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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. <A provider, ca-
terer, or purchaser of provisions. An acater, to understand
his or her business, should know which meats and vegetables
best consort with certain seasons; how to choose young
chickens, by trying the flesh under the wing, seeing if the
breast-bone yields to the touch, if the scales on the leg be .
smooth, and the spurs scarcely budded, and the claws tender
and short ; how to select healthy meats, by rejecting such as
show a yellow, diseased appearance in the fatty portions, or
a spotted, unequal surface, as if indifferently bled, or coarse,
loose fibre, indicating poor feed. A good acater should make
himself familiar with the most reliable brands for flour; the
choicest varieties of apples for dessert, and also for culinary
preparations ; the difference between dry, unadulterated
sugar, and that which is the refuse of the sugar-factory, —
between acid and fermenting molasses, and rich, wholesome
sirup. In short, a good acater and caterer should have good
sense, nice observation, be something of a chemist, and a
little of a Yankee.

ACCOMPANIMENT, ». That which accompanies.
( Worcester.) This word seems to be principally devoted
to the musical and culinary arts. One axiom with the house-

keeper is never to have insipid meats accompanied with
1

D4 ACCOMPANIMENT.

insipid vegetables. Veal is, therefore, relieved by lemon,
horseradish, pungent salads, pickles, and piquant condiments.
Young onions, cabbage salad, water-cresses, and lettuce,
owing to their bitter properties, are desirable accompani-
ments for veal. ‘This acrimonious property should, however,
be mitigated, by soaking such vegetables, before cooking,
about half an hour in cold water.

A Boiled Leg of Mutton should be accompanied by mashed
turnips and caper sauce.

Roasted Mutton and Venison require currant or grape
jelly.

Mutton stuffed and baked, or stewed, should have tomato
sauce.

Roasted Turkey is usually served accompanied by a slice
of boiled smoked tongue, celery, and cranberry jelly. Mush-
rooms and mushroom’sauce are always desirable with roasted
poultry and game.

Boiled Turkey, with oyster sauce; cauliflower, if in season.

Roasted Goose, with apple sauce and onions.

Roasted Chicken, with stewed tomatoes, summer-squash,
salsify fritters, and rice croquets. If out of season for sum-
mer-squash and salsify, rice croquets, onions, and tomatoes
are all desirable accompaniments. ‘Tomatoes are easily
preserved in tin canisters, kept air-tight, through the win-
ter. Celery should, if possible, always be on the table with
roasted chicken ; asparagus, if in season.

Boiled Chicken, with egg sauce or oyster sauce, or parsley
sauce. A small bit of sweet, young pork boiled with it.
Asparagus, if in season.

Roast Beef, with macaroni, gears boiled rice, if in
winter, squash ; tomatoes.

Boiled Beef, with carrots, cabbage, parsnips.

Roasted Duck and Game, with currant jelly, mushroom
sauce, and onions.

ACCOUNT-BOOK. 3

Boiled Salt Codfish is accompanied with carrots, beets,
and onions, with egg sauce and melted pork gravy, com-
monly known as dip.

Tongues and Sounds are served with the same vegetables
and sauces.

Fried Fish are mostly served with crisped parsley.

Baked Fish, with anchovy sauce; pickles and lemons
being always on the table.

Boiled Salmon, with caper sauce, egg sauce, and anchovy
sauce. .

Potatoes and artichokes are served, in their various ways,
with most dishes, though with plain boiled dishes mashed
or fried potatoes would be an anomaly. They are simply
boiled whole for such dishes.

Of course, these are merely suggestions; and offered prin-
cipally to the young housekeeper as inducements for her
to look for and adhere, whenever compatible, to palatable
affinities.

ACCOUNT-BOOK. A book containing accounts. Every
housekeeper will find herself repaid for her trouble if she
allow her register of personal and household expenses to
expand into a kind of commonplace-book. For example,
if she live in the country, under the head of Animals, let her
‘register facts with regard to her poultry, cows, &c., reserving
several blank pages to be filled up as occasion may offer.
Under the head of Plants, reserving the blank pages as be-
fore, set down all reliable facts and observations with regard
to soil suitable to a certain class of plants, and the habits
of such plants as she may be cultivating; what class of
insects infest them, and by what means they are best de-
stroyed. If she be a mother, let her make an entry, under
the general head of Disease, of the rise, progress, and depart-
ure of different diseases, as experienced by her children.

4 . ACIDS.

In short, whenever any important fact offers itself, let it
be put down under some general head, making an index at
the end of the book of each head, and the number of the
page on which each subject is placed. ‘This is the only safe |
way of being sure of your facts. Medical men know this;
and after listening to statements at college meetings, they
inquire of the speaker, Did you at the time make an entry
of these things in writing? If the reply is in the negative,
they refuse to accept the matter, whatever it may be, as
reliable data.

ACIDS. Liquids and substances which have a sharp
taste, and the property of changing vegetable blues to red.
This word is now used by chemists for a substance which
has not these properties, but has the capability of combining-
with, and neutralizing, alkalies, various earths, and metallic
oxides, and in these forms is called salts.

In most plants we find vegetable acids.

Tartaric Acid is discovered in grapes, — white
mulberries, dandelions, &c., &c.

Citric Acid exists in lemons, oranges, whortleberry, the
onion, &c., &e.

Malic Acid is the only acid detected in the apple; it is
found also in the barberry and the plum, and some other
fruits. ‘The gooseberry, currant, cherry, strawberry, rasp-
berry, admit it with citric acid. Combined with lime, it is
found in the houseleek and other plants; with both lime and
potash, in spinach, rue, mignonette, and many other plants.

Benzoic Acid is in benzoin, the medicinal resin imported
from the East Indies; also in the balsam which is extracted
from a South American tree called Tolu, in storax, in an
herb of the sage genus, called Clary, in chickpea, &c., &e.

Oxalic Acid is found in many common plants; in wood-
sorrel, combined with potash; united with lime, it is detected

ACIDS. 5

in the root of the medicinal squills, common rhubarb, pars-
ley; fennel, &c., &c.

Prussic Acid exists, as is well known, in the kernel of the
bitter almond, in laurel leaves, peach leaves and blossoms,
&e., &e.

Gallic Acid is formed in the common nutgall, which is an
excrescence formed by the puncture of an insect upon an
Asiatic species of oak; also in the bark of many trees, viz.
the oak, chestnut, beech, mountain-ash, sumach, birch, plum,
and many others.

Besides these vegetable acids, there are other acids ex-
tracted from the mineral kingdom, which are much used in
the arts. Among these is Sulphuric Acid, which is manufac-
tured by burning sulphur, which, combined with soda, forms
the well-known substance, Glauber salts. Sulphuric acid is
much used in the bleaching and dyeing processes.

Carbonic Acid is obtained from various substances, and is
now produced in a solid form. It exists in common air in
minute quantities ; in larger proportions it is poisonous.

Acids and oxygen combine with copper, and in this man-
ner poisonous matter is generated. Culinary vessels, if
made of this material, should be lined with tin. Copper-
- bottomed ships are avoided by marine animals on account
of the poisonous properties contained in the metal. Bell-
metal is copper united with tin, and, for the reason above
assigned, is objectionable for culinary purposes, and, if used,
must be kept religiously cleaned.

Leaden vessels for milk have been known to produce in-
jurious effects. The air combining with the cream, the latter
furthers the oxidation of the lead, and carbonic acid being
attracted, a carbonate of lead (white lead) is created, which
throws a poisonous property into the milk. JIn the old
country, where extensive dairies have been kept, painter’s
colic has been communicated to dairy-maids through the

1*

6 ACID’ ACETIC.

agency of these leaden vessels. Zinc, tin, and iron-tinned
vessels are not open to these objections; and porcelain-
lined vessels have now mostly superseded bell-metal pre-
serving-kettles. ,

Acids are still imperfectly known. The careful house-
wife knows that they are powerful agents, and to be used
with care. ~ Fat, which retains its own in water, ether, and.
alcohol, surrenders, by gradually decomposing, when strong
acids are applied to it. |

ACID ACETIC, or VINEGAR, it is well known, is
made mostly from beer, wine, or cider, by exposing these
Jiquids to the atmosphere.

A good vinegar for home consumption can be made by
mixing the weight of one part of strong brown sugar with
seven parts of water and a little yeast, putting the mixture
into a cask where the bung-hole shall be covered with a
bit of gauze or muslin, to keep out the insects. The cask
must be exposed to the sun and out-door atmosphere for
some weeks.

A good cider vinegar is made by putting one pound of
white sugar to a gallon of cider, and allowing it to ferment
four months.

French white-wine vinegar is much esteemed for domestic
purposes.

The Vinaigre d’Orleans is made from the red wine of the
Orleannais. Vinegars called Champagne vinegars are often
made from red wines.

The excise laws of England permit the use of free sul-
phuric acid.to the amount of one part in one thousand, but it
is supposed that this amount is often increased.

Vinegar can be thoroughly purified by distillation, as we
find it in the transparent distilled vinegar of commerce,
though still united with water.

-ALCOHOL. s

To make Aromatic or Cleansing Vinegar, gather a hand-
ful of lavender leaves and flowers, the same proportion of
sage leaves and flowers, hyssop, thyme, balm, wormwood,
and savory; take a large handful of salt, and two cloves of
garlic or one small onion; mix these ingredients together,
and pour over them a gallon of pure white-wine vinegar.
Subject this mixture to a gentle heat (keeping the vessel
in which you have put it closely covered) for three weeks.
Then squeeze the herbs over the liquor, strain it carefully,
and bottle it for the sick-chamber. It is a grateful relief for
_ sudden fainting-fits, and it is often beneficial in cases of
sprains and flesh-wounds.

Acetic acid, as observed above, is found in many plants
and in the sap of trees; in almost all the plants it exists in
the form of salts, such as the acetate of lime or potassa.

ALABASTER, n. A carbonate of lime, also a compact
gypsum, from which beautiful ornaments are made. One
method of cleansing alabaster is to leave it in pure water
about ten minutes, and then rub it with a brush dipped in
dry, powdered plaster. Another mode, which the author
followed with great success, cleansing some exquisite Italian
statuettes by the process, is to take one pint of rain-water
mixed with two ounces of aquafortis, wash the alabaster with
this liquid, applied with a fine brush for about five minutes,
then rinse it carefully with rain-water, wipe it dry, and place
it in the sun for two or three hours. Care should be taken
to have the brush pass equally over the surface, so as to rest
equally on every part. The aquafortis should not be allowed
to touch the skin, as it burns and stains the flesh: itisa
heavy liquid, yellow in color, and contains thirty parts of
nitrogen and seventy of oxygen.

ALCOHOL, x. A liquid obtained by the distillation of
wine, beer, and other fermented spirits.

8 ALCOHOL.

The wine or wash is subjected to a slow heat, and as the
spirit rises, it is easily collected in a worm surrounded by
cold water. Gin is thus procured through the distillation
of fermented barley or other grain; rum, from molasses ;
brandy, from wine. None of these processes, however, elicit
pure alcohol, for the strongest brandy contains between forty
and fifty-per cent of water. Impure alcohol can be im-
proved by repeated distillations, and by mixing it with some
salt that has a strong attraction for water, like the salt of
tartar ; in this way it becomes more concentrated as it gradu-
ally parts with much of its water.

Alcohol at its greatest strength does not freeze, even in
the coldest weather. It is very volatile, boiling at 176° of
Fahrenheit, and in a vacuum, at 56°. It unites with water.
It is combustible, burning with a white flame, without leaving
any residuum.

Alcohol is exceedingly useful, through its capability of
dissolving vegetable principles, so that such parts as contain
medicinal virtues can be disengaged and preserved by the
agency of alcohol. Such medicines are known technically
as tinctures. Science owes an incalculable debt to alcohol,
as through what are called by anatomists wet preparations,
that is, putting objects in a perfect state into alcohol, the
scientific world sees the vast collections of animal and vege-
table structure and growth preserved in.a perfect state in
the museums and college halls of the civilized world.

Alcohol is used to keep venison warm, by serving it up on
metal plates, usually of block-tin, commonly called venison-
blazers, or chafing-dishes, which are hollow in the centre,
and filling them with the spirit, which is occasionally ignited,
at a small orifice placed on the side of the plate. Alcohol
is also much used in lamps placed under kettles, to keep
liquids, while on the table, at a proper temperature.

The spirits distilled from different fermented liquors, Sir

- ALIMENT. 9

Humphrey Davy says, differ in their flavor, for peculiar
odorous matters or oils rise, in most cases, with the alcohol.
The spirit from malt has a taste similar to oil, brought
out by the distillation of vegetable substances. The purest
brandies have a peculiar oily matter, formed, it is supposed,
by the action of tartaric acid upon alcohol; rum owes its
characteristic taste to a principle in the sugar-cane.

ALE. A liquor obtained from the “infusion of malt
and hops by fermentation. The chief difference between
ale and beer lies in the lesser proportion of hops used
for ale.

There are a variety of ales brewed; there is strong ale,
table ale, pale ale, and brown ale. Pale ale is made from
barley or malt but slightly dried, and is thought to be of a
more glutinous or viscid quality than brown ale, which is
made from malt which has been roasted or thoroughly
dried.

Ale is much lighter-colored, more brisk and sweet, than
beer; neither has it the bitter taste of this last.

Porter is a kind of beer formerly called strong beer.

Beer or porter malt is dried at a higher temperature than
ale malt, and owes its deeper color, and also its bitter flavor,
to this circumstance.

ALEWIVES, x. pl. An American fish, a little larger
than the Scotch herring. This fish is cured very nicely on
the South Shore, Massachusetts. It requires but little broil-
ing over lively coals. When cooked on both sides, take
the skins carefully off, and serve it without butter. This fish
is nicest when freshly cured.

ALIMENT, x. Nourishment; food.
We take it, the great object of cookery is to prepare food

10 ALIMENT. °

that will at once combine the most nourishment with the
least unnecessary action of the stomach. Crude, hard sub-
stances thrown into the stomach tax it to its utmost limit.
If “there is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at
the flood, leads on to fortune,” so also there is a crisis in the
cooking operations, which should be anxiously watched for
by all honest cooks and philanthropic, well-disposed persons.

That the dissolving and reducing powers of the stomach
have a limit, the frequent visits of disease too surely demon-
strate. We would not advocate a fantastic regimen with
regard to diet; man’s instinct, and his superior digestive
organs, suggest and authorize an extensive variety in the
matter of food; we only wish to recommend care with re-
gard to the chemical properties of materials, and their care-
ful preparation for the human stomach. The elegance and
graceful lightness of French dishes is not often attained by
us: but let us abjure France’s brandy sauces, and crude
sugar sauces, her cloying cordials, her raw oils; and, on the
other hand, let us refuse to eat meat half cooked, and to
swallow soups that require the habits of a Hottentot prop-
erly to digest. Our climate and our politics are both highly
exciting, and therefore we should endeavor to propitiate so
powerful an agent as this same human stomach. The effects
of diet, both negative and positive, on the physical and men-
‘tal constitution of man, are known to be very considerable.
“ Know thyself,’ is the sublime injunction often thrown in
people’s faces. No one can obey in full; but he can begin
by not despising the day of small things; he may modify
his temper, correct his health, when he simply thought to
modify his food and correct some habits bearing upon the
use of stimulants and narcotics. Let the wise, however, be a
law unto themselves in these things. Franklin may be great
on a bowl of gruel; my neighbor on the hill has gorgeous
fancies og a bowl of coffee; my friend who lives just below

ALKANET. Tt

Suilds up an harmonious physical and mental constitution on
venison, game, rich mutton, beef, and perfumed wines.

ALKALI. This word comes from an herb, called by
the Egyptians sali; it is the same as glasswort, of which
there are several varieties. The Egyptians burned this
herb to ashes, boiled the ashes in water, and when the water
was completely evaporated the residuum was a white salt,
called by them salkali or alkali.

The ashes from forests, on the clearing up of land to bring
it under cultivation, yield a vast alkaline residuum, and after
these ashes have been subjected to boiling and evaporation
of its solution in iron pans or pots, they afford one principal
alkali of commerce, known under the name of potash. The
common domestic ley, used for the manufacture of soft-soap,
is obtained by filtering water through wood-ashes. Hard-
soap is made with another alkali of commerce, known under
the name of soda; it is obtained through the combustion
of marine plants. Soda abounds in sea-plants, and that to
a greater extent than potash does in vegetables of inland
districts. The barilla of Spain, which is an impure car-
bonate of soda, imported from Spain and the Levant, is ex-
tracted from the Salsola sativa and vermiculata, and some
of these plants yield nearly twenty per cent of ashes, which
contain about two per cent of soda. (Johnson’s Farmer’s
Encyclopedia. External Nature as adapted to the Physical
Condition of Man, by John Kidd, M. D., F. R.S.)

Alkaline Salts are bodies formed by the union of alkalies
with acids. Combined with fatty substances, as already
mentioned, alkalies form soaps.

ALKANET (Lat. anchusa). <A species of bugloss. Its
root is of a deep-red color, as the plant reaches maturity in
autumn ; its root is also astringent. Alkanet chips, which

1 ALMOND.

are sold by the druggists, are used for coloring: previous
to infusing them in any liquid you may wish to color, they
should be picked over, and then tied in a muslin bag. It
is a cheap, easily got at, and innoxious coloring. Confec-
tionary is often colored through the agency of this plant.

ALLSPICE, ». The dried, immature berry of the
Myrtus pimenta ; called also Jamaica pepper. ( Worcester.)

This spice is not much used in any approved category of
culinary operations. Mixed with stronger spices, and chief-
ly to qualify their asperity, it is put into mangoes for
pickling. In common cakes, it sometimes gets leave to
come in.

ALLSPICE-TREE, or Sweet-scented Strawberry, or
Calycanthus.

This delightful shrub is a native of North America. The
scent of its fragrant brown flowers is thought to resemble
the fruit of the strawberry. It thrives in almost any deep,
fresh soil, but loves a shady situation. The different species
are all varieties of the OCalycanthus floridus, or the American
Allspice-tree ; it is also sometimes called Carolina Allspice.
All the varieties are propagated by layers, removing the
layers the third year.

ALMOND (Amygdalus, Rosacee). These ornamental
species of almond are very popular, on account of their
flowers. The dwarf (A. nana) is a low but beautiful shrub,
that bears in spring exquisite double pink flowers. A. com-
munis-pleno is the large flowering shrub. Its flowers are
nearly white. It bears also a good hard-shell. but small
almond.

There are several varieties of each of these species. ‘The
dwarf almond is propagated by suckers, while other species

ALMOND. 13

and varieties are grafted on the common plum-tree. The
common dwarf almond has several botanical sowbriquets ; it
is known as Amygdalus pumila, Lin., Prunus japonica, Pru-
nus Sinensis, and Cerasus ; but under any of these names, or
any other name, it smells as sweet. Mrs. Loudon remarks,
in her excellent book, “ Gardening for Ladies,” that where
the almond is cultivated for its flowers, a background of ever-
greens should support them, “as otherwise, from the flowers
being produced before the leaves, half their beauty will be
lost from the cold and naked appearance of the tree.”

ALMOND (Amygdalus communis). The almond-tree is
a native of the North of Africa and the mountains of Asia.
Its cultivation was introduced into England as early as 1548.
Its resemblance to the peach-tree in both wood and leaf is
so like, that, joined to experiments which have been made in
cultivating the almond from seed, many botanists think the
peach an accidental variety, produced by culture on the
almond.

The almond requires similar soil and treatment to that
bestowed on the peach. It is often budded on thrifty plum
stocks. ‘Though some ornamental varieties grow in New
England, our Northern regions refuse us the fruit. The
lamented and accomplished Downing * says, that “ the com-
mon almond, the hard-shell sweet almond, and the bitter
almond, are hardy in the latitude of New York, and will bear
tolerable crops without care. The soft-shell sweet almond,
or ladies’ almond, will not thrive well in the open garden as
a standard north of Philadelphia; but they succeed well
trained to a wall or on espalier rails, in a warm situation,
the branches being slightly protected in winter. There is
no apparent reason why the culture of the almond should

* Fruits and Fruit-trees of America.

2

14 ALMOND.

not be pursued to a profitable extent in the warm and
favorable climate of some of the Southern States. Especially
in the valley of the Ohio and Tennessee it would be likely to-
succeed admirably.”

1. The long Hard-shell Almond is hardy, has a large nut.
Grows readily in the Middle and Western States. Its
flowers are large, highly ornamental, of a pale rose-color.
Ripens last of September and first of October. -

2. Common Almond, sweet, is also hardy; nuts hard, of
agreeable flavor, but inferior to the preceding. Flowers
precede the leaves.

d. The Soft-shell Sweet Almond, or Ladies’ Thin-shell,
is the choicest variety for the dessert, and for confectionery.
It ripens early, and it is served up in a green or fresh state
at Parisian dinners about the middle of July. The blossoms
and leaves come out together; the flower has a deeper red
than the varieties already mentioned. The shell is soft,
easily yielding to the pressure of the fingers; the kernel
is sweet, and very agreeable. Mr. Downing has remarked,
“that on the plum stock, in a favorable aspect, this almond
succeeds, with a little care, in the Middle States.”

4. Sultana Sweet Almond. A tender-shelled almond, of
pleasant quality. The fruit is smaller and the kernel
narrower than the soft-shelled almond, but of equally rich
flavor, and even thought to be the nicer by some.

d. Pistachio Sweet Almond. This variety is not much ~
known in America. The fruit resembles the pistachio in
size and shape; the shell is not quite as tender as the soft-
shell almond. Of this variety Mr. Downing has observed,
that it “is scarcely known yet in this country, but is worth
further trial at the South.”

6. Peach Almond. This variety is considered as rather
indifferent. It is a cross between the peach and the almond.
Its fruit is somewhat sweet, but not unfrequently a little bit-

ALMOND. 15

ter, resembling, in short, the inferior kind of peaches. This
variety requires, to ripen perfectly, a Southern latitude.

7. The Bitter Almond. This species is distinguished for
its bitter kernel. It has two varieties, one with a hard and
one with a brittle shell. The leaves have a darker green
than most of the sweet-fruited discover, and are also longer ;
the blossoms are also large, and pale in color.

The kernel of the sweet almond has its familiar uses, in
the lady’s boudoir, in the hands of the confectioner, and the
simple house cook. The bitter almond plays a part almost
as varied and busy, for besides lending aid to the cook
and confectioner, it also is an auxiliary of medicine, and,
gliding into the chemist’s crucible, yields him one of the most
virulent of all poisons, prussic acid. Both the sweet and
bitter almond afford an oil. Let us now proceed to see in
how many good things this valuable nut is found as a very
principal help and ingredient; observing beforehand, that
the soft-shell sweet almond, or ladies’ almond, is the favorite
nut for the table, and for fancy dishes for dessert. It is also
better economy to buy these when to be used for the last-
mentioned purposes, a pound of this variety yielding about
half a pound when shelled; of course the thicker-shelled
yield less.

ALMOND BLANCMANGE.

Take two ounces of isinglass and one quart of new milk,
blanch one half-pound of almonds, and pound them very
fine in a mortar, with a little rose-water, and stir them in
carefully. Strain it, and sweeten it to your taste. Let it be
milk-warm when you put it into your mould.

ALMOND CANDY.

Take two quarts of West India molasses, and stir into it
one pound of brown sugar ; put this molasses thus prepared

16 ALMOND.

into a porcelain-lined kettle, and set it over a moderate fire,
and let it boil about three hours. Have ready three pounds
of blanched almonds, cut into large pieces, and just before
taking it up, stir in a piece of fresh butter about the size of a
hen’s egg; then put in the almonds. You may omit the
butter if you choose, hanging your faith on the oil of the
almonds. If you wish to have part of your candy light-
colored, separate some, and cut some of your almonds very
fine, and while it is yet warm pull the candy, (having previ-
ously floured or buttered your hands,) at arm’s length, till it
is light yellow, or straw-color. Twist this, and cut it in
sticks. Butter flat pans for that which is not to be worked,
and pour the candy into them.

In making candy, be always careful not to have too hot a
fire, as molasses is easily burned.

ALMOND CAKE.

Take an ounce of shelled bitter almonds and an ounce of
shelled sweet almonds; blanch them, and lay them on a dry
linen cloth in the sun. Take a pound of dry, hard loaf-
sugar, of the best quality, and powder it and sift it. Take
ten newly laid eggs, and break them on the sugar. Wipe
the almonds perfectly dry ; pound them in a stone or marble
mortar to a smooth paste, adding a little rose-water while
pounding them to prevent their oiling. Have ready seven
ounces of dried and sifted flour.

Beat the eggs and sugar till they are very light. Stir in
the almond very hard, and just before you put the cake into
the oven, stir in the flour quite hghtly. Put this mixture
into thin-bottomed pans, that the heat may be on the bottom
of the pan rather than the top. The oven should be quick.
Butter your pans with good butter.

This cake is frequently iced. ‘To do this, take the whites
of three eggs, and as much white powdered sugar as will

ALMOND. IZ

make a thick paste, about twenty-five spoonfuls if the eggs
are large. Flavor with a few drops of fresh lemon-juice.
Put it on the cake while it is warm (but not hot) from the
oven.

ALMOND CHEESECAKES.

There are a variety of ways of making these cakes. Some
persons beat eggs and stir them into boiling milk till it makes
a curd, and add sugar and cream and spice and almonds and
raisins to this curd; and others make this curd with rennet,
adding such ingredients as are mentioned above. Another
good way is the following : —

Take a quarter of a pound of blanched sweet almonds ;
let them cool; pound them in rose-water in a marble or
stone mortar. ‘Take the same quantity of sugar, and the
yolks of four eggs. Beat this mixture till it is very light.
Bake it in rich puff-paste.

ALMOND CREAM.

Weigh a pound of soft-shelled almonds in the shell;
blanch them, and pound them with a little rose-water, which
indeed should always, when practicable, be used, as before
mentioned, as it prevents the almonds from oiling. Take a
quart of cream, and stir in half a pound of powdered loaf-
sugar, Freeze it.

ALMOND CUSTARD.

Take one pint of cream; blanch and beat a quarter of a
pound of almonds with two spoonfuls of rose-water ; add the
yolks of four eggs; sweeten to your taste. You can boil
this in a porcelain kettle, stirring it one way over the fire, or
you can boil it in a tin custard-pail, or bake it in small china
custard-cups.

This custard is also nice frozen ; in which case it is put

into the freezer without being subjected to any heat.
Q%

18 ALMOND.

ALMOND FLUMMERY.

Take two large calves’ feet, and boil them in two quarts of
water till the meat falls in rags from the bones; then strain
it off, and put to the clear jelly half a pint of thick cream ;
then take two ounces of sweet almonds and an ounce of bitter
almonds, blanched and well beaten together, and stir them
in. Put the ingredients thus prepared into a porcelain pre-
serving-kettle, and let it come to a boil; then strain it off,
and when it is warm as milk, put it into cups or glasses.

ALMOND MACAROONS.

Take one pound of the best white powdered sugar, sift it;
beat in a stone or marble mortar one pound of blanched
- sweet almonds, adding a few drops of rose-water as you beat
them; mix them into a paste with the whites of six eggs,
well beaten. Make them into forms, by taking a little of the
paste about the size of a cherry into the palm of your hand,
with a little flour. Butter some sheets of white paper, drop
the macaroons on it, leaving a little interval between each
for them to spread. Bake them quickly, strewing a little
white powdered sugar over them from a fine sieve just
before putting them into the oven. ‘Try to have them a
delicate color.

ALMOND PASTE.

This is a grateful and cooling paste, highly recommended
for the hands.

Take six pounds of fresh almonds, blanch, and beat them
in a stone or marble mortar with a sufficient quantity of
rose-water, added gradually, to make a thick paste; add to
this a pound of clear, fresh-strained honey, and mix the
whole thoroughly and smoothly. Put it in small china pots,
or wide-mouthed glass bottles, with a little rose-water on the
top of each bottle. Tie them closely.

ALMOND. 19

ALMOND PUDDING.

Take one pound of sifted sugar, one half-pound of butter,
and work them together. Beat the yolks of twelve eggs;
have ready one half-pound of blanched almonds, beaten
smoothly, with a few drops of rose-water, the strained juice
of three large fresh lemons, and the grate of one. Stir the
egg and the almonds into the butter gradually and alter-
nately, putting the lemon juice and peel in last. Bake in
a rich paste, in small pie-plates.

ALMOND SOUP.

This soup is made either from calves’ feet, a knuckle or
breast of veal, a scrag of mutton, or cold fowl, and never
from any of the darker, heavier meats, as its principal beauty
is its delicate pearl-color. For the same reason none of the
darker spices are to be used, and the soup should be boiled
in a porcelain-lined kettle, and cooled, in its progressive steps,
in china or porcelain dishes.

If you make your soup of calves’ feet, take four feet,
nicely scraped, but not skinned, and put them into your
kettle with a few blades of mace. Pour over them three
quarts of cold water. Cover the kettle, and put it over a
moderate fire, where it may boil slowly. When it comes to
a quick boil, throw in a little table-salt, and remove the
kettle to a position where it may simmer. Soups require in
their early stages a sufficient degree of heat to bring to the
surface the scum; and as salt tends to throw this together,
it is well to put the salt in as soon as the soup boils.

Skim the soup, and let it be subjected to a steady simmer
till the meat has fallen in rags from the bone. Then strain
it into an earthen pan; when it is cold, remove the fat from
the top, and return the stock to the kettle; as soon as it is
melted, have ready three quarters of a pound of blanched
almonds, that have been pounded smoothly in a stone mor-

20 ALMOND.

tar, with a few drops of rose-water added to them, from
time to time, during the process of pounding. Some are of
opinion, that a few bitter almonds added to the sweet improve
the flavor of the soup. Boil them a quarter of an hour in
the soup.

Boil a pint of cream a few minutes before taking up the
soup, and stir it in just before sending it to the table.

If you make your soup of mutton and veal, omit the cream
and mace, and cut up the peel of a lemon in thin slices, and
just before sending the soup to the table add a little of the
strained juice of the lemon.

Soups of an elaborate kind should be made early in the
morning, or partially prepared the day before. Veal, fish,
and vegetable soups are, however, best when freshly made.

Besides these numerous happy appearances, the almond is
with us again in the popular Antique Oil, used now so com-
monly for the hair. This oil is made of equal proportions
of the oil of sweet almonds and the best olive-oil, colored
with alkanet chips, tied in a muslin bag, scenting the mixed
oils with such perfumes as may be most grateful or desirable.
The oils, after being mixed, should stand for a few days in
some warm place to facilitate the coloring, and, by a gentle
infusion, have the scented essence thoroughly incorporated.
Do not, however, put in the essence till a short time before
bottling, as the heat would dissipate the perfume. Put it
inte glass bottles, and cork it well, having previously passed
it through a strainer.

Almonds, blanched and cut in large pieces, are often placed
on the top of sponge and other light cakes just before they
are sent to the oven. Almond icing is also put over this
class of cakes. As to almond tarts, colored with the juice
of spinach and less innocent matters, the less that is said of
them, the better for all parties concerned.

ALTHEA FRUTEX. 91

ALOES. The medicinal juice is extracted from the
common aloes-tree, which has no relation to the costly tree
of the East, whose spicy virtues are alluded to by’ both
David and Solomon, nor yet to the American Aloe, or
Agave.

The American Aloe is of the Amaryllis tribe, but the true
Aloe of the Day-lily tribe.

The true Aloe is highly purgative, but the American Aloe
abounds in mild starchy properties; the American Aloe
sends up a gigantic flower-stem, from which issue branches
of cup-shaped flowers, but each plant flowers but once, while
the true Aloe flowers every year.

The drug is extracted from the pulp of the leaves of
several species. The Aloe Socotrina, so called from the
island of Socotra, is now hardly to be had; that which is
sold for Socotrine being a mixture of Barbadoes and Cape
aloes.

Aloes is a very strong cathartic. As a veterinary medi-
cine it is often very efficacious ; but though a valuable horse
medicine, it is rarely given to other domestic animals.
Even to the horse it must be administered with care. For
purging a horse, the usual dose is from four to eight or ten
drachms ; but, except in certain diseases, more than eight
should never be given even to the strongest horse, and six
or seven drachms are a sufficient dose for a family horse.

It may be given in the solid or liquid state ; but the best
method of administering it is to powder it, and mix it up
with flour and water, or honey, or some simple, to a stiff
paste, and placing it at the root of the roof of the horse’s
tongue, he swallows it without difficulty. (See Johnson’s
Farmer’s Encyclopzdia.)

