Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1878 — HOME, FARM AND HARDEN. [ARTICLE]

HOME, FARM AND HARDEN.

—We give it up. Of all the weeds in this world we supposed the oocklebur, while it was the most offensive, was the most worthless. But it is now recommended as a certain cure for hydrophobia.— loioa Stale Register. —Cleaning Cistern Water.—Add two ounces powdered alum and two ounces borax 'to a twenty-barrel cistern of rain-water that is blackened or oily, and in a few hours the sediment willsettle and the water be clarified and fit for washing and even for cooking purposes. — Exchange. —The Country Gentleman gives the following remedy for chicken cholera: Five grams of powdered prepared chalk, the same quantity of rhubarb, and three grains of cayenne pepper, mixed, and formed into a pill with mucilage, may be given, and if the relaxation is not speedily checked, a grain of opium and a grain of powdered ipecacuanha may be given every four or six hours. Give water to drink in which is placed some unslacked lime. < —A German farmer sets a high value on pigs a» exterminators of field mice and other vermin. He believes that the plague of mice so prevalent in Germany is in great measure due to the present system of keeping swine penned up instead of allowing them the range of the fields, as was formerly the custom. He states that a careful observer may often detect pigs in the act of snapping up and devouring a good-sized mouse; beside which they may have an extraordinary keen scent for the nests, grubbing them up in search of the young mice, which they eagerly devour. —Rules for the Care of Sheep.—l. Keep sheep dry under foot with clean litter. This is more necessa'-y than roofing them. Never let them stand or lie in the mud or snow. 2. If a ewe loses her lamb, milk her daily for a few days, and mix a little alum with her salt. 3. Never frighten sheep, if possible to avoid it. 4. Separate all weak, sick or thin sheep in the fall from those that are strobg, andgive them special care. 5. If any sheep is hurt, catch it at once and wash the wound with a healing lotion. If a leg is broken, bind it with splinters tightly, loosening as the limb swells. 6. If a sheep is lame, examine its foot, clean out between the hoofs; if unsound, apply tobacco, with blue vitriol boiled in a little water. 7. Shear at once any sheep commencing to shed its wool, unless the weather is too severe. Keep none but the best, and see that they are properly attended to.— Exchange. —What are termed ices consist merely of the juices of fruits sweetened witn sugar sirup and then frozen, like icecream. It is stated that the best ices are made by first cooking the sugar in the form of sirup, having the strength of 30 deg. The fruit juices are strained through a sieve and then added, with a little water and the whites of a few eggs, to the prepared sirup. The final mixture should have a consistence of 22 deg. It is then frozen in the usual way. To make the best icecream, says the Scientific American, it is necessary that the cream should be of the best quality; and the utensils in which it is made must be absolutely clean. With every quart of the cream mix six ounces best pulverized white sugar, a very little vanilla bean, and the white of one egg. The latter imparts a smoothness and delicacy to the cream that cannot otherwise be obtained. The prepared mixture is then to be stirred in the freezer until it is entirely congealed. Those who desire first-rate ices or cream should follow these directions carefully, and avoid the use of corn-starch or other thickeners. Instead of vanilla as a flavor for the cream, a trifling amount of any desired flavoring sirup or juice may be used, as strawberry, pineapple, orange, lemon, etc.