Enquire within upon everything · Chapter 31Part 2 (12)
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1604. Acceptance of Liability
Even if a person after coming of age promise to pay debts contracted during infancy, he is not liable, whether the promise be made in writing or not.
Wilful Waste Makes Woeful Want.
1605. Limitation of Recovery of Land or Real Estate
A person becoming entitled to any land or real estate, must bring an action to recover it within
twelve
years from the time when his right accrued, otherwise his claim will be barred by the "Statute of Limitations."
1606. Recovery of Damages by Workmen from Employer
By the "Employers' Liability Act," 1880, a workman may recover from his employer damages for personal injuries sustained by him in the course of his employment, if the accident happen through any one of the following causes:
A defect in the way, works, machinery, or plant used in the employer's business, and which defect the employer negligently allows to remain unremedied.
The negligence of some superintendent or overlooker in the service of the employer.
The negligence of the foreman or other person in the service of the employer, whose orders or directions the workman was bound to obey and did obey.
The act or omission of any person in the service of the employer done or made in obedience to the rules, bye-laws, or instructions of the employer.
The negligence of any person in the service of the employer who has the charge or control of any signal, points, locomotive engine, or train upon a railway.
1607. Amount Recoverable
The largest sum which a workman can recover in any of the above cases is limited to the amount of the average earnings for
three
years of a person in his situation.
1608. Notice to Employer
Notice in writing of the injury must be given to the employer, or sent by registered post, giving the name and address of the person injured, the date of the accident, and stating in ordinary language the cause of the injury.
1609. Actions for Compensation to be brought in County Court
All actions for compensation under the above Act must be brought in the County Court, and commenced within six months of the accident, or, in case the workman die and the action is brought by his representatives, then within
twelve
months from his death.
1610. Bills of Sale
The "Bills of Sale Act," which came into operation on November 1, 1882, effects several noteworthy changes of the utmost importance. It repeals part of the Act of 1878, which repealed the Act of 1854.
1611. What the term "Bill of Sale" includes
The term "bill of sale" is made to include, in addition to those assignments of personal property which were within its meaning under the Act of 1854, "inventories of goods with receipt thereto attached; and receipts for purchase-moneys of goods," where the goods remain in the possession of the seller, and also an agreement to give a bill of sale.
1612. What the term "Personal Chattels" includes
The term "personal chattels" has also a wider meaning than under the old law, as it includes fixtures and growing crops when separately assigned, and trade machinery when assigned, together with an interest in land so as to require registration.
1613. Chief Provisions of the Act
All bills of sale made or given in consideration of any sum under £30 are void. No bill of sale executed after the Act shall be any protection to the goods comprised therein against distress for poor and other parochial rates.
1614. Instruments giving Powers of Distress
Certain instruments giving powers of distress are also to be registered under the Act to be of any validity against the trustees in bankruptcy or execution creditors.
1615. Registration of Bill of Sale
Every bill of sale must be registered within
seven
days of its making, instead of within
twenty-one
days as under the old law; and provision is made to prevent the evasion of the Act of 1878 by means of renewed bills of sale in respect of the same debt—a practice much resorted to up to the passing of that Act in order to avoid registration.
Wise People are the Most Modest.
1616. Renewal of Registration
Registration of unsatisfied bills of sale must he renewed every
five
years.
1617. Voidance of Bill of Sale
A bill of sale executed within seven days after the execution of a prior unregistered bill of sale, if comprising all or part of the same chattels, and if given as a security for the same debt or any part thereof, will be absolutely void.
1618. Bills of Sale to be Executed in presence of Solicitor
To prevent necessitous persons being inveigled by sharpers into signing bills of sale for sums in excess of advances, or in blank, as has been done in some cases, every bill of sale had to be executed in the presence of a solicitor, but under the Bills of Sale Act, 1882, this is no longer imperative, the condition only affecting bills drawn under the Act of 1878.
