WINDFALLS. 



309 



The Iron Post. 



Professor Taft : It is as good as cauliflower and more 

 easily grown than cabbage. 



Professor Tracy : Swiss chard is a vegetable which 

 also has not the attention it deserves. There is no veg- 

 table I like better. The beautiful, white leaf-stalks are 

 the part eaten, and whether dressed like asparagus or 

 put into pickle, it is very fine. Like all other vegeta- 

 bles, it should be put, for cooking, into hot and slightly 

 salted water. Savoy cabbages are very superior in 

 flavor to the other varieties. They are greatly preferred 

 in the New York market, and have been much improv- 

 ed under American cultivation, both in size and flavor. 



Iron Grape Posts. — The rough surface of wooden 

 posts serves as a most excellent place for the lodgment 

 of the spores of 

 the numerous 

 fungi that attack 

 the grape. Many 

 of these spores, 

 doubtless pass 

 the winter safely 

 in the cracks of 

 the post and here 

 they are perfect- 

 ly sheltered from 

 the various dres- 

 sings that are 

 used to destroy 

 them. The tim- 

 ber, when it be- 

 gins to decay, also offers a safe harbor for many injuri- 

 ous insects. I believe it would be far better to substi- 

 tute iron piping for the wooden posts that are so gener- 

 ally used. These iron posts would cost more in the be- 

 ginning, but after a few years they would more than 

 pay for themselves. Anyway they would be far cleaner 

 and would allow a freer circulation of air through the 

 vineyard. These iron pipes need not exceed one and a- 

 half inches in diameter, and should be about seven or 

 eight feet in length. The top of the post should be 

 fitted with an iron cap and small pipes of the proper 

 size should be screwed through the posts to serve for 

 the passage of the wire. The posts should be pointed 

 at the lower end and thus no insects or moisture could 

 possibly get inside ; and if the outside were tarred or 

 galvanized, such posts would outlast a lifetime. 



If these iron posts are not practicable in the vineyard 

 I am sure they would be the means of great saving in 

 the growing of tomatoes, raspberries and similar plants. 

 For these plants the pipes need not exceed three-quar- 

 ters of an inch in diameter. Instead of pipes, iron bars 

 might be used for growing tomatoes. These bars should 

 be about a quarter of inch thick, and about one and one 

 one quarter inches wide, and they should have holes 

 bored through them about one foot apart for threading 

 the wires. Instead of holes, notches might be cut into 

 the bar, but by this latter method, although saving 

 time when erecting the trellis, the bar would be consid- 

 erably weakened. At the end of the rows three bars 



should be used ; two side by side, with the third be- 

 tween for a brace ; or a bar might be especially con- 

 structed for use as a brace. — H. W. Smith, La. 



Tomato Recipes. — Fried. — It happens frequently 

 that our "modern conveniences" render the genuine 

 broiling process inconvenient, and in such cases a toler- 

 able substitute may be prepared as follows : 



Select your tomatoes as for broiling. They must be 

 ripe and sound, and of nearly equal size. Cut off a 

 slice from the " stem end," and take out the hard core, 

 as already described. Lay them, cut side down, in a 

 skillet well greased with butter or beef drippings (the 

 latter is preferable), and of proper heat for frying. 

 Cook gently for about five minutes, then turn carefully, 

 so as not to break the tomatoes. Tho cut sides are now 

 on top, so they may be sprinkled with salt and pepper. 

 The frying is then continued. To prevent scorching, a 

 large spoonful of cold water must be thrown in from 

 time to time as it evaporates. Too much water will 

 cause the tomatoes to boil, and will break the skins ; 

 and if permitted to fry dry, they will burn and stick to 

 the iron. 



In about twenty minutes take them from the skillet, 

 adding a little butter to each tomato. 



Baked. — Select and prepare exactly as for broiling or 

 frying. Arrange with the cut sides on top in a buttered 

 baking-pan. Salt and pepper, and set in a well-heated 

 oven. Bake for half-hour, and then transfer, without 

 breaking if possible, to a platter or dish, where the gravy 

 is poured over them. A sprig or two of parsley may be 

 laid around each tomato as a garnish, The tomatoes 

 themselves may also be used as a garnish for meat baked 

 in the same pan or separately. — Ex. 



Essentials of Cauliflower Culture. — " Of all the 



flowL-rs of the garden I like the catiliflo'ver best.'' — Dr. 

 Johnson. 



There is no vegetable, the cultivation of which in 

 this country is regarded as more difficult and uncertain 

 than that of the cauliflower. The conditions of success 

 however, though imperative, are very simple : 



1. Clitiiatc. It is useless to attempt to grow cauliflow- 

 ers in a dry hot climate, without irrigation. This ap- 

 plies particularly to the climate or weather at the time 

 they are expected to head. While growing, cauliflower 

 plants will stand nearly as much dry weather as the 

 cabbage. But if the heading takes place in dry hot 

 weather the result is apt to be loose, leafy, sun-burnt 

 heads, strong in flavor and unattractive in appearance. 

 On the other hand, unless the weather and treatment 

 are such as to maintain an active growth through the 

 summer months the plants will fail to be far enough 

 advanced to head at all. 



2. Soil. This cannot be too rich. Cabbage will pro- 

 duce small heads even in poor soil, but cauliflower in 

 such a soil will generally fail to head at all. In soils 

 supplied with an excess of vegetable matter, or with ni- 

 trogenous manures, cabbages often form coarse soft 

 heads, but cauliflowers thrive best and produce their 