“ALTHEA FRUTEX, or ROSE OF SHARON, is
a hardy shrub, growing very common in Virginia, and easily

Ze ALUM.

cultivated in most common garden soils. Some of the
varieties are very beautiful, and any are desirable for a
flower-garden. Jt can be propagated from seed, or by
cuttings and layers. Seeds are thought to produce the best
plants.

ALUM (Lat. Alumen). A mineral or earthy salt of an
acid taste. It is a sulphate of alumina, combined usually
with a sulphate of potash. ( Worcester.)

' This mineral salt contains, according to chemical results,
in different proportions, sulphuric acid, alumina, potash, and
water. Its cleansing qualities often tend to dissipate inflam-
matory sores and ulcers which have already reached the crisis.
It is rendered milder by burning a bit on a shovel or iron
plate, and reducing it to a smooth powder.

Alum Lotion, or water impregnated with alum, is some-
times, among other minerals and earths, used by florists in
watering the Hydrangea, to change the pink flowers to blue.
It does not always succeed. (Mrs. Loudon’s Gardening for
Ladies.)

Alum Whey is made by mixing half a pound of powdered
alum with one pint of milk. Strain, and sweeten it with
white sugar, and add a little nutmeg. It is efficacious some-
times in diarrhea, and in cases of colie.

Alum is much used in dyeing processes. A good domes-
tic dye, for homely purposes, is made by boiling sugar-loaf
paper with vinegar in an iron vessel, and fixing the color
with alum. This liquid is carefully strained before any cloth
is boiled in it, and the cloth to be dyed should be wet.

Alum is sometimes put into rinsing-water in washing cali-
coes where green and yellow colors predominate.

A very littie alum is frequently put into vinegar for pickles,
to harden them and improve their color.

AMMONIAC. 23

ALYSSUM (OCrucifere). Lat. for Madwort. Herba-
ceous plants, both annual and perennial, chiefly natives of
Europe. Some varieties are grown on rock-work. The
Sweet Alyssum should be grown where bees are kept.

AMMONIA, or VOLATILE ALKALI. This gaseous
substance consists of hydrogen and azote only. It acquired
its name from its being prepared in the East, from camels’
excrement, nigh a temple consecrated to Jupiter Ammon.

This alkali is very extensively diffused, and to its presence
in liquid manures and organic substances is mainly owing
their efficacy as manures.

In places overcharged with animal life, this gas exists to
an extent injurious to human life.

AMMONTIAG, x. A gum-resin; the name of two drugs,
gum ammoniac, a concrete juice brought from the East, and
sal ammoniac, a compound of muriatic acid and ammonia,
popularly called hartshorn. ( Worcester.)

Sal ammoniac is obtained by destructive distillation of
bones ; a process by which, on the application of heat, the
substance of the bone is dissolved into its simple elements,
from which new compounds are formed. Some of these
escape in the form of vapor or gas, while the fixed prin-
ciples remain in the retort.

The article used in smelling-bottles, and called salt of
hartshorn, and volatile salts, is a carbonate of ammonia; it is
obtained from the horn of the hart, or from any kind of bone.
Spirit of hartshorn, called by the apothecaries liquid ammo-
nia, is frequently used to cleanse jewelry, applying it with a
soft, clean rag, and clearing and polishing it with other dry
rags and bits of silk. Stains are often removed by it from
silks, gloves, carpets, and worsted materials. As it is very
volatile, but a little should be exposed at one time to
the air.

24 ANCHOVY. .

A friend has vouched for the following recipe for the
cure of warts. . Dissolve in an ounce vial, filled with soft —
water, as much sal ammoniac as it will hold, and wash the
warts several times daily. This process persisted in will not
fail to remove these excrescences.

Water absorbs this gas instantaneously, and in great pro-
portions, taking up more than five hundred times its own
bulk ; and when water is so charged, we have the pungent
liquid already mentioned as called by the druggists liquid
ammonia, and known also as spirit of sal ammoniac, or
spirit of hartshorn.

In painting roses, or wherever bright carmine tints are
required, a few drops of liquid ammonia mixed with the
paint heighten the color. Indeed, the salts of ammonia, and
especially the muriate and carbonate, are substances of large
commercial traffic, and are much used in the arts and in
medicine.

Spirit of hartshorn, very much diluted, is sometimes used
for dressing the hair.

AMYLACEOUS, a. Applied to substances which contain
starchy properties. Arrowroot, tapioca, salop, and sago, all
have large proportions of fecula or starch. Light dishes for
dessert, and nutritious ones for invalids, are made from these
articles. See directions under their respective heads.

ANCHOVY. A little sea-fish, from which sauces are
made to accompany larger fish. Anchovies are known to be
fresh by the smell and fresh color of the fish. The red
color of anchovy liquor is given to it by artificial means,
often by cochineal, and consequently is not desirable.

ANCHOVY TOASTS.

Take slices of bread, and fry them in fresh butter; have
ready some fresh anchovies, that have been boned, pounded -

ANNOTTO. 25

in a mortar, and the liquor pressed from them; mix a little
butter with them, and spread them on the bread, putting
some whole bits of anchovy on top, or garnish with slices of
hard-boiled egg. Serve very hot.

ANCHOVY CATCHUP.

Take twenty-four anchovies, chop them, bone and all;
put to them one handful of scraped horseradish, four blades
of mace, ten shallots or small onions, cne quart of white
Wine, one pint of water, one fresh lemon cut in slices, one
half-gill of anchovy liquor, one gill of claret, twelve cloves,
twelve peppercorns; foil them together till reduced to a
quart. Strain and bottle it for use. ‘Two teaspoonfuls will
flavor one pound of melted butter.

ANISE, (Lat. Pimpinella anisum). A kitchen herb; a
species of apium or parsley. It has large aromatic seeds,
which are used for flavoring soups. These seeds are dis-
tilled with brandy, sweetened with sugar, and filtered for
anisette liqueurs.

One pound of anise-seed yields by distillation two drachms
of oil. Dropped on a lump of loaf-sugar, from two to ten
drops, it is found to be stimulating, to expel wind and induce
perspiration. This oil is said to be poisonous to pigeons, if
rubbed on their bills or heads.

ANNOTTO (written also Annotta, Arnotto, and Aronetta).
Annotto is sometimes called Rocou. It is a soft substance
prepared from the seeds of the bixa orellana, a shrub of ,
Tropical America, and used for dyeing. Combined with the
paste is a resin, so that some alkali, such as soft-soap or
weak ley, is used to facilitate the solution of the dye.

For dyeing afew yards of any material, a little of the
paste can be tied in a muslin bag; and, having previously

3

26 ANTHRACITE.

soaked the material in cold water, wring it out dry, and pull
it apart, and boil it in the ley with the coloring bag. |
The nicer kinds of annotto are of a bright color, yield to
the pressure, and dissolve in water more readily than that
which is usually to be had of the druggists. The English
color their cheeses with the purer sorts of annotto. An
ounce is sufficient to color twenty cheeses of ten or twelve

pounds each. Cheeses are not so universally colored in
America.

ANTS. Mrs. Loudon remarks (Gardening for Ladies),
that “it has been found that the liquor discharged by ants is
very acid and acrid; the idea presented itself that alkalies
would be disagreeable to them; and experience proves this
so far to be the case, that a circle of chalk or lime laid round
any plant will effectually prevent the ants from touching it.”
Similar measures and great cleanliness will keep them out
of closets.

ANTHRACITE. Ahard mineral coal. Lehigh, Schuyl-
kill, and Rhode Island coal come under this head. It is
heavier, less black, and not so easily ignited as bituminous
coal; it emits no smoke, and burns slowly with a white flame,
but once excited to flame, and burned in large masses, it
throws out great heat, and is not so quickly exhausted as
bituminous coal. It is now used quite extensively in Ameri-
ca, both for domestic and other purposes.

In making fires for the grate, the best way is to lay a thin
foundation with hard coal, selecting the smaller pieces from
the scuttle ; put bright kitchen coals on this basis, seeing that
the coals are unmixed with ashes; over these coals put some
pieces of charcoal, filling up the crevices with small bits of
anthracite ; when this has ignited, put on the last heap of
anthracite, the smaller lumps first, and set the blower firmly

APPLE. 27

on. When forked flames strike up through the mass to the
surface, you may safely take the blower off.

The ashes from anthracite coal will make neither soap
nor ley.

ANTISEPTICS, x. Substances which prevent or check
putrefaction (Worcester). Some of the most powerful of
these preservative agents are alcohol, oils, acids, camphor,
charcoal, chlorine, tannin, resins, sugar, bitumen, and salts of
different kinds.

The mode by which they resist and retard decay has never
been fully explained. In some cases, as in leather, they
seem to combine with the material to be preserved, and
probably in other cases they absorb the decomposing gases
and agents.

Lumps of charcoal put about birds and meat will tend to
keep them sweet, but will hardly restore what is already
tainted.

For the preservation of vegetable and animal substances,
sugar, alcohol, salt, acetic acid or vinegar, and pyroligneous
acids are used; but antiseptics for the preservation of sci-
entific specimens and labors are resinous and _ bituminous
varnishes, alum, alcohol, oil of turpentine, and corrosive
sublimate. |

APPLE (Pyrus Malus). It is a curious fact, that all our
apples have originated from a species of crab which is native
to Europe, and not from our native crabs. The seeds of the
species brought by the European colonists to America have,
through the influences of culture, soil, and climate, succeeded
in giving us the finest apple in the world. Mr. Downing
has remarked, that the apple-tree is “most perfectly natural-
ized in America, and in the northern and middle portions of
the United States succeeds as well, or, as we believe, better

28 APPLE.

than in any part of the world. The most celebrated apples
of Germany and the North of Europe are not superior to
many of the varieties originated here; and the American
or Newtown Pippin is now pretty generally admitted to
be the finest apple in the world. No better proof of the
perfect adaptation of our soil and climate to this tree can
be desired, than the seemingly spontaneous production of
such varieties as this, the Baldwin, the Spitzenburg, or the
Swaar, — all fruits of delicious flavor and great beauty of
appearance.”

Though the apple will live in almost any soil and situation,
it thrives best in strong loamy soils, that are rather heavy
than light and sandy. Clayey loams, if well drained, are
favorable fruit soils. ‘There are some exceptions to this soil;
the Yellow Belle-Fleur is thought finer to be grown on a
sandy soil; and, to quote the same excellent authority above
mentioned, “the Newtown Pippin will only arrive at per-
fection in a strong loam.” But there are exceptions to all
rules; and the distinguished author adds, “ that calcareous
soils, of whatever texture, are better than soils of the same
quality where no limestone is present.”

Sandy soils, whose subsoil is also of too sandy a character,
are improved by top-dressing and manures. 'Top-dressings
of clay and heavy bog-earth, river-mud, and similar matters,
are recommended by the best cultivators as more lasting
manures, and calculated to work up a firmer, better soil, than
the common stable-manures.

Every fruit garden, where the soil is not naturally good,
requires to be ploughed, or trenched two spades in depth;
and it is better to do this one season beforehand, that is,
before setting out seedlings.

The apple-tree has many enemies in the insect world, that
the cultivator must constantly watch, and endeavor to over-
reach.

APPLE. 29

The Apple-tree Borer is among the most mischievous of
these insects. In June it assumes the form of a medium-
sized beetle, flying about in the night, and in the day resting
and feeding on the leaves of the trees; in this month, and in
July and August, she begins to lay eggs upon the bark of
the tree, and almost always near the ground. Her progeny
are whitish fleshy grubs, which eat through the bark, and
remain there the first winter; the following season it ascends
some twelve or fifteen inches into the tree, throwing out dust,
by which it is usually detected. The third year it leaves
the tree, assuming the beetle form (Saperda bivittat’). After
it has once penetrated the. tree, it must be destroyed by
piercing it with some bit of wire or sharp instrument, or by
applying the knife or chisel. We have seen them extracted
in a perfect state by a lady with a simple hair-pin.

The best of all modes for getting rid of these and other
insects are those which tend to keep the tree and soil, and
even the atmosphere, in an ungrateful, inhospitable attitude
towards them.

In June, small bonfires destroy the beetle which is the
future borer, by thousands. ‘They should be placed in dif-
ferent parts of the orchard; a few shavings or a little tow,
a pitch-pine knot, or a few handfuls of any dry, combustible
matter, will answer the purpose. In June also, the bark of
the tree should be scraped, and be bathed with various
washes. A wash made of soap-suds and whale-oil soap, in
the proportion of two pounds of the soap to fifteen gallons of
water, is known to be beneficial. It is frequently applied
with a syringe. .

Water in which refuse tobacco-leaves, wormwood, and
burdock have been steeped, is also, if made into a strong de-
coction, efficacious.

A solution of potash, of about a pound to two gallons of
water, is used with advantage.

3 *

30 APPLE.

When lime is used, it should always be in solution with
something else, as it binds the bark of the tree, and prevents
the dews, air, and rains exerting their influence.

A little salt placed in a circle round the tree, if repeated
only in small quantities, is fatal to many insects, and, with
the precaution necessary for using so powerful an agent, not
injurious to the tree. Hen-manure, ashes, sulphur, soot,
snuff, and any strong-smelling substances, may be placed
round the tree. Fish oil and offal is disagreeable to many
insects.

Bottles, left uncorked, and half filled with some sweet
preparation, and tied upon the branches of trees, are an ex-
cellent trap for winged insects which pierce the blossom and
the fruit.

Birds destroy great numbers of insects, and guns should
never be fired off in orchards and gardens.

Belts or bandages of canvas are tied round apple and
other trees, and covered with tar, mixed with train oil, to
keep it moist. These belts, if kept in a fresh state, will keep
the female of the cankerworm from ascending the tree to
lay her eggs. Many persons apply the bandage in the
fall in October, and keep it on till late in the spring. ;

Old India-rubber, subjected to great heat in an iron pot,
forms an excellent substance for smearing the bandages ; it
is highly adhesive, and, effectually resisting the atmosphere,
it seldom requires to be renewed.

Another practice which is much recommended by culti-
vators is to dig round the tree, and bury rock-weed that
has grown by the sea-shore, throwing the earth over the
weed, and treading it down lightly, or passing the roller
over it.

Always have a space immediately round the trees kept
perfectly free from weeds, so that insects can be more readily
discovered.

APPLE. 81

GATHERING AND KEEPING THE APPLE.

Apples should be gathered in dry weather, and those
which are to be stored for winter use plucked by the hand.
Delay gathering the fruit till there is serious apprehension
of frost. ‘The most approved way then is to place the fruit
immediately into tight, dry flour-barrels, packing it closely,
and heading it up quite full, to prevent bursting in rolling.
They are then placed in some shady exposure, some shed
open to the air, or under the trees, protected by boards
placed under and over the barrels, or at the north side of
the building, the barrels being similarly protected by boards 3
in such places they remain a few weeks, or till extreme
cold weather, when they are carefully transferred to a dry,
cool cellar, where air can be occasionally let in from the
outer atmosphere on days not too cold.

The barrels should be placed on their side, and kept
as dark as possible. ‘The colder apples can be preserved
throughout the winter without reaching the freezing point,
the better for winter fruit. Packed in dry, close barrels,
apples will bear a frost nearly twelve degrees below freezing
temperature.

Before entering upon the uses of the apple, we would
advise every housekeeper to provide herself with a tin apple-
corer, a cheap and useful article for extracting the cores of
apples, and also with a tin apple-roaster, that can be put be-
fore the fire.

APPLE BATTER.

Take twelve juicy apples, slice them thin, and stir them
into a batter prepared thus. Take six eggs, beat them quite
light ; stir them, with flour enough to make a batter a little
thicker than pound cake, into a pint of rich milk; stir them
in alternately with the fruit, and just before you put it into
the oven, stir in a little melted butter. Bake in a deep dish.

32 APPLE.

Serve it with sugar, butter, and nutmeg, or with sugar and
cream.
APPLE BUTTER.

This is often made and sold by the barrel. It is made
by slicing and paring sweet apples, and boiling them in new
cider till they have a smooth, thick consistency.

AppLes Driep.

When small quantities are prepared, it is usual to pare,
quarter, and core them by hand, and dry them in the sun.
Where they are intended for large market sales, they are
pared and quartered by machinery, and dried slowly in
ovens. Buy those which look clean.

In cooking dried apples they should be allowed to simmer
slowly some time before the sugar is added. Flavor dried
apple-sauce with a few drops of fresh lemon-juice and the
grate of the peel. Always pick over dried apples, and, if
necessary, wash them through one or two basins of water ;
but soaked too long, they are insipid, leathery, and unhealthy,
if the same water is not used to stew them in.

APPLE DUMPLING.

Take a quart of sifted flour and half a pound of sweet
lard or butter, and a salt-spoon of salt. Put to the flour
enough water to make a tender paste ; roll it out, and work
in the butter or lard as you would paste. Cut the paste into
circular bits, about the size of a small plate, and put a cup-
ful of sliced apples into each piece. Throw them into boil-
ing water, and boil them not quite half an hour. Serve
them with butter, sugar, and nutmeg, or a made sweet sauce.

APPLE JELLY.

Both the Scarlet and Yellow Siberian Crabs make an
agreeable jelly; the Yellow Belle-Fleur is also a desirable

*

APPLE. 33

fruit for this purpose. An over-ripe or mawkishly-sweet
apple is not suitable for jellies. ‘Those which are tender,
juicy, and have a sub-acid taste, are best for the making
of jelly.

Wipe your apples, and cut from them the eye and stem ;
then slice them, and put them into a stone jar. Put the jar
into a pot of water, and let them boil till the apple is tender.
Take them out carefully, and put them into a deep flannel or
linen bag. To every pint of juice put a pound of powdered
white sugar; let it dissolve ; put it into a porcelain-lined ket-
tle over the fire, and let it come to a boil. Pour it while
warm into small glasses, and tie them down with brandied
papers.

APPLE MARMALADE.

Take four pounds of sugar, put them into a preserving-
kettle, and throw on to it not quite a quart of water ; stir it
till dissolved ; put it over the fire; as it boils up, throw in a
cupful of cold water. Have ready four pounds of sliced
apple. Choose for marmalade a nice dessert apple, of rather
acid flavor and fine-grained flesh. Let it boil quite slowly
till the apple breaks up, and can be stirred into a smooth,
even appearance; afterward let it boil quickly, to increase
the evaporation of the liquid, and, just before taking it up,
add a few drops of lemon-juice. Put it into china or earthen
jars, and paste it or tie it down closely.

Apple marmalade is often put into moulds. If not to be
used immediately, it must be brandied, papered, and tied up
very closely, and kept in a cool, dry place. Wet the mould
in hot water before attempting to turn it out.

APPLES MERINGUED.

Select handsome Pippins or Greenings of the same size,
and, with the aid of the apple-corer, pare and core them

+

34 APPLE.

whole. Put them into the oven with a little water, in a
deep earthen dish. Let them plump, but not break. Take
them out into a flat dish, and, when cold, fill the centre of
each apple with jelly. Make an icing with the whites of
egos thickened with powdered loaf-sugar, and flavored with
lemon-juice, and put it on to each apple in as handsome
a form as possible, wetting the knife you use with cold
water as you place it on. Sift a little white sugar over
them, and place them in a moderate oven, with the door
open; allow them to remain there but a few seconds, as
the jelly might run out, and spoil the pe of the
whole.

APPLE PANCAKES OR FRITTERS.

These are frequently made by adding a little more flour
than is given to a common pancake batter, and stirring in
slices of uncooked apple. The following is a little richer.
Take some of the finest-flavored dessert apples, pare them,
and cut them into thin slices, put them into a small dish, add
to them a little brandy, some white wine, a small grated
nutmeg, and cover them with powdered loaf-sugar; let them
stand some hours. Prepare a batter, by taking half a pound
of sifted flour, a salt-spoon of salt, the yolks of three eggs
beaten very lightly, a little melted butter, and as much
water as will make a thin batter. Drain the apples, and
put them into the batter, — one large spoonful of batter and
a slice of apple for each fritter. Fry them quickly in hot
fat, drain them on a sieve, and put them into a warm dish,
sifting white sugar on to them, and glazing them as you lay
them in.

APPLE PIE.

Select some of the finest Pippins or Belle-Fleur apples,
pare and core and halve them; sift a little powdered sugar

e

APPLE. oa

over them. MHave ready a rich sirup, made of four pounds
of loaf-sugar broken up, two pints of pure water and a wine-
glass of rose-water, and the white of an egg. Let the sugar
dissolve before you put the kettle over the fire, and reserve
a cup of the water to be put in at the first boi: up, when it
is to be carefully skimmed ; at the second boiling, put in the
rose-water, and take off the kettle. Put it away to get cold
into a deep earthen dish.

Cover the bottom of a preserving-kettle with apples, and
pour enough sirup on to cover them, put a stick of cinna-
mon in, and boil them till tender and transparent, but do not
allow them to break. Take them out carefully, on a flat
dish, with their sirup, and proceed in the same way till you
have preserved your whole fruit. Save a little of the
sirup.

Make a rich pie-paste, and cover the bottom of the plate
intended for your pie with a thin piece of the paste; put
your apple in, piling it up, so as to give a plumpness to
the pie. Cover with a rich paste, ornamenting the sides
with a paste-cutter. When the pies are baked, take a knife,
and carefully lift up the top paste; if they have cooked dry,
take a small spoon, and put in some of the sirup you saved.
Bake the pie a very light color.

APPLE SAUCE.

Take twelve large, rich apples of an acid quality, pare
and core them, and put them into a porcelain-lined kettle or
saucepan with four or five spoonfuls of water. Boil them till
they are perfectly tender; take them off, and stir in a small
piece of fresh butter, one pound of white powdered sugar,
and a little pounded orange-peel. Apple prepared in this
way, with the same quantity of sugar, a quarter of a pound
of melted butter, the juice of three lemons and the grate of
one, and the yolk of eight eggs, mixed well together, and a

36 APPLES OF LOVE.

little sugar sifted from a fine sieve after it is all beaten
lightly and well mixed, and baked in a puff-paste, makes
a very nice pudding.

Apple sauce to be eaten with meat should have much less
sugar.

APPLE OR CAROLINA SNOWBALLS.

Take the core out of as many large Pippins as you may
wish to make snowballs, and fill the centres of the apples
with orange and lemon peel cut very fine ; put two spoonfuls
of rice in a cloth which will cover the apple, putting the rice
all around the apple. Tie the cloth, and boil them an hour.
Make a sweet, rich sauce of butter, wine, and loaf-sugar to
eat with them.

APPLE TEA OR WATER.

Slice large Pippins into thin bits, and cut a little of the
peel of afresh lemon on to them, put them into a pitcher,
and pour over them some boiling water. Let it stand, cov-
ered closely, near the fire, for several hours. Pour it into
glasses, and sweeten it with loaf-sugar. It is a grateful and
cooling drink for invalids.

APPLES BAKED.

Apples baked in a tin roaster, with a little West India
molasses or sugar-house sirup poured over them, and eaten
with cream or rich milk, are very nice. A rich-flavored,
sweet apple is to be preferred for this dish.

APPLES OF LOVE (Poma amoris, Tomato). This
vegetable has been for the last twenty years very generally
cultivated in America. It was introduced from France.
There are several varieties. For the culture of Tomato, see
Art of Gardening ; and for cooking, see receipts under the
respective heads.

APRICOT. yf

APRICOT (Armeniaca vulgaris). This early fruit is
often nipped by frost, and if it escapes this blight its blos-
soms are pierced by insects. In Virginia I have seen farm-
ers keep the snow round the trunk of the tree as long as
possible, to retard premature blossoming. Nets are some-
times thrown over the tree, as a partial protection from the
attacks of flies and wasps. Flambeaus of tar and tow stuck
into the earth and ignited at night will destroy many of these
insects.

The apricot thrives best budded on the plum (July is the
most desirable month for budding it), being more healthy
than when growing from its own root; and it can also adapt
itself to a stronger soil when so budded, which also leads to
healthy habits.

APRICOTS IN BRANDY

Gather apricots from the tree (if possible). not too ripe.
Rub them with a coarse towel. Prepare a sirup with loaf-
sugar of not more than half the weight of the apricots, and
water enough to dissolve it. After the sirup is prepared,
put the fruit in carefully, and let it simmer a few moments
only; take the fruit out, and lay it on flat dishes to cool.
Boil and skim the sirup till it is quite thick and rich. Put
the apricots, when cold, into white earthen preserve-jars,
and pour over them equal quantities of the sirup and
French brandy. ‘Tie the jars with bladder-skin, or paste
the paper on.

Agpricot Icr-cREAM.

Peel and stone the fruit, and pound it, with white sugar,
to a smooth mass. [eat it up lightly, or pass it through a
sieve. Add sweetened whipt-cream and a little melted isin-
glass. Beat the whole with a wooden spoon, over ice, till
the whole is intimately blended. Put it into the mould, and
freeze it.

4

38 AROMATIC HERBS.

APRICOT JAM.

Peel and stone the apricots; if they are dry, put them
into an earthen pan, and throw a very little boiling water
over them. JBeat to a pulp, and take an equal quantity
of pounded or powdered loaf-sugar and fruit, and boil
them hard in the preserving kettle about twenty minutes.
You may blanch some of the kernels of the apricot, and put
them on the top of the jars before you lay the brandy-paper
over. ‘Tie closely. This jam makes nice tarts. In making
it, be careful that-it does not stick to the bottom of the kettle.
It must be stirred often.

APRICOT PRESERVE.

Choose apricots, for preserving, that are not overripe.
This fruit too ripe is insipid, mealy, and unfit to make a
handsome preserve.

Stone and pare the apricots, keeping them as whole as
possible ; lay them, hollow side up, on a large flat dish, sift
white powdered sugar over them, and keep them in a cool
place for the night. Put a pound of sugar to a pound of
fruit, and simmer them slowly till the fruit looks transparent.
Do not put too many at once into the preserving pan. Put
them into glass jars, and cover closely. You may blanch
some of the kernels, and flavor with them. Apricots are
sometimes preserved in apple jelly.

Where apricots are plenty, they are dried in the same
way as apples; and a delicious liqueur is made from the
juice of the fruit.

AROMATIC POT AND SWEET HERBS. The
seeds for the most of the common herbs should be sown
early in spring, in drills about an inch deep, and two feet
apart, each kind by itself. As they grow, thin them out.

AROMATIC HERBS. 89

Some of these herbs are annuals, dying after the first
year; others are biennial, dying after perfecting their seed
in the second year; others are perennial, bearing from the
same root for many years, and may be propagated by separ-
ating the root, or by suckers and cuttings.

Some hardy perennials, such as Balm (Melissa officinalis),
some of the Mint family (also perennials), such as Spear-
mint (Mentha viridis), Peppermint (Mentha piperita), Pen-
nyroyal Mint (JZ pulegium), do not require a very rich
soil, but should have a well-drained or dry sub-soil. The
beds should be renewed after the fourth year. The mint
is a creeping herb that cannot be hoed; and after the stalks
are cut, dig the sides of the beds, throw the earth up, and
spread it gently and smoothly on the bed, with a top-dressing
of very rotten dung.

I shall give a catalogue of such herbs as are commonly
cultivated and used for seasoning meats and soups, and of
those which are called in requisition when colds and slight
disorders disturb the household.

AROMATIC OR CULINARY HERBs.

Anise,

Basil, Sweet,
Burnet, Garden,
Caraway,
Marigold, Pot,
Marjoram, Sweet,
Mint, Pennyroyal,
Sage, Common,
Savory, Summer,
Savory, Winter,
Spearmint,
Thyme, Common,
Thyme, Lemon,

Pimpinella anisum.
Ocymui basilicum.
Poterium Sanguisorba.
OCarum carut.
Calendula officinalis.
Origanum Marjorana.
Mentha pulegium.
Salvia officinalis.
Satureja hortensis.
Satureja montana.
Mentha viridis.
Thymus vulgaris.
Thymus Serpyllum.

40 AROMATIC HERBS.

MEDICINAL HERBs.

Boneset, or Thoroughwort, Hupatorium perfoliatum.

Balm, Melissa officinalis.
Catmint, Nepeta Cataria.
Chamomile, Anthemis nobilis.
Elecampane, Inula Helenium.
Horehound, Marrubium vulgare.
Horsemint, Monarda punctata.
Hyssop, LTyssopus officinalis.
Lavender, Lavendula spica.
Lovage, Ligusticum Levisticum.
Motherwort, Leonurus cardiaca.
Poppy, Opium, Papaver somniferum.
Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis.
Rue, Garden, Luta graveolens.
Tansy, Tanacetum vulgare.
Wormwood, Artemisia absinthium.

In the autumn, hardy perennials like the various Mints,
and such plants as Chamomile, Lovage, Horehound, and Pot
Marjoram, should be trimmed close to the ground. The
beds of such as are shrubby plants, and not creepers, should
be carefully dug, and the earth loosened around the roots of
the plants.

Tender plants must be potted and housed for the winter.

Of Sweet Basil, the two species generally cultivated are
annuals. The Sweet-scented or larger Basil (O. basilicum),
and the Dwarf Bush Basil (O. minimum). They like a
light, rich soil, exposed to the sun, after they have estab-
lished themselves; but the younger plants require to be
sheltered.

Of Marjoram (Origanum) there are eight species, and
numerous varieties. The common Pot Marjoram has a
creeping root, and is of a high aromatic flavor.

AROMATIC HERBS. 41

Sweet or Summer Marjoram, a favorite of the kitchen, is
propagated always by the seed, while the perennials can be
raised by the roots, or from slips and offsets, which should
be well watered till they have taken root. The soil should
be well pulverized, and, after cuttings have been taken, care-
fully stirred, and a top-dressing of light, well-prepared com-
post thrown on the top of the bed.

Summer Savory (Satureja hortensis), also in happy repu-
tation, is an annual.

Sage (Salvia officinalis). There are several varieties of
this herb. The common Garden Sage requires a light soil,
but if too much enriched it soon exhausts itself. It is culti-
vated by seed, and also by rooted offsets, and sometimes by
cuttings from the healthier shoots, which have thrown them-
selves out at the sides of the plant. Put the shoots deep into
the ground, leaving only the top leaves above the surface.

Thyme (vulgaris). This herb is propagated by seed and
rooted slips. ‘The lemon-scented variety is a favorite. The
seed is never covered more than about half an inch below the
ground. It should be sown plentifully, and when they have
been up a few weeks, thinned out. It is called perennial,
but it hardly ever survives the rigor of a New England
winter. Too much water causes the roots to decay. The
soil should not be over rich, but very nicely pulverized.
The roots, when young, should be sheltered from the noon-
day sun; afterwards they may be transplanted to a more
exposed situation. ‘Thyme is a running herb, and conse-
quently cannot be hoed. When the stalks are cut, the weeds
should be carefully removed, and a little light soil and very
rotten manure thrown on the surface of the bed.

Medicinal herbs are not in such full reign as formerly.
The author well recollects hearing the Rev. Dr. Bentley
say that he drank sage tea for every bodily ailment, even
for a wounded foot. :

4*

42 AROMATIC HERBS.

Mineral medicines have superseded, in a great degree, the
use of herbs.

Wormwood is still used, mixed with rum, for allaying
feverish excitement incident to bruises and sprains.

The Oil of Rosemary is at present an ingredient in certain
lotions.

Poppy is yet in merited esteem. An infusion of white
poppy leaves for bathing weak eyes is often beneficial, and
poppy leaves laid on the top of poultices for healing purposes,
have a soothing effect.

Hyssop tea is used for infantine disorders, and joins with
‘Catmint in making a nourishing drink for infants.

Motherwort tea continues to be considered a harmless
tonic, and Thoroughwort a wholesome purgative, while
Chamomile plays an undisputed part in restoring tone to
a weak stomach.

Pennroyal is generally dried on the stalk, and hung up
in paper bags. It makes a soothing and agreeable tea. It
is much used as a defence against wood-ticks and fleas,
and is sometimes put round a horse’s harness to keep the
flies off.

Tansy, though not able to come to amicable terms with
every stomach, is drunk by many as a tonic, and to extermi-
nate worms. Meat rubbed with tansy leaves is said to keep
off the visits of the flesh-fly. Many books give us receipts
for making tansy pudding, but I have never seen the person
who has eaten one, — that is, to my knowledge.

Herbs are dried for winter use in an oven, quick and
thoroughly, taking care not to burn them; take the leaves
from the stalks, pound and sift, and bottle them closely, or
put them into close-fitting tin boxes.

Vinegars are frequently flavored with herbs; they make
a nice seasoning for some sauces, hashes, and ragouts.

