the skin without tearing the flesh, wipe them dry, and fry them with parsley chopped fine, in clarified butter or sweet olive-oil ; when fried a delicate color, sprinkle a little pepper and salt over them, and garnish the dish with crisped parsley. Frogs are also sometimes stewed in the saucepan, with butter, wine, a little flour, and, just be- fore they are removed from the fire, the beaten yolks of two or three eges, and the dish garnished with finely chopped crisped parsley. FLANNEL. This material, being of animal origin, re- quires, especially when worn next the skin, frequent wash- ings. Flannel should be thoroughly wet in cold, soft water, and wrung out, and then washed in hot suds made of hard soap. Renew the suds so long as they look discolored. The last suds need not be so strong of soap as the previous ones, but all should be hot. Wring flannels dry, and shake them well. Press them well with a warm iron, on the wrong side, before they are quite dry, 172 FLOWERS. FLOWERS. We have no reason to believe that either Greeks or Romans cultivated flowers so far as to set apart ground for their cultivation. Modern Europe was first in- cited by the example of the East to this charming occupa- tion. Turkey, Persia, and China had long cherished flowers before the same taste had passed through Constantinople, Italy, Germany, and Holland, and from this last into Eng- land. Flora, as if in revenge at this tardy homage from the best part of the world, yielded to the humor of Puck, and from 1634 to 1637 set Commerce off in a mad frolic, and made the Dutchman pay for the music. During the space alluded to, a single root of a fashionable species of tulip would have bought a handsome farm, and have stocked it with cattle, grain, furniture, and provisions. Flowers are cultivated with an eye to effect, or to botani- cal arrangement; where the last is sought, all the species of a genus are kept together, though colors must be con- fused ; where effect merely is looked for, plants whose season for flowering is the same, and whose colors contrast, such as blue and yellow, red and green, orange and purple, are se- lected. Where, however, colors do not form agreeable con- ~ trasts, they may be softened by the interposition of white flowers, or dark-colored ones that approach black. So also where flowers are intended for vases or pots, and whose back- ground is te be the blue sky, purple and blue flowers should be avoided, and orange and red flowers chosen. It is much to be wished that jardiniéres (though the au- thor has found these in the parlors of Bangor, Me., filled with choicest camellias), and baskets of flowers suspended from ceilings and windows, would take the place of expensive upholstery ; even the first violets of spring, and the autumn leaves and the blue fringed eentian of autumn, the trophies of pleasant walks, placed about a room, give it a freshness and cheerfulness that is always felt, if not acknowledged. FLOWERS. 173 The limits of this book forbid my entering far into this tempting field; I shall therefore offer only a few hints, as they occur to me. | In watering tender plants, care should be taken to have the water of similar temperature as the plants to be watered, and to avoid throwing the water directly on the collar or neck of the plant. Indeed, the soil is better to be kept dry for an inch or two around such plants, for moisture on the collar frequently leads to disease in delicate plants. The collar or neck, called sometimes the heart of the plant, is the point of union for the ascending stem and branches, and the descend- ing roots, and any injury done to this part of the plant leads to disease or death. If lime-water is used to keep off insects, the water should merely be made a little milky in color. Decayed leaves, that have been swept together in the fall, and kept in a heap, and turned over once a month, form in about a year the vegetable mould, which is the best manure for flowering plants. Annuals or plants which live but one summer are, when hardy, sown directly into the garden-soil, pressing the ground with a spade or saucer, sprinkling the seed thinly, and covering them merely with fine earth; but the ten- derer kinds are frequently matured in pots, and put into the garden to flower, the first pot being very small, the next one a little larger; and when the roots have stuck to the ex- tremities of the ball of earth contained in the second pot, which can be ascertained by gently coaxing it into the hand, it should be shifted into one a little larger, and so on till the flower-buds begin to shoot, when it may at once be placed in the garden, or, if kept in the house, be no more shifted. Fill the pots up with light, rich mould, and see that coarse bits of crock or similar matter form a good drainage to each pot. Balsams and Cock’s-combs that have been brought for- ward in a healthy manner may be occasionally watered with in* a 174 FLOWERS. liquid manure; but this should not be applied to tender grow- ing annuals. Jn transplanting, keep the ball of earth round the plant, and water it well for the first few days, till the ground is set. Perhaps no garden-flower has more increased in size and beauty of color, through cultivation, than the Pansy. The origin of most of the pansies now in cultivation is from the small European violet, Viola tricolor, hybridized by some other species. ‘They may be grown from the seed, or by di- viding the root. They require in warm weather constant watering, but the soil where they are placed should be well drained. Cultivators seem always to delight in bringing for- eign plants home, rather than in improving home productions. The small white violet of our woods, pretty and exquisitely fragrant, has never been cultivated, and in England it is said that our mullein-plant is a conspicuous ornament of conser- vatories. Biennials are plants that show no flower till the second year, and then, after ripening their seed, die. I have been told that annuals may sometimes be made biennial by keep- ing the buds back with thumb-pruning, and sowing the seed late. Wallflowers, Canterbury-bells, Snapdragons, Bromp- ton Stocks, Hollyhocks, are biennials, though, excepting the Brompton Stocks, these frequently last three or four years from the first setting out. Florists’ flowers are such as attain great size and glowing colors by excessive painstaking in the culture, and they are expected to hybridize freely, or to vary much from seed. Florists have a certain coxcombry among themselves, and may be seen criticismg and throwing away flowers for some alleged defects in form or color, unnoticed, because unknown, to vulgar eyes; thus, if the Dahlia shows any green in the eentre, it is worthless; if in the Auricula or Polyanthus the style projects beyond the stamens, such are called pin-eyed, FOWLS. 175 and are of no value. The flowers which have been most successfully pampered by florists are the Hyacinth, the Tulip, the Dahlia, the Auricula, the Polyanthus, the Carnation, the ' Pink, the Ranunculus, the Anemone, the Geraniums or Pe- largoniums, the Pansies, the Calceolarias, and the Chrysan- themums. We have seen that flowers lend their aid to the dyer, and ‘that fomentations are often made of the flowers and leaves of plants. Colchicum, a bulbous-rooted plant, the flower of which resembles the Crocus, affords a medicine used for rheumatism and the gout; but as in large quantities it is poisonous, the extract should never be taken without medi- cal advice. For those who wish to pursue the science of Botany, the works of Professor Gray of Cambridge, and Professor Tor- rey of New York, will be of valuable assistance, while the amateur gardener, whose time is limited, will find present help in Mrs. Loudoun’s “Companion to the Flower Gar- den,” adapted by Downing to the wants of this country. FOWLS. The domestic fowls reared for food are com- monly divided into, — 1. Gallinacex, the Cock kind, comprehending the Common Cock, the Turkey, the Guinea-fowl, the Peacock, and the Pigéon. 2. Palmipedes, the Web-footed kinds, comprehending the Duck, the Goose, and the Swan. The Swan and the Peacock are now only reared for their beauty, and not for economical purposes. The Domestic Cock (Phasianus gallus) is, among the gal- _linaceous fowls, the first in importance. The origin of this valuable bird is unknown, though the Jungle-fowl of India is supposed to be the original breed; but it adapts itself to every climate except the polar. The differences in this tribe are 176 FOWLS. principally shown in their plumage: one breed has a tuft of feathers on the head ; the little Bantam has his legs covered with feathers; the Rumpleits have no tail; the Friesland Hen has the feathers on her body recurved ; another breed, called the Silk-hens, instead of feathers, are dressed in a kind of silken hair. Some of these breeds are more curious than useful. The Friesland or Frizzled Hen, as it is commonly called on account of the appearance of its ruffled plumage, and which does not love a cold climate, and the little Ban- tam, feathered to the toe, are valued mostly for their beauty, though they are delicate eating. The approved varieties of fowls are numerous. The Dorking Fowls of England, so called from a town in Surrey, near which they were raised, are among the most popular. When of pure breed, they have five claws on each foot, are large in the body, their color is white, and they are generous layers. The Poland Fowls are regarded as equally valuable with the Dorking, but they are less inclined to set than those of any other breed. “ Their color,” says Professor Low, “is black, their heads flat, and surmounted with a crown of feathers.” They are good layers. Among the larger breeds we find the Great Malay Fowl, and the Chittagong breed, which is held now to be a distinct breed from the Great Malay, and to possess more desirable points, having a more capacious body, more delicate flesh, and maturing earlier than the Malay variety. The Chinese fowls, consisting of the Cochin China breed and the Shang- hae fowls, have been successfully crossed with the common domestic breeds. The hatching period is twenty-one days ; during this period, the hen should have food and fresh water placed near her. She inclines to eat but little during this time, and when she has perfected her brood, she should be well fed on scalded meal, boiled rice, and similar substances. = 2 4 FOWLS. 177 The moulting period succeeds to the labors of prolific lay- ing and incubation. It lasts from one to three months, during which time the female generally ceases to lay, or does so rarely, and seems languid and depressed. A hen is old at four years, and in her fifth year should make way for younger birds. A cock should never exceed three years ; if well fed, and of good breed, he matures at three months. To have a desirable breed of fowls, the finest-formed hen should be chosen (or a thoroughly matured pullet) for breed- ing purposes, and the cock changed yearly, so as to avoid what is called “in and in” breedmg. If pullets are used, they should be well matured; otherwise the breed will be small, tender, and consequently difficult to raise. Fowls, when confined, should have a building placed above ground, that may be easily ventilated. Their floor should be covered with wood or coal ashes, and the interior of their building should be white-washed two or three times every year, and cleaned once a week. Avoid too much glass, which gives an unnatural heat, and creates distempers. Keep them dry, supply them with fresh water daily, anda variety in their food. When cooped and unable to procure insects, supply them with animal food, and feed them three times a day. A little cayenne-pepper mixed with Indian- meal dough may be given to them occasionally during the winter season. Gravel should be within their reach, and oyster-shells, or similar substances, pounded fine, should be scattered about the coop. | In selecting eggs for hatching, take those of medium size, that you believe have been rendered productive; the large ege of corresponding size at both ends, contains double yolks, which, instead of bringing twin chickens, produce monstrosi- ties. It is said that the position of the air-cell, discovered by holding the egg between the light of a candle and your 178 FOWLS. eye, indicates the sex of the bird; if on one side, it will be fe- male ; if in the exact apex, a male. Do not attempt to turn the eggs; the hen can do this best herself. Jt is poor economy to place too many eggs under one hen, though of course a large hen can cover more than a smaller bird; but the large brood often get trodden on by the mother, and they are less healthy and vigorous, on ac- count of being half starved during incubation. Yellow or brownish colored eggs are mostly produced by hens of Southern breed, and the white alabaster egg, by - Northern breeds. There is a superstition among many farm- er-wives, with regard to the number of eggs for hatching ; they always choose an odd number, nine and thirteen being more desirable than eight or twelve. The young chickens must be kept perfectly free from cold or moisture, and fed for the first few days on rice boiled dry, or Indian meal boiled and given not too moist. Water should be placed in shallow plates. They should be kept from the damp grass. BoimLED Fow.u. Put it into water that the chill has been taken off from, after having trussed the fowl handsomely, and add to the water a small piece of pork, that has been previously put into cold water and boiled in a saucepan for half an hour; skim the water, and add it to the pot with the pork. Let the fowl simmer, if it be large, an hour and a half. Make an egg sauce, which serve in a boat. Boiled fowls are sometimes filled, after being trussed, in the crop and body with oysters. In this case the oysters are kept in by tying twine round, and placing the fowl in a Jar, which is put into a kettle of water, where it is boiled hard for an hour and a half. Make a sauce, in a saucepan, of the gravy which will be found in the jar, by kneading a little -* =—* FOWLS. 179 flour into a lump of butter, chopping a few oysters, and when it begins to heat, adding half a cup of cream, and the beaten yolk of two eggs. Stir it, and remove when it comes to a boil. Serve in a boat. Roast Fowt. Having dressed and trussed them, place them before a good fire, with a little salt put to a pan of water, or if you have a tin-kitchen, put the salted water directly into the bottom of it. Baste with this water till the fowls begin to brown, when baste with fresh butter. Make the gravy by boiling the necks, gizzards, hearts, and liver; remove the first, and chop the giblets fine; thicken with browned flour, rubbed into a piece of butter. Serve in a boat. The Turkey (Meleagris gallo-pavo) was found in America by the Spaniards. In his wild state this bird is black in plumage, variegated with bronze and glossy green, and the extremities of his quills are tipped with white. While young they are exceedingly tender, and if not properly cared for die off rapidly. The turkey-hen lays from twelve to twenty eggs ; she seeks out-of-the-way places to lay, and must be watched, her egg removed daily, and a porcelain one substituted. When the turkey-hen desires to set, she must be cooped if she evinces restlessness, and her eggs be placed under her. The turkey sets on her eggs thirty days. When the young are pipped or born, they must never be handled, but be kept dry and warm, and be fed on bread-crumbs soaked in milk, or scalded meal, and boiled rice. Separate the hen from her young, otherwise she will devour their food. The turkey is a close setter, and should be supplied with fresh food and water; but after her young are hatched, she is apt to take them to great distances, without measuring their ability to keep pace with herself; for this reason, it is better 180 FOWLS. to keep the mother cooped till her little ones have estab-— lished their strength. ‘The common hen often has the eggs of the turkey and duck given her to bring out. Turkeys roost very high, and require large perches for their talons to grasp. If cooped, their house should be well ventilated. The practice of cramming turkeys is mostly gone by; they fatten readily when cooped, and fed frequently on fresh food. They like meal made into a thick paste, corn, boiled potatoes mixed with meal, buckwheat, boiled beans, rice, and milk curd; also wheat and barley. Fifteen pounds is a good weight for a turkey, but they are sometimes, by high feeding, brought to twenty and thirty pounds. BoiLeD TURKEY. Put the turkey into a kettle of water, from which the chill has been taken. _ Cover it close, and put it over the fire; when the scum begins to rise, skim it. Simmer slowly for half an hour, then take it off, and keep it covered close in the hot water; if of middling size, the confined steam will cook it enough in half an hour, and keep the skin whole, ten- der, and white. Put it over the fire again, just before it is to be sent to the table. Serve with oyster-sauce in a boat. You may, if you choose, stuff the craw, after trussing it, with bread-crumbs, chopped oyster, a little mace and salt moist- ened with egg, serving up the turkey, and proceeding §pre- cisely as above directed. Roast TURKEY. Roast turkeys as you do fowls; but a forcemeat stuffing is always made for the craw, and previous to trussing, the breast-bone is broken, and the sinews drawn from the legs. The Pintado or Guinea-fowl (Vumida meleagris) is, as its name indicates, a native of Africa. It is reared in Virginia, where its strange cry is thought to keep off birds of prey. FOWLS. 