THE 



VOL. VI.] 



NOVEMBER, 1883. 



[No. 11. 



VEGETABLES. 



If fruits have been found conducive 

 to human health and happiness, and 

 worthy of attention from learned socie- 

 ties and of the fostering aid of the state, 

 so vegetables also deserve a place in our 

 considerate regard as havinsf likewise 

 much to do with the comfort of man. 

 The beautifully colored plate that ac- 

 companies this number brings before us 

 at a glance very many of the produc- 

 tions of the garden that in spring-time, 

 in midsummer, and in autumn have 

 both graced the table and satisfied our 

 desires. What more delicious in the 

 first really warm days of spring than 

 that asparagus which the artist has so 

 properly, as we think, represented in 

 buds and stalks of green? Let them 

 eat white asparagus who may, we 

 would not deprive them of the pleasure 

 if they can find it ; but to oui- taste it 

 is far more delightful in flavor when 

 grown in the genial sun-light, its bitter 

 changed by that mysterious alchemy to 

 sweet. Then how much better than con- 

 serves are those rosy tinted round and 

 oval radishes, grown quickly in some 

 warm, sheltered nook, tender and crisp, 

 delighting the eye and the palate as 

 well. That sweet-corn also, which an 



English writer, envying us our sunny 

 climate, styled food fit for the gods ; is 

 there anything more delightful to the 

 hungry soul, smoking hot and redolent 

 of its peculiar perfume? Those mid- 

 summer days are all too few in which 

 we can pluck ears of corn, tender, juicy, 

 rich, and sweet. They who like may 

 cut the kernels from the cob, but its 

 highest flavor is enjoyed by those who 

 can adopt a more primitive style. Then 

 the artist, with an appreciation of ex- 

 cellencies that shows him to have been 

 well acquainted with his subject, has 

 given us the Hubbard squash, the rich- 

 est, sweetest and best of all our au- 

 tumn squashes. Lot more southern 

 latitudes boast their yams and sweet 

 potatoes, they do not compare in rich- 

 ness of flavor with this northern vege- 

 table. And as for celery, that is strict- 

 ly a production of our north temperate 

 zone, yielding its delicate spicy flavor 

 only in the cool autumnal weather, when 

 the fierce heats of summer are passed 

 away and the latter rains bathe the 

 plants with frequent showers. 



Thouglitful observers have maintain- 

 ed' it to be a fact that our daily food 

 has much to do with what we are as 

 mental and social beings ; that the con- 



