298 MORE POT-POURRI 



what should be aimed at. Once they are up, it is neces- 

 sary to water very gently. A good way is to put a 

 small piece of sponge in the hole at the bottom of a 

 flower -pot, and then fill the pot with water of the same 

 temperature as the greenhouse, and move it about so 

 that the water dribbles gently through. With large 

 seeds it is always a good plan to soak them twenty-four 

 hours in tepid water before sowing them. An excellent 

 way of handling very small seedlings is to take a little 

 bit of bamboo, bend it in two like a pair of tweezers, 

 and lay the seedlings on a piece of paper ; it is then 

 quite easy to handle the smallest seedlings without in- 

 jury. 



The three or four weeks of severe frosty weather in 

 March has made us very short of vegetables. I never 

 buy when I have not guests, as feeling the pinch makes 

 one alive to one's deficiencies, and causes one to manage 

 better another year. So I thought I would try and see 

 how I liked the root we grow for the cows. We have 

 plenty left, as the winter has been so mild. It is Sut- 

 ton's Mangold -Wurzel, a yellow kind. We boiled it till 

 tender, whole like a beetroot, and when hot cut it into 

 slices, and ate it with cold butter. It was excellent. In 

 texture it was like a beetroot ; in taste, half like a sweet 

 Potato, half like a Chestnut. When Mangolds are 

 young they mash like Turnips. 



Early this month Hops begin to show through the 

 ground. When the shoots are about six or eight inches 

 high, before the leaves develop, they can be picked, 

 tied together in a bundle, and cooked exactly like green 

 Asparagus. They have not much taste, but are pleas- 

 ant in substance, and are supposed on the Continent 

 to be exceedingly wholesome. A vegetable called 

 'Good King Henry' is worth growing to eat in the 

 same way, and later the leaves cook like Spinach. 



