An absolute rule for making good salad dressing is an almost impossible thing, as this seems to be the one place in cookery where it is not only allowable but commendable to “guess” at proper proportions. The following is as nearly accurate as it seems well to be. Put 1 scant teaspoon of salt and 1 saltspoon of black pepper in a bowl, and stir into them with a wooden fork, very slowly, 3 or 4 tablespoons of fresh oil, and then add half as much or less vinegar, mixing it well with the oil.

Good tarragon vinegar can be bought in any city, but it is so easily prepared at home that it is worth doing. Put a handful of tarragon in a quart jar, and cover with cold or heated vinegar. Seal the jar and set it in a dark place for a month or so before using.

Make chervil vinegar in the same way.

Put 2 chilled egg-yolks in a cold soup plate, and stir into them 1 teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of mustard, using a silvered spoon, and after these are well mixed in begin to add oil, actually drop by drop, from 1 scant cup of cool olive oil, and do this until the eggs are so thickened that it is not possible to make them more so; then the remaining oil may be added less slowly. If this first process is not properly done, no amount of stirring will ever thicken the sauce. A fork or whisk may be used to finish the stirring. When the oil is added, beat in slowly 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and 1 of lemon juice, and ½ saltspoon of cayenne pepper. Put on the ice until wanted.

Tarragon mayonnaise is made by substituting tarragon vinegar for plain vinegar.

This may be made of mixed herbs or spinach. If herbs are used take 1 tablespoon of parsley, 1 of watercress, and 1 of chervil, put them into boiling water, let them cook eight minutes, then drain and pound in a mortar, and press the pulp through a fine sieve. Use this with mayonnaise to make a light delicate green colour.

If spinach is used press 1 tablespoon of chopped spinach through a sieve, and use it to colour the sauce.

Use equal quantities of NeufchÂtel cheese and grated American (or Parmesan) cheese, sprinkle with cayenne, and dampen with a little melted butter. Shape into tiny balls and use very cold as a salad garnish.

Use 1 cup of scraped thinly sliced celery, 1 cup of diced apples, ½ cup of chopped English walnuts, and ½ cup of seeded white grapes. Mix well with mayonnaise, and serve on large curled lettuce leaves.

Use cold boiled fresh artichokes, remove the thistles, and fill the artichokes with finely minced chopped onion, apple, and beet, blended with green mayonnaise; serve extra mayonnaise in which to dip the artichoke leaves.

Put a can of good “stringless” beans on the ice an hour before wanted, open, drain, and arrange in a salad bowl with 2 teaspoons of grated or finely chopped onion and 1 cup of French dressing. Serve ice-cold.

Make like the preceding, using 1 tablespoon of chopped chives or shallots, or green onion tops instead of chopped onion.

Cut boiled beets in thin slices and use a vegetable cutter to cut them into fancy shapes. Mix 1 cup of beets with 1 cup of thinly sliced celery, cover well with mayonnaise, serve on lettuce leaves.

Slice firm white cabbage as thin as possible, then cut it across, mix it with mayonnaise dressing, and serve on small white cabbage leaves.

Use equal parts of thin strips of celery and shredded pineapple. Select a perfectly ripe pineapple. Put the celery and pineapple each by itself, and place on the ice. When time to serve mix them together with mayonnaise, garnish with celery leaves, and serve at once.

When fresh cherries are available they are best, but the large cherries in glass bottles are also suitable. Remove the stones from fresh cherries, and in their places put blanched filberts or hazelnuts. Put on curled lettuce leaves with a tablespoon of green mayonnaise on each.

Soak 2 unpeeled cucumbers in ice-cold water for twenty minutes or more, then peel and use a patent scraper on the sides to serrate the edges, or do this by drawing a silver fork firmly down the length of the cucumber; this will make the slices have fancy edges. Slice, and arrange with small white lettuce leaves in a salad bowl. Cover with French dressing and add a sprinkling of paprika to the salad itself before serving. Some sliced radishes may be added if liked.

Use 1 cup each of finely sliced firm white cabbage, diced celery, and chopped apple; mix them well with mayonnaise dressing, and serve in the inner leaves from the cabbage.

Prepare like plain cucumber salad, but put with the sliced cucumbers 1 small onion sliced thin, with the slices separated into rings. One tablespoon of chives may be added, or more chives used and the onion slices omitted.

