BAKING. This mode of preparing a dinner is undoubtedly one of the cheapest and most convenient, especially for a small family; and the oven is almost the only kitchen which the poor man possesses. Much however depends on the care and ability of the baker: in the country especially, where the baking of dinners is not always considered as a regular article of business, it is rather a hazardous experiment to send a valuable joint to the oven; and more is often wasted and spoiled by the heedless conduct of the parish cook, than would have paid for the boiling or roasting at home. But supposing the oven to be managed with care and judgment, there are many joints which may be baked to great advantage, and will be found but little inferior to roasting. Particularly, legs and loins of pork, legs of mutton, fillets of veal, and other joints, if the meat be fat and good, will be eaten with great satisfaction, when they come from the oven. A sucking pig is also well adapted to the purpose, and is equal to a roasted one, if properly managed. When sent to the baker, it should have its ears and tail covered with buttered paper fastened on, and a bit of butter tied up in a piece of linen to baste the back with, otherwise it will be apt to blister. A goose should be prepared the same as for roasting, placing it on a stand, and taking care to turn it when it is half done. A duck the same. If a buttock of beef is to be baked, it should be well washed, after it has been in salt about a week, and put into a brown earthen pan with a pint of water. Cover the pan tight over with two or three thicknesses of writing paper, and give it four or five hours in a moderate oven. Brown paper should never be used with baked dishes; the pitch and tar which it contains will give the meat a smoky bad taste. Previously to baking a ham, soak it in water an hour, take it out and wipe it, and make a crust sufficient to cover it all over; and if done in a moderate oven, it will cut fuller of gravy, and be of a finer flavour, than a boiled one. Small cod-fish, haddock, and mackarel will bake well, with a dust of flour and some bits of butter put on them. Large eels should be stuffed. Herrings and sprats are to be baked in a brown pan, with vinegar and a little spice, and tied over with paper. These and various other articles may be baked so as to give full satisfaction, if the oven be under judicious management.

BAKED CARP. Clean a large carp, put in a Portuguese stuffing, and sow it up. Brush it all over with the yolk of an egg, throw on plenty of crumbs, and drop on oiled butter to baste with. Place the carp in a deep earthen dish, with a pint of stock, a few sliced onions, some bay leaves, a bunch of herbs, such as basil, thyme, parsley, and both sorts of marjoram; half a pint of port wine, and six anchovies. Cover over the pan, and bake it an hour. Let it be done before it is wanted. Pour the liquor from it, and keep the fish hot while you heat up the liquor with a good piece of butter rolled in flour, a tea-spoonful of mustard, a little cayenne, and a spoonful of soy. Serve it on the dish, garnished with lemon and parsley, and horse-radish, and put the gravy into the sauce tureen.

BAKED CUSTARD. Boil a pint of cream and half a pint of milk with a little mace, cinnamon and lemon peel. When cold, mix the yolks of three eggs, and sweeten the custard. Make the cups or paste nearly full, and bake them ten minutes.

BAKED HERRINGS. Wash and drain, without wiping them; and when drawn, they should not be opened. Season with allspice in fine powder, salt, and a few whole cloves. Lay them in a pan with plenty of black pepper, an onion, and a few bay leaves. Add half vinegar and half small beer, enough to cover them. Put paper over the pan, and bake in a slow oven. If it be wished to make them look red, throw a little saltpetre over them the night before.

BAKED MILK. A very useful article may be made for weakly and consumptive persons in the following manner. Put a gallon of milk into a jar, tie white paper over it, and let it stand all night in the oven when baking is over. Next morning it will be as thick as cream, and may be drank two or three times a day.

BAKED PEARS. Those least fit to eat raw, are often the best for baking. Do not pare them, but wipe and lay them on tin plates, and bake them in a slow oven. When done enough to bear it, flatten them with a silver spoon; and when done through, put them on a dish. They should be baked three or four times, and very gently.

BAKED PIKE. Scale and open it as near the throat as possible, and then put in the following stuffing. Grated bread, herbs, anchovies, oysters, suet, salt, pepper, mace, half a pint of cream, four yolks of eggs; mix all over the fire till it thickens, and then sow it up in the fish. Little bits of butter should be scattered over it, before it is sent to the oven. Serve it with gravy sauce, butter and anchovy. In carving a pike, if the back and belly be slit up, and each slice drawn gently downwards, fewer bones will be given at table.

BAKED SOUP. A cheap and plentiful dish for poor families, or to give away, may be made of a pound of any kind of meat cut in slices, with two onions, two carrots sliced, two ounces of rice, a pint of split peas, or whole ones if previously soaked, seasoned with pepper and salt. Put the whole into an earthen jug or pan, adding a gallon of water: cover it very close, and bake it.

BALM WINE. Boil three pounds of lump sugar in a gallon of water; skim it clean, put in a handful of balm, and boil it ten minutes. Strain it off, cool it, put in some yeast, and let it stand two days. Add the rind and juice of a lemon, and let it stand in the cask six months.

BALSAMIC VINEGAR. One of the best remedies for wounds or bruises is the balsamic or anti-putrid vinegar, which is made in the following manner. Take a handful of sage leaves and flowers, the same of lavender, hyssop, thyme, and savory; two heads of garlic, and a handful of salt. These are to be infused in some of the best white-wine vinegar; and after standing a fortnight or three weeks, it will be fit for use.

BANBURY CAKES. Work a pound of butter into a pound of white-bread dough, the same as for puff paste; roll it out very thin, and cut it into bits of an even form, the size intended for the cakes. Moisten some powder sugar with a little brandy, mix in some clean currants, put a little of it on each bit of paste, close them up, and bake them on a tin. When they are taken out, sift some fine sugar over them.

BARBERRIES, when preserved for tarts, must be picked clean from the stalks, choosing such as are free from stones. To every pound of fruit, weigh three quarters of a pound of lump sugar; put the fruit into a stone jar, and either set it on a hot hearth, or in a saucepan of water, and let them simmer very slowly till soft. Then put them and the sugar into a preserving-pan, and boil them gently fifteen minutes.—To preserve barberries in bunches, prepare some fleaks of white wool, three inches long, and a quarter of an inch wide. Tie the stalks of the fruit on the stick, from within an inch of one end to beyond the other, so as to make them look handsome. Simmer them in some syrup two successive days, covering them each time with it when cold. When they look clear, they are simmered enough. The third day, they should be treated like other candied fruit. See CANDIED.

BARBERRY DROPS. Cut off the black tops, and roast the fruit before the fire, till it is soft enough to pulp with a silver spoon through a sieve into a china bason. Then set the bason in a saucepan of water, the top of which will just fit it, or on a hot hearth, and stir it till it grows thick. When cold, put to every pint a pound and a half of double refined sugar, pounded and sifted through a lawn sieve, which must be covered with a fine linen, to prevent waste while sifting. Beat the sugar and juice together three hours and a half if a large quantity, but two and a half for less. Then drop it on sheets of white thick paper, the size of drops sold in the shops. Some fruit is not so sour, and then less sugar is necessary. To know when there is enough, mix till well incorporated, and then drop. If it run, there is not enough sugar; and if there be too much, it will be rough. A dry room will suffice to dry them. No metal must touch the juice but the point of a knife, just to take the drop off the end of the wooden spoon, and then as little as possible.

BARLEY BROTH. Wash three quarters of a pound of Scotch barley in a little cold water, put it in a soup pot with a shin or leg of beef, or a knuckle of veal of about ten pounds weight, sawn into four pieces. Cover it with cold water, and set it on the fire; when it boils skim it very clean, and put in two onions. Set it by the side of the fire to simmer very gently about two hours; then skim off all the fat, put in two heads of celery, and a large turnip cut into small squares. Season it with salt, let it boil an hour and a half longer, and it is done. Take out the meat carefully with a slice, cover it up and keep it warm by the fire, and skim the broth well before it is put into the tureen. This dish is much admired in Scotland, where it is regarded, not only as highly nutricious, but as a necessary article of domestic economy: for besides the excellent soup thus obtained, the meat also becomes an agreeable dish, served up with sauce in the following manner. Reserve a quart of the soup, put about an ounce of flour into a stewpan, pour the liquor to it by degrees, stirring it well together till it boils. Add a glass of port wine or mushroom ketchup, and let it gently boil up; strain the sauce through a sieve over the meat, and add to it some capers, minced gherkins, or walnuts. The flavour may be varied or improved, by the addition of a little curry powder, ragout, or any other store sauces.

BARLEY GRUEL. Wash four ounces of pearl barley, boil it in two quarts of water and a stick of cinnamon, till reduced to a quart. Strain and return it into the saucepan with some sugar, and three quarters of a pint of port wine. It may be warmed up, and used as wanted.

BARLEY SUGAR. This well known article of confectionary is made in the following manner. Put some common or clarified syrup into a saucepan with a spout, such as for melting butter, if little is wanted to be made, and boil it till it comes to what is called carimel, carefully taking off whatever scum may arise; and having prepared a marble stone, either with butter or sweet oil, just sufficiently to prevent sticking, pour the syrup gently along the marble, in long sticks of whatever thickness may be desired. While hot, twist it at each end; and let it remain till cold, when it will be fit for immediate use. The rasped rind of lemon, boiled up in the syrup, gives a very agreeable flavour to barley sugar; and indeed the best is commonly so prepared.

BARLEY WATER. Wash a handful of common barley, then simmer it gently in three pints of water, with a bit of lemon peel. Or boil an ounce of pearl barley a few minutes to cleanse it, and then put on it a quart of water. Simmer it an hour: when half done, put into it a piece of fresh lemon peel, and one bit of sugar. If likely to be thick, add a quarter of a pint of water, and a little lemon juice, if approved. This makes a very pleasant drink for a sick person; but the former is less apt to nauseate.

