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Or every four pounds, beef loses about one pound in boiling, one pound and three ounces in roasting, and one pound and five ounces in baking. Mutton, of the same weight, loses fourteen ounces in boiling, a pound and four ounces in roasting, and a pound and six ounces in baking.

THE chief loss in cooking meats is the evaporation of water, and the fat which melts out in roasting or baking. The amount of water, including blood mixed with it, in fresh lean beef, is about seventy-eight per cent., and is what constitutes what is called the juice. If it were all extracted the meat would become a tasteless mass. The aim in cooking meats ought to be to preserve the rich juices as far as possible, by subjecting them to great heat when first put over the fire. This suddenly contracts the fibres at the surface, and prevents the escape of the juices, so that the meat is partially cooked in its own moisture.

WHEN oily or fatty substances come in contact with an alkali in solution, at a high temperature, they undergo an entire change, and the whole process of soap-making depends on this change. The soap inade at the farm-house is that known as soft soap, formed by the union of potash with fatty matter. Hard soaps are made chiefly by the use of soda, though potash is sometimes mixed with it.

SOFT Soap holds a considerable quantity of water, and potash will not harden in water; while soda soaps will absorb more than their own weight of water without losing their consistency.

SOFT fats are used in the manufacture of soft soaps, while hard soaps are often made from tallow. In making castile soap olive oil, cottonseed oil, or soda are used, and the peculiar marbled appearance is obtained by a mixture of iron rust. Rosin is often added in making the common yellow soaps. Such soaps dissolve or form lather so readily that they are commonly thought to be the most effective, but their cleansing properties are inferior to those of the soda soaps, and hence they are less economical.

WASHING fluids are simple solutions of caustic alkali. If alkali were used alone it would injure or destroy what it came in contact with, but the cleansing properties of soap depend chiefly upon its alkaline ingredients.

BUTTER is a compound of several oils or fats, the principal of which are palmitin and a small amount of stearin. These two constitute about sixty-eight per cent., with two or three per cent. of fragrant oils, like butyrin, caprone, and caprylin, to which it owes its odor and peculiar flavor. The balance consists largely of water, sixteen or eighteen per cent., with one or two per cent. of salt, and some casein, which is separated with difficulty. The casein is liable to cause fermentation in a high temperature, and thus lead to rancidity.

THE Massachusetts Experiment Station is now fully organized, with Professor Charles A. Goessmann, of Amherst, as Director. It is located on the farm of the Massachusetts Agricultural College. It is, of course, too soon to expect tangible and practical results from the enterprise, but the farming community may reasonably look forward to the most important and valuable aid to be derived from it in the future. We shall have experiments accurately tried and faithfully reported, and that will supply a great want which has long been felt.

TO SELECT SUPPLIES.

It

IT requires some knowledge and skill to select meats, poultry, fish, and groceries. Steer or heifer beef, properly fattened, is the best. ought to be firm in texture, and have a fine grain, with a yellowishwhite fat. When fresh cut it will be of a dark red color, but on a few moments' exposure to the air will change to a bright red. It must have a juicy appearance. Older beef will seem coarser in texture, be

darker in color, and less juicy.

THE best mutton is quite fat, the fat parts white and hard, while the lean will be juicy and rather dark red in color. If there is little fat, and that soft and-yellow, with meat coarse and flabby, it is sure to be of poor quality. Beef and mutton are improved by keeping, the time depending on temperature. Beef two or three weeks, and mutton a week old or more, is much better, if well kept, than any freshly butchered. Lamb is more juicy than mutton, and so will not keep so long. You can soon learn to judge the age of lamb by the size of the bone, which ought to be of a reddish color.

Goop veai has flesh of a pinkish color, with the fat white and firm. Never buy veal of soft flesh with a bluish tinge. It shows that the calf was killed too young, when the bones also are soft and cartilaginous. If the meat looks white it shows that the animal was bled before being killed, and that is not only a barbarous practice, but it injures the quality of the flesh.

If

IT is not every fat fowl that will make a fine tender roast. It is rather late to have to judge whether a bird is tough or tender after it comes upon the table. Many a "spring chicken" turns out to be a tough old hen. The lower end of the breast-bone of a chicken is soft, and can be bent very easily. In old birds it is much less flexible. the spurs on a fowl are hard, and the scales on the legs rough, you may be sure it is no chicken. But the head gives the best mark of age. If the under bill is stiff and hard, and cannot be easily bent down, and the comb thick and rough, the bird is sure to be old and tough, no matter how fat it may be.

To select a turkey, see that the lower end of the breast-bone is soft and easily bent. An old turkey has rough scales on the legs, long, strong claws, and callous soles on the feet. A young one is just the reverse. The best test of the age of a goose is the brittleness of the windpipe. If it breaks easily under the pressure of the finger and thumb the bird is young. If it rolls and does not break, the bird is old and tough.

