Sugar Syrup.—It is well worth the trouble to keep store syrup at hand, as it is a great addition to almost every kind of ice, and water ices especially are never so nice as when made with sugar syrup instead of plain sugar and water. If you use the syrup gauge alluded to above, you will find a syrup that registers 34 deg. the best for making fondant for icing cakes, etc.; 32 deg. should be used for fruits frappés, and such things; whilst a syrup that only registers from 18 deg. to 20 deg. is the best for water ices. If, however, you have no spirit gauge you will find the following rough calculation very effective: Put into a pan two pounds of best loaf sugar, with a pint of cold water, and stir it over the fire till the sugar has dissolved. Watch it from the moment this happens, and the sugar begins to boil, and, as soon as it bubbles all over, and becomes the consistency of cream, it is about 18 deg. to 20 deg.; when it has boiled five minutes exactly from the start it has reached 26 deg.; at the end of ten minutes, 28 deg.; at the end of fifteen minutes, 30 deg.; at the end of twenty-five minutes, 32 deg.; at the end of thirty-five minutes, it reaches 34 deg.; gaining a degree with each five minutes' boiling.