Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1891 — RUBAI READING. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RUBAI READING.

AGRICULTURAL TOPICS INTELLIGENTLY DISCUSSED. An Inexpensive Riot Cellar Built Wholly Above Ground—The Stotik-Kanch, Dairy, and Garden—Helpful Hints to Housekeepers, Etc.

THE FARM. An Inexpensive Root Cellar.

ROOT cellar wholly above ground is not advisable where frosts frequently penetrate to the depth of two or three feet, says the American Agriculturist. But a cellar partly underground is safer and usually cheaper. If-pos-sible, choose a loc ati on, protected from the prevailing winter winds by a hill, or woodland with natural drainage;

make an excavation to the depth of about four feet, and a length and breadth sufficient to hold the anticipated crop. This is easily done by figuring on 2,800 cubic inches as the space required by one bushel of potatoes or other root crops. Lay up a good stone foundation to one foot above the ground, using a liberal amount of mortar. The stairs of five steps may be located upon the outside, as shown in the engraving, or placed inside the cellar as desired. The superstructure may be of wood; the corner posts need not be over six feet in height. If a balloon frame, the studding should be covered with matched lumber, both outside and insido. This is to be covered with heavily tarred paper, and sheathed with matched lumber. The of four thicknesses of matched stuff is not heavy, and a building is secured that is quite frost proof. The windows, which are placed upon the side, two feet above the wall, are double sashed, with a fourinch air chamber betweon. The door is. double, with a space between. The ceiling should be made as impervious to cold as the side walls. A heavy application of mortar should bo applied where the sills rest upon the wall; besides, the sills should be laid in mortar. The roof may be of any material desired. The interior should be divided Into bins, located &o

that they may bo reached by a long wooden trough, one end of which can project out of either window, into which the roots are scooped direct from the wagon. Windows should be arranged so as to bo readily opened or closed for ventilation. A building with a capacity of 300 bushels can be substantially built at an outlay of from S4O to $75, owing to the amount of work tho owner performs himself. Orchard Grass. W. J. Beal, in his “Grasses of North America,” says: Orchard grass is perennial, lasting for many years, two or three or even five feet or more in height, rather large, coarse, rough, of a light green color, and grows in dense tufts, unless crowded by thick seeding. The lower leaves are sometimes two feet or more in length. The clustered spikelets make dense masses on tho small spreading panicle. The flowers appear with those of early red clover. It is a native of Europe, and is also now found in North Africa, India, and North America, and perhaps iu other countries. Although it came to this country from Europe, it did not attract much attention In England until sent back there in 1864 from Virginia. So far as quality Is concerned, if cut in good season or pastured when young, it stands well the test of cattle and the chemists. It is very nutritious, tho seeds start quickly, and makes a very vigorous growth, and if the grass is not a very valuable one it is certainly not from the lack of testimonials from practical farmers. The stems are not very abundant when compared with the leaves, hence the plant is more suitable for pasture than for meadow. It is the first to furnish a bite for the cattle in spring; is little affected by the droughts of July and August, and continues growing until the severe cold of November blocks up the sources of nourishment. When cut or grazed it starts up with great vigor. No man should sow it on his lawn, for it would need cutting every day before breakfast. If cut’ while in blossom, both cattle and horses are exceedingly fond of the hay and do well on it. If left to stand until the seeds are mature it becomes more tough and woody than even timothy, and cattle will need to have their teeth sharpened to eat it in tins stage of its growth. Orchard grass loves a deep, rich, moist soil. Grown on poor, dry land by a lazy farmer, it will not give satisfaction. It may be cut two or three times. a year, producing large crops of the very best of fodder, just as long as the fertility of the land can be maintained by top-dress-ing. (Jw ol the Roller. The farm roller is a most important and valuable implement for those who exercise good judgment as to when it is to be used. It is just what is needed to press winter grain firmly In the ground after the surface has dried sufficiently. It is also excellent on clover in spring to press down small stones that might be in the way of close cutting with the mower. But it should not be used on spring grain until the latter is up three or four inches, not on corn ground at any season if the soil be at all heavy. Corn ground needs to be light as possible, and it must be made mellow by harrowing up, not by rolling down. —New York Herald. THE HOUSEHOLD. From Field and Wood. When well arranged, dried grasses and flowers are always beautiful. As much of theJr beauty consists in the graceful

forms of delicate steins *nd tiny seedpods, that arrangement is best which allows this dainty tracery to be seen. An ornamental panel made of the treasures gathared from field and wood is something new and pretty* says the Country Gentleman. It is much to be preferred to the old-fashioned “dried bouquet,” where delicateL grasses, soldierly cat-tails and everlastings were often packed tightly together, effectually destroying the distinctive beauty of each. To make a panel like the one illustrated herewith, there will be required a thin board of the desired size (board on

