ed and kept dry, or they will impart an unpleasant flavour when
next used. To all these directions the cook should pay great attention,
nor should they, by any means, be neglected by the _mistress of the
household_, who ought to remember that cleanliness in the kitchen gives
health and happiness to home, whilst economy will immeasurably assist in
preserving them.

73. WITHOUT FUEL, A KITCHEN might be pronounced to be of little use;
therefore, to discover and invent materials for supplying us with the
means of domestic heat and comfort, has exercised the ingenuity of man.
Those now known have been divided into five classes; the first
comprehending the fluid inflammable bodies; the second, peat or turf;
the third, charcoal of wood; the fourth, pit-coal charred; and the
fifth, wood or pit-coal in a crude state, with the capacity of yielding
a copious and bright flame. The first may be said seldom to be employed
for the purposes of cookery; but _peat_, especially amongst rural
populations, has, in all ages, been regarded as an excellent fuel. It is
one of the most important productions of an alluvial soil, and belongs
to the vegetable rather than the mineral kingdom. It may be described as
composed of wet, spongy black earth, held together by decayed
vegetables. Formerly it covered extensive tracts in England, but has
greatly disappeared before the genius of agricultural improvement.
_Charcoal_ is a kind of artificial coal, used principally where a strong
and clear fire is desired. It is a black, brittle, insoluble, inodorous,
tasteless substance, and, when newly-made, possesses the remarkable
property of absorbing certain quantities of the different gases. Its
dust, when used as a polishing powder, gives great brilliancy to metals.
It consists of wood half-burned, and is manufactured by cutting pieces
of timber into nearly the same size, then disposing them in heaps, and
covering them with earth, so as to prevent communication with the air,
except when necessary to make them burn. When they have been
sufficiently charred, the fire is extinguished by stopping the vents
through which the air is admitted. Of _coal_ there are various species;
as, pit, culm, slate, cannel, Kilkenny, sulphurous, bovey, jet, &c.
These have all their specific differences, and are employed for various
purposes; but are all, more or less, used as fuel.

The use of coal for burning purposes was not known to the
Romans. In Britain it was disc