July 27, 1871. ] 



JOURNAL OF HOETICULTURE AND COTTAGE GAKDENEE. 



75 



the multitude of shoota it throws out after the head hag been 

 removed, and these, taken clean off when from 3 inches to 

 4 inches in length, are in reality a good sweet substitute for 

 the shoots of Asparagus. The gatherings from a row of good 

 plants are astonishing. All these plants produce more in pro- 

 portion to the earliness of cutting- off the head of the plant. 

 We think that the heads of these K*lea are more tender after 

 they have had a touch of frost ; and sometimes when the head 

 of a Brussels Sprout is removed, it is advisable to leave the 

 larger leaves at its base, as a little protection to the small 

 shoots, or sprouts, on the stem of the plant. Every large leaf 

 left near the top arrests free radiation, and, therefore, is so far 

 a defence from severe frosts. The liead, too, of a Brussels 

 Sprout has a flavour all its own, quite diiierent from the sweet 

 little knobs along the stem, and altogether superior to a young 

 Savoy, which it rather c'osely resembles. As the frost last 

 ■winter cut-up so many of our Cabbage plants, we were glad 

 to keep the greens named above much longer than usual, and, 

 ■therefore, we had a good opportunity of testing their useful- 

 ness. In catting the heads of Brussels Sprouts at all early, it 

 is well to daub the out part with cloy and lime to prevent the 

 stem cracking, as the wet and frost would tell on the stem. 



There is one use to which the Scotch Kales are put in the 

 north, that is seldom adopted in the south. The seed is sown 

 late in the autumn, the plants are turned out in spring, as we 

 ■do with spring Cabbages, and if the sewnge from the cottage is 

 given to them they grow with great rapidity, and then as they 

 grow the larger leaves are cut in two, and under the name of 

 " stewinga," are cut again into small pieces, and along with 

 dressed barley, a little oatmeal and water, and what litt'e bit of 

 meat can be obtained, form in many a cottage, and even a 

 tradesman's home, the chief dish at the midday meal. Such 

 a. dish is a far differeut and very superior nffair to the "Kail 

 farose," so celebrated in Scottish song. That altogether was 

 a very rough primitive get-up, and only fit for men emerging 

 from semi- barbarism, or for men, if at all refined, yet seized 

 with a sort of monomania to keep-up mere existence on the 

 hardest and most economical of term^. Even in London we 

 liave heard Englishmen, despite the northern dialect, which 

 they could not quite master, singing about the " Scottish Kail 

 brose," with as much enthusiasm as if before them there 

 steamed a round of beef, and a rich plum pudding ; but we 

 much feared that if, even when a little hungry, a dish of the 

 " Kill brose " were put before Ihem, it would soon have damped 

 the fervour of their singing. 



Cooking VegetahUs. — We have several limes touched on this 

 subject, and only touched upon it because it is not in our 

 peculiar province. With all our boasted progress, in general 

 we are poor cooks, and do not make the most of what is within 

 our reach. Meat is often underdone or overdone, and thus 

 deprived of its nourishing properties ; but the vegetables ! 

 Anything seems good enough for ihem in too many cases. At 

 market and public dinners this is still very observable. We 

 have seen Cabbages and Savoys that could have done little 

 SQore than passed through scalding water; they were as hard 

 as so many pieces of chips of wood, and would have been better 

 even in their raw state, for then they would have shown a little 

 ^reen about them. On d ning once with a gardener, the Peas 

 on the table (J^yt's Cjnqueror), were, indeed, " ne plus ultras," 

 and did not the eyes of the mistress of the house sparkle as 

 ■everyone praised tbe Peas, aad they were delicious. Three or 

 four great cooks have told us that they hardly could spoil that 

 Pea try how they might, for when young it wanted so little 

 boiling, and the colour kept such" a rich gieen. However, the 

 next day we think it was, at a horticultural dinner, the same 

 'Pea in similar excellent condition when gathered, became by 

 some peculiar process, a hard, dirty-lookiog, yellowish mess, 

 that no one would do more than taste and then leave alone. 



