Critics of English cookery seem bo agree in saying that, wanting as we are, as a rule, in our general knowledge of kitchen work, our ignorance of the treatment of vegetables is greater than in every other branch of the art. Until comparatively lately, the universal method of serving vegetables at an English dinner table was with the joint alone. Dressed vegetables, or entremets de legumes, were never heard of. Of late year however, facilities in the way of travelling abroad have been great, and by degrees the Briton has come to appreciate a dish of vegetables, specially prepared, such as be liked so much in Paris, at Dieppe, Nice, Monaco, or Pan; and Martha has been "worritted," on the return of the family to England, to "mess about the cauliflower with cheese," or send up the green peas in solitary grandeur. A fillip has, in this way, been given to vegetable cookery in England, and people with any claims to refined taste have at last come to perceive the absolute barbarism of heaping up two or three sorts of vegetables on the same plate with roast meat and gravy.

From time immemorial tinned asparagus, - served alone, has occupied a prominent place in the menu of a dinner in India. I have often wondered how this spark of civilization became kindled, and why the example thus given was never more generally followed with regard to other vegetables.

It will be, I think, admitted nem con that we live in a climate out here especially demanding vegetable diet. With the thermometer indicating 90° or thereabouts, plain animal food is not only distasteful to many, but absolutely unwholesome. We cannot, therefore, devote too much attention to the cookery of vegetables.

Let us consider what we have got under three heads :-

(a) - English vegetables grown in India.

(b) - Country vegetables.

(c) - Vegetables preserved in tins.

At different periods during the year we can get in Madras:- potatoes, green peas, cauliflowers, cabbages, spinach, artichokes (Jerusalem), and globe artichokes from the Hills, French beans, carrots, parsnips, turnips, knolkhol, celery, marrows, leeks, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuces, beetroot, endive, and onions : all under head number one.

Under head number two we have, brinjals, bandecai, various beans, country cucumber, and greens (which cook well as spinach), moringa pods, small tomato or love apple, maize, (mucka cholum) sorrel, pumpkin, yams, onions large and small, garlic, and sweet potato.

For head number three, which we will take separately, we must consult the list of preserved French, and American vegetables published by any well-known Firm.

I have omitted asparagus, seakale, and salsify, from my list under the first head, as those excellent vegetables have not yet been cultivated by the gardeners of Bangalore or the Neilgherries in sufficient quantity to form a portion of the vegetable supply of our markets. For the benefit however, of such enterprising amateurs as may be able to grow them privately, I will mention how each should be treated by the cook hereafter.

Potatoes perhaps claim the most important place in our consideration, so let us take them first.

The boiling of a potato has long been considered one of the tests by which the merits of a cook should be decided. "Can she cook a chop, and boil a potato ?" is often the modest query of pater familias in England, and in nine cases out of ten you may wager your best hat that she can do neither. Nevertheless, 1 have come to the conclusion that cooks are in many cases wrongfully blamed in the matter of potato-cooking, that is to say. that their failure often attributed to the wrong cause. We all know that the potato grows capriciously according to the weather it may have enjoyed, or have Buffered from. A crop will sometimes prove mealy, and light, for the table, and at other times waxy, and heavy. It is therefore obvious that we should find out the merits or demerits of the tubers we buy, before we give our orders regarding their treatment in the kitchen. We ought not to expect all potatoes to turn out equally floury as a matter of course, and blame the cook if he fail so to serve them.

There are fortunately so many ways of cooking potatoes that we need never be at a loss for a recipe. If nice and mealy we can, of course, boil, or steam them, - the latter method for choice, - and serve them plainly : but if waxy, we must proceed differently.

Whether boiled, or steamed, a potato ought not to be peeled; if it be very old, you cannot avoid removing the skin and eyes, but, in a general way, a potato is far better cooked "in its jacket." When done, the skin can be removed, if you wish, in the kitchen, and the dish be served plain, or in any one of the ways I shall presently speak of.

The "G. C," says:- "After they have been carefully washed, put your potatoes, unpeeled, into a sauce-pan, filled with cold-water to the height of about an inch, then sprinkle them with salt, and place a wet cloth on the top of them. The sauce-pan should be then put on the fire, and in about half an hour, drawn upon the kitchener (at the side of the fire) to remain hot till the potatoes are wanted."

Choose potatoes as much of a size as you can for boiling : do not boil a large and two small ones together if you can help it. When potatoes are boiled in the ordinary fashion; that is, placed in a sauce-pan with a due allowance of salt, and covered well with cold water, they should be lifted, and drained after half an hour's cooking, and then be returned to the hot, empty sauce-pan, covered with a wet cloth, and placed at the margin of the fire to keep hot, and to dry themselves thoroughly.

In boiling potatoes in the ordinary method, it is a good thing to check the rate of cooking, every now and then, by adding a little cold water, and the time ought to be, - after boiling commences, - from eighteen to twenty minutes.

"Steamed potatoes" should be scraped, picked, and wiped, after having been set for five minutes or so in cold-water. Then place them in the steamer over boiling water, and let them steam till done : the time may vary from twenty to forty minutes : the fork (or a skewer) should go through them easily, if not, they are not done. A minute in a fast oven will dry them if needful.