SCALD HEAD. This disorder is chiefly incident to children, and is seated in the roots of the hair. It is frequently cured by changing the nurse, weaning the child, and removing it to a dry and airy situation. If the itching of the head becomes very troublesome, it may be allayed by gently rubbing it with equal parts of the oil of sweet almonds, and the juice expressed from the leaves of the common burdock, simmered together till they form a soapy liniment, adding a few grains only of pearlash. If this treatment be not sufficient, cut off the hair, or apply an adhesive plaster made of bees' wax, pitch, and mutton suet. After it is removed, the head should be washed with warm soapy water, and the whole body cleansed in a lukewarm bath.

SCALDED CODLINS. Wrap each in a vine leaf, and pack them close in a nice saucepan: when full, pour in as much water as will cover them. Set the saucepan over a gentle fire, and let them simmer slowly till done enough to take the thin skin off when cold. Place them in a dish, with or without milk, cream or custard: if the latter, there should be no ratafia. Dust some fine sugar over the apples.

SCALDED CREAM. Let the milk stand twenty-four hours in winter, and twelve at least in summer. Place the milk pan on a hot hearth, or in a wide brass kettle of water, large enough to receive the pan. It must remain on the fire till quite hot, but on no account boil, or there will be a skim instead of cream upon the milk. When it is done enough, the undulations on the surface will begin to look thick, and a ring will appear round the pan, the size of the bottom. The time required to scald cream depends on the size of the pan, and the heat of the fire; but the slower it is done the better. When the cream is scalded, remove the pan into the dairy, and skim it the next day. In cold weather it may stand thirty-six hours, and never less than two meals. In the west of England, butter is usually made of cream thus prepared; and if made properly it is very firm.

SCALDING FRUIT. The best way of scalding any kind of fruit, is to do it in a stone jar on a hot iron hearth; or by putting the vessel into a saucepan of water, called a water-bath. Vinegar also is best boiled in the same manner.

SCALDING PUDDING. From a pint of new milk take out enough to mix three large spoonfuls of flour into a smooth batter. Set the remainder of the milk on the fire, and when it is scalding hot, pour in the batter, and keep it on the fire till it thickens. Stir it all the time to prevent its burning, but do not let it boil. When of a proper thickness, pour it into a basin, and let it stand to cool. Then put in, six eggs, a little sugar, and some nutmeg. Boil it an hour in a basin well buttered.

SCALLOPED OYSTERS. Having opened the oysters, and washed them from the grit, put them into scallop shells or saucers, and bake them before the fire in a Dutch oven. Add to them some crumbs of bread, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a bit of butter, before they are set to the fire.—Another way. To fill four scallop shells, have a pint and a half of oysters, put them on the fire, in their own liquor, with a blade of mace, a little salt, and some whole pepper; (put a salamander in the fire to be red hot,) grate some crumbs of bread sufficient for your shells; butter the inside of the shells very well, and strew bread crumbs thereon; take your oysters off the fire, pour them into a pan, take off the beards, and fill the shells; grate a little nutmeg into every shell, put a spoonful or two of the liquor upon the oysters, and fill up the shells quite full with bread crumbs; set them before the fire, and baste them with butter all over the bread, then set them upon a gridiron over a clear fire, for about half an hour; hold your salamander over them, till they are of a fine brown, then send them to table for a side-dish. In the same manner do shrimps, muscles, or cockles.

SCALLOPED POTATOES. When boiled, mash them with milk, pepper, salt, and butter. Fill some scallop shells, smooth the tops, set them in a Dutch oven to brown before the fire; or add the yolk of an egg, and mash them with cream, butter, salt, and pepper. Score the top with a knife, and put thin slices over, before they are put into the oven.

SCALLOPED VEAL. Mince it fine, set it over the fire a few minutes, with pepper and salt, a little nutmeg and cream. Put it into scallop shells, and fill them up with grated bread; over which put a little butter, and brown them before the fire.

SCARLET DYE. Wool may be dyed scarlet, the most splendid of all colours, by first boiling it in a solution of muris-sulphate of tin; then dying it a pale yellow with quercitron bark, and afterwards crimson with cochineal.

SCORCHED LINEN. Boil to a good consistency, in half a pint of vinegar, two ounces of fuller's earth, an ounce of hen's dung, half an ounce of cake soap, and the juice of two onions. Spread this composition over the whole of the damaged part; and, if the scorching were not quite through, and the threads actually consumed, after suffering it to dry on, and letting it receive a subsequent good washing or two, the place will appear full as white and perfect as any other part of the linen.

SCOTCH BARLEY BROTH. Cut a leg of beef into pieces, and boil it in three gallons of water, with a sliced carrot and crust of bread, till reduced to half the quantity. Strain it off, and put it again into the pot. Boil it an hour, with half a pound of Scotch barley, a few heads of celery cut small, a sprig of sweet herbs, an onion, a little minced parsley, and a few marigolds. Put in a large fowl, and boil it till the broth is good. Season it with salt, take out the onion and herbs, and serve it up with the fowl in the middle. Broth may be made with a sheep's head chopped in pieces, or six pounds of thick flank of beef, boiled in six quarts of water. Put the barley in with the meat, and boil it gently for an hour, keeping it clear from scum. The articles before-mentioned may then be added, with sliced turnips and carrots, and boiled together till the broth is good. Season it, take it up, pour the broth into a tureen, with the meat in the middle, and carrots and turnips round the dish.

SCOTCH BURGOO. This is a sort of oatmeal hasty pudding without milk, much used by the Scotch peasantry; and as an example of economy, is worthy of being occasionally adopted by all who have large families and small incomes. It is made in the following easy and expeditious manner. To a quart of oatmeal, add gradually two quarts of water, so that the whole may mix smoothly. Stir it continually over the fire, and boil it for a quarter of an hour. Take it up, and stir in a little salt and butter, with or without pepper. This quantity will provide five or six persons with a tolerable meal.

SCOTCH COLLOPS. Cut veal into thin round slices, about three inches over, and beat them with a rolling-pin. Grate a little nutmeg over, dip them into the yolk of an egg, and fry them in a little butter of a fine brown. Pour off the butter, and have ready warmed half a pint of gravy, with a little butter and flour in it, the yolk of an egg, two large spoonfuls of cream, and a dust of salt. Do not boil the sauce, but stir it till it comes to a fine thickness, and pour it over the collops.—Another way. Take what quantity of veal you want, cut into collops, and beat it with the back of a knife; season as above, and fry them in butter of a fine brown; pour off the butter, and put in half a pint of good gravy, and a small glass of white wine: you may add what other ingredients you please. Roll a piece of butter as big as a walnut in flour, toss it up, and when it boils, take off the scum very clean: let your sauce be thick enough to hang; dish it up, and garnish to your fancy.—Another way: dressed white. Take three or four pounds of a fillet of veal, cut in small thin slices; then take a clean stewpan, butter it on the inside; season your collops with beaten mace, nutmeg, and salt; dust them over with flour, and lay them into your stewpan, piece by piece, till all your meat is in: set it over the stove, and toss it up together, till all your meat be white. Put in half a pint of strong veal broth; let them boil, and take off all the scum clean; beat up the yolks of two eggs in a gill of cream, and put it to your collops, and keep it tossing all the while, till it just boils up; then squeeze in a little lemon, toss it round, and dish it up. Garnish your dish with sliced lemon. If you would make a fine dish of it, when you put in your veal broth, you must add morels, truffles, mushrooms, artichoke bottoms cut in small dice, force-meat balls boiled, not fried, and a few cock's combs; then garnish your dish with fried oysters, petit-pasties, lemon, and barberries. Remember when you make a made dish, and are obliged to use cream, that it should be the last thing; for it is apt to curdle if it boils at any time.

SCOTCH EGGS. Boil five pullet's eggs, quite hard; and without removing the white, cover them completely with a fine relishing forcemeat, in which, let scraped ham, or chopped anchovy, bear a due proportion. Fry of a beautiful yellow brown, and serve with good gravy in the dish.

SCOTCH LEEK SOUP. Prepare a sheep's head, either by cleaning the skin very nicely, or taking it off, as preferred. Split the head in two, take out the brains, and put it into a kettle with plenty of water. Add a large quantity of leeks cut small, with pepper and salt. Stew these very slowly for three hours. Mix as much oatmeal as will make the soup pretty thick, and make it very smooth with cold water. Pour it into the soup, continue stirring it till the whole is smooth and well done, and then serve it up.

