It is a good plan to have a particular measure cup kept for the purpose, and after once weighing all those receipts that are given by weight, to measure the quantity by this cup, and then write the measures in your receipt book, and keep the cup only for this purpose. The following is some guide in judging of the relative proportion between measures and weights.

A quart of flour, or of sifted loaf sugar, or of softened butter, each weigh about a pound. The flour, if sifted, must be heaped.

A pint equals eight ounces.

A half a pint equals four ounces.

One gill equals two ounces.

Half a gill equals one ounce.

A quart of brown sugar, or of Indian meal, equals a pound and two ounces of the same.

One great spoonful of flour, loaf sugar, or of melted butter, equals a quarter of an ounce of the same. It should be a little heaped.

Four spoonfuls equal an ounce, or half a gill.

Eight spoonfuls equal one gill.

Sixteen spoonfuls equal half a pint.

Spoons differ so much in size that this is an uncertain guide.

A medium-sized teaspoon holds sixty drops of water.

Ten eggs usually weigh a pound.

Four gills make a pint.

Two pints make a quart.

Four quarts make a gallon.

Eight quarts make a peck.

Four pecks make a bushel.

Avoirdupois Weight.

Sixteen drachms make an ounce.

Sixteen ounces make a pound.

Twenty-eight pounds make a quarter.

Four quarters make a hundred.

Twenty hundred make a ton.

Apothecaries’ Weight.

Twenty grains make a scruple.

Three scruples make a drachm.

Eight drachms make an ounce.

Twelve ounces make a pound.

On Purchasing Wood.

Wood that is straight and solid makes more in a load, and is the most profitable.

A cord of small crooked sticks does not contain half the wood there is in a load of solid logs.

The best wood for fires is the hickory, hard maple, white ash, black birch, yellow birch, beech, yellow oak, and locust. The best are placed first.

The following are inferior in quality. Elm, soft maple, white birch, pepperage, and pine.

The following are not fit to burn, either because they snap, or will not burn. Chestnut, butternut, cedar, sassafras, red oak, and buckeye.

Any person can learn to distinguish each kind by a little attention and instruction.

Wood is bought by measurement. A cord of wood is 8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high.

To know the amount of a load, multiply the length by the breadth, and the product by the height, and you have the number of square feet. If it is 128 feet, it is a cord.

Items of Advice.

If you keep an account of your stores, and the dates when they are bought, you can know exactly how fast they are used, and when they are wasted, or stolen.

Stale bread is improved by steaming it half an hour or more.

Grate up dry cheese, and cheese crusts, moisten it with wine or brandy, and keep it in a jar for use. It is better than at first.Boil old earthenware soaked with grease in hot lye, and it will cleanse it.

Wheat should always be washed before grinding.

When you clean house, begin with the highest rooms first, so that clean rooms be not soiled when done.

Repair house linen, turn sheets, and wash bedclothes in summer.

Clean house in the fall instead of spring, and you get rid of all the filth made by flies. But when you burn bituminous coal, spring is the proper time for house cleaning.

Keep coarse mats on the kitchen table for keeping it clean.

Use a coarse apron and gloves for cleaning grates. Have coal cinders sifted, and save the coarse part to burn again.

Buy your wood in August and September, when it usually is cheapest and plenty.

Have the backs of your chimneys kept clean by sweeping.

Never try a new dish for company.

To purify water, put common charcoal pounded in a common flower-pot, and fine sand over it, and let the water trickle through. Or, take an old sieve, and fill it with sand and pounded charcoal, and strain the water, and then cool it with ice.

Keep a receipt book for yourself, and write in it the improvements of your own experience.

Keep bits of potter’s clay in the house, to use for a paste to extract grease from carpets, floors, and broadcloths.

Dry bran around grapes and other fruit preserves it.

All fat should be tried up once a week, for cooking, or soap grease. Good fat saves butter.

When a stove-pipe or other iron is cracked, make a cement with ashes, salt, and water, and it will stop the opening.

