HAIR. Frequent cutting of the hair is highly beneficial to the whole body; and if the head be daily washed with cold water, rubbed dry, and exposed to the air, it will be found an excellent preventive of periodical headachs. Pomatums and general perfumery are very injurious; but a mixture of olive oil and spirits of rosemary, with a few drops of oil of nutmeg, may be used with safety. If a lead comb be sometimes passed through the hair, it will assume a darker colour, but for health it cannot be recommended.

HAIR POWDER. To know whether this article be adulterated with lime, as is too frequently the case, put a little of the powder of sal-ammoniac into it, and stir it up with warm water. If the hair powder has been adulterated with lime, a strong smell of alkali will arise from the mixture.

HAIR WATER. To thicken the hair, and prevent its falling off, an excellent water may be prepared in the following manner. Put four pounds of pure honey into a still, with twelve handfuls of the tendrils of vines, and the same quantity of rosemary tops. Distil as cool and as slowly as possible, and the liquor may be allowed to drop till it begins to taste sour.

HAMS. When a ham is to be dressed, put it into water all night, if it has hung long; and let it lie either in a hole dug in the earth, or on damp stones sprinkled with water, two or three days, to mellow it. Wash it well, and put it into a boiler with plenty of water; let it simmer four, five, or six hours, according to the size. When done enough, if before the time of serving, cover it with a clean cloth doubled, and keep the dish hot over some boiling water. Take off the skin, and rasp some bread over the ham. Preserve the skin as whole as possible, to cover the ham when cold, in order to prevent its drying. Garnish the dish with carrot when sent to table. If a dried ham is to be purchased, judge of its goodness by sticking a sharp knife under the bone. If it comes out with a pleasant smell, the ham is good: but if the knife be daubed, and has a bad scent, do not buy it. Hams short in the hock are best, and long-legged pigs are not fit to be pickled.

HAM SAUCE. When a ham is almost done with, pick all the meat clean from the bone, leaving out any rusty part. Beat the meat and the bone to a mash, put it into a saucepan with three spoonfuls of gravy, set it over a slow fire, and stir it all the time, or it will stick to the bottom. When it has been on some time, put to it a small bundle of sweet herbs, some pepper, and half a pint of beef gravy. Cover it up, and let it stew over a gentle fire. When it has a good flavour of the herbs, strain off the gravy. A little of this sauce will be found an improvement to all gravies.

HANDS. When the hands or feet are severely affected with the cold, they should not immediately be exposed to the fire, but restored to their usual tone and feeling, by immersing them in cold water, and afterwards applying warmth in the most careful and gradual manner. Persons subject to chopped hands in the winter time, should be careful to rub them quite dry after every washing; and to prevent their being injured by the weather, rub them with a mixture of fresh lard, honey, and the yolks of eggs; or a little goose fat will answer the purpose.

HARD DUMPLINGS. Make a paste of flour and water, with a little salt, and roll it into balls. Dust them with flour, and boil them nearly an hour. They are best boiled with a good piece of meat, and for variety, a few currants may be added.

HARES. If hung up in a dry cool place, they will keep a great time; and when imagined to be past eating, they are often in the highest perfection. They are never good if eaten when fresh killed. A hare will keep longer and eat better, if not opened for four or five days, or according to the state of the weather. If paunched when it comes from the field, it should be wiped quite dry, the heart and liver taken out, and the liver scalded to keep for stuffing. Repeat this wiping every day, rub a mixture of pepper and ginger on the inside, and put a large piece of charcoal into it. If the spice be applied early, it will prevent that musty taste which long keeping in the damp occasions, and which also affects the stuffing. If an old hare is to be roasted, it should be kept as long as possible, and well soaked. This may be judged of, in the following manner. If the claws are blunt and rugged, the ears dry and tough, and the haunch thick, it is old. But if the claws are smooth and sharp, the ears easily tear, and the cleft in the lip is not much spread, it is young. If fresh and newly killed, the body will be stiff, and the flesh pale. To know a real leveret, it is necessary to look for a knob or small bone near the foot on its fore leg: if there be none, it is a hare.

HARE PIE. Cut up the hare, and season it; bake it with eggs and forcemeat, in a dish or raised crust. When cold take off the lid, and cover the meat with Savoury Jelly: see the article.

HARE SAUCE. This usually consists of currant jelly warmed up; or it may be made of half a pint of port, and a quarter of a pound of sugar, simmered together over a clear fire for about five minutes. It may also be made of half a pint of vinegar, and a quarter of a pound of sugar, reduced to a syrup.

