SUBURBAN RESIDENCES. 79 



example, lettuces, peas, and spinach are brought to market in cart-loads, in 

 large baskets, or in sacks ; and, if the distance is great, or the time between 

 gathering and consumption is more than a day, or, at most, two days, 

 fermentation will have taken place. Cabbages and turnips are also brought 

 to market in cart-loads ; but though, when in a young state, with all their 

 leaves about them, these vegetables ferment in the course of two or thi-ee 

 days, yet, when they are full-grown and firm, they may, when deprived of 

 their outer leaves, be kept in heaps for a week or more without undergoing 

 fermentation. The vegetables which are most injured by keeping are such 

 as are eaten raw; and hence it is always desirable, if possible, for every man 

 to grow his own salading, such as lettuce, endive, cress, mustard, radishes, 

 young onions, &c., in order that they may be brought to table fresh, and 

 newly gathered. These ought, therefore, to be grown, if possible, in even 

 the smallest back garden of a suburban residence. The excellence of celery 

 also depends much upon its being eaten crisp and fresh from the ground ; and, 

 therefore, if room can be found, this also ought to be grown in small gardens. 

 Next to salading, it has been found from experience that peas are most 

 injured by being kept after they are gathered, and, therefore, they are the 

 second class of articles which should be grown in every suburban kitchen- 

 garden if possible. Tender leaves, such as those of spinach and spring 

 cabbages, are next liable to injury from the same causes ; and, therefore, 

 they ought also to be grown, if room can be found. A small bed can 

 scarcely be more profitably employed than under winter spinach, which (the 

 Flanders variety being chosen), in a rich loamy soil, not Avet below, and in a 

 sheltered situation, will continue growing almost all the winter, and afford 

 occasional gatherings at that season, and an abundant supply for the table 

 from April till August, care being taken to pick out the flower stems as soon 

 as they begin to appear, and to water when the ground is dry. 



123. Those vegetables which it is convenient to have always at hand, in case 

 of an emergencjr, and which a cook may gather for herself, ought also to be 

 planted. Thus, parsley, mint, fennel, thyme, and chives, ought to be in 

 every suburban garden-plot, however small, as supplying garnishings and 

 seasoning, which are constantly wanted; but no one would think of growing 

 horseradish in a fourth-rate suburban garden where a gardener was not kept ; 

 because, however frequently it might be used, it requires considerable labour 

 to dig it up ; and, as it keeps perfectly well, it may be procured from the 

 greengrocer's at any time, and kept till wanted in a cellar, or in the garden, 

 covered with soil. Where there is room, an asparagus bed, if properly 

 formed at first by deep trenching, thorough drainage, and an abundant supply 

 of manure, is a very convenient luxury ; since the heads are easily gathered 

 when wanted, require little aid from cookery, and are generally considered a 

 delicacy. Asparagus beds, to those who prefer the shoots green, and, con- 

 sequently, do not cut them till they are two or three inches above the ground, 

 do not require to be earthed-up every winter, and of course are less expensive 

 in the management than those where the asparagus is eaten blanched, as this 

 effect can only be produced by heaping up earth on the beds. A bed of 

 sea-kale, though it will sooner afford a supply for the table than a bed of 

 asparagus, yet requires more attention from the gardener, and fails sooner, 

 and, therefore, is not so well adapted for a suburban garden where the saving 

 of labour is an object. Tart rhubarb, if planted in a soil deeply trenched, 



