IT is interesting to note the changes and improvements which have been made within the last half-century in almost all the conveniences and implements which are needed in the preparation of food. It may be that the ease and comfort by which this labor can be performed, through these new contrivances, when compared with the old ways, and the facility with which all classes, rich or poor, can and do secure all or some of these conveniences, has tempted to an indulgence in luxuries regardless of economy or health. Perhaps the firm health and longevity so common among our forefathers were in some degree owing to their more simple diet; but also very largely, we think, to their healthful activity and industry, and to the early to bed, early to rise habits which their active life demanded.

But, as the present generation have acquired extravagant tastes with regard to food, as well as in dress, there certainly is cause for gratitude that great improvements in the machinery by which such work can be performed have kept pace with the cultivated taste that demands so much more skill to gratify it. We doubt, however, if any modern improvement can ever set before us food that will have the rare excellence, the exquisite flavor, of that which used to come from our mother’s great brick oven. Ah, the bread,—the rich-colored brown bread; the creamy-white bread; the pies, puddings, and cakes!

“’Twere worth ten years of modern life,

One glance at that array!”

We have yet to see the device which can compensate for the loss of the old brick oven!

But wishing will not restore it to us who live in cities or large towns, unless we can bring back the old primeval forests, and, instead of the “coal-bins,” possess again the old-fashioned wood-houses with their rich stores of seasoned wood, piled high to the rafters; and the huge piles of green wood in the yard, waiting for the leisure days to be cut, split, and housed; or we must emigrate to the unsettled parts of the West and South, which are still rich in splendid woodland, where the settlers are cutting down the grand old forests, or wastefully burning them. In their present haste to clear the land, they forget their own future interest and the comfort of their children, who, by this waste and destruction, will be denied the luxury of wood fires, and compelled to content themselves with coal, and all the annoyances and discomfort connected with its habitual use. Coal is excellent for the cook-stove; but it is a great sacrifice when none but the rich can afford wood fires, in their family room at least.

It may be difficult for the first occupants of wild lands to save the great wealth of fuel, while hastening to open up their farms. But it seems to us that it would be wise to preserve larger tracts of woodland on any new farm or home-steads, as a provision for the future; remembering that any ten acres thoroughly cultivated will bring more abundant and better paying crops than thirty cleared but poorly cultivated; poorly, because the owner uses the time in cutting down the wood on the extra twenty acres which should have been given to the careful cultivation of the ten. When we have been at the West and South, at various times, it has been a source of continual regret to see that which our large towns and cities so greatly need recklessly given to the flames, knowing that the time cannot be far distant when these young towns will feel the need of this fuel as much as their elders. We cannot help thinking while we ride through the burning forests, that even a woman could manage so that the forests could be more largely preserved, and the trees which must fall be saved and made useful and profitable; while the comfort and prosperity of the possessor could be much increased by the economy, because the farm would be brought under more careful culture, and thus sooner return paying crops.

But the thought of the well-beloved brick oven has led us into the wilderness, and away from our subject.

We were noticing the great difference between the ancient and modern manner of cooking. Many of our readers remember and have often used the brick ovens, the large old-fashioned fireplace, the long crane, the pot-hooks and trammel on it, and the great pots and kettles suspended by them over the fierce fire,—the immense “roaster,” the “Dutch oven,” the Johnny-cake baked on the “Bannock-board” before the glowing bed of coals, while bright rows of apples were sputtering on the hearth. But all these names are to your children like words in an unknown tongue. They will never know the rich flavors gained only by this mode of cooking; neither will they endure the pains and penalties by which this knowledge was obtained. What would those tyrants of our households, the modern cooks, say if compelled to swelter over the blazing fire, or roast with the meats they are cooking upon the fiery coals on the hearth?

Some years since we were presented with one of Stewart’s stoves, which proved so satisfactory that we never expected, and hardly desired, anything better; and when, a few years later, we were persuaded to put the “Peerless” in its place, although always very ready to try anything new that promises to lighten or simplify the kitchen work, we confess that it was with much reluctance that we consented to make the change, being in no wise inclined to believe that it could at all compete with our old and well-tried friend, the Stewart’s. But the stove proved itself worthy of its name. “Peerless” it certainly has been, and in all respects given us more comfort than any stove or range we have ever used, baking equally in every part of the oven, and using much less coal even than the Stewart’s. It is made by Pratt and Wentworth, of Boston.