Bousebold.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume X, Issue 1115, 5 August 1882, Page 6 (Supplement)

Bousebold.

CARE OF CANARY BIRDS. Having had some experience in the care of canary birds I will tender a few hints on the subject, taking it for granted that anything in that line will be acceptable to many of “ The Householders,” especially to those so fortunate as to own canaries. Almost all diseases to which canaries are subject are occasioned by | colds, which generally are contracted by their being placed in a draught or in a hot room. To avoid colds' they should be kept in a room not too warm or cold, but about sixty degrees is the right temperature for them. But if they should take cold the best and most careful treatment is necessary. Give them, in addition to their regular food, one hard-boiled egg to which has been added a cracker grated very fine ; do not mix with water, for the egg if well rubbed in will give the required moisture. Unless colds receive immediate attention they ofted turn to asthma, which seems a very painful disease. Birds so diseased frequently sit hours at a time with their feathers puffed out, wheezing as though every breath gave the most intense pain. This can be benefited by giving (in addition to the food described above) small particles of salt pork covered over very thickly with pepper; a little plantain, if attainable, is also of great benefit to them. When your birds seem to have lost their voices, which they often do, the most effectual remedy is to place pure rock candy in their drinking water and let it dissolve, and if that hasn’t the required effect, move your birds to a different window where the scenery differs from the last, and if they still refuse to sing I pronounce their voices lost for ever. Canaries are not infrequently bothered with sore feet. For the benefit of those having sore-footed pets I will mention a remedy : To one gill of warm water add ten drops of the tincture of arnica; bathe the feet of the suffering bird in this till cured. I will also mention a preventive to this trouble, which I think is easier to carry out than the cure: Provide them plentifully with nice sand or gravel, keep their perches clean, and always see that they have nice, clean, fresh water, for there is nothing that they like so well. Be careful not to confine your birds too closely to the same diet, for, like persons, they like a change now and then. Give your birds plenty of nice seed, such as canary, hemp, rape, etc.; give them grated cracker and egg every few days. Always keep their cages clean, and never let them want water; provide them with plenty of sand always; give them apple once or twice a week. I think you will have healthy birds if you follow these directions.

RECIPES. Fruit Cake.—One cup of sugar, one-half cup of butter, one-half cup of sour milk, one cup of raisins, one egg, two cups of flour, one teaspoon of saleratus, two tablespoons of molasses. Picnic Cake.—Two cups of sugar, one-half cup of butter, one cup of milk, three eggs, three cups of flour, two teaspoons of cream-of-tartar, one teaspoon of saleratus. Sweet Cream Cake.—One cup of sugar, one cup of flour, one-half cup of sweet cream, two eggs, one teaspoon of cream-of-tartar, onehalf teaspoon of saleratus. Season to taste. Doughnuts.—One cup of white sugar, six tablespoons of melted butter, two eggs, one-and-a-half cup of sweet milk, a little salt and a little nutmeg, three even teaspoons of cream-of-tartar and one-and-a-half of soda, mixed with the flour, flour enough to roll and cut well. If there’is too much flour they will be harder. Fry to nice brown in hot lard. If some are desired for the tea-table, cut in little round cakes, as near one inch in diameter each way as possible; as soon as cooked through, take them from the kettle one at a time, and drop in a small bowl in which is a tablcspoonful of pulverized sugar, roll them around quickly and put on a plate, proceed in this manner, adding a little fresh sugar as needed, until all are coated with a thin, fine coat of white. These are ornamental as well as useful. Yeast and Bread.—Take one-and-one-half yeast cake which you know to be good, soak in a teacup of warm water, thicken and set to rise as for bread. Take a two-gallon jug, put in it half a teacup of salt, also the same of sugar. Peel 12 large potatoes, put to boil in two quarts of water, when done mash and strain through a colander on the sugar and salt. Fill up the jar within a couple of inches of the top with cold water. When the yeast is light (as it should be when this is done) put it in, stir thoroughly, set it in a warm place until a thick white scum rises on the top; then put in a very cool place; it is ready for use. When you wish to make bread, stir this mixture well‘from the bottom, and allow one pint for a small loaf. No other wetting is used. Of course, you can vary this quantity to suit a large family. I mix my sponge over-night, leaving it in the pantry to rise. It is always light when I get up, at six o’clock in the morning. I knead it well, leaving it in the pan to rise again before I make into loaves. Hash and hash.—l have made and eaten hashes of all kinds. I thought, and was considerably surprised when a friend who was

visiting us asked me why I did not add beets to my corned-beef hash. “Beets ?” I said, with a look of incredulity. “ Yes, fceets,” she replied. “Make a hash of two parts boiled potatoes, one part boiled beets and one part cold corned beef. Chop fine, mix; season with butter and pepper, add a little hot water to keep from burning, and just before you take from the fire turn over a third cupful of vinegar with a teaspoonful of made mustard mixed with it. Mix thoroughly and serve.” Washing the Butter Bowl.—Dairy pen, the most thorough, prefer a solution of salsoda in the water they cleanse butter untensils with, to soap, as ithas no disposition to sour if not quickly rinsed off. Clean sand, in scouring wooden utensils, always cleans the milk deposit from it easier than soap suds.