JULY 129 



so quickly. There are several shades ; I have a pink 

 and a green. They have a most refined beauty of their 

 own, and last well in water. They are best grown from 

 seed, and are well worth every care. Any soil will suit 

 them, and they will grow in half-shade or full sun. 



Some dry summers Green Peas do very badly with 

 us ; they dry up so quickly. We all know the hesitating 

 remark to the cook : ' The Peas were not so good last 

 night.' * No, m'm, they are getting old.' When they 

 do get old, the following is an original French receipt for 

 stewed Peas, which is very good indeed: Put the Peas 

 into a saucepan with a good-sized Cabbage Lettuce cut up, 

 a white Onion, a sprig of Parsley, four ounces of butter 

 kneaded with flour ; put the butter in small lumps on the 

 Peas, also a very little salt and a piece of white sugar. 

 Cover the saucepan, and let it simmer slowly for about 

 three-quarters of an hour. 



Currants ripen very early with us. It is a good plan, 

 in order to keep them for eating when other fruit is not 

 so plentiful, to tie the whole bush up in coarse muslin 

 just as the Currants are getting ripe. This protects them 

 from birds and from insects, and they hang well on into 

 September, and are perfectly good. Black Currants will 

 not stand the same treatment. 



The following is a good receipt for Bed Currant jelly, 

 one of the preserves best worth making at home : 

 Gather the Currants on a dry day. Strip them off their 

 stalks, and squeeze the juice through a cloth. Leave the 

 juice to stand in the cellar for twenty-four hours ; then 

 pour it into another cloth, carefully leaving the thick 

 sediment behind. For each pound of juice allow one 

 pound of powdered white sugar (not bought ready 

 pounded, but done at home). Put the juice on the fire 

 in the preserving-pan, and keep stirring it from the first 

 with a silver spoon, adding the sugar, which should 



