let it rise
overnight, and then bake it in loaves.

=Boiled Indian Pudding.=--Dissolve a level teaspoonful of soda in one pint
of sour milk, add to it one pint of molasses, (cost five cents,) quarter
of a pound of chopped suet, (cost two cents,) half a pound of Indian
meal, (cost two cents,) and a level teaspoonful of salt; if you have no
milk use boiling water instead of it; put the pudding into a scalded
pudding bag, or a pudding kettle, and this into a pot of boiling water;
boil steadily for four hours, adding boiling water as the quantity
decreases. The pudding when cooked may be eaten with sauce or molasses,
if desired; it will cost about ten cents.

=Baked Indian Pudding.=--Stir into a quart of boiling milk, (cost eight
cents,) quarter of a pound of Indian meal, (cost one cent,) one level
teaspoonful of salt, the same of spice, and one ounce of butter, (cost
two cents;) last of all add one pint of cold milk, (cost four cents,) or
milk and water. Pour the pudding into an earthen dish, and bake slowly
for three hours. It will cost about fifteen cents, and be very nice.

There is as much difference in the quality of Indian meal as there is in
its preparation; Southern meal is undoubtedly finer than Northern, and
Southern cooks are proverbial for their skill in using it. I am indebted
for some of the preceding receipts to a friend in Maryland, and I advise
my readers to buy Southern meal, if they can get it, and test them
thoroughly. Meal that is ground by hand or water power is superior to
that ground by steam, because it is less heated in the process.

Indian corn is an excellent food in temperate and warm climates; and
from its abundant yield, and easy cultivation, it is one of the cheapest
of cereals. It contains the nitrates, or flesh-forming properties, in an
excessive degree. It is a palatable and nutritious diet whether eaten
green, parched, or ground into meal.

CHAPTER VII.

CHEAP FISH AND MEAT DINNERS.

I have already spoken of the value of fish as strengthening food, and in
support of what I say I need only to remind you how vigorous and healthy
the inhabitants of the sea coast usually are, especially if they eat
red-blooded fish. This fact, in connection with the abundance and
cheapness of fish makes it an important article in the dietary of the
good housekeeper.

Fish may be cooked by boiling, baking, broiling, and frying; boiling is
the least economical method of cooking fish, and fish