HARE SOUP. Take an old hare unfit for other purposes, cut it into pieces, and put it into a jar; add a pound and a half of lean beef, two or three shank bones of mutton well cleaned, a slice of lean bacon or ham, an onion, and a bunch of sweet herbs. Pour on two quarts of boiling water, cover the jar close with bladder and paper, and set it in a kettle of water. Simmer till the hare is stewed to pieces, strain off the liquor, boil it up once, with a chopped anchovy, and add a spoonful of soy, a little cayenne, and salt. A few fine forcemeat balls, fried of a good brown, should be served in the tureen.

HARRICO OF MUTTON. Remove some of the fat, and cut the middle or best end of the neck into rather thin steaks. Flour and fry them in their own fat, of a fine light brown, but not enough for eating. Then put them into a dish while you fry the carrots, turnips, and onions; the carrots and turnips in dice, the onions sliced. They must only be warmed, and not browned. Then lay the steaks at the bottom of a stewpan, the vegetables over them, and pour on as much boiling water as will just cover them. Give them one boil, skim them well, and then set the pan on the side of the fire to simmer gently till all is tender. In three or four hours skim them; add pepper and salt, and a spoonful of ketchup.

HARRICO OF VEAL. Take the best end of a small neck, cut the bones short, but leave it whole. Then put it into a stewpan, just covered with brown gravy; and when it is nearly done, have ready a pint of boiled peas, six cucumbers pared and sliced, and two cabbage-lettuces cut into quarters, all stewed in a little good broth. Add them to the veal, and let them simmer ten minutes. When the veal is in the dish, pour the sauce and vegetables over it, and lay the lettuce with forcemeat balls round it.

HARTSHORN JELLY. Simmer eight ounces of hartshorn shavings with two quarts of water, till reduced to one. Strain and boil it with the rinds of four China oranges, and two lemons pared thin. When cool, add the juice of both, half a pound of sugar, and the whites of six eggs beaten to a froth. Let the jelly have three or four boils without stirring, and strain it through a jelly bag.

HASHED BEEF. Put into a stewpan, a pint and a half of broth or water, a large table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, with the gravy saved from the beef. Add a quarter of an ounce of onion sliced very fine, and boil it about ten minutes. Put a large table-spoonful of flour into a basin, just wet it with a little water, mix it well together, then stir it into the broth, and boil it five or ten minutes. Rub it through a sieve, return it to the stewpan, put in the hash, and let it stand by the side of the fire till the meat is warm. A tea-spoonful of parsley chopped very fine, and put in five minutes before it is served up, will be an agreeable addition; or to give a higher relish, a glass of port wine, and a spoonful of currant jelly. Hashes and meats dressed a second time, should only simmer gently, till just warmed through.

HASHED DUCK. Cut a cold duck into joints, and warm it in gravy, without boiling, and add a glass of port wine.

HASHED HARE. Season the legs and wings first, and then broil them, which will greatly improve the flavour. Rub them with cold butter and serve them quite hot. The other parts, warmed with gravy, and a little stuffing, may be served separately.

HASHED MUTTON. Cut thin slices of dressed mutton, fat and lean, and flour them. Have ready a little onion boiled in two or three spoonfuls of water; add to it a little gravy, season the meat, and make it hot, but not to boil. Serve up the hash in a covered dish. Instead of onion, a clove, a spoonful of currant jelly, and half a glass of port wine, will give an agreeable venison flavour, if the meat be fine. For a change, the hash may be warmed up with pickled cucumber or walnut cut small.

HASHED VENISON. Warm it with its own gravy, or some of it without seasoning; but it should only be warmed through, and not boiled. If no fat be left, cut some slices of mutton fat, set it on the fire with a little port wine and sugar, and simmer it dry. Then put it to the hash, and it will eat as well as the fat of venison.

HASTY DISH OF EGGS. Beat up six eggs, pour them into a saucepan, hold it over the fire till they begin to thicken, and keep stirring from the bottom all the time. Then add a piece of butter the size of a walnut, stir it about till the eggs and water are thoroughly mixed, and the eggs quite dry. Put it on a plate, and serve it hot.

HASTY FRITTERS. Melt some butter in a saucepan, put in half a pint of good ale, and stir a little flour into it by degrees. Add a few currants, or chopped apples; beat them up quick, and drop a large spoonful at a time into the pan, till the bottom is nearly covered. Keep them separate, turn them with a slice; and when of a fine brown, serve them up hot, with grated sugar over them.

