Ravioli

Below are a couple recipes for making ravioli. Enjoy!

Ravioli, Italian.—Make a little firm smooth paste (see the next recipe). Roll it oat as thin as thick paper, and sprinkle it with as little flour as possible. Make a forcemeat of fowl, veal, or fish, or take a godiveau; lay it in little heaps at equal distances on half the paste, and cover with the other half. With the fingers press the paste down between the little piles forcemeat to make it adhere, then cut the 1 into squares. Put these side by side in a dish and boil them in bouillon for five Serve with grated cheese in a plate.

Ravioli, Italian (another way) Make some nicely-flavoured forcemeat as follows:— Take two ounces of the flesh of roast chicken or game weighed after it has been freed from skis and sinew. Mince it finely, and mix with it a table-spoonful of borage which has been scalded, pounded, and passed through a sieve; failing this, use a table-spoonful of spinach greening. Add an ounce of pounded ham, four cleaned and pounded anchovies, a shallot, three hard and two raw yolks of eggs, a table-spoonful of grated Parmesan, and a little pepper and grated nutmeg. Mix the ingredients thoroughly. Roll out half a pound of nouilles paste as thin as possible, cut it into rounds two inches a diameter with a fluted cutter, moisten the edges with water, and lay a small ball of the forcemeat upon each round. Fold the pastry over the forcemeat, and pinch it tightly together. Let the ravioli dry for a short time!1 Butter a saucepan, lay them in it, pour a little boiling stock over them, and let them simmer os£ tho pastry is dono enough. Drain Ukc lay them on a dish, sprinkle a little grated Parmesan over, and lay little pieces of butter here and there upon them. Put them in a brisk oven for a quarter of an hour, poor a little gmgi gravy round them, and serve very hot. To make the nouilles paste put half a pound of flour on a pastry-board, make a hole in tho centre, break two eggs into it, add half an ounce of butter and a pinch of salt, and mix all together to a smooth, firm paste; it is then ready for use. Time to simmer the ravioli, five minutes.

Ravioli Soup.—Prepare and poach the ravioli as in the last recipe. Drain them, and put them into a roup turain. Pour over them two quarts of good strong veal or game stock, add a glassful of madeira, and Berve very hot. Send a plateful of grated Parmesan to table with tho soup. Time, five minutes to poach the ravioli. Sufficient for ten or twelve persons.
Source: Cassell's dictionary of cookery ©1883

Ravioli: Prepare chicken forcemeat precisely the same as for chicken croquettes,— that is, chop your chicken as fine as sawdust; mix thoroughly with some- moistened crumb of bread (about one-third as much bread as chopped chicken), a lump of butter the size of a small egg, one pinch of ground mace, one tablespoonful of Parmesan cheese (grated), one tablespoonful of chopped parsley, and two egg yolks. Mix and incorporate these ingredients thoroughly; roll little balls like large marbles, and lay them separately on a plate. Have ready two sheets of nouille-paste (the recipe for which I will give below). Lay one sheet of the paste on your pasteboard, and place the little forcemeat balls on it, about an inch and a half apart. With your finger or a delicate brush moisten with water the spaces between the balls, and lay the top sheet of paste over them. Now take a little paste wheel,— or knife if you have nothing better,— and separate by cutting each of the ravioli. They appear like very little patties. Throw them into hard boiling salted water, and let them boil briskly twenty minutes without once removing the, lid while they are boiling. Unless they are kept "entirely closed while boiling the paste will be tough. So, for that matter, will pot pie, dumplings, or any boiled paste.
As these ravioli are of themselves so rich, I usually pour over them stewed tomatoes, strained, and cover with grated Parmesan cheese. I have seen them served with Italian sauce, Espagnole sauce, and many other rich sauces. But it has always appeared proper to me, not to have a rich sauce for ravioli.
Source: A Few Hints about Cooking, with Remarks on Many Other Subjects ©1887

Lanterns

Below is just one of the images from the "Lanterns and Lamps Catalogue" ©1896. This helpful tool will be a great resource for your writing. Not only does it have images, names of manufacturers, etc. It also has sizes and dimensions. It's a great resource and will give you more information than you possibly will need while writing your historical novels.

Lanterns and Lamps Catalogue from Google books.

This quote is from the Ladies' Companion ©1841 gives a little insight about this handy tool earlier in the 19th Century.
I have often thought of the associations of a lantern. A common utensil:—it has witnessed many a queer and
many a severe joke—many a sad and many a glad tale. It is not of modern origin—whether Noah had one in the
ark or not, is not yet sufficiently ascertained to he affirmed: but, this much I do know, Diogenes had one
which he held in the fnce of every person he met with, while endeavoring to find an honest man on earth; and
the lantern of Demosthenes rests, somewhat opaque to be sure, upon the Acropolis of Athens, at the present
moment. Judas Iscariot, whose price was tho cost of a coat of the present day, betrayed his Saviour by
the light of a lantern. Guy Fawkes endeavored to blow up the parliament of England, King James and all, with
his lantern: and Sir John Moore was huried on the heights of Corrunna,...
"By the struggling moon-beam's misty light,
And the lantern's dimly hurning."

1871 Fashions Part 2

Below is the second part of 1871 Historic Fashions. As I mentioned last week, this is the year in which I set my next book release "Winning The Captain's Heart." The images below come from 1871 sources.

Walking Dress

Walking Dress and Hats

Walking Dress and Bonnets

Carriage Dress

Everyday Clothing (these are harder to find)

Dresses

Children

Hair

Sewing Basket

Cap Basket

Noodles

Below are a couple of recipes for noodles. Today I use my pasta maker to roll out the noodles but the recipes below involved a rolling pin.

