National opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1865-1874, 1871-06-16
Farm, Garden and Household.

TUMBLER CAKE. -- Two and One-half
tumblers of sugar, three-fourths of n
tumbler of butter one tuml Ter of milk,
four t lmblers of flour, five eggs, leaving
out Two yolks, two teaspoonfuls of cream
of tartar, one teaspoonful of soda, spice
or fruit to taste.
BRAN BREAD.-Take n sponge of wheat
flour when it j light add salt, and Il
small quantity of molasses, stirring in
bran -four with spoon until it is as stiff
as you can get it without taking the hands
to it. When it has risen again, put it
into well creased pans with the spoon,
and bake until done.
ADVICE TO FARMERS At meeting of
the Agricultural Society of Decatur
Marion Co., Ind it was asserted 'In
order to derive the greatest profit from
the farm, the owner of il must contine
himself to his one occupation. If he at
tempts to perform the duties Of me-
chanIc or n physician in connection with
his farming, it is evident that one or
both of his pursuits will be only partially
successful He should not abandon the
cultivation Of any kind of grain or vege-
tables because the crop the preceding
year was so large as to ing the prices
low"
GREEN CoLoR IN PICKLES. 1t is said
tEat to impnrt an excellent green color
to pickles they must be first covered
with boiling hot saltwater, and after a
short time the water poured Off and the
pickles drained, They are then to be
placed in an earthen pot and covered
with boiling vinegar, the top put on, and
the whole kept at a lukewarm tempera-
ture 70" long time, the vinegar being
poured off every day, heated to boiling,
and turn again upon the pickles This
is to be continued until the color is
beautiful green The vinegar used in
this process is then to be poured off and
replaced by fresh, and the jar closed
tightly. This method of coIoring is
perfectly harmless, although the result
is rs bright green as that of verdgris
CALIFORNIA GRASS. The San Fran
cisco Bulletin says that alfalfa, the new
grass discovered in California, in regard
to which so much has been written, is
nothing but the lucerne grass, well
known in the Atlantic States Still, it is
a great thing for California, us it is the
only grass well adapted for dairy pur-
poses which will live through the six
months of dry weather, and is very pro.
ductive. The BuHan says that ten
acres sown to alfalfa will produce more
forage than one hundred acres of ordin-
airy pasture. The editor has seen patches
this year which has been cut twice, the
yield each time being very large, and
three more crops are expected from the
same land. This grass sends its roots
down to moisture, lives and grows dur
ing the dryest season, provided it once
gets good start, and when the land is
rich and well titled the yield is wonder
full.
EXPERIMENTS. Let every farmer try
some experiment on Ills farm this sea-
son, and carefully report its results to
some agricultural publication for the
benefit of his brother farmers If each
one will thus add what he can to the gen
eral stock of information, great good
must result One carefully conducted
experiment, though not conclusive, is
of more value than even IA large amount
of theorizing. If You are in doubt of
the value of subsoiling try it on small
portions of several different fields, and
note the results.
II hauling muck on to your sandy
lands, or sand into your clay looks like
too much work for the gain likely to be
made, try it on small scale this wear
and see. If you have not saved your
liquid manure, get out good pile of
muck or loan, use it in your stables, and
try its value on your land or meadows
If you have not been III the habit of
raising roots for your stock, try quar-
ter of an acre this year and satisfy your
self whether your course is the best or
no. If you have had no fodder here
tofore to carry your mich cows through
the dry season, by all means try it this
year.
1t seems to us that every farmer should
attempt to make some improvement in
his farming every season, and We know
no way so satisfactory AS that of trying
experiments, one at time. homestead