The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1874-06-13
THE PRESS.
SATURDAY MORNING, JUNE 1s. 1874
The Farm and Household.
VALUE OF AMMONIA.

No housekeeper should be without a bottle
of spirits of ammonia, for, besides its medi-
cal value, it is invaluable for household pur
poses. 1t is nearly as useful as soap, and Its
cheapness brings it within the reach OF all.
Put teaspoontul of ammonia to a quart ol
warm soap-suds, dip in flannel cloth and
| wipe off the dust and fly-specs, and see fo-
yourself how much labor It will save. No
scrubbing will be needful. 1t will cleanse
and brighten silver wonderfully; to pint of
suds mix teaspoonful of spirits, dip in
your silver spoons, forks, &C., rub with a
brush, and polish with chamois skins.
For washing mirrors and windows it is very
desirable; put few drops of ammonia on a
piece Of paper, and it will readily take off
every spot or finger-mark on the glass. 1t
will take out grease spots from every fabric /;
put on the ammonia clear, lay blotting-paper
over the place, and press a hot fiat iron on it
for few moments. A few drops in quart
of water will clean laces and whiten them as
well; also muslins. Then it is most re-
freshng agent at the toilet-table; few drops
in basin of water will make better bath
than pure wate-, and, if the skin is oily, it
will remove all glossiness and disagreeable
odors. Added to foot-bath, it entirely absorbs
all noxious smell so often arising from the feet
in warm weather, and nothing is better for
cleaning the hair from daudruff and dust For
cleaning hair and nail brushes it is equally
good.
Put a teaspoonfnl of ammonia into pint of
waiter, and shake the brushes through the
water. When they look white rinse them in
water, and put them in the sunshine, or in a
warm place to dry. The dirtest of brushes
will come out of this bath white and clean.
For medical purposes, ammonia is always un-
rivaled. For the head ache it is a desirable
stmulant, and frequent inhaling of its pun
gent OdOrs will often remove catarrhal cold.
There is no better remedy for heartburn and
dyspepsia, and the aromatic spirits of ammo
mia is especially prepared for these troubles.
Ten drops of it in a wine-glass of water are
often of great relief. The spirits of ammonia
can be taken in this way, but it is not as pal
atable.
In addition to all these uses, the effect Of
ammonia on vegetation is beneficial. If you
desire roses, geraniums, fuchsias, &C., to be-
come more fourishing, you can try it upon
them by adding five or six drops to every pint
OF warm water that you give them, but don't
repeat the dose Oftener than once in five or
six days, lest you stimulate them too highly.
So be sure and keep large bottle oft in the
house, and have glass stopper for It, as it 10
very evanescent, and also injurious to corks.
REMOVING LARGE BOULDERs.
Near corner of one of the writer's fields
was a large boulder that would weigh prob
ably two tons, the upper part of which was
only few inches above the surface of the
ground. This rock had been ploughed over,
narrowed over, moved over, sowed over and
harvested over ever since the land was first
cleared of the forest. Several new plough
shares, each costing at that time fifty cents
each, had been broken by coming in contact
with this granite ''hard head" After a
al raIn 6o1 oil
plough on the rock il was resolved that some
thing should be done with it. One half
hours labor with shovel removed the earth
above the rock so that two-thirds of the up
per part lay fully exposed. A fire was then
kindled ON the top of this ''hard head" and
quarter OF wagon load of old pieces of rails,
roots and fragments of stumps were heaped on
the fire. Shortly afIer the heat began to en-
ter the surface of the stone the top was cov-
cred with scales, which had to be removed
with long pole or crowbar. Before the
combustibes were consumed the boulder
cracked through and through into several
large fragments, which we're readily pried out
and were used advantageously in building
cellar wall.
A neighbor directed digger to make an
excavation near the side of large boulder for
the purpose of burying the hard head out of
sight. At evening be found the huge boulder
in the excavation and his digger beneath it,
crushed to lifeless mass.-
VALUE OF WHEAT MEAL.
The London Dietetic Reformer shows by
scientific data, that wheat neal, which is
cheaper than bolted meal or fine -four, con-
tains one-third more nutriment than -four
does from which the bran has been sifted.
Fine flour, according to this journal, is not
food at all, in the proper sense of the term;
that ic the QlpmQptS of tho hot
separated in the process of boiling, being es-
sential to perfect nutrition, those who use
fine flour are obliged to subsist mainly on
other things, or lose their health-that no
one, therefore, who makes bakers bread
principal article of diet can long maintain
health, while those who use wheat meal
bread, unfermented and unadulterated, can
maintain their health with very small ad-
dition of other food.
THE POTATO ONION.
The French people in Maine, W no have
cultivated and raised these onions more than
any others, have long been in the habit of
preparing their lands and setting them out in
the fall. In this way they make sure of their
seed, which might otherwise be lost by rot,
for we never find an onion of this sort hurt
by winter freezing in the ground, but find
them well started to grow when the snow
goes Oh. HOW lulS WOuu DC where tQey 10
not have much snow and much frozen ground
we cannot say, but this is always the case
there. Ii they can have highly manured
land, and the benefit of their first start in
growth, they will grow to good size, An
other thing not generally understood is that
the smaller the seed the better the growth.
They break the clusters apart, pick out the
largest to cook, and plant the smallest, and
the French even cut them in two. This may
seem an anomaly in scientific culture, but it
is the case in this one thing--that 'wee bits"
make the largest onions.
A GOOD FERTILIZER.
The Scientific American says farmers have
to pay high price for an article. which, with
little skill, they could make themselves dur
ing the winter months or on rainy days, when
they have little else to do, and gives recipe
for cheap fertilizer successfully used by farm
ers in PENNSYLVANIA and Ohio The formula
presented below is, however wanting except
incidently, as recommended-in the ingredi-
ent which is most apt to give trouble and to
cause injury in transportation and handling
viz, oil of vltriol, or suphuric acid---and is
doubtless good one, if the article is applied
in sufficient quantities. The mixture is es'
pecially recommended for potatoes and wheat
by farmer who has tried it, and who says
he has used it with success on corn and 9th
er prOQucIS. IL Is do lOHONo- IdnO 1,VVV
pounds of good mold, sieve and screen it to
get the gravel out and make it as fine as pos
sible; then spread ON a floor, add 100 pounds
sulphate ammonia, 100 pounds common salt,
and mix with rake; when thoroughly mix
ed, add 25 pounds-of pearl ash and % pounds
sulphate of soda, mix well; tLen add 400
pounds ground bone, 25 pounds best Peruvi-
an guano, and $50 pounds ground plaster.
Mix the whole thoroughly, throw in a pile for
forty-eight hours, and it is fit for use. If it is
to be used for potatoes in districts where the
potato bugs are numerous, five gallons sui
phuric acid may be sprinkled over the mass.
| The caution is added that the acid must no,
| be used in confined place, as the fumes are
injurious to health, and that if it is spilled Oh
| the floor, water must be thrown on it, as the
mixture generates great heat
PLANTING TREES FROM RICH AND FROM
| POOR SOIL.
| 1t is commonly observed that tree raised
| in DOOR soil and moved to richer, is apt to en-
dure the removal well and make good growth
| On the contrary, plant taken from nur
| sery of rich soil to poorer ground, is very liza
| BILE to decline. One reason for this is, tha
in The latter case there is apt to be late, i'm
mature growth, which becomes frozen ant
poisonous as gangrene to the whole plant
But the principal or more frequent cause o