Brick Road Versus Steel Roads

I recently had an experience of riding along an 11 mile stretch of the "Old Brick Road" in Florida. It was built in 1914 so it's too late for this blog. However, the experience had me thinking about the development of roads during the 19th Century. Below is an article from Industrial Management ©1897 talking about whether a steel road was better than a brick road.

The General Government Fostering Good Roads.
IN an elaborate article in Brick (July 15) the subject of good roads is treated: first, historically, beginning with the ancient Roman roads and their builders; second, from an engineering standpoint; and, lastly, in its present aspects in the United States. What the general govemment is doing to further good-road building is also set forth at considerable length, in a quotation from a letter written by W. E. Curtis to the Chicago Record. The department of agriculture has directed General Roy Stone, chief of the bureau of good roads, to construct and exhibit an example of a steel road at the Nashville Exposition. The use of this material for roads in regions where stone and gravel are scarce and where the soil is deep and sticky will, in the opinion of Secretary Wilson, be "the easiest solution of the good road problem" for such localities. At present prices these steel roads can be cheaply constructed. Flat, or slightly trough-shaped, bars of steel are to be used as supports for the wheels of vehicles, and, to prevent the slipping of horses, the rails will be transversely indented sufficiently to afford a foothold for the calks of horseshoes without materially affecting the smoothness of the surface for the wheeltreads. The joints of the flat bars. or rails, will be made strong enough to prevent them from giving way under use, and thus forming depressions. While forty pounds per ton is the average required to pull a load on a level macadam road, it is claimed that eight pounds will do this about $2,000 per mile work on a steel road. In this respect, however, a good brick road can be scarcely inferior to steel. It is believed that a good brick road will outlast a steel road. Another way in which the government is helping on the cause of good roads is by using the agricultural experiment stations as sources of instruction in road-building to the public at large. On this point Mr. Curtis says: “ The limited funds at command have not encouraged any practical work in this direction, but cobperation has now been established by the director of roads, under which the manufacturers of road machinery furnish the necessary plant free of charge, the county or city authorities provide the material and the labor of men and teams, and the government furnishes an engineer to oversee the work and instruct students and visitors, and pay for one or two skilled operators for the machines. In this way avery slight outlay of public funds accomplishes a large amount of instructive work." Experiments with brick roads are already in progress in some of the western States. At Monmouth, in central Illinois, a road of vitrified brick set on edge in a single course on a bed of sand between oak plank curbs is now undergoing probation, _and is regarded with favor. Brick trackways, with intervening gravel paths for horses, have been proposed. Where macadarn roads are practicable. and under the most favorable c0nditions,—z'.e., where laborers can be obtained for seventy-five cents per day, where fuel for steam power is cheap, and where suitable road metal is close at hand,—they may be constructed and bridged for $100 per mile for each foot -of width. Thus a road thirty feet wide would cost 3,000 per mile. Good gravel roads cost from $1,000 to $2,000 per mile. The material for the heaviest class of steel roads costs, at present prices, $3,500 per mile; for lightest steel roads the cost of material is estimated at $1,000. For long lines of the heavier class of roads, it is thought, the steel will ultimately cost Brick for roadbuilding will cost more per mile than steel for tramways, but, taking the intermediate path for animals and the side ways into account–for these must be well built and maintained also, we are inclined to agreed with Brick that a road paved from curb to curb with vitrified brick, is in proportion to its costs, the best road known to modern engineering.

Scotch Broth

This is a soup rarely heard about today but was quite common in the 19th Century even into the 20th Century. In a way it makes sense that it is called Scotch Broth since lamb or mutton is the primary source for the soup. Most of the recipes I found were very similar so I'm only putting a select few for today's post.

SCOTCH BROTH.
Take about eight pounds of the neck and bone parts of lamb or mutton. Trim off all the outside or skin parts. Cut off the lean portion (being careful not to take any fat), cut in small bits and save for the next day. Put to boil all the trimmed parts. Boil several hours, strain and keep until next day. Remove all the fat, add one-half cupful of pearl barley, cook four hours. Add two onions, one-half carrot and one turnip chopped fine. .Also cook the small bits of meat and add to the broth. Season to taste with salt, pepper and parsley chopped fine.—Lyda McKinley.
The Puritan Cook-Book ©1898


Scotch Broth.—Cut the neck mutton into chops and put it in a saucepan with 4 pints of water, as soon as it boils taie off the scum, and then add 2 turnips cut in small 8 squares, 1 large carrot, and 3 onions also cut, 3 tablespoonsful of mushroom ketchup. Cover it closely, and let it stew for four or five hours gently. Then take out the meat and cut it in small pieces, and after skimming all the fat from the broth return the meat to it, season it and send it to table with the addition of a small quantity of light dumplings the size of a walnut or suet dumpling.
Source: Tried & Approved Recipes ©1878

Scotch. Broth.—Take some middle cutlets from neck of mutton; trim them ; then take the trimmings and put them into a stewpan, with some of the scraps and small pieces of knuckle of veal; moisten well with good boiling broth, and season with some sticks of celery, leeks, parsley, a very large onion stuck with two cloves, a few slices of turnip cut into dice, and one or two carrots also cut into dice. Let this broth boil gently for three hours, season with salt and pepper, and skim off the fat. When it becomes a good flavour drain it over the chops, which must be put in a large enough stewpan to contain the soup. Have some well-washed barley which has been boiling for a long time, and put it into the soup with the chops to boil for one hour. Skim before sending to table. Chop a little parsley very fine and add just before serving.
Source: Housewife's Referee ©1898

Marbles

I don't know about you but I loved marbles and playing marbles when I was a kid. There was a time when I lost most of my marbles, but I practiced and practiced until I ended up with a large amount of marbles that I'd won from other children.

Below is an excerpt from 1834 The Book of Sports.

MARBLES.
The best marbles are imported from Holland, where, as I have been informed, they are manufactured, by grinding fragments of alabaster and of other stones, in an iron mill of a peculiar construction. In this mill there are several partitions furnished with rasps, which turn with great velocity, by means of a stream of water; and thus having rounded the stones, project them out of different holes for which their size may adapt them. Thus manufactured they are sent to America and other countries. There are as you know, inferior kinds of marbles, which are of home manufacture, and consist of baked clay, or vitrified earth. The marbles made of pink marble, with dark red veins, 'blood allies,' are preferred to all others.
One of the most common games at marbles is that of knock-out. Two or more may play at this game. He who begins, throws a marble gently against a wall, so that it rebounds to a distance not exceeding a yard; a second player throws another marble against the wall, endeavoring to make it rebound, so as to strike or come within a span of the first; if he can do neither, the first player takes up his own marble, and, in turn, strives to snop or span that of the second. The marble that is thus snopped or spanned, is won, and the winner begins again. Where only two play, it is best to knock out two or three marbles each, alternately, before they begin to use those on the ground. In this case, a player may win his own marbles, as they are common stock when down, and take up which he pleases, to play with. Sometimes instead of throwing the marbles against a wall, the players shoot them along the ground. The winner is he who shoots his marble within a span of the other's. This game is called ' spans and snops.'
The game of ring-taw used to be a very popular sport some years ago. It is played in the following manner. A circle is drawn, on which each player puts as many marbles as may be agreed on. A line, called the offing, is then drawn at some distance, from which each in turn shoots at the ring. Shooting a marble out of the ring, entitles the shooter to go on again, and thus the ring may be sometimes cleared by a good player, before his companion or companions have a chance. After the first fire, the players return no more to the offing, but shoot, when their turn comes, from the place where their marbles rested on the last occasion. Every marble struck out of the ring, is won by the striking party; but if the taw, or marble, at any time remain in the ring, the player is out.
In the game of arch-board or nine-holes, the marbles are bowled at a board set upright, resembling a bridge, with nine small arches, all of them numbered; if the marble strike against the sides of the arches, it becomes the property of the boy to whom the board belongs; but, if it go through any one of them, the bowler claims a number equal to the number upon the arch it passed through.
Sometimes holes are dug in the ground, into which the players try to drive their marbles. Sometimes a little pyramid of marbles is erected within a small circle, and the boy who shoots at it, has as many as he can drive out of the circle. One marble is given, for each time of shooting, to the owner of the pyramid. Those games at marbles which depend entirely upon chance, I hope are beneath your notice.

1883 Fashions

Revisiting 1883 Historical Fashions today. Previously I posted THESE Today we continue with these.

WOMEN

EVERYDAY

SKIRT

PROMENADE DRESS

BREAKFAST COSTUME

PARASOL & FAN

CHILDREN

South Carolina Rice

While growing rice was not an event that started in the 19th century it was an important part of the economic culture of South Carolina. The tidbit below comes from a "Census of the city of Charleston, South Carolina" ©1849. The following tidbit gives some details about the various kinds of rice, where it was grown, etc.

