Memorial Day

Here's a link to a website that gives some history behind Memorial Day and yes we began to celebrate it during the 19th century. Memorial Day History The site also has a great list of referring sites as well.

In 1870 The Army produced a record of ceremonies over the graves of the fallen soldiers. The National Memorial Day

In 1897 Michigan produced a small book for a suggested program for their schools in observance of Memorial day. Memorial Day

Please note that the practice started in the South before it became a National holiday and it was commonly known as Decoration Day.

Etiquette & Manners

Etiquette & Manners is something often discussed on some of my of the writer loops I belong to as they pertain to the 19th century. Through Google books I've found a great source of books regarding such topics. Below is a list ordered by the year they were published. I've gathered this resource list over the past two years from Google Books. Hope it helps you in your search for proper behavior in the time period of your setting.

1832 Domestic Manners of the Americans
1835 Pencil Sketches
1837 The Young Lady's Friend
1839 Miss Leslie's Behavior Book
1842 Elegant Extracts
1843 Etiquette or, A Guide to The Usages of Society with a Glance at Bad Habits
1854 Etiquette Social Ethics and the Curtiousy of Society
1854 The Behavior Book
1860 The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manners
1860 The Hand Book of Etiquette
1866 Marine's Sensible Letter Writer
1868 Manners or Happy Homes
1870 Good Manners a Manual of Ediquette
1872 The Ladie's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness
1873 The Gentlemen's Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness
1884 Don't: A Manual of Mistakes and Improprieties More or Less
1888 Manners
1889 American Etiquette and Rules of Politeness
1889 Perfect Etiquette or How to Behave in social...
1892 Etiquette An Answer to the Riddle, When? Where? How?
1896 Social Etiquette or Manners and Customs of Polite Society
1897 Manners for Men
1897 Practical Letter Writing
1899 Twenty Letters in Letter Writing and Business

1870 Gentleman's Hats

50 Largest Cities 1880, 1850

Below is a graph of the largest cities in America from census reports. 1880 is in the left hand column and 1850 is the right. Charleston, SC is highlighted showing it's decline from 1850 to 1880.

If you'd like to view the original source here is a link

Jewelry Cleanser

JEWELRY—Cleaning And Polishing Compound—Aq'i» ammonia 1 oz.; prepared chalk J oz.; mix, and keep cor'ied.

To use, for rings, or other smooth-surfaced jewelry, wet a bit of cloth with the compound, after having skaken it, and rub the article thoroughly; then polish by rubbing with a silk handkerchief or piece of soft buck-skin. For articles which are rough-surfaced, use a suitable brush. It is applicable for gold, silver, brass, britannia, plated goods, &o.
Source: Dr. Chase's Recipes ©1870

Toad Ointment

Toad Ointment.—For sprains, strains, lame-hack, rheumatism, caked breasts, caked udders, &c., &e.

Good sized live toads, 4 in number; put into boiling water and cook very soft; then take them out and boil the water down to 1 pt., and add fresh churned, unsalted butter 1 lb. and simmer together; at the last add tincture of arnica 2 ozs.

This was obtained from an old Physician, who thought more of it than of any other prescription in his possession. Some persons might think it hard on toads, but you could not kill them quicker in any other way.
Source: Dr. Chase's Recipes ©1870

Watermaker 1870

While going over some 1870 censuses I came across a man who was born in Russia living in America who's occupation was listed as Watermaker. This occupation intrigued me. I do know that there were some people who converted sea water into fresh water and since the census was of a seacoast town that might have been his job as a watermaker. However, it has me searching the internet for other possible meanings.

The second alternative I came up with was a soda-water maker. Either of these are possible but I wonder if there are any other meanings for this occupation.

He's not Native America so we can think in terms of a rain maker.

I'm interested if anyone who reads this blog has ever run across this occupation, post a comment and let me know what you think.

