Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 May 1886 — DOMESTIC ECONOMY. [ARTICLE]

DOMESTIC ECONOMY.

Topics of Interest Relating to Farm and Household . Management Information for the Plowman, Stockman, Poulterer, Nurseryman, and Housewife. agricultural. Tko CAinree Yam. Years ago, the Chinese yam, a coarse esculent, with roots running so deep that it is almost impossible to either dig or eradicate it, was widely advertised as likely to supersede the potato. The latest heard of this fraud is its advertisement as a charming and ornamental climber. Farmers who h«We had this yam once want no more of it under any name. Com in DeadFurrmci. In plowing a field for corn, it is advisable to have as few dead furrows as possible. The corn in these will not generally pay for the labor of planting and cultivating. Farmers generally believe this is because the dead furrow is low and cold. An experiment has, however, been reported showing that where the dead furrow rows were manured with nitrate of soda, the oom was noticeably larger than on either side. This shows how important nitrogenous fertilizers are for com, and of these stable manure is one of the best Fertilisers for Beans. The bean is a leguminous plant, but the crop is not benefited by the use of gypsum as 1b the case with most of this class of plants. One reason for this is, probably, that large growth of vine, which gypsum will cause, is not desirable. What is wanted in beaus is the most grain with the least possible proportiop of straw. Too. much vine makes the beans ripen slowly and unevenly, exposing the crop to greater damage by fall rains. It is also true of clover that where seed rather than hay is desired, gypsum is not an advantageous fertilizer. We ao not grow any clover seed in this section of la,te years on account of insect enemies which destroy the heads. But years ago, when growing clover seed was common, it was thought to be bad practice to sew plaster, as it made the second growth too rank, and the heads did not fill so welt A Most Valuable Compost. The manure of fowls contains their urine, as a solid excrement It may be recognized by its white coler, and constitutes' the most Valuable portion of their droppings. The flooring or boards under the hen-roost should be smooth and dose, with cleats around the space upon which the manure will fall Dry earth, sand even, mixed with land plaster, or sprinkled over after spreading with a solution of sulphate of iron (copperas), should be evenly spread or scattered upon this floor daily, and where there are imany hens the whole should be cleaned off and renewed twice a week. The proportion of earth to be added should be two-thirds or three-quarters of the entire bulk. It should be placed in a heap under cover, on a cement, brick, or clay floor, where it may be shoveled over and mixed with sweepings of the house, broken eggs, dead chickens, or rats, or other small animals, including old hens’ nests. It must be kept moist, and in case there is any odor, either of decomposition or ammonia, this must be suppressed by sprinkling with copperas water, scattering plaster over the heap, or by the addition of more earth. The best earth for all such purposes is good, rich, Ibamy soil It should be prepared in hot, dry days, by sifting upon a floor of boards in the sun, raking it over until thoroughly dry, and barreling for use.. Hen manure and the wastes of the poultry-house preserved in this way will, m the course of a few months, become nearly homogeneous, and a fine fertilizer for field and garden use. .Raising Field Beans. A Missouri correspondent of the Country Gentleman writes: “A profitable bean crop implies good soil, well prepared and thoroughly cultivated. lam aware that beans are considered a poor land crop, and perhaps, as with sorghum, a more profitable crop of them can be raised on poor land than a large number of other crops; yet to be sure of a profitable cropjgive them reasonably good soil I prefer to plant reasonably early. I have always planted about the Ist of June, until I tried it as soon as I got through with corn and cane, and since then have triad to plant at this time, as I find I have raised better crops by planting earlier. Plow the soil well, and harrow until in a good condition, or roll, if necessary. Mark off the rows about three and a half feet apart; do not make the furrows too deep; it is not necessary to plant deep, and it makes the first cultivation much easier to have the plants evel with the rest of the field. I drop two or three beans every eighteen inches, preferring this plan to drilling close together. Commence the cultivation as soon as possible after they make their appearance above ground. The harrow can be used at first, followed afterward with the