The old-fashioned housekeeper may have observed the marked omission in these pages of the word "lard," even in recipes calling for fat. While we believe that The National Cook Book is not singular in this respect, we feel that we owe it to our sister housewives to explain why in the years which have elapsed since the issue of former works which did contain directions for the manufacture and the use in the kitchen of lard, we have had good and sufficient reasons for excluding it from our own kitchens and for declining to commend the lard of commerce to our constituents.

Apart from the fact that lard, unadulterated and properly made, is less wholesome than vegetable oils, and absolutely pernicious to many stomachs, no intelligent reader of the daily papers and medical reports can shut his eyes to the recognized practices of certain manufacturers of "kitchen lard " and the possibilities of similar iniquities in every such business throughout the country. It is not enough that hog-cholera and trichina, in the animal legitimately slaughtered and put upon the market, make doubtful the quality of the fat tried out even by respectable and conscientious firms. It is an open secret that hundreds of hogs which have died in transitu from farm to factory, "of disease, thirst, and exposure," are made to yield their lard, and that this is unblush-ingly put upon the market for household use.

A prominent lard manufacturer is reported as saying in defence of the practice:

"As it goes through the boiling process and boiling fat rises to the highest possible heat, there can be no mischievous germs left in the lard, even supposing the animal had died of cholera or other disease."

Leaving this statement to speak for itself, we remark simply that not a pound of lard per year is consumed in our kitchens, and that we conscientiously advise the use in public and in private of almost any other fat.

Butter is expensive in the hands of hirelings, and the salt makes it objectionable for such purposes as greasing moulds, etc. Really good dripping from beef, veal, or chicken, while eligible in some cases, is unfit for frying delicately flavored foods, and cannot be used for shortening biscuits, pastry, and the like. Olive oil, while excellent in a large majority of cases where frying and sauteing are prescribed, is expensive when of prime quality, and objection-able when less than prime.

It is but fair to those in whose behalf we have prepared this manual to mention that we have found, after several years of faithful testing and trusting, cottolene to be liable to fewer objections and to combine more advantages than any other fat of which we have practical knowledge. It is a compound of vegetable oil and a smaller proportion of the best beef-suet, and is, we believe, entirely free from any deleterious substance whatsoever. It is inexpensive, it gives out no unpleasant odor, and for frying and "shortening" is far more satisfactory than even honest, home-made lard at its best estate.

Cottolene, as the directions accompanying each can state, must always be put into a cold frying-pan and brought slowly to the boil. When this is done there is no danger of spluttering or scorching.