Currency Act of 1870

After the Civil War during the Reconstruction period there was need to unify the currency. Below is an excerpt from The Political History of the United States of America during the Reconstruction Period ©1871 that details the Currency Act of 1870 and those who voted for or against it. Also, if you aren't looking for detailed information Wikipedia has a short paragraph describing the Act.

BANKING AND CURRENCY.
AN ACT to provide for the redemption of the three per centum temporary loan certificates, and for an increase of national bank notes.
Beit enacted, dec, That $54,000,000, iu notes for circulation may be issued to national banking associations in addition to the $300,000,000 authorized by the 22d section of the "Act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved June 3, 1864; and the amount of notes so provided shall be furnished to banking associations organized or to be organized in those States and Territories having less than their proportion under the apportionment contemplated by the provisions of the " Act to amend an act to provide a national currency secured by a pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof," approved March 3, 1865, and the bonds deposited with the Treasurer of the United States to secure the additional circulating notes herein authorized shall be of any description of bonds of the United States bearing interest in coin; but a new apportionment of the increased circulation herein provided for shall be made as soon as practicable, based upon the census of 1870: Provided, That if applications for the circulation herein authorized shall not be made within one year after the passage of this act, by banking associations organized or to be organized in States having less than their proportion, it shall be lawful for the Comptroller of the Currency to issue such circulation to banking associations applying for the same in other States or Territories having less than their proportion, giving the preference to such as have the greatest deficiency: And Provided further. That no banking association hereafter organized shall have a circulation in excess of $500,000.

Sec. 2. That at the end of each month after the passage of this act it shall be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency to report to the Secretary of the Treasury the amount of circulating notes issued, under the provisions of the preceding section, to national banking associations during the previous month; whereupon the Secretary ol the Treasury shall redeem and cancel an amount of the three per centum temporary loan certificates issued under the acts of March 2, 1867, and July 25, 1868, not less than the amount of circulating notes so reported, and may, if necessary, in order to procure the presentation of such temporary loan certificates for redemption, give notice to the holders thereof, by publication or otherwise, that certain of said certificates (which shall be designated by number, date, and amount) shall cease to bear interest from and after a day to be designated in such notice, and that the certificates so designated shall no longer be available as any portion of the lawful money reserve in possession of any national banking association, and after the day designated in such notice no interest shall be paid on such certificates, and they shall not thereafter be counted as a part of the reserve of any banking association,

Sec. 3. That upon the deposit of any United States bonds, bearing interest payable in gold, with the Treasurer of the United States, in the manner prescribed in the 19th and 20th sections of the national currency act, it shall bo lawful for the Comptroller of the Currency to issue to the association making the same circulating notes of different denominations not less than $5, not exceeding in amount eighty per cent, of the par value of the bonds deposited, which notes shall bear upon their face the promise of the association to which they are issued to pay them upon presentation at the office of the association, in gold coin of the United States, and shall be redeemable upon such presentation in such coin: Provided, That no banking association organized under this section shall have a circulation in excess of $1,000,000.

Sec. 4. That every national banking association formed under the provisions of the preceding section of this act shall at all times keep on hand not less than twenty-five per cent, of its outstanding circulation in gold or silver coin of the United States, and shall receive at par in the payment of debts the gold notes of every other such banking association which at the time of such payments shall be redeeming its circulating notes in gold or silver coin of the United States.

Seo. 5. That every association organized for the purpose of issuing gold notes as provided in this act shall be subject to all the requirements and provisions of the national currency act, except the first clause of section 22, which limits the circulation of national banking associations to $300,000,000; the first clause of section 32, which, taken in connection with the preceding section, would require national banking associations organized in the city of San Francisco to redeem their circulating notes at par in the city of New York; and the last clause of section 32, which requires every national banking association to receive in payment of debts the notes of every other national banking association at par: Provided, That in applying the provisions and requirements of said act to the banking associations herein provided for the terms "lawful money "and "lawfulmoney of theUnitedStates," shall be held and construed to mean gold or silver coin of the United States.