181 It is shy, and loves to wander in the woods. It lays a brown-shelled egg, smaller, but richer, than the egg of the common hen. She endeavors to secrete her eggs till she hatches her brood. Her eggs are sometimes given to the common hen to hatch. Her little ones are tender, and there- fore early spring is not so favorable for rearing them as a more advanced period in the season. ‘Twenty-eight days is the period of incubation with the Guinea-hen, but it is better to have the eggs hatched by the common gallinaceous. fowl, as the male of the Guinea-hen, like the pheasant, has a pro- pensity to destroy the eggs of the female. The flesh of this fowl is delicate, if taken before it is tough and old; then it is not desirable, even for the pot. It is roasted like the common fowl. The Common Pigeon (Columba livia), on account of its * gentleness and trustfulness, is a great favorite ; but, says Pro- - fessor Low, “nothing beyond the gratification of luxury can be derived from the cultivation of the domestic pigeon for food. In vain has it been asserted, that pigeons do not feed upon green corn, cannot dig into the earth with their bills, do little harm to the cultivated crops, and consume only the seeds of injurious plants. ‘The experience of farmers shows that the damage done by these creatures to our various crops of wheat, pease, and beans is very great; and certainly the waste is in no degree compensated for by the quantity which the animals afford of human food.” Wild pigeons, however, form indifferent food when com- pared with the flesh of the well-fed domestic pigeon. The common pigeon domesticated, begins generally to breed at nine months, pairing and breeding monthly, the fe- male laying two eggs, which ordinarily are male and female. One pair generally affords the breeder nine pairs annually, for four years. Their coops should be airy, and kept with great neatness. ‘There are various breeds of pigeons, which 16 182 FOWLS. are valuable to the bird-fancier, as flowers are to florists, for certain monstrosities and deviations from the usual laws of nature. Thus the English Pouter, that swells his crop to a fearful distention, and the Fantail, that makes his tail-feathers adorn his head like a halo, is of exceeding value to the fan- cier of birds. Domestic pigeons are nice broiled, roasted, or even boiled plain and served with butter-sauce in a boat, but wild pig- eons are only eatable, potted or braised. Young squabs of the tame pigeon, when drawn, and the craw extracted, and washed through several waters, may be cut open in the back, skewered and broiled quickly, and sent to the table with a little pepper and a bit of butter put to each squab. See Game. Among the web-footed domestic fowls, the Duck holds a conspicuous place. The Wild Duck or Mallard (Anas bos- chas) is the original of our common duck ; in its wild state it pairs, in its domesticated condition becomes polygamous, but retains some of its shyness, for the female lays away from the house, and secretes her eggs. While hatching, she should not be disturbed; but when her young are out, and she will no longer be induced to keep them in the nest, she must be watched, and not allowed to keep her little brood out Jong, as the heat and the night dews cannot be endured by them with impunity. The duck brings out her young in a month, when she should be well fed, and have a flat dish given her with water for her little ones, renewing the water frequently, and giving the ducklings meal paste, or boiled rice. If the eggs of the duck are given to the common fowl, the brood of ducklings must be looked to, for, disregarding the call of the hen, they will otherwise remain too long in the water, get chilled through, and die. As ducks are gross feeders, eating animal and vegetable substances of all kinds, before being killed for the table their food should for some weeks be selected for them. FOWLS. 183 The Muscovy Duck or Musk Duck (Anas moschata) is a native of South America. He is larger than the common duck, a huge feeder, and cannibalish in his habits, the au- thor having seen the Musk Drake swallow small chicks. This duck is very prolific, and fattens readily, but the flesh is not superior to the common well-fed duck. It is a hand- some bird and a valuable variety. Ducks are favored by gardeners, as they eat caterpillars and insects, and do no harm to vegetables that have got fairly started. Celery and parsley is sometimes sown round the ponds of ducks. Wild celery is said to give the exquisite flavor to the wild Canvas- back Duck. Duck RoasTep. The ducks being picked, drawn, and singed, stuff the body with potatoes boiled and mashed smoothly; moisten with cream, and season with pepper, a little onion chopped very fine, and salt; put them down to a good fire, with water in the pan of the roaster season the water with a little salt, and baste them with this liquid; if fat, they will require no butter. Make the gravy with the chopped giblets that have been boiled tender, the water from the pan seasoned with two table-spoonfuls of mushroom eatchup, and thickened with a little browned flour. Serve hot. Have lemons in side-dishes, cut in two. Half an hour before a good fire will cook ducks. The Domestic Goose is the Wild Goose (Anas anser) do- mesticated. In marshy districts it is reared without trouble. The female sits on her nest when hatching from twenty- seven to thirty days, covering eleven, and sometimes fifteen egos. Kept with ordinary care, regularly but not grossly _ fed, the female lays a hundred eggs annually. The careful hen sometimes has the eggs of the goose, as well as duck’s and turkey’s eggs, given to her to hatch, though she cannot cover more than six; but as the goose is valuable, and her 184 FOWLS. egos but little used in the kitchen, the assistance of the hen is often desirable, especially as the goose generally inclines to hatch but once a year. Besides grasses and herbs, geese like corn, and indeed most farinaceous substances and edible roots, such as turnips, potatoes, carrots, and the refuse of the garden, such as cabbage-leaves, lettuce, and similar food. Goslings are tender for the first few weeks, and should be fed, for some days after they are hatched, on meal paste, or boiled rice, or bread soaked in milk, if convenient, if not, in water, and kept cooped; and when they begin to go out, it should not be till the dew is off the ground, and they should be driven gently home before the sun is down. The cruel practice of plucking feathers from the goose while the bird is alive, used to be indulged in as often as five times a year, but is now discontinued. One gander is generally allowed to five geese. When confined, they should have roomy coops or cribs; space enough to flap their wings and to get out of the noonday sun; they should have their floor fresh littered with clean straw, be fed frequently, and have a trough of well-supplied pure water. A green goose is a goose four or six weeks old. It makes a very nice dish. Roast Goose. If old it should be kept a few days, and parboiled before roasting; but otherwise, by no means, as it dries the flesh. When drawn, singed, and dried with a cloth, after thorough washing, make a stuffing for the body thus: Take four or five onions, and the liver that has been parboiled in the saucepan, mince them in the chopping tray, add to them an equal quan- tity of mashed potatoes, a bit of butter, and two beaten eggs ; season with salt, pepper, and pulverized sage. If the gravy is made of the water in the pan and the drippings of the FRITTERS AND PANCAKES. 185 bird, skim it carefully before thickening with browned flour. Many prefer a gravy made of hot claret wine, poured upon the goose by the carver. The stuffings for geese are various ; the French use boiled rice, and chestnuts, with the liver, sometimes frying them in sweet lard before stuffing the goose with them. Green geese are roasted in the same way, only less highly seasoned with onion, sage, and pepper, and bread-crumbs are substituted instead of potatoes for the stuffing. Serve apple- sauce or gooseberry-sauce with goose. An hour and a half before a good fire should be given to a large goose, but a green goose is generally cooked in an hour. FRITTERS anp PANCAKES. In preparing these articles, which may be varied to an almost endless extent, you should make your frying-pan hot, then rub it with a but- tered cloth, or put a little beef-dripping in the pan, and wipe it out; then put in your piece of butter, lard, or clarified beef- fat, and when it froths, have ready your ladle of batter, toss the pan round, and run a knife round the edges of the cake, ‘turning it when it isa light brown. As the fat boils away, take the pan off, wipe it out, and proceed as at first. Re- move fritters from the frying-pan with a perforated skimmer, and drain them well. OysTER FRITTERS. Take a pint of rich milk, stir into it alternately an ounce of melted butter, and six well-beaten eggs, and flour enough to make a thick batter. Wash the oysters from their liquor, and dry them on a cloth; to each ladleful of batter, put an oyster, and fry them quickly a rich brown color. SALSIFY AND CorN FRITTERS. The flavor of oyster is thought to be found in salsify, and in green corn grated from the cob. Prepare salsify fritters rr 186 FRYING. by cutting the roots in thin pieces and boiling them in milk - and water; when soft, mash them smoothly, removing stringy bits ; stir the salsify into a batter made with a pint of milk, two eggs, and flour enough to make it stiff. Fry them in fat of salt-pork, or in butter. Where corn is used, it should be young and tender. VICTORIA FRITTERS. Take a loaf of baker’s bread, slice it into pieces an inch thick, cut each slice in the centre, trimming off the crust, and place the bread on a flat dish. Take a quart of rich milk, a salt-spoonful of salt, eight beaten eggs, stir the whole to- gether, strain it, and pour it over the bread several hours before dinner, that the bread may be equally moistened. Fry in hot butter a delicate brown, and eat with a sweet wine-sauce. PANCAKES. These may be made of rice-flour, boiled in milk till it is thick. ‘To three ounces of rice-flour, put a quart of rich milk, and when cool, stir in four beaten eggs, and sifted flour enough to make the batter a little stiff Drain them as you fry them, and sift sugar over each cake. Send them to the table hot. Indian meal boiled as above directed, and, when cold, mixed in the following proportions, to a quart of the sifted meal, five beaten eggs, a table-spoonful of melted butter, and sifted flour enough to make a thick batter, may be fried either as fritters or pancakes. Boiled rice, or fine-hominy that has been left from dinner, mixed with flour, milk, eggs, and a little salt, makes good breakfast fritters. FRYING. Whatever fat is used for frying should be sweet, the frying-pan should be a little thick at the bottom, FUEL. 187 the fire not too fierce, free from smoke, and capable of keep- ing up a sustained heat. Always have the pan gradually heated with a little fat, and wiped out before the fat for fry- ing is added ; ascertain the heat of the fat by dipping the tip of a fish-tail in, or by throwing in a bit of bread; if they quickly crisp, the fat is ready. Fat that has been used for meat may, if strained from the sediment, be used again for fish. Wire-framed baskets that fit the frying-pan, rising about half an inch from it, are now much used for frying. Sweet olive-oil, butter, lard, top-fat (the skimming of pots in which meat has been boiled), and drippings of roast meat, may all, with proper attention to sweetness and their free- dom from foreign substances, be used for frying. Butter is improved by clarifying, as then the watery and milky prop- erties which cause it to scorch and burn are removed. But- ter is desirable for sweet things, such as fritters, though sweet lard, or good-olive oil, if it can be afforded, is nearly as good ; the kidney-fat of beef, cut into pieces, melted, and strained, should be saved for frying. Olive-oil can only be used once, and is therefore every way expensive. It is best to have the pan filled to three or four inches deep with fat; then the materials fry all over quickly ; whereas if only a little is put in, it is more apt to scorch, and the substances cooking ab- sorb too much of the fat. What fat is not used should be strained while hot into an earthen jar, and covered closely from the air and dust as soon as it cools. Never put any- thing into the frying-pan till the fat is hot enough to cook it all over briskly. FUEL. Fuel is chiefly valuable according to its weight, its power of burning without leaving much incombustible matter, and its freedom from watery fluid. Green wood and wet coal should never be burned on the principle of econo- my ; such materials absorb the heat to convert their moisture into steam. 188 FURS. The Lehigh and all anthracite coals, being destitute of the volatile matter contained in bituminous coals, are more difficult to ignite than these; therefore to bring them to the high temperature necessary for combustion requires the aid of the lighter woods and charcoal. Housekeepers who use furnaces to warm their houses require from seventy to nine- ty bushels of charcoal, the quantity varying with the size of the house to be warmed. Charcoal, made newly from the heavier kinds of wood, as oak and walnut, is a powerful, and, for many culinary pro- cesses, an economical sort of fuel. Wood dried under cover is more free from decomposition than that dried in the open air. Hickory or walnut is the best of our native trees for fuel, and commands, consequently, the highest price ; beech, ma- ple, yellow birch, all the species of oak, and locust, form good fuels. Chestnut is unsafe as a fuel, on account of its snap- ping, and throwing its coals to the extremity of a room. White ash, though capable of burning well, is used principally for the arts, for oars, carriages, the handles of instruments, &e. Black birch is also a compact wood, but valuable prin- cipally for furniture, for screws, and implements requiring strength. FURS. These articles, like the precious jewels, vary in value as regulated by fashion. Ermine and sable, and the court fur minever, which is said to be more becoming than ermine, have, however, long held the ascendency. The va- rieties of sable are Russian, Hudson’s Bay, and Canadian ; ermine and minever are Russian furs; the curling chinchil- la, used mostly for children and misses, is from Peru. Stone- martin, whose varying brown constantly discloses, in the ac- cess of every breeze, the downy white of its under surface, the mink, a sort of plebeian sable, the silver-gray fox of GAME. 189 Oregon, and the blue fox, are all American furs, as are also the several species of lynx, the durable yellow and black fitz, and the gray-squirrel furs. In putting away furs, they should be well shaken, and put into a close box, either with leaf-tobacco, crude camphor, black pepper, or cayenne, and sewed up in Russian sheeting, or the cover pasted on with flour-paste (taking coarse paper), and the box be put into a clean, cool, dark closet. GAME. Good wild game finds ready sale in the mar- kets of the United States, and the large cities are plentifully supplied by the contributions of the West, the Canadas, and Europe. Venison ranks among choice game where salmon does with the fish tribe. ‘The haunch and the saddle of venison are roasted, while the shoulder and breast pieces are stewed, or used for pies. In roasting, the hard skin should be re- moved; then rub the piece all over with a little table-salt, butter thick sheets of coarse white paper, and cover. It re- quires constant attention, as it should be turned and basted frequently. When nearly cooked, take off the paper, and baste with claret wine, butter, and a sprinkling of flour. Venison eaten with blazers should be underdone; a haunch of medium size is cooked in one hour and a half, but for hot plates should be cooked from two to three hours. Currant- jelly is an indispensable accompaniment of venison, and is often used instead of wine for the gravy. Venison eats best when it is freshly killed; when it is old, it is hard, black-look- ing, with the rich juices gone out of it. Venison steak