results. Mexico coffee is quite acceptable, but the producers must clean it properly if they expect to receive patronage.

"After-dinner Coffee."—Use three ounces of finely-ground coffee to a pint of boiling water. Old Government Java does make a very satisfactory cup of after-dinner coffee. The after-dinner coffee found at most of the first-class restaurants in New York, such as the Brunswick, etc., contains chicory.

Boiling Water is a very important desideratum in the making of good coffee. The water should be fresh from the main pipe, boiled two or three minutes, and then added to the coffee. Servants frequently use water drawn from the range boiler, or water that has stood long in the tea-kettle; in either case the coffee will be insipid.

Tea.—The constituents of tea are very much the same as those of coffee—theine (an aromatic oil), sugar and gum, and a form of tannic acid. Green tea is more astringent than the other varieties, partly because it contains more tannin, and partly because it is sophisticated to adapt it to a peculiar taste.

Whatever variety of tea used, do not allow the beverage to boil; put the tea in a black earthen tea-pot previously heated; pour boiling water over it; let it draw for two minutes, and the process is at an end. Charitable institutions would find it advantageous to grind tea to powder; in this way one half the quantity of tea ordinarily used is saved.

Cocoa and Chocolate are obtained from the seeds of Theobroma cacao. The active principle is theobromine, a substance which resembles the alkaloids of coffee and tea, except that it contains more nitrogen than theine and caffeine. Another important difference between cacao (not cocoa) and coffee or tea is the large amount of fat or cacao-butter contained in the bean.

The seed receptacle resembles a large black cucumber, containing from ten to thirty leaves, which are roasted like coffee. The husks are then taken off, and are called cacao shells. The best cacao is made from the bean after the husks are removed.

Chocolate is the finely-ground powder from the kernels mixed to a paste, with or without sugar. The product of this seed, being rich in fatty matters, is more difficult to digest, and many dyspeptics cannot use it unless the fats have been removed, which is now done by manufacturers. Nearly all brands of cacao and chocolate are recommended to be prepared at table; but it is much better to prepare them before the meal, and allow it to boil at least once before serving.

BREAD, ROLLS, ETC.

Bread.—The word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon bracan, to bruise, to pound, which is expressive of the ancient mode of preparing the grain. Bread was not introduced into Rome until five hundred and fifty years after its foundation. Pliny informs us that the Romans learned this, with many other improvements, during the war with Perseus, King of Macedon. The armies, on their return, brought Grecian bakers with them into Italy, who were called pistores, from their ancient practice of bruising the grain in mortars.

The Greeks ascribed the invention of bread-making to Pan; but the Chaldeans and Egyptians were acquainted with it at a still more remote period. In the paintings discovered in the tombs of Egypt the various processes used by them in bread-making are distinctly represented.

Bread from wheat was first made in China, 2000 B.C.

An extensive variety of substances is used in making bread; the roots, shoots, bark, flowers, fruits, and seeds of trees and plants have been, and are still, made into bread by semi-civilized races. In Iceland codfish is dried and beaten to a powder, and made into bread.

Bread is universally admitted to be a matter deserving the serious consideration of all good housewives. It is no longer a luxury, as in olden times, but a positive necessity; upon it depends the health of all mankind. It is, therefore, highly important that its ingredients should be of the very best quality. At no time is this question more seriously to be considered than when changing the food of infants from liquids to solid food.

Bakers' bread cannot always be relied upon. One never knows to what extent the flour has been mixed with brands of flour made from musty or sprouted wheat, as the baker can make what appears to be good bread from these by mixing them with what is known as garlic flour, which is a grade of flour ground with garlic, the effect being to conceal other unpleasant odors.

Their flour is often stored in damp cellars, where, under the influence of heat that is not strong enough to expel moisture, fermentation takes place in it, exactly as it does in bread-making, except on a smaller scale.

Any flour containing too much moisture is likely to "heat," or sour, and flour of the best quality, when placed in damp, stuffy cellars, where it will absorb moisture, is likely to do the same thing. The yeast used by many bakers is deserving the attention of the Health Department. Damaged hops are often used, which, when boiled too long, impart their obnoxious flavor to the yeast, and to the bread made from it.

If what is known as "head yeast" be allowed to ferment too far—as is often the case—it will sour the stock yeast; or if the fermentation be too feeble, the result in either case will be unhealthy bread.

Potatoes used in making "potato ferment" are often of a very inferior quality, and impart their rankness to the bread. When bread is sold by weight an excess of water is introduced to brands of dry flour, which absorb more than others, and the result is heavy, dark, pasty bread, which is often sour.

By the producer of inferior bread these little items are not taken into consideration. The bread has been made, and it must be sold; and the unsuspecting housewife who buys bread from certain bakers because they sell it a few cents less per loaf than the price asked by firms who will not jeopardize their reputations, is endangering the health of her family.

I particularly warn my readers against bakers seeking customers by cutting rates; they cannot supply good bread at low rates without using inferior flour.

Home-made Bread.—To make good bread or rolls, take five potatoes; peel and cut them up, and boil in water enough to cover them; when done, mash them smooth in the water in which they were boiled; when cool, not cold, add a gill of liquid yeast, a dessert-spoonful of sugar, a salt-tablespoonful of lard, and a pint of flour. Mix together lightly until it is of a pasty, sticky consistency; cover and set it in a warm place to rise; it will rise in two or three hours, and should look almost like yeast. Stir into this three pints of flour and, if necessary, a little cold water; the dough should be rather soft, and need not be kneaded more than half an hour. Set in a moderately warm place for four hours; it is now ready to be shaped into loaves and baked; but it is better to push it down from the sides of the bread-pan, and let it rise again and again, until the third time, which is ample. Knead until smooth, and if too soft, add a little more flour. For rolls, roll out and cut into rounds. Use the rolling-pin slightly, batter, and fold. Baking-pans should be well greased.

Salt is always used in bread-making, not only on account of its flavor, which destroys the