Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1874 — Skimming the Seine. [ARTICLE]

Skimming the Seine.

Of all the things in the world which appear utterly worthless are soap-suds. Mr. Simmonds takes a different view. lie tells us that “ soap-suds as a stimulant of vegetable life cannot be too highly appreciated.” AYe cannot go into his arguments on the great value of soapsuds, and it is sufficient to say, that when poured out as a manure they are of prodigious efficacy. The French, who are up to everything in the chemical line, have taken a proper view of the soapsuds. Whether from private dwelling? in Paris or from the barges of the btynchisseuses, the Seine must have a good deal of soap floating about it in a wasteful kind of way, to say nothing of the greasy pollutionfrom dead dogs and cats. There was a fortune if properly looked after. An enterprising firm, fortified by the Authority of the Prefect, determined to begin a system of skimming the Seine. You would imagine it was a nonsensical idea. \ Quite a mistake. By uniting the skimmings of the river with! the offal from hospitals the firm is able, by the aid of chemistry, steam and cookery .to fatten 3,000 pigs and to produce annually 500,000 pounds of soap.— Chambers' Journ 1. * j +' Arrowroot Biscuit.— Rub together three-quarters ol a pound of sugar and the same weight of butter untjl they rise. Beat three eggs well and mix with it, then stir in two cups of 6ifted flour, roll them out thin, cut them with a biscuit-cutter, place them in buttered tins, and bake in a slow oven. —Short men always rise early ; it is impossible for them to lie long. I