Gather the leaves fresh on a dry, sunny day, and pick

ARSENIC. 43

them carefully. Fill a stone jar with such herbs as you
prefer for flavoring, and pour some wine or cider vinegar
over them, and let them steep for nine or ten days; then
strain, and bottle the liquid.

Wine extracts the virtues of herbs and roots in the same
manner as vinegar, and is prepared in the same manner.
Herb wines are often used for beef, and dishes made from

ealf’s head.

ARROWROOT. This farinaceous substance is taken
from the roots of certain plants. The Jamaica and Ber-
muda are considered as nice as any. Gruels and jellies
made from arrowroot are relished by invalids and children,
and are desirable occasionally for all, as a change from hear-
tier diet. Arrowroot does not require to be boiled, but it is
much healthier to be cooked. In using it either for gruel
or blanemange or puddings, you must first wet the arrowroot,
as you would starch, before adding to it the full quantity of
liquid.

ARROWROOT BLANCMANGE.

Mix in a little cold water two teaspoonfuls of arrowroot,
and pour over it a pint of boiling milk, sweetened and fla-
vored to your taste or present wants. Put the mixture
over the fire, and stir it constantly for two or three minutes.
You can turn it into a mould, and garnish with colored
jellies.

ARROWROOT GRUEL.

Mix a little arrowroot, not quite a table-spoonful, and pour
over it boiling water ; season it with a salt-spoon of salt (not
heaped), a little white sugar, and nutmeg.

ARSENIC, in a metallic state, is of a bluish-white color.
As an acid, it is known as a sudden and virulent poison.

44 _ ARTICHOKE.

Arsenic is frequently used in the manufacture of glass and
the nicer kinds of porcelain; for this reason, it is not well to
set aside acids in cups and drinking-glasses, with an, inten-
tion of using the liquid, as the alkali in the glass may be
sufficient, when brought in conjunction with acids, to hold
the arsenic in solution. Arsenic is used in the manufacture
of shot, and when shot is used to cleanse bottles, care should
be taken to throw them all out in the final rinsing. Many
paints have arsenic for their basis.

When arsenic has been swallowed, give large quantities
of sugar and water, and at the same time administer a gen-
erous dose of ipecacuanha, which may be repeated; if the
latter cannot be had immediately, two or three spoonfuls of
made mustard, diluted in warm water, may induce vomiting.
Oil is never to be taken till the poison is entirely ejected.
After the patient has happily passed the crisis, some simple
matters, such as barley or rice water, milk, or flax-seed tea,
can be taken to quiet the stomach.

ARTICHOKE (Cynara). There are two varieties, the
oval green Cynara Scolymus, or French, and Cynara hor-
tensis, or Globe Artichoke. ‘The latter is considered best
for common culture, the heads being larger, and producing
more eatable substance, and being without the strong, mawk-
ish, perfumed taste peculiar to the French, or oval green.
Both varieties may be cultivated from the seed or sucker
taken from large plants early in spring. It is perennial, but,
like everything else, it is the better for frequent renewals ;
a bed will, however, under favorable circumstances of soil
and climate, continue to produce heads five or six years.
They require a loose, light, and moist soil. The seed should
be sown about an inch deep, and at such distances as to
allow the earth, when the plants are up, to be lightened
around them. If a plant throws out a great many suck-

ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM. . 45

ers, some should be removed, in order that the remain-
der may be more vigorous for transplanting. Transplant
them, in cloudy weather, to a rich, moist soil, and water
them frequently while rooting. For winter protection, the
roots must be covered with a light mould, close to their
leaves, and a little well-rotted manure thrown over them.
If the compost is too rich, it will cause them to decay.

When ripe, the scales expand. They should be cut before
the flower makes its appearance. Cut the stem always
close to the ground.

The Artichoke is not regarded as a very nourishing vege-
table; but it is much esteemed by those who have acquired
a relish for it. When gathered, they should be thrown into
cold water, and be well washed, and then be put into fresh
cold water, and soaked for about an hour, before they are
cooked. Put them into boiling water, with a little salt,
and if fully grown boil them an hour and a half, or till they
are tender. Drain them, and serve them with melted butter,
pepper, and salt. In Europe, artichokes, when dried, are
baked with mushrooms in meat pies.

ARTICHOKE, JERUSALEM (Helianthus tuberosus).
This is a native of America, as indeed are all the plants of
the Sunflower genus. Professor Low (Elements of Practi-
eal Agriculture) says: “ Although believed to be a native of
the warmer parts of America, it is one of the hardiest of our
cultivated plants, very productive, easily propagated, and
growing on the poorest soils. As compared with the tubers
of the potato, they are watery, and may be believed to be
inferior in nutritive properties. But the quantity is fre-
quently very large; about five hundred bushels per acre, it
is said, having been produced without manure. The tubers
do not seem to have great fattening properties, but they are
eagerly eaten by animals.”

46 ART OF GARDENING.

They are cultivated in a similar manner to potatoes. IEf
the stems are pruned, the tubers will be improved. They
require to be placed three or four feet apart, in rows or drills,
to be occasionally hoed, and to be kept free of weeds. They ~
are also cooked with the same variety that the potato enjoys.

They are commonly boiled, scraped, carefully drained,
mashed, and a little cream and butter beaten into them,
seasoned with salt and pepper.

They are sometimes parboiled, and then placed in a pan
under roasting meat, and either sent to the table on the dish
with the meat, or served separately. They may be boiled
plain, and served with melted butter poured over them.

ART OF GARDENING. Mr. Roscoe, the elegant
author of the Lives of Lorenzo de Medicis and of Leo the
Tenth, speaking from personal experience, — for he, like his
father before him, had been an active laborer in agricultural
pursuits, — has said: “If I were asked whom I consider to
be the happiest of the human race, I should answer, those
who cultivate the earth with their own hands.”

As most houses in villages have vegetable gardens, we
shall give some brief hints upon the making and preserving
such gardens; these suggestions have been gathered from
experience and the best authorities. :

The largest produce with the smallest expense, is the
favorite axiom of the gardener, as of the larger agriculturist.
To attain this end, there should be a careful husbandry of
every kind of fertilizer ; chip-dust, bones, decayed or decay-
ing leaves, soot, dish and stale meat-pickle water, ashes,
liquid manures, should all be brought into requisition by the
careful housewife.

The soil of the garden should be light, well pulverized,
and kept in good spirits by liquid manures. Weeds should
be carefully extirpated. One cannot always choose the

ART OF GARDENING. 47

site. Mr. Forsyth says: “A garden, if possible, should be
on a gentle declivity towards the south, a little inclining to
the east, to receive the benefit of the morning sun.” . Low
bottom lands are subjected to blights, mildews, and frosts,
and, on the other hand, a too lofty situation is exposed to
merciless winds, that break the branches of trees and shrub-
bery, and scatter prematurely the blossoms of the orchard.

Having secured as good a situation as circumstances per-
mit, and made art supply original defects of situation, the
next step is to ascertain the nature of the soil. If it be very
wet, drains must be dug to carry off the superfluous water.
These drains must be made to draw into the main drain,
which can be laid under the principal walk of the garden.
In a small garden of an acre, one well-constructed drain will
generally be sufficient, if the soil be not deplorably wet.

A cold, stubborn, clayey soil requires to be lightened by
horse-manure, wood and coal ashes, sand, and chip-dust, in
order to become porous, and accessible to the outer atmos-
phere.

Dry and sandy soils require manures which will increase
their weight, and promote an adhesiveness favorable to the
retention of moisture. Cow-manure, river-mud, clay, fish-
offal, can be given to such soils with advantage.

Ground which retains moisture, and is neither very sandy
nor very clayey, which in drying does not bake in obstinate
sour cakes, has a good constitution for the produce of most
vegetables.

If your land is new, it will require two or three deep
ploughings before it can be worked. -

The implements for a garden may easily be multiplied to
a useless excess. A skilful gardener brings his labor about
with comparatively few tools. .

Two spades, of different forms, a hand hoe, a garden rake,
an asparagus fork, one or two drilling-machines for sowing

48 ART OF GARDENING.

seed, a wheelbarrow, and, if convenient, a roller for paths .
and to smooth beds just after the putting in of seed, will be
all that is requisite for a common kitchen garden; other
wants, as they arise, being readily supplied by an ingenious
person. Sieves for covering squashes from the heat of the
sun while young can be made of home manufacture; a roller
can be supplied by boards laid on the ground, but neither
roller nor boards should be used while the ground is wet;
and coal-ashes for walks make hard, clean paths, and tend
to keep off insects; even the drilling may be done by hoes
or dibbles, after a line is stretched, and the distances marked
for the different rows.

I propose to make a few remarks upon the following
common garden vegetables ; viz. Common Bean (faba vul-
garis), Common Beet (Leta vulgaris), Cabbage (Brassica
oleracea), Carrot (Daucus Carota), Celery (Apiwm grave-
olens), Cress (Lapidium sativum), Cucumber (Cucumis sa-
tiva), Chives (Allium Schenoprasum), Horseradish ( Coch-
learia Armoracia), Indian Corn (Zea Mays), Lettuce (Lac-
tuca sativa crispa), Melon (Cucumis Melo), Water-Melon
(Cucurbita Citrullus), Mustard (Sinapis), Onion (Allium
Cepa), Parsley (Apium Petroselinum), Parsnip (Pastinaca
sativa), Peas (Pisum sativum), Pepper (Capsicum), Potato
(Solanum tuberosum), Pumpkin (Cucurbita Pepo), Radish
(Raphanus sativa), Rhubarb (Rheum), Salsify (Lragopogon
porrifolius), Common Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), Squash
(Cucurbita Melopepo), Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum),
Turnip (Brassica Lapa).

Bean (faba vulgaris).

There are great varieties of the Common Bean. The
English Garden Bean requires care in this country, as our
summers are apt to wilt and destroy the blossom. ‘They
should be planted as early in the spring as possible, in drills

ART OF GARDENING. 49
.

not quite two inches deep and three or four inches apart,
with an interval between the drills of three or four feet.
When a few inches high they should be hoed, and when
in full bloom the tops can be broken off, that the vigor of
the plant may be directed to filling out the pods. Some
of the varieties of the English Dwarf are known as Early
Mazagan, Broad Windsor, Sword Long Pod, Green Non-
pareil.

Kidney Dwarf Beans. —'These beans are from India,
South America, and warm climates, and require care and
a rich soil. They may be planted either in hills or drills.
The drills should be two or three feet apart, and the beans
some inches asunder. They should be carefully hoed as
they grow, and the earth be drawn about their stems from
time to time.

Among this family of beans are the delicious Cranberries ;
also the Refugee, or One Thousand for One, which is usually
planted in hills.

Some of the early varieties are Early Dun-colored Quaker,
Early Valentine, Early Mohawk, Early China Dwarf, Early
Yellow Six-weeks, Early Rob Roy, Early Black Dwarf.
~The Early Mohawk is considered the hardiest of these
varieties.

The Yellow, White, and Red Dwarf Cranberry, and the
Warrington or Marrow Bean, are all delicious table veg-
etables.

Beans, Pole. — These species are also planted in hills or
drills ; the same distances, as already mentioned above, being
preserved. ‘Tall poles, ten feet high, are inserted in each
hill, or along the drills, and the beans planted around them.
In planting the Lima Bean, it is best to put not less than
seven or eight in each hill, as these species of beans are af-
fected by damp weather, and often rot in the ground. They
can afterwards be thinned, so as to leave but three or four

~

3)

50 . ART OF GARDENING.

healthy plants in each hill. The Lima Bean also requires
richer soil than other running beans, and the hills should be
four feet from each other, on either side. Put the seeds
about half an inch under ground.

Among the varieties of Pole Beans are the Red and
White Pole Cranberry, the Large White Lima from South
America, and the Saba or Small Lima, London Horticul-
tural Speckled, White Dutch Runners, Scarlet Runners,
and Asparagus or Yard-Long.

Beet (Leta vulgaris).

Beets are biennials. The Mangel-Wurzel is cultivated
for cattle; it takes its name from the German; it is also
called Root of Scarcity. It is considered excellent for cows,
highly nutritious, inducing milk, without imparting a taint to
it, as turnips do. The highly blood-colored are much prized
for the table.

Beets are planted in drills, a foot apart, and not quite two
inches below the surface, and thinned out as soon as they
are strong, hoed, and kept clear of weeds. It is desirable to
have the earth in good order by previous tillage, and not to
be obliged to apply manure at the time of putting the beet-
seed in the ground.

One of the earliest varieties is the Early Blood Turnip-
rooted. ‘

The French Sugar Beet, white, red, and yellow, is used
extensively in Europe for the manufacture of sugar. It is
an excellent variety for the table. The common Green,
Red, and White Beet are all desirable for the table. The
Early Spring are sometimes tough and stringy, from being
subjected to the changes of uncertain weather. Under favor-
able growth, the young plants that are pulled for thinning
are served with their tops on, and are sweet and tender.

For winter use they should be planted in July; if too

ART OF GARDENING. 51

long in the ground, they become coarse and corky for table
use.

The soil should be finely pulverized for beets, and, after
the beets are up, well stirred by frequent hoeings.

CaBBaGE (Brassica oleracea).

The Cabbage, says Professor Low, commonly so called, is
Brassica oleracea. This species assumes a vast variety ot
form and character. The Wild Cabbage, from which the
greater number of the cultivated kinds are derived, is a little
plant growing upon our sea-coasts. Yet to this plant we
certainly owe the greater part of the numerous varieties
cultivated in our gardens and fields. We cannot, indeed, be
assured of the origin of all the cultivated kinds ; besides the
variations produced by climate and art, all the species of
Brassica form hybrids with one another.

With us a variety of ways are made use of to bring forward
the Cabbage, according to the climate and soil. The early
kinds are raised in hot-beds, and transplanted into beds of
rich soil, coyering them at night to protect them from frosts.
Plants of the early sorts may generally be raised from seed,
in most of the New England States, some time in April,
unless the season is quite backward.

Cabbages are attacked by various worms and insects, which
sometimes eat up whole rows. It is well on transplanting
them to keep a narrow watch on these depredators, and to
place a little circle of salt round each of the plants; also
lime, ashes, snuff, and pungent-smelling substances.

Among the early varieties are the Early Dutch, Sugar-
loaf, Early York, Early Heart-shaped, &e.

The Yorkshire, Drumhead, and American or Bergen Cab-
bage have large leaves, which form close, dense heads.
These require to be placed in drills several feet apart, with an
interval between the plants in the rows of two or three feet.

52 ART OF GARDENING.

The seed of the Red Cabbage can be sown towards the
last of April or first of May in favorable seasons. This is a
desirable cabbage for pickling, and for winter salads.

The seeds of the Savoy, a popular table variety, are
generally sown in New England in May, in a rich, well-
prepared soil. These plants, on being transplanted, will not
require to be placed so far apart as the larger kinds.

The richer and fresher the soil, the better for the Cabbage,
which also requires the ground to be deeply stirred while
growing, in the same manner as for turnips.

Cauliflower and Broccoli are both species of Cabbage.
Broccoli is not cultivated so universally with us as the Cauli-
flower ; it has, like the latter, large heads of seeds, only the
Broccoli has its seeds of different colors, purple, green,
brown, and white. ‘The white varieties are often mistaken
for Cauliflower.

Cauliflower requires to be protected from the extremes
of heat and cold. As the heads tend to maturity, the larger
leaves are broken over them to preserve their purity of
color and compactness of growth. Over two feet every way
should be given as space for the Cauliflower, and from time
to time the beds should be forked, to keep the earth between
the plants porous and open to the atmosphere.

Carrot (Daucus Carota).

The Carrot grows wild in Great Britain. It is an ex-
cellent vegetable for cows. The Carrot thrives best in rich
land, which has been subjected to previous tillage. It is
sown in drills not deeper than an inch, and the drills
about a foot apart. The Early Orange, the Long Orange,
and Altingham are the varieties usually selected for the
kitchen garden.

: CELERY (Apium graveolens).

Celery, as is well known, is Smallage cultivated. The

ART OF GARDENING. 53

seed is sown in cold beds; when it is well up, the plants are
put into a bed of rich earth, and allowed to remain for a
few weeks, when they are transplanted into trenches. These
trenches should be made in the richest part of the garden,
and dug a little more than a foot deep, leaving the earth
thus taken out on either side of the trenches. Some rotten
manure is mixed in at the bottom of the trench, putting some
of the loamy earth from the sides with it. In the centre of
the trench place the plants, leaving five or six inches be-
tween each plant. They should be abundantly watered and
partially shaded for the first two or three weeks. They may
be hoed some time before they are earthed. The earthing
should be done in dry weather, otherwise it is apt to make
the celery grow rusty. Celery intended for winter is planted
later in the summer.

Cress (Lapidium sativum).

The Curled, or Peppergrass, is liked by many with Lettuce.
It is sown in little drills, quite thickly, and in ground free
from weeds. It is of easy cultivation. ©

CucumBER (Oucumts sativa).

The seed of the cucumber is put into hills of rich earth,
well-rotted manure being placed in each hill. Cucumbers
are sometimes raised in the squash bed. The hills should
be three or four feet apart. They require water in dry
weather, and to have the insects kept off from them. Char-
coal-dust, wood-ashes, and washes with such liquids as are
destructive to insects and not injurious to the young plants,
water in which burdock-leaves, soot, &c. have been steeped,
can be advantageously applied. Cucumbers should be always
plucked before they turn yellow, as otherwise they soon ex-
haust the vine. : ‘

~

5 *

54 ART OF GARDENING.

Cuives (Allium Schenoprasum).

A species of Onion, which is grown from the offshoots it
.sends out from its roots. They are planted in rows about a
foot apart, and with an interval between the bulbs of three
or four inches.

HorserapisH (Cochlearta Armoracia).

Horseradish may be planted, either in a bed or in drills,
from cuttings from the root or offshoots. Any tolerably
strong, moist soil will grow horseradish. If it is occasionally
hoed, it will be improved.

InpiAN Corn (Zea Mays).

Indian Corn is usually grown in hills several feet apart.
It requires good soil and warm weather. When about
seventeen inches high, it should be hoed deeply. A little
ashes scattered on each hill will tend to keep the insects off.

The best sorts for a kitchen garden are Early Dutton,
Tuscarora, Canadian, and Sweet or Sugar.

e

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa crispa).

. Lettuce is often sown in hot-beds. It requires the richest
soil, frequent hoeings, and an equal moisture. ‘The varieties
are infinite. Royal Cape, Curled India, Dutch or Cabbage,
Large Green Curled, are all considered superior.

MELON (Oucumis Melo).

Early in May prepare, in rich, light soil, beds about six
feet apart every way, and at the corners of the bed dig
deeply, and put in well-rotted manure, and throw in fine
loamy earth, and mix it well with the manure. Into these
corners put seven or eight melon-seeds. If they all come up,
thin them, and bring the earth up round the plants. The

ART OF GARDENING. 55

ground should be kept scrupulously clear of weeds. Pluck
off the first runner buds, to keep the vigor of the plants for
the fruit. Plant Melons by themselves, if you wish to keep
the virtues of an individual kind, as the Melon mixes pollen
with all the Cucumber family.

The Striped Cucumber Bug (Galereuca vittata) and the
Cucumber Flea Beetle, a little black, skipping insect, are
the enemies of the Melon. Use diluted alkalies, soot, and
lime. Mr. Downing has recommended the use of guano,
sprinkling the soil just beneath the plants as soon as they
come up, the pungent smell ridding the plant of its destroy-
ers, and giving it a fine start in the early part of the season.
(Fruits and Fruit-trees of America.)

The culture of the Melon is easy, and of great productive-
ness, excepting in the most Northern States; and the author
has eaten delicious melons grown at Bangor, Maine.

Bits of slate and blackened shingles placed under each
melon are said to improve the size and flavor of the fruit.
(Mr. Downing.)

The Green-fleshed Melon, in which class is found the
Citron and-the Nutmeg, contains some of the choicest and
most popular varieties. The oval, Yellow-fleshed, are in-
ferior in comparison to the round, Green-fleshed, above
mentioned. Mr. Downing has mentioned the Persian Mel-
on, of a thin skin and delicious flavor and honey-like flesh,
as a variety repaying the additional care of a hot-bed and
irrigation, or constant watering, and careful mixture for the
making of soil. (Fruits and Fruit-trees of America.)

Melon-seed, if good, will sink in water ; if worthless, it will
float on the surface.

Water-Meton (Cucurbita Citrullus).

The Water-Melon is cultivated in the same manner as
the Melon, excepting the hills are placed eight feet apart,
instead of six.

56 | ART OF GARDENING.

Mustarp (Stnapis), WHITE AND BLACK.

Sinapis alba, White Mustard, and Stnapis nigra, Black
Mustard, are both easily cultivated. They may be sown
early in spring. Sinapis nigra is that from which mustard
is usually manufactured. White Mustard is used for stuff
ing mangoes, and both varieties for salads.

Onion (Allium Cepa).

Onions will not grow on wet and stubborn soils; they
require a rich bed, with strong but old manure well mixed
in it to the depth of a spade. The bed should have a sunny
exposure, and be prepared early in the spring. The seed is
sown in drills about an inch deep, with an interval between
the drills of twelve inches. As they come up, thin them out,
if too thick, till several inches is left between the bulbs. In
the early stages of their growth, they may be hoed; but
after they have assumed the bulb, they must be weeded .by
hand.

When onions are fully ripened, the tops begin to turn yel-
low and decay.

The seeds of onions are also sometimes sowed late in the
spring, and pulled up in the fall, and dried, and kept over
winter, and set out in the following spring, and cultivated in
the same manner as onions from the seed.

Among the approved varieties for the table are the White
Portugal, and Silver-skin, or Yellow Onion.

ParRsLey (Apiwm Petroselinum).

There are several varieties, all easily cultivated. The
Common Parsley is the well-known pot-herb, and the curled
varieties form the familiar garnish that gives coolness and
brightness to many dishes. Sow the seed in drills about an
inch deep, and place the drills about a foot apart. Hoe fre-
quently to keep free from weeds.

ART OF GARDENING. Hi iy

The Large-rooted Parsley (Aptwm latifolium) is cultivat-
ed in the same manner with parsnips and carrots. If sown
thick, they should be thinned out as they come up.

Parsley can be kept through a large part of the winter, if
taken up and put in boxes, and kept in a good cellar, and
watered occasionally and exposed to the light.

Parsley is biennial, but it is well to sow it annually.
Rabbits are fed upon parsley.

Parsnip (Pastinaca sativa).

Parsnips thrive best in a soil enriched by previous tillage.
No manure should be applied at the time of sowing seed.
As early as spring culture can be undertaken, the beds should
be dug deep, the seed sown in drills about an inch deep, and
an interval left between the drills of about fourteen inches.
Sow the seeds thickly, and when two or three inches high,
if they seem strong, thin them, so as to leave six or seven
inches between each plant. They require gentle hoeing
all through the summer, to keep off the weeds. In autumn
some can be taken up for winter use, and others left in the
eround till spring, as the frost sweetens and improves the
parsnip.

Pras (Pisum sativum).

There are many varieties of the Garden Pea. The early
varieties can be put into the soil as soon as the ground can
be worked ; other sorts can be planted, at intervals of about
a fortnight, till the end of May.

All the varieties may be planted either in single or double
rows; and all, even the dwarf varieties, should be supported
when two or three inches high, by fan-shaped sticks for the
tendrils to run upon. The drills have an interval between
them, which is determined by the kind of Pea planted; the
space is generally from four to six feet apart.

58 ART OF GARDENING.

The finest Marrowfat Peas grow very high, and require
long sticks. To save sticks, and to increase the yield, some
gardeners make two drills about three inches deep, and nine
inches apart, and drop the seed into both drills rather thick.
As the plants reach two or three inches in height, they
are hoed, and the earth brought up round the stems, and
when six or seven inches high they should be hoed again,
and a line of sticks placed between the rows, of a height
suitable to the variety of Pea. A few smaller sticks may
be put on the outside of the rows, as steps to lead to the main
centre sticks or poles. It is poor economy to use rotten and
brittle sticks. Rows are in such instances blown down by
the wind, or by the first gathering of the vegetable. Some
people dip the ends of their sticks in tar or resinous prepa-
ration to keep them some seasons.

Peas will grow either on light or heavy soils, but thrive
best on light ones. If the ground is too rich, they run to
vine, but yield poorly.

PEPPER (Capsicum).

Of this family there are several varieties. They belong
to the East and West Indies, but are easily grown in all the
States with a little care. They are often brought forward
in the hot-bed, and on reaching the height of two or three
inches are transplanted into good rich beds, with a sunny
exposure, allowing sufficient space between each for a hand-
hoe to be worked, as they require to be kept free from
weeds.

Some of the pods .of the different varieties are red, and
others yellow, on reaching maturity. They are gathered
ereen for pickling.

The Capsicum grossum, or Bell-shaped, is in warm cli-
mates perennial. It has a thick skin, and is pulpy and
delicate in texture. |

ART OF GARDENING. 59

When the pods are ripe they are cut, and hung in the
sun ina dry atmosphere. The seed is preserved in the pod
if it is effectually dried. When powdered it is used for pep-
per-tea, for the relief of violent colds and sore throats.

The variety Sweet Spanish is used as a salad.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum).

The Potato is a native of America. Of the genus Sola-
num, it belongs to the natural order Solanacee, or the Night-
shade tribe. Some of this family, it is well known, are poi-
sonous, as the Deadly Nightshade; others have stimulating
and narcotic properties, and others afford us food. The
potato is said to eject some poisonous properties, on being
subjected to heat in the process of cooking, and, for this
reason, the practice of changing the water they are boiled in
is a commendable one.

Potatoes are mostly planted in drills, either whole or cut
into pieces, each piece having an eye. They are frequently
cut a week before they are planted, and spread on a dry
barn-floor to dry. They are planted five or six inches deep,
and seven or eight inches from each other, in drills about
thirty inches apart. They are hoed as soon as they are up,
and from time to time the earth is thrown up around the
plants.

Potatoes require a great deal of manure. Common stable
manure, bone-dust, and alkalies are all favorable, but lime
cannot be used with advantage.

Pumexin (Cucurbita Pepo).

Pumpkin beds are prepared in a similar manner to
melon and cucumber beds, but the soil need not be so highly
prepared.

RapisH (Raphanus sativa).

Radishes do not love a wet, stubborn soil, and should

60 ART OF GARDENING.

have beds carefully prepared early in the spring, and be
sown in a light loam with a sunny exposure. If the weather
is dry, they require watering, to swell the roots. They
should grow rapidly, or they are tough and stringy or corky.
Stir in strong manure into the beds, and keep wood-ashes,
tobacco-dust, and soot on the surface of the bed, to drive off
insects. The seed is put in drills about an inch deep and
a foot apart.

RHUBARB (Ltheum).

This genus of plants contains several varieties. hapon-
ticum, or Common Rhubarb, is the kind commonly cultivated
for its stalks. Rheum undulatum is also cultivated in kitchen
gardens. ;

Palmatum, or Officinal Rhubarb, is the variety whose
root is so valuabie for medicine. It is cultivated largely in
Turkey, and is a native of China and the East Indies. This
variety has never been much cultivated in America.

The Common Rhubarb requires a light, rich soil, and to
be dug to the depth of two spades.- It is propagated by the
seed or by offshoots. In the spring the plants are brought
forward by having stable manure put around them, and
being covered by barrels or large tubs. Jt is much im-
proved by cultivation.

Sausiry (Zragopogon porrifolius).
This plant, known also as the Vegetable Oyster, is much
cultivated in Virginia, and cooked there in a variety of ways.
The seed should be sown early in spring, in good gar-
den earth, in drills an inch deep and xbout a foot apart.
The seeds ripen unequally, and therefore it is safer to sow
the seed rather generously. They may he thinned when
two or three inches high, so that a small hoe can be passed

between them, to keep the earth loose and light.

a

ART OF GARDENING. 61

Sprnacn (Spinacia oleracea).

This is a valuable vegetable for the kitchen garden, being
hardy in its habits and of a wholesome nature. It will only
flourish in rich soil, and if the ground is poor, strong manure
must be liberally thrown into the bed. It can be cultivated
in drills; as soon as it is a few inches high, it must be
carefully hoed, and the practice continued all through its
growth.

Spinach is regarded mostly as a spring vegetable, but it is
sometimes put into beds, in autumn, that have become empty
by the taking up of vegetables.

. There are several varieties of spinach, the Savoy Spinach,
Broad-leaved Spinach, Holland, &c. A variety called New
Zealand Spinach, or Zetragona expansa, lasts into autumn.
It grows, if the season is favorable, luxuriantly; and is
planted in hills some feet apart, with but few seeds to a hill.

SquasH (Cucurbita Melopepo).

Beds are prepared for the Squash in the same manner as
for melons and cucumbers. 'Those which are great runners
have an interval between them of six or nine feet, while the
bush varieties are planted three or four feet apart.

Early Summer Squashes are gathered while the outside
is sensitive to the pressure of the finger-nail.

Winter Squashes are kept out as long as possible, in order
to be hardier for winter keeping. On cold nights they are
covered with matting or old carpet, to protect them from the
frost. They should be thoroughly dried by the sun before
they are put up for winter. Care should be taken not to
bruise them; and they should be kept on a dry floor or
shelf, in a room at an equal temperature, but never at the
freezing point.

Early Bush, Early Crook-neck, &c. are summer varieties.
Canada Crook-neck, Acorn Squash, are both nice varieties

6

62 ART OF GARDENING.

for winter. ‘There are other varieties of great merit. Plant
different varieties by themselves; sown near cucumbers,
melons, or other squashes, the mixture of the pollen deterio-
rates the seed for the following season.

Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum).

There are two species of the Tomato, the Red Tomato
and the Yellow. In each of these are found sub-varieties,
with differences of size and shape.

The large Red Squash-shaped is the most commonly
cultivated for the table and for catchups. The small Red
Cherry-shaped is used for pickling.

The yellow varieties differ principally in shape. The
small Cherry Yellow Tomato is a very pretty variety, and
makes a good common preserve.

Nothing is of easier culture in a warm climate than the
Tomato. In Virginia I have known a single plant to bear
over a bushel of rich, mellow fruit.

In Massachusetts and in Maine greater care is requisite to
perfect the fruit. Plants are sometimes brought forward in
a hot-bed, and often in a cold bed or open box in the house ;
the boxes being deep and well filled with rich earth, placed
in a sunny exposure, and kept of an equal moisture. The
seed must be put in sparsely, and not deeper than half an
inch. In transplanting, deep holes are dug, and strong
stable-manure placed in these holes with finely pulverized
earth, and the plants put in carefully, taking up as much
earth with them as possible. Each hill should be three or
four feet apart. They must be protected from the hot sun
in their early stages, by shingles forced into the ground so
as to shade them. They should be watered morning and
night till they set, and occasionally all through the season,
if the weather be dry.

As they grow, they need to be trimmed, in order that the

ART OF GARDENING. 63

fruit may be exposed to the sun. They can be trained either
horizontally or to a pole. Care should be taken that the
fruit does not rot on the ground. ‘Tomatoes are great ex-
hausters of the soil, and their beds should be changed from
year to year.

Turnie (Lrassica Rapa).

Turnips should be sown early in the spring for summer
use, and for winter vegetables a bed should be sown later.
If the first crop does not come to maturity early in summer,
they are stringy and worm-eaten.

Turnips are best grown upon land which has been pre-
viously manured. A light soil is desirable. Insects must
be fought off constantly, by lime, ashes, soot, and pungent
powders put on the surface of the bed. Sometimes whole
beds of turnips are cut off by insects.

For garden culture, turnip-seed is sown in drills about a
foot apart, and hoed between the rows as the plants grow.

The Swedish, or Ruta-Baga, which grows to an enormous
size, is very good for cows mixed with other food.

The table varieties are various. ‘The small turnips are
sweeter than the larger kinds, which are more suitable for
extensive agricultural purposes.

Early White Dutch, Swan’s Egg, Long Yellow French,
and many other varieties of white and purple rooted turnip,
are excellent for the table.

Garden-seed should seldom be put lower down than an
inch, unless where seed is necessarily sown late, when it
may be covered deeper, to protect the seed from being
scorched by the sun.

Though it has never been proved that plants throw out
“matters of an excrementitious nature injurious to the plant
from which they have been separated,” yet it is known that

64 ART OF GARDENING.

some plants exhaust the fertility of land in a larger degree
than others, — that certain kinds of food are taken by some
plants and rejected by others; and for such reasons a rota-
tion of crops has always been an invariable maxim with the
farmer, and the small gardener finds it equally to his benefit
to change the situation of his beds.