BASIL VINEGAR. Sweet basil is in full perfection about the middle of August, when the fresh green leaves should be gathered, and put into a wide-mouthed bottle. Cover the leaves with vinegar, and let them steep for ten days. If it be wished to have the infusion very strong, strain out the liquor, put in some fresh leaves, and let them steep for ten days more. This is a very agreeable addition to sauces and soups, and to the mixture usually made for salads.

BASILICON. Yellow basilicon is made of equal quantities of bees-wax, white rosin, and frankincense. Melt them together over a slow fire, add the same weight of fresh lard, and strain it off while it is warm. This ointment is used for cleansing and healing wounds and ulcers.

BASKET SALT. This fine and delicate article is chiefly made from the salt springs in Cheshire, and differs from the common brine salt, usually called sea salt, not only in its whiteness and purity, but in the fineness of its grain. Some families entertain prejudices against basket salt, notwithstanding its superior delicacy, from an idea, which does not appear warranted, that pernicious articles are used in its preparation; it may therefore be proper to mention, that by dissolving common salt, again evaporating into dryness, and then reducing it to powder in a mortar, a salt nearly equal to basket salt may be obtained, fine and of a good colour, and well adapted to the use of the table.

BATH BUNS. Rub half a pound of butter into a pound of fine flour, with five eggs, and three spoonfuls of thick yeast. Set it before the fire to rise; then add a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar, and an ounce of carraway seeds. Mix them well in, roll it out in little cakes, strew on carraway comfits, and bake on tins.

BATTER PUDDING. Rub by degrees three spoonfuls of fine flour extremely smooth, into a pint of milk. Simmer till it thickens, stir it in two ounces of butter, set it to cool, and then add the yolks of three eggs. Flour a wet cloth, or butter a bason, and put the batter into it. Tie it tight, and plunge it into boiling water, the bottom upwards. Boil it an hour and a half, and serve with plain butter. If a little ginger, nutmeg, and lemon peel be added, serve with sweet sauce.

BEAN BREAD. Blanch half a pound of almonds, and put them into water to preserve their colour. Cut the almonds edgeways, wipe them dry, and sprinkle over them half a pound of fine loaf sugar pounded and sifted. Beat up the white of an egg with two spoonfuls of orange-flower water, moisten the almonds with the froth, lay them lightly on wafer paper, and bake them on tins.

BEAN PUDDING. Boil and blanch some old green-beans, beat them in a mortar, with very little pepper and salt, some cream, and the yolk of an egg. A little spinach-juice will give a finer colour, but it is as good without. Boil it an hour, in a bason that will just hold it; pour parsley and butter over, and serve it up with bacon.

BEE HIVES. Common bee hives made of straw are generally preferred, because they are not likely to be overheated by the rays of the sun; they will also keep out the cold better than wood, and are cheaper than any other material. As cleanliness however is of great consequence in the culture of these delicate and industrious insects, the bottom or floor of the hive should be covered with gypsum or plaster of Paris, of which they are very fond; and the outside of their habitation should be overspread with a cement made of two-thirds of cow-dung, and one-third of ashes. This coating will exclude noxious insects, which would otherwise perforate and lodge in the straw; it will also secure the bees from cold and wet, while it exhales an odour which to them is very grateful. The inner part of the hive should be furnished with two thin pieces of oak, or peeled branches of lime tree, placed across each other at right angles, which will greatly facilitate the construction of the combs, and support them when filled with honey. A good bee-hive ought to be so planned as to be capable of enlargement or contraction, according to the number of the swarm; to admit of being opened without disturbing the bees, either for the purpose of cleaning it, of freeing it from noxious insects, or for the admission of a stock of provision for the winter. It should also admit of the produce being removed without injury to the bees, and be internally clean, smooth, and free from flaws. A hive of this description may easily be made of three or four open square boxes, fastened to each other with buttons or wooden pegs, and the joints closed with cement. The whole may be covered with a moveable roof, projecting over the boxes to carry off the rain, and kept firm on the top by a stone being laid upon it. If the swarm be not very numerous, two or three boxes will be sufficient. They should be made of wood an inch thick, that the bees and wax may be less affected by the changes of the atmosphere. This hive is so easily constructed, that it is only necessary to join four boards together in the simplest manner; and a little cement will cover all defects. Within the upper part of the boxes, two bars should be fixed across from one corner to another, to support the combs. At the lower end of each box in front, there must be an aperture, or door, about an inch and an half wide, and as high as is necessary for the bees to pass without obstruction. The lowest is to be left open as a passage for the bees, and the others are to be closed by a piece of wood fitted to the aperture. A hive thus constructed may be enlarged or diminished, according to the number of boxes; and a communication with the internal part can readily be effected by removing the cover.

BEE HOUSE. An apiary or bee house should front the south, in a situation between the extremes of heat and cold. It should stand in a valley, that the bees may with greater ease descend loaded on their return to the hive; and near a dwelling-house, but at a distance from noise and offensive smells; surrounded with a low wall, and in the vicinity of shallow water. If there be no running stream at hand, they ought to be supplied with water in troughs or pans, with small stones laid at the bottom, that the bees may alight upon them and drink. They cannot produce either combs, honey, or food for their maggots, without water; but the neighbourhood of rivers or ponds with high banks ought to be avoided, or the bees will be blown into the water with high winds, and be drowned. Care should also be taken to place the hives in a neighbourhood which abounds with such plants as will supply the bees with food; such as the oak, the pine, the willow, fruit trees, furze, broom, mustard, clover, heath, and thyme, particularly borage, which produces an abundance of farina. The garden in which the bee house stands, should be well furnished with scented plants and flowers, and branchy shrubs, that it may be easy to hive the swarms which may settle on them. See BEES, HIVING, &c.

BEEF. In every sort of provisions, the best of the kind goes the farthest; it cuts out with most advantage, and affords most nourishment. The best way to obtain a good article is to deal with shops of established credit. You may perhaps pay a little more than by purchasing of those who pretend to sell cheap, but you will be more than in proportion better served. To prevent imposition more effectually, however, it is necessary to form our own judgment of the quality and value of the articles to be purchased. If the flesh of ox-beef is young, it will show a fine smooth open grain, be of a good red, and feel tender. The fat should look white rather than yellow, for when that is of a deep colour, the meat is seldom good. Beef fed with oil cakes is generally so, and the flesh is loose and flabby. The grain of cow-beef is closer, and the fat whiter, than that of ox-beef; but the lean is not so bright a red. The grain of bull-beef is closer still, the fat hard and skinny, the lean of a deep red, and a stronger scent. Ox-beef is the reverse; it is also the richest and the largest; but in small families, and to some tastes, heifer-beef as better still, if finely fed. In old meat there is a horny streak in the ribs of beef: the harder that is, the older: and the flesh is not finely flavoured.

BEEF BOUILLI. A term given to boiled beef, which, according to the French fashion, is simmered over a slow fire, for the purpose of extracting a rich soup, while at the same time the meat makes its appearance at table, in possession of a full portion of nutricious succulence. This requires nothing more than to stew the meat very slowly, instead of keeping the pot quickly boiling, and taking up the beef as soon as it is done enough. Meat cooked in this manner, affords much more nourishment than when dressed in the common way, and is easy of digestion in proportion to its tenderness. The leg or shin, or the middle of a brisket of beef, weighing seven or eight pounds, is best adapted for this purpose. Put it into a soup pot or deep stewpan with cold water enough to cover it, and a quart over. Set it on a quick fire to get the scum up, which remove as it rises; then put in two carrots, two turnips, two leeks, or two large onions, two heads of celery, two or three cloves, and a faggot of parsley and sweet herbs. Set the pot by the side of the fire to simmer very gently, till the meat is just tender enough to eat: this will require four or five hours. When the beef is done, take it up carefully with a slice, cover it up, and keep it warm by the fire. Thicken a pint and a half of the beef liquor with three table spoonfuls of flour, season it with pepper, a glass of port wine or mushroom ketchup, or both, and pour it over the beef. Strain the soup through a hair sieve into a clean stewpan, take off the fat, cut the vegetables into small squares, and add them to the soup, the flavour of which may be heightened, by adding a table-spoonful of ketchup.

BEEF BROTH. If intended for sick persons, it is better to add other kinds of meat, which render it more nourishing and better flavoured. Take then two pounds of lean beef, one pound of scrag of veal, one pound of scrag of mutton, some sweet herbs, and ten pepper corns, and put the whole into a nice tin saucepan, with five quarts of water. Simmer it to three quarts, clear it from the fat when cold, and add an onion if approved. If there be still any fat remaining, lay a piece of clean blotting or writing paper on the broth when in the bason, and it will take up every particle of the fat.

BEEF CAKES, chiefly intended for a side-dish of dressed meat. Pound some beef that is under done, with a little fat bacon or ham. Season with pepper, salt, a little shalot or garlick; mix them well, and make the whole into small cakes three inches long, and half as wide and thick. Fry them to a light brown, and serve them in good thick gravy.

BEEF CECILS. Mince some beef with crumbs of bread, a quantity of onions, some anchovies, lemon peel, salt, nutmeg, chopped parsley, pepper, and a bit of warmed butter. Mix these over the fire a few minutes: when cool enough, make them into balls of the size and shape of a turkey's egg, with an egg. Sprinkle them with fine crumbs, fry them of a yellow brown, and serve with gravy, as for Beef Olives.

BEEF COLLOPS. Cut thin slices of beef from the rump, or any other tender part, and divide them into pieces three inches long: beat them with the blade of a knife, and flour them. Fry the collops quick in butter two minutes; then lay them into a small stewpan, and cover them with a pint of gravy. Add a bit of butter rubbed in flour, pepper and salt, a little bit of shalot shred very fine, with half a walnut, four small pickled cucumbers, and a tea-spoonful of capers cut small. Be careful that the stew does not boil, and serve in a hot covered dish.

BEEF FRICASSEE. Cut some thin slices of cold roast beef, shred a handful of parsley very small, cut an onion into quarters, and put them all together into a stewpan, with a piece of butter, and some strong broth. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer very gently for a quarter of an hour. Mix into it the yolks of two eggs, a glass of port wine, and a spoonful of vinegar: stir it quick, rub the dish with shalot, and turn the fricassee into it.