NOODLES
Put one cupful of flour on a meat platter or other flat dish, make a hollow in the centre and drop in one-half of a teaspoonful of soft butter, one-quarter of a teaspoonful of salt and the yolks of four raw eggs. Mix the eggs with the fingers, drawing gradually intothem the dry flour until the whole is mixed to a firm stiff paste which will not stick to the hands. Knead for several minutes, then divide into six or eight pieces; roll each out until as thin as paper, spread out on a board and let rest for fifteen or twenty minutes so as to dry the surface. Cut each piece into strips about two inches wide, lay several of these strips in a pile and with a sharp knife cut them down in fine slices. Shake apart and spread on plates to dry. They may be boiled and served in the same manner as macaroni or spaghetti. If thoroughly dried they may be put away in a cool dry place and will keep for several weeks.
Source: Table Talk ©1899

Noodles
Beat up two eggs, add a bit of salt, a teaspoonful of butter and flour to make a very stiff dough, knead same as you would bread for ten minutes. Roll out as thin as possible, cut in squares and then into straws; or sprinkle with Hour and roll up tightly and with a sharp knife slice one-quarter inch slices from the end of the roll. Let them lie on the bread board nearly an hour to dry, then drop into the boiling soup. Stir with a fork to separate the noodles. The expert German noodle maker makes a batter of flour and egg and with a knife cuts it from the edge of a dish into the soup, which looks much better than the above way, and saves time.
Source: Second Edition of the Ellis Cook Book ©1898

NOODLE Soon-To one cup of sifted flour add two beaten eggs, mix thoroughly for five or eight minutes, and divide into four parts. Roll each part as thin as a knife blade and lay on a clean cloth near the stove to dry.
Do not allow them to become too dry, or they will be brittle and cannot be cut nicely. When dry enough so they will not stick together, take each piece separately, roll up into a roll, and cut into very narrow strips,— not more than one-sixteenth of an inch in width.
Shake these folded pieces out and allow them to dry still more. When quite dry, drop them into hot salted water and boil twenty minutes. Then add one quart of rich milk and one cup of cream. Heat thoroughly and serve. Salt may be added if desired. If you have rolled them thin, cut them fine,
and have not mixed them too stiff, they will be tender, and each noodle will be separate from the others; but if not carefully divided before putting into the water, they will adhere to each other.
Source: Good Health, Volume 27 ©1892

Noodle Soup.
Add noodles to beef or any other soup after straining; they will cock in fifteen or twenty minutes, and are prepared in the following manner: To one egg add as much sifted flour as it will absorb, with a little salt; roll out as thin as a wafer, dredge very lightly with flour, roll over and over into a large roll, slice from the ends, shake out the strips loosely and drop into the soup.
Source: The Dixie Cook-book ©1883

19th Century Romance Novels Descriptive List

I ran across this interesting book that lists the various romantic novels from the 19th Century. Below is the opening section followed by a link to Google Books where you can download a copy of this book. AS a writer of romance novels this could prove interesting for you as an author for the characters of novels.

Romantic Novels are divided into two classes,—those which are and those which are not, historical. This list is devoted to the latter, but a few historical tales, in which history is at a minimum, have been included. An excellent bibliografy of Historical Fiction exists in the L. H. catalog of the Boston Public Library.
"No author without a trial can conceive of the difficulty of writing a romance about a country where there is no shadow, no antiquity, no mystery, no picturesque and gloomy wrong, nor anything but a commonplace prosperity in broad and simple dayllt, as is happily the case with my dear native land. It will be very long, I trust, before romancewriters may find congenial and easily handled themes either in the annals of our stalwart republic, or in any characteristic and probable event of our individual lives. Romance and poetry, ivy, lichens, and wall flowers, need ruin to make them grow." [ Nathaniel Hawthorne.
4iFew'things are more conclusively established in this commonplace day and practical land than the utter abolition of the romantic element of life. People who read Mrs. Radcliffe and the Ledger—and there are those besides ourselves, we are credibly informed, who are in the habit of reading both—must often heave a si of regret for the vanished and delltful mysteries commemorated in those obsolete but fascinating pages. Not the subtlest effort of imagination can again people the prosaic walks of daily life with the weird shapes that haunted every nook and corridor of Otranto's enchanted and enchanting castle. The lonely wayside inn which was wont to be the very nursery and stronghold of romance has become disgustingly commonplace and safe. No ingenious trapdoor opens to engulf the slumber of the unsuspecting traveler; no horrent spectre with flaming eyes and hollow voice emerges from the wall to menace and dismay; no lovely and compassionate barmaid clambers in at the window to warn of the murderous landlord and to save from his sanguinary toils; no foe the chance sojourner has to dread more deadly than the susurrant mosquito or the insidious cimex. The secret doors and hidden stairways and subterranean passages, the unbodied voices, the irresponsible skeletons, and unaccountable knits who made beautiful and thrilling the ways of a preternatural past, have forever disappeared. That whole charming web of mediaeval romance the ruthless besom of modern enlltenment has swept into dust and oblivion. We are encompassed with an atmosfere of almost oppressive reality, and it is a genuine relief when some unusually ingenious murder or flagrant fall of unsuspected respectability gives us a brief respite from the tyranny of the commonplace." [ Round Table.

The object of this list is to direct readers, such as would enjoy the kind of books here described, to a number of novels, easily obtainable, but which, in many cases, have been forgotten within a year or two after publication. That the existence of works of fiction is remembered so short a time is a pity, since, for every new book of merit, there are, in most libraries, a hundred as good or better, unknown to the majority of readers. It is hoped that the publication of this and similar lists icill lessen, in some measure, the disposition to read an inferior New book when superior Old books, equally fresh to most readers, are at hand.
This list will be followed by others describing EUROPEAN, ECCENTRIC, and FANCIFUL novels and tales. The compiler would be pleased to have his attention called to any works deserving a place which have escaped his attention. It may be observed that the compiler has tried to include only such works as are ^i}ell-written, interesting, and are free from sensationalism, sentimentality, and pretense. But in a few cases, books have been noticed on account of the reputation of their authors, or their great popularity,»ather than their merit.
The selected "notices" here given are generally abridged.

Descriptive List of Romantic Novels1890

Descriptive List of American, International Romantic and British Novels1891

Happy Valentine's Day

Over the years I've had a few historical posts on Valentine's Day. Here are the links to past posts.

Valentine's Day 1833

ST. Valentine's Day 1898

Valentine's Day 1880
Valentine's Day Part 2 with links to another site with Historical cards

Dried Beans

I was searching for the various ways to dry the beans once harvested but what sources I found were difficult for me to understand. So, I proceeded with gathering dried bean recipes. Enjoy!

Succatosh.
If you wish to make succatosh, boil the beans from half to three quarters of an hour, in water a little salt, meantime cutting off the corn and throwing the cobs to boil with the beans. Take care not to cut too close to the cob, as it imparts a bad taste. When the beans have boiled the time above mentioned, take out the cobs, and add the corn, and let the whole boil from fifteen to twenty minutes, for young corn, and longer for older com. Make the proportions two-thirds corn and one-third beans. Where you have a mess amounting to two quarts of corn and one quart of beans, take two tablespoonfuls of flour, wet itinto a thin paste, and stir it into the succatosh, and let it boil up for five minutes. Then lay some butter in a dish, take it up into it, and add more salt if need be.