RICE.
This subject, as well as the Cotton crops, demands more extension than the statement of exports for the lew years embraced in the foregoing tables. Fortunately, through the previous researches of another, the exports of Rice, from a very early period, have been collected and preserved, which will be found in the succeeding pages.
From " Drayton's View of South Carolina" we quote, " Rice, was first planted in South Carolina about the year 1688: when by chance a little of it, of a small unprofitable kind, was introduced into the State."
From "Ramsay's History of South Carolina" we learn, that the cultivation of Rice was first commenced in South Carolina in 1694. A vessel from Madagascar, in distress, put into Charleston harbor, the Captain of which had some previous acquaintance with Landgrave Thomas Smith, to whom he gave a small parcel of Rough Rice, which was in the cook's bag on board ; this, Mr. Smith planted in a moist spot in his garden, (now Longitude Lane, in the City of Charleston) the proceeds he distributed among his friends, and in a few years after Rice became one of the staple productions of the Colony.
In " Carroll's Historical Collections of South Carolina" it is stated, that a Brigantine, from Madagascar, put into the Colony, and gave some seed Rice to Mr. Woodward, which, in a few years, was dispersed through the Colony. It is also further stated " that Mr. Du Bois, Treasurer of the East India Company, difi send to that country, (Carolina) a small bag of seed Rice some short time after." These events occurred about the year 1700.
That Rice, soon after this period, was an' article of export from Carolina, we learn from a pamphlet reprinted in Carroll's Historical Collections of South Carolina, and originally published in London in 1707 by John Archdale, late Governor of Carolina, in which he says, " 17 Ships this year," (probably several years prior to the printing of the pamphlet) " came ladened from the Carolinas with Rice, Skins, Pitch, Tar, &c., in the Virginia fleet."
The following early exports of Rice, which we republish as having an appropriate place in the Statistics of Charleston, were collected by the Hon. R. F. W. Allston in his valuable " Memoir of the introduction and cultivation of Rice in South Carolina," published in 1843, from the following sources: From a statement published by Gov. Glen, in his " Description of South Carolina," 1761.

***
VARIETIES GROWN
The gold-seed rice, justly famous for the quality and large yield of the grain, stands, in the estimation of the market, among the first rices in the world. Along the Atlantic coast it has practically superseded the white rice introduced aud generally cultivated in the earlier periods of the industry. The two varieties of gold-seed appear to differ little except that one variety has a slightly larger grain than the other. White rice is valued for its <"arly maturity. The accompanying table illustrates the difference between the grains of gold-seed rice aud white rice:
DELTA LANDS.
A large proportion of the rice grown in South Carolina and Georgia is produced on tidal deltas. A body of land along some river and sufficiently remote from the sea to be free from salt water is selected with reference to the possibility of flooding it from the river at high tide aud of draining it at low tide.
Canals and levees.—A canal is excavated on the outer rim of this tract, completely inclosing the field. The excavated dirt is thrown upon the outer bank. ' The canal must be of sufficient capacity for irrigation and drainage, aud must also furnish dirt to make a levee which will provide perfect protection against the encroachments of the river at all seasons. The tract is then cut up by smaller canals into fields of 10 to 12 acres, making small levees on the border of each field. The fields are subdivided by ditches into strips 20 or 30 feet wide for cultivation. The entire tract is usually nearly level, but if there should be any inequality care must be taken that the surface of each subfield be level. The main canal is 10 to 30 feet wide and about 4 feet deep, and connects with the river by flood gates. Through these canals boats of considerable tonnage have ready access to the entire circuit of the tract, while smaller boats can pass along the subcanals to the several fields. The subcanals are usually from 6 to 10 feet in width and should be nearly as deep as the main canal.
Drainage.—Perfect drainage is one of the most important considerations in rice farming, because upon it depends the proper condition of the soil for planting. It may appear unimportant that a water plant like rice should have aerated and finely pulverized soil for the seed bed, but such is the case. Thorough cultivation seems to be as beneficial to rice as to wheat. Complete and rapid drainage at harvest always insures the saving of the crop under the best conditions and reduces the expense of the harvest. On 500 acres of such land, well prepared, there should be 65 to 80 miles of ditches, canals, aud embankment
If there are logs, stumps, or stones in the field they must be removed. When practicable the rice lands are flooded from the river and find drainage by a canal or subsidiary stream that enters the river at a lower level. The embankment must be sufficient to protect the rice against either freshets or salt water. Freshets are injurious to growing rice, not only because of the volume of water but by reason of the temperature. A great body of water descending rapidly from the mountains to the sea is several degrees colder than water under the ordinary flow. Any large amount of this cold water admitted to the field, not only retards the growth but is a positive injury to the crop. In periods of continued drought the salt water of the sea frequently ascends the river a considerable distance. Slightly brackish water is not injurious to rice, but salt water is destructive.
INLAND MARSHES.
Some excellent marshes are found in South Carolina and Georgia upon what may relatively be termed high land. These are in most cases easily drained and in many instances can be irrigated from some convenient stream. The objection planters have found to such tracts is that the water supply is unreliable and not uniform in temperature. In case of drought the supply may be insufficient; in case of freshets the water is too cold. To obviate these objections reservoirs are sometimes constructed, but are expensive, owing to loss by the evaporation from such a large exposed surface. However, where all the conditions are favorable, it costs less to improve these upland marshes than the delta lands and the results are fairly remunerative.
SOURCE: Bulletin ©1891

Teal Hunting

Okay so I've never heard of this bird or the practice of hunting them but apparently it was quite a sport. But basically it is a small duck. Here is a link to a picture of the bird. Hit your back arrow to return to this post.

TEAL—Although one of the smallest ducks that fly, weighing no more than a partridge, the teal (Qiierquedula creaa) is one of the most attractive of wildfowl to sportsmen, not merely on account of the beautiful colours of the male bird, but because of the sporting shots it affords, and its excellence for the table.
Teal are generally easier to get at than ducks, and as they require but a slight blow to bring them down, it matters little what size of shot is used. Instead of rising head to wind like other wildfowl, they have an odd way of springing up vertically from the surface of the water, no matter what their position may be when discovered, and, the shooter not aiming high enough,(the charge of shot often passes harmlessly below them.
Haunts and Habits—Quiet rushy pools which lie at a distance from any road, turf holes on a peat bog, and sluggish shallow streams with overhanging vegetation are favourite haunts of the teal. Of shy and retired habits, it shuns the more public ponds and rivers, and avoids the neighbourhood of man's dwelling.
On approaching the edge of a pond at a distance Irom a "spring" of teal (as a small flock of these birds is technically termed), they may be seen silently reposing on the water. Immediately the intruder is perceived, a harsh call is heard, and they jump suddenly into the air, wheeling round and about with amazing rapidity, now looking black, now white, according as the upper or under surface of their bodies is presented to the eye. Frequently, as though intending to alight, they fall through the air with a whistling sound, recovering themselves when apparently in the water, and rising again to a height. These manoeuvres are repeated until the eye is strained in following them, and the entire flock at length settles down again in silence and repose as before. At such times it requires no small amount of caution to get near enough to them for a shot.
Col. Hawker, whose practical knowledge of wildfowl has rarely been equalled, has well described the habits of the teal in his Instructions to Young Sportsmen. "If you spring a teal, he will not soar up and leave the country like a wild duck, but will most probably keep along the brook like a sharp-flying woodcock, and then drop suddenly down. But you must keep your eye on the place, as he is very apt to get up again, and fly to another spot before he will quietly settle. He will frequently, too, swim down stream the moment after he drops; so that if you do not cast your eye quickly that way, instead of continuing to look for him in one spot, he will probably catch sight of you and fly up, while your attention is directed to the wrong place. If the brook in which you find him is obscured by many trees, you had better direct your follower to make a large circle, and get ahead of and watch him, in case he should slily skim away down the brook and by this means escape from you altogether."
Description of Plumage—For beauty of colouring the cock teal has scarcely an equal amongst wildfowl. The chestnut head with a patch of glossy green on each side, edged with buff; the neck, back and flanks beautifully pencilled with black and grey ; the bright green speculum on the wing, broadly bordered above and below with velvet black : and the black and buff undertail-coverts present to the eye a perfect picture of harmonising colour which defies the imitative pencil of the artist.
The hen teal, like the females of all ducks, is of the usual sombre colour, her dusky brown and grey plumage being peculiarly well adapted to her concealment during the time she is engaged in incubation.
Nesting—Although usually placed in the vicinity of water, the nest is sometimes at a considerable distance from it, and always rests upon dry ground. A hollow is generally scraped out at the foot of some overhanging bunch of heather, or tussock of dry waving grass, and lined with fine heath stalks and bents. Here eight or ten creamy-white eggs are laid, in April, and as the hen bird covers them, she plucks from her breast and sides the soft brown down which underlies her feathers, and places it entirely round the eggs, filling up all the interstices, thus forming a warm bed for the young as soon as they leave the shell.
The old duck is very attentive to her young, leading them from the nest to the marsh, where they paddle about on the soft ground and shallow pools, snapping up flies and beetles with their tiny bills. They swim and dive well almost as soon as hatched.
Migration—Great numbers of teal pass southward for the winter, returning in the spring on the way back to their breeding haunts. In September and October they collect in large flocks, and, being very sociable in their habits, may often be found in winter in company with wild ducks. But although they mingle together when on the water, on being disturbed the two species always separate, the teal going off in one flock, the ducks in another. During the winter
months teal may be found on the coast, in company with wigeon, but they apparently prefer the neighbourhood of fresh water, especially large quiet pools well sheltered by reeds or trees, to screen them from the wind.
Teal in Decoys—Teal are amongst the tamest of wildfowl, and are generally the earliest to come into a decoy. The decoy-man, aware of their market value (for they are highly esteemed for the table), knows better than to capture the first comers. He allows them to remain undisturbed for some time, in order to attract others of their kind. This policy sometimes proves very remunerative. It is on record that at certain decoys in Essex, from 200 to 400 teal have been taken in one day. At the celebrated Ashby decoy in Lincolnshire it was not an uncommon thing to take 1800 or 2000 teal in the course of a season, and in the winter of 1852-53 no less than 3279 of these little birds were thus captured. Folkard relates that at a decoy pond at Mersea in Essex a flock of about 400 arrived, the greater number of which were taken within a few hours. The Rev. Richard Lubbock, also, mentions an instance which occurred at a Norfolk decoy of 220 teal being taken at once.
Formerly the decoy season was from the ist October till the ist June: the statute 10 Geo. II. cap. 32 prohibited the taking of any wildfowl "by hays, tunnels, or other nets" earlier or later under a penalty of 5^. for every bird so taken, but that statute has been repealed, and now by custom the season for working a decoy is from October to February.
It is true that a few ducks and mallards come into the decoys in July and August, but they are generally birds reared in the neighbourhood, and are left alone to entice others. Teal come in about the first week of September.