should be seasoned with pepper and salt, dipped in butter or olive-oil, and rubbed into bread-crumbs, ° and cooked quickly on a heated gridiron that has been rubbed with beef-suet. If the venison is not fat, make a gravy of wine, flour, and butter, or of currant-wine. Serve hot. 190 GAME. The Hare of America is common in many parts of the Union ; in summer its fur is brown and ash-colored, in winter it is white, and much longer than in summer. It breeds sev- eral times during the year, and in the Southern States during the winter months, and has sometimes a litter of six. It is not so highly esteemed here as in the old country. It is . taken in the same manner as the gray rabbit, by springes, traps, nets, and also by the gun. If hares and rabbits are young, the ears are easily slit, and the jaw-bone easily broken. Excepting when used for soup, hares and rabbits are not opened, weather allowing, for several days. After hanging for some days, it is paunched and skinned, the heart and liver removed and scalded. They should be well bled and washed through several waters, trussed, and if young they may be roasted, but not without a rich stuffing, made of grated bread-crumbs, beef-suet, a small chopped onion, the liver, if perfectly good, a little grated lemon-peel, the whole moistened with egg and a table-spoonful of claret. Put this stuffing into the belly, and sew it up. Baste with butter. Make the gravy with the drippings of the pan, cream, and the yolk of a beaten egg, and a very little flour. An hour and a half or two hours will roast a hare or rabbit, which should be cooked gradually. When old they are braised or stewed slowly with herbs, wine, water, chopped onion, thick- ened with butter and flour. Woodcock is the favorite bird of gourmands, if one judges by their market value, as they frequently bring one dollar per brace. They are to be had from the 1st of July to the 1st of December. The practice of not drawing these birds is more honored in the breach than the observance. Partridges and Pheasants are marketable from September to the 5th of January, when their after sale is illegal, on ac- count of the food of these birds consisting, while the snow is on the ground, of wild laurel-berries, which renders their flesh poisonous. Poerpss GAME. 191 Quails are plenty in the fall and winter months, when they are tracked on the snow. They abound in the Western States ; they are sold by the dozen, generally bringing one dollar per dozen. Grouse and Prairie-Hens are trapped at the West in great numbers during the winter, and in the New York market are to be had at one dollar, and frequently fifty cents, per pair. Plover and Snipe. ‘This tribe, containing six or eight varieties, is sold by the dozen. In Europe plovers’ eggs are served in the nest of the bird; the fine blue speckled eggs are cooked, and left again in the nest, which is sent to the table precisely as the winged architect constructed it, a pictur- esque ornament. It is not an edible nest, like the nests of the Java Swallow, called Salangane, and by some naturalists the KEsculent Swallow, though the nest, which is thought to be made of the spawn of fish, is only eaten; the viscous sub- stance is collected by this swallow from the rocks, or gathered from the surface-of the sea. The gelatinous matter of these nests, somewhat resembling isinglass, is by the Chinese dis- solved in chicken or mutton-broth, and travellers, among others our distinguished countryman, Bayard Taylor, have acknowledged their title to rank as a delicacy. The Virginia Rail, who builds her nest of sedgy materials near the sea-shore, or in quagmires, when used for the table, should, like most aquatic birds, have a sliced carrot or onion introduced after the bird is drawn, to remove a strong taste induced by the diet and situation of such birds. The Cedar or Carolina Rice-bird, sold by the dozen, makes a very delicious pie. The Wild Pigeon requires to be braised, or stewed slowly with savory adjuncts; thus potted, itis very nice; but it never affords such a variety of dishes as the tame pigeon, the young or squabs of the last being delicious, either broiled or served in a pie. 192 GAME. Grouse are generally trussed with the head under the wing ; when roasted, they must be generously basted, and not over- done. Toasted bread buttered is laid in the dripping-pan, upon which they may be served with plain butter-sauce. Roasted rare, that is, before a quick fire in twenty minutes, a wine sauce is often made for them. Partridges and Pheasants require constant basting when roasted, and should have a gravy, and may be, if liked, served on rich buttered toast. Woodcocks, Quails, Snipes, or Plovers may be roasted, and served on toast, with gravy made of the drippings, a piece of floured butter, and equal proportions of wine and currant jelly boiled together, and sent to the table hot in a boat. These small birds may be stuffed with mashed boiled chest- nuts, laid in a deep dish with slices of bam tied over them, and baked in a Dutch oven. Remove the ham when they are sent to the table. : Game that is to be kept some days should not be washed, as the wetting facilitates decomposition. Wild Ducks. — Canvas-back ducks of the Susquehannah and Potomac Rivers are fat in the latter part of November, and all through December, and are in the market till late in the spring. They feed on wild celery. They bring one, three, and five dollars per brace. Red-head ducks, of similar habits to the canvas-back, are nearly as nice eating. There is a great variety of sea ducks and of river ducks. Brant is considered the nicest for eating, of the salt-water ducks. In May they are fattest, and the choice duck of the season; they may be had in the New York market, in the spring and fall, from Long Island, and are sometimes intro- duced in the winter from the South. It is of a delicate build, and not able to stand the rigors of a Northern climate. The Mallard frequents lakes and rivers. ‘The Widgeon, GAME. 193 the Black Duck, and the Broad-bill frequent rivers and the sea-shore, in the latitude of the Middle States, and are in _the markets of the Atlantic cities from fall till late in spring. The Virginia Gray Duck, which is largely exported from that State, is a choice duck for the table. They are sold sometimes for fifty cents per pair. The Blue and Green Tail Duck has also a high reputation. Canvas-back ducks are trussed, wiped out with a clean cloth, but not washed, roasted rare for about twenty minutes or half an hour before a good fire. Currant-jelly should al- ‘ways be on the table to mix with the gravy of such as fancy it, and heaters provided for each plate. Where sea-ducks are tough and fishy, they must be stuffed in the body with sliced carrot, and parboiled for twenty min- utes, then relieved of the carrot and roasted, basting with fresh butter, and serving with celery, wine, or hot currant- jelly sauce. Wild ducks may be nicely trussed, and laid in a pan with butter and a small onion in the body of each, laying pieces of butter in the pan, with a bunch of celery or sweet herbs, a little pepper, and salt. Let them stew slowly, covering the pan; when done, strain the liquor found in the pan, and pour it hot over the ducks. Garnish with sliced Jemon. Ducks before going to the pot or spit should be wiped dry, and the river ducks should be rubbed on the inside with pepper and salt, excepting the canvas-back, which should be left to its generous juices as far as possible. Wild geese are cooked rare, like ducks, and to the made gravy is added a glass of port or claret, and a little finely chopped onion. Where the wild duck or goose is rank and oily, the dripping-pan should be skimmed, and the seasoning to the gravies should be more pungent; a little cayenne, onion, and made mustard may be used in exceeding nice quantities with advantage. 17 194 GOOSEBERRIES. Wild turkey may be stuffed with oysters, and served with oyster-sauce, or if the turkey be fat and rich, the made gravy of the pan may be seasoned with mushroom catchup ; or better yet, the small button mushrooms, stewed in butter, cream, and seasoned with a little salt and pepper, may be poured hot over the turkey, the made gravy being served in a boat. If the turkey be tough, it should be boiled half an hour in water seasoned with salt, and a bunch of celery or sweet herbs, and be well basted in roasting. Since steam plays with such vivacity between the old and new country, we exchange with our cousins of England the exquisite Canvas-back, and take their Pheasants and Scotch Grouse. GOOSEBERRIES. The native varieties are little cul- tivated; our garden sorts are from the North of England. Gooseberry plants are raised from cuttings. The strongest and healthiest shoots of the current year are selected, (cutting off the buds that would go under the ground,) and put about six inches under the surface of a rich, deep soil; the earth should be pressed closely round tht slips, and when they have rooted, in about a year’s time, they should be trans- planted into a rich soil. Cuttings may be set out early in spring or fall. Gooseberry plants require to be well manured every year, digging in a heavy top-dressing on bearing plants; they also require close pruning. Lime, sulphur, wood-ashes, mixed into the top soil, are good to operate against mildew, to which disease these plants (especially inferior sorts) are liable; a cool situation, such as an open border, is also advisable for them, for the same purpose. Should the soil be dry, it must be mulched or covered under the surface with straw and litter. If you would train as trees, no suckers must be allowed to grow. Many cultivators prefer the gooseberry and currant GRAFTING. . iS to grow as bushes. Prune when the plant is out of bearing in spring or fall, cutting the tops ; and when in bearing, some of the fruit may be removed if very heavy, and some vigor- ous shoots thumb-pruned to perfect the remaining fruit. Cuttings may be struck every season. The best garden varieties will only pay for the care and expense of annual cultivation. ‘There are almost endless varieties of the red, yellow, green, and white gooseberries. The following sorts are taken from Downing’s Fruit and Fruit Trees, as styled by him :— Selections of sorts for a very small garden. Red: Red Warrington, Keen’s Seedling, Crown Bob. Yellow: Early Sulphur, Yellow Ball. White: Woodward’s Whitesmith, Early White, Taylor’s Bright Venus, White Honey. Green: Pitmaston Green Gage, Green Walnut, Parkinson’s Laurel. GOOSEBERRY SAUCE. Take fruit just ripe, pick off the tops and stems, and weigh an equal quantity of sugar to the fruit, dividing the sugar into two equal portions. Make a sirup of one portion, and put the gooseberries into it, over the fire; let them re- main till they are transparent, then remove them, and make a sirup of the reserved sugar, adding to it the sirup of the gooseberries, gently dipping it off; let it boil till thick and rich, and then pour it over the fruit. The fruit, by this pro- cess, will be less tough, and keep its flavor better than if cooked longer. . GRAFTING. (Bohemian method.) It is well known that desirable sorts of fruit and their varieties are not easily raised by seeds or cuttings, and that various modes of graft- ing (the French practise over fifty modes) have always been practised by gardeners for the purpose of continuing and im- proving choice varieties. The following method, accepted 196 GRAPES. by French gardeners, has lately appeared: — Take a healthy slip from an apple-tree, or the tree you wish to increase, and insert it into a potato and plant it, leaving about two inches of the slip visible. The slip is said to take root, and grow vigorously into a fruit-bearing tree. The season for grafting trees is in the spring, when the sap is in motion; the cherry and plum are first ready for the process, the pear and apple being some weeks later. A mild, showery atmosphere facilitates all the processes of grafting. GRAPES. Passing by foreign grapes, as too wide a sub- ject for my limits, I shall confine myself to a few remarks upon our native grape, which is found growing wild in most of the States. The varieties of native grapes best known are the Isabella and the Catawba; both of these are hardy, and grow rapidly in a bright, sunny, open exposure, though they ripen with difficulty in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The Isabella, being two or three weeks earlier than the Catawba, is the variety chosen usually for garden culture in the Eastern States. The Catawba, a native of Virginia, found in the region of the river whose name it bears, is cultivated extensively at the West, for wines; it is not so sweet as the Isabella, but has a more racy, vinous flavor. The Isabella is a native of South Carolina. The garden culture of native grapes and their numerous varieties is found by most persons so exceedingly easy, that it is wonderful that every home whose premises command a sunny, open exposure, does not keep a vine. Mr. Downing recommends, when the upright mode or the spur mode of training is pursued, that the first sea- son’s growth of a newly planted vine be cut back to two buds the ensuing fall or spring. “These two buds,” he remarks, “are allowed to form two upright shoots the next summer, GRAPES. 197 which, at the end of the season, are brought down to a hori- zontal position, and fastened each way to the lower horizon- tal rails of the trellis, being shortened at the distance of three or four feet from the root, —or as far each side as the plant is wished to extend. The next season, upright shoots are allowed to grow one foot apart, and these, as soon as they reach the top of the trellis, are also stopped. ‘The next year, the trellis being filled with the vines, a set of lateral shoots will be produced from the upright leaders, with from one to three bunches upon each, which will be the first crop. The vine is now perfect, and, in the spur mode of pruning, it is only necessary at the close of*every season, that is, at the autumnal or winter pruning, to cut back these lateral shoots | or fruit spurs to within an inch of the upright shoot from which they spring, and a new lateral producing fruit will an- nually supply its place, to be again cut out at the winter pruning.” If vines are not kept back by pruning, they soon exhaust their vigor in the first few years. Old vines, whose fruit has diminished in size and flavor, may be cut down to the lower shoots of the trellis. The authority just quoted has remarked, that his experience was that six or eight feet was the distance at which to plant the native grapes. “ As- suming,” he says, “the trellis to be eight feet high, then each vine will extend either way. three or four feet, covering a space eight feet square. In this form, the roots and branches extending but a short distance, they may be kept in high vigor, and a state of constant productiveness, for a great length of time.” Prune grapes a month before vegetation commences, or in mild latitudes prune the vines in November. The native grapes, though growing in most soils, do best in soils which are rather strong and rich. The ground round the growing plants should be kept free from weeds and stirred lightly on the top, and deeper out of the reach of the cy 198 HOGS. roots. The usual fertilizers are good for the grape, if not applied till fermentation has taken place. Vegetable mould, ashes, and bone manure are all excellent. The grape-vine is easily propagated by layers (bending branches of the previous or current year’s growth down at any time before midsummer, and covering with earth), or by cuttings, which the annual trimmings abundantly afford. Grapes may be kept many months by being packed in substances that have been dried by heat, and kept in a cool, dry room. Mr. Cole says, in his Fruit Book, he has pre- served grapes in excellent condition for several months, “ by laying them into small baskets on paper, four to eight quarts .in each, covering them with paper, cotton, or a cloth, and hanging them up in a well-aired, dry room.” HAMS. Those which are bought generally require to be soaked twelve hours, changing the water. frequently, and to be thoroughly scraped and cleaned before going to the pot. Cover the ham with water, and give a quarter of an hour’s boiling to each pound; then take it. out of the pot, skin it, sift grated bread over it, and put it into the oven, and let it bake another quarter of an hour to each pound. Gourmands boil their hams in hock. See Bacon HOGS. These animals have been of immense assistance to the settlers of our Western country. The hog is not a native of America, but was introduced here by the Spaniards. The common hog adapts himself to all climates, and almost all food. ‘These dispositions and habits, together with his fecundity, and the readiness with which his flesh receives salt, makes him alike valuable to the daily laborer and the wholesale dealer. In a state of nature, the wild hog (Sus aper) feeds on HOGS. 199 plants and roots, seeks moist and shady retreats, and pierces the earth with his snout for food, which his acute smell in- dicates to him. Like other domesticated animals, the hog has been sub- jected to careful training, to improve his valuable properties. We have introduced into this country quite extensively the Berkshire hog, which is an improved English breed, very superior for pork and bacon.’ This hog is of the ancient stock of England, crossed with the blood of the Eastern hog, and principally by the varieties styled Chinese hogs, which have been largely imported into the old country. This Chinese mixture, while it diminished the size of the old English stock, improved the properties of form, and the disposition to fatten. The desirable features in the hog’s form, indicative of a tendency to secrete fat, are similar to those of other live stock ; a broad and deep chest, ribs rounded or arched, neck short, head and limbs small, soft bristles, skin soft and elastic. (Low’s Practical Agriculture.) The female goes with her young one hundred and twelve days. Hogs love moist and succulent food; clover and other ereen food, the refuse of the garden, and the gleanings of the table, may be given to them, though for final fattening they require farinaceous, or other nourishing food. Sour fruit should not be offered to them, unless mixed with sac- charine substances. ‘They should be fed three times a day, have clean troughs and clean beds, and it is of great advan- tage to animals of single stomachs, like the hog, to have their food boiled or steamed, especially when they have not access to forests for exercise. Coarse meal, or bran steamed or boiled, is good food for the hog; pease and beans partially cooked can be given occasionally. Virginia bacon is thought to owe its sweetness and flavor 200 HEDGES. to the privilege the hogs enjoy in that State, of running in the woods in the autumn, and gathering acorns and green food. When intended for pork, pigs are at the best age at six or eight months; but for bacon they must be brought to a full size, which can only be done in ten or twelve months. For bacon, the larger breeds of hogs are generally reared; for pork, the smaller varieties are selected. HEDGES. These fences are beginning to be used ex- tensively in some parts of the United States, both as a nat- ural defence against encroachments, and as ornaments to wire-fences of small gardens. In England, the application of hedges for public roads and private enclosures is so exten- sive, that the linear extent has been supposed to be many times the circumference of the whole earth. Hedges for mere ornament and shade are made of Aibes sanguinea, or Flowering Currant, of Tree Box, of Ivy and other hardy climbers, of some species of the Buckthorn, and of Arbor Vite; of this last there are some very fine exam- ples in Jefferson County, Virginia. Hedges to exclude cattle and trespassers are ined of the common English Hawthorn (Orategus Oxyacantha), and different species of North American thorns of the same genus. Among the numerous varieties of American Thorns is the Cockspur Hawthorn (Crategus Orus-galli); this and its varie- ties have fine glossy leaves of dark green. ©. Pyracantha has pure white flowers and brilliant red berries, which are abun- dant enough to have given it the name in France of Buis- son ardent, or the Burning Bush; it grows well in many parts of America, but perhaps is not native. It produces its white blossoms after its third year, annually, in June, when the American Hawthorn (Crategus coccinea) is in bloom. It is best to choose for a hedge that kind of Hawthorn INK. 201 that takes most kindly to the neighboring soil of the grounds to be enclosed. “In Great Britain,’ writes Timothy Pickering, “hedge fences are generally accompanied by ditch and bank; prin- cipally (I presume) because the ditch and bank, aided by a slight railing, make an immediate fence; and because in flat grounds ditches serve for drains. But in America, where wood is yet sufficient in quantity for complete fences, while the hedges are growing, and where, too, we are subject to heavier rains, which cause destructive gullies, doubtless Mr. Main’s plan of plain hedging, without ditch and bank, is most eligible. A ditch is an artificial gully, which in sloping grounds every considerable rain must mischievously increase.” This distinguished man was among the first in this coun- try to set out the Locust-tree (Robinia Pseudacacia) as a hedge. From the rapidity of its growth, its bearing the shears, and the tendency of the stems to interlace with one another, it makes a good hedge. Ifthe seeds of Locust are sown, it shouldbe when frosts are over, and in rows far enough apart to admit the hoe. When two years old, they are generally fit to set out. All the species of Crateegus or Hawthorn grow best in dry soils. “The seeds of the common Hawthorn often lie,” says Mrs. Loudoun, “two years in the ground before they ger- minate, if not prepared before sowing by being suffered to lie for several months in what is called a rot-heap, and which is often turned over during that time, to prevent the seeds from having their vital powers destroyed by the heat generated by fermentation. The finer kinds of thorns are generally grafted or budded on seedlings of the common Hawthorn.” j INK. The best inks are such as are made of the nut- gall and sulphate of iron, and gum-arabic. Other substances 202 JELLIES. are often added, such as logwood, sulphate of copper, and sugar. Dr. Bancroft’s receipt, for proportions, is twelve oun- ces of galls, to be boiled with six of logwood, in five quarts of soft water, for two hours, the decoction to be strained, and made up one gallon, to which five ounces of sulphate of iron, five of gum-arabic, and two of muscovado sugar, are to be added. A simpler mode has the authority of a celebrated chemist ; it is to infuse three ounces of galls, one of logwood, one of sulphate of iron, and one of gum-arabic, in a quart of cold water for a week, adding four grains of corrosive subli- mate to prevent mouldiness. An extraction of the soluble parts of the galls may be more economically attained by the repeated affusion of fresh portions of the water, than by steeping them in the whole at once. A single drop of oil of lavender prevents ink from moulding. Put one drop toa pint. (Quarterly Review, No. 21, Art. XTV.) INDIAN MEAL. This article should not be bought in large quantities for family use; it should be kept in a cool closet, and many housekeepers place in the centre of their meal chest or tub a large clean stone ; it tends to prevent fermentation, and to keep the meal cool. InDIAN BREAD. Boil a cupful of sifted meal in a little water and salt till nearly dry, stirring often; let it cool, then add five eggs well beaten, and enough rich milk to make a thin batter. Bake in a quick oven, in small tins. Butter the tins. JELLIES. Almost all fruit-jellies are made by adding a pound of sugar to a pint of strained juice of fruit; yet if the best white loaf-sugar is used, and the fruit is just ripe, and gathered when the weather is dry, and the extracted juice is reduced by boiling, a pound of sugar to a quart will LAMB. ee make lighter and clearer jellies. The exceptions are cran- berry, gooseberry, and blackberry, which all require a pound of sugar to a pint of juice. We shall give one receipt, which may answer for several. CURRANT JELLY. Strip currants that are just ripe into a stone jar, cover the jar, and set it into a kettle of warm water; let it boil one hour over a moderate fire. Pass a linen or flannel jelly- bag through hot water, wring it dry, and pour the currant juice into the bag, secured to the table with a dish under it. Do not squeeze the bag. When the juice has escaped the bag, measure it, and against each quart of the juice weigh one pound of the best quality of white sugar. Put the juice without the sugar into a porcelain kettle, and let it boil up once. Take it off and put in the sugar, which should be crushed to a powder, and add it gradually while the juice is hot. Put the jelly into tumblers, cover with thin paper, cut to the glass, and paste white paper on the outside to exclude the air. Keep it in a dry, cool place. Jellies that are mawkishly sweet are flavored with a little lemon-juice. Black-currant jelly would be very close and thick, if a little water were not added to the fruit when it is put into the jar to boil. Where inferior sugar is used, it should be put in with the fruit, and carefully skimmed. Jellies require to be boiled longer when the sugar is indifferent. LAMB. This delicate meat should have the kidney fresh and fat, the quarters thick, and in the fore-quarter the vein of the neck should be, if fresh, blue. The leg may be boiled or roasted. When boiled, let it sim- 204 LARD. mer slowly. If small, that is, weighing about four pounds, — three quarters of an hour will cook it. Shoulder of lamh may have the bone removed, the vacancy stuffed with force- meat, and be baked in an oven, or braised in a Dutch oven. The leg is sometimes prepared in this manner. Breast of lamb has the chine-bone chopped off. Notch the breast well, and either roast it, or stew it with gravy and a sprinkling of sweet herbs and mixed spices; finish by browning it in an oven. Serve it with green peas or as- paragus. Lamb cutlets are taken from the neck. Trim them, flatten them with a small mallet or the back of the knife, season them with pepper and salt, egg and bread-crumb them, beat them gently, dip them into a little clarified butter, and give them another dressing with egg and grated bread-crumbs. Fry them a delicate brown, using clarified butter, or sweet olive-oil. Lamb cutlets may be simply seasoned and broiled plainly. Lamb chops are cut from the loin, taking off the flap, cutting the chops not quite an inch in thickness. The loin can have about eight chops taken from it, three of which should have a bit of kidney to them. Heat the gridiron, rub a little beef-suet on it, place two or three of the chops on it, and place them over clear coals, free from smoke. As the chops warm, season with salt and pepper. Broil them a light brown, and serve hot with bits of butter placed be- tween each chop. LARD. This is extracted from the leaf or inner fat of a newly slaughtered pig or hog. After trimming the skin and fibrous parts off, it may be cut into pieces and placed over a moderate fire, with a little water, say a large cupful ; — as it heats, the water evaporates. Stir it frequently; dip off the fat as it melts, and strain it into clean stone jars. When MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 205 cool, cover the jars closely, and keep them in a cool, dry place. The first dippings will be whiter lard than the last. This leaf-fat may be converted into lard by another pro- cess. Fill a jar with the fat broken into pieces, and set the jar into a pot of boiling water; as the fat melts, strain it, and proceed as already directed. LEMON SIRUP. Squeeze the juice from fresh lemons, strain it, and to every pint of juice add a pound of the best double-refined loaf-sugar. Crtish the sugar with a rolling- pin, and stir it gradually into the strained juice. Put the whole into a preserving-kettle, over a moderate fire. As it heats, skim it; when it comes to a boil, take it off the fire, pour it into a large china bowl, and in twenty-four hours bottle it in fresh sweet bottles. You may, if you please, add one table-spoonful of pure French brandy to each bottle. Cork closely, and keep the sirup in a cool, dry closet. MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. The labors of sci- entific men and the authority of governments have always been directed towards discovering and enacting one common weight and measure. Laws were enacted in England to this effect as early as Edgar; afterwards, as if they had not been effectual, the Magna Charta, cap. 23, declares: “ One measure of wine shall be throughout our realm, and one measure of ale, and one measure of corn, that is to say, the quarter of London. And it shall be of weights as it is of measures.” Our mother, England, from whom we have gathered our highest instincts of law and equity, and whose generous milk can never be out of us, has since been con- stantly engaged in endeavoring to make weights and meas- ures uniform throughout her dominions. To enter into the origin or follow the variations of stand- ards for weights and measures, either as created and regu- 18 206 MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. lated by political economy or scientific deductions, would be to exceed our limits, either of capacity or space. The origin of the standards appears often to have been accidental ; thus “Henry I. ordered the length of his arm to be the criterion of the yard measure ; and 51 Henry III. declares 32 grains of wheat dry, taken out of the midst of the ear, to be the standard weight of the twentieth part of an ounce.” “It is with this subject,” says a writer in the Quarterly Review al- ready quoted, “ as with laws and manners: constant attempts at improvement appear necessary even to prevent deteriora- tion. Experience shows that few matters have a greater tendency to grow worse, or more obstinately resist correc- tion, than common usages in weights and measures.” I have collected the following tables of measures and weights, as likely to be valuable to many of my readers ; the first table, calculated by James M. Garnet, Esq., of Essex County, Va., was first published in Mr. Ruffin’s Farmer’s Register ; the second is taken from the Agricultural Journal of New York. GARNET’S TABLE. A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, and 22 inches deep, will contain a barrel, or 10,752 cubic inches. A box 24 inches by 16 inches square, and 11 inches deep, will contain a half-barrel, or 5,576 cubic inches. A box 16 inches by 16.8 inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain a bushel, or 2,150.4 cubic inches. A box 12 inches by 11.2 inches square, and 8 inches ~ deep, will contain half a bushel, or 1,075 cubic inches. A box 8 inches by 8.4 inches square, and 8 inches deep, will contain one peck, or 537.6 cubic inches. A box 8 inches by 8 inches square, and 4.2 inches deep, will contain one half-peck, or 268.8 cubic inches. A box 7 inches by 4 inches square, and 4.8 inches deep, will contain a half-gallon, or 131.4 cubic inches. MEASURES AND WEIGHTS. 207 A box 4 inches by 4 inches square, and 4.2 inches deep, will contain one quart, or 67.2 cubic inches. These measures come within a small fraction of a cubic inch of being accurate, and are as absolutely perfect as any measures of capacity for common use have ever been made. Table of the Number of Pounds of various Articles to a Bushel. Of Wheat, sixty pounds. Of Shelled Corn, fifty-six pounds. Of Corn on the cob, seventy-five pounds. Of Rye, fifty-six pounds. Of Oats, thirty-two pounds. . Of Barley, forty-eight pounds. Of Middling, forty-five pounds. .«Of Bran, twelve pounds. Of Shorts, eighteen pounds. Of Clover-seed, sixty pounds. Of Timothy-seed, fifty-six pounds. Of Hemp-seed, forty-four pounds. Of Blue-grass-seed, fourteen pounds. Of Castor-beans, forty-six pounds. Of Dried Peaches, thirty-three pounds. Of Dried Apples, twenty-five pounds. Of Onions, fifty-seven pounds. Of Salt, fifty pounds. Of Mineral Coal, seventy pounds. MEASURING GRAIN IN BULK. To reduce solid feet to bushels, multiply the number of solid feet by 45, and divide the product by 56: the quotient will be the number of bushels. Reason. — As one bushel contains 2,150.4 inches, one solid foot is 42 of a bushel. 208 PARSNIPS. Example.— How many bushels in a box or crib 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 2 feet deep? Multiply the length by the width and depth, and the product by 45, which, divided by 56, gives 213, the number of bushels which the box contains. (New York Tribune.) F MUTTON. This meat is procured from the outer isl- ands of Maine, of excellent flavor. Mutton made from a five-year-old wether is nicest for the table, and if made from a sheep under three years it is flabby and vapid, not matured in its rich juices. A leg of mutton may be hung about a week or ten days before it is cooked. In color, rich mutton is of a clear, darkish red. When a leg is boiled, it is generally liked underdone, and then some slices can be sent to the kitchen for-a broil, if any guest prefer it so_served. Mashed turnips and caper-sauce are served with a boiled leg of mutton. es The leg and many other pieces of the sheep may be roasted or stuffed with foreemeat and baked, adding to the gravy a little port or claret wine. Mutton to be roasted may be kept longer than that to be boiled; it should be trimmed of all strong, musty bits, and well wiped with pep- per and salt before going to the fire. See Lamb. ONIONS. These vegetables should be skinned and soaked half an hour in cold water before they are cooked, and when half cooked the water should be poured from them and renewed by fresh cold water. Onions boiled in milk lose much of their bitter taste. Rareripes or onions from the bulb are sold in bunches of two and a half pounds; on- ions from the seed, in bunches of three and a half pounds. PARSNIPS. Wash and scrape them well; if old, they will take nearly an hour’s boiling, but by probing it can be . ascertained when they are tender; divide those which are PEACH. 