The Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56, No. 2, January 12, 1884: A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and FiresideVarious
Science
The Prairie Farmer, Vol. 56, No. 2, January 12, 1884: A Weekly Journal for the Farm, Orchard and Fireside
Various
Agriculture -- United States -- Periodicals; Farm life -- Periodicals; United States -- Rural conditions -- Periodicals
"I am sorry you waited so long Will," was the quiet reply, as she led
him into the house, where each told the story of the weary waiting, and
Christmas was fixed upon once more as the day for the wedding.
To the eager questions of old friends as to where he spent the time, he
told them, as he had already told his wife, how he had at once gone to
Philadelphia, enlisted in the army under an assumed name, then, after
the war, gone to Nebraska and taken up a tract of valuable land. This he
had diligently cultivated until at present he is in more than
comfortable circumstances. The Craigs will leave early in January for
their Nebraska home.
WILL READERS TRY IT.
The other day, says an exchange, we came across the following recipe for
making ink in an English archaeological journal. Archaeology is the
"science of antiquities," and surely this recipe is old enough to be
good. It occurred to us that during the summer vacation many of our boys
who are longing for something to do, might earn some money by
manufacturing some of this ink and selling it in their neighborhood. At
any rate the recipe is a good one and worthy of a trial by old folks as
well as young people. Here is the recipe, and the way it was discovered,
as told by a writer in Notes and Queries:
While examining a large number of MSS. of an old scribe some twenty
years ago, I was struck with the clearness and legibility of the
writing, owing in a great measure to the permanent quality of the ink,
which had not faded in the least, although many of the MSS. were at
least two hundred years old. It was remarkable, that the writer must
have been celebrated in his day for the excellence of his calligraphy,
for I met with a letter or two from his correspondents in which there
was a request for the recipe of the ink he used. I found his recipes,
which I copied, and from one of them, dated in 1654, I have, during the
last fifteen years, made all the ink I have used. The recipe is as
follows:
Rain water, one pint; galls, bruised, one and one-half ounces; green
copperas, six drachms; gum Arabic, ten drachms. The galls must be
coarsely powdered and put in a bottle, and the other ingredients and
water added. The bottle securely stoppered, is placed in the light (sun
if possible), and its contents are stirred occasionally until the gum
and copperas is dissolved; after which it is enough to shake the bottle
daily, and in the course of a month or six weeks it will be fit for use.
I have ventured to add ten drops of carbolic acid to the contents of the
bottle, as it effectually prevents the formation and growth of mold,
without any detriment to the quality of the ink, so far as I know.
THE SECRET OF LONGEVITY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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