Beans.
Throw them into salted boiling water, and cook them from an hour to an hour and a half, according to the age. A little saleratus improves them when old ; a piece as big as a pea will do. If you put in too much, the skins will slip off.

Baked Beans.
Pick over the beans the night before, and put them in warm water to soak, where they will be kept warm all night. Next morning pour off the water, and pour on boiling water, and let them stand and simmer till the beans are soft, and putting in with them a nice piece of pork, the skin gashed. Put them into the deep dish in which they are to bake, having water just enough to cover them. Bury the pork in the middle, so that the top will be even with the surface. All the garden beans are better for baking than the common field bean. They must bake in a moderately hot oven from two to three hours
Source: Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book ©1871

DRIED BEAN SOUP.
Put two quarts of dried white beans to soak the night before you make tfcs soup, which should be put on as early in the day as possible.
Take two pounds of the lean of fresh beef—the coarse pieces will do. Cut them up, .and put them into your soup-pot with the bones belonging to them, (which should be broken in pieces,) and a pound of lean bacon, cut very small. If you have the remains of a piece of beef that has been roasted the day before, and so much under-done that the juices remain in it, you may put it into the pot and its bones along with it. Season the meat with pepper only, and pour on it six quarts of water. As soon as it boils, take off the scum, and put in the beans (having first drained them) and a head of celery cut small, or a tablespoonful of pounded celery seed. Boil it slowly till the meat is done to shreds, and the beans all dissolved. T* en strain it through a colander into the tureen, and put into it small squares of toasted bread with the crust cut off.
TURTLE SOUP FROM BEANS.
Soak over night one quart of black beans; next day boil them in the proper quantity of water, say a gallon, then dip the beans out of the pot and strain them through a colander. Then return the flour of the beans, thus pressed, into the pot in which they were boiled. Tie up in a thin cloth some thyme, a teaspoonful of summer savory and parsley, and let it boil in the mixture. Add a tablespoonful of cold butter, salt and pepper. Have ready four hard-boiled yolks of eggs quartered, and a few force meat balls; add this to the soup with a sliced lemon, and half a glass of wiue just before serving the soup.
This approaches so near in flavor to the real turtle soup that few are able to distinguish the difference.
Source: The White House Cook Book ©1890

SHELLED BEANS.
Put the beans, which should be free from all bits of pod and washed in cold water, on to cook in boiling water. When using the cranberry or other dark beans turn off the water after ten minutes and add fresh boiling water. For some people it may be necessary to add half a teaspoonful or less of bicarbonate of soda to the first water to neutralize the acid in the bean. Do not add salt until the beans are nearly done. Let the water boil down to just enough to moisten them, as the beans will seem much richer than when a quantity is used and most of it drained off. And unless the beans are cooked soft enough to slightly thicken this little amount of liquid they will be rather insipid. Add a little cream or butter, salt and a half teaspoonful of sugar.
Lima Beans.
In using the large Lima beans as a vegetable, cook them in boiling water until the skins will slip off, then turn them into cold water and slip the pulp out of the skin. They will come out easily, and if you have never done this before you will be surprised at the toughness of this skin and not worfder that the stomach cannot digest it. Then put them over again in fresh boiling water to cover and cook until tender and nearly dry. Season with butter, salt and pepper and a little cream if you have it.
Shelled Beans, Baked.
The dark red varieties of shelled beans may be baked the same as the dried beans. Boil them ten minutes, add soda, drain and boil again until nearly tender and dry. Then turn them into the bean pot and to one quart of beans, add one teaspoonful each of salt and mustard, two tablespoonfuls of molasses, one small onion, one-fourth pound fat salt pork and water to fill the pot. Bake five or six hours. Try them some chilly September day, when we hunger for richer food, and you will find them satisfying.
Source: Everyday Housekeeping ©1896

1871 Fashions

It's Historic Fashion Wednesday again and we're highlighting 1871, the year of the setting for my next novel, "Winning the Captain's Heart" coming out in July 2014.

Below are images from 1871 sources.

House Dress

Ladies

Men

Man & Boy

Children

Hot Air Balloons-Hydrogen Filled

Here's a little tidbit from Wonderful Balloon Ascents ©1870 about a hydrogen filled Hot Air Balloon.

The balloon is made of long strips of silk, sewn together, and rendered air-tight by means of a coating of caoutchouc. A valve is fitted to the top, and by means of it the aeronaut can descend to the earth at will, by allowing some quantity of the gas to escape. The car in which he sits is suspended to the balloon by a network, which covers the whole structure. Sacks of sand are carried in this car as ballast, so that, when descending, if the aeronaut sees that he is likely to be precipitated into the sea or into a lake, he throws over the sand, and his air-carriage, being thus lightened, mounts again and travels away to a more desirable resting-place. The idea of the valve, as well as that of the sand ballast, is due to the physician Charles. They enable the aeronaut to ascend or descend with facility. When he wishes to mount, he throws over his ballast; when he wants to come down, he lets the gas escape by the valve at the roof of the balloon. This valve is worked by means of a spring, having a long rope attached to it, which hangs down through the neck to the car, where the aeronaut sits.

The operation of inflating a balloon with pure hydrogen is represented in the engraving on the next page.

Shavings of iron and zinc, water, and sulphuric acid, occupy a number of casks, which communicate, by means of tubes, with a central cask, which is open at the bottom, and is plunged in a copper full of water. The gas is produced by the action of the water and the sulphuric acid upon the zinc and the iron: this is hydrogen mixed with sulphuric acid. In passing through the central copper, or vat, full of water, the gas throws off all impurities, and comes, unalloyed with any other matter, into the balloon by a long tube, leading from the central vats. In order to facilitate the entrance of the gas into the balloon two long poles are erected. These are furnished with pulleys, through which a rope, attached also to a ring at the top of the balloon, passes. By means of this contrivance the balloon can be at once lightly raised from the ground, and the gas tubes easily joined to it. When it is half full it is no longer necessary to suspend the balloon; on the contrary, it has to be secured, lest it should fly off. A number of men hold it back by ropes; but as the force of ascension is every moment increasing, the work of restraining the balloon is most difficult and exciting. At length, all preparations being complete, the car is suspended, the aeronaut takes his seat, the Words "Let go all!" are shouted, and away goes the silken globe into space.

