Chapter M: E. James: ‘How to Decorate our Ceilings, Walls, and Floors.’ (40)

Mosquitoes and Gnats.--To keep them away from the person:--(_a_) 1 oz. each olive oil and oil of tar, ½ oz. each glycerine, spirit of camphor, and oil of pennyroyal, 2 dr. carbolic acid; mix and shake well before use. (_b_) Sponge with 1 oz. camphor dissolved in 1 qt. cold water. (_c_) Dissolve as much camphor as possible in olive or castor oil, boil down the oil to half, and smear on the face and hands. (_d_) Mix 3 oz. olive oil, 2 oz. oil of pennyroyal, 1 oz. glycerine, 1 oz. ammonia; shake well; apply, avoiding the eyes. (_e_) Rub lime juice on the skin. (_f_) Essential oil of lemon. (_g_) Rub with bruised laurel leaves. (_h_) Dust the face and hands with potato flour. (_i_) Vaseline or petroleum ointment. (_j_) Rub on 4 oz. glycerine, 4 dr. oil of turpentine, 2½ dr. oil of spearmint. (_k_) Hang a piece of camphor in a muslin bag from the topmost coat button-hole. (_l_) Dissolve in a cupful of water as much alum as the water will contain--in other words, make the strongest solution possible of alum and water; add ⅓ proportion of aromatic vinegar, and ¼ of glycerine; keep it in small flat phials convenient for the pocket, and apply it constantly during the day. Rae mentions that he does not believe without its alleviating influence he would have been able to carry out his journey in Lapland, so severe were the attacks of these insect pests.

Driving from Bedstead.--Hang on the bedstead: (_a_) a few bruised leaves of pennyroyal; (_b_) a sponge dipped in camphorated spirit; (_c_) a bunch of elder; (_d_) a bunch of wormwood; (_e_) a bough of ash.

Driving from Room.--Burn: (_a_) Camphor in a tin dish over a candle so that it evaporates without igniting; (_b_) cow-dung; (_c_) wormwood; (_d_) juniper wood sawdust.

Moths.--Numerous opinions have been expressed from time to time as to the most effective means of preventing the ravages of the larva of the “clothes-moth.” The most practical may be summarised as follows. (_a_) When the number of garments or other fabrics is small an efficient plan is found to be to keep them exposed to the air and liable to constant disturbance, with occasional shaking and beating. (_b_) One writer finds it a very good plan to put winter things, such as curtains, furs, heavy shawls, dresses, extra blankets, &c., away in wine cases, papered inside and out with newspaper; when nailed down, every crack or crevice is pasted over. This should be done in April, before any moths are about; the clothes are then safe. Other articles which cannot well be packed away for the summer, such as dress-coats, are quite safe if folded in plenty of sound newspaper. (_c_) Another states that articles put away for 5 years in a warehouse were perfectly uninjured in all cases where they were _completely_ wrapped in linen, while every part not thus protected was more or less destroyed by moth. (_d_) One experimenter placed 4 moths in the balance, and found that they weighed 2¾ gr. They were then placed in a watch-glass, and dried over the steam of boiling water. There remained ·830 gr., say 30 per cent., or, in other terms, if 100 lb. of the grubs were dried they would lose 70 lb. or 7 gal. of water (and this is exclusive of what the insect must have lost in perspiration and other animal functions). The remedy which suggested itself was, that if we could render our garments absolutely dry, even if the mother moth should deposit her eggs, they could not grow or live in the absolute absence of moisture; and that if we could place our garments for a short time, during the moth season, May and June, in a close chamber, heated by steam pipes to the boiling point, aided by a little chloride of calcium, on trays to absorb moisture, the necessary conditions would be met; and even if the mother moth had succeeded in depositing her eggs before the hot chamber process had been applied, it would still prove effective, as the eggs would be hard-boiled and rendered unproductive. Possibly if drying ovens were kept available at a small charge, they would find extensive employ, as the losses incurred by dealers in furs is immense; and in private families for the treatment of clothing, blankets, and other articles they would be of great value. (_e_) The use of a vacuum and hot gases has been under experiment by the Government of the United States. It is believed that a large cylinder of boiler iron may be filled with woollen goods, either cloth or made-up garments, in unbroken bales or boxes; the top screwed on air-tight; the air exhausted by an air-pump worked by the steam engine, and the vacuum filled after a sufficient time to kill all active developed moths and grubs, with air which has passed through a stove filled with ignited charcoal or anthracite coal. This atmosphere will contain no supporter of respiration; it consists of nitrogen, carbonic acid, and carbonic oxide, and some watery vapour, with a little sulphur and traces of other volatile impurities contained in the fuel. The carbonic oxide is a violent poison. The other gases named are all either inert, unable to support life, or positively noxious. They will penetrate under the pressure of 15 lb. to the sq. in. into every nook and cranny between the folds of the goods, and into every empty pore of the woollen fibres themselves. They can be introduced at such a temperature as may be determined to be best and sufficient. Experiments at Nottingham reported in the _Journal of Applied Science_ show, if correctly performed, that woollen goods may be exposed for 3 hours to an atmosphere in a close vessel heated to 250°F. (121°C.) without injury, and that even 295°F. (146°C.) is not seriously injurious to the fibre, though it changes the colours of some goods. One difficulty in caring for great quantities of these goods is the labour and exposure incident to opening packages, taking out to handle separately each article, exposing it after brushing to the attacks of the moths, always ready for action at the only season when this overhauling is needed. (_f_) The larva of the clothes-moth will only attack and devour substances that immediately serve it for food, and will not gnaw through the most flimsy envelope, provided this is not edible. But still in these the most careful folding will fail to keep them out, as the tiny hatchlings will find their way through the seams; these should be pasted together, but as the insects are particularly fond of paste this should be poisoned either with a little corrosive sublimate or by triturating some camphor with it. Moths will never eat through brown paper. This must be of the right sort, i.e. made from old tarred ropes, and smelling of tar. Larvæ of clothes-moths, if they can get at nothing else, will feed on ordinary paper if kept in a damp place. The protection of the wrappers consists in their coarse tarry nature. (_g_) Dust the articles with alum dried to a cinder and powdered. (_h_) Mix 2 oz. snuff, 4 oz. cedar sawdust, 1 oz. black pepper, 1 oz. camphor, 1 dr. lupulin (hop flowers), and blow it into corners with a powder bellows. (_i_) Soak blotting-paper in a mixture of oil of camphor and spirits of turpentine, and lay it among the goods. (_j_) Prof. Riley says that the early days of June should herald vigorous and exterminating warfare against these subtle pests. Closets, wardrobes, all receptacles for clothing, should be emptied and laid open, their contents thoroughly exposed to light and air, and well brushed and shaken before being replaced. In old houses much infested with moths all cracks in floors, wainscots, shelves, or furniture, should be brushed over with spirits of turpentine. Camphor or tobacco should be placed among all garments, furs, plumes, &c., when laid aside for the summer. To secure cloth linings of carriages from the attacks of moths, sponge them on both sides with a solution of corrosive sublimate of mercury in alcohol, made just strong enough not to leave a white mark on a black feather. Moths may be killed by fumigating the article containing them with tobacco or sulphur, or by putting it, if practicable, into an oven heated to about 150° F. (_k_) Nothing is better than Mikado moth papers (Fleming, 101 Leadenhall St., E.C.), placed between folds of the articles to be protected, and occasionally renewed.

