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of soil. Mustard and Cress should be cut with 
a long sharp knife, and at once placed tops up- 
wards tightly in punnets. If the punnets are to 
be enclosed in a hamper they ought to be well 
papered over, but they travel best as sent to 
the markets packed closely in boxes just deep 
and wide enough to hold either six or twelve 
punnets. 
Onions.—For salad purposes only quite 
young Onions should be used, the white-skinned 
Tripoli or White Lisbon being the mildest and 
sweetest flavoured. Immense quantities of 
these, principally autumn sown, are grown for 
the markets, and these are duly bunched in the | 
spring. White-skinned, fully-grown Onions are 
also the best for cooking as a vegetable. Very 
large roots of any variety of Onion are not com- 
mendable, cooks as a rule preferring medium- 
sized to small roots, and these are certainly the 
least wasteful. For storing, the white Spanish 
section is the best, these, if the roots are tho- 
roughly well harvested, keeping well. The old- 
fashioned plan of stringing them up in bunches 
or ropes, and suspending these in a cool, dry 
room or shed, is still the best, Onions keeping 
admirably thus treated. Well-ripened Onions 
will stand somewhat rough treatment, and 
THE GARDENER’S ASSISTANT. 
the least degree old. Some. varieties remain 
tender and sweet longer than others, and rapid 
maturation has also to be reckoned with in 
some seasons. If gathered before they are 
required for use they are lable to become 
somewhat tough, but where they have to be 
sent long distances to town-houses this cannot 
well be avoided. Shelling the Peas and packing 
them in paper bags economizes space, but they 
keep freshest when left in the pods. They may 
be packed loosely in one corner not far from 
the top of a mixed hamper, or in any position 
where the pressure is not likely to crush them. 
The earlier consignments to market are packed 
in half-sieves and sieves, and grassed over, with 
benders to keep all tight; when more plentiful, 
“pads” or two-bushel baskets with lids and 
may be packed in the bottom of a mixed _ 
hamper; large quantities may be sent in sieves 
or bags. 
Parsnips.—Very large roots of these are 
not desirable, as they cannot well be cooked 
without being cut up, whereas, to be really good 
and digestible, Parsnips ought to be cooked 
steadily until they are soft to the core, after 
which they may be duly quartered or otherwise 
prepared. They keep badly when out of the 
ground, becoming shrivelled and tough. Left 
where they are grown they can be dug as 
required, especially if the precaution is taken 
bags are principally employed. 
Potatoes.—Ashleaf Kidney and such sorts 
as Ringleader and May Queen may be lifted 
for use when the tubers are not more than half- 
grown, but in the majority of cases such very 
immature tubers are not fit to eat when cooked. 
Those responsible ought, therefore, to exercise a 
considerable amount of judgment in the matter 
of selections of varieties for early lifting, as 
in many establishments “new” Potatoes are 
wanted as early as they can be provided. When 
they are dug up they ought to be quickly- 
moved into a dark place, exposure to the light 
and sun turning them green and greatly im- 
paring their flavour. _ They ought not to 
require washing, but the later supplies may be 
washed, as they then present a better appear- 
ance. Those who are concerned about the cook- 
ing of Potatoes are advised to grade them for 
the kitchen, sending the larger tubers at one 
time and the smaller at another, or otherwise 
the cooking will be unequal, very few cooks 
taking the trouble to grade the tubers. Potatoes 
that have been allowed to sprout are of inferior 
of covering part of the bed before it is frosted | 
with straw-litter. In the spring what is left 
of the crop may be dug, and the roots stored 
in moist sand at the foot of 
or other cool situation. Small quantities are 
packed with other heavy roots in the bottom 
of a mixed hamper, and large quantities may 
be sent to the markets in bags or boxes. 
Peas.—When to gather Peas ought to be 
decided by the wishes of those for whom they 
are intended. In some establishments they 
are preferred when about two-thirds grown, and 
most people like them fully grown but not in. 
a north wall- 
quality as food. For that reason it is well to 
provide a cool, dark shed on the north side of 
a high wall for the storage of Potatoes, as in 
these places they can be watched more closely 
and turned oftener than when stored in earth 
and straw-covered heaps. 
New Potatoes should be enclosed in Rhubarb 
leaves and placed in the middle of a mixed 
hamper of vegetables. Those sent to the market 
are variously packed in cross-handled, paper- 
lined baskets and quarter-sieves, and a little 
later barrels are principally used, the topmost 
tubers being covered with haulm or grass and 
kept down either by basket-lids or benders. 