The balloon is never entirely filled, for the atmospheric pressure diminishing as it ascends, allows the hydrogen gas to dilate, in virtue of its expansive force, and, unless there is space for this expansion, the balloon is sure to explode in the air.

An ordinary balloon, with a lifting power sufficient to carry up three persons, with necessary ballast and materiel, is about fifty feet high, thirty-five feet in diameter, and 2,250 cubic feet in capacity. Of such a balloon the accessories—the skin, the network, the car—would weigh about 335 lbs.

To find out the height at which he has arrived, the aeronaut consults his barometer. We know that it is the pressure of the air upon the cup of the barometer that raises the mercury in the tube. The heavier the air is, the higher is the barometer. At the level of the sea the column of mercury stands at 32 inches; at 3,250 feet—the air being at this elevation lighter—the mercury stands at 28 inches; at 6,500 feet above sea level it stands at 25 inches; at 10,000 feet it falls to 22 inches; at 20,000 feet to 15 inches. These, however, are merely the theoretic results, and are subject to some slight variation, according to locality, &c.

Oneiromancy - Interpretation of Dreams

Here's a tidbit from The Bible Cyclopedia ©1841 on the Interpretation of Dreams.

DIVINATION, the art of foretelling future events by previously recognised signs. The word is derived from the Latin divinatio, and that again from divinus, forming an acknowledgment of the text—" Secret things belong unto God."
5. The fifth species of divination to which we shall advert, and in many respects the most important of all, is Oneiromancy, or as it has been sometimes called Oneirocriticism, the interpretation of dreams.
It will be quite unnecessary here to enter into the philosophy of sleep, because it will not be denied that in the periods previous to the Christian dispensation, God did speak to his people "by dreams and visions of the night;" and there are instances on record in the New Testament of similar interpositions. The truth, therefore, of the idea upon which oneiromancy is founded will account for its extensive prevalence. Oveipos, a dream, and fzavTeia, will give us the derivation of the word, and suggest to us also the remark of Homer, Kai ryap Tovap eic Aio<; eariv, "For dreams also come from Jove." Thus in the earliest records of profane antiquity, as well as in the Scriptures of truth, we find a recognition of the Divine will conveyed to man by means of dreams.
On reading the accounts preserved in the Sacred "Writings, we are struck with a circumstance which at once does away all suspicion of imposture on the part of the "interpreters of dreams." They were sent for on one occasion by Pharaoh, (Gen. 41. 8,) who related to them his dreams, and demanded an interpretation, "but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh." A similar case is found in the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar. Once he required the dream as well as the interpretation to be given him, and the case is not, therefore, an exact instance in point, but afterwards (Dan. 4. 7) we find the king himself saying, "Then came in the magicians, the astrologers, the Chaldffians, and the soothsayers; and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known unto me the interpretation thereof."
From all this we gather that the interpreters of dreams were not (in the ordinary sense of the word) impostors, for had they been such, they would not so frankly have acknowledged their inability to expound the dreams of Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar. To an impostor one dream is as easy to interpret as another. The nature of this case is obvious: they interpreted dreams according to a system; whatever could be reduced within the rules of that system admitted of an exposition, but when dreams, sent by the Supreme Being, and probably for that very cause not reducible to any rules with which they were acquainted, were proposed for their consideration, they were too wise to attempt any imposition, but at once acknowledged that the boundaries of their art did not extend to these visions. Many works have come down to us from ancient times on the art of interpreting dreams; the most remarkable is the Oneirocritica of Artemidorus, who gives instructions for explaining four hundred and nine species of dreams, many of them such as could never occur to a Christian educated in our day, and which exhibit, perhaps, the darkest picture of fioman morals anywhere to be found.

Ice Harvesting, storage, etc.

Today I don't even have to open the fridge to get ice. In the 19th century lots of changes were made in the development of the ice industry. Ice played a vital part during the course of the 19th century and as purification and eventually refrigeration became more viable, the industry increased again and again. Below are some tidbits and an excerpts that will give you a glimpse into this industry.

An Outline of Ice History
Prior to 1805 no regular ice business in the U.S.A.
Winter 1805-1806 beginning of Ice business in Boston, the summer of 1806 sent ice to West Indies to help fight yellow fever. Sent by the Frederick Tudor
1825 only 50,000 tons of ice transported in and from U.S.
Next 30 years Ice consumption increased in U.S.
1855 Frederick Tudor started to be called the "Ice King"
Many New Uses for ice have exerted a marked influence on the demand during the succeeding years. During the war of the Rebellion, the Government was a large purchaser, on account of the hospital service. The brewers, who in earlier days, had suspended operations during the heat of the summer, now pursued their avocation continuously, with the aid of ice. Meat packers found in ice an agent for immensely augmenting their product, while the fisheries consumed many thousand tons.
The demand for ice creams and cooled drinks, together with the growing taste for luxuries, in our cities and towns, has stimulated the retailing of ice until, at this time, there is hardly a town or village, where ice privileges exist, that does not support a representative of the ice trade, and there are few large towns in the South which are not furnished with one or more artificial ice factories.
The Use Of Ice.—It is safe to say that, at this time, the users of ice, directly or indirectly, now include nearly the entire population of the United States.