Poultry Lice.--(_a_) Damp the skin beneath the feathers and dust on powdered sulphur. (_b_) Scatter male persimon leaves on the floor of the house, or wash the house with a decoction of the leaves. (_c_) Thoroughly lime-white the house, adding sulphur to the lime.

Slugs and Snails.--Lay salt on the trails.

Wasps.--(_a_) Put pulverised commercial potassium cyanide, one or two tablespoonfuls, into the entrance of the nest without disturbing it or the insects; they enter never to return. (_b_) At noon, or soon after, when the insects are abroad in search of food, fumigate the hole with sulphur; dig out the comb and destroy everything in it; then place a wine bottle, half full of water, in the hole, leaving the mouth of the bottle within an inch of the surface of the surrounding earth; on taking it up next morning, you will find every one of that family safe in the trap. (_c_) Pour some tar into and around the nest and ignite it; take care to have the head and hands covered with gauze. (_d_) Spread arsenic and the dust of loaf sugar (1 to 20) on pieces of orange peel out of the reach of children. (_e_) Hang bottles containing treacle and water in the plum trees and other resorts, and examine daily.

_Rats._--(_a_) Mix together 8 oz. strong cheese and 2 oz. powdered squills, and place in their haunts and runs. It acts immediately, and the rats die instantly; whereas most of the pastes, &c., allow the animals to retire into their holes, where their subsequent death and putrefaction may cause great inconvenience from effluvia. (_b_) Make a strong solution of copperas water, and paint the walls of the whole cellar, then pound up copperas, and scatter it along the sides of the walls and into every hole where it can be thrown. (_c_) In the runs and holes, lay a mixture of tar and broken glass. (_d_) Feed them liberally for several days on a smooth surface, then damp the floor and smear it with caustic potash; the rats, in running over it while feeding at the bait, get their feet besmeared with it, which causes a burning or corroding of the flesh. At the same time they lick their feet to relieve the pain, and are either so annoyed or poisoned that they leave the premises. (_e_) Scatter lime chloride in their haunts and holes. (_f_) Having caught one, tar him all over, or coat him with paste containing tincture of asafœtida, and turn him into the hole again.

Traps.--(_g_) Scald common gin traps and set them at the holes, covered with sawdust, avoiding touching the gins with the naked hand. (_h_) Feed the rats for 3 or 4 nights successively, leaving the traps (box traps) fixed open and baited with the following paste, so that they may go in and out and feed at their ease. If the rats are numerous and the premises extensive, take 4 lb. bread crumbs, 4 lb. flour, ½ pint treacle, 1 teaspoonful essence of anise, and ½ teaspoonful essence of musk; mix the whole well together, and bait the traps. Several traps should be so prepared. On the night the rats are to be taken, bait as usual, having the traps set for catching. (_i_) Set a steel trap in the run and cover it with a butter cloth. A fresh cloth must be used each time. (_j_) Fill a barrel about half full of water. Make the cover ½ in. smaller all round than the inside of the top of the barrel. Drive a nail or wire on each side of the cover exactly opposite each other, as a pivot, and fit in the barrel, so that a light weight will readily tip the cover. Put the bait on top, in a firm way, and place an empty barrel or box near by. (_k_) Mix 1 lb. oatmeal or flour, ½ oz. aniseed, 1 oz. cassia, 2 oz. white sugar, all finely powdered; feed with this mixture for 5 nights at least before you tilt up the trap, which must be concealed with straw scented with 4 drops oil of rhodium, 8 drops oil of cinnamon, and 8 drops oil of caraway. The paper on which the food is placed must also be scented with the same. When you cease to catch any at night, feed again, and when you suppose all to be caught in one place, remove the trap to another.