Source: Encyclopedia of Sport ©1898

How to buy a Rifle

Here's an excerpt from The Encyclopaedia of Sport on How to buy a Rifle.

HOW TO BUY A RIFLE—"What game do you propose to shoot with it ?" is the natural question which arises. If you want to shoot a rhinoceros or an elephant, a small cannon will be best, i.e. anything from a '500 express with expanding bullets to an eight or ten bore. If, on the other hand, your game consists of small deer such as gazelles, antelopes, or roe, a good rook rifle will be sufficient. But for almost all purposes the two best rifles at present in use are the '450 express and the '303 Lee-Metford, the latter used with the black bullet and cordite or rifleite powder. I say the black bullet, because it makes a more killing wound than the nickel-covered army bullet, which goes clean through any stag and does not stop him at once unless it strikes a vital part. I used to prefer the '303 to the express, owing to the noiseless and smokeless ammunition and to the absence of recoil; for, in stalking, noise and smoke are naturally prejudicial to a second chance.
But of late many experiments have been made with the '450 express with '400 chamber and smokeless powders; and, if the proper powder is used, I have but little doubt that this will supersede all other weapons. The size of the bullet and the wound it makes give it a great advantage over the "303. Besides, the lead of the black bullet is less likely to ire main in the groove of the express than in that of the '303. Some experiments with tubeite have succeeded well, fired from the '450, and this gives all the advantages of the '303—i.e. no noise and no smoke, plus a lighter and less delicate weapon and a larger bullet.
In buying a rifle, soundness and shooting are the points to be ascertained first, and then the pull of the triggers, which latter entirely depends upon the purchaser's taste. I prefer the pull to be very light, and in hammerless rifles the half cock or safety bolt should have a guard so .as to prevent its slipping when carried. The bend of a rifle is not so important as that •of a gun, as it is very rare that one requires to put it up quick to the shoulder and snap off as one does with a gun. But the sighting is quite .a study; and though the sight of a rifle may make admirable practice in one good shot's hands, it may not do so in the hands of another •equally good shot, for the reason that the two men's '(eyesights may be quite different. A man may shoot well with an army '303 rifle if he has young sight or even if he wears spectacles to assist short-sightedness. But a man with old •eyesight, that is, who can see any distance within reason, but cannot read without glasses, will be apt to find the back-sight of his rifle totally useless. Such a man will generally be .able to read the leader type of the Times newspaper, for a very short while, by holding it well away from him, say 26 inches or so, though it •will make his eyes ache. If the back-sight, therefore, is put at the usual distance from the eye (said to be 14 inches) the old sighted man will not see it clearly, though he sees the bead .at the end of the barrel. If he puts on his "clearers" he will see the back-sight, but not the bead or the bull's eye. This very common form of eyesight is rarely properly attended to •on sighting rifles, and yet the remedy seems simple enough, viz. : to put the back-sight forward until it is clearly seen. It will of course involve the altering of the V, but it will not hurt the shooter's eye for the few seconds he takes in aiming, as it would if he tried to read for any length of time at the same distance. But before using this extreme measure, i.e., of placing the back-sight so forward, I would recommend a trial of the bar-sight, which was so strongly advocated in the Deerstalking article in this Encyclopedia by Mr. Grimble. It suits some people with old sight, and its outline is very distinct, being white platinum on a black ground, but even this requires adjusting to the purchaser's sight. Hundreds of rifles are bought on the strength of a target pattern which is shown to the customer. They have been sighted to the proper eyesight of a man of thirty; but no offer is ever made by the seller to adjust the sight to the eyes ot the actual purchaser. This the latter should see to himself. The most conscientious gun-makers fall into this error, an error which eventually does them as much harm as any other shortcoming in the rifle they sell, for their customer shoots badly and the maker gets a certain amount of the blame. We know that a rifle is rather disfigured by having its back-sight forward on the barrels, but the outward appearance is only a secondary consideration. I prefer the doublebarrelled Lee-Metford to the single barrel and magazine. The former is a nice handy weapon, and to my mind two barrels should be sufficient, unless the sportsman (?) is of that blood-thirsty tribe who go out with the intention of killing all they can, not by fair stalking, but by penning deer into gorges and slaughtering them. Let them use magazines if they like, I shall not even be surprised if I hear some day of their adopting the Maxim!
As to the care necessary for preserving both guns and rifles during the non-shooting season, it is best to take the advice of a gun-maker. But the essential point is never to keep them in a damp place; and to examine them thoroughly not less than once a month, wiping every part each time and oiling where necessary. The browning of the barrels should also be attended to at the end of a season, as a small rub may give a shiny barrel.
W. G. Craven.

Various Household Oils

Today we go to the store and simply pick from a huge variety of cooling oils, motor oils and machine oils. Below is some information on how our 19th Century relatives and characters made their own. The information below comes from Mackenzie's Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts ©1846. The spellings come from this original text.

