The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families. Eaton Mary
pot, on which the print is laid with the paper upon it; and then placing a candle under the glass, the print may be traced with a pencil, or pen and ink. Impressions may also be transferred by mixing a little vermillion with linseed oil so as to make it fluid; then with a pen dipped in it, trace every line of the print accurately. Turn the print with its face downwards on a sheet of white paper, wet the back of the print, lay another sheet upon it, and press it till the red lines are completely transferred.
CORKS. Economy in corks is very unwise: in order to save a mere trifle in the purchase, there is a danger of losing some valuable article which it is intended to preserve. None but velvet taper corks should be used for liquors that are to be kept for any length of time; and when a bottle of ketchup or of anchovy is opened, the cork should be thrown away, and a new one put in that will fit it very tight. If a cork is forced down even with the mouth of the bottle, it is too small, and should be drawn, that a larger one may be put in.
CORK CEMENT. Liquors and preserves, intended to be kept a long time, are often spoiled by the clumsy and ineffectual manner in which they are fastened down. Bottles therefore should be secured with the following cement, spread upon the cork after it is cut level with the top of the bottle. Melt in an earthen or iron pot half a pound of black rosin, half a pound of sealing wax, and a quarter of a pound of bees wax. When it froths up, and before all is melted and likely to boil over, stir it with a tallow candle, which will settle the froth till all is melted and fit for use.
CORNS. Apply to warts and corns, a piece of soft brown paper moistened with saliva, and a few dressings will remove them. A convenient plaster may also be made of an ounce of pitch, half an ounce of galbanum dissolved in vinegar, one scruple of ammoniac, and a dram and a half of diachylon mixed together.
COSTIVENESS. From whatever cause it may arise, frequent exercise in the open air, and abstinence from heating liquors, will be found very beneficial. To those who are afflicted with this complaint, it is particularly recommended that they should visit the customary retreat every morning at a stated hour, that nature may in this respect, by perseverance, acquire a habit of regularity. In obstinate cases, three drams of carbon may be taken two or three times a day, mixed with three ounces of lenitive electuary, and two drams of carbonate of soda, as circumstances may require. Half an ounce of Epsom salts, dissolved in a tumbler or two of cold water, and drank at intervals, will have a very salutary effect.
COTTENHAM CHEESE. Though this is so much noted for its superior flavour and delicacy, it does not appear to be owing to any particular management of the dairy, but rather to the fragrance of the herbage on which the cows feed in that part of the country.
COUGHS. The extract of malt will be found an excellent remedy for coughs or colds. Pour as much hot water over half a bushel of pale ground malt as will just cover it; the water must not be boiling. In forty-eight hours drain off the liquor entirely, but without squeezing the grains. Put the former into a large sweetmeat pan, or saucepan, that there may be room to boil as quick as possible, without boiling over. When it begins to thicken, stir it constantly, till it becomes as thick as treacle. Take a dessert-spoonful of it three times a day. – Another remedy for a bad cough may be prepared as follows. Mix together a pint of simple mint water, two table-spoonfuls of sallad oil, two tea-spoonfuls of hartshorns, sweetened with sugar, and take two large spoonfuls of the mixture two or three times a day.
COURT PLAISTER. Dissolve half an ounce of isinglass in an ounce of water, and boil it till the water is nearly all consumed; then add gradually a dram of Friar's balsam, and stir them well together. Dip a brush in the hot mixture, and spread it on a piece of clean silk.
