Fly poison is to be procured from chemists; but there seems little advantage to be derived from its use, as it attracts more flies into a house than it destroys. All are not alike tempted to taste of it. Quassia and sugar, with a little water, set about a kitchen in saucers, is a poison for flies, and not for human beings, and may therefore be safely used. XIX. MICE AND RATS. Mice and rats are animals well known, and against which our best defence is the cat. In the absence of a good mouser traps are employed, of which various kinds are sold in the shops. As neither mice nor rats can harbour where there are no holes for them to take refuge in, great care should be taken to stop up : all such where they are discovered to a neglect of this may be attributed frequent visits from the animals that might have been avoided. Holes in brickwork should be stopped with Parker's cement. As both mice and rats will gnaw wood, they will often make entrances for themselves into places where provisions are kept: as soon as any of these are discovered the carpenter or bricklayer should be sent for. We object to the employment of poisonous substances for destroying these vermin, on account of the fatal accidents that have been known to result from their incautious use. Rats frequently come from the drains, but the use of proper drain traps prevents this. IN HINTS ON CHOOSING PROVISIONS. N the right royal "Book of Cookery" by M. Gouffé, her Majesty's chef de cuisine, are some excellent hints to housewives on choosing meat, fish, poultry, &c., from which we select the following: BUTCHER MEAT. Beef should be chosen of a bright red colour, with light yellow fat, approaching the hue of fresh butter. If the beef should be hard and firm to the touch, with flaccid and little fat, of a brown and dull colour, these are sure indications of inferior quality. As complement to what concerns beef, we represent beef kidney of superior and inferior qualities. Veal should be chosen of a light colour, with very white and transparent fat. Avoid lean season, from the 1st of December to the 1st of May. Spring chickens begin in May, but at any time they should be carefully examined before buying. A tender chicken is known by the size of its feet and neck: a young fowl always has large feet and knee-joints. These characteristics disappear with age. A tough fowl has a thin neck and feet, and the flesh of the thigh has a slight violet tinge. After examining these external signs, the flesh of the pinion and breast should be tried: if tender in both these places, the fowl can be used with confidence. Never use old fowls. I call particular attention to this principle, which I consider a very important one. veal of a reddish tint, and the kidney of which Never use an old fowl in cookery. Whichis surrounded by red-looking fat. Prime ever way you dress it, it will never be good. mutton is known by the same signs as good It is a great mistake to recommend, as in beef-viz., a bright red colour, freedom from many cookery books, the putting of an old gristle, and very white and transparent fat. hen in the stock-pot. Instead of improving Inferior mutton is of a dull red colour, with the broth, it can do nothing but impart to it yellow and opaque fat. the unpleasant flavour of the hen-house. It is also a mistake to expect to make a good daube with an old goose or turkey: nothing but a bad result will be obtained. however, to distinguish between hard, but It is well, POULTRY. In the first place, poultry should be selected very tender, particularly when not in young, poultry, and the toughness of an old fowl. With the former something may be done; but with the old and tough birds, I repeat most emphatically, nothing can be done. A good turkey will be recognised by the whiteness of the flesh and fat. Beware of those with long hairs, and whose flesh on the legs and back is of a violet tinge. To select a goose, try the flesh of the pinion, and break off the lower part of the beak, which should break easily. The fat should be light-coloured and transparent. Ducks are chosen in the same way. Pigeons should have fillets of a light red colour; when old, these darken to blackish violet, and the legs get thin. FISH. A fresh fish is recognisable by the redness of the gills, the brightness of the eyes, and the firmness of the flesh. It is not enough to be guided by the smell: it may lie days on ice without acquiring any noticeable smell, but the flesh in such a case will be dull and flaccid, and care should be taken not to employ fish in that condition. It should be borne in mind that fish will lose in quality in the spawning season. This should regulate one's purchases. My