MUCILAGINOUS OILS.
To make oil of sweet almonds. Is usually made from bitter almonds for cheap ness, or from old Jordan almonds by heat, the oil from which soon grows rank, while that from fresh Barbary almonds, drawn cold, will keep good for some lime. The almonds are sometimes blanched by dipping in boiling water or by soaking some hours in cold water, so as to part with their skin easily; but are more usually ground to a paste, which is put into canvas bags, and pressed between iron plates, in a screw press, or by means of a wedge; 1 cwt. of bitter almonds unbianched, produces 46 lbs. of oil; the cake pays for pressing.
Nut oil
Is obtained from the kernel of the hazel nut, and is very fine; it is substituted for oil oi nan; as it will keep better than that of almonds, it has been proposed to be substituted for that oil; it is drank with tea, in China, probably in lieu of cream, and is used by painters, as a superior vehicle for their colours.
Oil of mace
Is obtained from nutmegs by the press; it is buttery, having the smell and colour of mace, but grows paler and harder by age; 2 lbs. of nutmegs in Europe will yield 6 oz. of this oil.
True oil of mace by expression.
This oil is red, remains always liquid, or soft, has a strong smell of mace, sub-acid taste, and is imported in jars or bottles, the lower part being rather thicker than the top; i\ lbs. of mace will yield in Europe an ounce and a half, troy, of oil.
Olive, salad, or sweet oil.
This is the most agreeable of all the oils; it is demulcent, emollient, gently laxative, and is also used as an emetic with warm water; dose, 1 ox. troy, or a large spoonful: also externally, when warm, to the bites of serpents, and when cold, to tumours and dropsies. Rank oil is best for plasters: but fresh oil makes the best hard soap.
Castor oil.
This is either imported from the West Indies, where it is obtained by decoction with water, 10 lbs. of seeds yielding 1 lb. of oil; or frcm the East Indies, where it is obtained by grinding in a mortar, with a hole in the side for the supernatant oil to run off, being in common use there for lamp oil. Or, that made at home by the press, which is the best, especially some that is prepared from cold blanched seeds, with the eye taken out. Some chemists are said to take out the colour from the foreign oils, by certain additions, and sell them for English, or, as it is called, cold drawn castor oil. The virosity communicated to the oil by the eyes of the seeds may be got rid of by washing the oil with boiling water, or with weak oil of vitriol. It is soluble in warm spirit of wine, and its adulteration may thus be discovered, if thought necessary; but as all the fat oils have nearly similar qualities, the taste is sufficient for practical purposes. It is purgative in doses of from 1-2 an oz. to 1 1-2 oz. floated on some distilled water, or on wine; or if it does not usually stay well on the stomach, on some tincture of senna; or made into an emulsion with yolk of egg, and a little distilled water, with 20 drops of lavender, and a tea-spoonful of simple syrup; it may also be used in clysters. It is particularly useful where a stimulant would be hurtful; as it operates quickly without disturbing the system; also externally in swelling pains. Contrary to most medicines, on frequent repetition a less dose is suffitient.
Oil of croton.
This oil is extracted from Molucca grains, or •urging nuts. In its chemical qualities it agrees vith castor oil, but is considerably more active, as i single drop, when the oil is genuine, is a powered cathartic.
Rape oil.
This is made from rape seed; it dries slowly, makes but a softish soap, fit for ointments: themulilageit contains may begot rid of, ina great meamre, by adding half an ounce of oil of vitriol to two pints of the oil.
To purify rape oil. The following is a simple method of rendering •ape oil equal to spermaceti oil, for the purposes af illumination.
Begin by washing the oil with spring water: which is effected by agitating the oil violently with a sixth part of the water. This separates the particles of the oil, and mixes those of the water intimately with them. After this operation, it looks like the yolk of eggs beat up. In less than fortyeight hours they separate completely, the oil swimming at the top, the water, with all feculent and extraneous particles, subsiding to the bottom. This may be very much improved, by substituting seawater in the place of fresh water.
By the process of washing, the oil does not lose
1 hundredth part. The experiment can at all limes be made in a glass decanter, or in a churn, with a cock at the bottom, the water to come up very near to the cock, by which all the oil can be drawn off, after it has deposited its impurities.
Another method.—To 100 parts of oil add 1A or
2 of concentrated sulphuric acid, and mix the whole well by agitation, when the oil will become turbid, and of a blackish-green colour. In about three quarters of an hour, the colouring matter will begin to collect in clots; the agitation should then be discontinued, and clean water, twice the weight of the sulphuric acid, be added. To mix the water with the oil and acid, a further agitation of half an hour will be requisite. The mass may, afterwards, be left to clarify for eight days, at the end of which time three separate fluids will be perceived in the vessel; the upper is the clear oil, the next is the sulphuric acid and water, and the lowest, a black mud or fecula. Let the oil then be separated by a syphon from the acid and water, and filtrated through cotton or wool; it will he nearly without colour, smell, or taste and will burn clearly and quietly to the last drop.
To purify vegetable oil. To 100 pounds of oil, add 25 ounces of roche alum, and mix, dissolved in 9 pounds of boiling water. After stirring it about half an hour, add 15 ounces of nitric ncid, still continuing to stir it. Let it stand forty-eight hours, when the fine oil will awlia on the surface, and then draw it off. Such oil if used all over the continent, and an equal II
quantity yields double the light of whale and fish oil, without its offensive odour.
To make pumpkin oil.
From the seeds of the pumpkin, which are generally thrown away, an abundance of an excellent oil maybe extracted. When peeled, they yield much more oil than an equal quantity of flax. This oil burns well, gives a lively light, lasts longer than other oils, and emits very little smoke. It has been used on the continent for frying fish, &c. The cake remaining after the extraction of the oil may be given to cattle, who eat it with avidity.
Beech nut oil.
Beech nuts are not only an excellent food for pigs, but they are known to yield an oil, fit for common purposes, by the usual methods of extraction. To extract oilfrom grape stontt.
In Italy an useful oil is drawn from the grape stones. In order to separate the seeds from the husks and refuse matter, the mash is put into a bucket with some water, and worked about with the hands, until the seeds, from their superior weight, have fallen to the bottom of the vessel. They are then to be removed and dried in the sun, or by any other wav, as soon as possible; when a sufficient quantity is collected, the whole is to be ground in the same kind of mill that is used for hemp and cole-seed: being then cold drawn, a fine oil is procured, which is scarcely distinguishable from common olive oil. The refuse matter, being scalded in a little hot water, yields a fresh portion of oil, though of an inferior quality, which burnt excellently well in a lamp, giving out no unpleasant odour, and very little smoke. By taking the loppings or primings of the vine, excellent vinegar may he made from the same, and even wine with the aid of sugar.
ANIMAL OILS AND FATS.
Hog's lard.
This is obtained like the rest of the animal tats from the raw lard, by chopping it fine, or rather rolling it out to break the cells in which the fat is lodged, and then melting the fat in a water bath, or other gentle heat, and straining it whilb warm; some boil them in water; but the tats, thus obtain ed, are apt to grow rank much sooner than when melted by themselves.
Neat's feet or trotter oil.Neat's Feet Oil definition in Wikipedia.
Obtained by boiling neat's feet, tripe, etc. in water; it is a coarse animal oil, very emollient, and much used to soften leather.
To purify trotter oil. Put 1 quart of trotter oil into a vessel containing a quart of rose-water, and set them over a fire till the oil melts and mixes with the rosewater. Stir well with a spoon. When properly combined, take the vessel from the fire, and let it cool. Now take off the oil with a spoon, and add rose-water, as before. When the oil is again separated and cleansed, set it in a cool place. The principal use of trotter oil is for the making of cold cream, in which its qualities exceed those of every other oil.. -To prepare oil from yolks of eggs. Boil the eggs hard, and after separating the whites break the yolks into two or three pieces, and roast them in a frying pan till the oil begins to exude; then press them with very great force. Fifty eggs yield about 5 ounces of oil. Old eggs yield the greatest quantity.
Anotlier method.—Dilute the raw yolks with a large proportion of water, and add spirit of wine to separate the albumen, when the oil will rise on the top after standing some time, and thus may be separated Ly a funnel.
To refine spermaceti. (A Type of Whale's Oil, Lynn's note)
Spermaceti is usually brought home in casks; and, in some cases, has so little oil mixed with it as to obtain the denomination of head matter. It is of the consistence of a stiff ointment, of a yellowish colour, and not tenacious. Besides the head matter, there is also a quantity of sperm obtained from the oil by filtration. Indeed, in all good spermaceti lamp oil, which is not transparent, particles of the sperm may be seen floating.
Having the head-matter, or filtered sperm, in order to purify it, first put it into hair cloths, and with an iron plate between each cloth, to the number of half a dozen, or more, submit it to the action of an iron screw-press; and, as the oil does not separate very readily, it will, in general, be necessary to let the cakes of sperm be pressed three different times. The third time the cakes will become so dry that they may be broken in small pieces with little trouble, and then put in a furnace containing l-3d water, and 2-3ds cake. Let the fire be raised sufficiently under the furnace to melt the cake, which it will do before the water begins to boil: after which, boil the whole together for about half an hour, taking off, during the boiling, what scum and other extraneous bodies rise to the top; then let the whole be dipped out into a tub, or other coolers. After it is completely cold, take off the cake of spermaceti, which will be on the top of the water, and cut it into pieces. Suppose, for example, that the cake weighs one hundred weight, it will be necessary to have a furnace, or rather a moveable kettle, where the light is thrown in such a way that the process can be observed. Having taken one hundred weight of the unrefined spermaceti, prepared as above, melt it together with about 3 gallons of water. As soon as it begins to boil, add, from time to time, small portions of the following liquor, say half a pint at a time:—Take of the alkaline salt, or pot-ash, 7 pounds. Pour on it 2 gallons of water; let them stand together twenty-four hours, and from the top dip off the ley as wanted, adding more water occasionally till the alkali is exhausted. After boiling the spermaceti for about four hours, having during the process taken off the scum as it arose, let the kettle be removed from the fire, and after remaining about a quarter of an hour, dip off the spermaceti into suitable coolers. This process must, in general, be repeated three times. The third time, if the processes have been properly conducted, the spermaceti will be as clear as cry- al; and then, after it is cool, the only thing necessary to make it fit for sale, is to cut it into moderately small pieces, when it will break into that flakey appearance which it has in the shops.
To sweeten, purify, and rejine Greenland whale and seat oil.
The oil, in its raw state, is filtered through bags, about 41 inches long, with circular mouths, extended by a wooden hoop, about 15 inches in diameter, fixed thereto. These bags are made of jean, lined with flannel; between which jean and flannel powdered charcoal is placed, throughout, to a regularthickness of about half an inch, tor the purpose of retaining the glutinous particles of the oil, and straining it from impurities; and the bags are
3uilted, to prevent the charcoal from becoming licker in one part than another, and to keep the linings more compact. The oil is pumped into a large funnel, made of tin, annexed to the pump through a perpendicular pipe, and passed from the funnel into another pipe placed over the bags horizontally, from whence it is introduced into them by cocks. The oil runs from the filtering hags into a cistern, about 8 feet long by 4 feet broad, and 4| deep, made of wood, and lined with lead, and containing water at the bottom, about the depth of 5 or 6 inches, in which are dissolved about 6 ounces of blue vitriol, for the purpose of drawing down the glutinous and offensive particles of the oil, which have escaped through the charcoal, and thereby rendering it clean and free from the unpleasant smell attendant upon the oil in the raw state; and, in order to enable the oil thus to run from the bags, they are hung in a frame or rack, made like a ladder, with the spokes or rails at sufficient distances to receive the hoop of the bagbetween two; and such frame or rack is placed in a horizontal position over the cistern. The oil is suffered to run into the cistern until it stands to the depth of about 2 feet in the water, and thereto remain for 3 or 4 days, (according to the qualityof the oil), and is then drawn off by a cock, which is fixed in the cistern a little above the water, into a tub or other vessel, when it will be found to be considerably purified and refined, and the oil, after having undergone this operation, may be rendered still more pure, by passing a second or third time through similar bags and cisterns. But the nil, after such second and third process, is drawn off into, and filtered through, additional bags, made of jean, lined with flannel, inclosed in other bags, made of jean, doubled, when the process is complete.
To purify fish oils, and apply the refuse to usefiu purposes.
The object of this invention is the refining not only of fish-oil, but of the oils obtained from all animal substances, and also from expressed vegetables. The mode of performing this is by mixing the oil with an infusion of tannin. Mr Speers, of Dublin, recommends the tannin of oak-bark, but any tannin, whether natural from oak or other barks, or artificial, will answer the purpose. The mode which he prefers is the following: Take equal quantities of oil and soft water; in the water infuse and agitate for a day or two about one-tenth part of its weight of tannin; it is then to be drawn off tine, and the oil and water to be mixed and boiled for some time, and then set by to cool. The tannin will, by means of chemical attraction, unite with the gelatine or mucilage, and, being heavier than oil, will sink below it; but being lighter than water it will swim above it; in other words, this refuse matter-will be found between the oil and the water. The oil is first to be drawn off and then the refuse matter may be obtained. This matter may be"applied to the formation of cements and stucco; or to the composition of paints and varnishes; or to the composition of an excellent blacking for leather, which will by that means be made water-proof.
Another method.
A method of purifying common fish-oil, and rendering it equal to the best sperm oil, by the use of animal charcoal, has lately been discovered in Denmark. The description is very incomplete, but mentions that beef bones, which have been boiled,are made into animal charcoal-in a peculiar way. The charcoal is mixed with the oil, and repeatedly agitated for two months, after which it is filtered through several strata of charcoal, and used as soon as made. The quantity of gas evolved by the bones in the operation is considerable, and is used for lighting the manufactory and adjacent buildings. The residuum is mixed with clay for fuel. The loss in this process is estimated at 15 per cent., and the gain is equal to 40 per cent., leaving a balance in favour of the discovery of 25 per cent.
The peculiar method of making the charcoal, probablv consists in not heating the bones too much. It is well known by the animal charcoal mukers in London, that if the temperature be raised loo high, the charcoal is worth nothing.
Another.—Take a gallon of crude stinking oil, nd mix with it a quarter ol an ounce of powdered * balk, a quarter of an ounce of lime, slaked in the air, ard half a pint of water; stir them together; and when they have stood some hours, add a pint of water, and two ounces of pearl-ashes, and place the mixture over a fire that will just keep it simmering, till the oil appears of a light amber colour, and has lost all smell, except a hot, greasy, soap-like scent. Then superadd half a pint of water in which one ounce 0i salt has been dissolved, and having boiled it half an hour, pour the mixture into a proper vessel, and let it-stand for some days, till the oil and water separate.
If this operation be repeated several times, diminishing each time the quantity of ingredients one half, the oil may be brought to a very light colour, and be rendered equally sweet with the common spermaceti oil.
Oil purified in this manner is found to burn much better, and to answer better the purposes of the woollen manufacture. If an oil be wanted thicker and more unctuous, this may be rendered so by toe addition of tallow or fat
To prepare oils for tlve manufacture of hard soap.
Let the oil be ground in a mill, along with a quantity of fine new-slaked lime, till it becomes of the consistence of thick cream: this being done, let an iron pan be filled one-eighth full of this mixture, to which is to be added an equal quantity of unprepared oil, the whole being well stirred together. A brisk fire is now to be made under the pan, the contents of which will soon swell to the top, and afterwards subside; the fire and stirring must, however, be still kept up, till the mixture begins to swell and boil a second time, emitting thick clouds of steam; another portion of oil is now to be added and stirred briskly in, till this ebullition is suppressed; the lime being now united to the oil, the mass, when cold, will be of the consistence of wax. To make hard soap with the oil thus prepared, let tallow, rosin, grease, or unprepared oil, be added in the proportion of one half, and melted, to which add a ley, made of mineral alkali. When a perfect combination has taken place, by boiling and stirring, let the soap be taken out, and cleansed into frames: from which there will be, as usual, a small discharge of impure ley, after which the soap is ready for use.
Source:Mackenzie's Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts ©1846

