260 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



require a full supply of nutriment at their roots ; 

 and from the size of their leaves, &c., they not 

 only cover over compost-heaps or dunghills 

 from sight, but also tend to decompose the 

 latter. During summer they require liberal 

 supplies of water, training the shoots to the 

 ground, and reducing all superabundant side 

 branches, and stopping leaders, after a sufficient 

 crop of fruit has set. 



The European names for the gourd and 

 pumpkin are — Courge in French ; Zucca in 

 Italian ; Abobaro in Portuguese ; Kurbis in 

 German ; Calabaza in Spanish ; Kauwoerde in 

 Dutch. The French distinguish the vegetable 

 marrow by the name of Courge a la moelle, and 

 the Germans call it Markige melonenkurbis. The 

 large American gourd the French designate 

 Potironjaune;andthe Germans, Melonenkurbis. 



§ 4. — CAPSICUM. 



Capsicum (Cayenne or Guinea pepper) be- 

 longs to the natural order Solanese, and to the 

 class Pentandria and order Monogynia in 

 tlie Linnsean arrangement. The generic name 

 is derived from Kapto, to bite, from its pungent 

 qualities. They are chiefly natives of India, 

 China, Egypt, and the Brazils, and are all culti- 

 vated and much used in the countries to which 

 they are indigenous. The capsicum was first in- 

 troduced into Europe by the Spaniards; and they 

 are known to have been cultivated in Britain 

 so early as the reign of Edward VI. Their 

 varieties are almost without end, differing in 

 size, colour, and form of their fruit. The com- 

 moner varieties are extensively grown by the 

 market-gardeners about London, for the supply 

 of the markets and for the Italian warehouses. 

 They are much used in pickles, seasonings, and 

 made dishes, as both the pod or capsule and 

 seeds yield a warm acrid oil, the heat of which 

 being imparted to the stomach is thought to 

 promote digestion and correct the flatulency of 

 vegetable aliments. The seed-pods of Capsicum 

 frutescens furnish the Cayenne pepper of the 

 shops. The expressed juice of the fresh pods 

 affords liquid bird-pepper, so much used in soups 

 in most warm climates. Both the green and ripe 

 pods are used as pickles, and also for making 

 Chili vinegar, which is done by simply putting 

 a handful of the pods in a bottle, afterwards 

 filled up with the best vinegar, and stopping it 

 closely up. In a few weeks it is fit for use. 

 Man- dram, so much used in warm countries to 

 provoke a languid appetite, is prepared by 

 gathering the pods while dry of Capsicum bac- 

 catum or bird-pepper, and mixing them with 

 cucumbers cut into thin slices, with garlic and 

 shallots cut also very small, to which a little 

 lime-juice and Madeira wine are added, and the 

 whole being mashed and mixed with liquid is 

 fit for use. The pods, gathered fresh and eaten 

 before meals, tend greatly to assist digestion. 



The general mode of preparing Cayenne 

 pepper is by gathering the pods when ripe. In 

 India they are dried in the sun, but in Britain 

 they should be dried on a slow hot-plate, or in 

 a very moderately-heated oven; they are then 



pounded and sifted through a fine sieve, mixed 

 with salt, and, when dried, put into close-corked 

 bottles for the purpose of excluding the air. 

 This article is subject to great adulteration, 

 flour being often mixed with it, and, still worse, 

 red lead, which is much of the same colour, and 

 greatly increases the weight. The better way 

 is to dry the pods in a slow oven, split them 

 open, extracting the seeds, and pounding them 

 down to a fine powder, or passing them through 

 a coffee-mill, sifting the powder through a thin 

 muslin sieve, and pounding down the parts 

 which do not pass through, and sifting again 

 until the whole is reduced to the finest possible 

 state. Place the powder in air-tight glass bottles, 

 but add no salt or other ingredient whatever. 

 What is called Cayenne pepper-pot is prepared 

 in the following manner, and is sold at a high 

 price in the Italian warehouses: " Take the ripe 

 bird-peppers, dry them well in the sun, then 

 put them into an earthen or stone pot, mixing 

 flour between every stratum of pods, and put 

 them into an oven after the baking of bread, 

 that they may be thoroughly dried ; after which 

 they must be well cleansed from the flour, and, 

 if any stalks remain adhering to the pods, they 

 should be taken off and the pods reduced to a 

 fine powder : to every ounce of this add a 

 pound of wheat flour, and as much leaven as is 

 sufficient for the quantity intended. After this 

 has been properly mixed and wrought, it should 

 be made into small cakes, and baked in the 

 same manner as common cakes of the same 

 size; then cut them into small parts, and bake 

 them again that they may be as dry and hard 

 as biscuit, which, being powdered and sifted, is 

 to be kept for use." 



The annual capsicum and the larger sorts are 

 usually grown for the supply of the markets 

 more on account of their size than of their 

 quality. We grow the capsicum largely for all 

 culinary purposes, but prefer Capsicum fru- 

 tescens, a shrubby perennial sort, producing 

 small but very pungent pods. These we keep 

 in bearing for from two to three years, when 

 they are thrown away, and successional plants 

 reared from seed. 



The European names are — Piment in French ; 

 Spanischer pfeffer in German ; Peberone in 

 Italian. 



§ 5. — ROSEMARY AND LAVENDER. 



Rosemary {Rosmarinus officinalis L.) belongs 

 to the natural order Labiatce and tribe Monardese, 

 and to the class Diandria and order Monogynia 

 in the Linnsean arrangement. A native of the 

 south of Europe, from whence it was intro- 

 duced most probably by the monks in the dark 

 ages. It has long been a cultivated plant in 

 our gardens, and employed for the most oppo- 

 site purposes. The sprigs are used as a garnish 

 for some dishes ; they are also by some stuck 

 into roast-beef while roasting, and are sup- 

 posed to communicate an agreeable flavour to 

 it. They are in some parts presented to the 

 company at funerals as tokens of remembrance, 

 and are afterwards thrown into the grave. A 