HASTY PUDDING. Boil some milk over a clear fire, and take it off. Keep putting in flour with one hand, and stirring it with the other, till it becomes quite thick. Boil it a few minutes, pour it into a dish, and garnish with pieces of butter. To make a better pudding, beat up an egg and flour into a stiff paste, and mince it fine. Put the mince into a quart of boiling milk, with a little butter and salt, cinnamon and sugar, and stir them carefully together. When sufficiently thickened, pour it into a dish, and stick bits of butter on the top. Or shred some suet, add grated bread, a few currants, the yolks of four eggs and the whites of two, with some grated lemon peel and ginger. Mix the whole together, and make it into balls the size and shape of an egg, with a little flour. Throw them into a skillet of boiling water, and boil them twenty minutes; but when sufficiently done, they will rise to the top. Serve with cold butter, or pudding sauce.

HATS. Gentlemen's hats are often damaged by a shower of rain, which takes off the gloss, and leaves them spotted. To prevent this, shake out the wet as much as possible, wipe the hat carefully with a clean handkerchief, observing to lay the beaver smooth. Then fix the hat in its original shape, and hang it to dry at a distance from the fire. Next morning, brush it several times with a soft brush in the proper direction, and the hat will have sustained but little injury. A flat iron moderately heated, and passed two or three times gently over the hat, will raise the gloss, and give the hat its former good appearance.

HAUNCH OF MUTTON. Keep it as long as it can be preserved sweet, and wash it with warm milk and water, or vinegar if necessary. When to be dressed especially, observe to wash it well, lest the outside should contract a bad flavour from keeping. Lay a paste of coarse flour on strong paper, and fold the haunch in it; set it a great distance from the fire, and allow proportionate time for the paste. Do not remove it till nearly forty minutes before serving, and then baste it continually. Bring the haunch nearer the fire before the paste is taken off, and froth it up the same as venison. A gravy must be made of a pound and a half of a loin of old mutton, simmered in a pint of water to half the quantity, and no seasoning but salt. Brown it with a little burnt sugar, and send it up in the dish. Care should be taken to retain a good deal of gravy in the meat, for though long at the fire, the distance and covering will prevent its roasting out. Serve with currant-jelly sauce.

HAUNCH OF VENISON. If it be the haunch of a buck, it will take full three hours and a half roasting; if a doe, about half an hour less. Venison should be rather under than overdone. Sprinkle some salt on a sheet of white paper, spread it over with butter, and cover the fat with it. Then lay a coarse paste on strong white paper, and cover the haunch; tie it with fine packthread, and set it at a distance from a good fire. Baste it often: ten minutes before serving take off the paste, draw the meat nearer the fire, and baste it with butter and a good deal of flour, to make it froth up well. Gravy for it should be put into a boat, and not into the dish, unless there is none in the venison. To make the gravy, cut off the fat from two or three pounds of a loin of old mutton, and set it in steaks on a gridiron for a few minutes just to brown one side. Put them into a saucepan with a quart of water, keep it closely covered for an hour, and simmer it gently. Then uncover it, stew it till the gravy is reduced to a pint, and season it with salt only. Currant-jelly sauce must be served in a boat. Beat up the jelly with a spoonful or two of port wine, and melt it over the fire. Where jelly runs short, a little more wine must be added, and a few lumps of sugar. Serve with French beans. If the old bread sauce be still preferred, grate some white bread, and boil it with port wine and water, and a large stick of cinnamon. When quite smooth, take out the cinnamon, and add some sugar.

HAY STACKS. In making stacks of new hay, care should be taken to prevent its heating and taking fire, by forming a tunnel completely through the centre. This may be done by stuffing a sack full of straw, and tying up the mouth with a cord; then make the rick round the sack, drawing it up as the rick advances, and taking it out when finished.

HEAD ACHE. This disorder generally arises from some internal cause, and is the symptom of a disease which requires first to be attended to; but where it is a local affection only, it may be relieved by bathing the part affected with spirits of hartshorn, or applying a poultice of elder flowers. In some cases the most obstinate pain is removed by the use of vervain, both internally in the form of a decoction, and also by suspending the herb round the neck. Persons afflicted with headache should beware of costiveness: their drink should be diluting, and their feet and legs kept warm. It is very obvious, that as many disorders arise from taking cold in the head, children should be inured to a light and loose covering in their infancy, by which means violent headaches might be prevented in mature age: and the maxim of keeping the feet warm and the head cool, should be strictly attended to.

HEAD AND PLUCK. Whether of lamb or mutton, wash the head clean, take the black part from the eyes, and the gall from the liver. Lay the head in warm water; boil the lights, heart, and part of the liver; chop them small, and add a little flour. Put it into a saucepan with some gravy, or a little of the liquor it was boiled in, a spoonful of ketchup, a small quantity of lemon juice, cream, pepper, and salt. Boil the head very white and tender, lay it in the middle of the dish, and the mince meat round it. Fry the other part of the liver with some small bits of bacon, lay them on the mince meat, boil the brains the same as for a calf's head, beat up an egg and mix with them, fry them in small cakes, and lay them on the rim of the dish. Garnish with lemon and parsley.

