The Uplift of the Vegetable Florence 



SPRING 



Utilizing the Garden Crops in Place of Meats— Getting the Real Value of Vegetables and Putting them on the Table in 



Appetizing Forms 



IN THESE days, when not only the price 

 of meat but also the need of conserving 

 it for its imperative and almost conse- 

 crated present use, makes it often a 

 forbidden luxury, food administrators and 

 housekeepers are striving to obtain adequate 

 substitute food values from other sources; 

 and other articles of diet are brought into 

 unaccustomed importance. 



Chief among these are vegetables. Al- 

 ways valuable and delicious, they are now still 

 more appreciated and made a dependence. 

 This is the day of the "kitchen garden" and 

 all over the land it is extended, as never 

 before, even encroaching on the ornamental 

 features. How shall we best utilize the fruits 

 of our labors in this direction? How get the 

 best value from the space we cover, that there 

 be no waste — neither of the crops themselves 

 nor of the labor spent in raising or conserving 

 them ? 



THERE is often a tremendous amount of 

 waste in a large, and even sometimes in a 

 small garden. For instance, the remainder 

 of a row of radishes (after all possible have 

 been consumed) often swells into 

 giant tubers as big as your wrist, 

 of no possible use, eating up good 

 fertilizer and squandering good 

 space! How often does half of a 

 lettuce bed "run up" and go to 

 seed? And as for the prolific and 

 luxuriant string bean, how often 

 does it come to table maturity all 

 in a day, and constitute itself a 

 burden and a reproach to the over- 

 worked housewife, striving night 

 and morn to utilize without waste 

 all of her garden products, either 

 for present consumption or as a 

 winter supply? How often does 

 half of the currant or strawberry Stuffed e reen 

 crop rot, or wither on bush or vine ? 

 Therefore, let a little preliminary planning 

 and calculation, with expert advice if need 

 be, prevent this waste of space, material, 

 and labor. 



In the general garden scheme, plans must 

 be kept active to plant adequately for an 

 extended season. That there may be no 

 hiatus between possibly belated crops, I al- 

 ways plan for a few "fillers" to be used be- 

 tween times or when a sudden shower or 

 lack of time prevents the picking of those 

 crops requiring leisure for the operation. New 

 Zealand spinach, Swiss chard, summer cab- 

 bages, are of this class; as well as young beets 

 and carrots planted for succession. 



Use freely at other times during the summer 

 and fall, the vegetables appropriate to that 

 season, saving the ones above mentioned for 

 emergencies, and for late fall use. For this 

 extended use, plant plenty of tomatoes, late 

 crops of beets, carrots, turnips, cabbage; as 

 well as the spinach, various "salad" vege- 

 tables, Swiss chard, etc. We have found that 

 the curly endive is one of the very best "sal- 

 ads" to plant for very late use. It stands 

 very hard frosts and the delicate bleached 

 "middles" may be used almost until covered 

 with snow. 



Swiss chard is our standby as a "green" 

 and this also may be used after even severe 

 ♦Yost. We extend its season by digging out 

 one of our coldframes and setting in it a 

 few stocky plants, keeping them covered 



with the replaced sash. Lettuce, also, we 

 sow late and with some of the plants fill an- 

 other coldframe. Throw mats over both at 

 night. Be sure to plant an extra late plant- 

 ing of corn "on chance" — I don't think we 

 have ever failed to get the benefit of our latest 

 "gamble." *j 



Brussels sprouts, winter cabbage, salsify 

 and cauliflower help to extend the garden 

 vegetable season, and parsnips may be used 

 until the ground freezes too hard, although 

 they are, of course, better and sweeter in the 

 spring. Enough onions, turnips, squashes, 

 etc., to last well into the winter, are, of course, 

 an inference. Before leaving the subject of 

 the greatest possible extension of the various 

 garden products, let me say a word for the 

 wonderful "ever-bearing" strawberries, which 

 are all that their warmest admirers claim for 

 them, coming into bearing at least a week 

 earlier than the ordinary ones, and ripening 

 until long after the hard frosts have stolen 

 their flavor. Last year I picked plenty of 

 bright red berries frozen perfectly stiff", the 

 plants still displaying green berries, buds and 

 blossoms. 



sweet peppers — parsley decoration peppers parboiled — filled with 

 vegetable (or meat or fish) 



DLANT now and abundantly of those 

 *• vegetables suitable for canning or 

 other conservation. String beans may be 

 raised in quantity, and coolly and easily con- 

 served by cutting the young tender pods as 

 for table use, and packing in stone crocks 

 with layers of salt between, and at bottom 

 and top. This is an easier and more comfort- 

 able method than canning, and the field of 

 operations may be on the piazza or under a 

 shady tree. 