_Snakes._--(_a_) In all probability, the acclimation or encouragement of certain animals which seek out snakes as their favourite food will do more towards effecting extermination than anything else. The mongoose enjoys a reputed pre-eminence in this respect which is quite undeserved--it need hardly be said that the “antipathy” which it is supposed to entertain toward its prey is a chimera born of an argument by analogy to human prejudices. The ichneumon hunts snakes to eat them; so do various foxes, tayras, rats, civets, grisons, weasels, genets, paradoxures, and other members of the _Viverridæ_ and _Mustelidæ_. Still more addicted to an ophidian diet are pigs; it is said that Mauritius was cleared of venomous species by a number of wild hogs turned loose there. Toads, frogs, fish, lizards, newts, and even slow-worms devour young snakes; indeed, it is only their popularity as an article of food that serves to restrain their increase, for they are produced in broods of from twenty to a hundred or more. But their greatest enemies are birds. Peacocks, in particular, will desert the home where they are fed in a district abounding with snakes; not long ago, six pairs of pea fowl were employed to get rid of the vipers on an island off the west coast of Scotland, which they rendered almost uninhabitable by their abundance. Storks, pelicans, cassowaries, sunbitterns, cranes, falcons, and some vultures are also perpetually on the look-out for snakes, while the scientific title of the secretary bird, _Serpentarius reptilivorus_, sufficiently indicates its proclivities.

(_b_) A pitfall of some kind sunk below the level of the ground in an infested district, and furnished with water frogs, and a cage of rats, or some such small deer, might help to rid the neighbourhood.

(_c_) For every one that may be expected to find its way into a trap, however arranged, a dozen might certainly be taken, living or dead, by those who would make a business of pursuit; and for capturing them alive there is no safer or better appliance than the “twitch.” This consists of a simple loop of string passed through an eye at the end of a long crooked stick, and controlled by the hand. Directly a snake is seen it is hooked out into the open, if need be, away from all shelter, the noose dropped over its head and drawn up tight, and in that way it can be carried, powerless to do harm, or deposited in any receptacle which is ready for it. Collectors, too, would find this little apparatus far more practicable than the net or tongs. Places likely to form a resort for the deposition of eggs--situations which combine warmth, moisture, and protection, as a rule--should be diligently explored; and rocks or other fastnesses known to be their favourite breeding grounds should, if possible, be frequently disturbed by blasting. (A. Stradling, C.M.Z.S.)

=Removing Stoppers.=--It not unfrequently happens that when a stoppered bottle has remained undisturbed for a considerable time, the stopper becomes firmly fixed in the neck of the bottle, and cannot be moved by the hand in the ordinary way. The removal of a fixed stopper requires judgment and tact, in order to preserve the bottle unbroken. One or other of the following means may be resorted to:--(_a_) Place the bottle firmly on a table, and hold it with the left hand. Then apply the right hand to the stopper, and pull it forcibly on one side, using the thumb as a fulcrum at the exterior of the neck of the bottle. If the stopper moves, the motion will be indicated by a ticking kind of noise; and the stopper can then be withdrawn without further trouble. This plan should be tried at various parts, observing to pull the stopper towards the operator, and not away from him. (_b_) By tapping the stopper on alternate sides with the handle of a hammer, or with a piece of wood, it can frequently be loosened. (_c_) Dip one end of a cloth in boiling water, and then wrap it round the neck of the bottle; the heat causes the neck to expand which allows the stopper more room, whereby it can often be removed with ease. (_d_) Or the flame of a spirit lamp may be applied to the neck of the bottle with the same effect. But in both cases the operation must be performed quickly, in order that the heat may not get at the stopper and expand it, for if such is the case, it remains as firmly fixed as before. (_e_) Pass a piece of strong twine round the neck of the bottle and fix one end of the string to a hook; the neck will be heated by the friction occasioned by drawing the bottle rapidly backwards and forwards, the bottle being held in one hand, and one end of the string in the other. The heat expands the neck as before described. (_f_) Stoppers are sometimes fixed by the coagulating or crystallisation of substances between the inside neck of the bottle and the stopper. The application of oil, or water, or muriatic acid, to the top of the bottle, will often dissolve away so much of the hard matter as to render the removal of the stopper easy. (_g_) When the fixed stopper of a glass bottle resists all management--such as warming the neck with a cloth wet with warm water, by tapping, and by the wrench, or by all these in combination--there is another means which will frequently succeed. Let the bottle be inverted, so as to stand on the stopper in a vessel of water so filled that the water reaches up to the shoulder of the bottle, but not to the label. Two or three nights of this treatment may be required sometimes before the stopper will yield. (_h_) Another method is to use a stopper extractor. This can easily be made out of a block of wood 3 in. square and 2 in. thick, by cutting a hole through its centre large enough to receive the head of the stopper. The use of the above is preferable to pulling out two drawers, sticking the head of the stopper between them, and twisting the bottle round. To apply the extractor, it is placed over the stopper, and grasped firmly in one hand, while the neck of the bottle is held by the other. A gentle, but firm and steady twisting motion is then used, care being taken to keep both hands moving in the same plane, but in opposite directions. If the pressure be applied too vigorously or spasmodically, or if the lines of the direction of the opposite forces be not quite parallel, there is a danger of wrenching off the head of the stopper or breaking the neck of the bottle.