SCOTCH PANCAKES. To a pint of cream beat up eight eggs, leaving out two whites, a quarter of a pound of butter melted, one spoon-full of flour, a nutmeg grated, three spoonfuls of sack, and a little sugar. When the butter is cool, mix all together into a batter; have ready a stove with charcoal, and a small fryingpan no bigger than a plate, tie a piece of butter in a clean cloth; when the pan is hot rub this round it, and put in the batter with a spoon, run it round the pan very thin and fry them only on one side; put a saucer into the middle of the dish, and lay pancakes over it, till it is like a little pyramid; strew pounded sugar between every pancake, and garnish the dish with Seville oranges cut in small quarters.

SCOURING BALLS. Portable balls for removing spots from clothes, may be thus prepared. Dry some fuller's-earth, so that it crumbles into a powder; then moisten it with the clear juice of lemons, and add a small quantity of pure pearl-ash. Knead the whole carefully together, till it acquires the consistence of a thick elastic paste: form it into convenient small balls, and dry them in the sun. To be used, first moisten the spot on the clothes with water, then rub it with the ball, and let the spot dry in the sun. After having washed it with pure water, the spot will entirely disappear.

SCROPHULA. The principal difficulty in curing the scrophula, or king's evil, arises from the circumstance, that it may remain concealed for a long time, and thus become deeply rooted in the constitution before its effects are evident. The system requires to be strengthened by the free use of Peruvian bark, sea water and sea bathing, and moderate exercise in the open air. Hemlock plasters applied to the swellings, and drinking of milk whey, have also been found useful. But in the progress of the disorder, medical advice will be necessary.

SCURVY. When the scurvy proceeds chiefly from the long-continued use of salt provisions, it will be necessary to take large portions of the juice of lemons, oranges, or tamarinds; to eat water cresses, scurvy grass, and fresh vegetables of every description. But where these cannot be procured, pickled cabbage, cucumber, onions, and other fruits, as well as horseradish and mustard, may be taken with considerable advantage. Take also a pound of water-dock roots, and boil them in six pints of water, adding an ounce or two of chrystals of tartar, till one third part of the liquor be evaporated; and drink half a pint or more of it every day. Raw carrots eaten are also very good for the scurvy; and during a voyage, they should be packed up in casks of sand and kept for use. If the limbs be swelled, or joints stiff, it will be proper to foment them with warm vinegar, or bathe them in lukewarm water. A valuable ointment may be made of a pound of fresh lard, and as much cliver or goose-grass as the lard will moisten. Boil them together over a slow fire, stir the mixture till it turns brown, and strain it through a cloth. Take the ointment from the water, and rub it on the parts affected.

SCURVY GRASS ALE. Brew it as for other ale, omitting the hops; and when the liquor boils, put in half a bushel of fine wormwood, a bushel of scurvy grass, and twelve pounds of sugar. This quantity of ingredients is sufficient for a hogshead.

SEA-KALE is a highly nutritious and palatable culinary vegetable. It is an early esculent plant, the young shoots of which are used somewhat in the manner of asparagus, and may, it is said, be grown by the method of cultivation which is given hereafter, to a size and of a delicacy of flavour greatly superior to that which is commonly brought to the table. In the cultivation of it in the garden, the improved method which has lately been advised, is that of preparing the ground for it by trenching it two feet and a half deep, about the close of the year or in the beginning of it: when not that depth naturally, and of a light quality, it is to be made so by artificial means, such as the applying of a suitable proportion of fine white sand, and very rotten vegetable mould: if the ground be wet in the winter season, it should be completely drained, that no water may stagnate in it near the bottom of the cultivated mould, as the strength of the plants depends upon the dryness and richness of the bottom soil. After which the ground is to be divided into beds, four feet in width, with alleys of eighteen inches between them; then, at the distance of every two feet each way, five or six seeds are to be sown, in a circle of about four inches diameter, to the depth of two inches. This business should be performed in a strictly regular and exact manner, as the plants are afterwards to be covered by means of pots for blanching them, and the health and beauty of the crops equally depend upon their standing at regular distances. If the seeds which were sown were sound and perfect, they will come up and shew themselves in the last spring or beginning summer months; which as soon as they have made three or four leaves, all but three of the strongest and best plants should be taken away from each circle; planting out those which are pulled up, which, when done by a careful hand, may be performed so as for them to have the whole of their tap-root in a spare bed for extra forcing, or the repairs of accidents. The turnip fly and wire worm are to be carefully guarded against, the latter by picking them by the hand from out of the ground, and the former by the use of lime laid round the young plants in a circle. When the summer months prove dry, the beds should be plentifully watered. As soon as the leaves decay in the autumn they should be cleared away, and the beds be covered with light fresh earth and sand to the thickness of an inch; the compost thus used having laid some time in a heap, and been turned several times, so as to be free from weeds, and the ova of insects as well as grubs. Upon the sandy loam dressing, about six inches in depth of light stable litter is to be applied, which completes the work of the first year. In the spring of the second, when the plants are beginning to push, the stable litter is to be raked off, a little of the most rotten being dug into the alleys, and another inch depth of loam and sand applied. Cutting this year is to be refrained from, notwithstanding some of the plants may rise strong, and the beds managed exactly as before during this winter season. In the third season, a little before the plants begin to stir, the covering laid on for the winter is to be raked off, and an inch in depth of pure dry sand or fine gravel now laid on. Then each circle of plants is to be covered with one of the blanching-pots already alluded to, pressing it firmly into the ground, so as to exclude all light and air, as the colour and flavour of the shoots are greatly injured by exposure to either of them. When the beds are twenty-six feet long, and four wide, they will hold twenty-four blanching-pots, with three plants under each, making seventy-two plants in a bed. They are to be examined from time to time, the young stems being cut, when about three inches above the ground, care being taken not to injure any of the remaining buds below, some of which will immediately begin to swell. In this way a succession of gatherings may be continued for the space of six weeks, after which period the plants are to be uncovered, and their leaves suffered to grow, that they may acquire and return nutriment to the root for the next year's buds. When seeds are not wanted, the flowers should be pinched off by the finger and thumb, as long as they appear. Where the expence of blanching-pots is objected to, the beds must be covered with a large portion of loose gravel and mats; but the saving is trifling, when the time and trouble of removing and replacing the gravel, for the cutting of the crop and securing the plant, are considered. By this mode of management, sea-kale is said to have been cut which measured ten, eleven, and even twelve inches in circumference, and that each blanching-pot on the average afforded a dish of it twice in the season. The blanching-pots for this use are somewhat of the same shape and size as the large bell-glasses commonly employed in market gardens for raising tender vegetable crops, but made of the same materials as the common earthenware, having a handle at the top. They may be about a foot and a half in diameter at the rim where they apply to the ground. Forcing sea-kale.—It is supposed that no vegetable can be so easily and cheaply forced as this, or require so little trouble; as the dung is in the finest state possible for spring hot-beds, after the common crop has been cut and gathered. The principal circumstance necessary in this business, is that of being very attentive and particular in guarding against too great a heat. The temperature under the blanching-pots should constantly be kept as near fifty-five degrees of Fahrenheit's scale as possible, and on no account higher than sixty at any time. In this intention, in either of the two concluding months of the year, as the sea-kale may be wanted more early or late, a suitable quantity of fresh stable dung should be collected and prepared, to cover both the beds and the alleys from two to three feet in height; as in the quantity to be laid on, a great deal must always be left to the judgment of the gardener, as well as to the state of the season as to mildness or severity. It should invariably be well pressed down between the blanching-pots, heat-sticks being placed at proper intervals, by the occasional examination of which the heat below will be readily shewn. When the dung has remained in this situation four or five days, the pots should be examined to see the state of the shoots It not unfrequently happens that worms spring above the surface, and spoil the delicacy of flavour in the young shoots. In order to prevent this, it is best to cover it with dry sea-coal ashes, which have been sifted neither very small nor very large. Salt has also the power of destroying them in an effectual manner, without injuring the sea-kale. The crop, it is said, will be ready to cut and gather in three weeks or a month from the first application of the heat; but as much danger and mischief are the consequence when this is violent, it is advised to begin soon enough, and to force slowly, rather than in too quick a manner. It is likewise necessary to cut the leaves off a fortnight or three weeks before they decay, in those plants which are intended to be forced at a very early period. It is also suggested that the blanching-pots used in forcing should be made in two pieces, the uppermost of which should fit like a cap upon the lower; as the crop might then be examined at all times without disturbing the hot dung. Sea-kale is cooked, and sent to the table in the same manner as asparagus.

SEA SICKNESS. This disorder may in a great measure be prevented, by taking a few drops of vitriolic aether on a bit of sugar dissolved in the mouth, or drinking a few drops of aether in water, with a little sugar.

SEA WATER. To render salt water fit for washing linen at sea, a quantity of soda should be kept at hand, and used for that purpose, as often as occasion requires. As much soda should be put into sea water as will render it turbid, and completely precipitate the lime and magnesia which it contains. The water will then become sufficiently alkaline for the purpose of washing.

