ABOUT HOME 3 



3. A Few Garden Vegetables. 



MATERIAL : Seeds of the bean, pea, cucumber, melon, squash, 

 pumpkin ; pickled cucumbers, tomatoes, and cauliflower ; lettuce, 

 cabbage, kohlrabi, asparagus, white celery, turnip, radish, horseradish, 

 carrots, rutabagas. See : Some Additions to Our Vegetable Dietary, by 

 F. V. Coville, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 



In our last lesson we studied a plant which we cultivate 

 in our gardens on account of its beautiful flowers ; to-day 

 we will take up several plants which we cultivate on 

 account of the food they furnish either for ourselves or 

 for domestic animals. 



Of some plants, as of beans and peas, we eat the seeds ; 

 of the melon, the cucumber, and the tomato we eat the 

 fleshy covering of the seeds. The seeds of many plants are 

 a very valuable food material, because they can be pre- 

 served for an almost indefinite length of time, provided 

 they are kept dry. How can we keep the fleshy parts of 

 fruits and vegetables ? 



If you closely examine a head of cauliflower, you will find 

 that it consists of thickened flower stalks and undeveloped 

 flowers. Can you tell now which parts of the cauliflower 

 we eat ? 



Of the common lettuce we eat the green leaves, which we 

 prepare in different ways. Can you tell now what parts of 

 cabbage, kale, and spinach appear on our tables ? How many 

 wild plants do you know that are eaten as greens ? 



Of the kohlrabi we eat the enlarged succulent stem, and 

 of white or bleached celery the tender leafstalks are much 

 relished by some people. 



Turnips, carrots, and rutabagas, and the different kinds 

 of beets are biennials, which means that they live two sea- 

 sons and do not produce seeds before the close of the second 

 season. They store much food material in their large roots, 



Return of the blackbirds, wild ducks, and geese, and other birds. 