BEEF GRAVY. Cover the bottom of a stewpan, clean and well-tinned, with a slice of good ham or lean bacon, four or five pounds of gravy beef cut in pieces, an onion, a carrot, two cloves, and a head of celery. Add a pint of broth or water, cover it close, and simmer it till the liquor is nearly all exhausted. Turn it about, and let it brown slightly and equally all over, but do not suffer it to burn or stick to the pan, for that would spoil the gravy. Then put in three quarts of boiling water; and when it boils up, skim it carefully, and wipe off with a clean cloth what sticks round the edge and inside of the stewpan, that the gravy may be delicately clean and clear. Let it stew gently by the side of the fire for about four hours, till reduced to two quarts of good gravy. Take care to skim it well, strain it through silk or muslin, and set it in a cold place.

BEEF HAMS. Cut the leg of beef like a ham; and for fourteen pounds weight, mix a pound of salt, a pound of brown sugar, an ounce of saltpetre, and an ounce of bay salt. Put it into the meat, turn and baste it every day, and let it lie a month in the pickle. Then take it out, roll it in bran, and smoke it. Afterwards hang it in a dry place, and cut off pieces to boil, or broil it with poached eggs.

BEEF HASH. Cut some thin slices of beef that is underdone, with some of the fat; put it into a small stewpan, with a little onion or shalot, a little water, pepper and salt. Add some of the gravy, a spoonful of vinegar, and of walnut ketchup: if shalot vinegar be used, there will be no need of the onion nor the raw shalot. The hash is only to be simmered till it is hot through, but not boiled: it is owing to the boiling of hashes and stews that they get hard. When the hash is well warmed up, pour it upon sippets of bread previously prepared, and laid in a warm dish.

BEEF HEART. Wash it carefully, stuff it as a hare, and serve with rich gravy and currant-jelly sauce. Hash it with the same, and add a little port wine.

BEEF OLIVES. Take some cold beef that has not been done enough, and cut slices half an inch thick, and four inches square. Lay on them a forcemeat of crumbs of bread, shalot, a little suet or fat, pepper and salt. Roll and fasten them with a small skewer, put them into a stewpan with some gravy made of the beef bones, or the gravy of the meat, and a spoonful or two of water, and stew them till tender. Beef olives may also be made of fresh meat.

BEEF PALATES. Simmer them in water several hours, till they will peel. Then cut the palates into slices, or leave them whole, and stew them in a rich gravy till they become as tender as possible. Season with cayenne, salt and ketchup: if the gravy was drawn clear, add also some butter and flour. If the palates are to be dressed white, boil them in milk, and stew them in a fricassee sauce; adding cream, butter, flour, mushroom powder, and a little pounded mace.

BEEF PASTY. Bone a small rump or part of a sirloin of beef, after hanging several days. Beat it well with a rolling pin; then rub ten pounds of meat with four ounces of sugar, and pour over it a glass of port, and the same of vinegar. Let it lie five days and nights; wash and wipe the meat very dry, and season it high with pepper and salt, nutmeg and Jamaica pepper. Lay it in a dish, and to ten pounds add nearly one pound of butter, spreading it over the meat. Put a crust round the edges, and cover with a thick one, or it will be overdone before the meat is soaked: it must be baked in a slow oven. Set the bones in a pan in the oven, with no more water than will cover them, and one glass of port, a little pepper and salt, in order to provide a little rich gravy to add to the pasty when drawn. It will be found that sugar gives more shortness and a better flavour to meat than salt, too great a quantity of which hardens; and sugar is quite as good a preservative.

BEEF PATTIES. Shred some dressed beef under done, with a little fat; season with salt and pepper, and a little shalot or onion. Make a plain paste, roll it thin, and cut it in shape like an apple puff. Fill it with mince, pinch the edges, and fry them of a nice brown. The paste should be made with a small quantity of butter, egg and milk.

BEEF PIE. Season some cuttings of beef with pepper and salt, put some puff paste round the inside of the dish, and lay in the meat. Add some small potatoes, if approved, fill up the dish with water, and cover it with the paste.

BEEF PUDDING. Roll some fine steaks with fat between, and a very little shred onion. Lay a paste of suet in a bason, put in the rolled steaks, cover the bason with a paste, and pinch the edges to keep in the gravy. Cover with a cloth tied close, and let the pudding boil slowly a considerable time.—If for baking, make a batter of milk, two eggs and flour, or, which is much better, potatoes boiled, and mashed through a cullender. Lay a little of it at the bottom of the dish, then put in the steaks prepared as above, and very well seasoned. Pour the remainder of the batter over them, and bake it.

BEEF SANDERS. Mince some beef small, with onion, pepper and salt, and add a little gravy. Put it into scallop shells or saucers, making them three parts full, and fill them up with potatoes, mashed with a little cream. Put a bit of butter on the top, and brown them in an oven, or before the fire, or with a salamander. Mutton may be made into sanders in the same way.

BEEF SCALLOPS. Mince some beef fine, with onion, pepper and salt, and add a little gravy. Put the mince into scallop shells or saucers three parts full, and fill them up with potatoes, mashed with a little cream. Lay a bit of butter on the tops, and brown them in an oven, or before the fire.

BEEF STEAKS. To have them fine, they should be cut from a rump that has hung a few days. Broil them over a very clear or charcoal fire; put into the dish a little minced shalot, a table-spoonful of ketchup. The steak should be turned often, that the gravy may not be drawn out on either side. This dish requires to be eaten so hot and fresh done, that it is not in perfection if served with any thing else. Pepper and salt should be added when taking it off the fire, and a bit of butter rubbed on at the moment of serving. If accompanied with oyster sauce, strain off the liquor from the oysters, and throw them into cold water to take off the grit, while you simmer the liquor with a bit of mace and lemon peel. Then put in the oysters, stew them a few minutes, add a little cream, and some butter rubbed in a bit of flour. Let them boil up once, and throw the sauce over the steaks at the moment of sending the dish to table.

BEEF STEW. Cut into small pieces four or five pounds of beef, with some hard fat. Put these into a stewpan, with three pints of water, a little salt and pepper, a sprig of sweet herbs, and three cloves. Cover the pan very close, and let it stew four hours over a slow fire. Throw in some carrots and turnips, cut into square pieces; the white part of a leek, with two heads of celery chopped fine; a crust of bread, and two spoonfuls of vinegar. When done, put it into a deep dish, set it over hot water, and cover it close. Skim the gravy, and put in a few pickled mushrooms; thicken it with flour and butter, make it hot, and pour it over the beef.

BEEF TEA. Cut a pound of fleshy beef into thin slices; simmer it with a quart of water twenty minutes, after it has once boiled, and been skimmed. Season it, if approved; but a little salt only is sufficient.

BEEF VINGRETTE. Cut a slice of under-done boiled beef three inches thick, and a little fat. Stew it in half a pint of water, a glass of white wine, a bunch of sweet herbs, an onion, and a bay leaf. Season it with three cloves pounded, and pepper, till the liquor is nearly wasted away, turning it once. Serve it up cold. Strain off the gravy, and mix it with a little vinegar for sauce.

BEER. During the present ruinous system of taxation, it is extremely difficult, though highly desirable, to procure a cheap and wholesome beverage, especially for the labouring part of the community, to whom it is as needful as their daily food. Beer that is brewed and drunk at home, is more pure and nutricious than what is generally purchased at an alehouse; and those who cannot afford a better article, may perhaps find it convenient to adopt the following method for obtaining some cheap drink for small families.—To half a bushel of malt, add four pounds of treacle, and three quarters of a pound of hops. This will make twenty-five gallons of wholesome beer, which will be fit for use in a fortnight; but it is not calculated for keeping, especially in warm weather. Beer brewed in this way will not cost one halfpenny a pint. An agreeable table beer may be made ready for drinking in three or four days, consisting of treacle and water, fermented with a little yeast. Boil six or seven gallons of water, pour it on the same quantity of cold water in a cask, and a gallon of treacle. Stir them well together; and when the fermentation is abated, close the bung-hole in the usual way. A little of the outer rind of an orange peel infused into the beer, and taken out as soon as it has imparted a sufficient degree of bitterness, will give it an agreeable flavour, and assist in keeping the beer from turning sour. A little gentian root boiled in the water, either with or without the orange peel, will give a wholesome and pleasant bitter to this beer. A small quantity, by way of experiment, may be made thus. To eight quarts of boiling water, put one ounce of treacle, a quarter of an ounce of ginger, and two bay leaves. Let the whole boil a quarter of an hour; then cool and work it with yeast, the same as other beer. Another way to make a cheap malt liquor is to take a bushel of malt, with as much water and hops as if two bushels of malt were allowed in the common way, and put seven pounds of the coarsest brown sugar into the boiling wort. This makes a very pleasant liquor; is as strong, and will keep as long without turning sour or flat, as if two bushels had been employed. Twenty gallons of good beer may be made from a bushel of malt, and three quarters of a pound of hops, if care be taken to extract all their goodness. For this purpose boil twenty-four gallons of water, and steep the malt in it for three hours: then tie up the hops in a hair cloth, and boil malt, hops, and wort, all together for three quarters of an hour, which will reduce it to about twenty gallons. Strain it off, and set it to work when lukewarm. See BREWING.—As however it does not suit some persons to brew, in any way whatever, it may be necessary to add a few brief remarks on the distinguishing qualities of sound beer, that persons may know what it is they purchase, and how far their health may be affected by it. Wholesome beer then ought to be of a bright colour, and perfectly transparent, neither too high nor too pale. It should have a pleasant and mellow taste, sharp and agreeably bitter, without being hard or sour. It should leave no pungent sensation on the tongue; and if drank in any tolerable quantity, it must neither produce speedy intoxication, nor any of the usual effects of sleep, nausea, headache, or languor; nor should it be retained too long after drinking it, or be too quickly discharged. If beer purchased at the alehouse be suspected of having been adulterated with the infusion of vitriol, for the purpose of adding to its strength, it may be detected by putting in a few nut galls, which will immediately turn it black, if it have been so adulterated; and the beer ought by all means to be rejected, as highly injurious to the constitution, and may be fatal even to life itself.

