It is much better however, that meat should not be kept so long as to risk its being tainted.
TAN GLOVES. To dye gloves to look like York tan or Limerick, put some saffron into a pint of water boiling hot, and let it infuse all night.
Next morning wet the leather over with a brush, but take care that the tops of the gloves be sewn close, to prevent the colour from getting in.
TANSEY. To make a tansey, beat up seven eggs, yolks and whites separately. Add a pint of cream, nearly the same of spinach juice, and a little tansey juice, gained by pounding it in a stone mortar; a quarter of a pound of Naples biscuit, a gla.s.s of white wine, and a little sugar and nutmeg. Set all in a saucepan, just to thicken, over the fire; then put it into a dish, lined with paste to turn out, and bake it.--Another. Beat ten eggs very well with a little salt, half a pound of loaf sugar pounded, half a pint of spinach juice, and a spoonful of the juice of tansey; mix them well together, and strain it to a quart of cream; grate in half a pound of Naples biscuits, and a nutmeg; add a quarter of a pound of Jordan almonds blanched and beat fine, with a little rose water, and mix all well together; put it into a stewpan, with a piece of b.u.t.ter the bigness of a golden pippin. Set it over a slow charcoal fire; keep it stirring till it is hardened; then b.u.t.ter a dish very well, that will just hold it: put in the tansey, bake it in a moderate oven, taking care that it is not scorched. When it comes home, turn it upon a pie plate, cut Seville oranges in small quarters, and lay round it, and on the tansey, citron, and orange peel cut thin, with double refined sugar laid in little heaps between. If you have not Naples biscuits, grate seven ounces of the finest stale bread you have.--_A boiled tansey._ Cut the crumb of a stale penny loaf thin, pour over as much hot cream as will wet it, and cover it over till cold; then beat and strain six eggs to it, a little lemon peel shred fine, a little grated nutmeg, and salt; green it as you did the baked tansey, and sweeten it to your taste; stir all very well together, b.u.t.ter a bason, that will hold it, b.u.t.ter also a cloth to lay over the top, tie it tight, and boil it an hour and quarter; turn it into a dish, and garnish with Seville orange; stick candied orange cut thin on the top.
TANSEY PUDDING. Grate four ounces of bread, blanch two ounces of sweet almonds, and beat them fine in a marble mortar, with orange-flower water. Mix these, and four ounces of fine powdered sugar with the bread.
Add five eggs, a little salt, a pint of cream, a grated nutmeg, half a pint of spinach juice expressed from the leaves, beaten in a marble mortar, and strained through a cloth, and two or three spoonfuls of tansey juice beaten out and strained in the same manner. Stir the whole together, and put it into a saucepan with a small piece of b.u.t.ter. Set it over the fire till it thickens, stirring it all the time, but do not let it boil. When done, cool it in a basin, then pour it into a dish well b.u.t.tered, and bake it half an hour. Turn it out of the dish before it is sent to table, sift some fine sugar over it, and lay a Seville orange round it cut in pieces, and squeeze the juice upon it.
TAPIOCA JELLY. Choose the largest sort, pour on cold water to wash in two or three times, and then soak it in fresh water five or six times.
Simmer it in the same until it become quite clear, with a bit of lemon peel. Then add lemon juice, wine, and sugar.
TAPIOCA PUDDING. Wash six spoonfuls of the large kind of tapioca, and stew it gently in a quart of milk till it is pretty thick. Let it stand uncovered to cool. Add two eggs well beaten with some salt, and sugar to the taste. Bake it with a crust round the edge of a dish, in a moderate oven, for an hour.