Cutting And Storing Ice.
Care Of The Ice Field.—From this time until the crop is stored in the ice house, the ice dealer devotes his energies to the care of the ice field. Special situations develop special duties and requirements, which the alert dealer studies with care. If the ice is on a running stream, the possible pollution of its higher levels will be carefully guarded against, and also all rubbish removed from the surface of the field. Sticks and stones bedded in the ice hinder the work and damage the keen edges of the cutting tools. Motion in the water is necessary to promote the growth of the ice, and, when the ice is sufficiently heavy, traveling over the surface, or other jarring, is beneficial. It has been found that where a roadway has been opened across an ice field, and the travel over it considerable, the ice was thicker along the roadway than at other places on the field.
On inclosed lakes or mill ponds, a gentle current induced in the water promotes the growth of the ice materially. The air is expelled from the water during freezing, if opportunity is found for it to d<5 so. Unless this is done, the ice is cloudy. Agitation of the water assists the escape of the air; hence it is that ice from running streams is usually clearer and more brilliant than pond or lake ice. An outlet afforded to the landlocked ponds and lakes is often beneficial during ice-making weather. Too rapid a current, however, will retard growth, and a gentle motion diffused over the entire field produces the best results. The growth should be carefully noted under different conditions, attention being given to the atmospheric influences and other general effects, and the regulation of the motion, based on ascertained results at the locality where applied. As the ice thickens, its growth is slower at the same, or even a lower, temperature than that which at first made ice very rapidly. The earth at the bottom and sides of the ice field radiate heat into the water. The heat rays of the sun pass through the ice, if it is clear, into the water below, with very little effect upon the ice itself. The ice, being a poor conductor of heat, is, under these conditions, an obstacle to its own growth. It shuts in the water from contact with the cooler air, prevents agitation of its surface by passing breezes, and retards the escape of air and heat. On running streams, these conditions are much modified. In passing over shallows or rapids, where the current is swift, the water remains open and exposed to the air. At these points in its course it parts with its accumulated air and heat very rapidly, a thin vapor or mist being often perceptible in the air at such places, owing to the rapid radiation. The tumbling and turning of the water at rapid shoals materially assists the growth of ice at points below where the current grows gentle. Streams of this character, whose beds are free from accumulations of vegetable mold, or other sources which generate gases, produce clear and sparkling ice of greater thickness than is found on still ponds or lakes in the same vicinity, and exposed to the same temperature. The Usefulness Of Snow.—Snow, as it is well known, is a great impediment to the inroads of frost into anything enveloped by it. A covering of snow on an ice field is a great impediment to the escape of heat from the water, as well as protecting the ice from the direct action of the cold air, and greatly retards the growth of the ice. It is essential to remove this snow as early as practicable, as the ice harvester has always in view a possible thaw or rain, and endeavors to secure his crop at the earliest practicable moment. Snow, however, in the event of soft or warm weather, is an aid to the ice by protecting it from the direct heat of the sun, and the force of a rain is largely expended in melting the snow. The water and snow on the top of the ice freezes into snow ice as soon as the weather turns cold again. This snow ice is white, being very porous and filled with air, and detracts from the quality of the crop, its thickness depending on the depth of snow on the field, amount of water, and the temperature. At the top of this snow ice, where it merges into the snow, will be found a stiff, crusty layer, more or less firmly united to the ice below, which adds to the difficulty of removing the snow on top. An inch or two of snow ice will lessen the loss by breakage of cakes, in stowing, and the ice also comes out of the house in better shape, and will stand shipping better. It is not so brittle as clear ice, and is homogeneous in its structure, not being readily split in any direction. For further information check out: The Ice Crop

Sporting Lodge

From time to time as an author you need to describe a place and what is where within a room. Below is a Sporting Lodge from The Country House ©1883

Below is a chart to what is in each room.

The description from the source:
SPORTING LODGE, DESIGN FOR A.
The following is entirely a ground-floor erection, in which warmth and ventilation, privacy and facility of access to all the rooms, have been carefully studied. It contains a general sitting-room, in which six or eight persons may dine with comfort; a bedroom, with wardrobes and toilet conveniences for a gentleman and lady; a library or gentleman's room, entered from the porch as well as from the hall, and fitted with bookshelves, gun and tackle closet, washing and boot closet, and ample space for a "shakedown" for a bachelor friend.
The hall separates the rooms from the offices, and in it are large closet for china, glass, and stores, a linen-closet, and water-closet, with porch entrance at one end, and a glass door to the garden at the other. The kitchen is sufficiently large for such a manage: it has a modern cooking range, hot plate, a convenient pantry, a larder or dairy, with stairs leading to two chambers in the roof over kitchen and hall, and to the cellar under tho hall, pantry, and china closet. A lean-to at the end of the kitchen provides a roomy washhouse and bakehouse, where most of the kitchen work may be done.
The out-offices, stables, kennels, &c, will be arranged according to the special requirements of the case.
The walls of the house and kitchen will be 9ft. to the eaves, and by nailing the ceiling joists of the library, sitting-room, and bedroom 3ft. up the rafters, a neat coved ceiling 12ft. high may be obtained. The materials will be those which are most readily obtained on the site, and the roof covering either of slate, tiles, or thatch of reeds or heather. The style of elevation must be left to the taste of the proprietor; it can be either simple or ornamental, domestic, Gothic, or Swiss; but it will be most desirable to assimilate it to the natural features of the surrounding scenery.

1856 Fashions

It's Historic Fashion Wednesday and 1856 Fashions is the topic of today's post. Below are several images from 1856 sources.

Dresses

Children

Cloak & Jacket

Riding Habit

Bonnet

Caps

Baby Hood

Purse

Garden Parties

If you're my age you might remember Ricky Nelson's Garden Party which is what I think of for a moment when I read or hear Garden Party. However, 19th Century Garden Parties were a bit different. Below is some basic info on Garden Parties. The first excerpt is long but filled with some of the reasons for having a Garden Party as well as how to succeed with one. In the Northern hemisphere it is still a wee bit chilly to hold a garden party but with temps hitting in the low 70's this weekend in Florida it just felt like a good time to post about these interesting parties. Enjoy!