Lightening strikes

I live in Florida and we have been having a lot of summer afternoon storms. We've been hit a couple times this year. That is our house and wires going to our house. All of that to say my cable for internet was hit yesterday and the cable company can't come until Wednesday night. As much as I like my iPad and iPhone tapping out posts for this blog is not with my patience. So I'm sorry there might not be a post for a couple days.

Tarpon Fishing

During the end of the 19th Century fishing for sport. Tarpon fishing started in 1884 after William Hood captured one. Now I'm thinking locals may have caught these fish long before Hood but according to the anglers records that was the beginning. Below are some excerpts regarding this sport.

Points about the Tarpon— The New York Times
The biggest fish that is caught in the waters of this country with rod and bait is, curiously, the first of the angling season to be sought after and to be found in our warmest climate. He is the noble king of herring, the tarpon. The sport of taking tarpon is a comparatively recent one, and it is not many years ago that the man who had caught a tarpon was as big a fellow among the angling fraternity as the tarpon is among fishes. Nowa-days the tarpon anglers are so abundant that reputation depends simply upon the size of the fish taken. There is considerable discussion as to who is entitled to the honor of having landed the biggest tarpon. Florida is a good way distant, and there is ample opportunity for the fish to increase in size as the news works northward. John G. Heckscher is believed to have secured the largest with rod and reel, his fish having been a veritable silver king of 184 pounds and landed after a two hours' struggle, in which Mr. Heckscher became very tired. The tarpon fishing does not start in much before February, though some are taken earlier. February and March are the best months. The fishing-tackle dealers have been improving on the tarpon outfit till this year they offer a very pretty equipment. The old bass rods, it was found, would not do. The tarpon anglers brought them back in the spring in pieces, and three or four were often shattered by one fisherman. The proper tarpon rod is a short one of about seven feet, made in two pieces. The butt is a foot and a half long, of hard rubber and the remaining joint is of noib wood. The tarpon line is specially manufactured of linen, and is made very strong. At first they used a small chain or piano wire for a leader, but it was found that the king herring would snap these very easily and cut through them. So now-a-days they use a sort of cotton material or thick cord. When the tooth of a tarpon strikes it, it mashes and softens and is pulpy, but the fish cannot cut through it. Thick worsted gut, which will become sott in the water, is also sometimes used. This completes the outfit, except a net or gaff for the boatman and a pair of thumbstalls. The tarpon hugs the bottom pretty close, so when the strong steel hook is baited with a piece of mullet it is dropped to the bottom. The fish is a bit wary, and when he suspects the bait is cautious. He is apt to take it up gingerly and travel a few feet. Then he will drop it. He is fond of mullet, however, and if his inspection does not alarm him he will take the food up again and rather slowly swallow it. So it behooves the angler not to hurry the fish. Wait until he has swallowed it and started off on a long run. When the line is tightened on the fish he will be hooked. Some anglers say they can tell by the draw of the fish whether it is a tarpon or a shark, but many are often disappointed to find their supposed tarpon nothing but a measly shark. The sharks are a great nuisance. It is a singular thing that a shark will cut through the cotton leader, while a tarpon cannot, but the chain or piano wire holds a shark fast. It is owing to their different kind of teeth. If a shark is on the line the best plan is to let him work off by himself. The tarpon is a beauty to look upon. The scales are regular and bright in color. When the tarpon is taken out of the water he looks as though he was silver-plated. They have even been taken in nets as far north as Long Island.
Source: Current Opinion ©1889

Tarpon Fishing Methods.—Florida and Texas.
I see from the October and November American AngUs that you have been down to Tarpon (Aransas Pass). I would like to know how the tarpon fishing there compares with the Florida fishing. I mean the manner of fishing for them: is It not done In an entirely different manner in many ways» Is the fi«hing at Tarpon not done in swifter water, no floats used and stronger lines necessary, and is not the best fishing done In rougher water? I think a great many of the Texas tarpon fishermen would like to see your answer In the American Anoler. I have shown the last Nos. 10 and 11 to several from this place, and several have asked me what you thought of the tarpon fishing at the Pass as oompared with the Florida tarpon fishing. Let us hear. Livi Lingo.
Denison, Texas.
There is a marked difference in the methods of tarpon fishing at Aransas Pass from those in vogue in the waters of Florida. We think this arises from the fact that anglers at the former place very naturally fish at the head of the Pass, where the tarpon can be seen gathering in great shoals, awaiting in the strong tide way the immense herds of "shiners" which are apparently helpless in the rapid current and fall a prey easily to the silver kings. At the point referred to, when the tarpon are running (this occurs nearly every day in the week), the fish are so abundant that it is not unusual to have ten to twenty "plucks" during an hour and to hook and beach one or more tarpon in that time. When such a condition exists, an angler must indeed have great self denial to resist fishing in such a spot, albeit, it entails great physical endurance to kill a tarpon in the great rush of water at the head of the Pass. The excitement of hooking, loosing and possible capture of an hundred pounder compensates apparently for the mental and bodily strain. If the tarpon anglers of Aransas Pass would fish about a half mile or slightly more, above the head of the Pass on the edge of the main channel where comparatively still water exists, they would be compelled to resort to the methods used in Florida, viz, still fishing, with the bait lying upon the bottom in five to seven feet of water. We have often hooked tarpon in the locality referred to when anchored and fishing for small fish, hence we believe the tarpon resort to the edge of the channels to feed, in numbers far greater than in any section of Florida we ever visited. We must confess that we prefer the more quiet method of "still fishing " for tarpon. This may easily be accounted for, because our limbs are stiffened (not enfeebled) by the wear and tear of over three-score years, and the taking of a tarpon in the tide way at the head of the Pass puts a heavy strain upon the fisherman, who needs only muscle to beach his fish, as the boatman and the fish, when securely hooked, does all the rest of the work. Mr. Lingo will doubtless infer from the above that tarpon fishing in Florida is done in comparatively smooth water at the edge of channel ways, and that at Aransas Pass it is done in the rough waters of the Pass. The first is still fishing and the latter is trolling, except at times when the boat is anchored and the "shiner" bait is cast out upon the rushing waters. The latter method demands stronger tackle, as the fish are aided in resistance by the swift tide in their favor, hence they fight harder with greater strain on tackle, and the odds for liberty are strongly in their favor.
Source: The American Angler ©1897

THE TARPON.
It was in 1884 when William H. Wood of New York caught the first tarpon ever captured in Florida waters on hook and line. Before that period they had been occasionally killed with the grains, and one only is on record as being taken accidentally on a large trolling spoon. Mr. Wood, previous to 1884, annually visited the Gulf coast and was a keen observer of the habits of the tarpon, and determined to essay their capture by practical and scientific methods
He observed that the tarpon when hooked seldom failed to throw the hook from its jaw at the moment it leaped from the water, and from this knowledge came the inspiration that insured success in his future outings for these fish. His method was a simple one. Casting about one hundred feet from the boat, he allowed the mullet bait to sink to the bottom, and at once coiled twenty to thirty feet of slack line on the gunnel or seat of the boat. The tarpon bites at a bottom bait rather gingerly, and the first intimation that it is doing so is more of a gentle " draw " than the " pluck " of most salt-water fishes. As the tarpon drew slowly away, Mr. Wood paid out the slack line to its full extent and then struck the hook into the fish. A mad rush, a furious leap, the powerful convulsions of the body and the violent and continued shaking of the head and shoulders, which always follow the strike, were of no avail The bait had been swallowed and the steel was buried in the gullet of the fish.
From 1884 until a few years ago all tarpon anglers in Florida followed Wood's methods, and but few tarpon escaped after being hooked. In 1895 reports came from Aransas Pass, Texas, of the great numbers of tarpon being seen and captured in the rapid waters of the inlet. The method used was the reverse of that introduced by Mr. Wood. It was surface fishing with a hundred feet of line tightened on the strong tide, which flows on the ebb at a speed of eight to ten miles an hour in the Pass. The boat was either anchored or slowly rowed against the tide. Under such conditions it was seldom that more than one fish out of ten was killed The tarpon dashed at the floating line, and the hook failed to be embedded except in the outer jaw, and at the first mad leap of the fish was thrown from the mouth. During the last few years the anglers of Florida have discarded Mr. Wood's method, and now, as a rule, fish in swift waters of the inlets with the same results as obtains in Texan waters. It cannot be disputed that still-fishing for tarpon, as introduced by Mr. Wood, is the most scientific and enjoyable from an angling standpoint.
Source: Outing: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction ©1899

This Past Week on 19th Century Historical Tidbits

This past week we started with some additional information about the Turpentine and Tar Business.