remarks on old poultry apply even more particularly to old fish, which should never on any consideration appear on the table. GAME. Old hares should be discarded; they can be turned to no good account. Leverets and young hares alone should be bought. You can tell a tender hare by the ease with which the fore-paw may be broken, by its large knees, and short stumpy neck. Good wild rabbits are known by the same indications. Pheasants should be selected with the spur but little developed; the tenderness of the bird is known by trying the flesh of the pinion. Woodcocks are also tried by pinching the pinion and breast. Similarly with respect to wild ducks, teal, widgeon, and other water-fowl. Partridges are also tested in the same way; their age can be ascertained by examining the long feathers of the wing round at the tip in an old bird, and pointed in a young. GROCERIES, ETC. As to all articles to be had from the grocer, the oilman, and dairyman, I would urge more than ever that none but the best be bought. This is sure in the end to prove more satisfactory and economical. An inferior quality of oil used in cookery will spoil the same, or whatever else it may be added to; the same with butter, which should always be selected of the freshest and best. A small quantity of sweet butter will improve any preparation where it is required; whereas, with bad butter, the result will be exactly the reverse: the more you add of it the worse will your dish become. Never buy butter without carefully smelling and tasting it; these two tests are indispensable. If you have any doubts as to its freshness, do not on any account buy it, but try elsewhere; it is an invariable rule that "no good cookery is to be done with questionable butter." Never employ eggs without examining them carefully, not only when buying them, but also when they are broken. An egg may appear perfectly good, and still have an unpleasant damp-straw flavour, which is sufficient to spoil a whole dish. Eggs should be broken one after the other, and none put into the basin until their freshness has been ascertained. With respect to bacon, one should likewise be very particular in selecting none but what is very white, with the least gristle possible, and quite fresh and free from rustiness. Fresh pork should be of a light brownish hue, and free from any inequalities of colour. USEFUL RECIPES IN COOKERY. [Continued from page 317.] 7. A NEW BAKED APPLE PUDDING. Τ baked, is a very nice, wholesome pud ding, the crust being remarkably light and crisp, though containing no butter. First, weigh six ounces of the crumb of a light, stale loaf, and grate it down small; then add, and mix thoroughly with it, three ounces and a half of pounded sugar, and a very slight pinch of salt. Next, take from a pound to a pound and a quarter of russetings, or of any other good baking apples; pare and take off the cores in quarters, without dividing the fruit; arrange them in compact layers in a deep tart dish, which holds about a pint and a half, and strew amongst them four ounces of sugar, and the grated rind of a fine fresh lemon; add the strained juice of the lemon, and pour the bread-crumbs gently in the centre, then with a spoon spread them into a layer of equal thickness over the apples, making it very smooth. Sift powdered sugar over, wipe the edge of the dish, and send the pudding to a rather brisk oven for something more than three quarters of an hour. Very pale brown sugar will answer for it almost as well as pounded; and the writer has had it very successfully baked several times in a baker's oven, of which the heat in general is too fierce for the more delicate kinds of pudding. For the nursery some crumbs of bread may be strewed between the layers of apples, and when cinnamon is much liked, a large teaspoonful may be used instead of lemon-rind to flavour them. An ounce or more of ratafias, crushed to powder, may be added to the crust, or sifted over the pudding just before it is served, when they are considered an improvement. 