Spring chickens bring a high price, and are considered delicacies, but they are so insipid, and have so little on them, that we think the purchase of them, when very young, a mere fashionable extravagance, and a waste of money that might be better employed in something that had really a fine flavor, and that when divided was more than a morsel for each person. We wonder that any but invalids should care for spring chickens. It is better to wait till the young chickens grow into nice plump fowls, that were well fed, and have lived long enough to show it. A fine full-grown young fowl, has a clear white skin, that tears easily when tried with a pin. It has a broad fleshy breast, the legs are smooth, and the toes easily broken when bent back. Fowls with whitish legs are considered the best for boiling; those with dark legs the best for roasting. The finest of all fowls are capons. They grow very large and fat, and yet are as tender as young chickens, have a fine delicate rich flavor of their own, and are well worth their cost. The great Bucks county fowls are profitable because they are large; but they are never very plenty in market, being difficult to raise. The best poultry feels heavy in proportion to its size. Hen turkeys are best for boiling.

Ducks and geese (particularly the latter) are so tough when old, that it is often impossible to eat them; therefore buy none that are not young. Geese are generally kept alive too long, for the sake of their feathers, which they always shed in August, and for which there is always a demand. And geese are not expensive to keep, as in summer they feed on grass, and will graze in a field like sheep. The feet and legs of an old goose are red and hard. So is her bill. The skin is rough, coarse, and tough, and full of hairs. Let nothing induce you to buy an old goose. You would find it too tough to carve, and too tough to eat. And no cooking can make her tender.

Poultry should be drawn, or emptied (taking care not to break the gall) as soon almost as killed. Then let it be well washed, inside and out, and wiped dry. In picking it, carefully remove every plug or vestige of feathers, and singe off the hairs, by holding the bird to the fire, with a lighted piece of writing paper. Brown paper will give it something of an unpleasant taste. Newspaper is worse, on account of the printing-ink.

If poultry is brought from market frozen, you need not hasten to thaw it, before it is actually wanted for use. Till then, put it in a cold place, and let it remain frozen. It will keep the better. When yon thaw it, by all means use only cold water. Any frozen poultry, or meat, thawed in warm water, will most certainly spoil. Let it be remembered that any food which has been frozen requires a much longer time to cook.

Boiled Turkey

For boiling, choose a fine fat hen turkey. In drawing it, be careful not to break the gall, or a bitter taste will be communicated to the whole bird. In picking, remove every plug and hair, and then singe it with writing-paper. Wash it very clean, and then wipe it dry, inside and out. In trussing, draw the legs into the body, having cut them off at the first joint. Let the turkey look as round and plump as possible. Fill the breast with a very nice forcemeat, or stuffing, made of a quarter of a pound of grated breadcrumbs, mixed with two large table-spoonfuls or two ounces of fresh butter, or finely minced suet, seasoned with a little pepper and salt, a heaped tea-spoonful of powdered nutmeg and mace mixed together, a table-spoonful of sweet herbs* (sweet basil and sweet marjoram) chopped small if green, and powdered if dry; and the crumbled yolks of two hard-boiled eggs. Add the grated yellow rind, and the juice of a fresh lemon, and mix the whole very well. Skewer the liver and gizzard under the pinions, having first cut open the gizzard and cleared it of sand or gravel.

* The herbs summer savory and thyme (like the spices cloves and allspice) are now seldom used in good cookery.

It is no longer customary to mix stuffing or forcemeat with beaten raw egg for the purpose of binding the ingredients together. Leave them loose, without this binding, and the forcemeat will be much lighter, better flavored, and more abundant. It will not fall out if a packthread, or very small twine is wound carefully round the body, (to be removed before serving up,) and it may be secured by sewing it with a needle and thread.

Put the turkey into a large pot with plenty of cold water, and boil it gently, for two hours or more, in proportion to its size; carefully removing all the scum as it rises. It will be whiter if boiled in a large clean cloth, or in a coarse paste, (the paste to be thrown away afterwards,) and take care that it is thoroughly done. Serve up boiled turkey with oyster sauce, celery sauce, or cauliflower sauce. Sweet sauce is rarely eaten with boiled things - unless with puddings.

Boiled turkey should be accompanied by a ham or tongue.

To ascertain if boiled poultry is done, try the thickest parts with a large needle. If the needle goes through, and in and out easily, it is sufficient.

A turkey (boiled or roast) for a family dish, may be stuffed with nice sausage meat, in which case it requires no other stuffing. Surround it on a dish with fried sausage cakes, about the size of a dollar, but near an inch thick.

It is very convenient to keep always in the house, during the winter months, one or two large jars of nice home-made sausage-meat, well covered. The best time for making sausage-meat is in November. After March, sausages are seldom eaten.