IRISH GARDENING 



163 



not as in themselves a complete and sustaininj;- diet. Yet 

 a suitably mixed fruit diet contains all the nutrients 

 required by the body in their proper proportions and in an 

 available form. This at least shows that, taking as a 

 whole, fruits afford a self-sustaining- nutriment for man. 

 But we are not of course advocating- a pui-ely fruitarian 

 dietar}-, but only attempting- to make clear the value of 

 fruit as an everj'-day food. It is recognised too by 

 physiologists that fruits aid the dig-estion of other foods, 

 while there is no doubt that the organic acids and other 

 substances peculiar to fruit greatly assist in the solution 

 and removal of useless or waste material in the body, 

 which, if allowed to accumulate unduh', may give rise to 

 indiffeient health, and perhaps premature old ag-e. This 

 is why many health reformers look upon fruit as curative 

 as well as nutritive in its function in the body. 



A child's love for an apple is due to a natural craving- 

 for what its system really requires, and it is a desire 

 that ought, as far as possible, to be reasonably satisfied. 



In planting apples for use in one's own home care 

 should be taken to select such varieties as will g-ive a 

 succession of fruit throughout as lengthened a period as 

 possible. Full information respecting such planting^ will 

 be given in these pages in the hope that it will prove 

 helpful to those who intend either to start new plantations 

 or extend already existing- ones. 



Cookery Notes. 



Apples. 



FROM the first recorded g;arden the apple has held 

 its own, first among its fruits. Every housekeeper 

 should stock and use it as freely as she does 

 the potato. Uncooked, the apple forms a pleasant and 

 health)' food, while cooked it is, in addition, beneficial 

 as a laxatixe. It has an advantage over most fruits in 

 that it stores well and loses nothing- in the keeping. 



Appi.k Omelet. — Stew and then thoroughly tnash 

 enough apples to fill a large baking- dish. Sweeten to 

 taste. Mix one tablespooiiful of butter into the fruit, and 

 let stand till cool. Beat three or four egg-s, and stir 

 briskly into the apples. Place in a baking- dish in a 

 rather quick oven, and bake till brown. 



Baked Ai^pi.es. — Place side by side in a deep baking- 

 tin apples peeled and cored. Pour over the whole a 

 syrup made of sug-ared water. The inside of the apples 

 can be first stuffed with chopped nuts and lemon or 

 orange peel, or with jam. Bake in a slow oven. The 

 juice will be found to form a jelly. Serve hot or cold. 



Apple FurrrERS.— Make a batter by smoothly mixing 

 one cup of fiour, one teaspoonful of baking- powder, and 

 a pinch of salt. Stir in a well-beaten egg mixed w-ith 

 milk till a smooth, fairly thick batter is obtained. Peel 

 and cut the apple into slices. Dip into batter so that each 

 slice is covered. FVy. Sprinkle with sugar ; serve hot. 



Oi'EEN Pudding.— Nearly fill a fairly sized baking- 

 dish with bread crumbs. Separate the yolk from the 

 white of an egg-. Beat and mix the yolk with a pint of 

 milk. Sweeten slig-htly, and flavour with lemon or vanilla. 

 Pour over the bread crumbs, and mix the whole well 

 with a fork. Put in oven, and just set. Take out of, 

 oven, and when cool cover thickly with apples which 

 have been stewed, and sweeten to taste. Whip the 

 white of the egfg- with a little sug-ar, and flavour with 

 lemon or vanilla as before, and spread over the top. 

 Put into a warm oven for a few minutes to set. If 

 required richer use two eg-gs. 



Baked Apple Dumpling. — Take several cooking- 

 apples, peel, core, and fill centres with sugfar. Make a 

 rather thin dough, and cut it into squares large enough 

 to cover an apple. Into the centre of each square place 

 an apple. Turn up corners, and secure by pinching. 

 Put into baking- tin. Pour over a syrup made with a 



pint of water and a pound of sugar. Bake in quick 

 c">ven for 40 minutes. 



Apple Rolv Poly.— Roll out a thin, sweet dough and 

 spread with chopped apples. Sprinkle with sugar nnd 

 roll. Place in a moderate oven and bake for an hour. 

 If steam is preferred, steam for two. E. V. E. 



Promotion of Cottage Gardening. 



IT is an extremely healthy sign that movements are 

 now afoot throughout Ireland to interest the 

 cottager and small holder in gardening and to 

 organise local societies with the object of helping by 

 suggestion and of creating, by prize-giving, that friendly 

 rivalry in plant culture that is productive of such good 

 results in all places where it has been seriously tried. 

 In this connection a very interesting function took 

 place on Saturday, the 5th of September last, at Strans- 

 town, a suburb of Belfast, when an inspection was 

 made of the gardens established under the auspices of 

 the recently formed local Cottage Gardeners' Asso- 

 ciation. 



" It was only in the spring of the present year," says 

 the Xurfhern Wliig, " that an effort was made to establish 

 a movement of the kind, and a piece of ground consist- 

 ing of about three acres, and situate on the Holy wood 

 Road, was acquired and let out in small allotments to 

 workingmen who desired to employ their leisure hours 

 in light gardening, two conditions being that each 

 plot should be bordered with flowers, and that at least 

 six kinds of vegetables should be cultivated. Both 

 stipulations have been faithfully carried out, with the 

 result that the grounds have been converted from 

 practicall}' a derelict state to that of a richly cultivated 

 garden, luxuriant with flowers, plants, and v'egetables." 



A large number of prizes were given for the best 

 grown produce, and stimulating speeches were delivered 

 by enthusiastic believers in the scheme. It is to be 

 hoped that similar associations will be established in the 

 vicinity of all our cities, towns, and villages. There 

 ought surely to be at least one person in the com- 

 munity who has the public spirit and initiative to start 

 an organisation that may mean so much to the workers 

 and dwellers in our " man-stiffled towns." 



Some very pertinent remarks were made by Sir John 

 Byers, one of the speakers at the prize-giving, and one 

 portion of his speech we particularly"^ select for the 

 ears of our readers :—" There were," he said, "many 

 advantages associated with such a splendid scheme. 

 In the first place, it afforded to those who engaged in it 

 a most admirable form of recreation in the open air, 

 where the men, with their wives and families, could enjoy 

 for a time that pure air which was so beneficial. It was 

 an infinitely superior plan of enjoying their spare time 

 than loafing at the street corners or going in crowds to 

 those gatherings where, without playing the game 

 themselves, they actually paid others to do so. There 

 were many ways of utilising what in ordinary language 

 was called one's spare or off time, but to employ it in 

 doing nothing was the very worst. What was probably 

 the best was certainly not mere idleness, but a change 

 of occupation agreeable to the particular taste of the 

 individual, if possible in the open air, and which was 

 even more enjoyable if it tended to awaken and to 

 cultivate some other faculty or taste. Now, nothing 

 could fulfil such conditions better than amateur 

 gardening, which allowed exercise in a healthy environ- 

 ment, enabled those pursuing it to study the wonderful 

 secrets of nature, and at the same time to develop 

 and to increase the love for the beautiful and the 

 artistic which the cultivation of flowers aff"orded. There 

 was another feature of this association which he 

 regarded as of great importance, and that was its 

 utilitarian bearing on those who worked the gardens, for 



