Agricultural And Domestic

Around the Farm. A farmer writes to the Elmira Farmers Uubtbat alcohol is a safe and sure cure for hoe on animale, iniuring neither hair nor skin, and it is seldom put to so noble a use. Ikon Filings por Flower Beds - Those who livo near blackemith and machine shops, and can get iron filings and rusty chips of iron to work into their flower beds, will add greatly to the rich a bnght coloring of their flowers.- Farmer g" Advocate. Skimmed milk, or eour milk, or milk in any condion, is a most excellent drink for poultry. It is meat and drink both. Some of the finest chickens we eyer saw were raised upon the free use oí milk with their food. Hens lay a well, or better, when furnished with tlus than upon any kiiown article offered them. - Utica Herald. , Although peach -growing is not a t very encouraging business to engage in, yet I believe tbat a few trees planted each year will repay for the care and ett tention bestowed. Old peach-trees are . of no particular valué exeept for fuel, [ and not speeiully valuable for even that; , and they should be cut down, and new ones planted in tbeir places.- Chicago Tribune. ín all systems of manuring one fao sbould be borne in mind, that manure should be placed in as close proximity as possible to the plants it is to nourish, since in all cases of decomposition the disengaged substance enters into new combinations at the very instant it is thrown off, much more rapidly than it does at any subsequent period.- Massachusetts PUiwman. This matter of windows in stables is one of vastly more importance than some farmers thiuk. Animáis, no more than vegetables, can thrive in the dark. Our long winters are sufflciently trying to the constitutions of our farm-stock, under the best circumstanees, and an animal upon which the sun scarcely shines at all for five or six months will come out in the spring in a bad state of health, even though the feed, and the ventilation, and the temperature have been all right. The sun is the great life-giver. - Vermant Chronicle. The cheapest rneat for the farmer is mutton. It may safely be said to cost nothing, as the fleece from a sheep of a good breed will amply pay for its keeping. Then, for additional profit, there are a lamb or two, the pelt of the animal if killed at home, the excellent manure from its droppings, and the riddance of the pastures from weeds, to which sheep are destructive foes. With the exception of poultry, mutton is also the most convenient meat for the farmer. A sheep is easily killed and dressed by a single hand in an hour, and in the warmest weather it can readily be disposed of before it spoils. Science and experience both declare it's the healthiest kind of meat, and a foolish prejudice alone prefers pork, which, whether fresh or salt, is the unhealthiest of them all. When people gain more wisdom, farmers will keep more sheep. - Moor e's Rural. To Tell the Age of FowLS.-If a hen's spur is hard, and the ecales on the legs rough, she is old, whether you see her head or not, but her head will corrobórate your observation. If the underbill is so stiff that you cannot bend it down, and the comb thick and rough, leave her, no matter how fat and plumn, for sorue one less particular. A young hen has only the rudiments of spurs; the scales on the legs are smooth, glossy and fresh colored, whatever the color may be; the claws tender and short, the nails sharp, the underbill soft and the comb thin and smooth .... An old hen turkey lias rough scales on the legs, callositi.es on the soles of the feet.and long, strong claws; a young one the reverse of all those marks. When the feathers are on the old cock has a long tuft or beard; a young one but a sprouting one; and whea tüey are off the smooth scales on the legs decide the point, beside the difference in size of the wattles of the neck, and in the elastic shoot upon the nose .... An old goose, when alive, is known by the rough legs, the strength of the wing, pirticularly of the pinions, the thickness and strength of the bill, and the flneness of the feathers ; and, when plucked, by the legs, the tenderness of the skin under the wings, by the pinions and the bill and the coarseness of the skin Ducks are distmguished by the same means, butthere is this difivrence - that a du"kling's bill is much loDger in proportion to the breadth of its head than the old duek s. A yomig pigeon is diseovered by its palé color, smooth scaUs, tender, collapsed feet, and the yellow, long down interspersed among its feathers, A pigeon that can Üy has always red-colored legs and no down, and is then too old lor use as a aquab. - Rural JVow Yorker. About the House. Attnt Nancie's Cokn Bbead. - Two cups of sweet milk and one of tour; three cups of meal and one of flour; onelialf cup of molasses; one teaspoontul of soda and one of salt, and steam two and one-half hours. Nitkic Acid for Hoaeseness. - Dr. W. Handsel Griflitlis says that a few drops of nitric acid in a glass of sweetened water, taken a couple of times daüy, will be found an excellent remedy for the lioarseness of eingers. Egg Butteb. - One quart of good clear molasses; four eggs well beaten; stir briskly together and then place over the fire and stir until thick as desired; lift from the fire and flavor with vanilla, lemon, or whatever is best liked. Nice for tea. Pickled Beets. - Boil, and when tender remove the skins and slice; take equal parts of vinegar and sugar, with one teaspoontul each of ground clores nd cinnamon, tied in a clotli, to each quart of vinegar, and pour boiling over the beets. To Pickle Bed Cabbage. - Wash very clean; reaiove the coarse leaves and cut into shreds; put into a jar and cover with hot brine; when cold, renew the brine, and when again cold, drain. Allow one cup of white sugar to every gallon of vinegar; tie into a cloth whatever spice you choosa, and when just boiling throw over the cabbage. Pickled Onions. - Peel email onions and throw hito a pan of boiling salt water; set them over the fire and allow them to simmer ten minutes; remove them to a cloth to dry, and then put carefully into glass jars. Boil some vinegar with ginger and whole pepper and, when cold, pour over the onions. Farmers' Fruit Cake. - Soak three teacupfuls of dried apples over night in warm water; chop slightly in the morning, then sirnmer two hours in two cups of molasses; add two well-beaten eggs; one cup of sugar; one cup of sweet milk; one-half cup of butter; one desertspooniul of soda; flour enough to make rather a stiff batter; flavor with spice to suit the taste. Bake in a moderately quick oven; this will make two cakes. Canning Corn. - Out the corn from the cobs, and scrnpe the cobs enough to get ofl' all of it; select a large cob to pack the corn in the jars, and cut the butt off square. Have a funnel to fit into the neck of the jar, and fi 11 with corn. packing it solid with the cob. Set tfie jttrs, with tops partly screwed up, iuto a boiler having a grate in the bottom, or something to keep the jars trom direct contact with the bottom. Fill the boiler with cold water to the shoulders of the jais, bring to a buil, and keep it boiling tbree hours; take up and screw up tops tight. In an hour crew up agaiii, and set away m a eool, dark place, Gbeat Bbitain derives a revepue of L267,174 from the dog tox,