the same as directed for
asparagus, page 256.

STEWED SQUASH.--Prepare, cut into pieces, and stew until tender in
a small quantity of boiling water; drain, pressing out all the water;
serve on toast with cream or white sauce. Or, divide in quarters, remove
the seeds, cook in a double boiler, in its own juices, which when done
may be thickened with a little flour. Season with salt if desired, and
serve hot.

WINTER SQUASHES.

The winter squash and pumpkin are allied in nature to the summer squash.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Select squashes of a firm texture, wash,
break in pieces with a hatchet if hard-shell, or if the shell is soft,
divide with a knife; remove all seeds, and boil, stew, steam, or bake,
as preferred.

To boil or steam, from thirty minutes to one hour's time will be needed;
to bake, one to two hours.

_RECIPES._

BAKED SQUASH..--The hard-shell varieties are best for baking. Wash,
divide, and lay, shells downward, on the top grate of the oven, or place
in a shallow baking dish with a little boiling water. Boil until tender,
serve in the shell, or scrape out the soft part, mash and serve with two
largo tablespoonful of cream to a pint of squash. If preferred, the
skins may be removed before baking, and the squash served the same as
sweet potato, for which it makes a good substitute.

STEAMED SQUASH.--Prepare the squash, and steam until tender. Mash
and season as for baked squash.

THE PUMPKIN.

DESCRIPTION.--When our forefathers came to this country, they found
the pumpkin growing in the Indian cornfields, and at once made use of
it. Although as food it did not supply what its handsome exterior
promised, yet in the absence of other fruits and relishes, of which the
exigencies of a new country deprived them, they soon found the pumpkin
quite palatable; and the taste, cultivated through necessity, has been
handed down through generations, until the pumpkin stewed and baked in
pies, has become an established favorite.

_RECIPES._

BAKED PUMPKIN.--Wash the pumpkin well on the outside, divide into
quarters if small, into sixths or eighths if large; remove the seeds but
not the rind. Bake as directed for squash. Serve in the rind, dishing it
out by spoonfuls.

STEWED PUMPKIN.--Select a good, ripe pumpkin, and cut in halves;
remove the seeds, slice halfway around, pare, cut into inch pieces, put
over the fire in a kettle containing a small quantity of boiling water,
and stew gently, stir