were baked in over them. If mushrooms can be had, pack them with the pigeons, or stuff them with them.

All birds that are potted should be boned, as they cut with less waste, and keep better.

PICKLES.

RULES TO BE OBSERVED WITH PICKLES. AVOID as much as possible the use of metal vessels in preparing them. Acids dissolve the lead that is in the tinning of saucepans, and corrode copper and brass; consequently, if kept in such for any length of time, they become highly poisonous. When it is necessary to boil vinegar, do it in a stone jar on a

stove.

Use also wooden spoons and forks.

See that the pickles are always completely covered with vinegar; and if any symptoms appear of their becoming mouldy, boil the vinegar again, adding a little more spice. It is a good rule to have twothirds of the jar filled with pickles and one-third with vinegar; keep them also close stopped, as exposure to the air makes the pickle soft.

In greening pickles, keep them closely covered, so that none of the steam of the vinegar in which they are boiled be allowed to evaporate; and boil them

only for a few minutes, or it will take away their strength.

A very small quantity of alum will make them firm and crisp, but too much will spoil them.

The following is a good general proportion of spice :-To each quart of vinegar put half an ounce of whole black pepper, the same of ginger and allspice, and one ounce of mustard seed, with four shalots, and two cloves of garlic.

Home pickles are not required to keep so long as those for sale, consequently the vinegar need not be so often boiled; it should, however, be almost invariably poured through a sieve upon the articles to be pickled. The jar should be covered for a time, say with a plate or board, but not tied over, so as to confine the steam.

The principal season for pickling is July and August.

CUCUMBERS.

If full-grown, the small long sort are the best for pickling. Let them be fresh gathered; pull off the blossoms, but do not rub them; pour over them a strong brine of salt and water boiling hot, cover them close, and let them stand all night. The next day stir them gently to take off the sand, drain them on a sieve, and dry them on a cloth; make a pickle with the best cider vinegar, ginger, pepper (long and round), and a little garlic. When the pickle boils, throw in the cucumbers, cover them, and make them

boil as quickly as possible for three or four minutes; put them into a jar with the vinegar, and cover them closely; when cold, put in a sprig of dill, the seed downward. They will be exceedingly crisp and green done in this manner; but if they do not appear to be of a fine colour, boil up the pickle the next day, and pour it boiling on the cucumbers.

TO PICKLE GHERKINS OR SMALL CUCUMBERS.

Choose nice young ones, spread them on dishes, salt them, and let lie a week, with a small bit of alum; then drain them, and, putting them in a jar, pour boiling vinegar over them. Set them near the fire, covered with plenty of vine leaves; if they do not become a tolerably good green, pour the vinegar into another jar, set it over the hot hearth, and when it becomes too hot to bear your hand, but still not to boil, pour it over them again, covering with fresh leaves; and thus do till they are of as good a colour as you wish. As an additional reason for preparing them at home, it is indeed well known that the very fine green pickles are made so by the dealers using brass or bell metal vessels, which, when vinegar is put into them, become highly poisonous.

If spices be not mixed among the pickle, put into the kettle in a thin muslin bag allspice, mace, and mustard-seed, to every quart of vinegar in the proportion of rather less than half an ounce each of the former to one ounce of the seed.

TO MAKE THE CELEBRATED PICKLE CALLED

POKE-MELIA.

Put a layer of white oak leaves and black currant leaves at the bottom of an oak cask; then put a layer of cucumbers; strew some horseradish, garlic, raceginger, whole pepper, allspice, and cloves, then a layer of leaves, cucumbers, spice, &c., &c., and so on until the cask is full. Add half a gallon of good cider vinegar, and fill the cask up with salt and water strong enough to bear an egg.

MANGOES.

Although any melon may be used before it is quite ripe, yet there is a particular sort for this purpose, which the gardeners know, and should be mangoed soon after they are gathered. Cut a small piece out of one end, through that take out the seeds, and mix with them mustard seed and shred garlic; stuff the melon as full as the space will allow, and replace the cut piece. Bind it up with pack-thread. To allow for wasting, boil a good quantity of vinegar, with pepper, salt, ginger, and any of the sweet spices; then pour it boiling hot over the mangoes during four successive days; and on the last, put flour of mustard and scraped horseradish into the vinegar, just as it boils up. Stop close. Observe that there be plenty of vinegar, as pickles are spoiled if not well covered. Large cucumbers, called "green turley," prepared in the same way, are excellent, and are sooner fit to be eaten.

MANGOES.

Another Way.

Musk melons should be picked for mangoes, when they are green and hard. They should be cut open after they have been in salt water ten days, the inside scraped out clean, and filled with mustardseed, allspice, horseradish, small onions, &c., and sewed up again. Scalding vinegar poured upon them.

TO PICKLE WALNUTS.

The walnuts for this pickle must be gathered while a pin can pierce them easily, for when once the shell can be felt, they have ceased to be in a proper state for it. Make sufficient brine to cover them well, with six ounces of salt to the gallon of water; take off the scum, which will rise to the surface as the salt dissolves, throw in the walnuts, and stir them night and morning; change the brine every three days, and if they are wanted for immediate eating, leave them in it for twelve days; otherwise, drain them from it in nine days, spread them on dishes, and let them remain exposed to the air until they become black; this will be in twelve hours or less. Make a pickle for them with something more than half a gallon of vinegar to the hundred, a teaspoonful of salt, two ounces of black pepper, three ounces of bruised ginger, a drachm of mace, and from a quarter to half an ounce of cloves (of which some may be stuck into three or four small onions), and four ounces of mustard seed. Boil the whole of these together for about five minutes;