TAR WATER. Pour a gallon of cold water on a quart of tar, and stir and mix them thoroughly with a ladle or flat stick, for the s.p.a.ce of three or four minutes; after which the vessel must stand forty-eight hours, that the tar may have time to subside; when the clear water is to be poured off, and kept for use, no more being made from the same tar, which may still serve for common purposes. The general rule for taking it is, about half a pint night and morning, on an empty stomach, which quant.i.ty may be varied according to the case and age of the patient; provided it be always taken on an empty stomach, and about two hours before or after a meal. Tar water cures indigestion, and gives a good appet.i.te. It is an excellent medicine in an asthma; it imparts a kindly warmth, and quick circulation to the juices, without heating, and is therefore useful, not only as a pectoral and balsamic, but also as a powerful and a safe deobstruent in cachectic and hysteric cases. As it is both healing and diuretic, it is very good for the gravel. It is believed to be of great use in a dropsy, having been known to cure a very bad anasarca in a person whose thirst, though very extraordinary, was in a short time removed by the drinking of tar water. It is also believed to be the best and safest medicine, either for preventing the gout, or for so strengthening nature against the fit, as to drive it from the vitals. It may likewise be safely used in inflammatory cases; and, in fact, hath been found an admirable febrifuge, at once the safest cooler and cordial. The salts and more active spirits of tar are got by infusion in cold water; but the resinous part is not to be dissolved thereby. Hence the prejudice which some, perhaps, may entertain against tar water, the use of which might inflame the blood by its sulphur and resin, as a medicine, appears not to be well grounded. It is observed by chemists, that all sorts of balsamic wood afford an acid spirit, which is the volatile oily salt of the vegetable. Herein is chiefly contained their medicinal virtues; and it appears that the acid spirit in tar water possesses the virtues, in an eminent degree, of that of guaiac.u.m, and other medicinal woods. It is certain tar water warms, and therefore some may perhaps still think it cannot cool. The more effectually to remove this prejudice, let it be farther considered, that, as on one hand, opposite causes do sometimes produce the same effect; for instance, heat by rarefaction, and cold by condensation, do both increase the air"s elasticity; so, on the other hand, the same cause shall sometimes produce opposite effects. Heat, for instance, in one degree thins, in another coagulates, the blood. It is not therefore strange, that tar water should warm one habit and cool another; have one good effect on a cold const.i.tution, and another good effect on an inflamed one; nor, if this be so, that it should cure opposite disorders. A medicine of so great virtue in so many different disorders, and especially in that grand enemy the fever, must needs be a benefit to mankind in general. There are nevertheless three sorts of people to whom it may be peculiarly recommended; seafaring persons, ladies, and men of studious and sedentary lives. If it be asked, what precise quant.i.ty, or degree of strength is required in tar water? It is answered, that the palate, the stomach, the particular case and const.i.tution of the patient, the very season of the year, will dispose and require him to drink more or less in quant.i.ty, stronger or weaker in degree. Precisely to measure its strength by a scrupulous exactness, is by no means necessary. It is to be observed, that tar water should not be made in unglazed earthen vessels, these being apt to communicate a nauseous sweetness to the water. Tar water is also recommended in the plague, and for the distemper among horned cattle; with what success must be left to experience.
TARRAGON VINEGAR. Fill a wide-mouthed bottle with tarragon leaves, gathered on a dry day, just before the plant begins to flower. Dry the leaves a little before the fire, steep them a fortnight in the best vinegar, and strain it fine through a flannel jelly bag. Pour it into half-pint bottles, cork them up carefully, and keep them in a dry place.
This forms an agreeable addition to soups and salad sauce, and to mix with mustard.
TARTAR WINE. Add to a quant.i.ty of mare"s milk a sixth part of water, and pour the mixture into a wooden vessel. Use as a ferment an eighth part of sour cow"s milk; but at any future preparation, a small portion of old koumiss will answer better. Cover the vessel with a thick cloth, and set it in a place of moderate warmth, leaving it at rest for twenty four hours. At the end of this time the milk will become sour, and a thick substance will be gathered on its surface. Now with a churn-staff, beat it till the thick substance just mentioned, be intimately blended with the subjacent fluid. In this situation leave it at rest for twenty four hours more. Afterwards pour it into a higher and narrower vessel, resembling a churn, where the agitation must be repeated as before, till the liquor appear to be perfectly combined. In this state it is called koumiss, the taste of which ought to be a pleasant mixture of sweet and sour. Agitation must be employed every time before it is used. This wine, prepared by the Tartars, is cooling and antiseptic. Sometimes aromatic herbs, as angelica, are infused in the liquor during fermentation.
