_Average cost_, 1s. per lb.

SUGAR AND BEETROOT.--There are two sorts of Beet,--white and
red; occasionally, in the south, a yellow variety is met with.
Beetroot contains twenty parts sugar. Everybody knows that the
beet has competed with the sugar-cane, and a great part of the
French sugar is manufactured from beet. Beetroot has a
refreshing, composing, and slightly purgative quality. The young
leaves, when cooked, are a substitute for spinach; they are also
useful for mixing with sorrel, to lessen its acidity. The large
ribs of the leaves are serviceable in various culinary
preparations; the root also may be prepared in several ways, but
its most general use is in salad. Some writers upon the subject
have expressed their opinion that beetroot is easily digested,
but those who have taken pains to carefully analyze its
qualities make quite a contrary statement. Youth, of course, can
digest it; but to persons of a certain age beet is very
indigestible, or rather, it does not digest at all. It is not
the sugary pulp which is indigestible, but its fibrous network
that resists the action of the gastric organs. Thus, when the
root is reduced to a puree, almost any person may eat it.

FRENCH SUGAR.--It had long been thought that tropical heat was
not necessary to form sugar, and, about 1740, it was discovered
that many plants of the temperate zone, and amongst others the
beet, contained it. Towards the beginning of the 19th century,
circumstances having, in France, made sugar scarce, and
consequently dear, the government caused inquiries to be
instituted as to the possibility of finding a substitute for it.
Accordingly, it was ascertained that sugar exists in the whole
vegetable kingdom; that it is to be found in the grape,
chestnut, potato; but that, far above all, the beet contains it
in a large proportion. Thus the beet became an object of the
most careful culture; and many experiments went to prove that in
this respect the old world was independent of the new. Many
manufactories came into existence in all parts of France, and
the making of sugar became naturalized in that country.

COMMON SHORT CRUST.

1212. INGREDIENTS.--To every pound of flour allow 2 oz. of sifted sugar,
3 oz. of butter, about 1/2 pint of boiling milk.

_Mode_.--Crumble the butter into the flour as finely as p