SHAVING SOAP. Cut half a pound of fine white soap in thin slices, add half an ounce of salt of tartar, and mix them with full half a pint of spirits of wine. Put the ingredients into a quart bottle, tie it down with a bladder, digest it in a gentle heat till the soap is dissolved, and let the air escape through a pinhole in the bladder. Filter the mixture through paper, and scent it with a little bergamot, or essence of lemon. It will have the appearance of fine oil. A small quantity mixed with water will produce an excellent lather, and is much superior to any other composition in washing or shaving.

SEALING OF LETTERS. To secure letters from being opened, beat up some fine bean flour with the white of an egg, and make it into a paste. Use a little of it in the form of a wafer, close the letters with it, and hold the sealed part to the spout of a tea-pot of boiling water. The steam will harden the cement so that the letter cannot be opened without tearing, and will render it more secure than either wax or wafer.

SEASONING. Though general rules may be given for stuffings and seasoning, yet much must be left to common discretion. The different tastes of people require more or less of the flavour of spices, salt, garlic, butter, and other ingredients; and the proportions must of course be regulated accordingly, taking care that a variety of flavour be given to the different dishes served at the same time. The proper articles should be kept ready for use; but if suet or bacon be not at hand, butter must be used instead, and fish gravy instead of stock or meat gravy. More depends on judgment and care than on the ingredients merely, of which the dish is composed.

SEASONING MAHOGANY. Having provided a steam-tight wooden box, capable of holding such pieces of mahogany as are wanted for chairs or other purposes, a pipe from a boiler must be adapted to it, by means of which the box is to be filled with steam, to a temperature about equal to that of boiling water. The time required for wood an inch and a half thick, is about two hours; and pieces of this thickness become sufficiently dry to work, after being placed in a warm room for twenty-four hours. By this treatment the wood is something improved in colour, and the blemishes of green veins are entirely removed. The eggs also of any insect contained in the wood, will be destroyed by the heat of the steam. By this process, two important advantages are gained. There is a saving of capital, vested in wood lying to season during several months; and the warping of small pieces of wood is entirely prevented.

SEED CAKE. Mix a quarter of a peck of flour with half a pound of sugar, a quarter of an ounce of allspice, and a little ginger. Melt three quarters of a pound of butter, with half a pint of milk; when just warm, put to it a quarter of a pint of yeast, and work it up to a good dough. Add seeds or currants, let it stand before the fire a few minutes before it goes to the oven, and bake it an hour and a half.—Another way is to mix a pound and a half of flour, a pound of lump sugar, eight eggs beaten separately, an ounce of seeds, two spoonfuls of yeast, and the same of milk and water. Milk alone soon causes cake and bread to get dry.—Another. Break eighteen eggs into a large pan, and leave out eight of the whites; add to them two pounds of fresh butter, and with your hand work the butter and eggs till they are well mixed, and like thick barme; put in two or three spoonfuls of sack, two pounds of lump sugar sifted, two pounds of fine flour, and two ounces of carraway seeds, mix the sugar, flour, and seeds, well together, and set it before the fire for half an hour, covering it with a cloth, and remember to put the flour, &c. in by degrees. Tin pudding pans are the best things to bake it in, and take care it be not over-done; they will rise very high in the oven, and when they begin to sink again, they are baked enough.—A cheap seed cake. Take half a peck of flour, set a pint of milk on the fire, and break in a pound and a half of butter; when all the butter is melted, stir in half a pint of ale yeast that is not bitter. Take half an ounce of allspice beat fine, and a pound of sugar sifted; mix these with the flour first, then make a hole in the middle of the flour, and pour in the butter, milk, and yeast. While you are working it, strew in some carraway seeds, and set it before the fire to rise; bake it an hour and a half in a quick oven. It is best baked in two cakes; if you make it in two, put currants in one, and carraway seeds in the other.—Seed cake the nun's way. To four pounds of the finest flour, add three pounds of double-refined sugar beat and sifted; mix this with the flour, and set it before the fire to dry; beat up four pounds of nice fresh butter to a cream, break three dozen of eggs (leaving out sixteen whites) and beat them up very well, with a tea-cupful of orange-flower water, strain them into the butter, and beat them well therewith; take the flour and sugar, and mix in six ounces of carraway seeds; put these ingredients to the butter and eggs by degrees, and beating all continually for two hours: butter a hoop, and bake it three hours in a moderate oven. If you please, you may add two or three grains of ambergris.

SEED WATER. Bruise a spoonful of coriander seeds, and half a spoonful of carraway. Boil them in a pint of water, strain them, beat up the yolk of an egg and mix with the water, add a little sweet wine and lump sugar.

SEEDS. To discover when seeds of any kind are fully ripe and good, throw them into a basin of water. If not sufficiently ripe, they will swim on the surface; but when arrived at full maturity, they will be found uniformly to sink to the bottom; a fact that is said to hold equally true of all seeds, from the cocoa nut to the orchis.—Seeds of plants may be preserved, for many months at least, by causing them to be packed, either in husks, pods, &c. in absorbent paper, with raisins or brown moist sugar; or a good way, practised by gardeners, is to wrap the seed in brown paper or cartridge paper, pasted down, and then varnished over.—To preserve seeds, when sown, from vermin. Steep the grain or seed three or four hours, or a sufficient time for it to penetrate the skin, or husk, in a strong solution of liver of sulphur.

SHADS. They must be scaled very clean, then gut and wash them, dry them in a cloth, score them on the sides, rub them with butter, sprinkle salt over them, and broil them of a fine brown; boil sorrel, chervil, onion and parsley, chop it fine; melt a piece of butter in cream sufficient for your sauce, then put in your herbs, season it with salt, pepper, and a little nutmeg, toss it up together, and pour over your fish; or you may serve it with a ragout of mushrooms, or a brown sauce with capers, garnished with lemon.

SEVILLE ORANGE POSSET. Squeeze Seville orange or lemon juice into a glass dish, or mix them together if preferred, and sweeten it well with fine sugar. Then warm some cream over the fire, but do not let it boil. Put it into a teapot and pour it into the juice, holding the teapot up very high, that it may froth and curdle the better. Instead of cream, milk thickened with one or two yolks of eggs may be used, if more convenient.

SHALOT. As the habits of growth in roots of this nature differ greatly in the different sorts, some requiring to be nearly or quite on the surface of the ground, while others stand in need of being a considerable depth below it, which has not been well attended to in the garden culture of such roots; it may be readily supposed that these have considerable influence and effect on the growth of such root crops. In consequence of finding that crops of this root generally became mouldy and perished, and that they were usually planted, from the directions of garden cultivators, at the depth of two or three inches from the surface; the injury, failure, and destruction of such crops, were naturally ascribed to this cause. A few bulbs or bunches of this root were consequently divided, as far as possible, into single buds or bulbs, and planted upon or rather above the surface of the ground, some very rich soil being placed underneath them, and the mould on each side raised to support them, until they became firmly rooted. This mould was then removed by means of a hoe, and the use of the watering-pot, and the bulbs of course left wholly out of the ground. The growth of the plants had now so near a resemblance to that of the common onion, as not readily to be distinguished from it, until their irregularity of form, the consequence of the numerous germs within each bulb, became evident. The forms of the bulbs, however, continued constantly different from all those raised in the ordinary method, being much more broad, but of less length. The crop was a great deal better in quality, and at the same time much more abundant in quantity. It may consequently not be unworthy of the gardener's attention.—Garlic, rocambole, and shalot are chiefly used in ragouts and sauces which require to be highly flavoured, unless a separate sauce is made of them only; and indeed, the mixing of animal juices in preparations of vegetables is by no means to be recommended, where the health is to be consulted. The substitution of butter and flour, yolks of eggs and cream, mushroom or walnut ketchup, is greatly to be preferred to rich gravies, in dressing of vegetables.

SHALOT SAUCE. Put a few chopped shalots into a little gravy boiled clear, and nearly half as much vinegar. Season with pepper and salt, and boil it half an hour.

SHALOT VINEGAR. Split six or eight shalots; put them into a wide-mouthed quart bottle, and fill it up with vinegar. Stop it close; and in a month the vinegar will be fit for use.

SHALOT WINE. Peel, mince, and pound in a mortar, three ounces of shalots, and infuse them in a pint of sherry for ten days. Pour off the clear liquor on three ounces more of shalots, and let the wine stand on them ten days longer. An ounce of scraped horseradish may be added to the above, and a little lemon peel cut thin. This is rather the most expensive, but by far the most elegant preparation of shalot. It imparts the onion flavour to soups and sauces, for chops, steaks, hashes, or boiled meats, more agreeably than any other, without leaving any unpleasant taste in the mouth.