Spinach, always requiring a rich soil, leaves the ground
in a good state for such vegetables as salsify, carrots, beets,
radishes, potatoes, &c.

Celery beds are excellent for cauliflowers, cabbages, and
all the Brassica tribe.

Potatoes leave the ground in a good state for artichokes,
for an asparagus bed, for lettuce and onion, situation and
subsoil being favorable.

Such plants as have luxuriant spreading heads are to be
followed by those which have but narrow leaves and sparse
outward growth.

Vegetables which require frequent deep hoemg prepare
the ground for plants which must remain stationary, such
as those herbs whose running roots would be bruised by the
hoe.

Transplanting is best done when the ground is wet and
the weather cloudy. If it is necessary to transplant when it
is dry, the ground should be dug deeply, and the plants left
in rich mud in the cellar till the cool of the evening, and then
set out in a rich compost, such as will retain moisture, and
be watered frequently till they have set or taken root.

Wood-ashes form a very valuable fertilizer to soils lack-
ing phosphates. Coal-ashes are often used to lighten stiff and
stubborn soils. Ashes from soap-boilers have been by many
cultivators much esteemed. As lime and chalk form the
principal portions of the ashes of soap-boilers, where a soil
is found deficient in these substances, they may generally
be applied with benefit. Ashes, as a manure, act power-

ASPARAGUS. 65

fully and quickly, but add little permanent value to the
soil.

ASPARAGUS (Asparagus officinalis). This desirable
and healthy spring vegetable may be raised by sowing the
seed in the fall or early spring. The seed should be fresh
and ripe, and put into rich soil, and covered about half an
inch deep. Hoe carefully when the plants are up, and
keep them free from weeds. After a careful cultivation,
some gardeners remove the plants when a year old from the
nursery bed; oftener, they are not removed till two years
old. The bed they are to be finally put into should be
trenched a foot deep, and well-rotted manure be worked into
each trench several inches below the surface. Place the
plants upright along the trench, and fill in with earth as you
pass along, filling in carefully afterwards, drawing the earth
round each plant with a rake or hoe. Throw on the surface
some well-rotted manure. Sea-weed, if within reach, is an
excellent manure for asparagus beds, which require an
annual dressing. Old pickle brine may be put on in the
fall. The bed should be placed in a sunny exposure.

Asparagus should be carefully cut, so as not to wound the
coming buds; a sharp knife should be used, and the shoots
cut a little below the surface of the ground.

Where you have a bed, cut asparagus just before you put
it into the pot. Tie it in small bundles. Throw a little salt
into boiling water; no more water should be used than just
enough to cover the vegetable. If it boils too long, it will
lose color and flavor; twenty minutes will generally find it
tender. Toast some slices of bread quite dry, pour some of
the water the asparagus was boiled in over it, and put a
piece of butter on each piece of bread; lay the asparagus
on the toast, and put‘a piece of butter on the asparagus.
You may serve it with melted butter.

6 *

66 BAKED MEATS.

ATTICS. The upper rooms of a house should be kept
religiously clean. The cook generally sleeps there. Tur-
pentine round the corners of attic rooms is often sufficient to
keep ants off. Ants also dislike all alkalies. Never have
paper on the walls of attic rooms.

It is customary to reserve, in a large house, one room in
the attic for such groceries and household matters as are
improved by an occasional change into a dry atmosphere.
Cranberries are sometimes spread on a coarse sheet in such
aroom. Loaf-sugar hung here keeps dry and hard. Cer-
tain wines are improved by an occasional visit here. Flower-
seeds are spread in a sunny exposure to ripen in this room.

Curtains should be so placed that they may be easily
taken down, else they will be a receptacle for insects. The
floor should be provided with small domestic mats, never
with heavy carpets. The floors can be easily washed up
once a week, if painted yellow or lead-color. Let the bed-
steads be often examined, and quicksilver beaten with the
white of an ege placed around suspicious crevices. Put it
on with a feather. Iron bedsteads are easily kept clean,
as, after removing the clothes, a little camphene poured on
to the bedstead, and ignited, effects a thorough purification.

BAKED MEATS. Meats dressed in the oven. (Wor-
cester.)

Most good cooks object to the oven for the generality of
meats; for though they lose less in actual weight by baking
than by any other process, they are thought not to improve
in piquancy and flavor. Some meats, all agree, make good
family dishes when put into the oven in deep baking dishes.
Veal, if not too rich, can be baked with less injury than most
meats. <A leg of mutton stuffed with herb stuffing, with
slices of parboiled potatoes, artichokes, and bits of onion
dropped into the pan, makes a good dish. ‘Tomatoes cut up

BACON. 67

and baked with meats lend them flavor, and mitigate their
grossness. Vegetables should be sliced, and the solid roots
parboiled and put in when the meat is half done.

Meats baked in the oven of a modern range, where the
door is occasionally opened and the meat basted, bear a
nearer resemblance to roasts than meats prepared in a com-
mon stove.

Tongues and hams soaked for twenty-four hours, and the
water changed in the evening, are frequently taken out, and,
after being wiped, put into a coarse paste, and set into the
oven, and baked till tender. The paste is taken off before
they are sent to the table.

BACON. Pork that is young, not over ten or twelve
months, is best for family bacon. It should be well bled,
and carefully trimmed.

For fifty pounds of pork, I have frequently used the fol-
lowing receipt : — Three and a half pints of salt, six ounces
of saltpetre, and three pounds of moist sugar; rubbing in the
saltpetre, and, mixing the salt and sugar together, rubbing it
also in thoroughly. Allow it to remain in a deep wooden
trough or tub for six weeks, turning it every day, and bast-
ing it with the liquor formed by the sugar, salt, and salt-
petre. Take it out, dry it, and smoke it for three weeks.

Bay or Lisbon salt, or salt formed by the gradual action
of the winds and sun, is thought to impart a milder flavor to
meat than manufactured salt.

If you cure large quantities of pork, and your brine should
become offensive with blood and slime, do not attempt to boil
it over and skim and return it when cold, as is sometimes
done ; such pickle, diluted with water, can be used on a gar-
den. Make a fresh brine, and, after having scalded your
tub with a strong lye made of wood-ashes, and then with
hot water, wipe your bacon dry, removing all slime, and

68 : BALM.

cover with your fresh pickle, poured on cold. Keep your
bacon, while curing, under the brine by large weights or
heavy stones.

Saltpetre dries meat, and is not used in such large quan-
tities as formerly. I have known many good: housewives
have their pork rubbed with half the salt intended to be
used, and covered for a few days, and save the remainder of
the salt to be rubbed in with the sugar and saltpetre. Mo-
lasses is sometimes used for bacon instead of sugar.

Hams are sometimes rubbed with salt for a day or two,
and put into a brine strongly impregnated with wine and
sweet herbs. This does very well for small hams, that are
intended for immediate family consumption.

Hams that are to be kept for some months, after being
dried and smoked, should be put into a coarse canvas bag
and whitewashed, and hung in some cool and dry place.

Bacon should be made only in the cool months.

If there is no place where you can send your bacon to be
smoked, you can smoke it (but of course imperfectly) by
taking out the end of an old cask, and filling the cask half
full of green sawdust, and branches of some odoriferous
trees, and bits of oak bark, and putting in some hot ashes
and bits of heated iron, and raising one part of the cask by
placing a small stone under it, so as to make a draft of air.
Put pieces of iron across, and hang the bacon over on pot-
hooks or pieces of coarse rope. Cover it. Be careful that
it merely smoulders and smokes, and does not ignite.

The sugar-cured bacon of Virginia, and especially the
hams, are justly entitled to their reputation. Their hogs
mostly run about, and feed on acorns. :

BALM (Jkelissa officinalis). This herb mixed with
honey and vinegar, steeped and strained, is sometimes. used
as a gargle for a sore and inflamed throat. It does not re-

BARBERRY. 69

tain its strength when dried, and is mostly used green. See
Ayomatic Herbs.

BALM OF GILEAD. The buds of the Balsam or
Balm of Gilead tree, gathered in spring and put into bottles
with pure Jamaica spirits, are considered healing for bruises
and cuts; the same decoction, taken by the teaspoonful
(put into a glass of water) before a meal, once a day, is said
to afford relief when the system has become enervated by
local difficulties.

BANANA. The fruit of the West India Banana, if kept
on ice, and brought to the table, after being washed in cold
water, on grape-leaves, or a crimped napkin of undisputed
whiteness laid upon a glass dish, makes an occasional vari-
ety for dessert. Some people eat with it salt and pepper,
others prefer wine and sugar.

BANDBOX. This indispensable and much abused ar-
ticle has improved in modern times. It now appears in
wood, fitted up inside with a pasteboard form, which is se-
cured by a slide for the hat or bonnet to rest upon. None
others should be generally patronized.

BANTAM. See JSowls.

BARBERRY, or BERBERRY. The Barberry grows
wild in America and Europe. It is easily cultivated.
Trained to the single stem, the fruit grows larger, as the
suckers are apt to render the fruit small, and the bush finally
barren. It is grown from seed, layers, or suckers. There
are several varieties. The Common Red grows large by cul-
tivation in a rich soil. There are varieties of the common
Barberry in Europe which bear pale yellow, white, and pur-

70 BARBERRY.

ple fruit, and which have the same properties as the com-
mon Barberry, differing only in color. There is a variety
from Austria, called Sweet, but which is almost as acid as
our common Barberry. The Common Red has a variety
which is seedless, and consequently desirable for preserves |
and jellies, but it does not appear to be a permanent variety,
as the plants frequently bear fruit with seeds, and the suck-
ers always; and it is said, that, im order to guard against
this degeneration, the sort should be propagated by layers
or cuttings.

The Black Sweet Magellan Barberry is an evergreen
from the Straits of Magellan, South America. It is rare, and
has borne no fruit in this country as yet; but it is thought
it will prove hardy. It has yielded fruit in Edinburgh, said
to be handsome and excellent.

_ The Nepal is a variety from Nepal, India, where it bears
a purple fruit, which is there dried in the sun, like raisins,
and used like them at the dessert.

The Mahonias, or Holly-leaved Berberries from Oregon,
are very handsome ornamental shrubs, with fine green
prickly leaves, and yellow flowers, but the fruit is of no
value.

' I am indebted for most of the above information to Mr.
Downing’s pleasing and valuable work, Fruit and Fruit-
trees of America.

There is a popular notion that the vicinity of Barberry
bushes is unfavorable to the growth of grain, but it is unsup-
ported by the weight of good evidence.

The tannin principle is in the bark of the Barberry, and
it dyes, combined with alum, a bright yellow.

BARBERRY JAM.

Piuck from the stem barberries that are quite ripe, mash
them, and mix with them not quite a pound of good, clean

BARK, PERUVIAN. Vials

brown sugar. Put the mixture into the preserving-kettle,
and let it boil slowly for about three quarters of an hour,
stirring and skimming it frequently ; then let it boil rapidly
for a quartew of an hour, taking care, by frequent stirrings,
that it does not adhere to the kettle. Put it warm into a
glass or china jar, and cover closely.

Barberry Jelly should be made of the stoneless variety, if
it can be procured; make it in the same manner as you pre-
pare currant jelly.

BARBERRY PRESERVE.

Barberries are easily preserved by choosing some of the
fairest fruit, tying it in clusters to sticks, and boiling it in sirup.
I once undertook to extract the stones from Barberries for a
preserve. It was very delicious, and happily did good ser-
vice; but as a general practice, it could only be recommended
to Turkish women, who are said to employ their listless days
in extracting seed from small fruits to be used in the manufac-
ture of their sugar pastes. Sweet apples are sometimes pre-
served with barberries, in molasses or sirup. It makes a
homely preserve much relished by children.

Hot water poured on preserved barberries, and allowed
to cool, makes a grateful beverage for invalids.

See under Pickles, for the manner of pickling barberries.

BARK, PERUVIAN, Jesuit’s Bark, CiIncHONA, OR
Quinquina. This bark was tested by the Jesuits while
exploring South America. It is a valuable tonic, and a few
doses administered in small quantities in the powdered state
sometimes have a happy effect in cases of intermittent fever
or ague. It is a useful dentifrice, if moderately used, giving
hardness and a healthy tone to the gums, and imparting sweet-
ness to the breath.

A tincture of this bark is made by pouring on four ounces

4 BARLEY.

of the bark two pints of purest alcohol ; let it stand ten days,
when it is to be carefully strained and bottled. It is an
excellent and safe medicine taken in such proportions as
circumstances authorize; as a tonic and stomaehic medicine,
a spoonful some hours before each meal is generally a good
rule.

A decoction is also made with red wine, which is some-
times given to children of weakly, rickety habits of constitu-
tion. It is given in the forenoon and after dinner.

Slight excoriations of the skin, induced by chafes, are fre-
quently relieved by this pulverized bark.

BARLEY (Lat. Hordeum) is an annual plant, but is
often sown in autumn, when it ripens later, and is called
Winter Barley.

Two-Rowed Barley (Hordeum distichum), or Common
Barley, is the species generally cultivated in the United
States. It is considered the most valuable, on account of its
full berry and its general freedom from smut; it has numer-
ous minor varieties, distinguished for some differences in the
quality of the grain, for early or late ripening, or for more or
less productiveness, features brought out perhaps by differ-
ences in culture and climate. This grain, whose native home
is traced from Egypt and Syria, as far back as three thou-
sand years since, matures in favorable seasons on the Eastern
Continent as far north as seventy degrees. In warm lati-
tudes two crops are produced in a year.

In the United States, the yield of Barley varies from thirty
to fifty or more bushels per acre, weighing from forty-five to
fifty-five pounds per bushel.

Both in the United States and in Great Britain, this grain
is grown chiefly for malt, and for the manufacture of spirit-
uous liquors. In France it is used for corn-bread, while in
some warm climates it is given to horses, and is said to be
as good for this purpose as oats.

BATHS. ° 73

Pot Barley, Pearl Barley, and French Barley are only
barley freed from the husk by the mill, the distinction be-
tween them being the round, shot form of the Pearl Barley,
which is caused by the sides of the grain being clipped off at
the mill, leaving only the centre or heart.

We seldom export barley from this country, being con-
sumers rather than producers of the grain. ‘The virtues of
barley for medicinal purposes are of great antiquity. Hip-
pocrates wrote a whole book on the merits of gruel made
of barley. Barley Water is a pleasant liquid to administer
medicine in. (Farmer’s Encyclopedia. Abstract of the Sev-
enth Census.)

BARLEY WATER. Take four large table-spoonfuls
of well-picked and washed Pearl Barley, and put it into a
porcelain-lined kettle, containing two quarts of boiling water.
Let it boil slowly till reduced to nearly one half the liquid.
Strain it and season it with salt, and, if the patient’s condition
will admit of it, flavor it with white sugar and fresh lemon-
juice. It is a grateful drink to invalids. See Soups.

BASTING. A dripping. Different liquids and sub-
stances that are used as corroboratives in roasting meats.

BATHS. All nations, in every stage of society, have
indulged in the bath, from the savage tribes of North Amer-
ica to the magnificent Roman of eighteen centuries back ;
nay, the savages imitated the refinements of bathing by throw-
ing into the waters of caverns heated stones, to produce the
vapor bath.

No positive rules can be laid down with regard to the
suitability of cold baths as a universal axiom. Feeble per-
sons cannot always venture upon them, but should rather in-
dulge in the tepid bath, which ranges from 60° to 97°.

7

74 ' BEANS. is

The foot-bath is often rendered stimulant, in cases of sick-
ness from colds, by the addition of a little mustard, or a little
wood-ashes and salt.

Sea-bathing, at a distance from the sea-shore, may be arti-
ficially produced by dissolving bay-salt in fresh water. By
this means the properties of salt water will be acquired, with
the exception of sulphate of magnesia, which, however, is
found in salt water only in small proportions. Dissolve one
pound of bay-salt to each gallon of fresh water.

Cold baths, where they can be safely taken either directly
or by the compromise of the sponge, tend to invite a most
wholesome state of health and spirits, and to lessen the
liability of colds. Baths, especially cold baths, should never
be taken directly after meals. ;

BATTER. See Fritters and Puddings.

BAY-SALT. Salt made of sea-water by the action of
the winds and sun, and lodged in bays and similar gulfs.
Bay-salt is in large cubes, moderately white. St. Ubes salt
is considered very pure. (Farmer’s Encyclopedia.)

BEANS. The Broad Beans (English Dwarfs), of which
the Magazan is a nice variety, should be gathered fully
grown, but young. Shell them just before you cook them.
Boil them rapidly in salted water till the skin will yield
to gentle pressure. <A bit of ham is sometimes boiled with
them, but it injures the purity of their color. Make a
gravy of melted butter and pour over them. Parsley may
be boiled, chopped, and put into the butter. Do not allow
them to swim in butter, — it looks gross, — the gravy being
merely for seasoning. Many good cooks prefer bits of fresh
butter placed in the dish.

BEANS. 76

Lima BEAns.

Shell them while fresh, and boil them till tender in a full
kettle of water with a little salt. Drain them, and put bits
of butter over them.

These beans are often preserved in Virginia through the
winter, by packing them when ripe (towards the last of fall
if convenient) into clean jars or kegs. Take a dry day for
the packing. Put a layer of beans in the pod into the keg or
jar, and sprinkle salt over them, repeating the process till the
vessel or tub is filled. When to be cooked, the beans are
freshened by washing the pods, and then soaking them in
fresh water over night. Put them over the fire into cold
water and boil till tender.

Snap BEANS.

Gather them when young, snap off the stalks, and pull
off the strings; but do not break them, for if young they
are nicer whole. Put them with a little salt into boiling
water, and boil them for about fifteen minutes. Take them
up and drain them in a colander. Put them into a dish with
pieces of butter, or pour a little melted butter over them, or a
made brown gravy. If the beans are old, put a bit of saler-
atus in the water they are to be boiled in, and cut the beans,
and boil them rapidly. Do not let them float in butter or

gravy.
WINTER DISH OF BAKED BEANS.

This dish is generally considered too hearty for warm
weather. Pick the beans, wash them, and put them to soak
over night in a good deal of water. In the morning pour this
water off, and put them into a kettle of cold water and let them
simmer till quite tender. Take them up, and drain them
through a colander; when thoroughly drained, put them into
a deep baking-pan with a large piece of scored salt-pork sunk

76 BED-CLOTHES.

to the rind. Pour boiling water over them, and bake five or
six hours; or if you have a good brick oven, keep them in
over night. This constant change of water which is recom-
mended has a tendency to diminish the flatulency of this
vegetable, which too often induces gripings.

BEDS. Modern practice eschews the luxurious feather
bed, and mattresses made of wool for winter use, and of horse-
hair for summer, are mostly considered desirable beds. But
though these materials largely supply the market, palm-leaf,
cut straw, cornstalks, and various mosses are often used for
filling mattresses. Springs are inserted in nicely made hair-
mattresses to give them elasticity.

A large bed, to be comfortable, requires about sixty pounds
of wool. If constantly used, it will need to be taken out
every two or three years, carded, and a few pounds of wool
added. Linen ticking is much nicer than cotton. Poland
starch put on wet, and dried in the sun, will remove oil spots,
and cleanse a ticking which may not need to be washed all
over.

Pillows and bolsters, whether filled with feathers, or stuffed
with hair, should be generously plumped, both for econ-
omy of wear and for comfort. Small pillows stuffed with
hops sometimes quiet nervous headache, and induce sleep.
Square pillows stuffed with horse-hair are prescribed for
persons afflicted with weak or disordered eyes.

BED-CLOTHES. Linen sheets, excepting for a New
England winter are much to be preferred. Russia sheeting
is very substantial in wear. Sheets should always be made
a little larger than the bed they are to cover; pillow and
bolster cases should always fit easily. In covering pillows,
a case of strong thick muslin slipped on before the linen one
has a comfortable clad look. Puillow-cases are often made

BEECH. 77

for buttons and trimmed with a frill, the square ones be-
ing trimmed on all the sides.

Blankets which are not in use should be kept closely
folded in Russia sheeting, with bits of camphor, and put in
some cool, dark closet, or packed in camphor trunks, if such
are in the house.

It is well, where it is convenient, to have the outside quilt
correspond in quality and color with the carpet and curtains,
and the general furniture of the room. Where bed-curtains
are hung, they are generally of the same material as the
outside coverlet.

Stuffed coverlets, or poor man’s blankets, as they are fre-
quently called, are made sometimes of soft lawn from dresses
that have been put aside, with a thin layer of all-wool wad-
ding, which comes now in sheets as cotton does. ‘They are
inexpensive, and are often grateful to invalids when heavier
materials would be oppressive. I have seen a very nice
stuffed coverlet, made of a dozen large East India silk
pocket-handkerchiefs, each a yard square, filled with eider-
down; both sides were alike, and the coverlet of a good size.
It was very light and very warm. Silk dresses, when laid
aside as dresses, make nice stuffed coverlets.

BEECH (fagus sylvatica). This tree is one of the
handsomest of England’s forest-trees. It is native to the
greater part of the North of Europe. The red and purple
are seedling varieties of Fagus sylvatica.

The Red Beech (agus ferruginea) decays when ex-
posed to the extremes of moisture and dryness. It does not
readily warp, and is much used for making tools, for which
its hardness and smooth grain recommend it.

Beech mast, or the nuts and seeds of this tree, yield on
pressure an oil equal to the best olive-oil, and which keeps
without acquiring a rancid taste longer than olive-oil. In

7 *

78 BEEF.

England, it was once much used in the place of butter.
Roasted, the nuts have often formed a substitute for coffee.
(Bigelow, Farmer’s Encyclopzedia.)

BEEF. The virtues of our ever-to-be respected ances-
tors have always been largely attributed to the excellence of
their beef. It is related of an old blunt English command-
er, that at Cadiz he addressed his soldiers in these terms:
“ What a shame will it be to you, Englishmen, who feed upon
good beef, to let those Spaniards beat you, that live upon
oranges and lemons.”

By virtue of his extensive and constant experience, the
London butcher must be installed as a judge from whom the
wise will not appeal; and his mode of cutting up a carcass
is, I believe, followed in the main features in our large cities.
The figure below represents the English mode of cutting up
a carcass of beef.

HIND QUARTER. FORE QUARTER.
I, loin or sirloin. J 7, fore rib.
r, rump. mr, middle rib.
a b, aitch-bone. cr, chuck rib.
6, buttock or round. m, neck, clod, and sticking.
h, hock. b t, brisket.
J, thick flank. I m, leg-of-mutton piece.
tf, thin flank. s, shin.

s, shin.

BEEF. : 79

The principal roasting-piece is /, the loin or sirloin; r, the
rump, is the favorite steak-piece, while 6, the buttock or
round, is very nice boiled, when corned, and is the piece
chosen par excellence for the popular dish, beef a@ la mode.
The flanks, (f, thick flank, and ¢ f, thin flank) are also nice
for boiling, when corned ; /, the hock, and s, the shin, make
nice soups, and afford what is technically called stock, while
t, the tail, is used for ox-tail soup. ‘These are the pieces in
the hind quarter.

In the fore quarter, f 7, fore rib, m 7, middle rib, e r, chuck
rib, are all roasting-pieces, but not of equal excellence. The
part of the shoulder-blade of the middle rib being removed,
the spareribs below make a good broil or roast. m, the neck,
is used fresh for soup, and the back end of the brisket, 6 ¢, is
boiled, corned, or stewed. Jd m, leg-of-mutton piece, is coarse,
but is as frequently stewed as boiled. s, the shin, is used for
the same purposes as the shin and hock of the hind quarter.

It will be observed that the most valuable pieces, the roast-
ing, are upon the upper part of the carcass; and the inferior,
the boiling, occupy the lower part. Every beast, therefore,
that lays on beef on the upper parts of its body is more val-
uable to the butcher, than one that lays the same quantity of
flesh on its lower parts. (Stephens’s Book of the Farm.)

There is no difference in price between heifer and ox beef,
both being equally well fed. The lean of ox-flesh has a
brighter red, and the fat not so clear a white as heifer-beef,
and it is generally thought a little richer than cow-beef.
Good beef should have a tender feel, a bright red color in
the lean parts, and be white in the fatty portions.

A LA MODE BEEF.

Take a piece of the round of beef, eight or ten pounds,
cut out the bone, and tie your beef in a handsome round
shape; with a small, sharp knife make incisions in the beef,

80 BEEF.

cutting deeply inside, but have the cut on the outside small.
These holes are to be filled with the stuffing, which also is
partly reserved for the force-meat balls. Put your beef into
a large pot, so that it may lie flat, with water nearly sufficient
to cover it; season with salt, pepper, cloves, and one onion,
a little sage, or any sweet herb you prefer.

Let the beef boil slowly for two hours, then add a pint of
red wine, a little tomato catchup, and then put in your balls,
and keep them in for twenty minutes. Ifthe gravy boils
away, add a little water.

Force-meat balls for the above are made thus: — Take a
loaf of baker’s flour-bread, grate it, add an equal quantity of
beef-suet, chopped very fine ; season it highly with pepper,
clove, salt, nutmeg or mace, cayenne, and sweet-marjoram.
Wet the whole, after thorough mixing, with eggs. Roll them
into small balls. If you wish to fry some of the balls, take
but little butter, as the fat fries from them.

This dish warms up very nicely, especially if that which
is left be covered, and allowed to lie in its gravy.

Brrr, CoRNED.

Beef that is to be corned should be thoroughly rubbed with
part of the salt intended for the pickle, covered closely, and
allowed to remain for three days ; it is well, where it is possi-
ble, to rub the salt in before the animal heat has “all gone
by,” the passage of the bloody slime being facilitated by a
little animal heat. A mixture of rock or Liverpool and
Bay salt is nicest for curing meats. After the meat has
lain in the salt for three days, take it out and brush and
wipe it with a damp cloth. Pack the pieces closely into a
clean tub, and between each piece sprinkle salt, putting also
salt on the bottom of the tub, and laying the fleshy parts
downwards. Pour the pickle, prepared as below, when it is
quite cold, over the whole, taking care to have the meat

BEEF. $1

kept covered with the pickle by great weights or stones, and
excluded from the air by a wooden cover, or boards nailed
closely together.

Pickle for Beef:

Take four gallons of water, to which add one pound and a
half of sugar, five ounces of saltpetre, and six pounds of salt.
Put the whole into a clean pot, and let it boil; take off the
scum constantly as it rises, remove the pot from the fire
when the liquor looks clear, and when cold cover your meat
with it. .

Another.

To six gallons of water, put six quarts of Liverpool and
Bay salt, three pounds of brown sugar, three ounces of salt-
petre, one ounce of pearlash, and one gallon of molasses.
Proceed as above.

-

A salted round of beef, containing seventeen or eighteen
pounds, requires to simmer slowly at least four hours.
Brisket, of nine or ten pounds, should be boiled slowly, or
simmered for three hours.

Where a round or rump of beef is to be cured alone, it is _
frequently rubbed with mixed salts and spices, and basted
with the brine every day for five or six weeks ; and it may
be taken out and dried or boiled out of this pickle.

TONGUES.

Tongues are cured in the same way. Bacon pickle, where
it has been nicely prepared, will cure tongues after the hams
have been removed.

Tongues salted and dried are steeped in a weak brine,
washed out, and rubbed with salt by the hand. Allow them
to remain twenty-four hours in the salt, then wipe with a
damp cloth, and rub again with salt and brown sugar.
Cover them with pickle for a fortnight ; take them out, wipe
them, rub them with bran, and make a hole through the root ;

82 BEEF.

pass a twine through it, and hang them in a cool, dark place
after they have been smoked. Tongues, when fresh, require
two hours to boil; but if salted and dried, they will take from
three to four hours, and will require to be soaked twenty-
four hours, and the water to be changed at night. Salted
meats must be put into a great deal of cold water when they
are to be cooked, and simmered, and never boiled hard.
For baked toneues, see Baked Meats.

Berr, ROASTED.

The sirloin, rib-pieces, and in small families the piece that
is left from the rump after the steaks are cut off, are all
roasted. The fire should be got well going, with a substantial
constitution, before the meat is put down. Sometimes a
backlog of tan, or wet ashes, thrown in at the back of the
chimney, throws the heat in front. When the fire is to be
stirred, the meat should be drawn aside, to escape the smoke
and ashes. In the first stages of the roasting, place the tin-
kitchen or roaster at a distance from the fire, and baste fre-
quently with water, seasoned with a little salt. Meat should
get thoroughly heated through before it begins to brown.
Where beef is very fat, the dripping-pan may be emptied
once or twice, and still enough remain to make the gravy.
Beef dripping is very nice for frying potatoes and breakfast
cakes, when it has been nicely clarified. As the meat as-
sumes a rich brown, a little flour can be sifted over it from
the dredging-box, but the meat must remain long enough to
brown it. A sirloin weighing fifteen to eighteen pounds will
take four hours of roasting; but ribs of the same weight will
be done in half an hour less.

BHEFSTEAKS.
Beef for steaks, though it does not require to be mellowed

by time so long as a large roasting-piece, eats tenderer for
being three or four days old.

BEEF. 83

Rump steaks are preferred by many, but in New York
steaks from the sirloin or sparerib are thought richer and
more tender; the bone is chopped away, and the fat par-
tially trimmed. Steaks should be cut of an even thickness,
and not quite an inch thick. Have a fire of clean, bright
coals, heat the gridiron, and rub the bars with a little suet;
throw a very little salt over the coals, and do the steaks as
quickly as possible, turning them quickly. Have your dish
hot, and put pieces of fresh butter on the steak, with a little
salt. If the beef is prime, no water or catchup will be
required. Serve immediately while it is hot, and its rich
juices will be honor enough for it. Twelve or fourteen min-
utes will cook steaks of the above thickness.

BEEFSTEAK PIE.

Cut steaks quite thin, and flatten them, turn them over in
some mixed spices in which is a little pepper and salt, lay
them in the bottom of the baking-dish, and place bits of
boiled onion and fresh butter over them. (Omit the butter if
the beef is well mixed with fat.) Fill the dish a little more
than two thirds full, sprinkling onion between each layer of
meat. Pour over the whole a pint of boiling water, highly
seasoned with walnut catchup. Put the dish away to get
cool, then cover it round the lid with paste, and cover with
ornamented paste. It is well to have a centre ornament,
that, when the pie is baked, can be removed, and afford an
opportunity, should it have baked dry, of adding fresh hot
liquor before it goes to the table. Any pieces that have
been left from a roast or steak will make this pie.

BRISKET OF BEEF.

The Brisket of Beef may be boned and baked; then it is
laid in a deep pan, seasoned with salt and mixed spices, wal-
nut or mushroom catchup, and a pint of port wine, and
dredged with flour. Bake three hours. Skim the fat off.

84 BEEF.

It is also as frequently stewed. Boil it in just water
enough to cover it; when tender take out the bones, skim off
the fat from the liquor it was boiled in, and season with salt,
pepper, walnut catchup, and a little red wine; thicken it with
browned flour stirred into melted butter. Flour is browned
by putting some over the fire in a flat dish, and stirring it till
it is brown and of an even color. The butter softens the
smoky taste that browned flour generally acquires. Pour
the gravy hot over the meat, and garnish with carrots cut in
thin slices and fried a delicate brown.

CoLLARED BEEF.

Take the thin flank, rub it thoroughly with salt and a little
saltpetre, and let it drain over night. In the morning wash
it, cut out the gristle, and remove the outer and inner skin.
Pound a little clove very fine, mix with it salt, pepper, and
a little sugar, rub the mixture thoroughly in, and let it re-
main over a week in the pickle that will make, turning and
basting it every day. ‘Take it out of the pickle and roll it
up as tight as possible; bandage with strips of strong cloth,
and tie these with tape. Put it into cold water and let it
simmer for five or six hours. When done, place it between
boards, and press it with heavy weights until perfectly cold.
This is usually sliced cold; the ends should be trimmed when-
ever sent to the table whole.

HASHED BEEF.

Hashes are generally made of cold meat. Cut away all
the gristle and the burnt pieces, and let the slices remain in
the juices of the meat. If you have no ready-made stock,
' prepare a broth from the bones and outside pieces ; strain it
through a coarse sieve, and season it with some catchup, pep-
per, and salt ; heat it again, and stir the meat into it just be-
fore it is sent to the table, allowing it only time enough to

BEEF. 85

heat through. Cut the meat into such pieces as suits con-
venience, either in mouthfuls or slices; but they should not
be thick. Garnish with bread cut in the form of dice, and
fried in strained beef dripping, or with toasted bread soaked
in the broth.

Breer HEART.

