POINTS OF MERIT IN VEGETABLES. 



293 



(or, better still, follow the French method and plant 

 shallow and thin, during the cutting season banking up 

 over the plants with light, friable soil, or other suitable 

 blanching material) we may have long, perfectly 

 blanched shoots, but far enough from the collar to en- 

 sure tender blanched asparagus without woody butts. 

 The secret is, cut your shoots at a distance from the 

 roots proportionate to their age. 



Beans. — I will only speak of them as used for snaps. 

 Since the general introduction of the wax-podded sorts 

 people have come to judge of this vegetable almost en- 

 tirely by its appearance, the longest, whitest, handsomest 

 pods being considered the best ; but a better observa- 

 tion will show one that the whitest pods in the basket 

 are by no means the whitest when cooked. If we will 

 cook the clear white pods of the ivory pod and the yel- 

 low ones of the golden wax, we will find the latter much 

 the lighter and brighter color ; and if we go further and 

 taste them there will be no doubt as to which is the bet- 

 ter quality. The value of a snap bean rests in its fleshy 

 pod, and in judging of the merits of different lots we 

 should not only look at the external shape and color, but 

 at the flesh. This should completely fill the pod so that 

 there is little depression between the beans, and on cut- 

 ting the pod at these points there should be no cavity 

 seen. The flesh, too, should be firm and solid. In 

 some sorts it is very juicy, and even watery, when the 

 pod is young, but speedily becomes spongy or pithy. 

 Last, but by no means least, the pod should be, as the 

 Europeans say, "free from parchment" — that is, the 

 inner lining of the pod should be thin and without fiber, 

 a point which is often overlooked, the observer being 

 satisfied if there is no " string " at the back. 



Beets. — Most people are content if the root is smooth, 

 shapely, and of good color, but this is by no means all. 

 The color should be one that will hold while cooking — 

 should be ' ' fast ;" and secondly, the top should be small 

 and compact, covering and occupying as small a pro- 

 portion of the top as possible, because it will always be 

 found that the portion just below the top is harder, 

 rank-flavored, and lacking in sugar. This is so univer- 

 sally invariably true that the French and German sugar- 

 makers always cut off and throw away this portion (often 

 amounting to from three to five per cent.) of the root, 

 saying they cannot make good sugar when this part is 

 taken. 



Cabbage. — In a long and large stemmed plant we will 

 find the leaves relatively far apart and with large, coarse 

 midribs; and as a portion of the stem extends up into 

 and becomes the objectionable core of the head, it car- 

 ries with it the same character, and we have a large- 

 cored and soft-hearted head, the base of the leaves being 

 separated in the head in the same way as below it. 

 Again, the shape o.f the leaf is important. A fault often 

 seen is the blade not extending to the very base, thus 

 giving the leaf a distinct stem. The leaves of the head 

 will be of the same character, and consequently the 

 heart, made up of the bases of the leaves, will be loose 

 and "stemmy " at the center, even if hard and firm at 



the outside. The leaves should also be abundant in- 

 number, long, and show a decided tendency either to 

 enclose the center or to be dish-shape. If not, we have 

 a head in which the leaves do not lap by each other, 

 forming one with either an opening, or soft spot down 

 through the center, through which the seed-stalk will 

 soon push its way and the head becomes worthless. 

 Lastly, the leaves of all cabbages should be thick and 

 brittle rather than thin and fibrous. 



Cauliflower. — The common opinion is that cauli- 

 flower heads should be smooth and flat ; but Long Is- 

 land gardeners who have given more attention to this 

 vegetable than any one else in this country declare that 

 the head should be round rather than flat, and as knobby 

 as possible. They claim, and we think with good rea- 

 son, that the flat umbel-shaped head must of necessity 

 have a much larger proportion of stem than one which 

 is in general outline nearly globular, and in which each 

 section is also globular, thus giving a rough or knobby, 

 rather than a smooth, head. Certainly the latter style 

 are much heavier and more solid, and we think are of 

 better quality. 



Carrot. — Few people in this country know how pal- 

 atable well-grown and properly cooked carrots are, but 

 in order to fully appreciate them one must use the small 

 and finer grained garden varieties, and when they are in 

 proper condition, which is when they are young and ten- 

 der, not waiting until they are nearly full-grown, as is 

 commonly done. 



Celery. — Here, as in beans, too much weight has 

 been given to whiteness : and flavorless and soft White 

 Plume has ruled the market. It certainly is true that 

 excessively blanched and white celery is always of in- 

 ferior quality. Often it is actually worthless, being 

 pithy and soft. Good quality is indicated by fine grain 

 and solidity. A person should be able to snap a stem 

 into three pieces by taking it in both hands and giving 

 a quick jerk with each hand in opposite directions. The 

 break should be square, showing brittle fiber, and as 

 little " string" at the back as may be. The flesh should 

 be firm, solid and fine-grained, and have a rich nutty 

 flavor. Such celery is rarely seen in market, because of 

 the demand for the whiter and (to the novice) more at- 

 tractive kinds ; but no one knows better than the Kala- 

 mazoo growers how to produce it if it is called for. 



Cucumber. — Whether for pickles or slicing, if trian- 

 gular in general shape of cross-section, as most of them 

 are, the sides should be concave outward, instead of 

 convex, the latter shape always indicating a hard and 

 often bitter strip along the center of each side where the 

 seeds are attached. The fruit should also be nearly the 

 same size throughout its entire length, any depression 

 or seedless neck being indicative of hardness and bitter- 

 ness of flesh at that point. In pickling cucumbers, the 

 color is a very important point. It should be as deep, 

 and extend as uniformly over the fruit, as possible. Con- 

 trary to the usual opinion, we do not think that coarse 

 spines or prickles indicate crispness of flesh, as the most 



