192 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— June 10,1850. 
small, but productive sort of Potato, rouud and pink-coloured, 
very like the Azores variety. Amongst them one plant had 
white kidney-shaped tubers. Their stems and foliage were 
much like those of some varieties of the common Potato, 
and distinct from the others imported from Mexico along 
with them. They were all affected slightly by the disease.— 
Dr. Lindley in Hort. Soc. Journal. 
THE HOUSEHOLD. 
A New Way of Cooking a Turbot. —It often happens, 
in private families, that a present of a turbot and lobsters is 
received, little thought being given by the donor that there 
would be no means of cooking it. The first difficulty is the 
j kettle; and the next, the fire-place that would hold it. The 
i other day I was rather puzzled to get over this difficulty, 
the more so, as a quarter, or half, would not be sufficient for 
i the party, one of whom was the friend who gave it, or else 
I I might have exchanged it for some salmon, Ac. 
I proceeded thus:—Having cleaned and removed the 
; scales, Ac, I cut off the head, and with a thin knife removed 
the back skin; I then cut off all the thin part, with the 
small bones at the sides, tail, Ac.; I then cut the back 
straightwitb the spinal bone,inserted the knife under the flesh 
and close to the bone, and removed the flesh free from bone 
the other side, and did the same, and then the belly ; I had 
thus four fine pieces of turbot free from bone. The bone 
had still some flesh about it, which I removed, and made 
use of in another way. I then broke the bone into pieces, 
placed it with the head, skin, Ac., into a stew-pan, with a 
quart of water, two cloves, and allspice, a little salt, one 
onion, and let it boil on the fire, adding, from time to time, 
more water; at the end of the three hours I steamed it off, 
and got a pint-and-a-half of good, strong fish-stock. This 
was done the day before T wanted it. The turbot I placed 
in a round, tin baking-dish (which, by-the-by, is a difficult 
thing to obtain in England; those I have got I bought in 
France, and they have been in use these six years, and look 
as if they would be serviceable the same number of years 
yet); having first buttered the bottom of the dish, the back i 
part T placed first, and then the belly, skiu upwards, with a 
little butter between each piece; these T placed in the oven 
an hour-and-a-half before dinner; l found tbey were well 
done in thirty-five minutes. I then removed all fat from 
the top of the fish-stock, placed it in a stew-pan, and gave it 
a boil, with a table-spoonful of sherry wine; I then added 
1 about half a gill of good cream, a small piece of butter, gave 
it a boil, and then broke tbe yolk of one egg into it, gave it 
a stir, and placed it by the side of the fire until ready for it. 
With the lobster I made sauce, keeping the spawn for deco¬ 
rating the turbot; when ready to dish up, I poured the white 
sauce over the turbot, decorated the top with cut lemon, 
horse-radish, and the spawn, and a most delicious dish it 
was ; which, if served in a silver dish, could be placed before 
the greatest epicure. It might be decorated with a few caper , 
and anchovies. 
One thing to avoid is that the oven should not be too hot, 
and if so, to cover the top with paper, so that the fish should 
not get dry or hard. A turbot is much better for being 
some days kept before cooking. This dish warmed up 
equally as well as the first day ; and then what remained 
made a beautiful salad. I feci convinced that this is the 
proper way to cook a turbot; although the gourmand's part, 
the fins, are not there, yet they exist in the delicious jelly 
of the sauce, which I believe to be exceedingly nourishing, 
and well worthy tbe attention of medical men.—W. 
QUERIES AND ANSWERS. 
CARDENINC5. 
FAILURE OF EARLY CUCUMBERS. 
“They are in a frame fourteen feet by six feet, and have 
had a constant heat of 70°, or, at all events, never less than 
65°, with a bottom-heat (obtained by hot-water pipes) of 
some ten more. They were stopped when the first rough 
leaves appeared, have grown very vigorously, and have 
thrown out plenty (as far as I and my gardener can see) of 
bearing laterals. They fruit well; butas soon as the young 
Cucumbers get about halfun-inch long, and a day or two 
after the flower drops oil’, the end gets yellow, and they die. 
I am afraid that I shall have no mature fruit until the se¬ 
cond lot (in a dung hotbed) comes on, which will not be for 
six weeks or two months. The stem seems to me to be 
rather long, about four inches from the lateral to the end 
of the young fruit; perhaps this has something to do with it. 
The aspect of the frame is due south, and the plants are 
shaded during the heat of the day. When should Auriculas 
and Carnation seeds be sown?-— James R.” 
[We are not sure, but we suspect that there are two 
causes, one of which may be the reason of your disappoint¬ 
ment. First, have you not been growing a hardy, short Cu¬ 
cumber, for which the heat would be too much? We once 
got Gherkins iu mistake, and they would not stand the heat, 
and the fruit were inclined to go off a little as you say. This 
idea struck us from speaking of your fruit half an-inch long, 
as long house kinds, long before the flower falls, are several 1 
inches in length. The other cause is dryness at the roots. 
We have found this the case when bottom-heat was given 
by pipes, Ac. Examine and make sure that the soil over 
the heating medium is moist enough. ’The fruit is tenderer 
than the foliage, and shows it first. A space of rubble should 
intervene between the heating medium and the. soil. 
Sow Auriculas and Carnations in a slight hotbed directly. 
It would have been better if it had been done two months 
ago.] 
HEATING BY GAS. 
“ Mr. F. J. Lawrence’s letter on gas boilers, Ac., in The 
Cottage Gardener, has just stopped me taking away my 
gas pipes, which I had laid for the purpose of heating my 
water by gas instead of coke. I found it cost me fifty feet 
of gas per hour, and could not stand this. But my boiler 
is a cast-iron saddle one, and I may not have got a good 
kind of burner to set it a-going. The burner I used was 
the shape of an oval, with, perhaps, one hundred jets from 
if. It blackened the boiler very much, and was very expen¬ 
sive in its working by gas. The cost of coke was very little ; 
but the great objection to this was my being necessarily 
often out, and being my own stoker, I could not trust my ser¬ 
vants with the same. My present pipes, flow and return, are 
two inches, the flow rather larger. Do you think the kind 
writer of the letter above alluded to will answer the question 
annexed? if so. I shall feel under still further obligations to 
both you and Mr. Lawrence.—L. R. Lucas.” 
[Mr. Lawrence has obliged us by the following reply to 
the above inquiry :— 
“If I understand Mr. Lucas's letter right, he wants to 
know whether a boiler, similar to the one I have in use, can 
be attached to his 2-inch pipe, and also whether the jet is 
fixed to the boiler. He can have his pipes fixed to the 
boiler alluded to in my letter; but I would advise him to 
have the boiler of the size last made for me, the cost of 
which was Tl. The jet is part of the boiler, and is in¬ 
cluded for the above-mentioned price, and will burn, when 
on its full, about six or seven feet per hour. These boilers 
are only to be had of Messrs. Smith and Phi Hips, Skinner 
Street, Snow Hill, who have taken out a patent for them.— 
Freezing J. Lawkence.”J 
TIME BETWEEN SOWING CABBAGE SEED AND 
CUTTING THE HEADS. 
“ If Atkin's Matchless Cabbage seed be sown at the com¬ 
mencement of July, about what time in the spring of 18f)7 
would they be ready for market, having good firm heads? Is 
there any good hearting kind that is earlier ?—G. Tasker.” 
[Much depends upon the soil, season, and culture. On a 
rich loam, well cultivated, Atkin’s Matchless , sown in the last 
week of July, will produce plants varying so much in their 
rapidity of growth as to produce good heads from October 
to February. AVe know of none better for an early crop.] 