Take young dandelion leaves, trim off all the stem below the leaf, and mix with a French dressing to which has been added onion juice or chopped chives; use 1 tablespoon of either to each cup of dressing. Hard-boiled eggs, sliced or chopped, are sometimes used to garnish this salad.

Boil 6 or 8 eggs for ten minutes, put in cold water for two or three minutes, then peel and put in a jar of pickled beets, well covered with vinegar. Let them stand a few hours and serve with the beets.

Wash heads of endive and use the crisp, white, light leaves. Shake dry and cover with French dressing. Add 1 teaspoon of minced onion before dressing.

Wash 2 cups of fetticus and dry the leaves well, then cover with French dressing, and add 1 teaspoon of grated onion.

Take a handful of sorrel, 2 sprigs of chervil, 4 leaves of tarragon (or use tarragon vinegar), 1 teaspoon of chopped chives, and the small leaves from the heart of a head lettuce. Blend all well with French dressing.

Wash and shake dry the fine leaves from a head lettuce, and arrange with them in layers very thin slices of grape-fruit; mix well with French dressing before serving.

Having prepared 2 nice heads of head lettuce, arrange them in the salad bowl with 2 seedless oranges which have been neatly peeled, and cut into thin slices with a very sharp knife. Season with salt and pepper, and then mix thoroughly with French dressing. The oranges and lettuce should have been chilled so that the salad will be very cold.

Pull apart a fresh head lettuce, breaking the leaves neatly from the stalk, and wash those that need it and shake them dry. Put in a salad bowl with French dressing or sauce vinaigrette, and mix well together before serving.

Open a glass or can of imported macedoine of vegetables, drain, and cover with French dressing. Arrange with lettuce leaves in a bowl or on separate plates. Freshness can be added by a tablespoon of chopped chives, or shallots, or parsley.

Use 1 cup of chopped tomato, 1 cup of chopped cucumber, ½ cup of thinly sliced radishes, ½ cup of chopped apple, and 2 tablespoons of the German pearl pickled onions. Mix all together with 1 cup of mayonnaise, and arrange in a salad bowl with lettuce leaves, which should be used to hold the salad in serving.

Select fresh, firm mushrooms that are small, wash them carefully without peeling, and stir them in French dressing that contains rather more oil than usual. Put 1 crisp lettuce leaf on each plate, fill it with the mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and a little paprika, and serve very cold.

Wash and shake dry the fine white centre of endive or chicory, and arrange with it quartered tomatoes from which the skin has been removed; serve with a French dressing to which a tablespoon of chopped parsley, ½ teaspoon of chopped onion, and 1 finely chopped egg has been added.

Select large tomatoes, remove the skins by putting in boiling water, cut out the inside, and refill with finely chopped pineapple, celery, and apple in equal proportions, all well blended with plain mayonnaise. Serve on lettuce leaves on separate plates, or use watercress instead of lettuce.

Mix 2 NeufchÂtel cheeses with 1 cup of grated cheese, and when creamed together add 6 olives stoned and chopped fine and 1 teaspoon of chopped pimento; season generously with salt and pepper, moisten with cream, and mould into balls an inch and a quarter through. Pimolas (which are olives stuffed with pimentos) can of course be used if more convenient, and a few drops of onion extract or a very little onion juice adds piquancy to the cheese balls. Take lettuce which has been in cold water and is therefore crisp, shake it dry, and arrange with it pimentos cut in long half-inch strips, mix thoroughly with a French dressing, and garnish with the cheese balls.

Use boiled beets, sliced and mixed with French dressing, and over all sprinkle chopped white of hard-boiled egg.

A little grated horse-radish is sometimes used with good effect in beet salad.

Boil 6 medium-sized potatoes, and after draining shake them over the fire a moment or two to dry; then peel and slice while warm, and cover at once with a dressing made of 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 saltspoon of black pepper, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 1 chopped onion, 5 tablespoons of oil, and 3 tablespoons of vinegar. Mix and let stand on ice for an hour or so, then put with crisp lettuce leaves in a salad bowl, and garnish with chopped boiled or pickled beets.

Mix cold sliced boiled potatoes with mayonnaise dressing and add 1 tablespoon of capers.