TARTS. Sweetmeats made with syrups are formed into pies and tarts the same as raw fruits, and the same crusts may be used for them. Tarts made of any kind of jam are usually formed with a crust round the bottom of the dish, the sweetmeat is then put in, and little ornaments of crust placed over the top, made with a jagging iron. Sugar paste is suitable for these. Little tartlets are made in the same way, only baked in tins and turned out.----Take apples, or pears, cut them in small quarters, and set them over the fire, with a piece of lemon peel, and some cinnamon; let them simmer in as much water as will cover them, till tender; and if you bake them in tin pattipans, b.u.t.ter them first, and lay over a thin paste; lay in some sugar, then the fruit, with three or four tea-spoonfuls of the liquor they were simmered in; put in a little more sugar, and lid them over. If your tarts are made of apricots, green almonds, nectarines, or green plums, they must be scalded before you use them, and observe to put nothing to them but sugar, and as little water as possible; make use of the syrup they were scalded in, as you did for your apples, &c. Cherries, currants, raspberries, and all ripe fruits need not be scalded; and if you make your tarts in china, or gla.s.s patties, lay the sugar at bottom, then the fruit, with a little more sugar on the top; put no paste at the bottom, only lid them over, and bake them in a slack oven. You have receipts how to make crust for tarts; mince pies must be baked in tin patties, that you may slip them out into a dish, and a puff paste is the best for them. When you make sweetmeat tarts, or a crocant tart, lay in the sweetmeats, or preserved fruit either in gla.s.s or china patties that are small, for that purpose; lay a very thin crust on the top, and let them be baked no more than till your crust is nicely coloured, and that in a slow oven. If you would have a crocant tart for the middle of the table, or a side-dish, have a gla.s.s, or china dish, of what size you please, and lay in the preserved fruit of different sorts, (you must have a round cover just the size of the inside of your dish) roll out a sugar crust, the thickness of an half crown, and lay over the cover; mark it with marking irons made on purpose for that use, of what shapes you please; then put the crust, with the cover, into a very slack oven, not to discolour it, only to have it crisp. When you take it out of the oven, loosen it from the cover very gently, and when quite cold, take it carefully off, and lay over your sweetmeats, and it being hollow, you will see the fruit through it. If the tart is not eaten, only take off the lid, and your sweetmeats may be put into the pots again.
TEA. The habit of drinking tea frequently, and in large quant.i.ties, cannot fail to be injurious, as it greatly weakens and relaxes the tone of the stomach. This produces indigestion, nervous trembling and weakness, attended with a pale, wan complexion. When tea is taken only at intervals, and after solid food, it is salutary and refreshing; but when used as a subst.i.tute for plain nourishing diet, as is too commonly the case amongst the lower cla.s.ses, it is highly pernicious, especially as large quant.i.ties of a spurious description are too frequently imposed upon the public. The policy which compels a very numerous cla.s.s to purchase this foreign article, for procuring which immense sums are sent out of the country, while the produce of our own soil is comparatively withheld by an exorbitant system of taxation, cannot be too severely condemned, as alike injurious to health, to the interests of agriculture, and to the comfort and industry of the people. The duty on foreign tea has indeed been greatly encreased, but at the same time, so has the duty on malt and beer; no encouragement therefore is given to the home consumption, but the money which ought to be paid for the production of barley and malt is given to the foreigner, while by the enormous price of the article, a powerful stimulus is furnished for attempting an illicit importation, and for the pernicious adulteration of what is now esteemed almost a common necessary of life. It is desirable to lessen the injurious effects of tea as much as possible by mixing it with milk, which will render it softer and more nutritious.
