Mrs. Lincoln's Boston cook book

Wipe the cucumbers and martinoes with a damp cloth. Cut the cucumbers lengthwise into quarters, and the martinoes into halves. Scald and peel the onions ; wash the cauliflower, watermelon rind, and beans ; break the cauliflower into small pieces, and cut the melon rind about the size of the pieces of cucumber. Dissolve the salt in the cold water. Put the pickles in a large earthen or tight wooden vessel, and pour the brine over them : if they are not covered, add more cold water. Put a large earthen plate over them, with a clean brick or stone to keep them 4o6 The Boston Cook Book. under the brine. Let them stand two days, remove them from the brine, and wash in cold water. Wash and scrape the horseradish root. Pack the pickles in a stone jar or firkin. Put all the spices into a bag made of strainer cloth. Boil the vinegar, spices, and alum in a porcelain kettle ten minutes, skim carefully, add the boiling water, and pour immediately over the pickles. If a stronger spice be desired, leave the bag on the top of the pickles. Set them in a cold place, with the plate and weight over them to keep them under the vinegar. In about two weeks add the alcohol, and in four weeks they will be ready to use. Mustard Pickles. {Mrs, John Sheldon.) Equal quantities of small cucumbers^ the largest ones sliced, green tomatoes sliced, cauliflower picked into flowerets, and small button onions. Keep them covered with strongly salted water twenty-four hours. In the morning scald the brine, and dissolve in it a bit of alum the size of a nutmeg. Pour the boiling brine over the pickles. When cold, drain thoroughly and prepare as much vinegar as there were quarts of brine. To one quart of vinegar use one cup of brown sugar ^ half a cup of flour ^ and one fourth of a pound of ground mustard. Boil the sugar and vinegar. Mix the flour and mustard, and stir the boiling vinegar into it, and when smooth pour it over the pickles. Canned Fruit. (Mrs. John Sheldon.) Put the prepared fruit in a jar, and cover with boiling syrup sweetened to taste. On three successive mornings drain off the syrup, boil again, and pour over the fruit. The last morning, let fruit and syrup come just to the boiling-point, but do not boil ; then seal immediately. Fruit prepared in this way has been tested by the author and found perfect. Strawberries preserve their shape and never ferment. The Boston Cook Book, QENEBAL HINTS ON CARING- AND COOKING- FOB INVALIDS. Ventilation. — The first condition of comfort and recovery to the patient is that the room be perfectly ventilated, either directly or from fresh air in an adjoining room. A sunnj^ exposure and an open fire, and in summer an open fireplace, are essential aids. After all these points are secured, care must be taken that the air be not vitiated by anything in the room. Growing plants are more healthful than cut flowers ; unless the room be large and air}', the latter should not be allowed for any length of time, and even then should be removed as soon as their freshness is gone. If possible, avoid having a kerosene lamp in a sick-room. The odor is irritating to the mucous membrane, and in some conditions positively harmful. The wick should never be turned below the point of free combustion, either in the room of the sick or well.