d water. Let them remain for 2 days, changing the water twice
each day, to draw out the salt. Put the sugar, with 1/4 pint of water,
in a saucepan over the fire; remove the scum as it rises, and add the
lemon-peel and ginger with the outside scraped off; when the syrup is
tolerably thick, take it off the fire, and when _cold_, wipe the
cucumbers _dry_, and put them in. Boil the syrup once in 2 or 3 days for
3 weeks; strengthen it if required, and let it be quite cold before the
cucumbers are put in. Great attention must be paid to the directions in
the commencement of this recipe, as, if these are not properly carried
out, the result will be far from satisfactory.

_Seasonable_.--This recipe should be used in June, July, or August.

[Illustration: SALT-MINE AT NORTHWICH.]

COMMON SALT.--By this we mean salt used for cooking purposes,
which is found in great abundance both on land and in the waters
of the ocean. Sea or salt water, as it is often called,
contains, it has been discovered, about three per cent, of salt
on an average. Solid rocks of salt are also found in various
parts of the world, and the county of Chester contains many of
these mines, and it is from there that much of our salt comes.
Some springs are so highly impregnated with salt, as to have
received the name of "brine" springs, and are supposed to have
become so by passing through the salt rocks below ground, and
thus dissolving a portion of this mineral substance. We here
give an engraving of a salt-mine at Northwich, Cheshire, where
both salt-mines and brine-springs are exceedingly productive,
and are believed to have been wrought so far back as during the
occupation of Britain by the Romans.

CUSTARD SAUCE FOR SWEET PUDDINGS OR TARTS.

404. INGREDIENTS.--1 pint of milk, 2 eggs, 3 oz. of pounded sugar, 1
tablespoonful of brandy.

_Mode_.--Put the milk in a very clean saucepan, and let it boil. Beat
the eggs, stir to them the milk and pounded sugar, and put the mixture
into a jug. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water; keep stirring
well until it thickens, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle.
Serve the sauce in a tureen, stir in the brandy, and grate a little
nutmeg over the top. This sauce may be made very much nicer by using
cream instead of milk; but the above recipe will be found quite good
enough for ordinary purposes.

_Average cost_, 6d. per pint.

_Sufficie