58 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
hotand should the children happen to peep into the old 
jug, or under the cup in which the store of halfpence has 
been put, what slnill voices are heard all round begging for 
a cake or some lollipops. Therefore, take my advice, and if 
there is a penny-club in your neighbourhood, belong to it. 
Having written thus far about my poorer friends, I think I 
had better devote the remainder of my allotted space to a few 
recipes on preparing the usual dinner for a labourer’s family. 
The articles constituting the dinner vary in different coun¬ 
ties, and according to what is grown in the “ Allotment 
Gardens.” In my part of the world, peas, potatoes, onions, 
and bread, with a little whey, butter, or (hipping is, I am 
sorry to say, the usual fare Meat is seldom touched, unless 
a pig is fatted; and even then the. greater part of it is sold. 
A little management, a little knowledge, would improve this 
meal. A few pence expended on sheep’s trotters, or scraps 
of meat, would turn the other ingredient into more nourish¬ 
ing diet, and the family would be fed in a comfortable man¬ 
ner, and without any extra expense. 
Sheep’s Feet, or Trotters as the butchers call them, 
contain a great deal of nourishment; they are usually bought 
all ready for dressing, and cost one penny each. Buy a 
couple of them next Saturday at market, and also 1 lb of 
damaged rice, the price of which is three halfpence. When 
you wish to dress them, proceed in the following manner:— 
Put a tablespoonful of dripping into your saucepan, with 
two tablespoonsful of water. Have ready to put in directly 
it bubbles some sliced ouions aud carrots. Keep them over 
the fire for three minutes, stilling it all the time, then put 
as much water as you require, and add the trotters and half 
the rice that you purchased. Cover the saucepan closely, 
and let it stew for three hours. Now for the potatoes! Wash 
them well, but do not peal them, they are always better and 
more wholesome when boiled in them “jackets.” Put them 
into a saucepan half-full only of eold water, with a little salt. 
When nearly soft enough, strain the water off, cover the 
saucepan close, and leave it on the hob for the steam to finish 
cooking them. By attending to these simple directions, you 
will have dry mealy potatoes. When ready to begin dinner, 
pour out your soup into a basin, keeping back the bones (which 
will again flavour a little onion broth). Help each person 
to some of the rice, and let the potatoes and bread be soaked 
in the broth. I am sure the whole party will agree that this 
dinner is a very great improvement on those they have been 
in the habit of seeing. A Friend. 
WILD FLOWERS OF MAY. 
As a new feature in The Cottage Gardener, we purpose 
to present our flower-loving readers -with a monthly paper on 
native wild flowers, noticing particularly those peculiar to the 
month, and giving a detail of sucli facts relating to their history 
and properties as may be likely to find general interest. Among 
all the months in the year, no one is so richly adorned in 
floral garlands as the merry, merry month of May. The lap 
of “ flowery May ’’ is full to overflowing with the beauteous 
favours of Flora’s hand. Her lovely gems are bursting 
into life and beauty all around us; they enamel the fresh 
green meadow ; the placid stream reflects their fairy forms ; 
the leafing woods shelter them from the noonday sun, and 
the mild breath of evening is made balmy by their fragrance. 
In the hedges and bushy places the Traveller’s Joy ( Cle¬ 
matis vitalba) is already sending forth its fragrant blossoms, 
which, when they fade, give place to the not less beautiful 
seeds, -with their long, silky, and feathery awns. This is a 
very ornamental plant for twining through bushy shrub¬ 
beries, and decking old ruins, and, according to Smith, the 
seeds retain their vegetative properties for many years if 
kept dry. In the shady woods the Anemone (Anemone 
nemorosa) is in a glow of beauty, its pure white blossoms, 
which are gently drooping during moist weather, sometimes 
acquiring a tinge of purple. This acrid plant is dangerous 
for cattle, and we believe goats alone may feed on it with 
impunity. A few English pastures are decked with the 
handsome purple flowers of the Basque flower Anemone (A. 
pulsuliUa), a plant which is also very acrid, and blisters the 
skin, although its root is statpd by Hnller to be sweet. It 
was the good old Gerarde who gave this flower the name of 
Basque flower or Easter flower, and as he himself tells us, 
he was “ moved to name " it so because of the time of its 
appearance: the flowers are reported to yield a green dye. 
[April 25. 
The rare little Mousetail (Myosurus minimus) is in flower as 
a weed in the fields and gardens. There are also various 
species of Ranunculus now in flower, a highly acrid family, 
and one which is to be guarded against above all others in 
cattle pastures. Curious enough, however, the roots of R. 
