poor one, and so a good pie is. But when I say this, I do not mean one good in the common acceptation of short crust, high flavoring, and duly brought on at a red heat, but one that is really good in the sense of being fit to be eaten. The pie that furnishes your table handsomely, that a long perverted taste pronounces first rate, or a big piece of which will induce Johnny to do an errand or stop crying, is often far enough from a good article. Nor do I think I know all about pies, and that you housewives, who have made five hundred to my one, know nothing about the fitness of their preparation. Very far from it; but we do, neither of us, possess all knowledge upon this subject, and you who make them daily, may very properly send me your best recipes, and I give you such hints as may be worth considering; for this pie question is a good deal more than tucking together the fruit and butter and flour and spices that will, when baked, cut into as many pieces as the hands that reach to you at the dinner table. It is a question of long or short life, of good or bad looks, of temper or amiability, in short, it is the other side of the doctrine of total depravity. To take flour and butter, or lard, often mixed up with sour milk, or cream, and saleratus, and having baked these into the sweet, clean juices of God's apples and cherries, give it to Upon this subject I copy the following from the best Cook Book now before the country, that of Mrs. Horace Mann, a lady of suitable age, culture and opportunities to know the best of what is really known of the art of cooking, and who, to my personal knowledge, gives no recipes that have not been tested in her own kitchen. PASTRY. This is the article of food that is most deleterious to health. It is usually made with butter or lard,-lard making the handsomest pastry, butter the best tasted. But it is hoped that society is ready for some reform upon this point. Very good pie-crust can be made with potato and cream, without either butter, saleratus or soda. Potato Pie-Crust.-Put a teacupful of rich, sweet cream to six good sized potatoes after they have been well boiled, (see Boiled Potatoes) and mashed fine. Add sa't to the taste, and flour enough to roll out the crust. Handle it as little as possible. It is better not to put crust at the bottom of a pie if the fruit is very moist, for it will be clammy from the moisture, but let the under crust only cover the rim of the plate. Prick the upper crust to let out the steam, else the juice will run over. This paste is excellent for apple dumplings, or meat pies, and may be eaten with impunity. Next month more on this same subject. YOUTH'S CORNER. your child to eat with the injunction to be good and happy, and study well, is very much like teaching the theology of the Decrees, and then sending the young student out into world, en. joining an assimilation to the character of the A Strange People, and How they Live.-The Esqui great and good Being who wills all his creatures to be like unto himself. The idea that any simpleton can get dinner, but that it takes a good deal of a woman to write a poem, or paint a picture, is one of the errors that must be rooted out before any of us will be induced to give that attention and study to the subject of cooking that its importance justly merits. I wish I know more of this, that I might be able to help you beyond the little I try to; and of what little is given, I wish you would prove its advantage by actual practice. maux. BY MRS. HOYT. Of all the new and strange things we hear, there is nothing in which we are so much interested as in new and strange people. I suppose this is because we believe God when he says that, he "made of one blood all the nations of the earth," in which case they are, all of them, some relation to us, and of course we are interested in our kin folks. Here are three of them you have not seen-a pa and ma and baby of the Esquimaux race, a people about whom we yet know but little. I will tell you a very little of what little we do know. The Esquimaux inhabit a large portion of country lying to the extreme north of the North American continent, and a few of the same stock are also found on the barren shores of northeastern Asia. If you look at your maps, you will find that these countries are separated by the straits of Bhering. I do not know that any body knows where those people came from, or how they made out, without ships, to get from either side to the other. They do not often leave their country and come to ours, and not many of our people go up there into the fierce cold of those arctic regions. The few who have, and have stayed long enough to become acquainted with the country and people, tell us what we could not else know, for they do not, as we do, make books and papers to send out to all the world, that all the world may know what sort of folks they are and what they are doing. You will often hear of Greenlanders and of Labradorians, &c., these being named from the particular part of the country they occupy, but the people of all this great North land are known under the general name of Esquimaux, [es-ke-mo] which is said to signify "eater of fish." In the language from which we get this, it also means, "those who mew.' If I ever see any of them, and hear them speak, I will not forget to write and tell you if their talking is really like that of pussy cat. frequently of the bones of whales laid together with turf and, when they can do no better, of snow and ice packed in large masses together. Even these are said to be quite comfortable. When built of such material as stone or bone, these huts are usually sunk a few feet into the earth, both for the warmth thus secured and defence against the winds. When entirely above ground they are not more than six or eight feet high, and without chimney or door. A hole just large enough to creep in and out, and sometimes a window covered with seal skin, which admits a little light, are all the openings they allow, the As I principal object being to keep warm. said, these huts are built along the sea shore, for it is by fishing that they subsist; the whale and seal that abound in those polar seas being their main dependence. In the winter they cut holes in the ice, and, wrapped in their clothing of skins, watch beside these places for the seals that pass along in the water below, and when one shows his head he is speared and carried home with great rejoicing. When they are so lucky as to capture a whale, whole communities will camp around the place where it is deposited and there live until hunger again drives them to the sea for fresh supplies. In all cold countries the people are obliged to live more upon fatty food than in warm climates, because that helps to keep up the animal heat without which they could not live, and in the regions where these picture friends are native, they eat nothing but the fat flesh of fish and drink the oil as we drink milk. Dr. Kane, who interesting book, telling us many things about the people, relates how a half pound of tallow candles was given to an Esquimaux young lady, whereupon she ate them down, wick and all, just as you would so much candy. These Esquimaux have no cities or church-visited that country, and who has written an es with steeples, and no schools full of boys and girls running home to warm fires and suppers, and pleasant evenings of lighted lamps and story books, apples and cider and trundle-beds. They live in little huts along that bleak shore where the ocean and the land, the people, the dogs