II.—GARDEN PARTIES, AND HOW TO MANAGE THEM.
Bv Phillis Brown, Author Of 'The Girl's Own Cookery Book.'
Summer is with us, roses are blooming, and balmy winds blow, the sun is shining, and more than all, the weather ought to be settled at this time of year, and there is plenty of ripe fruit to be had, so why should we not give a garden party?
There is no reason at all against it, that I can see, if you are favourably situated for such undertakings—that is, if you have a convenient house with plenty of rooms on the ground floor, and a large garden, not straight up and down, with brick walls -all round, and overlooked by half the parish, but a rambling, nooky and cornery garden, with delightful little paths which lead to nowhere, with fragrant bowers hiding romantic garden seats where young folks can make love and old folks can gossip, with tall trees which afford a grateful shade from the heat of the sun, and flowers and shrubs in plenty. This is the ideal sort of place for a garden party, and here the thing could be easily managed, and with very little trouble might prove an unqualified success.
But there are only a limited number of ideal gardens in the world, and pleasant garden parties are held amid very much less pretentious surroundings than these. Quite true, I do not deny it. I merely wish to suggest that it is not easy to give a garden party in a back yard. The question of the suitability of the garden, however, is one which the host and hostess must decide for themselves, and there is no doubt that wonders may be accomplished in matters of this kind with a little tact and management, while without these, the most spacious grounds will but be the scene of a melancholy failure.
Garden parties are exceedingly popular amongst party givers, and I think the reason is that an idea prevails that' to give a garden party is such an easy way of entertaining one's friends.'
Of course it is very easy to issue a number of invitations and to collect together a crowd of people gorgeously apparelled, to provide them with a few refreshments, and then to leave them to wander aimlessly about whither they will. But it is really very difficult to make a garden party 'go,' as the saying is. I feel quite sure that if the majority of the guests who are in the habit of attending entertainments of this kind were to give their honest opinion of them, they would pronounce them rather slow. In garden parties more than in other receptions, unless a hostess is specially gifted for her work, and puts forth all her powers to accomplish her task, the trouble and expense to which she has gone in arranging for the fite will be thrown away. The hours will drag wearily along, and though her guests may be too polite to say so, they will look upon the occasion as a 'dull affair,' and will have no desire to visit at the house again.
The success of a garden party consists in a great measure upon the sort of people who are invited. The company should either be for the most part friendly, to begin with (when the affair will almost succeed by itself), or they must have interests in common, and the host and hostess must take pains to introduce congenial people. They should also remember to prepare their friends for the acquaintance by mentioning to each the position and distinguishing characteristic of the other. For instance, if it is the pride of Mr. Smith's life that he once travelled in Siberia, and Mr. Robinson is thinking of spending his honeymoon in that land, the host should pave the way for a geographical talk; and if Miss Jones is passionately attached to fancy work, and Miss Brown is expending her energies on antimacassars, the hostess should let it be known that this strong bond of sympathy exists between the two ladies.
Perhaps it may be said that this breaking-up of the ground of conversation is always part of a host's duty. So k is. Still, people may make discoveries for themselves in drawing-rooms and dining-rooms, while the very fact that they are in the open and indulging in constant peregrinations from one garden path to another, is very likely to cause them to miss a good deal which they would afterwards regret. Therefore, the host and hostess are specially called upon to exert themselves in gardens, to prevent disappointment.
Garden-party givers often imagine that they will be relieved from the duty of entertaining their guests, because the latter will be sure to be busy in playing tennis, croquet, or whatever other games have been provided. I fancy, however, that more frequently than not this expectation is disappointed. At a garden party games are more or less of a sham. The players do their work in a half-hearted way, or else entirely for effect, not at all for the fun of the thing. The girls are not dressed for exercise, they have been got up to look beautiful, and are not as free as they would be if suitably attired. True, a few men, intimate friends of the host and hostess, may bring their flannels and begin to play in earnest, but, for the most part, the thing is a pretence, and the host will be wise not to press it. If the young folks enter into the spirit of the thing spontaneously, all well and good; but if they do not, best to leave them alone.
Real tennis parties, which are a sort of modification of garden parties, are very often given now, and if tennis is to be played these parties are much more likely to be successful than are the nondescript entertainments, when the guests must either play tennis or amuse themselves as they can. When a real bond fide tennis party is given, twelve or sixteen players may be invited (with a few lookers-on if it is wished), and 'tennis at four,' say, may be put on the cards of invitation. Then the guests will arrive dressed suitably for what is before them, and all will be well. But to expect men to come dressed out and delightfully starched, and then to run about and get hot, with the prospect of having to do the polite to fashionably dressed young ladies as soon as they are thoroughly limp, is almost too much of a good thing! Society requires a good many sacrifices from its votaries, but surely this one, which demands that a fashionable individual should appear before the world otherwise than as the absolutely correct thing, is too severe to be endured.
Years ago, when garden parties were not nearly so formal as they now are, there was nothing of the effort required to entertain the company which there is now. Girls came prettily dressed and brightly expectant, young fellows came shyly reserved or boldly importunate, and there were games—poise-ball, hare and hounds, or perhaps, in very primitive companies, 'kiss-in-the-ring,' and then high tea, and home by the light of the moon. But now all is changed. We should not even dare to confess that years ago we attended garden parties of this homely description. One of the chief features nowadays is the dress. If only this is sufficiently gorgeous, and we can eclipse our friends and acquaintance, we consent to dawdle about in groups of twos and threes, boring others and being bored.
So much has the difficulty of entertaining a mixed company at a garden party been felt by those who own houses and gardens, that it has of late become not uncommon for the host to engage professionals, singers, readers, and imitators, etc., to say nothing of having bands of music to brighten the affair. Occasionally amateurs undertake the business, and the hostess draws up a programme beforehand, according to which Misses A. and B. or Master C. exhibit their exceptional talents at intervals, while between the performances the guests wander through the grounds, or contentedly ' refresh themselves' by means of strawberries and cream or ices. This is by no means a bad plan, especially where drawing-room windows open upon the lawn, so that the performances can go on indoors and the perambulations be carried on outside. Yet even if this plan is not approved, by all means let a programme of some sort be arranged, for anything is better than having one's garden filled with melancholy groups of would-be holiday makers interspersed with here and there a miserable solitary individual who has suddenly developed an intense fondness for the study of botany.