BEES. A hive of bees may be considered as a populous city, containing thirty thousand inhabitants. This community is in itself a monarchy, composed of a queen, of males which are the drones, and of working bees called neuters. The combs being composed of pure wax, serve as a magazine for their stores, and a nursery for their young. Between the combs there is a space sufficient for two bees to march abreast, and there are also transverse defiles by which they can more easily pass from one comb to another.—The queen bee is distinguishable from the rest by the form of her body. She is much longer, unwieldy, and of a brighter colour, and seldom leaves the parent hive; but when she goes to settle a new colony, all the bees attend her to the place of destination. A hive of bees cannot subsist without a queen, as she produces their numerous progeny; and hence their attachment to her is unalterable. When a queen dies, the bees immediately cease working, consume their honey, fly about at unusual times, and eventually pine away, if not supplied with another sovereign. The death of the queen is proclaimed by a clear and uninterrupted humming, which should be a warning to the owner to provide the bees if possible with another queen, whose presence will restore vigour and exertion; of such importance is a sovereign to the existence and prosperity of this community. It is computed that a pregnant queen bee contains about five thousand eggs, and that she produces from ten to twelve thousand bees in the space of two months.—Drones are smaller than the queen, but larger than the working bees, and when on the wing they make a greater noise. Their office is to impregnate the eggs of the queen after they are deposited in the cells; but when this is effected, as they become useless to the hive, they are destroyed by the working bees and thrown out; and having no sting, they are without the power of resistance. After the season of the encrease of the bees is past, and when they attend to the collection of winter stores, every vestige of the drones is destroyed to make room for the honey. When drones are observed in a hive late in autumn, it is usually a sign that the stock is poor.—Working bees compose the most numerous body of the state. They have the care of the hive, collect the wax and honey, fabricate the wax into combs, feed the young, keep the hive clean, expel all strangers, and employ themselves in promoting the general prosperity. The working bee has two stomachs, one to contain the honey, and another for the crude wax. Among the different kinds of working bees, those are to be preferred which are small, smooth, and shining, and of a gentle disposition.—Considering the rich productions of these little insects, and the valuable purposes to which they may be applied, it is truly astonishing that so important an object in rural economy has been so little attended to by the inhabitants of this country. In Egypt, the cultivation of bees forms a leading object, and their productions constitute a part of its riches. About the end of October, when sustenance cannot be provided for them at home, the inhabitants of Lower Egypt embark their bees on the Nile, and convey them to the distant regions of Upper Egypt, when the inundation is withdrawn, and the flowers are beginning to bud. These insects are thus conducted through the whole extent of that fertile country; and after having gathered all the rich produce of the banks of the Nile, are re-conducted home about the beginning of February. In France also, floating bee-hives are very common. One barge contains from sixty to a hundred hives, which are well defended from the inclemency of the weather. Thus the owners float them gently down the stream, while they gather the honey from the flowers along its banks, and a little bee-house yields the proprietors a considerable income. At other times they convey bees by land, to places where honey and wax may be collected. The hives are fastened to each other by laths placed on a thin packcloth, which is drawn up on each side and tied with packthread several times round their tops. Forty or fifty hives are then laid in a cart, and the owner takes them to distant places where the bees may feed and work. But without this labour the industrious bee might be cultivated to great advantage, and thousands of pounds weight of wax and honey collected, which now are suffered to be wasted on the desert air, or perish unheeded amidst the flowers of the field.—Those whose attention may be directed to the subject by these remarks, and who intend to erect an apiary, should purchase the stocks towards the close of the year, when bees are cheapest; and such only as are full of combs, and well furnished with bees. To ascertain the age of the hives it should be remarked, that the combs of the last year are white, while those of the former year acquire a darkish yellow. Where the combs are black, the hive should be rejected as too old, and liable to the inroads of vermin. In order to obtain the greatest possible advantage from the cultivation of bees, it is necessary to supply them with every convenience for the support of themselves and their young. And though it may be too much trouble to transport them to distant places, in order to provide them with the richest food, and to increase their abundant stores; yet in some instances this plan might in part be adopted with considerable success. It has been seen in Germany, as well as in other parts of the continent, that forty large bee hives have been filled with honey, to the amount of seventy pounds each, in one fortnight, by their being placed near a large field of buck wheat in flower; and as this and various other plants adapted to enrich the hive are to be found in many parts of England, there is no reason why a similar advantage might not be derived from such an experiment.—Besides providing for them the richest food in summer, in order to facilitate their labours, it is equally necessary to attend to their preservation in the winter. To guard against the effects of cold, the bees should be examined during the winter; and if instead of being clustered between the combs, they are found in numbers at the bottom of the hive, they should be carried to a warmer place, where they will soon recover. In very severe seasons, lay on the bottom of an old cask the depth of half a foot of fine earth pressed down hard; place the stool on this with the hive, and cut a hole in the cask opposite to the entrance of the hive, in which fix a piece of reed or hollow elder, and then cover the whole with dry earth. This will preserve a communication with the external air, and at the same time keep out the cold. The bees remaining in a torpid state during the winter, they require but little food; but as every sunny day revives and prompts them to exercise, a small supply is necessary on these occasions. Many hives of bees which are supposed to have died of cold, have in reality perished by famine, especially when a rainy summer prevented them from collecting a sufficient store of provision. Hence the hives should be carefully examined in autumn, and ought then to weigh at least eighteen pounds each. When bees require to be fed, the honey should be diluted with water, and put into an empty comb, split reeds, or upon clear wood, which the bees will suck perfectly dry. But it is a much better way to replenish the weak hives in September, with such a portion of combs filled with honey taken from other hives as may be deemed a sufficient supply. This is done by turning up the weak hive, cutting out the empty combs, and placing full ones in their stead, so secure as not to fall down when the hive is replaced. If this be too troublesome, a plate of honey may be set under the hive, and straws laid across the plate, covered with paper perforated with small holes, through which the bees will suck the honey without difficulty.—These valuable insects are liable to various disorders, both from the food they eat, from foreign enemies, and from one another. If they have fed greedily on the blossoms of the milk thistle or the elm, it will render them incapable of working, and the hive will be stained with filth. The best cure in this case is pounded pomegranate seed, moistened with sweet wine; or raisins mixed with wine or mead, and the infusion of rosemary. When they are infested with vermin, the hive must be cleansed, and perfumed with a branch of pomegranate or the wild fig-tree, which will effectually destroy them. Butterflies sometimes conceal themselves in the hives, and annoy the bees; but these intruders may easily be exterminated by placing lighted candles in deep tin pots between the hives, as they will be attracted by the flame, and so perish. In order to extirpate wasps and hornets preying upon the honey, it is only necessary to expose shallow vessels near the hive with a little water, to which those depredators eagerly repair to quench their thirst, and thus easily drown themselves. To prevent bees of one society from attacking or destroying those of another, which is frequently the case, the following method may be tried. Let a board about an inch thick be laid on the bee bench, and set the hive upon it with its mouth exactly on the edge. The mouth of the hive should also be contracted to about an inch in length, and a semicircular hole made in the board immediately under the mouth of the hive. By this simple method, the bees which come to make the attack will be foiled, and constrained to act with great disadvantage. If this do not succeed, remove the hive to a distant part of the garden, and to a more easterly or colder aspect, which will frequently end the contest.—When bees are to be taken up for the purpose of obtaining the wax and honey, great care should be taken not to destroy the insects; and for this end the following method is recommended. The upper box on the hive, which principally contains the honey, is first to be taken off. The joint should be loosened, the cement scraped off, and then a piece of iron wire to be drawn through the comb so as to divide it. When the upper box is thus separated, its cover is to be taken off and immediately placed on the second box, which is now the highest. Having taken out the contents of the box which has been separated, it is to be placed again on the stand, under the lower box, and its door only is to be left open. If any bees remain in the box when taken away, a little smoke will drive them out, and they will quickly return to their own hive. In this manner a second or a third box of honey may be removed in succession, when the lower part of the hive appears to be full; but care must be taken not to deprive the bees entirely of the stock which they have collected for the winter. In taking up a common straw hive of bees, the best way is to remove it into a darkened room, that it may appear to the bees as if it were late in the evening. Then gently turning the hive bottom upwards, and supporting it in that position, cover it with an empty hive a little raised towards the window, to give the bees sufficient light to guide their ascent. Keep the empty hive steadily supported on the edge of the full hive, and strike the hand round the full hive to frighten the bees, till they have nearly all ascended into the other. The new hive containing the bees must be placed on the stand of the apiary, to receive the absent bees as they return from the fields.

BEET ROOT. This cooling and wholesome vegetable is good boiled, and sliced with a small quantity of onion, or stewed with whole onions in the following manner. Boil the beet tender with the skin on, slice it into a stewpan with a little broth and a spoonful of vinegar. Simmer it till the gravy is tinged with the colour; then put it into a small dish, and make a round of button onions, first boiled tender. Take off the skin just before serving, and let them be quite hot and clear. Or roast three large onions, and peel off the outer skins till they look clear; and serve round them the stewed beet root. The root must not be broken before it is dressed, or it will lose its colour, and look ill.—To preserve beet-root for winter use, they should not be cleared from the earth, but kept in layers of dry sand.

BEETLES. When these insects become troublesome in the house, put some small lumps of quick lime into the chinks or holes of the wall from whence they issue, or scatter it on the ground. Or at night, lay a spoonful of treacle on a piece of wood, and float it in a pan of water: beetles are so fond of syrup, that they will be drowned in attempting to get at it. The common black beetle may also be extirpated by placing a hedgehog in the room, during the summer nights; or by laying a bundle of pea straw near their holes, and afterwards burning it when the beetles have crept into it.