1619. Preserving Fruit
The grand secret of preserving is to deprive the fruit of its water of vegetation in the shortest time possible; for which purpose the fruit ought to be gathered just at the point of proper maturity. An ingenious French writer considers fruit of all kinds as having four distinct periods of maturity—the maturity of vegetation, of honeyfication, of expectation, and of coction.
1620. The First Period
The first period he considers to be that when, having gone through the vegetable processes up to the ripening, it appears ready to drop spontaneously. This, however, is a period which arrives sooner in the warm climate of France than in the colder orchards of England; but its absolute presence may be ascertained by the general filling out of the rind, by the bloom, by the smell, and by the facility with which it may be plucked from the branch. But even in France, as generally practised in England, this period may be hastened, either by cutting circularly through the outer rind at the foot of the branch, so as to prevent the return of the sap, or by bending the branch to a horizontal position on an espalier, which answers the same purpose.
1621. The Second Period
The second period, or that of Honeyfication, consists in the ripeness and flavour which fruits of all kinds acquire if plucked a few days before arriving at their first maturity, and preserved under a proper degree of temperature. Apples may acquire or arrive at this second degree of maturity upon the tree, but it too often happens that the flavour of the fruit is thus lost, for fruit over-ripe is always found to have parted with a portion of its flavour.
1622. The Third Stage
The third stage, or of Expectation, as the theorist quaintly terms it, is that which is acquired by pulpy fruits, which, though sufficiently ripe to drop off the tree, are even then hard and sour. This is the case with several kinds both of apples and pears, not to mention other fruits, which always improve after keeping in the confectionery,—but with respect to the medlar and the quince, this maturity of expectation is absolutely necessary.
1623. The Fourth Degree
The fourth degree of maturity, or of Coction, is completely artificial, and is nothing more nor less than the change produced upon fruit by the aid of culinary heat.
1624. Maturity of Vegetation
We have already pointed out the first object necessary in the preservation of fruit, its maturity of vegetation, and we may apply the same principle to flowers or leaves which may be gathered for use.
1625. Flowers
The flowers ought to be gathered a day or two before the petals are ready to drop off spontaneously on the setting of the fruit: and the leaves must he plucked before the season has begun to rob them of their vegetable juices. The degree of heat necessary for the purpose of drying must next be considered, as it differs considerably with respect to different substances.
1626. Degrees of Heat Required
Flowers or aromatic plants require the smallest increase of heat beyond the temperature of the season, provided that season be genial: something more for rinds or roots, and a greater heat for fruits; but this heat must not be carried to excess.
Fools Have an Abundance of Vanity.
1627. Proportions of Heat
Philosophic confectioners may avail themselves of the thermometer; but practice forms the best guide in this case, and therefore we shall say, without speaking of degrees of Fahrenheit or Réaumur, that if the necessary heat for flowers is one, that for rinds and roots must be one and a quarter, that for fruits one and three quarters, or nearly double of what one may be above the freezing point.
1628. Hints about making Preserves
It is not generally known that boiling fruit a long time, and
skimming it well, without sugar
, and
without a cover
to the preserving pan, is a very economical and excellent way—economical, because the bulk of the scum rises from the
fruit
, and not from the
sugar
; but the latter should be good. Boiling it without a
cover
allows the evaporation of all the watery particles therefrom, and renders the preserves firm and well flavoured. The proportions are, three quarters of a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Jam made in this way of currants, strawberries, raspberries, or gooseberries, is excellent. The sugar should be added after the skimming is completed.
1629. To make a Syrup
Dissolve one pound of sugar in about a gill of water, boil for a few minutes, skimming it till quite clear. To every two pounds of sugar add the white of one egg well beaten. Boil very quickly, and skim carefully while boiling.
1630. Covering for Preserves
White paper cut to a suitable size, dipped in brandy, and put over the preserves when cold, and then a double paper tied over the top. All preserves should stand a night before they are covered. Instead of brandy, the white of eggs may be used to glaze the paper covering, and the paper may be pasted round the edge of the pot instead of tied—it will exclude the air better.
