Always purchase the best flour; it is much cheaper than the low priced. Keep a large tin pan or wooden bowl full of sifted flour, and always keep the flour covered Have two quarts, one for dry, and the other for liquid measuring. The old beer measure is the kind to get. If you buy milk, it will not do to consider the milkman's quart for any rule in this book. You must always measure with the beer measure. Good bread is the most important branch of cooking. Therefore I hope every housekeeper, who cannot already make good bread, will give particular attention to this branch before attending to cake or pastry of any kind. It seems as if enough had been written and said, in regard to this subject, to awaken every young woman to the importance of it; but it is not so. If a young lady learns to do any kind of cooking, it is cake and pastry, and if she learns to make bread, it is the last thing, instead of the first, to be learned. Now I certainly think that no girl should pass her eighteenth year without a practical knowledge of bread-making, cooking vegetables and plain meats. 1 have no objections to all the nice fancy cooking, which any one may learn afterwards; but have bread, vegetables, and meats first. When reading a rule for doing anything, it seems as if the process were longer and harder than when the rule is very short. But I hope none will feel so because I have gone into all the details, for I feel that it is because of the neglect of the small things that so many fail in cooking, as in everything else.

Hop Yeast. Pare and boil one dozen mealy potatoes (they will boil in thirty minutes); as soon as you put the potatoes on to boil, put a handful of hops into another kettle with three quarts of cold water, cover and boil (watch it that it may not boil over). When the potatoes are boiled, drain and mash fine; then strain the hops through a fine sieve on the potatoes (be sure that the hops are boiling when they are strained on the potatoes), and stir well; then add one half a cup of sugar, one fourth of salt, and one pint of flour; mix this well and strain through a cullender; let it stand until it is milk-warm, then stir in one cup of good yeast, and set it to rise where it will be warm. It will rise in five hours if the yeast is good. You can tell when it is risen by the white foam, which will rise to the top When risen, put it in a stone jug, and stop tight It is a good plan to tie the cork down, as it sometimes flies out. Set in the ice chest or on the cellar bottom. Make one third this quantity in summer if your family be small.

Hop Yeast, No. 2. In the spring and the first of the summer, when potatoes are poor, it is better to make yeast without ihem. Boil one fourth of a cup of hops in one quart of water, and strain it upon a half a pint of flour; stir this well, and add two spoonfuls of sugar and one of salt, then strain through a cullender, and let it become milk-warm, when add one cup of good yeast. You need just as much yeast for one third the quantity made without potatoes, as you would for the whole made with potatoes. Rise and bottle the same as the preceding.

Graham Bread

Take two quarts of Graham (never sift it) and one of flour, half a cup of yeast, one scant spoonful of salt, half a cup of brown sugar, and warm water enough to make a stiff batter, and let it rise. If you rise it over night, be sure to set it in a cool place, as it sours much quicker than fine flour. It will rise in a warm place in four hours. When risen, mix with it a teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved in warm water, and flour enough to shape it into loaves; put it in the pans, and let it rise thirty-five minutes, and bake slowly an hour and a quarter. Make the loaves very small. Use molasses instead of sugar if the bread is eaten for constipation.

Third Bread

Take one quart of flour, one of Indian meal, one of rye, one cup of yeast, one spoonful of salt, half a cup of brown sugar, and nearly a quart of warm water; mix well together, and let it rise over night In the morning use flour enough to shape it into loaves, and let it rise in the baking-pans forty-five minutes. Bake one hour and a quarter.

Bread Cakes

Take stale bread and soak it in milk; when soft, run it through a cullender. To one quart of this add one teaspoonful of saleratus, two eggs, one cup of flour, one teaspoonful of salt, two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and half a nutmeg. These also take some time to cook. The eggs may be omitted if you choose, but you must then use half a cup more of flour.

Buckwheat Cakes

One pint of warm water, half a cup of yeast, one teaspoonful of salt, half a cup of Indian meal, two table-spoonfuls of molasses, and buckwheat enough to make a thin batter; let this rise over night; in the morning sift in one teaspoonful of saleratus, and fry. If you have them every morning, save a little of the batter to rise them with, instead of using fresh yeast every time. The Indian meal may be omitted if you prefer them without; in this case use a little more buckwheat. They may be made with sour milk, as the flour are made by substituting buckwheat for flour; but they are not so good as when raised. Buckwheat is so fine that care must be taken to stir and beat well from the bottom, or there will be lumps of dry buckwheat there.

Fried Mush

Into one quart of boiling water stir one tablespoonful of salt, and one cup of flour mixed with one quart of Indian meal (it may take a little more than a quart of meal to make it stiff enough); beat it well, or it will be lumpy. Boil gently two hours, and then turn into dishes which have been dipped in cold water, and set away to cool. Pans in which you bake loaves of bread are the best to cool it in, as it then makes handsome slices In the morning cut into slices an inch thick, and fry brown in pork fat. Serve slices of fried pork with it You can cook enough at one time for several breakfasts. If you do not wish to fry the mush, do not use the flour, and do not make quite so stiff.

Brown Bread Brewis

If you bake brown bread there will be a great deal of hard crust. Take this crust and put in a basin with a little salt, and cold water enough to cover it; cover tight, and set on the fire to boil; boil fifteen or twenty minutes, and serve in a deep dish. It must be dry and soft This is very nice eaten with cold corned beef or sold tongue; it can also be eaten with milk or sirup.