Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1875 — RECIPES, ETC. [ARTICLE]

RECIPES, ETC.

—A solution of oxalic acid#crystals, one part by measure to eight of soft water, will entirely remove dry inkstains. ... , —To protect .young fruit trees from borers and other worms that come first from the ground, wrap a small piece of cotton batting close around the trunk about four feet from the ground. —Paper is far preferable to straw beneath carpets, since it is thinner and warmer, and makes Teas noise. Two layers of it between bed covers are equal in warmth to a quilt. It is also the best material for polishing glass, tinware, stoves, etc. —ln boiling potatoes for pigs, says the Gardener's Chronicle, they should be strained, as the water from them is injurious to a less or greater degree, as it contains the poisonous alkaloid called solanine, which, it should be noted, is more abundant when the tubers begin to chimp or bud out. —Ham Cake.—A capital way of disposing of the remains of a ham and making an exeallent dish for breakfast is: Take a pound and a half of ham, fat and lean together; put it into a mortar and pound it, or pass it through a sausage machine; boil a large slice of bread in a half pint of milk, and beat it and the ham well together; add an egg beaten up. Put the whole into a mold and bake a rich brown. Care of Lamps—l. Always fill lamps in the morning, -when 'there is daylight to -work by, and lamps and oil are cold. 2. Do not pour oil from a can that has recently been agitated. 3. Do not allow alamp to stand very long near a stove, or in any other warm place. 4. Always keep the tube of the lamp clean, and trim the wick every morning. 5. Do not extinguish a lamp by blowing down the chimney; blow up from the bottom, or else turn the wick down. 6. Buy none but the best of oil. If your grocer does not or will not keep it, make a club with your neighbors, and send to a city for a barrel. 7. Avoid all lamps holding over a pint of oil, as the danger is greater as the size of lamps increases.— CourierJournal. —Corn Meal Dumplings.—Put a pint and a half nf meal into a pan, place in the oven to get heated through. Have the tea-kettle boiling when you take the hot meal from the oven; put sufficient salt into it, pour upon it boiling water, stirring continually until it is as thin as mush that you can stir easily. Have a skillet of hot lard ready as soon as the dumplings are cool enough to make out with your hands. Dip your hands into cold water, dip out a spoonful and form into dumplings about the size of a lien’s egg; drop into the hot lard and fry to a crisp, delicate brown. One must exercise judgment to get them just right, but •after you do get them right you will vote them nice. I drop mine into a deep skillet of lard asl do doughnuts, but one can do with less by having the iard to but half cover them and turn' them over. Do not fry too quickly or they will be browned and not be crisp. A pint and a half of meal will make dumplings enough for six persons—Cor. Prairie Farmer.