On Tuesday we explored the Switchboard Operator's Job in the late 19th Century.
Switchboard Operator

On Historical Fashion Wednesday we covered Fashions from 1877
1877 Fashions

On Thursday we learned a bit about the Salads and Dressings from the 19th Century
Salad Anyone

On Friday we drifted over to the Florida Keys and an 1859 report to U.S. House of Representatives
The Florida Keys

The Florida Keys

Below are two reports to the U.S. House of Representatives about the Florida Keys. They describe each Key and what they found on them. For those of you who enjoy the keys. It is an opportunity to see what they looked like before they were as settled as they are now.

SIR: In compliance with your instructions of November 19, 1856, I proceeded to Key West, but I was unable to engage a pilot to accompany me to Cape Sable, such was the general terror of Indians.
I therefore lost no time in commencing a sheet among the Keys about 25 miles to the northward and eastward of Key West. I reached the scene of active operations about the 20th of January, 1857.
Burnt key, which was the first in order of survey, is upwards of a mile and a half in length, but quite narrow. The land is slightly elevated, and sustains a growth of large trees, principally button wood with scarcely any mangrove. South of these are two small keys, not wooded, and nearly covered at high water.
Directly west of Burnt key, and scarcely half'a mile distant, is Knock-em-down key, which is three miles in length and averages nearly a mile in breadth. Comparatively a small portion of it is beyond the reach of ordinary high water, and it is very much out up by lagoons and creeks. But a small portion of the Key is wooded.
Budd key, the next to the northwest, is about a mile in length, but narrow. lt is separated into three distinct parts by narrow channels, one of which is quite deep, even at low water.
Beyond this to the northwest, are some half a dozen small Mangrove keys, or shoals, only one of which, Michael’s key, is judged worthy ofa name, and that is but little more than a quarter oi'a mile in length.
A mile to the northward, however, brings us to Raccoon key, which is one and a half miles long, and from a quarter to halfa mile in width. The woods occupy but a small portion of the surface. They are principally of buttonwood and mangrove. Northwest of this are three small Mangrove keys, the largest of which, Eagle key, covers an area of nearly a. quarter of a square mile.
Parts of the Torch and Howes keys also come on my sheet. The former group with its numerous shoals, and small grassy keys, intersected by numerous channels, most of them dry or nearly so at low water, covers an area of about four square miles. Torch key proper is, in some places, a mile wide, and is to a great extent overgrown with buttonwood, sea-grape, torch, a few palmetto, and many other species of trees.
East of this are three small keys, from three to five hundred metres in length, each densely covered with mangrove.
Due north of Torch, and separated from it by a channel only onefourth of a mile wide, are a group called Water keys. These stretch in a northerly direction about three miles, and are all connected by flats at low water, at which time they form one continuous chain. But long before the tide reaches its full height, they are separated into nearly a dozen, most of them very small. The most southerly, and the only one of any size, is long and narrow, being more than half the length ofthe whole chain, and supports a ridge of large high trees.
The western half of Howes key lies to the southeast of Water key, distant three-fourths of a mile, and the portion on my sheet covers an area of nearly two square miles. The northwest part is low and intersected by lagoons, and the woods are thin.
To the north and west of Water key are the Eastern and Western Contents. These groups stretch in a. northeast direction for about three miles, and vary in breadth from a half to three-quarters of a mile. They are intersected by numerous deep passages, mostly narrow, except the one between the two groups, which is over half a. mile wide, and at the mouth of which there is a break in the reef which stretches along outside of these keys for a. considerable distance.
Lastly comes Harbor key, situated about :one and a. quarter mile east northeast of the Contents. This is a. small and nearly round key, scarcely two hundred metres in diameter, but the land is high and the woods dense. It can be seen and readily distinguished at a considerable distance, and derives some importance from being a. prominent land mark for vessels cruising in the bay.
There is a narrow strip of coral reef north of the eastern Content group, a little more than one-fourth of a. mile distant, which is bare at low water. Between it and the shore the water is shallow, but the outer edge falls precipitately to a depth of one and a half fathoms.
The space included between the Contents, Water, Torch, and Raccoon keys, an area of six square miles, is one extensive fiat, not quite dry at low water, except in a. few scattered places, yet impassable for boats even of the smallest draught.
The accompanying map of this locality contains eighty-nine quarter section stakes, labelled, respectively, M, P. and M, P.
After completing the sheet just mentioned, I succeeded in obtaining a pilot for Cape Sable, where I commenced about the middle of March, and worked as far from the base line as was practicable previous to triangulation.
Cape Sable, from what I could learn, is probably an island, formed by Shark river leading up to White Water bay, a large inland lake; and this also has another towards the east, which empties somewhere into Barnes’ sound.
From Cape Sable proper, or as it is sometimes called the Eastern Cape, to Palm Point, there is a fine sand beach, with a ridge about three feet in height, running along just back of high water mark. This gradually falls away towards the woods, which are in most places upwards of a hundred yards from the shore, but in some places run in close to the beach.
At Palm Point there is a large open space of firm ground, or fine rolling prairie, some six feet above the level of the sea. It has recently been selected as the site for a small military station, Fort Cross.
The most prominent objects in this vicinity are two tall palm trees, the largest being upwards of one hundred feet in height. They are quite useful as land marks.
Just beyond the prairie at Palm Point, proceeding in a northwest direction, the woods again approach to the water’s edge and continue to skirt the shore for some two miles, where they begin gradually to recede; and there is a fine high sand beach reaching to the Northwest Cape. Here again there is a high undulating prairie. Beyond that the woods grow close to the water's edge, and to the westward of this point there is no clear land for several miles more; in fact, except here and there a very small prairie on some of the innumerable scattered islands formed by the mouths of the various rivers between here and Cape Romano.
For the shore line from Palm Point to the Northwest Cape, I was obliged to use a separate sheet.
From Fort Poinsett, eastward, there is a high sand beach, as far as a point which makes out abreast the east end of the base line. The walking would be good were it not for the dead mangroves which have decayed and fallen into the water. At the foot of the sand ridge the soft gray mud commences and stretches out with scarcely a perceptible variation in the depth of the water for some distance, say two hundred yards, and from these shoals very gradually out to the channel, about three-fourths of a mile, where there is from seven to ten {{eet of water. This channel extends perhaps a mile beyond the Oyster
eys.
To the eastward of that the whole country is one extensive flat, dry at low water for miles. After a strong northerly wind has prevailed for a day or two this becomes perfectly bare to a distance of two or three miles from the main, and remains so until a change of wind.
The surface is covered entirely by soft grey mud, into which a pedestrian must sink more than two feet at every step.
Beyond the point above mentioned the mangroves grow to the water’s edge, and, in fact, from the shore line.
This growth continues to the “ upper crossing,” opposite the Orster keys, the eastern boundary of my sheet. Here there is a narrbw opening, perhaps twenty yards wide, where the prairie comes down to the water’s edge. Beyond that the mangrove appears again, and is absolutely impenetrable.
There is a narrow slip of fast land between the beach and the base line. There the “ glades ” commence, a marsh dotted with hammocks. These latter are mostly quite narrow, although some stretch to a considerable length.
To the northwest of the second mile stone of the base line, there is a solid growth of black mangrove reaching to Fort Poinsett. In it are several ponds, mostly small, although the largest is three-fourths of a mile in length. These are all connected together by trails run by the alligators in their migrations from one pond to the other; and to White \Vater lake, which commences about a mile and a half northwest of the west base, and stretches in a northwest direction between four and five miles to just beyond Palm Point, it averages threequarters of a mile in width. The water is salt, and the ebb and flow though slight is plainly perceptible. The bottom is composed of very soft and unusually sticky black mud. The lake is completely enclosed by the woods, except portions of the eastern shore which border on the prairie. While I was there the water was very shallow, as was the case with all the ponds, a number of them even being entirely dry. The greatest depth of water did not exceed six inches. But when the glades are full during the rainy season, the water rises to a height of over six feet.
My sheet of this vicinity also embraces Sandy key. This is a narrow strip of land, in shape, resembling the two legs of a right angled triangle, and is only remarkable for the countless flocks of sea birds which frequent it.
The last sheet referred to is marked by fifty-two quarter section stakes, labelled respectively, M: P: and M, P., mostly the latter.
After completing all that I judged it prudent to attempt previous to triangulation, towards the latter part of April I proceeded to the Vacas keys. Having obtained points of Lieutenant Clark, furnished from his work of this season, I commenced upon Key Vacas, joining Assistant Adams’ work of a previous season, and worked in an easterly direction.
Key Vacas is about five and a half miles in length, and varies in width from a quarter to half a mile. It is mostly wooded, though parts of it are cleared, and towards the eastern extremity there is a small settlement of about a dozen houses.
An extensive shoal makes out from the southern shore for a mile or upwards, scattered portions of which are dry at low water.
A number of very small keys and rocks lie at short distances from the northern shore of Key Vacas, only one of which, Rachel’s key, has been named.
That part of Boot key which my sheet embraces is nearly two miles long but very narrow. The eastern portion is high firm ground, but the middle of the key is entirely out up by lagoons and deep channels.
The Stirrup keys are three in number and lie to the northward of Key Vacas. The largest, on which the station is situated, is three
fourths of a mile long, and in the widest place measures about a quarter of a mile.
Fat Deer key lies to the eastward of Key Vacas, from which it is separated by a narrow but quite deep channel called Jacob’s Harbor Passage.
This key is much out up by numerous channels, most of them deep, and is moreover divided throughout its entire length by a large lagoon.
The whole length of that portion of the group which is contained on my sheet is about two miles, and it averages about a quarter of a mile in width.
Bamboo key lies to the northward of the preceding. It is scarcely a quarter of a mile long by about one hundred metres in width. This sheet is marked by sixty-seven quarter section stakes, labelled respectively M: P: and M, P. It was completed on the 16th of May, at which date I discontinued operations in section VI.
The total amount of work done by my party was: Shore line 210§ miles; wood and marsh lines 69 miles, within a total area of seventythree square miles.
Yours very respectfully,
F. W. DORE,