With the addition of sugar it may be made to form a wholesome breakfast for those who are strong and live freely, operating as a diluent for cleansing the bladder and kidnies, and the alimentary pa.s.sages. Persons of weak nerves ought however to abstain from tea, as they would from drains and cordials, as it causes the same kind of irritation on the delicate fibres of the stomach, which ends in lowness, trembling, and vapours. Tea should never be drunk hot at any time, as it tends still more to produce that relaxation which ought to be carefully avoided.
Green tea is less wholesome than black or bohea.
TEA CAKES. Rub four ounces of b.u.t.ter into eight ounces of flour, mix with it eight ounces of currants, and six of fine Lisbon sugar. Add two yolks and one white of eggs, and a spoonful of brandy. Roll the paste about the thickness of a biscuit, and cut it out with a wine gla.s.s into little cakes. The white of the other egg beaten up, may be washed over them, and then they may be dusted with fine sugar.
TEA-KETTLES. Hard water used for tea is apt to form an offensive crust inside the tea-kettle, which may be prevented by frequent cleaning, or putting a flat oyster sh.e.l.l at the bottom. This will attract the stony particles that are in the water, and the concretion will be formed upon it.
TEA-POTS. An infusion of tea is always more perfect in a metal tea-pot, than in one of stone or earthenware. If boiling water be poured into two tea-pots, one of bright silver or polished tin, and the other of black stoneware, and they be left in a room of moderate temperature, it will be found that the former will retain its heat nearly twice as long as the other. Tea-pots of polished metal are therefore to be preferred.
TEATS. Sore teats, in Neat Cattle, is an affection in those of the cow kind, to which some are much more subject than others; especially such as have newly or lately calved. When the teats of these animals are affected during the summer months, they often become ulcerated, and by the teazing of the flies, the cattle are rendered difficult to be milked; they also become a very great nuisance at the periods of milking, as the discharges from them are apt, without much attention, to pa.s.s between the fingers of the operator into the milk-pail, and spoil the milk. The affection is caused by inflammation, irritation, and too much distention of the parts by the milk. In order to the removal of it, the milk should be first frequently drawn, and the parts well washed with soft soap and warm water; after which, a substance composed of elder ointment and wax melted together, to which is then added a little alum and sugar of lead, in fine powder, may be used to the parts after milking at night and in the morning; or a weak solution of white vitriol and a little sugar of lead, in soft water may be made use of in the same way, in some cases, with more advantage. The addition of a little a.s.safoetida, and such like substances, in powder, is, it is said, beneficial in the summer season in driving away the flies. Great care is to be taken to keep the teats as clean as possible during the time of cure.
TEETH AND GUMS. In order to preserve the teeth and gums, they require to be cleaned very carefully; for if the enamel of the teeth be worn off by an improper mode of cleaning, they will suffer more injury than by a total neglect. A common skewer of soft wood, bruised and bitten at the end, will make the best brush for this purpose. Once a week dip the skewer brush into a few grains of gunpowder, after they have been bruised, and it will remove every spot and blemish till the teeth appear beautifully white. The mouth should be well washed after the operation, to prevent any ill effects of the gunpowder. Teeth, if not regularly cleaned, are apt to contract a false kind of enamel which is injurious to the gums, leaving the fangs of the teeth bare, so that they are soon destroyed, by being exposed to the air, and for want of being protected by the gums. This tartarous enamel must therefore be scaled off, that the gums may grow up to their proper place. Raspberries or strawberries eaten plentifully have been found to dissolve these concretions, and contribute to the preservation of the teeth and gums. Tooth powders and tinctures also have their use. A very convenient powder may be made of charcoal pounded in a mortar, and sifted fine. Apply a little of it to the teeth twice a week, and it will not only render them beautifully white, but also make the breath sweet, and the gums firm and comfortable. The charcoal may be ground in water, and so preserved for use. A tincture for the gums may be made of three ounces of the tincture of bark, and half an ounce of sal ammoniac, mixed together. Dip the finger into a tea-spoonful of the tincture, and rub the gums and teeth with it, which are afterwards to be washed with warm water. This tincture not only cures the toothache, but preserves the teeth and gums, and causes them to adhere to each other.
