Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 August 1877 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around the Farm. J. T. Ellsworth, of Barre, Mass., says : “ Experience has taught me that a cow’s milk very deficient in butter often fattens a finer calf than that of a first-class butter cow.”— Chatauqua Farmer. My currant bushes have been attacked by the currant worms for the last two vears I sprinkled buttermilk on the leaves of the bushes, and by this means destroyed the worms and saved by bushes. — Farmers' A dvocatc. We consider a fowl at its prime at 3 years old. The vitality of the egg is not gone at the end of a month if they can be kept in a temperature of about 50 deg., and if they are occasionally turned at the end of that time they will hatch. —Land and Water. Currant worms may be effectually destroyed, says Prof. Kiley, by sprinkling with solution of white hellebore, one table-spoonful in a bucket of water, or the powder may be sprinkled on while the dew is on the bushes. Hot water has alsb been successfully used to make the worms drop off without injuring the foliage.

N. B. White gives a simple contrivance to prevent the cut-worm from getting at garden plants. It is a strip of tin two inches wide and about ten inches long, formed into a cylinder and set over the plant. They will last a lifetime, and probably cost half a cent each. —Country Gentleman. Weeds need constantly to lie looked after and taken by the foretop. Remember that every weed that is allowed to go to seed this year will be replaced by hundreds and thousands?, next year. “ One year’s seeding” of weeds is said to produce “ fifteen years of weeding,” and it is not far from the truth. The most successful fruit-growers, East and West, have decided that there is no better remedy for the coddling moth than to pasture hogs in the orchards, to eat the wormy apples and the worms therein. If the orchards are too large for the number of hogs kept, sheep are turned in. If we will all unite in this system, we shall soon see its good results. There is no doubt about its being effective. — Rural Home.

I have learned that wheat can be hoed with horses as readily as corn, and as fast as it can be drilled, the implement occupying the same space and the number of hoes being the same as a drill; and when hoed it looks as much improved as a cornfield dressed out with a cultivator. It does not destroy any greater percentage @f the plants than is done in cultivating corn. Any man that can manage a plow well can manage a wheat hoe as readily. I can’t see any reason why it won’t help wheat as much to hoe it as any other crop, so as to let in light, heat and fertilizing gases of the atmosphere to give vigor to the plants.— Western Rural. Good Seed.—Don’t put in any but the best seed. This is an important item in successful farming.. Good land and hard labor will not produce the best crops from poor seed. Let the best seed be planted, even if it has to be purchased ; yet most farmers can generally select good seed from the best of their wheat and other small grain. In harvesting, save out the best bundles, and in corn, by going through the fields and carefully selecting the best-filled ears ; then, by an occasional renewing of fresh seed from a distance and exchanging with the neighbors, all our crops may be greatly improved. Liberality in this interest pays handsomely. Procure the best seed at any reasonable amount of labor or expense.— B’c.stez'/i Agriculturist.

About the House. Fan’s Cake.—Two cupfuls flour, one and one-half cupfuls sugar, one-half cupful cream, salt, four eggs, creamtartar, soda. Baker’s Pound Cake.—Two cupfuls sugar, three-fourths cupful bnttor, three eggs, one cupful milk, salt, three cupfuls flour, nutmeg. To Cook Soft-Shell Crabs.—They do not require dressing except to wash well in salt water ; then fry in plenty of butter; season with pepper just before serving. In the matter of salt meat, it should be remembered that the brine, if it lias been used several times, occasionally becomes an active poison, and very dangerous. Experience proves that two kinds of coffee mixed make a better beverage than any one quality alone. Thus Java one-half and Mocha one-half mixed make a superior coffee‘to either singly. Black Cake.—One cupful butter, one and a half cupfuls sugar, one-half cupful molasses, three eggs, one cupful milk, one nutmeg, one tea. poonl'ul each of cloves and cinnamon, Jour cupfuls flour, two pounds raisins, one pound currants, one-fourth pound citron. Charcoal has been discovered to be a sure cure for burns. By laying a piece of cold charcoal upon the burn the pain subsides immediately. By leaving the charcoal on one hour thc wound is healed, as has been demonstrated on several occasions.

To Do Up Point Lace.—Fill a goblet or any other glass dish with cold suds, made of the best quality of washing soap ; put in your lace and place in a strong sunlight for several hours, often squeezing the lace, and changing the water if it seems necessary; when bleached, rinse gently in three or four waters, and if you wish it ochre or yellowish white, dip it into a weak solution of clear cold coffee liquid; if you desire to stiffen it slightly, dip it into a very thin starch. Provide yourself with a paper of fine needles, recall the form and looks of the lace when first purchased ; take a pin-cushion, and arrange your lace in the right form, gently pick it into place, and secure with the needles every point and figure in the pattern as it was when purchased ; leave it to dry, and either press between the leaves of a heavy book or lay betwen two pieces of flannel and pass a heated iron over it. Applique lace can be nicely washed by first sewing it carefully, right side down, to a piece of wolen flannel, washing, stiffening slightly, and pressing before removing from the flannel.