United States Coast Survey. A. D. Bacns, L. L. D.,
Superintendent United States Coast Survey.
***
Wasnmeron CITY, D. 0., June 16, 1857.
Sm: In pursuance of your instructions I repaired to Key \Vest in November. Owing to repairs of my vessel, the United States schooner Agassiz, and the death of my assistant, Mr. S. J. Hough, the commencement of my work was delayed until the 3d of January.
The operations of my party this year embraced the topography and marking of the following named Florida keys, viz: Big Torch, Little Torch, Big Pine, No Name, Howes, Newfound Harbor, Pye’s, Annette, Little Spanish, Big Spanish, Flat, Grassy, Johnson’s, East and West Bahia Honda, and several smaller keys in their vicinity.
Ramrod key is one and a half miles in length by one and a quarter miles in breadth. The outer shore is of coral rock. The key is covered with heavy mangrove, palmetto, sea-grape, and buttonwood. On the southeastern end is a lagoon three and a quarter miles long by a quarter mile wide. The depth of water in this lagoon is from five to fifteen inches. This key was marked by fourteen painted posts in parallel meridian, and also in quarter sections. The rocky portion of the key was marked by iron stakes two and a half feet long, driven into the rock four inches. These were marked with a cold chisel on one side, the letters M, MP, or P being painted on another side. On other parts of the key yellow pine posts, four feet long, were driven into the ground one and a half feet and protected by coral rocks piled around them. The posts were marked on one side with the letters U. S. C. S., and on the other side M, MP or P, with black paint.
Big Torch key, which lies next to Ramrod, is irregular in shape, and is divided into three separate keys by a channel one mile in length by one hundred and sixty-four yards wide, with a depth varying from six inches to three feet. The shore of Torch is rocky on the eastern and western sides. The northern and southern being extensive mud plats covered by the sea at high tide. This key is a formation of coral rock covered with a thin crust of marl about one inch in depth, and is thickly wooded with black mangrove, palmetto, sea-grape, and buttonwood. The key was marked by thirty posts of iron and yellow pine, designated as those on Ramrod key.
Little Torch key is separated from Big Torch by a channel two and a quarter miles in length by a quarter mile in breadth, with a depth of three feet. This key is three miles in length and a half mile in breadth. The soil and wood are like those of Big Torch key. Little Torch was marked by fif'teen posts of iron and yellow pine, similar to the section marks of Big Torch key.
Big Pine key, due east of Big and Little Torch, is of irregular shape. It is nine miles in length by three miles in breadth, comprises an area of thirteen square miles, and is covered with a heavy growth of yellow pine trees, varying in height from twenty-five to sixty feet. The eastern shore, extending from Big Pine station, is nearly opposite No Name station, is a white sandy beach, the remainder being of coral rock, with mud flats here and there. This key, as others, is covered with small rocks and with soil in some places from one to two inches in depth. The only feature claiming attention is the pine timber, the northern end being thickly wooded with mangrove and buttonwood. There is on the northwestern side a small lagoon, which is nearly dry at low water. This key was marked by fifty-five posts, yellow pine, with the letters U. S. G. S. on one side, and M, M P, or P on the other, with black paint.
No Name key, which lies due east of Big Pine, is three miles in length, and one and a half miles in breadth. This key is covered with a heavy growth of mangrove and palmetto. A grove of yellow pine trees, about a quarter mile square, extends into the middle of the key. The soil on No Name is similar in character to that of Big Pine key. No Name key was marked by seventeen posts of yellow pine, distinguished as those placed on Big Pine key.
Newfound harbor is a group of three small keys. The largest is of irregular shape, and is one and a quarter miles in length by a quarter mile in breadth in the middle, tapering at each end to two hundred and eighteen yards in breadth. Another is about two hundred and seventy-three yards in length by one hundred and sixty yards in breadth. The third, which nearly joins to Big Pine key, is about a half mile in length by one hundred and sixty-four yards in breadth. These keys are covered with mangrove and buttonwood, and were marked by five posts. There is a fine harbor on the inside of the keys for vessels drawing from four to ten feet. _
Little Pine key lies due north of Big Pine and No Name keys, 18 three miles in length by seven-eighths of a mile in breadth in the centre, the eastern and western ends being about two hundred and eighteen yards wide. This, like Big Pine key, is mostly covered with yellow pine trees, varying in height from twenty-five to fifty feet; the eastern and western ends are thickly covered with black mangrove and buttonwood. The soil is similar to that of Big Pine key. On this key fourteen posts of yellow pine were planted, and marked as those on the key last mentioned.
Pye’s Harbor key is a small mangrove key, and lies between Loggerhead and Newfound harbor. It is surrounded by extensive mud flats, covered with water at the lowest tides.
Annette key, due north of Big Pine, is one and a quarter miles in length by a half mile in breadth. The surface is covered with thick mangrove and buttonwood, and is marked by ten posts of yellow pine. There is a low fiat key adjoining, which is entirely covered by the sea at high tide, and is surrounded by extensive mud flats, bare at low water.
Big Spanish key is the most northwardly, covered with thick mangrove, and entirely overflowed at the lowest tides.
Little Spanish key, east of Big S anish, is about three-quarters of a mile in length by one-quarter o a mile in breadth. This key is also overgrown with mangrove, with extensive mud flats inside. The northern part of the key is nearly covered with water at high tide. This key was marked with two yellow pine posts.
Crawl key, northeast of Annette key, is very small, and covered with mangrove.
Howe’s key, which lies northwest of Big Pine, is thickly covered with black mangrove and buttonwood. The southeastern end is much cut up with lagoons, varying in depth from six to twenty inches, but nearly dry at low tide. This key was marked by fifteen posts of iron and yellow pine, and designated as others already described.
Mayo’s key, east of Annette key, is one mile in length by two hundred and seventy-three yards at the widest part. This key, like the others, is thickly overgrown with black mangrove, sea-grape, and buttonwood, and was marked by four yellow pine posts.
Johnson’s keys, three in number, lie due north of Little Pine key. Key No. 1 is seven-eighths of a mile in length by a quarter mile in breadth. Key No. 2 is about one mile in length by a half mile in breadth. Key No. 3 is six hundred and fifty-six yards in length, and one hundred yards in breadth. These keys are likewise covered with black mangrove, sea-grape, and a small quantity of buttonwood. The area was divided by eleven posts of yellow pine, and marked as those on other keys.
Flat key, northeast of Johnson’s keys, is one mile in length by a half mile in breadth, and is covered by the .sea at high tide. It is thickly overspread with mangrove and buttonwood. This key was marked with three yellow pine posts.
West Bahia Honda, one mile from Flat key, is a half mile in length by one-eighth of a mile in breadth. It is covered by the sea at high tide.
East Bahia Honda, two and a half miles east of Bahia Honda, is about one-half mile in length by one-third of a mile in breadth. This key is also thickly covered with heavy mangroves.
My season‘s work of four months covers an area of thirty-one square miles, and includes one hundred and ninety miles of shoreline. Mr. G. U. Mayo assisted me in the work part of the season, for which great credit is due him. The topography is comprised in three sheets, which will be deposited in the archives when inked. Operations were discontinued on the 3d of May. 18Téie schooner Agassiz was laid up in Baltimore, Md., on June 3,
5 .
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
C. T. IARDELLA, Sub-Assistant United States Coast Survey. Prof. A. D. Bacnn, Superintendent United States Coast Survey.
INDIAN KEY, May 4, 1857.
DEAR SIR: I have to report that,°in obedience to your instructions of November, I proceeded to Key Largo, Florida, on the 16th of January.
After putting down eighty section posts there for the land office, the Indian hostilities having increased, it was deemed imprudent to expose the party, which was without any means of defence. I proceeded to Point Charles, and continued the plane table work on the outside of Key Largo, and have completed all the key and the creeks as far as it was possible to go from the seaside, also the outside shoreline of Upper and Lower Matecumbe, which extends about four miles below Indian key.
I have surveyed about one hundred and twenty miles of coast and banks, and about five or six of interior, and put down eighty section posts. Most of the outside shore of Key Largo and all the keys are of coral rock, soft enough in places to force the posts down. Where this was impossible, I used iron stakes flattened at the top and marked with a chisel U. S. C. S. on one side, and M. or P. or M. P., as the case required, on the other. The wooden posts were marked with the same character in paint.
The soil on Key Largo from Point Charles, where my season’s work commenced, is superior to that of most of the other keys. This key, Upper and Lower Matecumbe, and Lignum-vitte, being the most fertile of any of the large keys. The growth on them is large and very prolific ; they are covered for some distance back from the water with a low growth of small trees and bushes, where the land is comparatively high, caused by the water making its deposit there, going towards the interior. The trees are large, but the ground swampy from the creeks, which pass through the higher land in small streams, and spread themselves over the key in numerous branches and ponds. The two Matecumbe keys are much more free of these than Key Largo. The upper one has one spring upon it and the lower five.
Key Rodrigues is overflowed at high tide, and Tavernier has some fast land on it, only on the northern end, which would probably be
overflowed at very high tide. The two small keys, Dove and Tea Table, have a very good soil on them, deep enough for almost any growth. If properly drained, they would be very profitable, having the best soil I have seen in Florida. Very respectfully, S. A. WAINWRIGHT. Prof. A. D. BACHE, Srfoerintende'nt U. S. Coast Survey.

