RECEIPT 1.--The prune. Few things sit easier on the feeble or delicate stomach than the stewed prune. It should be stewed slowly, in very little water. RECEIPT 2.--The good raisin is almost as much improved by stewing as the prune. I do not know that the fig has ever yet been subjected to the processes of modern cookery. It is, however, with bread, a good article of food. Fruits, in their juices, may be regarded as the milk of adults and old people, but are less useful to young children and to the _very_ old. But to be useful they must be perfectly ripe, and eaten in their season. Thus used, they prevent a world of summer diseases--used improperly, they invite disease, and do much other mischief. In general, fruits and milk do not go very well together. The baked sweet apple and whortleberry seem to be least objectionable. CLASS III.--ROOTS. DIVISION I.--MEALY ROOTS. These are the potato, in its numerous varieties, the artichoke, the ground-nut, and the comfrey. Of these the potato is by far the most important. SECTION A.--_The Common Potato._ This may be roasted, baked, boiled, steamed, or fried. It is also made into puddings and pies. Roasting in the ashes is the best method of cooking it; frying by far the worst. I take this opportunity to enter my protest against all frying of food. Com. Nicholson, of revolutionary memory, would never, as his daughters inform me, have a frying-pan in his house. The potato is best when well roasted in the ashes, but also excellent when baked, and very tolerable when boiled or steamed. There are many ways of preparing the potato and cooking it. Some always pare it. It may be well to pare it late in the winter and in the spring, but not at other times. For, in paring, we lose a portion of the richest part of the potato, as in the case of paring the apple. There is much tact required to pare a potato properly, that is, thinly. RECEIPT 1.--To boil a potato, see that the kettle is clean, the water pure and soft, and the potatoes clean. Put them in as soon as the water boils.[29] When they are soft, which can be determined by piercing them with a fork, pour off the water, and let them steam about five minutes. RECEIPT 2.--To roast in the ashes, wash them clean, then dry them, then remove the heated embers and ashes quite to the bottom of the fire-place, and place them as closely together as possible, but not on top of each other. Cover as quickly as possible, and fill the crevices with hot embers and small coals. Let them be as nearly of a size as possible, and cover them to the depth of an inch. Then build a hot fire over them. They will be cooked in from half an hour to three quarters of an hour, according to the size and heat of the fire. RECEIPT 3.--Baking potatoes in a stove or oven, is a process so generally known, that it hardly needs description. RECEIPT 4.--Steaming is better than boiling. Some fry them; others stew them with vegetables for soup, etc. SECTION B.--_The Sweet Potato._