=Housekeeping.=--Volumes might be written on this subject, with column after column of figures to illustrate exactly how much of the annual income should be expended on each item; but when done, the labour would be practically fruitless, for the simple reason that each household has its own special wants. The skill and knowledge of the housewife are constantly devoted to the solution of the question how to supply the needs of the house. No brief summary of hints or information can help her. Every topic discussed in this volume has a bearing on the subject and must be studied. A few words of advice may be offered:--(1) Keep account of every penny received and spent. (2) Pay cash. (3) Study quality before price: cheap things are seldom economical. (4) Avoid both extravagance and waste. (5) Trust nothing to the servants. (6) Consult the index of this volume whenever you are in doubt.

=Marketing.=--The following observations condensed from two series of articles in that inestimable journal _The Queen_, will indicate what is in season during each month of the year; they will also contain suggestions as to the best mode of marketing and the signs and symptoms by which the quality of foods may be judged. Obviously remarks on the latter heads when once made will not need repetition.

January.

_Meat._--Of meats, beef and mutton are of course in season all the year round; pork only in the cold weather. Veal can be had at any time, but it is cheaper in late spring and summer; and even lamb as an article of luxury can be bought as early in the year as this. Doe venison can be bought this month. The greatest difficulty a young housekeeper has to encounter is that of going to choose meat at the butcher’s. No rules without experience in applying them are likely to be of great value. Good beef should be red, with a purplish hue where it has been lately cut. If it is very brilliant scarlet or very pale, it is not good. The fat should be opaque, not transparent, and should be abundant on the ribs and under the sirloin; there should be plenty of white or yellowish suet inside the animal, and even on the lean joints there should be specks of fat mixed up with the meat. It should not waste much in cooking, though this has to do with the stove as well as the meat, and it should not be watery--lying, for example, in a pool of moisture on the block. All this may have to do with the wholesomeness of the meat, as these are the indications to show that the animal was in good health when it was killed, and that it was not “knocked on the head to save its life.” Even for those who do not like any fat with meat, a lean joint should be ordered, not a joint that would be fat on a healthy animal. This does not apply to the preposterously fat beasts killed about Christmas time, that are scarcely in a state of health from repletion, and the meat is too rich to be very wholesome, and far too fat to be economical. The yellow colour of the fat in Christmas beef is caused by feeding on oilcake instead of green food. Then, as regards the tenderness of meat, it should be fine grained, and should not have thick strips of sinew or gristle running through it. All meat has some in some parts, of course; for instance, in the coarse end of the ribs (i.e. the ribs nearest the tail) there is a strip of gristle about 1½ in. under the skin. It is there always, and is very tough and prominent in old meat. Butchers often cut it out, and it should be cut out before cooking; but it is better still to insist on having the first cut of the ribs (i.e. the shoulder end). All these indications are, it may be easily seen, comparative rather than absolute, and an inexperienced housewife walking into a butcher’s shop will be puzzled to know exactly how red, what tinge of purple, what proportion of fat, and what thickness of gristle she is to be prepared to expect. It is for each woman to decide whether she will choose her own meat or leave it to the butcher’s choosing. At any rate, the butcher will do his part of the bargain better if he clearly understands that his customer knows good meat from second rate, and will not overlook shortcomings in quality or weight. The meat should be weighed frequently, if not invariably, and the butcher should not be allowed to send more than is ordered, or less than he charges for. Comparatively few butchers kill their own meat. They buy at the dead-meat markets such parts of such animals as they have the best sale for. A first-class butcher in a wealthy neighbourhood, only buys the best meat and the prime joints; but a butcher in a poor neighbourhood, with a low-class trade, finds a ready sale for coarser inferior meat, and in some town slums it seems as though every animal had at least 6 heads and a corresponding number of internal arrangements. The coarse meat may be perfectly wholesome; it would be in a respectable shop; but, being coarse or tough, it commands a much less price in the wholesale market, the sales at which, and the ruling prices, are quoted constantly in the daily papers. The price given is at per stone of 8 lb. Retail buyers can often make an excellent bargain in the meat markets, either by arranging with a salesman to have a certain quantity delivered once or twice a week, or by going to the market themselves. On a Saturday night, or on any night in bad keeping weather, meat of all kinds can often be bought at much less than its usual price. Against this has to be set the trouble, the value of the time, the railway fare, and the possibility of an inexperienced person being taken in.

Beef is no doubt the cheapest meat to buy. It is most satisfying, and there is least bone. The prime joints of beef, and the leg and loin of mutton are usually about the same price, and in these there is not much difference; but the cheaper joints of mutton are very bony, while the cheaper joints o£ beef can be quite solid meat with no bone at all. These solid pieces of beef are what economical people should buy, instead of ribs and sirloins, and rump, for every day household use. They are far less fat than the more expensive joints, and therefore they waste less in cutting at table as well as in cooking. Ribs of beef cut to greater advantage for a large party if the bone is taken out and the meat rolled. The cheaper joints are the thick flank, “leg of mutton piece” (part of the shoulder), the shin, clod, and sticking piece. Of these the last three are only fit for stewing or braising, as the meat is tough, though it is wholesome and nourishing. It is very suitable for economical pies and puddings, but needs separate stewing first. Of mutton the leg is most economical, though the shoulder is generally lower in price. Breasts of mutton are sometimes sold at a very low price, and may then be cheap for stewing or braising. On the whole, the fillet is probably the most economical joint of roasting veal; the breast is better fitted for stewing, but it should be considerably lower in price than the leaner and less bony joints.

