56 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



materials can be worked up into, not only pleasure-giving, but 

 also health-giving compounds ; for to eat a thing with pleasure 

 is a great aid to digestion, and, without good digestion, good 

 health is hardly possible. The gardener and the cook are a 

 pair of very useful creatures in civilised life. In the words 

 of the Very Eev. the Dean of Rochester {Nineteenth Century for 

 April, 1898, page 646) : " Seriously, these subjects of horticul- 

 ture and cookery are of great national, social, and moral import- 

 ance. ... If a man does not find happiness at home, he will 

 seek it elsewhere in vain ; but when, after his day's work is 

 done, you refresh his eyes and his palate with the results of his 

 own handiwork, you do much to make him satisfied with his 

 surroundings, and to restrain him from wandering to those 

 perilous places where wild asses quench their thirst." 



In concluding this little preamble, let me tell you that you 

 cannot have savoury dishes without the use of onions, garlic, olives, 

 grated cheese, and various other condiments. I know that some 

 people have a horror of onions and garlic in any form. These 

 strongly scented ingredients should, however, be used so judi- 

 ciously as to present to the palate a sort of " bouquet " of 

 flavours. In short, they should be used much as perfumers use 

 musk and civet to produce the various scents which ladies and 

 other folk are so fond of. 



Let us now commence with the 



Aubergine. — Some time ago I procured some seeds of a very 

 choice variety from Delhi in India, called there mdroo baingan. 

 I have a suspicion that mdroo is simply a corruption of the 

 English word marrow, owing to the marrowy softness and flavour 

 of this delicious vegetable. Well, among others I sent some of 

 the seeds to the Rev. Mr. Wilks, our esteemed Secretary. He 

 made them over to the official in charge of the Chiswick 

 Garden, and in due course they produced fruit ; the report I got 

 of them was that they were pronounced nasty ! Certainly the 

 raw aubergine is nasty, and, simply boiled, it cannot be called 

 nice. In this case it was simply boiled, and I do not wonder it 

 was not found fascinating. Mr. Wilks himself, however, had 

 some fried in butter, and pronounced them decidedly nice. 



There are several ways of cooking this aubergine, or brinjal, 

 as it is called in some places. 



(a) Remove the stalk and bracts, or enlarged calyx, cut the 