Faded colors often are improved by strong salt and water.

Sal volatile, or spirits of hartshorn, will restore colors taken out by acids.

Eggs are preserved longer by packing them close, standing on their small ends. Another way is to pack them in fine salt, small end down. Another way is to pack them, small end down, and then pour on them a mixture of four quarts of cold water, four quarts of unslacked lime, two ounces of salt, and two ounces of cream-tartar. This will serve for nine dozen eggs. Try all these ways.

Rancid butter is said, by good judges, to be restored thus:—Put fifteen drops of chloride of lime to a pint of water, and work the butter in it till every particle has come in contact with the water. Then work it over in fair cold water.

Indelible Ink is thus prepared:—Buy three drachms of nitrate of silver, and put it in a vial with two spoonfuls of water. Let it stand a few days, then color it with a little ink, and add a tablespoonful of brandy. The preparation is made of strong pearlash water, stiffened with gum-arabic, and colored with red wafers.

Buy cheap red wafers, and scatter them about, and cockroaches will eat them and be destroyed. The roots of black hellebore scattered in their haunts is an infallible remedy.

Cold cream for sore lips, is made by mixing two ounces of oil of almonds, one ounce of spermaceti, one drachm of white wax, and melting them together, adding rose water to perfume them.

Jelly-bags should be made of flannel, and pudding cloths of thick linen, with strings sewed on to them.

Rose leaves should be gathered and preserved by crowding them into a jar with brandy, to use for cooking.

Potato starch is made by grating peeled potatoes, and rubbing them in water. Then pour off the water, after stirring it, and dry what sinks to the bottom.

Orange and lemon peel can be saved thus:—Dry it in an oven, pound it, and then bottle it close.

Orange or lemon water is prepared thus:—Pound the fresh skins in a mortar, pour in boiling water, cover close, and when cold bottle close. Or use wine or brandy.

Cologne water is made thus:—Buy at the apothecary’s one drachm each of oil of lavender, oil of lemon, oil of rosemary, and oil of cinnamon. Add two drachms of oil of bergamot. Mix in a vial, and add a pint of alcohol.

When Pearlash or Saleratus becomes damp, dissolve it in as much water as will just entirely dissolve it, and no more. A tablespoonful of this equals a teaspoonful of the solid. Keep it corked in a junk bottle.

The following is a very useful receipt for children who go to school where blackboards are used.

To make nice Crayons for Blackboards.

These directions are given by Prof. Turner, of the American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, as follows:

“Take 5 pounds of Paris white, 1 pound of Wheat flour, wet with water, and knead it well; make it so stiff that it will not stick to the table, but not so stiff as to crumble and fall to pieces when it is rolled under the hand.

“To roll out the crayons to the proper size, two boards are needed, one to roll them on; the other to roll them with. The first should be a smooth pine board three feet long and nine inches wide. The other should also be pine, a foot long and nine inches wide, having nailed on the under side near each edge a slip of wood one-third of an inch thick, in order to raise it so much above the under board as that the crayon, when brought to its proper size, may lie between them without being flattened.

“The mass is rolled into a ball, and slices are cut from one side of it about one-third of an inch thick: these slices are again cut into strips about four inches long and one-third of an inch wide, and rolled separately between these boards until smooth and round.

“Near at hand should be another board 3 feet long and 4 inches wide, across which each crayon, as it is made, should be laid, so that the ends may project on each side—the crayons should be laid in close contact, and straight. When the board is filled, the ends should all be trimmed off so as to make the crayons as long as the width of the board. It is then laid in the sun, if in hot weather, or if in winter, near a stove or fireplace, where the crayons may dry gradually, which will require twelve hours. When thoroughly dry they are fit for use.

“An experienced hand will make 150 in an hour.” Young boys can make them and sell to their companions.

SOME EXCELLENT CHEAP DISHES.

Stewed Beef.

