DOMESTIC ECONOMY, AND OTHER MATTERS WORTH KNOWING

_Of the different kinds of Tea, Coffee, &c.--Preserving Fruits, Flowers, &c.--Care of Fires--and other Hints._

739.--The names of the different kinds of tea, relate to the time of their being gathered, or to some peculiarity in their manufacture. It is a general rule, that all tea is fine in proportion to the tenderness and immaturity of the leaves. The quality and value of the different kinds diminish as they are gathered later in the season.

BLACK TEAS.--As soon as the leaf-bud begins to expand, it is gathered to make _Pekoe_. A few days' later growth produces black-leaved Pekoe. The next picking is called _Souchong_; as the leaves grow larger and more mature, they form _Congou_; and the last picking is _Bohea_.

_Bohea_ is called by the Chinese, _Ta-cha_ (large tea), on account of the maturity and size of the leaves; it contains a larger proportion of woody fibre than other teas, and its infusion is of a darker color and coarser flavor.

_Congou_, the next higher kind, is named from a corruption of the Chinese _Koong-foa_ (great care, or assiduity). This forms the bulk of the black tea imported, and is mostly valued for its strength.

_Souchong--Seaou-choong_ (small, scarce sort), is the finest of the stronger black tea, with a leaf that is generally entire and curly. It is much esteemed for its fragrance and fine flavor.

_Pekoe_ is a corruption of the Canton name, _Pak-ho_ (white down), being the first sprouts of the leaf-buds; they are covered with a white silky down. It is a delicate tea, rather deficient in strength, and is principally used for flavoring other teas.

740. GREEN TEAS.--The following are the principal kinds: _Twankay_, _Hyson-Skin_, _Hyson_, _Gunpowder_, and _Young Hyson_.

_Young Hyson_ is a delicate young leaf, called in the original language, _Yu-tsien_ (before the rains), because gathered in the early spring.

_Hyson_, from the Chinese word _He-tchune_, which means, flourishing spring. This fine tea is gathered early in the season, and prepared with great care and labor. Each leaf is picked separately, and nipped off above the footstalk, and every separate leaf is rolled in the hand. It is much esteemed for its flavor.

_Gunpowder Tea_ is only Hyson rolled and rounded, to give it the _granular_ appearance whence it derives its name. The Chinese call it _Choo-cha_ (pearl tea).

_Hyson-Skin_ is so named from the Chinese term, in which connection _skin_ means the refuse, or inferior portion. In preparing Hyson, all leaves that are of a coarse yellow, or imperfectly twisted appearance, are separated, and sold as _skin-tea_, at an inferior price.

_Twankay_ is the last picking of green tea, and the leaf is not rolled or twisted as much as the dearer descriptions. There is altogether less trouble bestowed on the preparation.

741.--The infusion or decoction of the roasted seeds of the coffee-berry, when not too strong, is a wholesome, exhilarating, and strengthening beverage; and, when mixed with a large proportion of milk, is a proper article of diet for literary and sedentary people. It is especially suited to persons advanced in years. People who are bilious and liable to costiveness, should abstain from it. When drank very strong, it proves stimulating and heating in a considerable degree, creating thirst and producing watchfulness. By an abusive indulgence in this drink, the organs of digestion are impaired, the appetite is destroyed, nutrition is impeded, and emaciation, general debility, paralytic affections, and nervous fever, are brought on.

742. _Proper method of making Toast and Water, and the advantages resulting therefrom._--Take a slice of fine and stale loaf-bread, cut very thin--as thin as toast is ever cut--and let it be carefully toasted on both sides, until it be _completely browned all over_, but nowise blackened or burned in any way. Put this into a common deep stone or china jug, and pour over it, from the tea-kettle, as much clean boiling water as you wish to make into drink. Much depends on the water being actually in a boiling state. Cover the jug with a saucer or plate, and let the drink cool until it be quite cold; it is then fit to be used. The fresher it is made the better, and of course the more agreeable. The above will be found a pleasant, light, and highly-diuretic drink. It is peculiarly grateful to the stomach, and excellent for carrying off the effects of any excess in drinking. It is also a most excellent drink at meals, and may be used in the summer-time, if more agreeable to the drinker.

743. _Baked Milk._--Put half a gallon of milk into a jar, and tie it down with writing-paper. Let it stand in a moderately warm oven about eight or ten hours. It will then be of the consistence of cream. It is used by persons who are weak or consumptive.

