SC - redacting? help with words

[Rayne and Richard]

Unto the List,

Although I love feastcratting and most of the facets of it, my real cooking love
is post-period.  I collect cookbooks from the 1800s through to the 1940s.   I do
this not so much for the recipes but for the sociology within each page.

i.e (from my newest addition "The Young Housekeeper's Friend" by Mrs. Cornelius
copyright 1859)  - first off this woman has no first name....she is her
husband's wife.  And speaking of husbands....my husband loves this quote from
page 9 - "Many a day-laborer, on his return at evening from his hard toil, is
repelled by the sight of a disorganized house and a comfortless supper; and
perhaps is met by a cold eye instead of "the thriftie wifie's smile;" and he
makes his escape to the grog-shop or the underground gambling-room.....  Every
woman is invested with a degree of power over the happiness and virtue of
others.  She cannot escape using it, and she cannot innocently pervert it".
Don't you just love it????   ;-)

Now to my questions:

Please help me translate the following sentences.  My problem words are
underlined:

Under baking bread:  "Some people invariably use _saleratus_ in bread, and there
are tables where the _effluvia_ of this article, and the deep yellow color of
the bread offend the senses before it is tasted."   Q - is saleratus baking
soda?  and by effluvia does the author mean smell or aroma?

Under Hard Molasses Gingerbread ingredients - "A half a pint of molasses, a gill
of butter, a half a gill of _nice drippings_, half a gill of sour milk, two
teaspoonfuls of saleratus, and the same of ginger".  Q - nice drippings????  as
opposed to "bad or nasty drippings"????

Under making butter - this sentence comes after the straining the milk and
allowing the cream to rise part:  "Those who have ice throughout the summer,
have a valuable aid in making butter.  A piece as large as a peach, should be
put into a pan containing three quarts of milk as soon as it is placed in the
closet.  The milk will not sour as soon, and of course, will afford more cream.
Skim the cream as soon as the milk has become _loppord_, which will, in hot
weather, be in about thirty hours."   Q - "loppord"????

Thank you for your assistance.

In gratitude allow me to pass along some of Mrs. Cornelius' wonderful advice and
recommendations.  If you ever find yourself short on freezer/refrigerator space
and have some beef that you need to store remember:  "If you wish to keep it
longer than two days, wrap it in a piece of cloth (no matter how thin), and lay
it in a charcoal bin, and throw a shovel of coal over it."

Thank you,

Rayne



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