THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



401 



MEEHANS^ means GARDEN SERVICE, plus 



Whi-noTfT any perplexing prohlom arises. rwHember tUat yon can 

 secure tlio service plus of America's pioneer nurserymen by simply 

 addressing your request for informatiou to Thomas Meehan and Sons, 

 Germantown, Philadelphia. 



State your problem, we shall answer fully and frankly — back of our 

 answer will be the wealth of practical information gathered by a 

 deep-rooted organization, 5S years old, drawing upon an inexhaustible 

 fund of experience in all parts of the country. An organization that 

 knows your needs because it has practical men personally studying the 

 conditions in your section, who assist you in the selection of trees, 

 shrubs, evergreens and perennials that they know are best suited. 



HARE, TTNUSTTAL PLANTS THAT GIVE ANY PROPERTY 



INDIVIDUALITY 



Thomas Meehan & Sons 



tborr.iighly i>rnv»(l ,.,iit i;i our own nurseries before being offered for 

 public sale — arc covered in our 



1913 SPECIALTY BOOK— FREE ON REaUEST. 



The Meehan shippitig service assures better delivery to distant points 

 — we ship all over the world. 



The Meehan Nurseries are pioneers in assisting property owners to 

 secure competent gardeners. Gardeners contemplating change are 

 invited to write us fully. 



RARE, HISTORIC ENGLISH ELMS.— A limited number of trees from 

 «uch hi-toric \n-\n\>. .1 Fn-l;iinl nnd Smtland a? Tower of London. Stirling 

 Battlefield, Cambridge University, Ely Cathedral, and Lichfield (Home 

 of Samuel Johnson), etc., are now ofiFered for the first timf to the 

 American public. Not seedlings, but actual living wood from the 

 famous old elms grafted to roots of the common English Elm. A full 

 list of these historic trees, with description, terms of sale and price — 

 sent on request. 



BOX 65 



Germantow^n, Philadelphia, Pa. 



carefully and washed they make most excellent flavoring 

 for salads, and are an agreeable addition to meat sand- 

 wiches. They may be used in place of watercress or 

 lettuce and contain just enough mustard flavor to be 

 agreeable without the irritating effect of the true ground 

 mustard. 



The young and tender shoots of hops make a most de- 

 licious dish in the spring. The shoots may be cooked or 

 eaten raw as a salad with other salad greens. When 

 cooked they are eaten with butter and taste somewhat like 

 peas. -Another food with a taste of peas is the lupine, or 

 wild pea, the pods of which are broad, flat and ve^y hairy 

 and contain four or five seeds. TheSe may be shelled like 

 peas and cooked and served as one would cultivated peas. 



Grapevine leaves, either wild or cultivated, which find 

 little use in the United States except for covering pickles, 

 to which they are supposed to impart a green color, are 

 commonly used in Turkey for making a number of dishes. 

 For instance, little rolls of highly seasoned forcemeat 

 wrapped in grape leaves and cooked until tender are 

 nearly always found at wedding feasts. In the southern 

 markets of this country we find the tiny leaves of the sas- 

 safras in the form of a powder — rubbed into this state 

 after thorough drying — and sold under the name of 

 gumbo file. These leaves are rich in mucilage and have 

 a dainty flavor without any of the sassafras characteris- 

 tics. 



Flcfvvers as a food do not seem to be appreciated by 

 Americans, though they are of considerable importance 

 in the tropics. The unopened buds of the marsh mari- 

 gold, or cowslip, add much to the flavor of the dish if 

 cooked with the leaves, while elder blossoms are used in 

 Italv for making fritters. 



The roots of the wild golden thistle are now being 

 used as a valuable vegetable. The flavor is somewhat 

 like salsify, and it is cooked in the same manner. This 

 is an all-the-year-round vegetable, like carrots, turnips, 

 and other "tubers," the roots being dug in September or 

 early October and kept throughout the winter. Wild 

 thistles may be dug in any pasture or meadow, but those 

 cultivated in gardens are much larger and somewhat 

 better flavored. The tuberous roots of the broad-leaved 

 arrowhead — which is common on muddy shores and 

 shallow waters — are quite wholesom.e. They are cooked 

 with meat usually, but may be boiled alone. In either 

 case the tubers remain over the fire until the bitter flavor 

 entirely disappears. The yellow pond lily, or spatter 

 dock, has long roots growing under the water whose food 

 value few people seem to know about. They may be 

 cooked in the same manner as the arrowhead. 



Instead of sighing for something new to eat and settling 

 down to the "same old things," try the delicious vege- 

 tables found in the wild pastures, fields and fence cor- 

 ners. It should open up a vista of entirely new sensa- 

 tions in taste that will banish the monotony of the same 

 old familiar vegetables and salads, and we need no longer 

 go around and around in the same little circle of food- 

 stuffs, but easily find new things for the table. The field 

 of possibilities which the cultivation of weeds opens up 

 to the gardener is almost limitless if he will but remem- 

 ber what Uncle Sam's expert says about our present 

 vegetables being but weeds at one time, and to think 

 what a few years ago it was that tomatoes, now a staple 

 market food, were looked upon as "love apples" and 

 grown only as ornaments, and mushrooms were consid- 

 ered nothing but the most poisonous growth. 



EVERGREEINS 



CONIFERS In Seventy Varieties And Many Sizes 



all well provided with masses of fibrt)us roots by transplanting and root-pruning to insure their safe 

 removal. Many of these are ten to twelve feet in height for immediate effect. Special prices on car 

 lots. 



RHODODENDRON, English Hybrids, in sizes up to five feet, thoroughly acclimated, and nur- 

 sery-grown Mountain Laurel up to four feet. 



Our Illustrated General Catalogue describes and prices our full line of hardy stock. Mailed on 

 request. 



Visit the nursery at Hawthorne, N. Y., on the Harlem Railroad and see as fine trees as can be grown. 



ROSEDALE NURSERIES - - Xarryto\A/n. N. Y. 