HEART BURN. Persons subject to this disorder, ought to drink no stale liquors, and to abstain from flatulent food. Take an infusion of bark, or any other stomachic bitter; or a tea-spoonful of the powder of gum arabic dissolved in a little water, or chew a few sweet almonds blanched. An infusion of anise seeds, or ginger, have sometimes produced the desired effect.

HEDGE HOG. Make a cake of any description, and bake it in a mould the shape of a hedge hog. Turn it out of the mould, and let it stand a day or two. Prick it with a fork, and let it remain all night in a dish full of sweet wine. Slit some blanched almonds, and stick about it, and pour boiled custard in the dish round it.

HERB PIE. Pick two handfuls of parsley from the stems, half the quantity of spinach, two lettuces, some mustard and cresses, a few leaves of borage, and white beet leaves. Wash and boil them a little, drain and press out the water, cut them small; mix a batter of flour, two eggs well beaten, a pint of cream, and half a pint of milk, and pour it on the herbs. Cover with a good crust, and bake it.

HERB TEA. If betony be gathered and dried before it begins to flower, it will be found to have the taste of tea, and all its good qualities, without any of its bad ones: it is also considered as a remedy for the headache. Hawthorn leaves dried, and one third of balm and sage, mixed together, will make a wholesome and strengthening drink. An infusion of ground ivy, mixed with a few flowers of lavender, and flavoured with a drop of lemon juice, will make an agreeable substitute for common tea. Various other vegetables might also be employed for this purpose; such as sage, balm, peppermint, and similar spicy plants; the flowers of the sweet woodroof, those of the burnet, or pimpernel rose; the leaves of peach and almond trees, the young and tender leaves of bilberry, and common raspberry; and the blossoms of the blackthorn, or sloe tree. Most of these when carefully gathered and dried in the shade, especially if they be managed like Indian tea-leaves, bear a great resemblance to the foreign teas, and are at the same time of superior flavour and salubrity.

HERBS FOR WINTER. Take any sort of sweet herbs, with three times the quantity of parsley, and dry them in the air, without exposing them to the sun. When quite dry, rub them through a hair sieve, put them in canisters or bottles, and keep them in a dry place: they will be useful for seasoning in the winter. Mint, sage, thyme, and such kind of herbs, may be tied in small bunches, and dried in the air: then put each sort separately into a bag, and hang it up in the kitchen. Parsley should be picked from the stalks as soon as gathered, and dried in the shade to preserve the colour. Cowslips and marigolds should be gathered dry, picked clean, dried in a cloth, and kept in paper bags.

HESSIAN SOUP. Clean the root of a neat's tongue very nicely, and half an ox's head, with salt and water, and soak them afterwards in water only. Then stew them in five or six quarts of water, till tolerably tender. Let the soup stand to be cold, take off the fat, which will do for basting, or to make good paste for hot meat pies. Put to the soup a pint of split peas, or a quart of whole ones, twelve carrots, six turnips, six potatoes, six large onions, a bunch of sweet herbs, and two heads of celery. Simmer them without the meat, till the vegetables are done enough to pulp with the peas through a sieve; and the soup will then be about the thickness of cream. Season it with pepper, salt, mace, allspice, a clove or two, and a little cayenne, all in fine powder. If the peas are bad, and the soup not thick enough, boil in it a slice of roll, and pass it through the cullender; or add a little rice flour, mixing it by degrees.—To make a ragout with the above, cut the nicest part of the head, the kernels, and part of the fat from the root of the tongue, into small thick pieces. Rub these with some of the above seasoning, putting them into a quart of the liquor reserved for that purpose before the vegetables were added; flour them well, and simmer till they are nicely tender. Then add a little mushroom and walnut ketchup, a little soy, a glass of port wine, and a tea-spoonful of made mustard, and boil all up together. Serve with small eggs and forcemeat balls. This furnishes an excellent soup and a ragout at a small expense.

HICCOUGH. A few small draughts of water in quick succession, or a tea-spoonful of vinegar, will often afford immediate relief. Peppermint water mixed with a few drops of vitriolic acid may be taken; and sometimes sneezing, or the stench of an extinguished tallow candle, has been found sufficient.

HIND QUARTER OF LAMB. Boil the leg in a floured cloth an hour and a quarter; cut the loin into chops, fry them, lay them round the leg, with a bit of parsley on each, and serve it up with spinach or brocoli.

