A practical cook and text book for general use

by steaming or swelling on the back of the range until plump and tender. Do not crush them, and serve cold. The sweet varieties are the best and require no sugar. Prunes are exceedingly valuable as food and should be freely used, especially in winter and spring, with their sweeter companions, which naturally give precedence in summer to the more cooling substance found in the juice of sweet and sub-acid fruits. APRICOTS AND PEACHES. Look them over, remove all blemishes and imperfect pieces. Wash and rub them with the hands in warm water. Rinse until clean. To a quart of fruit add sufficient water to stand an inch in depth above the fruit and soak over night, Add more water if necessary, and cook the same as prunes, without boiling. Apples, berries, and all fruits if dried when ripe, and of good quality, are almost like fresh fruit, if soaked several hours to slowly absorb water lost by evaporation in drying, and cooked in the same water, by steeping or swelling on the back of the range until soft. Have plenty of juice, keep them covered, and if not sweet enough, add dates, raisins, or a little sugar. FRUIT JUICES. When housekeepers become aware of the full value of fruit juices as seasonings, sauces and drinks these will become quite as popular as canned fruits. All the small fruits are well adapted for each of these uses. They should be crushed, strained and the juice diluted as may be found necessary when used as either of these. Such fruit juices as are on the market may be as claimed on the label, but there is always a possibility of dishonest dealers putting out combinations of chemicals which are- palatable but not healthful. Therefore it is well for housekeepers to make their own fruit juices when practicable, and their use is strongly recommended. The juice of oranges and pineapples make fine drinks as well as the better known lemon-juice. Grape juice which is quite different from the fermented article stands unrivalled as a beverage, and is already sold at many soda fountains. Medicinal Values. The raspberry and blackberry have long been recognized for their medicinal properties in " summer complaints." Huckleberry juice is considered excellent in fevers. A Russian physician suggests the juice of raw cranberries, diluted as needed, for a drink es of typhoid fever. An English doctor is reported ing if all his patients ate the juice of two oranges ; breakfast, he should soon starve, ion and lime juice, used plentifully, is said to be a le remedy in diphtheria, and southern negroes long learned to rely on the juice of the pineapple for the )f the same dread disease. For this purpose, the can be readily obtained by putting shredded pinethrough the ricer, or twisting it in a strong cloth. Dhysican has made public the statement that he isfully uses warm lemonade, with gum arable dis- L in it for scarlet fever. The anti-scorbutic properties ons are well understood. Itis now asserted that their ivill cure warts and remove dandruff, and Drs. Rees abington of London, years ago introduced lemonis a remedy for gout. If half that is said of the ,ial value of the apple is true nature has done well ke it so plentiful and wide spread. It has been said is an excellent brain food, because it contains more phosphoric acid in easily digestable form than any other fruit known. It excites the action of the liver, promotes sound and healthy sleep, and thoroughly disinfects the mouth. This is not all. The apple agglutinates the surplus acids of the stomach, helps the kidney secretions, and prevents calculus growths, while it obviates indigestion and is one of the best preventatives known of diseases of the throat."