SHANK JELLY. Boil fifteen shanks of mutton in three quarts of water. Two cow heels, three calf's feet, or five sheep's feet, will answer the same purpose. Let them stew no longer than to extract a good jelly, and when cold take off the fat, and clear it from the settlement at the bottom. The jelly may be cleared with whites of eggs, and running it through a jelly bag. Orange or lemon juice, or wine, and sugar, may be added, as is suitable for the patient. Wine however should never be given to any invalid, without the express permission of the medical attendant, as it may do more harm than good, unless used with great discretion. Much less should any kind of spirits be allowed, as they are of a much more dangerous nature than wine in such cases.

SHARP SAUCE. Put into a silver saucepan, or one that is very clean and well tinned, half a pint of the best white wine vinegar, and a quarter of a pound of pounded loaf sugar. Simmer it gently over the fire, skim it well, pour it through a tammis or fine sieve, and send it up in a basin. This sauce is adapted for venison, and is often preferred to the sweet wine sauces.

SHEEP'S EARS. Take a dozen and a half of sheep's ears, scald and clean them very well; then make a forcemeat of veal, suet, crumbs of bread, a little nutmeg, pepper, salt, and beaten mace, parsley and thyme shred fine; mix these ingredients with the yolk of an egg; fill the ears, and lay one over the other, press them close, flour them, and fry them in clean beef dripping, of a fine brown; serve them up with gravy sauce in the dish, garnished with lemon. This is a pretty side dish.

SHELFORD PUDDING. Mix three quarters of a pound of currants or raisins, one pound of suet, a pound of flour, six eggs, some good milk, lemon peel, and a little salt. Boil it in a melon shape six hours.

SHERBET. This liquor is a species of negus without the wine. It consists of water, lemon, or orange juice, and sugar, in which are dissolved perfumed cakes, made of the best Damascus fruit, and containing also an infusion of some drops of rose-water: another kind is made of violets, honey, juice of raisins, &c. It is well calculated for assuaging thirst, as the acidity is agreeably blended with sweetness. It resembles, indeed, those fruits which we find so grateful when one is thirsty.

SHIN OF BEEF. A shin or leg of beef, weighing full six pounds, will make a large tureen of excellent soup. Cut half a pound of bacon into slices about half an inch thick, lay it at the bottom of a soup kettle or deep stewpan, and place the meat on this, after having first chopped the bone in two or three places. Add two carrots, two turnips, a head of celery, two large onions with two or three cloves stuck in them, a dozen black peppercorns, the same of Jamaica pepper, and a bundle of lemon thyme, winter savoury, and parsley. Just cover the meat with cold water, boil it over a quick fire, skim it well, and then let it stew very gently by the side of the fire for four hours till it is quite tender. Take out all the meat, strain off the soup, and remove the fat from the surface when cold. Cut the meat into small pieces, and put them into the soup, when it is to be warmed up for the table. A knuckle of veal may be dressed in the same way.

SHINGLES. This disorder, of the same nature as St. Anthony's fire, and requiring a similar mode of treatment, attacks various parts of the body, but chiefly the waist, around which it appears in numerous pimples of a livid hue, and seldom attended with fever. No attempt should be made to repel the eruption; the body should be kept gently open, and the part affected rubbed with a little warm wheaten flour. Then linen bags of oatmeal, camomile flowers, and a little bruised camphor may also be applied, which will effectually relieve the inflammation.

SHOE BLACKING. In three pints of small beer, put two ounces of ivory black, and one pennyworth of brown sugar. As soon as they boil, put a dessert-spoonful of sweet oil, and then boil slowly till reduced to a quart. Stir it up with a stick every time it is used; and put it on the shoe with a brush when wanted.—Another. Two ounces of ivory black; one tea-spoonful of oil of vitriol, one table-spoonful of sweet oil; and two ounces of brown sugar; roll the same into a ball, and to dissolve it add half a pint of vinegar.—Another. Take ivory black and brown sugar candy, of each two ounces; of sweet oil a table-spoonful; add gradually thereto a pint of vinegar, cold, and stir the whole till gradually incorporated.—Another. To one pint of vinegar add half an ounce of vitriolic acid, half an ounce of copperas, two ounces of sugar candy, and two ounces and a half of ivory black: mix the whole well together.—Another. Sweet oil, half an ounce; ivory black and treacle, of each half a pound; gum arabic half an ounce; vinegar, three pints; boil the vinegar, and pour it hot on the other ingredients.—Another. Three ounces of ivory black, one ounce of sugar candy, one ounce of oil of vitriol, one ounce of spirits of salts, one lemon, one table-spoonful of sweet oil, and one pint of vinegar.—First mix the ivory black and sweet oil together, then the lemon and sugar candy, with a little vinegar to qualify the blacking, then add your spirits of salts and vitriol, and mix them all well together. N. B. The last ingredients prevent the vitriol and salts from injuring the leather, and add to the lustre of the blacking.—Another. Ivory black, two ounces; brown sugar, one ounce and a half; sweet oil, half a table-spoonful. Mix them well, and then gradually add half a pint of small beer.—Another. A quarter of a pound of ivory black, a quarter of a pound of moist sugar, a table-spoonful of flour, a piece of tallow about the size of a walnut, and a small piece of gum arabic.—Make a paste of the flour, and while hot put in the tallow, then the sugar, and afterwards mix the whole well together in a quart of water, and you will have a beautiful shining blacking.

SHOES. The best way of cleaning shoes in the winter time is to scrape off the dirt with the back of a knife, or with a wooden knife made for that purpose, while the shoes are wet, and wipe off the remainder with a wet sponge, or piece of flannel. Set them to dry at a distance from the fire, and they will afterwards take a fine polish. This will save much of the trouble in cleaning, when the dirt is suffered to dry on; and by applying a little sweet oil occasionally, the leather will be prevented from growing hard. To secure the soles of shoes or boots from being penetrated with rain or snow, melt a little bees' wax and mutton suet, and rub it slightly over the edges of the sole where the stitches are; this will be sufficient to repel the wet. Occasionally rubbing the soles with hot tar, and dusting over it a small quantity of iron filings, will tend to fill up the pores of the leather, and preserve the feet dry and warm in winter. The practice of pouring brandy or spirits into shoes or boots, with a view to prevent the effects of wet or cold, is very pernicious, and often brings on inflammation of the bowels. The best remedy for damp feet is to bathe them in warm water; and if they become sore or blistered, rub them with a little mutton suet. As many evils and inconveniences arise from wearing improper shoes, it may be necessary to observe, that an easy shoe, adapted to the size and shape of the foot, is of considerable consequence. The soles should be thick, and their extremities round rather than pointed, in order to protect the toes from being injured by sharp stones, or other rough substances, that may occur in walking. Persons wearing narrow or fashionable shoes, merely for the sake of appearance, not only suffer immediate fatigue and languor when walking only a short distance, but are exposed to the pain and inconvenience of warts and corns, and numerous other maladies; while the want of dry easy shoes checks the necessary perspiration, which extends its influence to other parts of the body. For children, a kind of half boots, such as may be laced above the ancles, are superior to shoes, as they not only have the advantage of fitting the leg, but are likewise not easily trodden down at the heels, and children can walk more firmly in them than in shoes.

SHORT BISCUITS. Beat half a pound of butter to a cream, then add half a pound of loaf sugar finely powdered and sifted, the yolks of two eggs, and a few carraways. Mix in a pound of flour well dried, and add as much cream as will make it a proper stiffness for rolling. Roll it out on a clean board, and cut the paste into cakes with the top of a glass or cup. Bake them on tins for about half an hour.—Another way. A quarter of a pound of butter beat to a cream, six ounces of fine sugar powdered and sifted, four yolks of eggs, three quarters of a pound of flour, a little mace, and a little grated lemon peel. Make them into a paste, roll it out, and cut it into cakes with the top of a wine glass. Currants or carraways may be added if agreeable.

SHORT CAKES. Rub into a pound of dried flour, four ounces of butter, four ounces of powdered sugar, one egg, and a spoonful or two of thin cream to make it into a paste. When mixed, put currants into one half, and carraways into the rest. Cut them into little cakes with the top of a wine glass, or canister lid, and bake them a few minutes on floured tins.

