of the stove. After washing them
thoroughly, pare them entirely, or take off one ring around each; if
they are new, put them over the fire in hot water; if they are old, put
them on in cold water; in either case, add a tablespoonful of salt, and
boil them from fifteen to thirty minutes, as they require, until you can
pierce them easily with a fork; then drain off all the water, cover them
with a clean dry towel, and set them on the back of the fire until you
are ready to use them.

218. =Apple Cake.=--Grate a small loaf of stale bread; pare and slice
about a quart of apples; lightly butter a pudding mould, dust it well
with flour, and then with sugar, and fill it with layers of bread
crumbs, apples, and sugar, using a very little cinnamon to flavor it;
let the top layer be of crumbs, and put a few bits of butter on it; bake
the cake for one hour in a moderate oven; and serve it for dessert.

219. =Fruit Farina.=--Sprinkle three tablespoonfuls of farina into one
quart of boiling milk, using a sauce-pan set into a kettle of boiling
water, in order to prevent burning; flavor and sweeten to taste, and
boil for half an hour, stirring occasionally; then add one pint of any
ripe berries, or sliced apples, and boil until the fruit is cooked,
about twenty minutes: the pudding may be boiled in a mould or a cloth
after the fruit is added. It should be served with powdered sugar.

220. =Plain Cookies.=--Beat one egg with one cup of sugar to a cream, work
two ounces of butter soft, and beat it with the egg and sugar, grate in
quarter of a nutmeg, add one gill of milk, and prepared flour enough to
make a sufficiently stiff paste to roll out about a pound. Roll an
eighth of an inch thick, cut out with a biscuit cutter, or an inverted
cup, and lay on a floured baking pan, and bake about twenty minutes in
a moderate oven.

221. =Plain Gingerbread.=--Partly melt one ounce of butter, stir it into
half a pint of molasses, with a tablespoonful of ground ginger, and half
a pint of boiling water, stir in smoothly half a pound of prepared
flour, and pour the batter into a buttered baking pan; bake it about
half an hour in a quick oven, trying it with a broom straw, at the end
of twenty minutes; as soon as the straw passes through it without
sticking, the cake is done.

222. =Strawberry Shortcake.=--Rub two ounces of butter into a pound of
prepared flour, mix it stiff enough to mould with about half a pint of
milk; put the dough upon a rou