BENTON CAKES. Mix a paste of flour, a little bit of butter, and milk. Roll it as thin as possible, and bake on a backstone over the fire, or on a hot hearth. Another sort of Benton tea-cakes are made like biscuits, by rubbing into a pound of flour six ounces of butter, and three large spoonfuls of yeast. Work up the paste with a sufficient quantity of new milk, make it into biscuits, and prick them with a clean fork. Or melt six or seven ounces of butter, with a sufficient quantity of new milk warmed to make seven pounds of flour into a stiff paste. Roll it thin, and make it into biscuits.

BENTON SAUCE. Grate some horse-radish, or scrape it very fine. Add to it a little made mustard, some pounded white sugar, and four large spoonfuls of vinegar. Serve it up in a saucer: this is good with hot or cold roast beef.

BILLS OF FARE, or list of various articles in season in different months.

JANUARY.——Poultry. Game, pheasants, partridges, hares, rabbits, woodcocks, snipes, turkeys, capons, pullets, fowls, chickens, tame pigeons.—Fish. Carp, tench, perch, eels, lampreys, crayfish, cod, soles, flounders, plaice, turbot, skate, thornback, sturgeon, smelts, whitings, crabs, lobsters, prawns, oysters.—Vegetables. Cabbage, savoys, coleworts, sprouts, brocoli, leeks, onions, beet, sorrel, chervil, endive, spinach, celery, garlic, potatoes, parsnips, turnips, shalots, lettuces, cresses, mustard, rape, salsify, herbs dry and green.—Fruit. Apples, pears, nuts, walnuts, medlars, grapes.

FEBRUARY, MARCH.——Meat, fowls and game, as in January, with the addition of ducklings and chickens.—Fish. As the last two months, except that cod is not thought so good, from February to July.—Vegetables. The same as the former months, with the addition of kidney beans.—Fruit. Apples, pears, forced strawberries.

APRIL, MAY, JUNE.——Meat. Beef, mutton, veal, lamb, venison in June.——Poultry. Pullets, fowls, chickens, ducklings, pigeons, rabbits, leverets.—Fish. Carp, tench, soles, smelts, eels, trout, turbot, lobsters, chub, salmon, herrings, crayfish, mackarel, crabs, prawns, shrimps.—Vegetables. As before, and in May, early potatoes, peas, radishes, kidney beans, carrots, turnips, early cabbages, cauliflowers, asparagus, artichokes, all sorts of forced sallads.—Fruit. In June, strawberries, cherries, melons, green apricots, gooseberries and currants for tarts. In July, cherries, strawberries, pears, melons, gooseberries, currants, apricots, grapes, nectarines, peaches; but most of these are forced.

JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER.—Meat as before.—Poultry. Pullets, fowls, chickens, rabbits, pigeons, green geese, leverets, turkey poults, plovers, wheatears, and geese in September.—Fish. Cod, haddock, flounders, plaice, skate, thornback, mullets, pike, carp, eels, shellfish, except oysters; mackarel the first two months, but are not good in August.—Vegetables. Beans, peas, French beans, and various others.—Fruit. In July, strawberries, gooseberries, pineapples, plums, cherries, apricots, raspberries, melons, currants, damsons. In August and September, peaches, plums, filberts, figs, mulberries, cherries, apples, pears, nectarines, grapes, pines, melons, strawberries, medlars, quinces, morella cherries, damsons, and various plums.

OCTOBER.—Meat as before, and doe-venison.——Poultry. Game, pheasants, fowls, partridges, larks, hares, dotterels, wild ducks, teal, snipes, widgeon, grouse.—Fish. Dories, smelts, pike, perch, holibets, brills, carp, salmon trout, barbel, gudgeons, tench, shellfish.—Vegetables. As in January, French beans, runners, windsor beans.——Fruit. Peaches, pears, figs, bullace, grapes, apples, medlars, damsons, filberts, nuts, walnuts, quinces, services.

NOVEMBER.—Meat. Beef, mutton, veal, pork, house lamb, doe venison, poultry and game. Fish as the last month.—Vegetables. Carrots, turnips, parsnips, potatoes, skirrets, onions, leeks, shalots, cabbage, savoys, colewort, spinach, cardoons, cresses, endive, celery, lettuces, salad, herbs.—Fruit. Pears, apples, nuts, walnuts, bullace, chesnuts, medlars, grapes.

DECEMBER.—Meat. Beef, mutton, veal, house lamb, pork and venison.—Poultry. Game, turkeys, geese, pullets, pigeons, capons, fowls, chickens, rabbits, hares, snipes, woodcocks, larks, pheasants, partridges, sea-fowls, guinea-fowls, wild ducks, teal, widgeon, dotterels, dunbirds, grouse.—Fish. Turbot, cod, holibets, soles, gurnets, sturgeon, carp, gudgeons, codlings, eels, dories, shellfish.—Vegetables. As in the last month; asparagus forced.—Fruit. As the last, except bullace.

BIRCH WINE. The season for obtaining the liquor from birch trees, is in the latter end of February or the beginning of March, before the leaves shoot out, and as the sap begins to rise. If the time be delayed, the juice will grow too thick to be drawn out. It should be as thin and clear as possible. The method of procuring the juice is by boring holes in the trunk of the tree, and fixing in facets made of elder; but care should be taken not to tap it in too many places at once, for fear of injuring the tree. If the tree is large, it may be bored in five or six places at once, and bottles are to be placed under the apertures to receive the sap. When four or five gallons have been extracted from different trees, cork the bottles very close, and wax them till the wine is to be made, which should be as soon as possible after the sap has been obtained. Boil the sap, and put four pounds of loaf sugar to every gallon, also the rind of a lemon cut thin; then boil it again for nearly an hour, skimming it well all the time. Into a cask that will contain it, put a lighted brimstone match, stop it up till the match is burnt out, and then pour the liquor into it as quickly as possible. When nearly cold, work it with a toast spread with yeast, and let it stand five or six days, stirring it two or three times a-day. Put the bung lightly in till it has done working; then close it down, and let it stand two or three months. The wine may then be bottled, and will be fit for use in about a week. It makes a rich and salutary cordial, and its virtues are much relied on in consumptive and scorbutic cases.

BISCUIT CAKE. One pound of flour, five eggs well beaten and strained, eight ounces of sugar, a little rose or orange flower water. Beat the whole thoroughly, and bake it one hour.

BISCUITS. To make hard biscuits, warm two ounces of butter in as much skimmed milk as will make a pound of flour into a very stiff paste. Beat it with a rolling pin, and work it very smooth. Roll it thin, and cut it into round biscuits. Prick them full of holes with a fork, and about six minutes will bake them.—For plain and very crisp biscuits, make a pound of flour, the yolk of an egg, and some milk, into a very stiff paste. Beat it well, and knead it quite smooth; roll the paste very thin, and cut it into biscuits. Bake them in a slow oven till quite dry and crisp.—To preserve biscuits for a long time sweet and good, no other art is necessary than packing them up in casks well caulked, and carefully lined with tin, so as to exclude the air. The biscuits should be laid as close as possible; and when it is necessary to open the cask, it must be speedily closed again with care. Sea bread may also be preserved on a long voyage, by being put into a bag which has been previously soaked in a quantity of liquid nitre, and dried. This has been found to preserve the biscuits from the fatal effects of the wevil, and other injurious insects, which are destructive to this necessary article of human sustenance.

BITTERS. Bruise an ounce of gentian root, and two drams of cardamom seeds together: add an ounce of lemon peel, and three drams of Seville orange peel. Pour on the ingredients a pint and half of boiling water, and let it stand an hour closely covered: then pour off the clear liquor, and a glass of it taken two or three times a day will be found an excellent bitter for the stomach.—Or slice an ounce of gentian root, and add half a dram of snakes' root bruised, half a dram of saffron, three quarters of a dram of cardamom seeds, and the same of cochineal bruised together, and the peel of three Seville oranges. Steep the ingredients in a pint of brandy fourteen days, shaking them together frequently; then strain the tincture through a piece of muslin, and a tea-spoonful in a glass of wine may be taken two or three times a day.

BLACK BUTTER. Boil a pound of moist sugar with three pounds of gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and cherries, till reduced to half the quantity. Put it into pots covered with brandy paper, and it will be found a pleasant sweetmeat.

BLACK CAPS. Divide and core some fine large apples, put them in a shallow pan, strew white sugar over, and bake them. Boil a glass of wine, the same of water, and sweeten it for sauce. Or, take off a slice from the stalk end of some apples, and core without paring them. Mix with grated lemon, and a few cloves in fine powder, as much sugar as will sweeten them. Stuff the holes as close as possible with this, and turn the flat end down on a stewpan; set them on a very slow fire, with some raisin wine and water. Cover them close, and now and then baste them with the liquor: when done enough, black the tops with a salamander.

BLACK INK. Infuse in a gallon of rain or soft water, a pound of blue galls bruised, and keep it stirring for three weeks. Then add four ounces of green copperas, four ounces of logwood chips, six ounces of gum arabac, and a glass of brandy.—To make ink of a superior quality, and fit for immediate use, prepare the following ingredients. Four ounces of blue galls, two ounces of chipped logwood, two of sulphate of iron, one ounce and a half of gum arabac, half an ounce of sulphate of copper, and half an ounce of brown sugar. Boil the galls and logwood in six pints of spring or distilled water, until nearly three pints of water are evaporated, then strain it through a piece of flannel. Powder the salts in a mortar, dissolve the gum in a little warm water, then mix the whole together, and shake it frequently for two or three days; during which time expose it to the air, and it will become blacker. Decant the liquor into stone bottles well corked, and it will be fit for use directly. Those who wish to avoid the trouble of such a process, will find an excellent substitute in Walkden's Ink Powder ready prepared, with directions how to use it. If a cup of sweet wort be added to two papers of the powder, it will give it the brightness of japan ink.

