The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-09-27
HOME AND FARM.
Value OF Young Plants-Clotted Cream
Old Pastures-Do Not Crowd
Your Plants-Spiced Grapes.

Old Pastures-Do Not Crowd
Your Plants-Spiced Grapes.
Sheep are not profitable if kept as a
side business" A flock that is given
the same attention that is bestowed on
other stock, and kept as business ven
trre, Will pay larger profit for capital
1 invested than any other class of stock,
but sheep pay best when bie ed for mutton
rather than for wool.
When the branches of the tomatoe
vines look as if the leaves had been
stripped off make close search for the
green worm, which is about two inches
long and half an inch in diameter. Un-
less the worm is caught it will eat up all
the foliage, and as it is nearly of the
color of the vines it is easily detected.
Stewed Pears with Lemons.-Flavor-
less pears may he used; pare, quarter and
core them. To each quart of pieces take
a lemon cut in the thinnest slices, with
peel for this quantity weigh pound of
sugar, dissolve in little water, boil up
and skim, put in pears an ! lemons and
cook slowly till the pears a-e tender and
clear.
Frozen Peaches.-Take two quarts of
rich milk and two teacupfuls of sugar;
mix well together and put into freezer
with ice and salt packed around it. Have
ready one quart of peaches mashed and
sweetened. When the milk is very cold,
stir them in and freeze them all together.
Strawberries can be used in the same
way, but will require more sugar.
To secure young black-cap raspberry
plants the canes are bent over and tipped
into the ground, with a clod resting
thereon to hold each can in position.
These tips take roots and the old vine is
then cut off. The red raspberry repro
duces itself by sending out shoots around
the parent VINE. They can be taken up
in the fall and transplantej, or it may be
done very early in the spring.
Spiced Grapes.-To every pound of
fruit allow one-half pound of sugar, one
pint of vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of
cinnamon and cloves, and one table
spoonful of allspice. Cook pulp and skin
separately, skins until tender and pulp
until soft, and seed by running through
the colanders. Put pulp and skins
together, and vinegar, sugar and spices
(the latter in bag), and cook until of
right consistency.
After you remove the melon vines this
fall set out a red raspberry plant on each
hill. The manure left over from the
supply given the melons will induce
vigorous growth of cane next season, and
the plants will be sufficiently close, as
they will soon thicken in the row. Keep
the canes clean until they are nearly
ready to bear, and cut them out if too
thick.
Puree or Peas.-Wash a quart of peas
which have been already hulled, put
them in a saucepan with three pints of
water, very little salt and pepper, half an
ounce of ham and an onion cut in slices.
Boil until soft, then drain off the water
and rub the peas through a colander.
Heat again on the fire, adding two heap
ing tablespoonfuls of butter and pinch
of sugar. Serve very hot.
Sweetbreads.-One generally sees
these fried, but the following is the very
incest way to serve them Put them on
in water enough to cover them we'll, sea-
soning them with salt and black and red
pepper to taste. Let the water nearly all
boil away, then set the stevpan a little
back on the stove, and let the remaining
water stew out entirely and the sweet
breads brown nicely in the pan, stirring
them up often. This is very rich dish.
| Greengage Plums make delicious tarts.
Stew the fruit with cupful of water (no
sugar at first) for half an Eour, then add
three-quarters of pound of sugar for
every pound you put in OF fruit, and cook
until they are a thick jam. Let the
stones cook with the fruit, but remove as
many as possible before the sugar is
added. For an Ornamented preserve
stick each plum several times with
coarse needle before cooking them.
Old pastures that are overrun with
weeds can be best utilized for sheep, as
they will eat off the young weeds and
keep them down. Many weeds are
valuable, SO far as their use for food is
concerned, but are undesirable in place
of regular saleable crops. They can be
utilized when young by pasturing sheep
upon them, and if weeds are not allowed
to seed the grass will again take pos
session of the field.
The happy owner of a pear tree may,
after canning and picking, dry the pears;
inferior ones will answer for this, and
most excellent way to use dried pears in
winter is to soak them in luke-warm
water until they are soft, then simmer
gently, and while yet warm put them
through colander, or better still,
through sitter which has handle; the
pulp shus made makes perfectly delicious
pies. The pies may have one or two
crusts. A lower crust with little strips
across the top is preferable.
Do Not Crowd Your Plants There is
nothing gained by growing three plants
where there is only room for two. The
two plants that the place would comfort
ably accommodate will be much finer
than the three that you could manage to
''iust squeeze in" And remember that
one plant, well-growD, is worth score of
poorly grown ones. One good plant is
something to be proud of, while num-
Der of poor specimens ought to make the
grower ashamed, not of the plants, but
of himself. Treat plants precisely as you
would people, and give them all the
chance they want to develop. Let them
show what they can do. and they cannot
do this when they are cramped.
Superior Value of Young Plants
Why, asks Josiah Hooker in the New
York Tribune, divide old bearing bushes
of currents, gooseberries, towering
shrubs, ETC., to increase ones stock OF
plants? This is necessary in the case of
the great majority of shrubs simple
hardwood cutting will emit roots rapidly
in the spring. These rooted cuttings, If
properly transplanted, rarely receive any
setback, but continue growing vigorously
from the start, and quickly arrive at the
Towering and fruiting age On the other
hand, old, matured plants, probably
stunted in growth, iftaken up and divided
cf;1l rotoiu q 1arOo yOrfiOn 0f hard old