Northern Ohio journal. [volume] (Painesville, Ohio) 1872-1896, 1880-05-29
FARM AND FIRESIDE.
Quality of seed often decides the

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quantity of a crop.
Wheat, peas and beans contain
thirteen to fourteen and one-half per
cent. of water; potatoes seventy-five
per cent; artichokes eighty per cent,
and turnips ninety-three per cent.
-Sponges can be cleansed by wash
ing them in ammonia and water (use
the proportion of teaspoonful to two
quarts) and afterwards in solution of
muriatic acid; one part acid to twenty
five parts of water. Sponges are not
kept clean without care. They should
be thoroughly rinsed, then aired and
dried after every using, and unless they
can be thus kept scrupulously neat they
should be banished.
Potash dissolved in water, or lye
from wood ashes, is the best wash for
the trunks and large limbs of fruit trees.
Whitewash should not be used, as it
closes the pores of the bark, which
should be kept open in order to insure
healthy trees. Potash or lye answers
every purpose which whitewash would,
with none of its objections.
Very pretty screens either for win
dows or to set in frames may be made
of muslin lined with any plain-colored
silk; the muslin to be painted with
water-colors mixed with Chinese white
and little liquid gum. Painting on
muslin is easy because it can be done
by ladies who possess no talent for
drawing, but who can color well. The
design is placed underneath the muslin
and drawn upon it.
How to Cook Asparagus to be Served
on Toast.-Cut the stalks of equal
length, rejecting the woody portions
TO o1.t which
mains. Throw into cold water. Then
tie in bunch with soft string and put
into boiling water slightly salted. Boil
until tender-from twenty to forty min
utes, according to age. Just before re-
moving the asparagus from the water
toast several slices of bread, cutting off
the outer crust, dip in the boiling
liquor, butter and lay in hot dish.
Drain the asparagus, unbind the bundle
and heap it upon the toast with bits of
butter between the stalks.
Soft Boiled Eggs. Place the
eggs in a warm saucepan, and cover
with boiling water; let them stand
where they will keep hot, but not boil,
for ten minutes. This method will cook
both whites and yelks. 2. Place the
eggs in boiling water and boil three
minutes and half. By this method
the white of the egg is hardened so
quickly that the heat does not penetrate
to the yclk until the last minute, and
consequently the white is hard and the
yelk hardly cooked enough. The first
Methods therefore the most healthful.
| -Rhubard Marmalade.-Wip your
rhubarb with damp cloth, and cut in
pieces as for a pie. When cut, to every
| quart of fruit allow three quarters of a
pound of sugar. Lay the sugar over
Che rhubarb in a vessel large enough to
contain the juice and melted sugar, and
let it stand over night. In the morning
put in preserving Kettle and let it boil
gently. Take one lemon for every two
quarts of fruit, and while the fruit is
boiling mince the rind very fine. Ten
minutes before the marmalade is done
put in the rind and juice of the lemon
in the proportion named. This is a
very old recipe and a great favorite with
all.
The Rural MeaO Yorker says the
cheapest and most effective way to get
rid of stumps in field is to blast them
out with cartridges of giant powder.
This explosive is a preparation of nitro.
glycerine. many times as powerful as
common powder, and its great force.
being very sudden in its action, tears
the stumps to fragments so that but lit
tie, if any, after-cutting is required tt
dispose Of them. The giant powder is
put up in cartridges about ten inches
long by one and one-haf in diameter
and these, being of the consistence O.
cheese, can be cut into pieces of the
size required with a knife. A piece
two inches long is sufficient to throw
out good-sized stump. A hole il
punched under the stump with crow
bar; the explosive, with the proper fust
and Illuminating cap attached, is put il
the hole, water is poured in as tampins
and the fuse is fired. The explosion
throws the stump out in several pieces
leaving the hole to be filled up after
wards. Experts have taken out on,
hundred stulnps in day in this man
ner.