SHORT CRUST. Dry two ounces of white sugar; after it has been pounded and sifted. Mix it with a pound of flour well dried, and rub into it three ounces of butter, so fine as not to be seen. Put the yolks of two eggs well beaten into some cream, mix it with the above into a smooth paste, roll it out thin, and bake it in a moderate oven.—Another. Mix with a pound of fine flour dried, an ounce of sugar pounded and sifted. Crumble three ounces of butter into it, till it looks all like flour; and with a glass of boiling cream, work it up to a fine paste.—To make a richer crust, but not sweet, rub six ounces of butter into eight ounces of fine flour. Mix it into a stiffish paste, with as little water as possible; beat it well, and roll it thin. This, as well as the former, is proper for tarts of fresh or preserved fruit.—Another. To a pound of flour allow six ounces of butter, and a little salt. Rub the butter well into the flour with the hand, till the whole is well united, and then put in a small quantity of cold water, just enough to mix it to a paste. Mould it quite smooth with the hand, and roll it out for use.

SHORT PASTE. Rub a quarter of a pound of butter into a pound of flour, mixed with water and two eggs. Work it up to a good stiffness, and roll it out. If for sweet tarts, two table-spoonfuls of sugar should be added.

SHOULDER OF LAMB FORCED. Bone a shoulder of lamb, and fill it up with forcemeat; braise it two hours over a slow stove. Take it up and glaze it, or it may be glazed only, and not braised. Serve with sorrel sauce under the lamb.

SHOULDER OF LAMB GRILLED. Roast a shoulder of lamb till about three parts done, score it both ways into squares about an inch large, rub it over with yolks of egg, season it with pepper and salt, and strew it over with bread crumbs and chopped parsley. Set it before the fire, brown it with a salamander, and serve it up with gravy, mushroom ketchup, lemon juice, and a piece of butter rolled in flour. Heat it over the fire till it is well thickened.

SHOULDER OF MUTTON. If intended to be boiled with oysters, hang it up some days, and then salt it well for two days. Bone it, sprinkle it with pepper, and a little pounded mace. Lay some oysters over it, and roll the meat up tight and tie it. Stew it in a small quantity of water, with an onion and a few peppercorns, till it is quite tender. Prepare a little good gravy, and some oysters stewed in it; thicken this with flour and butter, and pour it over the mutton when the tape is taken off. The stewpan should be kept close covered. If the shoulder is to be roasted, serve it up with onion sauce. The blade-bone may be broiled.

SHOULDER OF PORK. A shoulder or a breast of pork is best put into pickle. Salt the shoulder as a leg; and when very nice it may be roasted, instead of being boiled.

SHOULDER OF VEAL. Cut off the knuckle for a stew or gravy, and roast the other part with stuffing. It may be larded, and served with melted butter. The blade-bone, with a good deal of meat left on it, eats extremely well with mushroom or oyster sauce, or with mushroom ketchup in butter.

SHOULDER OF VENISON. The neck and shoulder are roasted the same as the haunch, and served with the same sauce. But if the shoulder is to be stewed, take out the bone, and beat the meat with a rolling-pin. Lay amongst it some slices of mutton fat, that have lain a few hours in a little port wine; sprinkle a little pepper and allspice over it in fine powder, roll and tie it up tight. Set it in a stewpan that will just hold it, with mutton or beef gravy, half a pint of port wine, with pepper and allspice. Simmer it close covered, and very slowly, for three or four hours. When quite tender, take off the tape, set the meat on a dish, and strain the gravy over it. Serve with currant-jelly sauce. This is the best way of dressing a shoulder of venison, unless it be very fat, and then it should be roasted. The bone should be stewed with it.

SHREWSBURY CAKES. Sift one pound of sugar, some pounded cinnamon, and nutmeg grated, into three pounds of fine flour. Add a little rose water to three eggs well beaten, and mix with the flour; then pour into it as much melted butter as will make it a good thickness to roll out. Mould it well, roll it thin, and cut it into any shape you please.

SHRIMP PIE. Pick a quart of shrimps; if they be very salt, season them only with mace and a clove or two. Mince two or three anchovies, mix them with the spice, and then season the shrimps. Put some butter at the bottom of the dish, and over the shrimps, with a glass of sharp white wine. The pie will not take long in baking, and the paste must be light and thin.

SHRIMP SAUCE. If the shrimps be not ready picked pour over a little water to wash them. Put them to butter melted thick and smooth, give them one boil, and add the juice of a lemon.

SHRUB. To a gallon of rum, put a quart of the juice of Seville oranges, and two pounds and a half of loaf sugar beaten fine, and then barrel it. Steep the rinds of half a dozen oranges in a little rum, the next day strain it into the vessel, and make it up ten gallons with water that has been boiled. Stir the liquor twice a day for a fortnight, or the shrub will be spoiled.

SICK ROOMS. To purify sick rooms from noxious vapours, exhalations, and all kinds of infected air, put half an ounce of finely pulverized black oxide of manganese into a saucer, and pour upon it nearly an ounce of muriatic acid. Place the saucer on the floor of the infected apartment, leave it and shut the door, and the contagion will be completely destroyed. Muriatic acid with red oxide of lead will have a similar effect. Sulphur burnt for the same purpose, has the power of overcoming the effects of noxious vapours. Shallow vessels filled with lime water are of great use in absorbing carbonic acid gas, especially in workshops where charcoal is burnt. Newly prepared charcoal will absorb various kinds of noxious effluvia, and might be used with considerable advantage for the purification of privies, if small pieces of it are strewed upon the floor. Never venture into a sick room if you are in a violent perspiration (if circumstances require your continuance there for any time,) for the moment your body becomes cold, it is in a state likely to absorb the infection, and give you the disease. Nor visit a sick person, (especially if the complaint be of a contagious nature) with an empty stomach; as this disposes the system more readily to receive the contagion. In attending a sick person, place yourself where the air passes from the door or window to the bed of the diseased, not betwixt the diseased person and any fire that is in the room, as the heat of the fire will draw the infectious vapour in that direction, and you would run much danger from breathing in it.

SILK DYES. Silk is usually dyed red with cochineal, or carthamus, and sometimes with Brazil wood. Archil is employed to give silk a bloom, but it is seldom used by itself, unless when the colour wanted is lilac. Silk may be dyed crimson, by steeping it in a solution of alum, and then dyeing it in the usual way in a cochineal bath. Poppy colour, cherry, rose, and flesh colour, are given to silk by means of carthamus. The process consists merely in keeping the silk as long as it extracts any colour, in an alkaline solution of carthamus, into which as much lemon juice has been poured, as is sufficient to give it a fine cherry red colour. Silk cannot be dyed a full scarlet; but a colour approaching to scarlet may be given to it, by first impregnating the stuff with murio-sulphate of tin, and afterwards dyeing it in equal parts of cochineal and quercitron bark.

SILK STOCKINGS. To clean silk stockings properly, it is necessary first to wash them in a lukewarm liquor of white soap, then to rinse them in clean water, and wash them again as before. They are to be washed a third time in a stronger soap liquor, made hot and tinged with blueing, and rinsed in clean water. Before they are quite dry, they are to be stoved with brimstone, and afterwards polished with glass upon a wooden leg. Gauzes are whitened in the same manner, only a little gum is put in the soap liquor before they are stoved.

SILKS CLEANED. The best method of cleaning silks, woollens, and cottons, without damage to their texture and colour, is to grate some raw potatoes to a fine pulp in clean water, and pass the liquid matter through a coarse sieve into another vessel of water. Let the mixture stand till the fine white particles of the potatoes are precipitated; then pour off the liquor, and preserve it for use. The article to be cleaned should then be laid upon a linen cloth on a table; and having provided a clean sponge, dip it into the potatoe liquor, and apply it to the article to be cleaned, till the dirt is made to disappear; then wash it in clean water several times. Two middle-sized potatoes will be sufficient for a pint of water. The coarse pulp, which does not pass through the sieve, is of great use in cleaning worsted curtains, tapestry, carpets, and other coarse articles. The mucilaginous liquor will clean all sorts of silk, cotton or woollen goods, without hurting or spoiling the colour. It may also be used in cleaning oil paintings, or furniture that is soiled. Dirtied painted wainscots may be cleaned by wetting a sponge in the liquor, then dipping it in a little fine clean sand, and afterwards rubbing the wainscot with it.

SILVERING. For silvering glass globes, and such kind of articles, one part of mercury, and four of tin, are generally used. But if two parts of mercury, one of tin, one of lead, and one of bismuth, are melted together, the compound which they form will answer the purpose better. Either of them must be made in an iron ladle, over a clear fire, and be frequently stirred. The glass to be silvered must be very clean and dry. The alloy is poured in at the top, and shaken till the whole internal surface is covered.

SILVERING OF IVORY. Prepare a diluted solution of nitrate of silver, and immerse in it an ivory paper knife. When the ivory has become yellow, in that part where it is in contact with the fluid, take it out and immerse it in an ale glass containing distilled water, placed in a window. In a short time, by exposure to the rays of the sun, it will become intensely black. Take it out of the water, wipe it dry, and rub it with a piece of leather. The silver will now appear on the ivory in a metallic state, and the knife will retain its silvery coat for a long time.

