CATECHETICAL ON LESSONS INFORMATION PREVIOUSLY GIVEN. Ploughing and Sowing.-How does the Farmer prepare the Ground for Sowing? He first turns up the soil with a plough, and then breaks up the clods with a harrow. What does a Gardener use instead of these tools? He uses a spade and a rake. Why don't Farmers use spades and rakes? Because their fields are SO large, they would not be able to get the work done in time. How is Wheat generally sown? It is sown in straight lines across the field by means of a machine drawn by a horse. As the machine moves the seeds drop out a few at a time. Corn.-Describe the appearance of a Field of Corn.-The young corn looks like blades of grass, but as it grows older an ear is formed at the top of each stalk, and when the corn is ripe it looks yellow. What is done to the Corn when it is Ripe? It is reaped or cut down with a sickle. Then it is bound up into bundles called sheaves, and these are put up to dry in the sun. What is done with the Sheaves when dry? They are carted off to the stack. Describe a Stack. It is a round pile of sheaves, built up with the ears of corn inwards, and afterwards thatched to keep out the rain. What is done to the Corn when taken out of the Stack? It is taken into the barn, and all the grains are beaten or threshed out of the ears. How is this done? Either with a flail or a threshing-machine. Describe a Flail. A flail is made of two rods, one long and the other short, joined together by a thong of leather. What is next done with the Grain? As there is a loose skin, called the husk or chaff, around each grain, it is winnowed to get rid of it. How is this done? By putting the corn into a machine in which it is whirled round very fast. This causes a draught of air, which blows out all the chaff and leaves the pure grain behind. Name the different kinds of Corn. Wheat, barley, oats, and rye. What use is made of each kind? Rye and oats will grow on a very poor soil, and are made into a coarse kind of cake. Oats are much used in Scotland for making porridge. Barley is chiefly used in making malt for beer, and wheat for making bread. Shape of the World.-What is Geography? It teaches us about the world, and tells us what it is like. Of what shape is the Earth? almost round, like an orange. It is BREAD is the best food we can eat, and it is food that no one dislikes. It has been called "the staff of life," because it keeps up our strength. A good cheap loaf is the poor man's best friend. In former times he used to eat black barley bread, but now we may see a white wheaten loaf in every cottage in the kingdom. The wheat is sold by the farmer to the miller, and he grinds it into flour. The part of the mill that grinds the corn is nothing but two large flat round stones. There is a hole in the upper stone, and through this hole the wheat passes down, and gets between the two stones. The upper stone turns round and round, and so crushes all the grains of corn between itself and the under stone, which is fixed. There are three kinds of flour-mills; in one the inill-stones are set in motion by water, in another by wind, and in the other by steam. A wind-mill is always placed on the top of a hill, where the wind is strongest. A water-mill is nearly always found at the foot of a hill, where the stream is most powerful. A steam-mill is generally built in a town, because it employs a good many "hands." When the miller has ground the corn, he sends the flour to the baker, and he makes it into bread, biscuits, and cakes. The first thing to be done in making bread is to mix the flour with about half its weight in water, and then add a little salt and yeast. Yeast comes from the brewer's; it is a kind of thick froth, and smells like beer. The baker kneads the flour, water, and yeast all up together in a wooden trough, until it becomes a stiff paste, called dough. The dough is then cut into lumps and weighed, so as to make loaves of the right size. These pieces of dough are then put into the oven and baked. When the baker makes biscuits, he does not put in yeast, but butter, eggs, and milk, and sometimes sugar. In making cakes, currants and other nice things are added to the flour. bread strength steam weight dough butter cheap crushes stream weighed yeast sugar THE COW is a most useful animal. She gives nice sweet milk for us to drink, and to use in making puddings and cakes. Her flesh we eat under the name of beef. Her skin is made into leather for our boots and shoes; and her horns, hoofs, and bones, are used for making combs, glue, and handles for knives. But the cow is valued chiefly for her milk, from which we get cream, butter, and cheese. At early dawn and early evening the cow is slowly driven home from the field, with her udder filled with rich milk. When the maid has milked the cow, she takes the milk to the dairy, and there it stands in a large shallow pan, till the cream has risen to the t p. The cream is then skimmed off, and generally made into butter. Cream is made into butter by churning it. This is done by moving it about in a churn. The common churn is a barrel, with a stick passing through a hole in one of its ends. This stick has fixed to it, inside the churn, a round fiat piece of board with holes in it. By moving this stick up and down, the cream is in time turned into small lumps of butter. The cream is not all changed into butter, but only the solid part of it; the thin part is called butter-milk, and this is drained off and given to the pigs. Let us now learn how cheese is made. You know sour milk turns into curd and whey. Cheese is made from curd, but not from the curd of sour milk. Milk for making cheese is turned into curd and whey by pouring into it some rennet, which is got from the stomach of a calf, by steeping it with sweet herbs in hot water. The whey is then strained off, and the curd is put into a cheese-vat. The vat is a kind of box, with holes near the bottom, and is of the same size and shape as the cheese to be made. The vat, full of curd, is then put into a cheese-press, or under a heavy weight, so that all the whey may be squeezed out, and nothing be left but solid curd. When taken from the press, the cheese must be put on a shelf, and left there for a long time to get dry and firm. The richest kind of cheese is that called Stilton cheese, |