A CHAT IN THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 425 



the next morning. ' Then put tbem in bags, and hang them in a 

 dry place. . , 



Ed. That is certainly not a difficult process, and may be put 

 i^ practice evpry bating day by th« most time-saving farmer's wife 

 in the country. And the cooking ? 



.Suh. fc precisely like that of the fresh tomato, except that the 

 dried tomato is soaked in warm water a few hours beforehand. 

 For soups, it may be used without preparation ; and a dish of this 

 •regetable, dried in this way and Stewed, is so exactly like the fresh 

 tomatoes in appearance and flavor, that he must be a nice connois- 

 seur in such matters who could tell ia what the difference consists. 



Ed. We can vouch most entirely for that^ aiid after thanking . 

 you for the detail, have, only to regret that we could not have pub- 

 lished it in midsummer, so that all our readers could have had a" 

 fine dish of tomatoes when the thermometer is down below zero. 



Sub. By steadily pursuing the tomato drying ^ every baking 

 day in July and August, we get enough to enable us to use it freely, 

 and even profusely, as a winter vegetable ; not as an occasional va- 

 riety, but a good heaping dishful very often. 



Ed. What is to \& done with these small green melons which 

 I see yotr man gathering in his basket ? It is so late now that 

 they will noti ripen, and they are the perquisites of the pigs, doubt- 

 • less. " ■ , ' , 



Sub. You never made a greater mistake. For the pigs ! Not 

 if^they were Westphalia all over. Why, that is the most delicious 

 vegetrable we have, at this season of the year. " Butter would not 

 melt in your mouth " more quickly than that vegetable, as you 

 shall have it served up on my table to-day. 



Ed. Pray, what do you mean ? 



Sub. That these tardy after-crop musfemelons, trampled under 

 foot arid fed to the pigs, are th& greatest delicacy of the season. 



Ed. Fricaaeed, I suppose ; or " cut and dried," for winter 

 use ! « 



Sub. By no means ; but simply cut ill slices, about the fourth 

 of an- inch thick, and fried exactly in the same manner as egg 

 plants. Whoever tastes them so prepared, will immediately make 

 a memorandum that egg plants are thenceforward tabooed, arid that 