COWS. In the management of cows intended for the dairy, a warm stable or cowhouse is of great importance. Cows kept at pasture will require from one to two acres of land each to keep them during the summer months; but if housed, the produce of one fourth part will be sufficient. Their dung, which would otherwise be wasted on the ground by the action of the sun and weather, is hereby easily preserved, and given to the soil where it is most wanted, and in the best condition. The treading on the grass and pasture, which diminishes its value, is prevented; the expence of division-fences is avoided, and the time and trouble of driving them about is all saved. They are also kept more cool, are less tormented by flies than if pastured, acquire good coats and full flesh, though they consume a much smaller quantity of food. They are in all respects more profitably kept in the house, than out of doors; but they must be regularly and gradually trained to it, or they will not thrive. Cows should always be kept clean, laid dry, and have plenty of good water to drink. They should never be suffered to drink at stagnant pools, or where there are frogs, spawn, or filth of any kind; or from common sewers or ponds that receive the drainings of stables, or such kind of places; all which are exceedingly improper. One of the most effectual means of rendering their milk sweet and wholesome, as well as increasing its quantity, is to let them drink freely of water in which the most fragrant kind of clover or lucern has been steeped: and if they are curried in the same manner as horses, they will not only receive pleasure from it, but give their milk more freely. In Holland, where the greatest attention is paid to all kinds of domestic animals, the haunches of dairy cows are washed morning and evening with warm water previous to milking, and after calving are clothed with sacking. The floors of their cowhouses are paved with brick, with a descent in the middle, where a gutter carries off the drain, and the place is kept perfectly clean with a broom and pails of water. The filthy state in which cows are confined in the vicinity of London, and other large cities, and the manner in which they are literally crammed, not with wholesome food, but with such things as are calculated to produce an abundance of milk, cannot be too severely reprobated as injurious to the public health. It is also notorious, that vessels of hot and cold water are always kept in these cowhouses for the accommodation of mercenary retailers, who purchase a quantity of milk at a low price, and then mix it with such a proportion of water as they think necessary to reduce it to a proper standard; when it is hawked about at an exorbitant price. The milk is not pure in its original state, and being afterwards adulterated, it is scarcely fit for any purpose in a family. The first object in the article of food, is wholesomeness; and grass growing spontaneously on good meadow-land is in general deemed most proper for cows intended to supply the dairy. The quantity of milk produced by those which feed on sainfoin is however nearly double to that of any other provender: it is also richer in quality, and will yield a larger quantity of cream: of course the butter will be better coloured and flavoured than any other. Turnips and carrots form an excellent article, and cannot be too strongly recommended, especially as a winter food; but they should be cleaned and cut; and parsnips, with the tops taken off will produce abundance of milk, of a superior quality; and cows will eat them freely though they are improper for horses. Of all vegetable productions, perhaps the cabbage is the most exuberant for this purpose, and ought by all means to be encouraged. The drum-headed cabbage, and the hardy variety of a deep green colour with purple veins, and of the same size with the drum-head, are particularly useful in the feeding of cows, and afford an increase of milk far superior to that produced by turnips. They are also excellent for the fattening of cattle, which they will do six weeks sooner than any other vegetables, though the cabbage plant is generally supposed to impart a disagreeable flavour to butter and cheese made from the milk of cows fed upon it, yet this may easily be prevented by putting a gallon of boiling water to six gallons of milk, when it is standing in the trays; or by dissolving an ounce of saltpetre in a quart of spring water, and mixing about a quarter of a pint of it with ten or twelve gallons of milk as it comes from the cow. By breaking off the loose leaves, and giving only the sound part to the cows, this disagreeable quality may also be avoided, as other cattle will eat the leaves without injury. When a cow has been milked for several years, and begins to grow old, the most advantageous way is to make her dry. To effect this, bruise six ounces of white rosin, and dissolve it in a quart of water. The cow having been housed, should then be bled and milked; and after the mixture has been administered, she should be turned into good grass. She is no longer to be milked, but fattened on rich vegetables. Cows intended for breeding, should be carefully selected from those which give plenty of milk. During three months previously to calving, if in the spring, they should be turned into sweet grass; or if it happen in the winter, they ought to be well fed with the best hay. The day and night after they have calved, they should be kept in the house, and lukewarm water only allowed for their drink. They may be turned out the next day, if the weather be warm, but regularly taken in for three or four successive nights;