Use equal quantities of boiled beets (canned ones are convenient) and boiled potatoes. Dice both and mix well together, adding 1 tablespoon of vinegar. Let stand until the potatoes are reddened, then add 1 tablespoon of grated onion, mix well with French dressing, and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg. Place in a salad bowl, with fine white cabbage or crisp lettuce leaves.

Pick over crisp heads of romaine, let stand a few minutes in cold water, then shake until dry, and serve with French dressing to which grated onion is added, using 1 teaspoon of it to each cup of dressing.

To 2 cups of cold boiled rice add 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs and blend well with mayonnaise. Arrange on crisp lettuce leaves with a garnish of egg slices, and beet, and sliced olives.

A refreshing salad may be made from the sorrel found growing wild. Wash it well, cut the stalks off, and dredge with salt, pepper, celery salt, and then mix with oil, and sprinkle well with tarragon vinegar and a little grated onion.

Remove the skins from large, solid tomatoes and 1 small cucumber, take the seeds from 1 small sweet green pepper, pare 1 small Spanish onion, and cut all in slices, making the peppers extremely thin. Mix with 1 tablespoon of chopped nasturtium leaves or stems or seeds, and cover with French dressing, mixing well. Let stand on ice an hour before serving. Serve with cheese balls.

Wash 1 large head of crisp head lettuce, separate the leaves, rejecting all but perfect ones, and shake them dry. Put them in a large salad bowl, and with them put 1 onion chopped very fine, 5 sliced tomatoes, and the leaves from 3 or 4 sprigs of watercress. At the table dredge the salad generously with salt, and sprinkle with black pepper, covering the entire surface; then pour from an oil bottle 3 or 4 tablespoons of oil over the vegetables slowly, and follow this with about 2 tablespoons of vinegar; add 1 tablespoon of tarragon vinegar, then dredge with celery salt, and add a little cayenne, and mix all together with a wooden fork and spoon, turning the whole mass over and over ten or more times. The bowl may be well rubbed with garlic and the onion omitted.

Slice 5 or 6 very small tomatoes, and put with them 2 onions sliced and divided into rings. Cover with French dressing.

Slice 4 tomatoes, put with them 3 tablespoons of chopped chives, and cover with French dressing. Serve on lettuce leaves.

Use 1 cup of shelled walnuts, broken or chopped, 1 cup of diced tart apple, 1 cup of crisp celery cut in small pieces, and mix well with mayonnaise dressing. Serve on curly lettuce leaves.

Cut two inches off the bottom of a bunch of watercress with a sharp knife, wash the cress thoroughly in ice-cold water, drain, and arrange in a salad bowl with 3 seedless oranges cut in thin slices, and mix all together with a dressing made of 1 tablespoon each of tarragon vinegar, olive oil, and brandy; season well with salt and pepper, and serve very cold.

Grape fruit can be substituted for the orange, or equal amounts of orange and grape fruit used.

Cut into small cubes 2 fresh cucumbers that have been on ice until chilled and then peeled, and put with them 1 diced sour apple, 1 tablespoon of shredded pimentos, 1 small bunch of watercress (using the leaves only), and 2 tablespoons of chopped mint leaves. Mix with French dressing and serve on lettuce leaves.

Use large dinner plates, and on each arrange 6 of the large light green leaves from the inner part of head lettuce, putting 5 of them with the stalk-end toward the centre of the plate, and another small one in the centre. Fill the centre leaf with radishes (cut like roses) and olives, and fill the others as follows: In one put 2 tablespoons of canned green beans, well mixed, before putting on the leaf, with a little grated onion and French dressing, on the second put 3 or 4 slices of tomato and 2 teaspoons of mayonnaise, on the third arrange 3 stalks of canned asparagus (white preferred) dipped in French dressing and sprinkled with chopped chives, on the fourth put 2 half-lengths of a quartered cucumber to be dipped in salt in eating, and on the fifth put 1 tablespoon of tiny German pearl onions, 2 pickled walnuts, and 2 gherkins. Serve nut or plain bread, or creamed cheese sandwiches, or all three. This supper may be varied in many ways; one is to use potato salad or beet and egg instead of the beans. This as it stands was the result of an emergency when six persons were suddenly to be served to a late supper and no preparation made. A well-stocked store-room of preserved goods and a small kitchen garden filled the need.