HIND QUARTER OF PIG. To dress this joint lamb fashion, take off the skin, roast it, and serve it up with mint sauce. A leg of lamb stuffed like a leg of pork, and roasted, with drawn gravy, is very good. A loin of mutton also, stuffed like a hare, and basted with milk. Put gravy in the dish, served with currant jelly, or any other sauce.HIVING OF BEES. When it is intended to introduce a swarm of bees into a new hive, it must be thoroughly cleaned, and the inside rubbed with virgin wax. A piece of nice honeycomb, made of very white wax, and about nine inches long, should be hung on the cross bars near the top of the hive, to form a kind of nest for the bees, and excite them to continue their work. The new hive being thus prepared, is then to be placed under an old one, before the bees begin to swarm, in such a manner as to be quite close, and to leave the bees no passage except into the new hive. As these insects generally work downwards, they will soon get into their new habitation; and when it is occupied by one half of the swarm, some holes must be made in the top of the old hive, and kept covered till the proper time of making use of them. Preparation being thus made, take the opportunity of a fine morning, about eight or nine o'clock, at which time most of the bees are out, gathering their harvest. The comb is to be cut through by means of a piece of iron wire, and the old hive separated from the new one. An assistant must immediately place the cover, which should be previously fitted, upon the top of the new one. The old hive is then to be taken to the distance of twenty or thirty yards, and placed firm upon a bench or table, but so as to leave a free space both above and below. The holes at the top being opened, one of the new boxes is to be placed on the top of the old hive, having the cover loosely fastened on it; and is to be done in such a manner, by closing the intervals between them with linen cloths, that the bees on going out by the holes on the top of the old hive can only go into the new one. But in order to drive the bees into the new hive, some live coals must be placed under the old one, upon which some linen may be thrown, to produce a volume of smoke; and the bees feeling the annoyance, will ascend to the top of the old hive, and at length will go through the holes into the new one. When they have nearly all entered, it is to be removed gently from the old hive, and placed under the box already mentioned, the top or cover having been taken off. If it should appear the next morning that the two boxes, of which the new hive is now composed, do not afford sufficient room for the bees, a third or fourth box may be added, under the others, as their work goes on, changing them from time to time so long as the season permits the bees to gather wax and honey. When a new swarm is to be hived, the boxes prepared as above and proportioned to the size of the swarm, are to be brought near the place where the bees have settled. The upper box with the cover upon it, must be taken from the others. The cross bars at the top should be smeared with honey and water, the doors must be closed, the box turned upside down, and held under the swarm, which is then to be shaken into it as into a common hive. When the whole swarm is in the box, it is to be carried to the other boxes, previously placed in their destined situation, and carefully put upon them. The interstices are to be closed with cement, and all the little doors closed, except the lowest, through which the bees are to pass. The hive should be shaded from the sun for a few days, that the bees may not be tempted to leave their new habitation. It is more advantageous however to form artificial swarms, than to collect those which abandon their native hives; and the hive here recommended is more particularly adapted to that purpose. By this mode of treatment, we not only avoid the inconveniences which attend the procuring of swarms in the common way, but obtain the advantage of having the hives always well stocked, which is of greater consequence than merely to increase their number; for it has been observed, that if a hive of four thousand bees give six pounds of honey, one of eight thousand will give twenty-four pounds. On this principle it is proper to unite two or more hives, when they happen to be thickly stocked. This may be done by scattering a few handfuls of balm in those hives which are to be united, which by giving them the same smell, they will be unable to distinguish one another. After this preparation, the hives are to be joined by placing them one upon the other, in the evening when they are at rest, and taking away those boxes which are nearly empty. All the little doors must be closed, except the lowest.——If bees are kept in single straw hives in the usual way, the manner of hiving them is somewhat different. They are first allowed to swarm, and having settled, they are then taken to the hive. If they fix on the lower branch of a tree, it may be cut off and laid on a cloth, and the hive placed over it, so as to leave room for the bees to ascend into it. If the queen can be found, and put into the hive, the rest will soon follow. But if it be difficult to reach them, let them remain where they have settled till the evening, when there will be less danger of escaping. After this the hive is to be placed in the apiary, cemented round the bottom, and covered from the wet at top. The usual method of uniting swarms, is by spreading a cloth at night upon the ground close to the hive, in which the hive with the new swarm is to be placed. By giving a smart stroke on the top of the hive, all the bees will drop into a cluster upon the cloth. Then take another hive from the beehouse, and place it over the bees, when they will ascend into it, and mix with those already there. Another way is to invert the hive in which the united swarms are to live, and strike the bees of the other hive into it as before. One of the queens is generally slain on this occasion, together with a considerable number of the working bees. To prevent this destruction, one of the queens should be sought for and taken, when the bees are beaten out of the hive upon the cloth, before the union is effected. Bees never swarm till the hive is too much crowded by the young brood, which happens in May or June, according to the warmth of the season. A good swarm should weigh five or six pounds; those that are under four pounds weight, should be strengthened by a small additional swarm. The size of the hive ought to be proportionate to the number of the bees, and should be rather too small than too large, as they require to be kept dry and warm in winter. In performing these several operations, it will be necessary to defend the hands and face from the sting of the bees. The best way of doing this is to cover the whole head and neck with a coarse cloth or canvas, which may be brought down and fastened round the waist. Through this cloth the motion of the bees may be observed, without fearing their stings; and the hands may be protected by a thick pair of gloves.

