Ladies' Column.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 233, 26 February 1876, Page 3

Ladies' Column.

TOMATOES. We subjoin some admirable recipes from The Queen, which we advise everyone to try: — Tomato Soup.— Take eight middling-sized tomatoes, cut them in two, and removing the pips and watery substance, put them in a saucepan with a bundle of sweet herbs, a clove of garlic, an onion stuck with three or four c.loves, some allspice, whole pepper and salt to taste. Place the saucepan on a gentle fires stirring the contents occasionally. When the tomatoes are thoroughly done turn them out on a hair sieve, remove the onion, the garlic, and. the bundle of sweet herbs ; remove also the moisture which will drip from the tomatoes ; then work them through the sieve until nothing remains on the top but the skins, Have a quart of plain stock boiling hot, stir the tomato pulp into it, and removing the saucepan from the fire, stir m the yolks of two eggs beaten up with a little cold water and strained. Serve over small dice of bread fried in butter. (2.) In a quart of stock boil a large handful of rice. As soon as this is cooked (not over done) draw the saucepan to the side of the fire, and add the tomato pulp, prepared as in the preceding recipe. As soon as the whole is quite hot (it must not boil) put in a small pat of fresh butter and serve. (3.) Boil a coffeecupful of Italian “ paste” in a quart of stock. When done add the tomato pulp, and when the soup is quite hot stir in three or four tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese. Tomato Sauce. —Cut up and remove from each tomato the pips and watery substance it contains ; put them into a saucepan, with plenty of butter, pepper, salt, a laurel leaf, and some thyme; add a few spoonfuls of either stock or gravy; keep stirring on the fire until they are reduced to a pulp, pass them through a sieve, and the sauce is made. Tomatoes Stewed. —Cut four ripe tomatoes into quarters, and remove the pips and -watery substance ; cut an onion into the thinnest possible slices, put these into a saucepan with a large piece of butter, and keep shaking the saucepan on the fire until the slices of onions are cooked, but not browned ; then add the quarters of tomatoes, with pepper and salt to taste, and toss the whole on the fire until the tomatoes are cooked, which will be in about ten minutes. Tomatoes Stuffed. —Dip some tomatoes in hot water, peel them, cut them in half, and remove the pips. Rub a baking sheet with shallots, butter it well, and lay the tomatoes in it, filling each half with the following composition : Two parts bread crumbs, one part, ham finely minced, and, according to taste, parsley and sweet herbs also finely minced, and pepper and salt. Put a small piece of butter on each half tomato, and bake them a quarter of an hour. Have ready some round pieces of buttered toast; on each of these put a half tomato, and serve. Tomatoes a L’ltalienne.— Prepare the tomatoes as above, put a little olive oil in a baking tin, arrange the tomatoes in it, cover them all over with the following mix ture : Two parts bread crumbs, one part ham finely minced, and, according to taste, some garlic, parsley, thyme, and marjoram, chopped small, pepper and salt. Pour some olive oil over all, and bake. Tomatoes au Gratin. —Cut half a dozen tomatoes in halves, remove the pips, and fill the inside with a mixture of bread crumbs, pepper, and salt, in due proportions ; place a small piece of butter on each half tomato, and lay them then close together in a well-buttered tin. Bake in a slow oven about half an hour, and serve. They may be eaten hot or cold. Tomatoes (Salad).- Peel some good-sized tomatoes, not over ripe; cut them in slices, and remove the pips ; lay them in a dislf (previously rubbed with garlic) with oil and vinegar, in the proportion of two to one ; sprinkle pepper and salt over them according to taste, and a few leaves of basil minced fine. They should be in the sauce a couple of hours before serving. Tomatoes Baked. —Take off stalks, cut in thick slices, add pepper, salt, and butter ; put in deep baking dish ; cover with bread crumbs and a little oiled butter; bake half-an-hour. Aubergines (Ego Plant Fruit) au Gratin.— Peel and cut them in slices lengthwise, arrange them in layers on a well-buttered tin (previously rubbed with garlic). Put between each layer a sprinkling of fine bread crumbs, chopped parsley, sweet herbs,

