Potatoes rank first in importance in the vegetable line, and consequently should be properly served.  It requires some little intelligence to cook even so simple and common a dish as boiled potatoes.  In the first place, all defective or green ones should be cast out; a bad one will flavor a whole dish.  If they are not uniform in size, they should be made so by cutting after they are peeled.  The best part of a potato, or the most nutritious, is next to the skin, therefore they should be pared very thinly, if at all; then, if old, the cores should be cut out, thrown into cold water salted a little, and boiled until soft enough for a fork to pierce through easily; drain immediately, and replace the kettle on the fire with the cover partly removed, until they are completely dried.  New potatoes should be put into boiling water, and when partly done salted a little.  They should be prepared just in time for cooking by scraping off the thin outside skin.  They require about twenty minutes to boil.

TO BOIL NEW POTATOES.

Do not have the potatoes dug long before they are dressed, as they are never good when they have been out of the ground for some time.  Well wash them, rub off the skins with a coarse cloth, and put them in boiling water salted.  Let them boil until tender; try them with a fork, and when done pour the water away from them; let them stand by the side of the fire with the lid of the saucepan partly removed, and when the potatoes are thoroughly dry, put them in a hot vegetable dish, with a piece of butter the size of a walnut; pile the potatoes over this and serve.  If the potatoes are too old to have the skins rubbed off; boil them in their jackets; drain, peel and serve them as above, with a piece of butter placed in the midst of them.  They require twenty to thirty minutes to cook.  Serve them hot and plain, or with melted butter over them.

MASHED POTATOES.

Take the quantity needed, pare off the skins and lay them in cold water half an hour; then put them into a saucepan with a little salt; cover with water and boil them until done.  Drain off the water and mash them fine with a potato masher.  Have ready a piece of butter the size of an egg, melted in half a cup of boiling hot milk and a good pinch of salt; mix it well with the mashed potatoes until they are a smooth paste, taking care that they are not too wet.  Put them into a vegetable dish, heaping them up and smooth over the top, put a small piece of butter on the top in the centre, and have dots of pepper here and there on the surface as large as a half dime.

Some prefer using a heavy fork or wire beater, instead of a potato masher, beating the potatoes quite light and heaping them up in the dish without smoothing over the top.

BROWNED POTATOES.