SILVERING ON SILK. Paint flowers or figures of any kind on a white silk ribbon, with a camel hair pencil, dipped in a solution of nitrate of silver. Immerse this whilst wet in a jar of sulphurous acid gas, by burning sulphur under a jar of atmospheric air. The penciling will then assume a beautiful metallic brilliance.

SINAPISMS. The sinapism is a poultice made of vinegar instead of milk, and rendered warm and stimulating by the addition of mustard, horseradish, or garlic. The common sinapism is made of equal quantities of bread crumbs and mustard, a sufficient quantity of strong vinegar, and mixing all together into a poultice. When a sinapism is required to be more stimulating, a little bruised garlic may be added. Sinapisms are employed to recal the blood and spirits to a weak part, as in the case of palsy; they are also of service in deep-seated pains, as in the case of sciatica. When the gout seizes the head or stomach, they are applied to the feet to bring the disorder down, and are likewise applied to the soles of the feet in a low state of fever. They should not be suffered to lie on till they have raised blisters, but till the parts become red, and will continue so when pressed with the finger.

SIPPETS. When the stomach is too weak to receive meat, put on a very hot plate two or three sippets of bread, and pour over them some beef, mutton, or veal gravy. Flavour with a little salt.

SIMPLE WATERS. The most expeditious method of distilling waters is to tie a piece of muslin or gauze, over a glazed earthen pot, whose mouth is just large enough to receive the bottom of a warming pan; on this lay your herb, clipped, whether mint, lavender, or whatever else you please; then place upon them the hot warming-pan, with live coals in it, to cause heat just enough to prevent burning, by which means, as the steam issuing out of the herb cannot mount upwards, by reason of the bottom of the pan just fitting the brim of the vessel below it, it must necessarily descend, and collect into water at the bottom of the receiver, and that strongly impregnated with the essential oil and salt of the vegetable thus distilled; which, if you want to make spirituous, or compound water of, is easily done, by simply adding some good spirits, or French brandy to it, which will keep good for a long time, and be much better than if the spirits had passed through a still, which must of necessity waste some of their strength. Care should be taken not to let the fire be too strong, lest it scorch the plants; and to be made of charcoal, for continuance and better regulation, which must be managed by lifting up and laying down the lid, as you want to increase or decrease the degrees of heat. The cooler the season, the deeper the earthen pan; and the less fire at first (afterwards to be gradually raised) in the greater perfection will the distilled water be obtained.—As the more moveable, or volatile parts of vegetables, are the aqueous, the oily, the gummy, the resinous, and the saline, these are to be expected in the waters of this process; the heat here employed being so great as to burst the vessels of the plants, some of which contain so large a quantity of oil, that it may be seen swimming on the surface of the water.—Medical waters thus procured will afford us nearly all the native virtues of vegetables, and give us a mixture of their several principles, whence they in a manner come up to the expressed juice, or extract gained therefrom: and if brandy be at the same time added to these distilled waters, so strong of oil and salt, a compound, or spirituous water, may be likewise procured, at a cheap and easy rate.—Although a small quantity only of distilled water can be obtained at a time by this confined operation, yet it compensates in strength what is deficient in quantity. Such liquors, if well corked up from the air, will keep good a long time, especially if about a twentieth part of any spirits be added, in order to preserve the same more effectually.

SIZE FROM POTATOES. One of the beneficial uses of potatoes, not perhaps generally known, is, that the starch of them, quite fresh, and washed only once, may be employed to make size, which, mixed with chalk, and diluted in a little water, forms a very beautiful and good white for ceilings. This size has no smell, while animal size, which putrefies so readily, always exhales a very disagreeable odour. That of potatoes, as it is very little subject to putrefaction, appears, from experience, to be more durable in tenacity and whiteness; and, for white-washing, should be preferred to animal size, the decomposition of which is always accompanied with unhealthy exhalations.

SKATE. In the purchase of this article, observe that it be very white and thick. It requires to be hung up one day at least before it is dressed; if too fresh, it eats tough. Skate may either be boiled, or fried in crumbs, being first dipped in egg. Crimp skate should be boiled and sent up in a napkin, or it may be fried as above.

SKATE SOUP. This is made of the stock fish for soup, with an ounce of vermicelli boiled in it, a little before it is served. Then add half a pint of cream, beaten with the yolks of two eggs. Stir it by the side of the fire, but not on it. Serve it up with a small French roll warmed in a Dutch oven, and then soaked an hour in the soup.

SKIRRETS. Hamburgh parsley, scorzonera, and skirrets, are much esteemed for their roots, the only part which is eaten. They should be boiled like young carrots, and they will eat very well with meat, or alone, or in soups. The shoots of salsify in the spring, from the roots of a year old, gathered green and tender, will eat very nice, if boiled in the same manner as asparagus.

SLATE, a well-known, neat, convenient, and durable material, for the covering of the roofs of buildings. There are great varieties of this substance; and it likewise differs very greatly in its qualities and colours. In some places it is found in thick laminae, or flakes; while in others it is thin and light. The colours are white, brown, and blue. It is so durable, in some cases, as to have been known to continue sound and good for centuries. However, unless it should be brought from a quarry of well reputed goodness, it is necessary to try its properties, which may be done by striking the slate sharply against a large stone, and if it produce a complete sound, it is a mark of goodness; but if in hewing it does not shatter before the edge of the sect, or instrument commonly used for that purpose, the criterion is decisive. The goodness of slate may be farther estimated by its colour: the deep black hue is apt to imbibe moisture, but the lighter is always the least penetrable: the touch also may be in some degree a guide, for a good firm stone feels somewhat hard and rough, whereas an open slate feels very smooth, and as it were, greasy. And another method of trying the goodness of slate, is to place the slate-stone lengthwise and perpendicularly in a tub of water, about half a foot deep, care being taken that the upper or unimmersed part of the slate be not accidentally wetted by the hand, or otherwise; let it remain in this state twenty-four hours; if good and firm stone, it will not draw water more than half an inch above the surface of the water, and that perhaps at the edges only, those parts having been a little loosened in the hewing; but a spongy defective stone will draw water to the very top. There is still another mode, held to be infallible. First, weigh two or three of the most suspected slates, noting the weight; then immerge them in a vessel of water twelve hours; take them out, and wipe them as clean as possible with a linen cloth; and if they weigh more than at first, it denotes that quality of slate which imbibes water: a drachm is allowable in a dozen pounds, and no more. It may be noticed, that in laying of this material, a bushel and a half of lime, and three bushels of fresh-water sand, will be sufficient for a square of work; but if it be pin plastered, it will take above as much more: but good slate, well laid and plastered to the pin, will lie an hundred years; and on good timber a much longer time. It has been common to lay the slates dry, or on moss only, but they are much better when laid with plaster. When they are to be plastered to the pin, then about the first quantity of lime and sand will be sufficient for the purpose, when well mixed and blended together, by properly working them. Slates differ very much in thickness as well as colour, which suits them for different situations and purposes. A great deal of good slate of various kinds is raised in different parts of Wales, and much excellent blue and other coloured sorts is procured from the northern parts of Lancashire, and other neighbouring places, as well as from different other counties throughout the kingdom. In some parts the slate is distributed into three kinds, as the best, the middling, and the waste or common sort.

SLEEP. 'Tired nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep,' is indispensible to the continuance of health and life; and the night is appropriated for the recovery of that strength which is expended on the various exercises of the day. But sleep, as well as diet and exercise, ought to be duly regulated; for too little of it, as well as too much, is alike injurious. A medium ought therefore to be observed, though the real proportion cannot be ascertained by any given time, as one person will be more refreshed by five or six hours sleep, than another by eight or ten. Children may be allowed to take as much as they please; but for adults, six hours is generally sufficient, and no one ought to exceed eight. To make sleep refreshing, it is necessary to take sufficient exercise in the open air. Too much exertion will prevent sleep, as well as too little; yet we seldom hear the active and laborious complain of restless nights, for they generally enjoy the luxury of undisturbed repose. Refreshing sleep is often prevented by the use of strong tea, or heavy suppers; and the stomach being loaded, occasions frightful dreams, and broken and interrupted rest. It is also necessary to guard against anxiety and corroding grief: many by indulging these, have banished sleep so long that they could never afterwards enjoy it. Sleep taken in the forepart of the night is most refreshing, and nothing more effectually undermines and ruins the constitution than night watching. How quickly the want of rest in due season will destroy the most blooming complexion, or best state of health, may be seen in the ghastly countenances of those who turn the day into night, and the night into day.

SLICED CUCUMBERS. Cut some cucumbers into thick slices, drain them in a cullender, and add some sliced onions. Use some strong vinegar, and pickle them in the same manner as gherkins and French beans.

