Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 April 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around the Farm. It is stated, on excellent authority, that a Western New York farmer called 100 bushels of common marrow beans “ Ox-maxrows —a new variety,” and sold them to the Washington Department of Agriculture for $4 per bushel. Touch the chufa gently, if at all, is the advice of two Texas mends. They planted seed of it, at 60 cents a pound, on good soil, and gave cultivation sufficient to insure a crop of peanuts, and' got for their pains a result indicated by the figure 0. To make the small sticks used as supports for plants “ last indefinitely,” a Leng Island florist seasons them when new, then soaks in linseed oil for two or three days, according to size, then removes them from their bath and dries again, and finishes off with a coat of “ verdigris paint” It is advisable, in the-construction of poultry houses, to use pine lumber—the more pitch it contains the better—as this is very offensive to poultry vermin. Some think it pays well to make the roosting cribs of pitch pine boughs as a Erotection against their greatest enemy, ce. — Western Rural. A correspondent of the New England Farmer says that after fifteen years’ experience with it he cannot recommend orchard grass for general culture; that it is only suited to rich soils which can give two or three crops a year, and that its excellence consists in its rapid growth after each cutting. June grass has a similar habit, and both do well together. When a horse stumbles, never raise your voice; he dreads his master’s chiding. Never jog the reins; the mouth of the horse is more sensitive than the human lips. Never use the lash; the horse is so timid that the slightest correction overpowers its reasoning faculties. Speak to the creature; reassure the palpitating frame; seek to restore those perceptions which will form the best guard against a repetition of the faulty action. Seeds are more easily killed by nigh temperature than low. Though no seeds have been known to germinate below 37 degrees Fahrenheit, they are, with few exceptions, destroyed by a temperature above 168 degrees, and many kinds perish below that point. They will not germinate above 128 degrees. Most seeds will stand the severest cold of the winters in this latitude, and wheat left for years in the Arctic region has been sown in England afterward, where it germinated freely. The laying-nests for hens can be profitably arranged upon the ground in most poultry yards. Where this can be con - veniently done it is a good plan, and no method excels this for the avoidance of an accumulation of vermin in the fre-quently-visited nest. When this convenience is not at hand, if a good-sized green sod be placed at the bottom of the nest, and the hay or straw laid upon this (the roots to be turned upward), it is an excellent plan during the summer months.— Poultry World. The best time to secure Hungarian grass is when it is in blossom, and before the seeds have formed. The beards at this time have not reached that degree of stiffness which the writer thinks causes injury to the stomach of a horse, while the embryotic seeds are perfectly harmless. One large farmer in the State has, to our personal knowledge, been using it for feed for his horses, at one time keeping eight on it without injury; but then he always aims to cut at the right time.— St. Paul Pioneer-Press. The value of parsnips for feeding purposes has heretofore, by many farmers, been underestimated. Horses, hogs and bullocks are fattened upon them in a very short time, and the flesh of the latter two is considered of superior flavor, while in cows it produces an extraordinary yield of milk, having a rich color, and affording butter of excellent quality. The culture of parsnips is largely extending in France; the soil that suits beets will satisfy the parsnip. When the plants are five or fifteen inches high, respectively, they are weeded and hoed; the leaves are cut in the month of September, and allowed to fade for twenty-four hours before being given to the cattle; the roots can be taken up during the winter as required; frost does them no harm ; the ration is sixteen pounds three times a day, and the roots are cut; when given to pigs, they ought to be cooked.— Western Farmer. Plan for a Poultry-House.—Small houses and large runs are most in favor. We give the dimensions of one to accommodate a dozen fowls; if a larger one is required, the same general features may be retained in its construction: Ground dimensions, five feet by seven feet; three and one-half feet from ground to roof ; six feet from ground to peak of roof ; door at one side of one end, two feet wide ; nests on ground at the other side, running lengthwise of the house; platform just above nests; roosts four inches above platform ; holes for ventilation in front and rear peaks ; roof of dry boards, pressed tightly together, and cracks battened ; sides same. Cover the whole with water-lime paint. Brackets can be placed on the four corners, and poles passed through so that the house can be moved to new ground.— Western Rural. About the House. To Put Up Horseradish.—Grate the root after thoroughly cleansing it, and put in wide-mouthed half pint bottles. When full, add two table-spoonfuls of good, sharp vinegar, cork and seal airtight with wax. Polishing Copper Vessels. —A copper vessel, badly tinned, Miss Severn found in the kitchen, which had never been properly cleaned and was covered with that deadly poison, verdigris. She had it cleaned with vinegar, rotten stone snd oil. Currant Cake.—Oream, one cup of best butter, and two cups of sugar, one cup of sweet milk, three well-beaten eggs—the whites and yelks separately—three cups of sifted flour, two cups of well-washed currants—dried and well dredged with flour—two teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Cup Cake. —One cup of butter, one cup of sweet milk, two cups of sugar, three well-beaten eggs, four cups of sifted flour (always sift flour after measuring it), one-halt' teaspoonful of soda dissolved in a little hot water, one teaspoonful of cream of tartar, sifted in the flour, one cup of raisins well dredged with flour. Apple Fruit Cake.—Soak three cups dried apples over night in cold water ; in the morning chop and stew till soft in three cups of molasses; when cold mix with three cups of flour, one cup of butter, three eggs, one teaspoonful of soda, spices, two cups raisins, one of currants, one lemon chopped fine; this makes two pans of cake. French Cream Cake.—Boil scant pint milk; take two eggs and two small table-spoonfuls corn starch beaten with a little milk; when the milk boils stir this in slowly with scant cup sugar, one table-spoonful butter, two teaspoonfuls lemon essence; make a cake of three eggs, one cupful sugar, one and onehalf cupfuls flour, teaspoonful baking powder, two table-spoonfuls milk; bake in three layers, and while warm spread with cream.— Mrs. R. Gen. Washington’s Breakfast Cakf. t —Two pounds flour, one quart milk, one ounce butter, one teacupful thin yeast, three eggs, and teaspoonful salt; warm the milk and butter together, and pour it lukewarm into the flour and add the other ingredients; mix this at night, and put in a pan three inehee deep; in the

morning bake in a quick oven threequarters of an houi. This cake was always on Gen. Washington’s breakfasttable the last few years of his life.— M. A. To Keep Meat Fbsbh.—For years I have preserved beef as fresh and nice as just from the meat-shop. Cut in convenient pieces, wash and weigh; to every 100 pounds take from three and onehalf to four pounds salt, two pounds sugar, one-half ounce saltpeter, dissolve in enough water to cover the meat, put in a tight tub that will not leak; after it has been in the brine for two or three weeks take out the meat, wash it, boil the brine, skim it and put back again. This recipe is worth many dollars to persons far from market.— Philadelphia Letter. Corn Pone.—ls you will allow me space in your valuable paper I will give you a recipe for corn pone. Place three pints of water on the fire in an iron kettle; add one-fourth of a cup of a salt; let it boil; then thicken with Indian meal gradually until it is as thick as you can conveniently stir it with a pudding stick. When it is thoroughly scalded, take it from the fire, add three quarts of cold water and one cup molasses; then make it as thick as you can stir it conveniently with meal, adding a pint of shorts or graham flour. Keep it in a warm place till it rises up and cracks open on top. Bake slowly for three or four hours, or longer, with a slow fire, or what is better still, steam it. This quantity will make a two-gallon vessel. I bake it in the stove-oven in an old fircelain kettle unfit for other use, and have met with few people who are not fond of it.— Mrs. E. Hynes, Pocahontas, 111.