fresh vegetable that is good for food, should be eaten as freely as possible.

There is much needless waste in the use of vegetables, for by peeling and cutting, the potato is often reduced to half its former size, and much is lost in throwing away the outside leaves of cabbage, lettuce, and celery. The parts which are thus cut away may not be so tender and agreeable as that which remains, but they are good food, and if not

given to the pigs are really wasted. These foods are very costly in towns, and servants should be careful in preparing them.

Fruits of every kind which are used as food, should be eaten in their season, for their juices are very agreeable and useful, although not very nutritious. Such are apples, pears, gooseberries, strawberries, and all our garden fruits (Fig. 11). All may be eaten when either raw or cooked, but some-as

apples and pears—are more easily digested when cooked, and should not be eaten raw in large quantities. In the middle of summer, too much fresh fruit may cause diarrhoea or purging, and do harm, but it is less likely to do so if cooked and eaten with sugar; and if it should occur, a tea-spoonful of brandy, or a little strong wine, will generally arrest it at first. When cooking them in pies or puddings, it is cheaper to add the sugar after cooking, as the heat lessens the sweetness of the sugar. So also when making preserves, the sugar should not be boiled too long, or it will be injured. The quantity of sugar which is found in different kinds of fruits differs much, and it also varies with the degree of ripeness.

TABLE No. 4.

Table showing the number of pounds of sugar in 100 lbs. of the following

Dried fruits, as currants, raisins, dates, figs, and prunes, are very pleasant, but are used rather to give an agreeable flavour to flour than to nourish the body, and are dear foods. Dates contain more than half their weight of sugar.

B

BUTCHERS' MEAT.

The lean meat of every animal which is sold by the butcher is nearly equally nourishing, but differs in the quickness with which it is digested. Thus, pork and veal are said to be indigestible, whilst mutton is more quickly digested than beef; so that, as a general rule, people prefer mutton and beef. This is, however, due to the difficulty of chewing pork and veal, and as people do not take sufficient care, they swallow it in large pieces. All kinds of meat—but particularly these should be chewed slowly, and be completely masticated before they are swallowed. It is also better to cut it into very small pieces before putting it into the mouth. Some who eat large pieces at once, and do not chew it until it is quite broken up, swallow large lumps which stop in the throat and choke them, so that they die. Whenever any one does this, somebody should push his finger down the throat, and try to pull out the piece, but this should be done at once, as he will die in three to five minutes if Flesh consists of he cannot breathe. It is of no use to wait bundles of fibres, for a doctor to come.

Fig. 12.

STRIATED Mus

CULAR FIBRE.

A

as shown in Fig.12,

which have gene

rally a number of

Pork and veal are, however, much liked

cross lines, called for their flavour, and they should be par

strie, A, and are

made up of hun- ticularly well cooked, so as to be more easily

dreds of smaller

as shown at B.

fibres, or fibrille, chewed and digested. Pork is more commonly diseased than any other kind of meat, and on that account also should be well cooked. Any meat which is softer, more watery, much darker or much lighter

in colour than ordinary meat, or which has small bladders in it, or anything unusual in the appearance or smell, is probably diseased, and should not be eaten.

Dr. Letheby gives the following advice in the selection of

meat:

"Good meat has the following characters:-
:-

1. "It is neither of a pale pink colour nor of a deep purple tint, for the former is a sign of disease and the latter indicates that the animal has not been slaughtered, but has died with the blood in it, or has suffered from acute fever.

2. “It has a marbled appearance from the ramifications of little veins of fat among the muscles.

3. "It should be firm and elastic to the touch, and should scarcely moisten the fingers-bad meat being wet and sodden and flabby, with the fat looking like jelly or wet parchment.

4. "It should have little or no odour, and the odour should not be disagreeable, for diseased meat has a sickly cadaverous smell, and sometimes a smell of physic. This is very discoverable when the meat is chopped up and drenched with warm water.

5. "It should not shrink much in cooking.

6. "It should not run to water or become very wet on standing for a day or so, but should, on the contrary, dry upon the surface.

7. "When dried at a temperature of 212 degrees (boiling point) or thereabout, it should not lose more than 70 to 74 per cent. of its weight, whereas bad meat will often lose as much as 80 per cent."

Pork, veal, and mutton pies and sausages, are sometimes made of diseased meat, and all such should be regarded with suspicion, unless the maker be well known to be honest and respectable.

When meat is cooked it loses weight, but if it be roasted or baked, and not overdone, it loses water chiefly, and still retains nearly all the nourishment; so that lb. of cooked, with the dripping, will be as nourishing as 1lb. of fresh meat. When it is boiled, the juice goes into the broth, and nothing is lost if both the meat and broth be eaten. The broth should never be thrown away, but eaten with fresh vegetables and rice, or pearl barley.

When meat is over-roasted it is wasted, and what is left will be less nourishing. When it is underdone it is not so agreeable to the taste or so easy to chew. The outside will always be more done than the inside, and the inside may be reddish in colour and yet sufficiently cooked. When cooking meat, too much of the juices should not be drawn out, and if the outside be quickly cooked or hardened, it prevents their escape. Therefore, when meat is roasted it should be put near the fire for a few minutes to harden the outside, and then drawn a little back for the rest of the cooking; and, when boiled, it should be put into boiling water for perhaps five minutes, and then drawn from the fire a little so as to prevent it boiling again. When meat is kept boiling it is made hard throughout, and is neither so agreeable nor so tender and nourishing. It can be cooked perfectly well without being boiled, and when it is simmered only.

If you want to make very good broth or soup, do not boil the meat at all, but let it only simmer; but the better the broth the less nourishing is the meat. So, if you want the meat to be as nourishing as possible, put it, as just stated, into boiling water, and then draw the pot back.

The dripping from roasted and baked meat, and the fat on broth, should be carefully saved and eaten, as they are very useful foods.