JUST HOW 123 



form a rosette. The fibrous taproot is always cut off, and a 

 bit of the stem is left to serve as a handle. Most persons 

 prefer radishes ice-cold. Often a little chopped ice is placed 

 in the dish. When cut into thin slices they make tempting 

 sandwiches. 



Spinach. Spinach is in season early in the spring, and 

 again early in the summer. For summer use put the seed in 

 as soon as the ground can be worked, giving it some poultry 

 manure or some nitrate of soda, as is advised for all leafy 

 crops ; liquid manure gives good results. A quick growth 

 here as usual produces crisp, delicate leaves. Plant the seed 

 one inch deep and not too thick ; a three-foot bed will give 

 astonishing returns. Here is one person's experience in spin- 

 ach growing : " It germinated in eleven days ; in five weeks 

 the row was thinned, the stockiest plants being left. These 

 thinnings from three feet of seed sown gave me nearly one- 

 half peck of fine greens." For early spring use the seed 

 is sown in the preceding August or September. When 

 the ground begins to freeze, cover it with several inches 

 of hay. The plants will then start growing at the earliest 

 touch of spring. 



Prepare spinach for the table in the following way : Wash 

 it in several changes of cold water to remove all sand and 

 grit, and heat slowly in a closely covered saucepan till the 

 juices start. Then boil hard one hour. Drain it well, chop 

 fine, and then toss it about with a tablespoonful of butter in 

 the frying pan. Serve smoking hot with drawn butter. Then 

 you may truthfully say, as did some of the old-time cookbooks 

 in winding up their recipes, " This is delicious." 



Tomatoes. The tomato is a brilliant example of what in- 

 telligent cultivation will accomplish for a plant. This one is 

 a native of warm countries. Its ancestors came originally from 

 South America. There it was a queer little fruit, growing 



