WINGFIELD Maryland. MRS. R. M. C. WINGFIELD Portsmouth. MRS. J. C. WHEAT Winchester. MRS. JUDGE WHARTON Liberty. MISS EMILY WHITEHEAD Norfolk. MRS. ROBERT WHITEHEAD Nelson Co. MRS. JOHN M. WARWICK Lynchburg. MRS. WM. N. WELFORD " MR. PHILIP WITHERS " MISS KATE WILSON " DR. THOS. L. WALKER " MISS NANNIE S. LANGHORNE " HOUSEKEEPING IN OLD VIRGINIA. BREAD. Bread is so vitally important an element in our nourishment that I have assigned to it the first place in my work. Truly, as Frederika Bremer says, "when the bread rises in the oven, the heart of the housewife rises with it," and she might have added that the heart of the housewife sinks in sympathy with the sinking bread. I would say to housewives, be not daunted by one failure, nor by twenty. Resolve that you _will_ have good bread, and never cease striving after this result till you have effected it. If persons without brains can accomplish this, why cannot you? I would recommend that the housekeeper acquire the practice as well as the theory of bread-making. In this way, she will be able to give more exact directions to her cook and to more readily detect and rectify any blemish in the bread. Besides, if circumstances should throw her out of a cook for a short time, she is then prepared for the emergency. In this country fortunes are so rapidly made and lost, the vicissitudes of life are so sudden, that we know not what a day may bring forth. It is not uncommon to see elegant and refined women brought suddenly face to face with emergencies which their practical knowledge of household economy and their brave hearts enable them to firmly meet and overcome. To return to the bread question, however. Good flour is an indispensable requisite to good bread. Flour, whether old or new, should always be sunned and aired before being used. In the morning, get out the flour to be made up at night for next morning's breakfast. Sift it in a tray and put it out in the sun, or, if the day is damp, set it near the kitchen fire. Only experience will enable you to be a good judge of flour. One test is to rub the dry flour between your fingers, and if the grains feel round, it is a sign that the flour is good. If after trying a barrel of flour twice, you find it becomes wet and sticky, after being made up of the proper consistency, you had better then return it to your grocer.