cultivator. As with all other cultivated crops, it pays to keep them clean. If this is properly done on common farm soil, it will insure keeping the soil stirred frequently. If the harrow is used well at first in ordinary soil, three cultivations with the cultivator are all that will be necessary. The principal object gained by early planting is that the crop wjll mature before the scorching days in August, which here often seriously damage the crop. Pull when the crop is ripe; it will hardly do to wait until all lhe beans are ripe, as by that time the earlier ripened will scatter out in handling. Pulling up by the roots and laying in piles is a very convenient way of harvesting. When possible, I prefer thrashing out in the field as soon as possible after harvesting—or as soon as they are well cured, so as to thrash out readily. They should- nqt hqjnowed away until thoroughly cured, or they will mold and seriously damage , the crop, They can, especially if the crop is small, be thrashed very readily with the nail, and then cleaned in a fanning-miU. They should be made as clean as possible, as it aids materially in selling at a good price.” HORTICULTUR AL. A Russian Apple. Prof. J. L Budd, of lowa, who is giving much attention to the cultivation of the Russian varieties of apple, with a vfew to securing hardy sorts for regions where our old standard apples will not endure the winters, writes to the Prairie Farmer that he finds the Bogdanoff to combine the two qualities of hardiness and good quality in a high degree. In appearance it closely resembles the Domine, with larger size and richer coloring. It keeps till May. As an indication of the hardiness of the tree, Prof. Budd states that while the intense cold of the past winter has darkened the wood of the Wealthy, which is noted for its hardiness, the Bogdanoff remains bright and uninjured. It is expected that this apple will prove one of the reliable ironclads of the Northwest and if, in addition to its size and beauty, it proves to possess the two other excellent characters of productiveness and good quality, it will probably take a prominent position there. Where Small Fruits May Be Successfully Cultivated. Long experience has taught me that profit in growing small fruits for market lies in the direction of quality, not quantity. This certainly is true of the larger cities, and especialy so of the New York market There was a time when a strawberry was a strawberry, and consumers had little ability to discriminate, but this period has passed away. General attention has been called to the fact that there are distinct varieties of strawberries, as there are of apples, pears, and grapes. William Cullen Bryant, the poet, wrote an editorial for his paper, the A’reninp Post, years ago, wherein he inveighed against the Wilson type, declaring, in effect, that it was raised solely for the benefit of producers, because its hardness enabled it to endure carriage, and that to the consumer it meant colic. I Know of n fruit-grower Who sent hundreds of bushels of this variety to New York in one week. After receiving his returns he found that his immense shipments had brought him a little in debt One crate of fine berries would have yielded him a profit Now, I would like to suggest to growers whose eyes follow these lines that they take a piece of ground and make it very rich. Plow under barn-yard manure—that from the cow stable is the best—or well-decayed compost, at the rate of fifty to seventy-five tons to the acre, and plow deep Set out this ground with

the largest and most approved varieties, the planta one foot apart in the row, and the rows three feet apart Keep all runners off, and give thorough cultivation. Protect from winter frosts carefully, and see if one acre will not rive more profit than 'ten acres under slovenly culture. — E P. Roe, in the American Agriculturist. It used to be thought that only sand wan suitable for garden purpose®. For very early forcing some mixture of sand is advantageous. But heavy soils, even clay, are good when well drained, and by some practical, gardeners are preferred for the bulk of their later plantings. If you- have a shrub, herbaceous plant or tree of any kind, that is difficult to kill, out which you wish to be rid of with the least amount of trouble and expense, do not attempt to kill it by cutting off the roots at thia season of the year, but let it alone until in full leaf, or until near the time when it ceases growing for the year. .. July or early in August will be a suitable time for most trees and shrubs, while herbaceous plants may be cut off close to the surface when they are in full bloom. A farmer In New York states that about fifteen years ago he transplanted huckleberries, of both the high and low kinds, from a cold, wet swamp to a dry, gravelly soil, where they have grown taller than in their native spot, and produce larger and more abundant berries. Ho advises us to set out young Slants, about a foot high, in the spring, and len to mulch them for a year or two, and plow in some coarse horse-manure occasionally. They are slow to start but after they are started they grow rapidly, both in bush and berry. 