744. _Substitute for Cream, in Tea or Coffee._--Beat the white of an egg to a froth, put to it a very small lump of butter, and mix well. Then turn the coffee to it gradually, so that it may not curdle. If perfectly done, it will be an excellent substitute for cream. For tea, omit the butter, using only the egg. This might be of great use at sea, as eggs can be preserved fresh in various ways.

745. _Economical use of Nutmegs._--If a person begin to grate a nutmeg at the _stalk_ end, it will prove hollow throughout; whereas the _same_ nutmeg, grated from the _other_ end, would have proved sound and solid to the last. This circumstance may thus be accounted for:--The centre of a nutmeg consists of a number of fibres issuing from the stalk, and its continuation through the centre of the fruit; the other ends of which fibres, though closely surrounded and pressed by the fruit, do not adhere to it. When the stalk is grated away, those fibres, having lost their hold, gradually drop out, and the nutmeg appears hollow: as more of the stalk is grated away, others drop out in succession, and the hollow continues through the whole nut. By beginning at the contrary end, the fibres above-mentioned are grated off at their core end, with the surrounding fruit, and do not drop out and cause a hole.

746. _To ascertain the quality of Nutmegs._--Oil of nutmegs being of great value, it is often extracted from the nuts which are exposed to sale, and which are thereby rendered of very little value. To ascertain the quality of nutmegs, force a pin into them; and if good, however dry they may appear, the oil will be seen oozing out all round the pin.

747. _Essence of Nutmeg._--Is made by dissolving one ounce of the essential oil in a pint of rectified spirits. It is an expensive but invaluable mode of flavoring, in the arts of the cook or confectioner.

748. _To make Essence of Celery._--Soak for a fortnight half an ounce of the seeds of celery in one gill of brandy. A few drops will flavor a pint of soup or broth equal to a head of celery.

749. _Tincture of Lemon-peel._--Fill a wide-mouthed pint bottle half full of brandy; when a lemon is used, pare off the rind very thin, and put it into the brandy. In two weeks the spirit will be strongly impregnated with the flavor of the lemon.

750. _To test the purity of Spirits._--See if the liquor will burn away entirely: or, place a hollow ivory-ball in it; the deeper the ball sinks, the lighter the liquor, and consequently more spirituous.

751. _To purify Olive Oil._--Turn the oil into a crock or bottle, and pour in a quantity of pure water; shake the vessel vigorously, and let it stand two hours. The mucilaginous matter which is the cause of rancidity, will be separated from the oil, and remain in the water. The oil can be decanted, and re-bottled for use.

752. _To preserve Eggs._--The most simple and easy mode of preserving eggs, is to rub the outside of the shell, as soon as gathered from the nest, with a little butter, or any other grease that is not fetid. By filling up the pores of the shell, the evaporation of the liquid part of the egg is prevented; and either by that means, or by excluding the external air, which Fourcroy supposes destroys the milkiness which most people are fond of in new-laid eggs, that milkiness will be preserved for mouths, as perfect as when the egg was taken from the nest.

753. _Cream preserved in Long Voyages._--Mix with a quantity of fresh rich cream half its weight of white sugar in powder; stir the whole well together, and preserve it in bottles well corked. In this state it is ready to mix with tea or coffee, and has continued in good condition during a voyage to America.

754. _To preserve Hazel Nuts in great perfection for many months._--Hazel nuts may be kept a long time in full kernel by burying them in earthen pots, well closed, a foot or two in the ground. They keep best in gravelly or sandy places.

755. _Easy Method of preserving Animal Food._--Fresh meat may be kept for nine or ten days perfectly sweet and good, in the heat of summer, by lightly covering the same with bran, and hanging it in a high and windy room; a cupboard full of small holes, or a wire safe, is recommended to be placed in such a room, to keep away the flies.

756. _To purify Lemon-juice._--Add one ounce of pulverized, well burnt charcoal, to a quart of lemon-juice; after standing twelve hours, filter the juice through white blotting-paper; it will keep good several years in a cellar, in a bottle, well corked; a thick crust will form beneath the cork, and the mucilage will fall to the bottom.

757. _To detect Copper in Liquids._--Spirit of hartshorn mixed with them, turns them blue. Therefore tea is not dried on copper, as an infusion of it is not turned blue by this mixture. Cider, being passed through brass pots, is detected by this experiment.--_Dr. Moyes' Lectures._

758. _To detect the Mixture of Arsenic._--A solution of blue vitriol dropped into any liquid in which arsenic has been put, will turn it green.