SLICES OF BEEF. To prepare red beef for slices, cut off a piece of thin flank, and remove the skin. Rub the beef well with a mixture made of two pounds of common salt, two ounces of bay salt, two ounces of saltpetre, and half a pound of moist sugar, pounded together in a marble mortar. Put it into an earthen pan, and turn and rub it daily for a week. Then take it out of the brine and wipe it, strew over it pounded mace, cloves, pepper, a little allspice, plenty of chopped parsley, and a few shalots. Roll it up, bind it round with tape, boil it quite tender, and press it. When cold cut it into slices, and garnish it with pickled barberries, fresh parsley, or any other approved article.

SLICES OF COD. To boil slices of codfish, put plenty of salt into some spring water. Boil it up quick, and then put in the fish. Keep it boiling, and skim it very clean. It will be done sufficiently in eight or ten minutes. Some small pieces may be fried and served round it. Oyster, shrimp, or anchovy sauce, should be served with it.

SLICES OF HAM. Bacon or ham may be fried, broiled on a gridiron over a clear fire, or toasted with a fork. The slices should be of the same thickness in every part. To have it curled, the slices should be cut about two inches long, then rolled up, and a little wooden skewer passed through them. Put them into a cheese toaster or Dutch oven, for eight or ten minutes, turning the slices as they crisp. This is considered the handsomest way of dressing rashers of bacon, but it is best uncurled, because it is crisper, and more equally done. Slices of ham or bacon should not be more than half a quarter of an inch thick, and will eat much more mellow if soaked in hot water for a quarter of an hour, and then dried in a cloth, before they are toasted.

SLICES OF SALMON. When washed, wipe the salmon quite dry. Rub the slices over with a soft brush dipped in sweet oil, season with pepper and salt, fold them neatly in clean white paper, and broil them over a clear fire.

SLIGHT WOUNDS. When fresh wounds bleed much, lint dipped in vinegar or spirits of turpentine, may be pressed upon the surface for a few minutes, and retained by a moderately tight bandage; but if the blood spirts out violently, it shows that an artery is wounded, and it must be held very firmly till a surgeon arrives. But when the blood seems to flow equally from every part of the wound, and there is no reason therefore to suppose that any considerable vessel is wounded, it may be permitted to bleed while the dressings are preparing. The edges of the wound are then to be gently pressed together, and retained by straps of sticking plaster. These may remain on for three or four days, unless the sore becomes painful, or the matter smells offensive, in which case the straps of plaster must be taken off, the parts washed clean with warm water, and fresh slips of plaster applied, nicely adjusted to keep the wound closed. The slips must be laid over the wound crossways, and reach several inches beyond each side of it, in order to hold the parts firmly together. By keeping the limb or part very still, abstaining from strong liquors, taking only light mild food, and keeping the bowels open, all simple wounds may easily be healed in this manner. But poultices, greasy salves, or filling the wound with lint, will have an opposite effect. Even ragged or torn wounds may be drawn together and healed by sticking plaster, without any other salves or medicines. A broken shin, or slight ruffling of the skin, may be covered with lint dipped in equal parts of vinegar and brandy, and left to stick on, unless the place inflames; and then weak goulard is the best remedy. Common cuts may be kept together by sticking plaster, or with only a piece of fine linen rag, or thread bound round them. The rag applied next to a cut or wound of any kind, should always be of white linen; but calico, or coloured rags, will do quite as well for outward bandages. Important wounds should always be committed to the care of a skilful surgeon.

SLUGS. These reptiles do great damage in fields and gardens, especially to crops of lettuces, cabbages, or turnips. Their track is perceived by the shining and slimy substance which they leave behind them. There are several kinds of these little animals. The white and brown leathery kind often even destroy the strong stems of young cabbage, and other similar plants. The destruction of them has been suggested to be effected by the use of tar-water, sprinkled over the ground; and also by having recourse to lime, in the preparation of the land for such crops. They conceal themselves in the holes and crevices, only making their appearance early in mornings and late in the evenings. The white slug or snail is likewise very destructive to young turnip crops, by rising out of the holes of the soils, on wet and dewy mornings and evenings. Rolling the ground with a heavy implement, before the sun rises, has been advised as a means of destroying them in these cases. Slugs of this sort are likewise very destructive, in some districts, to the roots of corn crops, during the day-time, in the early spring months, while they lie concealed in the ground, by eating and devouring them; and by coming out in the evenings, and during the night-time, to commit ravages on the blades, and other parts above the ground. Numbers of them are sometimes met with upon the same plant, and they may easily be extirpated and removed from the land by the above practice, while they are at work, especially in moon-light seasons, and any further injury to the crops be guarded against. Warm moist weather is always a great encouragement to their coming out of their hiding-places; and advantage should constantly be taken of it for their extermination, as they suddenly retire under ground during the time of cold. The strong lands of other places are occasionally much infested with them in the pea, bean, and rye crops and stubbles, as well as clover roots, when a wheat crop is put in upon them. The slugs, in some cases, are of about half an inch in length, having their backs of a blueish cast in the skin part, and their under parts wholly of a white appearance. A mixture of sulphur and lime, made so as to be conveniently applied, has been found to be highly destructive of them in general.—The use of lime-water has lately been advised as an excellent and cheap mode of destroying slugs in gardens, as well as fields, in the second volume of the Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London. It is found to be far preferable, in this intention, to quicklime, which is liable to become too soon saturated with moisture, and rendered ineffectual. The manner of employing the water is after it has been newly made from stone lime, by means of hot water poured upon it, to pour it through the fine rose of a watering-pot over the slugs, which have been collected by means of pea-haulm, or some other similar substance, laid down on the ground in portions, at the distance of about a pole from each other. In proper weather, the slugs soon collect in this way, in great numbers, for shelter as well as to get food. When a boy takes up the substance, and by a gentle shake leaves the whole of the slugs on the ground, another person then pours a small quantity of lime-water on them, and the boy removes the haulmy material to some intermediate place, in order that the same practice may be repeated. By persevering in this method for a little while, the whole of the slugs may be destroyed, as the least drop of the water speedily kills them. This practice, it is supposed, will be found highly beneficial in the flower-garden, as by watering the edgings of box, thrift, or other kinds, the slugs will be killed with certainty, even when the weather is moist. The application is considered simple, the effect certain, and the expence trifling, whether in the garden or the field; a few pots only being required, in the latter case, to the acre, which can be made with a very small quantity of lime. And the labour is not of any material consequence, so that the whole charge will not, it is imagined, exceed five shillings the acre.—To prevent slugs from getting into fruit trees. If the trees are standards, tie a coarse horse-hair rope about them, two or three feet from the ground. If they are against the wall, nail a narrow slip of coarse horse-hair cloth against the wall, about half a foot from the ground, and they will never get over it, for if they attempt it, it will kill them, as their bellies are soft, and the horse-hair will wound them.

SMALL COAL. There is generally a great waste in the article of coal, owing to the quantity of dust found amongst it; but this if wetted makes the strongest fire for the back of the grate, where it should remain untouched till it is formed into a cake. Cinders lightly wetted give a great degree of heat, and are better than coal for furnaces, ironing stoves, and ovens. They should be carefully preserved and sifted in a covered tin bucket, which prevents the dispersion of the dust.

SMALL POX. Previous to the appearance of the eruption, the patient should be kept in a cool dry apartment, and abstain from all animal food, cheese, and pastry. The diet should consist of cooling vegetables, ripe fruit, pearl barley, and sago. The drink may be barley water, with a few drops of vinegar or cream of tartar, or lukewarm milk and water; but neither beer nor wine must be allowed. In case of an obstruction of the bowels, mild laxatives or clysters may be given; and if the throat be affected, it should be gargled with vinegar and water. Warm fomentations should be applied to the neck, and mustard poultices to the feet. After the eruption has made its appearance, the recovery of the patient may be chiefly entrusted to nature, while proper attention is paid to diet and regimen. But if the pustules begin to disappear, blisters ought to be immediately applied to the calves of the legs, and parsley-root boiled in milk should frequently be eaten, in order to encourage the eruption. When the pustules suddenly sink in, it denotes danger, and medical assistance should speedily be procured. In case of inoculation, which introduces the disease in a milder form, and has been the means of saving the lives of many thousands, a similar mode of treatment is required. For about a week or ten days previous to inoculation, the patient should adhere to a regular diet; avoiding all animal food, seasoned dishes, wine and spirits, and should live sparingly on fruit pies, puddings, and vegetables. The same regimen must be observed as in the former instance, during the progress of the disease, and then, but little medicine will be required.

