February 13.] 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER, 
311 
These are facts; and another fact is, that we ourselves find 
i the swede to he a most excellent vegetable for the table. 
My own fondness for potatoes has always been such, that if 
j I could dine upon them, I cared little for anything else; but 
since they have been so scarce and dear I have become 
entirely weaned from them, and have fixed my affections 
almost as fully upon the parsnip and the swede. The parsnip 
I is so much dearer to buy, that m times like the present, when 
j it is the bounden duty of all who suffer under their pressure 
j to choose the least expensive diet possible, it is not to be in- 
I dulged in so freely; but the swede is to be bought now for 
j fourpence and fivepence a bushel, and is so sweet, so firm, so 
i turnip-like in flavour, and so satisfying, that it forms a most 
J excellent and cheap accompaniment to the frugal fare of the 
j economical family. Plain boiled and cut info pieces as an 
apple is divided, or mashed like turnips, it is delicate and 
; agreeable; and to those who have to purchase garden 
| produce, or make the most of their own little plot of ground, 
| the swede will be found next in convenience to the potato. 
Swede tops are very excellent when boiled and served up 
| like greens. The cottage gardeners have of late grown them 
very much in place of potatoes, and have found them more 
profitable than almost any other crop. They keep very well 
in pits, and when relished and made use of will be found ex¬ 
tremely advantageous as a winter vegetable. 
It may require some little effort to take to that which has 
never been eaten before, and seen only in farm-yards as food 
for cattle; but prejudice wall vanish by degrees, and we shall 
be thankful for anything that is wholesome, and cheap, and 
nourishing, when we are striving to maintain ourselves or our 
families upon a trifling pittance. 
I do not know whether I ever mentioned the leaves of the 
dandelion as a vegetable; but at the risk of troubling my 
readers with a repetition I will observe, that when boiled and 
served up like spinach the young leaves of that plant, parti¬ 
cularly in spring, can scarcely he distinguished from the 
delicate vegetable of our garden. There is sometimes a 
’ slightly hitter taste when the leaves are not quite young, but 
it is by no means disagreeable ; and when we do not possess 
a garden, or one only large enough to contain the useful roots 
and herbs, it is pleasant to be able to obtain a delicacy without 
expense. When children are taking their daily walk, it would 
be sometimes an amusement to them to gather a basket of 
dandelion leaves for the next day’s dinner; and a few eggs 
poached, or fried, and laid upon them, when cheap and 
plentiful, make a nice and nourishing meal. 
To those who have a garden the vegetable marrow is a 
very useful and wholesome plant. If a hedge or paling 
commands a good aspect, the plants may be trained against 
either; and six or eight plants will give very nearly two 
hundred weight of solid food, which is a material addition to 
the “ ways and means ” of a little household. Plain boiled, 
and served up alone, or upon toast, this is a most excellent 
vegetable ; and it may also be stewed with meat, or by itself 
in gravy. 
Another most nutritious vegetable, very little regarded in 
England, but deserving of general esteem, is the Harricot 
bean. It is a small, delicately white bean, possessing highly 
nutritious properties; and when stewed or thoroughly well 
boiled, and eaten with pepper and salt, it is a dinner in itself. 
A gentleman who was anxious to ascertain its real character 
as food, tried the experiment of feeding a man, who willingly 
| undertook the service, for a certain number of days upon the 
i Harricot bean, and an equal number upon the potato; and 
| the result was greatly in favour of the former. The man 
stated that the support derived from the beans was superior 
! to that afforded by potatoes, and that he could work much 
I better on the one than the other. 
I have never observed any remarks upon this vegetable in 
j the pages of The Cottaue Gardener; but so useful and 
j strengthening as it is, it might with much benefit to the poor 
I be brought into notice, and its cultivation encouraged; 
j because the loss of the potato makes it necessary to use 
j every substitute possible for that once invaluable root; and 
j the Harricot bean is so easily kept during the winter, 
! without trouble of storing and preserving from frost, that it 
j is certainly worth the attention of the gardener and the 
! labourer, and of all who are anxious to obtain cheap and 
j nutritious food for their families in these days of pressure. 
| A sack or two of these beans would be a comfortable store 
for the winter, and may be kept anywhere in a dry place, as 
they neither emit any unpleasant smell or cause dirt and 
litter. I shall be glad to know that the cottage gardener lias 
turned his attention to them. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
Sweet Window Fi.owf.rs (A. IV.).—You wish these for a box to be 
gay outside a south window until June. We do not think we can add 
much to the lists lately given for balconies, &c. For the present, you 
must only have such hardy things as arc there mentioned : Polyanthuses , 
Violets, Wall-flowers, &c.; and early bulbs—as Snowdrops, Crocuses, 
and Heputiciis. When gentle April comes in, if you do not mind a little 
protecting care at times, you may have Hyacinths for beauty and fra¬ 
grance, and Tulips for show, and early autumn-sown Stocks; and towards 
May, plenty of Mignonette, saved over the whiter. It would be of little 
use putting out anything very tender until at least the middle of May. 