As for the provision to be made for occasions of this sort, I hope I shall not be considered irreverent when I say that the higher you go in society, the less likely you are to get much to eat at a garden party. It is not altogether because it is a little vulgar to be hungry, though there is something in that, but because garden parties are held at a time when people are not supposed to require food, the words 'from four to seven,' or 'four to eight' being printed on the card of invitation. Therefore light refreshment, such as tea and coffee, dishes of splendid fruit, two or three kinds of ices, dainty cakes of various kinds, with claret cup and champagne cup without limit, are all that the most prodigal of hostesses would provide. If the party were on a large scale, a marquee would probably be erected in the garden, and here the refreshments would be laid. Hospitable dames would doubtless have a cold collation laid indoors in the dining or breakfast rooms for the elderly people, or those who come from a distance, and for this there would be more substantial viands, pressed meats, meat pies, salads, and sweets; in short, the sort of dishes which would be prepared for a supper party.
The cards of invitation for garden parties (unless for very grand ones) are usually sent out about a fortnight beforehand. It is not advisable that the date should be fixed too far ahead, on account of the weather. We English are not in a position to boast of our climate, and we are not often disposed to glory in our privileges in this direction. We do but accommodate ourselves to circumstances when we do not presume upon probabilities of sunny days. What a melancholy record of disappointment it would be if a list could be presented of all the garden parties which have been held to the accompaniment of thunder, lightning, and storm, and ended in damp, influenza, and rheumatism!
Occasionally it is arranged that dancing in the evening (on the lawn) should succeed walking about and talking in the afternoon. This is not very usual, however. If it should be decided upon, then supper would have to be laid in the marquee or in one of the rooms, and every delicacy of the season which could be obtained would have to be provided.
'Grand affairs' in garden parties do undoubtedly not infrequently turn out 'slow,' yet it must be acknowledged that if enjoyment is considered as one of the ends to be attained in entertainments of this kind, there is plenty of fun and 'good times' generally to be had at small unpretentious gatherings where friends and acquaintance meet in a garden, not for display, but to enjoy one another's society, and cultivate sympathy and kindliness. It is astonishing how much more charitable and large-hearted we human beings grow when we come together, exchange ideas, and listen to each other's experiences. People \i ho stay always at home and goover the same weary round day after clay, week after week, and month after month, get morbid, narrow, and discontented. But if they can be persuaded to come out of their shells, and hold communion with their fellows, they discover what pleasant folks there are in the world, they find that others have trials, and are trying to bear them patiently, and to help others as they go along as well as themselves, and they realise that their limited horizon does not shut in the universe. Modest garden parties afford most suitable opportunities for social intercourse of this sort, and with tact and management they may be enjoyed without much difficulty.
For a garden party of this description it would be necessary only to have plenty of fresh fruit, especially strawberries with cream and white sugar, small cakes, tea, coffee and lemonade.
As to the detail of arrangement, perhaps I may be allowed to suggest that a table containing suitable refreshments should be placed either in the garden or in one of the sitting-rooms, and that a trimly dressed maid should be stationed behind it to act as waitress. It is a good plan, in-order to do away with the necessity for a large quantity of cups and saucers, to have a bowl with hot water on the floor behind ihe table, and in this the attendant can rinse the cups and dry them quickly on a napkin which has also been put -' handy.' The fruit should be abundant, and should be constantly renewed, and great care should be spent upon its arrangement . All dirty plates, etc., should be removed as soon as done with.
If tea and coffee are to be acceptable, they must be served hot. Very good lemonade may be made as follows :—
Lemonade.—Pour two quarts of hot water upon the juice of six lemons, the rind of two, and three-quarters of a pound of loaf sugar. Let the infusion stand in a cool place for an hour, and decant it for use. Water may be added according to taste at the time of serving. Lemonade is always better for being iced.
Lemonade in a Minute (a la Dr. Kitchener).—Dissolve a quarter of an ounce (avoirdupois) of citric acid (to be bought of any chemist) and a pound of loaf sugar in a pint and a half of boiling water. Flavour with a few drops of essence of lemon, or, wanting this, with thinly-cut lemon-rind. Strain the preparation into a decanter. When wanted, put a little into a glass, and add cold water to taste. For most people, a tablespoonful of the lemon syrup will be sufficient for a tumbler full of water. Where seltzer water is to be had, or where a seltzogene can be boasted as forming one of the possessions of the family, may I recommend that lemon squash should be provided as a substitute for claret cup? In my humble opinion lemon squash employed for refreshing and invigorating purposes is worth all the claret cup which ever was manufactured.
Lemon Squash.—Squeeze the juice of a lemon into a tall glass, with two heaped teaspoonfuls of castor sugar; stir juice and sugar briskly for a minute, and, still stirring, fill the glass with seltzer. The quantity of sugar used must be regulated by individual taste; some people like more than the quantity named, some less, but in all cases there must be plenty of sugar; that is one of the secrets.
Cherry Water.—Bruise fine ripe cherries; put them into a jar, and set this in a pan of boiling water till the juice flows freely. Filter one pint of this juice through muslin, add a pint of strong clear syrup and a quart of spring water.
Currant Water.—Take one pint of the drawn juice of red currants, or of red currants and raspberries mixed. Add a pint of clear syrup and a quart of water. The syrup for these fruit juices may be made by dissolving, off the fire, a pound and three-quarters of refined sugar in a pint of water, which has been whisked with a teaspoonful of white of egg. Put the syrup over a moderate fire and heat it gently till the scum rises. Remove this, and add two tablespoonfuls of cold water once or twice to assist it. When clear, strain for use.
Fancy biscuits of all kinds may be bought so excellent in quality and so moderate in price that it is scarcely worth while to make them. But for the benefit of those who prefer home-made articles, I will, in conclusion, give one or two simple recipes for small trifles of this nature.
Soda Buns.—Rub six ounces of butter into a pound of flour, add six ounces of castor sugar, two ounces of candied peel finely shred. Mix a quarter of a teaspoonful of carbonate of soda in a little less than half a gill of milk. Pour this into the flour, sugar, and butter; drop in gradually the yolks of four and the whites of two well-beaten eggs. Stir, grease a baking-tin, put the mixture on it in very small lumps, and bake in a brisk oven.
Ginger Hunting Nuts.—Rub five ounces of butter into one pound of flour, add three-quarters of a pound of very coarse sugar, and quarter of an ounce of ground ginger. Break an egg into a bowl and mix all together with half a pound of treacle. Make the nuts the size of a marble, and bake in a slow oven.
Little Cakes (made without butter).—Mix together a cupful of flour, a cupful of sugar, and two or three chopped almonds. Stir in one egg, grease the tin, and drop the mixture in very small knobs upon it, and bake.
One word I will add about the style of dress suited to the occasion. In the language of Mr. Collins, one of the most delightful characters in one of the most delightful of story books, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen, 'Do not make yourself uneasy about your apparel. I would advise you merely to put on whatever of your clothes is superior to the rest; there is no occasion for anything more. Your friends will not think the worse of you for being simply dressed.'
Source: The Girl's Own Outdoor Book ©1889