209 large. If milk is plenty, boil them in milk and water. They are served with boiled dishes, simply boiled; with roasts they are sliced and fried in sweet lard or butter, but must first be boiled. They are sweetest in spring, after being wintered in the ground. PASTRY. To one pound and a quarter of flour adda quarter of a pound of nice lard, rubbing it well into your flour; add water till it is stiff enough to put on your paste- board, allowing it still to be as soft as it can be worked. Sift flour over your board, and lay the paste on. Have ready a pound of butter, from which the salt and buttermilk have been worked and pressed out; put the butter in pieces all over your paste, dust over a little flour, fold up your paste, and roll it out. Again put bits of butter all over the surface of the paste, then flour and roll it in as before, and proceed in this way till your butter is all worked into the paste. PEACH (Amygdalus Persica). This fruit is said to be grown in larger quantities in the United States than in any other country in the world; it is principally, however, in the Middle, Western, and Southern States that it is success- fully cultivated. In the Eastern States it is raised only with great care, and constantly deteriorates in quality. The health and duration of peach-orchards depend upon the care with which the seed has been selected, which, to pro- duce healthy seedlings, should be taken from districts where the Yellows is not prevalent, upon the nature of the soil, and the care with which over-luxuriance is checked by pruning the extremities of the trees. “The very best soil,” says Downing, “for the peach, is a rich, deep sandy loam; next to this, a strong, mellow loam ; then a light, thin, sandy soil; and the poorest is a heavy, compact clay soil. In ordinary cases, the duration of peach- 1g* 210 ' PEACH. orchards in the light, sandy soil is rarely more than three years in a bearing state. In a stronger soil, with a proper attention to the shortening system of pruning, it may be pro- longed to twenty or more years.” Where soil is thin and light, the peach-orchard receives top-dressing, and the sod should not be allowed to become hard and stubborn; strong soils may be opened by the plough, and kept under culture with advantage to the trees. The space allowed between peach-trees in orchards varies from sixteen to twenty-five feet, the greater space being given to warm climates and rich soils. A peach-stone planted in autumn vegetates the following spring, and may be budded in August or September; in two years more it gives a small crop of fruit, and the next sea- son, if not too luxuriant in growth, yields to the cultivator a generous crop. For preserving the peach whole, select the large October Clingstones; pare them and weigh to them an equal weight of sugar. Crush the sugar with a rolling-pin, and sprinkle it over the peaches; after they have stood a few hours in the sugar, put them in the preserving-pan with a little water. Scald them, and remove them carefully with a perforated ladle to a flat dish. Boil and skim the sirup, put the fruit with some blanched kernels again to the sirup, and preserve the peaches very slowly till transparent. Peach Marmalade is made of the Yellow Freestone. Pare and stone them, and put one pound of good brown sugar to every two pounds of fruit. Put it over the fire without wa- ter if the fruit is juicy; stir it frequently, and let it boil till it becomes transparent. It is very nice for pies. BRANDIED PEACHES. The large, white peach, just ripe, is taken for this pur- pose. Place them in lye to remove the down; let the lye be PEAR. 211 weak and cold. Take them out and rub the woolly down off with a coarse crash towel. Have a rich clarified sirup prepared, and pour it scalding hot over the peaches; fill up the jar with pure French brandy. When cool, cover closely. If you use glass jars, pour the scalding sirup over the fruit in a stone vessel. PEAR (Pyrus communis, L.). ‘The pear-tree is not a native of America, but has been introduced from Europe. “The seeds,” says Downing, “should be sown precisely like those of the apple, in broad drills, and the treatment of the stocks, when planted in the rows for budding, is quite simi- lar. Budding is almost universally preferred by us for propagating the pear, and this tree takes so readily that very few failures can happen to an experienced hand.” See Budding. Seedlings are considered the best stocks for pears. Seed- lings of plebeian birth, but strong and healthy, are to be pre- ferred to a seedling from a pampered variety. ‘To get seed- ling stocks, clean the seed as soon as the fruit is matured, and sow it in deep rich soil; if you have no such soil, trench about two feet deep, and fill up with compost corrected by ashes. A healthy seedling of two years’ growth is fit for budding. The dwarf tree pear is the pear grafted on some slow- growing hardy stock. The Quince is usually preferred ; some large pears are said to be improved in habit and flavor by being grafted on this stock ; Downing instances the Duchess of Angouleme as so improved. The dwarf tree is generally short-lived ; its advantages are in the brief time requisite to bring fruit to the cultivator, and its economy and nattiness for a small garden. Though we find the pear-tree in a great variety of soils, yet a damp soil induces disease, and a soil too rich and deep tends to create a rank, unripened luxuri- 212 PEAR. ance. The pear-tree requires but little pruning. In exten- sive orchards in warm latitudes, the pear-tree is sometimes planted thirty feet distant each way; in fruit gardens, where the heads are occasionally pruned, twenty feet is often con- sidered sufficient. Pear-trees whose first vigor has gone by require every autumn a moderate top-dressing of manure, instead of violent enriching, which induces disease. The pear is attacked by an insect, Scolytus pyrt, whose rav- ages produce the disease called the insect blight ; the leaves become dry and brownish black, and the wood becomes dry and hard. emedy:— Cut off the diseased branches as soon as the disease is noticed, some inches below the withered, blighted symptoms of disease, and burn the branches. THe FROZEN-SAP BLIGHT. This is a more serious disease than the former, the dis- eased sap spreading infection over the whole tree. It is in- duced generally in soils that are over-rich, and force second growths in the same season, whose wood is unripened for winter; varieties of the pear which mature early are not so liable to feel this disease as the later growing sorts. Culti- vators have found that the means of warding off the visits of this disease are to select a rich but well drained or dry soil, to cultivate such varieties as mature their wood early, to avoid severe summer pruning and prune in winter or early spring, to reject cold soils and situations as not favorable for speedy growth and maturing of wood, and to abstain from sum- mer manuring, as calculated to over-stimulate and bring on a second growth of branches. Cut off the affected parts some distance below the diseased wood; if it spreads, cut again. Burn the branches as you cut them. . Most varieties of pear have the fruit more highly flavored by ripening it in the house; gather it when it parts readily from the stalk, and has assumed its double color ; spread the PICKLES. 913 fruit on floors or shelves. Winter dessert pears are allowed to remain till there is danger from frost. The varieties of pears are too extensive to be mentioned in a work like the present: every year adds to them. “ Des- sert pears,” says Downing, “should have a melting, soft text- ure, and a sugary, aromatic juice. Kitchen pears, for baking or stewing, should be large, with firm and crisp flesh, mod- erately juicy.” Perry, the fermented juice of the pear, is prepared much the same way as cider; it makes a milder and probably more wholesome drink. A pleasant vinegar is made from it. The large pound pear is gently stewed, after being pared till soft, in a weak sirup made of brown sugar. Some of the varieties of winter pears are usually chosen for preserves and marmalade. Owing to the sweetness of the pear, an equal weight of sugar is not taken for the preserve, and a little preserved ginger-root or lemon-juice is added to the sirup of the pear. PEAS. Green peas should be put into boiling water with a little salt, and some of the less sweet varieties are 1m- proved by a piece of sugar. Leave the pot uncovered, and boil rapidly. Twenty minutes will cook them if young. Drain them, and put bits of fresh butter in the dish and on top of the peas. PEPPER. Piper nigrum isa plant which grows in India. This shrub produces common pepper, the unripe berries be- ing the common black pepper; the matured seed, or berries deprived of their epidermis, is the white pepper of commerce. PICKLES. These articles are prepared by greening them with salt and water, and then steaming them in spiced vinegar, or the salt is used, to give some articles firmness. 214 PICKLES. Many housekeepers do not boil their vinegar because it loses strength by it, but pour it on to their pickles scalding hot. Put pickles in stone jars or glass vessels, never in glazed dishes. Pickles are made yellow by being taken from the brine, wiped, and exposed on a cloth to the action of the sun, and turned frequently; if they become white after the first day, they should be put with some turmeric powder into cold vinegar, and afterwards into spiced vinegar. To pickle cucumbers, beans, and gherkins, put them in salt and water, changing the water every other day; let them remain nine days, drain them, and put scalding vinegar over them. Use good wine or cider vinegar for pickles. To pickle onions, take the small button-onions, bury them in salt six days, then skin and trim them with a sharp knife; throw boiling water over them three times, allowing them to cool each time in-the water. After the third scalding put them in a glass jar, and fill it up with white French vinegar, put on cold. Put a little salad-oil on the top of the jar, and cover closely with a bit of bladder over the cork, or use bottle ce- ment. Mangoes are made either of the muskmelon or cantelope. Make a slit with a sharp knife, remove the seeds, and fill them, after they have been kept in a strong brine of salt and water for nine days, pouring it over hot the first day. Rinse and dry the melons with a cloth, and stuff them with mustard- seed, pepper-corns, mace, cloves, one small onion and a gher- kin to each, a bit of cinnamon and scraped horseradish, filling till they are plumped, and tie each with coarse twine. Make a bag of linen cloth and fill it with ginger-root, cloves, mace, and such spices as you please, and lay it over the mangoes after they are laid in the jar. When the strength of the spices is spent, refill the bag with fresh spice. Cover closely. To pickle cherries, take them when they are just ripe but while the flesh is firm, trim the stems, put a layer in a jar, PIG. 215 and sprinkle a little powdered loaf-sugar over them. Pro- ceed till the jar is two thirds full, then pour over pale white vinegar, and put a large spoonful of salad-oil on top. Bar- berries in bunches, and peaches not over ripe, may be pickled in a similar manner ; only these require to be steeped, and the sugar may be boiled in the vinegar and the sirup be poured over a little hot. To pickle cauliflowers, take the fairest. blooms and steep them in scalding brine for a few minutes, drain them, and, pulling them into branches, put them into glass jars and pour cold vinegar over them. To pickle the Black Walnut (Juglans nigra), and the Butternut (/. eznerea), gather the nuts when they may be easily pierced with a coarse needle; in New England this is towards the last of June. Put them into salt and water, and shift them every other day for twenty days. Take them out, drain them dry, turning them to expose them to the air. Put them into jars. Boil in vinegar cloves, horse- radish, and onions, and pour over them boiling hot. Tie up a little bag of ginger and put it on top of each jar. Tie down close with leather or bladder to exclude the air. In three months they will be fit for use. PIG, TO ROAST. Take a pig four or five weeks old, well cleaned and washed, truss his feet and skewer them, tie them down flat; take next some slices of bread, butter and sift pulverized sage over them, put them in the body of the pig, and sew him up. Put your pig on the spit, have a brisk fire with about a pint of salt and water in the dripping-pan ; make a swab and swab it to prevent its burning; when quite brown, butter freely. Have from the pan where the pig is roasted a full pint of gravy, take the harslet, previously boiled, chop it fine with the brains from the head, adding part of the bread which was in the pig after cutting him for the table, 216 PLUM. and put all these to the gravy; if you find the gravy not rich enough, add a piece of butter. Divide the pig down the back, after having separated the head. Put it on the dish feet outward, the brown skin of course upwards, and the head on either side; or put it on separate dishes half and half, placing them at opposite ends of the table. Before re- moving the pig from the spit, expose it on each side to the cold air that it may crisp. A pig of the above age takes about two hours before a good fire. It must be attended to constantly, or it will get scorched. PLUM (Prunus domestica, L.). The plum of our gar- dens is from the southern parts of Europe, or from Asia, but it has become thoroughly naturalized; the wild native plums, of which there are two or three distinct species, have never been much cultivated. The plum-tree is hardy, and requires little pruning, excepting to cut off diseased branches, and to thin off a crowded top. Pruning is always undertaken before midsummer, to prevent the flow of sap. The plum is easily propagated by sowing the seeds of any hardy variety, excepting the damsons, which are rather un- certain, and budding the seedlings when about two years old with desirable varieties. Soils charged with heavy clay are favorable for the plum. The muck from salt-water marshes is excellent manure for this fruit-tree, and common salt is also much approved of; it is applied to the surface of the soil un- der each matured healthy tree, early in spring, in proportions regulated by the size and constitution of the tree; some cul- tivators put half a peck of coarse salt to large bearing trees, sprinkling the surface as far as the branches extend. Salt is excellent for the plum-tree, both as a fertilizer and as a preventive to the attacks of the curculio, or plum-weevil (Ahynchaenus Nenuphar), an insect whose ravages sometimes entirely destroy the hopes of the cultivator of the smooth- PLUM. 217 skinned stone-fruits. Punctured by this insect, the fruit falls when only partially ripe to the ground. The best remedy is said to be a hard, heavy soil, unpropitious for the workings or life of the insect or its larve. ‘The next is to destroy all the punctured plums as they fall, to jar the tree with a mal- let swathed in cloth, and catch the plums on a spread cloth, destroying the fruit, and to allow fowls to run in the orchard. Keep the earth around plum-trees free from weeds, so that insects may be more readily discovered, and the smoother and harder it is kept the better. The Knots, Black Wart, or Black Gum, is only to be de- stroyed by cutting off the infected branches and burning them. This disease is thought to be the work of an insect, but noth- ing has ever been demonstrated with regard to the cause or causes. To preserve Plums, select handsome fruit, not too ripe, and of a fine flavor; mawkishly sweet fruit makes an indif- ferent preserve. Pare and divide them to remove the stone, keeping them as whole as possible. Weigh to their weight an equal quantity of the best loaf-sugar. Crack the stones, and blanch the kernels. Lay the fruit hollow upwards in flat dishes, and sift white sugar over them. Let them stand over night. In the morning cover the bottom of the kettle with the fruit, putting to them a little water; let them simmer very slowly, and spread them after they have simmered a few min- utes, as before, on flat dishes. Make the sirup of the weighed sugar flavored with the kernels of the plum-stones. Put the plums in glass jars, and when the sirup is only warm pour it over the plums. The sirup should be clear and thick. When cool, cover with brandied papers, and white paper turned over and pasted down. Plums after being first sim- mered are sometimes preserved in apple jelly. The best prunes are exported from France, and are made near Tours of the St. Catherine plum, and the Prune d’Agen; 19 218 PRESERVES. the Provence plums and other kinds are also used ; these last are called in England French plums. See Downing. PORK, TO CUT UP. Take off the head of the hog just below the ears, cut him open right up and down the back, and take the leaf-fat out for the lard; then take a strip from the pig’s belly about one eighth of a yard in width, this is not so nice as the leaf, and is not usually mixed with prime lard. Turn the hog and cut out his legs and shoulders, then cut out the spareribs and chine-bones, leaving the fat as thick as possible for salting ; that is, cut very little fat pork out with the spareribs and chine bones. Cut the remainder of the pork in strips the length of the carcass and an eighth of a yard in width, and bend them so as to pack them for salting in the barrel. The fat round the intestines of pork is usually tried out for soap and similar uses. POTATOES, TO BOIL. Have your potatoes about the same size by dividing the larger ones. Cover them only with water, and sprinkle a little salt between each layer of potatoes. Put them in cold water and allow them to simmer slowly. Probe them to see if they are done; if they receive the fork easily, pour off all the water, and leave the kettle uncovered, and near enough to the fire to evaporate the moist- ure of the potatoes, but not to scorch them. POULTRY, TO PLUCK. Turkeys and chickens, after being bled to death by sticking or making an incision in the neck, should be put into scalding, but not boiling-hot water, and be stripped of their feathers. Geese and ducks may be put to water that is nearly of a boiling heat, and then steamed in a thick cloth that the down may be easily removed. PRESERVES. Where fruit is to be kept for months PUDDINGS. 