Take a shank or hock of beef, with all the meat belonging to it, and put it into a pot full of water early in the morning and throw in a tablespoonful of salt. Let it simmer very slowly, till the beef is soft, and cleaves from the bone, and the water is reduced to about two quarts. Then peel some potatoes, and cut them in quarters, and throw in with two teaspoonfuls of black pepper, two of sweet marjoram, and two of thyme, or summer savory. Add some celery flavor or sauce, and more salt if it requires it. Stew until the potatoes are cooked enough, but not till they are mashed. Then take dry bread, and throw in, breaking it into small pieces, and when soaked, take up the whole and serve it, and everybody will say it is about the best dish they ever tasted.

Those who love onions slice in three or four with the potatoes. Rice can be put in instead of bread.

Tomato Beef.

Stew a shank or hock of beef as above, except you put in nine or ten peeled tomatoes instead of potatoes and sweet herbs, and also leave out the bread. Some would add a little chopped onion. This is excellent and a very healthful mode of preparing beef, especially if it is tough.

A good Way to use Cold Rice.

Heat the rice in milk, add a well-beaten egg or two, a little salt, butter, and sugar, let it boil up once, and then grate on nutmeg.

To prepare Good Toast.

Toast the bread very quick, dip each slice in boiling water as soon as you have toasted it, and then lay thin bits of butter over. Cover and keep hot as you proceed. A tin bonnet is very useful for this. Make milk toast in the same way, keeping the milk at nearly boiling heat. It is better to spread the butter thin on to the toast after it is dipped in hot milk, than to melt it in it.

A Good Pudding.

Line a buttered dish with slices of wheat bread, first dipped in milk. Fill the dish with sliced apple, and add sugar and spice. Cover with slices of bread soaked in milk, cover close with a plate, and bake three hours.

Loaf Pudding.

When bread is too stale, put a loaf in a pudding-bag and boil it in salted water an hour and a half, and eat it with hard pudding sauce.

A Plain Lemon Pudding.

Nine spoonfuls of grated apple, one grated lemon, (peel and pulp,) half a cup of butter, and three eggs. Mix and bake, with or without a crust, about an hour. Cream improves it.

An Excellent Indian Pudding without Eggs.

Take seven heaping spoonfuls of Indian meal, half a teaspoonful of salt, two spoonfuls of butter or sweet lard, a teacup of molasses, and two teaspoonfuls of ginger or cinnamon, to the taste. Pour into these a quart of milk while boiling hot. Mix well, and put it in a buttered dish. Just as you set it in the oven stir in a teacup of cold water, which will produce the same effect as eggs. Bake three quarters of an hour, in a dish that will not spread it out thin.

Pork and Potato Balls.

Take one-third chopped salt pork or ham, either raw or cooked, and two-thirds of cold cooked potatoes chopped fine. Mix them up with egg, a little salt and pepper, and then make into balls and fry, or merely cook in a skillet.

Chop cold potatoes fine, and then add some pork fat and a little pepper, salt, and water, and warm slowly, and it is very good.

Oyster Pie.

Make a crust by working flour into mashed boiled potatoes with a little salt. Line a deep dish with it, invert a small teacup in the middle to hold the juice in and to hold up the upper crust. Put in the oysters with a little pepper and butter, and dredge in some flour. Cover with crust, make a large slit on the top, and bake an hour.

Green Corn Patties (like Oysters).

Twelve ears of sweet corn grated. (Yellow corn will do, but not so well.)

One teaspoonful of salt and one of pepper.

One egg beaten into two tablespoonfuls of flour.

Mix, make into small cakes, and fry brown in butter or sweet lard.

Ohio Wedding Cake (Mrs. K.).

Two pounds of flour.

One pound of butter.

One pound of sugar—brown is best.

Two pounds of currants or one of raisins.

Ten eggs.

Two teacups of molasses.

One gill of wine, and one of brandy.

One gill of cream, spice and citron to the taste.