HODGE PODGE. Boil some slices of coarse beef in three quarts of water, and one of small beer. Skim it well, put in onions, carrots, turnips, celery, pepper and salt. When the meat is tender, take it out, strain off the soup, put a little butter and flour into the saucepan, and stir it well, to prevent burning. Take off the fat, put the soup into a stewpan, and stew the beef in it till it is quite tender. Serve up the soup with turnips and carrots, spinage or celery. A leg of beef cut in pieces, and stewed five or six hours, will make good soup; and any kind of roots or spices may be added or omitted at pleasure. Or stew some peas, lettuce, and onions, in a very little water, with a bone of beef or ham. While these are doing, season some mutton or lamb steaks, and fry them of a nice brown. Three quarters of an hour before serving, put the steaks into a stewpan, and the vegetables over them. Stew them, and serve all together in a tureen. Another way of making a good hodge podge, is to stew a knuckle of veal and a scrag of mutton, with some vegetables, adding a bit of butter rolled in flour.

HOG'S CHEEKS. If to be dried as usual, cut out the snout, remove the brains, and split the head, taking off the upper bone to make the chawl a good shape. Rub it well with salt, and next day take away the brine. On the following day cover the head with half an ounce of saltpetre, two ounces of bay salt, a little common salt, and four ounces of coarse sugar. Let the head be often turned, and after ten days smoke it for a week like bacon.

HOG'S EARS FORCED. Parboil two pair of ears, or take some that have been soused. Make a forcemeat of an anchovy, some sage and parsley, a quarter of a pound of chopped suet, bread crumbs, and only a little salt. Mix all these with the yolks of two eggs, raise the skin of the upper side of the ears, and stuff them with the mixture. Fry the ears in fresh butter, of a fine colour; then pour away the fat, and drain them. Prepare half a pint of rich gravy, with a glass of fine sherry, three tea-spoonfuls of made mustard, a little butter and flour, a small onion whole, and a little pepper or cayenne. Put this with the ears into a stewpan, and cover it close; stew it gently for half an hour, shaking the pan often. When done enough, take out the onion, place the ears carefully in a dish, and pour the sauce over them. If a larger dish is wanted, the meat from two feet may be added to the above.

HOG'S HEAD. To make some excellent meat of a hog's head, split it, take out the brains, cut off the ears, and sprinkle it with salt for a day. Then drain it, salt it again with common salt and saltpetre for three days, and afterwards lay the whole in a small quantity of water for two days. Wash it, and boil it till all the bones will come out. Skin the tongue, and take the skin carefully off the head, to put under and over. Chop the head as quick as possible, season it with pepper and salt, and a little mace or allspice berries. Put the skin into a small pan, with the chopped head between, and press it down. When cold it will turn out, and make a kind of brawn. If too fat, a few bits of lean pork may be prepared in the same way, and added to it. Add salt and vinegar, and boil these with some of the liquor for a pickle to keep it.

HOG'S LARD. This should be carefully melted in a jar placed in a kettle of water, and boiled with a sprig of rosemary. After it has been prepared, run it into bladders that have been extremely well cleaned. The smaller they are, the better the lard will keep: if the air reaches it, it becomes rank. Lard being a most useful article for frying fish, it should be prepared with care. Mixed with butter, it makes fine crust.

HOLLOW BISCUITS. Mix a pound and a quarter of butter with three pounds and a half of flour, adding a pint of warm water. Cut out the paste with a wine glass, or a small tin, and set them in a brisk oven, after the white bread is drawn.

HONES. For joining them together, or cementing them to their frames, melt a little common glue without water, with half its weight of rosin, and a small quantity of red ochre.

