The new practical housekeeping

Apple Marmalade. — Take nice sound apples, pare, core and cut in small pieces and to every pound fruit add pound sugar. Put sugar on to boil with enough water to dissolve it, boil together till thick, then add the apples and boil till clear, adding juice and grated peel one large lemon to four pounds fruit. Some like the flavor of essence of ginger. Or take twelve pounds richly flavored sweet apples, three pounds brown sugar and juice and grated rind three lemons. Boil slowly, mash and stir until a smooth marmalade. Fig Marmalade. — Use fine fresh figs, and to every pound fruit add three-quarters pound sugar, the yellow rind of an orange or lemon pared very tniu. Cut up figs, put in kettle with sugar and orange, also the juice. Boil until reduced to a thick smooth mass^ stir from bottom. Put in jars and cover closely. Orange Marmalade. — Choose fine Seville oranges, put them whole in stewpan with sufficient water to cover, and stew until per* fectly tender, changing water two or three times ; drain, take off rind, remove seeds from pulp, boil another ten minutes, then add peel cut into strips, and boil marmalade ten minutes again, when it IS done The juice and grated rind of two lemons to every dozen oranges, added with the pulp and peel of the oranges Are a great improvement Pour into jars, cool and cover. Puddings have always been favorite desserts, but they require materials to be in perfect condition. Suet not perfectly sweet or milk turned in the slightest degree, ruins pudding which might otherwise be delicious. Puddings are either boiled, baked or steamed. Rice, bread, custard and fruit puddings, require a moderate heat. Batter and corn-starch, a rather quick oven. .Add a pinch of salt to any puddingj and be careful not to over-sweeten. Too much sugar is likely to make pudding heavy. Puddings are boiled in a bag and allowed to swell, or in a buttered tin mold or bowl with floured cloth tied over it ; do not fill full, and in boiling do not let water reach quite to top, keeping it boiling all the time. The pudding may be lifted out easily by a strong fork put through ends or corners of the cloth. Pudding Bags are either knitted or made firm, white drilling, tapering from top to bottom, and rounded off on corners ; stitch and fell seams, which should be outside when in use, and sew a tape to seam, about three inches from top. As a general rule boiled puddings require double the time required for baked. Pudding cloths, however coarse, should never be washed with soap, but in clean, clear water, dried as quickly as possible, and kept dry and out of dust in a drawer or cupboard free from smell. Steaming is safer and better than either boiling or baking as the pudding is sure to be light and wholesome. Prepare the pudding mold, etc., same as for boiling, put on over cold water, and do not remove cover while steaming, allowing a third more time than is required for boiling. After the water begins to boil do not let it stop boiling until the padding is done, adding boiling water from the tea-kettle as needed. Serve steamed pudding as soon as done, or place in oven a little while to dry it off and brown if wished. Dates are an excellent sub- . stitute for sugar in Graham or any other padding. The flat-bottomed