219 by being preserved in sugar, it is the best economy to pro- cure the double-refined loaf-sugar; then nothing is lost by clarifying and separation of scum when making the sirup, though when the fruit is added, the crude acids that float to the surface should be removed. Let the sugar be always dissolved in the water before going over the fire. Parboil and skim most fruits in a weak sirup, and then cool them be- fore putting them into the rich sirup made of sugar in equal weight with the fruit. All fruits should simmer gently till soft and transparent, and a kettle be kept for the single purpose of preserving them; the porcelain-lined kettles are desirable. Select fruit for preserving that is just ripe, and very fair. Most stone-fruit should have the stone taken out to keep well. See receipts under respective heads. To preserve Ginger Root, soak the quantity you wish to preserve two days in warm water, then scrape it, and slice it rather thin; make a sirup of the sugar after weighing it an equal weight of the root; take a little of the sirup, dilute it with water, boil the root in it till it is tender, then skim out the root, add the remainder of the sirup, and boil and skim the sirup till it is thick and quite clear; pour it over the gin- ger when cold. PUDDINGS. As the intelligent housekeeper varies these dishes to her fancy or convenience, we shall not give large space to them. All boiled puddings should have room left them in the cloth to swell, else they will be hard; they should be tied in such a manner as not to admit the water, or they will be water-soaked ; they should be often turned in the pot to pre vent berries or raisins from settling; a plate should be put into the bottom of the pot, that the pudding may not get scorched. Before the pudding is put into the cloth, this last should be wrung out of hot water, be well shaken, and then 220 PUDDINGS. be dredged inside with flour. The cloth, if washed out in hot lye instead of soap and water, will be sweeter, and free of the soapy taste that cooks sometimes permit to adhere to these things. Russia sheeting makes good pudding-cloths. FARMER'S PUDDING. To one cup and a half of cold water, put a large teaspoon- ful of salt, one cup of molasses, one full cup of beef-suet, one full cup of raisins, flour enough to make it stiff. Tie it ina pudding-cloth, giving it room to swell; when the water boils, put in your pudding, putting in a coarse plate to prevent the pudding from burning before it rises. Three hours will cook it. Be careful not to allow the water to stop boiling. SquasH PUDDING. One gill of squash, one gill of milk, one egg, one ounce of butter ; rose-water, sugar, and spice to your taste. MARLBOROUGH PUDDING. Six table-spoonfuls of apple after it is stewed and strained through a sieve. Six eggs, six ounces of sugar, six ounces of butter, the juice and grated peel of a lemon, a small blade of mace pounded, a table-spoonful of rose-water ; melt the but- ter and stir it in just before you put the pudding into the oven. Both the Marlborough and Squash puddings are baked in paste. THANKSGIVING PLUM-PUDDING. One loaf and a quarter of baker’s bread grated and sift- ed without the crusts, one pound and a half of stoned rai- sins, six ounces of butter. Butter the dish and cover with bread; then a layer of raisins and small lumps of butter al- ternately until your dish is two thirds full. Then pour over the following custard: to nine gills of milk add ten eggs, QUINCE. 221 one half-pound of sugar, beating the sugar and eggs together, one glass of wine, one half-glass of rose-water, one glass of brandy, one teaspoonful of-saleratus dissolved in milk, two nutmegs, and a little salt. Two hours will bake it, and if the directions are followed, it is a delicious pudding. Sauce for the Same. To one half-gill of wine, and the same of rose-water, half a _ pound of loaf-sugar, and a lump of butter as large as a good- sized ege. Put it over a moderate fire, and stir it for fif- teen minutes; when it has boiled up well, grate half a nutmeg into the sauce-boat, and pour the sauce in. QUINCE (Cydonia vulgaris). This tree is a native of Europe. Its reputation commenced in the city of Cydon, in Crete or Candia, whence its botanical name. The Quince may be grown either as a bush or a tree. It may be propagated from seed, layers, or cuttings ; but the seed is uncertain, the seedlings sometimes being the apple-shaped and as often the pear-shaped variety, though taken from the first, and vice versa. Cuttings, shaded and planted early in spring, root readily, and most cultivators recommend this mode of securing a good variety. The approved sorts may also be budded on common seedling Quince stocks, or on the common Thorn. We have seen that the Pear is dwarfed on Quince stocks. The Quince should have a deep, rich soil, and an annual top-dressing of manure, to have the fruit in perfection. It requires but little pruning; to be relieved of crowded or unhealthy branches is here its only need. It has visits from the Borer; but this and other insects must be watched and destroyed, as directed for the Apple-tree. There are three very distinct varieties of the Quince that are especially useful. The Apple-shaped Quince or Orange Quince. Fruit of the size of the largest apple, skin smooth, {o* 222 QUINCE. color fine golden. The most popular fruit for preserving, as it cooks tender, and the trees bear abundant crops. There are inferior varieties of this species. * The Pear-shaped Quince or Oblong Quince, formed like a pear, ripens a fortnight later than the Apple Quince. Flesh is rather tough, and makes an inferior preserve when com- pared to the above, both in color and tenderness. It has an aromatic flavor, and affords a good jelly. The Portugal Quince has a healthy growth, with a leaf larger and broader than the more common varieties. Its healthy habits make it a favorite with many gardeners for stocks on which to engraft or bud the Pear. The fruit is of the largest size, oblong; but the color of the skin is not so deep an orange as that of the other kinds. The Portugal Quince yields a scanty crop, and is styled by cultivators a shy bearer, and is not consequently so gen- erally cultivated as the Apple Quince; its fruit is milder than that of other quinces, cooks more tenderly, and assumes when cooked a purplish-crimson color. The Musk Quince bears fruit of only half the size of the common sorts. It is highly scented, but owing to its size is little cultivated for market. Besides these useful varieties, there are ornamental varie- ties from Japan and China. They are exceedingly pretty and well-known garden shrubs. The Japan Quince (Cydonia Japonica) has small dark- ereen leaves, and clusters of brilliant scarlet blossoms. Fruit useless. The Blush Japan is very like the above, excepting that the flowers are white and blush. The Chinese Quince (Oydonia Sinensis) has oval leaves, glossy surface, small, red blossom, with a delicate odor. The leaves red-tinted in autumn. ‘The fruit ripens late; it is a large oval, and is said to make an agreeable preserve. Quince-trees are set about ten feet apart. QUINCE. 2238 To PRESERVE QUINCEs. Rub the quinces hard with a clean coarse cloth, scald them till you can pass a fork through them, then peel them and cut them in quarters; remove all the hard substance which is found in the centre of the fruit after the core is taken out (for this spoils the quince if left in). Then take the sirup. which has been previously prepared thus: To every pound of sugar one half-pint of water, and in proportion to four pounds of sugar the white of one egg, put them together cold, and when dissolved put it over a moderate fire to sim- mer gently; do not touch it while simmering, but when it begins to rise, have ready to pour upon it half a teacup of cold water; when it swells up the second time, put in another half-teacup of cold water; but when it rises the third time, take it off:gently from the fire, and sit it by to cool twenty minutes ; then skim it and pour it off, wash the kettle clean, cover the bottom with the quince, pour over just sirup enough to cover them, and let them simmer gently till the sirup be- comes a jelly. Keep the kettle covered (except when you are removing the scum, which will rise, and must be taken off), and if the Apple Quince is used, the fruit will be perfect- ly white and well done; take the quarters out on a dish, and when the sirup is cool, put them together in glasses. Another Way. Select the fairest fruit of the Apple-shaped or Portugal va- rieties, wipe them and peel and core them; as you divide them in halves and quarters, sprinkle loaf-sugar over them ; weigh against the fruit the best loaf-sugar, pound for pound, and put this sugar aside to make the sirup, as above directed. Put the fruit into the bottom of the preserving-kettle and just cover it with water; let it simmer gently, when remove it to a flat dish and sift white sugar over it, and put the dish into an oven almost spent, leaving the door open; do so till 224 RABBIT. the whole amount has been in the oven about fifteen or twenty minutes; then take it all out, and set it one side in a dry closet, covering it. Make the sirup, and the following day preserve the quince till the sirup jellies. Add the wa- ter, strained, that the fruit was partially cooked in, to the ‘sirup, letting it simmer with it. The fruit thus preserved will have a high flavor, and be a rich, purplish red. Jelly may be made of the parings and the cores of the quince, though, where the fruit is plenty, the whole quince is washed, wiped, and sliced through without paring, and the kettle filled, and the fruit just covered with water; when the fruit is tender, the whole is passed through a flannel jelly-bag. To each pint of juice a pound of loaf-sugar pounded is added. Boil about twenty minutes. If the fruit and sugar are both of best quality, and the water is merely enough to cover the quince, less sugar may be used to bring a good jelly; but great care is requisite in this last case, whereas the full pro- portions yield a jelly without trouble. RABBIT. We have, besides our wild rabbit (Lepus Americanus), the European rabbit, which has been largely imported. Our rabbit is distinguished from the European rabbit (Zepus cuniculus) by its hind legs being nearly ten inches long, and its change of color, in the summer being covered with brown and ash-colored fur, which in winter be- comes white and increases in length; it is frequently styled the American Hare. ‘There is also the Siberian rabbit (Lepus tolat). Where the tame rabbit is reared for profit, the variety se- lected for breeding should be of the larger kinds. “Those termed,” says Professor Low, “the French and Turkish rab- bits, are much esteemed. The rabbit selected for breeding, we are informed by the breeders of them, should be wide in RASPBERRY. 225 the loin, and short-legged. In the management of the rab- bit, the utmost attention must be paid to ventilation, cleanli- ness, and food. ‘The animals are most conveniently kept in boxes, or compartments termed hutches, one above the other round the room. Each hutch intended for the does should have two divisions, one for feeding and the other for sleep- ing. Those are single which are intended for the use of the weaned rabbits, or for the bucks, which are always removed from the female. ‘There should be little troughs in the hutches for the food, which consists of corn, hay, roots, and green plants, or any farinaceous substance. Boiled potatoes are an excellent food for the rabbit, as for every kind of her- bivorous animal. The female, when the time of parturition approaches, makes her nest, for which hay is to be furnished her. She bites it with her teeth into the requisite size. She generally produces from five to ten young. At the end of six weeks the male is again admitted to her, and the young ones weaned, or she is allowed to suckle them for two weeks more. They are either sold from the teat when they are ex- tremely delicate, or they are kept on for a certain period and fattened. Good and nourishing food is to be supplied to them, and three months’ feeding is generally considered ne- cessary to fatten them properly.” The rearing of the domestic rabbit, on account of the pro- lificness of the animal, its wholesome flesh, and the little ex- pense attending its keeping, appears to be worthy of more attention than it has received. The doe carries her young about thirty days: if she be weak after parturition, some warm drink is given to her, such as milk and water, or beer caudle. Green food, such as clover, should not be given wet, as it produces disease ; it should also be varied with oats and similar substances. RASPBERRY (Rubus Ideus). This shrub, it is well 926 RASPBERRY. known, repays careful culture. It is propagated by suckers or offshoots, seed being used only for obtaining new varieties. Two or three suckers are generally put together to form a group or stool; plant the suckers in rows about three, or, if convenient, five feet apart, and the stools about three or four feet apart, inthe rows. ‘Let the soil be deep and rich, rather moist than dry. Keep them free from weeds. Prune when the crop is off, by cutting away old wood and feeble suckers, and trim back about a foot of the remaining shoots, and give each hill a light top-dressing of vegetable mould, and a little salt or sea-weed may be worked in with other fertilizers. The foreign varieties require to be treated in the fall like climbing roses: round each hill put straw and sea-weed, and, bending the branches gently over, cover them for the winter with evergreen boughs. In spring the bushes are trained, or simply tied to stakes or rails, so as to be exposed to the sun. Late fruit is obtained by cutting down some of the stools to within a short distance of the ground. A plantation of raspberries is considered to be in perfec- tion at the third year, and to be exhausted in five or six years, when a new one should be laid out on another piece of. ground. The common American Red Raspberry is a native of the Eastern and Middle States. It is valued for cordials. (See Cordials.) The American Black, or Thimbleberry, is stewed for a common preserve. The American White is similar to the Thimbleberry, ex- cepting in the color of its fruit, which is of a pale yellow or white. The most desirable foreign varieties (though these things are constantly progressive) are the True or New Red Ant- werp (the common Red Antwerp being inferior) ; the Yel- low Antwerp, a large light-colored raspberry; the Fran- SALADS. 