July, 1906 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



321 



is allowed to remain, the sauce used will be 

 watery and unappetizing. If the leaves are 

 to be cut, use a silver knife, but it is far better 

 to break them gently with the fingers. A 

 steel knife should never be used, as it spoils 

 the delicate flavor of the leaf. 



For salad, any vegetable in season, and to 

 suit the taste of the consumer, can be used — ■ 

 radishes, beets, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc., 

 and the addition of hard-boiled eggs is a 

 great improvement. The yolks are to be 

 beaten to a powder — a fork can be used for 

 this purpose — or they can be rubbed through 

 a wire sieve and mixed with the dressing, and 

 the whites sliced and arranged alternately 

 with slices of the deep red beet, make a most 

 attractive dish. There are immense possi- 

 bilities for original and attractive display in 

 the making and decoration of salads. 



Typical head lettuce. The solid mass of 

 blanched inner leaves is of the highest quality and 

 delicate flavor. Just the thing for the amateur 



Always break off the leaves, don't cut them 



In making any salad dressing, the ingre- 

 dients cannot be added too gradually, nor 

 stirred too much. This is of great impor- 

 tance, as a good dressing may be completely 

 spoiled by the curdling of the oil and vinegar, 

 unless correctly mixed. There is quite a 

 knack in mixing a dressing. The only way 

 to prevent curdling is to add drop by drop 

 alternately, oil and vinegar, and to stir con- 

 stantly, always in the same direction. 



The dressing may be made hours before 

 use; in fact, if salads are constantly served, 

 it saves much time and trouble to make at 

 one time a sufficient quantity to last for a 

 few days. It will remain good if tightly 

 bottled. But do not add the dressing to the 

 salad until ready to serve. 



Very often in a small family there will be 

 lettuce left over which does not look fit to 

 make an attractive appearance on the table 



the next day. These old pieces of lettuce 

 can be put into spring soup, and indeed into 

 any sort of vegetable soup. Shredded finely, 

 and added to cabbage or greens its delicacy of 

 flavor does not interfere with that of the 

 other vegetables, yet its influence is marked. 

 Lettuce can also be served boiled, as an 

 accompaniment to the meat course, and if 

 carefully cooked, makes an excellent dish. 

 The large white, or brown cos lettuces are 

 best for this purpose. If very large, cut it 

 in half — put into quite boiling salted water, 

 boil for ten or fifteen minutes, and imme- 

 diately drain very thoroughly, and serve on 

 slices of buttered toast. This can be served 

 with drawn butter sauce, or a rich brown 

 gravy, very slightly flavored with onion. 



Typical bunching lettuce. Note the loose ar- 

 rangement of the leaves in the centre. Can be 

 used earlier than the head varieties 



The Tender Day-Blooming Water-Lilies— By Henry s. Conard i 



ohns Hopkins 

 University 



THEY ARE LARGER THAN THE HARDY KINDS, HAVE MORE COLORS, EXHIBIT WONDERFUL HABITS OF OPENING 

 AND CLOSING, AND ARE UNRIVALLED IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM FOR BRILLIANCY AND INTENSITY OF COLOR 



[Editor's Note. — This is the eighth article in the unique "Little Monographs" series which turns its back on the dull, pedantic, botanical style of writing and strives to 

 "size up" plants in a human, interesting, practical way. Are you growing a large collection of any one annual or perennial flower ? If not, don't you want to shove the world 

 ahead a peg by doing so ? We can furnish the pictures and the botany, if you will grow the plants.] 



THERE are two great groups of tender 

 water-lilies. In one group the flowers 

 expand in the evening, remain open all night, 

 and close during the following morning. In 

 the other group the flowers open at various 

 hours during the morning, and close, as var- 

 iously, in the afternoon. 



These day bloomers have sweet-scented 

 flowers, six to twelve inches across, carried on 

 strong stalks several inches above the water. 

 The leaves are often very large (up to two 

 feet) and float upon the water like those of 

 the hardy kinds. The leaf margins are often 

 wavy, while the hardy kinds always have 

 smooth-edged leaves. In this group we 

 have — or soon shall have — flowers in all 

 colors: red, blue, yellow, and white! Splen- 

 did creatures they are. It is no wonder the 

 Egyptians carved pictures of them on their 

 temple walls, painted them on their coffins, 

 covered the dead with wreaths of them, and 

 bore them in their processions, as offerings 

 to gods. 



GLISTENING WITH BLUE AND GOLD 



The king of all the water-lily tribe is 

 the Zanzibar water-lily (Nymphtza Zanzi- 

 bariensis). Its flowers are of the richest 

 royal blue, often ten inches across, and borne 



on strong stalks thicker than one's thumb, 

 eight or ten inches above the water. The 

 broad, blunt petals make a solid cup-shaped 

 ring, surrounding a large number of stamens. 

 These last are truly "gleaming with purple 

 and gold" — golden anthers, with carmine 

 purple backs. In the centre of the flower, 

 seen only on its first day of opening, is the 

 cup-shaped golden yellow pistil, an inch in 

 diameter. This lily opens on three, four, or 

 rarely five successive days, from n a. m. 

 until 5 p. m. 



A well grown plant has dark green leaves, 

 mottled with brown, eighteen to twenty-four 

 inches across, with deeply wavy margins, 

 and the under side a dull purplish blue. 



FOR LARGE OR SMALL SPACE 



It will accommodate itself to a great 

 variety of circumstances. It will flower even 

 in a six-inch pot, sunk in a tub of water, but 

 the blooms will be only three inches across, 

 and the leaves small in proportion. The 

 more room, the more and the larger the 

 flowers and leaves will be. With a three 

 foot tub for the roots and ten feet square of 

 water surface, you can get the maximum 

 results. A new flower comes up every two 

 or three days, so you always have one, often 



two or three blooms from a single root. It 

 blossoms from the middle of July until kill- 

 ing frosts arrive. 



PALE BLUE AND RED ZANZIBARS 



There are two forms and several hybrids 

 of the Zanzibar water-lily, all of which de- 

 serve a close acquaintance; the azure Zan- 

 zibar (N. Zanzibariensis, var. azurea), with 

 flowers of light blue, and leaves pale blue 

 beneath; the pink Zanzibar (N. Zanzi- 

 bariensis, var. rosea) which has flowers of 

 bright rose pink, and leaves reddish beneath. 

 There is a tinge of purple about the pink 

 petals of the latter variety, which betrays its 

 origin. Just how it sprang from its deep 

 blue parent is not quite clear. It makes a 

 massive, beautiful flower. 



THE GORGEOUS HYBRIDS 



Next to the two just mentioned must be 

 placed the hybrids of similar color, N. Wil- 

 liam Stone and N. Mrs. C. W. Ward. From 

 a broad spreading circle of large green 

 leaves the slender flower stalks rise, top- 

 ped with graceful, starry blooms. William 

 Stone is bright blue, Mrs. C. W. Ward is 

 pink, with a tinge of purple. In both, the 

 inside of the sepal shares somewhat of the 