8. A BAKED CHRISTMAS PUDDING. This dish is but a variety of the above; the writer, thinks, however, that it may be not unacceptable to those of our readers who are forbidden to eat pastry in any form. It may be simplified or enriched according to taste, but the present recipe will be found very good. Chop separately, and mix as for mincemeat, four ounces of stoned raisins and four of apples, and two of beef kidney suet; add three of currants, three of pounded sugar, one and a half of crusted ratafias, two of candied citron or orange-rind, half a glass of brandy, half a glass of sherry, or any other good white wine, the juice of half a large lemon, and the grated rind of more than the half, a grain or two of salt, some grated nutmeg, and a small portion of pounded mace or of cloves. Put these ingredients smoothly into a small buttered tart-dish, and lay over them four ounces of fine, lightly-grated, bread crumbs, thoroughly mixed with three of pounded sugar, and the slightest pinch of salt. Should the pudding prove too sweet, less sugar must be added to the mince, as the crust will not be firm and crisp without a certain proportion it. The top may be brushed with clarified butter before the sugar is sifted on. The directions given for that of the apple-pudding apply equally to this, and need not be repeated. Half an hour in a moderate oven will quite suffice to bake it, as it is small. of Observe. The authoress has had excellent puddings of this kind made with summer fruit; those of cherries, of black currants, and of damsons were particularly good. When large plums are used for them they should be split, and a few of the kernels laid amongst them. 9. INFANT'S PUDDING. Butter slightly a large cup without a handle, or a very small basin, and break lightly into it a penny sponge cake; pour over it one well-whisked full-sized egg, mixed with a quarter of a pint of milk; let it stand half an hour, and boil it gently, or steam it for eighteen minutes. Lay writing-paper over it, and then a thin well-floured cloth before it is put into the saucepan. The safer plan is to set it into about an inch and a half depth of boiling water, and to keep the cover closely shut while it is steaming in it, taking care that neither the cloth nor the paper over it shall touch the water. The pudding should not be turned out of the basin for five minutes after it is taken up. IO. AN EASTER PUDDING. reflected to the under part; for when this is not attended to, recipes will often fail from want of more uniform baking—the surface of a dish being even overdone, while the inside has been but slightly acted on by the fire. When time will permit, it is better to allow the rice for this pudding to become nearly or quite cold before the eggs are stirred to it. To 4 oz. of fresh rice flour, add by slow degrees half a pint of cold new milk, being careful to keep the mixture free from lumps. Pour it into a pint of boiling milk, and stir it without intermission over a very clear and gentle fire for three or four minutes; then throw in 2 oz. of fresh butter and 2 of pounded sugar, and continue the boiling for eight or ten minutes longer. Let the rice cool down, and give it an occasional stir, to prevent the surface from hardening. When it has stood for fifteen or twenty minutes, pour to it a quarter of a pint of cold milk, and stir well into it a few grains of salt, the grated rind of a large sound lemon, five full-sized, or six small, eggs, properly cleared and well whisked, first by themselves and then with two additional ounces of pounded sugar. Beat up these ingredients thoroughly together, pour them into a deep dish which has been rubbed with butter, and in which about a tablespoonful should be left liquified, that it may rise to the surface of the pudding; strew lightly upon it 4 oz. of clean, dry currants, and bake it gently from three quarters of an hour to a full hour. Some nutmeg, a spoonful or two of brandy, and an ounce or two of citron sliced thin, can be added if thought desirable. The pudding will be excellent if the baking be well conducted. A border of ratafias, laid on the edge of the dish and fastened to it with a little beaten white of egg mingled with a dust of flour, after it is drawn from the oven, will give a nice finish to its appearance; or cakes of pale puff crust not so large as a shilling, may be used for the purpose when preferred. Should a richer pudding be liked, use for it the yolks of seven or of eight eggs, and the whites of four; and if it be baked in an American oven, let it be placed sufficiently high in front of the fire for the heat to be well II. SNOWDON PUDDING. Ornament a well-buttered mould or basin with some fine raisins split open and stoned, but not divided, pressing the cut side on the butter to make them adhere; next, mix 8 oz. of very finely minced beef-kidney suet with half a pound of bread crumbs and an ounce and a half of rice flour, a pinch of salt, and 6 oz. of lemon marmalade, or of orange when the lemon cannot be procured; add 6 oz. of pale brown sugar, six thoroughly whisked eggs, and the grated rinds of two lemons. Beat the whole until all the ingredients are perfectly mixed, pour it gently into the mould, cover it with a buttered paper and a floured cloth, and boil it for one hour and a half. It will turn out remarkably well if carefully prepared. Half the quantity given above will fill a mould or basin which will contain rather more than a pint, and will be sufficiently boiled in ten minutes less than an hour. To many tastes a slight diminution in the proportion of suet would be an improvement to the pudding; and the substitution of pounded sugar for the brown, might likewise be considered so. Both the suet and eggs used for it should be as fresh as possible. 