Experiment has shown the possibility of suc- 

 cessfully drying, for winter use, nearly every 

 vegetable grown. Our grandmothers dried 

 corn, apples, peaches, stewed pumpkin, etc., 

 with excellent results, and the exigencies of 

 present needs are teaching us to "better their 

 instruction." 



The "cold-pack" method of canning — so 

 universal and successful, enables us to now 

 enjoy in winter as the results of our own la- 

 bors, hitherto unknown luxuries in the way 

 of vegetables, as the old "open kettle" process 

 was inadequate for much vegetable con- 

 servation. See that plenty of summer squash, 

 corn, peas, young beans, etc., are raised for 

 this purpose, if space is adequate. Tomatoes 

 keep perfectly, canned by the open kettle 

 method — easier and quicker. They are deli- 

 cious and economicalof space canned asapuree; 

 seasoned while cooking, by combining with a 

 variety of finely minced vegetables and herbs. 



When "harvesting our crops" for use, we 



239 



bury a part of our carrots, turnips and beets 

 in a box (with excelsior top and bottom) 

 or empty coldframe. Dig down a couple 

 of feet, cover the box with earth and then 

 a mound of leaves and "rubbish." In the 

 spring, when the frost allows us to dig, they 

 will be found to be crisp and fresh, and a great 

 luxury and economy. Spinach and corn salad 

 may be planted in the fall for early use; and of 

 course parsnips and salsify are waiting in liberal 

 rows in every garden for the spring harvest. 



After our vegetables are raised, harvested, 

 and conserved, how shall we get the most 

 beneficial and economical use of them? Be- 

 side their on-the-face value, as vegetables pure 

 and simple, they may be largely used in ade- 

 quate — as to calories and chemical combina- 

 tions — substitution for the meat that is now 

 being so universally partly eliminated from 

 our menus. 



Vegetable Chowders 



VEGETABLE chowders with the addi- 

 * tion of a little pork or meat flavoring 



are delicious, nourishing and substantial. 



Select, each time planned, some especial 

 vegetable to give individuality: as 

 "potato," "onion," "corn," "to- 

 mato," or "celery," chowder; com- 

 bining the main vegetable ingredi- 

 ent with the usual chowder at- 

 tributes and seasonings. These 

 combinations adequately and 

 healthfully fill the position of" main 

 dish "at a meal. Accompany them 

 with a green salad — lettuce, cab- 

 bage, dandelion — and a simple des- 

 sert, and you have a perfect com- 

 bination. 



Salad Specialties 



PLENTY of salad vegetables 

 should be raised in the garden. 

 A salad also, with its various in- 

 gredients and attributes, may form the basis 

 of a lunch or supper — or even a hot weather 

 dinner — and be accorded the prominence and 

 value it deserves. 



A potato salad, with onion, lettuce, celery, 

 a hard boiled egg or two, and seasonings (ac- 

 companied with cheese balls and brown bread) 

 with a good French or mayonnaise dressing 

 is surely a substantial dish. 



The various tomato combinations: tomato, 

 shredded green sweet pepper and latticed 

 cucumber; tomatoes hollowed and filled with 

 baked or green beans, diced celery and potato, 

 peas and diced new carrots; either of the above 

 combinations, with lettuce, cottage cheese and 

 a nice dressing; and sandwiches of any of the 

 dark breads, is both delicious and satisfying. 



And the various regular "vegetable sal- 

 ads" — a toothsome and calorie-sufficient com- 

 bination of any and every vegetable left over 

 or cooked and prepared for the purpose — 

 with a few bits of crispy bacon added at the 

 last minute and a garnish of riced eggs, with a 

 good mayonnaise, is one of the very best salads 

 ever made. 



Vegetable Escallops for Meatless Days 



A VARIETY of vegetable "escallops" are 

 -^*- also increasingly coming into favor as 

 novel, substantial, healthful, and attractive 

 main dishes for "meatless days." Domes- 

 tic science experts and housekeepers are con- 

 stantly experimenting in this direction with 