_Fish._--Cod is now at its cheapest; soles, more or less in season all the year; lemon soles, which are rather less round in shape, less firm in texture, and about half the price of the black soles; haddocks, skate, conger, hake, herrings, plaice, ling, all of which are among the cheapest of fish; whiting, halibut, oysters, lobsters, crabs, shrimps; with shell-fish, such as winkles, whelks, and mussels, all are in season. Turbot, smelts, brill, flounders, and sea bream, red and grey mullet, are also to be recommended. Rhine salmon puts in an appearance this month, and, taken in conjunction with early cucumber, is delicious in flavour if extravagant in cost.

_Game and Poultry._--Turkey is never better than at this season; but we may recommend our readers, if they wish to taste turkey in perfection, to eschew the larger specimens, and pin their faith on a hen turkey of 7-9 lb. in weight. Among birds eaten with the trail, the golden plover is perhaps one of the best when skilfully dressed, either as a roast or _en salmis_. Larks, excellent either roasted, _en caisses_, or as an adjunct to rump-steak pudding, are also abundant; while from America are imported the savoury pinnated grouse and succulent canvas-back duck--not to be eaten except with currant jelly and celery salad. Grouse went out in December, but there remain fowls, chickens, geese, pheasants, partridges, wild ducks, hares, rabbits, capercailzies, snipe, and woodcock.

_Vegetables._--Broccoli, cabbage, savoys, spinach, Scotch kale, and sprouts for green; the green part of leeks is also useful as a garnish. Celery, parsnips, Jerusalem artichokes, and turnips for white vegetables. Lettuce, endive, beetroot, cresses, and forced cucumbers for salad. Potatoes can be bought at 50_s._ to 60_s._ a ton, according to size and quality. There is no economy in buying very small potatoes, as even at a low price, they are dear in the long run. Small consumers will find it more economical to buy by the sack of 168 lb. or the bushel of 56 lb. They should be kept in the dark and covered so that frost cannot reach them. Every week until new potatoes come in, the old ones grow dearer, and it is more difficult to get them good. A rough skin is said to indicate a mealy potato, and a smooth skin a waxy one; but that is not a sure guide, and the best way is to boil a sample and watch the result. There are few potatoes that cannot be made good by appropriate cooking, but some are good anyhow. Salsify--better known and appreciated in France and in America than in this country--an excellent vegetable, susceptible of varied treatment at the hands of a skilful cook--is also to be obtained.

_Fruit._--Not now very plentiful. American apples, by the lb. or barrel, can be had in plenty, but they are not cheap. Apple chips can be used for all cooking purposes where fresh apples are employed, and are no doubt the cheapest substitute for fresh fruit. Medlars, pears, and hothouse grapes are the only home-grown fruits. American grapes, sent over in barrels of sawdust, and oranges are so familiar that we almost forget they are foreign. This is pre-eminently the season for dried and crystallised fruits of all kinds. Old raisins (which can, of course, be bought at a much cheaper rate than any new crop) are better than new for cake and pudding making, as the skins are less tough, and large cake bakers commonly buy their year’s stock late in the season.

February.

_Meat._--Beef, mutton, pork, and in a lesser degree veal are all in season, and lamb begins to appear frequently on our tables; but neither lamb nor veal has yet attained its highest flavour.

_Fish._--Turbot and brill are still seasonable, and are much alike, though turbot is considered the better, and is the dearer of the two. The flesh should have a yellowish tinge, and these, like all other flat fish, should be preferred when they are thick in proportion to their size. Turbot keeps well for a few days, and should be hung up by its tail, not laid flat. Other fish are still in season that were in the markets last month. The lists of the London fish markets give the following names: Soles, plaice, sturgeon, eels, conger, skate, haddocks, sprats, halibut, herrings, whiting, mackerel, hake, roker, coal fish, smelts. As much fish is caught and brought to London that should be left in the sea, it does not follow that all the prices quoted are of fish in full season. There are names in the list quite unfamiliar to some readers, but there is not one that does not belong to a fish that, good of its kind and well cooked, is fit to set before any one. We often should fare better and save money if we lengthened our list. Codfish, haddock, plaice, flounders, and the ever-welcome sole are in fine condition, but herrings and mackerel are not to be recommended. Smelts, whitings, and red mullet are still in season. Of late years the conger-eel has taken up a position formerly denied to him, and although in bad odour, on account of his cheapness, he is not a bad fish when carefully dressed, and, above all things, makes an excellent soup. Shell-fish are scarce, dear, and--with the exception of oysters--are not so good as later in the season. Salmon is never finer than during this month.

_Game and Poultry._--Game is on the wane. Grouse, pheasant, and partridge are over, and game imported from the forests of Norway and the prairies of Illinois but inadequately fills the place of our home-grown birds. In default of these come swimming and wading fowl, woodcock, snipe, and golden plover. Wild duck holds its own, and always presents an appetising morsel. Of all Lenten fowl, the curlew holds the chiefest place, and affords an admirable dish either as a roast or _en salmis_. The godwit is also an excellent bird. Larks are to be had, and, in default of ortolans, are agreeable if diminutive. Hares are still to the fore, and rabbit is to be obtained, and may be roasted, smothered in onions, or best of all exhibited in a curry.

