THE COUNTRY HOME [ch.\pter 



peas. As for corn, the world does not hold any- 

 thing that is nobler in the way of foliage than the 

 waving leaves and tassels of this glory of New 

 World vegetation. Harriet Martineau, traveling 

 through the United States in 1835, notes: "This 

 day, I remember, we first tasted green corn, one of 

 the most delicious of vegetables, and by some pre- 

 ferred to green peas. The greatest drawback is 

 the way in which it is necessary to eat it. The cob, 

 eight or ten inches long, is held at both ends, and, 

 having been previously sprinkled with salt, is nib- 

 bled and sucked from end to end, till all the grains 

 are got out. It looks awkward enough, but what is 

 to be done ? Surrendering such a vegetable from 

 consideration of grace is not to be thought of." 

 The Egyptians associated the onion with religious 

 metaphysics and the hope of immortality. 



The vegetable garden to be a delight must be 

 worked with horse-power. Our fathers inherited 

 the spade and the hoe, but there were no digging 

 forks in those days, and the plow was made of 

 wood. Because English gardens were spaded. 

 New England gardens were necessarily made in the 

 same way. Heredity is nowhere harder to over- 

 come than in methods of land tillage. At last a 



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