When a well is cleared out, if any offensive substance is found in it, have the bottom sprinkled with two or three quarts of quick-lime.

As a general rule, it is most economical to buy the best articles. The price is, of course, always a little higher; but good articles spend best. It is a sacrifice of money to buy poor flour, meat, sugar, molasses, butter, cheese, lard, etc, to say nothing of the injurious effect upon the health.

Of West India sugar and molasses, the Santa Cruz and Porto Rico are considered the best. The Havana is seldom clean. White sugar from Brazil is sometimes very good. Refined sugars usually contain most of the saccharine- substance, therefore there is probably more economy in using loaf, crushed, and granulated sugars, than we should at first suppose.

Butter that is made in September and October is best for winter use. Lard should be hard and white, and that which is taken from a hog not over a year old, is best.

Rich cheese feels soft under the pressure of the finger. That which is very strong is neither good or healthy. To keep one that is cut, tie it up in a bag that will not admit flies, and hang it in a cool, dry place. If mould appears on it, wipe it off with a dry cloth.

Flour and meal of all kinds should be kept in a cool, dry place.

The best rice is large, and has a clear, fresh look. Old rice sometimes has little worms and black insects inside the kernels. Buy the Carolina Head rice.

The small white sago, called pearl sago, is the best. The large brown kind has an earthy taste. These articles, and tapioca, ground rice, etc, should be kept covered.

The cracked cocoa is the best, but that which is put up in pound papers is often very good.

Shells are apt to be musty. Try a quarter of a pound before buying a quantity.

To select nutmegs, prick them with a pin. If they are good, the oil will instantly spread around the puncture.

Keep coffee by itself, as its odor affects other articles. Keep tea in a close chest or canister.

Oranges and lemons keep best wrapped close in soft paper,

When a cask of molasses is bought, draw off a few quarts, else the fermentation produced by moving it will burst the cask.

Bread and cake should be kept in a tin box: or stone jar.

Salt cod should be kept in a dry place, where the odor of it will not affect the air of the house. The best kind is that which is called Dun, from its peculiar color. Fish-skin for clearing coffee should be washed, dried, cut small,' and kept in a box or paper bag.

Soft soap should be kept in a dry place in the cellar, and should not be used till three months old.

Bar soap should be cut into pieces of a convenient size, and laid where it will become dry. It is well to keep it several weeks before using it, as it spends fast when it is new.

Cranberries will keep all winter in a firkin of water in the cellar.

Potatoes should be put into the cellar as soon as they are dug. Lying exposed to the sun turns them green, and makes them watery. Some good housekeepers have sods laid over barrels of potatoes not in immediate use. To prevent them from sprouting in the spring, turn them out upon the cellar-bottom.

To thaw frozen potatoes, put them in hot water. To thaw frozen apples, put them in cold water. Neither will keep long after being frozen.

Cabbages should be buried in sand, with the roots upward.

Celery should also be buried in sand.

Turnips and beets should be put in a dry part of the cellar. Carrots keep anywhere. Onions keep best spread, and in a cool place, but should not freeze. Parsnips are best buried in a pit in the garden, and not opened till March or April, in cold parts of the country.

Squashes should be kept in a dry place, and as cold as may be without freezing.

Apples should remain out of doors in barrels till the weather becomes too cold. They should not be headed up immediately after being gathered, as a moisture accumulates upon them which causes them to decay. When brought in, set them in a back room, until the weather requires their being put into the cellar. A linen cloth laid over them will keep them from frost till very cold weather. Many good housekeepers prefer not to have apples headed up at all. There is an advantage in being able to pick them over several times in the course of a winter, as one defective apple injures all its neighbors. If they are moist, wipe them.

Herbs should be gathered when just beginning to blossom; as they are then in their perfection. Medicinal herbs should be dried, put up in paper bags, and labelled. Those used in cooking should be pounded, sifted, and put into labelled boxes or bottles. Herbs retain their virtue best, to be dried by artificial heat. The warmth of an oven a few hours after the bread is drawn, is sufficient.

Inspect every part of your house often, and let every place be neatly kept. Habits of order in housekeeping save a great deal of time and trouble, and the most thorough way of doing every thing, is the most economical of labor and money, in the end.

Every thing used in the preparation of food should be kept clean. A half washed pot or saucepan, or a dingy brass kettle.

will spoil the articles cooked in them. A lady should accustom herself to such habits of attention to her household concerns, that careless ways on the part of those who serve her, will not escape her observation. Unfaithfulness in servants is the sure result of ignorance or negligence in the housekeeper.