Barndoor poultry waxes scarce and dear. Turkeys no longer abound as at Christmas, and guinea-fowl are found the best substitute. Spring chickens present but a diminutive appearance, while geese and ducks are becoming rare.

_Vegetables._--Seakale and rhubarb can be added to the list of vegetables, but they are still costly, though before the end of the month forced rhubarb will be common.

_Fruit._--Oranges are now at the lowest prices, and very plentiful. It is a time of year when bottled and tinned fruits are in great request, both for dessert and for cooking.

Apples, with the exception of the _reinette_ and other varieties of russets, are becoming scarce. France and America, however, send us lady-apples, and a few choice pippens, such as the famous Newtown variety.

_Breadstuffs._--Good flour should have a very slight yellow tinge, should not feel gritty between the fingers, and it should be adherent, so that a handful pressed together retain its shape. There should be no mouldy smell nor acid taste. The best test of all is to bake a loaf of bread, always granted that the character of the flour is not to be held liable for shortcomings of cook or yeast. The very fine and white pastry flour makes the best-looking and also delicious-tasting bread, and is much to be preferred for puff paste and rolls; but for family use seconds flour and seconds bread is better, for not only is it cheaper, but it is more nourishing, because it contains less starch and a larger proportion of bone and flesh forming material. Rice is added in making bread, sometimes because it is cheaper than flour, at other times because it retains water. Bread made so is heavier and of closer texture. Potatoes are used only in small quantity, to assist the action of the yeast. Alum enables flour to be used that without it could not make passable bread.

As it cools, bread begins to lose weight. This may be stopped by throwing a thick cloth over the loaves, but the crust thereby becomes heavy. No private person would need to do this, but as household bread is sold by weight, and every customer may demand a full 4 lb. to each quartern, or 2 lb. to an ordinary loaf, it is sometimes in the baker’s interest to do so. When bread is left at the house it is not customary to weigh it, but the humbler housekeepers who fetch their bread take care to have a slice thrown in as makeweight if the scale does not turn at 2 lb. or 4 lb. Fancy bread is never sold by weight.

It is customary to allow about 1 lb. baker’s bread a day for each person. Two people would eat a half-quartern loaf between them. Of course, individual appetites vary, and if there is great abundance of other food, the bread bill may be diminished; but (though, of course, there should be no idea of stinting the supply) 1 lb. a day is an ample allowance, and if more is consumed there is probably some waste going on, new loaves being begun before the old are finished, and pieces of bread thrown into the dustbin or hog-tub. This is as unnecessary as it is undesirable. Half a stale loaf can be made fresh by warming it through in the oven. Slices of bread should not be cut till they are needed; but if they are cut, they can be made into puddings or fritters for the nursery tea or kitchen supper, much more popular and wholesome, and no more costly, than the monotonous bread and butter and bread and cheese. Smaller pieces can be dried and pounded for cutlets or fish; soaked in cold water or milk, they come in for rissoles and stuffing.

March.

_Meat._--Pork is not seasonable in hot weather, and is not often seen on table after this month. Beef, mutton, and veal are obtainable as usual, and lamb can also be had, though it will be dear for a few weeks yet.

_Fish._--Slightly salted and smoked haddocks are consumed in enormous quantities in London. Fresh or smoked, they are always a low-priced fish. There is not much to be remembered in choosing such fish, except that they should be large and thick; the smaller ones are all bone and skin. They should be scalded to draw out the salt and to make them soft, a preliminary to cooking that is often forgotten.

Perhaps nothing varies in quality and price so much as fish. It must be in season, as it is always tasteless and insipid, sometimes actually unwholesome, at other times. Fish out of season should not be bought, however cheap it seems to be. It is always in best condition just before spawning, when it is filled with roe. Afterwards it loses the store of fat, and becomes poor and watery. It must be fresh, and this is not easy of detection to the inexperienced. The smell is a guide; but fish kept on ice may not smell disagreeably, yet it may have been a long time out of the water, and as soon as it is taken from the ice it will begin to decompose, and in a few hours of warm weather will be quite uneatable. It should be bright and red about the gills and eyes, not dull and brown; but this also is an appearance that the fishmongers know how to give the fish long after nature has taken it away. It should not have been knocked about or bruised; the scales should be all there. A large fish is usually to be preferred to a small one, provided it be not old and coarse fleshed, and consequently tough, for the small contain a greater proportion of bone. The flesh should, with some few exceptions, have a bluish tinge when freshly cut. It should be firm, though not tough; but the firmness has something to do with good cookery. Salt enough to make the water like weak brine, or a little vinegar, tends to make the flesh of boiled fish firm.

In choosing any shell-fish, the great thing to be considered is the weight in proportion to size. The heavier they are the better; the lighter fish are apt to be watery. Of lobsters choose those with broadest tails. The very large lobsters, hoary with white incrustations on the shell, are often old and tough.

Cod is a winter fish, flourishing best in the coldest waters. Whitebait is brought into town each afternoon for the late dinners of fashionable London, as it loses its freshness even in a few hours, especially when the warm weather of June and July comes. Smelts when fresh are brown on the back and silvery-looking. They are not so plentiful now as in late autumn.