0. G, Atkins, of Manchester, Me., writes to the LeWiston Journal as follows regarding the wrapping of apples in tissue paper for long keeping: “I have often seen this practice recommended, and having this winter some specimens that I was particularly desirous of keeping their full term, I wrapped about a barrel of them in fine, white tissue paper at time of gathering in October. There were a dozen kinds or more so treated, and on opening them in December I was. greatly disappointed to find that every apple so wrapped had acquired a musty flavor that'prevented any fair judgment of the natural flavor of the several varieties. I think this passed off to a certain extent after the covering had been removed. Moreover, many of these specimens wilted, badly while in the tissue paper. I shall not use it again.” LIVE-STOCK? Cassava, a Florida Crop. Cassava, from the roots of which starch can be made much more successfully than from potatoes, is a Florida crop that can be banked on. Lke cow-peas,'it is almost a necessity for those engaged in the growth of cattle. Intelligent Floridians have told me that more cassava can be raised as food for live stock than can be produced in hay on the best land in any .Northern State; that it contains more nutriment than either timothy or clover. Its roots are used by natives here for puddings. It is adapted to the poorest soil, end is always welcome as a food for cattle. A man who has tried cassava-raising says: “Enough can be raised on five acres to fatten from seventy-five to one hundred head of cattle for the market, and they will be as finely flavored as any Ohio corn-fed stock. Hogs like it, and fatten on it rapidly; and it seems to be admirably suited to table uses as a substitute for the white potato. In the West Indies it is dried and ground into flour. Its method of cultivation is not difficult It should be planted in hills four feet apart, so as to be worked by harrows both ways. Deep cultivation will not Answer, as it interferes with the lateral roots, which are a foot or more in length. It should be planted in February or March, having been first cut in lengths—the tops only—of two or three inches, and covered about four inches below the surface of the ground. There will be about 3,000 hills to the acre, and, as each hill will yield probably fifteen pounds, the product would be 45,000 pounds —over twenty tons. This will fatten three sets of 1,000 cattle each during a single year, the net profit on which would reach SIO,OOO. — Florida correspondence Cincinnati Enquirer. Natural Gaits in Horses. The real, naturalgaits.of the horse have been stated to be the walking and the running gait Why this should have been so stated it is difficult to say, except that it seems to have been applied to English thoroughbred horses of fifty years ago. Even the thoroughbred horse really has another natural gait—the trot—and fully as much so as the walk or gallop, and the trot is as constantly used as either of the others. All other horses have the trotting gait as the most used except the walk. In trotting-bred animals it might with the same propriety be said that they nave but two gaits—the walk and the trot —trotting being their best gait as running is with the thoroughbred. To apply common sense to all this, the animal must be trained directly for the work he is to do. In all horses of labor the walk is the most valuable gait In training, the young animal should never be allowed to use any other gait except the walk until he has become thoroughly used therein, and he should be trained to exert every impulse to walk at the fastest possible speed. The time spent in acquiring all this may seem tedious, but it must oe remembered that a horse will get over as much ground day by day at a walking gait, drawing a load half the time, as by any other, and when trained to walk fast will perform a day’s journey as quickly as when trotting half the time. The average gait of an untrained horse with a moderate load is two and a half miles an hour. Few get up actually to three miles. The average horse may be trained to walk off four miles an hour with any load he can fairly handle. Exceptional horses may be trained to walk five miles an hour. Any well-bred horse, of Percheron, good trotting blood, or Clydesdale, can be made to walk four miles an hour on a good road with a full load. Exceptionally good horses may be made to walk up to five miles an hour. - . THE KITCHEN. Layer Cake. 