POTATO PUFF.—­Mix a pint of mashed potato (cold is just as good if free from lumps) with a half cup of cream and the well-beaten yolk of an egg; salt to taste and beat till smooth; lastly, stir in the white of the egg beaten to a stiff froth.  Pile up in a rocky form on a bright tin dish, and bake in a quick oven until heated throughout and lightly browned.  Serve at once.

BROWNED POTATOES.—­Slice cold potatoes evenly, place them on an oiled tin, and brown in a very quick oven; or slice lengthwise and lay on a wire broiler or bread-toaster, and brown over hot coals.  Sprinkle with a little salt if desired, and serve hot with sweet cream as dressing.

ORNAMENTAL POTATOES.—­No vegetable can be made palatable in so many ways as the potato, and few can be arranged in such pretty shapes.  Mashed potatoes made moist with cream, can easily be made into cones, pyramids, or mounds.  Cold mashed potatoes may be cut into many fancy shapes with a cookie-cutter, wet with a little cold water, and browned in the oven.

Mounds of potatoes are very pretty smoothed and strewn with well-cooked vermicelli broken into small bits, and then lightly browned in the oven.

Scoring the top of a dish of mashed potato deeply in triangles, stars, and crosses, with the back of a carving knife, and then browning lightly, gives a very pretty effect.

BROILED POTATO.—­Mashed potatoes, if packed firmly while warm into a sheet-iron bread tin which has been dipped in cold water, may be cut into slices when cold, brushed with cream, and browned on a broiler over hot coals.

WARMED-OVER POTATOES.—­Cut cold boiled potatoes into very thin slices; heat a little cream to boiling in a saucepan; add the potato, season lightly with salt if desired, and cook until the cream is absorbed, stirring occasionally so as to prevent scorching or breaking the slices.

VEGETABLE HASH.—­With one quart finely sliced potato, chop one carrot, one red beet, one white turnip, all boiled, also one or two stalks of celery.  Put all together in a stewpan, cover closely, and set in the oven; when hot, pour over them a cup of boiling cream, stir well together, and serve hot.

THE SWEET POTATO.

DESCRIPTION.—­The sweet potato is a native of the Malayan Archipelago, where it formerly grew wild; thence it was taken to Spain, and from Spain to England and other parts of the globe.  It was largely used in Europe as a delicacy on the tables of the rich before the introduction of the common potato, which has now taken its place and likewise its name.  The sweet potato is the article referred as potato by Shakespeare and other English writers, previous to the middle of the seventeenth century.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.—­What has been said in reference to the common potato, is generally applicable to the sweet potato; it may be prepared and cooked in nearly all the ways of the Irish potato.