Cut the heart, and put it to soak in water, that the blood
may ooze out. Wipe it, and trim it, cutting the lobes out ;
make a stuffing of grated baker’s bread, spices, and salt, wet
with eggs ; stuff the heart, and sew it up. Roast it with pa-
per over it. A large heart will take two hours and a half
to cook.

Brrr Liver.

Be sure that it is fresh. Soak it in cold water a few
minutes. Take it out and wipe it dry. Fry out rashers
of salt-pork, and lay slices of the liver, cut three quarters of
an inch in thickness, in the frying-pan, and fry them slowly
till they are brown. Beef kidneys are served in this way,
excepting that butter is used instead of pork, and when they
are browned, a catchup sauce is poured over them hot.

Mincep BEEF.

Cut the beef very fine, and take potatoes enough to
make one third of the dish, mash them smoothly with a lit-
tle cream or melted butter, and stir them into the meat with
a little pepper and salt. Moisten the whole with beef gravy
or dripping, which has been nicely strained. Put it into a
small kettle, and let it brown. This dish is made from the
débris of roast meat.

Beef kidneys may be minced very fine, and seasoned
highly with pepper and salt, and fried brown in butter,
put in a hot dish, and a gravy seasoned with walnut catchup

poured over them.
8

86 BEES.

PRESSED BEEF.

The brisket, flank, and thin part of the ribs are the pieces
which are pressed. ‘Take out the bones, salt and season
the piece with such spices as you prefer, and let it lie about
a week closely covered. Boil it slowly till tender, take it
from the pot, and press it under heavy weights till cold. It
sends the juices through the beef, and by remaining pressed
till cold cuts in thin slices.

Beer UDDER.

This is eaten in Virginia, either boiled fresh and cut in
slices when cold, and served with salt and mustard, or it is
salted for a day or two and eaten cold. It is sometimes °
boiled, chopped fine, and used for stuffings.

BEES. These little creatures love thyme, mignonette,
alyssum, and honeysuckle. Hives should never be placed
in a roofed stand; it heats the bees, and frequently induces
them to form on the outside of their hives. They should be
placed in a sheltered part of the garden, but with sufficient
space around them to allow the attacks of their depredators
to be seen and warded off. Ifno water is near, place shal-
low pans near the hives with water and a little salt, and
have bits of stick float on the surface, to prevent the bees
drowning by slipping from the sides of the vessel. In the
early spring, and late in autumn, before you house them for
winter, they must be fed. For this purpose, put to a quart
of beer one pound of sugar, and boil it five minutes only.

Never destroy bees. They live only one year, and in
‘killing them, the young bees that would work in the spring
are lost. The year-old bees die in August. By smoking
the bees with tobacco while working upon a hive, they are
rendered harmless. Sticks in the hive are useless and in-
convenient.

BEER. 87

If stung, extract the sting, apply immediately sweet oil,
laudanum, or Goulard’s extract, which is a preparation used
for inflammations, and so called from the inventor. (Farm-
er’s Encyclopedia.)

BEESWAX. This substance has been classed with veg-
etable matters; but the experiments of Huber have shown
that it is produced by the bees themselves, and not gathered
by them directly from plants. When the honey is drained
from the wax, it can be purified for domestic uses by tying
it with something heavy ina bag, and putting the bag into
a pot of clear cold water. As the water heats, the wax will
be thrown to the surface. Skim it off, and place it in sau-
cers, and expose it to the light and air, and occasionally wet
it with water, till it is whitened or bleached.

Bayberry, Candleberry, or Myrtle wax (Myrica ceri-
fera) is a harder substance than beeswax, obtained from the
berries of the myrtle by boiling them in water. (Ligelow.)

BEER. Though beer is chiefly made of malt and hops,
there are some simple beverages in which only the latter is
used, and others in which a substitute for hops is found.

CHILDREN’S BEER.

To three spoonfuls of ginger pour a bucketful or boiling
water. Allow it to cool, then add to it one pint of good
yeast, and one pint of molasses. Cover it with a coarse
cloth, and let it stand in a cool place. Bottle in the even-

ing.
MoLasseEs-BEER.

Put to six gallons of soft water six pints of West India
molasses and a handful of hops tied in a muslin bag, and
let it boil twenty minutes. When it has cooled, put to it a
pint of lively beer yeast. Cover the beer with a coarse cloth,

88 BLACKBERRY.

and when it has done fermenting, pour it off into clean bot-
tles, and stop with good cork-wood corks. See Ale.

BEETS. Beets are boiled till tender, to be eaten with
salt cod-fish. Wash, and, without scraping, boil them whole.
They are used to ornament salads. ‘They make, when boiled,
and put into vinegar, either sliced or whole, a cheap and
wholesome pickle. When quite small they may be boiled
with the leaves for greens. See under Art of Gardening.

BERGAMOT. The well-known oil or essence of berga-
mot, which is imported from the South of Europe, is extract-
ed from the rind of the fruit Citrus bergamia, which grows
on a moderate-sized tree that bears small white flowers,
and fruit of a pyriform shape and pale yellow color. The
rind is filled with oil-vesicles. (Farmer’s Encyclopedia.)

BIRD-PEPPER. A variety of Capsicum, sometimes
called Bird’s-bill, or Long Red. It yields Cayenne pepper
when dried and pulverized.

BLACKBERRY. The Bramble is native to this coun-
try. The varieties esteemed for the table, and sometimes
cultivated, are, —

High Bush (Rubus villosus). This bush grows four or
five feet high, produces white flowers, and its berries have a
spirited piquancy.

Low Bush (Rubus Canadensis), or 'Trailing Blackberry.
A trailing prickly shrub, throwing out, as the above, white
blossoms. The fruit is sweet, but has hardly so much spirit
as the first.

The soil should be well worked, and enriched with ashes,
leaves, and vegetable mould, besides other fertilizers, to
produce handsome fruit. Propagate by seed and by off

BLANCMANGE. 89

shoots at the root.. Cut away old wood, and cultivate the
new. (Cole’s American Fruit Book.)
There is a variety which yields white fruit, but it is rarely
seen. |
BLACKBERRY CORDIAL.

. Take fine, ripe fruit, rejecting, as you pick them over,
those of reddish hue ; squeeze these berries through a flan-
nel bag. To a quart of juice put one pound of best loaf-
sugar. Put it into a stone-jar and let it remain three days,
the first day stirring it frequently. On the fourth day strain
through a sieve, and to a quart of the juice add a quart of
brandy. Bottle for use. This is excellent for summer dis-
orders, if taken in moderate quantity, and repeated occasion-

ally. See Jelly.

BLACKING. Liquid or paste, for blacking and polishing
boots and shoes.

Liguip BLACKING.

Wet four ounces of ivory-black with a table-spoonful of
sweet oil, mix it to a smooth paste, beat into it gradually
four spoonfuls of molasses; add to this one half-pint of good
vinegar, one half-ounce of oil of vitriol, one ounce of laven-
der-water, mixing well as you proceed, and, lastly, the juice
of one lemon.

BLANCMANGE. One ounce of Russia isinglass is suf-
ficient for one quart of milk, but the other kinds will require
half an ounce more to each quart. Let the isinglass be
dissolved in as little water as possible, taking care that it
does not burn, and that it is a transparent liquid ; stir it into
a quart of milk ; season it with rose-water and a stick of cin-
namon, and sweeten to your taste ; put it into a porcelain ket-
tle, and let it boil. Strain it through a flannel jelly-bag, and

8 *

90 BOILING.

put it into moulds. If you wish the coloring of corn, beat
the yolks of two eggs lightly, and stir them to one pint of
milk.

Blanemange appears in a vast variety. It may be made
of rice, swelled in hot water, and boiled in rich milk to a
mash ; it is often made of calves’ feet stock, of sparkling gela-
tine, and many preparations of isinglass, and flavored with
vanilla, chocolate, or what you please.

Moulds should be left damp with cold water before putting
in the blancmange. A cloth dipped in hot water is some-
times laid over the bottom of the mould where there is any
difficulty about its turning out. See Almond Blanemange.

BOILING. Meat, whether fresh or salted, smoked or
dried, should always be put into cold water ; the only excep-
tions being with fuwls and white meats, where the water may
have the chill taken off, and salted meat that does not require
to be much freshened. Dried meats and fish must be
soaked for several days before they are boiled.

The delicacy of meats, and their integrity of color, are
greatly preserved by the constant removal of the scum which
is thrown up in boiling. It is a good way when it makes
its strongest appearance to throw in a little cold water, and
bring it to a mass, and take the pot off and carefully remove
it; if any adheres after the meat is boiled, dip a cloth in hot
water and wipe it off. Never pierce meat that is boiling
with a fork; thé juices escape.

Pot liquor, or the water in which meat has been boiled, is
useful for stock, especially that in which fresh lamb, mutton,
or poultry has been boiled.

Boil or simmer meat slowly, particularly after the scum
has risen generously. |

Dried and salted meats require twice the time to cook that
fresh meat takes.

BORAX. 91

Cabbage and greens are often cooked with corned beef.
Where the liquor is to be used afterward, such vegetables
may be boiled in a separate pot, and some of the pot liquor
of the meat may be transferred to the vessel they are boiled in.

Old hams should be soaked twelve hours before boiling
them, the water frequently changed, and when boiled, they
should be put into a large pot filled with water.

BONNY-CLABBER. In New England, milk soured
to this form is administered to poultry and to pigs ; in warmer
latitudes we have seen it served up, while fresh, with nut-
meg, sugar, and wine. Under such treatment, and placed in
delicate china, it makes a pretty dish, and eats well on a hot
day.

BOOK-MUSLIN. These muslins are popular for dresses,
because they do up nicely, and can be worn a few times be-
fore being washed. They should be of a good white, for
blue whites, whether for bonnets or dresses, are unbecoming
even to the young and lovely.

In washing this muslin, prepare a warm suds made of
white bar-soap, and squeeze it gently through two or three
of these suds, and rinse in pure water as many times; lastly,
put it through a thin starch-water. Pick it carefully apart,
and hang it in the sun, over a dry white sheet. Take it in,
sprinkle it evenly, and fold it in a white towel, and let it re-
main some hours in the clothes-basket. When you take it
out, clap it with your hands to clear-starch it, as it is techni-
cally called, and iron before it is too dry, on the wrong side.

BORAX. This salt is sometimes efficacious in correcting
cutaneous eruptions. Dissolve an ounce of borax in a quart
of water, and with a soft sponge bathe the face, night and
morning.

92 BOX-WOOD.

The eruption induced by the working of a small insect
under the skin has been removed by rubbing the flour of
sulphur on the face with the finger, every morning, while the
face is still damp with the morning bath, and afterward dust-
ing it off with soft linen.

BOX-WOOD. The Box-tree (Luxus sempervirens) is
from the South of Europe. Its wood, of yellowish color and
compact, hard grain, is employed for musical wind-instru-
ments and mathematical instruments. Wood engravings are
also cut in this wood. The surface is planed with great care,
the design being drawn upon this smooth surface with a
black lead pencil. The pencillings are left in relief, gravers
or chisels of different sizes being employed to cut away the
spaces between the pencil-lines. ‘The wood is cut across the
grain into pieces of the height of common types, to increase
the strength and durability of the engraving. These blocks
may be inserted in a page with common types, and printed
without extra expense. ‘They are very durable, and can,
if required, be multiplied by the process of stereotyping.
( Bigelow.)

Wood-engraving owes its modern revival to ancient excel-
lence to Thomas Bewick. Cross-hatching, as practised by
Albert Durer and the old engravers, had fallen into disuse,
probably from the amount of time and labor required for its
execution, and was even forgotten when Bewick introduced
gradation of shade and variety of tints, consequently more
natural perspective, by leaving certain parts of his block
less prominent than such as were to produce the strongest
lines, taking care, however, that all the lines should give an
impression upon the paper which was to take the picture. By
such means he attained the delicacy of gradation to be found
in copperplates.

The ease with which wood-engravings can be set in with

BRAWN. | 93

type, and the number of impressions that a block gives with-
out being recut, are among its advantages ; a good wood-cut
often yields fifty thousand impressions. (Pursuit of Know]l-
edge, Art. Bewick.)

BRANDY. Brandy is often obtained by the distillation
of wine ; at its greatest strength it contains between forty
and fifty per cent of water. The best brandies, says Davy,
seem to owe their flavor to a peculiar oily matter, formed
probably by the action of tartaric acid upon alcohol. The
Cogniac brandies contain prussic acid. (Farmer’s Encyclo-
pzedia. )

BRASS. This metal consists of copper and zine. There
are various ways of cleaning brass. A solution of oxalic acid
is frequently applied; but from its being a virulent poison,
there is always an uneasiness experienced in having it used.
I have always found brass kept clean longest by being well
rubbed with rotten-stone wet with sweet oil, and then rubbed
with dry, pulverized rotten-stone. Whiting has merely a
temporary effect on brass. Bits of wash-leather and silk are
good for the final polishing.

BRAWN. This preparation is often sold in the market.
Many persons prefer to have it home-made.

Take the head and feet of a hog that have been nicely
cleaned ; have the head cut apart and the ears taken off
and cut. Put the whole into a pot and boil them till they
are quite tender and fall from the bones. Take the meat
out into a large deep dish; cut it with a sharp knife till it is
quite fine, removing every bone and gristly piece. Season
this mince highly with salt, pepper, and a little finely pounded
clove and pulverized sweet herbs, mixing all well together.
Tie the mince in a large, thick cloth, and hang it with a dish

94 BREAD.

under it near the kitchen fire, and let it drain. When it has
done dripping, set it away in a cool place, but not where it
will freeze. This is sliced cold, and eaten with mustard. It
will keep, if the cloth is kept around it, several weeks.

When the water is cold that the meat has been boiled in,
skim the liquor; top-fat nicely clarified being useful to fry
eriddle-cakes or vegetables. ‘The remainder of the liquor is
nice in a veal or pork pot-pie.

BREAD. Stir into a quart of water which has been
made a little warm, a cup of yeast, and sifted flour enough
to make a batter tolerably thick. Let it rise. In summer,
if yeast and flour are good, it will rise in about six hours; in
winter, though covered near the fire, it will take nearly
twice the time. When the batter has risen, have ready
half a pound of sifted meal, which has boiled with a little
salt and a pint of water for over an hour; stir into the meal
a piece of butter the size of a goose’s egg; mix it into the
batter, with flour enough to make it stiff, and beat it with
a strong spoon for a long time very hard. Let it stand
five hours, or less time if it rises well. Knead it well,
and bake.

Yeast for the above may be made thus : — Two quarts of
water, one handful of hops; pare a potato and boil it dry ;
stir into two cups of sifted flour a very little cold water;
strain your hop-water on to the flour, stirring it all the while ;
mash the potato very fine, and add it to the flour; one spoon-
ful of clean sugar may be put to it, and when cool enough
add a little yeast to make it rise.

Mitk YEAST BREAD.

One pint of new milk, one pint of boiling water ; stir in
flour enough to make a thick batter. Set this to rise ina
place where it will be kept quite warm. As soon as it is

BRITANNIA. 95

well risen, mix this batter into dough for bread. Shape it
into rolls or loaves as you please, and let it rise for twenty
minutes, and then bake it.

WHEAT BREAD.

One quart of unsifted wheat-meal, one pint and a half of
water, made a little warmer than rain-water, a salt-spoon
of salt, half a teacupful of molasses, one gill of yeast, two
teaspoonfuls of saleratus, and one cup of rich milk. Knead
it well, and add a little sifted meal to make it of proper
consistency, being careful, however, not to have it by any
means stiff.

It is well to get new wheat, as it bakes better. Bake
seasonably, or this mixture will become tart. It is nice
baked in muffin-rings on a buttered tin sheet in a quick
oven.

The best flour is always cheapest, both as regards health
and actual measurement. Yeast should be made often, and
the yeast-jug kept sweet by being scalded each time before
fresh yeast is putin. Brewer’s yeast is much stronger than
home-made yeast, and a large spoonful is sufficient for one
quart of flour. If dough is thought to have become acid, a
little saleratus must be kneaded in; but as little saleratus
should be used as possible in making bread.

BREWIS. Pour milk over crusts of bread, and let
them soak for a few minutes; boil them in the milk for
twenty minutes. Stir in, just before you take it up, a small
piece of butter.

BRITANNIA. There being both lead and copper in
this metal, when used for teapots it should be nicely scalded,
wiped dry, and the cover left open on being set away in the

96 BROILING.

closet. The outside is cleansed with a paste made of rotten-
stone and oil, applied with a flannel rag, washed off with a
suds made of white soap, then wiped dry, and polished with
whiting, applied with wash-leather or soft linen.

BROCCOLI. This vegetable is cooked much in the
same way as cauliflower. See Cauliflower.

BROILING. The fire should be burned down into
clear coals, free from smoke, when the delicate task of broil-
ing is undertaken. Before the gridiron goes over, sprinkle
a little salt on the coals. Beef-steaks are generally cut
three quarters of an inch thick. In broiling it is necessary
to keep turning the steak that the juices may remain in.
Steak-tongs are convenient for turning; where a fork is
used, it should be placed in the fatty portions to turn the
meat. Remove the meat when the fat catches till the blaze
is out.

The gridiron, both on the upper and lower side, should
be kept scrupulously clean. Before a steak is put on, the
gridiron should be heated for about five minutes, or till
quite hot, and rubbed with beef-suet for meat, and with
chalk when fish is to be broiled. It is well to have one
gridiron for meat and poultry, and another for fish. Double
gridirons are kept closed till the steak is done. <A beef-
steak three quarters of an inch thick takes from twelve to
fifteen minutes to cook. Sprinkle a little pepper and salt
over as you put it down. When done, have the dish hot
you put it into, but not so hot as to dry the gravy. Put
bits of butter into the dish. ‘The best of beef-steak requires
no catchup.

Kadneys when broiled should be skewered, to prevent their
turning with heat, as must also chickens and pigeons, and
be taken off occasionally and rubbed with butter tied in

BUCKWHEAT. 97

a muslin bag, and when dished, sprinkled with salt and
pepper.

Veal and lamb cutlets should be cut half an inch thick,
and may be dipped in egg and bread-crumbs.

Mutton-chops are broiled much as beef-steaks, excepting
that mushroom sauce is often used.

Pork-steaks are not cut so thick as beef or mutton, and
they take longer time in cooking, and require a hot fire.
They may, previously to going on to the gridiron, be rubbed
with pulverized sage, pepper, and salt.

BUCKTHORN (Rhamnus catharticus). The shrub used
for hedge-rows. ‘The juice of the unripe berries yields the
color known as sap-green, used principally in water-colors.

BUCKWHEAT. This plant, says Professor Low, be-
longs to a family, the Polygonee or Dock tribe, which is
known to farmers as affording a class of common weeds.

Of the genus Polygonum there are two species cultivated
in Europe for their seeds : —

1. Common Buckwheat, Polygonum Fagopyrum.

2. Tartarian Buckwheat, Polygonum tataricum.

The first is the species commonly cultivated. The latter
is of larger growth, and is said to be more hardy; but it
is less productive of seeds than the Common Buckwheat.
A third species is cultivated in China and Chinese Tartary,
Notch-seeded Buckwheat, Polygonum emarginatum, which
resembles the Common Buckwheat in its habit of growth.
All these species are annual.

Common Buckwheat bears white flowers, tinged with red.
Its stem is full of knots, and rises to the height of two feet
ormore. The plant is of rapid growth, continues to flower
long, and bears at the same time flowers and ripened seeds.
(Elements of Agriculture.)

9

98 | BUCK WHEAT.

On account of an increasing demand for this grain, it is
much more cultivated in the United States than formerly.
In some of the Western States the yield per acre has been
stated as reaching twenty-five, thirty, and even fifty bushels.
In New England it is often cultivated successfully. It grows
best on the lighter soils. Birds are apt to attack Buck-
wheat, and the young plants are sometimes injured by frost.
The seeds of the Buckwheat are given to hee to hogs,
and to poultry.

In the United States its use as a breadstuff is almost
entirely limited to cakes.

BucKWHEAT CAKES.

Take a quart of warm water, (milk, if to be had, is better,)
put a little salt to it, and stir in enough buckwheat flour to
make a thin batter. After it is smoothly mixed, add six
table-spoonfuls of home yeast, or half this quantity of brew-

s yeast. Set this batter where it will be kept a little
warm over night. In the morning stir in about a salt-
spoonful of soda or saleratus, and a large spoonful of sirup
or molasses. Put them in just before the griddle is ready
for the batter. The molasses is thought to make the cakes
fry a delicate brown, and to crisp the edges.

The griddle should be merely greased enough to keep the
cakes from sticking; a bit of white rag is sometimes tied
on a fork, and from time to time wet with a little lard, or
the griddle may be rubbed with a piece of salt pork. Buck-
wheat cakes should be made very thin, and served in the
course of the meal, from time to time, hot from the griddle.

These cakes are sometimes mixed without yeast, where
they are wanted before the batter could rise. In such cases
you dissolve in warm water a teaspoonful of carbonate of
soda, and stir it in the batter; then dissolve in warm water
a teaspoonful of tartaric acid, and stir this in also. You

BUDDING. 99

may use a quart of warm water or milk to make the cakes
by this receipt.

BUDDING. The practice of inserting buds into trees
is a more common way of grafting than any other method
adopted in the United States. Its chief advantages are the
rapidity with which it can be performed, the length of time
in which it can safely be undertaken, and the harmlessness of
the trial, which, if the budding fails, can be repeated on the
same stock without any detriment.

Budding is particularly preferred for stone fruit, such
as Peaches and Apricots, which are more easily budded
than grafted. ‘The operation is performed from the first of
July to the middle of September, when the bark of the stock
slips up or separates readily from the wood, and the buds
of the current year’s growth are a little plump, and the
young wood is growing healthily. A budding-knife is used.
This knife is about four and a half inches long, has a round
blade, and an ivory handle finished at the end with a thin,
rounded edge, called the haft. This knife must be kept
very sharp. A substitute for the knife is sometimes found
by cutting a piece of hard wood into a thin taper form.

Previous to budding, what is technically called a stick of
buds is selected, that is, taking a cutting from a healthy tree,
clipping off imperfect buds at the lower end, and such as
may be young and immature at the upper end, leaving
firm, healthy single buds, double buds being fruit-buds.
Trim off the leaves, but not too closely, for the footstalks
are convenient in handling the buds. Have pieces of soft
matting or yarn ready to tie round the buds. Bass matting,
soaked in water till flexible, is often used.

Shield or T budding is the method generally practised.
This consists in making a cut through the bark with your
budding-knife an inch or an inch and a half long, and at

100 BUDDING.

the top of this making a cross cut, so that the incisions form
a T. Now cut very carefully from your stick of buds a
smooth, thin bit of wood and bark containing a bud. In-
sert this bud to the bottom of the incision, under the bark.
If on being pushed gently, as directed, the bud projects
above the horizontal slit, trim it carefully to make it fit.
Bandage it carefully with soft matting, leaving only the bud
and the footstalk of the leaf exposed to the light.

If the bud takes, in about two weeks there will be a
plumpness that will indicate the union of the bud with the
stock ; if it has, however, failed, provided the bark peels
readily, a fresh trial may be made. In about a fortnight,
if the operation have been perfected, the bandage may be
loosened, and if the stock has swelled much, it may be
removed entirely, though, where the budding is performed
late in the season, the bandage is sometimes left on for the
winter.

In the following spring, the buds having swollen, the stock
is headed down with a sloping back within two or three
inches of the bud, and the shoots of the stock, or “ rob-
bers,” as they are styled, must be removed from time to
time. (Downing’s Fruits and Fruit-trees of America.)

The same excellent authority from whom we take the
above also remarks, that, to secure the upright growth of
the bud, and to prevent its being broken by the winds, it is
tied when a few inches long to that portion of the stock left
for the purpose, removing this support in midsummer when
the shoot appears strong, and cutting away the- superfluous
portion of the stock, which will be rapidly covered with
young bark after being thus smoothly trimmed.

Mr. Knights’s mode of tying with two distinct bandages is
also recommended by Mr. Downing, one covering the part
below the bud, and the other the portion above it. In this
case, Mr. Downing has said, “ the lower bandage is removed

BUNNS. 101

- as soon as the bud has taken, and the upper left for two or
three weeks longer. ‘This, by arresting the upward sap,
completes the union of the upper portion or bud, (which in
Plums frequently dies, while the lower part is united,) and
secures success.”

BUFFALO-BERRY, or SHEPHERDIA. This shrub,
with its beautiful silvery leaves, bears a small berry, which
makes a good preserve. The trees are male and female, and

are set in pairs from six to ten or fifteen feet apart. (Cole’s
American Fruit Book.)

BUNNS. These cakes are thought to have the sanction
of antiquity, being named from a kind of sweet, light cake
offered to the gods, and called Loun. Leaving such investi-
gations to the curious, we would only remark that the term
Cross-bunns is said to owe its origin to the habit which once
prevailed in England, of marking this cake, when baked on
Good Friday, with the sacred symbol of the Cross.

Common bunns are made of a light, sweetened dough,
risen by yeast and warm milk. After it is risen, a little
melted butter and warm milk is added, the dough is dusted
with flour, and allowed to rise for half an hour, when it is
shaped into small cakes, put on to buttered tins, and allowed
to rise for another half-hour. Glaze them with white of egg
and put them into a quick oven. You may, if you please,
stir well-cleaned Zante currants into the dough.

*The following receipt is a very good one for making these
cakes : —

Three quarters of a pound of flour, one quarter of a pound
of butter, beaten to a light creamy consistency, one quarter
of a pound of white sifted sugar, one half-pint of new milk,
one wineglass of fresh yeast, three eggs beaten very lightly,
one teaspoonful of powdered mace, cinnamon, and nutmeg

g *

102 BURNS.

mixed together, one wineglass of brandy, wine, and rose-
water stirred together.

Stir the spice into the butter, then add the flour and
sugar, stirring them in alternately with the well-beaten eggs.
Add the wineglass of brandy, wine, and rose-water, and last-
ly, stir in the half-pint of milk, to be followed immediately
by the wineglass of fresh yeast. When risen, bake in but-
tered tins, moulding the dough into the bunn form, and glaz-
ing with sugar and white of egg.

BURNS. To keep the air from the burn or scald, cover
immediately with cotton-batting, and then pour over the cot-
ton sweet olive-oil. If the accident is serious, administer a
gentle cathartic, and keep the diet low, unless there is weak-
ness and sinking, when wine and a teaspoonful of tincture of
Peruvian bark may be given from time to time.

Spirits of turpentine is sometimes applied, but it is too
powerful a stimulant for most persons. I have known of
flour being put over the skin of a child who had received a
severe scald. It is light and excludes the air.

For cooling applications, pounded ice put in a flat bag of
thin oil-silk or tied in a bladder, and lime-water mixed with
the same quantity of linseed-oil, are exceedingly grateful, the
latter being put on with a very soft sponge or linen rag,
bathing the affected skin gently, without rubbing. Where
the weight of it can be supported, a fine Indian-meal poultice
can be made, with hyson tea thrown over it, pouring on hot
water enough to moisten and soften the leaves. Renew the
poultice when dry by a fresh one prepared in the same way.

Vinegar will sometimes relieve the pain of a burn, and a
solution of sugar of lead applied with a soft sponge or rag to
the injured parts is sometimes beneficial.

BUTTER. This substance is made by churning cream

BUTTER. 103

alone, or by churning the milk and cream together. Taking
it for granted that the milk-dishes are kept religiously clean,
and scalded as soon as the milk is removed with boiling water,
that the milk is taken from a healthy, well-fed cow, and is
not impregnated with garlic or turnip flavor, we proceed at
once to the operation of making butter.

Cream makes the richest butter, though of course the
larger quantity is obtained when the milk is also used. Milk
may be skimmed after standing undisturbed in the milk-room
twenty-four, and in cool weather thirty hours. Put it ina
stone vessel until a sufficient quantity of cream is collected
to churn. Milk-pans should be of tin, the enamel of earthen-
ware often containing poisonous matters, whose properties are
disengaged by the acid of milk. .

Many experiments have been instituted, particularly in
England and Scotland, by both practical and learned socie-.
ties and individuals, to demonstrate the desirable temperature
of cream to bring butter of the best quality and greatest
quantity. Accepting the results of these experiments, we
find that butter produced from cream at a low temperature
is superior both in quality and quantity; that, put into the
churn at 52°, it may be raised to 60° before the operation is
finished, but on no account can, with impunity, exceed 65° ;
and that 60° is the desirable mean, while if it be under 50°
the labor will be increased without any proportional benefit
being reaped.

When the butter has gathered, put it into cold water, and
béat it with the hand or a wooden butter-spaddle until the
buttermilk is entirely out, and the water freshly poured over
comes off colorless. When the buttermilk is thus worked
out, take half the salt you intend to use for your butter, and
work it in with your hand, keeping your hand cool by dip-
ping it in ice-water or very cold water. Salt should be thor-
oughly incorporated as soon as the butter is relieved of but-

104 CABBAGE. '

termilk, and can be best worked in by the hand. Let it stand
covered closely for twenty-four hours, then work in your in-
gredients for final seasoning. For many years I have used
one ounce of the following mixture for every pound of butter,
taking half of the salt out, and applying it as above. Two
ounces of the purest salt (Bay salt is best), one ounce of
loaf-sugar, a little less than three quarters of an ounce of
saltpetre, pounded very fine, and worked in with the hand.
Summer butter requires more salt than butter made late in
autumn. The firkin in which butter is to be packed should
be of sweet wood, or unglazed stone-ware may be used. Lay
salt basted in thin muslin over the butter after it is packed
down very hard. -

I shall conclude my remarks on this important subject by
quoting the following from Johnson’s Farmer’s Encyclopedia
on the manner of making butter in Devonshire, England :—
“In Devonshire the method of making is peculiar to the
county. The milk is placed in tin or earthen pans (each
holding about eleven or twelve quarts), and placed on an
iron plate over a small furnace. The milk is not boiled, but
heated until a thick scum arises to the surface; if, when a
small portion of this is removed, bubbles appear, the milk is
removed, and suffered to cool. ‘The thick part is then taken
off the surface, and this is the clouted cream of Devonshire,
which is known all over England. By a gentle agitation
this clouted cream is speedily converted into butter.”

CABBAGE. This vegetable requires a great deal of
washing and soaking, for in its close leaves are often con-
cealed insects which have assumed the color of the leaves
they feed on. Put salt in the water it is soaked in, and let
the cabbage remain soaking some hours before cooking.
When it goes into the pot, drain this water off, and fill up
with fresh water in which is a little salt and a small piece of

CAKE. 105

soda. Skim it well, and when about half cooked pour off
the water, take the cabbage out, and put it in cold water. If
corned beef or pork is being boiled, fill the pot half full of the
pot-liquor, return the cabbage, and fill up with water. Boil
till tender. If there is no pot-liquor, or there is an objection
to its use, fill the pot with cold water; when the cabbage is
tender, take it out, drain and press it well, but do not break,
and put bits of fresh butter on it.

Cabbages, like onions and water-cresses, have a bitter
property, which is subdued by soaking in large quantities of
water, and boiling with the same liberal measure of liquid.

Red cabbage is used for pickling, and for winter salads.

STEWED CABBAGE.

Cabbage which is left from dinner can be cut in slices,
simmered in ¢ ittle milk and water, drained, put into a ket-
tle with a little butter or suet, clarified drippings, pepper and
salt, heated, and browned, care being used that it does not
burn. Stir into a pint of hot water a little piece of fresh
butter, well mixed with a tablespoonful of flour and a little
cream if you have it, and pour the mixture over the cabbage.
Let it summer ten. minutes and serve hot.

CAKE. For superior kinds of cake, the best of every-
thing must be used, the flour sifted, the sugar pounded or
rolled fine and sifted also, and the butter have the salt washed
from it in cold water and be pressed dry. Nutmeg is al-
ways lighter grated, but other spices must be pounded fine.

A hickory spatula should be used for working the butter
and sugar to a creamy consistency, though in cold weather
many nice cooks use the hand. Beat the eggs when every
other preparation has been made. Rods or egg-whisks are
considered preferable to anything else for beating eggs.
Break each egg in a saucer by itself.

106 CAKE.

The following receipt was given to me by a relative of
the Washington family, Mrs. T. L. of Washington city, who
told me it was a favorite cake of the General, and made
generally once a week in his family.

WASHINGTON CAKE.

One pound of flour, one pound of sugar, one half-pound of
butter, one half-pint of cream, five eggs, one glass of brandy,
a little mace, one teaspoonful of pearlash dissolved in cream,
to be added when the other ingredients are well mixed.
Bake in small tins.