'Pno cups of sugar, half cup butter, one cup bf milk, three eggs, three cups flour, three teaspoons baking powder, one teaspoon vanilla extract. Bake in a good oven about twenty minutes in three layers. .Banana Charlotte. The sides of a quart mold are to be lined with sponge cake, and the bottom of the mold with thin slices of bananas. Fill the mold witfi stiff whipped cream. , Set it aside in an ice-box till wanted. Remove carefully from the mold and servo. Potatoes a la Neige. These are nicely mashed potatoes pressed through a sieve or colander into the dish in which they are to be sent to the table. As they are apt to cool somewhat during the process, place them in a very hot oven for two or three minutes before sending them to the table. Snow Pudding. Half a pint of gelatine soaked in half a pint of cold water for half an hour; then add one pint boiling water, two cups white sugar, and the juice of one lemon, and let it cool the whites of three eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, and beat all together for one hour, and put in a mold to harden. Serve with boiled custard. Cottage Pudding. One cupful sugar, two eggs, tiro cupfuls cream, one pint flour, one and one-half teaspoonfuls baking powder. Beat the eggs and sugar together; add cream, flour, with the powder sifted in, and pinch salt, mix into smooth batter as for cup cake; put Into long, narrow; or oval buttered mola; &ke in hot oven over thirty mitiutes. Meal Croquettes. Take the remains of any cold meat and mince it fine; add an onion minced just as fine (don’t any of you sneer at the onion, for it is one of the most healthful and most obliging vegetables grown), and season with salt and pepper to taste. You can also add a sprig of parody, or a hint of sage, or a dust of thyme, if you like. Soak»thick crustless slice of bread in cold water; squeeze it dry; add to mpat and onion—some people say bind with an egg, but I keep my egg for something else—form into sma 1, flat cakes and fry. lam assuming that the meat remains are scanty. They needn’t be much. About a coffeecup packed full after mincing will do nicely, and give you enough croquettes for breakfast or lunch, or a little aide diah at dinner. » ■

FORESTRY. Jtf <i>neaora'« Hardwoods. The “Big Woods” Of Minnesota well deserve the name, for they cover 5,000 square miles, or 8,300,000 acres of surface. These woods contain only hardwood growths, including white and black oak, maple, hickory, basswood, elm, cottonwood, tamarack, and enough other varieties to make an aggregate of over fifty different kinds. The hardwood tract extends in a belt across the middle of the State, and surrounding its northeastern corner is an immense pine region, covering 21,000 square miles, or 18,440,u0J scree How Trees Die. When Dean Swift facetiously predicted that he would die like a tree by “going off at the top,” anticipating the failure of his mental powers, he correctly described the beginning of natural decay in trees. There are exceptions, but as a rule the visible signs of decay begin at the top. The cause of decay may lie elsewhere, but the top limbs are the first parte that become paralyzed The enfeebled vitality is unable to drive the sap to extremities, the pores being choked up, and the limb dies. This is apparent in mostly all trees that die what may be called a natural death. At all times the circulation and the vitality is weakest at the extremities, just as in animals, and it may almost always be noticed that most injury from cold is done, not always to the most exposed parte, but to the extremities of the shoots. It is this vigor, the nearer we get to the root, which has no doubt led cultivators to suppose that cutting a limb back puts strength into a plant, but the idea is quite erroneous. Undoubtedly the further; we cut back at the right season the stronger does, the shoot grow for a certain distance, but no additional strength is added. What was wanting before can not be put there again by the removal of any portion of what is left How to Pile Wood. An English forester writes: It is sometimes necessary to pile such things as fence-posts and rails for a certain time before they are wanted for use in places exposed to the weather. These posts and rails often consist merely of small trees and poles sawn down the center. When this is so, they may be much longer preserved by being properly piled. Always place the side with the bark uppermost If this is done, the wet runs off and the wood is kept dry and preserved. If, on the other hand, the sawn side is piled uppermost, the rain soaks in under the bark, and the wood is always wet ; and decay is induced In stacking wood of tpis description, be