The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-08-13
FARM AND IOUSEHOLD.
USEFUL RECIPES, ETC.

USEFUL RECIPES, ETC.
A WRITER in the Rural Messenger says
as good crop of corn as he ever saw was
saved by the persistent use of the hoe be-
tween showers, in q season as wet as this
has been. All the boys that could be hired
in the neighborho0d were employed in
hoeing the corn and keeping the hills clear
of weeds. The neighbors who let their
corn alone until their ground got dry, had
scarcely any corn.
THIS is the way to cut off the neck of a
bottle: With a strong Irvine yard or
less in length, make one turn around the
neck, rapidly move the bottle from one
end of the string to the other, that the
friction may heat the part; while hot, dip
in cold water and the glass is cracked off
as clean and smooth as if cut by dia-
mond. A few strokes or movements with
the string are all required. A bottle may
be cut in two by the same process, ifstrips
of paper are pasted around it, to keep the
string from slipping from the place de-
sired.
SYDNEY SMITH said "Never give way
to melancholy resist it steadily, for the
habit will encroach. once gave a lady
two and twenty recipes against melan-
chOly. One was q bright fire; another was
to remember all the pleasant things said
to her; another to keep boz of sugar
plums on the chimney-piece and a kettle
simmering on the hob. thought this
mere trifling at the moment, but discover
ed in after life how true it is that these
little pleasures often Danish melancholy
better than higher and more exalted OBJ
jects and no means ought to be thought
too trifling which can oppose it in our
selves or In others"
WATERING PLANTs.-A writer in an
exchange says: Plants set against walls
and piazzas frequently suffer from want OF
water at this season, when even ground
near them is quite wet. Draw away the
soil from each plant 50 as to form basin
fill in with bucketful of water, allowing
it time to soak gradually away, and when
tile surface has dried a little, draw in
loosely the soil over it, and it will do with
out water for some weeks. This applies
to all plants wanting water through the
season. If water is merely poured on the
surface, it is made more compact by the
weight of water, and the harder the soil
becomes the easier it dries; and the result
is, the more water you give the more is
wanted.-Erchange.
How SHE CANS CoRN.-Mrs. A. 2.
Lindsay, of Montrose, Pa, sends to an
Eastern paper the following recipe, which
will be serviceable when the melancholy
days have come Boil it fifteen minutes
on the ear, then dry the grain in pans an
hOuf in the warm sunshine, next salt it
Just so much as will season it for the table;
fill tin cans, leaving half an inch of space.
Put gill or so of water in each can, and
leave an aperture about the size of pin
in the cover for the escape of the gas.
Then place the tins in kettle, having in
1t enough water to reach within an inch
of the top of the cans; then boil mOder-
ately three quarters of an hour; then SOL
def DIP the vent The coin will keep per
fectly sweet and good as long as it is re-
quired to keep"
To REJUvENATE OLD GRAPE VINES
The editor of the Practical Farmer says:
Having on our premises, planted by
former owners, probably twenty years,
half dozen old grape vines with large
weatherbeaten trunks or stems, which
made annually but little new wood and
yielded but very few poor grapes, two
seasons ago we cut off the branches, and
laid the main stems down in the trenches,
covering with about a foot ofearth. Wig
orous and healthy shoots sprang up in
great abundance-thew weak ones OF which
were broken off, and leading ones at
proper distances trained to the arbor. The
new growths are now clean, healthy, and
strong-sufficient entirely to cover the
large afbOr the present season; we look
for bushels of fruit from the new bearing
wood. We see old grape vines every
where, doing no good, and which could be
made young and thrifty by this process"
USE OF RAwHIDEs.-A skin of an ami
NAL, whether cow, calf, colt, or horse,
that dies on the farm, is worth more at
home than at the tanners: Gut them into
narrow strips, and shave off the hair with
sharp knife before the kitchen fire, or in
your workshop, stormy days and evenings.
You may make them soft by rubbing. A
ravhide halter strap, an inch wide, will hold
horse stronger; and last longer, than an
inch rope 1t is stronger than hoop lion,
and more durable, and may be used to
hoop dry casks and boxes, and for hinges.
Try it upon broken thill, or any wood
that is splintered Put it on wet and nail
fast. Thin skins make the best bag
strings in the world. A rawhide rope is a
good substitute for chain: 1t is valuable
to mend broken link in a trace Chain.
For some purposes it is best to use
it in its natural state. For other purposes
it may be dressed soft.-ErchGnge.
How TO MnK-Cows should be not
only MIXED with perfect regularity as re-
CARDS the hours of milking, but they
should be milked to the last drops; and if
hired girls or men are employed to milk
the cows, the dairyman, the farmers wife,
or whoever has charge ofthe dairy, should
go round with a small tin pail, and milk
each cow dry before the work is to be
considered complete, and they are allowed
to return to the field or enclosure. The
udders should be washed with tepid water
before milking, so long as the cows remain
in or about the byres and yards, but aftef
they are put on pasturage it will seldom
be found necessary to do more than wash
the teats occasionally. The habit acquired
by many servant girls of dipping their
hands in the milk while milking the cows,
is disgusting practice that should not be
tolerated. Cows are just as easily MIXED
with dry hands, and if they are not, the
teats should be softened in tepid water,
and great care taken to allow nothing to
drop from them or the hands into the
milk pail, while the operation of milking
ia goinp on -A1rir1ltur0L PlDer