Take first your butter and cream it, then add your sugar,
then your well-beaten eggs, your flour next, then your pearl-
ash. Do not fill your pans too full, as it will rise very
much.

WEDDING CAKE.

Four and a half pounds of flour, four and a half pounds
of butter, four and a half pounds of sugar, one and a half
pounds of stoned box-raisins, one and a half pounds of citron,
six and a half pounds of currants, twenty-two eggs; one
half-ounce of mace, one half-ounce of cloves, one half-ounce
of cinnamon; one gill of wine, one half-gill of brandy, one
half-cill of rose-water, one and a half teaspoonfuls of salera-
tus, one table-spoonful of molasses.

Pounp CAKE.

Beat a pound of sugar and one of butter together to a
cream, adding gradually to it, while beating, the strained juice
of a lemon. Beat seven eggs, the yolks and whites sepa-
rately, to a froth, and add them, then take a handful from a
pound of sifted flour and stir in the remainder of the pound ;
add the grate of two nutmegs, or sift in a, blade or two of
pounded mace.

Te

CAKE 107

Pound cake is best baked in pans which have a tube in

the centre, or small tin pans. Butter the pans well. Ifthe

pan is large, the cake will take three or four hours of un-

broken but moderate heat.

SPONGE CAKE.

Ten eggs, the weight of ten eggs in sugar, the weight of
six eggs in flour, the grate and the strained juice of one
lemon. Break the eggs over the sifted sugar, beat them till
it is quite light, and rises in the pan; beat the flavoring
in, and just before it goes to the oven stir in very gently the
sifted flour. Have the pan buttered. Tin pans with divis-
ions of oblong squares are the nicest for sponge cake. Bake
quickly in a brisk oven.

JELLY CAKE.

These’ cakes may be made of rich cup-cake, but the nicer
kinds are made much as pound cake, only more eggs are
used.

Work into a pound of fresh butter the same quantity of
sifted sugar, the grate of a nutmeg, and a tablespoonful of
rose-water. Beat twelve eggs very lightly, and once stir them
into the butter and sugar, a little at a time, with a pound of
sifted flour. Butter flat tin plates or dinner-plates, and pour
enough batter in to cover the bottom. Bake in a moderate
oven without turning. When they come from the oven, take
them out, and let them cool, but before they are cold, spread
gooseberry jam, or some piquant fruit preserve, between each
cake. You may make pies of them, that is, put only two
cakes together, or you may pile them up, and trim the edges
and ice it as one large cake.

CoMPOSITION CAKE.

Three quarters of a pound of fresh butter, and one pound

108 CAKE.

of sifted sugar, one pound and three quarters of flour, one
table-spoonful of pearlash, five eggs, one glass of wine, one

- of brandy, one pound of stoned raisins, one nutmeg, a small

spoonful of sifted mace and cinnamon mixed. Beat the but-
ter and sugar together with the spice, then add the well-
beaten eggs; take out a little of the flour to dust on the rai-
sins, then stir in the remainder, add the wine and brandy
and the smoothly ground pearlash; add then the raisins
dusted with flour. Bake in buttered tin pans. See Almond
Cake.

SuGAR-GINGERBREAD.

Five eggs, one and a quarter pounds of sugar, three quar-
ters of a pound of butter, two pounds of flour, two table-
spoonfuls, of even fulness, of ginger, one teaspoonful of pearl-
ash or soda.

Wash the butter and press it dry, sift the sugar and work
them together ; when well mixed, beat the eggs till light, and
stir them in with the flour. Dissolve the soda in a cup of
cream or wine, and add it. Flour your paste-board, and
lay the gingerbread on it. Divide it into two pieces, rolling
each piece out in turn. Flour two large tin sheets, and lay
the rolled pieces on, trimming the edges, and with a knife
dipped in flour mark the surface through the centre length-
wise and then across into bars. This cake should be worked
with the hand. You may dissolve the soda, if more con-
venient, in a cup of warm milk, instead of cream; this last,
if over rich, will make the cake too short.

Mo.LassEs-GINGERBREAD.

Dissolve in a pint of molasses a cup of butter, putting over
the butter two table-spoonfuls of sifted ginger. Let it get
warm near the fire. Put into two cupfuls of sour milk two
teaspoonfuls of soda. Beat four eggs till light.

— es eee

CALICO. 109

Take the molasses up, and stir in the milk and eggs, and
flour enough to make a thin batter, of the consistency of
pound cake. Bake in tin pans immediately.

CALICO. Fast colors in calicoes are thickened with
gum or calcined starch, while fugitive colors are thickened
with gum tragacanth, which leaves the cloth in a softer state
than gum Senegal, the goods being sometimes sent to market
without being washed. (Digelow.)

Calicoes, if possible, should only be washed on a in day,
and always by themselves, in suds prepared with ox-gall soap,
or of hard soap, with a table-spoonful of ox-gall added. Soap
should only be applied through the agency of the suds.
Wash quickly from these prepared suds into another pre-
pared in the same way, having both waters only milk-warm.
Rinse out the soap in pure water, then quickly pass them
into a second rinsing water, into which has been put a hand-
ful of salt, or, what is better, a few drops of oil of vitriol, to
set and brighten the colors, and some weak. starch-water ;
and if there is no blueing in the starch, pass the indigo-bag
once or twice rapidly through the water. Do not allow them
to remain in any of the waters. Wring them out, and hang
them on the wrong side in a shady place. Calicoes should
never be frozen; it injures their colors. Dry them in the -
house, if necessary, to avoid such an accident.

Water in which potatoes have been sliced and boiled is
often strained and saved for the purpose of making suds for
calicoes.

Rice-water, and wheat-bran water, strained from these
substances, is often successfully used.

Dark and mourning calicoes are washed in the same man-
ner, that is, with warm soap-suds and ox-gall; but the starch
is prepared with colored water, sometimes with coffee, to avoid
the whitened look that starch sometimes gives dark calicoes.

10

110 CANDLES.

Alum in small quantities is sometimes put into rinsing-
water where the colors of the calico are mostly green; where
they are red, pink, and green, vinegar or pyroligneous acid
may be used. Strong vinegar or too much oil of vitriol is
injurious.

Ox-gall put into a bottle with a little salt, and closely cov-
ered, will keep several months.

Calicoes should be ironed the same day, if possible, that
they are washed, to prevent the colors from running. Do
not use a very hot iron, and press them as far as possible on
the wrong side.

CAMPHORATED SPIRIT. Break gum camphor in-
to bits, till you have half filled a bottle, then pour in alcohol.
A few drops poured into a wineglass of water sometimes re-
lieve faintness. If for external application, you may fill the
bottle with the best olive-oil, or Jamaica rum or whiskey.

CANDLES. Home-made candles are composed of ox-
tallow and mutton-suet, either employed separately, or in
equal parts. Tallow being more fusible than wax or sper-
maceti, candles made of this material require larger sticks.
The cotton wicking is purchased in large balls. It is well,
in making candles, to boil in vinegar as much wicking as
will-be used, taking care to dry it thoroughly. It prevents
the emission of odor while the candle is burning.

When the fat is rendered, strain it close to the fire, and
pour it while it is hot into the moulds, which should be pre-
viously prepared, with wicking secured at one end with
small wooden pegs, and at the other fastened with loops
through which are slipped bits of coarse iron wire. The
pegs should be, with the wicking, so placed as to prevent
the escape of the grease. Have the wicks placed exactly
in the centre of each tube, and fastened tightly on to the

CARPETS. 111

wire. Put them out doors where they will cool and become
firm. Do not pull them too early, and before attempting
the drawing of them, dip the mould in warm water, and draw
slowly. Put them in a cold place, and do not use them for
some nights. They burn more economically if allowed to
harden.

The shavings of spermaceti candles should be saved for
the laundry ; they give a polish to starch used for linen, and
are nice to rub the iron over to prevent the starch from
sticking.

Cut-glass candle-receivers, put on top of the candlestick
for the candle to pass through, are pretty and useful articles,
as they save wax from passing on to the furniture.

CARPETS. Where the figure of a carpet is small, the
two webs of which it is composed are more closely interwo-
ven; and besides, as a mere matter of taste, large figures are
fast being resigned to steamboat upholstery. Colors are
chosen with reference to their harmonious toning, to borrow
an artist’s phrase, with the rest of the furniture ; thus, if the
chairs, papering, and sofas of a room are green, it is desirable
that the ground-work of the carpet should be of the same
color, relieved by some small figure. White should be
avoided, as it soon looks soiled.

Wilton carpets, though extremely elegant, are miserable
to wear, a large part of the material following the broom on
the first sweeping. Turkey carpets, which are made in one
square piece without seam, are rarely used now in the United
States. They are swept with little success, and are so
heavy that it requires half a score of men to shake one.

The Tournay, Brussels, and Saxony, among expensive
carpets, are the most useful.

The striped Venetian carpets (used almost entirely for
stairs and halls), the Kidderminster, and Imperial carpets
are double-sided, and may be put down either side up.

112 CARPETS.

In making carpets, the strongest packthread is used, with
stout carpet-needles. The two edges are brought together, so
as to match the pattern, in every instance, exactly, and the
stitches are taken on the wrong side. In some of the heavier
carpets the stay-stitch is used, which consists in taking up one
side at a time alternately, so that the seam may lie flat; and
where both sides are taken at once, the needle is passed first
toward the workwoman, and then pointed for the following
stitch from her. If it gets fulled or puckered, it should be
picked out and re-sewed. ‘The selvages should only meet, and
not be lapped, and the stitches should not be drawn tight.

Carpet binding is not so much used as formerly. The car-
pet now, after being stretched, is turned down and tacked with
carpet tacks, with bits of soft leather attached to each tack.

Printed carpets, of woollen materials, are used chiefly for
druggets, to save more expensive carpets, and for dining-
rooms.

Oil-cloth carpets where they can be annie are exceed-
ingly convenient for kitchen floors.

Carpets are best cleaned by being thoroughly shaken, the
floors they were taken from washed very nicely, and when
dry, the carpet returned to them, and then, after being tacked
down and swept, to “make assurance double sure,” scrubbed
with a stiff brush and suds prepared with hard soap and ox-
gall, renewing the suds frequently, rinsing in the same man-
ner in clear water, in which has been dropped a little oil of vit-
riol to fix and brighten the colors, and lastly, wiped dry with
clean towels. ‘The windows of the rooms where carpets are
so cleansed should be left open, till all dampness has left the
apartments. This is a good time to rub the edges of the
carpet with camphene, putting it on with a rag or sponge;
the odor soon escapes, and the eggs of moths are effectually
killed by the process.

The great objection to American carpeting is, that the
colors are not fast; otherwise, they wear well.

CARVING. 118

CARROTS. This root, (the especial ally of the dairy,)
when prepared for the table, is washed, scraped, and boiled in
salt and water till tender. They should be cut in narrow
strips lengthwise. They are nice, browned in butter or sweet
fat, and thus sometimes garnish beef-stews. Boiled plain,
they are served with boiled meats. A carrot cooked inside
of a duck will mitigate the fishy, oily taste that is often over-
strong in wild sea-ducks. The carrot is always removed be-
fore the dish goes to table.

CARVING. The principal points in carving are to
serve all as nearly as possible alike, in order to do this,
one must know the delicate morceaux of every dish,— and
to leave the dish, especially if it be a large roasting-piece,
so that its reappearance may be respectable.

It isa great assistance to the carver to have the meat
or fowls properly prepared and trussed. The bones of the
loin of mutton should always be neatly sawed, if not by the
butcher, then by the cook’s meat-handsaw. She should
do as much for the breasts of: mutton and veal, and ribs of
lamb.

In carving the sirloin of beef, give each person a bit of
fat, and throw over the joint, and cut off a piece of the ten-
der-loin, and put a little gravy from the dish on the whole.
A sirloin is cut at either end, or in the middle.

Boiled beef and hams, and cold meats generally, are to be
eut very thin, and the outside piece of boiled salted meats is
laid aside.

Roast stuffed veal is cut in thin horizontal slices, and
each guest served to stuffing, gravy, and a bit of boiled
ham.

In carving roasted breast of veal, if a bone is liked,
give with it a piece of the breast, and a bit of sweet-
bread.

LO*

114 CASHMERE.

Mutton and pork are cut thicker than other meats. A leg
of mutton is generally brought toward the carver, by taking
the fork in the left hand, and putting a prong through the
knuckle bone, and cutting slices upward.

A goose is carved in long thin breast slices, taking in as
much as possible the length of the fowl. Many persons have
a little wine gravy poured hot over the slices before they
are served. Where the goose is stuffed, help to a bit of the
stuffing also. After the slices are off, proceed to disjoint the
members, and cut the thigh, which is a delicate bit, from the
leg, and the fleshy part from the wings. Unless the party is
large, the breast-slices will meet demands. The choice bits
of fowls, whether boiled or roasted, are the side-bones, the
slices from the breast, wish-bone or merry-thought, the
wings, and, of a fat, tender-boiled fowl, the thighs.

The delicate task of separating joints is best learned by
practice, and by putting one’s self under the guidance of
friends whose taste and judgment may be relied upon. In
large dinner-parties, the lady or gentleman is now-a-days
mostly relieved from the laborious duty of carving by the
waiter, who, after the dishes have been placed on the table,
removes them to the side-table.

In helping to salmon, give a slice of the thick, and one
of the thinner part of the fish, covering with the sauce pro-
vided, whether this be caper, egg, or anchovy. Have slices
of lemon in a plate by themselves.

CASHMERE. The finest shawls of this name are those
from the looms of Cashmere, and they are made of the fine
down of the goats that live on the table-land of Thibet.
When not in use, these shawls, like the camel’s-hair shawls,
should be wrapped in linen, with camphor sprinkled in the
folds, and kept in a cool, dark closet, or in camphor or cedar
trunks.

CATCHUP. 115

CATCHUP. The most indispensable of these prepara-
tions are Mushroom, Walnut, and Tomato Catchup.

Mushrooms should only be gathered by some one acquaint-
ed with this peculiar family. The wholesome ones have a
pleasant odor, a round form, tender edge and middle, and
when young a salmon color on the under part, which, as they
mature, turns to a dark brown, the upper part and stalk be-
ing of a pearlish white. But as sad accidents often occur
from the use of poisonous mushrooms, no one should attempt
to gather this edible fungus without competent knowledge.
One fact with regard to the mushroom is, that the wholesome
kinds grow openly in pastures, and those that are found in
woods and damp swampy places are not good.

It is said that poisonous mushrooms turn silver black,
and onions that are boiled with them. Another test is to
sprinkle a little salt on the inner spongy side, and examine
them a little while after; if the action of the salt has impart-
ed a yellow color, they are to be rejected; but if black, they
are wholesome.

MusHroom CAtTcHup.

Gather the large, juicy, flap-mushrooms, that are too ripe
for pickling or stewing. Remove all decayed matter and
foreign substances, and put the mushrooms into an earthern
jar, with a little salt sprinkled over each layer. Cover and
leave them near the fire for twenty-four hours. Strain off
the liquor into a porcelain-lined kettle, or clean saucepan.
Let it boil over a good fire for half an hour, than add to
every quart of liquor two teaspoonfuls of black peppercorns,
one teaspoonful of allspice, three small slices of fresh ginger,
a few blades of mace, three or four cloves, and a sprinkle of
Cayenne pepper. Let it simmer till reduced one half. Take
it off and cover it. When sufficiently cool, fill small glass
bottles quite full. Dip off the liquid without disturbing the

116 CATCHUP.

sediment, which can be saved for soups, or fish-sauces, or
put into a linen bag for the top of the pickle-pot. Cork
closely with fresh cork-wood, and lay the bottles on their
sides in a dry, cool closet.

Tomato CATCHUP.

Take a peck of tomatoes that are fully ripe, on a dry day
in August, or early in September. Pick the stems from
them, and wipe with a clean towel dipped in warm water.
Put them into the kettle with salt between each layer, but
without water. As they boil, skim and stir them frequently
for an hour, strain them through a colander, then through a
coarse sieve. ‘To the strained liquid, put six or seven small
chopped onions, one or two blades of mace, a table-spoonful of
whole black pepper. Boil it an hour and a half, adding, if
necessary, a little more salt. Fill, when cool, small bottles
quite full, and cork closely.

If tomato catchup is preferred thinner, you may slice
your tomatoes, and. squeeze them through a linen bag, and
pound your spices. Take one or two onions to a peck
of tomatoes, chopping the onions very fine, and add a very
little Cayenne. Keep the bottles on their sides in a cool
closet.

WALNUT CATCHUP.

Gather the walnuts while they are green and tender
enough to be pierced with a coarse needle. Probe them
with a bodkin, or crush them with a wooden mallet, and put
them into a pan and cover them with a pickle made of a
little soft water and a handful of table-salt. Let them re-
main four or five days, mashing and turning them every day
with a wooden spoon. Have ready on the fifth day a
liquid composed of soft pure water and mild vinegar, bring it
to boiling heat, and to every dozen walnuts pour a quart

CAYENNE. 147

of this boiling liquid. Mash the walnuts, and take the
liquor off with a wooden spoon, and press the rinds in a bag.
Boil the walnut liquor gently for an hour, skimming it
well. Take it off, and to each quart of liquor put an ounce
of pounded allspice and black pepper mixed, a teaspoonful
of pounded cloves, and the same of mace, and the grate of
one nutmeg. Put the liquor to the fire, cover closely, and
let it boil three quarters of an hour, when bottle as directed
above.

CAULIFLOWER. These delicate vegetables, before be-
ing cooked, should have the coarse outside leaves removed,
as also the coarser part of the stalk. Put them in a pan of
cold water, sprinkling salt over them to draw out all insects,
and allow them to remain soaking some hours. Examine
them well. Boil them in a steamer with milk and water,
putting in the large heads some minutes before the small
ones. Boil them slowly for twenty minutes, or till tender,
but do not allow them to break to pieces. Do not keep the
cover close. Kat them with fresh butter and salt, or you
may rub a little flour into three large spoonfuls of good
butter, melt it slowly, and pour it (after the cauliflowers have
been well drained from moisture) over the vegetables just
before you send them to the table.

Broccoli may be prepared in the same way.

CAYENNE. This is made from the East and West In-
dian Capsicums, which with care are easily grown in almost
all the States. When the pods are quite ripe and red, slit
them open, and sift a little dried flour over them. Dry them
on tin sheets in an oven. When dry, pound them in a stone
mortar with a little flour till perfectly powdered.

Chillies or Guinea peppers are sometimes used for Cay-
enne. This pepper is often dangerously adulterated with red-
lead, and other vile compounds.

118 CEMENTS.

CELERY. This vegetable, beside its uses as an accom-
paniment to white fowls and for salads, is often dressed as
asparagus, boiled, cut into pieces of six or seven inches,
and served on buttered toast. It is also cut in small pieces
and stewed in butter, and a little pepper and salt added,
and cream sauce poured over it just before it is sent to the
table. Celery and celery seed make a nice flavoring for
light soups.

CEMENTS. The substances which form the uniting
medium between bricks and stones in building are called
cements. The best calcareous cements are those which are
equally mixed, and of good consistence, and are manufac-
tured of pure lime, freed from carbonic acid by recent slack-
ing, and sand which is fresh (as salt is apt to deliquesce, and”
weaken the strength of the cement), and whose angles are
sharp, not worn by the action of tides and water.

The proportion of sand and lime is different in various
cements, but that of sand always exceeds the lime, and the
more sand the lime can receive, and retain at the same time
the required plasticity, the better for the cement, as it solidi-
fies sooner, when the well worked and beaten lime and
water is subdivided, and well taken up with clean sharp
sand. The purer the lime, and the more it is worked and
beaten, the greater its capacity for receiving sand.

Common mortar is made of pure lime, in the state of fine
powder, good sand free from clay, and a little pure water.
It is customary to have the sand partly coarse, and the usual
proportions are three parts of fine and four parts of coarser
sand, and one part of quicklime, recently slacked with pure
water, to reduce the whole to a thick paste.

Water, hydraulic, or Roman cements are those which
resist the action of water, hardening under it, and solidify
very soon after being mixed. ‘They are formed of various
substances.

CEMENTS. 119

The artificial quays and islands built by the Romans for
the purpose of erecting villas in the Bay of Baiz, a spot of
fashionable resort for the wealthy, were constructed of a
peculiar earth, called by the Romans pulvis puteolanus, and
now known under the name of Puzzolana. It is a porous,
friable mineral, of volcanic origin and various color. On
being reduced to a powder, and incorporated thoroughly with
lime, either with or without sand, it forms a mass of firm,
solid substance, that, not only in the air, but immersed in
water, concretes to stony hardness. |
- Cements are also formed of other substances. Some of
the ores of manganese form water cements; and baked clay
reduced to powder, and the common greenstone calcined and
pulverized, make with lime tolerable hydraulic cements.

Some limestones, when calcined and mixed with simple
sand and water, form water cements, and usually in con-
sequence of these stones containing a certain portion of
argillaceous earth united with lime.

Various parts of the United States afford very good
hydraulic cements.

Different theories have been broached to account for sub-
stances hardening under water; the most probable appears
to be, that the attraction for water in certain argillaceous
earths causes them to quickly absorb the superabundance of
moisture from the lime, and thus hasten its solidification ;
which explanation receives collateral aid in the fact, that
burnt clays, which, properly managed, afford hydraulic ce-
ments, cease to do so if the burning has been continued till
vitrification has ensued. (Bigelow’s Useful Arts.)

ComMon CEMENT FOR BROKEN VESSELS.

Put to half a pint of boiling milk the same quantity of
vinegar. ‘Take out the curd, and when the whey is only
milk-warm beat into it the whites of five fresh eggs. Beat

120 CHARCOAL.

it thoroughly, and sift into this mixture enough quicklime to
make a stiff paste. If the materials are good, and well in-
corporated, the above is a cheap and useful cement.

CEMENT FOR BOTTLES.

Mix equal portions of pounded resin and beeswax, and
add one fourth of their weight of mutton or beef suet. Let
it melt slowly over the fire, and stir in brick-dust, Spanish
whiting, or some basis that has the desired color. Put it
warm over the bottles or jars to be sealed; or well-corked

bottles may be dipped in the cement.

Cements are frequently made of resin, beeswax, and the
powdered substance of a like nature with the article to be
repaired. Pound the resin, and stir it into the melted wax,
and then make the whole of proper consistency with pow-
dered alabaster or glass or china, as the case in hand may
require.

CHARCOAL. This substance, as observed when speak-
ing of antiseptics, is often placed around meat and game to
keep them from taint. Water filtered through coarse sand
and a bed of charcoal is often relieved of deleterious sub-
stances.

Charcoal is almost indispensable in igniting anthracite
coal, when used in parlor-grates. It is also useful in small
portable furnaces for preserving; but when these are used,
there should be a current of fresh air to carry off the
fumes of the charcoal, which, as is well known, are fatal
to human life.

Vessels and tubs in which meats, and substances whose
absorbed juices might induce putrefaction, are kept, are often
charred by burning shavings in them, the charcoal thus
induced keeping them sweet.

CHEESE. 121

CHARLOTTE DE RUSSE. One pint of sweet cream,
the yolks of eight eggs, one pound of loaf-sugar sifted fine,
and one pint of unskimmed milk.

Boil the milk with a vanilla bean or a few pounded bitter
almonds. ‘Take it off, and strain it; when cool, stir in the
cream and the eggs, both of which should be well beaten.
Put the whole over the fire, and stir it till thick ; and have
ready a jelly made of an ounce of the best isinglass, or Cox’s
sparkling gelatine, or the same quantity made from calves’
feet. When the custard and jelly are both cool, but not
hard, mix them together. Have a fresh sponge or almond
cake baked in an oval tin mould, from which cut out very
neatly the centre, leaving the bottom and sides on to the
depth of an inch; fill up with the prepared custard, and set
it on ice. The whites of the eggs may be used for an
icing to the top of the cake.

Charlotte Russe is frequently made by placing ladies’
fingers or Savoy biscuits in a mould close together at the
bottom and sides, and filling up the mould with custard and
isinglass jelly, and setting it on ice till turned out for the
table. You may place the cakes so as to form a rosette.

CHEESE. The quality and flavor of cheese depend
upon the richness-of the milk and the amount of cream used
in the manufacture of it. Cheese of a good quality melts at
a moderate heat, while poor cheese, being deficient in the oil
of cream, dries and curls up.

A Parmesan cheese is made from the milk of not less
than fifty cows, and as one farm rarely contains pasture for
such a number, the farmers or metayers of a district club
together.

Stilton cheese is the cream cheese of England. Cream
cheese is not subjected to such heavy pressure as milk
cheese, but, when the curd has set, is placed in a sieve to

11

122 CHEESE.

drain slowly, and, after being gently pressed, is put into a
wooden hoop, and afterwards dried on boards with cloth
binders, which are tightened as the cheese hardens. Cream
cheese requires frequent turning.

Some dairywomen mix the cream of one milking, with
the rennet, into the new milk they are to make their cheese
from.

The best season for cheese-making is while the cows
are feeding on pasture, winter cheese being of an inferior
quality, and made with more difficulty than during warm
weather.

Annotto is used for coloring cheese, particularly in Eng-
land. (See Annotto.) Mr. Coleman attributed the poor rep-
utation our cheese enjoyed abroad to its sharp, acid taste, its
deficieney in rich color, and its lacking a firm rind. As
these defects may originate partly from the preparation of
the rennet and the manner of salting, I have taken great
pains to consult some of the best English authorities, and to
examine personally into the management of dairies at home.
Among others, I am indebted to Professor Low’s Elements
of Agriculture and Johnson’s Farmer’s Encyclopedia, books
which I heartily wish were in the hands of every farmer in
the United States; for though all matters discussed in them
are not applicable to this country, they are full of general
agricultural knowledge.

The utensils required for making cheese are a large tub,
in which the milk is coagulated, and the curd broken; the
cheese-knife or wooden spatula with one or more blades
for cutting the curd to facilitate the separation of the whey ;
wooden spoons for taking off the whey; sieves, or another
wooden vessel perforated with holes, for further expressing
the whey ; small circular vats, in which the cheese is placed
to be compressed; and, finally, the cheese-press. This last
is made from different models, and acts upon the curd by the

CHEESE. 123°

continued pressure of a weight. ‘The rennet, which is used
to coagulate the milk, is the fourth stomach of a calf. When
_no rennet is found of sufficient strength to curdle the milk,
various plants have been used for the purpose ; in England
the Yellow Ladies’ Bedstraw (Galiwm verum) has been sub-
stituted, and in Spain the Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus).
A strong infusion is made in the evening of the down of the
Cardoon, and in the morning it is ready for use. Half a pint
of the infusion is sufficient to produce coagulation in fourteen
gallons of new milk.

The substance of the rennet is increased by feeding the
calf largely with milk some hours before slaughtering. In
taking the stomach from the newly killed calf, only foreign
substances should be removed; the chyme and coagulated
milk, of which it chiefly consists, should be undisturbed.
A few handfuls of salt are to be put into the stomach and all
around it, and then, after being rolled up, it should be hung
near the fire to dry; and if hung up a year or more before
it is used, its quality is improved. It is the gastric juice of
this rennet which produces coagulation.

Says Professor Low: “ When the rennet is prepared for
use, it is cut into small pieces, and put into a jar with a
handful or two of salt. Water which has been previously
boiled and cooled again is then poured upon it, and allowed
to remain for two or three days. It is then drawn off, and
sometimes a second infusion is made, but with a smaller
quantity of water; this also remains a few days, and being
withdrawn, the two liquors are mixed together, strained
through a cloth, and put into bottles, to be used when re-
quired. The quantity of this rennet to be used is to be
reculated by the strength of the infusion; it should be only
enough to have the milk curdled in an hour. If a sufficient
quantity of new milk is procured at one milking to make a
cheese, it is used as soon as it can be strained; but if not

124 CHEESE.

enough to make a cheese, it is put into milk-vessels till enough
is obtained. When the cheese is to be made, the cream is
skimmed off, and part of the milk is taken and heated over
the fire to that degree, that, on being returned to the mass,
will raise it to about 90°. The cream which was removed
is either thoroughly mixed with the heated milk, or it is
added to the general mass, after the heated milk has been re-
turned. While yet warm, a quantity of rennet is mixed
with it, and coagulation soon takes place. The curd being
formed, it is cut with a wooden spoon, or cheese-knife, to
allow the whey to escape, and the curd is subjected to gentle
pressure, while the whey is removed with a wooden spoon.
It is now lifted by one of the mentioned articles (spatula or
spoon) into a sieve, or vat with holes, where it is repeatedly
cut, pressed by the hand, and broken, until it no longer gives
out any serous matter. Finally, after being cut very small by
the cheese-knife, and a quantity of salt, in the proportion of
about half an ounce to a pound of cheese, being mixed with
it, it is wrapped in a piece of cloth, put into a small wooden
vessel, with circular holes at the side and bottom, and placed
in the cheese-press ; but frequently the salt is not applied un-
til the cheese has been compressed.”

The time which is allowed for the cheese to remain in
press, is regulated by the richness of the cheese, and the
amount of previous manipulation which has been bestowed,
very rich cheese requiring comparatively but little pressure.

“ But,” says Professor Low, “in ordinary cases, the
cheese, being wrapped in a cloth, and put into its vat, with a
board above it to fit the vat, remains in the press from one
to two hours. It is then taken out, wrapped in fresh cloth,
and replaced in the cheese-vat; and then the salt, if it has
not been previously applied, is rubbed over the surface. It
may then be taken out every five or six hours, the cloth be-
ing changed, and the salting repeated. After being pressed

ie Bad ey

CHEESE. 125

in this manner for two or three days, the operation will be
complete. The cheese may then be kept in a warm place
for some time to dry, and ultimately placed in the store-room
for preservation.”

In some of the English districts, the dairy-women, on tak-
ing the cheese out of the press, put it ina vessel with hot
whey, where it remains an hour or two to harden the rind,
when it is wiped dry, cooled, and returned to the vat, which
has been previously wiped dry, to be pressed again. If the
cheese has been made in the morning, which is the usual
time, it is again taken out of the vat, and a fresh dry cloth
is wrapped around it, and the cheese is turned and replaced ;
what was formerly the upper becoming now the under side.
For two days it is turned in the vat, and put into clean
cloths twice each day, when it is finally removed. The
salting is now undertaken. The cheese is carried to the
salting-house and placed in the vat in a tub, which is partly
filled with brine. Here the cheese remains for several days,
being regularly turned at least once every day. The vat is
then removed and the cheese placed on the salting-bench,
where it remains for eight or ten days, salt being daily
rubbed over the whole cheese. If the cheese is of large size,
it is common to secure it with a wooden hoop or fillet of
cloth, to prevent cracks and rents. When supposed to be
sufficiently salted, it is washed in warm water or whey, and,
when well dried with a cloth, put on the drying-bench, where
it remains a week or ten days before it is finally deposited
in the cheese-chamber.

The management of this cheese-room is regulated by the
weather and the judgment of the dairy-woman. If the air
be moist and close, fresh air is admitted, but if cold and dry,
the room is kept closed. In about ten days, or according to
the space of time between the washings, the cheeses are
cleaned by being washed and scraped.

1L*

126 CHERRY.

A decoction of saffron is sometimes put into milk to give
cheese a little color; it is used in the Parmesan cheese.

The mould or vat in which cheese is formed is made
of thick staves, generally of white or American oak, and
secured with two strong iron hoops, to withstand the neces-
sary pressure. It is perforated with many small holes in the
bottom and sides, to let the whey escape from the curd.
This vat is sometimes called chessel.

Cheese-cloths should be strong, and of open texture ; every
time they are removed from the vat, they should be wrung
out of boiling water, and dried in the sun or before the fire ;
if this is not done, it is sufficient cause for inducing “a sharp
acid taste ” in cheese.

CHERRY (Cerasus vulgaris). ‘The Cherry is of Asiat-
ic origin; the Roman Lucullus, returning from Pontus after
a victorious campaign, brought it from Cerasus, a town in
that province, in the year 69 B. C.

It is a tree of rapid growth, and the varieties of the Black
and Heart-shaped Cherries grow to forty or fifty feet in
height; the Acid or Red Cherry does not spread so vigor-
ously, but is of slower growth, lower, and more bushy in its
developments.

It is a strange fact, that we have not cultivated our native
Cherries to any great extent, but have directly imported the
rich Cherries of France, England, and Holland, which seem
not altogether suited to our climate, for they decay at the
season of ripening, and those which reach maturity lose their
fine fleshy firmness a few hours after being plucked.

The wild Virginia Cherry yields a wood hardly inferior to
mahogany, and I have seen bedsteads of elegant polish and
color made from this material.

