ttle wilted, can be restored by being sprinkled with water and laid
in a cool, dark place; all roots and tubers should be pared and laid in
cold water an hour or more before using. Green vegetables are best just
before they flower; and roots and tubers are prime from their ripening
until spring germination begins.

=Fruit.=--All fruit should be purchased ripe and sound; it is poor economy
to buy imperfect or decayed kinds, as they are neither satisfactory nor
healthy eating; while the mature, full-flavored sorts are invaluable as
food.

=Sweet Herbs.=--Sweet and savory herbs are absolutely indispensable to
good cooking; they give variety and savory flavors to any dish into
which they enter, and are nearly all of some decided sanitary use; the
different kinds called for in the various receipts further on in this
work can be bought at almost any grocery store, or in the market; but
we advise our readers to obtain seeds from some good florist and make
little kitchen gardens of their own, even if the space planted be only a
box of mould in the kitchen window. Sage, thyme, summer savory, sweet
marjoram, tarragon, sweet basil, rosemary, mint, burnet, chervil, dill,
and parsley, will grow abundantly with very little care; and when dried,
and added judiciously to food, greatly improve its flavor. Parsley,
tarragon and fennel, should be dried in May, June, and July, just before
flowering; mint in June and July; thyme, marjoram, and savory in July
and August; basil and sage in August and September; all herbs should be
gathered in the sunshine, and dried by artificial heat; their flavor is
best preserved by keeping them in air-tight tin cans.

Bay leaves can be procured at any drug store, or German grocery, at a
very moderate expense; they have the flavor of laurel.

An excellent and convenient spice-salt can be made by drying, powdering,
and mixing by repeated siftings the following ingredients: one quarter
of an ounce each of powdered thyme, bay leaf, and pepper; one eighth of
an ounce each of rosemary, marjoram, and cayenne pepper, or powdered
capsicums; one half of an ounce each of powdered clove and nutmeg; to
every four ounces of this powder add one ounce of salt, and keep the
mixture in an air-tight vessel. One ounce of it added to three pounds of
stuffing, or forcemeat of any kind, makes a delicious seasoning.

=A bouquet of Sweet herbs.=--The bouquet, or fagot, of sweet herbs, so
often called for in foreign cooking, i