400 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[September 26. 
the ensuing May and June, especially for breeding sows. 
They, moreover, attain a larger size than spring-sown let¬ 
tuce, and the ground can be better spared for them than in 
the spring. 
Rhubarb. —As soon as the leaves are decaying remove 
them, and apply a thick coating of rotten manure over their 
crowns, using the very slutch of the midden. This must be 
partly removed and partly dug in round the exterior of the 
plants in February. 
Common Turnips will want one thorough clearing, and 
perhaps a slight thinning, in the early part of this month. 
Those who want good swede tops for cooking purposes early 
in spring, should leave a drill or two in the ground, cutting 
oft their tops, not quite so low as the bulb, in the beginning 
of this month, and then soiling them over six inches deep. 
The young shoots may be gathered in February, March, and 
April, beautifully blanched, and tender as the finest sea-kale. 
No person should be without this useful and profitable 
article. 
Winter Treatment of Allotments.— Let no man fancy 
that when his roots are stored, and his greens, 4 c., dressed 
according to foregoing instructions, that he has done for the 
winter, and may henceforth stand with his arms folded. 
Every man worthy of holding so useful a thing as a plot of 
land, capable of producing all his vegetables, should every 
season try to enhance its value, by rendering it capable of a 
higher course of culture. That this is possible in three- 
fourths of the cases, we are assured by long observation. 
Many plots that we have seen are scoured by stagnant 
moisture; some are composed of a too stubborn loam, in¬ 
clining to clay ; and others possess a peaty or elastic texture. 
In regard to the first, nothing short of thorough drainage 
can ever make it what it ought to be. The stubborn loams 
must be broken up by a winter's fallow, and their texture 
altered by applying sandy materials, or even cinder ashes or 
old lime rubbish; the latter well pounded is an excellent 
thing. Peaty soils require both sandy materials and the 
loamy or clayey principle. Above all things we say, let every 
inch of available ground be fallowed, and by all means drain 
where the least suspicion exists. 
THE LOAF OF BREAD. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers ,” £c. 
The remarks I think it advisable to malic upon the esti¬ 
mates in my last papers, oblige me to touch again upon the 
subject of bread. My readers may consider me desultory 
and careless in the arrangement of my subjects, and would 
prefer one matter being fully discussed before the introduc¬ 
tion of another. I am myself quite of their way of thinking, 
and fully aware of the deficiencies of my own mode of writ¬ 
ing ; but as I am no scientific author, and matter rises up 
before me when I least expect it, from various and unlooked 
for incidents, I must solicit their leave to do my utmost in 
their service, in the confused, unsatisfactory way which I am 
grieved to call my best. Having thus far apologised for my 
short-comings, I will endeavour for the future to amend. 
The estimates I have transcribed allow 24 pounds of bread 
and flour for five persons; that is to say, six pounds for each 
of the parents, and four pounds for each of the children per 
week. Many good managers allow only four pounds of bread 
per head for the family, old and young together, and find it 
sufficient; because some persons are not great eaters of 
bread, which leaves more for those who are. Many persons 
have naturally smaller appetites than others ; some friends 
of my own, a gentleman and his daughter, never consumed a 
quartern loaf between them in the week; and many I have 
known whose habits in this particular have been the same. 
Others again, whose means permit it, eat a larger proportion 
of meat, <fcc., in preference to bread. Families most fre¬ 
quently dine late, and their luncheons consist of tart, pud¬ 
ding, fruit, Ac., which lessens the consumption of bread, par¬ 
ticularly as very little is eaten at tea when the dinner is late 
in the day; and the male portion of the household eat less 
bread than might be expected, because they consume more 
animal food than the female portion of it. But, generally 
spealdng, where bread is a principal article of diet, and when 
the members of a family have hearty appetites, six pounds I 
per week for adults will not be found much beyond the fair j 
I allowance. Flour, too, is included in the calculation of bread, 
and in some cases must take considerably from it, as pies 
and puddings, both of meat and fruit, particularly the former, 
made with a plain crust, are useful in the family; and a 
good sized pie requires a pound of flour at least. The care¬ 
ful economist will soon discover the exact quantity of bread 
consumed in her household, and if it exceeds the limit which 
the estimate gives, will either substitute some other article 
in place of the extra quantity, or reduce on some other point 
to make up for it. 
