Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1869 — Agricultural and Domestic. [ARTICLE]

Agricultural and Domestic.

rusty knives, cover the blade with sweet oil, let it remain €«ty eight hours, then polish with finely powdered, unslaked liiiw.

~ —Tha best way to affix labeds on plants or trees, is said to he to write the words with a lead pencil pn zinc. The writing proves more distinct with age, and cannot be effaced.

—The best tinio to plant the seed of the sugar naapU is after it has ripened in the fall. It will do well, however, when sown properly in a well prepared seed bed in spring, if the seed has been kept in a suitable place until then.

-—Potatoes should always be kept in the dark. Rural housekeepers do not need to be told this, but many live in towns and cities should know that potatoes exposed to the light, for a day only have their flavor injured, and the longer exposed the worse they are. Never use a greenish potato.

—Clover plowed in has three effects. It gives vegetable mold. The roots bring to the soil plant food, out of the sub soil, and the acid produced when decay is going on aids in dissolving the mineral parts of the soil. In granite lands this last is of as much importance a§ cither of the others.

--—A steer of elephantic proportions is owned by Stockwell and Hadley, of Ray county, Mo. He is eleven feet four inches long from top of head to root of tail, twelve feet around the chest, and twenty-one hands high from hoof to center of withers. llis age is five years, and reported weight 3,800 pounds.

—The State Board of Agriculture at its recent session at Indianapolis elected the following officers; A. D. Hamrick, President; John Sutherland, of Laporte, Vice President; A. J. Holmes, of Rochester, Secretary; C. Dickson and John Sullivan, of Indianapolis, Treasurer and Superintendent

—Food of Work Horses.— A horse that is in the harness every day needs an abundance of food, and the right kind. Oats make more muscle than corn, and should alway s form part of the food of a hard working horse. Corn gives plumpness and imparts warmth. The colder the weather the more corn; the harder the work, the more oats.—/i’c.-

Parsnip Fritters.—Boil six parsnips tender; skin and mash them. Mix them with two eggs well beaten, and two teaspoonfuls of flour. Make up in small cakes, and fry in lard or beef gravy, which should be ladling' hot before the cakes arc put in. The proper amount of salt should also be added for seasoning.

Dried Apple Cake.—Let three cups of dried apples be soaked for twelve hours. Then chop them and let them simmer for fifteen minutes in two ciips of molasses. The whole should then be set aside’to become cool. Then add one-third of a cup of butter, two eggs, half a cup of sugar, five cups of flour, half a cup of milk, two teaspoonfuls of soda, and any kind of spice that may be pre ferred.

-—The Canada Farmer says: *the blanket should not be used upon a horse at all in winter unless it be used faithfully. The trouble arises in this way. When a team has been driven ikfew miles to market, «r the same distance for pleasure, f blankets or robes are put on, *bnt when drawing logs to the saw-mill, or doing any other heavy work, -they are made to *|uwd large loads a mile or two aftd return at a brisk trot and . stand uncovered until another .Ln/yl is put on. In this way Sin horses are suddenly cooled fey