Fill a baking-dish with pippins, or other tender juicy apples, pared and cored, but not sliced. Make a syrup of one cup of water, and half as much sugar; stir until the sugar is dissolved, and pour over the apples. Cover closely, and bake slowly until tender. Draw from the oven, and let the apples cool without uncovering. Pour off the syrup, and fill the hollowed centres with some bright fruit jelly.
Boil down the syrup fast, until quite thick, and, just before sending the apples to table, stir into it some rich cream sweetened very abundantly. Pass with the apples.
Boiled Chestnuts.
Put into warm (not hot) water, slightly salted, bring to a boil, and cook fast fifteen minutes. Turn off the water through a cullender; stir a good piece of butter into the hot chestnuts, tossing them over and over until they are glossy and dry.
Serve upon a hot napkin in a deep dish.
Walnuts and Hickory Nuts.
Crack and pick from the shells; sprinkle salt lightly over them, and serve mixed in the same dish.
Black walnuts are much more wholesome when eaten with salt. Indeed, they are not wholesome at all without it.
Melons.
Wipe watermelons clean when they are taken from the ice. They should lie on, or in ice, for at least four hours before they are eaten. Carve at table by slicing off each end, then cutting the middle in sharp, long points, letting the knife go half way through the melon at every stroke. Pull the halves apart, and you will have a dentated crown.