Early rising, early dining, and a relish for the social even¬ 
ing meal, after the labours and separation of the day, pro- 
I mote the appetite; and when halier s bread is used, it cuts 
away sadly fast, without affording the stay to the stomach 
which sound household bread invariably gives. When sub¬ 
stantial meals are made upon bakers bread, in a couple of 
hours we feel hungry again, which is never the case even 
when a less quantity of sweet home-made, bread has been 
eaten; and I am sure that some little trouble to effect home 
baking among the labouring population would be well repaid 
in comfort as well as in saving. I know too much of the 
inconvenience, privations, and poverty of the poor in a rural 
district to suppose that this can be carried out except in 
some few cases ; but where it can be done—where flour can 
be bought, and yeast obtained, and the cottage possesses an 
oven—it is most desirable that bread should be made at home. 
Even if taken to be baked in the baker’s oven, it would an¬ 
swer to the cottager to pay a halfpenny, or penny per loaf, 
according to its size, rather than buy bread from the shop. 
I remember the large, sweet, hospitable-looking loaves at 
the house of a clergyman, who lived close to the village. The 
bread was made of wheat grown on his farm, but was kneaded 
and baked at the shop; and it was always well baked and 
light, and wholesome. Nothing looks more comfortable and 
hospitable than a large loaf of good sweet bread. It is not 
so elegant certainly as the small, delicate, shop loaf, but it 
cuts much more to advantage and goes much further. In 
the days of need we must not think of elegancies, but of that 
which is useful and essential. Many persons live in the near 
neighbourhood of a baker’s oven, and might thus be accom¬ 
modated at little expense. 
The price of bread might be considerably reduced, if we 
mixed other flour with it, and it would be equally good. The 
writer from whom I have always quoted says, on the subject 
of bread, “ The finest flour is by no means the most whole¬ 
some ; and, at any rate, there is more nutritious matter in a 
pound of household bread than in a pound of baker’s bread. 
Besides this, rye, and even barley, especially when mixed 
with wheat, makes very good bread. Few people upon the 
face of the earth live better than the Long Islanders; yet 
nine families out of ten seldom eat wheaten bread. Rye is 
the flour they principally make use of. Now rye is seldom 
more than two-thirds the price of wheat, and barley is seldom 
more than half the price of wheat. Half rye and half wheat, 
taking out a little more of the ott'al, make very good bread. 
Half wheat, a quarter rye, and a quarter barley,—nay, one- 
tliird of each,—make bread that I could be very content to 
live upon all my life-time; and even barley alone, if the 
barley be good, and none but the finest flour taken out of it, 
lias in it, measure for measure, ten times the nutrition of 
potatoes.” 
Now, to the poor of a high station as well as to those of a 
low one, cheap bread is a grand consideration ; and I think 
there is less prejudice to overcome in the former than the 
latter. The poor are very prejudiced and cannot bear an 
inferior, or simply a cheaper article, to which they have not 
been accustomed. Now the higher classes can much sooner 
adopt a prudent measure, and reconcile themselves to what 
is right. I speak of each as a class ; there are many excep¬ 
tions on the one side, and many also on the other ; but I 
think when the higher classes set an example, the poor 
would speedily follow. 
There is a particular bread in the north of England, or 
there was, for it is many years since my father lived there, 
of which I have always heard him speak in the highest 
praise. He said it was far superior, in his opinion, to 
wheaten bread,—sweeter, and more moist. It was made of 
certain proportions of wheat and rye, which were grown and 
thrashed, and ground together. I think the quantities were 
equal, but I am not clear upon the subject, and 1 have not 
