The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-11-20
Farm, Garden and Household.
Domestic Recipes.


PICKLE FOR HAMS. For one hundred
pounds of ham take six gallons of water.
nine pounds of salt, one quart of mo.
lasses, three ounces of saltpeter and
one ounce of saleratus. When ready
to smoke, they can be soaked and fresh
ened to taste, if too salt.
SoFT Soar WITH PoTAsH.-Excellent
soap may be made by the following re-
ceipt: Use pine barrel, for hard
wood barrel will warp and leak. An old
fish barrel is commonly taken for the
purpose. Put ten to twelve pounds of
potash, and throw upon it two pailfulls
of boiling water. Let it digest awhile,
and then put in two pounds of grease
to each pound of potash. Have the
grease hot. Let that digest awhile,
then add third pailful of hot water.
Keep doing this until the barrel is with
in six inches of being full. Stir occa.
sionally until the whole is mixed. It
should stand three months before use.
Stir occasionally during the first week.
The longer it stands after making the
better the soap.
DELICIOUS CoDFIsH BAIIs.-Put the
fish to soak in lukewarm water, and
soak half an hour, then pour off the
water q second time, add more fresh
water, and let it remain on the stove till
it just comes to o scald. Pick the fish
free from skin and bones and chop it up
fine. Boil and mash your potatoes, take
one-third fish and two-thirds potatoes,
and mix evenly together. If not salt
enough to suit the taste, add little
pepper. If too dry to make into balls,
wet with little milk till you can work
it well. Make into small balls with the
hands, roll in flour, and they are ready
to fry. Have your fat very hot, using
pork fat and suet. Some dip the balls
in the white of an egg or roll in bread
crums, but they are ,good without if
fried to a rich brown.
OATMEAL BREAKFAST CAKE.--This is
made with No. 2 oatmeal, with water
enough to saturate it, and little or no
salt. Pour it into a baking tin half an
inch or three-quarters deep, shake it
down level, and when this is done it
should be so wet that two or three
spoonfuls of water should run freely on
the surface. Put it in quick oven and
bake twenty minutes. It will be as
light and tender as the best "Johnny
cake," or else you have wet it too much
or baked it too long. This is one of
the most accommodating baked dishes
that can be made. It will do very
nicely with little longer time if the
oven is not quite hot. If it will not
bake there at all, pour it into frying
pan, cover it close, and set it on top of
the stove, where it will even bake in
fifteen minutes. For hurried break
fast and slow coal fire it is invaluable
Scarcely any wholesome thing in the
bread line can be prepared more read
lily. 1t can be made still thinner and
baked quicker. It is good either crisp
or moist. For emergencies alone, every
housekeeper will find it convenient to
be able to make the breakfast cake.
Many use oatmeal mixed with buck
wheat, wheat or corn for griddle. cakes.
For this the writer prefers it cooked
first. Take, say one pint of the por-
ridge or the mush, diffuse it in one
quart of water and add the wheat meal,
sitting it in and stirring slowly.
Kitchen Garden.
Where drains are needed, the present
month is a good time to lay them, un-
less the land is SO wet by the fall rains
that it cannot be worked to advantage.
Cover asparagus with a thick coating
OF manure, first cutting the tops and
burning. If the tops are not burned,
the seed, if scattered through the ma.
nure, will sprout and prove as trouble
some to eXterminate as many of our
common weeds.
Cold-frames for the protection of
cabbages and other plants should not
be covered except at night until very
severe weather. The plan should be to
keep the plants from growing as well as
from freezing.
The best plan for storing cabbages is
to invert the heads and cover with four
to six inches of earth, leaving the roots
exposed. A dry place where the water
will not stand should be selected.
Store celery in trenches foot wide
and deep enough to receive the stalks,
placing the plants as close as possible
without using any earth, and cover with
boards and straw, gradually increasing
the thickness of the covering as the
weather becomes more severe.
Spinach will be all the better in the
spring for slight covering of hay or
leaves, applied just as the ground be-
gins to freeze.
The hardy sorts of lettuce which were
sown last month will need q litter
thrown over them to preserve them.
Manure is the main stay of the gar
dener as we'll as the farmer, as without
it nothing can be done, while with il
wonderful results can be accomplished.
Apply all that can be carted out this
month.-A9riculturist.