"Cheerful looks makes every dish a feast."

Massinger.

We need a large variety of vegetables in our food to promote perfect health. Vegetables are rich in saline substances, which counteract the evil effect of too much animal food; and those that contain starch and albumen and can be stored for use during the winter months are considered the most valuable. Peas, beans, squashes, beets and turnips, which contain sugar, should be slightly sweetened, as much of the natural sweetness is lost in the cooking. Those that contain potash salts, as cabbage and lettuce, need an acid condiment. When peas, beans and other vegetables are found difficult of digestion, they may often be eaten safely if made in the form of a puree.

All green vegetables should be freshly gathered, washed well in cold water, and cooked in freshly boiled water until tender, but no longer.

After water has boiled for a time, it parts with its gases and becomes hard; and most vegetables are better cooked in soft water. It is well known that split peas, dried beans and lentils will not boil soft in hard water. In some cases, however, the solvent power of pure soft water is so great that it destroys the firmness, color and skin of some of the green vegetables, so that their juices pass out into the water. This is especially true of green peas and beans ; and in such cases hard water is better than soft. A tea-spoonful of common salt added to every four quarts of water hardens it at once, while half a tea-spoonful of bi-carbonate of soda placed in the same quantity of water renders it soft. French cooks recommend half a tea-spooonful of ammonia for the latter purpose. Young, green vegetables, therefore, should be cooked in boiling salted water. Onions, if boiled in soft water, are almost tasteless, and no after salting can restore the sweet saline taste and aroma which they possess when boiled in hard (salted) water. If green vegetables are wilted, soak them for an hour in cold water. Do not add salt, as it hardens the tissues.

Peas, beans and lentils are the most nutritious of vegetable substances. They are said to contain as much carbon (heat-giving food) as wheat, and almost double the amount of nitrogen (muscle-forming food). Lentils are almost unknown in this country, except to the Germans, who use them for soup, which, though made entirely without meat, is most nutritious. Lentils afford the most concentrated form of vegetable diet, and in olden times their value was fully appreciated. Esau sold his birthright, we are told, for a mess of lentil pottage, and we read that the pyramids were built by men who lived on lentils, garlic and water. In the time of Pharaoh lentils were considered a dish to be served to persons of distinction. It is much to be deplored that we, as a people, do not use this vegetable freely.

Vegetables that have been stored in the autumn for winter use become much wilted as the season advances. Carrots, turnips, potatoes, onions and cabbage that were crisp and delicate at first get strong-flavored as well as withered and dried. These should stand several hours in cold water before being cooked and should then be boiled in four times their quantity of water. Cooking in insufficient water will make them dark and give them a very unpleasant flavor.

Lettuce that has become wilted will brighten if laid in ice-water. Celery that seems unfit for use may be made quite fresh again by being laid in a pan of lukewarm water, which will then be set upon the ice, or outdoors, if the weather is cold, to gradually cool. When thoroughly cold the celery will be crisp and fresh. Celery that is so wilted that it may actually be tied in a knot has been revived most effectually by this method.

Rice, hominy and macaroni are wisely used as vegetables during the winter and early spring.