TENANT AT SUFFERANCE. When a lease is expired, and the tenant keeps possession without any new contract, he is deemed a tenant at sufferance. But on the landlord"s acceptance of any rent after the expiration of the lease, the tenant may hold the premises from year to year, till half a year"s notice is given.
TENANT AT WILL. A tenant at will is one who holds an estate or tenement at the will of the landlord, and may at any time be ejected. Meanwhile he is at liberty to leave when he chooses, on giving proper notice, and cannot be compelled to occupy.
TENCH. These are a fine flavoured fresh-water fish, and should be killed and dressed as soon as caught. They abound very much in the d.y.k.es of Lincolnshire. When they are to be bought, examine whether the gills are red and hard to open, the eyes bright, and the body stiff. The tench has a slimy matter about it, the clearness and brightness of which indicate freshness. The season for this delicate fish is July, August, and September. When to be dressed, put them into cold water, boil them carefully, and serve with melted b.u.t.ter and soy. They are also very fine stewed, or frica.s.seed, as follows. To frica.s.see tench white. Having cleaned your tench very well, cut off their heads, slit them in two, and if large, cut each half in three pieces, if small, in two: melt some b.u.t.ter in a stewpan, and put in your tench; dust in some flour, and pour in some boiling water, and a few mushrooms, and season it with salt, pepper, a bundle of sweet herbs, and an onion stuck with cloves: when this boils, pour in a pint of white wine boiling hot; let it stew till sufficiently wasted; take out the fish, and strain the liquor, saving the mushrooms; bind your frica.s.see with the yolk of three or four eggs beaten up with a little verjuice, some parsley chopped fine, and a little nutmeg grated; stir it all the time it boils, sc.u.m it very clean, pour your sauce over the fish, and send it to table.--To frica.s.see tench brown. Prepare your tench as in the other receipt; put some b.u.t.ter and flour into a stewpan, and brown it; then put in the tench with the same seasoning you did your white frica.s.see; when you have tossed them up, moisten them with a little fish broth; boil a pint of white wine, and put to your frica.s.see, stew it till enough, and properly wasted; then take the fish up, and strain the liquor, bind it with a brown cullis, and serve it up. If asparagus or artichokes are in season, you may boil these, and add them to your frica.s.see.
TENCH BROTH. Clean the fish, and set them on the fire with three pints of water; add some parsley, a slice of onion, and a few peppercorns.
Simmer till the fish is broken, the broth become good, and reduced one half. Add some salt, and strain it off. Tench broth is very nutricious, and light of digestion.
THICK MILK. Beat up an egg, and add to it a tea spoonful of flour. Mix it smooth with a tea-spoonful of cold milk, and put to it a pint of boiling milk. Stir it over a slow fire till it boils, then pour it out, and add a little sugar and nutmeg. The saucepan should have a little cold water put into it first, to prevent the milk from burning at the bottom, or marbles boiled in it will answer the same purpose.
THICKENED GRAVY. To a quart of gravy allow a table-spoonful of thickening, or from one to two table-spoonfuls of flour, according to the thickness required. Put a ladleful of the gravy into a basin with the thickening, stir it up quick, add the rest by degrees, till it is all well mixed. Then pour it back into a stewpan, and leave it by the side of the fire to simmer for half an hour longer, that the thickening may be thoroughly incorporated with the gravy. Let it neither be too pale nor too dark a colour. If not thick enough, let it stew longer, or add to it a little glaze or portable soup. If too thick, it may be diluted with a spoonful or too of warm broth or water.
THICKENED SOUP. Put into a small stewpan three table-spoonfuls of the fat taken off the soup, and mix it with four table-spoonfuls of flour.