careful, therefore, to expose the bark-co vered side to the weather. While on this subject, there is another thought occurs to me—viz., the loss often occasioned by splitting of boards and planks by exposure to the weather in the process of seasoning. In the well-known method of placing strips of thin wood between each board or plank to allow the air to circulate, it generally happens that these strips are placed six inches or a foot from the ends, and mat the boards, if at all straight in the grain, split up to the point where the strips are need The way to prevent this loss is simply to place the strips quite at the ends of the planks and exactly one above the other. If this is carefully done, a great loss in this matter of splitting can be avoided DAIRYING. Hints on Cheese Making. [Paper read before the New York State Agricultural Society, by George A. Bonfoy, of Herkimer County.) To establish one set of rules for making cheese from all conditions of milk would be like recommending one remedy for all diseases of the human system. The quality of th® milk is very easily influenced by surrounding circumstances, both natural and unnatural; therefore, the rule that would be beneficial to one kind of milk would be detrimental to another. I have adopted a few rules, that I use in nearly all cases, for making full-cream cheese. First, warm the milk gradually to 83 degrees in warm weather, and 85 or 86 degrees in cold, using enough of sweet, water-soaked rennet to coagulate in thirty-five or forty minutes, then cutting lengthwise and crosswise, letting it settle until the curd has entirely disappeared, after which stir and cut carefully to the desired fineness, stirring and warming to 98 or 100 degrees, being governed by the keeping quality of the milk as to the length of time for heating. If the milk is sweet and the curd cooks slow, then heat slow, but if it cooks fast, then heat fast The onp-year-old cheese that took the prize at the New York State Fair last fall was made from full-cream milk and in the usual way, with the exception that it was salted with 3% pounds of salt to the 1,000 pounds of milk, instead of 2,W; the curd was very fine flavored, well cooked, and about one-half inch acid, and was not cheddared. Wbere the cnrds are well cooked, are free and not inclined to settle together, and sweet flavored, I do not always consider it necessary to cheddar. It is sometimes difficult to know just when to salt and press the curd We have to be governed by the condition of the curd, and whether it is intended for home trade or for shipping. ■ , A great deal depends on having good milk to make good cheese. Too much pains cannot be taken by patrons in the care of milk. I find from personal experience and observation that there is a great difference in localities as to the quality of milk. Where cows feed on wet, swampy lands, producing wild grasses, and have poor water to drink, the milk, when made into cheese, will be spongy and difficult to cook, of an offensive flavor, and when aggravated by tainted milk the curd will float on the surface of the whey,— ______ I know of no better way to manage such curite than to beat them in the usual way, and as soon as the acid begins to develop, draw the whey, pack the curd, keep it warm, and if it turns spongy and full of pin-holes, then let it lie until a sufficient amount of acid has developed that when ground and pressed the pinholes will have entirely disappeared. I have, let such curds string from the hot iron five inches without any injury to the cheese. Such cheese when cured will be firm, meaty, •f good texture and fine flavor. Where cows feed on uplands, have tame grasses to eat and running water to drink, the milk will be of better quality, and when heated will cook easier and be better flavored. Such curds do not require as much acid as the lowland milk. I am very much in favor of cheddaring cheese, especially in Warm weather, for in our factory system, where we get a mixture of all kinds of milk, I consider it safer to draw the whey and let the acid develop on the dry curd; it takes the cheese a little longer to cure, but when cured the flavor is more durable. One mistake some of our factory men are making is to make their cheese to cure too quickly. The object is to get the cheese on the market as soon as possible, so as to save care and shrinkage, and that the patrons may get the proceeds sooner. These are good arguments in favor of quick curing. S - ~ Buch cheese soon gets sharp and off flavor, and depreciates in value, bringing a loss to file dealer, dissatisfaction to the consumer, and a loss of our reputation abroad for the production of good cheese. Cheese buyers are discriminating more closely now than in times past between good and poor cheese. This we nope