Though the Cherry will grow in almost any soil, that which
is deep and mellow, but not damp, is the best suited to it;

CHERRY. 127

in wet positions it soon grows sickly and decays. -To pro-
tect it from spring frosts, it is well to plant it in places where
premature budding will not be induced, on the north sides
of hills, or elevated, cool locations, rather than deep, warm
valleys. The finest varieties are obtained by budding on
seedlings of the common Mazard Cherry. (See Budding.)
As a standard tree, which is the usual mode of cultivating
the Cherry in the United States, this tree requires but little
cultivation, beyond an occasional administering of manure to
old trees, and a very little pruning in midsummer where
a dead or cross-branch interferes with the general health
of the tree, and an occasional washing with soft-soap suds,
where the bark shows a tendency to become hard. Pruning
is very apt to induce gum and decay, and should be under-
taken only when absolutely necessary.

Mr. Downing has divided Cherries into four classes, viz. :—

1. Heart Cherries; the common Mazard and Black be-
ing taken as types of this division.

2. Bigarrean Cherries. Those which are tender and
crackling, as compared with the melting, tender flesh of the
first class.

3. Duke Cherries. The May Duke.is the type of this
class. These are excellent varieties, succeeding well in al-
most all soils and climates, and invaluable both for the des-
sert and for cooking.

4, Morello Cherries. 'The common Kentish or Pie Cher-
ry, and the Morello, are well known varieties of this class.

Where cherries are used for dessert, they should be put
into a refrigerator or ice-house, or placed in a vessel which
should be immersed in cold water, that the fruit may retain
firmness, and be cold.

The gum of the Cherry is said to have been instrumental
in saving a besieged army cut off from supplies. Its prop-
erties resemble those of gum-arabic.

128 CHICKEN.

Some of the most celebrated cordials and iqueurs of Ku-
rope are made from the Cherry. Common Cherry Cordial
is made in the same manner as Raspberry Cordial. _ (See
Cordials.)

The Kirschwasser of Germany is the distilled liquor of the
common Black Mazard or Jean, the stones being ground,
broken, and fermented with the pulp. atifia cordial of
Grenoble is prepared from this fruit.

Maraschino, the far-famed liquor of Italy, is distilled from
a small Jean or Mazzard, to which is added, in the process
of fermentation, honey, the leaves, and kernels of the fruit.

DRIED CHERRIES.

Stone the fruit. Morello, Kentish, or Early Richmond are
nice for this purpose. Sprinkle a little powdered sugar ove1
them, and spread them on flat dishes for the night. In the
morning pour off very gently what sirup may have been
made, and weigh the fruit. Make a rich sirup, taking for a
pound of fruit the same weight of sugar, wetting the sugar
with the cherry juice, and water enough merely to dissolve
it. Let it come to a boil, when put the fruit in and scald it,
dip it out gently, and allow the sirup to boil for fifteen
minutes, skimming constantly all the time. Spread the cher-
ries in tin pans, and place them in a very moderate oven; add
the sirup to them gradually, and keep turning them till dry,
for several days. Put them, when cool, in glass jars, and
cover closely.

CHICKEN. It is well to allow chickens to hang a day
or two before cooking them, else they are apt to be tough
and stringy; but they should be drawn on being killed, the
flavor of undrawn birds being admired only by the few.
Avoid breaking the gall-bladder, and singe them without
breaking the skin or discoloring them. Do not wash them
till just before they are to be cooked.

CHICKEN. 129

Spring chickens are roasted like fowls. Twenty minutes
will roast a chicken. See /ovwls.

Capons are roasted and boiled in the same manner as
turkeys ; they are best when nine or ten months old; when
older they may be stewed with butter and vegetables, and
eaten with tongue, or boiled for broth or sauces.

BoILeED CHICKEN.

Put chickens on in plenty of water, from which the chill
has been taken. Chickens with a white skin are nicest for
boiling; before going on, let them be nicely trussed, putting
the gizzards and livers under the wings. Have ready a
small bit of salt pork which has been boiling three quarters
of an hour; put it in with the chickens. Boil the chickens
very slowly for about ten minutes, but keep them covered in
hot water for about half an hour. Before you send them to
the table, drain them near the fire. Serve with egg-sauce,
and garnish with sprigs of parsley.

The water in which chickens are boiled can be used for
soup, by adding vegetables and straining.

CuRRIED CHICKEN.

Disjoint the chicken and cut the breast up. Chop a small
onion, and put it into a saucepan with a piece of butter as
large as a table-spoonful. Stir them well, sift in two tea-
spoonfuls of curry-powder and add a few spoonfuls of broth.
Lay in the chickens; when it boils, cover it, and allow it to
stew very gently for half an hour; if it gets dry, add a little
eream, broth, or water. Season with salt. Boil some rice
in another saucepan, and serve it in a separate dish.

FRICASSEE OF CHICKENS.

Cut up a chicken into seven or eight handsome pieces, and
put them in a stewpan, with the gizzard and liver, and cover

130 CHILBLAINS.

with water a little warm; throw in a salt-spoonful of saft, a
little pepper, one or two cloves, and a blade of mace; boil till
tender. Take out the pieces and strain the liquor, thicken
a piece of butter with a little flour, stir it into the liquor with
a few onions chopped very fine. Put the liquor over the
fire with the chicken, let it simmer, skimming it for twenty
minutes. Stir into a teacup of cream the yolks of two eggs.
Pile the chicken up on a dish, stir rapidly the cream into -
the stock in the sauce, let it heat, but not boil, and pour it
hot over the dish of chicken.

CHICCORY, or SUCCORY (Cichorium Intybus). The
wild Endive. The cultivated variety is somewhat used in
England as a forage plant, but it is said to impart a bad
taste to the milk. The root, which contains a bitter, is sub-
stituted occasionally for hops in brewing beer. In Europe
the dried root is roasted and used instead of coffee, and the
excise laws of England allow it to be mixed with coffee. In
an exceedingly clever article in a recent London Quarterly,
(Food and its Adulteration,) chiccory is spoken of as an in-
sipid root containing neither nourishing nor refreshing quali-
ties, and possessing no nitrogenized principle, while strong
doubts seem to be entertained whether it is not positively in-
jurious to the nervous system. ‘The same Reviewer remarks
that Professor Beer, a celebrated oculist of Vienna, forbids
the use of it to his patients, considering it to be the cause of
amaurotic blindness.

CHILBLAINS. Oil-skin socks, worn night and day, are
often of great service in this exceedingly troublesome com-
plaint. If the skin has not broken, various embrocations
may be used with advantage. Spirits of turpentine, or equal
parts of vinegar and spirits of wine, or diluted muriatic acid,
may be applied; but if the skin is exceedingly sensitive and

CHOCOLATE. 131

e :
broken, mild poultices must be served. If fungous granula-
tions appear, they may be touched with some mild caustic.
Carefully avoid going near the fire or furnace, as great
heat causes the weak vessels to distend, and sometimes leads
to ulceration.

CHOCOLATE. A preparation made of the seeds or
nuts of the cocoa-tree. ( Worcester.) These preparations
are varied by French and Italian flavorings.

Common chocolate comes usually in small squares of the
weight ofan ounce. In preparing the beverage, you scrape or
grate the chocolate with a common grater kept for the pur-
pose. Put the scraped chocolate over the fire in a saucepan,
with cold water, regulating the quantity of water by the
strength you wish the infusion to have. If you wish it rich,
put to two squares or ounces a gill of water. Stir it slowly
with a wooden spoon, until it thickens, when it should be
stirred quickly, and a pint of boiling milk added, a little at a
time. Chocolate should be served hot. Sugar may be put
in on the table.

Chocolate after the Italian method is made in a chocolate-
pot of peculiar construction, which contains a utensil which
answers the purpose of a wooden spatula, and the handle of
which passes up through the lid. Put into the pot two
ounces of scraped chocolate, and pour over it, gradually, a
pint of boiling milk, fasten the lid on with the wooden dasher
enclosed, and agitate the handle constantly, that the choco-
late, when hot, may present a frothy appearance.

French chocolate frequently comes flavored with vanilla,
and sweetened. It is less oily than common chocolate. If
it comes as a powder, dissolve it gradually in boiled milk, and
serve hot. A teaspoonful and a half of powdered chocolate
is the French recipe.

Cocoa is imported in bags. The nut is roasted or dried in

132 COCA.

a moderate oven, and cracked in a mortar. It requires fo be
well boiled, allowing a pint of water to each ounce of cocoa.
Pour off the liquid, and stir into it boiling milk.

Cracked cocoa is simply the shell and nut together, and is
prepared as the above. Baker’s prepared cocoa is much
approved.

Shells of cocoa are soaked, and then boiled in the same
water. ‘They require to be well boiled. Put a large gill to
a quart of water; after being soaked over night, and thor-
oughly boiled, strain off the liquor, and put milk to it and
heat it again.

CHOWDER. Cut a quarter of a pound of fat salt-pork
into slices, and try it out in the pot you make the chowder in.
Take a haddock that has been nicely cleaned, and cut it across
into bits about an inch and a half wide. ‘l'ake out the rashers
of pork and put in a layer of fish, pepper it well, and dust in
flour on it, then another layer of fish, seasoning it in the same
manner. Pour over cold water till the fish is a little more
than covered. Put it on to boil. Shred an onion or two
very fine, and throw it into the pot. Ten minutes before you
take it up, put in half a bottle of claret or port wine, and let
it boil up. Try a little in a cup, and if not of the consistency
of cream, mix a little flour in a cup with water, and pour it
in. Dip in cold water half a dozen crackers, split them, and
five minutes before you serve the chowder, put them into the
pot. About half an hour after it begins to boil, the chowder
will be cooked. Serve in a deep dish, garnishing the sides
with the brown rashers of pork.

COCA (Lrythroxylon coca). A pernicious narcotic of
Peru. The dried leaf is chewed, but the forlorn victim who
is its slave is punished with terrible imaginations, often fan-
cying himself guilty of frightful crimes.

.

COFFEE. 133

COCHINEAL (Coccus Cacti). Dried insects brought
originally from Mexico. But the production of this insect
is being largely extended. They feed upon the leaves of
several species of cactus, and are thought to owe their color-
ing matter to this food. The most beautiful of all the reds,
carmine, is derived from this insect. Though the natural
color of cochineal is crimson, yet on dissolving it in water,
and adding bitartrate of potassa, it yields a rich scarlet
dye.

Cochineal, according to Pelletier and Caventon, is com-
posed of, —1. Carminium, which is the name given to the
coloring matter. 2. A peculiar animal matter. 3. A fatty
substance. 4. Salts of lime and potassa.

The preparation of the finest varieties of carmine is kept
secret by the manufacturers, but is supposed to depend much
upon the delicacy of the manipulations. The ordinary pro-
cess is to dissolve it in water, to which alum, carbonate of
soda, or oxide of tin is added.

A pound of cochineal is composed of about 70,000 insects.
(Ligelow.)

. COFFEE (Coffea Arabica). The coffee-plant, of Ori-
ental origin, being a native of Abyssinia and the adjoining
countries, is now grown very extensively in the West Indies,
and in South America. But the Mocha and Java Govern-
ment are regarded as the best varieties.

The coffee-bean, though introduced from Abyssinia into
Arabia as late as the beginning of the fifteenth century, and
England’s first coftee-house being opened no earlier than 1652,
is computed to be consumed, at the present time, at the rate of
six hundred millions of pounds annually, among one hundred
millions of people. Coffee, like tea, is the better for being
old. The principle in coffee, known under the name of ca-
feine, is mellowed py age. Coffee, drunk at full strength, is

12

134 CORDIALS.

an antidote for an over-dose of laudanum. Roasted coffee
is said to be a great purifier of the atmosphere.

Coffee should be roasted equally, and of rich dark brown
color, stirring it constantly with a wooden spatula. On be-
ing ground, that which is not infused should be kept closely
covered in a tin pail that fits neatly.

M. Soyer’s manner of making coffee is to stir the grounds
in a stewpan till quite hot, when to two ounces of coffee he
pours over a pint of boiling water; then he covers it closely
with a cloth for five minutes, after which he passes it through
a cloth, then warms again, and serves hot. I have tried this
- method and found it excellent; but to servants, and for daily
practice, it cannot be recommended.

French breakfast coffee has an equal portion of boiling
milk added to the made and drawn-off coffee, which should
be warmed together and served hot.

The following is a good way of preparing coffee : —

Put in your coffee-pot three ounces of ground coffee, with a
bit of fish-skin that has been previously washed (it need not
be larger than a cent), or a little egg may be used (one ege
should last three mornings) ; pour over it a quart of boiling
water. Let it boil not longer than five minutes, then take it
off to settle, and clear the spout of the coffee-pot by pouring
out a little coffee and returning it; then put in a spoonful or
two of cold water to facilitate the settling.

The same coffee-grounds can have another quart of boiling
water poured on them, and be boiled five minutes, and yield
a very good beverage.

CORDIALS. These drinks are made from cherries,
peaches, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, apricots, ete.

STRAWBERRY CoRDIAL.
Let the fruit be fair and perfectly ripe, and to every

CORN, INDIAN. 135

quart of fruit, sift over a pound of the. purest loaf-sugar.
Let it stand twenty-four hours ina deep pan, when strain
the liquor from the fruit, and to every large spoonful of
juice put a table-spoonful of purest brandy. Put it in small
bottles in a cool place.

RASPBERRY CORDIAL.

Squeeze your raspberries through a flannel bag, and to
every quart of juice add one pound of loaf-sugar. Put it
with the sugar into a stone jar, and stir it together frequently
the first day, then allow it to stand for three days, when
strain through a sieve. ‘To each quart of juice thus prepared,
add one quart of brandy. Bottle for use.

Preacw CorpIAL.

Take peaches that are juicy and perfectly ripe. Slice
them, crack the stones, and put the kernels in. Add a pound
of loaf-sugar to a pound of fruit. Set it near the fire, and
dip off the juice from time to time, pressing it towards the
last with a spoon. When the juice is entirely expressed,
put it in a preserving-kettle, let it come to a boil, and skim
it thoroughly. Let it cool, and then add a quart of brandy
to each quart of peach sirup. :

(See Blackberry.)

CORN, INDIAN (Zea Mays). Green corn should be
put into boiling water, and cooked about twenty minutes; if
boiled too long, it becomes hard.

But dishes made of Indian meal can scarcely be cooked
too much. Mush requires two hours of steady boiling, and
puddings made of corn-meal require, whether boiled or
baked, five or six hours of cooking.

Corn, if ground too fine, is flat and insipid. Exported

corn should be kiln-dried.

136 CRANBERRY.

Hominy is mostly prepared from the white corn of the
South ; when coarse it is merely hulled and crushed, but fine
hominy is ground.

Succotash consists of beans boiled till jonden and mixed
with boiled corn cut from the cob. Season with fresh butter
and salt.

Pavut STILLMAN’s CorRN BREAD.

Mix with four cups of corn meal one cup of wheat flour;
put ina cup of hot water one teaspoonful of carbonate of
soda, or by weight one drachm, with which thoroughly wet
the meal; two or three eggs are an improvement; then mix
in a little water one half of the same measure, or an equal
weight, of muriatic acid, and stir it thoroughly with the mass.
Spread in a tin pie-pan, and bake immediately in a quick
oven. In this recipe, observes Mr. Stillman, the carbonate
of soda and muriatic acid combine, and, forming muriate of
soda (common salt), give out carbonic-acid gas to inflate or
raise the bread. The salt formed in raising the bread is no
more than should be used were it added before its combina- -
tion, and entirely avoids the common objection, where salera-
tus is used, of having potash in the bread.

CRANBERRY. This useful berry is, among condiments,
the very sheet-anchor of the New England housewife.

The wild Cranberry of New England ( Oxycoccus macro-
carpus) is larger and finer than the European Cranberry
(O. pulastris), and it is largely exported.

It grows mostly in mossy wet land, yet beds are easily
prepared in moist or peaty soils, and if thoroughly decayed
manure is added, the berries will be larger and finer than the
wild ones. Mr. Downing has said, that a square of the size of
twenty feet, planted in this way, will yield three or four bush-
els annually, — quite sufficient for a family. Plants taken

CREAMS. 137

up like squares of sod or turf, and planted two or three feet
apart, quickly cover beds. Land otherwise useless is often
drained and turned to profitable account, by cultivating this
fruit; and as its value increases yearly, it cannot otherwise
than repay the little trouble of making beds. The best cran-
berries sell some seasons at twelve dollars a barrel.

Cranberries are sometimes kept in cold water. They
may be frozen without injury, but should not be exposed to
extremes of heat and cold.

CRANBERRY SAUCE.

Having picked and washed your cranberries, put them
into a kettle with a little water. Simmer them gently for
half an hour. Stir in powdered sugar and let it simmer
twenty minutes, stirring it frequently. When cool, pour it
into an earthen jar, and cover.

CRANBERRY-SAUCE JELLY.

Add to two quarts of picked cranberries one quart of
pounded loaf-sugar, and one half-pint of water; let it boil
three quarters of an hour. Dip it off into moulds.

CREAMS. Creams may be put into moulds and frozen,
or they may be frozen like ice-cream, or served plain in a
large glass dish. If moulded, a little dissolved isinglass is
added to the ingredients, but only for shapes, as egg eats bet-
ter. Creams made too rich will not freeze; if deficient in
richness, they will not set in a firm mass.

Creams differ chiefly in the flavoring ingredients, which
may be of chocolate, lemon, vanilla, almond, pistachio, or
other matters, fruit jellies often being used.

Creams poured over some light cakes, placed in a glass
dish, and set on ice till eaten, make a delicate dessert
dish.

12”

1388 CROQUETTES.

VANILLA CREAM.

Put a vanilla bean into a pint of rich milk, and let it boil
till thoroughly flavored. In another saucepan put the yolks
of six well-beaten eggs, to which has been added, gradually,
six large table-spoonfuls of sifted loaf-sugar. Beat it well.
Take the bean from the milk, which strain into a pint of
fresh cream. Warm the egg over the fire, stirring constant-
ly, and not allowing it to boil; but when a little thick, take it
off, strain it through a coarse silk sieve, and stir it rapidly
into the cream and milk. Pour it into a large glass dish, or
into cups or glasses. See Almond Cream.

CROQUETTES. These cakes may be made of the re-
mains of white fowl, veal sweetbread, delicate fish, rice, or
macaroni.

Meat CROQUETTES.

Chop the lean parts of the fowl or veal, and moisten them
with butter and flour mixed smoothly, and a little onion,
chopped very fine; put the whole with a little pepper and
salt in a stewpan over the fire. If not suffciently moist, add
a little boiled cream or white broth, or sauce that may have ~
been left from the meal before. Stir it well, and as it begins
to warm, stir in rapidly the yolks of two or three eggs. Let
it remain about three minutes longer, stirring it all the time,
when take it out and let it cool. Divide it into pieces, which
roll out into small bolster forms, and rub each piece into
erated bread. Fry them a bright brown color, and drain
them well. Serve them hot.

CROQUETTES OF RICE.

Put two large cups of well-washed rice into boiling milk,
a little more than enough to cover the rice. Let it simmer
slowly until tender, when add a small piece of fresh butter,

CURRANTS. 139

some sugar which, previous to pounding, has been rubbed
with the rind of a lemon, and the yolks of five eggs. Let it
thicken, but do not allow it to boil. Stir it well together.
Take it off, and when cool roll it into small bolster forms.
Dip each one into some well-beaten egg, and fry them in a
_rice-basket of open wire-work, which should be placed in a
stewpan. Fry them a very light brown, drain them, and
sift white sugar over them. Put them on a white napkin in
sending them to the table.

CUCUMBER ( Cucumis sativus). This cooling vegetable,
though well known to the Romans, was regarded in England
no longer ago than during the reign of Charles II. as little
less than poisonous. Since then French genius has culti-
vated it into thousand shapes ; but as it requires French prac-
tice to stuff and stew cucumbers, we forbear giving receipts
for this mode of serving.

When sliced, they should be soaked some time before
dinner in plenty of cold water; then drained, and seasoned
with salt, pepper, and vinegar. Set the dish into a larger
one, containing bits of ice. See Pickles.

CURRANTS. Red and White (Ribes rubrum). Black
Currants (2. nigrum). The Currant is a native of Britain
and the North of Europe, and consequently hardy. It is the
practice now to grow this fruit in the tree form. Plant slips
or cuttings (never suckers), in the autumn or early spring, in
such parts of the garden as will most facilitate their rooting.
In order to ward against suckers being produced, cut off the
eyes or buds of the cutting as far up as you intend shall be
buried in the soil. .

When the plants are transplanted to their final resting-
place, care should be taken to train them from one main
stem, and every winter superfluous wood should be thinned

140 CURRANTS.

out. Where large fruit is coveted, nip off the growing
shoots in the middle of June, when the fruit is about half
srown, and the vigor of the plant spends itself on the grow-
ing fruit. Plants six or eight years old should be removed
for younger ones.

The present splendid garden sorts of Currants come from
Holland, and the Red and White Dutch varieties have thrown
-out of esteem the common garden sorts, wherever the first
can be obtained. |

Brack Currants (i. nigrum).

The Black Naples is much superior to the common Eng-
lish Black Currant. It has the peculiarity of blossoming ear-
lier than the common kinds, while it produces its fruit later.

ORNAMENTAL VARIETIES.

The Missouri Currant (/eibes aureum), with yellow fra-
grant blossoms, is a well-known variety, and owes its pres-
ent cultivation to Captains Lewis and Clarke, who, in May,
1804, were sent by Congress to explore the regions of the
Rocky Mountains, and to discover the source of the Oregon
River. It has a variety called the Large-Fruited Missouri
Currant.

The Red Flowering Currant (2. sanguineum) bears
clusters of light-crimson blossoms in early spring. ‘The flow-
ers are large and showy, but this Currant is not hardy enough
to survive New England winters. It will not thrive north
of New York. It has several varieties which display white
and pale pink flowers.

Though I have spoken of the tree-training for this fruit, I
must not omit to remark that many excellent cultivators pre-
fer the bush form. Among others, we have the authority of
Mr. 8S. W. Cole (American Fruit Book) against tree-train-
ing, and my own experience coincides with his..

CURRY. 141

CURRANT WINE.

Pick your fruit on a dry day, and make your wine on the
same day you gather it. Take the currants from the stems,
bruise and press them, and strain the juice from them. To
every gallon of currant juice add two gallons of pure soft
water, and twelve pounds of the best loaf-sugar. Mix well
till the sugar is dissolved. Put the whole into a keg, and
let it ferment twelve or fourteen days, covering the bung-
hole with coarse muslin. The keg or cask should be filled
so that impurities may escape at the bung. At the expira-
tion of the twelfth or fourteenth day, beat up the whites of
five or six eggs, and stir them into the cask. Put in the
bung lightly at first, a little firmer on the second day, and on
the third, secure it well, and cover with bottle cement. Let
it stand five or six months, when rack it off, and, if not per-
fectly clear, it may be refined with isinglass, milk, or the
addition of more white of egg. See Jellies.

CURRY. This powder is dealt in largely commercially,
but it is frequently shamefully adulterated by the mixture of
red-lead, and other substances, if not as poisonous, equally
uncalled for. Besides, the packages which are purchased
are not suitable for all dishes. From these considerations
many persons buy the different substances which make curry-
powder, dry and powder them, and, keeping them carefully
from the air, mix them as they need the curry, and in such
proportions as the dish may require.

The principal ingredients in this powder are turmeric,
ginger, cayenne, mustard, and pepper, softened by some aro-
matic spice ; cinnamon, coriander, and cardamon seed being
generally used. ‘Turmeric is disagreeable to many persons ;
it is the root of the Curcuma longa, a native of the East
Indies.

142 CUTLERY.

Curry-powder, where it is mixed in any quantity to keep,
is usually in the following proportions :— To an ounce each
of black pepper, mustard, and ginger, one half-ounce only
of cayenne, and three ounces of turmeric, with a quarter of
an ounce of cinnamon and a quarter of an ounce of cumin,
three ounces of coriander seed, and half an ounce of carda-
mon seed. Each ingredient should be thoroughly dried, re-
duced to a powder, carefully sifted, well mixed, and closely
stoppered in a clean bottle and kept in a dry place.

CUSTARD. Break off about an inch and a half from a
vanilla bean, put it in a quart of milk, and let it boil ina
porcelain-lined kettle, or in a tin pudding-pail set into hot
water. Take it off and remove the bit of bean. When the
milk has cooled, stir in ten well-beaten eggs, and one even
cup of loaf-sugar. _ Strain the whole through a coarse sieve,
and pour it into a tin pudding-pail, which set into a pot of
boiling water, and let it boil for fifteen minutes. ‘Take it out
in china cups and grate nutmeg over each cup, or, if you
please, mount them with whipped cream.

If you boil the milk in a porcelain-lined kettle, cover it
when you put it over the fire, and have the kettle well rubbed
before putting the milk in, as milk is, without care, very
easily scorched and burnt.

CUTLERY. Steel should be kept as dry as possible, yet
dry furnace-heat often splits the handles.

To remove rust, rub the knives well with mutton-suet or
fowl’s grease, and let it remain a day or two, when rub dry
with unslacked lime finely powdered, or with emery, applied
either with a cork or soft wood.

Clean cutlery with powdered Bristol brick on a board,
rubbing with a cork wet occasionally in a vessel of soft water.
Wipe dry with wash-leather, and clear with a clean knife-
cloth.

=i ee

DAIRY-COW. 143

‘Wash knives in warm, but not hot suds, and if a knife-
washer is not used, have the knives placed in a mug, not
deep enough to reach the handles. Servants will be careless
about these matters.

Covering with caoutchouc-varnish has been tested as a
protection for polished steel, but it is too expensive for com-
mon purposes. Knives that are not in common use may be
heated and rubbed with mutton-suet or fowl’s grease, heated
again, and, while hot, rubbed with white wax, and polished
with soft leather, wrapped separately in brown paper, and
put away in a dry place.

CIMLINS. Gather these summer squashes while they
are tender enough readily to yield to the pressure of the
nail. Peel, and having divided them, and taken out the seed,
boil them rapidly till tender. Drain them well, and with a
wooden spoon pass them through a colander. Put the pulp
into a stewpan with a piece of butter, a gill of cream, a little
white pepper and salt. Stir constantly till the squash is dry.
Serve in a hot dish.

DAIRY-COW. The domestic Ox (Bos taurus) has been
so long a servant to man, that from what parent stock he
has been derived is mere matter of conjecture. Like the
dog, he adapts himself to all circumstances. “ Where food is
scanty,” says Professor Low, “he scarcely exceeds the di-
mensions of the deer; but where it is abundant, he reaches
to enormous size. He is found from the equator almost to
the limits of vegetable life, and is everywhere subservient to
the wants and convenience of the human race.”

The breeds of British cattle are very numerous, Great
Britain, as the author above quoted remarks, being remarka-
ble for the excellence and number of her sheep and oxen,
and owing no little part of her opulence to this cause.

144 DAIRY-COW.

The breed most cultivated for the dairy in the British
Islands is the Ayrshire Breed, derived from the county of
Ayr, but found in many of the dairy districts of Scotland
and of Ireland. “As now cultivated and improved,” says
Professor Low, “it is well defined in its characters. ‘The in-
dividuals are of medium size, of various colors, and have
short horns. Their limbs are delicate, their foreheads nar-
row, their shoulders thin, and their fore-quarters light. This is

a form which is valued in the female, as indicating a disposi- -

tion to secrete milk ; but it does not correspond with the form
of an animal which indicates a tendency to grow to great size,
and fatten readily.” These cows do not enjoy in the richest
dairy districts of England all the reputation they possess in
their own country; but the breed has been much improved
within the last fifty years.

The Short-horned Durham Breed has been extensively
imported into the United States; it is considered as combin-
ing a larger number of valuable properties than any of the
large breeds.

The Alderney Breed have short crumpled horns, are of
small size, and ungraceful forms. ‘They are from the Nor-
man Islands of the British Channel. The Island of Jersey
has the palm for the superiority of her race. The inhab-
itants, whose riches they are, guard the purity of the breed
by interdicting the importation of foreign animals. These
animals are not strong, and require a temperate climate ; but
the milk of the female is excellent in color and quality.
Professor Low says of this breed: “ Considerable numbers
of the cows are imported into the southern counties of Eng-
land, where they are kept for the luxury of the opulent, or
partially employed in the regular dairies, to give richness to
the milk.”

The North Devon Breed of England are admirable for
active labor, and the milk of the female is rich, and under
favorable circumstances abundant.

DAIRY-COW. 145

Cows require a high, well-ventilated stable, clean litter,
good water, daily currying, and to be foddered three times
every day while enclosed.

In winter, when they are stalled, the food of cows should
be as varied as possible. Muta-bagas and turnips may be
mixed with potatoes, parsnips with pumpkins and squashes,
cabbages with corn-meal; indeed, both cabbages and tur-
nips should be qualified with potatoes or meal, as they
otherwise impart an ill flavor or watery properties to
milk. Vegetables should always be cut, and a part of their
food during the winter should be boiled or steamed, and
have occasionally about two ounces of salt mixed with it.
Sweet apples boiled in water, and mixed with coarse bran
or Indian meal, may be given, where apples are plenty, with
advantage. Carrots give the finest color and flavor to milk,
and consequently to butter.

After the cow has eaten her carrots or turnips, or what-
ever fodder she may have given her, a little oat-straw or
hay should be thrown into her crib. This should be done
after each meal. Keep the stable scrupulously clean.

The cow carries her young about forty weeks. The calf
is quietly removed on being born, before the cow recognizes
her, as separation always distresses her. The cow is then
milked, and some meal-gruel given her. The first milk of
the cow is fit only for the stomach of the calf.

If you wish to economize your milk, and the calf is in-
tended for veal, the usual practice is to allow her but one
teat (if the cow is a generous milker) for the first few days,
and to give the calf meal and porridge. Still it is poor
economy to stint the calf, and she should be fed three times
a day regularly, and at the same hours. When the calf is
four weeks old, she requires almost all the cow’s milk, or
the last drawn from several cows. A little chalk is some-
times given to them in their cribs, and about half an ounce

| 13

146 DYES.

of salt is also daily administered. Calves are considered
good veal in five, six, and ten weeks. Calves require a
good deal of attention. The straw under their feet should
be often replaced by fresh litter, they should be kept per-
fectly dry, and fresh air should circulate in the stable where
they are confined.

Corn-stalks, husks of bean, and dry pea-pods, and similar
matters that are dry, clean, and not too harsh, should be hus-
banded for littering stables.

Cow’s teats should be frequently sponged in warm soft
water, and if in spring they become hard, rub them with
goose-fat, as this grease has the property of resisting evap-
oration for a long time. Melt, or render it, as you do mut-
ton-suet or lard, and keep it in a jar covered with blad-
der. (Low’s Elements of Agriculture. Stephens’s Book of
the Farm.)

DIARRH(SA. If the complaint is obstinate, dissolve in
a teacup of vinegar as much salt as you can. ‘Take one
table-spoonful of this vinegar so prepared, and pour on it
one cup of boiling water. Drink one table-spoonful of
this every two hours; if the disease is mild, however, three
times a day will be sufficient. Two spoonfuls, following the
directions exactly, may be taken at a dose, where the com-
plaint is violent. Follow the directions carefully. See
Blackberry Cordial.

DUCKS. See Fowts.

DYES. Dyeing substances have been classed by Dr. Ban-
croft into substantive colors, which unite readily with the ma-
terial to be dyed, and adjective colors, which require a third
agent that must have an affinity for both color and stuff to be
dyed. ‘These agents which thus fix the color are called mor-

DYES. 147

dants. It is frequently difficult to say which is the color
and which the mordant.

Among substances employed as mordants are included
numerous oxides and salts; the principal are the acetate of
alumina, the sulphate or acetate of tron, and the muriate of
tin. The material to be dyed is first impregnated with the
mordant, before being dipped in the solution of the coloring-
matter. Mordants, besides fixing the color, often brighten
the tint.

Substances used for dyeing are exceedingly numerous ;
the mineral, animal, and vegetable kingdoms all pay tribute
to this exquisite art.

BuiurE Dyes.

The Indigo of commerce is the chief blue dye. The best
kind is the Jndigofera tinctoria. The green parts of the
plant are cut before flowering, put into large vats with water,
when fermentation takes place, and the indigo settles into
powdery, pulpy matter; its color is at first green, but by ex-
posure to air it absorbs oxygen, and assumes a blue color.
This plant is cultivated only in warm climates.

