Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

If, after dinner, you wish to have a clear fire for baking purposes, let the fire burn quite low ; then remove all the covers, and with a long poker, rake the coals from one end of the grate to the other. When all the ashes have been raked down in this way, and all the coal has been separated, put two sticks of hard wood into the stove, and fill up with fresh coal. Then the fire will be quite as good as if freshly made. When you wish to keep just enough fire to make tea and toast, put on cinders after dinner, and shut all the dampers until twenty minutes before the fire is again needed. Reopening the draughts will quickly rekindle the fire. MARKETING has been treated so fully in "Miss Parloa's New Cook Book and Marketing Guide " that there is no occasion for an exhaustive article in this volume. But new ideas constantly come to one who makes a study of matters pertaining to the kitchen, and it seems worth the while to record some of them here. Fashion affects food as well as clothing, and many articles in the market that may have no great value as a food command exorbitant prices simply because they are in fashion. For example, time was when sweetbreads were almost given away; now they are rarely sold for less than thirty cents a pair in large cities, and in winter they often bring $1.50. At present, calves' brains sell at ten cents a pair ; but as they are becoming fashionable, doubtless they will in time be worth a quarter of a dollar. With vegetables and fruit it is different, because when fashion creates a demand for an article, gardeners quickly give special attention to its cultivation, and the increased demand is met by an increased supply, and prices become lower instead of higher. Good sense, as well as fashion, dictates a free use of fruits and vegetables, and our markets are well stocked with them all the year round. Prices, too, are reasonable. Cauliflower. This vegetable, which used to be so expensive, is now so cheap in the late summer and fall that the poorest man can indulge in it, and besides being cheap at that season, it also is large and perfect. It is found in large markets at any season, but in the spring and early summer the heads are small and costly. It is a pity that so few people know how to cook this delicious vegetable. When bought, it should be white and firm, and the green leaves surrounding it should be crisp. It always improves the cauliflower to soak it in a pan of salted cold water — one table-spoonful of salt to two quarts of water — for an hour before cooking. This will freshen the vegetable, and draw out worms or snails, if there be any concealed in the leaves or head. Asparagus. Asparagus is now bleached in somewhat the same manner that celery is. This is the fashion in New York and its vicinity ; but it is an unfortunate fashion, for the vegetable does not compare in flavor or tenderness with the old-fashioned green asparagus. This vegetable used to be good until about the last of June, after which it became "woody." Now, however, it comes earlier and stays later, being tender and delicate until the first of August. This is such a delicious and healthful vegetable that it is a pity we cannot extend its season still more. Brussels Sprouts.