The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1877-03-08
FARM, GARDEN AND HOUSEHOLD.
domestic Hints.

Ole tablespoonful Ol udAseeu. III All Ill
a saucepan and boil it till reduced one
half. Strain it off, add one-half pint of
molasses, or, for those who prefer it, a
quarter of pound of brown sugar. Boil
this until it becomes q thick syrup.
When cold, take spoonful at time.
FURNITURE POLISH. If you wish one
of the simplest and best, get pint
bottle and fill it with equal parts of boil
ed linseed oil and kerosene oil; any drug
gist has the former; mix and apply with
a flannel, and rub dry with n second
flannel. 1t will remove all scratches and
white marks made by bruising. Destroy
the rags or keep in sight, as oiled cloths
have been known to ignite spontane-
ously.
To BAKE BEEF. Lay the meat on
some sticks i'll a dripping pan or other
vessel, SO that it will not touch the water
which it is necessary to have in the bot
tom. Season with salt and pepper, and
put in the oven three or four hours be-
fore it is wanted on the table. Basic it
often with the water i'll the bottom of the
pan, renewing it as often as it gets low.
This makes sweet, juicy, baked beef.
The great secret of it is, not to have the
meat touch the water in the bottom of
the pan, and baste it often. Tough, I'M
compromising pieces of beef are best
cooked by steaming them an hour and a
half or so, and then putting them in the
oven and baking as much longer.
A TIMELY SorP.--Boil in saucepan
two quarts of oysters, season with whit
pepper. four blades of mace, bay leaf,
n pinch of cayenne pepper, lump of
butter and a little water; when done
drain on q sieve, chop them fine, and
save the liquor; in another saucepan
make white rouX with four ounces of
butter, six ounces of -four. cook slowly
for five minutes, then mix we'll and care
fully with the chopped oysters their
liquor, quart of veal or chicken broth,
quart of boiled milk: boil five minutes,
pass forcibly through a fine sieve and
boil again; if too thick, add more broth
or milk, season to taste and serve with
square pieces of bread fried in butter.
NODDED CRUSHED WHEAT. While the
boiled or steamed crushed wheat is still
warm, pour it into molds slightly wet,
and let it stand several hours, or until
quite cold and loose at the edges; then
turn it out on dish of corresponding
shape, an oval mold on platter, a
round mold on plate or saucer; if to be
dished on the table, use a large mold; if
to be brought on already dished, teacup
molds, served in saucers with trim
mings, look nicely. After cooked wheat
is once cold, it cannot be warmed and
mashed up with hot water and then
nodded; long steaming only can restore
any of its huidity, but even then it will
not be so good nor mold SO readily as
when first cooked.
Fowls on the Farm.
Fowls often do well when colonized
with cattle at pasture, and a dry knoll
may be eXcavatel for home for them.
A wooden roof should be built over Il
stone foundation. Farmers might aver
age $50 fowls if all such places were
made available. Boys should be encour-
aged to breed and care for the chickens.
1t will afford good schooling, and they
will learn lessons that will be of great
use to them when they come to the
breeding of animals, for the same laws
are applicable to both. They should be
taught to breed s. in line" but not too
close. Close breeding for three years
will cause the eggs to unfertile. Breed
every year and change old stock for
new. Young fowls pay much better
than old ones. Brahmas should seldom
be kept more than two years, if one is
seeking the greatest profit. Never keep
more than one hundred grown chickens
in the same yard, and if of different
ages not SO many. Twelve or fifteen are
enough to occupy one coop. One-sided
and drop-hipped birds are produced by
crOwding them in too close quarters.
They may also slip their hips down BY
"rowdiug between the Stats Of their
coops.
Cleaning seed Grain.
1t will pay to SOW the very best seed of
all kinds, as L know from trial. clean
it thoroughly through the tanning mill,
to get all the weed seed and small and
light grain from the heavy, and have a
side spout for the mill, SO can take out
the heavy, plump grain and SOW the very
best and keep it free from weed seed.
There will always be enough volunteer
weeds without sowing them, aud if farm
ers would generally be more particular
about seed grain, they would get well
paid for it. The grain will grow taller.
the heads longer and yield more. 1t is
just as necessary to take the best grain
for seed as it is to take the choice corn or
potatoes, or to select the best cattle,
horses and hogs to breed from. Now, in
the winter, when We probably will now
and then have a leisure day, is very
good time to prepare seed grain and not
wait until we are crowded with spring
work. II we wait until we want to SOW
it, the chances are that it will not be
as well, aud perhaps not at all.
Don't put it off.-COrrespondence Coom-
try Gentleman.
Color for Butter.
The best coloring for butter, writes a
correspondent of the Country Gentle
man, is a good mess of corn chopped
with cut hay. My butter is a rich yell
low the year round, from this feed, and 1
have no Alderney or any other fancy
stock, but common East Shore cattle,
which give an abundant supply of milk
and butter; good feed is the secret. If
farmers feed ON dry fodder and straw, and
want yellow butter, they must use what
some of my Alderney friends do-a small
quantity of annatto, costing ten cents an
ounce, enough for several hundred
pounds of butter. Dissolve in O little
warm cream; add few grains of super
carbonate of soda, which develops the
peculiar yellow principle of the annatto,
which L think is the base of all the color
M, I,,ottar fnp h11ttar