may be an inducement to produce a better article, for good cheese always finds ready sale at good prices. BEE-KEEPING? To Keep Ants from Beehives. Anta can usually be driven from hives by smoking them, but if that should not effective apply alcohol to the portions of* the hive which they frequent —The latter is thought to be an unfailing remedy. Bysmeariug the inside of tin (pippers with syrup or hopev and placing them m the vic nity of the hive," the ants will be attracted to the dishes, and may be destroyed by frequently dipping, the dishes quickly intp * kettle of scalding water taken to the spot By repeating the scalding process as often as the dishes are lined with ante large numbers of them may be destroyed. If the bees frequent the smeared dishes punch holes in the latter large enough to admit the ants, but so small that the bees cannot enter, Mia place them bottom up, leaving a small crevice around the edges for the benefit of the ants. JtkCWw .vet Vs . vDJSwMt) ' ~ This suit in California lately was brought bv an owner of a vineyard, claiming damages against the owners of a bee-ranch. Though

it was clearly proven that tne proboscis or bill of the bee is constituted to lap or suck up sweets, and not able to tear open the skin of fruits, the case went against tne defendant. When the skin of grapes, peaches, or pears is punctured by birds, waspi or other depredators, then the bees suck out the juices. Where raisin growers Mid large apiaries arc contiguous, it would be well for Doth parties to take a common-sense view of the matter, and provide against contingencies. If grapes are exposed to dry in the open air and sunshine, where bees can have access to them, ,every grape broken from the stem or with the skin broken in any way, will have its juices sucked .put until nothing but the husk and seeds remain. Would it not be bettor, if both parties united and purchased wire netting or mosquito bar, to keep off the bees than go to law about it?— Prairie Farmer'. V ‘ . I . . Tin Roofs for Bee-Hives. Mr. John Rey, of East Saginaw, Mich.,writes the Bee Journal: I have obtained only half a crop, TST thirty-three pounds per colony, this season. I started last spring with twenty-five colonies, increased them to seventy-three during the season, and obtained eleven hundred pounds of comb honey and thirteen hundred pounds of extracted honey. I have sold five colonies, which leaves me sixty-eight; these I have packed in planer shavings on the summer stands. I contracted the most of my colonies down to seven and some to six Langstroth frames, and filled in the space and over the brood-frames with shavings. My colonies are strong in bees, and I left them thirty pounds of honey per colony to winter on, the most of which is white clover honey. The past summer I put tin roofs on my hives and gave them two coats of paint, winch makes a good roof, and cost only thirteen cents per hive. I lost two colonies last winter just on account of leaky roofs, and for the value of those two colonies I could have roofed one hundred hives. I use the roofing tin twerrty by twentyeight inches, and it is just the size for the tenframe Langstroth hive. I also use hooks for the covers of every one of my hives. To fasten and unfasten them is but the work of a moment* and less trouble than handling a large stone. My hives stand in the open air all the year round, except m midsummer, when I shade them with a large board, a la Heddon; for the tin roof draws too much heat from the sun. THE HOUSEHOLD. Chairs in the Parlor. Where do people wish to sit down when they make a call? Near their hostess. What arrangement suite a small company who might prove congenial friends if tbey bad any opportunity to discover each other? Near together, not at points equally distant from a common center. Shall an affectionate family s.t Indian fashion round the edges of their home, each in his own fixed place? The result is certain to be Indian silence and monotony. Put down in black and white, such questions seem too frivolous for consideration, but in' fact they arise daily in multitudes of homes. Chairs being to sit in,- it follows that the use for which the room is intended is the first question to be asked. The parlor, which in most families is the quiet corner where a guest may spend an uninterrupted half hour during a social call, needs some easy chairs, lest the wearied visitor never come again; but it needs, still more, light chairs—and more than one—that can easily be moved about Whether the easy chairs are cane-seat rockers or plush divans, their position cannot readily be changed, while the light chair that can be taken in the hand and carried from one corner to the other will furnish the opportunity for sociability two or three times in a single