227 conia, a variety imported from France by 8S. G. Perkins, Esq. of Boston; the Fastolff Raspberry, an English variety of great reputation ; and some others of good reputation. The Ohio Everbearing is a native of Ohio; it is like the ‘ American Black Raspberry, excepting that it bears late in the season, even to November in favorable seasons. A wine is made from the raspberry in the same manner as from the currant. Raspberry-jam may be made by weighing an equal quantity of sugar to the fruit, and boiling them to- gether. A very nice way of preserving this fruit is found in the following receipt. RASPBERRY-J AM. One pint of currant-jelly, one quart of raspberries; ex- amine the fruit well to remove all insects, bruise the fruit and jelly together, and set over a slow fire, keeping it stir- ring witha silver spoon all the time till it boils. Allow it to boil five or six minutes. Pour it into your glasses warm, papering them as you do currant-jelly. It will keep for two or three years, and have the full flavor of the raspberry. SALADS. These dishes should never be fully prepared till just before they make their appearance on the table, so that the vegetables or herbs may be crisp and light; and where meats are used, as lobster and chicken, the dressing should be poured on at the last moment, otherwise the mus- tard toughens the meat, and gives the whole dish a flabby, spent look. CHICKEN SALAD. Boil a hen-chicken or fowl that has a white skin till ten- der. When cold, cut the meat from the bones into pieces about an inch in size. Take a bunch of celery (or two if small), have it nicely cleaned, and keep in cold water till just before it is cut up. Prepare the dressing thus: Take five 228 SAUCES. eggs and boil them hard for ten minutes, mash the yolks with a wooden spoon very smoothly, mix‘ with them a salt- spoonful of salt, one table-spoonful of mild mustard (half of this if very sharp), three table-spoonfuls of sweet olive-oil, one small teaspoonful of India soy or Worcester-sauce, three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. Beat the whole together. Cut the celery into bits of half an inch, mix it well with the chicken, and then shape the whole with the wooden spoon, and garnish with the green leaves of the celery, and slices of cold, hard-boiled eggs. Have the whole lie lightly, so that the dressing when poured on may settle all over the salad. Serve with a boxwood spoon and fork. SAUCES. These matters are best made for the most part in the dain-marie or double kettle, the outside compart- ment being filled with hot water; especially should the bain- marie be used for butter, egg, and cream sauces. MELTED BUTTER. Mix in half a gill of water smoothly two teaspoonfuls of flour and a little salt; take a quarter of a pound of butter, and work out all buttermilk. Put the water and flour to the fire, and when it comes to a boil, stir in the butter till it is melted, then remove it from the fire. Make melted butter just as itis wanted. ‘This sauce may be flavored with vari- ous essences, herbs, capers, or what you please. For fish, stir in a teaspoonful of anchovy-sauce. FisH SAUCE. Rub a teaspoonful of flour into a quarter of a pound of butter ; when well kneaded, put it into your pan with a table- spoonful of water. Take the boiled liver of your fish, and bruise it very fine, put to it a little cayenne pepper, and a table-spoonful of tarragon vinegar. Just as the butter, which SAUCES. 220 should be constantly shaken, begins to boil, add the liver with its vinegar, and remove the sauce from the fire. Serve in a boat, or over the fish. Vinegar may be flavored with tarragon by gathering the leaves of the herb in July or August, and filling a bottle half-full of tarragon leaves, and filling up with vinegar. Russ1AN SAUCE FOR CoLp MEAarts. Four table-spoonfuls of grated horseradish (grate it with a fine grater), two spoonfuls of made mustard, one salt-spoon- ful of salt, the same quantity of pounded loaf-sugar, and vine- gar enough to cover the ingredients. Keep it closely bot- tled, and it will keep for some months. Eea SAUCE. Melt your butter thick, and chop fine two or three eggs that have been boiled ten minutes. Put the chopped egg into the boat, and pour the melted butter over them. This is eaten with boiled chicken or boiled fish. OysTER SAUCE FOR A BOILED Cop. Strain the oysters from their liquor, wash them out in cold water, and drain them dry. Pour the liquor from its sedi- ment, and put it over the fire; to a pint of liquor put one glass of claret, the juice of half a lemon, a blade of mace, and a little butter thickened with a teaspoonful of flour ; let it al- most boil, then add half a pound of butter, and let it melt, shaking it well; lastly add, after taking out the mace, a dozen and a half of oysters; let them scald, but not boil. Put the sauce into a boat. GAME SAUCE. Grate half of a baker’s loaf of bread (cutting off the crusts) ; add to it a little salt and grated nutmeg, half a gill of 20 230 SEA-KALE. claret, and the juice of two oranges ; when your fowls are half roasted, put the above over the fire with a quarter of a pound of butter, into which you have kneaded two teaspoonfuls of flour; shake it while it melts, then put it under your fowls with the gravy in the pan. Celery makes a good sauce for game, when cut in bits and boiled till tender, adding a little cream, a bit of butter rolled in flour, and seasoning with pounded mace and a very little nutmeg. Celery is so abundant in flavor that but little spice should ever be used with it. Venison sauce is usually made by adding to the gravy cur- rant-jelly and a glass of red or white wine; or the jelly may be served in small glass dishes, as venison is always eaten over chafing or hot-water dishes. SAUSAGES. Hon. L. J——’s Parisian receipt is as follows: Three ounces of sage, two and a half of cloves, two and a half of pepper, eight of salt, and three nutmegs, to twenty-five pounds of meat, which should be one half fat and one half lean. This is a very nice receipt for sausages, and was given to me by a gentleman who resided several years in Paris, and there procured it. Itis unnecessary to say that the sage and spices should be pulverized, and well pounded and thoroughly incorporated with the finely chop- ped meat. It may be cooked either in balls or skins. SEA-KALE. (Chou marin. Orambe maritima.) 'This plant is grown, cooked, and served (excepting the toast) very much as asparagus. It should be gathered before it is matured, for then it is tough and stringy. Soak it in salt and water, and then put in some fresh water with a little salt; let the pot be filled with water, and let the kale boil quickly for fifteen or twenty SOUPS. 231 minutes. Drain it very thoroughly, and serve with butter- sauce, or bits of butter laid under and over it. This vegeta- ble requires to be freshly gathered when it goes to the pot. Keep the pot while boiling, for the most part, uncovered. SOAP FOR WASHING. Two pounds of hard soap, four quarts of rain-water; let it dissolve; add one quarter of a pound of saleratus; let it almost boil, then add one tea- spoonful of tartaric acid, one teaspoonful of arrowroot ; let it all boil twenty minutes. Pour it out into a baking-pan; let it stand all day and over night, then slice it, and put it in the oven to dry. This soap makes flannels look handsomely. Ox-Gatt Soap. Take one quart of ox-gall, and slice into it two pounds of best yellow soap (Alexander Dickinson’s Extra No. 1, man- ufactured at Cambridge, Mass., is the kind I have used). Set it on the range and let it simmer until the soap is dissolved or melted; add a large spoonful of table-salt, and pour it into flat pans; cut it into bars when cold, and dry it; it will be- come very hard and keep for years. A very little of it will wash nice prints, de laines, &c., and it is excellent to wash or scour woollen table-cloths, piano-covers, &c. SOUPS. Ihave given some rules for soups when speak- ing of almond soup and turtle soup; here, therefore, I shall give but a few receipts for these preparations. To offer re- ceipts for shank soups, or mutton broths, to American house- keepers, would be to expose myself to the rebuke given by Judge Marshall to the counsellor who was proceeding to lay out his mental wares much as Sydney Smith says a French- man does of whom you have imprudently asked information upon some point, when the mild Judge finally interrupted the everlasting drone of commonplace with, “ Mr. , there are 232 | SOUPS. some things with which the Court should be supposed to be acquainted.” CLAM Soup. Brown a quarter of a pound of butter and thicken it with flour, then pour in as much water as you judge sufficient for your soup, put in a piece of veal or small leg of lamb, and one pint of clam-liquor, a finely chopped onion, a little thyme, pounded pepper, cloves, and mace, but no salt, as the clam- liquor will answer for that; add a gill of wine, Madeira or sherry ; a yam boiled in it is a great improvement; let it boil three hours, when take not less than fifty clams, trim them and cut them in small pieces, and throw them in the soup half an hour before you dish. The Yam (Dioscorea sativa) is extensively grown in the West Indies; its root is farina- ceous, and it is both roasted and boiled, or served in soups when it can be procured, where its presence is thought to be rauch desired. Mocx-TurtTLeE Soup. Boil the well-cleaned calf’s head and feet in water just sufficient to cover them; skim it well, and allow it to boil till the meat can be easily cut from the bones. Take out all the bones and cut the meat in small pieces and strain the liquor over it; add to it one quarter of an ounce of ground pepper, one quarter of an ounce of pounded clove, some pulverized sweet herbs; put it again in a clean kettle over the fire, and let it simmer, but not boil. About half an hour before you take the soup up, put in forcemeat balls; have the balls the size of large English walnuts; reserve some of the forcemeat balls to fry brown in butter; at the same time have ready a bottle of claret or port wine, and pour it into the kettle. Boil twelve eggs ten minutes, and when the soup is to be sent in, cut the eggs in two pieces and garnish the sides of the dish with them and slices of lemon. Have some of the force; STRAWBERRY. Y50 meat balls. served hot on small oval dishes. These should be fried a delicate brown. Forcemeat for the above: — Take a loaf of baker’s flour- bread, and grate it; add an equal quantity of beef-suet, chopped very fine; season highly with pepper, clove, salt, nut- meg or mace, cayenne, sweet-marjoram, and wet the whole with eggs till they may be rolled in balls. Those which you fry will require but little butter, as the fat fries from them. OystTER Soup. To fifty oysters, one pint of water, one pint and a half of milk, to be mixed with the liquor. Wash the oysters from their liquor, and strain the last or pour it from its sediment ; then add the water, and half a spoonful of ground mace, a salt-spoonful of salt, half a salt-spoonful of ground clove; let it come to a boil; strain it through a cloth, then add the milk and the oysters, and let it come once more to a boil. Take one large spoonful of flour mixed smoothly like mustard, stir it in, and take off the pot; put in a piece of butter; brown three thin slices of bread well dried in the oven previous to toasting, cut them in small square pieces and lay them in the dish, and pour the soup over them. STRAWBERRY. (ragaria.) Select for this valu- able plant a deep loamy soil, that will allow of free culture ; for though an herbaceous plant, the roots of many varieties if encouraged will penetrate to the depth of two feet in one season; hence the ground should be ploughed and thoroughly pulverized to the depth of a foot or more, then spread ona few inches of well-decomposed stable-manure, and harrow in, making the ground level; mark it off by a line in alternate rows of three feet by eighteen inches. Choose strong young plants, taking them up carefully in order that the roots may be entire, and set them in the rows, eighteen or twelve inches 20 * 234 STRAWBERRY. asunder. In its wild state, the strawberry blossom is perfect ; but culture has altered the habits of most of the varieties, though the European Wood and Alpine Strawberries still, un- der every cultivation, retain their primitive habits, giving from every blossom perfect fruit. Barren plants are those which have flowers in an imperfect state, deficient either in stamens or pistils; imperfectly provided with pistils, they are styled male plants; deficient in stamens, female plants. But the term is a convenient rather than a correct one, as the or- gans are not absent, but only imperfectly matured. In view of this habit of the cultivated Strawberry, the plants are set out in the proportion of one staminate to fifteen or twenty pistillates, either in alternate rows or in close proxim- — ity. The pistillate flowers produce the fruit, but the pollen of the staminate has previously fertilized them. Cultivators watch the growth and bearing habits of their plants, and those which are barren are not allowed to usurp the bed, but are kept trimmed of runners. Stakes may be put in near the fruitful plants, and runners be selected from good bearers for new beds. : Early in the spring is the best time for setting out plants, varying of course according to the season and the latitude. Care should be taken to keep the ground free from weeds through the summer, and at the approach of winter the beds should be covered two or three inches deep with coarse lit- ter, vegetable mould, and earth from the woods. This light dressing need not be disturbed in the spring, as the plants will find their way through and grow vigorously. VARIETIES. These are very numerous, many having been introduced from abroad. Our native Wood Strawberry, called abroad Virginia Scarlet, has given us the varieties called Scarlet Strawberries; the Pine or Surinam Strawberry, the sorts STRAWBERRY. 235 called Pines; the Wood Strawberry of Europe, the class called Woods and Alpines; the Hautbois are from Bohemia, the Chili Strawberries from South America; and besides these sorts there are green, white, and black Strawberries. For all practical purposes one or two best varieties should be chosen, the early and later bearers. _ Early Virginia is an early bearer, yielding early in June till towards the last of the month. It is a bright scarlet, very juicy, and a general favorite. Hovey’s Seedling comes into bearing as the Virginia Early goes out, and continues into July. As is well known, it was raised in 1833 by Messrs. Hovey, in their garden at Cam- bridge. It has more than any other variety raised the char- acter of the Strawberry. It is easily hulled, yields abun- dantly, and the vines are very vigorous. It is cultivated not only in New England, but the farmers of Virginia hold it their choicest variety. Among the Pine Strawberries, Ross’s Phoenix, when culti- vated on a rich, deep loam, bears a high reputation, and a heavy crop of fruit. It grows in clusters, the berries flattened at the top; it has a rich, fine flavor, and a color of dark pur- plish-red. In the extreme Eastern States it is an uncertain bearer. Alpine and Wood Strawberries have varieties which are popular, owing to their continuing in bearing till late in the season, and to their flavor, which is fragrant and sweet. The Bush Alpines are distinguished for being without runners ; they are propagated by dividing the roots. They make a good border. The Hautbois Strawberries have a variety called Prolific Hautbois, which bears abundantly. Its flowers are always perfect, rising above the leaves; the fruit is dark-colored, of a rich, musky flavor, ripening rather early. The vines some- times bear a second crop. ‘This variety does not mix. 236 TOMATO. PRESERVED STRAWBERRIES. Take the largest and best garden strawberries that are not over-ripe ; weigh against each pound of fruit a pound of the best loaf-sugar ; set it aside for the sirup. Sprinkle the fruit with a little powdered white sugar; make the sirup with the weighed sugar; set it one side to cool. Put the strawberries over the fire in a bain-marie, with the sirup which they have made of the powdered sugar; let them be scalded and then taken off and cooled. When cold, put them in the prepared sirup; let them simmer slowly till they look clear, take them out gently into glasses. Boil and skim the sirup, and when cold put it over the fruit. The sooner strawberries are pre- served after being gathered, the better. (See Cordials.) SWEETBREADS. Veal sweetbreads should be cooked while they are fresh; they spoil easily, and then are entirely lost. ‘Trim them, taking out the gristle, and keep them in cold water till they are to be cooked. When to be cooked, split them open, and put them in boiling water; boil them ten minutes, and then take them off and put them in a pan of cold water. ‘This treatment renders them white and firm. They are now ready to be fricasseed, in the same manner as chickens cut up are, or to be fried in butter, or minced for omelets or croquettes. TOMATO, BAKED. ‘Take tomatoes that are just ripe, remove the skins by pouring hot water over them, but in peeling keep them as whole as possible. Put into a baking- dish grated bread and bits of butter, then a layer of tomatoes seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little powdered sugar, a bit of butter in the centre of each tomato; cover with bread- crumbs as before, then another layer of tomatoes seasoned and finished with grated bread. ‘Tomatoes take a good deal of butter if cooked, and require several hours of slow simmering. This is a very nice receipt. TRUFFLE. 