Sec. 6. That to secure a more equitable distribution of the national banking currency, there may be issued circulating notes to banking associations organized in States and Territories having less than their proportion, as herein set forth; ana the amount of circulation in this section authorized shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, as it may be required for this purpose, be withdrawn, as herein provided, from banking associations organized in States having a circulation exceeding that provided for by the act entitled " An act to amend an act entitled ' An act to provide for a national banking currency secured by pledge of United States bonds, and to provide for the circulation and redemption thereof,' " approved March 3,1865, but the amount so withdrawn shall not exceed $25,000,000. The Comptroller of the Currency shall, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, make a statement showing the amount of circulation in each State and Territory, and the amount to he retired by each banking association in accordance with this section, and shall, when such redistribution of circulation is lequired, mako a requisition for such amount upon such banks, commencing with the bank" having a circulation exceeding $1,000,000 in States having an excess of circulation, and withdrawing their circulation in excess of $1,000,000, and then proceeding pro rata with other banks having a circulation exceeding $300,000 in States having the largest excess of circulation, and reducing the circulation of such banks in States having the greatest proportion in excess, leaving undisturbed the banks in States having a smaller proportion, until those in greater excess have been reduced to the same grade, and continuing thus to make the reduction provided for by this act until the full amount of $25,000,000 herein provided for shall be withdrawn; and the circulation so withdrawn shall be distributed among the States and Territories having less than their proportion, Boas to equalize the same; and it snail be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency, under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, forthwith to make a requisition for the amount thereof upon the banks above indicated as herein prescribed; and upon failure of such associations, or any of them, to return the amount so required within one year, it shall be the duty of the Comptroller of the Currency to sell at public auction, having given twenty days' notice thereof in one ' daily newspaper printed in Washington and one in New York city, an amount of bonds deposited by said association, as security for said circulation, equal to the circulation to be withdrawn from said association and not returned in compliance with such requisition; and the Comptroller of the Currency shall with the proceeds redeem so many of the notes of said banking association as they come into the treasury as will equal the amount required and not so returned, and shall pay the balance, if any, to such banking association: Provided, That no circulation shall be withdrawn under the provisions of this section until after the $54,000,000 granted in the first section shall have been taken up.

Sec 7. That after the expiration of six months from the passage of this act any banking association located in any State having more than its proportion of circulation may be removed to any State having less than its proportion of circulation, under such rules and regulations as the Comptroller of the Currency, with the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury, may require: Provided, That the amount of the issue ot said banks shall not be deducted from tbe amount of new issue provided for in this act. Approved July 13, 1870.

Final Vote.
In Senate, July 6, 1870. The bill, as printed above, being the report of the co.nmittee of conference last appointed, was 1 to withont a division.
Ik House, July 7, 1870.

Teas—Messrs. Allison, Ambler, Armstrong, Asper, Atwood, Ayer, Bailey, Banks, Benjamin, Bennett, Benton, Blair, Boles, Booker, Boyd, Back, Buckley, Burehard, Burdett, Roderick R. Butler, Cake, Cessna, Churchill, William T Clark,Sidney Clarke, Amasa Cobb, Coburn, Conger, Cook, Covode, Cowles, Dnrrall, Dickey, Donley, Duval, Dyer, Ferriss, Ferrv, Finkelnburg, Fisher, Garfield, Gllflllan. Harris, Hawley, Hays. Hill, Thomas L. Jones. Judd, Kelley, Knapp, Lash, Logan, Loughridge. McCarthy. McCrnry, McGrew, Mc Ken tic, Mercur, Eliakim H. Moore, Jesse H. Moore, William Moore, Morphis. Daniel J. Morrell, Myers, Negloy, O'Neill, Packard, Packer, Palmer, Peck, Poland, Porter, Prosser, Roots, Sawyer, Scofield, Lionel A. Sheldon, Porter Sheldon. John A. Smith, William J. Smith, Worthington C.Smith, William Smyth, Stevens, Stokes, Stonghton, Strickland, Taffe, Tanner, Taylor, Tillman, Tiimble, Upson, Van Horn, Cadwalader C. Washburn, William B. Washburn, Wheeler, Whitmore, Wilkinson, Willard, John T. Wilson—100.

