48 MODERN HOUSEHOLD COOKERY BOOK.

toast, which should be dipped in the water in which asparagus was
boiled. Cut the strings and arrange the bunches nicely. Serve with
Dutch sauce, drawn butter or white sauce, in a sauce tureen, or in
America in individual dishes. Make the sauce—one tablespoonful
of butter, and one egg yolk, put into a small bowl or cup, with salt
or pepper. Place this in a small saucepan of boiling water, and stir
until quite thick and hot. This sauce is also good for boiled vege-
table marrow.

Cooking vegetables in hard water helps to hoid in the nourish-
ing juices, but the lime hardens the woody fibre, so, while hard
water makes vegetables more nutritious, soft water makes them
more digestible.

Watercress is a particularly wholesome vegetable, either raw
or cooked. It purifies the blood, and is generally used for salads.

Celery is used for salads, plain, or boiled, and served with sauce.
It is good for rheumatism.

Turnips are good for chest complaints.

Spinach has the same effect as dandelion leaves, ete. It is now
considered apples contain more bread food than any other fruit or
vegetable, are much more nutritious than potatoes which enter so
largely in the preparation of our daily food. They are more whole-
some eaten raw than cooked, and mingled with eggs, butter, and
flour. Simply baked and substituted for pickles, and condiments,
they would be found beneficial. For young children, apples, baked,
or stewed in a jar in the oven, served with milk and bread, make a
most satisfying, wholesome dish. One-half pound dried apples or
prunes, washed and soaked all night, then placed in a jar, with one
teacupful of sugar and one of water, the jar covered with a saucer,
then placed in a saucepan of boiling water half way up, or in the
oven for an hour or more, makes an excellent dish. Squeeze in the
juice of half a lemon before serving.

Artichokes (Jerusalem) Boiled.—Artichokes form a change in
the vegetable menu. It must be observed that they require more
careful cooking than the potato, because if left to boil too long they
become black. The artichokes should first be peeled rather thickly.
Kach root must be thrown into a little vinegar and water to pre-
serve the color, or rubbed over with a cut lemon. When they are
all peeled they should be put into a saucepan of boiling water, with
a liberal supply of salt (a dessertspoonful), and must be kept boil-
ing until they are tender. Serve with white sauce.

Asparagus.—When selecting see that the cut end is fresh, and
the heads straight. Scrape off the white skin from the lower ends,
and cut the stalks into equal lengths. Let them remain in cold
water until ready to be cooked.

Put two tablespoonfuls of salt into four quarts of water, and
when the water is boiling put in the asparagus, which must be tied
in small bundles of six, eight or ten sticks, according to size. Stand
the asparagus upright in the water, leaving the tips about an inch