and the fish are pretty much frozen up, and these are nearly all there is there to freeze. Their huts are sometimes built of stone, but as there is not an abundance of this, more When they wish to take a journey, or bring anything too heavy for the hands, they make a sled and attach to it dogs, these being their sole dependence as beasts of burden; and a faithful servant is this Esquimaux dog. He never loses his way, but will go hundreds of miles through drifting snow and pitiless storms straight to his home, while his master has nothing to do but sit wrapped up in his robes of skins. I think you would laugh if I should tell you how these poor people contrive, without tools or iron, or even good wood, to make sled runners. They take four or five large, long fish, which they can easily catch, and having piled them up one upon the other, they then wrap them around with seal skin and contrive in some way to fasten this together, so that the fish are enclosed in a seal skin bag. They then place great weights upon this mass and so squeeze it down to a flat, board-like surface, which is easily done, the fish inside being soft and the seal skin outside elastic. They then lay an edge of turf all round and pour on water, a little at a time, which instantly freezes. After this has been repeated to a sufficient thickness, they have a runner smoother than was ever polished steel, and two of these, fastened together with bones of deer legs, will last as long as the winter that never melts them. In the spring, the flesh of these fish that has been all winter frozen as solid as ice and is, of course, sweet as if just caught, serves them for food, and the bones, turf and skin are all ready for the building and repairing of both hut and clothing. Thus the good God who created this part of his children for that dreary land of storm and bitter cold, has provided them with skill to make out, through the few materials at hand, to keep themselves clothed, fed and housed. These people are very hospitable and kind to each other, as well as to strangers. They are always ready to share with whoever needs all that their scanty homes afford, and are never known, when leaving for ever so long t a time, to put aside or sccrete anything valuable. On the contrary, whatever would add to the comfort of any one who chances to come along, is left where it will be most easily found. As you approach Labrador, where, being nearer civilization, the people begin to live a little more as we do and have rude doors to their huts, the latch will be found ready to be lifted, and directions written with a bit of charcoal or clay as to where things needful to the comfort of neighbor or traveller are to be found. But, after all this good trait of character, and many others they are said to possess, we would not like to live with these kin folks of ours. They are not neat and clean, and are so far from washing and brushing and dressing in clean clothes every morning, that most of them never wash at all. The consequence is they have dingy sort of faces, which, with the fat they eat and rub themselves with, and the severe cold to which they are exposed, are almost blue, the entire surface of the body being grey, though they are said to be born quite white. The picture represents a family brought to this country by Mr. Hall, an arctic explorer, and they are now on exhibition in New York City, dressed just as they do in their native land. The skin cap, which in cold weather, and out doors, is used to cover the head, being always attached to the garment worn on the body, you will see serves as a cradle for the baby. It would be interesting to know what they think of New York, and of our manner of living as compared with their own. In every land there is a feeling of attachment to the scenes and circumstances, and people to which the individual is native, and should not wonder if this little Esquimaux family often turned from the grand houses and wellstored tables of that great city to the snow huts and seal-flesh suppers of the Arctic sea, with visions in their souls that nothing else can satisfy. Amusement for Children. In introducing a corner filled with puzzles, enigmas, connundrums, &c., into the Youth's department, we known that it is running squarely against the prejudices of many who think there is no profit in such things. But our experience with children proves what our philosophy else taught that the chief advantage of thought is not the thing thought of, but the mental exercise itself. Whatever EDITORIAL MISCELLANY. arouses to application and sharpens the intellect is well considered, and to do this with the little folks, give them amusement with thought. We hope that parents, so far from discouraging, will help the children to get used to making out these things for themselves, and encourage them in sending in their own solutions. Enigmas. MRS. HOYT:--I send the following, answer to enigma in Dec. No. W18. FARMER, page 470: J. C. ORR. Old Abe. Please credit. Should any one tell you I was around, For whether around, or not to be found, common one. GEOGRAPHICAL ENIGMA. I am composed of 7 letters. Readers of the Farmer! Look this No. through and then consider whether you cannot afford to make an extra effort to induce all your neighbors to take it. Having just increased our working force by placing another competent and thorough man in the subscription department, it is not without good reason that we give new assurances for the future. We are determined to make volume XVI the best ever sent out, and to make for the Wisconsin Farmer an unquestionable title to rank as the most valuable agricultural journal in America. See important notices pertaining to subscription, on page 42. Every Reader of the Farmer Who has possession of any information worth giving to the world is earnestly solicited to send it to us for publication. We (the Editor,) are not the Author Of everything that appears in our columns. All articles which neither have a signature nor are distinctly credited to somebody else or to some other paper are editorial. For those we are personally responsible, but for none others. Several Valuable Contributions Intended for this No. arrived too late to go into the departments to which they are appropriate, and must accordingly wait for a My 1 is one of the largest cities of the Union. place in the Feb. No. A little earlier, friends. My 2 is a Northern State. My 8 is a Southern State. My 4 is a city of this State. My 5 is one of our big rivers. My 6 is one of our great mountain ranges. My 7 is an important Atlantic bay. Communications, in order to insure publication, should be in our hands twenty to thirty days-according to the position of the department-before the first of the month for which they are written. My whole is the locality most talked of since Come to the Sorghum Convention! the war. Connundrum.-Why are the stars the best And come prepared to contribute all the interest you can to the occasion, whether by mills and apparatus put on exhibition, by samples of seed, syrup and sugar, or by well astronomers? Puzzle. On a copper cent, find a fruit, a digeste, reliable information based upon exflower and an animal. perience. The meeting will be held in the new Capitol on the 3d and 4th of February To all the dear children of the great FARMER prox., and the invitation is to everybody who family we send a warm holiday greeting-a | feels an interest in the advancement of the Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year! Sorghum interest in the northwest states. |