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 Rev. 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 