HONEY. The honey produced by young bees, and which flows spontaneously, is purer than that expressed from the comb; and hence it is called virgin honey. The best sort is of a thick consistence, and of a whitish colour, inclining to yellow: it possesses an agreeable smell, and a pleasant taste. When the combs are removed from the hive, they are taken by the hand into a sieve, and left to drain into a vessel sufficiently wide for the purpose. After it has stood a proper time to settle, the pure honey is poured into earthen jars, tied down close to exclude the air.

HONEY VINEGAR. When honey is extracted from the combs, by means of pressure, take the whole mass, break and separate it, and into each tub or vessel put one part of combs, and two of water. Set them in the sun, or in a warm place, and cover them with cloths. Fermentation takes place in a few days, and continues from eight to twelve days, according to the temperature of the situation in which the operation is carried on. During the fermentation, stir the matter from time to time, and press it down with the hand, that it may be perfectly soaked. When the fermentation is over, put the matter to drain on sieves or strainers. At the bottom of the vessels will be found a yellow liquor, which must be thrown away, because it would soon contract a disagreeable smell, which it would communicate to the vinegar. Then wash the tubs, put into them the water separated from the other matter, and it will immediately begin to turn sour. The tubs must then be covered again with cloths, and kept moderately warm. A pellicle or skin is formed on the surface, beneath which the vinegar acquires strength. In a month's time it begins to be sharp, but must be suffered to stand a little longer, and then put into a cask, of which the bunghole is to be left open. It may then be used like any other vinegar. All kinds of vinegar may be strengthened by suffering it to be repeatedly frozen, and then separating the upper cake of ice or water from it.

HOOPING COUGH. This disorder generally attacks children, to whom it often proves fatal for want of proper management. Those who breathe an impure air, live upon poor sustenance, drink much warm tea, and do not take sufficient exercise, are most subject to this convulsive cough. In the beginning of the disorder, the child should be removed to a change of air, and the juice of onions or horseradish applied to the soles of the feet. The diet light and nourishing, and taken in small quantities; the drink must be lukewarm, consisting chiefly of toast and water, mixed with a little white wine. If the cough be attended with feverish symptoms, a gentle emetic must be taken, of camomile flowers, and afterwards the following liniment applied to the pit of the stomach. Dissolve one scruple of tartar emetic in two ounces of spring water, and add half an ounce of the tincture of cantharides: rub a tea-spoonful of it every hour on the lower region of the stomach with a warm piece of flannel, and let the wetted part be kept warm with flannel. This will be found to be the best remedy for the hooping cough.

HOPS. The quality of this article is generally determined by the price; yet hops may be strong, and not good. They should be bright, of a pleasant flavour, and have no foreign leaves or bits of branches among them. The hop is the husk or seed pod of the hop vine, as the cone is that of the fir tree; and the seeds themselves are deposited, like those of the fir, round a little soft stalk, enveloped by the several folds of this pod or cone. If in the gathering, leaves or tendrils of the vine are mixed with the hops, they may help to increase the weight, but will give a bad taste to the beer; and if they abound, they will spoil it. Great attention therefore must be paid to see that they are free from any foreign mixture. There are also numerous sorts of hops, varying in size, in form, and quality. Those that are best for brewing are generally known by the absence of a brown colour, which indicates perished hops; a colour between green and yellow, a great quantity of the yellow farina, seeds not too large or hard, a clamminess when rubbed between the fingers, and a lively pleasant smell, are the general indications of good hops. At almost any age they retain the power of preserving beer, but not of imparting a pleasant flavour; and therefore new hops are to be preferred. Supposing them to be of a good quality, a pound of hops may be allowed to a bushel of malt, when the beer is strong, or brewed in warm weather; but under other circumstances, half the quantity will be sufficient.

HOP-TOP SOUP. Take a quantity of hop-tops when they are in the greatest perfection, tie them in small bunches, soak them in water, and put them to some thin peas-soup. Boil them up, add three spoonfuls of onion juice, with salt and pepper. When done enough, serve them up in a tureen, with sippets of toasted bread at the bottom.

HORSERADISH POWDER. In November or December, slice some horseradish the thickness of a shilling, and lay it to dry very gradually in a Dutch oven, for a strong heat would very soon evaporate its flavour. When quite dry, pound it fine, and bottle it.

HORSERADISH VINEGAR. Pour a quart of the best vinegar on three ounces of scraped horseradish, an ounce of minced shalot, and a dram of cayenne. Let it stand a week, and it will give an excellent relish to cold beef, or other articles. A little black pepper and mustard, celery or cress seed, may be added to the above.