which certain kinds of dressed goods are wrapped answer nicely, and can be had at almost any dry-goods store for the asking), a cup of well-cooked flour paste, a sheet of wadding, enough pongee or China silk of a cream shade to cover the board, sufficient plush of a bright golden brown to make a border two or three Inches wide around the panel, and a paper of the smallest-sized double-pointed tacks. From the wadding cut a piece the exact size of the board, and fasten it on by pasting along each edge; do the same ■ with the silk; join the four plush strips at each corner with a bias seam and turn the edge under, around the inside of the oblong thus made. It Is best to fasten the turn by hemming with long stitches. The plush must be cut large enough to turn over on to the back of the panel for a quarter of an inch. Carefully put some paste on the border at each corner and along both edges, place It rlght-sido down on a table and put the panel on It, pressing softly in place; cut a square out of each corner of the plush whore It projects beyond the board; then turn down the projecting edges on to the back of the board. A piece of heavy brown paper, cut a trifle smaller than the panel, should be pasted over the back to conceal raw edges and give a finished appearance. Drive a tack on each side of tho panel near the top, on which to tie a cord to hang tho panel by. Groat care should be taken that all edges are cut perfectly straight and that all joinings arc exact. Tho panel Is now ready for the grasses, cattails, etc., which should be arranged gracefully on It and firmly fastened Into position with tacks. These will not show if a leaf or full head of grass is skillfully allowed to drop over thorn. Tho panel should be hung almost flat against tho wall, and on a level with the eye of a person standing. This Is the manner recommended by artists for the hanging of all pictures. Hint* to Hou*e keeper** Relieve pains in tho sides by the application of mustard. Fob nose bleed, get plenty of powdered alum up into the nostrils. Sandpaper applied to tho yellow keys of the piano will restore the color. The best thing to clean tin ware is common soda; rub on whisky with a damp cloth, after which wipe dry. Fob coffee stains try putting thick glycerine on the wrong side and washlt out with lukewarm water. For raspberry stains weak ammonia and water Is the best. Coffee pounded In a mortar and roasted on an iron plate, sugar burned on hot coals, and vinegar boiled with myrrh and sprinkled on the floor and furniture of a sick room, are excellent deodorizers. To insure paste from molding, put into it a proportion of alum and resin. A few drops of any essential oil will preserve leather from mold, and a single clove put into a bottle of ink will have the same effect upon it. Powdered borax mixed with a little powdered sugar and scattered about In spots will prove certain death to cockroaches and to ants, and if that Is not handy, a few drops of spirits of turpentine sprinkled here and there will be as effective in the case of these nuisances as it is in the case of moths. When linen has turned yellow cut up a pound of fine white soap into a gallon of inilk and hang it over a fire In a wash kettle or bottle. When the soap has completely melted put In the linen and boil It half an hour, have ready a lather of soap and water, wash the linen in it, after which rinse it in two cold waters with a very little blue in the last. Do you use eggs for frosting? Don’t do it. Take five tablespoonfuls of milk, one cup of granulated sugar, flavor nicely with lemon or vanilla, then boil five minutes. Beat it hard until it is eool enough to spread on the cake. The beauty of this frosting is that it is ready to cut as soon as thoroughly cold. It is very nice with cocoanut or grated chocolate stirred in it. When eggs are high it is quite a saving. THE GARDEN. Early and Late Potatoes. The advice is being widely copied to plant all potatoes, and especially to plant the earliest varieties, at least likely to be affected by blight and rot. There is something in the theory that the longer a variety of potatoes Is maturing, the greater chance disease has to attack It- Tho same principle favors carljr planting and early varieties In order to escape attacks of the potato beetle. The old-fashioned peach-blow potato was so extremely late that It furnished food for successive crops of potatoe larvae all through the summer until frost came. For this reason prob-ably-it was the first to run out when potato beetles began to,be numerous. Yet it is an uriquestioned fact that the larger proportion of potatoes grown for market are of late varieties, and late planted often at that. The very early

price is often much higher, and a few are planted as soon as the ground can be prepared, to meet tho demand about the 4th of July, when 51. 50 to S 2 a bushel is the ruling price for a few days. Yet these very early potatoes are such light yielfiers that no large grower ever thinks of planting them extensively. They usually sell all the early potatoes they have, not reserving even for seed, which they can obtain from more northern regions in better condition for planting next spring. What is the use of keeping over from July to April potatoes that in the first-named month will bring fancy prices for early, and which it is almost impossible to keep through the fall and winter without sprouting till their substance Is wholly exhausted. If farmers want to grow their own seed potatoes of early varieties they should plant as late as the first to tho middle of Juno. By tho time the potatoes are setting the weathqj will be cooler, and the fall rains will usually have begun. Late varieties of potatoes are often better crops when planted quite late. An early planting for them means forming the tubers during the hottest and dryest season of the year. But seasons differ In this respect, and It Is impossible to foreknow which planting shall be thobest;but for early potatoes two plantings, tho early for market at higher prices, and tho later for seed and a larger crop, would seem to be advisable.