BLACK LEAD. The best preparation for cleaning cast-iron stoves is made of black lead, mixed with a little common gin, or the dregs of port wine, and laid on the stove with a piece of linen rag. Then with a clean brush, not too hard, and dipped in some dried black lead powder, rub the stove till it comes to a beautiful brightness. This will produce a much finer black varnish on the cast-iron, than either boiling the black lead with small beer and soap, or mixing it with white of egg, as is commonly practised.

BLACK PAPER, for drawing patterns, may easily be made in the following manner. Mix and smooth some lamp-black and sweet oil, with a piece of flannel. Cover a sheet or two of large writing paper with this mixture, then dab the paper dry with a rag of fine linen, and prepare it for future use by putting the black side on another sheet of paper, and fastening the corners together with a small pin. When wanted to draw, lay the pattern on the back of the black paper, and go over it with the point of a steel pencil. The black paper will then leave the impression of the pattern on the under sheet, on which you must now draw it with ink. If you draw patterns on cloth or muslin, do it with a pen dipped in a bit of stone blue, a bit of sugar, and a little water, mixed smooth in a tea cup, in which it will be always ready for use.

BLACK PUDDINGS. The pig's blood must be stirred with a little salt till it is cold. Put a full quart of it to a quart of whole grits, and let it stand all night. Soak the crumb of a quartern loaf in rather more than two quarts of new milk made hot. In the meantime prepare the guts by washing, turning and scraping, with salt and water, and changing the water several times. Chop fine a little winter savoury and thyme, a good quantity of pennyroyal, pepper and salt, a few cloves, some allspice, ginger and nutmeg. Mix these all together, with three pounds of beef suet, and six eggs well beaten and strained. Have ready some hog's fat cut into large bits; and as the skins are filling with the pudding, put in the fat at intervals. Tie up in links only half filled, and boil in a large kettle, pricking them as they swell, or they will burst. When boiled, lay them between clean cloths till cold, and hang them up in the kitchen. When to be used, scald them a few minutes in water; wipe, and put them into a Dutch oven. If there be not skins enough, put the stuffing into basins, and boil it covered with floured cloths. Slice and fry it when used.—Another way is, to soak all night a quart of bruised grits in as much boiling-hot milk as will swell them, and leave half a pint of liquid. Chop a quantity of pennyroyal, savoury and thyme; add salt and pepper, and allspice finely powdered. Mix the above with a quart of the blood, prepared as before directed; clean the skins thoroughly, half fill them with the stuffing, put in as much of the leaf fat of the pig as will make it pretty rich, and boil as before directed. A small quantity of leeks finely shred and well mixed, is a great improvement.—A superior article may be made as follows: boil a quart of half-grits in as much milk as will swell them to the utmost, drain them and add a quart of blood, a pint of rich cream, a pound of suet, some mace, nutmeg, allspice, and four cloves, all in fine powder. And two pounds of hog's leaf cut into dice, two leeks, a handful of parsley, ten leaves of sage, a large handful of pennyroyal, and a sprig of thyme and knotted marjoram, all finely minced; eight eggs well beaten, half a pound of bread crumbs scalded in a pint of milk, with pepper and salt. Soak and clean the skins in several waters, last of all in rose-water, and half fill them with the stuffing. Tie the skins in links, boil and prick them with a clean fork, to prevent their breaking, and cover them with a clean cloth till cold.

BLACKBERRY JAM. Put some red, but not ripe, blackberries into a jar, and cover it up closely. Set the jar in a kettle or deep stewpan of water over the fire, as a water bath; and when it has simmered five or six hours, force the juice through a sieve. To every pint of juice, add two pounds of powdered loaf-sugar, boiling and scumming it in the same manner as for any other jam or jelly. This simple article is said to afford effectual relief in cases of stone or gravel: a tea-spoonful to be taken every night, and repeated in the morning, if necessary. A good jam may also be made of ripe blackberries, in a similar manner; and both, like other jams, should be kept in jars, closely tied over with brandy paper.

BLACKBERRY WINE. Pick and clean a quantity of ripe blackberries; to every quart of fruit, add a quart of cold water which has first been boiled. Bruise them well, and let the whole stand twenty-four hours, stirring it occasionally during that time. Express all the juice and run it through a sieve or jelly bag, on a pound and a half of sugar to each gallon of liquid. Stir it till thoroughly dissolved, put it in a well seasoned barrel, add a little dissolved isinglass, and let it remain open till the next day; then bung it up. This makes a pleasant wine, which may be bottled off in about two months.

BLACKING for shoes is made of four ounces of ivory black, three ounces of the coarsest sugar, a table-spoonful of sweet oil, and a pint of small beer, gradually mixed together cold.

BLACKING BALLS. Portable shoe-blacking, in the form of cakes or balls, is made in the following manner. Take four ounces of mutton suet, one ounce of bees-wax, one of sweet oil, and a dram each of powdered sugar-candy and gum-arabac. Melt them well together over a slow fire; add a spoonful of turpentine, and lamp-black sufficient to give it a good black colour. While hot enough to run, make the composition into a ball, by pouring it into a tin mould; or let it stand till nearly cold, and then it may be moulded into any form by the hand.

BLADE-BONE OF PORK. Cut it from the bacon-hog, with a small quantity of meat upon it, and lay it on the gridiron. When nearly done pepper and salt it. Add a piece of butter, and a tea-spoonful of mustard; and serve it up quickly. This dish is much admired in Somersetshire. A blade-bone of mutton may be dressed in the same way.

BLAMANGE. Boil two ounces of isinglass half an hour, in a pint and half of water, and strain off the cream. Sweeten it, and add some peach water, or a few bitter almonds; let it boil up once, and put it into what forms you please. Be sure to let the blamange settle before you turn it into the forms, or the blacks will remain at the bottom of them, and be on the top of the blamange when taken out of the moulds. If not to be very stiff, a little less isinglass will do.—For Yellow Blamange, pour a pint of boiling water upon an ounce of isinglass, and the peel of one lemon. When cold, sweeten with two ounces of fine sugar: add a quarter of a pint of white wine, the yolks of four eggs, and the juice of one lemon. Stir all together, and let it boil five minutes: strain through a bag, and put into cups.

BLANKETS, if not in constant use, are liable to be moth-eaten. To prevent this, they should be folded and laid under feather beds that are in use, and occasionally shaken. When soiled, they should be washed, not scoured: and well dried before they are laid by, or they will breed moths.

BLEACHING OF STRAW. This is generally done by the fumes of sulphur, in a place enclosed for that purpose: but to render the straw very white, and encrease its flexibility in platting, it should be dipped in a solution of oxygenated muriatic acid, saturated with potash. Oxygenated muriate of lime will also answer the purpose. To repair straw bonnets, they must be carefully ripped to pieces; the plat should be bleached with the above solution, and made up afresh.

BLUE INK. Dissolve an ounce of finely powdered verdigris, and half an ounce of cream of tartar, in three ounces of water. This will make a fine blue writing ink, which has the singular property of giving to an iron nail, immersed in it for twenty-four hours, a beautiful green colour.

BOARDED FLOORS will preserve a beautiful appearance, if treated in the following manner. After washing them very clean with soda and warm water, and a brush, wash them with a large sponge and clean water, observing that no spot be left untouched. Be careful to clean straight up and down, not crossing from board to board: then dry with clean cloths, rubbing hard up and down the same way. The floors should not be often wetted, but very thoroughly when done; and once a week dry-rubbed with hot sand, and a heavy brush, the right way of the boards. If oil or grease have stained the floor, make a strong lye of pearl-ashes and soft water, and add as much unslaked lime as it will take up. Stir it together, and then let it settle a few minutes; bottle it, and stop it close. When used, lower it with a little water, and scour the part with it. If the liquor lie long on the boards, it will extract their colour; it must therefore be done with care and expedition. Stone work may be freed from stains in the same way.

BOCKINGS. Mix three ounces of buck-wheat flour with a tea-cupful of warm milk, and a spoonful of yeast. Let it rise before the fire about an hour; then mix four eggs well beaten, and as much milk as will make the batter the usual thickness for pancakes, and fry them in the same manner.

BOILING. Cleanliness here is of great consequence; and for this purpose all culinary vessels should be made of iron, or of other metals well tinned. The pernicious effects of copper or brass may be perceived by rubbing the hand round the inside of a pot or kettle made of either of those metals, and which has been scoured clean and fit for use; for though it may not discolour the hand, yet it will cause an offensive smell, and must in some degree affect every article which is put into it. If copper or brass be used, they should be well cleaned, and nothing suffered to remain in the vessels longer than is necessary for the purposes of cooking. In small families however, block-tin saucepans and boilers are much to be preferred, as lightest and safest. If proper care be taken of them, and they are well dried after being cleaned, they are also by far the cheapest; the purchase of a new tin saucepan being little more than the expense of tinning a copper one. Care should be taken to have the covers of boiling pots fit close, not only to prevent an unnecessary evaporation of the water, but that the smoke may not insinuate itself under the edge of the lid, and give the meat a bad taste. A trivet or fish drainer placed in the boiler to lay the meat on, and to raise it an inch and a half from the bottom, will prevent that side of it which comes next the bottom from being done too much, and the lower part of the meat will be as delicately done as any other. Instead of a trivet, four skewers stuck into the meat transversely will answer the purpose, or a soup plate whelmed the wrong side upwards. With good management it will take less fire for boiling than for roasting, but it should be kept to a regular pitch, so as to keep the pot gently boiling all the time. If it boils too fast, it will harden the meat, by extracting too much of the gravy; but if it be allowed to simmer only, or to boil gently, it will become rich and tender. The scum must be carefully taken off as soon as the water boils, or it will sink and discolour the meat. The oftener it is scummed, and the cleaner the top of the water is kept, the cleaner will be the meat; and if a little cold water be occasionally thrown in, it will bring up the remainder of the scum to the surface. Neither mixing milk with the water nor wrapping up the meat in a cloth are necessary, if the scum be attentively removed; and the meat will have a more delicate colour, and a finer flavour, if boiled in clear water only. The general rule for boiling is to allow a quarter of an hour to a pound of meat; but if it be boiled gently or simmered only, which is by far the superior way, twenty minutes to the pound will scarcely be found too much. At the same time care must be taken to keep the pot constantly boiling, and not to suffer the meat to remain in after it is done enough, or it will become sodden, and lose its flavour. The quantity of water is regulated by the size of the meat; sufficient to cover it, but not to drown it; and the less water, the more savoury will the meat be, and the better the broth. It is usual to put all kinds of fresh meat into hot water, and salt meat into cold water; but if the meat has been salted only a short time it is better to put it in when the water boils, or it will draw out too much of the gravy. Lamb, veal, and pork require rather more boiling than other meat, to make them wholesome. The hind quarters of most animals require longer time to dress than the fore quarters, and all kinds of provision require more time in frosty weather than in summer. Large joints of beef and mutton are better a little underdone; they make the richer hash; but meat that is fresh slain will remain tough and hard, in whatever way it may be cooked. All meat should be washed clean before it is put into the boiler, but salt meat especially. A ham of twenty pounds will take four hours and a half in boiling, and others in proportion. A dried tongue, after being soaked, will take four hours boiling: a tongue out of pickle, from two hours and a half to three hours, or more if very large: it must be judged by its feeling quite tender. Boiling is in general the most economical mode of cooking, if care be taken to preserve the broth, and apply it to useful purposes.

