288 
THE GARDE N MAGAZI N E 
June, 1917 
Kohlrabi is a cabbage with a swollen tumip-like root which should be eaten young 
has an absolutely distinct flavor. The direc- 
tions given for raising Brussels sprout plants 
will also apply to red cabbage. Plants may be 
set eighteen inches apart, with two feet be- 
tween the rows. They mature by the end of 
September. 
Prepare red cabbage by trimming the outer 
leaves; cut the heads into small pieces, boil 
about 15 minutes, drain and chop fine. Place 
in a stewing pan, add two tab.iespoonfuls 
of butter, salt and pepper to suit taste. Get 
a small muslin bag in which place one third 
of five cents’ worth of mixed spices. Place 
this in the stewing pan and let it cook slowly 
for an hour, stirring occasionally. Serve hot, 
adding perhaps a little more butter. Before 
serving throw out the little bag with spices. 
Sometimes red cabbage is preferred to the 
white for making cold slaw. 
The planting line must feed the fighting line. 
Plant Now and Grow Salad in Your Cellar All Winter 
ANNA M. BURKE Ma “ ac s hu - 
FRENCH ENDIVE, THE FANCY SALAD OF EXCLUSIVE TABLES, IS EASILY AVAILABLE IN WINTER AND SPRING 
TO ANY ONE WITH A GARDEN 
F resh, crisp salad growing in one’s 
cellar all winter! It sounds too 
good to be true, doesn’t it? And 
when we add that we are speaking 
of the luxury variously known as witloof chic- 
ory, Barbe de Capucin, and French endive, 
our story assumes the proportions of a fairy 
tale. Yet a bountiful supply of this most 
delicious salad, for which restaurants and 
markets demand such fancy prices, on the 
ground that it is “imported,” may be grown 
in the cellar with less care than is required 
to produce a head of lettuce. In fact, the 
only care required during the winter consists 
in watering when dry — perhaps once a week. 
1 he real work is done in the garden during the 
summer, and is simple in the extreme. 
Sow seeds in shallow drills eighteen inches 
apart, either in a frame or seed-bed to be 
transplanted later, or where they are to grow. 
June 1st to 15th is not too late — so that it 
can follow a crop of some early vegetable 
such as early peas. The peas are done by 
July 1st, and the vines should be cut off, 
leaving the nitrogen-bearing roots to be dug 
in, thus adding to the fertility of the soil, 
add bone meal 
and transplant 
the young seed- 
lings from a 
seed-bed. If 
the seeds are 
sown where 
they are to 
grow, the plants 
should be thin- 
ned to stand 6 
inches apart in 
the row. Those removed in the thinning pro- 
cess may be transplanted, if desired. 
Keep the ground about the plants con- 
stantly stirred with a wheel-hoe, or a scuffle- 
hoe and rake. A tablespoon of nitrate of 
soda dissolved in four gallons of water and 
applied at the base of the plants once a week 
will greatly stimulate their growth. The ob- 
ject is to get as large roots as possible; the 
larger the roots, the better they will force 
during the winter. 
After the first black frost has killed the 
tops, the large, parsnip-like roots may be dug, 
and the wilted tops cut off an inch from the 
crown. 1 he roots should then be piled near 
the house in a sheltered corner, covering them 
with coarse litter. A dozen roots may be 
brought in and forced at once, but it is advis- 
able to leave the greater portion out for a 
week or two, as the frost seems to remove 
much of the bitter tang. [For a spring crop 
the roots may be left where they grow and, 
after frost is out cover the tops with straw lit- 
ter or manure held in place by boards — Ed.] 
1 he method of forcing is as follows: Select 
a box at least eighteen inches deep, and if 
there are no cracks in the bottom, holes must 
be bored to allow for drainage. Have at hand 
also in the cellar a quantity of rich garden soil, 
to which has been added a sprinkling of fine 
bone meal (The roots may be packed more 
evenly if the box is tipped over on its side, 
with the opening facing the worker). 
Place a layer of soil on this under side, put- 
ting an inch or two of drainage — cinders or 
coarse litter— at the back (which is the bot- 
tom of the box when in its upright position). 
On top of this layer of soil arrange a row of 
roots, placing them an inch apart and having 
the crowns even and at least four-inches below 
the top of the box. Cover with an inch of 
soil, putting the drainage at the back as before, 
and arrange another row of roots — and so on 
until the box is full. Then tip the box back 
into its original upright position and over the 
crowns spread sifted soil to within half an 
inch of the top. Water well with Iuke-warm 
water and set in a warm place, close to the 
heater. To' insure well blanched heads light 
must be excluded. \ his may be done by a 
V-shaped thatch of newspapers held up by 
pieces of shingle inserted in the soil, or a box 
may be inverted over the roots. 
The new growth starts very quickly. In 
three or four days white shoots begin to appear, 
and in a week they are ready to cut. If good- 
sized roots were planted, they will produce 
cone-shaped heads two-inches or more in 
diameter. 
Another box of roots may be started about 
the middle of November, leaving the rest to 
be planted about the first of December. The 
first plantings will continue to bear all winter, 
however, if care is taken to cut the heads at 
the surface of the soil, so as not to injure the 
crowns. 
The surface of the soil in the box may be 
stirred occasionally with a small hand-weeder, 
and should be moistened with luke-warm water 
whenever dry. Once a fortnight a liquid 
fertilizer — one teaspoon of nitrate of soda to 
two quarts of water — should be added, and 
about the first of February a sprinkling of fine 
bone meal may be raked in. 
Witloof chicory makes a delicious salad 
when served alone with French dressing, or it 
may be combined with lettuce, vegetables 
or fruits in almost endless variety. Some 
combinations which we have found particu- 
larly good are appended: 
Chicory and Grapefruit Salad: Separate 
the chicory leaves and arrange them in nests 
on individual plates. Remove the sections of 
pulp intact from a grapefruit cut in halves 
crosswise. File in the centre of the nests and 
sprinkle with a little finely chopped green 
pepper. Serve with French dressing, to which 
has been added some of the juice of the grape- 
fruit. 
Cress and Chicory Salad: Arrange a bunch 
of crisp water cress in the centre of a shallow 7 
“French Endive, 1 ' really a chicory is an easily grown crop for salad in winter and spring 
