do not conform to the natural laws in using this kind of diet. These
laws are very simple, and easy to understand. Let the fruit be ripe
when you eat it; and eat when you require _food_. Fruits that have
_seeds_ are much more wholesome than the _stone_ fruits. But all
fruits are better, for very young children, if baked or cooked in some
manner, and eaten with bread. The French always eat bread with raw
fruit. Apples and winter pears are very excellent food for
children,--indeed, for almost any person in health,--but best when
eaten for breakfast or dinner. If taken late in the evening, fruit
often proves injurious. The old saying, that apples are _gold in the
morning, silver at noon, and lead at night_, is pretty near the truth.
Both apples and pears are often good and nutritious when baked or
stewed, and when prepared in this way are especially suitable for
those delicate constitutions that cannot bear raw fruit. Much of the
fruit gathered when unripe might be rendered fit for food by
preserving in sugar.

2086. Ripe Currants.

Ripe Currants are excellent food for children. Mash the fruit,
sprinkle with sugar, and let them eat freely, taking some good bread
with the fruit.

2087. Blackberry Jam.

Gather the fruit in dry weather; allow half a pound of good brown
sugar to every pound of fruit; boil the whole together gently for an
hour, or till the blackberries are soft, stirring and mashing them
well. Preserve it like any other jam, and it will be found very useful
in families, particularly for children, regulating their bowels, and
enabling you to dispense with cathartics. It may be used in the
ordinary way in roll-over puddings, and for tarts, or spread on bread
instead of butter; and even when the blackberries are bought, it is
cheaper than butter. In the country every family should preserve at
least half a peck of blackberries.

2088. Blackberry Pudding or Pie.

Pudding or pie made of blackberries only, or of blackberries and
apples mixed in equal proportions is excellent. For suitable suet
crust see _par_. 1269. and for puff paste see _par_. 1257.

2089. To make Senna and Manna Palatable.

Take of senna leaves and manna a quarter of an ounce of each, and pour
over them a pint of boiling water; when the strength is abstracted,
pour the infusion over from a quarter to half a pound of prunes and
two large tablespoonfuls of West In