The Old Time Farm Magazines:Getting Out Stains, Cinnamon Buns and Churning Cream

Pour lukewarm water through the spot, being careful to use
just as little water as possible. If one fears to pour the
water through lay a clean white cloth, folded in several
thicknesses, under the stain; then with a clean white cloth
over the end of the finger sponge the spot. Continue until
the spot is removed. A water ring is likely to follow,
because the new glaze of the silk has been injured. This
ring can be almost and usually entirely removed by steaming.
To do this tie a piece of white cloth over the spout of
the teakettle. Place about an inch of water in the kettle
and let boil hard. As the steam is forced out through the
cloth shake that part of the garment containing the water
ring in the steam. Continue until the fabric is evenly
moist, and then withdrawing it from the steam, shake until
dry. Sometimes the whole breadth containing the spot will
need to be steamed.

Grasshopper Stains

What will remove grasshopper stains? C. F. J.

Grasshopper stains can often be removed with clear water.
This stain, like most other stains, is always easier to
remove when fresh. Soap will not set the stain, but is not
often needed.

Varnish on Linen

I set a bottle of aromatic spirits of ammonia on my white
bureau cover. The cover stuck to the bureau, leaving a
great stain on the linen. How can this be removed? J, T ,J

Remove the varnish, which was the cause of this stain, by
some of the very substance which produced it. Varnish
dissolves in alcohol, so if you prefer, you may use clear
alcohol on the stain or a few drops of the aromatic spirits
of ammonia.

Three Recipes For You

Cinnamon Bun Recipe

1 cupful of milk

3/4 cupful of butter and lard

1 cupful of water

1 yeast cake.

1 cupful of sugar

1 level teaspoonful salt

2 eggs

Scald the milk and while it is hot pour it over the
shortening and the sugar, add the water, and when lukewarm
stir in the yeast cake that has been well dissolved in half
a cupful of warm water. Add the salt and enough flour to
make a batter that will drop from a spoon. Beat it
thoroughly and stand it in a warm place overnight.

In the morning add the well-beaten eggs and enough flour to
make a soft dough. Knead lightly and well, put back into
the bowl and let rise until it doubles itself. Separate the
dough in half, and roll each half out in a thin sheet.
Spread this with soft butter, brown sugar and cinnamon, and
scatter over it some currants that have been washed and
dried. Roll in a long roll, and with a sharp knife cut off
buns about an inch in thickness. Place them flat in a
greased pan and stand them in a warm place until light.
Bake in a moderate oven about twenty minutes. If your.oven
is very hot on the bottom put the grate under them, as they
burn very readily.

If you like the buns very sticky make this mixture: Put one
tablespoonful of butter, half a cupful of brown sugar, half
a cupful of sirup or corn sirup and half a cupful of water
into a stewpan and boil until thick. Add currants to it.
When the buns are baked take them out of the pans, turn
them upside down, and spread this mixture evenly over the
bottoms and sides.

Orange Marmalade

1 grapefruit

1 lemon

1 orange

Remove the core of grapefruit and the seeds of all fruit,
cut in pieces and put through a chopper. Add to the pulp
three times its bulk of water and stand away overnight.

On the second day boil ten minutes and stand away
overnight. On the third day to one pint of pulp add a pound
of sugar and boil an hour and fifteen minutes.

Buttermilk Pie

1 cupful of sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoonful of butter

A pinch of salt

2 level tablespoonfuls of flour

2 cupfuls of buttermilk

Flavoring to taste

Soften the butter a little, cream it with the sugar, add
the flour and mix again, then put in the salt and the egg,
unbeaten. Beat these ingredients very light, and add the
buttermilk and flavoring. Cook the mixture in a granite or
aluminum kettle and stir constantly till thick. Then pour
into a pie crust which has been previously cooked.

Or, line a large deep pie plate with pie paste, pierce
holes with a fork all over the bottom to prevent puffing,
pour the above mixture, uncooked, into this raw pie paste
and place in a moderate oven. Cook for twenty minutes or
until the mixture is set and a golden color on top.

A little grated coconut or a meringue may be spread on top
if desired.

Stacks That Keep Grain

We have a method of stacking in our neighborhood that keeps
our grain in splendid condition. We are able to stack green
oats, which everyone knows is very difficult to keep from
spoiling. We make our stacks oblong, in the form of ricks.
They contain from twelve to twenty loads. In harvesting the
grain we make as big bundles as the binder will tie, so
that when stacked they average 200 to 240 bundles to the
ton.

We begin by making a sort of table on the ground in the
center of the spot where the stack is to be. We set posts
three feet long and four to six inches in diameter, one
foot into the ground and two feet apart. Crosspieces are
placed on top of these posts and rails are laid on these
crosspieces lengthwise of the rick. This rack in the center
of the stack gives splendid ventilation and prevents
heating. The stack is considerably larger than these racks,
and when it settles it reaches the ground all round.

Water for Cows

When my friend Sheldon decided to put an automatic pump and
a reservoir on his farm it was with the idea of adding a
convenience to his home. He did think that perhaps he might
run a line to the water trough in the barnyard, but his son
did not think that plan was best for the livestock — he
wanted it run right into the barn so that the cows could
have water before them all the time in individual buckets.
The work was done as an experiment.

One winter day the cows found that instead of wading out
through the snow to drink chilly water in the trough all
they had to do was to turn their heads to one side and get
all they desired. Better still, the water was at a
comfortable temperature; and instead of drinking just
enough for their absolute needs, as they had in the
barnyard, they drank their fill. Much to my friend’s
surprise and his son’s gratification the milk check from
his sixteen cows jumped seven dollars the first week, and
all during the winter the cows kept up their unusually high
standard.

Did it pay? Sheldon says the extra milk paid for the whole
outfit in less than one year, and before he would keep cows
again without the inside water system he’d sell the cows. —
W. C. A.

Churning Cream

When cream will not churn it may be infected with the wrong
form of bacteria. Often, especially during the summer,
certain forms of bacteria that get into the milk cause it
to become bitter before it really sours.

All pails, strainers and other milk utensils should be
boiled in a solution of alkali cleaning or sal soda.

When the cream is churned it should be warmed to seventy
degrees and a quart of freshly soured milk added. This will
give the right organism, and if held at a temperature of
seventy degrees the action will be rapid and should give
much better flavored butter than where the cream is held on
ice until ready to churn. After the cream reaches the
proper degree of acidity cool it to sixty degrees and hold
for at least an hour before churning.

This page contains excerpts from issues of THE
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN dated 1915.