Ficaria, a tuberous-rooted species, whose dark, green, heart- 
shaped leaves, and glittering yellow flowers adorn many a 
wet and sunless bank, have recently been found to be edible, 
aud may, by cultivation, become of some importance in an 
economical point of view.* The wood Crowfoot ( 11. auri- 
comits) is also void of acridity. R. arvensis is the most acrid 
species, and three ounces of the juice have been known to kill 
a dog in four minutes, although it is noticed in Smith’s 
“ Flora ” that cattle eat the herb greedily, and, therefore, 
ought not to graze where it abounds. The Marsh Marigold 
( Caltlia palustris) gorgeously adorns the marshes with its 
large yellow flowers, and those of our readers who love to 
investigate into the natural resources of our country, may 
amuse themselves by pickling the buds instead of capers, 
for which they form a cheap substitute, and, indeed, both 
are very similar in appearance. 
The Green Hellebore ( Hellehorus viridis) will be found ex¬ 
hibiting its dingy blossoms in places where it has escaped from 
cultivation, or been planted as cover for game. This, accord¬ 
ing to some writers, is now substituted by the practitioners in 
Germany for the true hellebore of the ancients (H. officinalis), 
and Haller gives all the reputed virtues of the thug to our plant. 
In England, however, Smith tells us that the H. foetid us is 
more frequently used “ on the credit of the Greek Helle¬ 
bore. The Baueberry ( Actiea spicata) and Alpine Barrenwort 
(Epimedium alpimtm) will now be producing then - flowers at 
the few places where they occur—more particularly in York¬ 
shire. Neither of these plants are of great importance for 
their properties, but toads arc said to be attracted by the 
fetid odour of the Actaui, and both are very attractive to the 
rarity-loving botanist: the Epimedium, especially, is one of 
our most beautiful wild flowers. In the neighbourhood of 
houses the Celandine ( Chelidonium majm) is now appear¬ 
ing, with its brittle leaves and stems filled with a yellow juice, 
the medical virtues of which u'ere supposed, according to 
Dioscorides, to be taken advantage of by swallows in curing 
their young of blindness: this lias probably given rise to the 
name of the plant; but there is more probability in the 
suggestion of .Dioscorides, that it arose from the circum¬ 
stance of the plant's appearing and disappearing with these 
migratory birds. The herb has been used as a cure for 
jaundice ; but, no doubt, the only recommendation it has 
consists in the yellow colour of the juice. 
The Shepherd’s Burse ( Capsclla Bursa-pastoris ) is a con- ! 
tinual weed in our gardens ; and is, notwithstanding, a very 
remarkable plant, as being truly cosmopolitan in its character, ; 
occurring in almost every part of the globe. It is of little or j 
no service in supplying the wants of man, and continually 
infests cultivated grounds; but its seeds and flow'ers afford t 
a grateful repast to many of the smaller members of the , 
feathered race. In dry sandy situations the Teesdalia is in 
flower, along with the beautiful little Droba verna —two j 
humble plants of considerable beauty, and interesting to the 
botanist. The common Scurvy-grass ( Cockle aria officinalis) 
ornaments the rocky coast with its white flowers, and will be 
sure to attract the attention of such of our readers as have 
gone to spend their summer vacation from city-life by the sea¬ 
side. It is generaliy very abundant on the shore, especially j 
upon moist maritime rocks ; and will be readily recognized 
by its shining heart-shaped leaves and showy corymbs of 
white flowers. Smith dubs it a “smooth, sleek, and shining 
herb.” The rare bulbiferous Coral-root (Dentaria bulbifera) 
is exhibiting its purple blossoms, accompanied by the little 
bulbs in the axils of the leaves, the production of which seems 
so to engage the energies of the plant as to prevent the 
* At a recent meeting: of the Edinburgh Botanical Society (April 11, 
1850), Mr. McNab showed a specimen of ranunculus ficaria raised from 
roots which had been gathered in Silesia by the Rev. Mr. Wade, in August, I 
1848. These roots had been exposed over a large extent of country in j 
Austria by heavy rains, and the common people gathered them and used 
them as an article of food. Their sudden appearance gave rise to various 
conjectures as to their nature and origin, and in the Austrian journals they 1 
were spoken of as if they had fallen from the sky. The small bodies were 
dried and used as pease by the inhabitants. Mr. McNab had tasted the 
dried specimens, as well as fresh roots of ranunculus ficaria gathered in 
this country, both of which, after being boiled, he found very starchy. 
There is no acridity in the roots, even in a fresh state. 