call, perhaps. It must be a chair that can be carried; it is not enough that it rolls on castors, for it is still clumsy and heavy, and the effort necessary to alter its position will often prevent the change altogether. This is not all the battle, however. The original arrangement of the furniture is like the disposition of troops. It inhere that the hostess shows her knowledge of human nature and her experience of society. A clever woman, to Whom the great world was a second nature, once said on this point that she always observed how the chairs were left in a drawing room where several people had been sitting, and put them in the same position next tana This is the secret of success with chairs. Dispose them so that persons who fall into them shall sit down in the places most natural and satisfactory. Arrange a group of chairs near the door, where the casual caller will drop into one and the hostess in another, and without realizing the fact that they are sitting near together, will yet be placed in the best possible position for a little conversation. If it is a large draw-ing-room constantly used by a number of people, multiply these groups of seats, not in ridiculous esthetic situations, with the sofas at right angles to the room, but conveniently and naturally. Sit down in the chairs if necessary, and see in what position you would like to find your neighbor. If you remember that the chairs are to sit in, not to look at, not even to give color, you will place <hem as' people will wish to find them, and without knowing why, your drawing-room will often be full of people, and its reputation will go abroad.— Good Housekeeping. THE NURSERY. A Menu for the Bigger Babies. BICE SOUP. Three tablespoonfuls of raw ripe, soaked three hours in just enough water to cover it One cupful of clear beef tea or bouillon, diluted with a cupful of boiling water. One-half cupful of milk (sweet and fresh). Salt to taste. Heat the bouillon to boiling; drain the rice and stir it in; cover and cook gently until the rice is- soft and broken to pieces. Turn the soup into a colander, rub the rice through it, and return to the fire. Add the milk, which should have been heated to scalding in another vessel; salt; bring quickly to the boil, beating briskly with a split spoon for a minute when it begins to bubble; pour out and serve. POACHED EGGS ON CREAM TOAST. As many eggs as there are children to eat them. The same number of rounds of crustless toast, lightly buttered. A cupful of hot milk, salted. , Boiling water. Heat the water to boiling in a deep fryingpan, salt it slightly, and set on one side of the range where it will not boil yet will hold the heat Break each egg in a Saucer, and slip dexterously into the water. When the white is “set,” take up with a perforated ladle and lay it on its round of toast, already prepared in this way: As fast as the rounds are toasted and buttered dip them into the boiling (salted) milk and arrange them on a hot platter. When the eggs are all in place salt them slightly and serve. BAKED POTATOES. Select large, fair potatoes of uniform size, wash, wipe, and lay them jn a good oven. They will be done in about an hour, and should be served at once. Test them by pressing the largest hard between your fingers. If it gives easily it is r jady to be eaten As the potatoes are too hot for little fingers, let mother or nurse prepare them by removing the skins, scraping out the inside, and rubbing soft and fine before seasoning with salt and butter. No lumps should be left in the mealy mass. ’ ' An unripe, or under-done, or watery potato is one of the least digestible of edibles, as the same vegetable fully grown and properly cooked is one of the rest APPLESAUCE. Pare and slice ripe apples—Baldwins, greenings, or other tart ana tender varieties—and pack them into a porcelain-lined or tin saucepan ; cover barely with cold water to prevent scorching, and cook gently until they are very soft Turn intoji bowl and mash with ai wooden spoon, press with the same through a collander, aiul sweeten to taste while,warm, If the sugar is cooked into the apples they become a preserve and lose their flavor. “Conserves” of all kinds are unfit for young children’s stomachs. Apple sauce, such as is described .here, Is wholesome, pleasant to the taste, and slightly laxative to the. bowels. It should be eaten with bread and butter. CUSTARD 1-UDDTNG. Two cups of fresh milk. i Two eggs. Two tablespoonfuls of sugar. - A pinch of salt Beat the eggs light, add the sugar, and whip them up together Until smooth and crearnv. Stir in the milk (salted very slightly), pour into a bake-dish, and set this in a dripping-pan full of boiling water until the middle of the custard is “ss-t” Take directly from the oven. Eat cold.— Babyhood.