Monday is a dangerous day to go marketing, because perishable goods may have been kept from the Saturday before. For the same reason, on Saturday night fish may often be bought very cheap, because, though it is perfectly good at the time, it will not keep for 36 hours.

All oily fish must be perfectly fresh, and they do not generally keep long or well. Salmon trout, for instance, is said never to be eaten in perfection except by the fisherman, and many cases of poisoning with mackerel have been sufficiently severe to be noticed in the papers, while mild cases of discomfort due to that cause are known to every one. Mackerel lives but a very little time after it is taken out of the water. There are two mackerel fisheries, one in the spring and one in the autumn, and the fish are sometimes sold even in London at a very low price; in the fishing villages a score or more can be bought for a shilling. Nothing like this price is to be met with in town, but yet they are among the cheapest foods as soon as the fishing boats are in full work; and tons will be sold this month and next from barrows in the streets, often excellent fish, though they cost about a quarter of what we pay at the fishmonger’s. It should be bright and silvery looking, not bruised about the head.

Of salmon, it is usual to allow about ½ lb. for each person, if a handsome piece is wanted for boiling; less will do if a large party is to be provided for, but more is needed for a dinner of 2 or 3 persons. The middle of the fish costs more than the head and shoulders, and the tail less than either. Salmon goes farther than most kinds of fish, but only very seldom is it a cheap food. A curdy appearance between the flakes generally denotes a good fish. Turbot and the smaller species of the same genus are in prime condition. Brill is an admirable fish when chicken-turbot is not to be had. Soles are firm and white as ever. Salmon, now in splendid condition, has to endure the rivalry of the dainty trout. Towards the end of the present month shad begin to ascend the Severn and some of the rivers of France. This delicate fish is never better than when simply grilled. Eels are now in season, and may be served either as a stew, a spatchcock, or _à la tartare_.

_Game and Poultry._--Goslings are to be found, and in the opinion of many are much more agreeable in their youthful beauty than in the mature and adipose condition of stubble-fed geese. Guinea-fowl are always good, great and small, and perhaps are best when nipped in the bud as mere eggs--a delicious morsel to a delicate palate.

Very little game is to be had, and that little consists, besides hares, of aquatic birds, woodcock, snipe, plover, widgeon, and teal, together with curlew.

_Vegetables._--The vegetable market shows signs of spring. Forced cucumbers appear to keep salmon company. Spring salads take the place of winter. Artichokes from France are tolerably plentiful, and that excellent vegetable--sorrel, which forms such an agreeable addition to shad or to a _fricandeau_, is to be seen in our markets, although at present it finds but little favour in the sight of English cooks. Covent Garden imports sweet potatoes for the benefit of American customers, and custard-apples from the island of Madeira. New potatoes, carrots, turnips and parsnips are more abundant than in the preceding month. Portugal sends green peas, and imported asparagus becomes less costly.

_Fruit._--We should be badly off for fruit if it were not for oranges, which are actually cheaper than English apples in the apple season. Now is the time to make marmalade, as Seville oranges are plentiful. If oranges or any other fresh fruit have to be kept, they should be in the dark, and laid on wood, not on a plate or dish. It is better to put them in rows, and not heap them up. Grapes are still in the market, flanked by apples and pears of the most durable kinds, and early strawberries.

April.

_Meat._--Grass lamb is the meat of the season.

_Fish._--Whitebait is a choice natural product. It is supposed that this delicious fish can only be obtained, either “plain,” “devilled black,” or “devilled red,” in true perfection at those excellent hostelries which by its means have attained celebrity. No greater mistake exists. It is within the power of every gentleman to have as good whitebait at his own table as he can obtain elsewhere. Fresh bait, ample flouring, and boiling--absolutely boiling--lard will solve the problem in the most satisfactory manner.

Salmon is getting cheaper--if not better--and plump chicken-turbot is still in. The gigantic but rather coarse halibut remains, with plaice and flounder. Dainty brook-trout and larger specimens of the same genus, from the Irish lakes, present an agreeable spectacle; while the gurnet is in great force. Whiting is yet in season, but mackerel and herring are better later on. Oysters take their leave.

_Game and Poultry._--Spring chickens, ducklings, goslings, and guinea-fowl but feebly replace the juicy birds of the autumn and winter months.

_Vegetables._--Among the prime vegetables of the month asparagus holds the chiefest place, and is always delicious. To those who have not yet tasted it we may recommend cold asparagus, with plain salad-dressing, as a breakfast dish without a peer. Green peas, early French beans, seakale, sorrel, spinach, succulent mushrooms, early carrots, and baby turnips are plentiful.

_Fruit._--Pines, melons, oranges, hothouse grapes, peaches, nectarines and strawberries, and a few durable apples and pears apart--fruit is scarce; but delicious tarts can be made of green peaches and apricots.

May.

_Meat._--Veal and lamb are in full season, and sweetbreads are in great request. As the supply is always limited, butchers not seldom try to pass off bullock’s sweetbread--i.e. the pancreatic gland--on their customers. True sweetbread is a gland in the neck of the young animal only. This should not be tolerated, as bullock’s sweetbread is coarse-flavoured and hard, and needs long and careful washing and cooking before it comes to table. It can, however, be made very palatable with care, and is occasionally worth buying as a change, under its rightful name, and at a legitimate price. Brains parboiled in salt and water to harden them are another good substitute for sweetbreads, and offer one more change from the perpetual joint and fowls that are on every table.

