eggs used, surely there can be no wonder that, if made with eight large or eight small eggs, there should be much difference in the result. Eggs, with yellow, mahogany, or salmon-colored shells, are richer than those with white ones. They contain a larger quantity of yolk. These are preferred for culinary purposes, for cakes, puddings, &c. White eggs contain more albumen, and are preferred for boiling, &c., for the table. Many separate their eggs, accordingly, for eating and cooking; and when the reason for this course is better understood, most persons will follow it.

VEGETABLES.

It is beautiful to see the simple means by which so many important ends are answered in nature. Every slight accession to our knowledge opens new wonders to us, even in those ordinary operations with which, during our whole lives, we have been most familiar.

It may be useful to know the leading differences in chemical constitution which exist among the different kinds of vegetable food.

The potato is characterized by containing a large proportion of starch in connection with a small quantity of albumen-a substance in vegetables resembling the boiled white of an egg, and from which it gets its name of vegetable albumen.

The quantity of starch in potatoes increases during the autumn, remains stationary during winter, and in spring, after germination commences, diminishes. It is a well-known fact, that when potatoes germinate, they become soft and afterwards sweet. The gum formed from the starch renders them mucilaginous; and the sugar formed from this gum renders them sweet.

This is the reason why the potato should be sprouted, as often as it shows signs of germinating, during the winter season.

The nutritive power of the potato is by some considered very small, while others think that, when in good condition and well cooked, they form a nutritious and easily digested article of food. It is stated by Liebig, "that a horse may be kept alive by feeding it with potatoes; but life thus supported is a gradual starvation; the animal increases neither in size nor strength, and sinks under every exertion."

It should be remembered that, when the potatoes are grown where they are not supplied with earth, (in cellars,) a vegetable alkali, of very poisonous nature, is formed in the sprouts, although not the smallest trace of such a substance can be discovered in roots, blossoms, or fruits of potatoes grown in the field. Miss Edgeworth was mistaken in calling the potato ball poisonous. It is said that the water in which potatoes are boiled extracts or destroys all noxious matter; and, as both baked and roasted potatoes are wholesome, it follows that heat alone is capable of destroying the injurious principle of the potato, and if so, that the water in which they are boiled cannot be healthy. The sprouts should be carefully destroyed, and should never be given to any animal. Hard and waxy potatoes are less digestible than mealy ones; and new potatoes, being less mealy, are less digestible than old ones.

The influence of frost on the potato is purely mechanical. It does not appear that any chemical change is produced, by freezing, on vegetables rich in starch. If they are allowed to thaw, and are used immediately, before fermentation ensues, there will be no difference found between the frosted and unfrosted root. The potato, eaten as a salad, raw with vinegar, or as ordinarily cooked, is a great preservative against the scurvy.

The turnip and carrot contain, in place of starch, a variable proportion of sugar and a gelatinous, gummy substance to which the name of pectine has been given. A single drop of pectic acid, mixed with the juice of

an orange, or other fruit, immediately turns it into jelly; and the Paris confectioners use it for this purpose. Soups, in which carrots have been boiled, are always gelatinous when cold, and are more easily digested, when used as food, than soups otherwise made.

In the Swedish turnip and in the beet root, sugar predominates. In the white turnip and in the carrot, the pectine is usually present in large quantities. The proportion of sugar contained in the sap of these roots is greatest when they are young. The turnip, though very slightly nutritive, is, in general, easily digested. The carrot and the parsnip are highly nutritive. Onions, leeks, and shallots, when well boiled, form mild and easily digestible aliments; but, in the raw state, the volatile oil they contain renders them acrid and difficult to digest.

Asparagus is a wholesome, agreeable, and simple kind of food.

The green leaves and leafstalks of plants are much less suited for dyspeptic individuals than farinaceous

matters.

All vegetables, after being thoroughly washed, should be left in cool, fresh water, with the exception of peas, shelled beans, and sweet corn. These last should be husked and shelled with nice hands, and not washed, as some of the sweetness would be lost. Be careful and clean them from insects. Put all fresh, green vegetables into boiling water when to be cooked. Hard water is not fit to cook any vegetables in. Peas and beans, boiled in hard water, become incrusted with a thin coating of lime, which prevents the water from penetrating, so that they do not become soft. If you are obliged to use such water, put in a little saleratus to rectify this; or boil the water first, by which course the lime will be precipitated; or expose it for some time to the air before using it. All vegetables are nicer when fresh gathered. Peas should not be shelled long

before boiling. When peas, string beans, or aspar agus are old, a little saleratus in the water in which they are boiled will make them boil more tender and look greener. Greens, lettuce, and cucumbers should be gathered in the morning early, before the dew is dried off, and put into fresh water. All kinds of green vegetables are unfit to eat after they are withered. Dried peas and beans should not be put into boiling water when to be cooked, but into cold water.

The French pay great attention to the cooking of vegetables. Besides using them plain boiled, they make dishes of dressed vegetables, upon which they expend as much care and attention as upon the principal dish of the dinner. In fact, they often make out a dinner from such dishes.

"It would seem as if potatoes could freeze and thaw several times during winter, without being destroyed, provided they are covered with earth all the time, for they are often found near the surface and perfectly sound in the spring, when spading up the ground in which the crop had grown during the previous season. They must have undergone freezing and thawing whenever the earth was in either state, as it often is to a much greater depth than the potato roots ever extend. Why should these roots always be destroyed when they freeze above ground, and not suffer when frozen under ground?

"The reason why potatoes, apples, &c., become soft and rot when they are frozen and thawed suddenly, uncovered and in open air, is the sudden thawing. You may put a heap of apples on the floor of a room, or any other dry place, where they will freeze perfectly hard, and, if covered closely with any thing that will exclude the air, when the weather becomes warm enough to thaw, the apples will remain sound and uninjured after they are thus closely thawed.

"Apples may be packed in a tight barrel, if full and headed up so as to exclude the air. They may remain

so in a garret or any dry place where it freezes hard, and they will be found sound and free from injury, if the barrel remains air-tight till they are thoroughly thawed. If any frozen limb or finger is exposed to sudden heat, by warming it at the fire, and thus suddenly thawed, the flesh will mortify. But if you freeze your finger, and put it into snow and rub it gently till it thaws, or put it into a pail of cool water, it will thaw gently and suffer comparatively little injury. Onions are a difficult root to keep in winter. If put into a cellar warm enough to save them from frost, they will vegetate and be deteriorated. Put them where they will freeze hard. If in a heap, cover them closely with some woollens or any thing which will entirely exclude the air. Cover them also if in barrels or casks. They will freeze hard, and they can be thawed out by putting them into a pail of cold water. Onions thus kept will be in good condition in the spring, after thawing under cover from the air.

"Parsnips, carrots, and beets should be put into boxes or casks, and then covered with potatoes; this will preserve them from drying."- Cultivator, Albany.

It is not frost which destroys tender plants, as they do not wilt until exposed to the sun's rays. They must thaw gradually, like fruits and vegetables; and, if protected in the early morning from the sun's rays, the tender plants can be made to blossom some days or weeks after the early frosts. After these frosts set in, those plants will continue to blow the longest on which the sun's rays fall latest in the day. If these rays strike suddenly upon the leaf or fruit, the surface will at once be raised in temperature some degrees. The air will consequently expand suddenly, and before the sap is thawed, will have distended and torn the air vessels, and caused sap and air to be mutually intermingled.

66

Though not in a state of growth, the tuber of the potato contains the living principle, and there must be