Pour in a ladleful of the soup, mix it with the rest by degrees, and boil it up till it is smooth. This may be rendered more savoury by adding a little ketchup. The soup should be strained through a tammis.
THICKENING. Clarified b.u.t.ter is best for this purpose, or put some fresh b.u.t.ter into a stewpan over a slow clear fire. When it is melted, add fine flour sufficient to make it the thickness of paste. Stir it well together with a wooden spoon for fifteen or twenty minutes, till it is quite smooth, and the colour of a guinea. This must be done very gradually and patiently, or it will be spoiled. Pour it into an earthen pan, and it will keep good a fortnight in summer, and longer in winter.
Particular attention must be paid in making it; if it gets any burnt smell or taste, it will spoil every thing it is put into. When cold, it should be thick enough to cut out with a knife, like a solid paste. This is a very essential article in the kitchen, and the basis of consistency in most made dishes, soups, sauces, and ragouts. In making this thickening, the less b.u.t.ter and the more flour is used the better. They must be thoroughly worked together, and the broth or soup added by degrees. Unless well incorporated, the sauce will taste floury, and have a greasy disagreeable appearance. To prevent this, it must be finished and cleansed, after it is thickened, by adding a little broth or warm water, and setting it by the side of the fire to raise any fat that is not thoroughly incorporated with the gravy, that it may be carefully removed as it comes to the top. Some cooks merely thicken their soups and sauces with flour, or the farina of potatoe; and others use the fat skimmings off the top of broth, as a subst.i.tute for b.u.t.ter.
THORNS AND SPLINTERS. To run p.r.i.c.kles or thorns, such as those of roses, thistles, and chesnuts, or little splinters of wood or bone, into the hands, feet, or legs, is a very common accident, and provided any such substance be immediately extracted, it is seldom attended with any bad consequences. But the more certain prevention is a compress of linen dipped in warm water, and applied to the part, or to bathe it a little while in warm water. If the thorn or splinter cannot be extracted directly, or if any part of it be left in, it causes an inflammation, and nothing but timely precaution will prevent its coming to an abscess.
A plaster of shoemaker"s wax spread upon leather, draws these wounds remarkably well. When it is known that any part of the splinter remains, an expert surgeon would open the place and take it out; but if it be un.o.bserved, as will sometimes happen when the substance is very small, till the inflammation begins, and no advice can at once be procured, the steam of water should be applied to it first, and then a poultice of bread crumb and milk, with a few drops of peruvian balsam. It is quite necessary that the injured part should be kept in the easiest posture, and as still as possible. If this does not soon succeed, good advice must be procured without delay, as an accident of this kind neglected, or improperly treated, may be the occasion of losing a limb. In this and all other cases of inflammation, a forbearance from animal food and fermented liquors, is always advisable.
THRUSH. This disorder in children affects the mouth and throat, and sometimes the stomach. In the former case it will be sufficient to cleanse the mouth with a little sage tea, sweetened with the honey of roses, and mixed with a dram of borax. In the latter, great benefit may be derived from a decoction of carrots in water, or an ounce of linseed boiled in a pint of water till reduced to a consistence, and sweetened with two ounces of honey, a table-spoonful of which may be given occasionally. This complaint may generally be prevented by a due attention to cleanliness, daily washing and bathing the child in lukewarm water, washing its mouth after it has been applied to the breast, giving it pure air, and removing any obstruction in the bowels by the use of manna or tamarinds.
