Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1878 — AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC. [ARTICLE]

AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.

Around the Farm. It is a glorious provision that extrav agance does not pay in • any business and especially so in farming. A taste for trees and plants and flowers is the love an enlightened mind and a tender heart pays to nature. Trustworthy statistics, showing that only about one horse in 44,000 proves fast, ought to have influence in convincing farmers that there is more profit in breeding something else. Mr. S. Miller, the veteran fruitgrower of Missouri, notes, as a curious fact, that “strawberries in moss will bloom earlier than the same varieties in stools on the same ground and but a few rods distant” The largest and finest-flavored strawberries in that part of Illinois centering at Cobden are raised on new ground. In soil long used, grubs, leaf-rollers, crown-borers and “rust” are lions in. the way to the best results. To Improve the Flavor of Butter. —As a good method for improving the aroma of butter an exchange recommends one in use in many parts of Switzerland noted for their milk and butter. The milk, as soon as it is drawn, and while yet warm, is filtered through a sprig of washed fir tips, the stem of which is inserted loose and upright in the hole of the funnel. The milk deposits any hair, skins, clots or gelatinous sliminess it may contain ,on the clear, spicular leaves. It has imparted to it a most agreeable odor, and does not readily turn sour. A fresh sprig should be used each time. Fattening Oxer foe Beef.—A farmer in Montgomery county asks us why it is that oxen, after they have been used for years at hard work, make beef so much superior to that of young bulI locks which have never been used to the yoke. The answer is very simple. When oxen are stall-fed every pound weight i they gain is new flesh, so that by the time they are ready for the butcher the y furnish almost an entire new carcass, sweet, juicy and tender. Young cattle never take on fat so readily while they are growing, and hence their meat never becomes so solid, tender or juicy. Tender it frequently is, but it is dry and spongy and possesses but little flavor.— Germantown Telegraph. Getting Rid of the Pea Weevil.— If you sow peas with bugs or weevils (Bruchus Pisi) in them you will scarcely have a pea in your crop without an insect in it. There ought to be a law punishing farmers for sowing wtevily peas. This insect might be easily kept down if farmers would procure seed peas from districts where the weevil doea not prevail, or if they would take the precaution of killing the weevils in their own seed. This may be done by putting the peas in hot water for a minute or two, which will destroy the weevils without injuring the germinating power of the peas. Or the seed may be kept over for a year in tight vessels; the weevils will come out of the peas when tbc proper time arrives, and, being unable to escape, will die.

Horseshoeing.—On an average horses require shoeing once a month. The length of time a shoe will wear depenels much on the kind of servic ■ a horse is doing, and on the kind of road he is daily traveling. A team horSto in heavy draught dees not wear out as many shoes as one used in a hack; quick motion grinds shoes down more rapidly than slow use. Some pavement is harder on shoes than ordinary road, while the friction of a gravely road wears them away rapidly. Wooden pavement is but a little saving to the wear and tear of shoes, for the grit and dust which become impacted in the interstices of the wooden block grind away shoes like the friction of an emery wheel. The hind siioes wear out first, and there is more strain and friction on them than on the forward shoes. It is impossible and improper for a horse to wear shoes more than six weeks, for the growth of the foot shortens the shoes, as well as changes the shape otherwise. The neglect will cause the shoe to encroach upon the soft textures of the foot and produce lameness. — Farmer's Companion.

Worms in Soil.—The safest and most effectual remedy I have yet tried for the depredations of worms in soils, whether in pot or in the open ground, is soot. Last autumn, while picking out cauliflowers on a waß border, we were sorely troubled by worms caßtiLJ out the plants almost as fast as wt? eoCjld stick them in. We gave the surface the border a good dressing of dry soot, stud then watered it. It had a most surprising effect; the worms came sprawling to the surface by hundreds, when it was no difficult matter to gather them and put them out of harm’s way. Applied also to pot plants, say a dessert-spoonful of dry soot on the surface of a six-inch pot, it will be found to bring them hurrying over the sides of the pot as soon as water is applied. Acting also as an excellent manure, and being generally so plentiful in nurseries and gardens, I am somewhat surprised to see it so little used. On camellias especially, I have found it to have a beneficial effect. It imparts a healthy dark-green color to the foliage, and stimulates the roots into a more active performance of their duty.— London Gardener's Chronicle.

Around the House. Common salt freely sprinkled on the shelves, etc,, is recommended as an effective remedy for ants. Liquid Glue.—Dissolve glue in good whisky, to any desired consistency. It should not be allowed to evaporate. Fruit Frappe.—Line a mold with vanilla ice-cream, fill the center with fresh berries or fruit in slices, cover with ice-cream and set in freezer for an hour. The fruit must not be frozen. To clean oil paintings use a sponge dipped in warm beer, and, when perfectly dry, wash with a solution of the Quest gum-dragon dissolved in pure water. Breakfast Toast.—Mix two tablespoonfuls of sugar, a little salt and a well-beaten egg in one-half pint of milk ; in the mixture dip slices of bread, and fry them on a buttered griddle until they are light-brown on each side. A Dainty Dish. —Take pieces of cold meats of any kind, chop fine, season with pepper and salt, just a little onion; break over the meat two or three eggs; add a small piece of butter; stir all together; pour it upon nicely-buttered toast; serve hot; garnish with parsley. To Bottle Red Currants.—Pick them, unbroken from the stalks, into dry, wide-mouthed bottles, adding, as you fill, some finely-sifted loaf sugar, so that it may fall on each layer of currants ; fill the bottle, resin in the corks, and keep them in a rack, with the neck downward. Trifles.—Yelk of one egg, enough prepared flour to make a stiff dough ; roll very thin, cut in fanciful shapes and fry in hot lard; turn them immediately after dropping them into the lard; they should not remain in more than three econds, and should be of a light yellow color; drainthem on a large, flat ;dish; when cold, sprinkle with red sugar. “Pocket-books.”—To one quart of warm milk add a cup of butter, four table-spoonfuls of sugar and two wellbeaten eggs; then stir in flour enough to make a moderately stiff sponge ; add a small cupful of yeast, and let the dough rise ; afterward mix in flour enough to make a soft dough, and let it rise again; then dissolve a lump of soda the size of a bean in a spoon of milk, work it in the

dough, and roll into sheets half an inch thick; spread with thin layer of butter, cut into squares, and fold over pocketbook shape; let them stand in the pans to rise a little while before baking.