Nats—Messrs. Adams, Archer, Amell, AxteU. Barnum, Beatty, Biggs, Bingham, Bird, George M. Brooks, Jama Brooks. Bumnton, Burr. Benjamin F. Butler, Calkin, Cleveland, Oinner. Cox, Crebs, Davis, Dickinsim, Dixon, Pox, Ela, Oelt, Haldeman, Ilamill, Hawkins. Hay, Hoar, Hooper, Ingersoll, Jenckes, Jolinsan, Julian. Kellogg, Krrr, Lawrence, Lewis, Marshall, Mayluim. McCormick, McXecly, Morgan, Mungen. XMack, Orth, Paino, roller, RamtaU, Runs, Rice, Sanford, Sargent. Schumaker, Shanks, Stocum, Joseph S. Smith, Starkweather, Stevenson, Stiles, Stone, Strong, Svrann, Sweeney, Townsend, > Twichell, Tyner, Tan Auken, Van Trump, Van Wyck, Voorhces, Ward, Welker, Williams, Winchester, Woodvmrd —77.

Walking Machine

Baron von Drais invented a walking machine in 1817 to help him get around the garden faster. The device was two in-line wheels of equal size, a steerable front wheel, both wheels were mounted to a frame which you straddled. This device was the beginning of what we now call a Bicycle.

Eventually this Walking machine became known as the Draisienne or hobby horse.

The fad faded in popularity. The Walking Machine was quite heavy and the frame made out of wood.

The next 2 wheeled riding machine was introduced in 1865 and had pedals attached to the front wheel. It was called the Velocipede or Boneshaker.

The high wheel Bicycle we most often think of with regard to the history of the bicycle was introduced in 1870. These bicycles were expansive but enjoyed by young men of means. They cost an average of six month's pay. They were a bit dangerous because they had a tendency to flip the rider over if the bike hit a rock in the road.

By the 1880's the High Wheeled Bicycle was invented. It was a tricycle giving more stability and the rider sat between the two rear wheels. These were more affordable and doctors and clergy would often used them. This invention also brought into use, rack and pinion steering, the differential and band brakes, all of which were used when the automobile was invented.

Tin Can Timeline

In 1810 a British inventor invents the tin can. It's very thick at this time.

1813 the first canning factory is opened.
(early seals were made with lead, which we now knows led to lead poisoning.)

1822 William Underwood founded a canning company in Boston. You've probably seen the Underwood logo when you've purchased Deviled Ham. It wasn't until 1836 (another date I found was 1839) that he shifted from glass to steel cans coated with tin.

1846 a machine to make tin cans is invented. It produces sixty tin cans per hour. Prior to that the production of tin cans was 6 per hour.

1858 first can opener invented by Ezra Warner

1860 Baltimore canner Isaac Soloman added calcium chloride to the boiling water to sterilization and reduced the time from 5 to 6 hours to 30 minutes.

1861-1864 US military uses tin can during the Civil War

1866 patent for the tin can with a key opener is invented.

1870 an easier to use can opener is invented by William Lyman

1897 research found by Underwood's grandson and biologist from MIT that spores were contained in the meats canned and would cause the "swells" in the cans. They found that heat at 250 degrees for 10 minutes killed the spores. The process wasn't patented but worked.

Politics: Democratic Party

In Jan. 15, 1870 the first use of the donkey, the symbol of the democratic party, was first used. Thomas Nast a caricaturist working for Harper's Weekly did the illustration.

The 19th century was the beginning of the Democratic and Republican Party with regard to control of politics in the U.S.

Memorial Day

Memorial day originally started as Decoration day in the 1867 but was officially proclaimed in 1868 by Gen. John A. Logan.

