When you put preserves in jars, lay a white paper, thoroughly wet with brandy, flat upon the surface of the preserves, and cover them carefully from the air.  If they begin to mould, scald them by setting them in the oven till boiling hot.  Glass is much better than earthen for preserves; they are not half as apt to ferment.

CURRANT JELLY.

Currant jelly is a useful thing for sickness.  If it be necessary to wash your currants, be sure they are thoroughly drained, or your jelly will be thin.  Break them up with a pestle, and squeeze them through a cloth.  Put a pint of clean sugar to a pint of juice, and boil it slowly, till it becomes ropy.  Great care must be taken not to do it too fast; it is spoiled by being scorched.  It should be frequently skimmed while simmering.  If currants are put in a jar, and kept in boiling water, and cooked before they are strained, they are more likely to keep a long time without fermenting.

CURRANT WINE.

Those who have more currants than they have money, will do well to use no wine but of their own manufacture.  Break and squeeze the currants, put three pounds and a half of sugar to two quarts of juice and two quarts of water.  Put in a keg or barrel.  Do not close the bung tight for three or four days, that the air may escape while it is fermenting.  After it is done fermenting, close it up tight.  Where raspberries are plenty, it is a great improvement to use half raspberry juice, and half currant juice.  Brandy is unnecessary when the above-mentioned proportions are observed.  It should not be used under a year or two.  Age improves it.

RASPBERRY SHRUB.

Raspberry shrub mixed with water is a pure, delicious drink for summer; and in a country where raspberries are abundant, it is good economy to make it answer instead of Port and Catalonia wine.  Put raspberries in a pan, and scarcely cover them with strong vinegar.  Add a pint of sugar to a pint of juice; (of this you can judge by first trying your pan to see how much it holds;) scald it, skim it, and bottle it when cold.

COFFEE.

As substitutes for coffee, some use dry brown bread crusts, and roast them; others soak rye grain in rum, and roast it; others roast peas in the same way as coffee.  None of these are very good; and peas so used are considered unhealthy.  Where there is a large family of apprentices and workmen, and coffee is very dear, it may be worth while to use the substitutes, or to mix them half and half with coffee; but, after all, the best economy is to go without.

French coffee is so celebrated, that it may be worth while to tell how it is made; though no prudent housekeeper will make it, unless she has boarders, who are willing to pay for expensive cooking.