BOILED BACON. Soak it, and take off the rind before boiling. A pound of bacon boiled without the skin will weigh an ounce heavier than a pound boiled with it. Fat bacon should be put into hot water, and lean into cold water, when it is to be dressed. Young bacon will boil in about three quarters of an hour. Grate some toasted bread over it, and set it near the fire to brown it a little, before it is sent to table.

BOILED BEEF. When the water boils put in the meat, whether beef or mutton, and take off the scum as it rises. If the scum be suffered to sink, it will stick to the meat, and spoil its colour. Turnips, greens, potatoes, or carrots with the beef, and caper sauce with the mutton.

BOILED CUSTARD. Set a pint of cream over a slow fire, adding two ounces of sugar, and the rind of a lemon. Take it off the fire as soon as it begins to simmer; as the cream cools, add by degrees the yolks of eight eggs well beaten, with a spoonful of orange water. Stir it carefully over a slow fire till it almost boils, and strain it quickly through a piece of thin muslin. Put it into cups, and serve it up cold.

BOILED DUCK. Choose a fine fat duck, salt it two days, and boil it slowly in a cloth. Serve it with onion sauce, but melt the butter with milk instead of water.

BOILED EELS. The small ones are best, provided they are bright, and of a good colour. After they are skinned, boil them in a small quantity of water, with a quantity of parsley, which with the liquor should be sent to table with them. Serve chopped parsley and butter for sauce.

BOILED FOWL. For boiling, choose those that are not black-legged. Pick them nicely, singe, wash, and truss them. Flour them, and put them into boiling water: half an hour will be sufficient for one of middling size. Serve with parsley and butter; oyster, lemon, liver, or celery sauce. If for dinner, ham, tongue or bacon is usually served with them, and also greens.—When cooked with rice, stew the fowl very slowly in some clear mutton broth well skimmed, and seasoned with onion, mace, pepper and salt. About half an hour before it is ready, put in a quarter of a pint of rice well washed and soaked. Simmer it till it is quite tender, strain it from the broth, and put the rice on a sieve before the fire. Keep the fowl hot, lay it in the middle of the dish, and the rice round it without the broth. The broth will be nice by itself, but the less liquor the fowl is done with the better. Gravy, or parsley and butter, for sauce.

BOILED HAM. Soak the ham in cold water the night before it is to be dressed, scrape it clean, and put it into the boiler with cold water. Skim the liquor while boiling; let it not boil fast, but simmer only, and add a little cold water occasionally for this purpose. When the ham is done, take it up, pull off the skin carefully, and grate a crust of bread over it so as to cover it tolerably thick. Set it before the fire, or put it into the oven till the bread is crisp; garnish it with carrots, or any thing that is in season. A ham of twenty pounds will require five hours boiling, and others in proportion.

BOILED LEG OF PORK. Salt it eight or ten days; and when it is to be dressed, weigh it. Let it lie half an hour in cold water to make it white: allow a quarter of an hour for every pound, and half an hour over, from the time it boils up. Skim it as soon as it boils, and frequently after. Allow plenty of water, and save some of it for peas-soup. The leg should be small, and of a fine grain; and if boiled in a floured cloth, it will improve the colour and appearance. Serve it with peas-pudding and turnips.

BOILED SALMON. Clean it carefully, boil it gently, and take it out of the water as soon as done. Let the water be warm, if the fish be split: if underdone, it is very unwholesome. Serve with shrimp or anchovy sauce.

BOILED TURBOT. The turbot kettle must be of a proper size, and in good order. Set the fish in cold water sufficient to cover it completely, throw a handful of salt and a glass of vinegar into it, and let it gradually boil. Be very careful that no blacks fall into it; but skim it well, and preserve the beautiful colour of the fish. Serve it garnished with a complete fringe of curled parsley, lemon and horse-radish. The sauce must be the finest lobster, anchovy and butter, and plain butter, served plentifully in separate tureens.—If necessary, turbot will keep two or three days, and be in as high perfection as at first, if lightly rubbed over with salt, and carefully hung in a cold place.

BOILED TURKEY. A turkey will neither boil white nor eat tender, unless it has been killed three or four days. Pick it clean, draw it at the rump, cut off the legs, stick the end of the thighs into the body, and tie them fast. Flour the turkey, put it into the water while cold, let it boil gently half an hour or more, take off the scum, and cover the kettle close. Make the stuffing of grated bread and lemon peel, four ounces of shred suet, a few chopped oysters, two eggs, and a little cream. Fill the craw with stuffing, and make the rest into balls, which are to be boiled and laid round the dish. The stuffing may be made without oysters; or force-meat or sausage may be used, mixed with crumbs of bread and yolks of eggs. Celery sauce or white sauce is very proper.

BOILED VEAL. Dredge it with flour, tie it up in a cloth, and put it in when the water boils. A knuckle requires more boiling in proportion to its weight, than any other joint, to render the gristle soft and tender. Parsley and butter, bacon and greens, are commonly eaten with it.

BOILERS. Copper boilers and saucepans are apt to become leaky, when they have been joined or mended, or from bruises, which sometimes render them unfit for use. In this case a cement of pounded quicklime, mixed with ox's blood, applied fresh to the injured part, will be of great advantage, and very durable. A valuable cement for such purposes may also be made of equal parts of vinegar and milk mixed together so as to produce a curd: the whey is then put to the whites of four or five eggs after they have been well beaten, and the whole reduced to a thick paste by the addition of some quicklime finely sifted. This composition applied to cracks or fissures of any kind, and properly dried, will resist the effects of fire and water.

BOLOGNA SAUSAGES. Cut into small pieces four pounds of lean beef, and add to it a pound of diced suet, with the same quantity of diced bacon. Season with allspice, pepper, bay salt, saltpetre, and a little powder of bay leaves. Mix the whole together, tie the meat up in skins about the thickness of the wrist, dry the sausages in the same manner as tongues, and eat them without boiling.

BOLOGNA SOUP. Bind close with packthread, fifteen pounds of brisket of beef, and put it into a pot with water sufficient to cover it. Then add three large carrots, some good turnips, four onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, and half a white cabbage sliced and fried in butter. The pot must be well scummed before the herbs are put in. It must boil very slowly for five or six hours; and when half boiled, prepare three or four pounds of loin of mutton, with all the fat taken off, and put it into the pot. Flavour the soup with whole pepper, and a head of celery; and to make it of a good colour, draw the gravy from a pound of lean beef over a slow fire, and add a ladleful to the soup, first carefully taking off all the fat. Having cut and dried the crust of a French roll, lay it in a stewpan with a little soup; and after stewing it over a slow fire, place it with a slice in the soup tureen. The beef must be untied, and served up with chopped parsley strewed over it; accompanied also with gravy sauce, a few capers, and some chopped carrots, thickened with the yolk of an egg. Add a little seasoning to the soup.

BOOTS. Persons who travel much, or are often exposed to the weather, must be sensible of the importance of being provided with boots that will resist the wet. The following is a composition for preserving leather, the good effects of which are sufficiently ascertained. One pint of drying oil, two ounces of yellow wax, two ounces of spirit of turpentine, and half an ounce of Burgundy pitch, should be carefully melted together over a slow fire. With this mixture, new shoes and boots are to be rubbed in the sun, or at some distance from the fire, with a sponge or brush. The operation is to be repeated as often as they become dry, and until they are fully saturated. In this manner the leather becomes impervious to the wet: the boots or shoes last much longer than those of common leather, acquire such softness and pliability that they never shrivel or grow hard, and in that state are the most effectual preservation against wet and cold. It is necessary to observe, however, that boots or shoes thus prepared ought not to be worn till they become perfectly dry and flexible: otherwise the leather will be too soft, and the boots unserviceable.

BOOT TOPS. Many of the compositions sold for the purpose of cleaning and restoring the colour of boot tops, are not found to answer, and are often injurious to the leather. A safe and easy preparation is made of a quart of boiled milk, which, when cold, is to be mixed with an ounce of the oil of vitriol, and an ounce of the spirit of salts, shaken well together. An ounce of red lavender is then to be added, and the liquid applied to the leather with a sponge. Or, mix a dram of oxymuriate of potash with two ounces of distilled water; and when the salt is dissolved, add two ounces of muriatic acid. Shake together in another vial, three ounces of rectified spirits of wine, with half an ounce of the essential oil of lemon, and unite the contents of the two vials, keeping the liquid closely corked for use. It is to be applied with a clean sponge, and dried gently; after which the tops may be polished with a proper brush, so as to appear like new leather. This mixture will readily take out grease, or any kind of spots, from leather or parchment.

