The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-01-23
HOUSE. FARM AND GARDEN.

HoUsING THE FAMILY CARRIAGE
There is a common and very vexatious
complaint from parties who stow their
carriages in the same building with
their horses, or in damp carriage houses,
of spoor varnish. This will happen
even after the very best material and
varnish have b2en used, for no varnish
can stand the action of the steam aris-
ing in a stable where horses are kept.
When a vanished carriage is exposed
to an atmosphere of ammonia, arising
from manure or decaying vegetable
matter, the alkali unites with the oil of
the varnish, forming an almost imper-
ceptible filament of soap, which, when
the carriage is washed, dissolves in the
water and is removed, leaving a fresh
surface to be again acted on by the am
monia, so that the oil is gradually re-
moved from the varnish, leaving the
brittle gum TO look like rOsin and crum-
bic away. Therefore, dry, clean car
riage house. entirely separated from the
stable or stable manure, Is the first thing
required, and, secondly, to have it re-
vanished when it is required, which is
as often as once year if the carriage
is in continual use.
THE OLD HoMEsTEAD.-It does one
good to go back at the old homestead,
periodically. If this experience were
needed TO make anyone have faith in
the doctrine that every family should
have its home, wish every one could
have a similar experience to mine. 1t
was where was born. Blessed be the
man or woman who was born on farm!
MOI that is not correct. Blessed is the
man or woman who was born on the
farm and can go back to it and to his or
her parents after thirty years of expert
ence, knocking about the world and
iOstl ng against all classes of humanity!
That is betterl Think of it, To go
home (what a wordD and straight into
tn g ms of the good mother who bore
you and feel both your hands taken in
the warm ones of the grand old father
It austere, upright (always) and ex-
acting old father of your boyhood-who
by look, culver of lip, tremulous of ex-
citement and joy, gives you more touch
ing welcome home" than could be
revealed in all the caresses conceived
of say all this is worth living for -
Rural Ne1g Yorker.
A PRETTY MANTLEPIECE ORNAMENT
may be obtained by suspending an
acorn, by a piece of thread tied around
1t, within half an inch of the surface
of some water contained in a vase, tum-
bier, or saucer, and allowing it to re-
main Undisturbed for several weeks.
1t will soon burst open, and small roots
will seek the water straight and ia
pering stem, with beautiful glossy green
leaves, will shoot upward and present a
very pleasing appearance. Chestnut
trees may be grown in the same manner,
bnt the leaves are not so beautiful as
those of the oak. The water should
be changed once a month, taking care
to supply water of the same warmth :;
bits of charcoal added to it will pre-
vent the water from sOuring. If the lit
tie leaves turn yellow, add one drop of
am monia into the utersil which holds
the water, and they will renew their
luxuriance. Another pretty ornament
is made by wetting a sponge and sprink
ling it with canary, hemp, grass and
other seed. The sponge should be re-
freshed with water daily so as to be
kept moist. In few days the seeds
will terminate, and the sponge will
so be covered with mass of green
foliage. american.
FARMERS who are guilty of letting
their farms getpoor and hungry, strange
as it may seem, hate to be lectured
about their remissness in this particu-
lar. Talk to them about collecting ma
terials for manure and of building in
every field hill of compost, and they
will call your attention to the excelIen-
cies of red clover to keep land up.
Those who have been reading the New
York Tribune will refer with an air of
sure defense to what George Geddes has
said in favor of clover as a sort of soil
alchemy, in which everything is found
which a soil needs to keep it up, and
more than keep it up-make it more
beautiful. If any sensible man will re-
fleet moment. if he has had an oppor-
tunlty TO read anything about natural
philosophy, or knows anything about
what soils are composed of and what
crops require for growth and maturing
of seed, he will conclude that no one
plant contains all the desirable elements
of the various crops. The notion Git is
nothing mOre) that clover viii advance
the general agriculture of q country is
the exact counterpart of what was en-
tertained by English farmers in some
parts of the kingdom over a hundred
years ago, and whose farms became
"clOver-sick;" that is, would not pro-
duce that plant any longer. Those who
clover their farms constantly here will
share the same fate by and by.
IF COOKERY were reduced down to
rule, so that p rsOns could follow re.
Cipes with the same certainty of success,
due to accuracy, with which the student
pursues the instructions laid down in
his textbook of chemical analysis, it is
presumable that any individual could
produce eatable'and healthy dishes; but
is further from the truth. Let
the reader ask any successful cook how
he OF she made such or such a compound,
the chances are strongly that no salts
factory explanation can be given.
'Practice" is probably stated as the rea-
son, or experience" or !" luck" Let
him turn to any so-called cookery book,
and we would be willing to wager that
in nine cases out of ten the recipes for
the most delicate cake and pastry con-
tain greater margins of inaccuracy than
any formula extant for mixing mud
concrete. What does a teaspoonful
mean, heaped up or even with the rim ?
Or Il IeacupiuI! Nnab size teacup
How much is pinch, or a handful, or
a pennyworth? There is absolutely no
standard system of measures conscien-
tiously followed and hence a woman
will gauge her ingredients by the same
grab with the same unquestioning
faith in the accuracy of the combination
that she repOses in the fact that the dis
tance from the tip of her nose to the
end of her fingers is precisely and in
fallibly one yard.-Scientifc american.
GORGED SToMACHs IN HoRsEs.-
GOrged stomachs, or acute indigestion,
is a disease which every year destroys
great many valuable horses. It con-
sists either in distension of the stomach
from food or from gas generated by the
of its undiOested contents.