Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 3 April 1873 — FARM AND HOUSEHOLD. [ARTICLE]

FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.

—Cultivate less land and cultivate better, is good advice to a large proportion of farmers. —To prevent ink from turning mouldy, it has been recommended by a German chemist to add a drop or two of mustard oil. A similar addition to starch paste is said to prevent its turning sour. —The State Legislature of Vermont provides that freight wagons carrying more than three tons in weight, and less than four,•'Shall have the rims of their wheels at least four inches wide, and if carrying more than four tons, five inches. ‘ ' —A French farmer has discovered a simple and effective preventive against potato-disease. He introduces a small quantity of crushed tan-bark into each hole on planting the crop, and by this method has, for the last three years, been completely successful in preserving his fields free from the disease. . —A Good.Cakte.—Take three heaping tablespoenfuls of powdered or granulated sugar, two of butter, one of mazena, one egg; put with this two cups of flour, half a cup of sweet milk, a teaspoon cream-of-tartar, half a teaspoon soda, a pinch of salt, and Zante currants. Roll this out in powdered sugar, cut the dough in strips, and twist them as you would champagne cakes. —Making Leather Water-Proof.—Dis-solve a Small piece of parafin, of the size of a hickory nut, in good lard oil; —by help of heat, and rub it on the leather once a month. Or, take one part India rubber cement (which is made by softening it in benzole), dissolve in twenty parts neatsfoot oil and two parts fallow, by help of heat. This is a recipe highly recomrn'ended for leather, sis that used for the boots of sportsmen. —An English farmer who has keptsheep for forty years says he has found rock salt a valuable antidote for liver rot,_ and that these animals cannot be too liberally supplied with this saving substance. He’ further declares that in cases of congestion of the liver or rot he has found two tablespoonfuls of turpentine shaken up in half a pint of water, and given to the sufferer, a frequent cure, unless the disease has made very great progress.