_Preserves_ and _Jellies_ should be kept in glass or stone, in a cool, dry place, well sealed, or tied with bladder covers. If properly made and thus put up, they never will ferment. If it is difficult to find a cool, dry place, pack the jars in a box, and fill the interstices with sand, very thoroughly dried. It is best to put jellies in tumblers, or small glass jars, so as to open only a small quantity at a time. The most easy way of keeping _Hams_ perfectly is to wrap and tie them in paper, and pack them in boxes or barrels with ashes. The ashes must fill all interstices, but must not touch the hams, as it absorbs the fat. It keeps them sweet, and protects from all kinds of insects. After smoked beef or hams are cut, hang them in a coarse linen bag in the cellar, and tie it up to keep out flies. Keep _Cheese_ in a cool, dry place, and after it is cut, wrap it in a linen cloth, and keep it in a tight tin box. Keep _Bread_ in a tin covered box, and it will keep fresh and good longer than if left exposed to the air. _Cake_ also should be kept in a tight tin box. Tin boxes made with covers like trunks, with handles at the ends, are best for bread and cake. _Smoked herring_ keep in the cellar. _Codfish_ is improved by changing it, once in a while, back and forth from garret to cellar. Some dislike to have it in the house anywhere. All _salted provision_ must be watched, and kept under the brine. When the brine looks bloody, or smells badly, it must be scalded, and more salt put to it, and poured over the meat. CHAPTER XXI. ON SETTING TABLES, AND PREPARING VARIOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD FOR THE TABLE. To a person accustomed to a good table, the manner in which the table is set, and the mode in which food is prepared and set on, has a great influence, not only on the eye, but the appetite. A housekeeper ought, therefore, to attend carefully to these particulars. The table-cloth should always be _white_, and well washed and ironed. When taken from the table, it should be folded in the ironed creases, and some heavy article laid on it. A heavy bit of plank, smoothed and kept for the purpose, is useful. By this method, the table-cloth looks tidy much longer than when it is less carefully laid aside. When table-napkins are used, care should be taken to keep the same one to each person; and in laying them aside, they should be folded so as to hide the soiled places, and laid under pressure. It is best to use napkin-rings. The table-cloth should always be put on _square_, and right side upward. The articles of table furniture should be placed with order and symmetry. The bread for breakfast and tea should be cut in even, regular slices, not over a fourth of an inch thick, and all crumbs removed from the bread-plate. They should be piled in a regular form, and if the slices are large they should be divided.