1631. To Bottle Fruits
Let the fruit to be preserved be quite dry, and without blemish. Take a bottle that is perfectly clean and dry within, and put in the fruit in layers, sprinkling sugar between each layer, put in the bung, and tie bladder over, setting the bottles, bung downwards, in a large stewpan of cold water, with hay between to prevent breaking. When the skin is just cracking, take them out. All preserves require exclusion from the air. Place a piece of paper dipped in sweet oil over the top of the fruit; prepare thin paper, immersed in gum-water, and while wet, press it over and around the top of the jar; as it dries, it will become quite firm and tight.
1632. Keeping Apples
Apples for keeping should be laid out on a
dry
floor for three weeks. They may then be packed away in layers, with dry straw between them. Each apple should be rubbed with a dry cloth as it is put away. They should be kept in a cool place, but should be sufficiently covered with straw to protect them from frost. They should be plucked on a dry day.
1633. Dried Apples
Dried apples are produced by taking fine apples of good quality, and placing them in a very slow oven for several hours. Take them out occasionally, rub and press them flat. Continue until they are done. If they look dry, rub over them a little clarified sugar.
1634. Preserved Rhubarb
Peel one pound of the finest rhubarb, and cut it into pieces of two inches in length; add three quarters of a pound of white sugar, and the rind and juice of one lemon—the rind to be cut into narrow strips. Put all into a preserving kettle, and simmer gently until the rhubarb is quite soft; take it out carefully with a silver spoon, and put it into jars; then boil the syrup a sufficient time to make it keep well,—say one hour,—and pour it over the fruit. When cold, put a paper soaked in brandy over it, and tie the jars down with a bladder to exclude the air. This preserve should be made in the spring.
1635. Dry Apricots
Gather before ripe, scald in a jar put into boiling water, pare and stone them; put into a syrup of half their weight of sugar, in the proportion of half a pint of water to two pounds of sugar; scald, and then boil until they are clear. Stand for two days in the syrup, then put into a thin candy, and scald them in it. Keep two days longer in the candy, heating them each day, and then lay them on glasses to dry.
1636. Preserved Peaches
Wipe and pick the fruit, and have ready a quarter of the weight of fine sugar in powder. Put the fruit into an ice-pot that shuts very close; throw the sugar over it, and then cover the fruit with brandy. Between the top and cover of the pot put a double piece of grey paper. Set the pot in a saucepan of water till the brandy is as hot as you can bear to put your finger into, but do not let it boil. Put the fruit into a jar, and pour on the brandy. Cover in same manner as preserves.
1637. Brandy Peaches
Drop them into a weak boiling lye, until the skin can be wiped off. Make a thin syrup to cover them, boil until they are soft to the finger-nail; make a rich syrup, and add, after they come from the fire, and while hot, the same quantity of brandy as syrup. The fruit must be covered.
1638. Preserved Plums (1)
Cut your plums in half (they must not be quite ripe), and take out the stones. Weigh the plums, and allow a pound of loaf sugar to a pound of fruit. Crack the stones, take out the kernels, and break them in pieces. Boil the plums and kernels very slowly for about fifteen minutes, in as little water as possible. Then spread them on a large dish to cool, and strain the liquor. Next day add your syrup, and boil for fifteen minutes. Put into jars, pour the juice over when warm, and tie up with bladder when cold, with paper dipped in brandy over the preserve.
1639. Preserved Plums (2)
Another Way.—Plums for common use are very good done in treacle. Put your plums into an earthen vessel that holds a gallon, having first slit each plum with a knife. To three quarts of plums put a pint of treacle. Cover them over, and set them on hot coals in the chimney corner. Let them stew for twelve hours or more, occasionally stirring, and next day put them up in jars. Done in this manner, they will keep till the next spring.
