early in the day as possible
in order to secure a choice of fresh articles; and trade with
respectable dealers who give full weight and honest measure.

=Meats.=--While meats are in season all the year, they are better at
stated times; for instance, pork is prime in late autumn and winter;
veal should be avoided in summer for sanitary reasons; and even our
staples, beef and mutton, vary in quality. The flesh of healthy animals
is hard and fresh colored, the fat next the skin is firm and thick, and
the suet or kidney-fat clear white and abundant; if this fat is soft,
scant and stringy, the animal has been poorly fed or overworked. Beef
should be of a bright red color, well marbled with yellowish fat, and
surrounded with a thick outside layer of fat; poor beef is dark red, and
full of gristle, and the fat is scant and oily. Mutton is bright red,
with plenty of hard white fat; poor mutton is dull red in color, with
dark, muddy-looking fat. Veal and pork should be bright flesh color with
abundance of hard, white, semi-transparent fat; when the fat is reddish
and dark, the meat is of an inferior quality; veal and pork should be
eaten very fresh. When meat of any kind comes into the house it should
be hung up at once in some cool, dark place, and left until wanted.

=Poultry.=--Fresh poultry may be known by its full bright eyes, pliable
feet, and soft moist skin; the best is plump, fat, and nearly white, and
the grain of the flesh is fine. The feet and neck of a young fowl are
large in proportion to its size, and the tip of the breast-bone is soft,
and easily bent between the fingers; the body of a capon is large, fat,
and round, the head comparatively small, and the comb pale and withered;
a young cock, has short, loose, soft spurs, and a long, full, bright red
comb; old fowls have long, thin necks and feet, and the flesh on the
legs and back has a purplish shade; chickens, capons, and fowls, are
always in season.

Turkeys when good are white and plump, have full breasts and smooth
legs, generally black, with soft, loose spurs; hen turkeys are smaller,
fatter, and plumper, but of inferior flavor; full grown turkeys are the
best for boning and boiling, as they do not tear in dressing; old
turkeys have long hairs, and the flesh is purplish where it shows under
the skin on the legs and back. About March they deteriorate in quality.
Turkey-poults are tender, but lack flavor.

Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-