THYME. These plants may be easily raised from seed, by slipping the roots and branches, and by cuttings; but the seed method is seldom practised, except with the second sort, or garden thyme. The seed should be sown in the early spring on light, rich, dry ground, which should be properly dug over, and the surface be made moderately smooth with the spade. As the seed is small, it should not be sown too thick, or be covered too deep: the seed is best sown while the ground is fresh stirred, either broad-cast on the surface, raking it in lightly, or in flat shallow drills, earthed over thinly: the plants appear in two or three weeks. It is necessary to be careful to keep them well weeded, giving occasional light waterings in dry weather; and by June they will require thinning, especially if the plants are to grow stocky, and with bushy full heads; in which case they should be set out to six or eight inches distance; when those thinned out may be planted in another place, in rows six or eight inches asunder, giving water till fresh rooted, keeping the whole clean from weeds by occasional hoeing between them in dry days, which will also stir the surface of the earth, and much improve the growth of the plants: they will be in perfection for use in summer, or early in autumn. Some think the common thyme best cultivated for kitchen use in beds or borders, in rows at least half a foot apart, employing for the purpose either the young seedling plants, which are fit to set out, or the root slips of old plants, each of which soon increase into plants of bushy growths proper for being cropped for the above use. It may also often be well cultivated as an edging to herbary and other compartments; in both of which methods the plants multiply exceedingly fast by offsets, and are abiding, furnishing the means of great future increase. Some should, however, always be annually raised from seed in the above manner, as such plants possess a stronger aromatic quality than those from old ones. When it is intended to increase any particular varieties, and continue them the same with certainty, it can only be effected by slips and cuttings. In respect to the offsets and slips, all the sorts multiply by offsets of the root and slips of the branches: the rooted slips are the most expeditious method, as the old plants increase into many offset stems rising from the root, each furnished with fibres; and by taking up the old plants in the spring, &c. and slipping or dividing them into separate parts, not too small, with roots to each, and planting them in beds of good earth, in rows half a foot asunder, giving water directly, and repeating it occasionally in dry weather till they have taken root, and begin to shoot at top; they soon grow freely, and form good bushy plants in two or three months. The strong slips of the branches without roots, succeed when planted any time in the early spring season in a shady border, in rows four or five inches distant, giving due waterings; and become good plants by autumn, when they may be planted out where they are to remain.
The cuttings of the young branches grow readily, the same as the slips, when planted at the same season in a shady place, and well watered. The common thyme is in universal use as a pot-herb for various culinary purposes; it may also be employed in a.s.semblage with other small plants, to embellish the fronts of flower-borders, shrubbery clumps, small and sloping banks, &c. placing the plants detached or singly, to form little bushy tufts, and in which the variegated sorts, and the silver thyme and lemon thyme particularly, form a very agreeable variety. The lemon thyme is also in much estimation for its peculiar odoriferous smell. Some of each of these sorts may also be potted, in order to be moved occasionally to any particular places as may be required, and under occasional shelter in severe winters, to preserve the plants more effectually in a lively state; likewise some of the mastick thyme.
Spanish and Portugal thymes are also sometimes potted for the same purpose, and to place under the protection of a garden frame or greenhouse in winter, to continue them in a more fresh and lively growth; and sometimes some of the smaller thymes are sown or planted for edgings to particular beds or borders for variety, such as the lemon thyme, silver-leaved and variegated sorts; also occasionally the common thyme; and all kept low, close and regular, by clipping them at the sides and tops annually in the summer season. All the several sorts and varieties possess an aromatic quality, which princ.i.p.ally resides in the leaves, whence it is imparted and affords a line agreeable fragrance.
But the first three kinds are much the most noted and valued in kitchen gardens, and more especially the common thyme, which is so very useful as a culinary herb.
TIN COVERS. Properly to clean tin covers and pewter pots, get the finest whiting, which is only sold in large cakes, the small being mixed with sand. Powder and mix a little of it with a drop of sweet oil, rub the pots and covers well with it, and wipe them clean. Then dust over some dry whiting in a muslin bag, and rub the articles bright with dry leather. The last is to prevent rust, which must be carefully guarded against by wiping thoroughly dry, and setting them by the fire when they come from table. If covers are once hung up without wiping, the steam will be sure to rust the inside.
TINCTURE OF ALLSPICE. Bruise three ounces of allspice, and steep it in a quart of brandy. Shake it up occasionally and after a fortnight pour off the clear liquor. It makes a most grateful addition in all cases where allspice is used, in gravies, or to flavour and preserve potted meats.