Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1878 — HOME, FARM AND GARDEN. [ARTICLE]

HOME, FARM AND GARDEN.

—Beautify your grounds. Plant trees and shrqbs, and fruits and flowers. Bask in the sunshine. With inspiration drink in the blessings of earth and Heaven.— Jowa State Register. —Muffins.—One quart of sweet milk, and flour sufficient to make a batter. One-half pint of good yeast, four eggs, a little salt; then set them by the fire to rise. When quite light, bake them in -muffin-rings, op a griddle. —Cookies.—Two cups sugar, one cup sour milk or cream; one cup butter, two eggs, five cups flour, one teaspoonful soda. Reserve half the flour to roll them out in, and the softer they can be rolled the better. Add caraway seeds, if liked. —Griddle Cakes.—Take your pieces of dry bread and pour over them boiling water; stir and beat to a smooth paste; put in flour enough to make them about the consistency of buckwheat cakes; add a little salt, one teaspoonful of soda, and three eggs, well beaten. They are delicious for breakfast or tea. —Fried Potatoes with Eggs. —Slice cold boiled potatoes and fry in good butter until brown; beat up one or two eggs and stir into them just as you dish them for table. Do not leave them a moment on the fire after the eggs are in, as, if they harden, they are not half so nice. One egg is enough for three or four persons, unless they are very fond of potatoes; if they arc, have plenty and put in two.

—Celery is not so generally cultivated as it should be, for the reason, doubtless, that the millions who could most easily have it have never learned to like it. As with tomatoes and some other vegetables, the taste for celery has to be cultivated; but when once acquired it is never lost, and no delicacy of the garden is more highly appreciated. In most parts of the country the use of celery is principally confined to city people, while farmers do not know or care for it. There never has been, and never will be, too much labor employed in producing articles which add to human happiness, but it often happens that this labor is so misdirected that some products are greater in quantity than for the time can be used, and so labor is poorly rewarded. Country Gentleman. —A correspondent of the Practical Farmer gives her method of growing geraniums, as follows: Get a roomy pot, put three or four pieces of broken brick or pebbles in the bottom to secure drainage. Take equal parts of chip dirt, sand and barnyard manure; mix well and fill the pot, make a hole in the center, fill it with water and carefully place your plant in. Now fill Uie dirt around your plant, press lightly to make it firm, put it in a shaded window for a few days until it gets accustomed to its new quarters, gradually let it have the sun, and in a week’s time you may give it the sunniest window you have. If it grows too tall, pinch the top off; it will soon throw out new branches on every side. I wish you could have a peep at mine—it is so thrifty and healthy. The leaves are as broad as my hand. A great many water too much; I water mine twice a week with soap suds; give it a good drenching and wash every leaf with a tooth-brush. It makes the plant healthy, and how beautiful and fresh each leaf looks after the bath.