HOUSE DRAINS. The smell of house drains is oftentimes exceedingly offensive, but may be completely prevented by pouring down them a mixture of lime water, and the ley of wood ashes, or suds that have been used in washing. An article known by the name of a sink trap may be had at the ironmongers, which is a cheap and simple apparatus, for carrying off the waste water and other offensive matter from sinks and drains. But as the diffusion of any collection of filth tends to produce disease and mortality, it should not be suffered to settle and stagnate near our dwellings, and every possible care should be taken to render them sweet and wholesome.

HOUSE TAX. As the present system of taxation involves so important a part of the annual expenditure, and is in many instances attended with so much vexation and trouble, it concerns every housekeeper to be acquainted with the extent of his own liability, and of course to regulate his conveniences accordingly. It appears then, that every inhabited dwellinghouse, containing not more than six windows or lights, is subject to the yearly sum of six shillings and six-pence, if under the value of five pounds a year. But every dwellinghouse worth five pounds and under twenty pounds rent by the year, pays the yearly sum of one shilling and six-pence in the pound; every house worth twenty pounds and under forty pounds a year, two shillings and three-pence in the pound; and for every house worth forty pounds and upwards, the yearly sum of two shillings and ten-pence in the pound. These rents however are to be taken from the rates in which they are charged, and not from the rents which are actually paid.

HOUSEHOLD BREAD. Four ounces of salt are dissolved in three quarts of water, and mixed with a pint of yeast. This mixture is poured into a cavity made in a peck of second flour, placed in a large pan or trough. When properly kneaded and fermented, it is divided into pieces of a certain weight, and baked. Sometimes, in farm houses, a portion of rice flour, boiled potatoes, or rye meal, is mixed with the flour, previous to kneading the dough. The rye and rice serve to bind the bread, but the potatoes render it light and spongy.—Or, for a larger quantity, put a bushel of flour into a trough, two thirds wheat and one of rye. Mix a quart of yeast with nine quarts of warm water, and work it into the flour till it becomes tough. Leave it to rise about an hour; and as soon as it rises, add a pound of salt, and as much warm water as before. Work it well, and cover it with flannel. Make the loaves a quarter of an hour before the oven is ready; and if they weigh five pounds each, they will require to be baked two hours and a half.

HUNG BEEF. Make a strong brine with bay salt, common salt, and saltpetre, and put in ribs of beef for nine days. Then dry it, or smoke it in a chimney. Or rub the meat with salt and saltpetre, and repeat it for a fortnight, and dry it in wood smoke.

HUNGARY WATER. To one pint of highly rectified spirits of wine, put an ounce of the oil of rosemary, and two drams of the essence of ambergris. Shake the bottle well several times, and let the cork remain out twenty-four hours. Shake it daily for a whole month, and then put the water into small bottles for use.

HUNTER'S BEEF. To a round of beef that weighs twenty-five pounds, allow three ounces of saltpetre, three ounces of the coarsest sugar, an ounce of cloves, half an ounce of allspice, a nutmeg, and three handfuls of common salt, all in the finest powder. The beef should hang two or three days; then rub the above mixture well into it, and turn and rub it every day for two or three weeks. The bone must be taken out first. When to be dressed, dip it into cold water, to take off the loose spice; bind it up tight with tape, and put it into a pan with a tea-cupful of water at the bottom. Cover the top of the meat with shred suet, and the pan with a brown crust and paper, and bake it five or six hours. When cold, take off the paste and tape. The gravy is very fine, and a little of it is a great improvement to any kind of hash or soup. Both the gravy and the meat will keep some time. The meat should be cut with a very sharp knife, and quite smooth, to prevent waste.

HUNTER'S PUDDING. Mix together a pound of suet, a pound of flour, a pound of currants, and a pound of raisins stoned and cut. Add the rind of half a lemon finely shred, six peppercorns in fine powder, four eggs, a glass of brandy, a little salt, and as much milk as will make it of a proper consistence. Boil it in a floured cloth, or a melon mould, eight or nine hours. A spoonful of peach water may sometimes be added to change the flavour. This pudding will keep six months after it is boiled, if tied up in the same cloth when cold, and hung up, folded in writing paper to preserve it from the dust. When to be eaten, it must be boiled a full hour, and served with sweet sauce.

HYSTERICS. The sudden effusion of water on the face and hands, while the fit is on, and especially immersing the feet in cold water, will afford relief. Fetid smells are also proper; such as the burning of feathers, leather, or the smoke of sulphur, and the application of strong volatile alkali, or other pungent matters to the nostrils. To effect a radical cure, the cold bath, mineral waters, and other tonics are necessary. In Germany however, they cure hysteric affections by eating carraway seeds finely powdered, with a little ginger and salt, spread on bread and butter every morning.