230 
THE AMATEUR’S KITCHEN GARDEN. 
tomatoes may take this comfort for his encouragement, that 
every one of them, from the largest to the smallest, may be 
turned to account for the manufacture of tomato sauce, and 
heaven forefend that any of us worthy people should ever 
lack of that delectable compound. 
A word on the cooking of tomatoes may not be out of 
place here. The simplest way is to put them into a hot oven 
for about ten minutes, and then serve them without any more 
preparation. They should swim in their own gravy, and have 
no flavouring or improving whatever. With a dish of chops 
or cutlets, or with any roast meat, but more especially with 
mutton, tomatoes hastily cooked, without any addition what- 
ever, are invaluable, and the refined palate will declare the 
Love Apple to be a tremendous competitor of Homer’s Lotus. 
To prepare tomato sauce is an easy matter. Boil the fruit 
with a very little water. Bub through a tammy cloth : to 
every quart of pulp add half-an-ounce of garlic and one 
ounce of shallots, and salt to taste. Boil again for half-an- 
liour, then strain, and add to every quart of clear sauce a 
quarter-of-a-pint of vinegar, and bottle and seal down. It 
may be useful to add that tomato sauce should be of good 
colour and thick, and savoury. It is best to put it into small 
bottles, because after a bottle is opened the sauce will not 
keep long. 
The Capsicum that produces the Guinea pepper of com- 
merce is Capsicum annuam, a pretty plant, but much sur- 
passed in beauty by the Cherry pepper, Capsicum cerasiforme , 
and the Bell pepper, Capsicum grossum. All the varieties 
are easily grown as pot plants, and in a good season ripen 
their fruits perfectly, if properly managed, in the open ground. 
The middle of March is early enough for sowing the seed, 
and a good return may be ensured by sowing as late as the 
end of April. Sow in shallow pans, in light soil, and place 
the pans in a stove or on a hotbed. Those to be grown in 
pots should be potted singly in thumbs as soon as they show 
their rough leaves, and kept in a warm place, such as the 
sunny end of the greenhouse, or the cool end of the stove, to 
promote free growth. They should be in the full light, and 
have air during genial weather, so as to be kept sturdy and 
strong from the first. Any light rich soil will serve for them ; 
such as fuchsias require will answer perfectly. From thumbs 
they should be shifted to sixty size, thence to forty-eight size, 
