Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 46, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1877 — HOME, PARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

HOME, PARM AND GARDEN.

—A tableapoonful of ground hone radish, added to every quart of cataup or plckiea, will keep tne mold irom the top. —Common soot from the house chimney is one of the -best fertilizer* for house plant*. One pint In a pall of water, to be used watering the plants. —lmoa Slate Reginter. —Lard or butter to be used for pastry should be as hard as possible. If left on the ice for awhile before using the pastry will be lighttfl* and better. It needs only to be cut through the flour with a chopping knife, not rubbed. —To remove fruit stains let the spotted part of the cloth imbibe a little water without dipping it. and hold the part over two or three lighted brimstone matches at a proper distance. 1 The sulphurous gas which is discharged soon causes the spots to disappear. —Put into a cup of common alcohol, such as is used for spirit lamps, as much gum camphor as it will absorb, and wash any part of the house or beds that has been infested with bugs. It will kill the bugs and destroy the vitality of the eggs if every spot where they have been concealed is thoroughly saturated with this mixture. —A strong decoction of tobacco, well rubbed in with a sponge, will cleanse the skin of lice or other vermin. If not entirely removed with one application it may be repeated, always taking care to tie up the horse's head for some hours after he has been well swabbed. The skin being once thoroughly cleansed of them suds made from carbolic soap, used occasionally, will keep them away.—Exchange. —To make quince jam, pare and quarter some quinces, and weigh an equal quantity or sugar. To four pounds of the latter put a quart of water, boil and skim it well, during the time the quinces are being prepared. Lay the fruit in a stonejar, with a teaspoonful of water at the bottom, and pack them with a little sugar strewn between. Cover the jar close, set it in a cool oven, or on a stove, and let the quinces soften till they become red. Then pour the syrup and a quart of quince juice into a preserving-pan, and boil all together till the jam be completed, breaking the lumps of fruit with the ladle; otherwise the fruit is so hard that it will require a great deal of time. —Vonfect ioner ’ * Journal. -*-The New York Herald gives the following recipe for currant jelly: Put the currants, stems and all, into a large tin bread pan if you have no large preserving kettle. Put this pan or kettle on a slow Are, and let it heat, stirring and mashing the fruit with a wooden spoon. When so hot that the fruit breaks readily, remove from the fire. When cool enough to handle, strain the juice out, putting a few spoonfuls at a time into your jelly towel. Squeeze until eveiy drop of juice is extracted, and. between each squeezing scald off the inside to remove the pulp and skin. A yard of loose, coarse, unbleached muslin is very good for straining the jelly. One peck ot currants should give six pints of juice. To each pint of juice allow a pound of sugar. Bet the juice on the fire to boil, and while it is warming, divide the sugar into several different portions, and put into shallow pie dishes or pans that will fit in your oven; heat in these, opening the oven now and then, and stir it to prevent burning. Boil the juice just twenty minutes from the time it begins to boil. By this time the sug*fshould be so hot that you cannot bear your hantf'isiluJikould it melt around the edges do not be alarmetfr -Xlyhbunied parts will only form in lumps antfnftft. easily be taken out. Throw the sugar into the boiling juice, stirring rapidly all the while. It will “hiss" as it falls in and dissolve very rapidly. Withdraw your spoon when you are sure it is dissolved. Let the jelly just come to a boil, to make all certain, and take the kettle instantly from the fire. For several seasons we have put up jelly in this way and never once failed. It is both simple and safe, and the jelly is greatly superior in color and taste to that made by boiling down sugar and fruit. Dip your bowls or glasses into hot water and fill. When cold put brandied tissue paper over the top, paste a thick paper over each bowl and keep in a cool, dry place.