Household Tips from the Indiana Farmer, January 1886

The following household tips appeared in the Ladies' section of the Indiana Farmer magazine in January 1886:


Suet added to a beef stew makes more gravy.*

Sugar should be browned in a dry pan for sauce.*

Wrap fruit jars with paper to keep out the light.*

Figs are good boiled five minutes and served hot.*

Keep preserves in a dry place; seal with flour paste.*

Egg shells burned in the oven and placed upon the pantry shelves will keep bugs away.*

If an egg is added to the butter for flour griddle cakes they will be surprisingly improved, and brown nicely.*

Milk which has turned or changed can be sweetened and made fit for use again by stirring in a little soda.*

Peach leaves pounded to a pulp and applied to a bruise or wound from a rusty nail, or simple cut, will give immediate relief.*


It's no surprise that farm households practiced thrift and endeavored not to waste precious supplies.  However, I was interested to see the types of solutions that they employed.  I did not know that households in the late-1800s had found a way to reconstitute spoiled milk.  I was also unaware that they saved peach leaves for use as a medicinal supply, or that they used egg shells to prevent infestations of bugs.  I still have so much to learn!
 
*Quoted from Indiana Farmer, v. 21 no. 2 (January 9, 1886): 6.