Here's a link with a brief history Memorial Day History

Google Books also has a viewable document of "The National Memorial Day" ©1870 that gives a detail of the services for Memorial Day

Memorial Day was originally to recognize Union troops who fought in the Civil War. It wasn't until 1898 and President McKinley delivered a speech in GA that urged the US government to take care of Confederate graves. In 1900 Arlington National Cemetery began this process, a much needed event in the reconciliation of the North & South.

Today is actually Armistice Day but that didn't happen until Nov. 11, 1918.

Turnips

From the Godey's Lady's Book of Reciepts and Helpful Hints ©1870

Turnips A La Poulette.—Cut the turnips into dice in a saucepan ; boil till tender, and drain. Put in the saucepan a piece of butter rolled in flour, and stir gently over the fire; add a gill of milk, stir again; put in the turnips, pepper, and salt. Stew five minutes, and serye.

Turnips.—Full-grown turnips will take about an hour and a half gentle boiling; if you slice them, which most people do, they will be done sooner; try them with a fork; when tender, take them up, and lay them on a sieve till the water is thoroughly drained from them. Send them up whole; do not slice them.

Turnip Tops.—Boil thoroughly, with plenty of water, salt, and soda in due proportions; drain and pass through a hair sieve. Melt a piece of butter, to which add a little flour and the pulp of your turnip tops; stir on the fire a few minutes, adding a little milk or cream, and a little broth or stock, with pepper or grated nutmeg to taste. When a nice consistency, not too thick, dress on a dish as you would spinach, and serve with fried sippets of bread around it. If properly cooked, this dish has a better color than spinach, and a very pleasant, nutty, bitter taste.

Cauliflower

These recipes are from Godey's Lady's Book of Reciepts and Household Hints ©1870

CAULIFLOWER.
One of the prettiest dishes of vegetables we know consists of a cauliflower of ivory whiteness resting upon a bed of well made tomato sauce. To insure the immaculate appearance of the cauliflower, a moderate quantity of flour should be put in the water it is boiled in, and the cauliflower should only be put in when the water is boiling fast. When two or more cauliflowers are used, they should be moulded into one to serve them. To do this, when they are boiled, cut off the stalk, and dispose the pieces of cauliflower head down wards inabasin; press them gently together, turn them out dexterously on a dish, and two or three small cauliflowers will by this means present the appearance of one large one. Care must be taken to have the basin quite hot and to operate quickly. This cannot very well be done with the small purple cauliflower or brocoli; but all the formulas given for cauliflowers proper may be applied to brocoli likewise.

The sauce should be put into the dish and the cauliflowers over it; but if the moulding process has not been successful, or if the cauliflowers are not very nice looking ones, then pour the sauce over them, so as to hide their deformity.

The very best way, however, to treat cauliflowers is au gratin, and this has the advantage that it may be applied to the remains of the cauliflowers served at the dinner of the day before. This is the simplest form of it: Dispose the pieces of cauliflowers on a dish, pour a good supply of liquified butter over them, and plenty of grated cheese, with a judicious admixture of powdered white pepper, salt, and nutmeg. Put the dish into the oven for a few minutes, or brown with a red-hot salamander, and serve.

Here are other modes of proceeding: Rub the dish very slightly with garlic, mould your cauliflowers in a basin, and pour into them, before turning them out, some melted butter, into which you have dissolved a good allowance of cheese; turn them out on the dish, strew plentifully with grated cheese, a few bread crumbs, pepper, and salt, pouring the remainder of the sauce over. Brown and •serve.

Instead of moulding the cauliflowers, dip each piece in the sauce, and dispose them flat on the dish, filling up the interstices with bread crumbs and cheese in equal parts; pepper and salt according to taste; brown and serve.
The great thing to be avoided is not to make these preparations too dry, and yet there should not be over much butter. The browning must be carefully done, so as to produce a surface of a uniform golden color—not in patches, some burnt black, and others not browned at all, as is too often the case in the preparations of the careless and hasty operators who preside in kitchens.
To such people as may object to cheese, I can recommend the following receipt, which has great merit of its own : Dispose your pieces of boiled cauliflower upon a dish well rubbed with garlic, over them strew a mixture of bread crumbs and anchovies, capers, and olives, mixed fine pepper, and salt; over all pour a judicious quantity of fine salad oil. Bake for about ten minutes, and serve.
Celery may be dressed according to the above formulas also; but we prefer treating the latter in the same way as asparagus, which it emulates in delicacy of flavor—i. e., by plain boiling in salt and water, and serving with some simple sauce.