pepper and salt to taste. Pour over them some liquefied butter ; add a sprinkling of grated Parmesan chesse and a few baked ’ bread crumbs. Bake in the oven and brown with a salamander. Vegetable Marrow Stewed. —Chop up half an onion very small, and put it in a saucepan witli a piece of butter. When it begins to color put m a vegetable marrow (cut in slices), add pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg ; moisten with stock and stew till done, adding some finely minced parsley just before serving. USEFUL RECIPES FOR THE SHOP, THE HOUSEHOLD, AND THE FARM. A permanent handsome reddish color may be given to cherry or pear tree wood by a coat of a strong solution of permanganate of potash left on a longer or shorter time, according to the shade required. _ Chloroform which has undergone decomposition by exposure can be easily purified by shaking it up with a few fiagments of caustic soda. , Fruit is kept in Russia by being packed in ereositized lime. The lime is slaked in water in which a little creosote has been dissolved, and is allowed to fall to powder. The latter is spread over the bottom of a deal box to about one inch in thickness. A sheet of paper is laid above and then the fruit. Over the fruit is another sheet of paper, then more lime, and so on until the box is full, when a little finely powdered charcoal is packed in the corners, and the lid tightly closed. Fruit thus enclosed will, it is said, remain good for a year. „ Pounded alum will purify water.. One teaspoonful of alum to four gallons of water will cause a precipitation of the impurities. To estimate the quantity of shelled corn on the cobs in any given space, level them, and measure the length, breadth and depth ; then multiply these dimensions together and the product by four. Cut off the last figure, and the result will be the number of bushels of shelled corn and the decimal of a bushel. Bee moths can easily be killed m large numbers by setting a pan of grease, in which is a floating ignited wick, near the hives after dark. The moths will fly into the light and fall into the grease. The best way to catch hawks or owls is to set up a high pole with a steel trap on top. The birds often alight directly in the trap. Pictures may be transferred to painted surfaces m the following manner: Cover the ground with an even coat of light colored carriage varnish, which should be allowed to set (nearly as dry as if for gilding.) If the print to be transferred be colored, soak it in salt and water ; if not colored, use water alone. Remove superfluous water by pressing between blotting pads, and then place the picture face down upon the varnish, pressing it smooth. When the varnish is dry dampen the paper and rub it off with the finger. The picture will be found upon the varnish, and another coat of the latter should be added to bring out the effect. The process answers equally well for glass or metal surfaces. For the protection of iron and steel tools against rust, Vogel recommends a solution of white wax in benzine. The latter, heated, will dissolve half its weight of wax. This will preserve the metal, even from the action of acid vapors. Apply with a brush. , _ Round steel wire rope will bear more than double the weight required to break iron rope of . similar diameter. The following rule for strength of iron pipes is based upon the fact that a ten inch pipe, one inch thick, will stand the pressure of one. hundred yards head water. The coincidence of one inch of metal to every ten inches diameter and one hundred yards pressure should be remembered. For every inch in diameter of pipe, increase or deduct 1-10 of an inch ; and for every yard of pressure, increase or deduct 1-100 of an incli. , ~ In calculating the strength of iron columns, the safe plan is to find the diameter, of a solid column necessary to bear the compression, and then distribute the same area of metal in tube form or a hollow column. A mixture of peroxide of manganese and water glass is recommended to be applied to cooking stoves when they are red hot, as it is said to make good blacking, not as liable to burn off as common black According to recent experiments of M. M. Kundt and Lehmana, the velocity of sound in pipes, filled with water increases with the thickness of the sides of the tubes. To make yellow wax into white wax, the former is boiled in water, spread out into thin layers, and exposed to the light and air. This is repeated until all the color is gone. . Cuttings of many kinds of plants, not usually increased with facility by farmers, may be rooted easily in a Wardian case in the sitting-room.