759. _To test Mushrooms._--Rub the upper skin with a gold ring or any piece of gold: the part rubbed will turn yellow if it is a _poisonous fungus_.

760. _To prepare Salt._--Set a lump of salt in a plate before the fire, and when dry, pound it in a mortar, or rub two pieces of salt together; it will then be free from lumps, and in very fine powder.

761. _To make Cheap and Good Vinegar._--To eight gallons of clear rain water, add three quarts of molasses; turn the mixture into a clean tight cask, shake it well two or three times, and add three spoonsful of good yeast, or two yeast cakes. Place the cask in a warm place, and in ten or fifteen days, add a sheet of common wrapping-paper, smeared with molasses, and torn into narrow strips, and you will have good vinegar. The paper is necessary to form the "mother," or life of the liquor.

762. _To prevent Mouldiness._--The best preventive is any of the essential oils, as the oil of lavender, cloves, peppermint, &c. Russia leather, which is scented with the tar of the birch-tree, is not subject to mouldiness, and books bound in it will even prevent mouldiness in other books bound in calf, near which they happen to lie.

Aromatic seeds are not subject to mould, and gingerbread, or cakes containing caraway seeds are far less liable to mouldiness than plain bread. Children have been poisoned by eating mouldy bread.

763. _To keep Fruits._--To preserve fruits, you must keep them in a room rather above the ground floor, sheltered alike from the sun and damp; it is even prudent, in order to avoid opening the windows, to let out the humid exhalations of the fruit, to have a stove in the room, and light a fire in it now and then. The decaying fruit should be carefully removed. Cherries, grapes, &c., are kept sound by hanging them to threads, and then inclosing them in new boxes or barrels; these are closed as tightly as possible, and deposited in a dry place. Some preserve them by laying them in sawdust or bran.

764. _To preserve Apples._--Dry a glazed jar perfectly well, put a few pebbles in the bottom; fill the jar with apples, and cover it with a bit of wood made to fit exactly; and over that, put a little fresh mortar. The pebbles attract the damp of the apples. The mortar draws the air from the jar, and leaves the apples free from its pressure, which, together with the principle of putrefaction which the air contains, are the causes of decay. Apples, kept thus, have been found quite sound, fair, and juicy, in July.

765. _To keep Potatoes from frost._--If you have not a convenient store-place for them, dig a trench three or four feet deep, into which they are to be laid as they are taken up, and then covered with the earth taken out of the trench, raised up in the middle like the roof of a house, and covered with straw, to carry off the rain. They will be thus preserved from the frost, and can be taken up as they are wanted.

766. _To dry Corn for winter use._--Sweet corn is the best. Husk it. Have a pot of boiling water--put in your corn and let it boil three minutes--then cut it from the cobs and put it in pans in a warm oven. It must be stirred frequently; when perfectly dry put it away in bags. When wanted for use, soak it all night, next day boil it an hour with a little salt; before it is dished stir in flour, pepper, and butter.

767. _To preserve Aromatic and other Herbs._--The boxes and drawers in which vegetable matters are kept should not impart to them any smell or taste; and more certainly to avoid this, they should be lined with paper. Such as are volatile, of a delicate texture, or subject to suffer from insects, must be kept in well covered glasses. Fruits and oily seeds, which are apt to become rancid, must be kept in a cool and dry, but by no means in a warm or moist place.

768. _To dry Herbs._--Dry the gathered crop, thinly spread out, and shaded from the sun; tie the herbs in small bundles, and keep them compactly pressed down and covered with white paper. Or, after drying them, put each sort into a small box, and by means of boards, of the size of the interior length and width of the box, and a screw-press, press the herbs into cakes, or little trusses. These should be afterwards carefully wrapped up in paper, and be kept in a dry place, when they will retain their aroma as perfectly as when they were put into the press, for, at least, three years. By the common mode of hanging up herbs in loose bundles, the odor soon escapes.

769. _To dry Chamomile Flowers._--Pull them, from time to time, as they are produced; for the plants continue to blossom in succession for several months. When gathered, dry them gradually, partly in the sun, and partly in the shade, by being spread upon a mat or sheet, removed out of the sun in the heat of the day, and placed in it mornings and evenings.

_Lavender Flowers_ should also be dried as chamomiles.

_Marigold Flowers_, dried, improve broths and soups, however much they may have got into disuse.

770. _Winter Herbs._--The best time for gathering herbs for winter use is when they are in blossom. If left till they are in seed, the strength goes to the seed. They are best picked from the stocks, dried quickly (but not burnt), before the fire, and rubbed into powder, then bottled.