237 TONGUES. See under Beef. TRUFFLE. (Tuber cibarium.) This vegetable has never been grown in this country, but in France artificial beds have been constructed with a view to produce these luxuries. They grow always several inches below the sur- face of the ground, so that, in making artificial beds, great care is taken to mark the rows where the trufiles are plant- ed. ‘To construct these beds, the best garden-soil is taken, trenched two feet deep, and the stones carefully removed ; to this soil is added, in proportions of one tenth, well-powdered snail-shells, two parts of well-pulverized clayey soil, and one part of oak saw-dust, or, which is better, vegetable mould formed from decayed oak or beech leaves, to seven parts of good garden-soil. A southern or warm aspect is to be avoid- ed. ‘The bed should be soaked a day or two, then rows made half a foot in depth, and perfect healthy truffles planted six inches apart. The bed should in dry weather be kept moist. In Europe dogs are trained to hunt for truffles, discover- ing them by their scent. Epicures regard them as above all price, and near large cities their cultivation would no doubt amply repay the trouble and expense of preparing a bed. These vegetables grow in clusters. They are used in cooking precisely as the mushroom, but before cooking they are soaked in warm water for three or four hours; then they require hard brushing with a hair- brush kept for such purposes, to have all the earth removed from them; if peeled, they do not look so handsomely, but taste better. They are frequently gently simmered with a nice seasoning of sweet herbs, spices, a little rich broth, and two or three glasses of sherry, and when tender, baked, after being taken from the stewpan, for about twenty minutes in a moderate oven, then placed in a dish with mashed potatoes for 238 VEAL. a border, and the gravy they were simmered in, reduced (by boiling, and a teaspoonful of arrowroot mixed smoothly in a cup with a spoonful of water like mustard) to a jelly, is poured over them hot, just before they are sent to the table. TURNIPS. Among the sorts used for the table, the Long Yellow French is a favorite. In boiling them, pare off the rind, and equalize their size by cutting the larger ones; put them into a pot filled with water. They should be carefully drained, and can be served whole, or mashed with a wooden spoon, and passed through a colander. When mashed, re- turn them to the stewpan with a piece of butter, a little salt, cayenne, and, if convenient, a spoonful or two of cream; beat the whole together, and put the turnip into a dish, marking the surface in diamonds. Some boiled dishes, such as leg of mutton or lamb, are sometimes served over a purée of turnip; that is, turnip mashed and nicely seasoned with fresh butter, salt, and pepper. VEAL. The desirable features for this meat are fatness and whiteness, which when conspicuous show that the calf was well fed on rich milk, and judiciously bled. Veal should be fresh ; never even in winter should it be more than three or four days old. The meat of the bull-calf is closer in erain, and more red in color, than the cow-calf. To retard change, remove the pipe that runs through the chine ofa loin of veal. In the fore-quarter are the neck, shoulder, and breast; in the hind-quarter, the knuckle, leg, fillet, and loin. Veal requires to be cooked a good deal, and to be served with piquant sauces. The leg with the fillet attached to it, the loin, the breast, VEAL. 239 and the shoulder, are generally roasted. ‘The leg and breast are stuffed and roasted. ‘The breast is also frequently roasted, with bits of thin slices of sweet salt-pork skewered to it. ; Braising is a nice process for many pieces of veal. Brais- ing is merely stewing slowly in a little broth or water, not enough to cover the meat, adding high seasonings, and keep- ing the stewpan closely covered. Skewers may be laid in the bottom of the stewpan, to prevent the meat from stick- ing. FORCEMEAT FOR A FILLET. After the knuckle is sawed off, and the bone taken out of the centre of the fillet, fill the space left with the following stuffing: Chop up half a pound of salt pork very fine, mix with it the same quantity of grated bread-crumbs, one quar- ter of a nutmeg, two blades of pounded mace, one teaspoonful of sweet-marjoram, the same of summer-savory, a little white pepper, and bind the whole together with three eggs. Just before the fillet is sent to the table, put into half a gill of boiling-hot water the strained juice of a lemon, and three table-spoonfuls of Harvey’s sauce, and pour it over the meat. You may fry some of the stuffing in small balls, and garnish the dish alternately with lemon sliced, and the balls nicely browned in butter. A large fillet, weighing fourteen or fifteen pounds, will take three hours roasting, a smaller one, two. Baste it with butter, and have a pint of water in the dripping-pan for the gravy, which thicken with a little flour dredged in lightly, and add a gill of wine and Harvey’s sauce mixed together. Serve the made gravy in a boat. Catr’s HEAD AND FEET. Wash them well in lukewarm water, sprinkle pounded 240 VEAL. 4 rosin over them, and put them in boiling water, and draw them quickly out. The rosin adheres to the hair, which is thus readily scraped off. Soak them in cold — to give firmness and whiteness. Calf’s head may be boiled plain, in just water enough to cover it, after taking out the eyes, and sawing the bone down through the middle of the head, or it may be stewed with savory herbs and spice, or used for mock-turtle. (See Soups.) The feet are nice fricasseed, boiling them first till the large bones can be pulled out, then flavoring the water they were boiled in with the juice of a lemon, a gill of wine, a large piece of butter with three spoonfuls of flour rubbed into it; let it stew slowly for about twenty minutes, then add three well-beaten eggs, and a cupful of cream that has been previously boiled with a little salt. Shake the stewpan, but do not allow it to boil, putting the egg and cream in just be- fore it goes to the table. CauFr’s-Foot JELLY. To four large, well-cleaned legs put four quarts of water ; let it simmer slowly till reduced to two quarts ; when the meat is tender and leaves the bones, take off the kettle, and strain the whole through a colander. Let the jelly cool in the same room gradually ; when cold remove with a silver spoon all the top-fat; put the jelly into your preserving-kettle, leay- ing the sediment at the bottom of the dish. Put to the jelly in the kettle the beaten whites and shells of six eggs, the strained juice of three large lemons, the thinly pared rind_ of one of the lemons, one pound and a half of the best loaf- sugar, crushed with a rolling-pin, one pint of white wine, a large nutmeg, a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon. Allow it to melt gradually, and do not stir it after it has melted; as the scum accumulates on one side, take it off. Have ready two straining-bags made of cotton or linen, sewed on small wood- WATCHES. 241 en hoops; into one bag put a large teaspoonful of brown sugar if you wish a deep color to the jelly, which is to be poured upon it. Do not squeeze the bags, it will make the jelly muddy. When the jelly is in, cover the aperture of the bags. Should it not run clear, return it to the bag. When the jelly has passed through the bags, let it remain in the same room till it becomes solid. When cool, fill up glasses with a spoonful from one dish, and from the other al- ternately, or, if you choose, keep them in separate glasses. Calf’s-foot jelly looks best broken up in glasses. A light-colored jelly is made from the feet of hogs, and the exquisite amber-colored jelly often seen at the shops is prepared from the feet of sheep. Where these ‘jellies are designed for moulds, several bits of isinglass are put in to boil with the feet. WATCHES. Women’s watches are so proverbially out of order, that nautical men have framed a proverb which says, “ A ship, like a lady’s watch, is always out of repair.” We have selected the following rules of Edward Geafton’s as useful for those who carry watches. Wind your watch as nearly as possible at the same time every day. Be careful that your key is in a good condition, as there is much danger of injuring the machine when the key is worn or cracked; there are more mainsprings and chains broken through a jerk in winding than from any other cause, which injury sooner or later will be the result if the key is in bad order. As ail metals contract by cold and expand by heat, it must be manifest that to keep the watch as constantly as possible at one temperature is a necessary piece of atten- tion. Keep the watch as nearly as possible in one position, — 21 242 WINE. that is, if it hangs by day, let it hang by night against some- thing that is soft. The hands of a pocket chronometer or duplex watch should never be set backwards; in other watches this is a matter of no consequence. The glass should never be opened in watches that set and regulate at the back. One or two directions it is of vital importance that you bear in mind. On regulating a watch, should it be going fast, move the regulator a trifle towards the slow, and if going slow, do the reverse ; you cannot move the regulator too gently or slight- ly at a time, and the only inconvenience that can arise is, that you may have to perform the duty more than once. On the contrary, if you move the regulator too much at a time, you will be as far, if not farther than ever, from attaining your object; so that you may repeat the movements until quite tired and disappointed, stoutly blaming the watch- maker while the fault is entirely your own. Again, you cannot be too careful in respect of the nature of the watch-pocket; see that it be made of some material that is soft and pliant, such as wash-leather, which is the best, and also that there be no flue or nap that may be torn off when taking the watch out of the pocket. Cleanliness, too, is as needful here as in the case of the key before winding; for if there be dust or dirt in either in- stance, it will, you may rely upon it, work its way into the watch as well as wear away the engine turning of the case. WINE. (Vinum.) Beside the juice of the vine, we find many fruits and plants have always been subjected to the processes of fermentation as far back as the memory of man runneth, in order to produce the liquor called wine. As processes are discovered for preserving fruit and vegetables WINE. 2438 in their native spirit without loss of bulk or flavor, as healthy mental excitements become generally diffused, and motives for self-control increase in a secure ratio, we shall, we confi- dently hope, find this instinct of man dying out. Taking things as they now are, we shall make a few general remarks upon wines. It is only by a moderate use of wine that persons can ever become good tasters. A wine-merchant in extensive busi- ness once remarked to the author that he never swallowed his wines when judging of their relative merits, knowing that if he did he should soon lose his nicety of taste. The osten- tation which induces people to produce several varieties of wine at one dinner merits, therefore, censure for more rea- sons than one; after one or two glasses, the nerves of the stomach are over-stimulated. Port-wine, on account of the imperfectly combined alcohol always present in it, is more injurious to stomach and un- derstanding than Sherry, even when this is of like strength with the Port. Claret and Rhenish are the most innocent. Champagne produces but a temporary excitement, followed by no after consequences of serious derangement, unlike in these respects the wines of Oporto, which, abounding in as- tringent qualities and uncombined brandy, are pernicious in their effects as a daily drink, even when accompanied with great exercise. ‘The Spanish wines, which include the Sher- ries, are strong, heady wines, which should be diluted with water, excepting when ordered as medicine. Madeira dilut- ed is said to be a good wine for the dyspeptic, provided there is no disposition to hypochondriasis or melancholy. The Bordeaux wines, the best light wines of the Rhine and the Moselle, are, for daily use, the least injurious of all wines ; they are said to have the little alcohol they contain wholly \ combined. They contain tartaric acid, and thus tend to di- minish obesity. Sweet wines disorder the stomach, and their 244 WINE. free use induces intoxication and subsequent suffering as great as that brought on by stronger wines. Wine kept in casks should be closely stopped, set in a place where the temperature will be equal, and where it will | not be subjected to agitation, which induces precipitated sub- stances to mix again with the wine. To prevent wine, on putting it into a new cask, from com- bining with the properties of the wood, and acquiring a taste of the cask, the inside of the cask or hogshead should be charred. While old Rhenish wines kept in the barrel are said to lose one half of their original alcohol, wines put in bottles not corked, but tied over with bladder, increase in strength, that membrane giving passage to water, but not to spirit. Wines, though they part with their strength, apr in other qualities by being kept in casks. Travellers complain loudly of the adulteration of wine in Italy, and find it possible to obtain good wine only from the proprietors. Red wine is there often adulterated with sul- phate of zinc, and the white with the acetate of lead, both virulent poisons, often combined in these wines in such quan- tities as to induce violent deaths. The processes for wine-making, with slight modifications, are the same, whatever fruit or plant is employed. In the best wine countries, the grape-vine is growf only three or four feet high, and the bunches nearest the soil, provided they do not touch, are always considered the richest. The strength of wines of the same country and grape vary. Grapes grown in a light, dry soil, with a southern ex- posure, yield wine highly charged with alcohol, while grapes of the same species, cultivated in a strong, damp soil, with a different aspect, give a wine weak in alcohol. ‘Though the strength of wine is regulated by alcohol, its quality and its price are decided by its odor and taste; alcohol furnishes WORMS, SLUGS, ETC. 245 body and strength, but mellowness and perfume are charac- teristics mostly sought for in dinner wines. (See Chaptal and Johnson’s Encyclopedia.) Among home-made wines, Gooseberry wine is thought most to resemble Champagne. CHAMPAGNE WINE OF GOOSEBERRIES. Gather on a dry day one bushel of the best cultivated gooseberries, just before they turn to ripen. Bruise them very thoroughly ; then pour upon them three gallons of scalding water, and put them into an open headed cask that has been previously charred. Cover the cask with a blanket ; stir them daily two or three times for four days; press them, and to every gallon of the juice put three pounds of loaf or good white Havana sugar powdered; let it dissolve. After it has fermented for twelve or fourteen days, being filled daily so that the impurities may run over, put the bung on lightly, gradually making it firmer, till at the third day it is driven in perfectly air-tight. Let it stand in the same tem- perature without being stirred till December, when, on a clear, dry day, it should be racked off, and have one eighth of the best brandy added to it. It may now be again left till June, when, if not found bright and clear, it may be refined by the beaten whites of six eggs. Bottle it in fresh bottles with new corks, and after corking them dip the neck of the bottle in bottle-cement. WORMS, SLUGS, &c. These frequently destroy the appearance of garden walks, and some of the slug and snail kind infest plants. To destroy them, water the soil with salt and water, putting not more than two pounds of salt to four gallons of water. Slices of turnips scattered over beds of plants will gather slugs and snails, which thus, on the fol- lowing morning, may be removed and destroyed. 246 WORMS, SLUGS, ETO. Rats and mice, it is said, may be driven from fields and barns by the presence of the common mullein plant, and also of garlic bulbs, if laid round in small stacks, while the oil of rhodium and oil of anise-seed, if rubbed on meat, will attract rats unfailingly to a trap. Tansy leaves, as also elder and walnut leaves, either in their actual state or as a decoction, will keep flies from animals and meat. THE END. H 13680 3