Boiled Cauliflower.—Soak the head two hours in salt water, and cook until tender in milk and water; drain and serve whole with drawn butter. This makes the best appearance, but it will be found to suit the taste better cut up and seasoned richly with butter and a little salt and pepper. In either case it must be well drained.

Cauliflower Omelette.—After boiling a firm head of cauliflower allow it to grow cold, chop it very fine, mix it with sufficient well beaten egg to make a very thick batter. Fry brown in fresh butter, and serve hot.

Cauliflower In Milk.—Choose those that are close and white, cut off the green leaves, and look carefully that there are no caterpillars about the stalk; soak an hour in cold water, with a handful of salt in it; then boil them in milk and water, and take care to skim the saucepan, that not the least foulness may fall on the flower. It must be served very white and rather crimp.

Fried Cauliflower.—Having laid a fine cauliflower in cold water for an hour, put it into a pot of boiling water that has been slightly salted (milk and water will be still better,) and boil it twenty-five minutes, or till the large stalk is perfectly tender. Then divide it equally into small tufts, and spread it on a dish to cool. Prepare a sufficient quantity of batter made in the proportion of a tablespoonful of flour, and two tablespoon fills of milk to each egg. Beat the eggs very light; then stir into them the flour and milk alternately ; a spoonful of flour, and one of milk and eggs; season with pepper and salt. Dip the cold cauliflower into the batter, and fry each piece in butter and lard until brown.

Turkey & Stuffing

These recipes from Godey's Lady's Book Receipts and Household Hints ©1870

To Bake A Fowl.—Prepare a fowl as for roasting ; have the oven of good but not a raging heat. Lay the fowl on skewers; baste every five minutes, aud manage the same as the roast. If young, it will bake in one hour.

To Roast A Turkey.—Proceed as directed in roast fowls; allow from two and a half to three hours for a good-sized tender turkey. The dressings of fowls can be varied by using oysters, etc.

To Bake A Turkey.—Follow the directions for baking fowls, and allow from two to two and a half hours steady baking for a common-sized young turkey; serve with a browned gravy. All roast fowls should be served with dressed vegetables, currant, grape, or cranberry jelly, and a baked pudding or pie.

Stuffing For A Turkey.—Take some bread crumbs and turn on just enough hot water to soften them ; put in a piece of butter, not melted, the size of a hen's egg, and a spoonful of pulverized sage, a teaspoonful of ground pepper, and a teaspoonful of salt; there may be some of the bread crumbs that need to be chopped ; then mix thoroughly and stuff your turkey.

Baked Turkey.—Let the turkey be picked, singed, and washed and wiped dry, inside and out; joint only to the first joints in the legs, and cut some of the neck off if it is all bloody; then cut one dozen small gashes in the fleshy parts of the turkey, on the outside and in different parts of the turkey, and press one whole oyster in each gash; then close the skin and flesh over each oyster as tightly as possible; then stuff your turkey, leaving a little room for the stuffing to swell. When stuffed sew it up with a stout cord, rub over lightly with flour, sprinkle a little salt and pepper on it, put some water in your dripping pan, put in your turkey, baste it often with its own drippings; bake to a nice brown ; thicken your gravy with a little flour and water. Be sure and keep the bottom of the dripping pan covered with water, or it will burn the gravy and make it bitter.