THE eyes of a fish that is fresh are full and bright, the gills of a natural red color, the scales bright, the fins stiff, and the body firm. Don't buy a fish that has dim, sunken eyes, dark-colored gills, or that is soft in flesh. No animal food becomes tainted and loses quality so quickly as fish.

GRANULATED sugar is the most economical. A pound of it, being dry, contains proportionately more sweetness than that which is heavy or damp. Don't get sugar of a bluish tinge. Black tea is usually less adulterated with poisonous substances than green. The way to buy coffee is in the berry.

FOR bread select flour made by the new or Haxall process. For cake or pastry take that made by the old or St. Louis method. It is best to keep both kinds on hand, and the best flour is always the cheapest.

Annual Product of Cereals in the United States for the Ten Years from 1872 to 1881, inclusive, — from the Statistical Abstract, prepared by the United States Bureau of Statisics.

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Estimated Annual Product, Acreage, and Value of the Hay Crop of the United States, from 1872 to 1881, inclusive.

199,016.529 3,475,757,760 370,359,297 103,406,255

19,901,653 347,575,776 37,035,930 10,340,625

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Estimated Annual Product, Acreage, and Value of the Potato Crop of the United States, from 1872 to 1881, inclusive.

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POST-OFFICE REGULATIONS.

(Prepared Sept., 1883, at the Post Office, Boston.)

DOMESTIC.

NOTE. All kinds of mail matter (except regular publications sent to subscribers), must be at least partially prepaid by means of postage stamps.

FIRST CLASS MATTER.

LETTERS AND POSTAL CARDS in the U. S. Forwarded Letters. — (To be sent beyond the office where deposited.) Letters and written matter, also all articles sealed, For each half ounce or fraction thereof, no limit to the weight

Mu-t be prepaid at least one rate.

Drop or Local Letters.-(To be sent within the delivery of the office where deposited.) At offices where free delivery by carrier is established, for each ha'f ounce or fraction

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At other offices, for each half ounce or fraction
Registered Letters. The fee for registered letters (in addition to the
regular postage, which must be fully prepaid), is per letter
Postal Cards, with no writing on the face but the address, each

SECOND CLASS MATTER.

NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, &c., in the U. S. All newspapers and other publications, one copy to each actual subscriber residing within the county where they are printed and published, wholly or in part, except those deliverable at letter-carrier offices

.free.

Newspapers and periodical publications, not designed primarily for advertising purposes, mailed from a known office of publication or news agency, addressed to regular subscribers or news agents, issued as frequently as four times a year, for each pound, or fraction thereof

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MISCELLANEOUS PRINTED MATTER in the U. S. Pamphlets, occasional publica tions, transient newspapers, proof-sheets or corrected proofs, and manuscript copy accompanying the same, and all matter wholly in print not issued regularly, and not exceeding four pounds in weight, for each two ounces, or fraction. Books (printed or blank). For each two ounces, or fraction, not over four pounds in weight (single volumes may be over)

Fee for registration, in addition to the postage, for each package

FOURTH CLASS MATTER.

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MERCHANDISE in the U. S. Merchandise. - Samples of metals, ores, minerals, or merchandise, paintings in oil or water, crayon drawings, printed envelopes, bill-heads, letterheads, blank cards, and albums; also seeds, cuttings, bulbs, roots, and scions, and also any articles not belonging to the other classes of mail matter, and in nature or form not liable to damage the mails, or injure any person, not exceeding four pounds in weight, for each ounce, or fraction thereof

Fee for registration, in addition to the postage, for each package.

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UNITED STATES MONEY ORDERS. Money Orders, for any amount not over $300, and not exceeding $100 on one order, are issued in the principal offices, on payment of the following

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.08 | Over $40, and not exceeding $50 Over $50, and not exceeding $60. Over $60, and not exceeding $70. .20 Over $70, and not exceeding $80. .40 Over $80, and not exceeding $100. .45 UNITED STATES POSTAL NOTES. Postal Notes may be obtained in any office that issues money orders, for sums of any amount, from 1ct. to $4.99, inclusive, upon payment of a fee of 3cts. in addition to the amount of the note; they are made payable to the bearer in any money-order office in the U. S., named on their face, which the sender may designate, or in the office where procured, at any

Number Ninety-Three.

THE

(OLD)

RMER'S ALMANACK,

CULATED ON A NEW AND IMPROVED PLAN.
FOR THE YEAR OF OUR LORD

18 85;

1st after BISSEXTILE or LEAP-YEAR, and (until July 4) 109th of
American Independence.

'ED FOR BOSTON, BUT WILL ANSWER FOR ALL THE NEW ENGLAND STATES.
ining, besides the large number of Astronomical Calculations
and the Farmer's Calendar for every month in
the year, a variety of

EW, USEFUL, AND ENTERTAINING MATTER.
ESTABLISHED IN 1793,

BY ROBERT B. THOMAS.

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PUBLISHED BY WILLIAM WARE & CO. Sold by the Booksellers and Traders throughout New England.

[Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by WILLIAM WAR in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.]

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