SMALL RICE PUDDINGS. Wash two large spoonfuls of rice, and simmer it with half a pint of milk till it is thick. Put in a piece of butter the size of an egg, and nearly half a pint of thick cream, and give it one boil. When cold, mix four yolks and two whites of eggs well beaten, sugar and nutmeg to taste. Add grated lemon, and a little cinnamon. Butter some small cups, and fill them three parts full, putting at bottom some orange or citron. Bake them three quarters of an hour in a slowish oven. Serve them up the moment they are to be eaten, with sweet sauce in the dish, or in a boat.

SMELL OF PAINT. When a room is newly painted, place three or four tubs full of water near the wainscot, and renew the water daily. In two or three days it will absorb all the offensive effluvia arising from the paint, and render the room wholesome. The smell of paint may also be prevented, by dissolving some frankincense in spirits of turpentine over a slow fire, and mixing it with the paint before it be laid on.

SMELLING BOTTLE. Reduce to powder an equal quantity of sal-ammoniac and quicklime separately, put two or three drops of the essence of bergamot into a small bottle, then add the other ingredients, and cork it close. A drop or two of aether will improve it.

SMELTS. This delicate fish is caught in the Thames, and some other large rivers. When good and in season, they have a fine silvery hue, are very firm, and have a refreshing smell like cucumbers newly cut. They should not be washed more than is necessary merely to clean them. Dry them in a cloth, lightly flour them, and shake it off. Dip them in plenty of eggs, then into bread crumbs grated fine, and plunge them into a good pan of boiling lard. Let them continue gently boiling, and a few minutes will make them a bright yellow-brown. Take care not to take off the light roughness of the crumbs, or their beauty will be lost.

SMOKED HERRINGS. Clean and lay them in salt one night, with saltpetre; then hang them on a stick, through the eyes, in a row. Have ready an old cask, in which put some saw-dust, and in the midst of it a heater red-hot. Fix the stick over the smoke, and let them remain twenty-four hours.

SMOKY CHIMNIES. The plague of a smoking chimney is proverbial, and has engaged considerable attention from observers of various descriptions. Smoky chimnies in a new house, are such, frequently, for want of air. The workmanship of the rooms being all good and just out of the workman's hands, the joints of the flooring and of the pannels of the wainscoting are all true and tight; the more so as the walls, perhaps not yet thoroughly dry, preserve a dampness in the air of the room which keeps the woodwork swelled and close: the doors and the sashes too being worked with truth, shut with exactness, so that the room is perfectly tight, no passage being left open for the air to enter except the key-hole, and even that is frequently closed by a little dropping shutter. In this case it is evident that there can be no regular current through the flue of the chimney, as any air escaping from its aperture would cause an exhaustion in the air of the room similar to that in the receiver of an air-pump, and therefore an equal quantity of air would rush down the flue to restore the equilibrium; accordingly the smoke, if it ever ascended to the top, would be beat down again into the room. Those, therefore, who stop every crevice in a room to prevent the admission of fresh air, and yet would have their chimney carry up the smoke, require inconsistencies and expect impossibilities. The obvious remedy in this case is, to admit more air, and the question will be how and where this necessary quantity of air from without is to be admitted, so as to produce the least inconvenience; for if the door or window be left so much open, it causes a cold draft of air to the fire-place, to the great discomfort of those who sit there. Various have been the contrivances to avoid this, such as bringing in fresh air through pipes in the jambs of the chimney, which, pointing upwards, should blow the smoke up the funnel; opening passages in the funnel above to let in air for the same purpose; but these produce an effect contrary to that intended, for as it is the constant current of air passing from the room through the opening of the chimney into the flue, which prevents the smoke coming out into the room, if the funnel is supplied by other means with the air it wants, and especially if that air be cold, the force of that current is diminished, and the smoke in its efforts to enter the room finds less resistance. The wanted air must then indispensably be admitted into the room to supply what goes off through the opening of the chimney, and it is advisable to make the aperture for this purpose as near the ceiling as possible, because the heated air will naturally ascend and occupy the highest part of the room, thus causing a great difference of climate at different heights, a defect which will be in some measure obviated by the admission of cold air near the ceiling, which descending, will beat down and mingle the air more effectually. Another cause of smoky chimnies is too short a funnel, as, in this case, the ascending current will not always have sufficient power to direct the smoke up the flue. This defect is frequently found in low buildings, or the upper stories of high ones, and is unavoidable, for if the flue be raised high above the roof to strengthen its draft, it is then in danger of being blown down and crushing the roof in its fall. The remedy in this case is to contract the opening of the chimney so as to oblige all the entering air to pass through or very near the fire, by which means it will be considerably heated, and by its great rarefaction, cause a powerful draft, and compensate for the shortness of its column. The case of too short a funnel is more general than would be imagined, and often found where one would not expect it; for it is not uncommon in ill-contrived buildings, instead of having a separate funnel for each fire-place, to bend and turn the funnel of an upper room so as to make it enter the side of another flue that comes from below. By this means the funnel of the upper room is made short, of course, since its length can only be reckoned from the place where it enters the lower funnel, and that flue is also shortened by all the distance between the entrance of the second funnel and the top of the stack; for all that part being readily supplied with air through the second flue, adds no strength to the draft, especially as that air is cold when there is no fire in the second chimney. The only easy remedy here, is to keep the opening shut of that flue in which there is no fire. Another very common cause of the smoking of chimnies is, their overpowering one another. For instance, if there be two chimnies in one large room, and you make fires in both of them, you will find that the greater and stronger fire shall overpower the weaker, and draw air down its funnel to supply its own demand, which air descending in the weaker funnel will drive down its smoke, and force it into the room. If, instead of being in one room, the two chimnies are in two different rooms communicating by a door, the case is the same whenever that door is open. The remedy is, to take care that every room have the means of supplying itself from without, with the air its chimney may require, so that no one of them may be obliged to borrow from another, nor under the necessity of lending. Another cause of smoking is, when the tops of chimnies are commanded by higher buildings, or by a hill, so that the wind blowing over such eminences falls like water over a dam, sometimes almost perpendicularly on the tops of the chimnies that lie in its way, and beats down the smoke contained in them. The remedy commonly applied in this case is, a turn-cap, made of tin or plate-iron, covering the chimney above, and on three sides, open on one side, turning on a spindle, and which being guided or governed by a vane, always presents its back to the wind. This method will generally be found effectual, but if not, raising the flues, where practicable, so as their tops may be on a level with or higher than the commanding eminence, is more to be depended on. There is another case of command, the reverse of that last mentioned; it is where the commanding eminence is farther from the wind than the chimney commanded. For instance, suppose the chimney of a building to be so situated as that its top is below the level of the ridge of the roof, which, when the wind blows against it, forms a kind of dam against its progress. In this case, the wind being obstructed by this dam, will, like water, press and search for passages through it, and finding the top of the chimney below the top of the dam, it will force itself down that funnel in order to get through by some door or window open on the other side of the building, and if there be a fire in such chimney, its smoke is of course beat down and fills the room. The only remedy for this inconvenience is, to raise the funnel higher than the roof, supporting it, if necessary, by iron bars; for a turn-cap in this case has no effect, the dammed up air pressing down through it in whatever position the wind may have placed its opening. Chimnies otherwise drawing well are sometimes made to smoke by the improper and inconvenient situation of a door. When the door and chimney are placed on the same side of a room, if the door is made to open from the chimney, it follows, that when only partly opened, a current of air is admitted and directed across the opening of the chimney, which is apt to draw out some of the smoke. Chimnies which generally draw well, do, nevertheless, sometimes give smoke into the room, it being driven down by strong winds passing over the tops of their flues, though not descending from any commanding eminence. To understand this, it may be considered that the rising light air, to obtain a free issue from the funnel, must push out of its way, or oblige the air that is over it to rise. In a time of calm, or of little wind, this is done visibly; for we see the smoke that is brought up by that air rise in a column above the chimney. But when a violent current of wind passes over the top of a chimney, its particles have received so much force, which keeps them in a horizontal direction, and follow each other so rapidly, that the rising light air has not strength sufficient to oblige them to quit that direction, and move upwards to permit its issue. Add to this, that some of the air may impinge on that part of the inside of the funnel which is opposed to its progress, and be thence reflected downwards from side to side, driving the smoke before it into the room. The simplest and best remedy in this case is the application of a chimney-pot, which is a hollow truncated cone of earthenware placed upon the top of the flue. The intention of this contrivance is, that the wind and eddies which strike against the oblique surface of these covers may be reflected upwards instead of blowing down the chimney. The bad construction of fire-places is another cause of smoking chimneys; and this case will lead us to the consideration of the methods of increasing the heat and diminishing the consumption of fuel; for it will be found that the improvements necessary to produce the last-mentioned end will also have a general tendency to cure smoky chimnies.