Indigo is also found in Woad, Jsatis tinctoria, and some
other vegetables. Woad, before the introduction of Jndigo-
fera, was very extensively cultivated in the North of Europe.
The coloring-matter of this plant also is obtained from the
leaves ; the processes for obtaining it are generally less artifi-
cial than those used for the indigo-plant.

Indigo is capable of distillation or sublimation by a mod-
erate heat, and, on being burnt, emits a fine purple smoke.
Indigo is insoluble in water and alcohol, and alkalies have
only partial effect on it; it is rendered soluble by being put
into the dyer’s vat with various deoxidizing agents, where,
after the fermentation has continued some time, the surface of
the liquor will be blue, and that not offered to the atmos-

148 DYES.

phere green; but substances dipped into this deoxidized in-
digo, though at first they show a green color, become blue
when exposed to the air.

Indigo, it is well known, may be dissolved in sulphuric
acid without changing color. Blues dyed with this solution
are known as Saxon-blues; they are less permanent than
those derived from the green liquor.

Indigo requires no mordant or basis to assist its combina-
tion with cloth.

In ealico-printing, indigo is ground with some deoxidizing
agent, wet with starch or gum to proper consistency, and
applied to the blocks which form the pattern; the calico then
receives alternate baths of lime-water and a solution of sul-
phate of iron, until the indigo is sation dissolved to give
a fixed color.

Rep Dyes.

Most of the substances used as red dyes require mordants
before they can be fixed on cloth. Logwood, safflower, archil,
Brazil-wood, cochineal, and madder, are substances largely
employed for red dyes, and are all adjective colors.

Logwood is the wood of the Hematoxylon Campeachianum,
which is found in Tropical America. A decoction of logwood
yields a fine red, with a violet or purple tint, which, if not
arrested by some agent, becomes in time yellowish, and final-
ly subsides into black. The violet color may be fixed by
alum, and a blue may be obtained by verdigris. But it is
for blacks that logwood is principally valued; it imparts to
them great softness and depth of tone.

Safflower is obtained from the leaves of the Carthamus
finctorius. The coloring matter has little permanency. It
is familiarly known as a pink dye, spread on saucers. “The
fine rose-color of safflower,’ says Dr. Bancroft, “ extracted
by crystallized soda, and precipitated by citric acid, and then
slowly dried in the shade, being afterwards finely ground

DYES. 149

with the purest tale, produces the beautiful paint by which
ladies give to their cheeks the bloom of youth and health,
and which the French distinguish from carmine by the name
of rouge végétale.”

The dye from safflower is of two kinds, yellow and red;
the first is separated by maceration in running water, the re-
maining is the exquisite red, the rouge végétale. The plant
is cultivated in various parts of Europe, but it is principally
from Egypt and the Levant that the commercial supplies
are realized. ‘The flowers of this plant are not the only use-
ful part of it; while they assist the dyer and painter, the
seeds contain an oil used alike in medicine and painting.
Safflower is sometimes called Bastard Saffron.

Archil is a dye obtained from the Lichen roccella, found
chiefly in the Canary Islands. The Dutch litmus or turnsol,
a blue pigment, is made of the red coloring substance of this
lichen and an alkali; on the application of an acid, the color-
ing matter is disengaged, and the red tint is restored. Lit-
mus is thus used as a dye, and employed by the chemist to
test the presence of a free acid.

Brazil-wood is the heart of the Cesalpinia echinata, a
tree of Brazil. It yields, with solutions of alumina and tin,
brilliant red tints, which, however, are deficient in durability.
Acids turn the infusion yellow before the application of alum,
which, added, brings it red again, affording a precipitate
which is employed as an inferior sort of carmine ; the addi-
tion of an alkali facilitates the precipitation.

Cochineal has already been mentioned. Red morocco
owes its exquisite color to the dye obtained from cochineal,
though a similar color was formerly produced in Southern
Europe and Asia by the use of Kermes, a dye derived from
the insect Coceus tlicis, and also from lac, a gum which
exudes from the Ficus Indica and other trees. Goat-skins
form the basis of red morocco.

15*

150 DYES.

In 16380 it was discovered in Holland that the oxide of tin
had the power of exalting the scarlet color of cochineal, and
soon after one of the celebrated MM. Gobelins, at Paris,
_ availed themselves of the discovery in their famed tapestries.
The nitrate or nitromuriate of tin produces the natural color
of cochineal-crimson, which is changed to scarlet by the
tartar employed in the process. Cochineal is soluble in
water, and is fixed on cloth by means of alumina or the
oxide of tin.

Madder, the root of the Rubia tinctorum, is one of the
most valuable drugs used for dyeing. The plant is much
cultivated in Europe, and particularly in Holland. It tinges
with red the bones of the animals that feed on it. Madder
produces, by the medium of different mordants, every shade
of red, purple, and black.

Smyrna Madder is the root of the Aubia peregrina, and
the dye obtained from it is principally used for dyeing the
Turkey red on cotton, with the adjuncts of oil, galls, alum,
and some blood (which appears to exalt the color), and sub-
stances which, in passing through the alimentary canal of —
sheep, have imbibed and retained some of the gastric fluids ;
the manufacture of Turkey cotton being a complicated process.

YELLOW Dyes.

The yellow dyes in most common use are the quercitron-
bark, weld, fustic, saffron, turmeric, and hickory.

Quercitron-bark, the most valuable of the yellow dyes, was -
discovered by Dr. Bancroft, to whom the English govern-
ment, with its accustomed liberality, granted the right of
disposal for a number of years. This dye is an extract
from the bark of the Quercus tinctoria, or common black
oak of the United States. Like most of the yellow dyes,
it is an adjective color. With a basis of alumina, the de-
coction presents a bright yellow dye ; with the oxide of tin, a

DYES. 151

variety of tints is afforded, from a pale lemon to deep orange.
The oxide of iron gives a drab color.

Weld, Reseda Luteola, is of the Resedacez or Mignonette
family. It is the most easy of cultivation of any of the dye-
plants. It is generally biennial, and pulled up in the second
year of its growth, while in flower, before it goes to seed.
The roots are dried by being set upright four together. When
they are dry, which will be in about a week, they are put
into larger bundles for sale. When stacked in the dry state,
it will keep for years; but when extracted from the stalk,
it should be used, as it soon ferments and becomes worth-
less.

Fustic is the wood of a tree native to the West Indies, the
Morus tinctoria. It affords, with alum, a less bright, but
more permanent, yellow than the preceding yellow dyes. It
assists also in producing green and drab colors.

Saffron Crocus (Orocus sativus) is a plant cultivated
from bulbs. The dye produced is from the stigma and style
of the plant. The yellow dye is very fugitive; by the addi-
tion of sulphuric acid, a blue is obtained, and then lilac, and
on the application of nitric acid it assumes a green tint.

Turmeric is the root already mentioned in the article Cur-
ry. Itis a native of the East Indies, the Curcuma longa.
Curcuma paper is that which is stained with a decoction of
the dye, and is used by chemists to detect a free alkali, the
presence of which it betrays by a brown stain.

A yellow dye is obtained from several species of Ameri-
can Walnut or Hickory, particularly from the Juglans or
Carya alba, the bark, leaves, and rinds all yielding a dye
similar to Quercitron, but less in quantity.

Annotto, Bixa Orellana, a shrub of Tropical America, has
already been mentioned.

French berries, Rhamnus tinctoria, yield a lively but fu-
sitive yellow.

152 DYES.

Briack DYEs.

These are of the same ingredients as writing-ink ; the black
dye, therefore, usually contains oxide of iron, tannin, and
gallic acid; logwood and the acetate of copper imparting,
when added, a blue shade. As the immediate application of
the black dye would, through quantity, be apt to injure the
cloth, the best black woollen cloths are first dyed red with
madder, and blue with indigo. Frequently ordinary wool-
lens receive for the first dye logwood only, with a salt of cop-
per; but a black is obtained which always turns brown and
rusty-colored in wear.

Black silks have generally a decoction of galls applied
first; the galls, being more attracted by the silks than the
iron, are therefore the true mordant. After this the silk is
subjected to alternate baths of sulphate of iron and a decoc-
tion of logwood, repeated till a deep black appears. Cotton
has usually the iron applied first.

Black vats, with iron and various vegetable matters, are
frequently kept for an immense length of time unemptied, as
it is believed they improve by age.

The Red maple (Acer rubrum) of the United States, ap-
plied with the sulphate or acetate of iron, gives, as discovered
by Dr. Bancroft, a more perfect black than any of the com-
mon vegetable dyes. With alum it yields a permanent cin-
namon-color, both upon cotton and wool. The bark and
leaves are both used.

The common Nutgall, as is well known, is an excres-
cence produced by the puncture of an insect, a species of
cynips, upon an Asiatic species of oak ( Quercus infectoria).
Besides tannin and gallic acid, Dr. Bancroft has detected a
coloring matter. With an aluminous basis, galls yield a
fawn or light cinnamon color.

The bark of Butternut (Juglans cathartica) gives to cot-

EGGS. kag

ton, with an aluminous basis, a permanent brown, and com-
municates the same to wool, without any mordant.

“By the dexterous combination of the four leading colors,”
says Dr. Bigelow in his Useful Arts, “blue, red, yellow, and
black, all other shades of color may be produced. Thus green
is communicated by forming a blue ground with indigo, and
then adding a yellow by means of quercitron-bark. One of
the*latest improvements in the art of dyeing consists in the
employment of colors derived from the mineral kingdom.
Prussian blue, orpiment, chromate of lead, and other min-
eral compounds, have, by appropriate processes, been made
to communicate their colors to different stuffs. An abstract
of the processes is given in Ure’s Notes to Berthollet on

Dyeing.”
' See Bancroft on Permanent Color ; Professor Low’s Ele-
ments of Agriculture, Art. Plants cultivated for Dyes;
Bigelow’s Useful Arts; and an interesting article in Quar-
terly Review (English), entitled Dr. Bancroft on Permanent
Colors, Art. XIV., 1814.

EGGS. Various ways are recommended for preserving
eggs. One way is to pack them in a keg, and then pour
over them lime-water, which should be prepared thus : —
Take a gallon of soft water, throw in a handful of clean salt,
and a quart-bowlful of unslacked lime ; when it is cold, pour
it carefully over the packed eggs.

Eggs may also be rubbed with fresh butter, or dipped in
liquid mutton-suet or beef-suet. In either case they are no
longer capable of being hatched. Where a few only are to
be preserved, they may be smeared with some sweet butter
or fat, hung in a net, and daily turned upside down.

Three minutes is the usual rule for boiling eggs of the
average size. Eggs should not be cooked till eight or ten

154 EGG-PLANT.

hours after being laid, as previous to this time the white of
the egg presents a thin, milky appearance on being boiled.

. Drorrep Eaa.

Have the water boiling, drop the egg in without breaking
the yolk; have ready slices of buttered toast, and when the
ege has set, remove it with the egg-slice to the top of the
toast, taking care again not to break the yolk. ‘This is the
lightest form of cooking eggs, and therefore best suited to
invalids.

OMELETTES.

These preparations, to be successful, require practice, and
an omelette or small frying-pan.

Break five eggs in a dish, season with a little salt, a dust
of pepper, half a tea-spoonful of boiled chopped parsley, the
same quantity of young onion, also chopped very fine, and
beat all well together.

Melt in the frying-pan two ounces of butter, and pour the
ege in. Stir it, but when it shows signs of hardening, begin
to shape it with the spoon, and by tipping the pan up so that
the egg may occupy only a small part of the pan. Whena
very delicate brown is supposed to be attained, turn it upon
a dish, with the browned side top. Omelettes should not be
overdone. They may be varied to almost any amount. Del-
icate vegetables, such as boiled cauliflower, or herbs, or boiled
chopped ham, may be beaten into the egg. Omelettes should
be served hot.

PoacuHep Kae.

Beat six eggs well, put them in a stewpan with about
three ounces of butter. Stir them constantly for three min-
utes. Serve on hot buttered toast.

EGG-PLANT (Solanum Melongena). Of this delicate
plant there are two varieties, the white and purple. The

FAT. 155

last is for the table, the white being more ornamental, but
rarely used.

Select young fruit that has just reached maturity. Par-
boil them, and drain off the water. When cool, slice them
about an inch thick, and fry them in batter made of ege,
milk, and flour, or dip each slice in egg, and then in grated
bread-crumbs that are seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry
them a delicate brown. They are much used at the South,
where they are thought to resemble soft crabs in taste. }

EIDER-DOWN. The down of the Eider-duck, called
also the Gothland duck. This duck is found principally in
Iceland, in the Hebrides, Shetland, and Orkney Islands,
though it is found as far south as the Farne Isles off the
coast of Northumberland, and in the rocky islets beyond Port-
land in America. The down, so highly esteemed for bed-
quilts, is collected from the nests of the birds. When the
nest is stripped for the first time, the female again supplies
it from her breast; but a second robbery brings the male to
her rescue, who then furnishes the nest with down from his
breast.

FAT. According as this part of animal flesh differs in
different animals, its name varies; in the horse and bear it
is called grease, in the ox and sheep, tallow, fat, suet ; and
in the hog, hog’s lard.

The characters which indicate a disposition in the ox and
other domesticated animals to secrete fat, are fineness of
the bones, the largeness of the body as compared with the
smallness of the extremities, — limbs, head, and neck, — the
broadness of the chest, the roundness of the body, and the
soft, elastic touch of the skin. This form is not the same that
is looked for in the female ox as showing a disposition to se-
erete milk, where, as it has been remarked, the limbs should

156 FIG.

be delicate, the forehead narrow, the shoulders thin, and the
fore-quarters light. (Low’s Elements of Agriculture.)

*FIG. The fig is one of the oldest fruits known. In the
United States it is generally cultivated in the shrub form, so
that it can be easily protected during the winter. It is prop-
agated by cuttings, which are taken off early in the spring,
and planted in the light soil of a hot-bed. On being removed,
they should be placed in a mellow, calcareous soil, and the
compost should be corrected with marl or mild lime; they
may be transplanted the same season. Mr. Downing recom-
mends root-pruning for the fig as cultivated in the United
States. “Short-jointed wood, and only moderate vigor of
growth, are,” he remarks, “ well-known accompaniments of
fruitfulness in this tree; and there is no means by which
firm, well-ripened, short-jointed wood is so easily obtained,
as by an annual pruning of the roots, — cutting off all that
project more than half the length of the branches.” Root-
pruning on the fig is performed early in November.

In foreign culture the fig is frequently subjected, while the
fruit is maturing, to a singular custom. To assist it in ripening
the fruit, it is punctured before it reaches maturity with a
hollow straw that has been dipped in olive-oil, a single drop
of oil being passed near the eye into each fig. Mr. Down-
ing observed the custom sce far as to touch the ends of
the fig with the finger dipped in oil, and thought the fruit
ripened more speedily and swelled to a larger size for the
practice.

South of Virginia the fig needs no covering of soil, or
straw, or branches of evergreens, during the winter, but
grows easily as a standard tree.

Where figs are not perfectly fresh, they may be put into
an oven of very moderate heat, and plumped, and then
rubbed with a coarse towel.

FISH. 157

FISH. The Pythagoreans are said to have abstained
from fish, out of respect to their taciturnity. Moderns, how-
ever, with an inquisitiveness that annihilates reverence, have
found out that some, if not all fish, have a weakness for colors ;
that perch can be decoyed into drum-nets by daffodils, or
any bright-yellow flowers. It is also said, that by rubbing
your hands with assafcetida, fish will allow themselves to be
taken from the water, as readily as by the exquisite artificial
flies of the hook-and-line fisherman.

All Greeks not having equal forbearance with the follow-
ers of Pythagoras, we find the Thunny, which is to the South
of Europe what the Mackerel is to the North, in great favor
as an article of food among the early Greeks.

From the Romans, the famous pickle, Garum or Garus,
has come down to us; it derived its name from a crustaceous
animal so called, from which it was sometimes made; but
Pliny says a fish called Scomber, which some think may
have been our mackerel, was also employed to make this
pickle, and remarks further, that Apicius used the liver of
the mullet for this purpose.

The classification of fish according to some natural and
clearly defined orders has been acknowledged by the acutest
intellects to be extremely difficult ; for the successful perform-
ance of the task, the great Cuvier found himself not prepared,
and it is to our illustrious citizen, M. Agassiz, that this ex-
tensive branch of natural history owes a debt, which should
be discharged in the immediate gratitude of the present gen-
eration, and the accumulated admiration of sueceeding ones.
Long as America can appreciate genius may such names be
gathered under her stars and stripes.

Fishes are naturally long-lived. Their age has been de-
monstrated by fastening a ring, with the date inscribed, to the
gill-covers. One of the most celebrated fish-stories is that
of the pike of Frederic the Second. This monarch had a
14

‘

io FISH.
€

ring so fastened to a pike, with the date, 1487, and the king’s
order, appended, and the fish thrown into his pond, near
his castle of Kaiserslautern. The pike was taken in 1754,
when it had consequently attained the age of two hundred
and sixty-seven years. It weighed three hundred and fifty
pounds, and was nineteen feet long.

The senses of smell and hearing have no external avenue
in fishes, but the former is said to be the most acute of all
their senses. In their natural element their motions exceed
in swiftness and duration the flight of birds, the shark being
swifter and more untiring than the eagle, and the herring
and salmon more rapid than the swallow. Generally the
eye of the fish is unprotected with eyelids, being made to
resist the water, as the terrestrial animal is to live in air.

I shall proceed to give a short account of some of the most
important edible fish. By a benevolent Providence those
classes which constitute the most wholesome food for man
are the most numerous.

The Herring lives in the Arctic seas of Europe, Asia,
and America, migrating southward, at different seasons of
the year, in vast shoals, to obtain food and deposit their
spawn. These shoals, which are led by the largest and
strongest, and divided into bands as they proceed, which visit
different islands and countries, are followed by larger fish,
which devour them, and by flocks of gulls and marine birds,
whose noise and numbers announce the approach of the fish.
These migrations are said to take place at three different
times. The first, when the ice begins to melt, to the end of
June; then comes the summer migration ; the autumn one fol-
lows, lasting till the midst of September. They deposit their
spawn where stones and marine plants are found. The
millions of these fish that are annually taken by English,
Dutch, and American seamen, by the Norwegians and other
European nations, are hardly to be computed. Against

FISH. 159

these annual drains, and the constant attacks of larger fish,
is provided the fecundity of the herring, the spawn of each
female containing from thirty to forty thousand eggs.

Who first salted herrings cannot be decided, some authori-
ties giving the honor of the invention to William Deukelzoon,
a fisherman of Dutch Flanders, who lived in the end of the
fourteenth century, others bestowing it upon William Benck-
els or Benkelings of Biervliet, over whose grave the Em-
peror Charles the Fifth is reported to have eaten a her-
ring, in token of his appreciation of the importance of the
invention. ‘The smoking of herring was first undertaken at
Dieppe in Normandy.

Hardly less valuable is the Codfish. It is found between
the fortieth and sixtieth degrees of north latitude, both in
the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, making its home on the
great shallows and sand-banks, of which the most celebrat-
ed is the great bank of Newfoundland. Towards the end
of winter or the beginning of spring, the codfish seeks the
coast to deposit its spawn. ‘The codfish, with fewer enemies,
is still more productive than the herring, more than nine
millions of eggs having been discovered in a codfish of the
middle size.

The Haddock belongs to the codfish genus. This fish as-
sembles in vast shoals during the winter months, in every
part of the Northern Ocean, forming banks sometimes twenty-
four miles long by three broad, and bending their course
generally southward, proceeding beyond the limits of the cod
and the herring; but it has been remarked that they neither
enter the Baltic nor the Mediterranean.

The Hake is also an inferior species of the codfish genus ;
it is known also under the name of Stock-fish, and “ Poor
John.”

The Mackerel is another tribe of migratory fish. It frequents
the Arctic, Antarctic, and Mediterranean Seas, as well as the

160 FISH.

Atlantic Ocean, hybernating in the first-mentioned seas, select-
ing depths that are land-locked and calm as sheltered pools.
The depth of these retreats lessens in proportion as they ‘are
near the shore, and the bottom is generally muddy and covered |
with marine plants. Into these muddy bottoms the mack-
erel inserts its head and the anterior part of its-body, keep-
ing its tail elevated vertically above it. In the spring they
come forth from their winter quarters in infinite numbers,
and proceed southward to more genial seas to deposit their
eggs. The mackerel dies as soon as it leaves the water, and
then emits a phosphoric light. The fecundity of this fish is
also great, more than half a million of eggs being deposited
by each female. Though the mackerel is mostly used fresh,
it is yet often pickled for winter use.

The Salmon, by universal consent, is called the king of
fishes. This noble fish confines himself to no narrow limits,
but is found in every sea, the arctic as well as the equatorial ;
in great lakes and inland seas, as the Caspian, into which it
is believed to find its passage by a subterranean channel,
from the Persian Gulf. It travels as far south as New Hol-
land and the Australian seas; but it is said never to fre-
quent the Mediterranean. In temperate climates the sal-
mon quit the sea early in spring, rushing into rivers freest
from ice, or where they are borne by the highest tide, fa-
vored by the wind, but preferring rivers and streams that are
most shaded. They go out of the sea in numerous bands,
formed with singular regularity, being preceded generally by
the largest individual, which is usually a female. This leader
is followed by others of the same sex, two and two, each
pair having the space of from three to six feet intervening
between them; these are followed by the old, who are suc-
ceeded by the young males, both preserving the same order.

The salmon genus contains species which are intermediate
between marine and fresh-water fishes, swimming alike in

FISH. 161

the sea, rivers, and lakes. Among these are the well-known
Salmon-trout, the Trout, the Smelt, and many others.

Besides these valuable fishes, we have in New England
the Halibut. It is a sea-fish, and is in our markets from Feb-
ruary to July. It is very nicely cured by Marblehead fish-
ermen. Sea-bass and Tautog are favorites, but not always
to be had. Shad are taken in South Carolina as early as
January, in Virginia a month or two later, in New York
in April, and come into the Connecticut and Merrimack
rivers in May. The Shad is indifferent eating, unless it is
large and fat. Sturgeon and Rock-fish are favorite dishes
in Virginia.

The Sturgeon is a large cartilaginous fish, related to the
shark. ‘There are two species of this fish, the Sturgeon and
the Huso. The latter is much longer than the sturgeon,
and has been known to weigh 2,800 pounds, and to be nearly
forty feet long. The huso is found only in the Caspian and
Black Seas, and the Don, the Volga, and other rivers that
flow into them. It is more numerous than the sturgeon.
The Caviar, which is so much valued by the Russians, Turks,
and Greeks, is made from the roe of the huso, which consti-
tutes nearly a third of the whole fish, and, as may be seen,
indicates almost incredible fecundity. The huso fishery is
important, also, from the isinglass that is made from the air-
vessel of this fish. The common sturgeon furnishes the
same article, as also do other fishes. (Kirby on Habits and
Instincts of Animals. Quarterly Review. Tract on British
Fisheries. )

Cold-blooded animals are said not to suffer from dismem-
berment like animals of a higher and warmer temperament.
It is comfortable to know this when one reads the various re-
eeipts for preparing fish for the table. Nevertheless Mon-
sieur Ude’s manner of destroying eels can hardly be recom-
mended, though warmly and cleverly defended by himself.

14*

162 ) SSISH.

He says, “Take live eels, throw them into the fire, and as
they are twisting about on all sides, lay hold of them with
a towel in your hand, and skin them.” Life ceases when
the back part of the skull, the seat of the spinal marrow, is
pierced.

Though most fishes die soon after leaving the water, and
exhibit little muscular irritability after death, yet those gen-
era which make an approach to a ganglionic system, such as
the carp and cod kind, generally are found to be partial ex-
ceptions to these laws. Fishmongers have availed them-
selves of these deviations to introduce the fashion of crimp-
ing, or stimulating the fish into motion by transverse incis-
ions. ‘The vitality of the carp is very great; they may be
placed in nets, and kept and fed thus for a long time in a
damp cellar, and the heart of a carp has been known to leap
about four hours after dismemberment from the body.

Herring are seldom cured in a private family, but persons
living near the sea-shore may easily take the pickle left
from their winter stock of meat, and throw the herring in
alive. They should remain at least twenty-four hours, and
then be packed in a close barrel or half-barrel, with a layer
of salt at the bottom and between each successive layer of
fish, and an occasional sprinkling of saltpetre. Be liberal
with the salt. If they do not make brine enough, pour
pickle over them in a few weeks after they are packed. If
not kept covered with brine, they will become rusty.

In cooking them, take them from the brine, and let them
soak for an hour or two, take them from the water, scale
them, and pull off the gills, when the entrails will follow.
Wash them and let them dry. They will require but a few
minutes to broil.

The legal measure for fish is for each tierce to contain
three hundred pounds; each barrel, two hundred pounds;
each half-barrel, one hundred pounds; each quarter-barrel,

FISH. 163

fifty pounds; and each tenth or kid, twenty pounds. The
legal measure of salt is at the rate of thirty-five pounds for
every two hundred pounds of fish ; and it is further provided,
that each cask shall be filled up with clear, strong pickle,
and that the species called Magdalen Herring shall be desig-
nated on the outside of the cask which holds the same.

See Alewives.

BaKxep Cop.

Clean the cod nicely inside and out, flour it, and cut thin
slices of pork, which secure to the fish at equal distances
with silver skewers. Make a stuffing for the belly of grated
bread, beef-suet, sweet marjoram, thyme, pepper, salt, and, if
you have it, one anchovy. Make an anchovy-sauce for it, or
serve with drawn butter. Mackerel may be dressed in the
same way.

BoiLepD Cop.

Cod boiled and served with oyster-sauce is also a favorite
dish. It should be boiled in a fish-kettle, with a strainer.
Let the water be salted, and it should boil hard when the
‘fish is put in. Let it simmer, covered, for about half an
hour. You may crimp cod to be boiled if you please. Pour
the oyster-sauce over the fish before it goes to the table.

SaLt Cop.

Brush it with a brush kept for the purpose, and then put
into water, and let it soak over night. Pour the water off,
and put the fish into the fish-kettle, with a good deal of water.
Let it come almost to a boil, when remove it to the corner of
the fire, and keep it covered till you wish to serve. Put it
upon a dish with a drainer, and serve with egg-sauce in a
boat.

Bortep SALMON.
This fish. may be boiled whole, or the head and shoulders

164 FISH.

of a large, thick salmon will make a handsome dish. Scale
and clean the fish without cutting it open far. If it is boiled
whole, put it into boiling water, in which has been thrown a
handful of salt. Boiling water is thought to harden the fish.
Put it to boil in a large fish-kettle, with a strainer. If it is
put into cold water, it will not be done under an hour, and if
it weigh ten pounds, an hour’s gentle simmering will hardly
be too much. Fish underdone is unwholesome, and looks
uninviting. When done, lift the strainer, and rest it across
the kettle, that the fish may drain. Heat the dish (which
should have a strainer), and heat also a white napkin, and
place it in the dish, turn the salmon on gently, without break-
ing it, and have it sent to the table hot. Serve caper-sauce
or anchovy-sauce in a boat.

SALMON CUTLETS.

Cut the salmon open, remove the bone, and cut the fillets
about three inches deep. Lay them to dry in the folds of a
clean, coarse cloth. ‘They may be broiled or fried. If fried,
put a few rashers of pork in the pan, or, if expense is not to
be considered, use sweet olive-oil. Serve hot, with pepper
and salt sprinkled over each cutlet.

Haddock is good, boiled or baked, but on account of its
firmness and lightness is generally chowdered. See Chowder.

Salmon, cod, or halibut, after being scaled and cleaned,
may be cut into handsome pieces, and smoked over the em-
bers of a kitchen fire, rubbing a little salt over each bit, and
be broiled for breakfast. See Brozling.

Tautog, or black-fish, may be baked with forcemeat stuffing
for the belly. Proceed as for baked cod, but baste even
more frequently. Wine, water, and walnut or mushroom
catchup make a good baste for the tautog.

All small and delicate fish, like smelts, perch, trout, etc.,
should, after being well dried, be washed with beaten egg,

FISH. 165

and dipped in grated bread-crumbs or Indian meal, and fried
in hot lard. |

Small sturgeons are considered nicest for the table, and
the tail-piece or the piece next the tail is to be preferred ;
but whether baked or boiled, a rich sauce should be pre-
pared, as the sturgeon is a dry fish. The skin should, for
these dishes, be nicely scraped, and in sturgeon cutlets or
steaks, the skin should be removed.

SHELL-FISH.

Shell-fish cannot always be taken upon delicate stomachs,
yet where they sit easily, and are relished, they are said to
neutralize acidity in the stomach more readily and complete-
ly than any other animal food.

The order Molluscans afford a great variety of food to
man. Here are found the common clam, mussel, cockle, peri-
winkle, and a species of the snail genus, much relished by
the Romans, and to this day fattened and eaten by the
French, and by them called the Escargot ; here, too, is the
Escallop, whose shells are often used for skimming milk ;
and last, but not least, here is found the Oyster, which, as an
article of food, has always been in request.

Among the Crustaceans we have the crab, the lobster, the
cray-fish, or thorny lobster, — much valued by the French,
and called by them Langouste, but which is but an inferior
kind of lobster, — prawns, shrimps, and fresh-water cray-fish.

Here, as the most convenient place, I shall also briefly
mention the few animals among the class of Reptiles that
yield food to man, — the turtle, terrapin, and frog.

OYSTERS.

The oyster is found on the coasts of Europe, America,
Asia, and Africa. They seldom leave the rocks or substances
upon which they fasten themselves. “ Like other Molluscans,”

166 FISH.

says the learned Kirby, “they are hermaphrodites, and are
stated by Poli, the great luminary of conchology, to contain
1,200,000 eggs, so that a single oyster might give birth to
12,000 barrels!!” This is the only shell-fish, as the same
author remarks, that man has made certain pits or beds for ;
such beds are placed where salt water may have access to
them at high tide.

Oysters are considered by gourmands as a whetter to the ap-
petite, and a few taken before dinner, with a little lemon-juice
squeezed over each, are said to stimulate a languid appetite.

June, July, and August are forbidden months for oysters
and clams. Small oysters are generally considered the
-nicest-flavored.

In cooking all shell-fish, great care is necessary, for if they
are overdone, or smothered in foreign substances, they not only
lose their individual piquancy, but are less easily digested.

scalloped or Scalloped Oysters.

The shell of the escallop is sometimes used for the oyster ;
if not to be easily procured, use shallow dishes for oysters
thus served. Wash the oysters in their liquor, remove them
carefully one by one, strain the liquor to get rid of bits of
shell, return the oysters to their liquor, and put them to scald
in a stewpan. When heated, remove them, and fill your
shells or dish with oysters, sprmkle them with bread-crumbs,
a little pounded mace, clove, and slices of butter; heat the
liquor again, and work a small piece of butter into a little
flour, drop it into the liquor with a dust of cayenne pepper,
put it to the oysters, and bake them a light brown.

Fried Oysters.

Wash the oysters from their liquor, dry them in a cloth.
Beat two eggs, and grate into another dish a nice loaf of
baker’s bread. Wash each oyster in the egg, and roll them

F

FISH. 167

up and down in the bread. Fry them in hot lard or clarified
butter. When they are of a delicate brown, put them into a
warm dish, with pieces of butter between them, and a little
fresh lemon-juice. .

Roasted Oysters.

Just before they are to be served, put them unopened on a
gridiron, which place over a moderate fire. When the shell
opens, they are cooked. Be careful to keep the liquor in the
shells. Serve on coarse trays with napkins.

Stewed Oysters.

Wash the oysters from their liquor; allow the latter to set-
tle, then strain it carefully, and add to jt some whole pepper,
a blade or two of mace, and three cloves, and set it over a
moderate fire in a clean block-tin sauce-pan ; mix a little
flour into a piece of butter, stir it into the liquor, cover the
pan, and when the liquor begins to heat, put the oysters in,
and let them simmer very gently about five minutes. Have
your dish hot, and covered with slices of bread that have
been dried, toasted, and well buttered, and pour the oysters
over them. Only rich, juicy oysters will stew to advantage.

Mussets, CLAMS, ETO.

Mussels, Clams, Escallops, ete. may be cooked in the same
variety as the oyster, only they require more care, because
there are coarse parts to be removed; they must be always
trimmed of the beard, and fough unwholesome parts. See
Soups, Sauces, ete.

LOBSTERS AND CRABS.

The best are heavy. They have when fresh an agreeable
fresh smell; the tail of the lobster is stiff, and when pulled
springs back ; the claws of the crab will have the same elas-
ticity; if stale, they will be flabby, and the eyes will look

>

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