looking, let them lie in water for an hour or two,
which will very much refresh them. Wash and carefully pick them over,
remove any decayed or wormeaten leaves, and drain them thoroughly by
swinging them gently in a clean cloth. With a silver knife, cut the
lettuces into small pieces, and the radishes and cucumbers into thin
slices; arrange all these ingredients lightly on a dish, with the
mustard-and-cress, and pour under, but not over the salad, either of the
sauces No. 506, 507, or 508, and do not stir it up until it is to be
eaten. It may be garnished with hard-boiled eggs, cut in slices, sliced
cucumbers, nasturtiums, cut vegetable-flowers, and many other things
that taste will always suggest to make a pretty and elegant dish. In
making a good salad, care must be taken to have the herbs freshly
gathered, and _thoroughly drained_ before the sauce is added to them, or
it will be watery and thin. Young spring onions, cut small, are by many
persons considered an improvement to salads; but, before these are
added, the cook should always consult the taste of her employer. Slices
of cold meat or poultry added to a salad make a convenient and
quickly-made summer luncheon-dish; or cold fish, flaked, will also be
found exceedingly nice, mixed with it.

_Average cost_, 9d. for a salad for 5 or 6 persons; but more expensive
when the herbs are forced.

_Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons.

_Seasonable_ from May to September.

CUCUMBERS.--The cucumber is refreshing, but neither nutritious
nor digestible, and should be excluded from the regimen of the
delicate. There are various modes of preparing cucumbers. When
gathered young, they are called gherkins: these, pickled, are
much used in seasonings.

[Illustration: CUCUMBER-SLICE.]

RADISHES.--This is the common name given to the root of the
_Raphanus satious_, one of the varieties of the cultivated
horseradish. There are red and white radishes; and the French
have also what they call violet and black ones, of which the
black are the larger. Radishes are composed of nearly the same
constituents as turnips, that is to say, mostly fibre and
nitrogen; and, being generally eaten raw, it is on the last of
these that their flavour depends. They do not agree with people,
except those who are in good health, and have active digestive
powers; for they are difficult of digestion, and cause
flatulency and wind, and are t