Dissolve the butter in a large saucepan, place in the vegetables sliced, salt, peppercorns, and water, and boil gently for two hours. Strain, return to the saucepan, which must be perfectly clean, add milk, simmer a few minutes and serve.
Note. A tablespoon of cream placed in the tureen, and stirred into the soup as it is poured in, is a great improvement, or it may be thickened with one tablespoon sago.