12. KENTISH CUSTARD. Arrange in a glass dish five or six penny sponge-cakes, and add to them as much white wine as they will entirely absorb-but no more. Place on the top of each a slice or layer of bright coloured preserve, and pour round-but not upon them from half to three-quarters of a pint of thick boiled custard. Spikes of almonds or of pistachio nuts may be used to ornament the cakes, but they will be no real improvement to the dish, which is very nice even without any preserve. FASHIONS FOR THE MONTH. WE E are now arriving at the commencement of the Autumn season, and our Artistes de Modes are busily engaged in the preparation of the choicest and most elegant novelties. As the greatest changes in style have lately been in the form of dress skirts, we will first devote our observations to this part of the toilette. The long train skirts are still most fashionable for the afternoon promenade; they are made plain at front and sides and with a good deal of fulness just at back. The short skirted dresses à deux jupes, are however steadily increasing in favour, even for the afternoon promenade. For these short double skirted dresses, the upper skirt is generally looped up en panier. There is an increasing tendency towards the adoption of flounces, at the bottom of the under skirts; indeed, in some dresses the under skirts are composed entirely of very narrow flounces. The Polonaise style of dress, made with the opening of fronts placed in a slanting direction from one side to the other, is a very elegant and fashionable style. For out-door costumes, while there are still a few of the square cut or loose styles of jacket and paletot, the close-fitting styles of casaque or paletot will certainly be the most fashionable they will often be worn with a fichu of the same material over them; and it is indeed this that will cause the general adoption of the close-fitting style. The fichu has been too fashionable this Summer to be laid aside, and, as it would not be warm enough by itself, it will necessarily form the complement or finish to the new style of tight-fitting casaque or paletot, for Autumn and Winter wear. The fichu mantelet of black velvet, without sleeves, is one of the latest and most elegant novelties, and is admirably adapted for the earlier part of the Autumn season. Morning Walking Costume.-Dress à deux jupes of maize coloured silk. The under skirt is entirely without trimming. The upper skirt is edged by a flounce of the same silk, caught up on each side, and fastened by a rosette. The paletot is of slate-coloured silk; it is made with short loose sleeves, which, with the bottom of the paletot, are edged by a broad flounce of black lace, headed by a knotted fringe of black silk, and a double row of braid, which is carried up the centre of back, round the neck, and down the sides of the opening. The back of the paletot is also trimmed by a group of bows and long floating ends of black velvet ribbon, with tassels of black silk. Black velvet hat, trimmed at the side by a rose and foliage. Costume for Home.-Dress à deux jupes, of Metternich green silk, or green shot with violet. The bottom of the lower skirt is trimmed by a broad flounce of the same silk, headed by a small bouillon. The upper skirt is scalloped out, and edged by a similar but narrower trimming, which is continued about halfway up the skirt between the scallops. The front is en tunique; at the back of the waist are two bows and long floating ends of the silk edged by a narrow green ribbon. The sleeves are trimmed at the armholes by riches of the silk with narrow green ribbon in the centre; and at the wrists by a broad plaiting. Carriage Costume.-Dress of mauve silk; the skirt entirely without trimming. Polonaise of black silk, fastening a la redingote. The part which wraps over, is caught up, and fastened at the lower corner by a rosette of mauve ribbon, in the centre of which is a black silk button. The Polonaise is edged all round and up the opening by a band of mauve ribbon, which passes under the waistbelt (also of mauve ribbon), and is carried all round the deep black velvet collar, which crosses over the chest, and forms the trimming of the body. Pointed cuffs are imitated |