Pumpkin Pie

This is taken from Godey's Lady's Book Receipts and Household Hints ©1870

Back in the 19th century Pumpkin Pie was also known as Farmer's Pie
Farmers' Pie — Grate a good sweet pumpkin; add to it sufficient milk to thin it like custard ; add four eggs, one teacupful of sugar, or sufficient to sweeten it to your taste; add a little ground cinnamon and a little cinnamon water; mix all well together ; make a crust like for pies, fill your shells, sprinkle them over thickly with pulverized cinnamon. Bake with a moderate heat.

Puff Pastry

So for those of you who like to bake here's a recipe from "The Godey's Ladys Book Receipts and Household Hints" ©1870

Note that they refer to it as paste not pastry

Puff-paste.—This paste is nearly the same as what we have called flaky crust, and of course made upon the same principles. If eggs are desired, allow three yelks to a pound of butter or lard. Rub a fourth part of the fat to a cream, then mix the eggs with it, and afterwards the flour. A very little water will suffice to wet it. Beat it with the pin to make it flaky; roll it out thin three times, putting in a portion of the fat each time, and roll it from you; after each rolling beat it well.

Superior Puff-paste.—One pound of flour, one pound of good butter, the yelk of an egg well beaten, and the juice of half a lemon. The paste must be made with cool hands, and in a cool place. Put the flour into a pan, make a hole in the middle, and put in the egg and lemon-juice, then cold water—enough, together, to make a tolerably stiff, but not too stiff, paste. Roll it out, and put a layer of butter over it in patches, sprinkle some dry flour over this (not that of the pound first weighed; that should all be wetted), fold over the paste, flour your paste-board and rolling-pin, and roll lightly on one side until butter and paste are amalgamated. In this manner continue to put on the butter, and roll out the paste until all the butter is used. The paste should be put on to the dishes in about three layers, and should be put into a quick oven to bake. 1

Sweet Paste.—This is suitable to fruit tarts generally, apples, perhaps, excepted, for which we recommend a puff paste. To three-quarters of a pound of butter put a pound and a half of flour, three or four ounces of sifted loaf sugar, the yolks of two eggs, and half a pint of new milk. Bake it ip a moderate oven.

Traveling Salesmen - Nurserymen

I've already mentioned Tinmen who traveled to sell the wears of tin makers in the Northeast through out the country. I'd like to continue with a series of different types of Salesmen during the 19th century. Many of us have heard of those selling snake oil and such. But there were many legitimate salesmen.

Today I'd like to point out a salesman who would travel with a book/portfolio. A Plant Salesman, he would carry with him a book that would have colored plates of the various fruits and vegetables that his seeds would grow into. These colored plates were expensive and a cherished feature for a salesman to have. The use of the fruit plates helped with seed sales and more and more nurseries started using them. It was a Rochester New York Nursery that began making these prints. E. DARROW & BROTHER, ROCHESTER, NY in 1870.

Imagine the process of going west to sell seeds. Imagine the time it took. Imagine the hard work and salesmanship that it took to earn a living off of this.

The picture plates ranged in size from 9"x12" and 6"x9", they could be purchased as individual cars, as bound assortments or as a collection in a portfolio.

Peach Pie

This is from Godey's Lady's Book Receipts and Household Hints ©1870

Superior Peach Pies
Take good ripe peaches, halve and stone them; make a good short crust, and lay it in your pie-plates. Lay your peaches evenly to cover it; then add to each moderate-sized pie about three spoonfuls of white sugar, and a few drops of essence of lemon, or rose, and half a teacupful of water; cover, and bake like other pies.

Carolina Rice

From the The Godey's Lady's Book Receipts and Household Hints ©1870

Carolina Rice --Pick the rice carefully, and wash it through two or three cold waters till it is quite clean. Then (having drained off all the water through a colander) put the rice into a pot of boiling water, with very little salt, allowing as much as a quart of water to half a pint of rice; boil it twenty minutes or more. Then pour off the water, draining the rice as dry as possible. Lastly, set it on hot coals with the lid off, that the steam may not condense upon it and render the rice watery. Keep it dry thus for a quarter of an hour. Put it into a deep dish, and loosen and toss it up from the bottom with two forks, one in each hand, so that the grains may appear to stand alone.