The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-06-28
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.


For the household.
NUMBER CAKE.-One cup of butter;
two cups of sugar; two tablespoons mo-
lasses three cups of -four; four eggs;
one teaspoonful of soda; two teaspoons
of cream tartar; one cup Of raisins;
spice to taste.
RICE AND APPLES. The following is a
very nice thing, especially for the chill
dren: Gore as many nice apples as will
fill the dish boil them in light molasses
prepare quarter of a pound of rice in
milk, with sugar and salt put some of
the rice into the dish, then put in the
apples and fill up the intervals with rice,
and bake it in the oven until it is fine
color.
A USE For CAYENNE PEPPER. Cay
enne pepper will keep the buttery and
store-room free from ants and cock
reaches. If mouse makes an entrance
into part of the dwelling, saturate u
rag with cayenne in solution and stuff it
into the hole which can be repaired with
either wood OF mortar. No rat or mouse
will eat that rag for the purpose of open
ing communication with the depot of
supplies.
WoMANs SPHERE As house-mistress
as and as mothers, women have duties to
perform quite as important in their re-
suits, if not SO extensive in their area, as
any that fall to the lot of men. AS the
former, the comfort and happiness of a
greater or less number of people depends
principally on them; as the latter, they
influence and mold the future generation,
and SO are the ultimate sources whence
flow the current of events, and the crea-
tors of the characters in which history is
to be written. But for the most part
they enter on these important duties
with no preparation that can be called
serious or sufficient, and act as if knowl-
edge comes by the grace of nature.
How TO KEEP Coo1.-Now the warm
weather is coming on, the following ex-
tract from lady's letter to a Western
paper may be read with profit 81 de.
wise ways and means to keep cool, and
find the best is to take tepid bath every
day, and avoid all fats, eat as little meat
and butter as possible, but use largely
of milk and fruit. I make Graham
mush for breakfast. Make it the same
as you would corn meal mush sitting the
meal slowly into boiling water. Five
minutes cooks it sufficiently. Dip coffee
cups into water, then fill with the mush
and place in pail of cold water for five
minutes; then turn into saucers and the
mush will be beautifully nodded. Ricl
milk OF sweetened cream is an excellent
dressing for it, and then if you add fresf
berries well, just try it.
MUSTARD PnAsTERs. How many peo
pie are there who really know how tc
make a mustard plaster? Not one in
hundred at the most, perhaps, and ye
mustard plasters are used in every
family, and physicians prescribe theil
application. The ordinary way is tc
mix the mustard with water, tempering i
with little fonr; but such a plaster as
this is simply abominable. Before it has
half done it's work it begins to blister
the patient, and leaves him finally will
apainful, fiayed spot, after having pro
duced far less effect in beneficial wa,
then was intended. Now mustard
plaster should never blister at all. If {
blister is wanted, there are other plaster'
far better than mustard plaster. USE
no water, but mix the mustard with the
white of an egg, and the result will be (
plaster which will "draw" perfectly
but will not produce blister on the
skin of an infant no matter how long i
is allowed to remain on the part.
A Wash for Fruit Trees.
The following is recommended by {
commission of fruit t-growers, presided
over by Professor Cyrus Thomas, Stat,
entomologist of Illinois, and is part O.
very full report, embodying advice al
to the best means of fighting the insects
that infest the orchards of that State
Insects and mildews, injurious to tn,
leaves of seedlings and root gratis, cal
be kept in subjection or destroyed by ,
free use of combination of lime ant
sulphur. Take of quick or unslaket
lime four parts, and of common flour O.
sulphur one part -four pounds of sulphur
to one peck Of lime) break up the lint
in small bits, then, mixing the sulphur
with it in a tight vessel (iron is best)
pour on them enough boiling water tt
slack the lime to powder; cover in the
vessel close as soon as the water is poured
on; this makes also a most excellent
whitewash for orchard trees, and is very
useful as preventive of blight on pear
trees, to cover the wounds in the form O.
paste when cutting diseased parts; also
for coating the trees in April. 1t may
be considered as the one specific fol
many noxious insects and mildew in the
orchard and nursery; it's materials
should always be ready at hand (; il
should be used quite fresh, as it would
in time become sulphate of lime and SC
lose it's potency. Wherever busting
with lime is spoken of, this should bt
used. This preparation should be
sprinkled over the young plant as soor
as OF before any trouble from aphides
thrips or mildew occurs, early in the
morning while the dew is on the trees
The lime and sulphur combination is de
structive to these pests in this way first
by giving off sulphuric acid gas, which is
deadly poison to minute life, both ami
NAL and fungoid and the lime destroys
by contact the same things, besides iti
presence is noxious to them neither il
it injurious to common vegetable life
except in excess, unless the lime to the
foliage of evergreens.
A Test for Eggs.
An egg is generally called fresh wher
it has been laid only one or two days il
summer, and two to six days in winter
The shell being porous, the water in the
interior evaporates, and leaves a cavity
of greater or less extent. The yolk o.
the egg sinks, too, as may easily be seer
by holding it toward candle or the sun
and when shaken, slight shock is fell
if the egg is not fresh. To determine
the precise age of eggs, dissolve abou
four ounces of common salt in quart O
pure water and then innoarsa tbo ooo,