136 



KITCHEN-GARDEN PLANTS. 



[chap. 



little water should be given to each ball after it is fixed in the 

 earth, and a little dry earth should be drawn up round the stems 

 of the plants to the height of the seed-leaf. In about a fortnight, 

 a very nice hoeing should be given to the w hole of the ground. In 

 another fortnight, a very nice digging to the whole of the ground, 

 and the summer sorts will begin to produce for use, by the latter 

 end of July. If the first crop fail, or appear to be likely to fail, 

 you may sow^ again in July, and even in August ; that is to say, 

 the summer sorts, and I dare say, the winter sorts too, but I have 

 no experience upon that head. I sowed some in the month of 

 August last year, about five-and-twenty plants in number, and had 

 bushels of squashes fit for use before the frost came. All the bush 

 squashes are of a yellow colour before they are fit for use, though 

 I have seen them in the markets in England for sale when still 

 green. Of all the sorts, the flat-bush is the best for the summer, 

 and the long white for the winter. The manner of cooking them 

 is very simple. They are merely washed clean, and boiled for 

 about twenty minutes ; but by running a fork into them, you know 

 when they are done in the same way that you judge in the case of 

 a turnip. The summer sorts must not hang on the plant long, 

 except you w ish to save the seed. You soon discover what is their 

 usual size, and as soon as they arrive at that, they are fit to be 

 gathered. They require no peeling as a turnip does : and if they 

 be (as the winter squashes will be) much larger than they are 

 wanted for one time, you may cut a part ofi", and leave the rest for 

 use another day. They are certainly far preferable to the best of 

 turnips ; and though they are not actually marrow, they are a very 

 delightful vegetable, and their produce is prodigious. If well cul- 

 tivated, I dare say that a single plant of the fiat bush squash would 

 produce a bushel of fruit ; but, like the cucumber and all other 

 plants of the same description, if you wish the plant to continue 

 producing for a long while, you must take care to gather every 

 fruit as soon as it becomes fit for use, and before it begins to ripen 

 its seed. The small ones, that is to say, the fruit gathered at a 

 very early stage, when not much bigger than a large walnut, for 

 instance, make excellent pickles, much better than cucumbers. If 

 }0U wish to save the seed, you must proceed in exactly the same 

 manner as directed in the case of the cucumber. 



193. TANSEY. — A perennial culinary and medicinal herb, pro- 

 pagated from seed, if you like-; but from off'sets is the easiest 



