THE KITCHEN-GARDEN. 



into the rich soil Shallots have a strong but not 

 unpleasant odour, and are therefore generally 

 preferred to the onion for various purposes of 

 cookery, and for making high-flavoured soups and 

 gravies. 



The Chive, one of the smallest of the garlic 

 tribe, is a hardy and useful vegetable, its leaves 

 being superior, in the estimation of many, to young 

 immature onions for using in early spring. The 

 plant grows in tufts somewhat like small rushes in 

 appearance, but of a colour resembling the deep 

 green of young onions. It is readily increased 

 by dividing the roots in April or early in May. 



Salads. 



Salads are those plants whose fresh leaves are 

 eaten at table raw, or only dressed with zests and 

 condiments without the preparation of cooking. 

 The principal vegetable of this kind is 



The Lettuce, of which there are several varieties, 

 but all may be classed under two heads the 

 upright or cos lettuces, and the cabbage-lettuces, 

 for using in summer and autumn. The following 

 are among the best kinds : Alexandra white, Giant 

 white, Holme Park, London white, Paris green, 

 Paris white, and Sugar-loaf cos ; All the Year 

 Round, Brown Genoa, Grand Admiral, Drumhead, 

 Ne Plus Ultra, Royal Albert, and Victoria cab- 

 bage-lettuces. Sow in very shallow drills of fresh- 

 digged ground, made rich with rotten manure. 

 Strike the drills a foot asunder, and as the 

 plants rise, thin them first to two inches, then, 

 for table use as small salad, to six inches, and 

 for the larger sorts, finally to one foot. With care 

 they may, in moist weather, be safely transplanted 

 during spring and summer. Spring and summer 

 lettuces are sown in about monthly succession 

 from February to July. Some lettuces heart 

 freely ; those which do not, should be assisted by 

 passing a string of bast round them from the 

 middle upwards. This bandage must not remain 

 many days, otherwise the plant will run to seed, 

 and become bitter. 



In August and September sow, for use in winter 

 and early spring, hardy sorts, such as Brown Dutch, 

 Hammersmith hardy green, and Stanstead Park 

 cabbage ; hardy winter white, Lee's Nonpareil, 

 and Williams' Victoria cos. When the plants are 

 three inches high, thin out half of them, and trans- 

 plant some into warm quarters, and others under 

 a frame ; protect by coverings of hoop and mats 

 those in the open ground ; and if they bear the 

 winter, thin the plants early in the spring to six 

 inches apart. The plants in the frame will rarely 

 fail if the earth be free from slugs. 



Endive is a salad of a pleasant bitter taste. 

 There are six principal sorts in ordinary cultivation 

 the Batavian green and white, curled green and 

 white, Moss or Stag's Horn, and Williams' Gloria 

 Mundi. The seeds are sown at different periods 

 between the beginning of June and the second 

 week of August, as required for the autumnal, 

 winter, and spring crops. When the plants are 

 three or four inches high, they may be removed 

 to beds of moderately enriched loam, to stand a 

 foot apart. But transplantation is not essential, 

 for very fine plants are produced in the seed-beds. 

 When they are nearly full grown, they must be 

 prepared for the table by blanching, as otherwise 

 they would be too bitter for use. 



Blanching may be effected by several methods ; 

 the most simple is that of passing a string of 

 soft bast matting- round the leaves of each plant, 

 so as to exclude the light from the heart ; but as 

 hard frost is very injurious, some plants ought to 

 be removed to a bed of dryish earth or sand under 

 an airy shed ; or a garden-frame, partially covered, 

 might be placed over a certain number of those 

 already tied up. Common six to eight inch flower- 

 pots, turned upside down, and a piece of slate laid 

 over their hole; or conical 'endive ' pots, may be 

 used for blanching individual plants. The curled 

 endives do best when blanched without tying. The 

 Batavian endive, however, requires a bandage at 

 all times, otherwise the central heart, which alone 

 is edible, will never be rendered tender and white. 



Chicory, and that too common weed, the Dande- 

 lion, when blanched, form excellent winter salads, 

 allied in flavour to endives. The former should be 

 sown in June, and thinned out to about six inches 

 apart. And the roots of both may be transferred in 

 succession to beds or boxes of earth, where they 

 are excluded from light ; and with little more than 

 an ordinary cellar temperature, continuous supplies 

 can be easily grown. 



Garden-cress. In alluding to the culture of this 

 common salad, we will include the white mustard, 

 because they naturally are companions, and are 

 often grown together. In cultivating mustard 

 and cress, it is essential only to remark, that the 

 latter should be sown three or four days in advance 

 of the former, because cress is more tardy than 

 mustard. Both are very accommodating herbs, 

 inasmuch as they will grow upon wetted flannel 

 in a saucer placed in any apartment, as well as 

 on the floor of a green-house. On shipboard, 

 under cover, they can thus be obtained throughout 

 the winter ; and in the garden from March to 

 November, by successional sowings made once 

 every fortnight. Sow either broadcast over the 

 surface of a fresh-digged bed, raking and patting 

 in the seeds by the flat of the spade, or in shallow 

 drills half an inch deep, covering the seeds with 

 a little fine soil. Sow thickly ; and if the young 

 plants rise, as they are apt to do, with a covering 

 or cake of earth over them, remove it by means 

 of a light branch-whisk. Mustard should be 

 taken before the rough leaves be fully developed, 

 a precaution which is too often neglected. The 

 kinds of garden-cress usually grown are the curled, 

 triple-curled, and broad-leaved ; but the golden 

 cress, or Australian cress, as it is often mistakenly 

 called, is by many deemed preferable to either, 

 and its leaves are best when the plants stand from 

 one to two inches apart. 



Water-cress, a native plant, is grown to most 

 advantage in, and by the edges of spring rivulets 

 and running streams. 



Celery is a native of Britain, found in ditches 

 and marshes near the sea. The odour of the wild 

 plant is very rank and disagreeable, and its juice 

 is acrid and dangerous. By cultivation, this dan- 

 gerous weed has been brought to the condition 

 of that highly esteemed vegetable called garden 

 celery. Of this there are many varieties the 

 common upright hollow white celery ; the purple- 

 stalked ; the giant white and red ; solid ; GoodalTs 

 White ; Sandringham White, &c. Celery may be 

 sown in a frame, with gentle heat, at the end of 

 February, for the first crop, and thence to the end 

 of May, on a warm sheltered border for succession. 



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