We recollect the late Mr. London telling us that when he 

 was in the habit of visiting large gardens, and was often asked 

 by the gardener to have some refreshment at the midday meal, 

 he was frequently very much surprised, either at the total 

 absence of vegetables, or their rarity in the shape of a small 

 dish of Potatoes, or at the very intfficient way as to cooking in 

 which they were brought to table — Potatoes sodden and soft 

 instead of dry and floury, which they would have been if pro- 

 perly attended to. We also recollect the worthy veteran refer- 

 ring to the families of some head gardeners that were more 

 than ordinarily delicate in their consiitutions, and thus required 

 great care in rearing them and expense for doctoring, and ex- 

 pressing his opinion that matters, humanly speaking, might 

 iiave been very diiierent if the children had partaken of more 



vegetable food. Bold as he was, he had been so much criticised 

 for some of his utterances, that he heartily wished that some 

 one with authority to teach his advice would impress on young 

 gardeners, who were likely to spend the most of their lives in a 

 garden, to endeavour in choosing a partner for lite to get a 

 helpmate who already knew, or who would not be above learn- 

 ing, how to cook vegetables so as to present them at table most 

 tempting to the appetite, most healthful as food, and moat 

 pleasing to the eye. Yes, the doing such a simple thing as the 

 sending nice, soft, sweet, green Peas to table is a matter worthy 

 of consideration. No doubt our sisters have made great ad- 

 vances since Mr. Loudon was in the zenith of his fame, but 

 even now we fear there is great room for improvement, and 

 that, too, in large as well as small establishments ; and the 

 one practical deduction we wish to make is just this, that it 

 would be a good thing if some lady were to give us short, 

 simple, but minute directions as to the cooking of our common 

 vegetables in the best and most economical way. 



Cauliflowers. — We have to record a little disappointment. 

 Our hand-light Cauliflowers never did better. Our second lot 

 seemed equally promising, and had only the fault of forming 

 the heads too much at a time. However, they had every ap- 

 pearance of proving of lirst-rate quality. We had watered them 

 with sewage before the rains came. The somewhat continuous 

 drenching rains seemed to have changed them ; instead of the 

 heads keeping in a close compact mass as we wish to see them, 

 they began to open, and shoot, and spread. We never like the 

 idea of even ihe denizens of the servants' hall, if possible, 

 having the chance of tiring of any one thing, but a goodly 

 portion of these fine Cauliflowers had to go there, as the heads 

 were too open for the dining-room table. The person who 

 could speak with most authority told us that for mere con- 

 sumption nothing could be better, they were so sweet, tender, 

 and soft. 'This we found to be quite correct. As it was wa 

 suffered no inconvenience, as there were still enough of com- 

 pact heads to go on with. We are inclined to think that the 

 extra drenching was the chief cause of this spreading, and the 

 rich sewage before the rains which we could not foretell might 

 also be a predisposing cause. Have any of our readers met 

 with similar results ? Have they been able to trace it to a 

 similar or to any different cause ? Our next successions as yet 

 seem to be all safe and promising. Of course these opening 

 and spreading heads were of little value, except for immediate 

 use, in comparison with the firm, compact, white heads. How 

 can we make sure of preventing this opening and spreading ? 

 It often takes place to a considerable extent in dripping rainy 

 autumns. Our opinion is, that less nourishment and mora 

 room to the plants would have modified this tendency, but then 

 we could not know of these heavy downpours of rain. 



Celery. — Planted out the last, or nearly the last, of our plants. 

 For a wonder with us, the earliest beds, except where planted 

 out, have as yet received no more waterings. The rains have 

 been ample for the purpose. We have had comparatively little 

 to do with the water cart, but as a counterbalance the grass 

 lawn, and especially that which was fresh laid, has required 

 great attention. It would hardly pass muster three days with- 

 out the machine or scythe going over it. 



FEUIT GAEDEN. 



With regard to summer-pinching, pruning, &c., see previous 

 notices. We proceeded with planting out the last forced 

 Strawberries, some of the first planted out coming into bloom. 

 We also prepared young plants for forcing, and for fresh 

 plantations. For the former purpose we do not think that any 

 place is better than fixing the runner in a small pot, and, when 

 fully established, and filling the pot with roots, cutting the 

 string, and repotting firmly in a larger pot, as fully explained 

 and detailed a few weeks ago. Let enthusiastic beginners, 

 however, clearly understand, that it is on the details being 

 carefully carried out that success will depend. Great troubles 

 and great disappointments often ensue, because seemingly 

 little things are deemed of no importance. We say nothing to 

 those who force their thousands of pots, but to beginners wo 

 may here repeat, " Attend especially to the small matters re- 

 ferred to." Then for getting an early return from fresh plan- 

 tations in the open ground, when there are no forced plants to 

 fall back upon, it will often be the most economical plan to 

 layer the runners in pots, and then, having the ground in good 

 order, to turn the plants, well rooted, from the pots into the 

 ground, as then you may expect a fair crop the first summer 

 after planting. Where ground is scarce, and you cannot 

 spare it for a couple of months or so, then the best plan is to 

 turn the young plants into a bed with rich lumpy material, 



