ff, and throw it away--cut the lower
part of the stalks in thin slices if tough, and boil them eight or ten
minutes before the upper part is put in. Lay the remainder compactly
together, tie it carefully in small bundles, and boil it from fifteen to
twenty minutes, according to its age. Boil a little salt with them, and
a quarter of a tea spoonful of saleratus, to two or three quarts of
water, to preserve their fresh green color. Just before your asparagus
is done, toast a slice of bread, moisten it with a little of the
asparagus liquor, lay it in your asparagus dish, and butter it--then
take up the asparagus carefully with a skimmer, and lay it on the toast,
take off the string, salt it, and turn a little melted butter over the
whole.

106. _Peas._

Peas should be put into boiling water, with salt and saleratus, in the
proportion of a quarter of a tea spoonful of saleratus to half a peck of
peas. Boil them from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to their age
and kind. When boiled tender, take them out of the water with a skimmer,
salt and butter them to the taste. Peas to be good should be fresh
gathered, and not shelled till just before they are cooked.

107. _Sweet Corn._

Corn is much sweeter to be boiled on the cob. If made into sucatosh, cut
it from the cobs, and boil it with Lima beans, and a few slices of salt
pork. It requires boiling from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to
its age.

108. _To cook various kinds of Beans._

French beans should have the strings taken off--if old, the edges should
be cut off, and the beans cut through the middle. Boil them with a
little salt, from twenty-five to forty minutes, according to their age.
A little saleratus boiled with them preserves their green color, and
makes them more healthy. Salt and butter them when taken up. Lima beans
can be kept the year round, by being perfectly dried when fresh gathered
in the pods, or being put without drying into a keg, with a layer of
salt to each layer of beans, having a layer of salt at the bottom of the
keg. Cover them tight, and keep them in a cool place. Whenever you wish
to cook them, soak them over night, in cold water--shell and boil them,
with a little saleratus. White beans for baking, should be picked over
carefully to get out the colored and bad ones. Wash and soak them over
night in a pot, set where they will keep lukewarm. There should be about
three quarts of water to three pints of the beans. The next