Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1869 — Farm and Household. [ARTICLE]

Farm and Household.

USEFUL RECIPES, ETC. Bum ent in 0< tbe opinion that where fowls are fed tin corn or barley it pays Well to “boil It. Oata and buckwheat should be fed raw. Always loosen tbe check-rein before giving the horse water. Even if the pail is held so high that the rein is not drawn tight, the position is not a natural one in which to drink. The Stock Journal says the time to feed poultry is not in the morning. Let them do the best they can for themselves in the early part of the day, but just before they go to roost fill their crops with nudding. Active digestion nan go in the crop and gizzard of tne chicken while Itis asleep.

Liquro manure should.be made weeks before applying to plants, as experiments here have proved that when applied too s'rong it causes the plant to wither, and stops its growth, and those plants watered with a weak solution of liquid manure grew finely and made one fifth more growth than those that were not thus «vaExperimental Farm Journal. It is said (hat a cup of coffee is a sure barometer, if you allow the sugar to drop to the bottom of a cup and watch the bubbles arise without disturbing the coffee. If the bubbles collect in the middle, the weather will be fine; if they adhere to the cup, forming a ring, it will be rainy ; and if the bubbles separate without assuming any fixed position, changeable weather may be expected Try it. One would think that a kind-hearted man, when he sees how grateful this operation is to a cow, would be willing to Spend a few moments carding her. It pays as well to clean a cow as a horse. All who have fairly tried it find great benefit from the operation. And not one farmer in a hundred makes it a practice to use the card or curry-comb in.the cow stable. We know stupid men who laugh at the idea as a mere notion of some fancy farmer. But in point of fact, no cow can give the best results at the pail unless this matter is attended to, especially in winter. —Stock Journal. Fob the preservation of 'he luster of articles of silver or plated ware, when not needed for actual use for a considerable ti me, a coating of collodion (to be had at the drug store), may be employed »o great advantage. The articles are to be heated and tbe collodion then carefully applied by means of a brush, so as to cover the surface thoroughly and uniformly. It is used most conveniently when diluted with alcohol, as for photographic purposes. Articles thus prepared exhibit no trace whatever of their covering, and have stood for more than a year in shop windows and in dwellings, retaining their white luster and color, while other pieces not thus prepared become seriously tarnished.— Exchange. The Journal of Applied Chemistry condemns, in strict language, the practice of putting up articles or diet in envelopes of tin foil. The tin foil, it contends, contains lead poison, and is very injurious to the health of those who. eat articles that have been inclosed in it. The warning given to tobacco chewers against the use of “ fine cut ” put up in this style is worthy of attention. By oxidation the nicotine of the tobacco becomes nicotic acid, which acts on lead, producing a salt which is very poisonous, and not unfrequently shows its deleterious effects among consumers of “ the weed ” in the form of paralysis of the facial nerves. We often see, ana perhaps in most cases without realizing the cause, persons who are in the habit of chewing tobacco, afflicted with a nervous twitching of the muscles of the face, and a certain, though almost indescribable, wrinkled expression of the countenance, and which, as every reason to believe, has its sole origin in the use of to bacco which has undergone this reaction with lead. The tobacco alone was never known to produce this effect, and although its inordira'xusJ is undoubtedly injurious, the symptoms are quite of a different character. Foreign cheese is brought to this market in tin foil; so are bologna and other sausages, dried fruits, etc. All these are more or ies made poisonous by their action upon the lead which surrounds them.