Chicory or Endive.
The roots and leaves of this plant are both used, but the leaves only are found in the market (the roots are used in coffee), and these come in heads like the lettuce. Chicory comes into the market later than lettuce, and is used in all respects like it. Sometimes it is cooked.
Sweet Herbs.
The housekeeper in large cities has no difficulty in finding all the herbs she may want, but this is not so in small towns and villages. The very fact, however, that one lives in a country place suggests a remedy. Why not have a little bed of herbs in your own garden, and before they go to seed, dry what you will need for the winter and spring? Thus, in summer you could always have the fresh herbs, and in whiter have your supply of dried.
It is essential to have green parsley throughout the winter, and this can be managed very easily by having two or three pots planted with healthy roots in the fall. Or, a still better way is to have large holes bored in the sides of a large tub or keg; then fill up to the first row of holes with rich soil; put the roots of the plants through the holes, having the leaves on the outside; fill up again with soil and continue this until the tub is nearly full; then plant the top with roots. Keep in a sunny window and you will have not only a useful herb, but a thing of beauty through the winter.
For soups, sauces, stews and braising, one wants sweet marjoram, summer savory, thyme, parsley, sage, tarragon and bay-leaf always on hand. You can get bunches of savory, sage, marjoram and thyme for five cents each at the vegetable market. Five cents' worth of bay-leaves from the drug shop will complete the list (save tarragon, which is hard to find), and you have for a quarter of a dollar herbs enough to last a large family a year. Keep them tied together in a large paper bag or a box, where they will be dry. Mint and parsley should be used green. There is but little difficulty in regard to mint, as it is used only in the spring and summer.
The manner in which a housekeeper buys her groceries must depend upon where she lives and how large her family is. In a country place, where the stores are few and not well supplied, it is best to buy in large quantities all articles that will not deteriorate by keeping. If one has a large family a great saving is made by purchasing the greater portion of one's groceries at wholesale.
Flour.
There is now in use flour made by two different processes, by the old, or St. Louis, and the new, or Haxall. The Haxall flour is used mostly for bread and the old-process for pastry, cake, etc. By the new process more starch and less of the outer coats, which contain much of the phosphates, is retained; so that the flour makes a whiter and moister bread. This flour packs closer than that made in the old way, so that a pound of it will not measure as much as a pound of the old kind. In using an old rule, one-eighth of this flour should be left out. For instance, if in a recipe for bread you have four quarts (old-process) of flour given, of the new-process you would take only three and a half quarts. This flour does not make as good cake and pastry as the old-process. It is, therefore, well, to have a barrel of each, if you have space, for the pastry flour is the cheaper, and the longer all kinds of flour are kept in a dry place, the better they are. Buying in small quantities is extremely extravagant. When you have become accustomed to one brand, and it works to your satisfaction, do not change for a new one. The best flour is the cheapest. There are a great many brands that are equally good.