Mix the butter and sugar, add the molasses, then the beaten yolks of eggs, then the flour, then the spice, wine, and cream, then the whites of the eggs in a stiff froth. Put in the fruit in the manner previously directed, and the citron with it at the same time. This is a very fine cake.

Best Way of making Corn Cakes of all Sorts.

There is often a sharp and strong taste to corn meal, which is remedied by wetting it up the day before it is used. The best kind of corn cakes are made by wetting up a large quantity of Indian meal with milk, and letting it stand for several days. Take a quantity of it, and first make it as thin as you want, either for griddle cakes, or drop cakes, or thicker cakes. Add salt and a spoonful of melted butter or lard for every quart, also sugar to your taste. A little always improves all corn cakes. Then dissolve soda or salaratus, a teaspoonful for each quart. If it is very sour it will want more, and tasting is the surest guide. Just as you are ready to bake, stir in enough salaratus to sweeten it, and stir quickly and only long enough to mix it well, and then bake immediately in buttered tins.

Domestics often use too much salaratus, which is bad for the stomach, and the housekeeper should ascertain by trial the right quantity, and then direct to have it carefully measured every time. Corn cakes, made as above, just thick enough to form into round cakes half an inch thick and baked on a griddle, are excellent.

Molasses Candy.

As all children are fond of this article, the following directions may be acceptable. Boil the molasses (maple is the best) till it will, if dropped in cold water, become crisp. Then, for each quart, put into it an even teaspoonful of salaratus dissolved in a little warm water, and stir it till well mixed. This makes it tender and crisp. Take a part and cool it in a buttered pan, to work white and draw into sticks. Into the remainder stir roasted corn, either pounded or whole, or peanuts or almonds, or walnuts or hazelnuts.

Whole Popped corn made into cakes with candy is excellent. Roasted corn pounded and mixed with half the quantity of maple sugar is good, and some eat it thus in milk.

To make Simple Cerate.

Melt together equal quantities of white wax and spermaceti, and then add an equal quantity of sweet oil, or a little more.

Never use rancid oil.

Best Remedy for Burns.

Pound and sift wood soot, and mix it with sweet lard, and apply it, spread on linen rags. It will ease a burn quicker than anything. If the skin is off, the great thing is to keep it covered close from the air. If the burns are large and bad, give salts or cream tartar as a cathartic.

Ginger Tea.

Pour half a pint of boiling water on to a teaspoonful of ginger; add sugar and milk to the taste.

Indian Bannock.

Take one pint of Indian meal, and stir into it a pint of sour milk, half a teaspoonful of salt, a spoonful of molasses, and a spoonful of melted butter. Beat two eggs and add, and then stir in a pint of wheat flour. Then thin it with milk to the consistency of drop cakes, and when ready to bake, stir in a heaping teaspoonful of salaratus dissolved in hot water. Pour into square buttered tins an inch thick, and bake fifteen minutes.

Egg and Bread.

Put bread crumbs into a sauce pan, with cream, salt, and pepper, and a little grated nutmeg. When the bread has absorbed the cream, break in eight eggs and fry it like an omelet, or bake it in buttered tins, or muffin rings.

Floating Island.

Beat the whites of eggs till very stiff, then put in one tablespoonful of some acid jelly for each white, and beat it a good while. Boil rich sweetened milk, and put it in a glass dish, and when cold, put the jelly and eggs on the top.

A New Mode of cooking Cucumbers.

Pare them, cut them in quarters lengthwise, dip them in corn meal or wheat flour, pepper and salt them, and then fry them brown, and they are very fine.

Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected. Variations in hyphenation, spelling and punctuation remain unchanged.

The following changes have been made.

In the section on Kitchen Furniture

a vial tunnel, a larger tunnel
has been changed to
a vial funnel, a larger funnel

In the section Items of Advice

Boil old earthen soaked with grease in hot ley, and it will cleanse it.
has been changed to
Boil old earthenware soaked with grease in hot lye, and it will cleanse it