_Game and Poultry._--A young fowl has large feet, knees, and neck in proportion to its size, and its thighs look white or pinkish. An old one has thin, scraggy legs and purplish tinge on its thighs; the scales look hard and horny, and often there are long hairs on the skin. If the beak is on, it should be soft, and so with the breast bone, which is frequently broken by the poulterer to give the bird a plump appearance. The length and size of the claws is another indication of age; the size is little or no guide, as that depends on the variety and the feeding. The small-boned, short-legged varieties are generally said to be the best. A very fat bird is to be avoided, for it wastes much in cooking, and even what remains of the fat cannot be eaten. Birds that are kept in the dark and crammed previous to killing become very fat, but the flesh loses flavour and firmness, and they are far inferior to barndoor fowls. Cleanliness is also essential to the production of a well-flavoured fowl; the same may be said of ducks, now as ducklings to be eaten with the earliest green peas. Full-grown ducks are better in late summer or autumn. Their age can be judged from the appearance of the feet, and by the pliability of the bill. The down that covers them may be an indication of youth, but it may also be put on by the poulterer with a sprinkling of gum.

Chickens, turkey poults, ducklings, goslings, and guinea-fowl dispute supremacy, but very little is to be said for any of them. The pigeon is possibly the best bird procurable during May. Plover’s egg, always delicious, even when eaten under difficulties, seems to gain in beauty when presented in the form of an aspic.

_Fish._--May is the true mackerel month. The herring too puts in an appearance during the month of May, and is a thoroughly delicate fish. The only valid accusation against the herring is on account of his innumerable bones, but this is not the true reason of his being voted unfashionable. Unfortunately, the herring is too cheap, and, in consequence of this defect, is in the habit of haunting vulgar localities, and thus excluding himself from the refined society that he is so well qualified to exhilarate.

Whiting and smelts still appear, but are practically superseded by whitebait. The Salmonidæ are in grand condition. Salmon, salmon trout, lake and brook trout prevail on our dinner-tables; but the most delicate member of the entire family is rarely seen. Either from scarcity, the distance of the lakes from the metropolis, or from some other cause, the beautiful silvery char seldom reaches London. Small as he is, he has all the richness of the _salar_, and possesses a delicacy all his own. Turbot now ceases, and codfish has retired. Brill, gurnet, soles, plaice, and flounders are in season. Oysters having departed, other shell-fish improve much in quality. Lobsters and crabs now lose much of the dryness that is so conspicuous a fault with them during the winter months.

_Vegetables._--Vegetables are now plentiful and cheap. In warm seasons that are yet sufficiently damp they grow quickly, and the fibre is less woody and hard than that of vegetables grown in cold or dry weather. With the warm weather comes the difficulty of transport, but it is not yet so great as in July and August, when the plants are full of sap and ferment quickly under a hot sun. Gardeners have a habit of keeping vegetables for a few hours in a hot bed or greenhouse before sending them to the kitchen. They have some idea that it improves the quality--an idea that is wholly erroneous, and should be combated. Potatoes are often laid in the sun for a few hours to dry, but they should never be allowed to lie long enough for fermentation to set in. All withered vegetables should have the stalks freshly cut, and the ends should then be put in a bowl of water, just as withered flowers would be treated. Through the stalks they suck up water enough to fill their shrunken cells, and make them green and stiff once more, but to plunge the entire plant under water is a mistake, and after a few hours of such treatment the water is often perceptibly warm, and the leaves bruised and decaying. Of course this does not apply to washing vegetables and salads, which cannot be too thorough and complete, especially of the vegetables that many housekeepers buy off barrows in the streets.

Asparagus is now in great perfection, and green peas wait upon the insipid duckling. Unless young, quickly grown, freshly gathered, and properly cooked, green peas are apt to be a failure, and when four important conditions have to be fulfilled the chances are naturally against success. Summer cabbages, cauliflowers, spinach, young carrots, turnips, and potatoes are all to the fore; nor do salads fail to keep pace with these, as cabbage, lettuce, summer endive, and corn-salad are to be had in profusion.

_Fruit._--The weak point of May is fruit, as almost the only good fruit that can be obtained at a reasonable price is the orange. Strawberries are to be bought for money, but in this instance the open-air-grown fruit is far preferable to the productions of the hothouse.

June.

_Meat._--Lamb is now in fine condition, and, besides the ever-welcome fore-quarter, supplies admirable material for entrées of various kinds. Lamb’s head, either baked and served upon a mince or stewed with green peas, will always find legions of admirers.

On the subject of veal mankind is by no means so unanimous as on that of lamb, and in this country especially veal is generally denounced as unwholesome. Although it is unfortunately the custom to allow calves to grow unreasonably large before the day of sacrifice, and to compensate the loss of whiteness by phlebotomy, thereby losing much of the tenderness and succulence of the meat, veal is after all one of the most valuable materials for the production of dainty dishes. Calf’s head is susceptible of various treatment and the ears are esteemed choice morsels. Tongue, liver, sweetbread and feet have their several admirers. Breast of veal, either stuffed or curried, is a good dish, and so is the _fricandeau_ well larded and served with mushrooms, peas, spinach, or--best of all--with sorrel. To the various forms of _paupiettes_, _escalopes_ and cutlets there is verily no end, and to sum up its qualifications, veal makes an excellent roast. This latter remark, however, applies only to the loin. The huge mass called in English fillet of veal is one of the most tasteless and barbarous of joints.