1640. To Preserve Lemons, Whole, for Dessert
Take six fine, fresh, well-shaped lemons, cut a hole just round the stalk, and with a marrow-spoon scoop out the pips, and press out the juice, but leave the pulp in the lemons. Put them into a bowl with two or three quarts of spring water, to steep out the bitterness. Leave them three days, changing the water each day; or only two days if you wish them to be very bitter. Strain the juice as soon as squeezed out, boil it with one pound of loaf sugar (setting the jar into which it was strained in a pan of boiling water fifteen or twenty minutes); tie it up,
quite hot
, with bladder, and set by till wanted. Taste the water the lemons are lying in at the end of the third day; if not bitter, lift the lemons out into a china-lined pan, pour the water through a strainer upon them, boil gently one or two hours; set by in a pan. Boil again next day, until so tender that the head of a large needle will easily pierce the rind. Put in one pound of loaf sugar, make it just boil, and leave to cool. Next day boil the syrup, and pour it on the lemons; add one pound of sugar, and hot water to supply what was boiled away. Lift out the lemons, and boil the syrup and pour on them again every day for a fortnight, then every three or four days, adding gradually three pounds of sugar. When the lemons look clear and bright, boil the syrup pretty hard, add the lemon juice which had been set by, just boil, skim; put the lemons into jars, pour the syrup upon them, and tie up the jars
instantly
with bladder.
Vice Cheats its Votaries.
1641. Preserved Ginger
Scald the young roots till they become tender, peel them, and place in cold water, frequently changing the water: then put into a thin syrup, and, in a few days, put into jars, and pour a rich syrup over them.
1642. To Preserve Eggs (1)
It has been long known to housewives, that the great secret of preserving eggs fresh is to place the small end downwards, and keep it in that position—other requisites not being neglected, such as to have the eggs perfectly fresh when deposited for keeping, not allowing them to become wet, keeping them cool in warm weather, and avoiding freezing in winter. Take an inch board of convenient size, say a foot wide, and two and a half feet long, and bore it full of holes, each about an inch and a half in diameter; a board of this size may have five dozen holes bored in it, for as many eggs. Then nail strips of thin board two inches wide round the edges to serve as a ledge. Boards such as this may now be made to constitute the shelves of a cupboard in a cool cellar. The only precaution necessary is to place the eggs as fast as they are laid in these holes, with the small end downwards, and they will keep for months perfectly fresh. The great advantage of this plan is the perfect ease with which the fresh eggs are packed away, and again obtained when wanted. A carpenter would make such a board for a trifling charge.
1643. Preserving Eggs (2)
Another Method.—The several modes recommended for preserving eggs any length of time are not always successful. The egg, to be preserved well, should be kept at a temperature so low that the air and fluids within its shell shall not be brought into a decomposing condition; and, at the same time, the air outside of its shell should be excluded, in order to prevent its action in any way upon the egg.
1644. Preserving Eggs (3), Mixture for
The following mixture for preserving eggs was patented several years ago by Mr. Jayne, of Sheffield. He alleged that by means of it he could keep eggs two years. A part of his composition is often made use of—perhaps the whole of it would be better. Put into a tub or vessel one bushel of quicklime, two pounds of salt, half a pound of cream of tartar, and mix the same together, with as much water as will reduce the composition, or mixture, to that consistence that it will cause an egg put into it to swim with its top just above the liquid; then place the eggs therein.
1645. Preserving Eggs (4)
Eggs may be preserved by applying with a brush a solution of gum arabic to the shells, and afterwards packing them in dry charcoal dust.
1646. Improving Bad Butter
Bad butter may be improved greatly by dissolving it in thoroughly hot water; let it cool, then skim it off, and churn again, adding a little good salt and sugar. A small portion can be tried and approved before doing a larger quantity. The water should be merely hot enough to melt the butter, or it will become oily.
1647. Rancid Butter
This may be restored by melting it in a water bath, with some coarsely powdered animal charcoal, which has been thoroughly sifted from dust, and strained through flannel.
1648. Salt Butter
Salt butter may be freshened by churning it with new milk, in the proportion of a pound of butter to a quart of milk. Treat the butter in all respects in churning as fresh. Cheap earthenware churns for domestic use may be had at any hardware shop.