771. _Galvanism a Protector of Trees._--A German journal states that the application of galvanism has been made in Austria for preserving trees and plants from the ravages of insects. The process is very simple, consisting only in placing two rings, one of copper, the other of zinc, attached together, around the tree or plant. Any insect that touches the copper receives an electric shock, which kills it or causes it to fall to the ground.

772. _Moss on Trees._--The following is an excellent application to the scraped trunk to prevent the growth of moss, and destroy eggs of insects. One gallon of soft soap, one pound of flour of sulphur, and one quart of salt, to be well stirred together and put on with a hard brush.

773. _To destroy Caterpillars in Gooseberry Trees._--Gather dust from any turnpike road, and shake it well among the trees, and the caterpillars will immediately fall to the ground. It is an excellent plan to dust the trees twice or three times a week, as it will effectually prevent the lodgment of caterpillars.

774. _A neat method of Grafting._--Prepare the stock and the graft in the same way as for grafting with clay in the common way. Then take a long slip of India-rubber, three-quarters of an inch broad, and about the thickness of a shilling. Tie one end of this elastic riband with a thread, well prepared by rubbing with shoemakers' wax, to the stock, a little below where it is cut for being joined to the graft; then make the joint as neatly as possible, and wrap it round with the riband, taking due care to keep the India-rubber fully stretched, and to make it overlap at each turn fully one-half of the breadth of the previous round, till the whole is covered, then tie the top with a thread in the same manner as at the bottom, and the operation is finished. After grafting the trees in the manner described, nothing is done to them till they are completely set, when the India-rubber slips are taken off to be ready again for the next year. When opened up, there is scarcely any appearance of a joint, and altogether they are much neater than when done with clay.

775. _To Kill Vermin on Plants._--Tobacco water is much used for the above purposes; it is made by pouring a gallon of boiling water upon a pound of tobacco leaves, and straining it in twenty minutes.

Or, syringe the plants with this mixture: put into a jar five gallons of spring water and four ounces of chloride of lime, to which add four ounces of vitriol; when the lime is precipitated, pour off the clear solution, and keep it air-tight.

Or, mix coal tar and water, and sprinkle it over the infected plants.

776. _To Propagate Plants._--It may be received as a general principle, that all plants which produce shoots may be propagated by cuttings; though some plants are much more difficult to propagate in this manner than others. Generally speaking, all the soft-wooded plants which have abundance of sap, such as geraniums, fuchsias, petunias, and verbenas, strike root readily. The usual mode for striking cuttings is to put them in fine sand, and to cover them with a bell-glass. Some cuttings which are difficult to strike are directed to have bottom heat; that is, the pots in which they are planted should be plunged into a hot-bed, that the stimulus afforded by the heat may induce the cuttings to throw out roots.

777. _Plants watered by being placed in Dishes, improper._--The practice of placing flats or saucers under plants, and feeding them by the roots, that is, pouring the water continually into these dishes, and never on the earth at top, is highly improper. The water should always be poured on the surface of the earth, that it may filter completely through it, to the benefit and refreshment of the fibres.

778. _When to plant Annual and Perennial Flowers._--Many kinds of annuals and perennials, sown in March and the beginning of April, will be fit for transplanting about the end of May, and may either be planted in patches about borders, or in beds, as fancy shall direct. Of these, the kinds improved by transplanting are, amaranthuses, China asters, columbines, French and African marigolds, fox-gloves, hollyhocks, India pinks, love-lies-bleeding, mallows, mignonette, prince's feather, scabious, stocks, sun-flowers, sweet-williams, wall-flowers, and others. They should be planted out in a showery time, if possible, or otherwise be frequently watered, till they have struck root.

779. _To preserve Flower Seeds._--Those who are curious about saving flower-seeds must attend to them in the month of August. Many kinds will begin to ripen apace, and should be carefully sticked and supported, to prevent them from being shaken by high winds, and so partly lost. Others should be defended from much wet; such as asters, marigolds, and generally those of the class Syngenesia; as from the construction of their flowers they are apt to rot, and the seeds to mould, in bad seasons. Whenever they are thought ripe, or indeed any others, in wet weather, they should be removed to an airy shed or loft, gradually dried, and rubbed or beat out at conveniency.

780. _Easy Method of discovering whether or not Seeds are sufficiently ripe._--Seeds, when not sufficiently ripe, will swim, but when arrived at full maturity, they will be found uniformly to fall to the bottom; a fact that is said to hold equally true of all seeds, from the cocoa-nut to the orchis.