Garden Parties.—It may be useful to give a general idea of the quantities required in providing for a party of, say, eighty
people. Five gallons of tea, allowing five ounces of tea to the gallon. Six gallons of coffee, half hot, and half iced, allowing eight ounces of coffee to the gallon. Three gallons of claret-cup, allowing for each gallon four bottles of claret and four bottles of soda-water. Twelve quarts of water-ice. Twelve dishes of sandwiches, all different. Eight plates of rolled bread and butter, four brown, and four white. Eight pounds of cake cut up into small thick pieces. Six pounds of sponge finger-biscuits, freshly made and not out of a tin. Macedoine of fruit (see page 497) is always popular and so is syllabub. For this it is no longer the fashion for an elegantly dressed young lady to milk a cow, gaily decorated with ribbons and garlands, into a china bowl. Put a pint of Marsala into the bowl with half a pound of sugar, and pour on it warmed milk from a teapot, held high above the bowl, till the wine and milk become a solid froth.
Source: Mrs. Roundell's Practical Cookery Book ©1898

Pot-Pourri

I love the fresh scents in potpourri but with allegories I have to be careful which scents and spices I purchase. Below are several recipes from Mrs. Roundell's Practical Cookery Book ©1898


Pot-Pourri.—(Family Recipe.)—Take six pounds of baysalt beaten fine, some bay and laurel leaves, the red part of gillyflowers, thyme, balm, sweet marjoram, violets, plenty of damask roses (petals and stamens), sweet verbena, and any other sweet flowers well dried in the sun. Put all these into a large china jar, sprinkling the salt among them. In a short time they will become moist. Stir them once a day for some time, adding more bay salt, and keeping the jar closely covered. When all the flowers have been put in, add four ounces of orris-root sliced, two ounces of cloves, and the rinds of three Seville oranges and three lemons well beaten. Add bergamot flowers, jessamine and myrtle flowers and leaves, and orange flowers or syringa flowers, well dried, at any time. Stir all well together after each addition. Always keep some of the old to start the new jar.
Dorothea Roundell's Sweet Jar.—(Family Recipe.)—If
you have any left of a former sweet-pot, put a layer of fresh on this. Use rose-leaves well dried, sweet verbena leaves, sweetscented geranium leaves, and any other sweet-smelling leaves (all thoroughly dried), and plenty of dried lavender blossoms. The jar would be greatly improved by a few buds of orange-blossom. Put in one layer of these, then scatter some bay-salt crushed, but not pounded very fine, and pour a little spirits of wine over. Then put another layer in the same way with bay-salt and spirits of wine between each till you have filled the jar. After it has stood about a week turn it all out and mix well together, then put it back again for about three weeks more. Then turn it out again, mix it, and settle it in the jar.
Another Sweet Jar.—(Family Recipe.)—Half a pound of baysalt, a quarter of a pound of saltpetre and of common salt. All to be well bruised and put on six baskets of rose leaves, twenty-four bay leaves torn to bits, a handful of sweet myrtle leaves, six handfuls of lavender blossoms, a handful of orange or syringa blossoms, the same of sweet violets, and the same of the red of clove carnations. After having been well stirred every day for a week add half an ounce of cloves, four ounces of orris-root, half an ounce of cinnamon, and two nutmegs, all pounded, put on the roses, kept well covered up in a china jar, and stirred sometimes.
Another Pot-Pourri.—(Family Recipe.)—Take the flowers of lavender, also lemon thyme, sweet marjoram, rosemary, bay leaves, myrtle leaves, violets, clove pinks, orange flowers and roses, both blown and buds. All flowers picked from the green, excepting orange flowers. Add shred orris-root, benzoin, storax, and a Seville orange stuck with cloves. To be at least a twelvemonth before it is used. Add bruised bay salt, also an ounce of cloves and an ounce of nutmeg to improve the perfume.
(Orris-root is the root of the Iris Florentina of Southern Europe. Benzoin and Storax are balsamic resins, produced by two different varieties of the Styrax tree of Greece and Asia Minor.)
Pot-Pourri.—(Old Worcestershire Recipe.)—Put in a large china jar in layers, with bay salt between each layer, the following ingredients: Two pecks of roses (part in buds, part blown), a handful of jessamine and orange flowers), two ounces orris-root sliced, storax and gum-benjamin, a quarter of a pound of angelica root sliced, a quart of the red part of clove gillyflowers, bay and laurel leaves, three Seville oranges stuck as full of cloves as possible (dried in a cool oven and pounded), a handful of knotted marjoram, and two handfuls of balm of Gilead dried. Cover it all quite close for some weeks. When opened the perfume will be very fine.
(Gum-benjamin is, of course, another name for benzoin.)
I would impress upon all makers of Pot-Pourri to depend on the natural scents yielded by the flowers and the spices, and never to add scents bought at a shop.

Another source: The Country House ©1883
POT-POURRI.
1. Have the rose-leaves and lavender well dried—each separately— before they are mixed en masse with the rest. Above all things, let no bay salt be used. This is the cause of pot-pourri always, after a time, emitting a disagreeablo and heavy scent. Add to the leaves everything that is sweet in itself, and gains no bad smell by being dried—as violets, jessamines, and geranium leaves, many of the small-leaved pelargoniums, roses, bay-leaves, sweet rush, or acarus, both in the dried root, in thin slices, and the flag. Never omit plenty of the clove-pink, as it preserves its colour as well as its soent. As to proportions, say to 21b. of well-dried flowers add Joz. (each) of bruised cloves and cinnamon, and cascarilla bark; and loz. (each) of dried sweet rush, sandal-wood chips, dried orange and lemon peel, pounded irisroot, gum benzoin, gum elemin, frankincense, gum mastic, and at least 100 grains of musk, which brings out the odour of the sweet things it is associated with.
2. The following recipe for pot-pourri is first-rate: Coriander seeds, 3dr.; rose leaves, sweet flag root, and orris root, of each Joz.; gum benzoin, Joz.; oil of cinnamon, oil of cloves, of each 30 drops; musk, 4gr.; lavender flowers, £oz.; the whole to be well mixed together and put through a coarse sieve.
3. One oz. of each of the following ingredients powdered: Orris root gum benjamin, storax, and cloves, Joz. nutmegs grated, Joz. orange rind (also grated), 21b. fine bay salt. Gather all the sweet-scented flowers and leaves you can get, dry them slightly in the shade, then put them in a pan in layers, strewing the salt and spices between each layer; cover the pan close for a few days, then stir the pot-pourri well up and put it into your jars.
4. Dry roso leaves in the shade, then lay them in your pot with salt between every layer of leaves; add to it dried orange-peel pounded with cloves, mace, and cinnamon. Add dried lavender.