210 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
raised above the general level. For winter use it can be 
forced without any trouble, and the simplest way is to take 
up some strong roots that have not been gathered from all 
the summer, and pot them or put them in shallow pans, or 
boxes, in rich soil. This should be done at the end of August, 
and the pots or boxes should be left out of doors fully ex- 
posed to the weather. Do not cut down the green shoots ; 
leave them for the frost to destroy. When the frost has 
cleared away the tops, put the pans or pots in a frame, and 
after a week or two transfer one of them to a warm green- 
house or forcing pit, and in three or four weeks the new 
growth will appear. Continue to introduce other batches as 
required, preferring always to force slowly than rapidly. If 
six weeks can be allowed, the shoots will be fatter, and the 
flavour richer than if forced in less time. If possible, leave 
a few/ pots full of roots in the pit or frame, as these will give 
shoots a full fortnight or three weeks earlier than mint can 
be gathered from the open ground. Water may be given 
fresly to mint when forced, and it should be as near the glass 
as possible. 
Woolly Mint, Mentha rotundifolia , is one of the most 
useful herbs of its class, and the very best kind of mint for 
the making of sauce to eat with lamb. The plant is coarse 
in growth, the leaves large, roundish, of a soft woolly texture, 
and very bright and grateful in flavour. The young tops 
should be pinched out and used quite fresh, and without 
washing. Mint sauce made quite thick with this mint will 
make even house-lamb at Christmas eatable, and such tame 
meats need some flavouring to justify the absurdity of eating 
them. 
Marigold, Calendula officinalis . — A showy annual, which 
should be grown on a dry, sunny bank, as although it will 
grow anywhere, it is never well flavoured when grown in rich, 
damp soil. Sow the seed where the plants are to remain ; if 
in a piece, thin them to a foot apart. The thinnings may be 
transplanted if the seed-bed is not large enough for the 
supply of flowers required ; the single dark-coloured flowers 
are the best for flavour. Gather the flowers when fully ex- 
panded, and dry quickly, and store away in paper-bags in a 
dry place. 
Purslane. — Portiilacca oleracea is the green purslane ; P . 
saliva is the golden purslane. Sow in pans filled with sandy 
