The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-05-28
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.


PLANTING TIMBER.--It will be but q
very few years before timber becomes
very much enhanced in value. Ten years
more will see the supply in the north
west greatly reduced in quantity. No
more profitable use of land can be made
than to plant walnut, chestnut, oak,
hickory, spruce, ash, maple, poplar, and
other trees that have value in the arts
for their timber. 1t is highly probable,
that, as pine becomes more costly, it will
be used only as joists, rafters and flooring,
and that brick and stone will be more
commonly employed as building materi-
ais. When this occurs, the stock of pine
throughout the country will be found to
last almost indefinitely. The more yalua-
BILE pine trees grow very slowly, and would
hardly be profitable to plant.
PRESERVING MEAT IN SUMMER.
refrigerator has come to be indispensable
to the comfort of the household. Soft
butter, sourk or milcream, tainted meat,
and dry, shrunken bread, are no longer
tolerated in any family whose means en-
able them to procure refrigerator. In
these, as in other things, there are some
requisites necessary for perfection. That
perishable articles may be kept from
spelling, during hot weather, the cooled
atmosphere in which they are kept
should be dry. Moisture rapidly pro-
duces faint and decomposition, and It is
because of the abundant moisture in ice
houses that meat or butter so soon spoils
in them, and that vegetables become
moldy. Mold is generated with rapidity
only in moist atmosphere. In dry air
the mold plant can not grow, neither can
flesh, fruit, or vegetables spoil. For these
reasons the refrigerator should be so ar
ranged that the inside air, while it is
cooled by the ice, should not be in con-
tact with it.
A BOOT RACK.--One of the greatest
troubles of the neat housewife in the
country, results from the muddy boots of
those members of the family who have
to work in the fields, the stables and the
barn-yard. The wet boots must be dried
and are generally left under the kitchen
stove, where their presence is very disa-
greeable. Now, to have neat kitchen,
there should be boot rack placed be-
hind the stove, in which the damp boots
may be placed to dry. Such a contrivance
has been found great convenience. 1t
has three shelves about four feet long,
ten inches wide, and placed foot apart.
At one end bOot.jack is fixed by hinges
so that, when not in use, it is folded
against one end Of the rack and secured
by button. There is also a stand for
cleaning boots at the front, which also
folds up when not i'm use, and the black
ing brushes are placed on the shelves be-
hind the stand, and are out of sight, and
when folded they hang down out of the
way. The rack should be made of dressed
pine boards, and stained some dark, du-
rable color.
How TO SELECT FLoUR.--LOok at its
color; if it is white, with slightly yell
lowish or straw-colored tinge, it is good
sign. If it is very white, with BLUSH
cast with white specks in it, the -four is
not good. Examine its adhesiveness--wet
and knead little of it between the
fingers; if it works dry and elastic, it is
good; if it works soft and sticky it is
poor. Flour made from spring wheat is
likely to be sticky. Throw little lump
of dry -four against dry, smooth, per-
pendicular surface; if it adheres in a
lump the -four has life in it; if it falls
like powder it is bad. Squeeze some of
the flour in your hands; if it retains the
shape given by the pressure, that, too, is
a good sign. Flour that will stand all
these tests it is safe to buy. These modes
were given by old flour dealers, and we
make no apology for printing them, as
they pertain to matter that concerns
every body, namely, the quality of that
which is the staff of life ~
PHILOSOPHY OF CooKERY.--Mrs. Hale
Cookery is artansays: belonging to wo-
mans department of knowledge; its i'm
portance can hardly be over-estimated,
because it acts directly on human health,
comfort and improvement. One of the
first duties of woman in domestic life is
to understand the quality of provisions
and the preparation of wholesome food.
The powers of the mind as we'll as those
of the body are greatly dependent on
what we eat and drink. The stomach
must be in health, or the brain can not
act with its utmost vigor and clearness
nor can there be strength of muscle to
perform the purposes of the will. TIC
preserve the full nourishment of meats
and other articles of food, in dressing and
cooking, is an art which requires large
amount of scientific knowledge added to
long experience and observation. With.
out the knowledge derived from this two.
fold source, a great part of food is wasted
and health injured. 1t is an established
principle in physiology that man is ON.
niverOus--that is, constituted to eat al.
most any kind of food containing nour.
ishment. He can eat and digest them in
raw state; but his health is promoted
by their being cooked, that is, softened
by the action of fire and water.