1649. To Preserve Milk
Provide bottles, which must be perfectly clean, sweet, and dry; draw the milk from the cow into the bottles, and as they are filled, immediately cork them well up, and fasten the corks with pack-thread or wire. Then spread a little straw at the bottom of a boiler, on which place the bottles, with straw between them, until the boiler contains a sufficient quantity. Fill it up with cold water; heat the water, and as soon as it begins to boil, draw the fire, and let the whole gradually cool. When quite cold, take out the bottles and pack them in sawdust, in hampers, and stow them in the coolest part of the house. Milk preserved in this manner, and allowed to remain even eighteen months in bottles, will be as sweet as when first milked from the cow.
1650. Keeping Meat
Meat may be kept several days in the height of summer, sweet and good, by lightly covering it with bran, and hanging it in some high or windy room, or in a passage where there is a current of air.
1651. Hams, Tongues, &c., Glazing for
Boil a shin of beef twelve hours in eight or ten quarts of water; draw the gravy from a knuckle of veal in the same manner; put the same herbs and spices as if for soup, and add the whole to the shin of beef. It must be boiled till reduced to a quart. It will keep good for a year; and when wanted for use, warm a little, and spread over the ham, tongue, &c., with a feather.
1652. Curing of Hams and Bacon
The most simple method is to use one ounce and a half of common soda and the same quantity of saltpetre, to fourteen pounds of ham or bacon, using the usual quantity of salt. The soda prevents that hardness in the lean of the bacon which is so often found, and keeps it quite mellow all through, besides being a preventive of rust.
1653. Preserving Mackerel
Mackerel are at certain times exceedingly plentiful, especially to those who live near the coast. They may be preserved so as to make an excellent and well-flavoured dish, weeks or months after the season is past, by the following means. Having chosen some fine fish, cleanse them perfectly, and either boil them or lightly fry them in oil. The fish should be divided, and the bones, heads, and skins removed; they should then be well rubbed over with the following seasoning:—For every dozen good-sized fish use three tablespoonfuls of salt (heaped), one ounce and a half of common black pepper, six or eight cloves, and a little mace, finely powdered, and as much nutmeg, grated, as the operator chooses to afford,—not, however, exceeding one nutmeg. Let the whole surface be well covered with the seasoning; then lay the fish in layers packed into a stone jar (not a glazed one); cover the whole with good vinegar, and if they be intended to be long kept, pour salad oil or melted fat over the top.
Caution
.—The glazing on earthen jars is made from lead or arsenic, from which vinegar draws forth poison.
1654. Preserving Potatoes
The preservation of potatoes by dipping them in boiling water is a valuable and useful discovery. Large quantities may be cured at once, by putting them into a basket as large as the vessel containing the boiling water will admit, and then just dipping them a minute or two, at the utmost. The germ, which is so near the skin, is thus destroyed without injury to the potato. In this way several tons might be cured in a few hours. They should be then dried in a warm oven, and laid up in sacks, secure from the frost, in a dry place.
1655. To Preserve Cucumbers
Take large and fresh-gathered cucumbers; split them down and take out all the seeds, lay them in salt and water, sufficiently strong to bear an egg, for three days; set them on a fire with cold water, and a small lump of alum, and boil them a few minutes, or till tender; drain them, and pour on them a thin syrup:—let them lie two days; boil the syrup again, and put it over the cucumbers; repeat this part of the process a second and a third time; then have ready some fresh clarified sugar, boiled to a
blow
(which may be known by dipping the skimmer into the sugar, and blowing strongly through the holes of it; if little bladders appear, it has attained that degree); put in the cucumbers, and simmer for five minutes;—set by till next day;—boil the syrup and cucumbers again, and put them in glasses for use.
