Vegetable Diet: As Sanctioned by Medical Men, and by Experience in All Ages: Including a System of Vegetable Cookery

quite the same thing as respects the sweet potato. Steaming is a little different, and boiling greatly so. The boiled sweet potato is, however, a most excellent article. DIVISION II.--SWEET AND WATERY ROOTS. These are far less healthy than the mealy ones; and yet are valuable, because, like potatoes, they furnish the system with a good deal of innutritious matter, to be set off against the almost pure nutriment of bread, rice, beans, peas, etc. RECEIPT 1.--The beet is best when boiled thoroughly, which requires some care and a good deal of time. It may be roasted, baked, or stewed, however. It is rich in sugar, but is not very easily digested. RECEIPT 2.--The parsnep. The boiled parsnep is more easily _dissolved_ in the stomach than the beet; but my readers must know that many things which are dissolved in the stomach are nevertheless very imperfectly digested. RECEIPT 3.--The turnip, well boiled, is watery, but easily digested and wholesome. It may also be roasted or baked, and some eat it raw. RECEIPT 4.--The carrot is richer than the turnip, but not therefore more digestible. It may be boiled, stewed, fried, or made into pies, puddings, etc. It is a very tolerable article of food. RECEIPT 5.--The radish, fashionable as it is, is nearly useless. RECEIPT 6.--For the sick, and even for others, arrow root jellies, puddings, etc., are much valued. This, with sago, tapioca, etc., is most useful for that class of sick persons who have strong appetites.[30] CLASS IV.--MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES OF FOOD. Under this head I shall treat briefly of the proper use of a few substances commonly and very properly used as food, but which cannot well come under any of the foregoing classes. They are chiefly found in the various chapters of my Young Housekeeper, as well as in Dr. Pereira's work on Food and Diet, under the heads of "Buds and Young Shoots," "Leaves and Leaf Stalks," "Cucurbitaceous Fruits," and "Oily Seeds." RECEIPT 1.--Asparagus, well boiled, is nutritious and wholesome. Salt is often added, and sometimes butter. The former, to many, is needless; the latter, to