Azalea Sinensis (T. IK. T.). —It is difficult to get this to grow in a 
round specimen-like form; and we do not think its beauty would he 
increased if it was. If, however, you are very anxious, you may pick 
out the centre of your tallest shoots, when growth has commenced, and 
leave the dwarf ones alone. You must not re-stop in summer or you 
will have wood imperfectly ripened, and therefore unsupplied with flower 
buds. If the plant is at all healthy and vigorous, it will want a shift 
from a five to a seven or eight-inch pot, and that after growth has fairly 
commenced; taking care that by shading and a close atmosphere the 
plant is not checked. If, on examination, you find the pot is not well 
supplied with roots, remove a portion of the old soil, and transfer to a 
similar sized pot. It will not hear pruning so freely, nor break so freely, 
as the other Indian sub-evergreen azaleas, 
Mandevilla Suaveolens Cuttings (Ibid).— Ripe cuttings of this 
inserted in sand, over sandy loam, and plunged in a moderate hotbed, 
will succeed ; but we prefer small young side shoots three inches in 
length, taken off in the beginning of summer, and treated in a similar 
manner, with the addition of a bell-glass over them. 
Bulbs now Flowering: now to Ripen (H.G.B.). —You must 
preserve the leaves of your Crocuses, Tulips, and Hyacinths healthy as 
long as possible, by keeping them growing, preserving them from frost, 
and ensuring the roots plenty of moisture until the foliage naturally 
decays. We presume your bulbs are in pots. 
The Water Violet (Ibid). —This is the Hottoniapalustris — a prim¬ 
rose-looking aquatic, growing in England in ponds and ditches, and 
producing flesh-coloured flowers, whicli are very interesting. 
Dahlias and Hardy Aquatics (Ibid). —The latter you may plant 
out at any time ; if, however, you have got them under shelter, you might 
defer planting until the end of March. The dahlias are not safe, if 
growing, until the end of May. If you mean large roots, little, or not 
at all vegetating, you may plant in the beginning or middle of May. 
Anemones, &c. (Sarnoyed Laplander), —Your proposal for rearing 
these and ranunculuses in pots, for transplanting in succession, will not 
answer; but you could plant them in a lied this month, and again in 
March for a succession in the open beds. Verbenas, Geraniums, Helio¬ 
tropes, and Fuchsias cannot be so managed from seeds as to blossom fit 
for a flower bed the same season : annuals are almost your only resource. 
It would be more cruel in us to recommend one nurseryman over another 
than to advise you to go hack to Lapland again. 
Flower-garden (S. H. IK.).—We have said, last week, your plan 
was original, and quite new to us ; and we may add, it is tlio only one 
in the series sent to us adapted for the different heights as well as the 
colours—indeed, the only one we have seen on paper out of our own 
hands in which this idea is at all recognised; and your first question 
comprehends all that need be asked on flower gardening,—thus : “ The 
plants are required to be gay for as many months as possible, to present 
a good arrangement of colour; and it is desirable that they should 
diminish in height from fi to 11, and from 6 to 1, as the beds diminish in 
size.” You are perfectly right, and your colours were not badly disposed 
last year ; but your heights were out of joint. Your first start w'as an 
error at 6, and you could not possibly have carried out the idea after 0 
was planted. We would plant a much stronger geranium in 6, but the 
same colour ; remove 1 to 3 ; do away with the plant in 3—a mere weed 
(Double dwarf Feverfew), and put Nierembergia gracilis in 1; the rest 
as before. 
Law of Rents (J. S. L.). —We cannot advise upon a legal point so 
difficult. If you cannot get in your rent, why not submit your case to 
the Guarantee Rent Society. They guarantee the rent, or merely collect 
it: you will avoid much anxiety, trouble, and risk by employing them. 
To those persons whose income is limited, and who know from experience 
that uncertainty is the mother of confusion and misery, it surely must be 
worth while to pay a sm all per centage in exchange for regular guaran¬ 
teed payments at stated intervals. 
Vinery (Amateur, Wallingford). —By all means ventilate by sliding 
shutters in the front and hack wall; hut pray make those in the hack 
roomy. Your twenty feet house will be about five lights in length, and 
we would place three large “shutters ” equidistant at the highest level 
you can attain. They ought to be at least two feet long each, by about 
a foot in width. The front ones need not be quite so large, and both, to 
he complete, capable of graduation. Your angle is too sharp for our 
taste : a flatter roof, say fiu°, will give less anxiety. If, however, you 
adopt “ rough plate,” which excites much less jealousy than it did, per- 