1656. Pickling
There are three methods of pickling; the most simple is merely to put the article into cold vinegar. The strongest pickling vinegar of white wine should always be used for pickles; and for white pickles, use distilled vinegar. This method may be recommended for all such vegetables as, being hot themselves, do not require the addition of spice, and such as do not require to be softened by heat, as capsicum, chili, nasturtiums, button-onions, radish-pods, horseradish, garlic, and shalots. Half fill the jars with best vinegar, fill them up with the vegetables, and tie down immediately with bladder and leather. One advantage of this plan is that those who grow nasturtiums, radish-pods, and so forth, in their own gardens, may gather them from day to day, when they are exactly of the proper growth. They are very much better if pickled quite fresh, and all of a size, which can scarcely be obtained if they be pickled all at the same time. The onions should be dropped in the vinegar as fast as peeled; this secures their colour. The horseradish should be scraped a little outside, and cut up in rounds half an inch deep.
1657. The Second Method of Pickling.
The second method of pickling is that of heating vinegar and spice, and pouring them hot over the vegetables to be pickled, which are previously prepared by sprinkling with salt, or immersing in brine. Do not boil the vinegar, for if so its strength will evaporate. Put the vinegar and spice into a jar, bung it down tightly, tie a bladder over, and let it stand on the hob or on a trivet by the side of the fire for three or four days; shake it well three or four times a day. This method may be applied to gherkins, French beans, cabbage, brocoli, cauliflowers, onions, and so forth.
1658. The Third Method of Pickling
The third method of pickling is when the vegetables are in a greater or less degree done over the fire. Walnuts, artichokes, artichoke bottoms and beetroots are done thus, and sometimes onions and cauliflowers.
1659. French Beans
The best sort for this purpose are white runners. They are very large, long beans, but should be gathered quite young, before they are half-grown; they may be done in the same way as described in par.
.
1660. Onions
Onions should be chosen about the size of marbles; the silver-skinned sort are the best. Prepare a brine, and put them into it hot; let them remain one or two days, then drain them, and when quite dry, put them into clean, dry jars, and cover them with hot pickle, in every quart of which has been steeped one ounce each of horseradish sliced, black pepper, allspice, and salt, with or without mustard seed. In all pickles the vinegar should always be two inches or more above the vegetables, as it is sure to shrink, and if the vegetables are not thoroughly immersed in pickle they will not keep.
1661. Red Cabbage
Choose fine firm cabbages—the largest are not the best; trim off the outside leaves; quarter the cabbage, take out the large stalk, slice the quarters into a cullender, and sprinkle a little salt between the layers; put but a little salt—too much will spoil the colour; let it remain in the cullender till next day, shake it well, that all the brine may run off; put it in jars, cover it with a hot pickle composed of black pepper and allspice, of each an ounce, ginger pounded, horseradish sliced, and salt, of each half an ounce, to every quart of vinegar (steeped as above directed); two capsicums may be added to a quart, or one drachm of cayenne.
1662. Garlic and Shalots
Garlic and shalots may be pickled in the same way as
.
1663. Melons, Mangoes and Long Cucumbers
Melons, mangoes and long cucumbers may all be done in the same manner. Melons should not be much more than half-grown; cucumbers full grown, but not overgrown. Cut off the top, but leave it hanging by a bit of rind, which is to serve as a hinge to a box-lid; with a marrow-spoon scoop out all the seeds, and fill the fruit with equal parts of mustard seed, ground pepper, and ginger, or flour of mustard instead of the seed, and two or three cloves of garlic. The lid which encloses the spice may be sewed down or tied, by running a white thread through the cucumber and through the lid, then, after tying it together, cut off the ends. The pickle may be prepared with the spices directed for cucumbers, or with the following, which bears a nearer resemblance to the Indian method:—To each quart of vinegar put salt, flour of mustard, curry powder, bruised ginger, turmeric, half an ounce of each, cayenne pepper one drachm, all rubbed together with a large glassful of salad oil; shalots two ounces, and garlic half an ounce, sliced; steep the spice in the vinegar as before directed, and put the vegetables into it hot.