Rensselaer Republican, Volume 12, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 January 1880 — USEFUL AND SUGGESTIVE. [ARTICLE]

USEFUL AND SUGGESTIVE.

Sa*t extracts the juice of meat in oooldng. nan oagnt therefore not to be Mted onto they hare been broiled -» : the best way to rid fields of gopher” is to feed him with corn soaked m a solution of sugar of lend. Crushed and defaced velvet often be restored to its original appearance by holding the wrong side orer boiling water until the steam causes the flattened pOe to rise; or the wrong side may be thoroughly dampened and then drawn several times quickly across the face of a hot flat-iron. Stick all your hair-pins downwards, then yon will not be annoyed by their falling out by the way, neither will your friends te worried with mental calculations as to how long it will be before a hair-pin falls, when it hangs out of your head more than half its length.— Lansing Republican. “Cooking FOB Invalids” gives the following directions for making fig puddings: Chop half a pound of figs very finely; mix them with one-fourth pound of coarse sugar, a tablespoonful of molasses, four tablespoonfuls of milk, half a pound of flour, a quarter of a pound of suet, an egg, and a pinch of grated nutmeg; put the pudding into a buttered mold and boil five hours.

Herk and there may be seen stables and barns with broken windows, loose boards, holes in the roofs, or doors and windows that gape open. Through the openings the cold air will leak in, and the warm air will leak out Through these leaks the farmer’s profits disappear—very silently, it is true, but not the less steadily and constantly. While his cattle stand and shiver in the cool, ■ sharp nights, or steam under the penetrating rain-storms or snow, with every shiver there disappears a quantity of the fodder from tne barn, as well as some milk from the cows, some fat from the sheep and some eggs from the poultry.— Exchange. Most flower seeds are good for more than one year. Asters, stocks and some other sorts are worthless the second season. Of a large number of varieties, a portion will germinate the second year, but not a very high percentage; such are phlox, verbena and many others. Seeds saved in a favorable season, and properly dried, will, of course, remain good longer than those saved in an unfavorable year, or carelessly cured. As a rule, round seeds are good longer than thin, flat ones, and many of tne smallest are good as long as any. Old balsam seeds are generally acknowledged to be better than new. Last summer, in the garden of an old German lady, I saw some flowers from seeds brought from the old country sixteen years before. She had petunias, portulaca and gourds.— -J. B.