Salad Anyone

We eat a lot of salad in my house and now that it is summer we seem to eat even more. Below is an excerpt from "Salad and Salad Making" ©1884. There are a ton or recipes from the book but I especially enjoy the opening information. I've included the breakdown of the various types of salad dressings as well. Enjoy!

CLASSIFICATION OF SALADS.
Salad has a different significance to-day from what it once had. The original, contracted definition of the word has broadened and expanded, with the advance of modern ideas, until salads are no longer restricted to "uncooked herbs dressed with salt, vinegar or spices," but include a wide range of fruits, vegetables, fish and meats, prepared and dressed in a great variety of ways—in fact, nesry everything used as food may be brought into requisition in making salads.
Bat all varieties of salads are included in five classes, viz:
1. —Fruit Salads.
2. —Vegetable Salads.
3—Fish Salads.
4. —Meat Salads.
5. —Mixed Salads.
To one or the other of these classes every imaginable kind and style of salad belongs, and all binds and styles are governed by the same general principles that underlie the art of salad making.
DIVISION OF CLASSES.
Each class of salads may, however, be appropriately divided into two kinds—simple and compound salads.
A Simple Salad contains only a single sort of frnit, vegetable, fish or meat.
A Compound Saxad contains two or more sorts of fruit, vegetables, fish or meat.
CLASSIFICATION OF SALAD DRESSING.
As a salad may consist only of one sort of fruit, vegetables, etc., so a dressing may be simply a sprinkle of salt or sugar, or a few drops of oil or vinegar. But as there are elaborate salads of various kinds, so there are elaborate dressings, capable of almost endless changes and modifications.
There are, nevertheless, but four distinct classes of salad dressing, viz:
1. —Transparent Dressing.
2. —French Dressing.
3. —Cream Dressing.
4. —Mayonnaise Dressing.
THREE IMPORTANT RULES.
To excel in salad making, as in every other branch of cookery, a close analytical study of the subject is necessary; but the best success is attainable only by a strict observance of three very important rules, viz:—
1. —The ingredients composing the salad and dressing must be suitably chosen.
2. —They must be introduced into the mixture in a certain, specific order.
3. —The method of mixing must be suited to the nature of the ingredients.
SALAD DRESSINGS.
A dressing, whether of salt, sugar, vinegar, or a combination of many things, should not be the prominent or main feature of a salad. It should be only a dressing—an adjunct, to tone down and soften too sharp an acid, or too pungent a flavor; or to render finer and more distinctive, some peculiar individuality of the fruits, vegetables, etc., composing the salad. This is the true mission of the dressing. And a salad dressing, scientifically prepared, brings out and develops the native characteristics of the various materials used, and crowns with perfectness the harmoniously compounded salad.
Class 1.
Transparent Salad Dressing.
A transparent dressing may be simply a clear syrup made of sugar and water; or, it may be a mixture of fruit juice and sugar. Or, it may be water in which herbs, vegetables, fish or meats have been cooked. It may be a sweet dressing, in which many fruit flavors and spices are mingled; or, it may be acid with vinegar or lemon, or pungent with mustard and other condiments. It may be thin as vinegar—thick as syrup or honey—or stiff as jelly. It may be colorless; or, it may be of any color, shade or tint that suits the fancy. Its only imperative requirement is, a transparent clearness. A good illustration of a transparent dressing, suitable for a fruit salad composed of bananas, pears, or any sweet fruit, is—
TRANSPARENT ORANGE DRESSING.
To the juice of three oranges and one lemon, which should make a half pint, add four ounces of sugar, one gill of sherry wine, and the white and shell of one egg. Beat all together. Heat to boiling point. Simmer live minutes. Strain. The wine may be omitted from this dressing, if desired. And, if liked, a small portion of the grated peel of both orange and lemon can be added.
JELLIED TRANSPARENT ORANGE DRESSING.
Is made by adding to the mixture before heating it, half an ounce of gelatine soaked an hour in a gill of cold water.
TRANSPARENT TOMATO DRESSING.
Thicken a pint of stewed, strained tomato, with a tablespoonfnl of arrow root mixed with cold water. Boil two minutes. Add an ounce of butter, half a teaspoonful of sugar, the same of salt, and a little pepper. This is very nice, either hot or cold, with any kind of meat salad.
JELLIED TRANSPARENT VEGETABLE DRESSING.
To one quart of boiling water slightly salted, or the same quantity of fish, chicken, or veal broth, add one medium sized carrot, one onion, half a bay leaf, a root of celery, ten cloves, twenty allspice, thirty pepper corns, and half a teaspoonful of white mustard seed. Simmer an hour, strain and let cool. To each pint of the liquor add a pint of vinegar, an ounce of gelatine soaked in cold water, and the white and shell of an egg. Heat to boiling point, simmer five minutes and strain.
, Class 2.
French Dressing.
To four teaspoonfuls of vinegaradd half a teaspoonful of salt and one eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper; mix, and pour over salad, then add olive oil to taste.
FRENCH DRESSING, WITH MUSTARD.
To half a teaspoonful of made mustard, add olive oil slowly, stirring constantly. When thick, add vinegar in like manner. And thus alternate until the requisite proportions of oil and vinegar have been added. By observing this method of mixing, a large bottle of oil can be made into a perfectly smooth dressing—with only the half teaspoonful of made mustard as a base—by the addition of a few drops of vinegar from time to time, as required to thin the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste. The usual quantities are a teaspoonful and a half of salt, and one fifth as much pepper, to each pint of oil.
Class 3.
Cream Dressing.
To one pint of boiling cream, add two ounces of flour stirred to a smooth paste with two ounces of butter. Cook two minutes. Remove from the saucepan, and add one ounce of butter, stirring until cool and perfectly mixed, then season to taste with lemon juice, vinegar, salt, pepper, mustard, capers, minced onion, parsley, chopped pickle, etc.
SOUR CREAM DRESSING.
To one cup of sour cream add a fourth of a cup of vinegar or lemon juice. Season to taste withsalt and cayenne pepper. Use on vegetable or fish salad.
HOT CREAM DRES8ING.
Cook together, two minutes, an ounce of flour and an ounce of butter, add a pint of sweet cream and season to taste with salt and pepper. Use on boiled cabbage, cauliflower, potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, beets or any vegetables.
This dressing may be varied by adding whites or yolks of eggs, minced onions, parsley, pickles, capers, vinegar or lemon juice; and may boused warm or cold according to taste.
HOT SLAW DRESSING.
Heat together to boiling point in a stew pan a gill of vinegar and an ounce of butter. Stir in an egg well beaten, and add a gill of sweet cream. Season to taste.
Another hot slaw dressing may be made in this manner: Mix together a gill of water and a gill of vinegar. Thicken with half an ounce of flour. Cook two minutes, add an ounce of butter and season to taste.
Class 4.
Mayonnaise Dressing.
This is the most popular salad dressing in use, and is made in this manner: With a small wooden spoon stir the yolk of an uncooked egg in anearthen bowl, one minute. Then, continuing the stirring in the same direction all the time add olive oil drop by drop, until the mixture becomes thick and waxy. Thin by stirring in vinegar and lemon juice, in small quantities. Add oil as before; and so alternate the oil and vinegar until the required amount of dressing is made. Season with salt, pepper, mustard, chopped olives, capers, pickles, onions, celery, parsley, cresses or whatever is desired, according to taste, and the requirements of the salad with which the dressing is to be used. By simply observing care in regard to adding oil and vinegar slowly in small quantities, a large bottle can be made into dressing, and only one egg yolk be used as a base. Butter may always be substituted for olive oil when desired, and can be used in a Mayonnaise by stirring to a cream, and gradually adding a well beaten egg. The white of an egg beaten stiff may be added to any cream or Mayonnaise dressing just before it is used. In rich oil dressings sherry wine is frequently used in equal proportions with vinegar.
MAYONNAISE DRESSING. No. 2.
Mix in a two-quart bowl—to allow room for beating—one even teaspoonful of mustard, one teaspoonful of salt, and a teaspoonful and a half of vinegar. Add the yolk of an egg, beat all well together, then add gradually half a pint of olive oil. The oil should be poured in a fine tliread-like stream, and the mixture all the while be beaten rapidly. More vinegar or lemon juice may be used if required to make it the proper consistency.
COOKED MAYONNAISE DRESSING.
Add the well beaten yolks of five eggs to five tablespoonfnls of boiling vinegar. Cook in an earthen bowl, set in a pan of boiling water, until stiff—being careful to stir clean from the sides of the bowl while cooking. Remove from the fire, add four ounces of butter, and stir until cool and perfectly mixed. When quite cold season to taste with 6alt, pepper, mustard, etc., and thin with sweet cream to the required consistency. Oil, if preferred, may be used in place of cream. If the mixture when cooked is not perfectly smooth, it should be rubbed through a hair sieve. This is an excellent and convenient salad dressing; and when properly cooked will keep, without deterioration, for several days.
SYDNEY SMITH'S SALAD DRESSING.
The hard boiled yolks of eggs were formerly much used, and are by some people still preferred for making salad dressing. Perhaps the best recipe, when they are used, is the one popularized by being reduced to rhyme by the talented and witty English clergyman after whom it was named.
Two boiled potatoes passed through kitchen sieve,