Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

he had never eaten any raccoons before, and did not know that they were eatable; but now he could eat them as readily as rabbit, as they were quite as good. The best time to eat any of the animals enumerated above is from Christmas to the 15th of February. _How to prepare them._--As soon as the animal is killed skin it, take the inside out, save the liver and heart, and wash well with lukewarm water and a little salt, inside and out; then wipe dry with a towel, put inside a few leaves of sage, bay-leaves, mint, and thyme, and sew it up. Hang it outside in a place sheltered from the sun, such as the northern side of a building; leave it thus five or six days, then take off, and cook. _How to skin a Skunk._--We were hunting one day in New Jersey, northwest of Paterson, with a friend and two farmers living there, when one of them shot a skunk. We asked him how much he could get for the skin. He said it was not worth while to take it to town, but that he would eat the animal, as it was very good. We thought at first that he was joking; but putting his gun and game-bag to the ground, he looked at us earnestly, and said, "Gentlemen, you seem to doubt; I will show you how it is done." We soon saw that we had been mistaken. We made a fire, took hold of the skunk by the head with one hand, and with a stick in the other held the skunk over the fire. He burnt off nearly all the hair, taking care to avoid burning the skin, commencing at the hind legs; then with his hunting-knife he carefully cut off the bag containing the fetid matter, and skinned and cleaned it. We then examined the skunk, and although it had not been washed, we could not find any part of it with a bad smell, and if we had not seen the whole operation we certainly would not have thought