BOTTLES. The common practice of cleaning glass bottles with shot is highly improper; for if through inattention any of it should remain, when the bottles are again filled with wine or cider, the lead will be dissolved, and the liquor impregnated with its pernicious qualities. A few ounces of potash dissolved in water will answer the purpose much better, and clean a great number of bottles. If any impurity adhere to the sides, a few pieces of blotting paper put into the bottle, and shaken with the water, will very soon remove it. Another way is to roll up some pieces of blotting paper, steep them in soap and water, then put them into bottles or decanters with a little warm water, and shake them well for a few minutes: after this they will only require to be rinsed and dried.

BOTTLING LIQUORS. Here the first thing to be attended to is, to see that the bottles be perfectly clean and dry; if wet, they will spoil the liquor, and make it turn mouldy. Then, though the bottles should be clean and dry, yet if the corks be not new and sound, the liquor will be damaged; for if the air can by any means penetrate, the liquor will grow flat, and never rise. As soon as a cask of liquor begins to grow vapid, and to lose its briskness, while it is on the tap, it should be drawn off immediately into bottles; and in order to quicken it, put a piece of loaf sugar into every bottle, about the size of a walnut. To forward the ripening, wrap the bottles in hay, and set them in a warm place; straw will not answer the purpose. When ale is to be bottled, it will be an improvement to add a little rice, a few raisins, or a tea-spoonful of moist sugar to each bottle. In the summer time, if table beer is bottled as soon as it has done working, it will soon become brisk, and make a very pleasant and refreshing drink.

BOTTLED CURRANTS. See that the bottles be perfectly clean and dry, and let the fruit be gathered quite ripe, and when the weather is dry. The currants should be cut from the large stalks, with the smallest bit of stalk to each, and care taken not to wound the fruit, that none of the moisture may escape. It would be best indeed to cut them under the trees, and let them drop gently into the bottles. Stop up the bottles with cork and rosin, and trench them in the garden with the neck downwards: sticks should be placed opposite to where each sort of fruit begins. Cherries and damsons may be kept in the same way.

BOTTLED GOOSEBERRIES. Pick some smooth gooseberries before they are quite full grown, put them into gooseberry bottles lightly corked, and set them up to their necks in a copper of cold water. Put a little hay round the bottles to prevent their breaking, make a fire under them, and let the heat increase gradually; let them simmer ten minutes, but not boil. Take out the fire, and let them remain in the copper till cold. Then take them out, dry the bottles, rosin down the corks close, and set them in dry saw-dust with their necks downward.

BRAISING. To braise any kind of meat, put it into a stewpan, and cover it with fat bacon. Then add six or eight onions, a bundle of herbs, carrots, celery, any bones or trimmings of meat or fowls, and some stock. The bacon must be covered with white paper, and the lid of the pan must be kept close. Set it on a slow stove; and according to what the meat is, it will require two or three hours. The meat is then to be taken out, the gravy nicely skimmed, and set on to boil very quick till it is thick. The meat is to be kept hot; and if larded, put into the oven for a few minutes. Then put the jelly over it, which is called glazing, and is used for ham, tongue, and various made-dishes. White wine is added to some glazing. The glaze should be of beautiful clear yellow brown, and it is best put on with a nice brush.

BRAISED CHICKENS. Bone them, and fill them with forcemeat. Lay the bones and any other poultry trimmings into a stewpan, and the chickens on them. Put to them a few onions, a handful of herbs, three blades of mace, a pint of stock, and a glass or two of sherry. Cover the chickens with slices of bacon, and then white paper; cover the whole close, and put them on a slow stove for two hours. Then take them up, strain the braise, and skim off the fat carefully: set it on to boil very quick to a glaze, and lay it over the chicken with a brush. Before glazing, put the chicken into an oven for a few minutes, to give it a colour. Serve with a brown fricassee of mushrooms.

BRAISED MUTTON. Take off the chump end of a loin of mutton, cover it with buttered paper, and then with paste, as for venison. Roast it two hours, but let it not be browned. Have ready some French beans boiled, and drained on a sieve; and while you are glazing the mutton, give the beans one heat-up in gravy, and lay them on the dish with the meat over them.

BRAISED VEAL. Lard the best end of a neck of veal with bacon rolled in chopped parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Put it into a tosser, and cover it with water. Add the scrag end of the neck, a little lean bacon or ham, an onion, two carrots, two heads of celery, and a glass of Madeira. Stew it quickly for two hours, or till it is tender, but not too much. Strain off the liquor: mix a little flour and butter in a stewpan till brown, and lay the veal in this, the upperside to the bottom of the pan. Let it be over the fire till it gets coloured: then lay it into the dish, stir some of the liquor in and boil it up, skim it nicely, and squeeze orange and lemon juice into it.

BRANDY CREAM. Boil two dozen of blanched almonds, and pounded bitter almonds, in a little milk. When cold, add to it the yolks of five eggs beating well in cream; sweeten, and put to it two glasses of good brandy. After it is well mixed, pour to it a quart of thin cream; set it over the fire, but not to boil. Stir it one way till it thickens, then pour into cups or low glasses, and when cold it will be ready. A ratafia drop may be added to each cup; and if intended to keep, the cream must be previously scalded.

BRANDY PUDDING. Line a mould with jar-raisins stoned, or dried cherries, then with thin slices of French roll; next to which put ratafias, or macaroons; then the fruit, rolls and cakes in succession, till the mould is full, sprinkling in at times two glasses of brandy. Beat four eggs, add a pint of milk or cream lightly sweetened, half a nutmeg, and the rind of half a lemon finely grated. Let the liquid sink into the solid part; then flour a cloth, tie it tight over, and boil one hour; keep the mould the right side up. Serve with pudding sauce.

BRASS. Culinary vessels made of this metal, are constantly in danger of contracting verdigris. To prevent this, instead of wiping them dry in the usual manner, let them be frequently immersed in water, and they will be preserved safe and clean.

BRAWN. Young brawn is to be preferred, the horny part of which will feel moderately tender, and the flavour will be better; the rind of old brawn will be hard. For Mock Brawn, boil a pair of neat's feet very tender; take the meat off, and have ready a belly-piece of salt pork, which has been in pickle for a week. Boil this almost enough, take out the bones if there be any, and roll the feet and the pork together. Bind it tight together with a strong cloth and coarse tape, boil it quite tender, and hang it up in the cloth till cold. Keep it afterwards in souse till it is wanted.

BREAD. Two very important reasons urge the propriety and necessity of using home-baked bread, in preference to baker's bread, wherever it can be done with tolerable convenience; these are, its superior quality, and its cheapness. A bushel of wheat, weighing sixty pounds, will make sixty-five pounds of household bread, after the bran has been taken out; and if the pollard be separated also, to make a finer article, a bushel of ground wheat will then make fifty-eight pounds of fine white bread, free from any foreign mixture, leaving from ten to fifteen pounds of bran and pollard, which may be applied to useful purposes. The calculation then will be easy, and the difference between purchasing and making bread will be seen at once. A bushel of ground wheat weighing sixty pounds will produce thirteen quartern loaves and a half of fine bread, after the bran and pollard have been taken out; add to the price of the wheat, nine-pence a bushel for grinding, three-pence for yeast, four-pence for salt and the expence of baking; and from this deduct six-pence at least for the value of the bran and pollard, and it gives the price of the quartern loaves made and baked at home. In general it will be found that there is a saving of one third of the expense, if the business be properly conducted. Then the wholesome and nutricious quality of the bread is incomparably superior; there is no addition of alum, ground potatoes, whiting, or any other ingredient to give weight or colour to the bread, as is too often the case with baker's bread; but all is nutricious, sound, and good. But supposing their bread to be equal in quality, there is still a considerable saving in the course of a year, especially in a large family; and if household bread be made instead of fine bread, every bushel of good heavy wheat will produce nearly fifteen quartern loaves. Besides this, rye, and even a little barley mixed with the wheat, will make very good bread, and render it cheaper still. Rye will add a sweetness to the bread, and make it cut firmer, so as to prevent the waste of crumbs, and is unquestionably an article of good economy. The addition of potatoes is by no means to be approved, though so often recommended; any of the grains already mentioned have in them ten times the nutrition of potatoes, and in the end will be found to be much cheaper. Making bread with skim milk, instead of water, where it can be done, is highly advantageous, and will produce a much better article than can be purchased at a baker's shop.—On the subject of making bread, little need be said, as every common maid-servant is or ought to be well acquainted with this necessary part of household work, or she is good for nothing. To make good bread however, the flour should be kept four or five weeks before it is baked. Then put half a bushel of it into a kneading trough, mix with it between four and five quarts of warm water or skim milk, and a pint and a half of good yeast, and stir it well together with the hand till it become tough. Let it rise before the fire, about an hour and a half, or less if it rise fast; then, before it falls, add four quarts more of warm water, and half a pound of salt. Work it well, and cover it with a cloth. Put the fire into the oven; and by the time it is heated, the dough will be ready. Make the loaves about five pounds each, sweep out the oven very clean and quick, and put in the bread; shut it up close, and two hours and a half will bake it. In summer the water should be milk warm, in winter a little more, and in frosty weather as hot as the hand will bear, but not scalding, or the whole will be spoiled. Bread is better baked without tins, which gives to the crust an unnatural degree of hardness.—Those who are under the necessity of purchasing baker's bread, for want of other convenience, may detect the adulteration of alum by macerating a small piece of the crumb of new-baked bread in cold water, sufficient to dissolve it; and the taste of the alum, if it has been used, will acquire a sweet astringency. Or a heated knife may be thrust into a loaf before it has grown cold; and if it be free from that ingredient, scarcely any alteration will be visible on the blade; but, in the contrary case, its surface, after being allowed to cool, will appear slightly covered with an aluminous incrustation.