THE DAIBX. Care of Milk for Cheese-Making. Prof. Jas. W. Robertson,of the Guelph, Ontario, Agricultural College, is the author of a valuable little pamphlet bearing the above title. After giving a number of practical suggestions tho Professor gathers their gist Into the following short paragraphs, whlqh are well worthy of a careful reading. 1. Milk from healthy cows only should be used, and not until at least four days after calving. 2. Any harsh treatment that excites the cow lessens the quantity and injures the quality of her yield, 3. Cows should bo allowed an abundant supply of wholesome, suitable food, and as much pure water as they will drink. 4. A supply of salt should bo placed) where cows have access to It overy day. 5. Cows should not bo permitted todrink stagnant, Impure water, nor to eatcleaning from horse stables, leeks,turniptops, nor anything that would give the milk an offensive taint. 6. All milk vessels should bo thoroughly cleansed; first being well washed, then scalded with boiling wntor, and afterwards sufficiently alrod to keep them perfectly sweet. 7. Cows should bo milked with dry hands and only after the udders have boon washed or well brushed. 8. Milking should bo done and milk should bo kept only where tho surrounding air is pure and free from all objectionable and tainting odors. Milking In a foul smelling stable or yard Imparts to milk an lnlurlous taint. Sour whey should never bo fed, nor should hogs bo kept in a milking yard, nor near a milk stand. 0. Tin palls only should be used. 10. All milk should be properly strained Immediately after milking, andi for that purposo a detached strainer ispreforablo to a stralncr-pall. 11. In preparing milk for delivery to a cheese factory It should immediately after straining bo thoroughly aired by pouring, drlpplngor stirring. The treatment is as beneficial for the morning's milk as for tho evening’s, and is even> more necessary when tho weathor is cool than when it is warm. 12. In warm weathor all milk should! be cooled alter it has been aired, but not before. 13. Milk kept over night In small quan-titles-say In tin pails—will be In better condition than if kept in larger quantities In one vessel. 14. When both messes of milk are conveyed to the factory in one can, the mixing of the morning with the evening’s milk should be delayed till the ipilkwagon reaches tho stand. 15. While tho milk is warmer than thesurroundlng air it should be left uncovered but when colder it may with advantage bo covered. ' 16. Milk palls and cans should be protected from tho rain, and milk stands should bo constructed to shade the cans, from the sun.

THE KITCHEN. Potato Surprise a. Take six large, well-washed potatoes of uniform size. Boil until nearly tender, then cut off one end of each, reserving the ends to bo used as “lids,” Scoop out the center, leaving a wall about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Fill with cold chicken, chopped fine, and well seasoned, with pepper, salt, and parsley. A teaspoonful of the chicken gravy, if at hand, may be put into each to moisten the meat. J Put the end on each potato—securing it in place with a fine thread-r----tben put into the oven and bake until the potatoes are brown. Almost any cold meat will do in place of chicken. Bolletl Meats. Meats, whether fresh or salt, should' be placed over tho fire in hot water, so as to keep the juice within the meat. Let it boil slowly, keeping the meat covered with water and skimming off all substances that may arise to the surface. After it is done put the meat in a stonejar or a well-tinned pan and cover it with the liquid it has boiled in. Allow it to cool in this liquid over night and) . you will have a tender and juicy piece? of meat Kolle<l Chicken. Ifit is intended to serve the chicken hot with a sauce, boil it till it is well done. Remove the pot containing the chicken from the fire and keep it covered till it is ready to serve, as chicken kept in this manner will be more tender than when taken from tho pot while boiling. A three-pound hen would require one and three-quarter hours slow boiling. Boiled Corn Beef. Before placing corn beef in the boiling water it should first be soaked in cold, well and thoroughly cleansed. Boil slowly until well done, and if it is to he served hot keep it in the pot over the stove for at least one-haif hour before sending it to the table. During that time he sure and have the corn beef covered. Chicken Roup. Save the broth after boiling a chicken,, add to it a sliced onion, two beaten eggs, 'six sliced raw potatoes and a thickening of flour and water. Sponge Padding. One cup of sugar, one cup of flour, three eggs, 1% teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Steam one hour.

A SERVICEABLE ROOT CELLAR.

PANEL OF DRIED GRASSES.