"All the labor of man is for his mouth, and yet the appetite is not filled." - Solomon.

All poultry to be good eating should be young. The skin of all young fowls is easily torn.

It is always best to prepare all poultry ready for use the day before it is to be used.

To singe a fowl pour a few drops of alcohol on a plate and touch it with a lighted match. This method is much handier than burning a paper.

Allow one-half hour to a pound for roasting turkeys. Chickens do not need so long a time, as the time varies in cooking according to age; yet it is always best to be on the safe side and allow plenty of time. If it is found to be done too early, remove the fowl from oven, keeping it warm, and replacing it for twenty minute's before dinner. It will not be injured in the least, but this method can be followed with nothing but poultry.

An ordinary sized duck requires an hour and a half, but if ducks are unusually large allow a little longer time. If ducks are very fat the flavor is improved by washing in soda water. A tablespoonful of soda to two quarts of water.

In roasting goose allow about three hours. Never use any but a young goose as old ones are not good eating. Wash in soda water, (same as for ducks), as it extracts the strong oily flavor which is very disagreeable.

Pigeons should lie in salt and water half an hour before cooking and should be cooked a long time as they are usually quite tough.

How To Carve A Fowl

Put on the dish, breast up, head to the left. Place the fork in the breast, and take off the wings, legs, and second joints without turning the fowl; then cut off the "wish-bone" and slice meat from the breast. Cut out the collar-bone; cut off the side bones, then cut the carcass in two by breaking the back-bone.

Oyster Force Meat

Twenty fresh oysters cut in quarters, one-half pint of grated stale bread, one ounce of suet or butter, two well-beaten eggs, and 'pepper, salt and herbs to taste.

Mrs. A. A. Wetherill.

Lemon Sauce

(for boiled fowl).

To one cupful of drawn butter sauce add the inside of a lemon chopped (seeds taken out), and the liver boiled and mashed.

Mrs. M. G. Smith, San Jose.

Roast Turkey

Take a young turkey, thoroughly pick and clean it, wash it in two or three warm waters, then rinse in cold until water is clear, and wipe it inside and out with a soft towel. Put it away in a dry, cool place, and prepare the stuffing. Chop stale bread, removing hard or brown crusts, and allow a quart of crumbs for a turkey of six or seven pounds. Put crumbs in a large bowl and pour over just enough water to soften them. Cover, and after standing for a short time, drain as dry as possible. Stir into them a tablespoonful of butter, and if onion is liked, a small one chopped very fine, or, if preferred, a little chopped celery. Salt, pepper and sage to season well. Rub the sage leaves to a powder and sift before using. Season rather highly, as seasoning cooks out. Then add an egg well beaten and mix thoroughly. Rub the inside of the turkey well with a teaspoonful of salt and proceed to fill with stuffing. Begin with the neck, which should be cut close, turning the skin back that it may be drawn over and tied closely at the end after the stuffing has been put in. Stuff the body, not too full, as stuffing swells, and sew up. If any of the stuffing is left, make into little balls and put them into the pan about an hour before dinner time. Tie the legs down at the side, and put away where it will keep cool until wanted. When ready for baking, rub the turkey with salt and place it on a grate in a large dripping pan, pour half a pint of boiling water into the pan, (not over the turkey), and put into the oven, which should be at a moderate heat at first. During the first half hour the turkey should not brown, but rather have the appearance of being steamed. After it begins to brown, baste at intervals of half an hour, with its own drippings if the turkey is very fat, if not, use a little butter and dredge lightly with flour. When well browned on one side it should be carefully turned, which is more easily done if the pan is removed from the oven. At no time should the oven be very hot, as a turkey of seven pounds should cook for four hours. The giblets should be put into the pan with turkey, and when done, (they require fully two hours' cooking), chop fine and place where they will keep warm. When turkey is done, remove to a warmed platter, take out all the strings, and place it where it will keep warm. Dip the fat from the pan, and place the pan with the remaining gravy, etc., on the stove where it will heat quickly. Add chopped giblets and sufficient boiling water to make about a pint of gravy, put in a. tablespoonful of flour, stir rapidly till it boils, then pour into a warmed gravy boat.

Mrs. H. S. Ball.