HARD AND SOFT WATER. 205 



as with it the animals are watered with far less 

 labour, and the water in the wells remains undis- 

 turbed. 

 , Soft water is preferable to hard 



Hard and 



fcer ' water for all culinary purposes. Mon- 

 sieur Soyer, the celebrated artist in cooking, 

 declared that where, with soft water, five cups of 

 tea might be made, only three cups could be got 

 with hard water, from equal quantities of the 

 leaf. Soft or distilled water, he says, has an 

 extraordinary power in obtaining a full extract. 

 Vegetables cooked in soft water are quickly done, 

 and the flavour of the vegetables is in the water ; 

 whilst those cooked in the hard water never 

 become tender, nor does the flavour go into the 

 water. In extracting the juice or gravy from, 

 meat, soft water does it quickly and well ; but 

 hard water, instead of opening the meat, seems 

 to draw it closer together, and to solidify the al- 

 bumen, whilst it fails to extract the true flavour 

 of the meat. For bread-making, soft water is of 

 great importance. 



